July 28, 2011

The global warming "consensus" is cracking up.

2 stories on Drudge right now:



1. "Alaska researcher who documented polar bears demise in Arctic placed on leave..."
Just five years ago, Charles Monnett was one of the scientists whose observation that several polar bears had drowned in the Arctic Ocean helped galvanize the global warming movement.

Now, the wildlife biologist is on administrative leave and facing accusations of scientific misconduct.

The federal agency where he works told him he's being investigated for "integrity issues," but a watchdog group believes it has to do with the 2006 journal article about the bear....

The article and presentations drew national attention and helped make the polar bear a symbol for the global warming movement. Former vice president and climate change activist Al Gore mentioned the animal in his Oscar-winning global warming documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth."

Monnett said that alleging scientific misconduct "suggests that we did something deliberately to deceive or to, to change it. Um, I sure don't see any indication of that in what you're asking me about."
2. "New NASA Data Blow Gaping Hole In 'Global Warming' Alarmism..."
NASA satellite data from the years 2000 through 2011 show the Earth's atmosphere is allowing far more heat to be released into space than alarmist computer models have predicted, reports a new study in the peer-reviewed science journal Remote Sensing. The study indicates far less future global warming will occur than United Nations computer models have predicted, and supports prior studies indicating increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide trap far less heat than alarmists have claimed....

"The satellite observations suggest there is much more energy lost to space during and after warming than the climate models show," Spencer said in a July 26 University of Alabama press release. "There is a huge discrepancy between the data and the forecasts that is especially big over the oceans."

[T]he central premise of alarmist global warming theory is that carbon dioxide emissions should be directly and indirectly trapping a certain amount of heat in the earth's atmosphere and preventing it from escaping into space. Real-world measurements, however, show far less heat is being trapped in the earth's atmosphere than the alarmist computer models predict, and far more heat is escaping into space than the alarmist computer models predict.

115 comments:

mesquito said...

Why do you hate Our Planet, Althouse?*

*mesquito can go passive-aggresive as well

Heart_Collector said...

It cant crack up when I never paid attention to it in the first place.

rhhardin said...

I doubt the new data is any more reliable than the old, ultimately.

It's too complicated a system to say much about or even measure.

It would be enough if researchers would go back to quietly looking at small pieces of it all, if it still interested them in the absence of grants and a management career path.

There are people who like that, just out of curiosity. They're actual scientists.

TosaGuy said...

But the NASA study didn't include violently released balloon gas.

Carol_Herman said...

It was bound to crack, it's a fraud.

In the world of CON ARTISTRY though Algore always looked fat & frozen. Alas, this is not true about Boehner.

Who played his "schtick" like an ace. On a street corner. Calling you to play a game of 3-card-Monty.

The only thing that's been missing is the dead parrot.

And, that NO CUTS will be made to government as you know it. Even with those people given uniforms ... who toodle about carrying thermometers to gauge temperatures.

Everything really just takes place on the golf course! Which is a stupid game ... and where the grass is greener than normal.

Christopher said...

The never was a global warming consensus.

Balfegor said...

That second one is probably sound, but the fact that the reporter says "alarmist global warming theory" or "alarmist computer models" about 50 times in a short article kind of suggests that this reporter is not, perhaps, a model of objectivity.

DADvocate said...

I'm just surprised the truth is becoming so public.

The debate is over!
The debate is over!
The debate is over!
The debate is over!
The debate is over!
The debate is over!
The debate is over!
The debate is over!

(It has been pretty hot here in Ohio that last couple of weeks. Happens every year for some reason.)

The Dude said...

The science is settled!

Balfegor said...

As I look at the byline, I guess he's not actually a reporter, he's an outside expert. Still, a bit much.

Mike said...

Gee Ann the new data suggests that all the heat that wass supposed to be trapped by 'greenhouse gases" is simply bloeing into outer space. And all the regulations designed to reduce greenhouse gases at some godawful cost may be misguided.

Do you suppose that all of this global warming hysteria is simply--hot air? Bada Bing, Bada Boom!!!!

jimspice said...

