The head of the Environmental Protection Agency says he will investigate a threatening letter sent by the leader of an EPA-member group, vowing to "destroy" the career of a climate skeptic.
During a Capitol Hill hearing yesterday, Sen. James M. Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican and ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, confronted EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson about the strongly-worded letter written July 13 by Michael T. Eckhart, president of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) that was sent to Marlo Lewis, senior fellow of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). There is an irony and hypocrisy in this the Left apparently doesn't fathom. The Bushitler types are all in a lather about the encroachment of the Bushitler regime on privacy and free speech, and the coming Bush dictatorship. However, they fail to grasp that efforts to regulate Talk Radio, stifling of dissent in the Climate Change debate are just as insidious.
"It is my intention to destroy your career as a liar," Mr. Eckhart wrote. "If you produce one more editorial against climate change, I will launch a campaign against your professional integrity. I will call you a liar and charlatan to the Harvard community of which you and I are members. I will call you out as a man who has been bought by Corporate America. Go ahead, guy. Take me on." What makes this even more stupid is that Mr. Eckhart (ahem, Michael Eckhart of the Haw-vahd community, sorry.) failed to comprehend that Mr Lewis might actually make the letter public.
It was a brilliant move, wasn't it.
CEI does not dispute climate change, however it differs with certain environmental groups, including ACORE, on the causes. After Mr. Inhofe read Mr. Eckhart's comments, which were first reported by Inside the Beltway two weeks ago, the EPA chief promised to probe the matter. "Statements like this are of concern to me. I am a believer in cooperation and collaboration across all sectors," Mr. Johnson assured. "This is an area I will look into for the record."
When Mr. Johnson confirmed that EPA is a member of ACORE, Mr. Inhofe asked if "it is appropriate to be a part of an organization that is headed up by a person who makes this statement."
Late yesterday, Mr. Inhofe announced he will send letters to the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, and EPA, urging them to "reconsider their membership of ACORE." As one who is in the atmospheric sciences, I can safely say that few atmospheric scientists argue against the evidence that the atmosphere has measurably warmed over the past 25-30 years. The argument is about 1st order causes. I have a real problem with anyone who states that the magnitude of the current warming is solely due to anthropomorphic CO2.
Science is about discourse, and debate. It is a wholly human endeavor with a human component. The history of science is littered with the corpses of theories, and "scientific truths" that have been subsequently found to be wrong. Stifling dissent in science may be human, but it is not science.
#1
Heyas 'mouse. I have a question: How relevant relevant is the time frame you reference (20-30 years)? In terms of how we measure the evolution of Earth's geography and climate...should we even be worried by such a measure? How about 100 years? I personally have no real education in this field, but the time frame seems too small to make any substantive claims, of which you don't. We have observations, but what are we to make of them when compared to overall historical record of Earth's atmoshpere? And yes....I like hot weather ;]
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/28/2007 17:23 Comments ||
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#2
As a former materials lab tech I can say that "garbage in = garbage out" is not a theory, it's a fact. Since, at least in the US, many of the weather stations that gather historical data are now improperly positioned to get good data. No model (even if it a good one) is valid if it uses bad data.
Since, at least in the US, many of the weather stations that gather historical data are now improperly positioned to get good data there is a question w/r US temp data.
In the subject of dissent, most religions don't like to allow critical dissent where it might expose a weakness in their reason for faith.
#4
TT8048, I've been monitoring information about strange weatherstation locations at climateaudit.org and surfacestations.org and realize that Mark Twain had it right when he said:
"There are three kinds of lies - lies, damned lies and statistics".
P.S. - I love it where they put the one station adjacent to the exhaust from large HVAC units (normally VERY warm) and the other in the middle of a nice asphalt parking lot.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/28/2007 18:48 Comments ||
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#5
Rex...30 years is the record length we as humans established as a minimum length to determine a climatological baseline. It is arbitrary.
The 20-30 years I am referring to coincides roughly with the beginning of the satellite data records to establish the polar ice edges, snow cover, surface albedo, etc.. That also happens to coincide with when the northern hemisphere emerged from the last short term cold cycle (anyone remember the winter of 1976-1977?). PDO was in a cool phase from about 1890 to 1925 and 1945 to 1977. Warm phase PDO from 1925 to 1946 and from 1977 to around 2000. It's extraordinarily complex as there are other periodic atmosphere/ocean regimes on top of the PDO (e.g., variation of the solar constant, Maunder minimum, etc.).
