I OPEN WITH A HEARTRENDING PORTRAYAL AND SUMMARY of the state of the American economy as viewed from the right — and from the private corporate perspective.
First, and most crucial, is the unequal struggle for survival. On the one hand we have embattled private enterprise, confronted with crippling taxation and government interference and controls. On the other, we have (1) megalomaniacal science, larded with government funds and arrogantly seeking ever greater control of the nation, unlimited funding (and high living!); and (2) a growing horde of the shiftless, who have learned that living on the dole, while lolling in the sun, is a lark. Of the two, Big Science is clearly and rapidly becoming the greatest danger. In their ceaseless and rapacious search for funding, scientists have demonstrated an alarming capacity for the endless creation of crisis scenarios. Deep concerns have been expressed about the degree to which science is being warped and misrepresented to justify crippling restrictions upon industry along with huge expenditures of public funds in the name of “fighting global warming” and “protecting the environment.” Close summary.
If you think the above to be exaggeration, you haven’t been tuned into the newest set of themes from the right and its furious attack upon a science that would interfere with the right to profit — at whatever environmental costs. And what of the effect of this unceasing — and hugely funded — attack upon science and scientists?
Consider the following finding from a poll conducted June 13-21, 2012 among 804 adults.
“Trust in climate scientists is not universal, and has dropped in recent years. Just 26 percent of Americans said they trust scientists ‘completely’ or ‘a lot’ in a 2012 Washington Post-Stanford University poll, down from 32 percent in 2007. More, 35 percent, said they trust scientists only ‘a little’ or ‘not at all.’” (!) In a striking, actually deeply disturbing finding, more than one-third of the public believed “climate scientists who say global warming is real make their conclusions based on money and politics.”
It is vital to note that the last sentence in quotes above sums up quite accurately the attack made upon science and scientists by the fossil fuel consortium. It has the full, rich flavor of an attack against organized crime!
With that out of the way, time to segue back into a painful but essential reality-based perspective.
The history of the debate over global warming reflects several important strains. It includes the basic and relatively recent development of climate science; the slow — and recent — development of significant concern over warming; the debate about its reality and possible causation; and, crucially important as noted above, the increasing involvement of those commercial interests affected by scientific findings.
It also includes a rapid acceleration of both research on this issue and deepening concern about what is happening.
A barometer of the growth of that concern is dramatized by the following summary, found in “How the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports changed through time: 1990-2013.”
“1990: The report did not quantify the human contribution to global warming.
“1995: The balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on climate.
“2001: Human-emitted greenhouse gases are likely (67-90-percent chance) responsible for more than half of Earth’s temperature increase since 1951.
“2007: Human-emitted greenhouse gases are very likely (at least 90-percent chance) responsible for more than half of Earth’s temperature increase since 1951.
“2013: Human-emitted greenhouse gases are extremely likely (at least 95-percent chance) responsible for more than half of Earth’s temperature increase since 1951.”
Several observations can be made with some assurance. First, the most sophisticated and developed climate science available is unmistakably heavily weighted toward extremely deep and urgent concern about the ominous reality of warming and its relationship to use of fossil fuels.
Second, the huge complex of extraordinarily wealthy and influential financial interests represented by fossil fuel corporations and related commercial interests powerfully rejects that reality. Clearly, the stakes in this struggle are monumental.
For a change of pace and an unusual perspective on warming and its impacts, I quote at length from a fascinating piece by Joel Brinkley, published in the San Francisco Chronicle on Nov. 24, “Action Needed to Avert Wars Over Water”:
“Most of the world’s population takes water for granted, just like air — two life-sustaining substances. After all, the human body is nearly two-thirds water.
“But a Hindustan Times blogger said that in India right now, as in so many other places around the globe, drinkable water has become such a ‘precious commodity’ that it’s dragging the world into ‘water wars to follow the ones for the control of fuel oil.’
“Climate change is drying up lakes and rivers almost everywhere. In Australia, for example, an unprecedented heat wave brought on massive wildfires and critical water shortages.
