Quotes of the day...

...from Dr Alan Carlin PhD, author of an internal US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report, suppressed by the EPA, as politically incorrect..."My personal view is that there is not currently any reason to regulate (carbon dioxide)," he said. "There may be in the future. But global temperatures are roughly where they were in the mid-20th century. They're not going up, and if anything they're going down." More here...

...and the response from the Obama administration ? The inquisition...Mr. Carlin is instead an explanation for why the science debate is little reported in this country. The professional penalty for offering a contrary view to elites like Al Gore is a smear campaign. The global-warming crowd likes to deride skeptics as the equivalent of the Catholic Church refusing to accept the Copernican theory. The irony is that, today, it is those who dare critique the new religion of human-induced climate change who face the Inquisition...more here...

(Flying torts for Master F.D. only.Click on image to enlarge.)

...and...There is little that has been more corrosive for politics than the rise of the ‘professional’ politician: those who went to university to read politics, became a political ‘adviser’ or ‘researcher’, made the right contacts to be awarded a ‘safe seat’, and then became a politician. Such people have never held a real job and have never attained a status in the world by which the mettle of their life might be tested. These are not rounded people: they are party apparatchiks – automatons programmed for nothing but being ‘on message’. They are political poodles...think most of the NZ Labour party...more from Cranmer here...

Why we fight...

...A personal memoir...In 1986, New Zealand was totally preoccupied with all things nuclear. Soviet and American nuclear weapons were armed, aimed and poised to destroy humanity, and according to the green left, all forms of nuclear power in all guises represented unimaginable pollution - condemning the planet to freakish mutations, early cancer, an abhorrent and insurmountable nuclear waste problem, and eventual widespread species extinction. In the cold war 1980's, all nations had to decide which side of the ideological and nuclear fence they sat on, and in New Zealand the ANZUS (Australia, NZ and the United States) pact cemented the bonds forged in WW2, where US troops (largely stationed in NZ) and the Aussies on the Kokoda Trail halted the Japanese advance into the south Pacific.

To assess the feelings of all NZ'ers about defence, and in an attempt to justify withdrawal from the ANZUS pact, the Labour Government of 1986, headed by David Lange, instituted a Defence Review Committee. The Committee was chaired by a retired Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Jack Corner, and included a confirmed anti-nuclear "peace" advocate and Quaker, Dr Kevin Clements. The Committee sat, collected over 4800 submissions, and in due course reported its findings back to the Lange government. Among them was a clear unequivocal statement from Dr Clements that "it was neither realistic or rational to continue the anti-nuclear struggle from outside of the (ANZUS) alliance." With those courageous words Kevin Clements summarily executed the NZ "peace" movement, and in effect obliterated the Labour pretence that its anti-nuclear stance was apolitical. Furthermore, the committee's full findings severely embarrassed the Lange government in that it endorsed and emphasised the importance of the ANZUS pact to genuine peace and regional stability.

With this public rebuttal to their anti-American and anti-nuclear foreign policy stance, the Lange government had to pretend that NZ existed in a "benign strategic environment". However, to their dismay, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev publically emphasised the importance of a Soviet presence in the south Pacific. However, the Lange government persisted and withdrew from ANZUS amidst great bitterness and rancour, and the eventual ousting of Lange as Prime Minister was guaranteed. In this climate, with a radical anti-US foreign policy stance clearly at odds with the wishes of the majority of the electorate, the movement to help develop true participatory democracy via Citizens Initiated Referendums (CIR) was born.

CIR was the main plank of the groups Freedom and Individual Responsibility (FAIR), National Reform, and The One New Zealand Foundation. Of those groups, the in house National Party splinter group National Reform succeeded in pushing for the adoption of referendum on demand to be included in the election manifesto of the opposition National Party. Since that time numerous referendums have been held (and ignored, largely under the last 9 years of Helen Clark's Labour rule), and we have now come to the point where the general public of NZ will soon vote via a postal referendum on the weighty matter of whether a parental smack to an errant child should or should not be, a criminal offence. Marxist list Labour MP Sue Bradford of course insists it should, and parental instinct and reaction throughout the country will deliver her via the referendum a short two word, two syllable rebuttal. F*** off.

The point of all this ? With rejection of the "anti-smacking" law, Sue Bradford and other domestic champions of state control via UN statute have had to adopt the platform of a strategic managed retreat; that is to emphasise the cost of the referendum and its non-binding nature. The dead rat that they have had to swallow in the process however, is that thanks to C.I.R. their authority over the electorate is limited to election time, and that given a chance, voters will show their disdain for them and their political bullying via referendums on demand on contentious issues.

To put this referendum and issue in context, the anti-smacking legislation of 2009 is the equivalent of the anti-nuclear, anti-US posturing of 1986. This time however, NZ'ers can speak with a clear and direct voice ...

The "conspiracy of denial..."