A lot of researchers are leveraging satellite data sets to make broad pronouncements about death and destruction, rising sea levels, and CO2's impact on the global heat engine...most of which is glorified BS. Anyone...and I mean anyone who says they have absolute proof based on output from a multi-decadal GCM (global circulation model) is a liar. The best deterministic models we run today are generally unstable beyond 240 hours (or less depending on the situation).
The bottom line? The Earth is emerging from an Ice Age. The atmosphere-ocean system is moving towards some resonant frequency of which we have no real clue. Man is a very weak second 1st order effect, or a 2nd order effect on the Earth's climate.
The same is true of politics. However, in science the consequences of error rarely extend beyond personal embarrassment. In politics, they usually do. Particularly when the scientific establishment begins acting like inquisatores.
#7
Science is about discourse, and debate. Science should also be about lab work, reading and studying. Some of the scientists in the current debate seem like they spend little time in the lab and when they do enter the lab their purpose is to create data to support their hypotheses not to test the hypotheses.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/28/2007 21:08 Comments ||
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#8
The bottom line? The Earth is emerging from an Ice Age.
I think you meant to say, the Earth is emerging from the Little Ice Age.
If the solar cycle people are right then we are about to go back into another little ice age. One thing to note is the Little Ice Age came on very rapidly. The cooling was much faster than the (small amount of) warming over the last 30 years. We will know for sure by 2009.
#10
> The best deterministic models we run today are generally unstable beyond 240 hours (or less depending on the situation).
This is because of a phenomenon known as exponential error.
Exponential error occurs in recursive systems where the data or the simulation is not 100% correct. This means that anything less than a perfect simulation and data gets gradually useless. i.e. Good in, garbage out.
Now the problem is that to 100% simulate the atmosphere would require a computer of that size and could only run at the same speed as reality.
Climate simulations are the most expensive random number generators in hisotry.
President Robert Mugabe has promised to print more money to fund municipal projects, a government newspaper reported Saturday. The pledge came despite hyperinflation that has created severe shortages of cornmeal, meat, milk and other staples.
Meanwhile, water shortages worsened due to pump breakdowns, and a senior government official said kidney patients were dying for lack of dialysis machines.
The offical Herald newspaper reported that Mugabe told a meeting of local councilors they should put more pressure on government ministers to improve services.
"Where money for projects has not been found, we will print it," Mugabe was quoted as saying.
The printing of money is generally regarded as a recipe for inflationwhich is officially at 4,500 percent in Zimbabwe, though private economists estimate it to be least twice as high. The government last month ordered sweeping price cuts of around 50 percent, accusing store owners and businesses of fueling the inflation.
Zimbabwe is in the grips of its worst crisis since independence from Britain in 1980. Power, water, health and communications systems are collapsing, and there are acute shortages of staple foods and gasoline. Unemployment is around 80 percent, and political unrest is high.
Mugabe blames Western sanctions and rejects criticism that the meltdown is the result of mismanagement and the often-violent seizures of thousands of white-owned farms he ordered beginning in 2000.
The biggest government hospital group acknowledged Friday that 10 of its 18 kidney dialysis machines were awaiting repair and imported spare parts needing scarce hard currency.
Vice President Joyce Mujuru said kidney patients had died for lack of dialysis machines, and lambasted the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare for not fixing the problem.
Mujuru accused officials at one hospital of not installing the machines in the first place, even though she personally requisitioned the equipment from abroad in 2004.
"This is the sort of ineptitude that we have always been complaining about," she told The Herald.
Lack of hard currency for imports is crippling the health sector.
Pharmacists on Friday advised AIDS patients to stock up on their drugs after local manufacturers warned they would soon run out of imported raw materials. Some 20 percent of Zimbabweans are infected with HIV.
In a sign of other serious problems, water storage drums were sold out Friday in one main Harare hardware store as water shortages worsened. The state water utility said it suffered new breakdowns at its pumping stations.
The government-ordered price controls have denuded stores across the country, with businesses saying they can't afford to sell at the new prices. Some 5,000 managers and gas station and store owners have been arrested and fined for defying the price controls since the order was issued June 26.
Daily power outages are forcing Zimbabweans to light fires for cooking and heating water. State radio reported Friday that a woodlands park used for conservation classes faced collapse because wood poachers had stripped nearly 500 acres of its indigenous msasa trees and other long-burning hardwoods.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/28/2007 20:08 Comments ||
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#3
Let me know when the people of Zimbabwe stretch Mugabe's neck. Until they rise up and crush this cockroach they deserve everything that happens to them. Mugabe is the poster boy for African despotism.
