Dr. James Hansen, now no longer on a leash under NASA policy, has started what I expect will be the first of many ugly comments and actions in his new role as activist.
Niall from Canada writes in asking for help from WUWT and the readership:
This Saturday morning Canada’s state broadcaster (the CBC) aired, on their weekly politics & current affairs show “the House”, a 15 min. ‘interview’ with James Hansen, in which he denigrated our Government as “neanderthal” in it’s approach to AGW, and that climate change science is “crystal clear”.
He also angled for a carbon tax (presumably to support his desired global wealth re-distribution scheme). I know you’re a very busy guy, but if you could formally respond in writing to the CBC, and indicate the gross errors Hansen voiced, and also post to your own site, many of us Canadian climate ‘realists’ would be very grateful for your help in exposing this grotesque charlatan.
Att’d is the link for the show, and the address to respond to.
Yours very truly,
Niall from Winnipeg
the Story:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/04/26/pol-hansen-oliver.html
Very unclassy to go to another country and call its government officials names while a guest. Also, unnecessary.
Just show people his boiling oceans video. Its so outlandish, few will believe him credible after seeing it.
Boiling oceans comment – 2:14 (128 seconds in)
Indeed what a terrible slur. Anyone using this to cast ugly aspersions should be publically condemned regardless of what ‘side’ they are on.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/05/08/letter-to-the-editor-a-wish-for-dr-michael-mann-to-clear-some-things-up-from-an-errant-psu-grad/
You have to feel sorry for him as he has lost this marbles
Hansen and the CBC share the same world-view. None of this is surprising.
Hansen will have a difficult time selling his Armageddon tale as the snows fall and the climate gets colder.
Let him feel unleashed. It will hurt his credibility and he’ll sound like a whining has-been wondering what happened to his previous stature.
It’ll be interesting to see the psychological toll that the skeptics have absorbed during the warming phase shift to the alarmists. I don’t think they’ll handle it as well, as they have a lot more to lose.
It will be interesting to see what the response is. I hope the CBC is open to receive comment and give it airing. I agree that Hansen coming in as a guest and slamming the country and/or government is shabby behaviour. Bringing in faulty science just adds insult to injury.
Well I don’t agree with Hansen at all, but a few days ago he was publically denigrated by Canada’s minister of natural resources, who asked that Hansen should be “ashamed.” That was uncalled for, and some sort of reaction was to be expected.
Perhaps some enterprising Parliamentary backbencher can file a hate speech complaint with the Canadian human rights commission. I would enjoy watching the jester-jousting adjuster jousting with a judge!
I guess pipelining the crude to the US will result in BAD emissions while pipelining the same crude to China will result in GOOD emissions.
I’m guessing that makes him Piltdown Man.
I guess “Neanderthal” is better than “dimwitted lout”, which is how Hansen has presented himself in my eyes.
The CBC despises this Conservative government, partly because they have been successful at making this country a better place to live. They can’t stand that their beloved liberals failed to accomplish even a half of what the Conservatives have accomplished.
They NEVER lose – they just move on to the next “world-wide human-caused mega-catastrophe” that MUST be stopped before GAIA is harmed and LOOK! A SQUIRREL! INJURED! BY CORPORATIONS! AAAAAAAAAAAAH! Please send $$, and quick! The squirrel is pleading for Gaia, won’t you please send all you can and quickly?
Hansen also admonished Slovenia for considering coal combustion as a means of meeting its future energy needs. I haven’t heard anything from him on Germany, however (despite several new coal plants coming on line in 2012) and he’s had only praise for China (apparently since he admires their top-down government – MUCH more efficient than democracy, you see).
Kurt in Switzerland
He is in the process of self distructing. Seen it before. After 4 arrests, NASA probably said you are past retirement age, so do so. Now he is impugning elected officials of other countries. Let it be.
He will finish himself his discrediting job without any help whatsoever. Well on the way.
Not the first time, nor the last, that a zealot got hoisted on their own petard.
A posterchild example of moral enterpreurship who create “enemies” so that they can lead the fight against them, and according to H.L.Mencken: The urge to save the world is almost always a false front to use it.
The reason why moral enterpreneurs are often successful may be explained by the Milgram experiment, in which people were prepared to administer lethal electrical shocks just by the power of authority.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_entrepreneur
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy#Enemies_as_a_function_of_social_science
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
More Canadians use the net proportionally than Americans, although affluent Americans rank higher as a subset. He’s talking to a country of roughly 33 million, where 28+ million are on the web using it for news and to verify stories in addition to email. As a country, Canada ranks in the top 10 educated globally. The US is 33. Also, Canadians are unlike Americans in that they won’t complain about his rude remarks, but they will be insulted by them. The last thing you do as an American is go up to Canada and swing your bat because you think you are superior. That’s why they instituted Made in Canada laws decades ago; they were fed up with ‘Ugly Americans’ acting like no one mattered but them.
Hansen is many things but he isn’t a hypocrite. He wants a carbon tax because he wants CO2 emissions stopped, not because he has some ulterior scheme for world government in mind. I don’t believe Hansen himself has given much thought to where the money from such a tax would wind up. Others clearly have however. Hansen as their naive and idealistic tool.
The Canadian Saint David Suzuki says all geologists who disagree with him are paid shills of the oil companies.
Canadians are used to the insults: the ex-colonials never escape their low-class past. Just ask an Aussie (use small words).
His comment about collecting carbon taxes and giving to the people says it all.
Goes in hand with the Australian music professor teaching in Austria who said that all those who deny man-made global warming were worse than murderers and should be killed.
policycritic says:
April 27, 2013 at 3:54 pm
More Canadians use the net proportionally than Americans, although affluent Americans rank higher as a subset. He’s talking to a country of roughly 33 million, where 28+ million are on the web using it for news and to verify stories in addition to email. As a country, Canada ranks in the top 10 educated globally. The US is 33. Also, Canadians are unlike Americans in that they won’t complain about his rude remarks, but they will be insulted by them. The last thing you do as an American is go up to Canada and swing your bat because you think you are superior. That’s why they instituted Made in Canada laws decades ago; they were fed up with ‘Ugly Americans’ acting like no one mattered but them.
>>>>>>>
Now we can’t wait to jump into the sinking ship with ya, eh?
“Dr Hansen , you have been writing books since the 1960’s , each one has predicted doom for humans within 10 years. Each time you have been wrong in your predictions. Why should anyone believe a word you say when you have always been proven wrong by empirical evidence?”
Now that is a question someone needs to put to him.
CBC, they can force me to fund them, but not to listen.
Certifiable
leftturnandre says:
April 27, 2013 at 3:52 pm
“The reason why moral enterpreneurs are often successful may be explained by the Milgram experiment, in which people were prepared to administer lethal electrical shocks just by the power of authority.”
The wikipedia page says: ” If the teacher asked whether the learner might suffer permanent physical harm, the experimenter replied, “Although the shocks may be painful, there is no permanent tissue damage, so please go on.” ”
This sounds like the “teacher” did not know that a 450V shock would be lethal; but believed it to be harmless. Indeed the voltage alone does not kill if the current is limited to small values – microamperes.
