Kilroy was here

By James A. Marusek

Please follow the link at the end of this post to see the rest of the commentary and the great pictures Jim has posted. RK

I had the great pleasure of attending the 4th International Conference on Climate Change in downtown Chicago this week. It was like for a moment being at the very center of the universe. I felt like going off and etching “Kilroy was here” permanently on stone in some corner of the hotel. But in my case it might be “Marusek was here”. I held back my temptation because the Chicago Marriott Magnificent Mile Hotel is far too beautiful to damage in any way. Besides I am a builder rather than a destroyer, unless of course it is something like the unscientific theory called man-made global warming.

This conference was ultimately about Liberty. The world’s elitists are determined to shackle the common man with a burden of undue taxation and totalitarian control. I say this quite literally. Their well-defined goal is to use a great flogging whip to rip the flesh off the backs of billions of hard-working individuals and drive them back into throes of slavery. That whip is the mythical fear of man-made global warming. The whip is fashioned in utter horror and despair for the future, for the very survival of our children. It is so fearsome that it possesses the power to shake the common man to his very core and onto his knees and into total submission. And the scary part is they almost succeeded.

The story behind the origin of “Kilroy was here” is an interesting one. Kilroy was believed to be an American shipyard inspector, James J. Kilroy. Shipyard workers were paid for the number of rivets they installed each day in constructing new ships. At the end of their shift, they marked in chalk where they stopped and the next riveter began. But some workers were unscrupulous and erased the original chalk line and moved it to steal a little extra money. Kilroy stopped this practice by writing, “Kilroy was here” at the site of each chalk mark. So the origin of “Kilroy was here” is a story about restoring honesty and integrity.

The conference sponsored by the Heartland Institute was well attended with almost a thousand scientists, economists and other interested parties to the global warming debate. As a result, the presentations were broken out into four simultaneous tracks. Two of these tracks dealt strictly with the Science. One track focused on Economics. And the final track dealt with Public Policy. Some of these sessions were standing room only as can be seen in the photograph on the next page. I arrived late to the first session, so I was one of those standing in the back of the room. After that I made a point of arriving early and staking out a seat.

The Plenary sessions revolved around meals. These meals were almost works of art. Renowned speakers would give talks. Each session began with a time to introduce oneself and practice the fine art of conversation. After the dinner and the talks, there were time to meet the speakers and mix. Don’t stop reading…..

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