In White House, global cooling is warming, and liberal fascism is on the march

Not content with frenzied spending, President-for-the-time-being Barack Obama is now preparing to extend panicky policy-making to other realms.

His science advisor, John Holdren, has told the Associated Press that officials regard global warming as so dire that they are talking about engineering the climate. One possible approach: shooting pollution particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun's rays. Holdren said that such an experimental measure would be used only as a last resort.

Bear in mind that, the AP reports, twice in a half-hour interview, Holdren compared global warming to being "in a car with bad brakes driving toward a cliff in the fog."

If Holdren is to decide when the last resort must be unleashed, the decision may already have been made.

In light of the disastrous consequences of previous government social engineering projects, such as subprime mortgages, one shudders to think of the potential results of atmospheric engineering.

Unintended consequences, of course, do not figure in public discussion of panic-driven presidential actions or proposals. That's why panicky policy making is so much in favor.

The question is especially pertinent because the administration's feverish and costly spending on bailouts and stimulus plans has failed to produce discernible signs of economic recovery.

Moreover, the world's average temperature has been falling, not rising, for the last seven years. If the administration can claim that global warming is dire at a time when it actually is vanishing, who is to say what would trigger deliberate high-level pollution as a remedy?

Obama's apparent vision of an American society in which government intrudes more and more on individual and corporate decision-making relies on a series of building blocks.

Global warming is vital. If the propagandists can persuade the public that it is real, and human life itself is at stake, there is no limit to the extent of government inroads that might be tolerated.

Obama's administration already has gained control of major banks, car manufacturers General Motors and Chrysler, and insurance companies. The fairy tale of global warming could lead to government control of the energy industry and pave the way to extensive control of other industries.

Liberal fascism is on the march in America.