Even the very liberal UK Guardian picked up on this. What next Jim, the Constitution? NASA, please fire this man. (h/t to Barbara)
Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA
From the UK Guardian:
Protest and direct action could be the only way to tackle soaring carbon emissions, a leading climate scientist has said.
James Hansen, a climate modeller with Nasa, told the Guardian today that corporate lobbying has undermined democratic attempts to curb carbon pollution. “The democratic process doesn’t quite seem to be working,” he said.
Speaking on the eve of joining a protest against the headquarters of power firm E.ON in Coventry, Hansen said: “The first action that people should take is to use the democratic process. What is frustrating people, me included, is that democratic action affects elections but what we get then from political leaders is greenwash.
“The democratic process is supposed to be one person one vote, but it turns out that money is talking louder than the votes. So, I’m not surprised that people are getting frustrated. I think that peaceful demonstration is not out of order, because we’re running out of time.”
Hansen said he was taking part in the Coventry demonstration tomorrow because he wants a worldwide moratorium on new coal power stations. E.ON wants to build such a station at Kingsnorth in Kent, an application that energy and the climate change minister Ed Miliband recently delayed. “I think that peaceful actions that attempt to draw society’s attention to the issue are not inappropriate,” Hansen said.
He added that a scientific meeting in Copenhagen last week had made clear the “urgency of the science and the inaction taken by governments”.
Read the entire story in the UK Guardian
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When they make a movie about this man, I can only see Tim Conway as the lead.
He is right: “democratic process isn´t working¨…Only an extreme democracy could allow such a guy to be free.
“The democratic process is supposed to be one person one vote, but it turns out that money is talking louder than the votes. So, I’m not surprised that people are getting frustrated. I think that peaceful demonstration is not out of order, because we’re running out of time.”
Oh, and also future votes are talking louder than past votes, but yeah, “corporate greed,” “big oil,” blah, blah, blah…
[snip]
Its becoming quite clear that Hansen WANTS to be fired to solidify his position among the AGW crowd as a victim and martyr for his cause.
Dorf on Global Warming. I can see it!
Jim Hansen clearly isn’t working. Isn’t he supposed to sweating over hot global climate models, not galivanting around the world trying to stir up insurrection?
He should have been fired long ago, but now has full support from the carbon taxers. Anthony has done the QA that NASA should have been doing. NASA has and will continue to ignore their responsibility of properly siting and measuring the temperatures in the US and then uses the manipulated data to further a political agenda. Increased bogus taxes and no energy policy, a combination for economic failure.
[snip]
Is no one interested in enforcing the Hatch Act anymore?
Typical 60’s hippy attitude. Demonstrate, protest, make enough noise, and people will drop what they’re doing to see what’s going on. From the same generation that actually think they stopped the Vietnam war by protesting on the street and spitting on Vets.
Even if his alarmism was right or justified, this is shameful and pathetic behavior from someone with NASA attached to his name.
I really resent the call to “fire” a man for his own convictions. He is not in any sentence calling for an end to democracy, so this is a misleading, obnoxious, evil post.
Remember, mr. Watts, when you want censorship done to a man for simply say what he thinks, if you would like to have the same treatment.
There’s a reason for the first ammendment, you know. And it protects both unreasonable calls to peaceful actions by mr Hansen and your ridiculous calls for censorship of other people.
Shame on you.
REPLY: Luis, sir you are out of line. I made no call for censorship. That is a fabrication on your part. Hansen as scientist and government employee bound by the Hatch act is overstepping his bounds of employment. The issue is the terms of his employment, not free speech. As a US taxpayer it is my right to make this call for his dismissal. When a US government employee suggests that protests against the government he is employed by should be commenced because “the democratic process isn’t working” it becomes an issue of conflict of interest. I’m not ashamed to do so, nor do I care for your opinion that I should be. In fact you have inspired me to take my complaint to the next level. I urge others to do so as well. – Anthony
We really don’t want him fired. The last thing we want is Hansen with time on his hands and without anyone to curb his enthusiasms (even if only in principle). If he gets flung out of his present job, he will have no trouble finding sponsors and he may well end up making a far better living as a lobbyist. You think Gore has a high profile? Gore’s just the wam-up act (pun intended).
A demonstration of the Hansen effect ?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5034953/Snow-and-hail-to-end-spell-of-sunny-spring-weather.html
Err, “warm-up” act, that is.
Democratic process isn’t working?? Hansen’s is cherry picking again. He probably hasn’t seen the latest polls in the US which indicates the global warming crisis has taken a back seat to the economic crisis.
“the democratic process doesn’t seem to be working” just means “you plebians aren’t agreeing with me”
Tim Conway, perhaps, William, but I’m seeing shades of the late Don Knotts in the fist shaking…
I just wonder about the legal ramifications regarding a US government employee who interferes with the internal governmental functions of a friendly foreign power?
OT – the Royal Society for Protection of Birds today announced that they are withdrawing their objections to wind farms after a new study found their impact on wildlife was less than expected.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7959912.stm
There’s a reversal of stance for you. I wonder how much Green pressure was put on them.
“This sparrow isn’t dead, it’s just sleeping.”
“YEs it is, it was hit by a wind generator blade.”
“Naaa, it’s just concussed.”
Why is it that when a minority doesn’t get their own way, they think that the democratic process is broken? And instead of conducting some critical thinking to understand why they’re in the minority, they assume the majority is either stupid or delusional and must be coerced to their way of thinking.
It passes my understanding that this guy isn’t fired. I’m a federal employee and if I went to China and suggested civil disobedience was the way to go to help the Falon Gong, I’d be fired so fast (as well as arrested by the Chinese) it would make my head spin. Yet, Dr. Hansen can travel to England and advocate civil disobedience and suggest that the British form of government ‘isn’t working’ and continue to draw a paycheck from the taxpayer.
Snark on: Can US gov’t employees be fired? Only private sector employees can be fired; not to mention harassed and embarrassed by our executive and legislative branches.
I am baffled by the profound misunderstanding of “the democratic process”. Does Dr. Hansen honestly believe if his policies for curbing carbon emissions were up for a national referendum (assuming such referendums even existed in the United States) that any of them would pass using the one person one vote? What of the people who own the power stations, and work there, as well as the myriad of other industries? Do those people get one vote too or do they not count as they are the enemy?
I am also horrified at Dr. Hansen’s outright rejection of our representative democracy. But sadly, that is the thread that seems to bind all environmental movements. It isn’t about “saving the planet” as much as it is about total and absolute power. We can see that in his statements above. Since the government won’t surrender power to him, Dr. Hansen appeals to the mob. He has therefore become a street thug with a press pass and that is a very dangerous combination.
He added that a scientific meeting in Copenhagen last week had made clear the “urgency of the science and the inaction taken by governments”.
You all should follow the link to the “key messages”. There you can read things like:
“societal transformation”
“reducing inertia in social and economic systems” (=removing democratic systems)
“enabling the shifts from ineffective governance and weak institutions to innovative leadership in government” (=dictatorship)
What does this all have to do with science??
The Professor is probably blinded by self belief and self interest, he has gone a little bit OTT for me! Democracy means defending the rights of all of us to live as we want to.
But maybe we are blinded by cynicism and mistrust?
Forget about AGW for a moment. Is there any serious person who thinks that the democratic process in the US works the way a democratic process should?