Scientists skeptical of the assertion that climate change is the result of man's activites are criticizing a recent Associated Press report on global warming, calling it "irrational hysteria," "horrifically bad" and "incredibly biased."
They say the report, which was published on Monday, contained sweeping scientific errors and was a one-sided portrayal of a complicated issue.
"If the issues weren't so serious and the ramifications so profound, I would have to laugh at it," said David Deming, a geology professor at the University of Oklahoma who has been critical of media reporting on the climate change issue.
In the article, Obama Left with Little Time to Curb Global Warming, AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein wrote that global warming is "a ticking time bomb that President-elect Barack Obama can't avoid," and that "global warming is accelerating."
Deming, in an interview, took issue with Borenstein's characterization of a problem he says doesn't exist.
"He says global warming is accelerating. Not only is it continuing, it's accelerating, and whether it's continuing that was completely beyond the evidence," Deming told FOXNews.com.
"The mean global temperature, at least as measured by satellite, is now the same as it was in the year 1980. In the last couple of years sea level has stopped rising. Hurricane and cyclone activity in the northern hemisphere is at a 24-year low and sea ice globally is also the same as it was in 1980."
Deming said the article is further evidence of the media's decision to talk about global warming as fact, despite what he says is a lack of evidence.
"Reporters, as I understand reporters, are supposed to report facts,"Deming said. "What he's doing here is he's writing a polemic and reporting it as fact, and that's not right. It's not reporting. It's propaganda.
"This reads like a press release for an environmental advocacy group like Greenpeace. It's not fair and balanced."
A spokesman for the Associated Press said that the news agency stands by its story. "Its a news story, based on fact and the clearly expressed views of President-elect Barack Obama and others," spokesman Paul Colford told FOXNews.com in an e-mail.
Michael R. Fox, a retired nuclear scientist and chemistry professor from the University of Idaho, is another academic who found serious flaws with the AP story's approach to the issue.
"There's very little that's right about it," Fox said. "And it's really harmful to the United States because people like this Borenstein working for AP have an enormous impact on everyone, because AP sells their news service to a thousand news outlets.
"One guy like him can be very destructive and alarming. Yeah it's freedom of speech, but its dishonest."
Like Deming, Fox said global warming is not accelerating. "These kinds of temperatures cycle up and down and have been doing so for millions of years," he said.
He said there is little evidence to believe that man-made carbon dioxide is causing temperature fluctuation. "It's silly to lay it all on man-made carbon dioxide," Fox said. "It was El Nino in 1998 that caused the big spike in global warming and little to do with carbon dioxide."
Other factors, including sun spots, solar winds, variations in the solar magnetic field and solar irradiation, could all be affecting temperature changes, he said.
James O'Brien, an emeritus professor at Florida State University who studies climate variability and the oceans, said that global climate change is very important for the country and that Americans need to make sure they have the right answers for policy decisions. But he said he worries that scientists and policymakers are rushing to make changes based on bad science.
"Global climate change is occurring in many places in the world," O'Brien said. "But everything that's attributed to global warming, almost none of it is global warming."
He took issue with the AP article's assertion that melting Arctic ice will cause global sea levels to rise.
"When the Arctic Ocean ice melts, it never raises sea level because floating ice is floating ice, because it's displacing water," O'Brien said. "When the ice melts, sea level actually goes down.
"I call it a fourth grade science experiment. Take a glass, put some ice in it. Put water in it. Mark level where water is. Let it met. After the ice melts, the sea level didn't go up in your glass of water. It's called the Archimedes Principle."
He called sea level changes a "major scare tactic used by the global warming people."
O'Brien said he doesn't discount the potential effects man is having on the environment, but he cautioned that government should not make hasty decisions.
"There is no question that the Obama administration is green and I'm green, and there's no question that they're going to really take a careful look at what we need to do and attack problems, and I applaud that," O'Brien said.
"But I'm really concerned that they're going to spend all the money on implementation of mitigation, rather than supporting the science."
#2
ION FREEREPUBLIC/OTHER > A GIANT BREACH IN THE EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD? + LEAKS IN THE EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD? + DID A MAGNETIC BLIP CAUSE THE GREAT EXTINCTIONS? + BOUNDARY BETWEEN EARTH'S UPPER ATMOSPHERE AND SPACE HAS SUNK TO EXTRAORDINARILY LOW ALTITUDES!?
Lest we fergit, NASA/PERTS = In general, THE NEXT SOLAR/SUNSPOT CYCLE [24], IS LIKELY TO BE AN INTENSE, HIGHLY ACTIVE PERIOD, wid solar flares-storms of uncertain or subjective magnitude.
