Am I fixating? Yes, I’m fixating. But, in what universe is this not news? Phil Jones is out as Director of CRU. Michael (“has anyone seen my Hockey Stick?”) Mann is being investigated. And the collective response of the MSM? One giant yawn. Responsible journalism demands that they devote their rescources to poking around Tiger Woods’ personal life, apparently, and they just don’t have the bodies to do much more.
It’s maddening – although it should not be. I know. But what the hell people. I imagine what would happen if – say – somebody could prove that the American Petroleum Institute had been cooking the books, throwing data away and bullying publications to hide evidence of global warming? Could you imagine the outcry – the gnashing of teeth – the demands that SOMETHING BE DONE TO MAKE SURE THIS NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN?!!!!
How do these people live with themselves? Seriously. How do they justify it to themselves? I understand having an agenda and all, but – at some point – doesn’t your conscience kick in? Perhaps, because this issue has been such a crusade for me for so long, I am just too damned close and taking it too damned personally. I feel like Galileo begging the Pope just to look through the telescope – just once – so his Holiness could personally see the moons of Jupiter and could thus understand that Ptolemy’s crystal firminant did not exist. Or, to use the easier metaphor: the emporer is buck nekkid – HELLO!!!!
On a related note, I used my column in The Mighty Examiner yesterday to send an open letter to Senators Durbin and Burris, and Representatives Mellisa Bean, Bill Foster, Mark Kirk and Peter Roskam (all the districts in our circulation area). Be interesting to see if any of them reply, but I’m not holding my breath. If you care to read said letter, you can find it here.
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It’s the nature of religious belief. My Christian faith compels me, at some times, to do and say things that just FEEL wrong, because I’m commanded to do them, and I believe they serve a greater good. In the same way, Climate Change True Believers know that it’s a small sacrifice to compromise their scientific principles in order to Save the Planet.
If you don’t believe in something greater than yourself, you die inside. Even if you’re wrong, it gives you a reason to get up in the morning.
Rufus here; Amen, Lars!
It’s also a picture of Liberals in general. Their beliefs are a distorted holistic view of reality. It is based on ideas in their heads, not in the life around them. They think that by bending reality to their whims they can change the world, not the other way around. That coupled with a dangerous belief that “This time we’ll get it right” (re: statism) makes them doubly dangerous in the long run.
With the Libs in charge, I felt my core beliefs have been under assault by a media that is a self appointed PC policing unit.
Mr. Sideous, I also think it’s coupled with a critical lack of not living in the real world. The world doesn’t change because of policies. It changes one person at a time. Today there is someone waking up and taking their first, difficult steps towards being sober, or caring for a child, or working a getting off welfare and taking a difficult, low-paying job. It seems so cool to stand at a podium, and with the sweep of a pen believe you’ve made life better for millions, tens of millions. In reality it’s always the unheralded folks doing the heavy-lifting in the shadows who really change the world.
I can’t tell you how many people have told me they are offended by the commercials for “The Blind Side.” “It’s so corny, a rich, white, Southern Belle helping a big, dumb black guy.” I shout, “It’s a true story! That’s what really happened!” One family in Memphis did something difficult every day, for days and weeks and months and years on end, and they changed one life. That’s what it takes. God bless the people who do it and God inhibit the people who keep trying to force the shortcuts upon us.
True – also why Liberals worship the intellectual. Not agree, or admire – worship. The greatest insult they can deliver is that their opponent is stoopit.
The intellectual lives in his/her head. Ideas are worth more than the everyday reality.
“Why is it true? Because I say it is!” Mussolini (paraphrased).
Rich,
Well said, and no, you are not exaggerating! I was wondering the same about myself and then I saw a research piece someone did on news reports on this. It’s literally crickets chirping! And let’s not forget the tens of millions Al Gore has made on this hoax! Imagine your petroleum institute scenario coupled with Dick Cheney making tens of millions of dollars off the scam, and winning a Nobel and Oscar! The media would be all over him and the Petroleum folks 24/7.
One pearl in this pile of dung, the Europeans do appear to be paying attention. This is being reported there. I hope it’s not too late for those folks to wake up. This all makes the Copenhagen meetings a complete joke. Almost as big a joke as the Nobel awards presentation. Which will be almost as big a joke as Obama’s Olympic bid. What is it with him and Scandinavia? The Danes appear to be determined to make him a laughingstock. Racists!
Ruf,
When the whole thing broke, I was – obviously – giddy, thinking “here’s where the whole rotten house of cards comes crashing down”. As JohnFN so sagely commented, it was like my very own “It’s a Wonderful Life” moment of redemption. And maybe the implosion is still coming. But Lars has a point, there is a such a huge faith-based aspect to all of this. Maybe there’s no stopping it? I shudder for my daughter if that is the case.
You may have already seen Jon Stewart’s coverage of this on “The Daily Show.” The bit had some nice digs, but it was all prefaced with evil stuff the prior administration did, and the entire tone was, “Look, we know there really is global warming but when you scientists act this way it gives the bad, Halliburton thugs ammunition to hurt our cause.”
Steyn covered it best. The data is so messed up nobody can use it to determine anything about the last century, or predict the future. If any reasonable person looks at the current data in conjunction with these e-mails one can only conclude there is not enough evidence to make any hypothesis, one way, or another. But Stewart, and I’ve heard others making the same claim, are saying, “Well, maybe there was some bad science, but we still know it’s happening.”
