George Rebane
I just returned from the Nevada County Board of Supervisors meeting at the Rood Center. I went there to hear the report on establishing a 2005 county baseline for CO2 emissions presented by the Sierra Business Council with some mysterious connection to ICLEI. (You can check the details on the county’s website.) The report consisted of a bunch of pie charts showing metric tons of “CO2 equivalents” emitted by various county activities and sources. The numbers came from plugging SBC collected county data into a computer model supplied by ICLEI.
The longer term purpose of this baseline data is to set CO2 targets, pass future regulations and ordinances, and establish monitoring and enforcement procedures to further constrain and dictate the behavior of county residents.
ICLEI stands for International Council for Environmental Initiatives. It is the NGO charged with implementing UN’s Agenda 21 plan for constraining and controlling ALL human activity on earth as soon as possible. ICLEI, headquartered in Germany, is the coordinating arm for the distributed infusion of ‘smart growth’, ‘sustainability’, ‘energy efficiency’, ‘climate change laws’, … at local levels throughout the world. USA, signatory to Agenda 21, has more than 500 national chapters of which over 100 are in, where else, California.
The SBC presenters professed singular ignorance of any of this or even any depth of the work they had done. To them ICLEI was the supplier of the computer model into which they stuck their local data, period. Supervisor Ed Scofield called me to the mike to explain ICLEI, and then expressed his deep concerns about the encroachment of ICLEI’s infusion of Agenda 21.
Supervisor Nate Beason asked some excellent questions re the presented ‘metric tons’ and the source of the computer model used. Supervisor Beason wanted the quoted numbers to be put into some context which would establish their significance. The SBC people were not able to do that either. The question still to be asked is ‘how was the computer model validated and by whom?’
To me it was clear that he had no qualifications to even understand that in which he so fervently believed, let alone advise public policy bodies as an expert in the matter of AGW. And, as has been recounted numerous times on RR, these people fill the ranks of the UN’s IPCC (Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change) and impress the lay public by their sheer numbers, data which is accessible as opposed to their science which, mostly through its absence, is not.
[update] For more on this presentation today please visit Russ Steele's blog and Todd Juvinall's blog.
[23may12 update] Well maybe Agenda21 is really not coming on cat’s feet, but is actually tromping in more like a gorilla. I’m here referring to the continuing stream of disturbing revelations – ignored by the lamestream – about Obama appointee and SCOTUS Justice Elena Kagan. Redstate.com emailed news that Kagan had accepted $20M from a Shariah promoting Arab prince to “implement the Islamic Studies program” at Harvard where she also served as dean of its law school.
Apparently Kagan is a longtime self-declared socialist as her briefly available senior thesis professed before it was withdrawn by Princeton University citing its copyrights (here). I am continually aghast at such denials of liberals’ ideological revelations from their previous activities and writings. There is a full court press on by the lamestream and the nation’s academia to prevent Americans from receiving information that strongly bears on the beliefs and mindset of their leftwing betters. In the email, Redstate reports -
What would you say if you learned that a member of the highest court in the land has spent the last 30 years openly advocating for the destruction of the US Constitution and even went so far as to accept $20 million from Shariah Law proponents to accomplish her goal?
That Supreme Court Justice is Elena Kagan.
The year after Ronald Reagan entered the Oval Office with the goal of restoring America to greatness; Elena Kagan penned a telling and disturbing senior thesis titled "To the Final Conflict: Socialism in New York City, 1900-1933." In that body of work, Kagan lamented that "a coherent socialist movement is nowhere to be found in the United States"; and that," no "radical party" had yet "attained the status of a major political force." Kagan went on to sound a rally cry for "those who, more than half a century after socialism's decline, still wish to change America."
I include this little news update to once more inform our leftwing readers that my using such labels socialist, collectivist, liberal, communists, … is not done gratuitously or as a slur in these pages. These people really exist, continue to be prominent in our public life, and are proud of their ideological persuasions, but only within nodding proximity of their likeminded. It is the outside world in which their beliefs and goals must not be prematurely made known. As writer and socialist candidate Upton Sinclair stated after losing a California gubernatorial election -
"The American People will take Socialism, but they won't take the label. I certainly proved it in the case of EPIC. Running on the Socialist ticket I got 60,000 votes, and running on the slogan to 'End Poverty in California' I got 879,000. I think we simply have to recognize the fact that our enemies have succeeded in spreading the Big Lie. There is no use attacking it by a front attack, it is much better to out-flank them.”
