Fun in the Bali sun with the United Nations ecoweenies

Claudia Rosett spots a crowd of United Nations global warming hoaxsters and kleptocrats winging off to Bali for some intensive expense account padding:

For folks terrified of warmer weather, the UN climate commissars sure do have a strange affinity for the balmy climes of Bali.

Recall that in December, 2007, as the common folk shivered in the wintry vicinity of the UN’s well-appointed offices in New York, Bonn and Geneva, a horde of UN climateers decamped to the far side of the globe for a fortnight of conferencing by the Indonesian beaches of Bali’s ritzy Nusa Dua resort (and convention center). There, up close and personal, they braved the preview of a world beset by warm temperatures and ocean waters, as you can see in this virtual tour of the adjacent beach resort — complete with its freshwater pool, beachside cocoons, seafood buffets and winding paths beneath the palm trees.

Now they’re at it again. The UN Environment Program, which is based in Nairobi, is convening a set of meetings this week – not in Nairobi, or New York, but at the same Bali beach resort (and convention center) where they sacrificed all that time for the greater good in 2007. Never mind the UN’s continuing campaign — in the face of its crumbling “climate science” — to restrict and control carbon emissions. Yet again, we are asked to believe the UN deserves special exemptions from its own preachings. Its conferees are jetting to Bali for the greater good of all the little folk, whose job is merely to pay the bills for such pleasures, and live with any resulting rationing and regulation. According to the Jakarta Post, some 1,500 people from 192 countries are expected to attend this shindig — where UNEP claims that envoys of some 140 governments will be present. The pre-session events (the UN goes in for a lot of those on Bali) have already begun.

Perhaps they are checking on whether global warming has made the dancing girl's costumes any skimpier? Hey, but it won't be all fun:

There’s lots here that bears watching, but I’ll round this off with a note that at this plush pow-wow the UN’s propaganda engines will be roaring full steam ahead. On Feb. 22-23, this Monday and Tuesday, UNEP will put together a media workshop, on “Reporting Green — The Environment as News.” What fun for the media! A two-day workshop on Bali, by the beach. Will this workshop be teaching the media how to ask hardball questions about things like IPCC findings, UNEP conflicts of interest, or, for that matter, repeat UN mega-eco-conferences on Bali? I’d say, don’t hold your breath.

Stand by for some hard hitting news reports from the beach.

More laughs at the Copenhagen Global Warming Clown Circus

If you want a nonstop laugh fest, you can't get much better than the Copenhagen Global Warming Clown Circus. The big news overnight was a "leaked" copy of the final draft agreement:

When your attempt at recreating the Congress of Vienna with a third-rate cast of extras turns into a shambles, when the data with which you have tried to terrify the world is daily exposed as ever more phoney, when the blatant greed and self-interest of the participants has become obvious to all beholders, when those pesky polar bears just keep increasing and multiplying – what do you do?

No contest: stop issuing three rainforests of press releases every day, change the heading to James Bond-style “Do not distribute” and “leak” a single copy, in the knowledge that human nature is programmed to interest itself in anything it imagines it is not supposed to see, whereas it would bin the same document unread if it were distributed openly.

After that, get some unbiased, neutral observer, such as the executive director of Greenpeace, to say: “This is the single most important piece of paper in the world today.” Unfortunately, the response of all intelligent people will be to fall about laughing; but it was worth a try – everybody loves a tryer – and the climate alarmists are no longer in a position to pick and choose their tactics.

But boy! Was this crass, or what? The apocalyptic document revealing that even if the Western leaders hand over all the climate Danegeld demanded of them, appropriately at the venue of Copenhagen, the earth will still fry on a 3C temperature rise is the latest transparent scare tactic to extort more cash from taxpayers. The danger of this ploy, of course, is that people might say “If we are going to be chargrilled anyway, what is the point of handing over billions – better to get some serious conspicuous consumption in before the ski slopes turn into saunas.”