* "THE TIME MACHINE" Movie remake > Year 2037 + CRACKED MOON due to failed Lunar Colonization = Tunneling venture. Year 2037 is Weirdly and Mysteriously, but of course only PDeniably Co-incidentally, SSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH close to COMET APOPHIS TIME [2030-2037].
President Robert Mugabe's government on Monday vowed to thwart western efforts to put Zimbabwe on the UN Security Council agenda, saying it was not a threat to international security.
The United States and Britain were expected to lobby the council to turn up the heat on Mugabe, amid mounting international pressure for him to step aside as his country caves in under an economic meltdown and cholera crisis. Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu told the state-owned Herald newspaper it was "improper" for western countries to try and put Zimbabwe on the agenda. "You do not convene a UN Security Council meeting for a sovereign state without consulting that country," he was quoted as saying.
"We are not a threat. If they insist, we will work hard to block it with the assistance of our friends." The 15-member Security Council was due Monday to hold a closed-door meeting, and Washington said last week it would pressure members to act against the veteran leader, whom it blames directly for Zimbabwe's woes. US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Washington was talking to Zimbabwe's neighbour South Africa and other security council members about how to "start a process that will bring an end to the tragedy that is unfolding in Zimbabwe."
Several world leaders have called on Mugabe to leave office, including US President George W Bush, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The security body has failed to act against Mugabe in the past amid splits between the western nations and Russia and China.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2008 00:00 ||
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US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Washington was talking to Zimbabwe's neighbour South Africa and other security council members about how to "start a process that will bring an end to the tragedy that is unfolding in Zimbabwe."
US State Dept. busy seeking African solutions once again but without Great Britain this go around. Oh well, as a fitting tribute to the nearly 30 years of death and depotic chaos created by the first, let's call this fantastic new "process" Lancaster House Accord-II shall we?
While it repeats some promises it failed to keep in the past, the election manifesto of Awami League (AL) espouses some new ideas in addressing socio political issues, including explicit promises to keep law enforcing agencies above politics, and banning religious extremism and terrorism.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2008 00:00 ||
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In addressing various socio-political and judicial issues, the BNP which has long campaigned that it is the 'choice of the new generation' has not presented new ideas in its election manifesto.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Of course, Russian economy is in recession. But then they had a head start, courtesy of the Soviet Union. Caught between Putin's Back to the Future Movement and the Russian mobsters, the Russians are still only a few notches up the food chain from Zimbabwe.
Instrument of Surrender Signed At Dhaka at 16:31 Hours (IST) On December 16, 1971
The Pakistan Eastern Command agrees to surrender all Pakistan Armed Force in Bangladesh to Lieutenant-General Jagjit Singh Aurora, General Officer Commanding in Chief of the Indian and Bangladesh forces in the Eastern Theatre. This surrender includes all Pakistan land, air and naval forces as also all para-military forces and civil armed forces. The forces will lay down their arms and surrender at the places where they are currently located to the nearest regular troops under the command of Lieutenant-General Jagjit Singh Aurora.
The Pakistan Eastern Command shall come under the orders of Lieutenant-General Jagjit Singh Aurora as soon as the Instrument has been signed. Disobedience of orders will be regarded as a breech of surrender terms and will be dealt with in accordance with the accepted laws and usages of war. The decision of Lieutenant-General Jagjit Singh Aurora will be final, should any doubt arise as to the meaning or interpretation of the surrender terms.
Lieutenant-General Jagjit Singh Aurora gives a solemn assurance that personnel who surrender shall be treated with dignity and respect that soldiers are entitled to in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention and guarantees safety and well-being of all Pakistan military and para-military forces who surrender. Protection will be provided to foreign nationals, ethnic minorities and personnel of West Pakistan origin by the forces under the command of Lieutenant-General Jagjit Singh Aurora.
(Signatories)
1. Jagjit Singh Aurora
Lieutenant-General
General Officer Commanding in Chief
Indian and Bangladesh Forces in the Eastern Theatre
2. Abdullah Khan Niazi
Lieutenant-General
Martial Law Administrator
Zone Band Commander Eastern Command (Pakistan)
Posted by: john frum ||
12/16/2008 06:47 ||
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India's Defense Minister and Chiefs of its Army, Navy, and Air Force place wreaths at the Amar Jawan Jyoti (the flame of the immortal warrior), which marks the Unknown Soldier's Tomb in New Delhi on Dec. 16, 2008.
