One year ago today, after returning from a conference in Brussels, I sat down in Dulles airport, connected to WiFi, researched and wrote this article, called two people, CEI’s Chris Horner to check legality issues, and Marc Morano (who was traveling in car on the PCH in California) to give him a heads up, and pressed the “publish” button just seconds before they closed the door to my flight back to Sacramento. When I landed five hours later, I immediately got back on WiFi and found the the story had exploded, and we lived in a different world. I spent so much time moderating and checking the responses elsewhere, that when I looked up from the computer, I found the airport deserted, and my bag was to lone one sitting on the carousel.
This story, written in haste, uncertainty, and pressure to board a plane, is the most viewed story on WUWT, and spawned hundreds of other stories and links. I’m repeating it again to mark the event, consider this an open thread on Climategate, one year later. – Anthony
===========================================================
UPDATE: Response from CRU in interview with another website, see end of this post.
The details on this are still sketchy, we’ll probably never know what went on. But it appears that University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit has been hacked and many many files have been released by the hacker or person unknown.
UPDATED: Original image was for Met Office – corrected This image source: www.cru.uea.ac.uk
I’m currently traveling and writing this from an airport, but here is what I know so far:
An unknown person put postings on some climate skeptic websites that advertised an FTP file on a Russian FTP server, here is the message that was placed on the Air Vent today:
We feel that climate science is, in the current situation, too important to be kept under wraps.
We hereby release a random selection of correspondence, code, and documents
The file was large, about 61 megabytes, containing hundreds of files.
It contained data, code, and emails from Phil Jones at CRU to and from many people.
I’ve seen the file, it appears to be genuine and from CRU. Others who have seen it concur- it appears genuine. There are so many files it appears unlikely that it is a hoax. The effort would be too great.
Here is some of the emails just posted at Climate Audit on this thread:
http://www.climateaudit.org/?p=7801#comments
I’ve redacted email addresses and direct phone numbers for the moment. The emails all have US public universities in the email addresses, making them public/FOIA actionable I believe.
From: Phil Jones
To: mann@vxxxxx.xxx
Subject: Fwd: John L. Daly dead
Date: Thu Jan 29 14:17:01 2004
From: Timo H‰meranta
To:
Subject: John L. Daly dead
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 12:04:28 +0200
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook, Build 10.0.4510
Importance: Normal
Mike,
In an odd way this is cheering news ! One other thing about the CC paper – just found
another email – is that McKittrick says it is standard practice in Econometrics journals
to give all the data and codes !! According to legal advice IPR overrides this.
Cheers
Phil
“It is with deep sadness that the Daly Family have to announce the sudden death of John
Daly.Condolences may be sent to John’s email account (daly@john-daly.com)
”
Reported with great sadness
Timo H‰meranta
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Timo H‰meranta, LL.M.
Moderator, Climatesceptics
Martinlaaksontie 42 B 9
01620 Vantaa
Finland, Member State of the European Union
Moderator: timohame@yxxxxx.xxx
Private: timo.hameranta@xxxxx.xx
Home page: [1]personal.inet.fi/koti/hameranta/climate.htm
Moderator of the discussion group “Sceptical Climate Science”
[2]groups.yahoo.com/group/climatesceptics
“To dwell only on horror scenarios of the future
shows only a lack of imagination”. (Kari Enqvist)
“If the facts change, I’ll change my opinion.
What do you do, Sir” (John Maynard Keynes)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Prof. Phil Jones
Climatic Research Unit Telephone +44 (0)xxxxxx
School of Environmental Sciences Fax +44 (0) xxxxxx
University of East Anglia
Norwich Email p.jones@xxx.xx.xx
NR4 7TJ
UK
—————————————————————————-
References
1. http://personal.inet.fi/koti/hameranta/climate.htm
2. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/climatesceptics
From: Phil Jones
To: ray bradley ,mann@xxxxx.xxx, mhughes@xxxx.xxx
Subject: Diagram for WMO Statement
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 13:31:15 +0000
Cc: k.briffa@xxx.xx.xx,t.osborn@xxxx.xxx
Dear Ray, Mike and Malcolm,
Once Tim’s got a diagram here we’ll send that either later today or
first thing tomorrow.
I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps
to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) amd from
1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline. Mike’s series got the annual
land and marine values while the other two got April-Sept for NH land
N of 20N. The latter two are real for 1999, while the estimate for 1999
for NH combined is +0.44C wrt 61-90. The Global estimate for 1999 with
data through Oct is +0.35C cf. 0.57 for 1998.
Thanks for the comments, Ray.
Cheers
Phil
Prof. Phil Jones
Climatic Research Unit Telephone +44 (0) xxxxx
School of Environmental Sciences Fax +44 (0) xxxx
University of East Anglia
Norwich Email p.jones@xxxx.xxx
NR4 7TJ
UK
—————————————————————————-
From: Jonathan Overpeck
To: “Michael E. Mann”
Subject: letter to Senate
Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 16:49:31 -0700
Cc: Caspar M Ammann , Raymond Bradley , Keith Briffa , Tom Crowley , Malcolm Hughes , Phil Jones , mann@xxxxx.xxx, jto@xxxxx.xx.xxx, omichael@xxxxx.xxx, Tim Osborn , Kevin Trenberth , Tom Wigley
Hi all – I’m not too comfortable with this, and would rather not sign – at least not
without some real time to think it through and debate the issue. It is unprecedented and
political, and that worries me.
My vote would be that we don’t do this without a careful discussion first.
I think it would be more appropriate for the AGU or some other scientific org to do this –
e.g., in reaffirmation of the AGU statement (or whatever it’s called) on global climate
change.
Think about the next step – someone sends another letter to the Senators, then we respond,
then…
I’m not sure we want to go down this path. It would be much better for the AGU etc to do
it.
What are the precedents and outcomes of similar actions? I can imagine a special-interest
org or group doing this like all sorts of other political actions, but is it something for
scientists to do as individuals?
Just seems strange, and for that reason I’d advise against doing anything with out real
thought, and certainly a strong majority of co-authors in support.
Cheers, Peck
Dear fellow Eos co-authors,
Given the continued assault on the science of climate change by some on Capitol Hill,
Michael and I thought it would be worthwhile to send this letter to various members of
the U.S. Senate, accompanied by a copy of our Eos article.
Can we ask you to consider signing on with Michael and me (providing your preferred
title and affiliation). We would like to get this out ASAP.