So, the “teachers” were actually never prepared to administer lethal shocks. I don’t know whether Milgram drew that conclusion but given the setup it would be wrong to do so.
The last recorded Neanderthals went extinct in the Gibralter area about 24,000 yr BP. The whole group lost its woodland-mosaic habitat, ironically, due to global cooling, They were big, smart, often blue-eyed and red haired,speaking people that hunted big animals in ambush with thrusting spears. They had to be strong and tough!. They did not have the missile technology of our ancestors at the time and could not hunt the fauna of the enroaching tundra. Trapped between the mountains and the tundra they went extinct. Hansen displays amazing ignorance and a mean spirit by attempting to cite them as a racist(speciesist) slur.
For those interested,I recommend “Humans Who Went Extinct”;Clive Finlayson; Oxford Uni Press 2009. It is a brilliant dissertation on how changing climates changed habitats and played chance games with the evolution of humans. It all happened before human carbon dioxide emissions were more than 4/5 of 5/8/ of a very small number.
Warm is the fragrance of Cro-Magnon privilege.
Edohiguma says:
April 27, 2013 at 4:18 pm
—
That was an Austrian.
http://planet.infowars.com/weird-news/global-warming-deniers-should-be-sentenced-to-death-richard-parncutt-professor-of-systematic-musicology-university-of-graz-austria-calls-for-death-penalty
Also covered here on WUWT.
Approximately 7% of my DNA is inherited from my Neanderthal ancestors, thus as a member of an ethnic minority I take affront to this disparagement of my forebears.
OK. On the scale of stupid analogies Hansen proposes, he himself looks like a prehominid. Neanderthals, rock on!
I am glad someone took his leash off. Now he does not have to heed the organ grinder that kept him out of trouble. Now he can be a monkey at large with his tin cup. He will probably bite a few hands that feed him before the butterfly nets come out. He has been amusing to watch in a sad sort of way.
Amy Ridenour said on April 27, 2013 at 3:19 pm:
Hey, those laid-back Canucks told Hansen to feel right at home. They asked for it!
garymount says: “That [Richard Parncutt] was an Austrian.”
According to Wankerpedia: “Richard Parncutt (born 24 October 1957 in Melbourne)” Unless there’s a Melbourne in Austria, the bloke’s an Australian.
You probably already read the thread whose link I’ve posted below, but, in case you missed it, in it is some good refutation and exposure of the fiend:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/04/25/canadas-environment-minister-calls-out-jim-hansen/
Jerk Hansen even has his own TAG (on right margin of WUWT pages). I’ve never been so inclined, but try that.
Courage, Niall and all you wonderful, valiant, fighters for truth north of the border. This latest attack is, indeed, distressing, but, General Hansen’s troops are deserting daily and his tactics are those of an army in desperate retreat. He’s just trying to make as much money as he can before the screen says: YOU LOSE. GAME OVER.
I agree with Dr. Gray — we are seeing the “beginning of the end” (or, at least, “the end of the beginning” — Sir W.C.) of the AGW battle in the perennial war between the Liars and the Truthtellers.
VICTORY IS ASSURED!
Paleo haters abound.
Ooook! Kon JIM. Mwhaa! ICE sea.
Dr. James Hansen opened windows night before his testimony to congress in 1988 so the ACs would not work properly next day
Dr. James Hansen made $1.6 million in outside, direct cash income in the past five years (2011)
Dr. James Hansen switched his research interests from Astronomy to Calamastology.
Dr. James Hansen, in 1967, thought that dust made Venus hot.
Dr. James Hansen’s climate model was uses by Rasool & Schneider to predict an ice age in 1971
Dr. James Hansen said the oceans would boil & end up in the atmosphere if we burned all fossil fuels
Dr. James Hansen is an activist scientist having been arrested at least 3 times
Question: Can I trust Dr. James Hansen when it comes to the climate????
The Neanderthals were a dramatic improvement over their predecessors – perhaps the greatest leap forward in human evolution. They had intelligence vastly ahead of their time [brain sizes equal to Homo sapiens of hundreds of kyrs later]. They were able to positively change their environment, enhancing their survivability and lives.
So yes, I’d buy Hansen’s argument.
Give him a break guys ‘n gals. It’s not Jim’s fault that he’s been duped into becoming a ‘useful idiot’.
True, he’s a smart bloke but he’s as naive as a newt when it comes to inhaling vulpine vapours!
I’ve half his IQ (guess that makes me a pretty smart neanderthal) but my BS meter is every bit as good as his – but, thanks to my inferior neuronal connections, I use it more than he needs to.
His crystal clarity about ‘Climate Science’ aka ‘Climate Chaos’ is but a delusion that feeds a messianic fantasy – backed up by dogmatic certainty – that He can save the World.
Strangely enough, I am 100% convinced that he is totally honest – I do not believe he could knowingly lie.
He’s honest. I like him but that does not mean I agree with him
By the way, Dr. James Hansen actually looks like a Neanderthalic Homer Simpson with a hat.
RoyFOMR says:
April 27, 2013 at 5:17 pm
He’s honest. I like him but that does not mean I agree with him
>>>>>
Nope, he is not honest. He is corrupt. He deceives. He promotes himself by slandering the truth. DO NOT be deceived by such perversion of science.
It is my understanding that Hansen is pro-nuclear. If he had any brains and common sense he would simply be a pro-nuclear advocate instead of bashing fossil fuels and pushing the CAGW BS. Nuclear is a technologically superior source of electricity with its greater energy density and, eco-friendliess in terms of emissions (other than CO2). In particular, the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) shows the potential to be one of the safest and lowest cost reactor types, and it produces far less waste than the current generation of reactors. It can also burn up all of the plutonium being produced by the the current reactors and generate electricity with it (which is why I hesitate to call it waste). We have enough thorium here in the U.S. to last us for many centuries, if not a milleniu or more.
If Hansen wants to latch onto and advocate something that would actually be worthwhile, LFTR might be a good place to start. Unfortunately, it would probably mean he would have to clash with the environmental movement which (as I understand it) is mostly anti-nuclear not to mention that fact that it probably knows nothing about LFTR to begin with. While he’s at it, he might also want to consider dispelling the fear of nuclear by enlightening the masses on the the Radation Hormesis Hypothesis and the supporting science behind it which basically states that the low-level nuclear radiation it not a serious threat to human health (except for perhaps young children and infants). He no doubt doesn’t have the intestinal fortitude to do any of this though, given that they are all on the same page when it comes to fossil fuels and CAGW.
He truly is a sad and tragically wrong-minded individual.
@DocMartyn
Approximately 7% of my DNA is inherited from my Neanderthal ancestors, thus as a member of an ethnic minority I take affront to this disparagement of my forebears.
Preach it, brother! How long must our people submit to these racist slurs?
leftturnandre says:
April 27, 2013 at 3:52 pm
——————————————————
Another interesting one is the Asch conformity experiments where a group of subjects were given a series of multiple choice questions to answer and “allowed” to change Their answers based on what answer Their “peers” chose . in reality in each group there was only one actual test subject and the rest were “actors” who would deliberately choose wrong answers in concert with each other . 75% of the initial test subjects changed their answers to a wrong one to conform with the group . In later versions of the test It was found that the larger the size of the group of “actors” giving the wrong answers the more likely the test subjects were to change Their responses to a wrong answer as well .
