Category Archives: "Political" Science

The IPCC weighs in on the Mann Nobel dilemma, and throws him under the bus

Posted on by
2

“The IPCC weighs in on the Mann Nobel dilemma, and throws him under the bus” (2012-11-02). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change swats a semantic mosquito and Anthony Watts, as he gets squished like the bug he is, declares victory.

So did Dr. Michael Mann win the Nobel Peace Prize or just help?

Apparently it’s way more important to argue about semantics, comma placement, etc. and use that for personal attacks than it is to discuss climate change science. Honest scientific discussion is a topic of last resort at WUWT, repeatedly chosen “Best Science Blog”, by weblogawards.org. (Funny how in every possible 2012 category denialist bloggers “won”. Like every fraudulent accolade Anthony claims, they aren’t worth the pixels they’re printed on.)

  • Did the IPCC receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for their scientific work on Climate Change? Yes. They shared it with crypto-communist Al Gore.
  • Did the IPCC thank key contributors for their work, which resulted in the IPCC receiving the Nobel Peace Prize? Yes.
  • Was Dr. Mann one of those contributors? Yes.
  • Did Dr. Mann, in fit of alleged ego, fabricate his own Nobel Peace Prize certificate? No.
  • Do Anthony and his denialist buddies care? No.

Apparently Governor Brown, you’ve never visited the weather station at Lake Tahoe

Posted on by
15

“Apparently Governor Brown, you’ve never visited the weather station at Lake Tahoe” (2012-08-13). Anthony Watts gets his shorts in a knot because the Governor of California, whom he derisively refers to as “moonbeam” says that “Global warming’s impact on Lake Tahoe is well documented.”

Now if there’s one thing Anthony likes it’s a tasty cherry-pick. His (unqualified) buddy Russ Steele has done the ‘sciencey analysis’ for him too! It’s all laid out on Russ’ website, concerned with “AGW Defeat” as well as security, liberty and property.

First Russ/Anthony decides that the Governor is referring to a particular Lake Tahoe weather station, one that they can spin to their own benefit.

Then he declares that the rise is all “Urban Heat Island” effect – a tennis court was built nearby in 1980! Actually, as Anthony knew, the courts were built in 1973 and can’t be honestly linked to the alleged artificial 1980 change in temperature trend. Which kinda happened globally, so that’s one heck of a tennis court.

Next, it’s also all bad weather station siting. There’s a fire barrel nearby, it must burn constantly! Anthony, of course, has no evidence about how long the fire barrel has been there, how often it was used, or at what time of day it was lit in comparison to the times of measurement. Still, fire barrel!

Next, he selects some other stations that show a different temperature trend (still up though, unless you squint… which Anthony does). This is the one thing that could be a legitimate argument, but of course he restricts himself to selected weather stations that suit his argument, not a scientifically legitimate regional comparison. Doing that might not make his case…

Finally, he declares that the scientists involved are “political hacks”. Surely if this was likely to stick he’d start and finish with this. And maybe demonstrate it clearly.

Well! Done and dusted for Anthony. A disused fire barrel and tennis courts in place long before a disputed temperature trend started have proven, once and for all, that there is no Global Warming. Never mind that his argument never rises above vague, un-verified supposition.

Note: This post was written so that comments made in a recent but unrelated post could be associated with the correct topic. It’s just run-of-the-mill denialist noise on Anthony’s part.

P.S. Love Anthony’s ominous reference to a critical commenter’s personal details, gleaned from IP address snooping. Classic passive-aggression and misdirection!

A refreshing change on sea level policy – use historical data rather than model projections

Posted on by
7

“A refreshing change on sea level policy – use historical data rather than model projections“ (2012-03-13). Anthony Watts approves of a North Carolina environmental bill that mandates that scientific evidence be ignored. Only the politically appointed North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission is permitted to declare how much sea-level will rise (or, err, not rise), so there!

Anthony is, naturally, dead set agin gubmint reg’lation unless he happens to be fer it. Especially if it orders the smart people to shut up. Naturally the “science” behind the bill was a single misinterpreted paper.

Maybe Anthony should look a bit further back before cuddling up to using only historical records to decide what will happen in the future. The King Canute of old commanded the tide to halt to prove that the natural world pays no attention to politics, not to allow his buddies to build condos on beaches.