...and the collapse of "consensus" over AGW are hurting the green left. Throughout the world, critical voices speaking out against Al Gore's climatastrophe fantasy are being heard and getting louder thanks in no small part to the blogosphere. In Australia, Senator Steve Fielding (left) has declared that he would not be voting for the Australian Emissions Trading Bill, and that he would not risk job losses on "unconvincing green science." The ETS bill is set to founder as the Australian parliament breaks for the winter. From Kimberley A. Strassel in the Wall St. Journal...Among the many reasons President Barack Obama and the Democratic majority are so intent on quickly jamming a cap-and-trade system through Congress is because the global warming tide is again shifting. It turns out Al Gore and the United Nations (with an assist from the media), did a little too vociferous a job smearing anyone who disagreed with them as "deniers." The backlash has brought the scientific debate roaring back to life in Australia, Europe, Japan and even, if less reported, the U.S...In April, the Polish Academy of Sciences published a document challenging man-made global warming. In the Czech Republic, where President Vaclav Klaus remains a leading skeptic, today only 11% of the population believes humans play a role. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to tap Claude Allegre to lead the country's new ministry of industry and innovation. Twenty years ago Mr. Allegre was among the first to trill about man-made global warming, but the geochemist has since recanted. New Zealand last year elected a new government, which immediately suspended the country's weeks-old cap-and-trade program...The collapse of the "consensus" has been driven by reality. The inconvenient truth is that the earth's temperatures have flat-lined since 2001, despite growing concentrations of C02. Peer-reviewed research has debunked doomsday scenarios about the polar ice caps, hurricanes, malaria, extinctions, rising oceans. A global financial crisis has politicians taking a harder look at the science that would require them to hamstring their economies to rein in carbon...Credit for Australia's own era of renewed enlightenment goes to Dr. Ian Plimer, a well-known Australian geologist. Earlier this year he published "Heaven and Earth," a damning critique of the "evidence" underpinning man-made global warming. The book is already in its fifth printing. So compelling is it that Paul Sheehan, a noted Australian columnist -- and ardent global warming believer -- in April humbly pronounced it "an evidence-based attack on conformity and orthodoxy, including my own, and a reminder to respect informed dissent and beware of ideology subverting evidence." Australian polls have shown a sharp uptick in public skepticism; the press is back to questioning scientific dogma; blogs are having a field day...more here...

President Obama infuriates PETA...

...by thoughtlessly murdering a fly during a TV interview...
...A spokesman for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said the group was stunned to see the President swat and kill a fly during an interview Tuesday on CNBC. PETA said it would be sending Obama a Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher, a device that allows users to trap a house fly and then release it outside...more here...

The peerless and ever vigilant Iowahawk has this to say... The widow of the housefly murdered by Barack Obama during a recent CNBC television interview announced this morning that she would be filing a wrongful death suit against the President in federal district court. The plaintiff brief -- citing pain, suffering and loss of income -- seeks a formal apology and compensatory damages, including an unspecified quantity of shit.
"Bob was a wonderful husband and provider," said the widow, Mrs. Vivian Vvzzvzwwzzz, wiping tears from her compound eyes. "Even though he was always busy at the Rose Garden turd pile, he always flew home in time to tuck in our maggots."

...Breaking down, an emotionally distraught Vvzzvzwwzzz was comforted by PETA President Ingrid Newkirk and ACLU President Nadine Strossen. The two groups announced they will file an amicus brief in the case and file a separate class action suit against the insecticide, flyswatter and pest strip industries, seeking over 1 million metric tons of compensatory shit on behalf of 200 billion Fly-Americans.
"The President's treatment of the Fly community has been extremely disappointing," said Newkirk. "He almost seemed to relish his bloodthirsty attack on Mr. Vvzzvzwwzzz. It's obvious he's in the pocket of Big Manure."...more here...

Global warming...and other bullshit...

...It is widely thought that the polar ice caps will melt, causing sea levels to rise, resulting in the loss of cities along the coast, as well as a the majority of polar bears.
And if global warming does not kill us, then obesity or heart disease will thanks to an addiction to junk food and salt...but a new book, compiled by Stanley Feldman, a professor of anaesthetics at London University, and Vincent Marks, a former professor of clinical biochemistry and dean of medicine at the University of Surrey, are questioning the end of the world and healthy eating tips...the pair discuss Global Warming And Other Bollocks: The Truth About All Those Science Scare Stories, where they examine the "facts" behind global warming, the future of polar bears...Maldives property owners are so confident the sea is receding, they are building a number of upmarket seafront hotels. Tuvalu in the Pacific, often seen as being most at risk of flooding, has actually seen a fall in sea levels...Warmer climate and an increase in CO2 could be good for farming and agriculture. Less severe winters will also allow more crops to be grown...more here...
...and order from Amazon here...

David Cameron Tory Euroreformer...

...has, according to Cranmer, written his name into the history books with The Prague Declaration; a statement of principles that is as significant to European, and possibly world history as Martin Luther's proclamations in 1517...
"CONSCIOUS OF THE URGENT NEED TO REFORM THE EU ON THE BASIS OF EUROREALISM, OPENNESS, ACCOUNTABILITY AND DEMOCRACY, IN A WAY THAT RESPECTS THE SOVEREIGNTY OF OUR NATIONS AND CONCENTRATES ON ECONOMIC RECOVERY, GROWTH AND COMPETITIVENESS, THE EUROPEAN CONSERVATIVES AND REFORMISTS GROUP SHARES THE FOLLOWING PRINCIPLES:


1. Free enterprise, free and fair trade and competition, minimal regulation, lower taxation, and small government as the ultimate catalysts for individual freedom and personal and national prosperity.
2. Freedom of the individual, more personal responsibility and greater democratic accountability.
3. Sustainable, clean energy supply with an emphasis on energy security.
4. The importance of the family as the bedrock of society.
5. The sovereign integrity of the nation state, opposition to EU federalism and a renewed respect for true subsidiarity.
6. The overriding value of the transatlantic security relationship in a revitalised NATO, and support for young democracies across Europe.
7. Effectively controlled immigration and an end to abuse of asylum procedures.
8. Efficient and modern public services and sensitivity to the needs of both rural and urban communities.
9. An end to waste and excessive bureaucracy and a commitment to greater transparency and probity in the EU institutions and use of EU funds.
10. Respect and equitable treatment for all EU countries, new and old, large and small."

This declaration will, if it survives, reverberate around the world. The small group of EuroMP's that gather around it have the means to make history as true reformers. The left will hate them and it, (see cartoon from The Independent left, click on to enlarge) as it lays the foundation for a reversal of the constipated bureaucracy that stifles European capitalism, and diminishes individual responsibility and threatens energy security. Bravo that man ! More here...