As a fan of and given my Northern European and Central Asian genetics, -he may be an ancestor- I demand an apology for Neanderthal! They weren’t so primitive after all:
http://listverse.com/2009/06/16/top-10-misconceptions-about-neanderthals/
Re: Stanley Milgram’s experiments about obedience to authority, Dirk H. you make a good clarification, for apparently, “the ‘teachers’ were actually never prepared to administer lethal shocks.”
The “teachers” were, nevertheless, willing to inflict GREAT pain (in the film I saw, some of the “learners” were screaming in agony). The emotional trauma of some of the “teachers” was so devastating, that such experiments were banned in the U.S..
Whether the “teachers” would only obey so far as to torture their victim or whether they would obey an order to kill them is, in the context of leftturnandre’s 1532 post, a distinction without significance.
BTW, DirkH, I almost didn’t post the above, for I have admired your strong defense of truth in your other posts and you and I are on the same side in the fight for truth-in-science, but, the horrific fact of what Dr. Milgram discovered in his experiments regarding the willingness on the part of a certain personality type (“authoritarian personalities”, i.e., they have an unhealthy willingness to obey authority) to obey an evil authority figure must not be forgotten or downplayed. It is a warning we must remember so that “never again” will someone like a certain Austrian (NOT Australian) from the 1930’s lead a great nation to the brink of self-destruction. QUESTION AUTHORITY (if done with civility and a genuine desire to serve truth) must ever remain a truthseeker’s rallying cry.
“Neanderthalic Homer Simpson” [Jimbo]
LOL.
D’oh! D’oh! D’oh! D’oh! D’oh! D’oh! D’oh! D’oh! D’oh! D’oh! D’oh! D’oh! D’oh! D’oh! D’oh! D’oh! D’oh!
Funny thing, this “Neanderthal” (his word choice, not mine) somehow managed to have 20+ US patents issued in his name (a few with co-inventors) and was responsible for calibrating the sensors that provide those nice Digital-Globe™ images of the Earth.
What will those crazy “Neanderthals” accomplish next ? Maybe we can save the Earth, just in case it really, really, really needs our help……
Jeeeze, not only am I a “denier”, I am also a “Neanderthal”, who knew ????
On the other hand, I must be over the target; the FLAK sure seems to be increasing.
Cheers, Kevin
garymount says:
April 27, 2013 at 4:46 pm
Edohiguma says:
April 27, 2013 at 4:18 pm
—
That was an Austrian.
=====================
Wrong … I’m an Aussie Austrian and so is he; we’re almost the same age to the day:
“Richard Parncutt (born 24 October 1957 in Melbourne) is an Australian-born academic who specializes in the psychology of music.” Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Parncutt
While the global warmists complain about the burning of fossil fuels they never coment on the fact that it was the burning of wood (a fossil fuel )that created fire. Without fire where would we be?
OT, but in response to DikH’s April 27, 2013 @ 4:22 pm comment:
“If the teacher asked whether the learner might suffer permanent physical harm, the experimenter replied, “Although the shocks may be painful, there is no permanent tissue damage, so please go on.”” etc., etc.
Just recently in Australia (April 22, 2013), a teacher is on 10 charges including eight counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm by conducting a ‘competition’ to see who (students) could hold onto dry ice the longest. His incident report he wrote was tendered in which he said he thought it would be a “good learning experience” for the students.
One student now uses a laptop computer because he can’t hold a pen while others suffered terrible burns to their hands that required specialist treatment.
Some students asked if they could go to the school’s sick bay, but Hilton wouldn’t let them go. Ambulances were eventually called, Newcastle Local Court heard.
http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1448713/teacher-guilty-over-dry-ice-dare/
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
Napoleon Bonaparte
Michael Palmer says:
April 27, 2013 at 3:42 pm
Except telling the truth about Hansen isn’t “denigration” as you assert–it’s like saying a robber that’s described as a burgler in a police report has the right to react with indignation against the cops by using the term “burgler”!
Let Hansen react all he wants, but saying Hansen should be “ashamed” is a correct analyst by an elected Canadian official as well as outstanding exercise of his responsibilities to his constituency.
Michael Palmer says: April 27, 2013 at 3:42 pm
Well, I wouldn’t be too sure about that. Consider the context (not just the Globe & Mail’s over-hyped headline:) As Donna Laframboise wrote a few days ago:
How else should one speak of a prominent public figure who chooses to spout such unscientific exaggerated rhetoric?
And speaking of those who should be “ashamed” …
While I’m here … [shameless plug alert], the U.K. Met Office has been doing itself no favours with its shameful continued passive promotion of that ludicrously misleading and highly inaccurate alarmist Press Release headline re Marcott et al. For details, pls see:
Questions for a “jewel in the crown” of U.K. (and global) science
There are some comments on this post, btw, that shed considerable light on PAGES2K’s “Progress”, but I digress … The sequel to the above post can be found at:
BREAKING: No comment will be heard from “jewel in the crown” … alarmist headline intact
Hilary Ostrov
I still like his hat…
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/04/hansen-20130404.html
Hansen took a pro-nuke position earlier this month.
He likes the dirty kind of nukes.
Maybe he’ll be a lobbyist.
“CD (@CD153) says:
April 27, 2013 at 5:26 pm
It is my understanding that Hansen is pro-nuclear. If he had any brains and common sense he would simply be a pro-nuclear advocate instead of bashing fossil fuels and pushing the CAGW BS.”
The real question here is: who arranged for Hansen and CBC to meet and for what purpose?
The answer is evident. This is part of the disinformation campaign against the oil sands and the Keystone XL pipeline. David Suzuki is working for CBC, and despite contravening all rules of his contract regarding political activities as an on air personality, Suzuki and his side kick Stroumbolopoulos -board member of the David Suzuki Foundation, on air CBC celebrity and now CNN…-. The Suzuki Foundation is bankrolled by the leftist billionaires that have been flowing money to Canada greens -Tides, Packard, Moore etc…-. The father of the green movement at the UN, Maurice Strong recently in an Op ed in the Globe and Mail suggested in veiled threats to ramp up the media “dialogue” in order to derail the Canadian Government stance on climate change mitigation policies. Thomas Homer-Dixon the Director of CIGI, a Balsillie/Rockefeller/Soros bankrolled institute of green proselytism hiding under the guise of international diplomacy, showed his hatred for the Canadian government policies in a recent NYT op-ed. Clearly Hansen’s interview was likely arranged by the same interests that oppose the pipeline, the oil sands and are trying to impose a carbon tax or carbon trading to Canadians and helping their friends who see their carbon credits investment go sour. Those are also supporting parties in Provincial or Federal level that will pander and enable their agenda at the expense of a captive 35 million population. CBC, taxpayer finded organization recently refused to give Canada’s revenue Agency the list of tax cheats in which some Liberal senator was caught. CBC is a disgrace and Hansen’s interview is a media party greenwashing favor to Strong and the Rockfellas. Shame on them.