#4
He should provide the money on cardboard rolls and make it so that each bill can be torn off the roll individually. That will help people to use his currency more effectively.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/28/2007 20:57 Comments ||
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The top UN official in Haiti on Friday denounced a sharp increase in lynchings and other mob attacks, including the killing of two innocent men as they traveled to a wedding.
At least six people were killed by mobs in a single week in different attacks this month, according to the UN mission's human rights section. At least 105 people have been reportedly lynched in Haiti since 2005. "There has been a very large number of lynchings in the past months and weeks. We do hope this will not become a trend," Edmond Mulet, the special UN envoy to Haiti, told The Associated Press in an interview.
He blamed the rise in part on a lack of confidence in Haiti's notoriously corrupt judicial system, which keeps hundreds of people imprisoned without trial while others who can afford a bribe walk free.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
He blamed hooded riders the rise in part on a lack of confidence in Haiti's notoriously corrupt judicial system,
#2
"There has been a very large number of lynchings in the past months and weeks. We do hope this will not become a trend," Edmond Mulet, the special UN envoy to Haiti, told The Associated Press in an interview.
So I guess according to UN guidelines there's a specific number that they have to meet before the UN considers lynching a "trend"? Is it kinda like that Darfur "Genocide/Not Genocide" number?
#3
My problem with what the UN guy is saying is that I've doubt that there is an accurate differentiation of morder sub-catagories like lynching in Haiti. If Edmond was asked to provide a graph so that we could see the trend line on lynchings in Haiti, we would find that his information is anecdotal - and reeks heavily of the a$$ from which he just removed it.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/28/2007 21:18 Comments ||
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Dunno how it could have happened. Vatican representatives are highly, highly regarded by the Islamists in Turkey. Everybody knows that.
Georges Marovitch, the Vaticans representative in Ýstanbul, was involved in a strange train accident in Rome on Tuesday.
While waiting for his train on the platform, Marovitch apparently fell onto the tracks moments before the train pulled into the station, hitting the popes representative and leaving him seriously injured. The reason for his sudden fall remains unknown. It was learnt that Marovitch was on his way to visit the previous home of Pope John XXIII, who died in 1963 and was also a Vatican envoy to Turkey in his lifetime.
According to information from Marovitchs family, he suffered heavy internal bleeding and a broken rib due to the unexplained accident. He is currently in intensive care at Gemelli Hospital, where Pope John II was also a patient shortly before his death.
According to the latest reports from the Vatican, the internal bleeding has stopped and his condition has improved, although Marovitch still remains in the intensive care unit. Marovitch is widely known for his support of interfaith dialogue initiatives. The 75-year-old representative, who is also the spokesman for the Turkish Catholic Communities Spiritual Council, was in Rome on vacation. The Italian police have launched an investigation into the mysterious accident. I'm putting this in non-WOT for the moment, but it's a pretty suspicious event in a country where there have been persistent attacks on Catholic and Orthodox priests over the last few years.
#1
Looks like the Pope's secretary and his recent warning about the Islamisation of Europe didn't go over too well in some quarters. I suspect this is Islam's version of a horse's head.
President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister and chairwoman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), met in Abu Dhabi on Friday and discussed the political situation in Pakistan, including the upcoming general elections and the presidents re-election from the current assemblies. Geo news, quoting sources close to the two leaders, reported that the meeting that lasted for over an hour ended in a deadlock after Bhutto refused to endorse Musharraf as president in uniform for another term. The channel said that Bhutto was asked to endorse Musharraf in uniform for the next term and in return the government would remove the constitutional embargo on her becoming prime minister for the third time. However, political observers say there was no deadlock in the talks on the uniform issue and that a deal between the PPP and President Musharraf was likely to be signed soon.
Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told the channel that there was no deadlock in the Musharraf-Benazir negotiations on the presidents uniform issue. He said that this could be the final round of talks between the PPP and the government.
Pakistan Muslim League President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain appreciated the reported meeting between President Musharraf and Bhutto, saying they had not committed a sin. He said the presidents uniform was not an issue in the talks with the PPP, adding that the PML may share power with the PPP after the general elections. The channel said it was not a one-on-one meeting and some important Pakistani and Arab personalities and Western diplomats were also present there. The UAE interior ministers son acted as the mediator between the two sides, sources told Daily Times.
However, because Paks are involved...
Meanwhile, the presidents spokesman, Maj Gen (r) Rashid Qureshi, said that reports of a meeting between the president and the PPP chairwoman were completely baseless.
"Pooh. Pure concoction!"
They are baseless, concocted. There is no truth in them, Qureshi said.
