Washington, DC - While scientists caution that the Sun is cooling and a "mini ice age" is in the making, the ideological weathermen inside the beltway cling to the notion of global warming.
"The dichotomy has far-flung repercussions, including a negative impact on the economic future of the nation," warns Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens.
"Adamant opposition to the Keystone pipeline, inflexible limitations on oil exploration and recovery and onerous restrictions on coal proposed by the EPA are just a few of the manifestations of the White House focus on global warming," Weber said.
Meanwhile, a bill that would have given the okay to the pipeline was defeated in the Senate this week, but President Obama said he would have vetoed the measure had it passed muster. "Apparently, he and the bulk of Democrats in the Senate believe they owe more to the environmentalist base of the party than they do to the American people," Weber commented.
He added that there is evidence that the pipeline would not harm the environment and that it would create much-needed jobs but that it is being ignored. In fact, there have been five federal environmental impact studies, including one by the State Department. All of them concluded that the Keystone project would not harm the environment.
"But the president is fixated on his climate change agenda and won't budge."
Republicans will control both houses of Congress come January 3rd and so lawmakers will get another chance to enact legislation to allow the pipeline to be built.
The president is likely to veto the measure and so the GOP is hoping to convince a group of pro-energy Democrats to join them in passing a veto-proof bill. For that to happen the Senate would need 67 solid votes in favor of the project and the House would need 290 ayes.
"Whether or not they can manage to do that is not the issue. The issue is whether the new Congress can break the environmental deadlock President Obama has created, an impasse that prevents us from achieving energy self-sufficiency and that will result in fewer jobs, higher gas prices and sharp increases in the cost of electricity. The hardest hit by these outcomes, of course, are the neediest among us-including the elderly," Weber stated.
He said that the vehement Democratic opposition to the utilization of the country's vast natural energy resources "is driven as much by political considerations as by environmental concerns. There are all those Liberal donors out there who might cut back on their donations to the party, including Tom Steyer, the liberal billionaire activist who just might stop shelling out tens of millions of dollars for Democratic election campaigns if they don't toe the line on the environment."
As for the new ice-age theory, Weber noted, "there's as much genuine scientific proof out there to support the notion that Caribbean resorts will soon offer snowboarding as a new leisurely pursuit as there is that in time we'll be able to go surfing in the Arctic Ocean. Perhaps the more the climate changes the more it will remain the same."