The weight of the world is on his shoulders...

...In the Australian Senate the vote of one senator, Steve Fielding, (left) may be important for the passage of the government’s cap and trade legislation, also known as the emission trading scheme.
On Monday Senator Fielding had a meeting with the Minister for Climate Change, Penny Wong, and asked the following questions so he can make an informed decision on whether or not an emissions trading scheme is the best course of action for Australia to take to deal with climate change and global warming.

Q1. Is it the case that CO2 increased by 5% since 1998 whilst global temperature cooled over the same period ?
If so, why did the temperature not increase; and how can human emissions be to blame for dangerous levels of warming?

Q2. Is it the case that the rate and magnitude of warming between 1979 and 1998 (the late 20th century phase of global warming) was not unusual in either rate or magnitude as compared with warmings that have occurred earlier in the Earth’s history ?
If the warming was not unusual, why is it perceived to have been caused by human CO2 emissions; and, in any event, why is warming a problem if the Earth has experienced similar warmings in the past?

Q3. Is it the case that all GCM computer models projected a steady increase in temperature for the period 1990-2008, whereas in fact there were only 8 years of warming were followed by 10 years of stasis and cooling ?
If so, why is it assumed that long-term climate projections by the same models are suitable as a basis for public policy making?

...and from Joanna Nova...Senator Fielding holds a crucial vote on the proposed Emissions Trading Legislation. Fielding and four independent scientists faced the Minister for the Climate Change and Water, Penny Wong, The Chief Scientist, Penny Sackett, and Professor Will Steffan, director of the Climate Change Institute at the Australian National University. Read what happened from someone who was there...excerpt...

...Ocean temperatures have only been measured in any detail or to any depth for five years, by the Argo buoys. And as that article says, “Josh Willis of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has reported that the Argo system has shown no ocean warming since it started in 2003. “There has been a very slight cooling, but not anything really significant””. The Argo buoys have been recalibrated, and for a while they showed a slight warming trend. The latest result seems to be slight cooling: see the graphs on this Argo site.

The ocean temperature data is sufficient to prove that the IPCC are wrong about the climate (the rise would have to be over a certain amount to confirm the IPCC case)...more here...

It's hard to censor the internet...

...and the outrage on the streets in Iran is testimony to the power of accessible information. The hundreds of thousands who have taken to the streets in Iran communicate via Facebook and Twitter and are energised and mobilised by today's technology. If they are successful in bringing democracy to Iran it will be due to their laptops and mobile phones, and of course a more stable Iraq next door. And if a more stable Iraq leads to democracy and stability in Iran, the G W Bush phobics may have to swallow a little of their pride, and give credit where it's due...some hope...more too, at The Pacific Gatepost here...
...and from The Resilient Earth...Earth's climate system is amazingly complex and modeling is fraught with pitfalls and danger for even the most experienced computer scientists. No climate model predicted the current downturn in global temperatures, though many are now scrambling to predict possible decades of unchanging or cooling climate “within the general warming trend.” Still, climate science remains enthralled by its computerized playthings. I have to echo Professor Pielke's question, how many years of wrong results are necessary before we reject the IPCC reports and the models they are based on? ...more here...
...and from Roy Spencer PhD...it is interesting that the modern belief that our carbon emissions have caused the climate system to rebel are not that different from ancient civilizations that made sacrifices to the gods of nature in their attempts to get nature to cooperate. Technology might have changed over time, but it seems human nature has remained the same.

Zombies from the extreme political left...

...inhabit a dead space in their own heads, occupied by self loathing, obsessed with a failed ideology and tormented by their own guilt...

"...The cognitive behavior of Western intellectuals faced with the accomplishments of their own society, on the one hand, and with the socialist ideal and then the socialist reality, on the other, takes one's breath away. In the midst of unparalleled social mobility in the West, they cry 'caste.' In a society of munificent goods and services, they cry either 'poverty' or 'consumerism.' In a society of ever richer, more varied, more productive, more self-defined, and more satisfying lives, they cry 'alienation.' In a society that has liberated women, racial minorities, religious minorities, and gays and lesbians to an extent that no one could have dreamed possible just fifty years ago, they cry 'oppression.' In a society of boundless private charity, they cry 'avarice.' In a society in which hundreds of millions have been free riders upon the risk, knowledge, and capital of others, they decry the 'exploitation' of the free riders. In a society that broke, on behalf of merit, the seemingly eternal chains of station by birth, they cry 'injustice.' In the names of fantasy worlds and mystical perfections, they have closed themselves to the Western, liberal miracle of individual rights, individual responsibility, merit, and human satisfaction. Like Marx, they put words like 'liberty' in quotation marks when these refer to the West…."

From Alan Charles Kors' essay Can There Be an "After Socialism" ...more about A.C.Kors here...with thanks to poster EBD at SmallDeadAnimals...
...and from Moonbattery..."We don't need proof to execute a man. We only need proof that it's necessary to execute him. A revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate." Che Guevara

Another climate scientist points out the obvious...

...that the science of climate change is not settled, and that Al Gore's propaganda about climatastrophe is nonsense. Now, hot on the heels of Ian Wishart's NZ best seller Air Con, and Ian Plimer's Heaven and Earth, comes The Climate Caper by Emeritus Professor Garth Paltridge. Paltridge is an atmospheric physicist and was a Chief Research Scientist with the CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research before taking up positions in Tasmania as Director of the Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies and CEO of the Antarctic Cooperative Research Centre. He is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Tasmania and a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University...from the review notes...The Climate Caper, with a light touch and nicely readable manner, ...shows that the case for action against climate change is not nearly so certain as is presented to politicians and the public. He leads us through the massive uncertainties which are inherently part of the ‘climate modelling process’; he examines the even greater uncertainties associated with economic forecasts of climatic doom; and he discusses in detail the conscious and sub-conscious forces operating to ensure that scepticism within the scientific community is kept from the public eye...