Then the king leapt backwards, saying: ‘Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings, for there is none worthy of the name, but He whom heaven, earth, and sea obey by eternal laws.’

God of course doesn’t exist, but the “eternal laws” are not ours to set.

This brainless bill died in the House. Sorry Anthony! I guess no-one wanted to displace legislating the value of pi from the top podium of ignorance. I’ve heard you’ve made a few visits though, how’s the view from up there?

Another skeptical university professor fired – related to CARB’s PM2.5 air pollution regulation scandal

Posted on by
2

“Another skeptical university professor fired – related to CARB’s PM2.5 air pollution regulation scandal“ (2012-06-16). In case you were wondering, every time a prickly right-winger gets fired from a university it’s because of persecution by the oppressive liberal intelligentsia. Anthony Watts wants to make sure you learn what he discovered on the always-reliable WingNut Daily (fyi, it’s all driven by intellectuals resentful over the failure of Communism). The Los Angeles Times has some coverage too.

Seems the John Galt wannabes at the American Center for Law and Justice are fightin’ the good fight for James Enstrom, a UCLA researcher fired after 35 years for daring to expose fraudulent research that was used to “justify draconian diesel vehicle regulations” as well as fake credentials at the “vile” (that’s Anthony’s description) California Air Resources Board. I guess the wheels of liberal oppression grind slowly.

Diesel exhaust is good for you and should not be regulated (pay no mind to the 750,000 annual Chinese deaths from particulate pollution). So is second-hand smoke.

Dr. Enstrom was defending his conclusions about the pish-poshedness of secondhand smoke years ago. Back in 2005 he was already invoking the right-wing’s favorite boogeyman Lysenko in defense of his tobacco epidemiology research. His Scientific Integrity Institute, solely concerned with the integrity of one J.E. Enstrom, Ph.D., came into existence at around the same time.

I suppose I have to say it: there’s no question that academic freedom needs protection and that legitimate examination of any scientific consensus is deeply important. Too bad that hypocritical partisan zealots like Anthony are so busy poisoning the debate. By the way Anthony, which is it? Close all universities because they’re dens of communism leeching off the noble taxpayer, or don’t touch the freedom of academics? ‘Cause if you only howl about the plight of right-wing allies you’re not really operating on principle, are you? What we actually get from you are incessant calls to fire academics that you don’t like and to strip funding from programs that don’t support your politics.

It’s YOU that academic freedom needs protection from, not Enstrom or Drapela.

Climate skeptic instructor fired from Oregon State University

Posted on by
6

“Climate skeptic instructor fired from Oregon State University“ (2012-06-10). Much like The White Queen, Anthony Watts can swallow any contradiction without a hiccup. Here he does his bit to fan the flames outrage over the persecution “firing” of climate skeptic Nickolas Drapela, an exalted Senior Instructor in chemistry at Oregon State University. It’s dang witch hunt!

First of all, setting aside any question of Nick’s scientific “persecution” (it’s farcical, but we’ll get there), those of us with functioning brains will recall Anthony’s resentful fantasies about how James Hansen and Gavin Schmidt at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies should be fired for their views on climate change (i.e. they describe how it’s happening). He’s even run dumbass polls on the topic, and ‘fire ’em/throw them in jail’ is a steady somnambulistic undercurrent in the comments.

But that’s… different.

OK, let’s turn to the persecution. If we are to believe Nick’s champion Gordon Fulks, OSU is a place where:

“Transgressors who dare to be different are eventually weeded out so that the campus maintains its ideological purity.”

Stalin, Lysenko, politically correct, “Anthropogenic Global Warming, the official religion of the State of Oregon”, hot button, hot button. The on-going reductions in OSU’s funding has nothing to do with it. Nor does the fact that Nick’s basically wandered from university to university for the last fifteen years. It’s definitely malicious persecution.

Next checkmark: Is Nick a fiercely insightful scientist whose careful analysis has disproven AGW and who must be silenced at any cost? Just look at his publication record! Case closed. Well honestly the case never opened because his entire published scientific output is third author on this metabolic chemistry paper from 2000. Gee, I wonder if that contributed to his termination?

