From @connect in my Twitter feed today:
I count 39 in this photo, including half bodies at far left. IMHO, 39 angry activists don’t speak for the country. Hansen, seen standing at far left in the grey fedora, keeps coming back for more, time and again. I wonder if there is some sort of “Three strikes” law for people like him? I’m reminded of a line in the movie, The Shawshank Redemption:
Andy Dufresne:
Maybe you should try a new career.
Tommy Williams:
What’s that?
Andy Dufresne:
I said, since you don’t have much success as a thief, you should try a new career.
Ryan Maue has some interesting takes on the photo op:
Heh.
UPDATE: (h/t to Latitude and NJ_Snow_Fan) James E Hansen was arrested again today according to Washington Post story.http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/activists-arrested-at-white-house-protesting-keystone-pipeline/2013/02/13/8f0f1066-75fa-11e2-aa12-e6cf1d31106b_story.html
UPDATE2: Ryan Maue notes via FB messaging: mote first line of second page of WashPo article on Keystone XL:
“The protest was well orchestrated and had an exclusive air about it, bringing together the elite of the environmental movement.”
…this was a “by-invitation only” protest with 38-45 people. WaPo nails it.
I think it’s touching that they have woolly gloves and coats on while protesting about the climate being too hot.
Explain to me again how buying oil from Saudi Arabia instead of Canada reduces CO2?
It’s funny how these guys act like Keystone XL is some kind of “make or breaK” thing. Part of it is already under construction, the part from Oklahoma to Texas, with the President’s blessing.
And about a month ago, the Seaway pipeline reversal was completed, so more oil can get from Cushing down to Houston for refining. That didn’t even get a peep from Hansen or McKibben.
That’s just the two projects that I’m familiar with. I’m sure there are at least a dozen more major projects underway, all with the same goal… get more oil out of Canada. Even if the remainder of Keystone XL doesn’t happen, the amount of oil coming out of Canada is only going to go up.
All the same arguments were used againt the Trans Alaska Pipeling…and we all now know what a massive environmental disaster that has been…. /s
Alaska Pipeline Doomsayings Revisited:
http://www.mrc.org/node/30433
How has he avoided being charged under the Hatch Act?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatch_Act_of_1939
Shame nemo missed them. Perhaps if they were freezing to death, they would not begrudge heat to those without the luxury of woolly gloves and coats.
To borrow from and mangle Carl Sandburg: “What if they had a protest and nobody gave a [crap]?”
How old was Hansen when he first saw “Raiders of the Lost Ark?”
OldWeirdHarold says:
February 13, 2013 at 10:47 am
“Explain to me again how buying oil from Saudi Arabia instead of Canada reduces CO2?”
Kind of explains why the President of the US showed fealty to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia when he bowed to him.
Graham says:
February 13, 2013 at 10:39 am
I think it’s touching that they have woolly gloves and coats on while protesting about the climate being too hot.
Priceless….
What a bunch of complaisant pampered looking stuck up privileged a[snip]. If I were there I would risk arrest myself, by taking out my equipment and hosing them down with my personal bio-products.
Dr Ball, for someone like Hansen to be arrested and convicted, the DOJ must be interested in actually doing their job. That is not the current culture at the Department of Justice.
How does Dr. Hansen get away with this? If an ordinary GS-12 engineer with a security clearance was arrested in a street protest, they would be summarily fired. Dr. Hansen on the other hand not only gets a pass from his employer, he gets celebrated in the media.
39 protesters. Thousands of jobs. To me the numbers speak for themselves.
“…since you don’t have much success as a thief, you should try a new career.”
————————————————–
What relevance has this quote? Hansen has had mucho success: he has copped large money and wields big influence.
More’s the pity.
It is painful to see fools being taken in by the AGW hoax.
The Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam is a climate activist?
I am becoming increasingly convinced that many of the devotees of the many – ism’s that have proliferated since the 1960’s, most particularly environmentalism with its proponents drawn from those most remote from the core basis for material existence – literally de-natured – are actually developmentally retarded.