...and from Harmless Sky a fascinating analysis of the recent European parliamentary elections, pointing to a comprehensive defeat for the green left and their ideas...What seems to have emerged from the elections, in which climate change played a relatively minor part, is that a party which is sceptical about global warming came from nowhere to run the ruling party into third place; that the ruling party, which has the highest profile position on global warming, performed abysmally; and that the Green Party, which is the only one entirely devoted to environmental matters, seemed unable to make major gains when, apparently, their time had come and everything was in their favour.
Whatever the politicians, scientists, and the media may be telling voters about climate change, it would seem that this is not feeding through into radical re-alignment of voting patterns. The people who had most cause for rejoicing on election night were undoubtedly UKIP, whose scepticism about the grand European project, and one of its crucial policies - fighting climate change - triumphed at the ballot box...more here..

The venerable Asse Hatte strikes again...

...the dreary and humourless PC left deserve to be mocked and satirised, and nobody does it better than the esteemed Iowahawk, whose genius is a daily must read. His merciless skewering of Rowan Williams, The Archbishop of Canterbury; Heere Bigynneth the Tale of the Asse-Hatte is a tale to relish. So too is this parable from Doverwatch regarding His Celestial Fogeyness...

..I saw a truly remarkable piece of ‘Street Theatre' in Canterbury yesterday afternoon.The Archbishop of Canterbury was doing a ‘walkabout’ in the town centre during which he approached a woman with a small toddler and attempted to ‘lay hands’ on the child. The mother gently drew the child away from him and told him “Don’t you dare touch my child!”The Archbishop drew himself up and arrogantly demanded “Do you know who I am?” to which the mother replied “Yes I do and don’t you dare touch my child!”Then in an incredible display of arrogance and insensitivity he completely ignored the mother’s wishes and stepping forward, attempted once again to 'lay hands' on the child. The mother reacted to this by shoving a large travel buggy between him and the child to prevent him doing so, at which two of his bodyguards quickly hustled him away followed by the rest of his entourage. Absolutely Priceless. His Eminence, the Archbishop of Canterbury behaving like a complete idiot in front of dozens of people. You simply couldn't make this stuff up...

Pissed on communion wine no doubt...thanks to Doverwatch, and H/T to visitor Norvile...

The green red left on parade...

...the usual suspects; Socialist Youth Organisation, Socialist Alliance, Socialist Alternative are all here, at this climate change protest / jamboree last weekend in Australia. All are convinced in their hearts that socialism is the answer and that our CO2 emissions will disguise the Trojan horse that will allow it in. ( Aided and abetted of course by the useful fools...)

From Emeritus Professor Philip Stott “‘Global warming’ has become the grand political narrative of the age, replacing Marxism as a dominant force for controlling liberty and human choices..."

As the deadline for Copenhagen draws closer we can expect the exhibitionist green reds to display their colours and their hysteria more frequently. By their banners you will know them...with thanks to Australian Climate Madness...

Be very afraid of the UN...

...as the world wakes up to the reality of overblown, oversold green/left disinformation on climate change, the post Kyoto conference looms on the horizon...Remember Kyoto? It would have required us (the USA) to reduce our national emissions of carbon dioxide to 7 percent below 1990 levels. Europe, Canada, and pretty much the rest of the developed world had similar “obligations.” Kyoto failed because, simply put, it was too costly, both politically and economically. It would have had no detectable effect on global warming, anyway — “preventing” about seven-hundredths of a degree Celsius by 2050. (Although New Zealand under Helen Clark couldn't wait to jump on board.) The Earth’s surface temperature bounces around about twice that amount naturally from year-to-year, so it would have been impossible to determine Kyoto’s “benefit.”What’s the response of the U.N. and the Obama administration to this failure? The meeting in Bonn proposes even more drastic cuts in emissions. The legislation currently being discussed in the House of Representatives, and supported by the president, would reduce U.S. emissions to 83 percent below 2005 levels. If implemented, this would allow the average American in 2050 to emit only as much carbon dioxide as the average American emitted in 1867. No one has any idea how this would be accomplished. The president supports the Waxman-Markey “cap and trade” bill renamed the Obama Energy Tax in this space, since it would amount to the largest tax increase ever instituted by any government in history...All this will have minimal effect on global warming. Using standard scientific models (such as they are), we can estimate that, if every nation in the world that has obligations under the current Kyoto Protocol begins to reduce emissions soon and reaches the 83 percent target by 2050, the amount of warming prevented by then is a mere 0.08 degrees Celsius by 2050 and 0.22 degrees by 2100, compared with what the United Nations calls “business-as-usual...more from Patrick Michaels here...
...and be very afraid of Iran...President Ahmadinejad has pledged his life to the ‘liberation of Palestine’, and he now has four more years to fulfil the divine will.This is Iran’s final solution.And the world’s Obamageddon...more from Cranmer here...

The London Underground...

...off topic I know, but the world famous Tube is paralyzed right now due to a drivers strike. 12,000 miles away, so it doesn't affect us, but a colossal problem for commuters, and a huge and possibly defining challenge for the Mayor, Boris Johnston. To gauge public opinion, check this YouTube clip... and the comments after it...sorry, not good at embedding videos.