From the Forbes article author note:

"James M. Taylor is senior fellow for environment policy at The Heartland Institute and managing editor of Environment & Climate News."

Hmm. Heartland Institute. Who would ever have imagined climate change denial coming from a Koch funded group. What are the chances.

Eric said...

That second one is probably sound, but the fact that the reporter says "alarmist global warming theory" or "alarmist computer models" about 50 times in a short article kind of suggests that this reporter is not, perhaps, a model of objectivity.

Yeah, it would have been a much harder-hitting article if he didn't editorialize it like that. But it's hard to blame skeptics for piling on a little gleefully given the massive, tax funded PR campaign against them.

test said...

Global Warming was exposed when Obama appointed Van Jones his Green Czar. If gobal warming were a scientific issue that position would have required a scientific background. Instead Obama appointed a far left political activist.

Green programs are jobs programs for otherwise unemployable leftists. They are the Democrats' plan to force taxpayers to fund Democratic political efforts. And this remains true no matter how much the planet actually warms.

The Dude said...

I think the bears murdered themselves after listening to Amy Winehouse.

WV: narcolog - just in from Colombia, where bears go to play in the snow.

Michael K said...

This is a religion for the left and it will be very difficult to get any sense from them. The EPA is the bleeding edge of the left's assault on common sense.

What concerns me is that an ice age may be coming and the stuff the warmists are doing is helping the swing the pendulum toward a very cold 100 years. Warming is a lot more benign that cooling.

bagoh20 said...

The idea that a planet that has had a relatively stable climate for hundreds of millions of years, despite all kinds of calamities, will suddenly, in a geological blink of an eye, make an unprecedented left turn is a theory that should require exceptional proof to be taken seriously.

Anything is possible, but there are much more plausible and common explanations for this theory to exist, and they don't have much to do with any of the sciences other than psychology and economics.

Sal said...

The Forbes article stinks no less than some stupid bullshit put out by Al Gore.

Way too much use of the word "alarmist."

gadfly said...

Polar Bears Defy Extinction Threat

But we have known this since February 2005!

Chuck66 said...

jimspice.....blaming the Jew businessmen Kochs for controlling the country is sooooo spring 2011. The new thing is that the Norwegian-American Norquist secretly runs the country. Haven't you been on the internet this week?

bagoh20 said...

Since the evidence points nowhere, alarmists should be pushing global cooling. It's much more scary, and for good reason. It doesn't have the added benefit of implying that humans industry is evil, but I'm sure they could come up with some reason to tax and sing kumbaya anyway.

Shouting Thomas said...

So, now we know!

Althouse is taking under the table payments from Big Oil and the Koch Bros!

Chuck66 said...

Maybe there is Global Warming. Maybe there is a man-made contribution to this. But the believers as so over the top that they lose all credibility.

And as we have been saying...when the believers start behaving like there is a crises, then I may believe them. But they keep flying around on their private jets, owning huge mansions, and buyings yachts the size of a small town...just makes me think that they don't really believe this stuff.

Chuck66 said...

Like the Madison car rally. People drove cars from all over the nation to come to Madison to show how much gas their cars save. Ummmm, I believe Amtrak and Badger Coach Lines will bring you to Madison for almost no incremental gas usage.

sorepaw said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sal said...

Please enlighten us, Dr. Hanna.

There's a first time for everything.

gadfly said...

You think man can destroy the planet? What intoxicating vanity. Let me tell you about our planet. Earth is four-and-a-half-billion-years-old. There's been life on it for nearly that long, 3.8 billion years. Bacteria first; later the first multi-cellular life, then the first complex creatures in the sea, on the land.

Then finally the great sweeping ages of animals, the amphibians, the dinosaurs, at last the mammals, each one enduring millions on millions of years, great dynasties of creatures rising, flourishing, dying away -- all this against a background of continuous and violent upheaval. Mountain ranges thrust up, eroded away, cometary impacts, volcano eruptions, oceans rising and falling, whole continents moving, an endless, constant, violent change, colliding, buckling to make
mountains over millions of years.

