Reader DJ writes in Tips & Notes:
Since becoming a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists when I found out all you needed was a valid credit card, my curiosity about who and what they really are has spiked.
Chief Executive Kevin Knobloch makes $229,000/yr, and isn’t even a scientist. He has a masters in public administration. UCS has a staff of 121 with an AVERAGE salary of $92,000/yr. 15% of their income goes to fundraising and administration.
$5.4Mil, or roughly 1/3 of their program budget is spent on climate, and $460,000 is spent on “legislative”. (Lobbying?)
I’m now receiving emails from them soliciting donations, in the same format as the save-the-whales/puppies/children/ pleas.
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Seems to me like just another NGO with policy predicated on distributing FUD. Gotta love the way they combine global warming and nuclear war in the header. – Anthony
DJ your the man,who would have thought,incredible.
What’s their strap line? I can’t quite read it.
“Citizens & Stalinists for Environmental Solutions”
Wouldn’t it be good to found a Union of Sceptical Scientists and Engineers with chapters around the globe and competent to comment on scientific issues without leftist or similar bias ?
So, for $25 I can become a scientist, and a concerned one at that.
You don’t have to donate $25 – there is an option for any other amount.
$So 0.02 would do and would make your point.
old44, AND join a union! I can’t wait until the benefits kick in!
I think this sums up the financial merry-go-round that depends upon AGW being fact and this also explains the hysteria that the warmists resort to when people question their dogma.
I do not pretend to know a great deal about American politics so please don’t shoot me down in flames, Rick Perry one of the Republican candidates for US President has stated that the whole AGW is a scam and scientists are making billions of dollars out of it.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/rick-perry-climate-change-is-a-hoax-drummed-up-by-scientists-looking-to-make-money.php
As far as I am aware he is the only senior politician to question AGW, certainly on our side of the Atlantic, no-one does.
Bigger-than-Madoff scams spiraling infinitely around AGW fears are well designed to funnel money from countless acolytes of the Church of Doom-is-just-around-the-corner-and-it’s-your-fault-so-gimme-a-dollar-and-I-won’t-tell-Gaia… Ugh.
I began to wonder what environmental scientists were up to when two incredibly common plants (also edible) were listed in Oregon and California as “threatened”.
I asked the main scientists at Camp Hancock in Eastern Oregon, “Why are these plants listed that way? They may as well be dandelions – they cover every hill for hundreds of thousands of square miles… What could possibly threaten them?”
His answer, encapsulated, “Don’t trust your lying eyes – trust the scientists, they know what they’re talking about.” I began to wonder if ANYTHING environmentalists said was true from that day on.
This was in 1979 when man was somehow causing glaciers to grow and the New Ice Age to come was just-around-the-corner-and-it’s-all-our-fault… Heh.
Brilliant! What’s in a name, hey? Be sceptical of all words you hear or read.
The word, `scientist’, used to mean something but not so much now.
It has been hijacked by so many left and right political causes, that a majority of Australians do not attach any special `respect’ to the views of supposed `scientists’ anymore. Used car salesmen and journalists are held in less regard, but it has just become a question of degree.
Sad that, if it is true that AGW is a dud theory or even a decent theory that has yet to be verified and is eating up inordinate resources because of self promoters and political hijacking, that we are yet to see the mass revolt of the scientific community that the Bear would expect if, say, the authority of the medical profession was being trashed by a subdiscipline that had headed off down a wrong track.
Where is the pushback? Where, for that matter, is the outrage from the rest of the world’s scientists if AGW is a weak and wrong as this site suggests?
Face of the sun?
http://youtu.be/X67VMG3D6Vg
This is even cheaper than the diploma mills. Twenty-five bucks and you’re a Scientist; a Concerned one at that.
(Act now and you’ll also receive a free set of Ginsu knives! Operators are standing by.)
If you look at their annual report you will a long list of donors. It’s all the usual liberal names including a George Soros Foundation.
http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/ucs/annual-report-2010.pdf
I think RICO laws would apply here.
H.R.
For 25 bucks you only get photoshopped pictures of Ginsu knives that look like they are cutting through a bolt. For 50 bucks you get a set of virtual Ginsu Knives that will dance on your computer screen.
I think I’ll start my own union of concerned whatever…I could earn a mighty salary for doing squat and lying about it, don’t you think? Wouldn’t have to fly to Kurdistan anymore, or endure airports and 55-degree (C)(adjusted for AGW) temperatures any more. What a concept. I have the P-pal donate-button code somewhere….let’s see…oh here it is….