“As water grows scarce, more and countries are building dams on rivers to hog most of the water for themselves, depriving the nations downstream. Already, Egypt had threatened to bomb the Grand Renaissance Dam upstream on the Nile River in Ethiopia.
“And as the Earth’s population crossed the 7 billion mark last year, more and more water sources are so polluted that drinking the water can kill you. No one’s counting, but various government and private estimates indicate that worldwide, tens of thousands of children die each and every day from drinking contaminated water.
“By most estimates, half the world’s people live in places where clean water is not easily available. Bangalore, India, for example, once had 400 lakes in its vicinity. Now, the New Indian Express newspaper wrote, only 40 are left, and all of them are polluted.
“China has built more dams than any other nation, making numerous countries angry because Chinese rivers flow into more adjacent states than from any other state. And yet, even with 14 different downstream border states, China refuses to agree to any water treaties. Right now, China has approved plans to build 54 more dams on rivers, many of which serve as the lifeblood of neighboring states.
“In China’s north, ‘desertification’ is turning vast areas into dust bowls. So the government is trying to divert 6 trillion gallons of water per year from the Yangtze River to reclaim the area, worrying people in other parts of China who rely on the Yangtze for their own water.
“Egypt’s military threats against Ethiopia begin to make sense when you realize that Egypt’s 84 million people draw 95 percent of their water from the Nile River. A common saying is that without the Nile there is no Egypt.
“So where is all this water going? With ever-rising temperatures, more and more water evaporates and returns to the ground as rain. But most of it falls into the oceans. That’s one reason sea levels are rising worldwide, threatening vast coastal areas.”
I close with several quotes from the conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Climate Change 2013, also known as the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5):
“Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. … The atmosphere and the ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, sea level has risen, and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased. …
“Each of the last three decades has been successively warmer at the Earth’s surface than any preceding decade since 1850. … Changes in many extreme weather and climate events have been observed since about 1950. … It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. …”
As noted by Jules Kortenhorst, CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute, “The IPCC does not mince words. And despite a frontal assault by climate skeptics, attempting to use the scientific nuances of the report to sow doubt, the conclusions stand as a rock.”
Jerome Page is a Benicia resident.
Sharing is caring!
Jerome; I aways enjoy what you provide. Thanks!–Peter Bray
Beyond global warming and the corporate news-media black-out–
Though I agree with Mr. Page’s articles on climate change, I’ve been following a story for the past two -plus years — The Fukushima earthquake and nuclear accident that, from the articles I’ve read, pose an even more immediate and greater environmental concern (radiation contamination) for the community to consider…
An excerpt from the article below:
“All radiation is unsafe,” said Arnie Gundersen, former nuclear industry executive turned whistleblower, in an interview with Common Dreams. “There is no non-harmful level.”
Meanwhile, west coast cities are growing nervous. The San Francisco Bay area city of Fairfax, California passed a resolution earlier this week calling for increased testing of coastal seafood and a reduction of radiation emissions from Fukushima.
Gundersen warned that the danger will only increase from here. “The faucet is still on. The Pacific is still becoming more contaminated,” he said. “This is not a one time wave that washes the shore and goes away. Fukushima is continuing to pollute the ocean.”
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/12/06-6
The Pacific Ocean Does Not Belong to Japan: It Belongs to All of Us
Though I agree with Mr. Page’s articles on climate change, I’ve been following a story for the past two -plus years — The Fukushima earthquake and nuclear accident that, from the articles I’ve read, pose an even more immediate and greater environmental concern (radiation contamination) for the community to consider…
An excerpt from the article below:
The Ocean is Broken , October 18, 2013, is a narrative by and about a sailor, Ivan Macfadyen, crossing the ocean from Melbourne, Australia to Osaka, Japan and from Osaka to San Francisco.