Earth has survived everything in its time. It will certainly survive us.


Michael Crichton, Prologue to Jurassic Park

sorepaw said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Christy said...

At a conference years ago on mixed waste - hazardous and radioactive - I approached an EPA honcho and complained that his regs ignored the laws of physics. He replied, "We don't care about the laws of physics. We implement the laws of Congress."

Sums it up.

In over two decades of dealing with the EPA, I never saw any evidence of science, just agendas.

Carol_Herman said...

Do we owe a lot to the economic downturn?

It seems to me it was once much easier to con people.

Will an ARMY OF DAVIDs be able to react with enough force ... that we can scare the con artists who hang around the golf course?

Why did Obama and Boehner get involved in such a crap shoot over NOTHING! Neither side is willing to cut and balance.

And, both Boehner and McConnell got in ... because of crumby rules that lets the likes of Bryd and Teddy Kennedy stay on top until they drop dead!

You know Teddy Kennedy took the Kennedy reputation with him! The fancy Catholic funeral did not change that one whit!

Again, it's the economic downturn that may be what "stops the music."

Maybe, ahead, it's gonna be harder to fool the kids?

Lance said...

Way too much use of the word "alarmist."

Maybe the reporter's compensating for the climate reporting of the past 15 years.

Paul said...

I have never taken Al "looser' Gore's word for anything since he never did as he preached.

He talked the talk but never walked the walk. Wanted everyone else to sacrifice but little old him (just like Obama!!!).

Now if he had sold his mansion(s), cut down on his lifestyle, traveled coach on jets, then I'd have thought maybe he was right.

But no.... old Al just couldn't pass up that luxury!

And that was the tipoff!

Tyrone Slothrop said...

Where's Madison Man?

He took hook, line, and sinker, and then cast aspersions on us non-climatological types who didn't buy this vast social engineering scheme.

Carol_Herman said...

Cholera. And, flushing toilets. Maybe, even phosphates in soap? All worked together to get people to respect cleaner water?

Even washing your hands often was once something you only saw doctors do. Because hospitals provided sinks and soap in every room.

Women died like flies because doctors didn't know enough, once, when they went from bed to bed. Stopping also to look at corpses.

You know? People laughed at Louis Pasteur. Eventually, though, people can learn to stop laughing, no?

Not so much, though, for snake oil salesmen. Which is what algore did with the climate. With a lot of help from Oslo. (Because the UN thought they could tax the world.)

Then, economies began collapsing left and right.

Anonymous said...

Sorepaw: nope. AGW is a hobby interest of mine. I know a bit about it. And though I'm not a scientist by profession, I do have 30+ graduate-level credits in stats under my belt, so I can probably grasp the original sources a bit better than the average bear.

Lincolntf said...

"Where do we go to get our educations back?" - Every schoolkid in the AGW Hysteria cohort

traditionalguy said...

This the massive fraud of all time sponsored by governments who dumped money to create a World Government and a World Currency on the backs of totally corrupt scientists.

They have not stopped pushing for that goal.

Therefore the Big Lie that CO2 is pollution merrily along. Corrupt Science is everywhere you look. All of it was made up.

This does prove that Obama is a criminal traitor seeking the downfall of the USA.

But then we knew that. What ever will we do about it.

Let's elect a President who is an expert in energy issues and who is incorruptible.

Where ever shall we find her?

Anonymous said...

Sorepaw: nope. AGW is a hobby interest of mine. I know a bit about it. And though I'm not a scientist by profession, I do have 30+ graduate-level credits in stats under my belt, so I can probably grasp the original sources a bit better than the average bear.

Palladian said...

Linda said... "Sorepaw: nope. AGW is a hobby interest of mine. I know a bit about it. And though I'm not a scientist by profession, I do have 30+ graduate-level credits in stats under my belt, so I can probably grasp the original sources a bit better than the average bear."

Did we just learn that jimspice has a mysterious drag personality named "Linda"?

Titus said...

How are all you dealing with the Countdown To The Crisis?

jimspice said...