Caution; lyrics are like, BLUNT, but the message could not be clearer... I wonder whether public comment like this via the net and blogs spells the death knell for mass voluntary union membership and destructive bullying unionism, of the type we came to know and abhor in the 70's and 80's ?...and to deal with those bolshie train drivers ? Harry Hutton's been in touch with a gunsmith...
Dear Sir,
Could you possibly make me a high-velocity sniper's rifle, that could be disguised as a walking stick? It is for purely recreational sniping, you understand, and would not be used in acts of politically-motivated terror. I give you my word on that. I am not a murderer. Why would I wish to kill my fellow man, unless he was sinning?
Money is no object, but it must be accurate enough consistently to bring down sinners at distances of up to half a mile. I would never, I assure you, take up arms to smite my fellow man, without detailed and specific instructions from God our father, or one of
his angels. Woe unto the heathen on that day! The Lord shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
Please send me estimates on price, delivery time, etc. And could you get hold of some explosive-tipped ammunition (for the "right price", naturally)? If the worst came to the worst, and we were absolutely forced to liquidate a heathen, we wouldn't want to leave any ballistic evidence, you see.
But we pray it will never come to that.
Awake unto righteousness, and sin not.
Yours faithfully,

H.Hutton...the gunsmith got back to Harry, as did some of his mate. Heathens and striking train drivers, look out...more here...

From The Scientific Alliance...

...a.k.a The Cambridge Network... a calm and unemotional look at the theory of AGW and a plea for scientific debate...The scientific method is a valuable way to advance objective knowledge. By testing a hypothesis against observation, it can either be falsified or supported. Not proved, of course, but nevertheless over time sufficient evidence can accumulate for a hypothesis to be generally accepted as the best available explanation. It is then known as a theory.Large numbers of people have been sufficiently convinced by the arguments to take it as read that the greenhouse gas hypothesis is essentially correct and that disaster will occur unless radical cuts are made in emissions. They have moved beyond the stage of questioning to simply not listening to anyone who raises doubts. But, what is worse, they are putting their faith in a hypothesis unsupported by anything more than circumstantial evidence.In the meantime, the belief in the greenhouse as hypothesis is such that legitimate criticism based on contradictory evidence – the lack of predicted warming of the upper troposphere, the measured cooling of Antarctica, the lack of change in the rate of sea level rise or the failure of the models to explain or predict recent temperature trends, for example – are dismissed as the propaganda of paid lobbyists or cranks. All societies will gain if we make sure we understand the problem before taking corrective action rather than jump on the currently fashionable bandwagon. Addressing critics' questions seriously is a necessary first step..more here...
...and more too, from Butch, one of the most articulate and interesting people to be found in the blogosphere, a quote from Marcus Aurelius, an exhortation for our teeth grinding times..“Does anything befall you? It is good. Anything that befalls you is a part of your destiny, intended for you alone, and is a part of the great web of the universe.”...and to close for today, from the deliciously named Orange County Register, this gem...It’s hard to keep a worldwide hoax going. Sooner or later there are leaks in the balloon and the hot air seeps out, sort of global-warming style.Even mainline press accounts increasingly are puncturing the global warming balloon. The Washington Post recently pointed out that Al Gore’s dire predictions of devastating 20-foot rising seas caused by global warming are, well, all wet...more here...

Death from a thousand cuts...

...is sapping the morale and profit of the newspaper industry. As readers turn the pages of their dailies, and flick through their TV channels, the technological rise of the internet is slowly stifling the influence and business viability of the organs of the main stream media. In the health sector, the "gatekeepers" who allow access to health care services are our GP's. In the information industry, the gatekeepers who graciously allow us access to filtered information, have been the all powerful main stream media. The advent of the internet, and its offshoot the blogosphere, have changed the equation, and the information gatekeepers are bleeding and frightened...from Samizdata, this wonderful piece...

...I think that genuine fear is being expressed by our former gatekeepers of correct thought. The rise of Adolph Hitler has been obsessively taught in British schools for the last generation or so, as the very definition of that which Must Not Happen, yet now, something not wholly unlike it appears to be happening, here in Britain! Calamity!
I say "former" gatekeepers of correct thought because that is surely the other thing now happening that scares these people. The internet, as we enthusiasts for it have been saying ever since it got started as a mass phenomenon a decade ago or more, entitles people to say whatever they like. They no longer need the permission of anybody more important to reach a quite large audience with an opinion that quite large numbers of people agree with but which the Gatekeepers disapprove of and want suppressed...more here...

...hence of course, the frightened green left, whose vision for the future doesn't embrace Adlai Stevenson's ideal... The first principle of a free society is an untrammelled flow of words in an open forum...

F***ing green hypocrites...

...from Doverwatch, a comment on the despicable greens and the UK elections...Locally, people are seeing the Green party as a more reasonable alternative and on the face of it they do seem to be. Unfortunately this is simply not true. The Greens are also extremists and just as racist as the BNP, but where the BNP have never tried to conceal their intent to 'repatriate' non-whites regardless of citizenship, the Greens have hidden their racist agenda, disguising it as 'ecological concerns'.The reality is the Green Party is part of the same de-industrialisation lobby as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. They would much rather see children starving than allow third world countries to build the infrastructure they so desperately need. Yet at the same time are perfectly happy to allow western industrial interests to exploit those countries' mineral and other resources for their own profit.Naturally when anyone questions their actions, they trot out the standard excuse used by every extremist in history - "It's for their own good"...more here...
...note also the classic Denis Dutton article "Fear mongering greens doom children to death"

...and quote of the day...Drunken sailors generally spend cash that they’ve already earned themselves, rather than running up debt to be paid by others. If our politicians started spending like drunken sailors, it would in fact represent a dramatic improvement...with thanks to Instapundit...

The voice(s) of young America today...