Why are you surprised that the appellation “scientist” (not even euphonious, at that) is available to the concerned for a dime? Nothing new in recent years.
David Cameron would like to employ an American to help the UK. I also would like Cameron to employ an American – Rick Perry. To give Cameron a few wake up ideas about what to do with any so called Green Initiative. Scrap the lot for a start.
My credit/debit cards are not going anywhere near the Union of Concerned Scientists.
If you join this union, what will you do when they go on strike to demand greater health care benefits to cover the coming expenses from (C)AGW-caused and acerbated illness? What payments can you expect from their strike fund? Is it possible to refuse to do anything scientific until the strike ends?
Jeff Masters hardest hit! LMAO
I looked at the UCS website and was fascinated by the promotion for the Model E all electric car. Missing from the page was any information about dealers, warranties, price, etc, the kind of things you’d want to know about if you actually wanted to buy one. The claim that the buggy has a 100 mile range neglected to mention use of accesories like heating and air conditioning that certainly impact energy use. Where I live in the upper midwest, outdoor temperatures can be -20F in winter. Seems to me the range might be reduced considerably. All of which leads me to conclude there is no Model E in a production sense, just a fancy jpeg they put on the website.
UCS was primarily anti-nuke in its earlier days, which means it was always a Soviet front.
Still is. Only difference is that Soviet fronts used to be run from Russia. Since 1989 they’ve been run from Washington DC, which requires less translation.
Manfred’s idea is good, but problematic. Any organized group that tries to lobby in DC ends up being Soviet. It’s an unavoidable contagion. Only way to stay truthful is to stay disorganized. (See O’Sullivan’s Law.)
Great idea, but I’d suggest “The Union of Rational Scientists.”
/Mr Lynn
Oh dear. Pick an Armageddon, any Armageddon. We’re all doomed unless you give us your money …
They have what is called a “scientific integrity calendar”, with twelve cartoons for what passes for humor in the wonderous koolaid-inspired world of greenies. Here are this years’ offerings, with a chance for people to vote for their favorite, to go on the cover. Note the poor, valiant, beleagured “scientists”, and the way they portray the opposition. Not only do they not understand science, but they don’t seem to have the slightest inkling of what humor is. Fun, but have barf bag handy.
http://www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/science_idol/2011-science-idol-contestants.html?autologin=true
TBear: “Where is the pushback? Where, for that matter, is the outrage from the rest of the world’s scientists if AGW is a weak and wrong as this site suggests?”
When the system — encompassing all the institutional “authorities”, the highest “experts”, themselves — is not just slightly off-track but fundamentally broken (and it is, suborned by an incompetent “consensus”), individual scientists outside the system can only tell the truth as far as they are able, and it is up to the masses to listen and pick out the real truth, if they can. The layman is thrust upon the (to him/her) barren shore at the real limit of human knowledge, all the while being continually assured he is safe in the lush paradise of settled science. As a competent independent scientist, I have uncovered what I know to be the definitive truth (but only so far as to disprove the consensus belief in the greenhouse effect, not to have all the answers on climate that others demand, like children); but the masses don’t tune in to it, they can’t focus upon it long enough to learn it, in the cacophony of self-interested debate that inundates every medium of communication. Largely, they don’t WANT to know, they don’t want to be bothered; that is just one of the symptoms of the general breakdown, with a religious belief in the “consensus” (among the more activist masses) being another (and the religious belief in “peer review” as magical universal corrector being another).
All you have to do is click on my name above, if you want the simple truth (and no, I don’t make anything off of visitors to my blog site — it is a blogger.com site, and if you go there you may note that Google doesn’t even bother to run ads on my site any more, that’s how rarely people visit).
I had a close look at this outfit a couple of years ago. IMHO, it should not be permitted to have ‘scientist’ in the name as the membership seems to consist entirely of wide-eyed warming evangalists with a very definite left-wing agenda.
If we all join, can we vote against their next stupid pronouncement?
What a miserable on bunch of curmudgeons you lot are!. Their logo shows they care about the world AND butterflies. What have you naysayers got against butterflies? What did the butterflies ever do to you?
Sign up and pay up now!
I want to be concerned!
Andrew Harding says:
August 18, 2011 at 1:46 am
“………. I do not pretend to know a great deal about American politics so please don’t shoot me down in flames, Rick Perry one of the Republican candidates ……….”
