Liberty
Matters News Service
December 6, 2004
Global Warming a "Religious Belief"
Delegates from more than 190 countries are gathered in
Buenos Aires to celebrate the enactment of the Kyoto Protocol scheduled to take
effect February 16, 2005. The treaty requires member countries to cut emissions
of "greenhouse" gases to five percent below the levels of 1990, in an effort to
stem the ravages of the mythical "global warming." A key element of Kyoto is an
elaborate point system that allows polluting countries to buy credits from
environmental cleanup projects elsewhere that mitigate their own pollution
problems. Russia, who as recently as last winter had refused to sign the treaty
claiming it would mean economic suicide, ratified Kyoto only last month. Russia
apparently was convinced that "it could gain billions of dollars in foreign
investment and income under the treaty's trading mechanisms." Others see the
treaty as a means to feather their own nests too. The Inuit tribe of Alaska,
with the help of environmental lawyers, plans to obtain a ruling from the
"Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that the United States, by
contributing substantially to global warming, is threatening their existence."
The Commission's ruling could lead to lawsuits of the magnitude of the tobacco
suits if the Inuits are able to pin the global warming farce on the United
States. Kyoto proponents have little to celebrate, though, with opponents such
as MIT climatologist Richard Lindzen labeling the movement a "religious belief"
rather than sound science. And doubts about the reality of global warming are
surfacing among the extremists own ranks. "The Death of Environmentalism,"
issued by two greenies, Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus, reveals the
movement has failed because the greens have not made their case with the
American people. Every day it becomes more apparent that global warming is not
a way to save the environment, but a political attempt to force governments
like the United States to redistribute its wealth.
Cheers, and
Concerns, for New Climate Pact
Eskimos Seek to Recast Global Warming as a
Rights Issue
U. S. May Weigh In Against Property Rights
The American Taxpayers Union
(ATU) believes the United States government may be planning to file a "friend
of the court" brief in Kelo v. City of New London, a case before the U.
S. Supreme Court. The case stems from the City of New London's abuse of eminent
domain in which it condemned homes in a residential area to make way for
commercial interests that would generate more taxes. The ATU is urging the
United States to uphold the rights of property owners and President Bush's
vision of an "ownership society" by either filing a brief on behalf of property
owners or staying out of the fray altogether. A favorable ruling would be a
mighty weapon in the fight against the unlawful use of eminent domain that has
plagued the U. S. for decades. The Institute of Justice, which brought
Kelo before the Supremes, has uncovered at least 10,000 abuse cases
between 1998 and 2002. The ATU is concerned that some "career bureaucrats in
various federal agencies and the corridors of the White House seem to care more
about preserving government power than they do...the rights of
individuals."
Sample Letter to President Bush
Zimbabwe Confiscates All White Farms
A shocking abuse of human rights and
property rights is playing out in the African state of Zimbabwe where the
remaining 500 farms owned by white farmers are to be confiscated by the
government in the next few months. The 500 farms are all that remain of the
nearly 5,000 white-owned farms that have been confiscated in the jihad
instigated by the Mugabe government in 2000. Since that time, more than 42,000
square miles of commercial farmland and game preserves have been seized from
their white owners and redistributed mostly to cronies of Mugabe, rather than
to local black farmers as promised. The seizures have been blamed for the
further deterioration of the country's economy and have exacerbated wide-spread
famine. Inflation is running at 620 percent a year. The new occupiers will not
hold title to the land but will be allowed 99 year leases for farmland and 25
year leases for game preserves. "Ultimately, all land shall be resettled as
state property," said Zimbabwe's land minister John Nkomo.
Zimbabwe Announces a
New Plan to Seize Land
Arizona Water Sold Down the River
An Arizona water board, the
Central Arizona Project Board, (CAP) has agreed to supply Nevada with 1.25
million acre feet of water from the Colorado River in exchange for $330
million. Under the "banking" agreement, the Southern Nevada Water Authority
would take some of Arizona's water from Lake Mead beginning in 2007. Nevada
will have until 2060 to withdraw its water under an amended agreement. Nevada
will pay Arizona about $292 per acre feet, a bargain basement rate when one
considers that Del Web paid $1,500 per acre foot for his Anthem development and
Peabody Coal paid Arizona $1,000 per acre foot thirty years ago. Jeff Groscost,
a former Arizona legislator, questions the wisdom of the deal and wants to know
why the CAP obligated the state to the water deal without clearing it first
through the state legislature. Further, he asked, "[w]ill the $100 million
down-payment from Nevada be used to buy up farms and send their water to
Nevada?"
Selling Us
Down the River