” The next leg of the long voyage was from Osaka to San Francisco and for most of that trip the desolation was tinged with nauseous horror and a degree of fear” After we left Japan, it felt as if the ocean itself was dead” We hardly saw any living things. We saw one whale, sort of rolling helplessly on the surface with what looked like a big tumour on its head. It was pretty sickening”I’ve done a lot of miles on the ocean in my life and I’m used to seeing turtles, dolphins, sharks and big flurries of feeding birds. But this time, for 3000 nautical miles there was nothing alive to be seen” In place of the missing life was garbage in astounding volumes”
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Pacific-Ocean-Does-Not-by-Sheila-Parks-Energy-Nuclear_Fukushima_Fukushima-Cover-up_Japan-131215-303.html
Cooling or warming you decide–
From the above article:
“Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. … The atmosphere and the ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, sea level has risen, and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased”. …
More recent information below on “global warming” for the community to consider…
“Recently, the cooling crowd has been crowing about global cooling, especially as the winter sets in and bitter, harsh storms hit the country. And, they are partially right, it is not warming as fast as some scientists predicted it would some years ago, but guess what? It’s warming, not cooling.”
The following is the latest data from the National Climatic Data Center (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – Department of Commerce, USG):
“Averaging the globe as a whole, the temperature across the land and ocean surfaces combined during October 2013 was 1.13 degrees F above the 1901-2000 average… [the] 344th consecutive month with global temperature above the 20th century average… the last below-average global temperature for any month was February 1985,” (Source: Global Analysis – October 2013, National Climatic Data Center – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/12/17/november-2013-hottest-on-record/
Beyond global warming and the corporate news-media black-out–
Though I agree with Mr. Page’s articles on climate change, I’ve been following a story for the past two -plus years — The Fukushima earthquake and nuclear accident that, from the articles I’ve read, pose an even more immediate and greater environmental concern (radiation contamination) for the community to consider…
A key excerpt and proof of radiation contamination from the article below:
As this Al-Jazeera blog post reports:
” Fifty-one crew members of the USS Ronald Reagan say they are suffering from a variety of cancers as a direct result of their involvement in Operation Tomodachi, a U.S. rescue mission in Fukushima after the nuclear disaster in March 2011. The affected sailors are suing Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), alleging that the utility mishandled the crisis and did not adequately warn the crew of the risk of participating in the earthquake relief efforts.
Crew members, many of whom are in their 20s, have been diagnosed with conditions including thyroid cancer, testicular cancer and leukemia. The Department of Defense says the Navy took “proactive measures” in order to “mitigate the levels of Fukushima-related contamination on U.S. Navy ships and aircraft” and that crew members were not exposed to dangerous radiation levels.”
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/12/17-1
Obama and Climate Change: The Real Story
From the above article:
“Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. … The atmosphere and the ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, sea level has risen, and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased.” …
A key passage from the article below by author/environmentalist Bill Mckibben for the community to consider…
“If you want to understand how people will remember the Obama climate legacy, a few facts tell the tale:”
“Over the last three years, I’ve directed my administration to open up millions of acres for gas and oil exploration across 23 different states. We’re opening up more than 75 percent of our potential oil resources offshore. We’ve quadrupled the number of operating rigs to a record high. We’ve added enough new oil and gas pipeline to encircle the Earth, and then some. . . . In fact, the problem . . . is that we’re actually producing so much oil and gas . . . that we don’t have enough pipeline capacity to transport all of it where it needs to go.”
Actually, of course, “the problem” is that climate change is spiraling out of control. Under Obama we’ve had the warmest year in American history – 2012 –
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/12/17-8
Beyond the climate skeptics —
As a species are we headed towards extinction? Extinctions certainly do happen.
More information from: “The National Research Council of the National Academies (NRCNA) has pre-published (available to the public as of Dec. 2013), an extensive 200-pg study: “Abrupt Impacts of Climate Change, Anticipating Surprises.”
“The goal of the report is to prepare society to anticipate the ‘otherwise unanticipated’ before it occurs, including abrupt changes to the ocean, atmosphere, ecosystems and high latitude regions. The NRCNA timescale for “abrupt climate change” is defined as years-to-decades.”
A key passage from the article below for the community to consider…
And, the Bible discusses extinction in Isaiah 24:4-6:
“The earth dries up and withers… the exalted of the earth languish… for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt.”