Thanks in advance,
Michael M and Michael O
______________________________________________________________
Professor Michael E. Mann
Department of Environmental Sciences, Clark Hall
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA 22903
_______________________________________________________________________
e-mail: mann@xxxxxx.xxx Phone: (434) 924-7770 FAX: (434) xxx-xxxxx
http://www.evsc.virginia.edu/faculty/people/mann.shtml
Attachment converted: Macintosh HD:EOS.senate letter-final.doc (WDBN/MSWD) (00055FCF)
–
Jonathan T. Overpeck
Director, Institute for the Study of Planet Earth
Professor, Department of Geosciences
Mail and Fedex Address:
Institute for the Study of Planet Earth
715 N. Park Ave. 2nd Floor
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721
direct tel: +xxxx
fax: +1 520 792-8795
http://www.geo.arizona.edu/Faculty_Pages/Overpeck.J.html http://www.ispe.arizona.edu/
It appears that the proverbial Climate Science Cat is out of the bag.
Developing story – more later
UPDATE1: Steve McIntyre posted this on Climate Audit, I used a screen cap rather than direct link because CA is overloaded and slow at the moment.
UPDATE2: Response from CRU h/t to WUWT reader “Nev”
http://briefingroom.typepad.com/the_briefing_room/2009/11/hadleycru-says-leaked-data-is-real.html
The director of Britain’s leading Climate Research Unit, Phil Jones, has told Investigate magazine’s TGIF Edition tonight that his organization has been hacked, and the data flying all over the internet appears to be genuine.
In an exclusive interview, Jones told TGIF, “It was a hacker. We were aware of this about three or four days ago that someone had hacked into our system and taken and copied loads of data files and emails.”
“Have you alerted police”
“Not yet. We were not aware of what had been taken.”
Jones says he was first tipped off to the security breach by colleagues at the website RealClimate.
“Real Climate were given information, but took it down off their site and told me they would send it across to me. They didn’t do that. I only found out it had been released five minutes ago.”
TGIF asked Jones about the controversial email discussing “hiding the decline”, and Jones explained what he was trying to say….
UPDATE3: McIntyre has posted an article by Jean S at climateaudit.org which is terribly overloaded. We have mirrored it.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/11/20/mikes-nature-trick/
Hard to believe that a year has passed since that explosion of hope that we could begin to stop their madness. Thanks, Anthony, for all that you and others have done to help to turn the tide on the climate hoax that was about to consume the world’s freedom and resources in the name of watermelon environmentalism.
Shame someone can’t find some more incriminating evidence, as most of last years has been carefully whitewashed and swept under the carpet…
A year older and some open items that UEA/CRU need tending to:
aaa) A detailed report on the status of the police investigation of the unauthorized release of the emails.
bbb) A publically held investigation of UEA/CRU by a panel of actual critical reviewers and aggressive journalists.
ccc) All the rest of the requested emails (requested by FOI and related legal processes)
ddd) Retraction of papers and reports that are shown to be compromised by the emails.
eee) Forced resignation / retirement of UEA/CRU leadership
John
I just went back and read this whole thing about an hour ago!!! Then VOILA! Here it is again!! Truly remarkable how an event that seemed so revealing, resulted in the core of the movement to show almost no shame.
Aren’t there more files still “out there”??? Wasn’t only half the original 60MB file released?
That’s odd. “JR” hasn’t seen fit to join the anniversary celebration. /sarc
Climategate ‘broke’ a few months after I seriously started to look into the AGW theory – as a ‘greenie’ sympathiser (but not a zealot) I had believed the published science up until early 2009 when a few internet sites had aroused my curiosity (mostly those harping on about the hockey stick) and encouraged me to check stuff out. Once the seeds of doubt were sown – nominal levels of reading showed there was something fishy going on. I’d never watched AIT – but when I eventually did – I was disgusted at the poor level of scientific content and amazed that anyone would hold this up as some kind of ‘proof’!
No doubt the Climategate event changed the minds of a lot of ‘fence-sitters’ and for the so called deniers it was a ‘hallelujah’ moment. But for the average man in the street, I think it was a ‘seen it all before’ moment and worse still, clearly demonstrated to those who could read, that the climate science brigade was definately ‘not to be trusted’.
I think, personally, the primary lesson has been that debased scientists can and have been allowed to ‘rule the world’ a la James Bond movie baddie style! and it has seriously devalued the peer review process, itself so important to the scientific community. Worse, still the general public will find it very difficult to trust in the peer review process in future – we all know what its like to query a possible misdiagnosis and ask for a second opinon, on lots of things as well as medical advice – how many times have you asked a friend/colleague for his opinion? One would usually ask someone who may know a bit more than you, or has more experience – and one usually expects a fair and unbiased appraisal ! How does the MSM and AGW scientific community stand up when considered in that light?
The AGW based scientists, IMO, are no better than a supposed ‘best or trusted friend’ of whom you may ask, over a quiet drink at the bar, ‘Am I worrying about my wifes fidelity unreasonably?’ – only to find that said trusted friend is indeed the source of the worry!
As an old school (I guess the 70’s is old school these days?) geologist and engineer – I am still truly dismayed at the revelations of climategate and the implications for science as a whole.
Did anyone ever figure out who Harry is?
If Fred West had been brought to trial in which the police and CPS were excluded, and then asked to select the evidence for the court to examine (pace the practice of the Russell Muir inquiry) he’d still be stalking the streets of Bristol.
With someone like algore supporting the hysteria so much, common sense said there was something not right being pushed. It was nice to see the proof that it is all a big con game.
Thanks to all who pushed this to shed light on it.
It is too bad (for me) I did not discover this site until afterwords to see the real science.
Where’s “Bulldust” today? Does he get an WUWT award?
“We hereby release a random selection of correspondence, code, and documents”
“Random selection” suggests to me that the 60Mb is a subset of the total liberated information. I suspect Jones is dreading the thought of more emails being made public. I wonder at the whistle-blower’s tactics in releasing only part of the information.
Reminds me of how I feel after watching “All The President’s Men” again. Slightly soiled.
Well,
When I posted those three mails at CA, having read the entire stack, I tried to pick mails that were emblematic of the issues at play, issues still at play.
1. Moral character
2. The science.
3. Science and politics.
upon reflection I might pick some different emblems, I was pretty dang tired by that point, but they hold up pretty well .
Eagerly awaiting another random selection. Harry half-promised it to us, didn’t he?
Happy Climategate, Anthony!