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The man has come out swinging. But, Andrew, our politicians are much like everyone else’. What they say on the campaign trail is often markedly different than what they practice in office. I also believe Bachmann could be classified as skeptical, while Romney could be called a luke warmer, in that he’s stated that he believes man has altered the earth’s temp, but he’s not going to make it an issue. I don’t think a Republican could be what one would call an alarmist and win the nomination, so their stated positions may be more pragmatic than anything else. But, I’ve a feeling Perry is truly skeptical but I’m not sure how much each of the named candidates, or any politicians (save for a couple such as Inhofe) have actually looked at the science.
From Murray Grainger on August 18, 2011 at 5:41 am:
Do you really want me to get into that? Let’s just say I don’t have a problem with most butterflies like Monarchs. But that Venus one… Arrgghh!!
A quick scan of their “National Advisory Board” turns up Ed Begley Jr. and Dr. David Suzuki. I couldn’t find Dr. Phil or ET though.
It is admirable the remarkable ingenuity of some people to make money out of thin air. My congratulations, however some of us couldn´t do it because of inherited ethical principles. We use to get money by doing something called “work”. In the case you do not know what “work” means we could illustrate you.
Oh, wow. They had me at “free UCS mouse pad”. I iz a sigh-en-tist!
TBear (Warm Cave in Cold-as-Snow-Sydney) says:
August 18, 2011 at 2:27 am
“The word, `scientist’, used to mean something but not so much now. ………………….
Where is the pushback? Where, for that matter, is the outrage from the rest of the world’s scientists if AGW is a weak and wrong as this site suggests?”
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TBear, there are a few things which need cleared up. First, this site, while being the most prominent science site (See bloggy award in upper right of this page) is by no means the only one. There are hundreds or more likely thousands of blogs that are skeptical in nature. Further, many of the world’s scientists have pusched back and are outraged. Go here for just one list of scientists who affirm their skepticism. http://www.petitionproject.org/
Continuing, if you were to continue to monitor this site, you’d see in the comment section credentialed scientists commenting here. You’ll also see guest posts by credentialed scientists. You’ll see peer-reviewed papers written by skeptical scientists. Just because you may not have witnessed the push back, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Why it isn’t more prominent or noticeable is for a larger discussion and the dynamics involved would be to great to adequately be covered in a single post. Hope that helps.
James
I wouldn’t want to join, even though I once was a “scientist” (I was, honest). They haven’t demonstrated much ambition, going by their website banner. Seems that they want only to “reduce the threat”. How about “eliminate the threat” and take us back to the “good old days” when CO2 was something released on stage at a gig, carbon was the black bit in pencils, DDT was eliminating malaria and scientists were respected for their integrity?
Several decades ago (in the age of “global warming” but before “climate change”), in my birth country of Wales (yes, with the deluded prince), an “independence” group started campaigning for autonomy. One of their ploys was to paint out english versions of place-names and substitute the original welsh, and to paint slogans on bridges. One such I saw read as usual “Free Wales!”. Some wag had more neatly added “With every five gallons!”.
fossil fuels and the companies (and Norway) seem to be doing fine!
17 Aug: Bloomberg: Norway Sees Longer Oil Era as North Sea Find Offers Hidden Giant
Statoil ASA (STL) has made two offshore finds of more than 250 million barrels of oil equivalent in Norway this year. The country’s biggest oil and gas producer yesterday said Aldous Major South and Avaldsnes in the North Sea are part of one “giant” oil field, and among Norway’s top 10 discoveries…
An estimated 60 percent of Norway’s petroleum resources are still underground. The country had an estimated 10 to 16 billion standard cubic meters of oil equivalent in recoverable resources by the end of 2010, according to a report published in September by the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.
“These are enormous areas, with enormous potential, where we can witness incredible things and we already are,” Borten Moe said in an Aug. 9 interview. “The activity level in general is high and the discoveries that are being made are raising the level of interest, creating a virtuous circle.” …
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-16/norway-sees-longer-oil-era-as-north-sea-find-offers-hidden-giant.html
18 Aug: WSJ: Exxon, U.S. Government Duel Over Huge Oil Find
Exxon Mobil Corp. is fighting with the U.S. government to keep control of one of its biggest oil discoveries ever, in a showdown where billions of dollars hang in the balance for both sides.