...as heard by the esteemed satirist Iowahawk, are coloured by their enchantment with their champion, President Obama, and relief. Relief from the tyranny of the hated 9 to 5, and eased by a regular relief cheque... leading to what Iowahawk calls funemployment...pictured left, funemployed web developer Ryan Hagstrom, 29, enjoying quality funemployment leisure time behind a Seattle dumpster...Never heard of funemployment? Here's Urban Dictionary's definition: "The condition of a person who takes advantage of being out of a job to have the time of their life. I found a burrito with only one bite in it; funemployment rocks!" ...Funemployment is a statement about American society. Experts say it's a sign that Americans are slowly embracing a healthier lifestyle that centers on self-actualization, survival, and Twitter rather than the often soul-crushing burdens of corporate careerism. These experts frequently credit the Obama Administration."Recession is a great opportuning for people to get outside, enjoy a sunny park bench, and have fun," said Robert Lester, a professor at UCLA's Anderson School of Business. "And President Obama is making that kind of fun possible for more and more people every day."
...The daily lives of the funemployed have never been more public. Many post Flickr sets of their globe-trotting vacations, proudly showing off a deep-bronze tan and washboard ribcage. Others blog about their latest amusing malnourishment hallucination, or broadcast via Twitter the day's weighty menu choices, as @roadkillgourmet did last week when deciding between raccoon and armadillo....stories like Greenleaf and Browning's represent more than just a hip new lifestyle trend among America's urbane unemployable literati. By thumbing their collective nose at employment, Lester said they also are sending a clear message to corporate America."America's increasingly savvy and educated funemployed are demanding much more from the companies laying them off," Lester said. "Until these failing companies somehow figure out how to meet the expectations of the young workers they don't need, it's unclear where our next generation of layoffs will come from...more from the maestro here...

An Aussie battler stands up to be counted...

...As a federal senator, I would be derelict in my duty to the Australian people if I did not even consider whether or not the scientific assumptions underpinning this debate were in fact correct. Unlike the Greens, who with alarmist rhetoric and extreme ideology have painted themselves into a corner, I am willing to engage in this debate so that the best outcome for all Australians can be achieved.

...As an engineer, I have been trained to listen to both sides of the debate in order to make an informed decision about any issue. Any scientist worth their salt will tell you that in order to form a conclusive view about any topic, you need to properly explore all available possibilities.
Until recently I, like most Australians, simply accepted without question the notion that global warming was a result of increased carbon emissions. However, after speaking to a cross-section of noted scientists, including Ian Plimer, a professor at the University of Adelaide and author of Heaven and Earth, I quickly began to understand that the science on this issue was by no means conclusive. At the conference I attended on Tuesday hosted by the Heartland Institute, I heard views that challenged the Rudd government’s set of “facts”. Views that could not be dismissed as mere conspiracy theories, but that were derived using proper scientific analysis. The idea that climate change is a result of the variation in solar activity and not related to the increase of CO2 into the atmosphere is not something I can remember ever being discussed in the media. The question of whether global warming is a new phenomenon or something that is just part of the naturally occurring 1500-year climate cycle was never raised in any of the discussions I have had with the Rudd government. Has the government considered these questions, or has it just accepted the one scientific explanation for climate change at face value?

...The "alarmist rhetoric and extreme idelogy" Steve Fielding talks about is a perfect summation of the red greens. I wonder if anyone apart from some of their deluded followers see them as uncomplicated idealists any more ?

Jennifer Marohasy writes that... "...the government, however, is likely to take the (Emissions Trading Scheme) legislation back to the Senate in late September or October and has threatened a double dissolution if it doesn’t get its way. This could mean an election with a focus on the issue of climate change. A few independents hold the balance of power in the Senate and the government has said it is keen to negotiate with them. Just last week one independent Senator, Steve Fielding, indicated that there had so far been no debate on the science of climate change in Australia...more here...

...and, in the UK, socialism takes a hammering...In the English local elections held last Thursday, the Conservatives won around 38% of the vote, the Liberal Democrats 28% and Labour 23%. That was poor enough for the ruling party.But Labour's share of the vote at the European elections has slumped to just 15.3 per cent – worse than that worst any Labour MP had hoped and prayed for. In fact, it was a worse collapse than the Conservatives ever endured, even at their lowest ebb. Across Scotland the SNP secured 29 per cent of the vote to Labour's 21 per cent. They also lost in Wales for the first time since 1918, and the Conservative Party came top in quite a magnificent achievement. Nationally, Gordon Brown has delivered Labour its worst post-war election result as the party was beaten into third place by a very impressive performance by UKIP which gained 17.4 per cent of the vote...more from Cranmer here...

Warm your cockles over this...

...blogger Richard Fernandez writes of the Guardian howling with alarm (delicious phrase !) over the UK Labour Party meltdown and its implications for Europe...Even the left wing Guardian lamented “...Labour suffers long, dark night of humiliation — Tories surge as BNP wins first Euro seats”. Even the Conservative’s David Cameron is finding that he may have to shift further to the right simply to remain in step with the European Electoral results. The Guardian (again !) howls in alarm:
The Tories’ success means that Cameron will face one of the toughest challenges of his leadership: taking the party out of the main centre-right EPP-ED grouping in Strasbourg and establishing a new pan-European Eurosceptic group. Under the EU parliament’s rules, the Tories must include MEPs from at least seven member countries to form a grouping.
Cameron has faced criticism from party grandees and former senior diplomats because his group will be dominated by socially conservative parties from eastern Europe. The two biggest parties that have pledged to join the new group are the ODS from the Czech Republic, whose founder, Vaclav Klaus, has questioned many current assumptions about climate change, and Poland’s Law and Justice party, whose founders have made homophobic statements...more here...

...with the loss of the influence of UK Labour Party the green/left face an invigorated climate change scepticism movement within the European Parliament. Watch the hysteria and green scare stories move into overdrive...