It seems surreal. The other camp has a bomb go off in their midst, and they just carry on like some dill-brained comic character – clothes in rags, wisps of smoke, hair askew – but too thick to understand what’s happened.
One year down the track, congratulations on having the guts perspicacity to set it loose.
Steve McIntyre’s site has been very quiet recently…….is he working on something perhaps? 🙂
REPLY: No, not that I’m aware of. I think he’s just a bit toasted. Running a website like his (and like this one) and keeping up the fight over the years can be very wearing down. There are days that I struggle keeping up too. – Anthony
…and the East Anglia police and other law enforcement folks
still have been unable or unwilling to find a “criminal”
or even announce that a “crime” was committed with the
acquisition, release, and publishing of the CRU emails, programs,
and data files.
It’s almost as mysterious as the murder of Dr. David Kelly…
which involved other ministies and investigative hearings with
lots of “Sirs” and no definative conclusion.
The Crack Hack Calvary arrived just in time.
Then came the miracle winter.
Then Al Gore defense collapsed and he retreated after cancelling his Copenhagen speeches; losses about $300K.
Then Copenhagen Collapsed. The Armies of Global Warming Alarmists have been wondering the Earth searching of answers.
It’s Sunspots, Stupid!
Chuck
Happy anniversary all!!!
Thank God almighty for Russian servers.
The souls who exposed this global con need to be honored officially at some date.
Perhaps a Peace Prize for Hoax Busting.
Wouldn’t it be nice if on the 1yr anniversary the hacker realeased more from that file?
Yep, how well I remember. It’s amazing how little has changed since then, unfortunately.
I remain disappointed that no MSM reporter picked this story up and ran with it. I can only assume that it was immediately labelled as a hot potato and best left alone.
However, the wider implications of the leak are still alive and well. There are many many miles left in this incident.
A by-product of the leak has been an amazing demonstration of the power of the establishment to minimise the damage. Five enquiries have circumlocuted what appeared to me to be prima facia evidence of malfeasance over an extended period of time and yet, there they are, still conducting business as usual. Jaw dropping.
It seems that there is still a lot of to do if these so called scientists are to be brought to book.
Natsman says:
November 19, 2010 at 7:49 am
Shame someone can’t find some more incriminating evidence, as most of last years has been carefully whitewashed and swept under the carpet…
The day is not over yet…
From what I can see, lessons learned:
1. Media complicity: 100%. Other than occasional op-ed pieces, I have yet to see any media outlet properly expose Climategate for what it is.
2. Science does not matter. As my own research has shown, people simply don’t understand what is going on and are forced to decide things based on “trust”. It makes sense to trust “scientists”, or NASA. It doesn’t make sense to trust al-Gore. The hypothesis of AGW and “tipping points” has been credibly disproved, but this all ceased to be about science a long, long time ago.
3. Polarization. After seeing this, many fence-sitters that I know hopped off the fence and into the “skeptic” side. Unfortunately, as many appear to have jumped to the other side, seeing the email participants as “victims”.
4. Uncertainty. Maybe the biggest thing exposed by Climategate is uncertainty. We’ve been led to believe for years that AGW is a slam-dunk, irrefutable, self-evident. The emails (and Harry) demonstrated that behind the scenes were a bunch of people who really don’t know what is going on.
5. Politics. I can’t think of any other scientific endeavor that is as politically active as this group. I also can’t think of anything as repulsive as people supposedly in search of the truth trying to “advise” on policy. String theory didn’t result in testimony before Congress. Those people who really don’t know what is going on have never ceased to claim they do.
6. Whitewashing. I doubt that many WUWT readers are surprised, but still for many it’s their first direct exposure to seeing a whitewash up close. Investigations magically exonerate participants, even though their guilt is clearly shown by their own words. Accused are in charge of investigating themselves. It’s pathetic, but not surprising.
7. Religion. Although I know for some this is a touchy subject, it is very valid to compare AGW believers to religious followers. They are more than willing to find proof of their beliefs anywhere they look, and refuse to listen to anything that might tear down their belief system.
Personally, I’ve been very entertained this last year. I never believed Climategate would bust the whole thing open, but I was hoping for more effect than we’ve seen. In fact, I see this as an exceptional demonstration of how well financed people and organizations are able to shape opinions and beliefs, even in the presence of clear evidence that something is completely wrong.
Also, it has exposed a tactic that I’ve observed repeatedly in politics: accuse your opponent of what you are doing… ie. the claim that skeptics are financed by some deep-pocketed special interest, when in actual fact it’s the AGW side that has near-infinite pockets and aggressive interference.
At the very least, Climategate helped to open the door to the DEBATE that would have indicated a healthy quest for knowledge. For a long time “the debate is over”, and “all scientists except a few flakes agree” were the mantras.
It’s such a shame that the true lesson to be learned is still not being learned.
Political agenda must be divorced from all publicly funded science. This conflict is little different from that which encourages separation of church and state.
A year later and another tropical resort hosted conference — or is this one at Cancun more like state-sponsored extortion?
Meanwhile, thanks to some anonymous “leaker”, the hoped-for successor to Kyoto remains elusive. Didn’t do it at Copenhagen. Perhaps they’ll tack on a few years to Kyoto (put it on life support) till a new agreement can be hammered out.
Climategate was my motivation for spending the holidays processing the raw, daily data from NCDC. Granted, I only worked up the land based measures, but we live on land 😉
http://justdata.wordpress.com
Despite the inherent UHI influence on the readings, there was only minor warming in the Arctic. The rest of the world temps are quite flat.
Well Anthony, that was a bold move a year ago. Who knows where it might have led.
But I think the way WUWT handled it; and the traffic that visited here subsequently, blazed a new path forward; both to expose the decay of the “Scientific Method”, and alert a lot of the general public to the degree to which they are being maniplated by unseen agendas; or agendae as the case may be.
>c-R< on the other hand chose to allow the keystone to fall out of their arch; and headed them on the path to historical oblivion.
Congratulations Anthony; and those others who pitched into this revelation.
As a reminder of how some of the drama played out; in lieu of the monday morning explanatorium. The "scientists" may have been just behaving like a bunch of naughty boys, as they wouold have us believe; BUT remember that a good many software coding people pointed out for us, just where in the naughty boys' toolbox, could be found the instruments that could be used to "hide the decline", and commit other mayhem.
No they didn't prove such malfeasance occurred; just showed where the tools were to do that whenever one wanted to.
Generally speaking the MSM still act as if this never happened. As the first story today points out, our rulers are carrying on the same as before.
And we’re still not done.