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/12/26/looming-danger-of-abrupt-climate-change/
Thanks, Will, I read the whole thing and posted it to my Facebook page. Count me in. Peter Bray, Benicia, CA
Who bankrolls climate change denial —
“Conservative Groups Spend Up To $1bn A Year To Fight Action On Climate Change”
A key passage (one of many) for the community to consider…
“This is how wealthy individuals or corporations translate their economic power into political and cultural power,” he said. “They have their profits and they hire people to write books that say climate change is not real. They hirer people to go on TV and say climate change is not real. It ends up that people without economic power don’t have the same size voice as the people who have economic power, and so it ends up distorting democracy.”
“That is the bottom line here. These are unaccountable organizations deciding what our politics should be. They put their thumbs on the scale … It is more one dollar one vote than one person one vote.”
http://www.zcommunications.org/conservative-groups-spend-up-to-1bn-a-year-to-fight-action-on-climate-change-by-suzanne-goldenberg.html
My latest on a related issue:
Nerds on the Bus/Honeybee Crossroad Blues
(More Word Cartoons)…
E-mails on my smartphone
with 50-250k of photos attached
sit in my outbox waiting like nerds on the bus
for their destination streets to be called out,
but that’s not how technology works.
Sprint and AOL and SamSung and others
have to build up bandwidth
on human holidays and wirelessly shake them out like
heavy, wet linen and overwashed underwear
on backyard fences and ropes.
If I were a honeybee I too
would be sitting alongside the road
either dead or with a serious headache
wondering if all these F’ing messages and photos
are really necessary for Earth’s survival.
One day when we’re fresh out of carrots, celery, blueberries,
and all manner of fruits and vegetables,
some honeybee architect-anthropologist
and soothsayer team is gonna
look at the Honeybee Obits and say,
“Oh Shit! And we blamed it on the pesticides
and still nobody listened.”
Orphaned honeybee kids with malformed appendages
and/or autistic twerks with their radar-jammed
will write on dimestore walls and bus stations,
“F’ the Internet and technology!”
But I could be wrong.
I’m just a poet who occasionally
misspells and guesses at hypotheses
and conspiracies with drama.
Comic books should hire me for word cartoons.
©Peter Bray, 12/26/2013 All rights reserved
New Little Ice Age
Instead of Global Warming?
by Dr. Theodor Landscheidt
“Research based on over 100 independent expert studies points to a cooling Earth climate at least until 2030. Author, Dr. Theodor Landscheidt of the Schroeter Institute for Research in Cycles of Solar Activity points to failures by climatologists to account for solar variation in their projections.”
Arctic ice caps grew 35% in 2013, Antarctic ice mass up 25%, and world temperatures have been flat or declining for the past 15 years … Only the politically charged IPCC tries to refute. Sorry, but the false data in this post does not hold up to science.
Matter, please show us those studies.
Matter, Are you referring to land ice or sea ice? There is a difference. Estimates of recent changes in Antarctic land ice show an increasing contribution to sea level with time. Between 1992 and 2011, the Antarctic Ice Sheets overall lost 1,350,000,000,000 tons into the oceans. The East Antarctic Ice Sheet is grew slightly over this period but not enough to offset the other losses. There are of course uncertainties in the estimation methods but independent data from multiple measurement techniques all show the same thing, Antarctica is losing land ice as a whole, and these losses are accelerating quickly.
Beyond the climate change deniers—or, the people who really don’t matter.
From the article below, more important documented- climate change information and news for Mr.Page, concerned citizens and our appointed and elected representatives to seriously contemplate…
“The Methane Monster Roars”
“Vast amounts of methane lie frozen in the Arctic. “It’s not news that the Arctic sea ice is melting rapidly, and that it will likely be gone for short periods during the summers starting as early as next year.US Navy researchers have predicted periods of an ice-free Arctic ocean in the summer by 2016.”
Why should we be so concerned about methane, when all of the talk around climate disruption seems to focus on carbon dioxide levels?
“In the atmosphere, methane is a greenhouse gas that, on a relatively short-term time scale, is far more destructive than carbon dioxide. When it comes to heating the planet, methane is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide, per molecule, on a 100-year timescale, and 105 times more potent on a 20-year timescale – and the Arctic permafrost, onshore and off, is packed with the stuff.”