Death, taxes and climate change...

...all inevitable and unavoidable, and taken together form the unholy triad of IPPC left wing thinking. The green/left like to warn us that without punitive taxation and more state control of our lives we face climatastrophe. And according to former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, now president of the Geneva-based Global Humanitarian Forum, climate change-induced disasters, such as droughts and floods, kill 315,000 each year and cost $125 billion, numbers it says will rise to 500,000 dead and $340 billion by 2030. Adding to the gloom, Mr. Annan predicts "mass starvation, mass migration, and mass sickness" unless countries agree to "the most ambitious international agreement ever negotiated" at a meeting this year in Copenhagen.
Now standing up to be counted is one of the world's leading physicists Freeman Dyson, Dyson is scathing of climate models, and climate modellers...I mean it’s a fact that they don’t know how to model (the climate)... and the question is, how does it happen that they end up believing their models? But I have seen that happen in many fields. You sit in front of a computer screen for 10 years and you start to think of your model as being real. It is also true that the whole livelihood of all these people depends on people being scared. Really, just psychologically, it would be very difficult for them to come out and say, “Don’t worry, there isn’t a problem.” It’s sort of natural, since their whole life depends on it being a problem.
The Wall Street Journal takes a similar sceptical viewpoint in its editorial, calling Annan's report "Worse than Fiction" and observing... ...the Annan report deserves even closer scrutiny as an example of the sleight of hand that so often goes with the politics of global warming....the numbers here are a lot less scary when put into context. Malaria kills an estimated one million people a year, while AIDS claims an estimated two million. As for the economic costs, $125 billion is slightly less than the GDP of New Zealand. Question: Are targeted campaigns using proven methods to spare the world three million AIDS and malaria deaths a year a better use of scarce resources than a multitrillion-dollar attempt to re-engineer the global economy and save, at most, a tenth that number? We'd say yes... if the case for global warming is so open and shut, why the need for a report as disingenuous as Mr. Annan's?
...and from Christopher Brooker in the Daily Telegraph...the Arctic ice has failed to disappear...it is now not far off its 30-year mean. Al Gore's polar bears have failed to drown. The ice in the Antarctic is actually way above its 30-year average. Except in the minds of Kofi Annan, Lord Stern and Prince Charles's assembled worthies, the threatened catastrophe seems not to be happening. Meanwhile, on the planet where the rest of us live, the prospects for a new treaty in December, which according to an estimate by the International Energy Agency would cost us all $45 trillion, are not looking too hot. The Chinese and the Indians insist that, since all this global warming is the fault of the developed world, they will only sign the treaty if we agree to pay them $300 billion a year. The Africans and South Americans make similar demands...(H/T PKH)

...so why the need for alarm and scare stories? Simply because the case for man made climatastrophe is a lie, based on fear, overstatement and disinformation, and becoming more untenable by the day...

The green bubble has burst...

...when popular TV satirises the the guilt and gloom merchants. To this jaded observer PC dogma seems so established, that a tilt at it from the mainstream pulp garbage networks has seemed fanciful. However, it's been a long time coming, and probably will not reach our TV screens, but here at last is a show that makes the green/left squirm... the incessant hectoring by the media-political complex's "consciousness-raising" campaign has provoked a comic riposte in the form of "The Goode Family," an animated ABC entertainment program on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. Eastern time. Cartoons seem, alas, to be the most effective means of seizing a mass audience's attention. Still, the program is welcome evidence of the bursting of what has been called "the green bubble."
...Gerald and Helen Goode, their children and dog Che (when supervised, he is a vegan; when unsupervised, squirrels disappear) live in a college town, where T-shirts and other media instruct ("Meat is murder"), admonish ("Don't kill wood") and exhort ("Support our troops ... and their opponents"). The college, where Gerald works, gives students tenure. And when Gerald says his department needs money to raise the percentage of minority employees, his boss cheerily replies, "Or we could just fire three white guys. Everybody wins!" Helen shops at the One Earth store, where community shaming enforces social responsibility: "Attention One Earth shoppers, the driver of the SUV is in aisle four. He's wearing the baseball cap..."
...more here... A MUST SEE SHOW !

Shock new news from NASA...

...the sun plays a major role in climate change...and that's why it is HOT at the equator, and COLD at the poles. Who would've thought it ?

...NASA Goddard study suggests solar variation plays a role in our current climate...NASA Study Acknowledges Solar Cycle, Not Man, Responsible for Past Warming......Solar activity has shown a major spike in the twentieth century, corresponding to global warming. This cyclic variation was acknowledged by a recent NASA study, which reviewed a great deal of past climate data. Now...a study from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland looking at climate data over the past century has concluded that solar variation has made a significant impact on the Earth’s climate. The report concludes that evidence for climate changes based on solar radiation can be traced back as far as the Industrial Revolution...Past research has shown that the sun goes through eleven year cycles. At the cycle’s peak, solar activity occurring near sunspots is particularly intense, basking the Earth in solar heat...The inconvertible fact, here is that even NASA’s own study acknowledges that solar variation has caused climate change in the past. And even the study’s members, mostly ardent supports of AGW theory, acknowledge that the sun may play a significant role in future climate changes...more from WuWT here...

...and an accurate critique from the comments...As far as this latest solar report. They are covering their behinds just in case this minimum continues and their models can't, or won’t predict cooling.. then we can blame it on the sun. Remember when it was warming the sun had no influence, or slight influence.. but let it cool down and the sun definitely has a measurable effect?

Sceptics are cranks and deniers...Oh Yeah ?