"Lies! All lies!"
PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said he was not aware of any meeting between Bhutto and Musharraf. I am not aware of it, he told Daily Times.
"Nope. Nope. Never happened!"
Posted by: Fred ||
07/28/2007 00:00 ||
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Islamic scripture condemns riba, an Arabic word meaning excess, which is commonly interpreted as usury. Some Islamic law scholars assert that all interest is prohibited. Others say that only excessive interest is prohibited and that interest is an indispensable part of society that a logical God wouldn't condemn.
Makes sense: If I recall correctly, Tennessee declares interest rates over 21% as Usury, and some loans I took out while there had disclosure sections where the effective interest rate figures were given.
The problem with the interpretation is that the Koran never specifies a solid figure for what constituted "excess interest". The Torah is more clear, requiring zero interest to fellow Israelites, but allowing interest to be charged to everyone else.
Throughout history, interest was common in the Islamic world in places such as the Ottoman Empire, Kuran said. Controversy over the practice emerged only during the 1940s, when Indian Muslims cited the need for an interest-free banking system as one reason they needed a homeland separate from Indian Hindus, Kuran said.
So, this entire kabuki dance is being performed to maintain a spurious reading of the Koran that was made in order to justify the creation of Pakistan. That the entire Muslim world is being financially retarded in order to maintain this facade is a Gift from G-d.
Industry advocates counter that even if some financial transactions serve the same purpose as interest, that doesn't mean they are forbidden by Islam.
"It's possible, as it is in many ethical and legal systems, for two different actions to have the same outcome but, because of the way they're done, for one to be wrong or illegal in that ethical or legal system, and for the other to be permissible or lawful," said Taha Abdul-Basser, an Islamic law scholar with the Islamic Finance Project at Harvard Law School.
Actually, this is very true: My going out and killing someone would be called murder, but if I executed him after he was convicted of, say, treason in a court of law, it's not murder. However, the goal of the trial is to establish that the individual merited the death penalty. The ban in the Koran is absolute, and this debate is another kabuki dance to get around it. Since Mohammed was the last prophet, there's no sending a Memo to Allah asking for a clarification, since the answer would have to come back via a prophet to be valid.
#2
So, this entire kabuki dance is being performed to maintain a spurious reading of the Koran that was made in order to justify the creation of Pakistan.
All the more reason to dismantle Pakistan as a failed state then divide it between India and Afghanistan.
That the entire Muslim world is being financially retarded in order to maintain this facade is a Gift from G-d.
Not just financially either. Institutionalized consanguinity contributes to much higher rates of mental retardation and other birth defects.
In the same year, Kabiri (1995), in his article on the frequency of phenylketonuria
(PKU) in consanguineous couples in Iran, reported that the disorder was three times more frequent in children born out of consanguineous marriages than among the non-consanguineous couples. Earlier Ameli and associates (1988) reported that out of 200 cases of PKU studied
by them in seven years span (1979-1986) in a local hospital in Tehran, the frequency recorded was 1 in 4000 live births as against 1 in 10,000 live births in the US. Iran had the highest figures when compared to some other countries like North Ireland (1 in 4,500), Greece, Poland and Scotland (1 in 8,000) and Japan and Denmark (1 in 60,000), the last two countries having implemented the most advanced preventive measures to combat PKU (Ghiyasvand 1995).
The retrograde nature of Muslim culture in general just one of many reasons why it has to be thrown under the wheels of progress. I remain convinced that Islam's long history of inbreeding also contributes to a predisposition for violence, psychosis and ease of programming. If so, this would almost form a basis for terrorism being a congenital birth defect. Worst of all is how Islam's financial and mental retardation downgrades the entire world's economy and quality of life. Islam is entirely bereft of any redeeming features and stands in need of extinction. From all indications, it appears as though refusal to abandon Islam and its intrinsic violence will earn Muslims the privilege of joining in that extinction as well.
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.
President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister and chairwoman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), met in Abu Dhabi on Friday and discussed the political situation in Pakistan, including the upcoming general elections and the presidents re-election from the current assemblies. Geo news, quoting sources close to the two leaders, reported that the meeting that lasted for over an hour ended in a deadlock after Bhutto refused to endorse Musharraf as president in uniform for another term. The channel said that Bhutto was asked to endorse Musharraf in uniform for the next term and in return the government would remove the constitutional embargo on her becoming prime minister for the third time. However, political observers say there was no deadlock in the talks on the uniform issue and that a deal between the PPP and President Musharraf was likely to be signed soon. 