“The Permian mass extinction that occurred 250 million years ago was related to methane – in fact, the gas is thought to be the key to what caused the extinction of approximately 95 percent of all species on the planet.”
“It is possible that, on top of the vast quantities of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels that continue to enter the atmosphere in record amounts yearly, an increased release of methane could signal the beginning of the sort of process that led to the Great Dying.”
“Some scientists fear that the situation is already so serious and so many self-reinforcing feedback loops are already in play that we are in the process of causing our own extinction. Worse yet, some are convinced that it could happen far more quickly than generally believed possible – in the course of just the next few decades – or, as Beckwith believes, possibly even sooner than that.”
http://truth-out.org/news/item/28490-the-methane-monster-roars
Dennis, the “New Little Ice Age” notion is simply ridiculous. The good doctor Landscheidt is looking at cyclic patterns that simply wash out in the larger picture. How stupid must all those scientists be who project global warming not to have examined and accounted for such obvious variations as solar activity patterns? You should turn your laser-like penetration on to the subject of Dr. Landsheidt’s motivated connection to carbon fuel production industries and funding therefrom. But, I doubt you’ll do that.
Robert, It is interesting to note that Dr. Landscheidt, who passed away nine years ago, also theorized that the rise of Hitler and Stalin were due to cosmic cycles.
Love it! Where can I buy a Dr. Landscheidt “Aluminum/tin hat”, to sit under, and how do I get close to those cyclic patterns? Any guy that died nine years ago I want to have in my non-science debates about current ice-melting data. Jesus, DDL, you almost had me skeptical there for a minute. Next time I tune in here, I wanna wear my aluminum/tin Dr. Landscheidt cosmic cycles hat for safekeeping…Sign me up for another non-collegiate Right-Wing Dogma Debating Class…hurry! And throw in some Dick Cheney EPA-Rule avoiding powder too, and a free Waterboard Kit, I wanna be prepared for midterms in all non-science/Nonsense classes…pb
also theorized that the rise of Hitler and Stalin were due to cosmic cycles.
“coincided with” does not imply cause.
several searches of key words using variations of: “theorized that the rise of Hitler and Stalin were due to cosmic cycles.” Only brings us back to your words here.
Unless you have something specific, such as a source or link, this sounds like another false flag of misdirection by attacking others while ignoring what was actually predicted.
The fact that you could not find the specific source is just a failure on your part. I don’t make things up. Nice try though.
These online digital pages are more fun than Howdy Doody with a rubber band slingshot….Something intelligent is stated and then the sparrows and arrows and slings of belittlement fly about trying to bring it down from the air, then it hovers, dodges distortions, gains altitude, then gets broadblasted with Howitzer spitballs…Then all the dancing fairies come out for an encore, as if it was really their thought to begin with, then Truman is quoted, Herman Hesse discovers a shady tree for a nap, Newton drops a fig for a gravitational acceleration check, and then all quiet resumes like the circus has just left town and nobody’s left to sweep up the streets…I have learned not to get involved…there are too few fenceposts to squat upon and squawk…My “Dogs of Poetry” are in good company:
The Dogs of Poetry…
Somebody unleashed
the dogs of poetry again,
and they’re pissing on the porch posts,
humping the statuary,
and after scatting on the lawn,
their back legs are tearing up
the manufactured and manicured
petunia beds.
I know that living in kennel
is probably no fun,
but can’t somebody
control these mutts?
Their need to verbally
express themselves
is driving me nuts,
though it is always
entertaining.
©Peter Bray,
1998 All rights reserved
No failure on my part as I quoted Dr. Landscheidt, “Coincided with” are his words in specific regard to the rise of Hitler, Stalin and the great Depression. Since you read the paper, I assumed you would have recognized that fact. I see I overestimated your level of knowledge of his work.
The failure in this case was your assumption that I was looking for the Doctor’s paper. I was not, I was looking to find other people talking about this supposed theory. But you seem to be the only one who drew the conclusion you made. So, it does appear that you either do make things up, or draw false conclusions.
But I do admit I did not spend too much time on it, to be honest, your comment did not warrant more than a brief search, as do the vast majority of your comments.