Still, there are plenty of laughs in “Global Warming Cracked Open”, a paranoid cut-and-paste “sociopolitical” slide show rant about AGW. Slide 78 of 80 introduces the only science, a pathetic cherry-picked and debunked chart of solar activity from that bastion of scientific integrity, the deceptive “documentary” The Great Global Warming Swindle. He also assures us that “they regularly read all my email communications.”

Now I get it! Anthony Watts and other denialists look at this delusional no-hope nutter and see… themselves. Is this really the donkey you want to hitch your persecution wagon to, Anthony?

Thanks to Tamino’s post The Light of Day for doing the heavy lifting on this one,

Live stream from Heartland conference

Posted on by
12

“Live stream from Heartland conference” (2012-05-23). Anthony Watts is a predictably circular fantasist, but when the entire denialosphere gathers its hard not to set Atlas Shrugged aside for a minute.

Exciting times again! The Heartland Institute’s Seventh International Conference on Climate Change is underway! “Real Science, Real Choices.” Yeah, baby! They’ve even “reserved several dozen speaker slots for prominent warmists“! Gotta dust some credibility the speaker’s list somehow. (No takers.)

Václav Klaus! You know, the famous climate scientist. Oh, wait, he’s the right-wing Czech President.

Astronaut-Climate Scientists who’ve touched the gol-durn face of God! Well, mostly disgruntled/retired NASA engineers that sent a stern letter to themselves containing many exclamation marks.

Stand-up comedy too! Have you heard that hilarious Ricky Gervais? Oh, it’s Lord Monckton doing his one-man Morris dance? Pass.

Anthony Watts presenting science! Oh, he’s just going to warm over his debunked “How Reliable Are Twentieth Century Temperature Reconstructions?” aspersions. Not in the mood for a witless version of Ground Hog Day.

Still, Joe Bast! He knows how to throw a party, right? Maybe not. Attendance is down to 300 (but thousands more will see the videos fer sure). Joe “Unabomber” is suddenly having trouble getting donor meetings and is casting about for rich (senile?) uncles. Denialist throats need to be well-lubricated it seems. But heart-felt thanks as always to the Heritage Foundation and the Illinois Coal Association.

Ain’t gonna be no rematch I guess. Surely we can count on Watts, Monckton, Singer, Morano, Michaels and pals to keep the dog and pony show going, even if just by bellowing on their blogs?

No doubt Anthony will shortly explain how this is all proof that Global Warming is over (and was a lie).

The new Hollywood blacklist

Posted on by
4

“The new Hollywood blacklist“ (2012-01-14). Oh the inhumanity! Kyocera hired Ben Stein to play an uptight dullard in a TV commercial and then changed their mind. Therefore, McCarthyism. Now Mr. Stein is suing for attention breech of contract. (Tip for Anthony: McCarthyism refers to right-wing politicians making false claims about secret political motives of people they consider politically unpalatable and then coercing businesses into shunning them. Some present examples might be Lord Monckton, Andrew Bolt, James Delingpole, Andrew Montford, Ken Cuccinelli, Marc Morano. Minus the influence in the arts.)

I think Kyocera discovered that Stein wasn’t just an accidentally funny cameo as a monotonous economics teacher in that Ferris Bueller movie back in the Eighties, or the host of a dimwitted game show a few years back. He’s also a controversial misinformer on a number of scientific issues, namely creationism (he narrated the film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed) and climate change denial (it’s an Obama conspiracy). Not quite the association an advanced technology company wants to encourage.

So they used a real glass-wearing economics teacher instead.

Anthony Watt’s nuanced response, aside from overblown self-pitying political posturing is this:

I’ll never buy another Kyocera product ever again.

I thought it was “the greenies” that wanted to go back to living in caves in the dark, but perhaps resentful denialists renouncing society will get there first!

Canadian Senate Testimony – Skeptic side now being heard in Canadian politics

Posted on by
6

“Canadian Senate Testimony – Skeptic side now being heard in Canadian politics” (2012-01-01). Anthony Watts approves of Canada’s Conservative government. They’re allowing “skeptics” to speak! Intellectual freedom finally reigns and the Global Warming hoax will now wither away in the bright sunshine of public scrutiny! Or something like that.