And that tactic has been successfully followed since FDR’s socialism fell out of popular favor after WW2. Socialism's ultimate goal has always been to create a global world order.
[24may12 update] Last night CABPRO had a presentation of the rampant advance of Agenda21 in northern California and southern Oregon. We heard from the director of 'Defend Rural America' and other speakers about what's going on right around us. Russ Steele has a full report on NC2012.
I do find it amusing that the USA Mexico border is listed as a "175 mile wide zone of cooperation."
Posted by: Douglas Keachie | 22 May 2012 at 01:49 PM
Sounds like I missed a fun meeting. Will there be a followup?
Posted by: Andersonmichael | 22 May 2012 at 02:20 PM
MichaelA 220pm - This was advertized as "Phase Two" of some ongoing process in which SBC/ICLEI are involved that has a wider objective as I noted. Therefore, they will return with at least goals and implementation methods for which they will undoubtedly lobby or work to bring state pressure to bear. There's more to come, Agenda21 ain't going away.
Posted by: George Rebane | 22 May 2012 at 02:24 PM
Love to be a fly on the wall as the presenters huddled after the meeting. Be careful Dr. Rebane. You don't want to get blamed for causing a young Forest Service man to soil his pants. "Gee Yogi, Mr. Ranger would not like that."
Posted by: billy T | 22 May 2012 at 02:45 PM
The ignorance of the two SBC presenters was quite evident. I actually felt bad for them since they were taken to school. The document was simply a mechanism for eco terror. Rile up the folks and make them believe the Sierra Forests are under attack. There was no offset info in their presentation. I was considering speaking but chose not to. I would have asked where the absorption tonnage numbers of the forest are. Also, how many tons of CO2 from decaying bio mass in the forests. How about a PEER review?
Ted Owens brought up LEED. I was glad because that program is a huge waste of money and another eco scam. Oh so many questions. SBC was paid by whom for this fiasco?
Posted by: Todd Juvinall | 22 May 2012 at 02:57 PM
ToddJ 257pm - all good points Todd. I thought I saw you sitting on the other side of the chamber. I wish you would have brought up the carbon cycle item. I decided not to use my meager minutes for that, but the fact that humanity still does not know the total carbon cycle on earth is a major reason for skepticism about the whole CO2 issue in AGW.
[ToddJ also posted a report on the meeting that can be found here http://sierradragonsbreathe.blogspot.com/2012/05/sbc-eco-non-profit-already-making-money.html#comment-form ]
How can we confidently commit to public policies like AB32's cap n' tax without knowing where the stuff comes from, where it goes, and what effect it has in between? For years Russ Steele has been pointing out the de-correlation of atmospheric CO2 levels and temperature. The true believers like our young "scientist" are beyond reason, their mind is made up, "the debate is over."
Posted by: George Rebane | 22 May 2012 at 03:34 PM
Ecoterrorists are those who vote against improved fire protection.
Posted by: Douglas Keachie | 22 May 2012 at 04:07 PM
I have posted some comment on the presentation at NC2012: http://wp.me/p1NUuI-LX
Posted by: Russ Steele | 22 May 2012 at 05:11 PM
George that was me. It is my birthday so I decided not to speak since I saw all of you folks. I did not want you to burst in to happy birthday misic.
The left thinks everything is a zero sum game until they come up against logic. Then we only get one side, their side. If the plants of the planet need CO2 to live then logic would tell us they will take so much out of the air to do that. That was never presented so all we got was how much these true believers in tax payers money could come up with on the input side and not the takeout side.
Posted by: Todd Juvinall | 22 May 2012 at 05:21 PM
Happy Birthday Mr. Juvinall!! Hope you enjoyed the hot air presentation.
Posted by: billy T | 22 May 2012 at 06:06 PM
Thanks BillyT. There sure was a lot of unanswered questions the SBC left on the table. Hit and run I guess.
Posted by: Todd Juvinall | 22 May 2012 at 06:42 PM
Todd, a happy birthday to you also. Now that I have your attention, I have difficulty commenting on your blog. I feel rejected.