The massive Gulf of Mexico discovery contains an estimated one billion barrels of recoverable oil, the company says…
The company hadn’t previously disclosed the size of the discovery in what is called the Julia field until it was mentioned in the suit Exxon filed against the Interior Department last week in federal court in Lake Charles, La…
It has also roped in Norway’s Statoil ASA, which owns 50% of the Julia find. Statoil said it filed its own suit Monday in the same Louisiana federal court against the Interior Department to preserve the leases. Exxon is the field’s operator and lease holder…
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903596904576514762275032794.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection
RE: TBear
“Where, for that matter, is the outrage from the rest of the world’s scientists if AGW is a weak and wrong as this site suggests?”
Well, I think Hal Lewis was pretty ticked:
http://instinnovstudy.org/learning_resources/Critical%20Thinking%20and%20Logic/Prof-Hal-Lewis-resignation-letter-from-APS.pdf
Personally, I’m outraged and extremely disappointed in many “scientists” and organizations over this “issue”. I have dropped my membership of several organizations that “drank the kool-aide” and will never support them with my $ again. They’ve irreparably damaged science as a whole with their biased advocacy, arrogance, and self serving misinformation, unforgivable.
The “outrage” is alive and well out here in the real world with the chemists, engineers, biologists, and mathematicians that I know.
Why do think there are so many “skeptics” websites? OUTRAGE!
Just google “climategate”; any scientist worth his salt is outraged upon glimpsing into the world of “climate science” as practiced by an elite few and accepted by way too many gullible masses; many of those masses should have been skeptical scientists but instead all too eagerly accepted the paradigm of CAGW.
Fascinating stuff. Is it even legal to hand out “scientist” titles $25 a piece? I bet China will push the prices down further once they notice this market…
And I thought they were nice smart fellas in white lab coats standing around ringing their hands. Average salary 92,000 times 122 is 11.13 million with 5.4 going to climate change. Guess they couldn’t get NASA jobs.
If they were real scientists they would realize you could reduce the threat of global warming with a nuclear war. That is scientifically thinking. It would make nuclear war good and solve the AGW problem
I wonder if Harry of Harry_Read_Me fame is a member of the UCS? I wouldn’t be a bit surprised–that’s the level at which they operate.
Nuke says:
August 18, 2011 at 5:54 am
I want to be concerned!
Me, too. But I am now concerned by my lack of concern.
Would a ‘scientist’ demand this…? “Tell Congress What You Want for Dinner”, I assume so they can decide for you? https://secure3.convio.net/ucs/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2761&s_src=wac&s_subsrc=actioncenter Included in the ‘scientific jargon’ (their highlite) “Tell Congress that the status quo may be working for agribusiness fat cats, but it is not in the interests of farmers, the environment, or your family’s health!”… then the chain letter protest appears.
Seriously tho’, how good would that look on a resume come job interview time?
Interviewer: I see you are a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists?
Interviewee: Yes Sir, I was accepted and am in good standing.
Interviewer: Quite a credit for a young mann.
Interviewee: Thank you Sir.
And for $50 I can become a Concerned Doctor and a Concerned Engineer too? How about a Concerned Airline Pilot…. I could have sooooo used this in college.
All the best…. Jeff
I smell hypocrit. Let me use the logical extension of this Union of Concerned Scientists:
If you are an arm chair hobbiest, don’t bother debating climate change from the concerned sceptics view point because you have no street cred. BUUUUUUTT, if you are an arm chair hobbiest and want to argue for the cough-cough concerned “consensus” side of the debate, you could be Bugs Bunny as long as you have a valid credit card.
I will make a note of that.
Does the End justify the means?
Harvard hired a new dean for its Business School who has helped develop:
The MBA Oath
20% of new Harvard MBA’s have now taken the MBA Oath in A Promise to Be Ethical in an Era of Immorality
Will Harvard now return to its original foundation n for ethics? “Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae”(latin for “Truth for Christ and the Church.”)
Will climate scientists return to the foundations of science following Francis Bacon’s search for objective truth?
Francis Bacon
Send (2) Greenies box tops and 50 cents to ‘Union of Concerned Scientists’ and we will send you your official AGW science decoder ring and your official scientist union membership card!
“Can I, phulease Momma?”