Of course, the most serious conspicuous consumers are the Third World thugs and clowns that thought Global Warming was the ticket to new palaces, new Mercedes, and more jewelry for their grasping wives. Then there were the United Nations kleptocrats that thought they had finally come up with a way to ride on a gravy train pulled by the taxpayers of the developed world. I won't even mention the religious acolytes of the Church of Global Warming and the voracious profiteers in the developed world who are beneath contempt for trying to force this scam on the rest of us.

This week has been truly historic. It has marked the beginning of the landslide that is collapsing the whole AGW imposture. The pseudo-science of global warming is a global laughing stock and Copenhagen is a farce. In the warmist camp the Main Man is a railway engineer with huge investments in the carbon industry. That says it all. The world’s boiler being heroically damped down by the Fat Controller. Al Gore, occupant of the only private house that can be seen from space, so huge is its energy consumption, wanted to charge punters $1,200 to be photographed with him at Copenhagen. There is a man who is really worried about the planet’s future.

If there were not $45 trillion of Western citizens’ money at stake, this would be the funniest moment in world history. What a bunch of buffoons.

And the sooner we laugh them out of town the better. Speaking of "soon to be out of town," even Santa Obama's last minute visit with a bag of goodies provided by the American taxpayers and a list that he wasn't checking to see who was naughty or nice failed to cheer up the clowns. It must be rough on a man of Barack Obama's vaunted sensitivity that the panhandlers weren't satisfied with his handout. Hmm, while he was there he could have pitched Chicago for the Olympics again.

The Great Swine Flu Hoax - It's Looking More Like Bull Flu Every Day

The other day I mentioned the fact that at the end of August the US Center for Disease Control stopped reporting swine flu deaths separately from the usual seasonal flu deaths. That was sure convenient since the numbers actually show that the swine flu is rather less lethal than ordinary seasonal flu:

News flash: Swine flu is a massively overrated threat -- overrated not only in the media but by the World Health Organization, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and others who have a duty to know better.

The presidential science council warned in late August that, "in a plausible scenario," swine flu might kill 90,000 Americans with the epidemic peaking in "mid-October." But it's now obvious that this won't happen.

...

Total deaths since Aug. 30 from "Influenza and Pneumonia-Associated" illness are 1,397, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site FluView (cdc.gov/flu/weekly/). But only 192 of those have been laboratory-confirmed as flu of any type. (And yes, people die of pneumonia from many causes other than flu.) In fact, FluView reports that deaths from influenza and pneumonia are well within the normal bounds for this time of year -- or, as the CDC puts it, "below the epidemic threshold."

Golly, even adding the flu strains together doesn't provide any basis for panic. And look when happens when you really do try to separate out the swine flu cases:

The CDC no longer publishes specific data on swine-flu cases or deaths. But the FluTracker Web site (flu- tracker.rhizalabs.com/) does. As of last Friday, it listed 680 total US deaths compared to 644 the week before. That's just 36 deaths in a week -- or about the number the CDC estimates die every four hours of "regular" flu during the season.

FluTracker also provides a graph that shows new worldwide cases and deaths -- and that tells us deaths are occurring less often than they were a month ago. They were lower in the past week than in the previous three.

New York City data indicate that swine flu is perhaps a tenth as lethal as the seasonal variety. Plus, government Web sites from such southern hemisphere countries as Australia and New Zealand, whose flu season is now ending, show fewer flu deaths than normal.

And the Swine Flu Count Web site shows about 4,100 deaths worldwide in the last six months, fewer than die every six days from seasonal flu.

They're dropping like flies! Not.

But here's the real puzzle:

Note that, when it issued its "up to 90,000 deaths" report, the presidential council had ample access to the preliminary data from all these sources (and many more) showing the mildness of swine flu. Some scientists.

So you tell me. Are Obama's science advisors merely incompetent or are they working yet another big government hustle like the kleptocrats at The UN's World Health Organization?