If this shows up twice, sorry. Accidentally posted from my wife's account.

Sorepaw: nope. AGW is a hobby interest of mine. I know a bit about it. And though I'm not a scientist by profession, I do have 30+ graduate-level credits in stats under my belt, so I can probably grasp the original sources a bit better than the average bear.

traditionalguy said...

The only redeeming development is the renewed interest of the courageous and honest scientists in the Global Cooling Crisis that we have been entering for three years.

Titus said...

I am stocking up on fresh organics, thanks for asking.

I purchased a bag of grapes from Willy Coop today and they cost like $9.00. I paused for a brief moment and then said fuck it, I am rich.

edutcher said...

The consensus was never that solid that it could be cracked now; the eco-fascisti tried to drown any and all skepticism, but that nasty old data kept slipping out.

Chip S. said...

I can probably grasp the original sources a bit better than the average bear.

Then why would your first move be the Koch's Pawn Opening? If there's any trickery, you'll be able to spot it in no time at all.

Known Unknown said...

Wait, what happened to the darker orange/red headlines?

PaulV said...

Was jimspice joking about the average polar bear?

WV: endrag
The polar bear was dress en drag cause it was hot

Big Mike said...

As I've been saying repeatedly, the AGW theory made predictions. The predictions have not been observed. Consequently the theory has been falsified.

QED

The Dude said...

jimspice has his credits under his belt for safe keeping. No one would look there, save Titus.

Big Mike said...

But don't worry, there will be something else coming along that will cause liberals to run around with their hair on fire.

Don't know what it will be, but I know liberals well enough to know that it will be something or another.

And whatever it is, it can only be fixed by spending lots and lots and lots of money.

This is a sure as the sun coming up.

n.n said...

Models or physical evidence. I wonder which should take precedence in scientific research. Maybe with additional manipulation and massaging of the models, then they will be able to dispute real-world observations. Then again, what can we expect with an incompletely characterized open system.

It would be advisable for the people driving this agenda to reconsider their positions before making further attempts at turning the world upside down; and for profit, no less.

It would appear that Enron 2.0 is fated to suffer the same fate as its predecessor.

As for the polar bears, how often is speculation, inference, and generic extrapolation, based on limited circumstantial evidence, substituted for physical evidence and supported arguments? I wonder.

Well, at least we know that the true spirit of science retains a favored consensus. Unfortunately, this is not the first time, and is unlikely to be the last, when science will be exploited in the service of special interests.

Carol_Herman said...

Our planet is more water than land mass. In terms that if you don't know the temperatures of the water ... and this is an UNKNOWN (s)PACIFIC). Then, you can't model a temperature ... going up or down ... for the globe.

That's just the way it is.

Sal said...

But don't worry, there will be something else coming along that will cause liberals to run around with their hair on fire.

There is always going to be some environmental crisis. The problem is that someday there might actually be a real crisis, and then no one will pay attention.

Carol_Herman said...

Titus? @9:06 PM. You spent $9 for a bunch of grapes? These weren't crushed first and put in a bottle? WOW.

jimspice said...

"...all critics of theories of Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming are liars. Worse yet, that all such critics are creationists."

Funny Sorepaw would mention this. Take a look at this quote from the "scientist" discussed in the second article:

"Intelligent design explains similarities based upon common design. An Audi and a Ford each have four wheels, a transmission, an engine, a gas tank, fuel injection systems ... but no one would claim that they both naturally evolved from a common ancestor."
Source: "Faith Based Evolution" by Roy Spencer

And THAT'S why I lead off with Koch and creationist arguments. They are just SOOOOOOOOO easy and SOOOOOOOOOO incontrovertible.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Thanks to all the people who so coolly, rationally voted for Obama, because global warming came to a halt during his administration!!

Chip S. said...

@JSpice, I'm not sure that's a correct use of "incontrovertible," but I do believe that you just say "Koch" because it's easy.

ricpic said...

As I've been saying repeatedly, the AGW theory made predictions. The predictions have not been observed. Consequently the theory has been falsified.

And that's how real science works.

Anonymous said...