It is sometimes a weary task
or tempting, in the after-glow to bask
but still it remains ahead
to fight until alarmism is dead
the contest is not yet won
and great distance to go until we’re done
the struggle was never for the meek
it is principled science that we seek
yesterday’s economist, he did show
the true enemy we all know
last year, a date for history
how this continues is a great mystery.
so each day against warmists rigor
do we fight with renewed vigor
it is tempting, at times to take a rest
and do the things we enjoy best
But we have promises to keep,
And miles to go before we sleep
My sincerest apologies to R. Frost
So where are we 12 months on?
Our great learned societies realised just how little there was to the evidence, that it was manipulated along with the peer review process, as was the IPCC AR4 assessment, that there was even evidence of inventing data and further evidence of attempts at thwarting the free dissemination of data and codes in direct contravention of one of the first principles of the scientific method, that of reproducibility and/or falsification. So humiliated were these societies that they had been so utterly hoodwinked as to the veracity of the so called science that enmasse, they withdrew their support for the “consensus” and called for a return to fundamental scientific principles in dealings with climate science and for the restoration of a healthy sceptical scientific community. Heads rolled at the very top of these once great organisations for their direction of policy and political interference.
The MSMs eventually picked up the stories and their investigative journalists started delving into the scandal to reveal yet many more skeletons, and whipping up a general hysteria among the general public because of the lies that had been told to them in order to justify policies which caused the rape of our countryside with thousands of ugly wind turbines, which caused the numbers of people in fuel poverty to increase by five fold in only a couple of years and which caused many energy dependant jobs to be permanently exported.
Following this general up swelling of discontent among the population, our political leaders eventually threw in the towel, realising that their new source of taxation had been foiled along with an even more useful source of secondary income for themselves and their families. They called for an unbiased and objective judicial review of the whole sorry process of climate science and its associated political leveraging following which they reversed all their earlier edicts and returned to the process of trying to direct policy for the enrichment of all classes of society.
This is where we are now, one year on, isn’t it?
I still have a press-release re:Climategate hanging on my office door with my added annotation:
“SOMETHING JUST HIT THE FAN”
I earnestly hope Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner (Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming) and Joe Barton (Committee on Energy and Commerce) will hold the necessary hearings to expose what’s been going on with US tax $$$ in the name of “climate research”.
Time to cut through the “FOIA dance”, put people under oath and penalty of perjury, and ask the inconvenient questions about manipulation of data, collusion in peer review, suppression of non-CAGW research, and unprofessional liaisons with green-leaning reporters, enviro organizations/foundations, and the Hollywood/media cliques.
Climategate is a major black eye for a bunch of climate researchers, and unfortunately, many of the rest of us scientists get tarred with the same brush. It’s time for us to help clean up this mess by focusing on geologic, cryologic, climatological evidence (verifiable facts) of natural cycles and processes of change.
I was not surprised at all by anything in the emails. I expect many labs and departments around the world had disk failures in the days after ClimateGate and lost all of their archived inboxes.
…I’m for one curious what’s in the rest of the emails that were supposedly stolen from CRU…I suspect Darrell Issa will figure it out with help from the blogosphere which will happily provide guidance in the questioning of certain figures…
The liberated (where’s the proof of hacking?) e-mails made a BIG splash in the AGW pond and the ripples are still spreading. Good.
After one year, they haven’t said who did it and we still don’t know who Harry is. It’s not such a big place; there are a limited number of people who could be in the Harry lineup. IMHO, this had to be an inside job, by someone more technically competent than the the usual UEA bigshots. IMHO, they know who did it, but they can’t say, either because it would embarrass them deeply or because he has some even worse dirt on them. This is an even more incredible story than the Nixon tapes, but the media still willfully misses the point.
Time to remember….:
An email from Mr.Jones and “Mannmade Hockeystick”
Me and Mr Jones, we got a thing going on
We both know that it´s wrong
But it´s much too strong to let it go now
We meet ev´ry day at the same cafe
Six-thirty I know he´ll be there
Holding hands, making all kinds of plans
While the jukebox plays our favorite song
Me and Mr, Mr. Jones, Mr Jones, Mr Jones
We got a thing going on
We both know that it´s wrong
But it´s much too strong to let it go now
We gotta be extra careful
That we don´t build our hopes too high
Cause he´s got her own obligations and so do I
Me, me and Mr, Mr Jones, Mr Jones, Mr Jones
Well, it´s time for us to be leaving
And it hurts so much, it hurts so much inside
And now he´ll go his way, I´ll go mine
But tomorrow we´ll meet at the same place, the same time
Me and Mr Jones, Mr Jones, Mr Jones
after seeing what was in the climategate documents i spent the whole of 10 minutes on google discovering the fraud behind CAGW…10 whole minutes it took.
until then i was a “lukewarmer”
I have it on good word that there are going to be some permanent seats for the likes of
Lisa Jackson, et.al. in front of congress…
As an aside, if ever a movie was made of the Hadley/CRU mess I nominate John
Cleese as “Harry”-I can see him beating the keyboard….
Congrats to the person on WUWT who coined the phrase Climategate! it went worldwide bud!!
Anthony, thanks for all that you do.
Just hit your tip jar.
_________________________________________
From one year ago:
Tom in Texas says: November 19, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Bill Marsh (18:53:03) : Where do you see this statement?
Bill, Steven was the first to break this story on CA. Below is his comment:
101 steven mosher:
November 19th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Found this on the airVent.
Posted on Lucia. This is huge.
Lucia,
Found this on JeffIds site.
http://noconsensus.wordpress.c…..en-letter/
It contains over 1000 mails. IF TRUE …
1 mail from you and the correspondence that follows.
And, you get to see somebody with the name of phil jones say that he would rather destroy the CRU data than release it to McIntyre.
And lots lots more. including how to obstruct or evade FOIA requests. and guess who funded the collection of cores at Yamal.. and transferred money into a personal account in Russia
And you get to see what they really say behind the curtain..
you get to see how they “shape” the news, how they struggled between telling the truth and making policy makers happy.
you get to see what they say about Idso and pat micheals, you
get to read how they want to take us out into a dark alley, it’s stunning all very stunning. You get to watch somebody named phil jones say that John daly’s death is good news.. or words to that effect.
I don’t know that its real..
But the CRU code looks real
I well remember the day this story broke–I was working with some cohorts and I turned to them after reading it and pronounced that AGW was dead. They didn’t believe me then but I still believe it now, primarily because the movers and shakers have recently and openly stated their nefarious motivations behind this whole sordid affair–redistribution of wealth and promulgation of socialism through global governance.