The UN says to use wind-up alarm clocks to reduce global warming

From the Global Warming News Site comes proof that American taxpayers sure get full value from all the money we send to the UN:

People can help slow global warming with minor lifestyle changes such as using wind-up alarm clocks, taking direct flights and replacing aged appliances, a United Nations study found.

Using a spring-driven clock instead of an electric prevents 48 grams (1.7 ounces) of carbon-dioxide emissions daily, while air-drying clothes saves 2.3 kilograms (5.1 pounds) daily, the Nairobi-based UN Environment Program said today in an e-mailed statement. Jogging in the park rather than on a treadmill at a gym can cut 1 kilogram of carbon dioxide, or CO2, the main pollutant blamed for global warming.

People living in wealthy countries emit more than 10 metric tons (11 tons) of CO2 each per year, a figure that must drop to 2 metric tons by 2050 to slow the rate of temperature increases, according to the German environment ministry. About half of an individual's carbon output can be eliminated with ``little or no change in comfort,'' the UNEP said.

I see there's no word on battery powered dildos which are so vital to the UN lifestyle. Personally, I've got my own plan to do my part on Carbon Belch Day:

On June 12, we’re calling on people around the globe to do their part to save the planet by unleashing a healthy Carbon Belch.

There’s so much you can do to increase your carbon footprint on Carbon Belch Day -- mow your lawn, go for a drive, gather neighbors for a barbecue (calculate your carbon belch here). In fact, there’s something for everyone. It’s never been so easy to do your part.

Rule No. 1: Never let the United Nations handle money

Rule No. 2: There are no other rules.

Today's case in point - Billions wasted on UN climate programme:

Billions of pounds are being wasted in paying industries in developing countries to reduce climate change emissions, according to two analyses of the UN's carbon offsetting programme.

Leading academics and watchdog groups allege that the UN's main offset fund is being routinely abused by chemical, wind, gas and hydro companies who are claiming emission reduction credits for projects that should not qualify. The result is that no genuine pollution cuts are being made, undermining assurances by the UK government and others that carbon markets are dramatically reducing greenhouse gases, the researchers say.

The criticism centres on the UN's clean development mechanism (CDM), an international system established by the Kyoto process that allows rich countries to meet emissions targets by funding clean energy projects in developing nations.

Actually it's kind of funny. The "rich" countries get scammed twice: once by the global warming foolishness and again by UN-sponsored grifters.

A working paper from two senior Stanford University academics examined more than 3,000 projects applying for or already granted up to $10bn of credits from the UN's CDM funds over the next four years, and concluded that the majority should not be considered for assistance. "They would be built anyway," says David Victor, law professor at the Californian university. "It looks like between one and two thirds of all the total CDM offsets do not represent actual emission cuts."
...

"Traders are finding ways of gaining credits that they would never have had before. You will never know accurately, but rich countries are clearly overpaying by a massive amount," said Victor.
...
A separate study published this week by US watchdog group International Rivers argues that nearly three quarters of all registered CDM projects were complete at the time of approval, suggesting that CDM money was not needed to finance them.

The UN says they are carefully checking every CDM project and there sure are heap big emissions cuts. Of course, they checked every deal in the Iraq Oil-for-Food program and what they mostly checked was how much money they could stash in their personal bank accounts.

All of which reminds me of the sole piece of serious legislation that Barack Obama has sponsored in the US Senate - the so-called Global Poverty Act. Now this isn't the usual goofy plan that just sends more cash directly to the Third World Dictator Lifestyle Enhancement Fund. The Global Poverty Act would require the USA to comply with the United Nations Millennium Declaration and give 0.7% of our GDP from 2002 through 2015 to the UN to supposedly reduce global poverty. This is all part of the UN's Millennium Project run by former Columbia professor Jeffrey Sachs who reckons that the way to screw the required '$845 billion "over and above what the U.S. already spends"' out of the taxpayers is to put a UN tax on carbon-emitting fossil fuels. Then after the UN handles the cash and subtracts their overhead, they in turn put the remaining loot in the Third World Dictator Lifestyle Enhancement Fund.

