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Those Evil Oil Companies

   It is funny when an organizations whole purpose for exsistance is being undermined on a regular basis in the news, and yet they go on...ignoring it. They keep printing stories as if nothing has changed. Like this one for instance. It's a story about how Exxon oil company is making money in a global market economy selling something everybody wants and needs. How they are undermining the global warming industry, and how evil all that is.
 
Exxon is behind one of the most infamous environmental catastrophes of our time, it makes more gross income than most nation's entire GDPs, it does business with nations with unstable governments that are often hostile to the US, and, worst of all, it has done everything in its power to push the misinformation campaign designed to discredit both climate science and the efforts to keep the earth's temperatures from rising to dangerous levels. And according to recent reports, its still up to its old tricks.
 
   Let's just look at a couple of things here.
 
   Okay, the Exxon Valdez was a terrible event, nobody questions that. But that was a long time ago and they spend billions of dollars in cleanup and litigation because of a captain who was drunk. That doesn't excuse them, but it is far from the worst spill that has ever happened. Secondly, the amount of money they make is based on the price of a barrel of oil set by the markets. Supply and demand is setting the price. Yet, because of those large profits, anyone who owns stock in them is making money as well. It is the american way, of course, to own stock in Exxon and reap some of the benefit. As far as doing business with unstable governments, well, what choice have we given them? We won't let them drill here, either on or offshore.
 
   So, what has any of that got to do with the price of tea in China?
 
   Oh yeah, they have to demonize the oil industry along with telling the story about how they give money to evil conservative think tanks. And remember, these think tanks are working with them to disprove global warming.
 
A report in the Independent outlines how the oil giant is still funneling money through various conservative think tanks and organizations in order to propagate the myth that the science behind human-caused climate change is "unsettled."
 
   And right there is the kicker: climate change is "unsettled". In there mind the arguement over global warming is over. But have these folks been reading the news recently? The leaked emails from the CRU, or the massing of evidence against the IPCC's fourth assessment regarding the non-peer reviewed science and the phony data within it? Do they read any of this, or do they just dismiss it out of hand? I think the answer is obvious.
 
   Clearly it is the same-old-same-old over at Treehugger.
   
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Michael Mann's Review From Penn State

   Here is an update from Wattsupwiththat on the investigation into Michael Mann and the CRU email scandal.

Excerpts:

“It is clear to those who have followed the media and blogs over the last two months that there are two distinct and deeply polarized points of view that have emerged on this matter. One side views the emails as evidence of a clear cut violation of the public trust and seeks severe penalties for Dr. Mann and his colleagues. The other side sees these as nothing more than the private discussions of scientists engaged in a hotly debated topic of enormous social impact.

We are aware that some may seek to use the debate over Dr. Mann’s research conduct and that of his colleagues as a proxy for the larger and more substantive debate over the science of anthropogenic global warming and its societal (political and economic) ramifications. We have kept the two debates separate by only considering Dr. Mann’s conduct.”

“Decision 4. Given that information emerged in the form of the emails purloined from CRU in November 2009, which have raised questions in the public’s mind about Dr. Mann’s conduct of his research activity, given that this may be undermining confidence in his findings as a scientist, and given that it may be undermining public trust in science in general and climate science specifically, the inquiry committee believes an investigatory committee of faculty peers from diverse fields should be constituted under RA-10 to further consider this allegation.

    I will be expecting a "nothing to see here" moment from Penn State when they finish there review of this matter. Professors don't get into trouble: they get tenured.
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Minnesota Wind Turbines Frozen

   By the time they get to working for the three months out of the year it is not frozen there, these wind turbines might pay for themselves over a period of 285 years. They link to a Star Tribune article that is quite favorable to the wind turbines.

The Startribune has a good article today about the windmills that aren't working because of the cold weather but they put a very positive spin on the whole thing.

The article mentions the wind turbines should start to work in about 2 months, well duh!! It also mentions another solution could be to run electric heaters to warm up the fluid.

Am I the only one who sees the irony here?

First, in 2 months it will be warmer, hopefully.

Second, you would need another electrical source for the electric heaters. Once the windmill starts turning, then hopefully it would generate enough power to run the heaters to warm the fluid so it could turn if it was windy enough so it could produce...
 
