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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“The more important reason he should be sacked is if it can be shown that he has manipulated the temperature record?”
We know he’s manipulated the record. He just won’t tell anyone HOW.
And yes, he should be fired for that, TOO. He’s being paid by me to do science. Science by it’s very nature needs to be transparent. He is breaking this fundamental law, and he’s doing it on my dime.
JimB
Pamela Gray (08:19:00) :
My hunch is that as with weather pattern variation, level heads will prevail. Exactly what in the Hatch Act is his behavior violating? It seems a good opportunity to discuss this act.
From the Hatch Act:
(d) 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 or the District of Columbia
Government in which he or she is
employed.
How about that?
Or from the Dept. of Commerce:
You may not participate as a Government official in a matter that will
have a direct and predictable effect on your financial interests; on the financial interests of your spouse, minor children, household members, general partners, outside employers, or prospective employers; or on the financial interests of an organization in which you serve as a trustee, officer, or board member. This includes a matter that affects a company in which you own stock.
Does he own stock in any Green Company or nuclear firm (as opposed to bad carbon)?
michel (08:41:37) : Posted :-
A year or so ago a group of American teenage virgins, or at least alleged virgins, took it into their heads to fly over to the UK to promote more chastity and sexual restraint here. Why do I get all the good news too late?
End of post
MMMM???
A year later a white middle class guy who didn’t attend the ICCC flew over to the uk to send us all to sleep.
Maybe he should be deported from the UK, but please don’t campaign for his dismissal because then he will have more free time to travel to the UK.
Also he keeps telling us things will happen in ten years, Charlie Windos says 100 months the government says 20 years. Those guys who watch the ice bet it would all disappear next year.
Maybe those virgins would like to revisit and come and look at the fairies at the bottom of my garden.
Perhaps it’s not best to fire him, but a long term study of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet might be in order. Oh, and I’m sorry, but there is no budget for radios or satellite phones or the like, but we will send a dog team out once a month with some WWII era C rations (I recommend the B1-A units!) but there won’t be any room to carry mail back.
Oh, and we’re going to have to give his database to an administrator without an agenda. The new administrator will have to supply not only the raw-RAW data but supporting data in an unmodified form so that the users can perform and defend their own “adjustments”. It’s only fair.
Looking forward to seeing the results of his study when he returns in oh… 50 years or so.
“Pamela Gray (08:34:17) :
I am having a difficult time uncovering exactly which part of the Hatch Act this guy is in violation of. While being a federal employee, he can participate in political events and activities but not while on duty. If he is on personal leave, he can do what he appears to want to do unless I am misreading the revised act.”
Have to say I agree with Pamela here. I just read what I believe are the applicable sections, and I’m not sure what line he crossed, unless you say that because of his position, he’s always “on”, or working?
JimB
janama (13:04:16) :
“Freedom of speech is more important…”
Agreed whole heartedly.
I will defend Dr Hansen’s right to his views and freedom of free speech.
I most certainly do not agree with him but I will defend his right to have those views.
Will he defend my right to my views?
Or would he prefer that I was in the Haig Court to be judged for Crimes Against Humanity?
jorgekafkazar (09:47:44) quoted wikipedia:
“(A) Messiah complex is a state in which the individual believes themselves to be, or destined to become, the saviour of the particular field, a group, an event, a time period, or in an extreme scenario, the world.”
Mencken phrased it better: “the messianic delusion.”
There’s a well known book, Malignant Self Love: Narcissism Revisited by Sam Vaknin, in which this world-saving delusion is linked to narcissism.
New Al Gore book coming this fall
1 hour ago
NEW YORK (AP) — Nobel laureate’s Al Gore’s follow-up to his best-selling “An Inconvenient Truth,” originally planned for last spring, is coming out this fall with a new title.
Publisher Rodale Books announced Tuesday that the former vice president’s book, “Our Choice,” will be released in November, printed on 100 percent recycled paper. The book, which proposes solutions to the global warming crisis documented in “Inconvenient Truth,” was called “The Path to Survival” when first announced two years ago.
“An Inconvenient Truth” was published in 2006 and was a companion book to the Academy Award-winning documentary of the same name.
Public officials issuing “official” sunspots numbers, officially adjusted data…
The trouble here is the word “public”, if changed to “private” things would be totally different.
Cold Play (13:22:35) :
“Maybe he should be deported from the UK, but please don’t campaign for his dismissal because then he will have more free time to travel to the UK.”
Listen, when real trouble makers are on there way here to the UK our Government acts with speed. Real criminals do not even get in. So there!!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/2159979/Martha-Stewart-refused-entry-to-the-UK.html
That sorted her out!