Naturally since it's the UN we're talking about, it's interesting to speculate how much of the loot will actually get sidetracked to the UN Kleptocrats Lifestyle Enhancement Fund. After the UN got burned badly over the Iraq Oil for Food scandal they started requiring public financial disclosure from top bureaucrats so maybe now it's all OK? Bwahahaha - it's a canonical UN farce: (emphasis mine)

Translation: public disclosure at the UN can consist of signing a statement in which the only information imparted to the public is that you refuse to disclose anything except… your refusal to disclose.
...
For more detail, Matthew Russell Lee of Inner-City Press has been combing through and among many intriguing discoveries makes the excellent observation that among the 190 UN senior officials urged by Ban to fling themselves under the 10-watt glare of public disclosure described above, less than half were even as forthcoming as, say, Iqbal Riza. They wouldn’t even put their names on the site — or, as Matthew neatly put it, they have “not even consented to disclose their decision to maintain confidentiality.” This group includes — to name just a sampling — UN poverty guru and Under-Secretary-General Jeffrey Sachs; Ban’s special envoy for Burma, Ibrahim Gambari; and UN Controller Warren Sach.

Lest we forget, the purpose of this disclosure exercise, as Ban’s spokesperson announced last week, is to show that UN staff members “understand the importance” of assuring the rest of us “that in the discharge of their official duties and responsibilities, UN staff members will not be influenced by any consideration associated with his/her private interests.”

Sure - we believe ya!

There's lot's more wrong with the UN Millenium Declaration including banning "small arms and light weapons" and ratifying the International Criminal Court Treaty and the Kyoto Protocol (global warming treaty) among others and thereby giving them the force of law in the USA, but the biggest problem has to be that it violates Rule No. 1: Never let the United Nations handle money. However, there actually may now be room for another rule: Never let Barack Obama decide the foreign policy of the United States.

Speaking of Global Warming

There's one thing that you can say about global warming - it's the best scapegoat since Satan became passe:

If the zealots are right, global warming is the cause of just about any earthly ill or phenomenon. Hotter weather? It's caused by global warming. Colder weather? Global warming again. More rain? Global warming. Drought? Global warming.

Even an increase in vampire moths, insects that consume human blood, has been blamed on global warming.

In a tribute to rational thinking, and a welcome repudiation of silliness, John Brignell, a British engineering professor, has compiled "a complete list of things caused by global warming." Each of the more than 600 entries links to a story in which some so-called expert or "researcher" blames global warming for an unusual event, man-caused or no.

Taken individually, the items might seem to have some foundation in reality. It's plausible, of course, that a warmer world could cause glaciers to retreat or trigger an increase in malaria. But taken cumulatively (see numberwatch.co.uk), the foolishness quickly comes into focus.

For example, is global warming really causing both more and less rainfall? Larger and smaller harvests? Shrinking and growing ice sheets? How about dying and flourishing coral reefs, or rising and falling fish stocks?

Also attributed to global warming are: riots, nuclear war, frostbite, Earth fever, the Minneapolis bridge collapse, a boom in kittens and sharks, a bust in ducks and geese, struggling brothels, faster ocean waves, higher sewer bills, a spider invasion of Scotland, an end to cremation, and pay raises for lawyers.

Pretty scary, eh kids? Makes you want to dig deep to donate to the UN to sort it all out, right?

Here's a new Nigerian scam

Via email the latest twist in Nigerian scams:

FROM Dr.(MRS) NANCY ABIAM
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY
THE BENEFICIARY.
FRAUD VICTIMS REIMBURSEMENT.

Attention,

SCAM VICTIM REIMBURSEMENT.

I write to bring to your notice as a delegate from the Nigerian
Government Reimbursement committee under the strict supervision of the United
Nations to pay 230 Nigerian 419 scam victims the sum of $950,000.000.00 USD
(Nine Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars) each. You are hereby listed as one of the
beneficiaries for this payment.You are expected to get back to us as soon as
possible for your immediate reimbursement.