Of course the “skeptic” position has never been repressed. They never shut up no matter how completely their arguments are refuted. In Canada conservative media and politicians have been pounding the denialist drum for years because it feeds into their political prejudices.

What’s really changed? In 2011 the Conservatives eked out a small majority government with less than 40% of the ballots because of a split in the progressive vote, and are now busy inflicting their agenda on Canadians, shutting down debate.

In climate policy the Conservatives are now dismantling Environment Canada to prevent awkward research, abandoning the Kyoto Protocol in spite of wide support among voters, and as seen here staging politically useful ‘expert testimony’.

What would you think of a group of experts (Timothy Patterson, Ross McKitrick, Jan Veizer, and Ian D. Clark) that by pure chance only contained denialists? Actually, I have to give the Conservatives some credit. It’s awfully hard to find that many denialists who won’t be immediately laughed out of the room and they put in the hard work gathering them together. It’s kind of like a singing dog: it’s not that the dog can’t sing well, it’s that it even tries.

But isn’t this the kind of repressive, undemocratic, secretive, manipulative government that Anthony claims to be fighting against? Apparently not.

Congressman Rohrabacher’s speech on climate issues

Posted on by
4

“Congressman Rohrabacher’s speech on climate issues” (2011-12-17). Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher stands up and recites the current extended list of stupid denialist arguments (“ice caps on Mars”, “CO2 is not a pollutant”, “systematic oppression”, “global elites” hate “meat eaters”, etc.). He holds in his hand a list of fifty communists… scratch that… an editorial from Investor’s Business Daily to prove it.

This is now “a matter of public record” for the approving Anthony Watts, thus ending Global Warming once and for all, again.

Rohrabacher for President! He’ll read whatever we shove under his nose!

Quote of the Week – what Durban is really about

Posted on by
4

“Quote of the Week – what Durban is really about” (2011-12-11). Anthony Watts thinks that esteemed climate scientist “Cal65” (aka random anonymous commenter) has managed to get to the core truth about the purpose of the Durban climate conference which has, infuriatingly, achieved positive results:

The UN plan will shift wealth from the first world’s poor to the third world’s rich without making any difference in climate control.

That was a real stretch, huh? The invisible hand of the secret commie world government revealed again!

Those “whiny grifters known as the Maldives” are building airports, which clearly means they know that the sea-level won’t actually change for at least eleventy hundred years. Therefore:

“Anything coming out of the mouths of Maldives officials related to climate, CO2, or sea level is pure bullshit.”

I love the nuance of Anthony’s usual noisy arguments:

  1. “Tuvalu and many other South Pacific Islands are not sinking, claims they are due to global warming driven sea level rise are opportunistic.” Good lead! This is as close as Anthony can get to a verifiable claim. Too bad the authors of the paper he’s trying to misconstrue have been summarized thus: “Webb and Kench warn that while the islands are coping for now, any acceleration in the rate of sea-level rise could overtake the sediment build up. Calculating how fast sea levels will rise over the coming decades is uncertain science, and no one knows how fast the islands can grow.“
  2.  “The Maldives can’t take a joke.” Yeah, that’s it! Anthony’s spittle is a joke! Roll with it, dudes.
  3. Willis Eschenbach are smart and he says islands FLOAT! Really Anthony? You’re trying to show that the reaction of the Maldives government to rising sea-levels is “FAIL” and you cite Willis? You should have saved him for last and hoped that your readers wandered away before reading this bit.
  4. “The sea level is actually dropping.” It’s called statistics, Anthony. You’re not using them right. (But you know that.)
  5. Lorne Gunther (a virulent right-wing columnist) says that kooky Nils-Axel Mörner can prove that sea-level ”hasn’t risen in 50 years.” Yes, ignore the sea-level charts you shoved in our faces in point 4, Anthony.
  6. The Maldives government is building things! So is Iceland, and they gots volcanoes. Not everything is intended to last eleventy hundred years.
  7. Airports too! So is the US military in Afghanistan.
  8. The Maldives tricked the USA into giving them $30 billion! Maybe you should change the battery in your Casio.

Anthony, you’re experiencing a panic attack. Frankly we were all a bit surprised that the Durban conference managed to achieve something. Please breathe into a paper bag for the rest of the day, OK?