The immense and imminent threat of “global warming”, supposedly caused by humanity’s feckless ways, has been exposed as a fantasy.

So now the alarmists, who cannot admit defeat because they profit so hugely from their warmed-up panic, cry “climate change” instead.

Sure, the earth’s climate is changing. It’s forever changing. Who’s surprised? And who on earth wants to pay to know more about it?

Pay we do, however, and lavishly, whether we want to or not.

According to Art Horn, meteorologist, about $4 billion of tax-payers’ money will be spent this year – “wasted” as he bluntly and fairly puts it – on climate change research.

Here’s his account of where the money goes:

What can we cut out of the federal budget to make any kind of dent in this enormous pile of borrowed money? We could start with the vast sums of cash being wasted on climate change research.

This year, your government will spend in the neighborhood of $4 billion on global warming research, despite the fact that there has been no global warming since 1998, and despite all of the billions that have been spent so far yielding no conclusive evidence that using fossil fuels to make energy has any significant effect on Earth’s temperature.

The human component of carbon dioxide that is injected into the air each year is very small, on the order of 3%. Half the carbon dioxide emitted into the air by human activity each year is immediately absorbed into nature. Carbon dioxide is 8% of the greenhouse effect; water in the air is 90% of the greenhouse effect. By volume, carbon dioxide is currently at about 390 parts per million in the atmosphere, increasing at about 2 parts per million annually. In other words, carbon dioxide is increasing at a rate of .5% per year. Since human activity adds 3% of the carbon dioxide that gets into the air each year, the human component of the increase in carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year is 3 % of .5%, or just .015%. …

Check the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s 2011 budget request, and go to chapter 15: Climate Change in the FY 2011 Budget. The numbers are staggering. In 2011, your government will spend $10.6 million a day to study, combat, and educate about climate change.

The big winner in the climate change money train is the National Science Foundation — they are requesting $1.616 billion. They want $766 million for the Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability program, a 15.9% increase from their last budget. They also need another $370 million for the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), an increase of 16%. They say they also need another $480 million for Atmospheric Sciences, an increase of 8.1%, and Earth Sciences, up 8.7%.

Oh, and $955 million for the Geosciences Directorate, an increase of 7.4%.

The second largest request for money in 2011 comes from the Department of Energy. They say they need $627 million for things like funding for renewable energy. The request represents a whopping 37% increase from last year! …

Let’s get NASA in on the parade! For 2011, NASA wants $438 million to study climate change, an increase of 14%. NASA’s total Earth Sciences budget request is actually $1.8 billion. …

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is looking for $437 million for climate research. This is an increase of 21.4% from the previous budget. This includes funds for regional and national assessments of climate change, including ocean acidification. Once again, another meaty bag of money to tap into for researchers, who have nice cars and big houses and need to keep up the payments.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) is also interested in robbing the climate change vault — they say they need $244 million in 2011. Of this total, $171 million is for the Climate Change Adaptation initiative. …  Another $73 million is needed for the New Energy Frontier initiative. The goal of this program is to increase solar, wind, and geothermal energy capacity. …

Of course, there’s more. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants $169 million to reduce greenhouse gas emissions …

Is there any government agency that does not get some climate change funding? The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) wants $338 million for climate change programs. They want $159 million for climate change research, up a whopping 42%. They also want another $179 million for renewable energy, an increase of 41%! The USDA’s climate change efforts are supposed to help farm and land owners adapt to the impacts of climate change. Yes, really.

Redundancy on top of redundancy, piles of money on top of piles of money. All to study climate change, which, according to the theory, should be warming us rapidly, but, according to the data, has stopped.

Ours is a highly adaptable species. Human beings have survived climate changes for hundreds of thousands of years. Guess we could struggle on as usual without financing exorbitantly expensive investigations into a phenomenon we know perfectly well we cannot control.

The press was excluded from  the “nuclear conference” that Obama held with fellow dictators and other heads of state. This surely indicates over-caution on his part – up to now he could obviously rely on most of the press to defend him no matter what outrages he commits. Why did he think they’d let him down this time? Was he saying things that even his shills and sycophants would find hard to spin to his greater glory?

Rich Galen writes at Townhall:

The “leader of the free world” was putting on a clinic for some of the world’s greatest dictators in how to circumvent a free press.

No reporters were permitted in the sessions, and the amount of time the press was permitted to be in contact with any national leader was measured, literally, in seconds.

This was a summit to deal with the control of nuclear materials…

Like them or not, the tiny White House press corps is the eyes and ears for the other 300 million of us. Ignoring, hiding from, shutting out, and refusing to let those handful of people do their jobs on our behalf is a significant – a very significant – red flag.

If Barack Obama were simply exhibiting contempt for the press corps he might find many who agree with him. But, Obama is revealing disdain for the concept of being President in an open society.

The national press corps – whether they want Obama to succeed or fail – cannot ignore his scorn for the First Amendment.

Every other freedom depends upon it.

The Dictator threw a few remarks to the public which he allowed to be conveyed by the press. At RedState, Lori Ziganto comments on one of them:

Yesterday at his nuclear conference, Obama said the following …

“Whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower.”

Whether we like it or not. That’s like what Mommies say when telling you to eat your yucky vegetables. Would he prefer that we be vulnerable and weak? Heck of an American Can-Do attitude, Barry!

It is, of course, being spun by those who still insist that we need to be above it all as “Oh, he meant we are drawn into conflicts due to being a superpower.” While perhaps true, one need only look to Obama’s associations and his very actions to see what he truly meant and what he believes.

Obama does not believe in American Exceptionalism and he is actively pursuing its decline. There, I said it. He has surrounded himself with people who hold these same beliefs. Further proof is evidenced by a speech – to young students – that his Science Czar gave the other day.

The Obama administration’s top science and technology official, who has argued for the economic de-development of America, warned science students last Friday that the United States cannot expect to be “number one” forever. “We can’t expect to be number one in everything indefinitely,” Dr. John P. Holdren said at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

We can’t expect to be number one in everything indefinitely. Because that would be meany pants, I suppose. And “not fair.” This isn’t the first time John Holdren has espoused such views. … Holdren argues for a redistribution of wealth achieved in part by green policies. Oh yeah, he also says that America isn’t really Exceptional. …

We’ve seen everything that we warned prior to the election coming true. Obama, his administration and the Democrats are trying to Europe-inize us with a federal government involved and in control of every aspect of our lives, a weakened military, attempts to morally equate America with our enemies and a belief that America is not special.

Well, it is special. America IS that shining city on the hill. It is a beacon of light for the rest of the world and it shall remain so, despite their best efforts to “hope and change” that.

The writer goes on to praise the contrasting attitude of a conservative Republican whom we think very highly of:

Liz Cheney called all this at last year’s RedState gathering… Thus, I’ll leave off with her words from the speech she gave last August:

“We know that freedom isn’t free, that America’s armed forces are the best fighting force the world has ever known. And finally, we know that America is the best nation on earth, the best that has ever existed. We believe in her goodness, her strength, her hope and her example — for all who seek freedom in every corner of the world. Those are conservative values. Those are American values.”

There is the difference. We believe in America’s goodness and strength. The Obama administration believes that to be a detriment.

She also said:

“He cannot attempt to stand above America and our enemies. America needs a Commander-in-Chief, not a global community organizer. The purpose of diplomacy is not to be liked. The purpose of foreign policy is not to get applause in foreign capitals. The purpose of having a Commander-in-Chief and pursuing a national security strategy is to defend America’s interests, aggressively, effectively and unapologetically. If the American President doesn’t do this — who will?”

We will, Liz. We, the people, will.