Victory Day is celebrated annually on Dec. 16 to commemorate the surrender of Pakistan's army in Bangladesh in 1971.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/16/2008 12:35 Comments ||
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Thailand got its third prime minister in four months Monday, after former opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva was voted into power in a deal that many hope will end six months of political paralysis.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Victims of the alleged Bernard Madoff investing scam are finding they have more legal options than usual to try to get back their stolen funds, but experts say that won't make recovering their losses any easier.
Besides suing Madoff and his firm, lawyers representing investors who lost tens of billions of dollars are looking into suing the numerous firms that sold access to Madoff's asset-management business. Also on the radar of lawyers are those firms' auditors and administrators, which include some of the biggest accounting firms in the country. (See TIME's top 10 financial collapses of 2008.)
"Some investment advisers did their due diligence and told their clients not to invest with Madoff," says Brad Friedman, a partner at the Milberg law firm, who is vetting suits for dozens of Madoff clients. "Others didn't do their research. I think there is a liability there."
Many of Madoff's victims never had an account with his firm. Instead, Madoff got much of the money he allegedly stole through so-called feeder funds. These hedge funds were set up by outside investment advisory firms, which marketed the funds to high net-worth individuals and pension funds based on Madoff's supposed long-term track record of positive returns. Other investors lost money through so-called hedge funds of funds, which invested with Madoff as well as with other asset-management firms.
Of the $23 billion in losses that have been reported by investors so far, more than half have come from those who invested in Madoff through the feeder funds. These investors may be in a worse position than those that were direct customers of Bernard Madoff Investment Securities. On Monday, a judge ruled that Madoff's direct customers would be covered by Securities Investor Protection Corp., which typically covers up to $500,000 in losses when a brokerage firm defaults. Investors in the feeder funds are not usually eligible for SIPC protection.
Lawyers, though, say investors in the feeder funds may have more legal options to recover their funds. That's because, they say, the firms that ran the feeder funds had a duty to their clients to verify that Madoff's returns were genuine. Many of the firms pocketed large fees and in return provided little more than access to what now appears to be a fraud. What's more, a number of large accounting firms signed off on the quarterly statements the feeder funds sent to clients.
"This is a guy that openly claimed he would not answer questions about his strategy," says Harry Susman, a Houston lawyer who is looking into bringing a suit against one of the feeder funds. "If you put all your eggs in one basket, you better be able to watch that basket well."
But legal experts say winning a case against the managers of feeder funds and funds of funds may be tougher than it seems. Last year a judge threw out a similar claim against well-known hedge-fund consulting firm Hennessee Group. That firm was sued for advising clients to invest in Bayou Management, a hedge fund that collapsed after its managers swiped hundreds of millions of dollars from investors. But the judge ruled that Hennessee, just like the SEC and the IRS, was duped and could not be held liable. The case is being appealed.
"My case shows that anybody who wants to sue these feeder funds will have a hard time," says Ted Poretz, the lawyer who brought the case against Hennessee on behalf of former Bayou investors.
Nonetheless, a number of investors who lost money are pursuing their legal options, and they say they are looking closely at suing the firms that led them into the Madoff fraud. One such investor is the city of Fairfield, Conn. In 1997 Fairfield's pension board hired advisory firm Tremont Capital Management to help manage its investments. Among the funds Tremont recommended was the Tremont Broad Market Fund, which was run by the firm and invested all its assets with Madoff. Fairfield's pension funds invested $22 million in the fund over the next three years. Broad Market was one of Madoff's largest feeder funds. Investors in the fund may have lost as much as $3 billion.
Three years ago, Fairfield moved its investment to a new feeder fund, MAXAM, which was started by Tremont founder Sandra Manzke, who had recently started a new firm. MAXAM, like Broad Market, invested all its money solely with Madoff. As recently as June 30, Fairfield officials received a statement from MAXAM saying the city's investment was now worth $42 million. That investment, along with the rest of the nearly $300 million invested in the MAXAM fund, is now gone.
"We were surprised that there wasn't more oversight by either MAXAM or their auditor," says Fairfield first selectman Ken Flatto. "Why didn't anyone question Madoff's accounting?" Despite the loss, Fairfield's pension plan is well funded. Yet, Flatto says, "we plan to seek recourse to try to recover the funds."
#2
and no surprise to see Milburg circling this, hoping to join in on the remaining lawyerly spoils. Is Milburg's very own William Lerach still in prison?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/16/2008 19:26 Comments ||
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So if you lose money in the stock market you can get it back?!
A whopping 582,000 direct and indirect jobs would be lost in Canada over the next five years if the ailing Big Three US auto makers shut down their Ontario operations, said a study Tuesday. If output is reduced by 50 percent, 296,000 jobs would be lost nationally, said the 11-page report prepared for the Ontario Manufacturing Council.