Looking at these ageing creatures who generally give the impression of seeking the certainty of a secure childhood in absolutes that only mummy and daddy can give, I am struck by the resemblance in the seated cross-legged pose to primary school children who have been assembled for a class photograph.
OT, what day of the month does the widget get updated?
I’ve looked at that picture many times and I can’t see any poor people.
Alarmists are Discriminating Against Poor People!!! *
/sarc
* but most of the big oil funded conspiracy theorists that read WUWT already know this.
Funny hats seems to be a trend – I think I see at least three fedoras in the crowd. Not sure how the cowboy hat got in there…
It’s good to see the numbers dwindling. They must be sooooo disappointed.
Darryl Hannah arrested! The rest were just celeb airheads.
I hope Billy gets out of jail in time for his CO2 tax presentation tomorrow 😉
This is ominous for the Team’s cause. Only 40 to 50 concerned activists and most of these the high priests.
The celebs and experts have been deserted by their foot soldiers?
Be a real shame if they got arrested and sent to a maximum security penitentiary by mistake and released into genpop.
Do these people even know what they are protesting?
He should not be arrested for protesting!
The charge should be fraud against mankind!
For all the manipulative appeal to cloying emotion displayed by the oft repeated “for our grandchildren”, and the relentless propaganda of 6 or more years, it is truly astounding that they don’t look to have been able to muster one 20 yo to their cause.
If they can’t even get their own children to take an interest, where can these people be placed on the spectrum of the lunatic fringe? Are their children simply too mortified and ashamed to come out publicly and denounce all this?
What a bunch of self important liberal idiots.
I wonder how many of them suck on the taxpayer teat?
Activists arrested at White House protesting Keystone pipeline
Shortly after noon, D.C. police began arresting the protesters, who included actress Daryl Hannah as well as prominent climate scientist James E. Hansen, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune and civil rights veteran Julian Bond. Some of the activists tied themselves to the gates with plastic handcuffs; others sat and refused to budge despite officers’ multiple requests. Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org, which has helped galvanize significant grass-roots opposition to the plan, said Obama cannot ignore that the carbon-intensive process of extracting crude from Alberta’s oil sands will destabilize the planet. “Whether it’s convenient or not for our politicians, this is the test,” McKibben said in an interview before being arrested, adding that Wednesday’s protest and a climate rally slated to take place Sunday in Washington were designed “just to keep this in front of people’s minds. . . . This is the first environmental issue that’s brought Americans into the streets in many, many years.”
Activists arrested at White House protesting Keystone pipeline – The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/activists-arrested-at-white-house-protesting-keystone-pipeline/2013/02/13/8f0f1066-75fa-11e2-aa12-e6cf1d31106b_story.html
I wonder if Hansen was ‘on the clock’ while protesting. Could this be an infraction of NASA employment rules? Maybe someone will submit an FOIA request for his time card for today……LOL!
James E Hansen was arrested again today acording to washington Post story.http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/activists-arrested-at-white-house-protesting-keystone-pipeline/2013/02/13/8f0f1066-75fa-11e2-aa12-e6cf1d31106b_story.html
It would be interesting to find out who all of these people are and what organizations they work for.
Did they all turn up on the same bus?
Looks like a Goldman Sachs awayday jolly…with compulsory ‘dressing down’ and badges for the participants.
Hardly a rerun of the Million Man March is it?
Tim Ball says:
February 13, 2013 at 10:50 am
As always, God bless you, Tim, for your courage and intelligence in stating the skeptical truth. You make a very good point about the Hatch Act. But these days, it seems like the Hatch Act is honored more in the breach than in the observance.
My constant refrain, spoken while blue in the face: FIRE HANSEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The 21st century version of the Keystone Cops…
Anthony, Just so I don’t get this wrong, James Hansen still works at NASA as of today and is in charge of Tempature Data that is released to the public?.