In the book, The Ugly American, the ugly American was the good guy, a Midwest farmer educating the locals about improved agricultural techniques. The pretty Americans were the elitists, never leaving the capital city, mingling only with the powerful – and clueless about real conditions.
Somehow the term is almost universally misused in the opposite sense.
Read through some of the comments at CBC. While the theory of CAGW is falling apart, turning the tied on the political and economic damage it has/is caused/causing is still a long way away. The level of scientific and economic ignorance living and growing in our society is astounding. I’m depressed. I’m going to bed.
Call a spade a spade, he’s a Luddite plain and simple. Every one thought Ted Kaczynski (Unabomber) was nuts, but his manifesto is the Green bible.
Now you are seeing the true man he really is,ugly and insane!
Now we will see how many of his followers still stay with him………..
This is the reason why he has gone crazy:
http://www.globalwarmingskeptics.info/thread-14-post-6231.html#pid6231
I would type a compelling response but my knuckles are sore from dragging on the ground all day.
Hansen unleashed and uncut is the skeptic’s best tool.
He is doing a Capt. Queeg:
And we should help him every way possible.
Some commenters on dry ice here have reminded me of this incident where 4 people were injured from a sitting on dry ice competition in 2001:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1338461/Four-burned-by-dry-ice-in-radio-competition.html
My dear Mike H, take heart! You were reading the I Do Believe In Fairies Club’s propaganda, posted mostly by the disinformation officers and a tiny handful of the brainwashed.
— The carbon exchange market is collapsing. — Germany is building coal-fired power plants. — Japan is steadily walking away from CO2 fantasy science-based policy.
The above FACTS are the “handwriting on the wall,” the “mene, mene, tekel, uparsin,” of AGW.
Certainly, there will be more battles to be fought in the war between the Liars and the Truthtellers, but this one is SO OVER.
REJOICE! And sleep well.
Dear Ms. Ostrov,
Wow! What a dynamo for truth you are. I read most of the content of your links above. NICELY DONE. Hear, hear! While the “jewel in the crown” is actually just a hologram (whose lasers are nearly out of radiation to stimulate), YOU are a genuine gem.
Please feel free, as long as you’re sharing the stories about it, to explain what the differences are between dry ice (solid CO₂) burns, which we uneducated unwashed masses heard come from either intense energy exposure, as from light or heat or radiation, or from exposure to caustic chemicals, and what we know as frostbite, which comes from intense cold.
Part of any political battle (and it is nearly 100% political) is getting your message out. As the MSM slowly wakes up, their first reaction is to go quiet on the issue. Not neutral per se, just silent. You can’t tell if they’ve “flipped” for a long time, until, like the Economist recently has…. they have a coming out article to test the waters and see how much backlash they get.
So one of the measures of where the MSM is at these days, is not necessarily what Hansen’s message is, but who is willing to broadcast it, and who listens to that broadcast. Here’s the last week of stats for Canada’s TV markets that I was able to find:
http://www.bbm.ca/_documents/top_30_tv_programs_english/2013/2012-13_04_15_TV_ME_NationalTop30.pdf
Of the top 30 programs that week, the CBC had only four. Of those two were “HNIC” which stands for Hockey Night In Canada. Their national news program was 30 out of 30. That the CBC aired an interview with Hansen, no surprise. But it was a minor program on a network that clings to significant market share only by broadcasting hockey games. If that’s the only major interview that Hansen could get in the Canadian market, then that’s a sign that the MSM is decreasingly interested.
Pedantic old Fart says: April 27, 2013 at 4:25 pm “The last recorded Neanderthals went extinct in the Gibralter area about 24,000 BP.”
Neanderthals never went extinct. They are us. There is no confirmatory evidence that they were a separate species, and apparently could “interbreed” with us, so they were us.
hro001 says:
April 27, 2013 at 6:49 pm
“Frankly, it’s nonsense,” Mr. Oliver said, adding that Mr. Hansen “should be ashamed.”
How else should one speak of a prominent public figure who chooses to spout such unscientific exaggerated rhetoric?
—
I agree with Oliver that Hansen talks nonsense. However, I also believe that Hansen genuinely believes his nonsense, and therefore that trying to “shame” him will not work. Oliver did not choose his words wisely.
davidmhoffer says: April 27, 2013 at 9:01 pm
– – –
Thank you for that encouraging news. I recall a couple of years ago that after spending months reading and studying climate science and climate blogs that I would give it a rest and work on my other projects of great importance. After a couple of hours I sat down with my family (parents and brother) to watch the news. Literally within the first minute the CBC had a global warming / climate change story and thus ended any thought I had on giving it a rest.
I have also learned since then to not watch any broadcasts that misrepresent the true state of climate science.
Some of the shows I have stopped watching. Daily Planet, CBC news, any Knowledge Network eco / nature program, William Shatners Weird or What, CTV news, Global news. Anything Suzuki.
BBC and any shows produced by them such as Dr. Who. CNN and PBS.
Articles by Stephen Hume, Pete McMartin, Jonathan Kay, John Moore.
I do not have access to conservative news broadcasts where I live. I do have the Internet 🙂
The Walking Dead went a bit nuts on global warming for a short while. Take Woodbury for an example. A serious energy shortage problem existed, yet in their very own town name held the very answer to their problem.
The comments in the following National Post article is a pick me up after reading the CBC comments :
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/04/25/natural-resources-minister/
Hansen’s new job of shilling for global warming and insulting those who don’t agree with him looks so easy even a caveman could do it.
RoyFOMR says: “He’s honest. I like him but that does not mean I agree with him”
geran says: “Nope, he is not honest. He is corrupt. He deceives. He promotes himself by slandering the truth….”
I think he has deceived the “easiest one to deceive,” i.e., himself, in the belief that he is a Messiah figure, saving all of humanity. Such a belief distorts perception such that everything sustains and strengthens the self-deception. His successful tampering with the HVAC system before his testimony he probably interprets as “A SIGN!!” that his cause is noble, rather than deliberate deception.
If Dr. Hansen believes climate change science is “crystal clear,” then why can’t the models get it right? And why can’t he give us an accurate forecast about how our climate is going to change over the next few years? Let him prove that his understanding of climate change science is as “crystal clear” as he thinks.
CBC is the number 1 reason Canadians use the internet so heavily, their news reporting is so inept and often so completely wrong that we have to check for ourselves.
CBC could not even get a fake hunger strike right, after a full month of fawning over their pet, the hunger striker, it was obvious the poor protester was gaining weight.
And their bias is constant and transparent,there is no-one working at CBC who is even capable of comprehending the concept of objective reporting, they all “know best” what we should think and have insisted on telling us what we are thinking for years.
We voters are somehow ill informed and unstable for voting out CBC’s precious liberals.
CBC is a vacuous echo chamber, Jim Hansen a perfect guest for them.
they shall sink together, in the meantime keep them front and centre stage, they can only alienate sensible people if they are seen and heard.
Yes, this is all very interesting,but did Hansen switch to Geico?