"The economic consequences of either a partial or total shutdown of the Detroit Three are stark," said the report. "Either scenario is sufficient to push Ontario into a deep recession while the nation may barely escape one in the 50-percent reduction scenario."
Initial job losses of between 157,000 and 323,000 at assembly plants, parts manufacturers and others, depending on the scenario, would rise to between 296,000 and 582,000 by 2014, said the report. The job losses would continue to mount after the first year because a weaker economy would depress investment, discourage immigration and half new housing construction, leading to a negative economic spiral.
The auto sector and parts industry employ roughly 219,000 Canadians nationwide. The Big Three directly employ about 34,000 workers while overseas car makers employ just under half that number.
On Friday, the Canadian and Ontario governments reached a tentative deal for a 3.4-billion Canadian dollar (2.8 billion US) bailout of Chrysler, General Motors and Ford's operations in Ontario province. But a payout is contingent on Washington's approval of a 14-billion-dollar US aid package.
"If we think that the extinction of the auto industry is a national economic evolution, this report says that is a mistake," said Ontario Economic Development Minister Michael Bryant. "We won't let that happen because of the catastrophic effects that are laid out in this report," he said, describing the demise of Canada's auto sector as "the economic equivalent of a nuclear freeze with catastrophic effects that would knock us into a deep recession."
Almost a third of hedge funds will shut or merge after the $1.5 trillion industry posted its worst ever performance this year, according to IGS Group, which advises hedge funds on raising money.
"The failure rate is going to go up, the closure rate is going up, and the merger rate is going up," IGS Chief Executive Officer John Godden said in an interview in London. "It's going to be a 30 percent wipe out."
The number of hedge funds more than tripled in the last decade to a record 10,233 at the end of June, according to Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research Inc. That number will likely tumble after funds dropped 18 percent in the year through November, the worst year since HFR started its Fund Weighted Composite Index in 1990.
IGS will team up with Grisons Peak, a financial advisory firm to start Alternative Investment Management Banking, a firm that will advise hedge fund managers on mergers. Godden and Paul Sullivan, a partner at Grisons Peak, will oversee the venture, with each firm contributing three to four employees. The firm aims to advise on six to eight transactions next year.
Hedge funds typically charge a 2 percent management fee and keep 20 percent of profits, while funds-of-hedge-funds typically charge 1 percent and 10 percent of profits. Profits are usually based on high-water marks that could take years to reach again.
Many funds may have been "cavalier" about actually charging management fees, giving rebates to large investors or distributors on the expectation the fund manager would more than make up the shortfall through performance fees, said Godden.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Cry me a river.
What's the buy-in for a hedge fund?
#2
That "1.5 trillion dollar industry" is all air, just numbers in a spreadsheet. Hedge funds don't create value, they game the system. It's a wonder that they're legal.
#8
Nobody is going to feel sorry for the wealthiest 1% of Americans that use private unregulated investment vehicles to achieve jaw dropping returns by dubious means.
That's the reality.
#10
Soros is doing very well. Sorosfaces Congress over hedge funds' role in meltdown The quintet including John Paulson, who made $3.7bn (£2.49bn) last year betting against the US mortgage market were grilled over their roles in buying unregulated derivatives products, which some politicians believe contributed to the financial markets' meltdown.
The men, who each earned more than $1bn each last year, were called to account by Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman, who chairs the House committee on oversight and government reform.
Last I read, Soros was up $3-4 billion on his bets of a mortgage meltdown.
Posted by: ed ||
12/16/2008 18:36 Comments ||
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#11
Last I read, Soros was up $3-4 billion on his bets of a mortgage meltdown.
Bottom line, in a decent world he wouldn't be able to use his brain to make money off the rest of us. He'd be living in the next trailer and standing in the same lines. I mean it just ain't right!
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Scientists skeptical of the assertion that climate change is the result of man's activites are criticizing a recent Associated Press report on global warming, calling it "irrational hysteria," "horrifically bad" and "incredibly biased."
A spokesman for the Associated Press said that the news agency stands by its story. "Its a news story, based on fact and the clearly expressed views of President-elect Barack Obama and others," spokesman Paul Colford told FOXNews.com in an e-mail.
Victims of the alleged Bernard Madoff investing scam are finding they have more legal options than usual to try to get back their stolen funds, but experts say that won't make recovering their losses any easier. 
A whopping 582,000 direct and indirect jobs would be lost in Canada over the next five years if the ailing Big Three US auto makers shut down their Ontario operations, said a study Tuesday. If output is reduced by 50 percent, 296,000 jobs would be lost nationally, said the 11-page report prepared for the Ontario Manufacturing Council. 
