By Noel Sheppard, Newsbusters

If a survey found that the overwhelming majority of Americans believe lawmakers are using global warming hysteria to raise taxes, would the climate change obsessed media report it? Highly doubtful, wouldn’t you agree?

Well, Britain’s Daily Mail published an article Monday that seems quite unlikely any major U.S. press outlet would dare cover for fear of contradicting the media meme of the debate being over concerning this controversial issue.
Nearly two-thirds of the public believe ministers are using environmental fears as an excuse to raise tax revenue, according to a poll.

A survey carried out by YouGov for the TPA found that only a fifth of people thought politicians were genuinely trying to change behaviours using the tax system. In contrast, 63% believed they were using the issue as an excuse to pull in more cash. Nearly four-fifths voiced opposition to the so-called “pay as you throw” schemes floated by the Government to encourage recycling - despite previous surveys indicating a majority backed the idea.

It’s all about the money, folks. And, our friends across the Pond know it. Read more here.

By James Lewis

James Hansen, NASA’s True Believer in the global warming credo, has just been quoted by the Globe & Mail of Canada as follows: “Prof. Hansen and his colleagues argue that rapidly melting ice caps in Antarctica and Greenland could cause oceans to swell several metres by 2100 - or maybe even as much as 25 metres, which is how much higher the oceans sat about three million years ago.” “If we follow ‘business-as-usual’ growth of greenhouse gas emissions… I think that we will lock in a guaranteed sea-level rise of several meters, which, frankly, means that all hell is going to break loose.”

So you have a choice. You can either (a) hop in your car and head for the hills, or (b) consider the very real possibility that Dr. James Hansen has jumped the shark, and is rocketing upward fast enough to achieve orbital velocity. I personally think he has slipped the surly bonds of earth, as the poet says. NASA’s Prophet of Doom is up, up and away, with a beautiful vrroom. 

Dr. Hansen has gone further out on a limb, and has now issued a challenge to our presidential candidates. He wants all the 2008 candidates to sign a Declaration of Stewardship for the Earth and all Creation.

So does Dr. Hansen really expect billions of human beings to stop wanting things? Imagine all those cars screeching to a halt. Imagine NASA crumbling, never to launch another space probe. That’s “economically sound” according to our hero, because it would lower carbon emissions. This is not sound scientific thinking. It does not reflect well on NASA. Maybe Dr. Hansen should just become Al Gore’s speech writer, rather than occupying a tax-paid position in government science. Because it’s less than honest to use the credibility of science in pursuit of some personal obsession.

See whole story here.

Also read in NEWSBUSTERS how Hansen has been harshly criticized by a leading IPCC author about moving from scientific discourse towards advocacy.