Rich,
I have some guarded optimism that all these straws are becoming an unbearable burden for the camel to carry. This was not the house of cards it should have been, but what’s good about it is it has a lot of impact on the real thinkers. Folks who are very well-educated, and independent thinkers, but who have immature political views do follow this, and the phony Nobel prize, and the ACORN stuff… And eventually some of them start to realize the Emperor is nude. There will be some new Libertarians coined off of this scandal. It will take a few years for it to trickle down, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
It all comes from the Scandinavian sense of humor, which is so dry as to be incomprehensible for normal people. The whole Social Democracy thing? A huge inside joke. Trust me, the Scandinavians are laughing their butts off at all the Americans who fell for it.
It goes without saying that I myself am even funnier than you think I am.
Steyn for President – Exhibit 284:
http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/12/03/the-science-of-global-warming/
I thought the same thing when I read this. Is there anyone smarter writing Op-Eds today?
Well, I haven’t written one today.
—Mike!
reading the comments to Steyn’s article is really depressing.
One said “what did they do? Just gripe about other people”.
Wow, just…wow.
These people are a gas.
There has been some official reaction – Barbara Boxer wants a criminal probe of…..wait for it…..the source of the leaks. Yes, that’s right, she wants an American Congressional probe of the possible criminal aspect of a Russian hacker that downloaded emails from an institute in Great Britain. Never mind that based on CRU’s fraud we were expected to cripple the U.S. economy to save the planet, that this fraud was used to stifle free speech and scientific integrity in this country.
Please, please tell me this is a joke. Even if it’s true, just tell me it’s a joke so I can remove the blade from my wrist.
And, if the probe turns out to be a whistle-blowing scientist – guess they’ll have to call it a day on the probe.
I’ve no doubt that it was an inside job. How would a Russian hacker know that the order had just come down to delete all these incriminating e-mails?
Maybe I just want to believe there’s one scientist with a conscience involved in this fraud.
I’m betting inside job too Mike. Whomever posted the files used the name “FOIA” and the language of their message sure sounded like a whistle-blower.
McIntyre speculates that it was either a whistleblower, or an inadvertent error by Jones. It seems Jones had previously left electronic files lying around where the public could access them, and he may have collected all of the files to be FOIA’d and done the same thing again.
Sure glad Boxer’s on the job though.
(Insert giant eye-roll here).
you have giant eyes?
“Giant” has been used to describe one portion of my anatomy.
Thanks for asking!
The media may not be getting it, but the public sure is: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/environment_energy/americans_skeptical_of_science_behind_global_warming
What Conservative politicians need to do is use their opponent’s “belief” in this rubbish against them. The argument would sound similar to this: Would you vote for someone who still believes in the tooth fairy – then why would you vote for this clown?
Kenn,
Can you at least put a ****spoiler alert**** up before you say things like that about the tooth fairy?
“And, if the probe turns out to be a whistle-blowing scientist – guess they’ll have to call it a day on the probe.”
No, then they’ll accuse the whistle-blower of working for the oil companies and proceed to utterly destroy him. Heretics straying from the One True Faith must be punished.
Andrew Revkin is the New York Times’ climate expert. The e-mails show that “Andy” (as he was known to the perpetrators of this fraud) co-ordinated his coverage of the debate with them.
Clark Hoyt is the public editor of the Times, and needs to answer for this.
His e-mail:
public@nytimes.com
Phone:
(212) 556-7652
Holy sh*t! Unbelievable!! Thanks for the info, Mike!! My e-mail is on its way.
I should have given more specifics:
That’s from Mark Steyn, of course.
Here was mine:
I actually think this is the AGW advocates greatest fear. True, they will probably try to pillory the poor fellow. But, word will get out that it was a conscience-driven scientist and belief in the “science” will plummet even further. Dooming any political will to try to “tackle the issue” and, most likely, dooming any politician who even brings it up.
See also Dr. Roy Spencer’s take on climategate:
http://www.drroyspencer.com/2009/11/my-top-10-annoyances-in-the-climate-change-debate/
I really admire Spencer. He’s an actual climatologist, so Schmidt, Mann and the gang can’t dismiss him like they do McIntyre (statistician) and Watts (meteorologist). But he’s also an avid Christian – and not shy about it – so they dump on him for that.
Which, of course, is not surprising.
As if there’s such a thing as Christian scien—well you know what I mean. Not Christian Science, but Christian science.
I remember hearing that some people sometime had problems with relativity—too Jewish.
What more can be said really? Climate Change politics presents too good a method of control for liberals allow to be compromised by scientific principle, so the media is compelled to downplay the controversy.
Speaking of Michael Mann, there’s a quip I saw out there – “Mann-made global warming”. When climate alarmism starts becoming the subject of parody and ridicule, that’ll mark the beginning of the end for this grotesque farce.
Can Henry Winkler be induced to ski-jump over the CRU building? I bet the leather jacket still fits.
Nice one, JS.
“Can Henry Winkler be induced to ski-jump over the CRU building? I bet the leather jacket still fits.”
Hilarious! If someone isn’t doctoring this for youtube right now, they ought to (hint, hint, JS).
The Goracle will be a no-show at Copenhagen. What was he charging to shake his hand at the conference? Guess he didn’t want to expose himself to any potentially inconvenient questions.
Also heard some people are asking the Motion Picture Academy to rescind his Oscar (not that that will happen.) ‘Tis fun to imagine, though.