Our national “news” programs have been preoccupied with baseball players on steroids, but they should devote some attention to the Bush Administration’s approval of a plan to put the United Nations on steroids. Apparently looking to leave office with the blessings of the “international community,” the Bush Administration sold out American interests at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia, in December.

Official conference documents speak of “a new global deal” by 2013, under which the U.S. dramatically reduces its greenhouse gas emissions under U.N. auspices and transfers more money and technology to other countries. Marc Morano, who works for Senator James Inhofe and provides information that the U.S. media will not give to the American people, notes in a dispatch (see below) that the Bali conference featured a panel discussion of a global carbon tax to force U.S. taxpayers to cough up the money. An official U.N. report prepared for Bali speaks of “a need for new and additional external sources of funds.” That’s U.N.-speak for global taxes.

“The United States joins the consensus Decision of the Conference of the Parties in Bali that is a critical first step in assuring that the UN negotiation process moves forward toward a comprehensive and effective post-2012 arrangement,” declared the Bush White House press secretary in a statement. This is bureaucratic jargon for letting the United Nations and the rest of the world decide the fate of the U.S. economy.

It was a story the media had to cover in some form. The U.S. “concession” at the end of the conference, in agreeing to the final document, sidetracked charges that the U.S. had been “obstructionist,” the New York Times reported.

So the Bush White House got some semi-favorable press from the leading liberal paper in the U.S. But at whose expense? As usual, Americans will pay and get nothing in return. This time, it is worse—a U.S. administration is giving away our sovereignty to unelected bureaucrats and global elitists.

It’s quite a reversal—from rejecting the first U.N. global warming treaty, known as the Kyoto Protocol, to endorsing a much tougher and “comprehensive” treaty. It demonstrates, once again, how Bush has lost control of his administration and allows renegade bureaucrats at such agencies as the State Department and the CIA to set policy.

More Foreign Aid

The media noted the turnaround when the State Department decided at the last minute to support a document that not only commits the U.S. to another treaty that will dismantle even more of the U.S. industrial base, but will plunder American taxpayers for more of their hard-earned tax dollars to be sent to the rest of the world. This is called, in the words of the White House press secretary, “financing the deployment” of “clean technologies” in the developing world and “assisting countries in adapting to climate change.” Another term for it is “foreign aid.”

Americans oppose additional foreign aid. But when it is presented in terms of saving the planet, it sounds more palatable. It is also popular to promote more foreign aid in the name of fighting AIDS, except for the fact that the U.N. has been caught exaggerating this problem, too. It is not fashionable to say—and even Rupert Murdoch of Fox News has jumped on the global warming bandwagon—but plenty of experts note the evidence that climate change is a natural phenomenon that we can’t do anything about. However, the U.N. sees the “problem” as another means by which it can increase its power. The scam is getting rather old, but people keep falling for it.

In a related matter, the Medical Journal of Australia has published an article advocating a carbon tax on a family having more than two children because every baby “represents a potent source of greenhouse gas emissions…” The author, a medical doctor, says that, as “citizens of the world,” populations need to be controlled “to ensure the survival of the environment.” He suggests “carbon credits” for those who are sterilized so they can’t have children.

Global Government

This is where the global warming crusade is leading: an emerging world government with control over the most intimate details of our personal and family lives.

In addition to putting his stamp of approval on this suicidal course, President Bush is still pushing the dangerous U.N. Law of the Sea Treaty, which establishes another independent revenue stream for the U.N. and restricts U.S. access to oil, gas and minerals. A vote on this measure could take place at any time.

The evidence shows that the treaty’s International Seabed Authority (ISA) is as corrupt as any other U.N. bureaucracy. It has been racked by scandal and turmoil and hasn’t had a chief of administration for five years. That is the official who is supposed to manage the day-to-day activities of the ISA.

There is no ethics office for the ISA and no requirement for ISA employees to disclose any potential conflicts of interests.

The Secretary-General of the ISA is a veteran of the U.N. bureaucracy by the name of Satya N. Nandan and is from Fiji. He is serving his third four-year term as ISA Secretary-General, having first been elected in 1996. A veteran of the U.N. bureaucracy, he served as U.N. Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative for the Law of the Sea. He also served as chairman of the “Group of 77” developing countries of the U.N. Conference on the Law of the Sea from 1978 to 1979. The “Group of 77,” which actually numbers 130 countries and includes China, dominates the membership of the Law of the Sea Treaty organization.

Nithi Sam-Thambiah had briefly held the position of chief of administration and management at the ISA. Sam-Thambiah was hired in December 2001. Six months later he says he wrote a letter to ISA Secretary-General Nandan requesting a meeting to discuss various “sensitive” issues, including “mismanagement and irregularities” in the organization. One month later, Sam-Thambiah was fired.