The enemy of freedom-loving people everywhere has been exposed.
I nominate Anthony Watts and Steve McIntyre for the investigative journalism award of the year.
Alexa documents how WUWT traffic tripled ~overnight due to ClimateGate and then sustained double its previous 2009 traffic. Running neck and neck in 2009, ClimateAudit.org and Realclimate.org similarly tripled in traffic. Then ClimateAudit.org settled down to double the traffic of RealClimate.org.
People are voting with their “fingers”.
I remember that day as it was today! I grabbed the files, and with a computer friend of mine I made some quick search and compiled a list of the most interesting phrases in the email. In the last year, it is by far the most viewed page in my blog:
http://ecotretas.blogspot.com/2009/11/rolo-compressor-de-verdades.html
The same friend understood the computing language also, and made some other interesting discoveries in the code:
http://ecotretas.blogspot.com/2009/11/bugs-do-climategate.html
Those were very interesting times!
Ecotretas
Google Earth 52° 37′ 18.38″ N, 1° 14′ 18.8″ E
I can’t help myself. I love Henry V:
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Climategate Day.’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say ‘These wounds I had on Climategate Day.’
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Anthony Watts, Bishop Hill, the woman with the blackboard
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Climategate Day shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers
Phil Jones did recently refer to the as yet unpublished Climategate emails, the balance held back from the server of Tomsk. So there is a second helping coming, and while we wait, a sword of Damocles for the warmers.
*sigh* One of the great moments in the history of science! Thanks, Anthony, this was the signal event that brought me to your fine blog WUWT.
Upon downloading & reading the files off the Russian server, I searched them for Sen. Jim Inhofe’s name, which I found in several emails. I was a campaign volunteer for Jim’s first run for Congress in 1984 & still know a few of his folks.
On Nov. 24, 2009, I humbly offered this suggestion to the Senator through his staff:
“Jim should have the entire collection of emails read into the record of the US Senate…”
He did me one better with the Minority Report!! Way to go, Jim!!
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/02/23/climategate-minority-report/
Talk about “tipping points”….this was the moment when the earth moved under the feet of the CAGW crowd. What a fascinating year!! Thanks to all, Chuck the DrPH
Yes, they were interesting (and educational) times, before Climategate I didn’t think much about the reasons for the great big new taxes but when Climategate occurred I took an interest and since then have become a skeptic or denialist or whatever the current word is
Perhaps what Politicisation has done in the name of science is demonstrate that there are inquiring and courageous scientific and other minds that do not close
And where’s Bulldust (I think he is Australian as I am) and the coiner of the phrase ‘Climategate’
Happy anniversary everyone, thank you Anthony for a wonderful site
RobB says:
November 19, 2010 at 8:39 am
“Steve McIntyre’s site has been very quiet recently…….is he working on something perhaps? :)”
Yes that’s interesting.
Nigel Calder have also been quiet and he is working on something.
He says so himself:
http://calderup.wordpress.com/2010/10/23/whoosh-not-missing-just-busy/#comments
Most likely the CERN cloud experiment. Keep an eye on that, Anthony.
How about creating a fund to give every member of Congress copies of Climategate: The CRUtape Letters and The Hockey-Stick Illusion?
I’d be happy to contribute.
/Mr Lynn
But where does it go from here? AGW stumbled, but its still walking.
Finally, JR’s acolytes have joined the celebration with praiseworthy statements which contain phrases such as “fossile-funded idiologues,” “zombie myths,” “climate zombies,” “Tea Bags,” and …. well, you get the picture. Drop over if you crave some amusement.
[Reply: Why give such a scurrilous blog extra traffic?]
A year down the line from the scoop
The meeja is yet to do poop
If there was ever a sign
They’ll always hide the decline
It’s their calling a flop a slight droop
I understand what people mean when they compare AGW to “religion,” but I find the comparison to obscure as much as it reveals, partly because the term “religion” means a variety of things to different people. There is no reason, in principle, that science and religion need to be odds, but the worst of the AGWers do not simply adopt AGW as a religion, but as the crudest form of fideism.
Wikipedia:
Fideism is an epistemological theory which maintains that faith is independent of reason, or that reason and faith are hostile to each other and faith is superior at arriving at particular truths (see natural theology). The word fideism comes from fides, the Latin word for faith, and literally means “faith-ism.”
The distinction may strike many as overly niggling, but scientists should appreciate precision of description even for philosophy or religion. Taxonomically then, we might speak of Fideista vulgaris.
I was very busy working offshore and had to grab the odd moment to try to keep up with what was going on. What a day it was.
For Christmas this year I want the second batch of e-mails/data to be released… So, if you are reading… any time you are ready…
Rex murphy hammered in the final nail in the coffin for Canada.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/12/03/you-wouldnt-accept-that-at-a-grade-9-science-fair-cbc-finds-a-moment-of-clarity/
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/11/17/canadian-senate-kills-climate-change-bill/
Oh my they still don’t know if they were hacked per the crazy hippie cultists side or robbed by some intern or in the crowed peep leaking, or just, well, by their own stupidity of shall we say gathering all the data together into one box for preparation of open information for release and then some asshole (OMFG a hacker must be) just went right ahead and released the whole box prematurely, god dammit but what’s the world coming to?
What a bunch of retards, they’ll never get it, the Internet did it! Haha
Happy ClimateGate Day Everyone! It was my big wake up call and I have been catching up ever since. Anthony – keep up the great work!
The polar bears have given up!
http://www.rbb-online.de/panda/sendestrecke_extras/knuts_blog_ist_offline.html
On this anniversary I just want to say thanks to Anthony and all the rest who have contributed to making this such a great site.
The Mass Media has, over the pass year, proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are bought and paid for whores only interested in supporting their “masters” “Professional Journalism” is dead. Long live the Blogosphere.
Happy Anniversary, (although for FOIA, Anthony, Steve, Steve, and I it was the 17th).
It has been a hellava year.
Sorry I haven’t been around as much lately. Meatspace calls.
For the newbies.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/01/13/climategate%E2%80%94the-ctm-story/
Schadow says:
November 19, 2010 at 1:09 pm
Better yet, consider yourself a tool and console yourself with this recent pronouncement:
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 14 November 2010
For those who may not know, Ottmar Edenhofer is the co-chair of the IPCC Working Group III.
Being a tool for global government doesn’t sound good at all. My heart-felt condolences!