The CBC link provided in the story also shows an ad for the CBC shop on the right hand screen: “$1 of each sale from our eco-friendly boutique will be donated to WWF, Shop now” with the symbol of CBC!
The WWF is pimping CBC now…
Niall,
Well the alarmism ought to get at least a few snickers around Winterpeg this year given the nasty winter you just came through. But for anyone who thinks Hansen has any credibility at all, I suggest you show them the letter that a rather long list of his NASA compatriots signed regarding his behaviour:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/04/10/hansen-and-schmidt-of-nasa-giss-under-fire-engineers-scientists-astronauts-ask-nasa-administration-to-look-at-emprical-evidence-rather-than-climate-models/
@DocMartyn:
I guess Hansen wants the civilized world to be more like those non-Neanderthal low emitting Africans. Now that would be Utopia, wouldn’t it?
It’s moral entrepreneurialship:
creating a victim
so you can claim you saved it
so you can charge the victim
intellectual hence moral superiority
and thereby mine thankfulness.
It’s the modus of the sociopath.
Glib liar,
unmoved at outrages that move others,
apparently sent over the edge by frivols that aren’t important:
creating an atmosphere of otherworldliness like Jim Jones
All you’ve got to do is check out the profile of the sociopath:
http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html
Go down the list.
Think of the public denunciations, like those associated with the Bolshevik purges:
Hansen and friends tried to pull over on us all.
Making claims of “When are we going to start jailing these deniers for crimes against humanity?”
All the while IT WASN’T EVEN WARMING.
Pfft. He’s a criminopath and an evil manipulator whose whole life has been poster child status for criminal funding and scientific fraud, energy and other, market manipulation, and general purpose
evil Dr. Doom found to have been lying: EVERY S.T.E.P. of the W.A.Y.
What if people WOULD have been put in jail over his false accusations stemming from non existent warming he claimed and claims IS catastrophic?
So he really needs to be led into the room where the euthanizations take place while nature films are watched like on Soylent Green,
so he can step up and take the hit like a big boy: by refusing to ooze any more evil water/ carbon dioxide that chokes life out of his precious grandkids.
Seriously: he claims he’s “doing it for the children.”
There have been no shortage of ugly remarks made in the pitched battle on climate change and given the things said about James Hansen on this very site, it’s amusing to see the fuss made over this.
DMarshall:
It is good you are amused because people on this thread are having fun and everybody is welcome to join in..
Hansen has done bad things: very bad things such as this
http://jonova.s3.amazonaws.com/graphs/giss/hansen-giss-1940-1980.gif
And he has denigrated us. That others are starting to see this shyster for what he is provides us with great satisfaction.
Richard
OOG! OOGA-OOGA!!
DMarshall says:
April 27, 2013 at 11:26 pm
Do you like sex and travel? It would be nice of you to sling your hook & f f f f f – fade away. Your opinions are nowt, but offal. Go self-abuse elsewhere.
Jim will like this:
http://www.break.com/index/hippies-wail-for-dead-trees-567077/
Felflames says:
April 27, 2013 at 4:19 pm
Could you cite where in Hansen’s book(s) in the sixties (or seventies, or eighties, or nineties, for that matter) “..predicted doom for humans within 10 years…”?
I didn’t think so. JP
richardscourtney
It’s interesting to see what “gives [you] great satisfaction”. It’s very revealing. JP
Bill from Nevada says:
“So he really needs to be led into the room where the euthanizations take place…”
Classy, real classy. JP
Douglas Proctor says:
Just ask an Aussie (use small words).
========================================================
… and speak slowly … 🙂
Louis says:
April 27, 2013 at 9:36 pm
“Hansen’s new job of… insulting those who don’t agree with him looks so easy a caveman could do it.”
Your point has been well proven in this comment section. Insulting those with whom they disagree has made “cavemen” of many. JP
Perhaps he should look in the mirror
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21507732
Here’s one of my favourite “do as I say right now and give me lots of money otherwise you will all die a horrible death” Hansonesque ploys:
“Lawyers want a slice of the carbon pie – Although the dead and the unborn cannot make choices now, their interests could be registered through a form of virtual representation. The virtual representatives of other generations (i.e. today’s lawyers) will press their claims against those of the living.”
Will we (the living) as current virtual guardians receive any of the compensation claimed from ourselves and awarded to our virtual offspring? Where can I register my extended yet-to-be-born-or-even-conceived virtual family?
Michael Palmer … there is one big difference … the Canadian minister is elected and if people disagree with his views ,can vote him out! Hansen is self imposed and not elected by anyone … you cannot get rid of him!
@Niall: You might point to this great article:
Richard Lindzen: A Case Against Precipitous Climate Action
http://www.thegwpf.org/richard-lindzen-a-case-against-precipitous-climate-action/
It is one of the best set of counter-arguments against ‘climate action’ I’ve read.
And Hansen could learn something from the kind, thorough and scientific approach of Lindzen. No need for accuses and name-calling to make a statement. Just knowledge and skills.
There is no fool like an old fool.
Many countries, like the USA, have a very sensible rule that you cannot be leader for more than 8 or 10 years. The world is riddled with intolerant ineptocracies where this sensible rule is ignored.
How long has Hansen been a leader of the Global Warming ineptocracy?
Hansen was not on a leash when employed by NASA so what has changed. His claims are based on confused thinking not science and certainly not ”crystal clear” science. Not even crystal clear confused thinking.
Without the flashy titles he will very soon fade away and be treated as a grumpy old incompetent with a criminal record and a silly hat. He will get increasingly angry and more outlandish as the realisation that he has no more of a voice than anyone else filters in. Much deserved obscurity awaits. Join the club.
Ivor Ward
Wasn’t it in 1980 that Hansen solemnly predicted (no doubt with one of his little smiles thrown in and the head in full tilt) that Manhattan’s perimeter highway would be submerged by 2010?
There has been no measureable increase in sea level there since 1980.
And I think 2010 was the year the IPCC predicted there would be 50 million “climate refugees” on the move.
Seriously, this guy needs to get help.
I don’t know about you but I certainly wouldn’t want to be one of his grandchildren…
“he denigrated our Government as “neanderthal” in it’s approach to AGW, and that climate change science is “crystal clear”.”
It seems that Hansen isn’t aware of just how much the Canadian gpovernment actually supports AGW and the IPCC. I suspect not many Canadians do either, they have been fooled by the apparent “scepticism” of Canada by pulling out of a new Kyoto:
December 2011, at Durban: http://www.ec.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=714D9AAE-1&news=B37E3BE6-5D04-4566-B674-677A20213456
“Environment Minister Peter Kent announced that the Government of Canada is contributing $1.2 billion to support international efforts to help developing countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of a changing climate.
“Canada came to Durban to make a real contribution toward a global solution to this global issue; this signals that,” said Minister Kent. “We are hoping for an agreement that covers all emitters and providing supports for developing countries that can most use the help.”
“Canada wants to see real reductions in emissions and real results.”
