It's hard to not be terrified in reading Paul Krugman's recent piece regarding the GOP's emerging anti science campaign. A living example of this is the current front runner of the GOP field for president, Governor of Texas Rick Perry, saying that "more and more scientists are questioning global warming. Let's examine Perry's claim first.
To put it simply, he's wrong and here's exactly why he is wrong.
The IPCC, the US Global Change Research Program, and earlier this year the National Research Council and the National Academy of Sciences all are in agreement on the sources of climate change and why it is happening. The last two concluded that climate change is occurring, that it is caused primarily by the emission of greenhouse gases from human activities, and that it poses significant risks for a range of human and natural systems. It specifically rejected the view that that those findings are in some way questionable
This committee organized by the NRC and the Academy had this to say.
Although the scientific process is always open to new ideas and results, the fundamental causes and consequences of climate change have been established by many years of scientific research, are supported by many different lines of evidence, and have stood firm in the face of careful examination, repeated testing, and the rigorous evaluation of alternative theories and explanations.
Further, the Academy also did a study which found that 97-98 percent of those scientists actively publishing in the field agree that climate change that human beings are causing climate change. Other surveys reveal the same percentages.
Of course, Perry also hauled the classic "faulty or manipulated data" line which has been thoroughly debunked by three separate reviews. This brings us to Krugman's Anti Science piece.
I could point out that Mr. Perry is buying into a truly crazy conspiracy theory, which asserts that thousands of scientists all around the world are on the take, with not one willing to break the code of silence. I could also point out that multiple investigations into charges of intellectual malpractice on the part of climate scientists have ended up exonerating the accused researchers of all accusations. But never mind: Mr. Perry and those who think like him know what they want to believe, and their response to anyone who contradicts them is to start a witch hunt.
For those of you who are in the GOP or on the right, is this really the direction you want to head? It's honestly just another example of how there is literally nothing behind your ideology other than proving the other side wrong...your central credo being, "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
Krugman points out where we might be headed.
We don’t know who will win next year’s presidential election. But the odds are that one of these years the world’s greatest nation will find itself ruled by a party that is aggressively anti-science, indeed anti-knowledge. And, in a time of severe challenges — environmental, economic, and more — that’s a terrifying prospect.
Amen, brother. And this is why I have this site.
10 comments:
Maybe this:
CLOUD Experiment
Another Take on Cosmic Rays
Hoax?
Challenge to Global Warming Alarmism
or this:
Uncertainty in Climate Modeling
Extract:
Conclusion: Clearly, models cannot be used to predict future global temperatures reliably. (Note that variability and uncertainty of models is even greater for regional temperatures and for quantities other than temperature, such as precipitation.) The chief value of models, I believe, derives from their use to test sensitivity of outcome to variations in specific forcings or input parameters.
Which points to the need for much more study before AGW is determined let alone 'settled'.
Paul Krugman is an economist and political hack. Sorry, but Evolution is a theory and this:
In fact, if you follow climate science at all you know that the main development over the past few years has been growing concern that projections of future climate are underestimating the likely amount of warming. Warnings that we may face civilization-threatening temperature change by the end of the century, once considered outlandish, are now coming out of mainstream research groups.
is in direct conflict with actual science and new data coming in(see above links).
Now none of that is anti-science as you and he insinuate. It is 'get back to science'. EXACTLY what the skeptics are saying. The Right is not anti-science and it doesn't take much effort to find out the truth. Too bad you spend your entire post willfully deceiving yourself.
Evolution is a theory? Sorry, I can't get past that point. Any of the scientists that post here want to comment on that?
And you might want to read the unfiltered version of the CERN research. It can be found here.
http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110824/full/news.2011.504.html
Evolution is a theory? Sorry, I can't get past that point.
Which I guess just shows your ignorance of science.
Heck Mark, gravity is a theory.*
*Explained under Einsteins general theory of relativity.
Don't confuse theory with hypothesis, Mark.
What's with all the fear-mongering anyway? "Terrified"?
And of course at the end Krugman pulls a Mark and demolishes a strawman of his own making with his crazy talk of a conspiracy of thousands without a single one breaking the oath of silence being necessary for Perry to be speaking the truth as he sees it. What a load of crap! No wonder Mark thinks the world of Krugman.
Why did the "scientists" destroy the original data?
Solyndra to Declare Bankruptcy.
President Obama touted the facility only a year ago. “Solyndra, a major manufacturer of solar technology in Fremont, has shut its doors, according to employees at the campus. Solyndra was touted by the Obama administration as a prime example of how green technology could deliver jobs. The President visited the facility in May of last year and said ‘it is just a testament to American ingenuity and dynamism and the fact that we continue to have the best universities in the world, the best technology in the world, and most importantly the best workers in the world. And you guys all represent that.’ The federal government offered $535 million in low cost loan guarantees from the Department of Energy. NBC Bay Area has contacted the White House asking for a statement.”
haha, good work. $535 million in loans and it still didnt work.
To further sw's post and taken from the Powerline post:
Another half-billion dollars, flushed down the toilet. Obama defended the stimulus bill on the ground that it really didn’t matter what the money was spent on. “Spending equals stimulus,” he said, in as pure an expression of economic ignorance as you will ever encounter.
Economic ignorance indeed!
Close to $1 million per job. That’s about par for the course, when you spend money stupidly. And those jobs, of course, only lasted a couple of years. If we had hired those same people to burn the money, a dollar bill at a time, their jobs might have lasted longer.
Great snark but really a raw deal for taxpayers who fronted a half billion dollars to a failure.
Solyndra Mess
Now we see another company claiming 'Regulatory and Policy uncertainties' causing business problems. WAIT...I thought M said that was false? In fact, there were multiple posts about it. Now we have another one as evidence?
Regulatory Uncertainty
So three notable items coming out of this major FAIL:
1. They didn't even vet the company as it was failing since inception yet they give it half billion dollars to create jobs which ultimately went away anyway.
2. Majority owner of the company is ....Democrat supporting billionaire George Kaiser.
3. Regulations and Policies are hindering job creation.
GD, let's not play the word games. I think you know what Dingo meant when he said that evolution was a theory. I know you always have to be against me but let's focus on how serious this issue is at present. We have people questioning evolution. What do you think about that?
SW, proving him wrong, winning the argument, no substantive solutions
6Kings, I thought we all agreed that companies weren't hiring because they were making plenty of money without the extra labor. Now we are back to regulations and policies are hindering job creation?
I'll agree that we are over regulated in some areas of industry. Will you agree that we are under regulated in others? Neither are hindering job creation, though.
Since I have proved conclusively that profits are very high right now and that the leaders of the private sector are still making insane salaries, the uncertainty argument makes no sense. See my post today on CEO salaries and taxes.
it did prove obama wrong. Solyndra was touted by President Barack Obama as a beneficiary of his administration’s economic policies. It announced last week that it was laying off 1,100 workers and filing for bankruptcy. The company was held up as the model for government investment in green technology. In addition to the $535 million loan guarantee, it received visits from the president and other state and federal officials. They also visited the white house a lot too.
Get ready for Solargate.
Post a Comment