It truly was the hack heard round the world.
I liked the “Chink in the Armor” cartoon: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/12/07/monday-funny-4/
enough to print it and put it on the fridge, where it remains.
Happy Anniversary and mega thanks for all the great work by all involved.
The Greatest Scientific Hoax is History was unmasked. All the dominoes have not fallen yet, but Anthony is correct (as usual): the world changed on this date one year ago.
Harry?
http://assassinationscience.com/climategate/1/FOIA/mail/0994083845.txt
In the good old days, I used to keep interesting copies of the dead tree press when they broke big stories. Partly for future generations, as in ‘hey kids, this was history’ and partly that they may become collectable. I have first editions of some newspapers, but what price an original download of the FOIA.zip file, or perhaps importantly, how would one establish the provenance of an original copy in our digital age when history is so easily rewritten, as climate scientists have shown us? Certainly interesting times when the story broke and I was initially reluctant to download it given the wrapper reminded me of an old Amiga problem 🙂
David Archibald says:
November 19, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Phil Jones did recently refer to the as yet unpublished Climategate emails, the balance held back from the server of Tomsk.
Yes, maybe a nice big fat present for Cancun.
David Archibald says:
November 19, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Marvelous, witty and well-said, sir!
And just to re-celebrate the enlightenment of many:
🙂
happy anniversary folks.
2010 has been great entertainment for me, I was sceptical before climategate, and suspected a fake at first, then read the email over christmas. Best Christmas gift in years, my blood pressure went way up, viseral anger overran me, MG4W says it all for me. I’m a denier. Since then its been a great show, every rock that was turned showed the so called science and data was worse than I ever imagined, the Environment Canada admission that the weather station data is in poor health, was just another nail.Ditto the no official data claim from the NZ govt. And the media up here way too funny, CBC has no claim to a billion dollars of tax funding a year, they are not a news channel nor are they credible in any way.Its over ,the masks are off and those still pushing the fraud are zombies or mentally deficient. I will neither forgive or forget the public figures who have pushed this consensus climate catastrophe claptrap they are fools or traitors or both. The election of Republicans to a majority in Congress is the first shovel onto the coffin and the coming congressional hearings will be grand entertainment as well, I hope you can prime the congressmen well, I want to see Mann take the 5th.Thanks to all especially Anthony Watts and Steve McIntyre. I know alarmism is not over but climategate is a gift that is still giving richly a year later God Bless the Liberator of those emails.
Climategate made a big difference.
Before Climategate, scientists in other disciplines were more inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to climate science. Now there are jokes about “climate science” being, well, another thing entirely than regular science.
The MSM has been exposed as propagandist to many more people. And the apologists for the policies have been changing tack to “but it’s a good thing anyway” to “redistribute” wealth (socialists) or stop “dependence on foreign oil” (warmongers) or “overpopulation” (Malthusians). They’re all over the place with the fractured defense of their policies. They’re outed.
Aaargh, what a day in the annals of mermink hunting, brings a tear to this ol’ Jack Tar’s master ‘arpooners eye, still.
Happy mermink day all. (A bit late, but timely, it twas 17th truth made free fer a while).
And there was all that tang at Copenhagen fer free.
Grats to WOOT and associated free moind Blogs.
Jack and Cornelius Walker. Seafarers.
CodeTech says:
November 19, 2010 at 9:15 am
“Also, it has exposed a tactic that I’ve observed repeatedly in politics: accuse your opponent of what you are doing… ie. the claim that skeptics are financed by some deep-pocketed special interest, when in actual fact it’s the AGW side that has near-infinite pockets and aggressive interference.”
That is another thing that has been outed about them.
I don’t think most of the US general public is even aware of ClimateGate and the core issues therein. My wife certainly isn’t, and I’d consider her an average person. No one I work with, or come into contact via work, ever talk about it. My friends only know about it because I told them, but they didn’t seem to grasp the core issues (or didn’t care).
I think this is still an underground battle. Even after CNN had Steve McIntrye on to discuss it, they didn’t know the right questions to ask, and didn’t seem to understand the answers (or chose not to, considering their “Planet in Peril” series, they’re deep into the AGW hype).
Happy anniversary to all! Climategate and WUWT gave me probably three of the happiest months of my adult life. Thank you for your perseverance, Anthony, Charles the Moderator and the other wonderful moderators and contributors here, Steve McIntyre, Ross McKitrick, Bishop Hill and other intelligent skeptics around the world, and the funny and insightful commentators of WUWT.
Nov. 19, 2009 is one of those dates I will always remember. I’ve never been in such a state of exhilaration while doing boring archival work… a strange combination indeed, but I could barely concentrate on my work the next day, as I was raring to discover what new revelations the Moshpit and others had uncovered.
The discourse re global warming has definitely and irreversibly been altered. Anthony warned last year that Climategate was just the beginning, and that there would be a long struggle ahead. All of you who think that things should have moved further ahead seem to forget the stranglehold that the CAGW people had on the media and how deeply mired they were and continue to be in vested interests. Such things are not undone in a flash. But scientists have noticed, and even though this is more a political movement than a scientific one, in our current civilization, science provides the ultimate ‘moral’ justification for policy. With the slow but sure spread of recognition of the falsity and base self-interest of CAGW ‘science’, the political foundations will falter. Thank God for the US as this is most likely to unravel with greatest speed in the land of free speech.
Anthony, I am going to hit the tip jar in thanks. Please use my donation to do something for yourself and your wife. You both deserve a treat (and a break). What a year you have had! I hope Mrs. Watts is on her way to a strong recovery.
I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to re-apply the scientific method; this was the moment when the overheated rhetoric of the greens was greeted by cool dismissal by the masses; this was the moment when we embraced empiricism and realized that simulation is no substitute and restored skepticism to its rightful place in scientific thought.
Here’s to hope and change.
Please to remember
Nineteenth of November
Member-dismemberment day:
Climate’s “Gates” came tumbling down
Their keepers tumbling after.
(I was lucky enough to make the first post on the famous thread on that date. I forget what I said, probably nothing more memorable than “hmm. “)
I spent many a late night, up till all hours of the morning, keeping up with the expanding coverage online of this.
I sincerely hope i’m wrong but in light of the blatant whitewash of the CRU investigations, and the business as usual attitude of the warmist brigade I have an uneasy feeling that the hacker has been secretly identified and unfortunately has been eliminated. The MMGW industry has simply grown too big and there is too much at stake.