Posted by: George Rebane | 22 May 2012 at 06:48 PM
George, thanks. I recall we had a similar problem way back and it got fixed. Tell me how you try in an email and I will check ny blogs settings. I think I have it as no moderation at all.
Posted by: Todd Juvinall | 22 May 2012 at 07:47 PM
George,
Your 5th paragraph conclusion is spot-on: "The question still to be asked is ‘how was the computer model validated and by whom?’
I was astonished when the SBC presenters (BJ Schmidt and Nick Martin) announced in the first minute of their presentation that the report is based on a “calculation methodology” and that “no measurements were taken.”
Ten minutes later, they revealed that the calculation methods (“protocols” as the call it) are created by ICLEI who actually performs the calculations. The SBC presenters confided that they have no idea how the calculations are made.
It was as if the SBC presenters were just surrogates for ICLEI, clicking through canned PowerPoint slides prepared by ICLEI.
Thanks for attending the meeting and reporting on this.
Posted by: JWilson | 23 May 2012 at 10:50 AM
Is there an agenda item on the left that does not have a foundation of fear?
The left preaches from a pulpit of fear... vote for the fire tax or you will burn in your sleep... vote for lower C02 or you will die of complications of changing climate...
Yet, they ignore the tsunami of debt plaguing the world thanks to previous fear based initiatives.
Posted by: THEMIKEYMCD | 23 May 2012 at 11:26 AM
Mikey-
Did you hear Peter Schiff the other night on Coast to Coast? No tin hats required that night. He basically pointed out that the European Sovereign Debt crisis in coming to a theater near you soon. And that we can not contain inflation any longer.
Mean while, back at the farm, the barn's on fire. And someone forgot to ask about the propane tanks. Perhaps that will be apart of Phase III.
Good times, noodle salad.
Posted by: Ryan Mount | 23 May 2012 at 11:40 AM
Geroge, an FYI.
The Facebook login feature is not working properly. It's probably on the Facebook end. They're probably too busy giggling about their IPO to realize that their login API is broken.
Posted by: Ryan Mount | 23 May 2012 at 11:42 AM
RyanM 1142am - thanks for the heads up. Commenters should try other avenues like gmail. It seems that signing on to comment has been a problem on several blog servers lately.
Posted by: George Rebane | 23 May 2012 at 11:50 AM
The Al Qaeda cyberattacks have begun...
Posted by: Douglas Keachie | 23 May 2012 at 12:34 PM
Doug-
And as expected, they're targeting my photo collections and my Farmville accounts.
Posted by: Ryan Mount | 23 May 2012 at 12:36 PM
George, the Gmail<-->Typepad connection is working again. Now I don't have to be Andersonmichael anymore.
Since both the Gmail and Facebook interconnects failed at the same time, I'm blaming Typepad. Which also makes sense since I've heard the Typepad coding team consists of a coupla monkeys and a zebra at the Cleveland Zoo.
Posted by: Michael Anderson | 23 May 2012 at 02:04 PM
R. Mount - Schiff understands the laws of economics (full disclosure: I contributed to his failed Senate campaign in 2010) better than anyone in government, he is an asset to our country.
He is the lone voice on the Titanic organizing the lifeboats.
Posted by: THEMIKEYMCD | 23 May 2012 at 02:19 PM
"...The question still to be asked is ‘how was the computer model validated and by whom?’"
The butcher, and his thumb!
Posted by: David King | 23 May 2012 at 03:55 PM
Uh...I had something relevant to say, but forgot it after days of trying to log in here. Oh well, consider this a test. Infernal machines!
Posted by: Earl Crabb | 23 May 2012 at 08:01 PM
Thank goodness Justice Kagan is helping to create Harvard’s Islamic Studies Program BEFORE this November’s election.
This serves to expose her poor judgment and Islamic patronization.
Has anyone got an advance copy of the curriculum? I can only guess.
Posted by: JWilson | 23 May 2012 at 11:48 PM
SBC & PG&E are now peddling their GHG program to Calaveras County.
Agenda 21 has created SO many avenues.
Posted by: Tonja Dausend | 25 April 2013 at 08:42 PM
JWilson's claim of a Justice Kagan conspiracy has been reduced to so much dust, and yet Agenda 21 continues to provide fuel for a conspiratorial fire that, as far as I can tell, does not exist.
Help me understand, Tonja.
Posted by: Michael Anderson | 26 April 2013 at 01:37 AM