Another Blue Dress Moment?

We might all remember the moment it was discovered that Monica’s famed blue dress had a generous dollop of Clinton’s “DNA” on it. (DNA being the euphemism preferred by the press for semen.) In a heart beat all of Clinton’s lies about ‘not having sex with that woman’ were exposed… unless, of course, one were willing to accept the argument that blow jobs were not actually sex. My guess is that 99% of all teenaged males were happy to agree with this thesis. The rest of us? Not so much.

Late on November 19 another “blue dress moment” occurred when it was discovered that over 3000 emails and data files had been either hacked or posted by an insider from the computers of the University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit. All of the information is now all over the internet. The British government has given the scientists at the CRU over $20 million to do research on global warming. Dr. Phil Jones, the CRU Director has confirmed that the emails are genuine.

What the emails have revealed so far is:

1). They have massaged the data in the past to get desired results and openly discuss among themselves how to manipulate the data to eliminate the recent global cooling.

2). They conspired to prevent the release of raw data requested under the FOIA, or to disclose their methods and source code to other scientists so that their work and conclusions could be verified.

3). Only studies favorable to the theory of global warming were published and the CRU scientists and their allies punished and threatened editors of journals that published contrary science.

Here’s a sample email from Dr. Phil Jones to other scientists. “I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in real temperatures to each series for the last 20 years (i.e. From 1981 onward) and from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline.”

“Mike” refers to Michael Mann who published his famous and extensively promoted “hockey stick” graph in “Nature” magazine. This supposedly depicted a near vertical up tick of global temperatures in recent decades. Al Gore and others used Mann’s work to predict the end of the World. This graph was later widely discredited as nearly any data plugged into Dr. Mann’s model produced the hockey stick result.

“Keith” refers to Keith Briffa who published a study of tree ring data from Yamal, Russia purporting to show unprecedented warming in the last century. Forced by a FOIA request to release his data to Steve McIntyre of Climate Audit, it was easily spotted as a fraud accomplished by cherry picking and manipulating the data. (US Climate Reports: They Lie). A number of the released emails acknowledge the deception and discuss damage control and the continued wisdom of withholding data.

Some of the other emails derided skeptical scientists and one even celebrated the death of one of their vocal critics. Being an outspoken skeptic of global warming (frequently called “deniers”) has been an unpopular position, to say the least. A few weeks ago I wrote a letter to the editor of the “Vancouver Sun” criticizing a piece by a columnist who regularly writes doomsday articles on global warming. From the angry reaction I received you would think that I had written endorsing the joys of pedophilia.

While the news was reported by some press outlets, it has been largely ignored by the Main Stream Media. Of course, they are heavily invested in advancing the “settled science” of AGW and would be embarrassed to admit that they have been duped by a handful of researchers more interested in advancing a political agenda than objective science. One would hope that they would now want to reveal this information and promote a true open and honest debate on the science of global warming. John Coleman, the founder of the Weather Channel, says he has a petition signed by 30,000 scientists and meteorologists who want that debate.

This is especially important now as a cap and trade bill has already passed the House and a companion bill is ready in the Senate. Either one of those, if enacted, will seriously damage the US economy and impose enormous costs on everyone. Also, the Climate Conference in Copenhagen scheduled for next month proposes even more draconian rules, taxes and even surrender of sovereignty to the UN. It would certainly appear that a One World Socialist government has been the goal of the AGW proponents all along. As some call them: “watermelon environmentalists”….. Green on the outside, red on the inside.

For further reading on this subject, check out: Climate Audit, Wattsupwiththat or Pajamas Media (Charles Martin).

Mixed Grill

Just a few thoughts on recent items in the news of late.

Major Hasan’s potential for mass murder was ignored by the Army prior to his attack at Ft. Hood, despite glaringly obvious clues. His many radical public statements and comments to associates (duly reported), his attendance at a radical mosque frequented by the 9/11 perpetrators and attempts to contact Al Qaeda should have rung some serious alarm bells. Nobody did a thing. The only explanation seems to be political correctness. At all costs we must not offend any Muslims.

This tendency continued even as the bodies were being hauled away. Commentators in the MSM carefully avoided the obvious and refused to call the slaughter an act of Islamic Terror even in the face of the facts and that Major Hasan had shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he fired over 100 rounds into the unarmed troops. The contortions were almost funny as the talking heads explained that Hasan had “snapped” and perhaps suffered from “pre-traumatic stress disorder”. Since Hasan had never been in battle (or near it) he presumably contracted this new syndrome from anticipating his deployment or from talking to troops who had seen action. Absurd.

The degree to which the MSM will go to avoid calling a spade a spade was humorously on display last night when Bill O’Reilly interviewed Sally Quinn, veteran reporter of the “Washington Post”. You should watch the interview. He had to practically pin Ms. Quinn to the wall and throttle her to get her to say the words “Muslim terrorist”.

President Obama did not look very good in his handling of this tragedy either. Attending a conference with American Indians he stepped to the microphone to speak to the nation about the attack. Before getting to the Ft. Hood incident he spent several minutes discussing the conference and giving “shout outs” to several attendees. Almost as an after thought he brought up the Ft. Hood shootings. Then he choppered off to Camp David for a relaxing weekend. Meanwhile, with cameras and publicity prohibited, George and Laura Bush quietly drove to Ft. Hood and met with the victim’s families. This is what a Commander-in-Chief does instead of slipping off for a weekend of R & R.

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In case you missed it, the House rammed through a 1990 page health care reform bill with two votes to spare, including one lone Republican. 39 Democrats voted against it. The Dems spent a lot of time figuring out who would be permitted to vote NO and still get the thing to pass. Surely the Democrats in the safest districts (those likely to be re-elected even if caught on video snorting crack while sodomizing a sheep) voted YES with little fear. Those in districts carried by McCain or considered conservative were given a pass. This measure is highly unpopular and will prove more so as the taxes, penalties and coercion kick in. The cynical Democrat calculus is that short- term losses are acceptable, and if they can once get this implemented, will ensure a left of center government forever.

They are nervous though. The public gets ever more angry as the unemployment rate keeps climbing (10.2%) and the debt piles up. The health care bill costs over one trillion dollars even with the increased taxes, and forcing the unwilling to purchase health insurance or face penalties, or even imprisonment. It has people more than a little concerned. Now it’s up to the Senate. They have not even released the bill yet and if Harry Reid is to be believed, it will mirror the House bill. The question remains: if the Democrats don’t have the 60 votes, will they pass the thing by “reconciliation”, the parliamentary procedure requiring only 51 votes? While it’s a highly questionable maneuver, Reid may do it as a parting gift to the liberals as it seems likely the good people of Nevada may toss him out next November.

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As the health care train trundles down the tracks, those busy Democrats in the Senate are quietly preparing the Kerry/ Boxer version of a cap and trade bill. You might remember that the House has already passed its version. Cap and trade is a huge tax on an already strained economy that is struggling to rise out of a serious recession.

Why the Democrats figure hanging these two anchors around the necks of the taxpayers at this time is a good idea befuddles me. I guess just as the health care bill is not about improving health care or making it more affordable, the cap and trade bill is not about reducing carbon emissions. Both of these boondoggles are about power and control. And, if anyone thinks the government can effectively run health care or the energy industry, you have not communicated with the Social Security Administration or the IRS lately. Social security and Medicare are headed for bankruptcy and Amtrak and the Post Office on life support. If you think these new initiatives are a great idea, you need a reality check.