I remember sitting up virtually all night when that news came in. I was praying, too, that it might work in the best way for all – because I knew what hot emotions it would release. While I’m aware of Phil Jones playing loudly and inexcusably “poor me”, I don’t want to forget either that he did have death threats.
Here are the exact URL’s for those wishing to remember the exact form in which the breaking news came forth. I think these original sources are important to check – just as with all scientific evidence – because to me they still give a loud hint as to how they came through.
Jeff Id’s website
Steve McIntyre “A miracle just happened”
Warren Meyer – often forgotten
Now while I am a passionate devotee of Scientific Method, I am also aware that its practice by scientists has often fallen short, and often this shortfall has been with the most precious happenings in Science.
In a totally scientific way, I know that miracles do happen. I have checked the evidence, from the best sources. I also know the bad sources, and the bad arguments. The equivalent of John Cook’s Skeptical Science.
One factor of miracles is that they can happen at a low point, when nothing but a miracle would suffice; they may help through the low point but not solve the problem totally. The Angel of Mons is a case in point.
I personally think, still, that FOIA was a miracle, comparable to the appearance of the Angel of Mons. The whole objective lucidity and compassion is that of the angelic realms, rather than that of any human being, the best of whom would have been extremely keyed up at that point.
FOIA took us through a low point that could not have been survived without a miracle. But there is still work to do. I believe that for the Long Haul, we still need to collect together a body of science that all skeptics agree, basically, and that deals with the whole of Climate Science basics and the refutation of AGW’s serial refutation of “skeptics’ issues” like John Cook’s Skeptical Science, RealClimate, BBC, etc etc all do.
I don’t think it is enough to keep on catching news. I think that skeptics need to go back to the science basics, and put them forth in forms that are easy for anyone to grasp. I’ve started a wiki, for this purpose. It’s under wraps, of necessity, at this point. Too important NOT to keep under wraps, IMHO. If you want to participate in this, please email me – click my name, etc.
I remember Bernstein and Woodward’s original ‘Gate’, for which, weren’t they awarded the Pulitzer Prize? So how do we go about getting the PP Committee to recognise Anthony et al? I can’t think of a more deserving bunch of (real!!) journalists.
Congrats to all involved. I so recall the sheer incredulity I felt as I read the original posts a year ago, including reading pretty much all the harry.readme file. It took hours, but was sooooo worth-while.
You said it. It has to suck to be one of the hockey team members or any Climategate celebrity, waiting for that other shoe to drop. I remember that early morning as this story unfolded and for about two weeks after, a calm uneasy atmosphere at many of the warmie blogs (-cough- Gavin, -cough- Tamino). They seemed to be acting like the dog that crapped on the nice rug waiting in the corner for their inevitable comeuppance. I got the feeling they were expecting more emails and stuff to surface at any moment, which IMHO means there really is more to come. So to our Whistleblower friend: please make it so! Put these misbehaving
dogs, I mean Scientists out of their misery.Well said! Anthony/WUWT, McIntyre/CA, BH, Mosher and also Lubos/TRF busted their butts on this story and deserve all this praise. I think they were all up for like 24 hours straight reading, processing, dissecting, posting, linking, the facts of the story. I know that we, on the receiving end of these blogs put in countless hours reading and downloading, which pales in comparison to what these bloggers and moderators had to do. So, Pulitzers all around! Hey that sounds like some kind of beer, okay then, beers all around, Bottoms Up!
And finally most of all: a gigantic THANK YOU to our friendly neighborhood Whistleblower, whoever they may be. You deserve, I mean really really REALLY deserve a Nobel Prize, a Pulitzer or at least Time Man of the Year (not that these awards carry any weight with me anymore, but I’m sure someone out there thinks they are meaningful). Maybe we can prod James Inhofe to press for a Congressional Medal of Honor instead. Okay, I am kidding of course (we reserve this for the bravest usually deceased soldiers!) but wouldn’t this cause massive 10:10 spontaneous combustion of the AGW Climate Cult members!
Mermink hunters hunt bad ideals, it is never personal the most prettiest part of us is hardship.
I read this blog, you hunt people not bad ideas, You fail in the harpoon of survival, you see people and not bad practice.
Our history is built on discovery, not people or politcs or tribes.
Our species is built on better truth.
The law is absolute, there is no law only discovery.
In science fiction people talk about Law.
In Mathematics there is no law.
In mathematic statement the word is axiom, law until better law, progression.
In mathematics, there is no law.
a = a is a symbolic logic statement, never been disproven, but it is not a law.
It is what is called axiomatic.
Math and science hang on this simple statement.
In Symbolic Logic this is called the Existential equation.
It no longer has a symbol, it’s symbol is the backward 3.
I once wore the yellow with pride over my shoulder.
Never more.
Math and logic went political and gutless.
They know baseline, they went for tenure.
a = a is the foundation of math called Algebraic statement
a being existent.
Able to be measured. Not estimated. Algorithmic statement, however is different, it is approximational to existential observation future and therefore relies on divergence and must track and compensate and if it does not do this the algorithic process has failed.
So on two basic principles the CAGW failed, it failed existentially ie observation, it failed to adjust algorithmically and failed again.
Muskrat Love.
[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBYV_7a0FQs ]
The hardest bit about being numerical you know the numbers,
You make a change you know.
At the end of the day man will not descend into darkeness again, not without a debate.
My Name is
John Van Krimpen.
A316558
B.App Sci Maths.
On behalf of me and me dad. Got an issue find a [snip] ~jove, mod
It seems likely the leaker was Mr. Ian (Harry) Harris: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/190801/re-cru-scandal/mark-steyn
Perhaps he was just fed up with the whole situation.
To the tune of Frank Valli “Big Girls Don’t Cry”
Hide that decline, hide that decline
Temperatures no longer ri-i-i-se (they don’t rise)
Models say it’s otherwise (I’m rather surprised)
We better find some trick (my oh my)
To hide that decline (let’s use bristlecone pine)
(Silly man) Told my friends that temps were up
(Silly man) Lone tree in Yamal matched that stuff
(Silly man) Michael, man, so big and wise
Said “Hide that decline”!
Warmistas try and try (ignore UHI)
Fund my research or the earth will fry (and seas will rise)
Taxpayers are such fools (bunch of tools)
Fund research for me and you (IPCC junkets too)
(Silly CRU) Shame on you the public said
(Silly CRU) Turned the decline on its head
(Silly CRU) Hockey Stick shown far and wide
You hid that decline
Let’s ignore FOI-I-I (you wanna know why?)