   Brilliant...
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Happy Birthday Boy Scouts!

   Today is the Boy Scouts of America's 100 birthday. Conratulations!
 
 
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Green Groups Don't Like Palin Much Either

   Ran across this story from the ClimateProgress. They pick on Sarah Palin because she made a note on her hand. Then they go on to explain why her blaming Obama for generational theft is more liinked to conservatives than to Obama.  

Seriously.

The Bush tax cuts for the wealthy — that would be generational theft.

The Iraq war and its trillion dollar liability, including hundreds of billions of dollars in Veteran’s costs for decades to come, all “paid for” with money borrowed from our children — that would be generational theft.
 
   The whole point of the Tea Party movement is less government and less debt. They are not fans of G.W. Bush bailouts and overspending. But here is a graph I have posted before that shows just what generational theft really means:
 
wapoobamabudget1
 
   Bush started us down the debt road, but Obama has quadrupled it...in ONE YEAR. Let's be clear here, Bush did what he thought needed to be done, and so has Obama. So which is more complicite, according to the graph?
 
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IPCC's Credibility Under Fire...Again

   First it was the rain forest screw-up, then came the Himalayan Glacier business, now we have another slight error. (Via Instapundit)
 
 A report in Sunday’s London Times highlights new humiliations for the IPCC.

The most important is a claim that global warming could cut rain-fed north African crop production by up to 50% by 2020, a remarkably short time for such a dramatic change. The claim has been quoted in speeches by Rajendra Pachauri, the IPCC chairman, and by Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general.

There is however one teensy-weensy little problem.  As Professor Chris Field, the lead author of the IPCC’s climate impact team has now told reporters that he can find “no evidence” to support the claim in the IPCC’s 2007 report.
 
   How much more of this can the IPCC take before they come out and retract the whole fourth assessment, and admit they haven't a clue.
Obviously, you wouldn't want to hold your breath, because as Mark Steyn points out, it is still the same old business in the MSM's.
 
Like all the poodles of the environmental beat, Margot O'Neill repeats those magic words "peer review" every couple of paragraphs like a talisman to ward off evil deniers. But, in the course of invoking the phrase "peer review," she never bothers to look at whether the IPCC actually does it. By contrast, without benefit of the resources of a national TV news operation plus salary and benefits, lone blogger Donna Laframboise did a couple of text searches on the IPCC report and discovered multiple predictions of doom — on Himalayan glacier melt and much else — resting not on peer-reviewed science but merely on activist groups such as the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace.
 
   Investigative reporting in big media is undeniably missing. But it is being revealed in new media; blogs and other internet based journalism. The days of NBC, CBS, ABC and others are numbered and the new media is taking control. It is exciting! But, as with the O'Keefe story, you have got to be smart. MSM stil has some power, and they won't go down without a fight.
   
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India's Giving Up On The IPCC

   India has decided that the IPCC can no longer be trusted with climate research, so they will start there own climate panel.
 
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More Mark Steyn On Climategate

   He explains the Himalayan glacier melting mess that led to info from the WWF being put in the IPCC's fourth climate assessment which has now been rejected.
 
...Himalayan claims rest on a 2005 World Wildlife Fund report called “An Overview of Glaciers.”

WWF? Aren’t they something to do with pandas and the Duke of Edinburgh? True. But they wouldn’t be saying this stuff if they hadn’t got the science nailed down, would they? The WWF report relies on an article published in the New Scientist in 1999 by Fred Pearce.

That’s it? One article from 12 years ago in a pop-science mag? Oh, but don’t worry, back in 1999 Fred did a quickie telephone interview with a chap called Syed Hasnain of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. And this Syed Hasnain cove presumably knows a thing or two about glaciers.

Well, yes. But he now says he was just idly “speculating”; he didn’t do any research or anything like that.
 
   I have to wonder how much of that applies to the rest of the assessment?
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Climategate Justice?

   At least the Brit's are looking at it. Doubt anything will comeof it, but at least there impenetrable glass bubble they have been living in is starting to crack.
 
The British Parliament has convened hearings to investigate East Anglia University and the Climate Research Unit to uncover unethical and illegal activities.  As more information is revealed, the whole Climategate affair begins to take on the makings of a good mystery novel. Like any good mystery or crime plot, the web of involvement is widespread.
 
