Look: I am eager to learn stuff I don't know--which requires actively courting and posting smart disagreement.

But as you will understand, I don't like to post things that mischaracterize and are aimed to mislead.

-- Brad Delong

Copyright Notice

Everything that appears on this blog is the copyrighted property of somebody. Often, but not always, that somebody is me. For things that are not mine, I either have obtained permission, or claim fair use. Feel free to quote me, but attribute, please. My photos and poetry are dear to my heart, and may not be used without permission. Ditto, my other intellectual property, such as charts and graphs. I'm probably willing to share. Let's talk. Violators will be damned for all eternity to the circle of hell populated by Rosanne Barr, Mrs Miller [look her up], and trombonists who are unable play in tune. You cannot possibly imagine the agony. If you have a question, email me: jazzbumpa@gmail.com. I'll answer when I feel like it. Cheers!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Global Warming Hoax Continues

Just when you thought it was safe to go back out onto the permafrost, Sarah Palin comes out with details of how global climate change has directly affected Alaska.

That's not to say I deny the reality of some changes in climate -- far from it. I saw the impact of changing weather patterns firsthand while serving as governor of our only Arctic state. I was one of the first governors to create a subcabinet to deal specifically with the issue and to recommend common-sense policies to respond to the coastal erosion, thawing permafrost and retreating sea ice that affect Alaska's communities and infrastructure.

Wha-a-a-a . . . ?!?  Oh, but then she goes on:

But while we recognize the occurrence of these natural, cyclical environmental trends, we can't say with assurance that man's activities cause weather changes. We can say, however, that any potential benefits of proposed emissions reduction policies are far outweighed by their economic costs. And those costs are real.

Oh.  OK.  That makes more sense, in light of her opening paragraphs.

With the publication of damaging e-mails from a climate research center in Britain, the radical environmental movement appears to face a tipping point. The revelation of appalling actions by so-called climate change experts allows the American public to finally understand the concerns so many of us have articulated on this issue. 


"Climate-gate," as the e-mails and other documents from the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia have become known, exposes a highly politicized scientific circle -- the same circle whose work underlies efforts at the Copenhagen climate change conference. The agenda-driven policies being pushed in Copenhagen won't change the weather, but they would change our economy for the worse. 


The e-mails reveal that leading climate "experts" deliberately destroyed records, manipulated data to "hide the decline" in global temperatures, and tried to silence their critics by preventing them from publishing in peer-reviewed journals. What's more, the documents show that there was no real consensus even within the CRU crowd. Some scientists had strong doubts about the accuracy of estimates of temperatures from centuries ago, estimates used to back claims that more recent temperatures are rising at an alarming rate.

Well, I've held Sarah in uniquely high regard, from the very moment she first appeared on the national scene.  And I especially like her use of scare quotes around the word "experts," when she's talking about actual -- ahh -- experts.  But almost everything in that last paragraph is wrong.*   What is correct is the word "some."  If you take "some" to mean a very tiny minority.

But what about that "Climate-Gate" scandal.  Isn't that every bit as damning as Sarah claims?



Oh. Well maybe not so much. Gee, this is getting awkward.

Maybe we should give Al Gore the last word.



That raving tirade didn't help much either.  Perhaps we should just have another look at the science.

Hmmmmm.   Getting warmer.



Hat tip to Krugman. Source


* Update 12/11: Tim Lambert provides some detail.

2 comments:

BadTux said...

Appears to be the new talking point: Yes, global warming exists, but it's natural, and has absolutely nothing to do with all that CO2 gas released into the atmosphere by human activity despite the fact that we've released a hundred million years worth of CO2 into the atmosphere in only 100 years and CO2 is a known greenhouse gas (as in, you can pump CO2 into a glass sphere and *measure* how much it increases the temperature of that sphere compared to plain old air when both are exposed to sunlight).

Well, at least they've finally given the grudging acknowledgement of reality that global warming actually exists. I suppose that's something separating them from run of the mill delusional lunatics, who recognize nothing of reality at all.

- Badtux the Loon-observin' Penguin

Jazzbumpa said...

Details change, depending on the item under consideration. But I always wonder, when I'm doing a DEEP STUPID entry, what the balance is between actual stupidity and bare-faced lying. Of course, there can be some bat-shit insanity there as well.

Here is an interesting take on this question.

Cheers!
JzB the irritated liberal trombonist