Is there a stock fund that hedges against Al Gore?

wv: calisun

Robert Cook said...

"You think man can destroy the planet? What intoxicating vanity."

Who's talking about destroying the planet?

If global warming is happening, with or without mankind's assistance, it will not destroy the planet...earth will abide through frost and fire.

Now...an earth that will continue to support a majority of the life forms presently extant, including humans...that's another matter. Our extinction--when it comes--will not be the end of the planet. It will just be the end of our existence.

"What intoxicating vanity," indeed!

Elliott A said...

Science does not work by consensus, it can only work by experimentally proven "incontrovertible" evidence, such as the continual attraction of massed objects or the freezing of water at 32 degrees F. A mathematically chaotic system which is what our climate is cannot be modeled. Until we have about 500 years of actual satellite observations, we will not have enough data to make predictions. Plant food is not an airborne pollutant!

sorepaw said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sal said...

Our extinction--when it comes--will not be the end of the planet. It will just be the end of our existence.

I hope it happens before Heaven gets too crowded. Think of the traffic!

Big Mike said...

@n.n., models are good. I build mathematical models all the time.

But models must be rigorously tested against reality.

And when reality disagrees with the results predicted by the model, then the model is wrong, and it has to be replaced. Period.

MikeR said...

Meh. Dr. Spencer does some good work, but that doesn't prove anything. We'll see. Let the scientists argue it out, instead of taking sides based on your preferences.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

I hate being lied to.

Automatic_Wing said...

Shorter jimspice: Look! A squirrell!

Anne M Ford said...

"This the massive fraud of all time sponsored by governments who dumped money to create a World Government and a World Currency on the backs of totally corrupt scientists...
Therefore the Big Lie that CO2 is pollution merrily along. Corrupt Science is everywhere you look. All of it was made up."
The consensus is falling apart, another example. http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/images/stories/papers/originals/surface_temp.pdf

Conserve Liberty said...

Sorepaw: nope. AGW is a hobby interest of mine. I know a bit about it. And though I'm not a scientist by profession, I do have 30+ graduate-level credits in stats under my belt, so I can probably grasp the original sources a bit better than the average bear.

Then you of all people should know if the algorithm is proven, the quality of the output is determined by the character of the inputs.

The problem with believing the CAGW conclusions is no one can trust the input data.

Anonymous said...

The leftists here are so amusing. Their basic, bedrock belief that humans are bad is so sadly obvious.

It doesn't really matter the mechanism to get rid of humans. That's just details. Whatever works, and it has kept shifting for 50,000 years. (That's not hyperbole.)

By the way, Robert Cook, when will you tell us what American law or treaty makes any war in which the United States is engaged illegal and gives anyone on earth jurisdiction over policymakers?

Still waiting. It's been, like, 10 years...

Curious George said...

AGW is the biggest scam in the history of the planet. The perps should be brought to The Haig and tried for crimes against humanity. And then hung.

James said...

That second one is probably sound, but the fact that the reporter says "alarmist global warming theory" or "alarmist computer models" about 50 times in a short article kind of suggests that this reporter is not, perhaps, a model of objectivity.

The author of the study, Dr. Roy Spencer, is frequently mentioned on Rush's show as the "official climatologist of the Rush Limbaugh Radio Show." No doubt he's firmly in the camp of those who don't believe in AGW so the tone of the article is unsurprising.

jimspice said...

Well, Sorepaw, I'm not going to bother arguing with people that don't listen. If you really want a critique of Spencer's work, both current and past, do a search for his name at scienceblogs.com. They've had him pegged for quite some time.

Just some final advice for AA: you may want to suggest to your students that they put a bit more effort into finding expert witnesses than relying on Koch funded "journalists" reporting on intelligent-design-touting "scientists" written up in PAY-TO-PUBLISH "scientific journals" (just couldn't resist adding that last part).

Anonymous said...

Jim -- Don't you realize what an idiot you are? Don't you realize that the left has far more rich sugar daddy funders and that there is a straight line in the left's hack demonology of funders and Svengalis from the 1980s to today?