Canada supports the 2009 Copenhagen Accord, which is a significant breakthrough in the global effort to address climate change. Our contribution of $1.2 billion in fast-start financing is an important way in which Canada is meeting its commitments.”
http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=5F50D3E9-1
“As part of our commitment to provide our fair share of fast-start financing, Canada is contributing $1.2 billion in new and additional climate change financing for the fiscal years 2010/11, 2011/12 and 2012/2013. This is Canada’s largest ever contribution to support international efforts to address climate change. It is focused on three priority areas – adaptation, clean energy, and forests and agriculture.”
You say Hansen is now unleased, I would add that he has been unhinged for a very long time.
The science is clear? Kerry is well informed?
As we say. that’s total bolleaux
@ Ric Werme says:
April 27, 2013 at 3:38 pm
I’m sure the Warmed – Fevered Mind will not handle this at all well. Anger, attack, followed by paralysis, then general numbness until they are either dead or can find another package of certainty.
Sceptics may have had to handle a lot, but people who are at home with questions and therefore possibility are much more resilient. How, in the contemporary world, could a sane person otherwise exist?
“BC is the number 1 reason Canadians use the internet so heavily..”
Exactly. I used to watch CBC programming regularly. The morning after Mit Romney was defeated, CBC News World was openly gloating about it and making fun of Romney. It went on all morning, they could not regain their composure, they were so happy for Romney’s defeat. I doubt even MSNBC gloated as much as the CBC. I have never seen a news service openly do such a thing ever.
I have never watched any CBC programming since of any kind, including Hockey Night.
Gene Selkov says:
April 27, 2013 at 4:57 pm
OK. On the scale of stupid analogies Hansen proposes, he himself looks like a prehominid. Neanderthals, rock on!
————————————————————————————————————————-
Pre-hominid he is! In this one “instinct” he displays he has got something right.
There is a clear demarcation between his “type” and humanity. But he puts himself on the wrong evolutionary rung. His impulses are generated by his vestigal reptilian brain. A primitive thing. Enemy of humanity. Observably.
If Hansen believes himself in everything he preaches, then what would you expect him to say or do? He is being fully consistent with his concerns.
Jimbo says:
April 27, 2013 at 5:14 pm
Dr. James Hansen opened windows night before his testimony to congress in 1988 so the ACs would not work properly next day……………
…and more
Question: Can I trust Dr. James Hansen when it comes to the climate????
————————————————————————————————————————–
That is exactly the question and these are some of the reasons to ask it.
If you are dealing with someone either apparently deranged and/or untrustworthy, you don’t bother with the details of their claims to an authority to make pronouncements. That at any time is asking for trouble; here it is suicidal.
Who should believe such a man about anything?
I can see why they retired him. Now he is digging his own grave.
Let’s see, Skeptics/Climate Realists want mankind to flourish, with energy that’s affordable and available 24/7. They want to see man expand his knowledge, and to raise living standards. Hansen, and his fellow travelers, on the other hand, want the exact opposite. So, which one is the troglodyte?
@ davidmhoffer says:
April 27, 2013 at 9:01 pm
A very good point.
It is hard (for me anyway, even now) to remember sometimes that that this is not a case of dispassionate researchers getting about their business out of the everyday public eye, and responding when something of general interest arises and the media come to know somehow. In that situation, any coverage comes across as a genuine interest in something of significance.
Hansen and ilk will be relentlessly making representations to ALL the media in Canada about Keystone (or anything else they can think of).
So the NON – APPEARANCE elsewhere is very telling. More so, to me, than appearance on a channel more or less obliged to propaganda.
So I think your comment about “going quiet” is dead right.
Hansen’s just jealous that neanderthals have a bigger cranium – and can use tools effectively..
@ DMarshall says:
April 27, 2013 at 11:26 pm
There’s a difference. Comments about Hansen on this site are generally accurate, and if stated in what seems uncompromising language, still have an observable basis in reality.
jc says:
April 28, 2013 at 5:33 am
jc, comments like that are few and far between
@ atarsinc says:
April 28, 2013 at 1:05 am and previous mock intelligences.
it is difficult for supporters – such as you – of advocates of mass slaughter of humans to strike any sort of pose mimicing dignity.
As you prove.
Even an imitation requires some familiarity with humanity. You fail.
atarsinc:
At April 28, 2013 at 1:01 am you say
Not “revealing” at all. It is common knowledge that I like to see justice.
If you were ignorant of that – as you are of most things – then you only had to ask me.
Sadly, true justice is not likely to be applied to Hansen or you.
Richard
@ richardscourtney says:
April 28, 2013 at 5:52 am
I don’t know what manner of behavior this organism atarsinc has displayed: from “at -argh -sink”, it’s possible there are fears of going down the gurgler, probably for good reason, but as for Hansen, there is every reason to believe, depending entirely on the will of humanity, that justice will be served.
The only thing “crystal clear” is how overstated climate sensitivity to CO2 is…
I didn’t wanna write anything about Hansen, I really, really didn’t. But my sister, my older sister sent me a text message this morning; Sunday morning, which I religiously observe by sleeping late. Which, of course, is no different then any other morning. And she sent the damn thing at 6 o’clock. She wanted me to come over, NOW, and help her pick out a necklace. Get that? At 6 o’clock Sunday morning this has to be done.
And you know why? She’s miserable. And do you know why she’s miserable? Because my niece is miserable. And why is my niece miserable? Because she’s getting married and she wants everything to be absolutely positively perfect at the wedding. And she knows, that just like everything else in life, there isn’t a chance in hell that its going to be absolutely positively perfect. So she’s miserable. And she thinks, if she can make her ma miserable, she’ll be less miserable. And she’s cleverly doing this by nitpicking what kind of necklace will go with the bride’s maid dresses. So, my sister has decided to recruit me in this orgy of miserableness.
Does it make sense now? Does it appear that maybe this is what Hansen’s doing?
@ Tom J says:
April 28, 2013 at 6:17 am
Maybe a bit different. At least there is the prospect of a wedding. Rather than a funeral.
Although, I suppose, for the grandkids of the Select, though the road may not be clear yet, Nirvana must be possible if only the rest of them can be cleared away.
James Hansen is bright, articulate, and correct. Except when he’s not.
He says some things that are very right – that we should use more nuclear and that we should only do things that we would do even if CAGW were not real. Like limiting soot and particulate matter. But then half of his prescriptions contradict his other prescriptions. So I would say he’s a bit confused.
When Jimmy Hansen dies, will his grandchillin’ cremate him, causing more global warming?
He is now a politician. “Denigrating” is a politician’s main weapon of choice. It also replaces and thus destroys his scientific credibility. Let him bloviate. His own words will do the trick. Not one of us can come up with something better to convict him on. Hansen, your seat in the expert section (has “beans” under pressure), awaits you. Denigrate to your heart’s content. And say hi to Al.
addendum: I hearby apologize to Canada for misplacing our village idiot. Alas it is our duty to be the country where he lays his head down at night, so pin his home address on his little coat sleeve and send him back.
leftturnandre says:
April 27, 2013 at 3:52 pm
“The reason why moral enterpreneurs are often successful may be explained by the Milgram experiment, in which people were prepared to administer lethal electrical shocks just by the power of authority.”
