Reflections From a Murky Pond

The world is now several weeks into the scandal of Climategate and the Warmists are in denial.  As a whole their response to a currently unknown hacker breaching the security of Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia (UEA) and leaking over a thousand emails and other documents has been to not respond. The Warmists have done their best to completely ignore this scandal and continue to maintain that “the debate is over.”

The cultists of Al Gore’s pseudo-religion, Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW), desperately want this scandal to be dismissed and forgotten.

Sadly for them, the leaked material comprised more than 1000 e-mails, 2000 documents, as well as the commented FORTRAN source code for modeling and data analysis, pertaining to Global Warming or Climate Change research from 1996 to 2009.  Much of it was very detrimental to both their credibility and their faith.

For the purposes of disseminating raw data for independent review I have provided the zipped contents (63.4Mb) of the compromised CRU server here.  Form your own opinion!

Possibly worse for them, those emails included discussions of how best to combat the arguments of climate change skeptics, defamatory comments about those skeptics, various queries from journalists, drafts of scientific papers, apparently successful attempts to keep scientists who have contrary views out of peer-review literature, and talk of destroying various files in order to prevent raw, unmodified data being revealed under the Freedom of Information Act.

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President Obama’s “Climate Czar,” the Director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, Carol Browner, was especially fervent in her denial of the issues uncovered by Climategate. Irrespective of whatever evidence of shoddy work and outright  malfeasance has come to light, she’s holding firm to the Warmists’ dogma and dismissing any complaints as irrelevant and from some “fringe” of society.

She’s either a True Believer in the Cult of Global Warming, or she just wants to keep her job, which is predicated on the Warmists’ doctrine, and remain somehow relevant.

There has been for a very long time a very small group of people who continue to say this isn’t a real problem, that we don’t need to do anything. On the other hand, we have 2,500 of the word’s foremost scientists who are in absolute agreement that this is a real problem and that we need to do something and we need to do something as soon as possible.

What am I going to do, side with the couple of naysayers out there or the 2,500 scientists? I’m sticking with the 2,500 scientists.I mean, these people have been studying this issue for a very, very long time, and agree that the problem is real.

— Carol Browner
November 25, 2009, Press Gaggle

A very small group of people who continue to say this isn’t a real problem? A couple of naysayers? Carol Browner obviously has as little grasp of math as she apparently does of any other hard sciences. The Pew Research Center’s most recent survey concerning Global Warming showed that only 57% of Americans believed that there is solid evidence that the Earth is warming at all and only 36% believed that such warming was anthropogenic in origin.

Since there are approximately 305 million people in the US, that means that around 131 million of them don’t believe that there is solid evidence to support the theory of Global Warming and around 195 million of them, while believing that there is evidence to support the theory of Global Warming, don’t think that the evidence solidly supports the claim that it is primarily a human caused situation.

Nobody in anything remotely close to their right mind would honestly try to describe between 100 – 200 million people as “a very small group” or “a couple of naysayers.” Of course this isn’t about honesty; it’s about denying that her raison d’être – and her raison d’être employé – isn’t being accepted as much as she needs it to be and that it just got exposed, once again, as being based on poor data, substandard modeling, slipshod analysis, and an agenda-driven “group think” that actively silenced contrary opinions and theories.

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There’s a certain schadenfreude to be derived from watching the Warmists, who disparagingly label any dissenters or skeptics as “Deniers,” running around in denial themselves. Indeed, the delectatio morosa that one can derive from the Warmists’ childish reaction to the discomfiture that Climategate has caused them is positively sinful.

They can deny the problem all that they want to. They can dismiss the scandal and the flaws and malfeasance it uncovered and forced into the public eye all that they want to. Doing so doesn’t change the fact that there is still debate about Global Warming, both its very existence and its possible causes, and that Climategate dramatically hurt their position.

Tags: Al Gore | Browner | Climate Change | CO2 | Global Warming | Liberals | Lies | Obama | Politics | Science | The Environment

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 at 1:03 pm and is filed under Politics, The Environment. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

In an odd twist of fate, either engendered by Divine Providence or Random Chance, the extreme apocalyptic views of Religion and Science are finally in agreement.

Repent! The End is Near!

Lo! And the seas shall boil and the skies shall burn, and the grass will be parched and a third of the trees laid waste! And this will happen at 10:00AM, twice on Saturdays!

Repent now, you sinners steeped in depravity – or a Developed Nation’s prosperity – lest God or Al Gore smite you.

I wonder how long it will be before the Warmists develop their own version of the Rapture? I suppose that will have to wait until we have better spaceflight though. 😉

Tags: Al Gore | Apocalypse | Atheists | Cartoons | Global Warming | Humor | Religion | Science

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 2nd, 2009 at 10:03 am and is filed under Humor, The Environment. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Back in 1992 Al Gore published Earth in the Balance, which was the relatively quiet first shot in the war of Global Warming v. The Developed World. Gore followed up this work with the 2006 release of An Inconvenient Truth, which was the first real frontal offensive by the Global Warming movement against the various commercial and industrial powers of our world. Years later we are deeply entrenched in a protracted battle over this issue.

This is sad and maddening because the entire perceived – or possibly manufactured – Global Warming crisis is based on the postulate that the Earth is growing warmer and that man-made greenhouse gas emissions are the primary cause of this warming.

From Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

Postulate
Pronunciation:\?päs-ch?-l?t, -?l?t\

Function: noun
Date: 1646

Definition(s):

1. a hypothesis advanced as an essential presupposition, condition, or premise of a train of reasoning

The adherents Global Warming have based their whole platform of radical change on a hypothesis. Worse they continue to base their actions on this hypothesis even though what evidence they had to support it was always in contention and has later been countered by later evidence that they discovered themselves. Personally, I would describe that as an wildly inaccurate postulate from which to continue to propose an agenda.