Don't you realize that? Don't you realize that you are a crackpot?

Alex said...

Maybe we stop wasting time on "global warming" and focus on pressing human needs:

* access to potable water
* medicine
* stopping genocide & human rights respected
* stopping catastrophic debt

no all these are BULLSHIT and we have to focus 1000% on GLOBAL WARMING!!!

Alex said...

If anything humanity if more likely to destroy itself via nuclear war or a super smallpox virus.

The Crack Emcee said...

Don't forget:

Ann wants us to keep being bombarded by "green" messages and commands so we can become "good people."

Man, for a lawyer, you fall for everything,...

Synova said...

You know... I don't see anything intrinsically more questionable about journalism or even science that is funded by someone named Koch or anyone else in industry with a profit motive than I do with journalism or even science that pretends to be unmotivated by profit and pretends not to be accountable to the money man.

Supporting AGW conclusions is highly lucrative. No one doing so fears they won't have funding come next quarter or next fiscal year.

Why not question that?

At least the private sector person is honest. The public sector person claiming to be pure of motive and unmoved by filthy lucre is dishonest on the face of it.

And then, of course, is Al Gore. In a category all his own.

n.n said...

Big Mike:

That's my point exactly.

I am not arguing against human effects on the Earth's system. I am arguing against the quality of the research completed by AGW/AGCC/"climate disruption" proponents. I am arguing against effectively turning the world upside down based on limited circumstantial evidence, especially when it is so obviously biased by observations gleaned from models based on an incompletely characterized system, one that is nonlinear and may also follow a chaotic behavior. I am opposed to tactics which corrupt the true spirit of science.

I am for researching and improving our understanding of the Earth's system. I am for taking reasonable measures to adapt to predictable climate changes. I am for a comprehensive, pragmatic energy policy, which considers all methods of energy production as each is most circumstantially suitable.

I am principally opposed to deception in the service of progressive involuntary exploitation. The enterprising individuals promoting this agenda need to discover another means to earn a profit for themselves and their investors.

Nora said...

Nice change of spelling - from crooked to cracked.

El Presidente said...

Piltdown Warming.

AllenS said...

For those of you who have been following my very exciting life, you'll remember that I put a WHITE steel roof on my house last year. Just like that, global warming stopped because I was able to deflect the evil sun's rays back into space.

Fuck off, Algore.

Michael said...

Jimspice. Nice that you studied this topic. Hopefully you were not hopin to make money on the solution to our boiling planet. Because you can now show us a millionbillion articles and studies to prove your point. But we will not belive you. Cant put the toothpaste back in the tube.

Oh, and if a monkey publishes an article refuting agw we will read and believe it, so save your critical breath and remount your high horse.

traditionalguy said...

The Malthus Brigade has a purpose.

Their soldiers are sent out to kill off humans and to steal their stuff. There is not enough for everone. And the death Panels go rolling along.

THEREFORE NO SAVING LIFE IS ALLOWED!

They are engaged in a war of conquest without mercy.

Their motto is "To the victor goes the spoils."

And dead people are the easiest people to plunder...or start by slowly enslaving them.

The US Constitution's 13th Amendment forbidding servitude is the relevant legal battleground for today's war.

Government's actions designed to triple the "Utility Bills" and Gas price is not for saving anything anywhere.

The 2008 economic collapse was the Krystallnacht event.It was designed to make private owners of businesses sell out at 5 cents on the dollar and leave.


In 3 years 40% of private land and homes in the USA have been expropriated by Government controlled Banks due to a strange Government sponsored predatory lending wave that began in 2000.

Short sale anyone? If not the government eviction force will be here in the morning.

Ask Algore and DSK how their servants are going to be treated in the brave era of United World of Enslavement:As simple sex slaves for banal rulers.

Triangle Man said...

@Carol Herman

Igzaz Semmelweis is the person who was laughed at (and committed to an asylum) after suggesting that physicians should wash their hands.

Triangle Man said...

@Titus

Did you try the cold brewed latte at the Coop?

Scott M said...

