Global Warming

Did Global Warming Cause Blackhawk Down?

July 2008

Democrat Congressman Ed Markey Says It Did

By Andrew Peterson
For CoverUps.com

In the theater of the absurd that global warming hysteria has spawned, a little one-act play was performed recently in Washington D.C. The show starred Congressman Ed Markey (D – Massachusetts), Chairman of the House (Select) Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee, with a supporting cast of 25 students from the World Wildlife Funds Allianz Southeast Climate Wellness Program.

According to CNS News Writer Josiah Ryan, the air was thick with global warming cliches when the congressional global warming alarmist met the student global warming alarmists for a consciousness-raising get-together.

The absurdities commenced with Congressman Markey blaming the Blackhawk Down fiasco (where U.S. Army Rangers lost their lives during a firefight in Mogadishu, Somalia) on global warming. Bad mission planning wasn't the problem. Bad logistical support wasn't the problem. Global warming was the culprit.

“In Somalia back in 1993, climate change, according to 11 three- and four-star generals, resulted in a drought which led to famine,” said Markey.

“That famine translated to international aid we sent in to Somalia, which then led to the U.S. having to send in forces to separate all the groups that were fighting over the aid, which led to Black Hawk Down. There was this scene where we have all of our American troops under fire because they have been put into the middle of this terrible situation.”

Not so fast, says Myron Ebell, Director of Energy & Global Warming Policy (what a shame that the times we live in demand a job title like this). Ebell says Markey's remarks show a tremendous ignorance.

“Yes, that part of the world is subject to drought at times, but it has very little to do with global warming,” said Ebell. “It is subject to drought whether the global average temperature is going up, down, or staying the same. To say you know the conflict was caused by global warming is to show how really ignorant you are of the scientific issues involved.”

But Congressman Markey was too busy grandstanding to be deterred by something as trifling as the truth. He had other falsehoods to get to:

“There now is no question that this harm is being caused by human activity,” said Markey. “It’s warming up the planet and melting the glaciers. There is an underwater heat wave going on. The waters get warmer and warmer and that intensifies the storms and creates even greater havoc when those storms reach land.”

In case anyone's counting, there are four falsehoods in this statement. Since it's such an outstanding example of global warming foolishness, let's take a look at them one at a time:

	Democrat Congressman Ed Markey sez: There now is no question that this harm is being done by human activity.
STATUS: FALSE	There is very much a question about the link between human activities and warming of the climate. Over 31,000 scientists have signed a petition disputing the truthfulness of claims by global warning alarmists.
	Democrat Congressman Ed Markey sez: It's warming up the planet and melting the glaciers.
STATUS: FALSE	The polar ice-caps and glaciers aren't shrinking. They're getting bigger. Here's a story at CBC news about Canadian climate scientists and the expanding ice caps they've measured since the unusually intense Canadian winter this past year. How is such a thing possible?
	Democrat Congressman Ed Markey sez: There is an underwater heat wave going on.
STATUS: FALSE	Data from 3,000 aquatic NASA robots show no increase in ocean temperatures over the last five years. The planet doesn't have a fever. Al Gore does.
	Democrat Congressman Ed Markey sez: The water gets warmer and warmer and that intensifies the storms ...
STATUS: FALSE	If this were true, why have there been no Category 5 hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico since 2005? If we were on a steady march to environmental doom, wouldn't we have had a steady series of huge hurricanes too? Why have we had (thankfully) two seasons of mild hurricane activity since Katrina? There's even evidence that global warming reduces the frequency and intensity of hurricanes.

But never mind all that. We've got a planet to save and a bandwagon to ride. Here's Markey blaming the Darfur genocide on climate change:

“The same thing is true by the way with Darfur,” Markey added. “Darfur is really about water. This is an issue which really goes to the heart of the incredible impact that climate change is having upon our planet. “

But according to Ebell, the droughts in Darfur – and the middle east in general – are a problem that predates the industrialization that many people say causes global warming:

Ebell said that droughts in Darfur are probably not an effect of global warming. “In that region, droughts have been going on for hundreds of years and before human beings started to burn coal and gas,” he said. “They will continue because of precipitation patterns. Again, I think Chairman Markey has revealed the extent of his ignorance on this issue.

True to form, Markey has moved on to his next bogus assertion. Let's listen in:

Markey finished his talk by comparing the debate against global warming to the 20th century fight for women suffrage. “Back 100 years ago, women rose up and said we want the right to vote, and they were successful,” he said. “Now, you are like the green generation and you are rising up and saying we must ensure the planet does not suffer the worst consequences of climate change.

Our Take

An interesting thing about this little episode goes unmentioned by the author. The students who testified for Markey and his silly committee were supposedly doing so to brief members of congress on the dangers of global warming. But it's perfectly obvious when you read the article that Markey is already pretty well up to speed on it – as is the Congress, which created Markey's committee and gave it its name. We would argue that the Congress is fully aware of the climate change issue, and fully aware of its potential to drastically increase the size and power of government.

As for the students, some of their questions and statements are pretty scary for anyone who cares about limited government and individual liberty.

Fifteen-year-old Stephen Bordes from New Orleans called on lawmakers to do something to end global warming. “Cutting carbon emissions is mainly in your hands since you pass the laws,” he said. ‘You basically control climate change. We should have changed yesterday, but it’s too late to change yesterday so we should start now.

Can you imagine this? This poor deluded kid actually thinks that our politicians, who can't even run the postal service or the DMV, or manage the budget of the federal government, have it in their power to change the climate. Actually even if our pols DID have the power to run all those things, they STILL wouldn't have the power to change the climate. Hell, we can't even predict the weather two weeks from now.

Still these words must have been music to Markey's ears. The enormous global warming propaganda effort in this country is having its intended effect on sizeable numbers of people. Maybe the killer irony of all is that Markey and his liberal colleagues clearly want man-made climate change – but of a particular kind. They want a change in the political climate. They want voters to beg them to take away a little of their freedom in exchange for protection from something – from something that doesn't exist.

Link to article online.