We don’t actually have any proof that the planet is warming at all. Much of the earlier evidence that supported that hypothesis has since been called into question.

• Global ocean temperatures have not risen
• The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is over an active volcano
• Global surface temperatures have been stable for 10 years
• Sea levels may not be rising since the late 1990s

The Global Warming adherents are still clinging to the science of the last decade, which has been called into question by later findings. That is both foolish and poor science. The closest they seem to have come to altering their hypothesis to fit with the changing available facts is to rebrand Global Warming as Climate Change.

I’m am not saying that the Earth’s climate isn’t changing, nor am I saying it isn’t growing warmer. I am saying that it isn’t proven by any means to be doing so. I think more research has to be done. I certainly think though that people shouldn’t be taking drastic, society changing actions to curb Global Warming until it is somewhat more rational to believe it’s happening; a less emotional satisfying but more reasoned approach seems to be called for.

On the other hand, none of the contrary evidence is significant enough to complete refute the hypothesis of Global Warming or Climate Change. Perhaps the Earth is growing warmer – but is mankind’s greenhouse gas emissions the primary culprit? The followers of Al Gore describe it as Anthropogenic Global Warming and would certainly have you believe so.  Sadly for them, this is also a postulate that multi-disciplined evidence questions.

• The “Hockey Stick Graph”‘ was proven to be a fraud
• Astronomers have found other planets are warming as well
• Global temperatures don’t coincide with CO2 levels

So, in the face of contradictory evidence what should people do? Should we really overturn the industries and whole societies of the Developed World because of an innacurate postulate, or should we approach it with all due caution and not loose sight of issues beyond CO2 emissions?

Tags: Al Gore | Capitalism | Climate Change | Global Warming | Liberals | Politics | Socialism | Society | The Environment

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 at 1:51 pm and is filed under The Environment. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Some people cannot seem to learn and apparently Al Gore is one of them. This would be even more funny if it wasn’t so pathetic.

Courtesy of Indianapolis Star – Gary Varvel – December 19, 2007

Apparently former Vice President Al Gore has filed numerous lawsuits against Time magazine, alleging a series of voting irregularities they maintain deprived Gore of Time’s “Person of the Year” Award. It has been announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin received the 2007 award, with Gore finishing second. Al Gore is in court once again demanding a recount.

“Mr. Gore has won an Emmy and an Oscar for his important work, not to mention a Nobel Peace Prize,” said a spokesman for the Vice President. “They don’t even have an Oscar ceremony in Russia. Who ever sees Russian films anyway?”

One of Gore’s suits accuses certain unnamed Time employees of denying others the right to vote when it was determined they were leaning toward Gore. Another suit claims the “Person of the Year” voting process is far too complicated to be understood by, to quote the lawsuit, “a bunch of journalists.” Gore’s lawyers are calling for a recount of the ballots in question.

One close advisor, requesting anonymity, claimed, “Putin is just the kind of civil-rights-trampling dictator the GOP loves to see in power. It would be interesting to sit down with those who voted and find out just how many have been subjected to Guantanamo-like coercion. Republicans knew Bush wouldn’t win, so this was the next best thing.”

Gotcha!

This post is taken from from Pat Sajak’s satire of a possible reaction by Al Gore to Vladimir Putin winning the 2007 “Person of the Year” award.

Tags: Al Gore | Humor | Man of the Year | Person of the Year | Politics | Society | Time | Vladimir Putin

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2007 at 6:03 pm and is filed under Humor, Politics, Society. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

On December 13, 2007, former US Vice-President Al Gore spoke at the UN Climate Conference in Bali. Once again Mr. Gore chose to attack his home country.

I am not an official and I am not bound by diplomatic niceties. So I am going to speak an inconvenient truth: my own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali

— Al Gore
At the UN Climate Conference

I suppose this is no surprise; Al Gore’s primary shtick is bashing the US. It is sadly also unsurprising that Mr. Gore is once again ignoring some truly inconvenient facts about the usefulness of the Kyoto Protocol:

It would seem reasonable to think that the signatory nations would be doing a better job of curtailing carbon emissions. It would also seem reasonable to think that the US, who won’t even ratify the Kyoto Protocol, would keep emitting CO2 at growth levels much higher than those signatory nations. It would be fallacious to think so.

Data on CO2 emission levels per nation are available from the U.S. Census Bureau. By comparing numbers from 1997 (the year the Kyoto Protocol was agreed upon) and 2004 (the latest year data is available for) we can arrive at the following statistics:

• Emissions worldwide increased 18.0%.
• Emissions from signatory nations increased 21.1%.
• Emissions from non-signatory nations increased 10.0%.
• Emissions from the United States increased 6.6%.

In point of fact United States’ CO2 emissions grew slower than those of over 75% of the Kyoto Protocol’s signatory nations.The Kyoto Protocol isn’t working – except as a vehicle for Al Gore’s ego.

One possible piece of good news for the world is that the Bali talks were aimed at launching negotiations to replace the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012. Hopefully something will be put into place that works this time. Perhaps the UN could start by stripping China and India of their supposed Emerging Nation statuses and applying the Protocol them as well.

• Emission increased from China 55%
• Emission increased from India 27%

Since the fact that these two up and coming commercial and industrial powerhouses wouldn’t be bound by the Kyoto Protocol due to their Emerging Nation status was one of the major reasons for the US’ refusal to ratify the treaty, perhaps that should be the first correction.

Tags: Al Gore | Climate Change | CO2 | Global Warming | Kyoto Protocol | Politics | The Environment | UN

This entry was posted on Friday, December 14th, 2007 at 11:49 am and is filed under Politics, The Environment. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.