When Barack Obama announced his pick for Science Adviser, he stated "promoting science isn’t just about providing resources" but "ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology."
As he appointed
John P. Holdren.
Who is John P. Holdren? Well, he holds the John and Theresa Heinz Kerry Chair of Environmental Policy at Harvard (yes, the Kerrys created it for him).
More to the point, Holdren, who started his career writing for
Ramparts (!!), is a disciple of and collaborator with apocalyptic fruitcake Paul Ehrlich. Herewith some of the thinking of the President's principal advisor on matters scientific:
There exists ample authority under which population growth could be regulated...It has been concluded that compulsory population-control laws, even including laws requiring compulsory abortion, could be sustained under the existing constitution if the population crisis became sufficiently severe to endanger the society. If some individuals contribute to general social deterioration by overproducing children, and if the need is compelling, they can be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility. If the United States government refuses to take proper measures, the United Nations should be authorized to take compelling force.
National sovereignty must be surrendered to a global authority with imperative powers. Such a comprehensive Planetary Regime could control the development, administration, conservation, and distribution of all natural resources, renewable or nonrenewable...not only in the atmosphere and oceans, but in such freshwater bodies as rivers and lakes. The Regime might also be a logical central agency for regulating all international trade...The Planetary Regime might be given responsibility for determining the optimum population for the world and for each region and for arbitrating various countries' shares within their regional limits.
It is essential that GDP per person be reduced by a significant proportion.
De-development of overdeveloped countries...should be given top priority.
The rich nations must devote 20 percent of their GDPs for ten or fifteen years to the task of population control and development of the poor countries. We believe an effort of this magnitude is not only justified but essential. [He has subsequently amended "fifteen or twenty years" to "several decades."]
Although Holdren prefers a global carbon tax presided over by a United Nations-strength IRS, he is open to a stringent global cap-and-trade program. However, that program must contain:
A means for transferring some of the revenue produced by carbon taxes upon, or permits purchased by, countries and consumers with high incomes and high per capita emissions to countries and consumers with low incomes and low per capita emissions
Carbon dioxide-induced famines could kill as many as a billion people before the year 2020
If the current pace of change continues, a catastrophic sea level rise of 4m ][13 feet] this century is within the realm of possibility
But wait, there's more! Along with fellow climate alarmist James Hansen, Holdren advocates putting AGW "deniers" on trial for crimes against humanity. I dimly seem to recall that the 'scientific method' I studied in college didn't quite work like that....
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And so this is the man who will be soberly advising the President, "ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology."
Uh-huh.
And then there's Climate Czar Carol Browner......