The wikipedia page says: ” If the teacher asked whether the learner might suffer permanent physical harm, the experimenter replied, “Although the shocks may be painful, there is no permanent tissue damage, so please go on.” ”
This sounds like the “teacher” did not know that a 450V shock would be lethal; but believed it to be harmless. Indeed the voltage alone does not kill if the current is limited to small values – microamperes.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Any jolt to the nervous system can cause a heart attack. The Milgram experiment made sure that the “teacher” knew that the “student” had a heart condition.
@ Pamela Gray says:
April 28, 2013 at 6:52 am
When you get him back, can he be strapped down? He could still be wheeled out to expostulate in the illuminating way you allude to. Maybe Reality TV? You know, with his grandchildren, butterflies, reactions to a bath overflowing, that sort of thing. Could be a powerful way of getting the true message out. Entertaining too.
Lousy interviewer. He knew nothing of the subject and kept asking the same question, thus letting Hansen of the hook. And Hansen just has to keep mentioning the ‘poor children’ and ‘next generation’ who will ‘suffer’, to get oodles of support.
This is the problem with an aging population with a high proportion of widows. You only have to mention ‘poor children’ or ‘injured puppy’ and the money and sympathy flows in. Over in Holland they have several MPs from the ‘save the puppies’ party and their TV adverts over there are are a litany of limping ponies, abandoned puppies and frightened kittens – that drum up $millions a day. How can rationalists compete with that?
Hansen knows this, and is milking this sympathy vote for all it is worth. The rich widow never notices the cameraman holding back a snarling rottweiler, which is why the kitten was frightened in the first place, and nor would she believe it if you showed her.
.
@ Alberta Slim says:
April 28, 2013 at 6:33 am
Well if they bury him won’t that just contribute to mans pollution of the earth? What a quandry.
Atarsinc, the caveman that discovered rocks that could burn has a far greater chance of having dozens of children that survived [past] infancy, several wives, freshly killed and sizziled steak at every meal, and lived a nice long life compared to the poor fellas who dug for roots, ate rotted dried meat, and slept on the cold hard ground. But be my guest. There are still lots of places you can dig for roots, dry your netted fish on rocks, and sleep under branches. Don’t forget the fig leaf.
@ ralfellis says:
April 28, 2013 at 7:14 am
..”save the puppies party”…
————————————————————————————————————————-
I’m ready to believe any level of individual and collective credulity and stupefication can exist, but this is a joke, right?
The Neanderthals were at least as intelligent as we are. What an insult to them.
RockyRoad says: April 27, 2013 at 6:49 pm
It’s like saying a robber….. has the right to react with indignation against the cops by using the term “burgler”!
_____________________________
Sorry, Rocky, the UK has beaten you to that one. Police officers and prison guards now have to call burglers ‘sir’, as ‘con’ or ‘burgler’ might hurt their feelings and lower their esteem.
.
Some weeks ago I had cause to write to the CBC Ombudsman with regard to a statement on the CBC “National” news programme on the role of CO2 as a greenhouse gas. My complaint was fowarded to the producers of the programme and I did receive an e-mail in response. Below I have copied and pasted a part of the response I received.
I was “gobsmacked” when I first read the below, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. (This was ostensibly from a “senior” person in the production team although I suspect it may have been composed by a staffer). I have not included names, the purpose here is not to shame an individual but to demonstrate the level of knowledge which I believe is pervasive in much of the MSM, and not just in Canada.
And now here is your “laugh of the day”, compliments of the CBC. Josh can you do anything with this?
Verbatim Quotation:-
“With respect to your second point, you wrote that the program host said, “Carbon dioxide is the most powerful green house gas in the atmosphere”. This is “factually incorrect”, you wrote, since water vapour is the “predominant green house gas in terms of effect … by an order of magnitude”.
You are right; water vapour is by far the most abundant heat trapping gas in the atmosphere and
accounts for the largest percentage of the greenhouse effect, up to about 85 per cent when clouds are included. However, it is rarely mentioned in any discussion of anthropogenic climate change. The reason is that water vapour only lasts for a few days in the atmosphere before falling back to earth again.
CO2, on the other hand, accumulates, staying in the atmosphere from anywhere from 30 to 100 years. So the more we create through the combustion of fossil fuels, say, the more there will be in the atmosphere.
Because of its quantity and persistence, scientists say C02 has contributed the most to climate change. Compared to all the other human influenced climate drivers, it is responsible for the greatest amount of energy (the highest “radiative forcing”) reaching the Earth’s surface. Ms. Mesley pointed out that global emissions of C02 in 2011 were at an all time high. Scientists who had crunched the numbers, she said, have found that since the industrial revolution atmospheric C02 levels have increased 41 percent and were likely to go much higher before being brought under control.
End of Quotation.
Ralfellis, you stepped in dodo. And I have a fan. Either walk back on the “widow” comment or I plug it in!
[If the dodo’s are from an exstinct species, do they still smell bad? …. Mod]
doodoo, dodo, horse apples, cow pies, take your pick lolol!
@ Old Mike says:
April 28, 2013 at 7:24 am
“…I have not included names, the purpose here is not to shame an individual but to…”
————————————————————————————————————————
The purpose should be to shame – or reveal – individuals.
All of the employees of CBC are directly responsible to the people of Canada. You wrote to the Ombudsman who is specifically charged with the duty to uphold that responsibility. If there is failure it must be seen and the people who fail must be identified.
This whole issue is maintained by people. To allow proponents, acting in concert, though as individuals, to hold an institutional screen over their activities is a perversion of the entire rationale for such an organization in the first place.
Ralfelis, there is a saying about heaping coal on top of the head of a wrong doer. Calling that person “sir” and treating them with humane respect can actually be worse than calling them names.
But dang, I have too much fun calling Hansen an idiot!
Pedantic old Fart says: “The last recorded Neanderthals went extinct in the Gibralter area about 24,000 yr BP. The whole group lost its woodland-mosaic habitat, ironically, due to global cooling, They were big, smart, often blue-eyed and red haired,speaking people that hunted big animals in ambush with thrusting spears. “
I believe Neanderthal were indeed smarter … but they lost out because HomoSapiens were better at forming a consensus! … and because that consensus was wrong … we, sorry those, Neanderthals were ruthlessly hunted to death by the genocidal “consensii”
Talking of the history of European peoples. it might interest people that I’ve just written a couple of articles:
The Scots are not Celts
The Celts are French
That link is: The Scots are not Celts
jc says: April 28, 2013 at 7:22 am
@ ralfellis says:
..”save the puppies party”…
————————————————————
I’m ready to believe any level of individual and collective credulity and stupefication can exist, but this is a joke, right?
___________________________________
No joke. These are the loons commonly known in Cloggyland as the ‘Save the Puppies Party’. And they have two seats in parliament too:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_for_Animals
You can see why Europe is sinking into a cesspit of decay. Its like the Roman Empire over here, just before its 5th century fall. The great and the good of Rome did everything in their power not to pay taxes (mainly for the army); and then these hedonist patricians proceeded to cut off the fingers of their sons, so they could not join the army (cannot carry a sword). And then they were suprised when the immigrants from the East came in, ran amok in the Balkan States, sacked Rome on a couple of occasions, and then took over France, Spain and North Africa. And the pathetic response from the enfeebled Roman army pretty-much sealed the fate of the Western Roman Empire. Cities then imploded and millions died, as the intricate and interconnected complexities of a great civilisation unravelled in less than a generation.