Ha ha Lund got caught quoting a quack. Probably his uncle or something. Go back to American Thinker, they love to have a circle jerk over this sort of thing.
That nine-point list from yesterday seemed to be a bit of a mutual stroke-off, as well.
“your comment did not warrant more than a brief search” Yet, it warranted your long winded follow-up.
BTW – Dr. Landscheidt was an astrologer. I assume that you know the difference between astrology and astronomy. But then again, maybe I overestimate you.
I do believe Petersen that your attempt to demean others is very annoying and not in the best interest of those concerned regardless of which side of the fence they may be on. Belonging to the nay sayer group and being very sarcastic is not in anyones best interest. Defending your stance is very good. I do expect a very sarcastic remark back from Thomas.
Bobby Livesay: On the contrary, sometimes a light sprinkling of sarcasm serves as a great garnish and goes miles against an autocratic outpouring of pomposity that is never requested but always broadcasted as though the rest of us are 3 or 4 and just learning how to read: “Run, Spot, run, and learn to spit occasionally…it’s almost entertaining”…pb
I do believe, Livesay, that your vain attempt to offer a very hypocritical and inaccurate opinion is, as usual, just a result of you overvaluing your own opinion.
I bet you cant resist the usual poorly thought out come back, can you? Please, prove me wrong.
As expected, again an attack comment and not at all accurate. I was right aghain Thomas you just could not resist to comment back. By the way Veto says hello.
I stated, “Please, prove me wrong.” . You failed. You want to go two out of three?
Astrology: All the world’s population divided up into 12 segments based upon celestial bodies with no respect to genes, hair color, points of origin, sharpness of teeth, nails or IQ deliverance? That’s scary! We need to get those people identified and categorized better…do they get to vote too?–pb
RMS stated:You should turn your laser-like penetration on to the subject of Dr. Landsheidt’s motivated connection to carbon fuel production industries and funding therefrom.
Robert, you continually seek to diminish the works of others by questioning their motivation, yet those whose work supports your beliefs are always consider to be altruistic and above reproach.
A point I have made several times in the past is lost on you, that being: All people should be held to the same standards.
Yet continuously we see one set applied to one side and the opposite side given total absolution.
Simple, capture water, Love dams
I like this quote from a recent David Sirota column describing climate change deniers:
“those head-in-the-sand types who insists that climate change isn’t happening or isn’t anything to be concerned about. This, of course, is a convenient theology that self-servingly rationalizes a narcissistic aversion to any kind of sacrifice or lifestyle change.”
Here is a site that helps to explain why there may me real cold spells during the Global Warming trends. http://www.skepticalscience.com/global-warming-cold-weather-intermediate.htm
Since the mid 1970s, global temperatures have been warming at around 0.2 degrees Celsius per decade. However, weather imposes its own dramatic ups and downs over the long term trend. We expect to see record cold temperatures even during global warming. Nevertheless over the last decade, daily record high temperatures occurred twice as often as record lows. This tendency towards hotter days is expected to increase as global warming continues into the 21st Century.
Climate Myth…
It’s freaking cold!
“Austria is today seeing its earliest snowfall in history with 30 to 40 centimetres already predicted in the mountains. Such dramatic falls in temperatures provide superficial evidence for those who doubt that the world is threatened by climate change.” (Mail Online)
Since the mid 1970s, global temperatures have been warming at around 0.2°C per decade. However, weather imposes it’s own dramatic ups and downs over the long term trend. So we expect to see record cold temperatures even during global warming. Nevertheless, who hasn’t heard someone on a cold day mutter “what happened to global warming?!” It’s human nature to remember unusual events: record heat waves and freezing cold spells. Mentally calculating long term statistical trends doesn’t come quite as easy as recalling that cold morning a few winters ago or that sweltering heat wave last summer. However, we can learn something about climate trends from those record hot and cold days………………………. read the URL for complete info.
Food for thought and the strange case of Mr. Beale:
Climate change expert’s fraud was ‘crime of massive proportion,’ say feds
The EPA’s highest-paid employee and a leading expert on climate change deserves to go to prison for at least 30 months for lying to his bosses and saying he was a CIA spy working in Pakistan so he could avoid doing his real job, say federal prosecutors.