What really disturbed me into pursuing this was that UCS is constantly referred to as a supporting group of scientists in claims of “scientific consensus”. Even in my local paper they point to UCS and say “See? UCS says global warming is real and man caused” (to paraphrase)
When I read this page and the supporting links I am outraged at the myopic view, the “contrarian” vehemence, and the clear warping of the very science they claim to uphold…
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/
Like the vast majority here, I don’t receive a dime from ‘Evil Big Oil’, or any other fossil-based industry, yet I’m immediately thrown into that classification for saying anything to suggest that the science isn’t settled, and there’s too much we don’t know to be making the claims the IPCC, and UCS, are making. In the very 1st sentence in the link above, “The Earth is warming and human activity is the primary cause.” you’re taken to a link showing the proof. I read that proof.
I don’t believe it. Not that I don’t want to believe it (of course I don’t, to be completely honest), but because there’s insufficient science to back up what is presented. As soon as you show me better proof, I’ll believe it. Till then, I remain skeptical.
Until then, I find UCS’s statements offensive.
They want to stop Global Warming AND Nuclear War… but don’t they realize that nuclear war would stop CAGW in its tracks? They’re clearly not good engineers looking for the simplest solution.
This is what I think of when I think of the UCS:
http://nonamemovieblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/beneathapescultists.jpg
Btw,….before UCS changes the page….
When you go to the Donate page, it says “For your annual membership of $25 or more, ..”
Yes, for your donation, they give you a membership. It says right there, you become a MEMBER.
I won’t be surprised if they change that to “partner’, or “sponsor”, or some other diluted status.
So, I guess if someone is dumb enough to believe in AGW, they are dumb enough to send $25 –> $1,000 to a group with an impressive name! Plus, they DO take American Express!!!
I’m in the wrong business, I got to start a scam like that….
James Sexton, the candidate Mitt Romney former Gov of Mass has a considerable record with AGW policies in his state which you can examine.
1. He was responsible for legislation which made state co2 emissions standards 30% stricter than national standards.
2.”Back in 2005, Romney told the Boston Globe he was “convinced” that cap-and-trade was “good business.” It was his administration, in fact, that helped guide the development of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cap-and-trade system in the Northeastern U.S. that has raised $860 million for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs.”
3. At the last minute he pulled out of the RGGI, however, it should be noted that the $860 million he rasied came from fees from utility companies and consumers. He indeed shows a track record of belief in the so-called “green economy,” and has expressed that the scientific consensus is that man is responsible for climate change through co2 emissions. Leaving Romneycare aside. Hope this clarifies what his record actually is in Ma.
The soviet “Union of Concerned Scientist” has been a running joke in my household for years.Most of these noisy so called professional NGOs are nothing more then lefty noise machines. The ones that did not start out that way have long since been infiltrate and co-opted.You would not believe the nonsense from the societies targeting my various professions!
DJ says:
August 18, 2011 at 7:58 am
“Btw,….before UCS changes the page….
When you go to the Donate page, it says “For your annual membership of $25 or more, ..”
Yes, for your donation, they give you a membership. It says right there, you become a MEMBER.
I won’t be surprised if they change that to “partner’, or “sponsor”, or some other diluted status.”
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Such as “Dupe” or “Mark” or “Sucker” or “Useful Idiot” or “Stooge” or???
Self-inflated crackpots.
Dave Stephens said:
I began to wonder what environmental scientists were up to when two incredibly common plants (also edible) were listed in Oregon and California as “threatened”.
Anybody calling himself a taxonomist can ‘study’ a regional variant and declare it to be a separate species. No credentials or publications necessary, just a quick ‘SHAZAM’ and you have a threatened species. Snail darter, spotted owl, dune lizard, common edible plants… All fodder for the Confiscators.
A free country would have an Endangered Genus Act that paid people who have a population on their land.
Jon Hunstman got Utah into the Western Climate Initiative with a stated goal of reducing Utah’s CO2 to below 2005 levels. He was one of 2 Republican goveners to join it, along with Arnold. So, he too is to be shunned as a Presidential candidate.
http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/02/jon-huntsman-greenest-gop-presidential-hopeful
James, Thanks for your comments wrt your politicians. It is the same here, promise all sorts then get voted in and nothing changes.
If though,we can get one top ranking politician who challenges the AGW “orthodoxy” then we might move forward. It is like the “Emperors New Clothes”, one person says what everyone else thinks and it snowballs.
“to reduce the threat of global warming AND nuclear war”
Wow, I didn’t know they were connected. Which do you suppose leads to the other? 🙂
Do you think that if I offered them $75 they award me a doctorate? Quantum Physics would be nice.
Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь!
К. Маркс
Workers of the world, unite!
K. Marx
That is, unionize. Scientists are workers too. And make sure you are thinking correctly about science! It seems we need to define a subset of PC speech, ‘SC’, Scientifically Correct.
I’ve pointed out on other websites how they are just a silly NGO with no credibility. A lot of the Fukushima scaremongering came from similar organizations that called themselves scientists.
The truth about the Union of Concerned Scientists has been known for years. They are not a union and they are not scientists. They are a left wing advocacy group with an impressive name and nothing else.
Jim Rubens, a consultant for the Union of Concerned Scientists, and investor who works in the clean-energy sector versus Rick Perry.
Presidential candidate Perry says climate change is only an unproven theory
http://www.vancouversun.com/story_print.html?id=5272624&sponsor=
So they are a union, like the ACLU and they pretend to be something they are not.
At 1:46 AM on 18 August, Andrew Harding writes:
Oh, by no means. Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul (a 12-term congressman who was also the only man in the Republican nomination race who accurately predicted the 2008 financial “bust” back in 2007) is the senior politician declaiming the bogosity of the AGW fraud.
wowser – another charity type spoof organisation with overpaid staff doing butt all except scamming poor sods with a ‘catchy’ header/name – who would have thought it? /sarc
Just my personal opinion you understand!
On a more serious note – anybody subscribing to anything should always check the details! Some time ago, I recall an investigative journo TV program about charities and their fundraising and commenting on how much of the actual funds raised reached the intended project – it was mostly peanuts IIRC !
That is really almost surreal as all the standards for vetting have become loosened. I must admit that I have been the beneficiary of such things, however. In order to practice tarot reading in my state, I had to become an ordained minister. There are several churches that exist on paper, perhaps as not much more than a shell company, that issue certificates of divination for about $10. Technically I can perform weddings in all 50 states and most of Canada, which I do find dubious but necessary. However, science is another realm and can really put more people in jeopardy – obviously they are eliminating their overhead costs of researching the credentials of their base.
So the ‘Union of Concerned Scientists’ is just an anti-nuclear mob screaming that the Fuk-U-shima disaster wasn’t simply the consequence of an exceptional tsunami?
David L. Hagen says:
August 18, 2011 at 7:33 am
Does the End justify the means?
Harvard hired a new dean for its Business School who has helped develop:
The MBA Oath
Kind of irrelevant to the discussion, but a flashback to my university days:
A scientist asks: “Why does it happen?”
An engineer asks: “How do I make it happen?”
An accountant asks: “How much does it cost to make it happen?”
An MBA asks: “How can I rape the shareholders and make myself rich?”
Rough UCS history:
Nuclear power scares
Food scares
AGW scares.
Call me slow, the crazed climate communist hippies does (although they take their merry god damn time doing it), but what is the actual point with calling a ponze scheme look-a-like organization if they have so few actual scientists? Are those few scientists of theirs actual real scientist that’s been published at all for starters. Since they did pay the fee after all, are they sane at all?
It must be good to be the head of that organization though since he earns about the same as every EU countries prime minister does. No wonder the actual scientists of that union is concerned!
Oh, the lure of being a scientist!
I’ve got a credit card. And I’ve already got a PhD (in Philosophy, not any actual science, but let’s not fuss about details), so I could be a scientist in a white coat whom everyone respectfully calls “Dr. RoHa”.
Lots of attractive young female assistants to accompany me to major international conferences in Cancun.
TV punditry.
Maybe my own show!
Oh, wait.
$25?
I can’t afford that.
Bang go all my dreams of glory. Doomed again.
I experienced a similar epiphany regarding CSPI, AAAS, and other organizations of ‘scientists’ when I was still a graduate student in Chemical Physics at the University of Texas at Austin, so many years ago. The primary qualification for admission is the availability of liquid assets. Since I was earning less than $400/mo on a teaching stipend, I was unqualified.
kadaka (KD Knoebel) says:
August 18, 2011 at 6:06 am
From Murray Grainger on August 18, 2011 at 5:41 am:
What have you naysayers got against butterflies? What did the butterflies ever do to you?
—————–
Do you really want me to get into that? Let’s just say I don’t have a problem with most butterflies like Monarchs. But that Venus one… Arrgghh!!
———————————–
And that one they talk about that started the hurricane. Bad butterfly!