Makes you wonder.
Messiah complex is a state in which the individual believes themselves to be, or destined to become, the saviour of the particular field, a group, an event, a time period, or in an extreme scenario, the world.”
Note that radicals who suffer from a Messianic Complex and propose authoritarian solutions for saving the world also advocate facial hair.
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
What is the facial hair thing about? Scaring children so they’re easier to indoctrinate? ;-p
Steven Hill :
““Our Choice,” will be released in November, printed on 100 percent recycled paper.”
Filthy indeed… I told you he was going to do something tremendous just before the coming summer…really goreful. (Remembers me of H.P.Lovecraft’s “Cthulu Myths”….)
Does 100% recycled paper surely makes up for the excessive waste that the former Vice President emits? It sounds more like what a hypocrite would brag about: click
Al Gore is a genuine scoundrel. Like Elmer Gantry, but without Gantry’s redeeming qualities.
If Al Gore actually believed what he is selling, then he would be a traitor to the human race for his private plane flights, his five mansions, and — like the UN/IPCC partying on white wine, brie and lobster at the Bali climate conference — his profligate waste of resources [Gore’s utility bill is more than 10X the average American’s. But he’s special].
Simply put, Al doesn’t believe what he’s selling. He still has a big stake in Occidental Petroleum, so he is contributing to enormous amounts of CO2 being emitted into the atmosphere.
If Gore believed what he’s saying, he would lead the way by example. And if Gore’s followers believed what Al is selling, they would be after him with torches and pitchforks for selling out humanity.
But they all know Al is selling a pig in a poke. Other folks are beginning to understand it, too.
Smokey:
I absolutely agree with you that Anthony, as owner, may post whatever he chooses. And, the political nature of the article would not have been off-putting to me had it not been for the large number of nasty posts (on both sides).
I merely was trying to be a good customer of this site. A good customer makes a complaint, which he hopes can be addressed. A bad customer just walks away from your business without an explanation… or even a clue that there was a problem.
To ,
Anthony already provided the rationale. This man is going far beyond the terms of his employment! There is a reason why Federal government employees are barred from explicitly taking part in political activities–it’s because their privileged position allows them too much power if they do.
Dr. Hansen is perfectly within his rights as a PRIVATE CITIZEN to say anything he wants. When he is speaking as a FEDERAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE, he is subject to limitations. The Hatch Act specifically prohibits employees who are Senior Executive Service (SES) from taking part in partisan politcal activity. I am sure Dr. Hansen is in the SES pay grades; he would have been briefed about what was and was not permissible when promoted.
That’s a great picture of him… his head is in the clouds.
“So, the democratic process isn’t working?…… very funny considering the Scientific Method hasn’t been working in his lab either….” Layne
Yes. When doing science (which is an elite process) the warmers claim it should be democratic, and we should go by the votes of ‘the majority’ of scientists. When doing politics (which should be democratic) they claim it ought to be elite, and the world must listen to them.
Should we be surprised that when it’s getting colder they claim it’s really starting to heat up…?
Luis Dias (08:08:28) :
I, for one, am delighted that you value the first amendment rights to free speech and clearly and willingly demonstrate your right to free speech with your posts.
I only wish the AGW alarmist community was likewise inclined. The leaders of this community not only want to prevent and shut down free-speech and the debate and any and all contradictory hypothesis, evidence, arguments etc… But they have also spoken many times in different forums of their desire to reduce the human population by nine-tenths. This goes far beyond free-speech. They want to remove the American right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness altogether, on a GLOBAL scale.
I can link to a long list of quotes if you like to support this assertion, but you may find it more believable IF you researched this yourself.
As for whether Dr Hansen should be fired for his ‘personal’ beliefs? Well, If I advocated publicly against my employer in the way he does against his, I would be fired. This is NOT an attack on his personal beliefs, nor his right to express them. Merely an opinion on whether he should be allowed to instigate and incite direct action against his own employer.
If he REALLY believes what he prophesises, then why does he continue to agree to be employed by the one organisation that has the largest carbon footprint on the entire PLANET? That would be the American Government.
The Military component of the American Government (including the contribution by directly hired private military and defence contractors) alone has a greater carbon footprint than most nations. NASA is heavily involved in the military and with military defence contractors. How, therefore, can such a leading advocate of AGW take payment from the worst offenders, the biggest polluters, the most evil of all the carbon producers on earth? Surely, as a matter of conscience, he should resign in protest at them? Anything less is utter hypocrisy of the worst kind.
