Posted on 08/19/2007 1:00:31 PM PDT by ChessExpert
In retrospect, you knew there would be trouble when you put the people responsible for the Space Shuttle program in charge of tracking U.S. temperatures. So perhaps it shouldn’t have come as a big surprise when it was revealed that NASA committed a bit of an oopsie regarding data constantly used by the mainstream media and other global warming proponents.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
Last para.
Ultimately the greatest importance of all of this is that it strongly appears to substantiate the intuitive belief that, with scientist-politician Hansen at the helm the GISS, whose data are far more important to modeling global temperatures – and hence global warming policy – than it lets on, is not a neutral collector and disseminator of statistics but rather a politicized mouthpiece.
Wounder if the image will now disappear.
Click on POGW graphic for full GW rundown
New!!: Dr. John Ray's
GREENIE WATCH
Ping me if you find one I've missed.
A good scientific approach is to consider all contributions to climate. There seems to be no doubt that climate has changed throughout the world’s history. Somewhere between 99.9% and 100% of the change has had nothing to do with mankind. There is a clear and dramatic record of many ice ages - each succeeded by global warming. Within each cycle, there are many other variations up and down. As with the stock market, simply following a trend is not good enough because trends reverse at unexpected times.
Scientists should strive to credibly measure and explain past climate change. At present, even the measurement is suspect. That is hardly surprising. The earth is not alive. It does not have a temperature, much less a fever. There are problems measuring the earth’s temperatures today. As one might imagine, reconstructing past temperatures to eras that predate thermometers and mankind provides additional challenges. Unfortunately, with the “hockey stick” and in the case described in this article, one cannot even reject the possibility of fraudulent practice.
We know that there has been great variation in climate throughout the world’s history. They have been due to several natural forces operating in a highly complex and interactive environment. We may think we know a lot, but what we know is a tiny fraction compared to what we don’t know.
Perhaps someday we will have a good measure of past climate and good explanations of the many natural causes and their interactions that caused climate to change. If we get to that point, we can consider predicting climate. We will be able to sensibly consider mankind’s impact, if any, on the climate. At present there is too much talk about carbon dioxide. There is too little talk of the sun, influences from outside the solar system, Milankovitch cycles, oceans (vast heats sink that “breath” carbon dioxide), clouds, the earth’s molten core, natural nuclear decay, volcanos, lightning, forest fires, and plant and animal life.
Anti-capitalist environmentalists have leapt to the conclusion that the sky is falling (again) and it is due to America, capitalism, Republicans, and George W. Bush. (Also Karl Rove and Dick Cheney. Once upon a time, you had to go to the John Birch Society for a kooky conspiracy theory. Now every other Democrat will do.) The cure to global warming is more government. Call in FEMA.
“Global warming” has been renamed “climate change” as a way to hedge bets. That is not a bad idea. Past predictions brought to us by the press, quoting select scientists, were wrong. In the last hundred years, they claimed an ice age, warming, an ice age, and now warming again - or is it “climate change.” You can see their ludicrous record at: http://www.businessandmedia.org/specialreports/2006/fireandice/fireandice.asp
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me four times, shame on me. With a 50/50 chance at guessing right, environmental hysterics have managed to be wrong on all prior occasions. They are batting zero out of three. If they get this one right, they will bat .25 and will crow so all the world can hear: “We said the climate would change, and it did! Now will you listen?”
One anthropogenic global warming (AGW) enthusiast has already told me that “we must end America’s love affair with the automobile.” And of course, the UN needs a carbon tax. Money must be redistributed. America should be made poorer to equalize wealth. This is not science. It is Marxist inspired nonsense run amok. This kind of thinking motivates people, some scientists, to say that global warming is settled science when it is not.
“This site is in favour of things that ARE good for the environment. Most Greenie causes are, however, at best red-herrings and are more motivated by a hatred of people than anything else.”
Well said. I think “environmentalism” correlates with earth worship, anti-capitalism, and yes, hatred of people. A proper environmentalism would focus on the human environment. Where I live, it is hot in August. The environment was a lot worse 50 years ago without air conditioning. It was even worse 100 years ago without powered fans. The environment has improved vastly.
Goddard didn't used to be responsible for the Space Shuttle program. Are they now?
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