Andrew Harding says:
August 18, 2011 at 1:46 am
I think this sums up the financial merry-go-round that depends upon AGW being fact and this also explains the hysteria that the warmists resort to when people question their dogma.
I do not pretend to know a great deal about American politics so please don’t shoot me down in flames, Rick Perry one of the Republican candidates for US President has stated that the whole AGW is a scam and scientists are making billions of dollars out of it.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/rick-perry-climate-change-is-a-hoax-drummed-up-by-scientists-looking-to-make-money.php
As far as I am aware he is the only senior politician to question AGW, certainly on our side of the Atlantic, no-one does.
————————————-
Please remember “Politicians, whenever they think it necessary, lie to whatever degree, in whatever direction about anything they think can impact their reelection.” For example … “Julia down under” spouted one direction making promises about taxes and now look.
We lost the first Bush the same way.
Understand that Perry is a “democrat turned republican” who backed algore.
Although it appears he may be one of the few who might be able to take on Obama.
Red Jeff says:
August 18, 2011 at 7:24 am
Would a ‘scientist’ demand this…? “Tell Congress What You Want for Dinner”, I assume so they can decide for you?
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The First Lady needs Harry Reid to tell her our menu requests.
mkelly says:
August 18, 2011 at 7:22 am
Nuke says:
August 18, 2011 at 5:54 am
I want to be concerned!
Me, too. But I am now concerned by my lack of concern.
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I too am concerned. I’m concerned a concerned scientist from the Union of Concerned Scientists might be concerned with showing his concern by ignoring my concerns.
Well, at least they care….
sunderlandsteve says:
August 18, 2011 at 10:25 am
“to reduce the threat of global warming AND nuclear war”
Wow, I didn’t know they were connected. Which do you suppose leads to the other? 🙂
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I think it’s CO2, then warming then nuclear war. or maybe it’s …….?
Chuck Nolan, you have not supplied any research to back up your statements about Gov Perry. He was one of the governors who passed resolutions stating that both Cap and Trade and Obamacare are huge federal overreaches, and that his state is not subject to either of them. His book, Fed Up, is about the unconstitutionality of much of what the federal government does. You are simply making unsupported assertions about his positions. Please back it up, as I did. I made specific mention of Gov Romney’s green policies in Mass. He firmly believes in taking money from the private sector and redirecting it to Universities and select companies for “renewable energy” research and development. That was the thrust of his economic policy in his state. So pony up.
I can’t find documentation of it on the internet (too many hits to sort through), but I distinctly remember a story years ago of someone who signed up his dog as a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists. So for 25 bucks and using a paypal account, you could probably still sign up the family pet as a concerned scientist. Woof!
Zeke the Sneak says:
August 18, 2011 at 8:32 am
James Sexton, the candidate Mitt Romney ————
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Yeh, I was being polite. And not wanting to move the discussion toward a political commentary of repub candidates, but Romney’s not getting my vote in the primary. I think the legislation passed in Mass is more reflective of his constituency than his views, but, that’s not very endearing to me either. IMHO, Romney is a pragmatic politician. Wet a finger, stick it in the air to see which way the wind is blowing and go that way. I’d much rather someone with more convictions than that. This nation needs a leader, not a follower.
That is good idea Manfred. btw you might want to do something to differentiate yourself from me!
I remember some talk show host saying something like your dog could join the UCS. I thought it would be funny to have Rover Random who is a member of UCS.
How does the Union of Concerned Scientists actually work? Who sets their policy directions? What percentage of the members are actually scientists? Do the scientists involved have an actual voice in what the organization decrees?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_Concerned_Scientists
I am surprised at how little information there is about how this organization actually works, ie – the nuts and bolts of its administration. Do the members vote on policy issues?
Chris Shaker
So far, I have not had any luck searching for the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) bylaws online. I know that they exist, because of numerous references to them in legal papers like this
http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/efile/NOTICE/135400.pdf
It seems that the UCS bylaws should tell us how the organization is supposed to work, ie – how decisions are made, etc. Seems that it would be interesting reading
Chris Shaker
No luck finding Union of Concerned Scientists meeting minutes. Found a subcommittee meeting minute document, but can’t seem to actually download it. I find lots of meeting minutes from the organizations who met with the Union of Concerned Scientists, but so far can not find meeting minutes from the Union of Concerned Scientists
Surprised at how little visibility there is into this organization. Why is it so secretive?
Chris Shaker