@traditionalguy

Did Carol_Harmon hack your login or something?

Erik Robert Nelson said...

Does anyone else find this back-and-forth as dell as I do? I'm sitting here waiting for someone who believes in AGW to actually say something substantive about the new data, and everything is coming up ad hominems. I think the human race is beginning to lose the ability to engage in rational, logical argument.

More and more I'm convinced that we know jack shit about the climate. The lack of rational response seems to confirm it.

Curious George said...

Bernie Madoff looked at climate scientists and said "Hmmmm"

Mitch H. said...

I do have 30+ graduate-level credits in stats under my belt,

Whee! Credits in stats! Does that mean you're one of these social-scientist types who soaked up enough statistics to grotesquely misuse them so as to manufacture arbitrary studies by the misuse of data-mining? Get a rope and find a tree...

I have absolutely no credentials, except a decade and more of dealing with PhDs, and knowing them for the hyperfocused grant-obsessed doofuses they are. Well, that, and a lot of time spent QC'ing weather models. That latter one has left me with a hell of a lot of contempt for modeling in general. They're almost always hollow facades behind the interface and the PR, there's often no more than a wind-up toy inside the black box.

And yeah, the second article has its share of "alarmist" name-calling. I figure we're owed about three years of name-calling, to make up for all the years of "denialist! denialist!"

The first article was kind of bullshit, but then, so was the original "polar bears are drowning! everybody panic!" "study" the villain of the piece is best-known for. It'd be interesting to know what the "misconduct" was about, but probably it's something to do with grant misrepresentations or something like that. When it isn't sex, this sort of thing's usually about money.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Don't tell the fascists who run Boulder Colorado. Carbon tax hikes are in the works.
Global warming = another excuse for graft by ignorant city officials.

I'm Full of Soup said...

AllenS:
But now your neighbors complain about the blinding glare from your roof? Heh.

Bruce Rheinstein said...

climate change denial ... Koch funded group

Is that the best you can come up with? The Koch brothers have given millions to universities, too. Are they also tarred with the connection?

Besides I though the latest smear was to tie someone to Anders Brievik. Try this next time:

Anders Breivik is a global warming denier. Ann Althouse is a global warming denier. Ergo, Ann Althouse = Anders Brievik!

AllenS said...

AJ,

The closest neighbor is a quarter of a mile away.

WV: onall

On all the others are farther away.

AllenS said...

Also, I have white steel roofs on the garage and pole barn. Take that neighbors!

Anonymous said...

Regardless of the validity of the science, I reserve the right to be skeptical.

I"m skeptical of most true believers, and against the tendency in myself. There is so much money, public opinion, pedagogy... so many careers, identities, reputations riding on this... I don't expect it to go anywhere....anytime soon

The very same people who want to be led by technocrats, or "scientific" bureaucrats also want high speed trains to lead us into a more just, verdant and equal future.

Joe Schmoe said...

But don't worry, there will be something else coming along that will cause liberals to run around with their hair on fire.

Seems to me they've already been working on a modified message for the last few years. 'Global warming' has been scrubbed from the lexicon and replaced with 'climate change'. Similar to Dems euphemistically referring to tax increases as 'revenue generation'.

If you've read or watched any of the latest agitprop, it's all about how weather and climate is getting much more extreme. No mentions of warming. No doubt someone will spin the escaping heat as adding to the extreme weather conditions. Now it's also not just carbon, but sulfur and anything else released into the atmosphere. So there's plenty more for greens to cotton onto.

Before I come off as a violent denier, which I lean towards at this point, let me say I wish the main characters involved were more interested in getting it right than preserving whatever reputations they built up with their initial claims. Al Gore needs to say 'maybe we were a little too over-enthusiastic at first'.

Joe Schmoe said...

AllenS, has your white roof worked at all? Is your house cooler in summer as a result? I'm seriously interested in finding out if this works.

chuckR said...

CERN has embargoed commentary by its investigators regarding the results of some cosmic ray studies. This leads to speculation that those results bolster the Svensmark hypothesis. Svensmark's position is that an energetic sun's solar wind has suppressed cosmic rays in earth's atmosphere, which in turn has suppressed cloud formation, which has led to warming from the end of the Little Ice Age to present time.