If there ever were a time for Republican presidential candidates to break with Bush and stake out a position against the U.N. and for American sovereignty in foreign affairs, this was it. And yet, at the December 12 presidential debate, as the Bali conference was underway, Senator John McCain said that while he thought the climate was changing because of human activity, it didn’t really matter whether humans were a factor or not. “Suppose that climate change is not real and all we do is adopt green technologies, which our economy and our technology is perfectly capable of. Then all we’ve done is given our kids a cleaner world,” he said. McCain seems oblivious to the prospect of giving the U.N. more power and authority and reducing our living standards in service to a lie.

“I agree with John. Climate change is real. It’s happening. I believe human beings are contributing to it,” declared Rudy Giuliani. “I think the best way to deal with it is through energy independence.” But how can American “independence” be achieved when politicians are making our economy subservient to the dictates of a global elite operating through the corrupt U.N.?

Where does Giuliani get the idea that human beings are “contributing” to global warming anyway? The U.N. says so, and that’s apparently good enough for him.

Alan Keyes, the new entry in the race, had the best answer on the topic. “I’m in favor of reducing global warming, because I think the most important emission we need to control is the hot air emission of politicians who pretend one thing and don’t deliver,” he said.

It is tragic to watch America decline while corrupt international bureaucracies grow in power and influence over us. It looks increasingly like Al Gore did win the election and is president today.

Facing Facts

Some conservatives insisted that the Bush Administration’s capitulation to the global warming alarmists at the Bali, Indonesia, U.N. Climate Change Conference was either meaningless or else a victory! Such claims represent knee-jerk apologies for the Bush Administration. The sad fact is that Bush endorsed Hillary’s position on climate change at the Bali event.

Let us read from the State Department website about what happened in Bali. “Climate change is a serious challenge, the scale and scope of which will require a global response,” it says. “The United States is committed to doing its part, working at home and abroad on a range of initiatives, to strengthen energy security and effectively address climate change. We are fully engaged in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and we are committed to developing an environmentally effective and economically sustainable post-2012 framework to address climate change.”

Now keep in mind that the evidence requiring such a “global response” just isn’t there. Nobody knows this better than Sen. James Inhofe and his capable assistant, Marc Morano, who was at the Bali conference covering proposals for global taxes on the American people. They have consistently pointed out that the theory of man-made global warming is designed to increase government control over our economy and our lives through higher taxes and energy rationing.

Recall that the Bush Administration did not support ratification of the UNFCCC’s global warming treaty or Kyoto Protocol. The administration had been insisting that any plan to reduce emissions be voluntary and devised by individual nations rather than as a part of a global treaty. But now it is committed to a more “effective” treaty. This was said by some conservative bloggers to be a victory because the Bush Administration wants certain “developing” countries like China and India to be covered by this new international agreement. This is really a victory for the United Nations and the globalists.

Setting The Stage For Hillary

The State Department response is something that could have come out of a Hillary Clinton Administration. Indeed, the statement seems designed to lay the groundwork for Hillary’s “Plan to Address the Energy and Climate Crisis,” which she issued on November 5. Climate change “is a global problem that requires a global solution,” she said, in words that could have been borrowed from the Bush State Department. Hillary also urged the U.S. to play “an active role in developing the post-Kyoto treaty,” which is what Bush has done. Like Bush, she wants China and India to be part of it.

The Bush Administration has issued a document boasting that, from fiscal year 2001 to fiscal year 2007, the U.S. Government will have devoted some $37 billion to global warming. It’s hard to believe that an Al Gore Administration would have spent much more.

But more money will be needed. “The United States remains firmly committed to enhancing the financing tools needed to address global climate change,” declared the U.S. representative at the Meeting of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation. “This is U.N.-speak for shaking down the U.S. and other “rich” countries for more money. The actual title of the discussion was the “Financial Mechanism Fourth Review.” It was Agenda Item 5(a) at the conference for those interested in more of the excruciating details.

Global Taxes On The Table

“Mr. Chairman,” said the U.S. representative. “We do note that there are varying perspectives regarding the level and nature of the funding necessary to mitigate and adapt to climate change.”

Varying perspectives? This is apparently a reference to proposals for global taxes on the American people to pay for it. The Bush Administration didn’t even object to them. It treated them as valid and legitimate points of discussion.

“President Bush has proposed a new international clean technology fund to accelerate the uptake of clean energy technologies around the world, and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson is reaching out to partners to further develop this concept,” declared Dr. Paula J. Dobriansky, Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs and Head of the U.S. Delegation, at the Bali conference. How much will this cost the American taxpayers? Nobody seems to know. But we do know that it is designed to facilitate more foreign aid spending on the rest of the world.