Aug 2011 James Hansen was arrested for protesting also. http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/04/10/hansen-and-schmidt-of-nasa-giss-under-fire-engineers-scientists-astronauts-ask-nasa-administration-to-look-at-emprical-evidence-rather-than-climate-models/
How can anyone trust tempature data from NASA ever with Hansen still working for NASA?
“including half bodies at far left” …. are we talking about the photo or politics …. maybe that should be “half minds on the far left”
:))
What’s amusing is they seem to think if they stop the pipeline, the oil won’t be produced & burned; The only difference is if it gets burned here or in China. Talk about a futile protest.
Love the bit about lined up like primary school kids…just one problem. If a teacher told my class it would get warmer and we would never see snow again at least one of us would have pointed out we now get snow every winter.
Miss…why is that….?
err….The snow is caused by warming….
How miss?
err Mr Hansen will tell you…
Miss…
Yes?
Mr Hansen’s chained to the railings outside…has he been naughty?
…..is he coming back Miss?
‘I wonder if there is some sort of “Three strikes” law for people like him? ‘
If there had been he would have gone past it long ago, the reality either he dies or you have to wait for a new president before he loses his job has he is in like a horse tick .
Meanwhile he carries on trashing NASA reputation , something they will come to regret when their funding goes bye, bye
Waiting for Zeke and Mosher to swoop down and explain what this is.
Andrew
It’s good to see they’re all wrapped up nice and warm. It’s nice to see that Daryl Hannah is so concerned about global warming that she was willing and was in fact arrested…….again. It was great to see the concerned Michael Brune, Sierra Club Executive Director there too.
Here is Daryl Hanna in October last year protesting yet again over oil sands. How did she get back home and what fuel was used? See the irony and hypocrisy.
October 18, 2012
Protestors will be flying to Defend Our Coast from all over Canada
Daryl Hanna did turn up for the protest.
http://ca.omg.yahoo.com/blogs/north-stars/ellen-page-mark-ruffalo-daryl-hannah-protest-alberta-165335268.html
Keystone XL Pipeline rebuttal against Warmists
http://business.financialpost.com/2012/10/13/rick-george-hannahs-hyperbole-and-camerons-hypocrisy/?__lsa=a853-badf
David says:
February 13, 2013 at 10:49 am
. Even if the remainder of Keystone XL doesn’t happen, the amount of oil coming out of Canada is only going to go up.
==============
David, don’t take your eye off the pea……this guy is the sock puppet
…..pass cap and trade….approve the pipeline……under the condition that Canada has a carbon tax
Hansen is a self-parody, besides a body double for Homer Simpson.
I love it. Go, Homer! Go! …..errr Dr. Hansen!
One thing I find odd about the hold up on the keystone pipeline, the part that would bring oil from the North Dakota fields, currently carried by Buffett’s railroads, is a big section under contention. Humm.
Yup, looks like ol’ Hansen’s made the News (again):
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/02/13/top-nasa-climate-scientist-arrested-again-in-white-house-protest/?intcmp=features
NASA’s top climate scientist and government official James Hansen was arrested Wednesday outside the White House — at least the fourth arrest now for the scientist.
Hansen, a controversial and highly vocal proponent of the argument that man’s actions have dramatically affected the planet’s climate, is the director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies — a position for which he earns a $180,000 taxpayer-paid salary.
—
You see, my friends, Hansen and his liberal, leftist buddies are already set for life with huge earnings and savings, and all the creature comforts life in the U.S.A. can provide. And, apparently, he wants to ruin the lives of working class Americans – i.e. those who would potentially be put to work constructing and operating the Keystone pipeline. Their jobs, their incomes are secure. Yes, Hansen and his greedy cronies will be rewarded with double digit percentage salary increases, and generous government benefit, while you and I twist in the wind with high private sector unemployment, high energy prices, insane regulations and government intervention, and higher taxes (even a carbon tax).
I would have lost my public service job for being arrested.
Do they imagine that they are the original Keystone Cops?