The data’s m-i-i-i-ne (you taxpayer swine)
Hide that decline
Hide that decline
(Repeat to fade)
I am proud to say that not only did The National Post (my favourite newspaper) cover the Climategate story in full, both then and in follow-ups, but that they had already been on the case of the global warming scam long before the emails came to light. Since 2006, Lawrence Solomon had been writing a regular series called “The Deniers” in which he showcased the actual credentials of various scientists dismissed by the AGW crowd as heretics and crackpots.
For my part, after several weeks of silence from the rest of the media, I used the opportunity to introduce the anti-warming perspective to my analytical writing class under the guise of not trusting the media to report important information. We looked at the actual e-mails, compared the importance of this leak with that of the John Kerry Swift boat controversy and the amount of media coverage given to both.
That semester turned out several dozen newly sceptical young people.
Jeff Alberts;
Just nod sadly to them and say, “Well, if you don’t know about Climategate, then your opinions are uninformed, and don’t matter.” And turn away.
>:)
Keith G;
Not tea bags! Scans pretty well.
But I kinda resent you making me do all that nasal singing in my head! >:(
If you can take a bit of humour while sitting down, RC has decided to comment on the anniversary. Obviously they still have not read the e-mails, as one year later it is the same people still in fantasyland.
Colin Porter says:
November 19, 2010 at 10:01 am
So where are we 12 months on?
OK, Colin, I am so stealing that to pass on to many in need of updating. Thanks for that cogent and ultra-accurate summary!
I was, come to think of it, just watching a NatGeo prog on Herculanium, showing examples of skulls of those touched directly by 500°C pyroclastic gasses. Boiled brains blasted out of skulls, either through a split in the top or by explosive defacing. I’d better stand well back.
>>:-)
Knowing much more today than what we knéw 1 year ago, those e-mails sound to me even more damning. It’s amazing that commissions could be so corrupt as to sweep it under a rug.
Can’t resist popping in to say hello. I am alive and well, and I posted on 19 November (Aussie time). I put on my “Bulldust” polo shirt (it has the Bulldust logo spray painted on the back … long story) and went to the local pub with the missus and had a dinner and couple of pints.
Yes I am Australian (by birth), but have held Dutch and British passports in the past. Somehow this continent feels like home, even though I left when I was 2 years old and the rest of my family resides in Europe.
As a bit of a teaser I shall link a photo of the past (after a run with the Boulder chapter of the HHH in Colorado one fine, if somewhat blizzardy, morning on 1 january):
http://www.angelfire.com/mi/birdman/bh3.html
I am the one with the T-shirt (soaked from running through the blizzard) and running shorts. The picture is suitably blurry to maintain a degree of anonymity 🙂
CodeTech: I’m with you, but don’t assume all people with a religious faith cannot be scientists, or can be sceptical. Many key scientists both past and present have a deep faith in God. It should also not be presumed that faith and science are mutually exclusive, they are not. It is just not the case that you can equate those with a religious faith and AGW followers.
I have a faith in God, yet I am deeply and actively sceptical of the AGW line, and have written many times to both my (UK) MP (a Cabinet Minister) and to Chris Huhne (Energy & Environment Minister) voicing opposition to the AGW line, the green policies and the unjustified taxes resulting from them, the very bad and hugely wasteful decision to promote the folly of wind power, and how a new and very promising nuclear process, LFTR, should be given a chance and not dismissed out of hand. All I’ve had back from Chris Huhne was a departmental minion writing to re-iterate the AGW line. Very unsatisfactory!
I have also written to one of those who have just given testimony to the USA’s Senate House Committee for Science & Technology, Energy and Environment subcommittee concerning the very recent “Rational debate on Climate Change”, a biologist, expressing my utter amazement that after recounting his many observed changes in the natural landscape, both vegetation and wildlife, and the many mitigation/adaptation programs run, he suddenly blamed everything on human carbon based emissions. I suggested for one area under his umbrella, Yellowstone National Park, that maybe the giant and growing magma chambers beneath it might have some effect. He dismissed me without any rational argument, dismissed the senator as ignorant, simply said he believed the AGW science and that there’s no solar influence, yet described himself as “pretty smart”. I’ll leave folk to make up their own minds.
I’ve also entered into a dialog with a retired member of the Methodist Conference (their equivalent of the General Synod, their governing body) saying that they (the Methodist Church) should not blindly accept the IPCC’s AGW line and pass a resolution at next years AGM to proclaim that “emitting CO2 is sinful”!!
So, whilst the AGW believers may show characteristics of ‘religious fervour’ akin to some religious cults or sects, they are very different animals, and to tar many quite normal and everyday people who have a faith with the same brush is doing the AGW pushers too much service.
Where a faith belief has a very strong relation with the sceptical line is that of justice. I want those who have deliberately laid this heavy burden of untruth, outright lies and scientific malfeasance on us brought to justice so that those whose lives have been worsened or ruined can be made better (and that includes Cabinet Ministers). I think initially of the many people now retired or soon to be with devaluing/devalued pensions who are faced with massively rising energy bills (taxes) for just heating their homes to simply survive.
I remember the release of the emails, and what it meant to me.
Although I’m disappointed the CAGW alarmists didn’t pack it in by now, I’m heartened by the tremendous blow an unknown hero struck, for Truth, Justice and the American Way (I know, that phrase is usually intended as sarcasm or humor. I intend it as neither). After that unknown hero’s mighty blow, Mr. Watts and many others worked their patooties off to give us content and more content.
I learned of bloggers I’d never heard of — the wonderful Jo Nova, the skilled writer Donna LaFramboisie (sp?) and so many others. I came to understand why JR is universally reviled among sentient beings, and why GS is seen as such a supercilious little busybody.
I spent the entire holiday season last year, devouring every scrap of information I could find. It’s been a wild ride and it’s not nearly over. This battle is one we dare not lose, for losing means we pass on horror upon horror to future generations. That isn’t a given to every skeptic, but it’s a fact in my mind.
I send out a heartfelt thanks to you, Anthony, and to all those others who’ve heartened me with their fierceness, their willingness to engage the CAGW tools, look them in the eyes and give them what for. I can’t begin to express what this means to me. It means I’m a little less afraid of dying now, because my unborn great-grandkids now have a better chance at a normal life, and the possibility of opportunities we’ve come to take for granted. If that sounds like drama, I apologize, but again, it’s my true thought on this subject. Thank you, bloggers, scientists, commenters all.