Monday, November 21, 2011

James Hansen and the Corruption Of Science

From The Powerline Blog:

It recently came out that James Hansen, one of the two or three most prominent global warming alarmists on whose work the IPCC reports rest, “forgot” to report $1.6 million in outside income, as required by his government contracts. Is that significant? Well, yes: A handful of scientists, including Hansen, have gotten wealthy on climate alarmism. They have an enormous financial interest in the faux science they have done so much to perpetrate. It is more likely that the Pope would renounce Christianity than that Hansen, Michael Mann, etc., would change their minds about global warming, regardless of the evidence. (I say that because the Pope has far more intellectual integrity than the climate alarmists.)

IMHO, the Pope sometimes plays the same game.  More on that later. 

Beyond that handful of leading alarmists, if you are involved in any way in climate science, you have a financial interest in alarmism.

Ok, let's take a brief timeout here.  This is why there has been no need for a grand conspiracy of evil scientists working in a hollowed-out volcano.  I repeat: this is why there is no Global Warming Conspiracy.  Dump this many trillion dollars on the table, and the market will take care of the rest.  There are billions in it for everybody.  Except you, of course. 

Even minor climate scientists get consulting contracts and are invited to present papers in exotic locales. And if you are not an alarmist, you have little or no chance of cashing in on the billions of dollars in government grants for climate research.

Remember what happens to journal editors who allow heretical opinions into the AGW Liturgy?  They suddenly resign in disgrace. 

Essentially, the closed world of climate “science” has been bought and paid for, largely with our tax dollars. Under these circumstances, it is remarkable that so many real scientists have been willing to forgo financial advantage and blow the whistle on the alarmists’ frauds.

Ken Haapala, Executive Vice President of the Science and Environmental Policy Project, comments:

NASA’s James Hansen is back in the news for two reasons. He has a new paper claiming that the Moscow heat wave during 2010 and the Texas heat wave during 2011 provide a form of statistical proof of global warming. The pause in warming must be justified somehow! The study was quickly refuted by several commentators, most devastatingly by Lubos Motl.

The second reason Hansen is in the news is that he failed to report some $1,600,000 of outside income over several years as required by his contract for government employment. Normally, TWTW would not bother with such, but this is an exception for a number of reasons. One, in 1988 with great publicity, Hansen announced with great certainty that global warming threatens humanity. Two, with great publicity, Hansen declared that President Bush was trying to muzzle him. And, three, he was cited as the scientific advisor of Al Gore’s scientifically disgraceful film. Apparently, Hansen believes that his celebrity status exempts him from the regulations that govern other government scientists.
We can’t say it enough: global warming alarmism is not science. It is politics at best, outright fraud at worst.

But in a way, it is beautiful. 
Sometimes I have to sit back and marvel at it. 
Weather/Climate/Rain/Cold/Heat have all fluctuated wildly for billions of years.  Primitive people have usually believed these changes were their fault, and made sacrifices to their gods to appease the clouds, the sun, the rain or the volcano. 
Priests of various species have usually been willing to take charge of these sacrifices in exchange for a percentage off the top.
And the weather just keeps on doing what it is gonna do.   

1 comment:

Cedric Katesby said...

From The Powerline Blog:

So you got this tripe from...a blog?
I see.
What was the problem?
Slow day for a newspaper article?
It's a ritual for you. Either you grab a newspaper or you grab a blog article. You never aim any higher.

I repeat: this is why there is no Global Warming Conspiracy.

So there's no global conspiracy?
Good.

Dump this many trillion dollars on the table, and the market will take care of the rest.

You just contradicted yourself.
We are now back to square one.
Back to a global conspiracy.

A handful of scientists, including Hansen, have gotten wealthy on climate alarmism.

So how do "a handful of scientists" do it? What's the mechanism. Spell it out.

They have an enormous financial interest in the faux science they have done so much to perpetrate.

"They"? "Faux science"? How spooky.
How vague.
(facepalm)

Think it through.
Slowly.
How do "they" do what they do and get away with it?
How?
How does the global conspiracy actually work?
How?
How do "they" control every single scientific commmunity on the planet including NASA, covering decades of research and every single one of the Earth Sciences?
How?
I get the "why" part.

(It's those vague and mysterious billions, trillons and squillions.)

Yet that tells us nothing about the "HOW".
Nothing at all.

What are the nuts and bolts of the operation?
How does it work?

Ken Haapala, Executive Vice President of the Science and Environmental Policy Project, comments:

Who is Ken Haapala and why should anybody care?
What is the "Science and Environmental Policy Project"?

Did it occur to you to find out about these people before you just lap up what they dish out?

It sounds very sciencey and environmentaly and policyey and projecty...but what exactly is it and who runs it?

(...Does a google search...)

Ah, I see.
It's amazing how those same tobacco scientists get around. Their names pop up again and again and again and again and again and...


When will you stop being so gullible?
Do real research.
Use primary sources.