Being arrested is totally appropriate for these CAGW: Catastrophic Anthropogenic Genocidal Warmistas*.
*They should serve life-long sentences for promulgating a policy that has caused the death of millions, with millions more to come.
Hansen is such a chicken little, he craps all over Americans that pay his wages, but he would not dare protest in China, where the real damage is being done to his imaginary cause. China delights and is inspired by fools like Hansen.
He is nothing more than a Hollywood inspired delusional wannabe rebel. Someone needs to buy him some Erin Brokovich props, so he goes away and stops embarrassing US science.
The male sitting on the ground, second from the left, hatless and with a long-haired woman to his left …. he’s meditating! Look at his hands.
Oummmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Oummmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Oummmmmmmmmmmmmmm
It really is a religious movement!
The picture reminds me of a recent study about the background of todays protesters:
They are mainly well suited, with a lot of free time, atheist and without children.
In particular researchers found many house husbands, part time employees, self employed, pastors, teachers and pupils, early retired, pensioners etc.
The low income hard working class is not protesting.
In German
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/menschen-wirtschaft/studie-ueber-demonstranten-gutsituiert-protestiert-12045037.html
It would be nice to have them chained up there for a couple of nights. Even in their warm winter clothing, they would be more focused on the problems of cold weather in pretty short order.
Keystone Cops strike again. What a sad….sad joke the far left envionuts are. Is there a DSM IV category or Diagnostic code for this type of reality disconnected behavior. Perhaps singing a Kumbayah Gaia song or chanting “The people united will never be defeated” might make us feel better, help us get along, coexsist, heal the planet, or stop the rise of the oceans.
I wouldn’t mind being chained to a fence next to Daryl Hannah… 🙂
Wouldn’t a pipeline be less vulnerable to climate extremes ™ than sending oil by tankers over land and sea ?
Love the way these fools make a large banner then sit in front of it so it can’t be read. Environmental activism is now middle aged and wears a suit and tie. “Totally awesome Dude” 🙂
Reports of their chaining are grossly exaggerated.
I wonder how they go to Washington to protest? Did they walk? Did they ride a horse? Did they ride a bicycle? Did they take a train and then use mass transit? Or did they drive and fly there?
Every time these AGW clown stories get posted this tune should be playing in the background:
Perhaps this is ‘Protest of the Gods’. I don’t see a chariot there and I’m looking very hard. But I do see an iron fence that our superiors are leaning against. If not ‘Protest of the Gods’ is it ‘Iron Fence of the Gods’? Ah, but some aren’t leaning, they’re sitting. Is this then, ‘Concrete Sidewalk of the Gods’? Or is it the ‘Sit-In of the Gods’? Or, ‘Stand-In’? I can see they’re standing, sitting, whatever outside one of the God’s homes. Are they then the spawns of that god? Or, was he, more likely, the spawn of them? I recall, at his inaugural him saying, in part, “That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God.” Now he, Obama, only used the singular that statement, and I see many gods. I’m confused. Unless, maybe, he’s the one true one, and they’re false gods. Or, maybe, he’s the false god, and they’re the true ones.
Rosco says:
February 13, 2013 at 1:23 pm
“I would have lost my public service job for being arrested.”
Yes…that is because standards and ethics are for the little people. NASA/GSFC (which oversees the controversial GISS) has already said that it doesn’t care what Hansen does “on his own time”. So does being in jail count as sick time or vacation time??
In the legal world, there is this concept of being conflicted through personal self-interest..
Will all those in those in this protest group who are not government or professional activist employees/consultants/high priests, involved in promoting the Global Warming Industry please step aside.
Let’s count who remains.
Hmm A nice round figure of zero.
Apparently this is James Hansen’s FOURTH ARREST! It’s all for our little ol grand kiddies.