John C. Beale, who pled guilty in September to bilking the government out of nearly $1 million in salary and other benefits over a decade, will be sentenced in a Washington, D.C., federal court on Wednesday. In a newly filed sentencing memo, prosecutors said that his lies were a “crime of massive proportion” that were “offensive” to those who actually do dangerous work for the CIA.
Apparently for nine years this man has been a fake and working at the highest levels within the EPA. More on this now convicted criminal (from the Daily Mail):
Beale is a Princeton-educated ‘senior policy adviser’ who worked as one of the EPA’s top climate change experts.
He helped rewrite the Clean Air Act in 1990, led EPA delegations at climate change conferences in 2000 and 2001, and helped negotiate carbon emissions agreements with India and China.
He lied about being in the CIA, defrauded the government, faked expense reports, collected salary after ‘retiring’, and he was a leading expert on climate change including apparently testifying before Congressional committees.
But of course we are to believe all of his work at the EPA was above reproach aren’t we?
Oh, Dennis…that’s just shameful! Did his lies to the EPA and the PUBLIC MEET OR EXCEED CHENEY’S AND BUSH’S ABOUT PHONY WMD leading us into the war with IRAQ? How many lives were lost?…I WON’T believe another porky, lying bureaucrat or VP or PRES ever again! Thanks always for your bilateral views on everything on the planet.The right wing is in good hands with you…watch out for the Global crappy weather…maybe they’re lying too?
ahhh Peter, another ‘Bush-Lied-people-died’ response, as predictable as the tide.
Bush-Cheney is old news Peter, you need to get current.
BTW, you do know that “Bush’s Lie” was not one, or are you going to continue beating that tin drum till hell freezes over?
Dennis:
All your criticisms against the current administration will always be measured against the history of who preceded them. It’s all relative, Dennis. Problem is, you think you operate in a Right-Wing crucible of purity and there’s no such thing. Get current. The Dark Ages are over.–pb
I wonder what his horoscope said.
Mary Chapin Carpenter has a great song that refers to how his horoscope might have read that ill-fated morning when the jig was up: “I’m Feeling Lucky.” I’ll try to find the lyrics and return or NOT. I read Mr. Lund’s entire “HOT Link,” and all it proves is that Beale was a total jerk. Often didn’t show up for work at the EPA and basically ripped off the EPA…not that he was dysfunctional in his knowledge of climate or even hair climatology…so the next time Detective Lund has something “earthshaking” and perhaps even 0.5% contradictory to Global Warming interested parties, I suggest he post it with Faux News…they go for that “insinuating but not proving anything” hokum. Those that live by deception and fear alone often get ensnarled in their own snares and look like weasels in the wind in the overhead trees…pb
Global Warming interested parties
I thought the catch phrase was now “climate change”? Are we back to ‘global warming’? Did I miss that memo?
Maybe we should call it “climate stability” since there has been no ‘warming’ in 15 years.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/dec/16/italian-alps-glacier-melting
Oh, no…The Alps melting does not occur in Dennis Lund Land…everything there is just peachy…Science is a myth, petroleum-backed researchers can be found everywhere to refute all claims. We must move backwards in a hurry to stay where we are…in the sweet 1950’s. DDT was yummy then too. Polio was the thing to have. Simplicity was king. Roy Rogers was tops. Dale Evans too.–pb
Peter Said: DDT was yummy then too.
Ahhh, Rachel Carson, another environmentalist-do-gooding-fraud who made a fortune off of false information.
”In 1992, San Jose State University entomologist J. Gordon Edwards, a long-time member of the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society and a fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, offered a persuasive and comprehensive rebuttal of “Silent Spring.” As he explained in “The Lies of Rachel Carson,” a stunning, point by point refutation, “it simply dawned on me that that Rachel Carson was not interested in the truth about [pesticides] and that I was being duped along with millions of other Americans.” He demolished Carson’s arguments and assertions, calling attention to critical omissions, faulty assumptions, and outright fabrications.