As a result of this laudable recommedations,it is imperative to bring
to your notice that during the last U.N. meeting held in Abuja, Nigeria, it was
alarmed by so many countries around the world about loss of funds by various
foreigners to these scam artists operating in syndicates all over the world
today.In other to redeem the good image of our dear country,the President has
ordered the immediate payment of $950,000.000.00 USD each to the affected
victims in accordance with the U.N. directives.

(blah, blah, blah)

The only folks that the United Nations recommends paying that kind of money to are the crooks running the joint.

Australian PM candiate Kevin Rudd is really a party animal!

You wouldn't guess it to look at him, but Kevin Rudd, Australian Labor Party Leader and PM hopeful in the upcoming election, turns out to be a real party animal after he gets a snootful:

Kevin Rudd's hopes of becoming Prime Minister have been rocked by a visit to a New York strip club where he was warned against inappropriate behaviour during a drunken night while representing Australia at the United Nations.

Mr Rudd yesterday issued a statement to The Sunday Telegraph, confirming he went to the club. But he said he could not recall what happened at the night spot because he had "had too much to drink''.

"If my behaviour caused any offence to anybody whatsoever that evening, I of course wholeheartedly apologise'' he said.

Mr Rudd went to the Manhattan "gentlemen's club'' Scores in September, 2003, when he was Shadow foreign affairs minister.

He was in New York at taxpayers' expense as a bipartisan observer at the UN. Mr Rudd went to the club, which is a well-known haunt of UN diplomats and journalists, with New York Post editor Col Allan and Northern Territory Labor MP Warren Snowdon.

Ole Kev sure got right into the United Nations thing, but a lot of the folks back home probably don't really understand what goes on there so they may be a trifle miffed. Not to mention his wife.

That's OK, Kevin - being a lefty means you'll be forgiven, but if you need some tips just put in a call to Ted Kennedy. The weekend is a bad time, of course, but whenever Ted sobers up I'm sure he'll give you a jingle with some good advice.

This is via Tim Blair who observes that "Haven’t been to the club in question, but things have to get pretty lively at these joints before you’re shown the door." Indeed. The article referenced explains what goes on at Scores, which is pretty much what goes on at any strip club but with higher prices, but here's the nut:

One customer review on the NY City Search site notes: "Scores has the best bouncers among all gentleman clubs in NY City. "They do not interfere unless you really cross the limit."

I wonder what ole Kevin was trying to stuff in her g-string? Kevin says he was too drunk to remember, but there must have been plenty of witnesses. C'mon folks, drop a dime.

Yet more global warming fun

When your political party's highest endeavor is legislating the weather, you have to be prepared for surprises. Of course, we know that the weather isn't really what it's about:

Thank you, Vaclav Klaus. In the sanest statement on global warming to issue from officialdom anywhere on the planet, Czech President Vaclav Klaus has called this latest sky-is-falling movement what it really is: “A new incarnation of modern leftism.”

My translation: When you hear “Global Warming,” think “Central Planning.”

In an interview with a Czech financial newspaper, Hospodarske Noviny, picked up in translation by the Drudge Report, Klaus calls global warning a “false myth,” and explains — correctly — that the UN’s IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), which issued the latest alarmist report, is “not a scientific institution” but “a sort of non-government organization of green flavor.”

Klaus has top credentials for sniffing out central planning schemes, of any flavor. He knows them all too well from Czechoslovakia’s decades behind the Soviet Iron Curtain, when the tint was red. It needs saying again and again. The drumbeat over global warming comes from the UN (here’s a link, again, to some background on the godfather of this movement, Maurice Strong). It is accompanied at every turn by schemes to transfer wealth, with the UN and its affiliates positioning themselves as toll collectors and traffic cops — promising somewhere down the line to reform the weather, but putting a hand out now for the money.

Seprating the marks from their cash and living the high life is what they do best at the UN.