What if the vice president got arrested 2 times while in office? What would Americans say? I suppose the astronomer James Hansen is immune because he is delivering the required heat results for the government. If Hansen showed cooling he would be in a high end, high security prison.
http://tinyurl.com/3ub8ltt
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/02/13/top-nasa-climate-scientist-arrested-again-in-white-house-protest/
Based on what some leftist bloggers have written, they believe that if Keystone XL is not built, the oil will stay in the ground. Just more evidence that they don’t have a clue how the economy works. They have also apparently been told that it is “dirty” oil, although most enviro-lefties say all oil is dirty. Obama, unfortunately, doesn’t have a clue how the economy works either, and is convince that if only he can get energy costs to skyrocket, everything will get better.
zz says:
February 13, 2013 at 2:07 pm
“It would be nice to have them chained up there for a couple of nights. Even in their warm winter clothing, they would be more focused on the problems of cold weather in pretty short order.”
Yes too bad they were not arrested after a number of hours or the next day. Would have been Interesting to have seen them cut themselves free to get warm and potty breaks. How long between when the protest started and they were arrested? If a short time, why?
TerryT says:
February 13, 2013 at 2:44 pm
Wouldn’t a pipeline be less vulnerable to climate extremes ™ than sending oil by tankers over land and sea ?
=====
probably better than trains……
no pipeline = transported by trains = Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC = Warren Buffett
….but Warren Buffett is against the pipeline for environmental reasons…….snark/
Well, of course they were arrested! These are important, busy people. They are too busy and important to have to stand (or sit) on the sidewall for hours. The WaPo story says “ Shortly after noon, D.C. police began arresting the protesters” They probably showed up “shortly before noon.” After of course, informing the media and police exactly when they would be there.
The WaPo story said “….48 activists engaged in civil disobedience at the gates of the White House.” Yet the picture above clearly shows them on the sidewalk in front of the White House, not at the “gates.” Clearly they were not blocking access to the White House.
What would have happened if they were ignored by the police? Why, they might have to stay there for hours! Want to bet that a Sierra club lawyer was not at the precinct, check book in hand, to bail them out so they could make their evening flight out of DC?
Do I need to say it?/sarc offe
Grass and pavement! Very striking for us here in Oz: a place in the Northern Hemisphere NOT under snow. That’s due to AGW, right? Or is it the snow that’s caused by AGW? So maybe sleet is the “old normal”?
Better ask Daryl.
Tim Ball asked
Because what he does on his own time, not on federal property, is his own business as long as he does not represent himself in the official capacity of his position. Look at the 1993 amendment to the Hatch Act – definitely watered down from the original.
FerdinandAkin said
No, they wouldn’t, for the same reason Hansen won’t be. Certainly any arrest is something that gets logged on his security forms (I am assuming he has at least some type of clearance), and will be reviewed at renewal time, but peaceful protest arrests aren’t the kinds of things that revoke a clearance, particularly if it is not compartmentalized. A DUI, on the other hand… bad juju.
Larry in Texas said
The Shawshank line is inappropriate. Hansen is succeeding magnificently. He never serves time, gets more publicity, and keeps his job. That’s the opposite of failure.
It’s like wondering why banksters “didn’t learn from 2008.” Well, they did learn magnificently. They learned that they could break every law in the book and get PAID TRILLIONS AND TRILLIONS AND TRILLIONS instead of going to jail. So they keep committing crimes, because the governments have TAUGHT them that crime pays beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.
Damn… boo-booed the blockquote. Sorry, supposed to be after the word observance.
Mark
A generation ago, someone would look at this picture and wxclaim, “who is John Galt?”. Perhaps the modern expression should be “Where is Richard Winsor?”
I imagine they all made bond, more’s the pity. 😉
It’s a hippy-dippy bandwagon of environmental illness. Hansen’s aboard because it suits his anti-carbon agenda, and bolsters his already- monstrous ego.
That oil will find a market, whether we in the USA gain anything economically from it or not. The existing price difference between ETI and Brent Sea guarantees it.
In almost any business, you get repeatedly arrested you would get fired. But apparently, NASA feels Mr. Hansen is above reproach and he can keep his job.
The limp protest is only the implausible means to provide a poorly managed photo op with the tired old style media’s token environmental staffers. Yawn.
The real news story is that the nutty integrity variation shown in Hansen’s (the leader of NASA’s GISS) public persona unbalances his scientific thinking; an unbalanced scientific thinking well documented publicly via his bizarrely inaccurate and overtly exaggerated claims about climate related phenomena.
Although many of Hansen’s critics might think his scientific imbalance causes him to be vulnerable to integrity variations as means to promote his exaggerated claims, I think the inverse. I think a scientist’s integrity variation necessarily unbalances the application of the scientific method.
I recommend that Hansen should be suspended from association with NASA.
John
When does the “repeat offender” clause kick in?
Moderators,
My very recent comment disappeared without going into ‘awaiting moderation’ mode.
Can you check the WP nether regions for it?
Thanks, as always.
John
It’s a wonder Laura Dern wasn’t there. She’s perfect for this nonsense as her portrayal in Enlightened shows
I think Hansen missed a trick here.
He should have an auction where people offer to pay so that they can chain him (or Daryl Hannah) to the railings-proceeds going to a charity of his choice.
That isn’t a protest, it’s a five star jamboree, they probably all met up at a luxury hotel, before and after, their lawyers pre-warned that they would be arrested, they used fossil fuel to get there, fossil fuel created chains to protest, and probably finished the day at some fancy high end carbon consuming restaurant. No low carbon junk food for this green theatrical group.
Such protests of convenience can be quickly dissolved by the application of a misting spray from a fire-hose. Well they do believe that the world is getting too warm, don’t they?
Jeff L says:
February 13, 2013 at 1:04 pm
“including half bodies at far left” …. are we talking about the photo or politics …. maybe that should be “half minds on the far left”
:))
_________________________
make that “half wits”
Really? I’ve never heard of that, strange. Oh, that’s right, because it really isn’t true. Generally speaking, unless your outside activities directly impact your work (not saying Hansen’s don’t), employers tend not to care what you do on your own time as long as it does not reflect on them. Yeah, people that work with money better not be getting arrested for theft or fraud, and positions that are based on “image” will tend to be reserved for those avoiding negative television coverage, but by and large, show up on time, do your job well, and don’t piss in your boss’ coffee while being filmed by the office cam and you’re good to go.
I know Hansen deserves ridicule, but can’t there be at least some attempt to limit the hyperbole?
Mark
Darryl Hannah was just interviewed by Neil Cavuto. In my opinion she was incoherent.
Among her assertions:
1. She just learned “that wind power has just surpassed nuclear power” (sic). On what possible basis (or on what planet)?
2. We have to stop those things (presumably efforts like Keystone) that “MAKE US ILL” and ruin our environment.
Her major theme in the interview was that since the US will not utilize the “tar sand oil” (because we “already have more than we need “; and the only reason the pipeline is being built is to ship that oil to China. When asked if (hypothetically) it turned out that if ,in fact, the oil was indeed consumed in the US, would she still have objections. Enter incoherence, which then looped back to items 1 & 2.
(She also apparently assumes that if she is able to stop the pipeline, the Canadians will leave the oil in the ground.)
I have significantly self snipped.
Mark T says:
February 13, 2013 at 5:56 pmT
“In almost any business, you get repeatedly arrested you would get fired.
Really? I’ve never heard of that, strange. Oh, that’s right, because it really isn’t true. Generally speaking, unless your outside activities directly impact your work (not saying Hansen’s don’t), employers tend not to care what you do on your own time as long as it does not reflect on them.”
I guess you haven’t interviewed for what professionals call a “highly visible professional position.” Try working for a non-radical law firm, as an assistant to the VP of Finance for a corporation, or as a physician and making a public display of getting arrested for a misdemeanor. When you arrive at the front door the next morning the contents of you office will be on the sidewalk.
Can we call them climate criminals yet??
All should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Alas, we have a lot of airheads in govt and media who believe that anyone getting arrested for a sufficiently noble (i.e. “progressive”) cause should not face real penalties of law.
FerdinandAkin wrote;
“How does Dr. Hansen get away with this? If an ordinary GS-12 engineer with a security clearance was arrested in a street protest, they would be summarily fired.”
Probably not, security clearances are reviewed periodically and then a clearance may be revoked (and you do get a chance to challenge that). But until it’s revoked you would probably not be fired.
When you are granted a security clearance you are required to report future significant “life events”; financial problems (you could be bribed), serious health problems (if you are terminal you have nothing to lose), substance abuse problems (you probably can’t be trusted), sudden affluence (it’s ok if you can explain that new mansion as a large inheritance, but if you move from a simple ranch house to an estate you should have a good explanation (I won the lottery, here’s a copy of the winning ticket)), falling madly in love and marrying a foreign national (raises questions about loyalty), arrests for serious (DUI, felony) charges (judgement), etc. And you are required to report any knowledge you have about co-workers with similar problems.
Traffic tickets, misdemeanors (failing to disperse, etc) are not required to be reported.
Employment is totally between the employer and the employee, if the employer only has work that requires a clearance they may be able to let you go as unqualified for the workplace. Or they may just move you to other work that does not require a clearance. Firing people is a lot harder than it appears, you can’t just fire a person with a substance abuse problem, you have to warn them several times and offer them counseling (mostly state level rules which vary). Federal civil service rules are probably similar to state employment rules, although I have no direct knowledge of those rules.
Of course, I have only heard these things in passing from folks I know with security clearances. I do not claim to have direct knowledge of the specifics wrt security clearances.
Due to the nature of his work and his ability to publish freely in internationally accessible publications I do seriously doubt that the good Dr. Hansen has any security clearances.
And since he is not in a senior policy making position (much to his dismay I expect) he is not subject to the Hatch Act (at least as well as this non-lawyer can read it).
Cheers, Kevin.
So, here’s a man willing to risk arrest and reputation for a political cause. But I’m supposed to believe that Hansen can be trusted to make proper adjustments to temperature data without any bias that might favor the very same cause? Apparently, NASA fails to see even the possibility of a conflict of interest here. Scientists used to have at least the pretense of impartiality. When did they surrender their last bit of dignity to politics?
OldWeirdHarold says:
February 13, 2013 at 10:47 am
Explain to me again how buying oil from Saudi Arabia instead of Canada reduces CO2?
————
Easy answer Harold – for people in the Marxist climate cult, capitalist liberal democracy = bad, while Islamist terror exporting totalitarian state = good… You see Harold, all you need is a chart showing these people’s beliefs.
Oh Dear.
Little Jimmy E. Hansen, a pornographer at work and who enjoys his work.
A tear in the eye and a four-lief clover above the ear.
Mark T says:
February 13, 2013 at 5:56 pm
In almost any business, you get repeatedly arrested you would get fired.
Really? I’ve never heard of that, strange. Oh, that’s right, because it really isn’t true
Spoken like a true unionista. Try a real job,and you might be surprised. NASA/GISS will bear the bad press from this for many,many years,which they rightly deserve.
Theo said:
For chrissake’s, Theo, read what I was replying to and then re-read my reply. Yeah, I’m pretty sure the OP said just about any (paraphrased) and I replied that certainly jobs involving “image,” such as your two “high profile” examples, won’t take kindly to such thing. Get a grip, you’re usually more level-headed than this.
Hehe, as if you have one. Liberal Arts education much? Betcha can’t guess my career, ever, even though I’ve probably talked about what I do in here a million times. Oh please, please, try – I love it when simple minded folk make fools of themselves to the point at which I don’t even have to comment. When you do figure it out, and then don’t post because your quote here clearly won’t make sense, I’ll understand.
In the interest of full disclosure, I have been in two unions in my life (OCAW and The Teamsters), however, and I can honestly say – damn I’m glad those days are over.
They might deserve it, but they won’t get it. Nobody cares what James Hansen does, duh. Well, except for in the climate blogosphere.
Mark
Oh, and Theo, there’s a HUGE difference between trying to get a job (interviewing generally implies job search) with a criminal record, and getting fired from a current job due to petty criminal activity (particularly when you’re talking about freaking peace protest arrests). Sheesh.
Mark
Tim Ball says: How has he avoided being charged under the Hatch Act?
>>> 40+ years ago, during the golden age of protests, Forrest Gump discovered that these events were great places to meet girls who were, shall we say, notoriously liberal. So perhaps Hansen is trying to relive – or perhaps just live, for the first time – his fortunes from that era. In which case, it could be not the Hatch Act, but the curiously named Mann Act, that he ends up on the wrong side of.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mann_act
Going by all the heavy coats, none of them raised a sweat getting there on foot.
I reckon that if they wanna do this again, just leave them to freeze to death proving just how much the climate’s warming. Ensure nobody cuts them loose.
Send in the KEYSTONE KOPS. Somebody had to say it.
Banner reads “LEAD ON CLIMATE” – this is obviously to keep temperatures down 😉
from Concise Oxford English Dictionary:
“lead2
n noun
1 a heavy bluish-grey soft ductile metal, the chemical element of atomic number 82. (Symbol: Pb)
Mods – please correct – should have been a carriage return between “lead” and “2”:
“lead
2”
It hasn’t escaped my keen eye that Devoted Hansen Fans Zeke and Mosher haven’t commented in this thread yet.
I wonder why.
Andrew
Mark T says:
February 13, 2013 at 9:14 pm
You misunderstand. I asked about the interview because if you had experienced one then you would know that your prospective employer or one of his agents had rewritten your resume and cover letter for you. Your prospective employer is no less concerned about criticism from employers, peers, and employees than the next person. Embarrass him/her and you are toast.
Hansen gets away with his antics because his employer is as nutty as he is. Hansen might as well be working for some activist law firm that loves media attention. His association with NASA is rebranding NASA. Apparently, NASA wants the rebranding.
Looks like Ken Salazar there in his trademark Stetson, chatting with Hansen. He is carrying a white plastic hand-cinch the protesters apparently used to tie themselves to the fence. Did he join them in bondage? Making up for his public lands development project?
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865573082/Environmental-groups-challenge-Salazars-solar-plans.html
To Mark T:
You wrote, in part: “Because what he does on his own time, not on federal property, is his own business as long as he does not represent himself in the official capacity of his position.”
I’m sorry, I don’t buy this as giving him blanket permission to do climate activism.
The only reason he has any standing whatever as some form of expert is
because of his official position. Implicitly, he is making a statement in
an official capacity. Notice that the news item quoted by Latitude
identifies him as a “prominent climate scientist”.
The real reason he hasn’t been dismissed is because during the Bush administration,
he made a huge stink about being “silenced”. Parenthetically, being “silenced”
did not prevent him from giving over 1400 interviews to news organizations.
Seemingly, the Bush administration was buffaloed by this false claim of being
“silenced” and did not want to make his claims seem true.
Of course, the Obama administration agrees with his activism, so the chances of
his being dismissed or prosecuted could be measured with a micrometer.
I remember Daryl Hannah doing an interview on BBC Breakfast a few years ago and it was easily one of the most disturbing, incoherent interviews i’ve ever seen. To claim she’s as dumb as a box of rocks would be a huge disservice to geology. Someone easily convinced her to take the urgent action blue pill, the red pill is made by evil oil companies and Republicans who shoot kittens with ‘assault’ rifles.
I love how the UK media reported it as nothing more than Taylor Swift’s ex-boyfriend got arrested for sitting on his ass and looking like a mug.
Is it just me, or are they psychically holding hands?
Since Zeke and Mosher won’t explain what we see here, I will:
You can’t agitate dumb people with the technicalities of science.
You have to wear stupid hats and get yourself arrested to reach that demographic.
Andrew