   The don't have the death penalty in Britain, so the best we can hope for is life imprisonment. Just kidding...
I bet is no one even loses there job over this. I can even give you a reason: too many people in the british government would be exposed as complicant in the debacle. Just a guess.
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EU Carbon Trading Scam

   Some cyber thiefs manage to break into the EU carbon trading data base, steal credits and resell them making millions. The punchline?
Read below:
 
According to a report in the Wednesday edition of the Financial Times Deutschland, hackers sent e-mails last Thursday to several companies in Europe, Japan and New Zealand which appeared to originate from the Potsdam-based German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHSt), part of the EU's Emission Trading System (EU ETS).
 
Although allowances can still be traded on the European Energy Exchange (EEX) or via brokers, it is currently not possible to register the trades with the DEHSt, as is required by law. The Potsdam-based authority suspended the registering of transactions last Friday, and a spokesperson told the Financial Times Deutschland that the suspension would continue "at least for the rest of this week."
 
   What a surprise. It's a scam to begin with, and no someone is scamming the scammers.
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Romance Novels Are Really Hot When Written By Climate Scientists

   Just when you thought the romance novel industry was getting cold, it got a shot in the arm from who else but Dr Rajendra Pachauri. Yes, the head of the U.N.'s panel on climate change.

As the UN's climate change chief, Dr Rajendra Pachauri has spent his career writing only the driest of academic articles. But the latest offering from the chairman of the UN’s climate change panel is an altogether racier tome.

Some might even suggest Dr Pachauri’s first novel is frankly smutty.

Return to Almora, published in Dr Pachauri’s native India earlier this month, tells the story of Sanjay Nath, an academic in his 60s reminiscing on his "spiritual journey" through India, Peru and the US.

On the way he encounters, among others, Shirley MacLaine, the actress, who appears as a character in the book. While relations between Sanjay and MacLaine remain platonic, he enjoys sex – a lot of sex – with a lot of women.
 
   I guess all that global warming business has got him so hot he needs to express it in other ways besides boring climate papers.
 
   Actually, I am okay with this. What is he going to do with himself after this whole global warming thing falls on its face? Better to have another line of work ready to go... just in case.
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Climate Scientists Break Law - Get Away With It

   It was determined that the climate scientists at the University of East Anglia broke the law by not releasing climate data under Britains Freedom of Information act. But lucky for them, it all worked out okay...
 
But while the public research university in Norwich, England, may have broken the law, it will not be prosecuted because a six-month time limit for prosecutions elapsed, The Times of London reported the independent regulatory office under the justice ministry as saying.
 
   How convenient.
 
 
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News Alert: Bin Laden Is Concerend With Climate Change!

     Al Jazeera has an audio tape it claims it got from Bin Laden claiming climate change is real. Via Climate Feedback Blog

"This is a message to the whole world about those responsible for climate change and its repercussions - whether intentionally or unintentionally - and about the action we must take," says bin Laden.

"Speaking about climate change is not a matter of intellectual luxury - the phenomenon is an actual fact."

Bin Laden blames all western economies for doing too little to curb greenhouse gas emissions, but in particular condemns former US president George W. Bush for not having ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

“George Bush junior, preceded by [the US] congress, dismissed the agreement to placate giant corporations. And they are themselves standing behind speculation, monopoly and soaring living,” Bin Laden says.

The message contains no direct threats of terror acts. Intelligence analysts have not yet confirmed the authenticity of the tape.
 
   The "great satan" is responsible for global warming as well. Nothing surprising there.
   
   If he is that concerened with the climate, maybe we could bring a little winter his way...nuclear winter, if you catch my drift.
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Owning Guns In India

   Snowflakes In Hell has a link to a Washington Post article on Indians looking into gun ownership after the attacks a couple of years ago in Mumbai. As Sebastian says, hopefully they will be a leader in the part of the world as it pertains to citizen gun ownership.
 
   We just need to make sure we stay on there good side...
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The Looming Crises In The Year 2030

   According to some "experts" this SF Gate article lists some scenerios that could be possible come 2030 regarding global warming.
 
How much do they pay these bozo's to write this crap? I can make up all kinds of global warming scenario's, and mine would be more interesting!
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