And:
the fears she raised were based on gross misrepresentations and scholarship so atrocious that, if Carson were an academic, she would be guilty of egregious academic misconduct… In the words of Professor Robert H. White-Stevens, an agriculturist and biology professor at Rutgers University, “If man were to follow the teachings of Miss Carson, we would return to the Dark Ages, and the insects and diseases and vermin would once again inherit the earth.”
I like it when Dennis gives us a glimpse into that bizarre alternate universe inhabited by a tiny minority of useful idiots. Fascinating stuff.
One little cherry-picked snippet that nobody cares about, and suddenly DDT becomes benign.
Blah, blah, blah…sorry, don’t want to visit your planet—not going there anytime soon…pb
Dennis:
Call the ice caps melting anything you want. I am not bound by your vocabulary. Try controlling the family dog if you need a subservient beast to control…Attempted superiority buys you an empty jam jar again…pb
Ocean temperatures have been increasing fairly steadily over the last 30 years.
Yeah, but that kind of data is neither complied by Dennis Lund or acknowledged. His petro-supported researchers only sample data that no one else can find or validate…pb
Ah Peter, I knew the private truce between us would not last.
Your previous numerous complaints of the childish depths to which these threads seem to delve into rang true. I attempted to change that discourse when I reached out to you. We exchanged private e-mails and had come to an agreement to not make personal attacks against each other.
I have lived up to the agreement, while in the last 24 hours you have decided that you would not. That does not speak well for you, or your ability abide by your word or even just a gentlemanly agreement.
In your e-mail to me this morning (and I thank you for the compliment extended), you spoke of the link as being “trash”. The link was not to “trash” it was to news.
It was news you do not want to hear. It was news that ran counter to your preconceived and numerous false notions. You in fact have your head in the sand and are not willing to look at anything that you choose not to believe.
There is no need to resort to the childish tactics that you use. It demeans you, it weakens your position and though you may think it is clever or cute, in reality your ramblings and insulting comments diminish you, not me.
Yes, your poetry friends enjoy your comments, they reinforce the same illogic that is applied to so many different situations. When one limits themselves to a coterie they tend to inflate the value of each others opinions relative to their true worth.
But many of these people still believe that they can keep their health care plan if they want to. These are the same people willing to destroy what millions have in order to feel better about what they have done to help the few.
So go ahead and respond, but instead of using your gift of derision, try elevating the dialogue.
I know you have the capability.
Very good Dennis. You nailed it and him. Do you think Peter knows the progress of the Valero Three Rail Project? Watch the nasty comments by the local liberals coming at me. I know I can get them to respond. It is so easy. Keep at it Dennis you are a very valuable asset to the Forum and comment section. Merry Christmas to all.
Happy holidays Bob. What does the Valero crude by rail project have to do with this discussion?
Think about it Hank. You appear to be a very aware person. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years Hank.
I have some theories. Let’s stay on topic. Happy holidays.
Hank we are on topic. . Merry Christmas
I don’t think so. Happy holidays.
Hank: Hopping canaries jump from one subject to another hoping that somebody/Anybody will join in their self-limiting Slug and Seed-fest…If I just quit reading their slurp I’ll be a happier camper…Adios, Lund, Adios, Livesay!—pb
Best news I heard all day. What a disappointment that Peter says Adios. Merry Christmas Peter.
Oh, Bobbie Lievsay: Did i spell that correctly? You and Mr. Lund are so great in your perspective on this world and the rest of us just sit in your shadows and learn so much! I’m teaching my canaries to read your brilliance on their cage floor and learn Spanish at the same time. Have a happy Day! Valero? Is that anywhere Tucson? pb
What does “Any anywhere Tucson” mean.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAgfPHP1w0I
Perfect!
Dennis: You ramble on about private news vs public views…does anybody care what you and Livesay proclaim to the world? If so, run for Congress, wear a Tea Party hat, have a good time, send each other party favors. Write for the NY Times. Get a life! Boring…pb
But Peter you read or you would not comment. Thanks for reading. You cannot wait for my LTTE. You love them. But you cannot respond you said adios.