I also take great exception to being lectured on carbon abuse by a man whose own carbon footprint is at least 1000 times greater than my own. I have not flown at all in 5 years, How many times has Dr. Hansen boarded an aircraft during that time? I also have a small home and live 15 minutes walk from where I work. Dr Hansen produces and wastes far more carbon than I and he has the gall to lecture on carbon usage!
I cannot see any reason for him to keep his job.
I wrote:
“There’s a well known book, Malignant Self Love: Narcissism Revisited by Sam Vaknin, in which this world-saving delusion is linked to narcissism.”
That was too broad. Messianism is tinged with narcissism when it is associated with grandiosity and grandstanding (attention-seeking).
Perhaps what the good doctor is upset about is the fact that the democratic process works only too well and all us stupid peasants refuse to swallow the kool-aid he’s dispensing.
Fire him so he can join up with Gore for a world tag-team tour and hand over the reains to a statistician.
Quite frankly I think Hansen believes the Venus CO2 model and fears we will end up like that planet if we don’t curb our CO2 emissions.
The only way to kill this whole scam is to kill the runaway greenhouse on Venus hypothesis.
Maybe then Hansen will change his mind.
@Just Want Truth… (13:20:26) :
Roger Sowell (12:48:26) :
“Thank you Roger for the post! It’s good to see some applications of it.
Could you translate it into english for those who got lost while reading it, just something simple :
Is James Hansen violating the Hatch Act or not?”
I suspect that Dr. Hansen is not in violation of the Hatch Act.
The amount of press devoted to his activities and speeches, and the calls for his dismissal lead me to believe that if he could have been found in violation of the Hatch Act, he would have been by now.
The key issue is whether his topic is a matter of “public concern.” The constitution gives special consideration to speech about matters of public concern. All citizens, including public employees, have the First Amendment right to speak out on matters of public concern. Global warming or climate change has very likely become a matter of public concern (and that may be the understatement of the year).
In New York Times v Sullivan (a famous case on Free Speech from 1964), the Supreme Court said “[D]ebate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open, and . . . may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.”
The Court also said, “statements criticizing public policy and the implementation of it must be . . . protected. ” (this was from a different case, Bond v Floyd, in 1966)
This supports the view that debate on matters of public concern, or public issues, is so important that even strong attacks on government and public officials are allowed.
It appears to me that Dr. Hansen’s statements match the bits on “statements criticizing public policy,” and “vehement, caustic, and unpleasantly sharp attacks on government…”
One appropriate response to the speeches or writings by Dr. Hansen is what we see here on WUWT, more free speech either opposing or defending his views.
Other appropriate responses are to make speeches, write letters to leading newspapers, send emails to friends and colleagues, leave comments on news articles, participate in public protests (peaceful, and with permits where required), stand on a street corner with a sign, hand out leaflets, wear clothes with slogans on them, even make and post short videos on public video sites such as youtube. All of these are protected forms of Free Speech.
The Constitution was written with the concept that all views are welcome in the marketplace of ideas, and that marketplace would sort out the good from the bad. A little public ridicule is allowed, also.
The worst thing we could have is censorship of opinions on public matters, or even what the Court refers to as “a chilling effect on Free Speech.” The chilling effect occurs when a person hesitates to speak out for fear of reprisal, such as losing his/her job.
The marketplace of ideas is supposed to laugh at persons with laughable ideas, and applaud persons whose ideas have merit and are supported by facts.
Each of us plays a role in the marketplace of ideas, and we can laugh at or applaud those ideas as we see fit. Or, we can bring forth topics for debate.
Does even one reader of this blog ever wonder if Hansen is actually right?
i.e. wonder whether his alarm stems from a correct interpretation of the available data, as a professional scientist in the area?
It’s not impossible – and his is not a lone voice. I read the comments on this blog from time to time, and thank my lucky stars that the science in my own area (Big Bang cosmology) can be quietly debated amongst neutral professionals…
Well I am heartened by the fact that more people will willingly pay good money to listen to David Icke talk for seven hours (about his theories on the global elite being reptilian alien hybrids), without any mainstream media publicity at all before hand, than will turn up to protest for free alongside Dr Hansen despite many thousands of pounds worth of free mainstream media publicity beforehand.
When Dr Hansen cannot draw crowds like David Icke, despite the media’s best efforts, then he must know that his hypothesis is unsupportable by observational empirical evidence and the public KNOW IT.
I think it would be a big mistake to call for Hansen’s dismissal. To do so admits that he is effective. Moreover, it calls to question one’s own motives.
Rather, let his “over the top” publicity stunts and remarks serve to define the pro-AGW camp. Continue to point out his scientific foibles. But, don’t try any direct efforts against the man — just his ideas.