Another crack in the wall. At least we are starting to see some debate, which is ostensibly the scientific thing to do.

Original Mike said...

Just five years ago, Charles "Monnett was one of the scientists whose observation that several polar bears had drowned in the Arctic Ocean helped galvanize the global warming movement.

Now, the wildlife biologist is on administrative leave and facing accusations of scientific misconduct."


Ursus bogus.

chuckR said...

As a retired roofer (retirement dated from getting my engineering degree long, long ago) let me caution the white roofists. AllenS' white metal roof is absolutely fine, but I would recommend against a white asphalt shingle roof. Get one that is light gray or other light pastel color. You will get much the same effect and the roof will be more durable. Shingle granules are mashed into the asphalt/fabric base with oiled rollers. The granules are a lighter than the intended color and the oil stains them a little. You can't do that with a white roof. It will look dingier sooner than any color and the granules will wind up in the gutter sooner and in greater quantities.

Scott M said...

Ursus bogus.

buh-dump-bump

Pastafarian said...

Joe -- we put a white vinyl roof on our shop years ago, and it reduced the summer daytime temp by about 10 degrees. (It was black asphalt before that.)

Original Mike said...

I've been trying to download the Spencer paper, but I get a page error.

AllenS said...

Joe,

I'm not sure if it makes the house cooler. My asphalt shingles needed to be tore off and replaced. They were bad, bad, bad. I put a steel roof on the garage about 6 years ago, and now I won't have to replace the roofs again. Besides, it looks nice, and I don't worry about strong winds anymore.

Pianoman said...

Joe Schmoe said:

If you've read or watched any of the latest agitprop, it's all about how weather and climate is getting much more extreme. No mentions of warming. No doubt someone will spin the escaping heat as adding to the extreme weather conditions. Now it's also not just carbon, but sulfur and anything else released into the atmosphere. So there's plenty more for greens to cotton onto.

They'll try it, but they'll no longer have the same amount of mass fear and panic on their side. I think there were a lot of folks "on the fence" regarding global warming (independent voters?), and that many (most?) of those folks have reached the conclusion that AGW is a load of hooey.

IOW, public opinion no longer supports "THE SCIENCE IS SETTLED, DENIERS!" line. The True Believers (TM) are now forced to prove their hypotheses with hard data, rather than vigorous hand-waving.

Interesting how the usual AGW supporters haven't chimed in. I would have thought Dr. Hanna would have tossed his two cents.

sorepaw said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sorepaw said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sorepaw said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sorepaw said...

Charles Monnett, of drowning polar bear fame, is in fact being investigated on account of that "research":

http://www.peer.org/docs/doi/7_28_11_Monnett-IG_interview_transcript.pdf

Anonymous said...

Christopher said...
The never was a global warming consensus.


Yes there was. All the people who believed in it reached a consensus that it was real.

jimspice said...

Re: Consensus
Please See: http://www.logicalscience.com/consensus/consensus.htm

And Sorepaw. As for the names you mention, yes, I'm familiar with them. It's the Pantheon of Denialism. And not all of them are even meteorologists. But most are, in fact, Koch connected. What are the odds?

I don't argue the facts anymore. I used to, but people are just too dense. Much easier to use the types of arguments they understand.

jimspice said...

Re: Polar Bear Guy Suspension
Please See: http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/scientists-administrative-leave-has-nothing-do-polar-bear-study

"The agency placed Mr. Monnett on administrative leave for reasons having nothing to do with scientific integrity, his 2006 journal article, or issues related to permitting, as has been alleged. Any suggestions or speculation to the contrary are wrong."

-- Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz

jimspice said...

An excellent collection of rebuttals to the Spencer article: http://bit.ly/SpencerDebunked

jimspice said...

Just for the sake of posterity, the editor of Remote Sensing resigns over the publication of this sub-par paper: http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2011/09/editor_of_remote_sensing_agree.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss