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
Luis Dias (08:08:28) :
“I’m an independent thinker and I disregard both “hoi pollois” as the one you’re about to have in your poll, and any “tactics” that may bring other “sheep” to say otherwise. It’s fortuitous and meaningless.”
Using dismissive terms such as “hoi pollois” and “sheep” to characterise those who hold a particular view demonstrates the same elitism that James Hansen exhibits. Should those you consider to be “hoi pollois” and “sheep” be permitted the right to vote, or would that be another failure of the democratic process?
You both could benfit by showing a bit of humility.
I don’t know if he reads this, but I just wanted to reply to mr. Bill Marsh.
Mr Marsh, like I said previously, I don’t care if you are legally authorized to push mr Hansen to unemployment because of his views. I said it is wrong to do so. Ethically. Despite your obvious envy due to mr. Hansen not being wipped by saying what you can’t.
About Evil being religious. I’m atheist, so I take your criticism with irony. There is nothing religious about the concept of Evil. It exists as well as Goodness. And I am entitled to say that censorship is evil, like it or not.
Similarly Dr. Hansen can attend whatever rallies he desires as long a the government isn’t paying for his travel (people traveling on the government’s dime are ‘on duty’), and he does not identify himself as a NASA employee.
I’d agree with you there. See I’m not an apologist?
But that isn’t what’s posted here, now is it?
Phil. (08:23:26) :
Which part of the Hatch Act do you think he’s breaking?
Sec. 734.402 Expression of an employee’s individual opinion.
(e) Otherwise participate fully in public affairs, except as
prohibited by other Federal law, in a manner which does not compromise
his or her efficiency or integrity as an employee or the neutrality,
efficiency, or integrity of the agency or instrumentality of the United
States Government in which he or she is employed.
He has lost his scientific neutrality, is diminishing the integrity of the agency in which he is employed, and if he has participated in civil disobedience on federal property, has been in violation of Federal law.
Penalties for Violating the Hatch Act
An employee who violates the Hatch Act shall be removed from their position, and funds appropriated for the position from which removed thereafter may not be used to pay the employee or individual. However, if the Merit Systems Protection Board finds by unanimous vote that the violation does not warrant removal, a penalty of not less than 30 days’ suspension without pay shall be imposed by direction of the Board.
Luis Dias
It we were ,even though we are not,having global warming and Anthony Watts was spewing were having glogal cooling and , which we are entering ,we must act now to stop global cooling or we will all die and the goverment must act now to heat the planet would you still fill Anthony deserves to speak his mind or would you want to shut him up???????
OT, but B. Kerr did mention the Catlin Arctic Survey above. According to the BBC : “Pen Hadow, Martin Hartley and Ann Daniels have experienced torrid conditions since being dropped on to the ice three weeks ago.”
I guess an organization that can get “negative feedback” backwards shouldn’t surprise me when it completely reverses the meaning of the word “torrid”, but it is a very funny.
Anthony:
I thought you might be amused about what the Catlin Expedition fantasizes about!!!
“I talked to them late last night. They sounded happy and excited. It’s resupply day for them. That means extra rations of food, fresh socks and thermals and the thing they fantasize most about, an extra 5-litre can of fuel. With the latter they can heat the tent to their hearts content, dry their clothes, thaw out their sleeping bags and warm body parts that have been cold for the last 15 days, most importantly their toes.”
http://www.catlinarcticsurvey.com/No_Go
Having a good supply of fuel and damn the CO2 is what one fantasizes about in the arctic.
I used to think that it was imperative that Hansen be removed from the government payroll, but as his antics have become increasingly delusional I’m coming around to the view that he may be more valuable if left in place. I suspect, that one of the reasons the opinion polls on AGW are heading south is that Hansen’s frequent appearances are exposing many, who don’t follow this very closely, to the quality of the “scientists” who “settled” all the science twenty years ago. It may not rank up there with six feet of snow in the backyard as a primary driver of the changing climate of AGW love, but I think Hansen’s desperate floundering will eventually contribute more to the public’s cooling affection for warmist propaganda and carbon demonization, than CO2 ever has to changes in the actual climate.
Luis Diaz apparently doesn’t undertand the Hatch Act.
Go read it, then come back and spout more of the same line please.
http://www.osc.gov/ha_fed.htm
http://www.osc.gov/hatchact.htm
He has, if not crossed the line, is now standing on it with these statements.
Roy (09:30:16) :
“I’m not voting in the poll because there is no option of voting ‘No; it would be a tactical error to give him more free time and less supervision’.”
Unfortunately there has been no supervision. Hansen convinces us the entire agency needs a overhaul.
To continue to give the Scott Trust’s Guardian “newspaper” regular coverage is questionable. The Guardian, Hansen and Gore are the last gasp for the collapsing AGW campaign. Were there even a shred of supportable science behind AGW, I could understand it. But as the Guardian now functions more like Soros’ Move On – it seems strange to re-publish it on a contrarian site.
Luis Dias: Joe McCarthy, a Senator from Wisconsin was allowed to spew vitriol on government time. He was eventually censured by the Senate for abuse of power and false accusations. Using a government office and the appearance of authority to disseminate false (or at least unproven) information is a betrayal of the First Amendment.
To Hansen, a couple of quotations:
Mencken: “The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false face for the urge to rule it.”
Napoleon: “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
Hansen ceased being a scientist a while ago. Now, in his overreaching, it appears he is searching for a legacy.
Well that’s ridiculous. Didn’t they make arrangements for wind and solar? From what I can see, they have no shortage of wind! Solar… not so much.
You can hear not just read all this disinformation and Marxist greenwash in this Guardian podcast
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/audio/2009/mar/20/computer-games-artificial-intelligence-jim-hansen
You just have to love the wording in the URL!!! 😀
I’d like to thank Luis for his contributions. Luis Dias (07:23:31) : Luis Dias (07:49:05) : Luis Dias (08:08:28) :
He demonstrated fully the agitated, hypocritical and irrational state of the energized global warming activist.
Having much experience with these types I have little doubt Luis’ outrage and his own obnoxiousness leaves him wanting more than civil unrest to “help democracy out”.
His lecture on censorship is boiler plate rhetoric often used by those most likely to justify genuine censorship. After all when a greater cause is at a stake does preservation of free speech really matter? Of course not.
For these people, Luis and friends, the first amendment and all others are optional. And if they decree a higher value in their mission these inconvenient rights are expendable.
What happens when “peaceful actions” are not working as Hansen says democracy is not working?
Well history tells us additional steps must be taken. This is when the peaceful become the totalitarians.
Luis, you’re not doing a very good job of shaming Anthony. Quite the contrary it is your tone which signals a desire for control.
Your lesson on teachers and elections is a disconnected panic in search of validation for your aggressive demands that Anthony himself be silent.
There is much trouble in your own rationale.
Your avoidance of the substantive reasons for the call for Hansen’s termination reveals a fanatic’s bias seeking to recast an issue in an easier form to criticize. That is a weak person’s approach to debate.
I wonder just how far “out of line” you are willing to go?
It should be instructional that your comments remain in full here on Anthony’s “contrarion blog”. I hope you grasp this basic point.
It’s certainly fair game for one to “pretend to know” you by speculating and comparing your approach to to others.
But here again it appears you would demand some control?
You see here, I am expressing my own independent thinking.
Now what about your idea that “Even if 99.99% of the population were against the first amendment”?
Study that now. It’s a preposterous use of what if, you’re not so special and no one here has indicated any opposition to the first amendment, at all.
No surprise you “won’t develop further why” you think there is.
And yes your superior self would come across as condescending and patronizing. Among other not so favorable ways.
As for “Hansen in his job knowing his bias”?
What a clever way to encapsulate all of Hansen’s misbehavior into an admirable innocence of bias.
Demonstrating again your avoidance of the substantive reasons for the call for Hansen’s termination.
Really Luis, who’s the snob here? Or snobs? I’d say it’s a toss up between you and Hansen.
Bottom line is you need to bone up on the many misrepresentations Hansen has made.
That way your anger would be actually justified and useful, plus I’d like you a whole lot more. 🙂
I regret to reveal just how skeptical I’ve become in my old age, but the likelihood of Hansen being sacked is remote. More likely, he will be promoted to an even more ridiculous post, created just for him. Some day, he will refuse to “heel’ after a direct order from The One, and he will join the other expendables thrown under the Barack Obama Low-Carbon Perpetual Emotion Campaign Bus.
“Out of control” in England portends “out of control” in the USA. And Control Is The Goal in The One’s regime. Someday, Hansen will be ignored or ridiculed, because time will pass and lies don’t endure.
“Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit – Virgil. ” My Latin is a bit rusty, but I make this to mean “Perhaps someday these things, too, will be a joy to recall.”
Henry
Crosspatch:¨You can tell any moron that the earth’s atmosphere is turning into a greenhouse and they will understand what you are trying to get them to understand¨
We can oppose this nonsense with the fact (and repeat it wherever and whensoever is possible, for the sake of mankind):
AIR CAN NOT HOLD HEAT ENOUGH TIME COMPARED WITH WATER, IT JUST HOLDS 3,227 TIMES LESS HEAT THAN WATER. THEY WANT YOU TO BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN WARM YOUR FEET WITH A BOTTLE FILLED WITH AIR, EARTH IS OPEN TO SPACE AND THERE WOULD GO ALL THE HEAT WE RECEIVE FROM THE SUN IF WE SHOULD NOT HAVE THE OCEANS TO KEEP IT.
OT but remember the attempts to seed the ocean with iron?
“Setback for climate technical fix”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7959570.stm
“But within two weeks, the algae were being eaten by tiny creatures called copepods, which were then in turn eaten by amphipods, a larger type of crustacean.The net result was that far less carbon dioxide was absorbed and sent to the sea floor than scientists had anticipated.”
Thought it might be of interest.
Slightly OT, but demonstrating ,quite convincingly, how listening to Algore and Hansen contribute to serious cases of cranio-rectal insertion syndrome is this story out of the UK
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5950442.ece?Submitted=true.
One of the commenters wondered if emigration would be allowed, or if a more permanent solution was required.
I want to change my vote. Having thought about it I think it would be better for Hansen to continue with his demonstrably bad ‘science’ then when the inevitable happens and the AGW fraud is acknowledged by the mainstream media he can be dumped quickly and we can move on. And all those scientists who went along with his nonsense can pretend they knew he was mad all along. Everyone saves face and we can move on to the next crisis. Ocean acidification anyone ?
“Aron (10:37:19) :
They think they’re making progress…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7961957.stm”
That is an interesting video clip.
Martin fighting to put on his frozen clothing.
I bet Billy Connolly “A Scot in the Arctic” did not have that problem!
Billy just sang and played his banjo.
Martin’s clothes look frozen and they look very very cold.
He has to really fight to get his WWF PARKA on. It shows his name ‘MARTIN’.
He rubs his hands to warm up, which clearly helps!
Yet I cannot see his breath.
In cold weather I am used to seeing clouds of water vapour in my face.
At -40 F or C, who cares, surely we should see water vapour from Martins breathing? Or is it that cold that the water vapour freezes in the lungs?
Yet last week they were complaining about their tents icing up with their breathing. Something not right.
(In the Pinewood Studio film “Oh What a Lovely War”, Richard Attenborough yelled to the actors; “No one can see your breath, rub their hands together to make it look cold”.)
This is totaly insane, EON has been forced to close down two fully functional nuclear reactors at Barsebäck Sweden, mainly due to protests from danish greenes , okey swedish greenes share the responsibility too, but nevertheless, isn’t Hansen a nuclear proponent, EON whould have been glad to build a nuclear plant in GB.
Hi folks, long time reader, first time poster.
Like several of the earlier posters, I am a Federal employee. The Hatch Act is surprisingly forgiving, it’s main focus is against PARTISAN political activity. Assuming Dr. Hansen is a member of the Senior Executive Service, he may ATTEND political meetings and rallies, but may not ORGANIZE OR MANAGE them. It is hard to imagine his extremely active participation in the ridiculous DC power plant rally as being mere attendance,
but there may be a high bar to pass on that one. There are all sorts of piddly specific violations that will get you canned, like wearing a partisan political button, or passing out campaign literature. However, that is more useful for canning low-level clerks who get excited about a family member’s run for city council. Proving that someone “organized or managed” a rally, versus just actively attended…good luck with that.
He may run into some problems with his constant use of his NASA affiliation to push his agenda. Some people have opined that he is trying to get fired to become a martyr. Possible, but that should have been easier during the Bush years. My guess is that he is unable to control himself now that he is so much in tune with the current President and his appointees. He may be in for a rude awakening though. The Office of Special Counsel investigates Hatch Act violations. Generally speaking, these guys are straight shooters. Even under President Bush, when the OSC under Scott Bloch had a weak reputation, Lurita Doan of GSA was convicted of a Hatch Act violation. She was appointed by President Bus. Guess we’ll see if OSC has to act on the good doctor before too much time has passed.
Any way, this guy gets way too much air time for a government employee. I am a nobody, and if I transmitted ANYTHING to a reporter without it being cleared by my Public Affairs Office, I’d probably get a suspension and possibly fired. It is galling to see this guy running around like a political appointee. He is clearly speaking opinion rather than science.
I live and work in Coventry where the Professor was.
One “fact” he stated on the local televised news was truly amazing!
The local TV interviewer asked why Professor Hansen wasn’t protesting about all the CO2 emmissions coming from China and India, and was stuck in Coventry! and the Great Man said that the UK was historically responsible for more CO2 emmissions (that were still hanging around in the atmosphere), than the whole of the developing world. The way he had worked this out remained unclear.
Now I know this silly little country of mine has always punched well above its weight, but that is a truly outstanding “fact”. Isambard Kingdom Brunel would be very proud.
Of course it could be that the Professor was talking BS
What Hansen doesn’t realize is that undemocratic processes run in both directions. While he may think he’ll get a stronger voice going in this direction, he could just as easily lose any voice he ever had.
The proper thing for him to do is join in the debate, but since he does not want to answer the critics he cries like a child.
I believe the best way to refute the argument is with the “salt house”. Make a “greenhouse” out of glass, make a “greenhouse” out of salt crystal slab. Place a thermometer in each. Maybe even place a pan of water in each one with its own thermometer. Shine a heat light on it.
Salt is transparent to both visible and infrared. Glass is less transparent to infrared, acts to represent CO2. Now watch the temperature in the salt “house” rise faster and reach a higher temperature. The “greenhouse” with the material less transparent to IR is cooler, not hotter than the one transparent to IR. Now change “land use” by carpeting the floor of the “greenhouses” with different materials … green carpet, grey rock, white rock, black rock, water … see what happens with each.
Great science fair project.