Take this guy for example...Dr. Roger Pielke Sr. is currently a Senior Research Scientist in CIRES and a Senior Research Associate at the University of Colorado-Boulder in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (ATOC) at the University of Colorado in Boulder (November 2005 -present). He is also an Emeritus Professor of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University and has a five-year appointment (April 2007 - March 2012) on the Graduate Faculty of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Pielke has studied terrain-induced mesoscale systems, including the development of a three-dimensional mesoscale model of the sea breeze, for which he received the NOAA Distinguished Authorship Award for 1974.
Dr. Pielke has published over 330 papers in peer-reviewed journals, 50 chapters in books, co-edited 9 books, and made over 700 presentations during his career to date. A listing of papers can be viewed at the project website: http://cires.colorado.edu/science/groups/pielke/pubs/ . He also launched a science weblog in 2005 to discuss weather and climate issues. This weblog was named one of the 50 most popular Science blogs by Nature Magazine on July 5, 2006 and is located at http://climatesci.org.

...when the REAL heroes of the struggle against the green left are counted, Pielke Snr will be in the front ranks...more here...

AND...Quote for the day...“… the highly placed conspirators who seek to ride the climate scare to world domination have reckoned without one thing. You. You are here, and you will not let the truth go. Thanks to you, it is becoming evident that the rent-seeking promoters of this great boondoggle, through the very scientific ignorance that they had sought to exploit in others, have merely deluded themselves. In the end, it will be here, in the United States, that the truth will first emerge. … Not in Europe, for we are no longer free. … It is here, in this great nation founded upon liberty, that the battle for the world’s freedom will be won.” Lord Christopher Monckton...more here...

The world's freedom is in the balance...

...over this issue. The global economy, the role and status of science and technology in our lives, the power of the state and its bureaucrats over us, the survival of millions of the poorest people on earth, all hinge on the outcome of this debate. As the saying goes, we live in interesting times...

As Congress debates global warming legislation that would raise energy costs to consumers by hundreds of billions of dollars, the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) has released an 880-page book challenging the scientific basis of concerns that global warming is either man-made or would have harmful effects.
In “Climate Change Reconsidered: The 2009 Report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC),” coauthors Dr. S. Fred Singer and Dr. Craig Idso and 35 contributors and reviewers present an authoritative and detailed rebuttal of the findings of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), on which the Obama Administration and Democrats in Congress rely for their regulatory proposals.

The scholarship in this book demonstrates overwhelming scientific support for the position that the warming of the twentieth century was moderate and not unprecedented, that its impact on human health and wildlife was positive, and that carbon dioxide probably is not the driving factor behind climate change.
The authors cite thousands of peer-reviewed research papers and books that were ignored by the IPCC, plus additional scientific research that became available after the IPCC’s self-imposed deadline of May 2006...read on, more here...

Memo for the day, remind a greenie...

...that they used to talk about global warming. These days however, they are more circumspect, and are aware of the adage to stop digging when in a hole. "Climate change" is the ideologically correct term now, and of course they can't go wrong. With spectacular hail storms in my home town (sea-side Mt Maunganui) last month, this headline comes as no surprise...

TEMPERATURE: LOWEST EVER FOR MAY FOR MANY AREAS, COLDER THAN NORMAL FOR ALL

The national average temperature of 9.0 °C for May 2009 was 1.6 °C below average for this time of the year. Temperatures were below average (by between 2.0 and 2.5 °C) over most of the South Island, lower parts of the North Island, King Country, Waikato, Auckland and parts of Northland. Most other locations experienced well below average temperatures (between 1.2 and 2.0 °C lower than normal). Record low May maximum or minimum temperatures were recorded in multiple locations throughout the country...more here...

H/T Maksimovich at WuWT

...and thought for the day..."Too much democracy" - the number one reason that socialists run out of money. H/T SmallDeadAnimals

Clouds, cosmic rays and climate change...

...while the green/left would like us to believe that the science of climate change is settled, this blog has always stressed the great unknowns about our changing climate. These unknowns include in particular, the role of our oceans and the interactions of our cloud cover. Ongoing ocean temperature monitoring has cast serious doubt on the viability of IPCC climate models, and the great uncertainties regarding the role of the sun, cosmic rays and cloud formation still present great scientific challenges. Some of these challenges will be answered by research at CERN, (the HADRON nuclear collider) with the so called CLOUD experiment...and also with direct cloud sampling techniques. It seems that the more we learn, the more cause we have to doubt the validity of the ubiquitous climate models...

...the formation of low-level clouds...that have a cooling effect on Earth's climate—has vexed climate scientists for years. Current climate models treat cloud cover simplistically and make the assumption that cloud cover decreases as temperatures rise. New data from a cloud sampling experiment indicates that biological material—bacteria, spores and plant material—may account for 1/3 of the airborne material involved in cloud formation. Furthermore, biological material can form clouds at much warmer temperatures than mineral dust. These new discoveries indicate that modelers have the effects of temperature on low cloud cover backwards, placing all model predictions in doubt...In climate change science, which derives many of its projections from computer simulations of climate phenomena, the actions of aerosols on clouds represent what scientists consider the greatest uncertainty in modeling predictions for the future...aerosols' role in cloud formation had been inadequately portrayed in climate models...These are just the latest revelations about the shaky foundations climate models are built upon...missing factors and erroneous feedback loops highlight how arbitrary decisions, which happen to reinforce the modeler's desired result, can undermine a model's veracity. Nobody denies that atmospheric CO2 increases environmental heating. The problem is that, relative to other forcings, this is a small effect that is quickly overwhelmed by other factors. A slight change in cloud cover can completely nullify any effect of CO2, and we have no way of accurately predicting cloud cover—certainly not with the models currently available...more at TheResilientEarth here...

...and, when you've eliminated your carbon guilt with carbon credits, why not consider eliminating your infidelity guilt at Cheatneutral ?