Scandalous climate science at the UK Met Office

For some very revealing insights into the behaviour of a major UN IPCC scientific contributor check out this post on Steve McIntyre’s ‘Climate Audit’ entitled ‘Fortress Met Office continued’.

Climate Audit has been tracking efforts to obtain documentation from the UK Met Office (see note below) pertaining to its role as a UN IPCC reviewer. The Met Office’s response to requests for information has been repeated stonewalling and evasion - all of which makes them look worse at every turn. The comments make compelling reading and lead into some very interesting nooks and crannies including:

Hanky panky at the Met Office
This comment provided a fascinating link involving 31 year old Katie Hopkins who had been hired by the Met Office as a "global brand consultant" at a salary of £90,000 (~ $180,000). Some questions arise:

- What does a government weather forecasting and climate research organization need a "global brand consultant" for?
- A salary of £90,000 for a 31 year old game show contestant and self-admitted ‘manizer’?

It’s not clear whether the reason for her firing was being photographed in a compromising position (photo below) with a married Met Office colleague. One wag commented:" - when it comes to climate change no one can accuse the Met Office of sitting on the fence!"


Note: The UK Met Office promotes itself "As the UK’s foremost climate research centre, the Met Office Hadley Centre was the single most influential scientific contributor to the [IPCC] Working Group I report – The Physical Science Basis of Climate Change."

Intimidated oilmen

Speaking of "deniers" and intimidation, Lawrence Solomon recently gave a speech to intimidated oilmen at the Petroleum Club and tried to salve their guilt and stiffen their backbones:

James Hansen ... wants you in court. "CEOs of fossil energy companies ... should be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature."

Come to think of it, David Suzuki also sees those who abet CO2 emissions as criminals.

And you know what, I bet some of you see yourselves as criminals — or something close to it — because there’s something in human nature that makes us feel guilty, even for crimes we didn’t commit, let alone for non-crimes. And I bet some of your friends and associates might look at you sideways. And your children may be teased and made to feel guilty about what their dad does for a living.

But on the global warming issues, based on the evidence to date, you have nothing to feel guilty about. Albertans have nothing to feel guilty about either. No crime has been committed. No known harm has occurred. You’ve been had.

Even more, you’ve been cowed into silence. Instead of making your case to the public, instead of defending yourselves and your industry, you’ve thrown in the towel, or tried to be greener than green, hoping to avoid recrimination.

Not only is there no consensus, the scientists who are skeptics — the deniers — have extraordinary credentials, people at the very top echelons of the scientific establishment. They are the Who’s Who of Science.

Not only do they disagree with the UN conclusions, they often value CO2 for the benefits it provides the planet.

On global warming, the science is not settled. You have the facts on your side. But facts will count for naught as long as you see the battle as lost.

Great stuff. We need a lot more of the likes of Lawrence Solomon and Rex Murphy in the mainstream media. In my local press I'm inundated with climate hysteria and harassment from green freaks, including my government who this week sent me a "Climate action dividend" cheque for $100 along with a long list of bullcrap suggestions for nice green things I should do with it (hint: It's going straight into my gas tank!)

Science by intimidation

Rex Murphy shares his thoughts on intimidator James Hansen. Some snippets:

Truth may enter the world by many doors, but she is never escorted by force.

In the dawn of the Enlightenment, it was scientists who were hauled before tribunals and inquisitions.

I am drawn to these thoughts, and to the long-decayed example of the Inquisition, by a most curious outburst this week by James Hansen, the principal voice of NASA on the subject of global warming.

Not all the world shares Dr. Hansen's vision of imminent ecological Armageddon.... Serious minds ...

... question the models of climatological speculation;

... question the peculiar mix of man-made and other likely sources of climate dynamics;

... question some of the data gathering and some of its interpretation;

... question the very maturity of the highly complex, and experimentally deficient science of global warming itself. ...

... seriously question, too, the massive policy prescriptions that are being insisted upon ...

But, to Dr. Hansen's agitated mind, those who raise such questions, who inject skepticism into the global warming debate, are "deniers."... a singular slur.

Dr. Hansen is overfond of the specious and chilling analogy: He has written of the "crashing glaciers serv(ing) as a Krystal Nacht".

This week, Dr. Hansen went a step even more noxiously forward. He called for a tribunal, or as I prefer to call it, an Inquisition, to put on trial for crimes against nature and humanity the CEOs of the big oil companies ...

Is this a scientist speaking? If so, it is more than curious that in the 21st century it is the scientist calling for the secular equivalent of an inquisition.

This is the voice of the scientist-activist consumed with his own virtue and fearful of all dispute.

Impressive. Stick that in your tinfoil hat, James Hansen!

CHRC drops the Maclean's / Steyn case

A Ezra Levant put it: "The CHRC blinks". That was my prediction for the BC HRT decision which is still an open question; but given the CHRC decision it seems even more likely that the BC Tribunal will follow suit.

Regardless - Fire. Them. All.

Conrad Black loses appeal

Bad news. Conrad Black's convictions were upheld by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. His attorney, Andrew Frey:

[said further] steps could include petitioning the judicial panel for another hearing or taking Lord Black's case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

... criticized the ruling for containing a number of factual errors. In arguing that Lord Black did not receive a fair trial, he declared the case the weakest he had seen in his 45-year legal career.

Here's the entire Seventh Court ruling.

James Hansen - talking through his tinfoil hat

Leading climate scientist James Hansen spoke on June 23rd at the National Press Club and at a Briefing to the House Select Committee on Energy Independence & Global Warming.

He had little new to say on anything within his area of expertise as a climate scientist. On global warming he repeated the alarmism he’s noted for, exaggerating already exaggerated levels of "certainty". Then there are the floods, droughts, forest fires, melting Greenland ice sheet, extinction of animal and plant species, yada, yada, blah, blah:

...a wide gap has developed between what is understood about global warming by the relevant scientific community and what is known by policymakers and the public.

The "relevant scientific community"? That would be those that agreed with him - the well known ‘consensus’.

...frank assessment of scientific data yields conclusions that are shocking to the body politic. Now, as then, I can assert that these conclusions have a certainty exceeding 99 percent.

Right, "a certainty exceeding 99 percent". And the scientific basis for this would be? There is none. Also his freshly exaggerated "certainty" greatly exceeds the already dubious 90% certainty claimed by the IPCC in its recent Fourth Assessment Report.

Everything else he said was in the realm of politics or musings on the edges of economics. For example:

Hansen the raging demagogue:

... fossil companies choose to spread doubt about global warming, as tobacco companies discredited the smoking-cancer link.

CEOs of fossil energy companies know what they are doing and are aware of long-term consequences of continued business as usual. In my opinion, these CEOs should be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature.

Hansen the amateur economist:

Yes, a carbon tax. Carbon tax with100 percent dividend is needed to wean us off fossil fuel addiction. Tax and dividend allows the marketplace, not politicians, to make investment decisions.

Maybe it’s time to bring back an old use for oil. Just like they did in Boston back 1774, a citizens ‘committee’ of regular Americans should gather at Hansen’s next speaking event and treat him to a good old public tarring and feathering.

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Update: Terence Corcoran

Stormtroopers in clown shoes

Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit commenting on the Maclean's/Steyn case at the BC "Human Rights" Tribunal:

When the stormtroopers wear clown shoes instead of jackboots, it's easy to forget that they're still stormtroopers.

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