More Spending, Not Less

Remember that all of this was taking place as President Bush was staging a mostly phony “spending showdown” with Congress.

In terms of cost, Dobrianky’s office could not tell AIM how much the U.S. spent on the Bali conference. Labeled the “most enchanting travel and holiday destination in the whole world,” Bali has been called the “Ultimate island.” It is full of luxury five-star hotels and beachfront and ocean view villas. Kuta, a resort town in Bali, has an atmosphere in which “Sex whispers in the tree leaves at night,” according to one account at Baliguide.com.

Dobriansky’s office couldn’t (or wouldn’t) tell AIM the names of the members of the U.S. delegation. We got a list of participants from the UNFCCC press office. It shows 136 official participants from the U.S., including many from Congress.

Appropriately enough, the list of U.S. participants included Susan Biniaz, an Assistant State Department Legal Adviser who has played a leading role in selling the Senate on the U.N.’s Law of the Sea Treaty.

It seems that one bad treaty deserves another.

Why did the U.S. even send an official delegation to the event? It may have had something to do with Bush leaving a “legacy.” If so, a President Hillary or Obama will be happy to inherit it.

GLOBAL TAX URGED AT U.N. CONFERENCE

(Editor’s Note: this is an edited version of the dispatch filed by Marc Morano about the proposal for a global carbon tax advanced at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bali. The term “EPW Press Blog” is the name for the blog associated with the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and its ranking Republican, Senator Inhofe).

BALI, Indonesia – A global tax on carbon dioxide emissions was urged to help save the Earth from catastrophic man-made global warming at the United Nations climate conference. A panel of UN participants on Thursday urged the adoption of a tax that would represent “a global burden sharing system, fair, with solidarity, and legally binding to all nations.”

“Finally someone will pay for these [climate related] costs,” Othmar Schwank, a global tax advocate, told Inhofe EPW Press Blog following the panel discussion titled “A Global CO2 Tax.” Schwank is a consultant with the Switzerland based Mauch Consulting firm.

Schwank said at least “$10-$40 billion dollars per year” could be generated by the tax, and wealthy nations like the U.S. would bear the biggest burden based on the “polluters pay principle.”

The U.S. and other wealthy nations need to “contribute significantly more to this global fund,” Schwank explained. He also added, “It is very essential to tax coal.”

The UN was presented with a new report from the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment titled “Global Solidarity in Financing Adaptation.” The report stated there was an “urgent need” for a global tax in order for “damages [from climate change] to be kept from growing to truly catastrophic levels, especially in vulnerable countries of the developing world.”

The tens of billions of dollars per year generated by a global tax would “flow into a global Multilateral Adaptation Fund” to help nations cope with global warming, according to the report. Schwank said a global carbon dioxide tax is an idea long overdue that is urgently needed to establish “a funding scheme which generates the resources required to address the dimension of challenge with regard to climate change costs.”

However, ideas like a global tax and the overall U.N. climate agenda met strong opposition Thursday from a team of over 100 prominent international scientists who warned the U.N. that attempting to control the Earth’s climate was “ultimately futile.”

The scientists wrote, “The IPCC’s conclusions are quite inadequate as justification for implementing policies that will markedly diminish future prosperity. In particular, it is not established that it is possible to significantly alter global climate through cuts in human greenhouse gas emissions.” The scientists, many of whom are current or former members of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), sent the December 13 letter to the U.N. Secretary-General. (See: Over 100 Prominent Scientists Warn UN Against ‘Futile’ Climate Control Efforts.)

The environmental group Friends of the Earth, in attendance in Bali, also advocated the transfer of money from rich to poor nations on Wednesday. “A climate change response must have at its heart a redistribution of wealth and resources,” said Emma Brindal, a climate justice campaigner coordinator for Friends of the Earth.

Calls for global regulations and taxes are not new at the U.N. Former Vice President Al Gore, who attended the Bali conference, reiterated his call to place a price on carbon dioxide emissions.

In 2000, then French President Jacques Chirac said the U.N.’s Kyoto Protocol represented “the first component of an authentic global governance.”

MIT climate scientist Dr. Richard Lindzen warned about these types of carbon regulations earlier this year. “Controlling carbon is a bureaucrat’s dream. If you control carbon, you control life,” Lindzen said in March 2007.

In addition, many critics have often charged that proposed tax and regulatory “solutions” were more important to the promoters of man-made climate fears than the accuracy of their science.

Former Colorado Senator Tim Wirth reportedly said in 1990, “We’ve got to ride the global warming issue. Even if the theory of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right thing—in terms of economic policy and environmental policy.”

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