However, I wouldn’t mind saving Marianne Thieme with the kiss of life, should the need arise….
.
There is no other field of science where technical people can state fantasy lies for propaganda value on a public television station for 15 minutes. In other fields of science specialists in the field and scientifically astute people who care about the integrity of science, will activity defend the truth. Hansen’s statements are so far from reality and truth he would in other fields of science have been labelled a liar or a crack pot.
James Hansen does not participate in a modulated debate as his fantasy scenarios would be torn apart.
I would assume that Hansen is fully aware that his statements are lies and he is creating fantasy scenarios for their propaganda value.
Enough is enough. The crisis in ‘climate change’ policy is a direct result of people like Hansen that have been allowed to state lies and to avoid a discussion of big picture truths.
It is absurd that there is not even a list of the issues, a summary of the problem situation.
What the heck is the problem situation!!! What are the dang viable options!!! The advantage of actually discussing facts and identifying the issues is the resulting policy decisions make sense from the standpoint Western citizens rather than wasting money leading Western countries to economic ruin.
Hansen should have discussed the one fact that he states over and over in his book. If there is global warming crisis which there is not the only viable engineering solution is a rapid conversion to 100% nuclear energy. He suggests breeder reactors as a breeder reactor can achieve close to 100% efficiency for the ultimate fusion reaction as opposed to the current 2% efficiency. That seems reasonable if carbon dioxide emissions could cause very dangerous warming which is ludicrous.
There is no other viable solution.
So we are caught in a “catch 22”. Governments in response to Hansen like unchallenged apocalyptic lies to push an agenda is logically flawed (very important see below for details) have in acted policies that damage the environment, increase unemployment, make Western countries less competitive, and increase or have almost no effect on carbon dioxide emissions.
For example most Western governments have in acted policy that forces money to be spent on green scams such as the conversion of food to biofuel, which result in an increase in CO2 emission and increased species extinction as there is limited land for agriculture so virgin forest must be cut down to grow food to convert to biofuel. There is therefore a loss in a carbon sink, higher food costs to the third world, increased species extinction, higher energy costs to consumers, and a net increase in CO2 emissions.
The ‘green’ fanatics are fanatically anti nuclear so France, Germany, and Japan (there are legitimate safety issues that need to address and have not been addressed in current nuclear reactor design) are planning in the long term to shutdown all of their nuclear reactors.
As Europe is fanatically anti fracking the only engineering viable alternative (A solution that considers reality and practical constraints such as: Western governments are dangerously deeply in debt, Western countries are currently not competitive with Asia and hence cannot accept a doubling of power costs for no significant CO2 reduction which is not a problem anyway, have very high structural unemployment problems, and there is a real possibility of currency collapse.) is coal plants.
Regardless of what Western Countries do, there are 1000 coal plants currently planned, 75% of them in India and China.
Hansen statement “It is game over if the Keystone pipeline is constructed” is based on the above surreal, in the twilight zone, so far from reality that it would be comical if cheap reliable energy from the US’s largest trading party, was not an advantage for the US.
Pamela Gray says: April 28, 2013 at 7:33 am
Ralfellis, you stepped in dodo. And I have a fan. Either walk back on the “widow” comment or I plug it in!
_____________________________
Eh? Not sure what you mean.
Facts are:
Europe has an aging population, many of whom are quite wealthy.
Women have a longer life expectancy than men.
This gives a predominance of wealthy pensioner widows.
Pensioner widows invariably end up with cats or lap-dogs as companions.
Such people are preconditioned to giving money to a ‘Save the Puppies Party’.
Daytime TV is wall-to-wall sob stories about frightened kittens and lost puppies.
But you can save them all, for just $15 a week.
Sub-text:
Give us your money, or the kitten gets it……
Just sign here.
.
@ ralfellis says:
April 28, 2013 at 7:57 am
My God it is at times hard to see a way back. The % vote seems to have (hopefully) stabilized, and just possibly this is an end of era convulsion. There is a fine line between optimism and foolishness, I know.
I take your point about Marianne Thieme but for that act of human identification and concern (?), she may prefer a different species.
@ ralfellis says:
April 28, 2013 at 8:08 am
“Give us your money, or the kitten gets it……
Just sign here.”
——————————————————————————————————————-
You’re actually their campaign manager aren’t you?
Widows are a hearty bunch and don’t cotton to men thinking they are weak minded or easily swayed by puppies and kittens. Take it back.
@ Pamela Gray says:
April 28, 2013 at 8:24 am
At huge risk of being embroiled, maybe not all widows are the same. That’s my total possible contribution!
Glad to see you back Pamela Gray.
I enjoy your comments.
Cough up data on your position about widows or take it back!
I’ll miss having him around.
http://i43.tinypic.com/somq83.jpg
@ralfellis
I agree with Pamela Gray about swinging your brush too far. But hey I am not that offended. I used to be a fan of a number of environmental groups when I was young. In fact in those days many of them were actually interested in the environment and did some good. Now that I am older and wiser I see them for what they have evolved to, mostly self serving alarmists on every issue from the warming of the planet to the mass destruction of hundreds of species. Don’t get me wrong, I am a planetary advocate but I think the advocacy has to be based on facts. So – many of us old codgers will not be falling for the false imagery of these politically/financially motivated save the earth types. I still like the humor of all of it and the more the better. And find me a truly good cause and I’ll support it.
Bernie
The CBC is giving Dr. Hansen a soapbox for advancing a deceptive argument about the methodology of his global warming studies. This argument is called the “equivocation fallacy.” It occurs when a polysemic term changes meaning in the midst of this argument and a conclusion is drawn from the argument; a term that is “polysemic” has more than one meaning. In arguments about the methodologies of climatological studies the terms “model,” “science,” “scientist,” “scientific,” “prediction,” “projection,” “validation” and “evaluation” are polysemic and are used by climatologists in leading dupes to false or unproved conclusions about the methodologies of their studies ( http://judithcurry.com/2011/02/15/the-principles-of-reasoning-part-iii-logic-and-climatology/ ). For example, arguments using the polysemic term “model” lead dupes to the false conclusion that IPCC climate models convey information to policy makers about the outcomes from their policy decisions on CO2 emissions when these models convey no such information. Hansen’s extremely expensive taxpayer supported research has failed in its intended purpose but seems to duped taxpayers to have succeeded.
I wonder why Dr. James Hansen doesn’t go to China and call the Chinese Premier / Government Neaderthals for their increasing use of deadly coal?
You may be right ‘Pedantic old Fart’ but recent research suggest 45,000 years.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130204153714.htm
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1207656110
RE: Old Mike says:
April 28, 2013 at 7:24 am
—————–
Some weeks ago I had cause to write to the CBC Ombudsman with regard to a statement on the CBC “National” news programme on the role of CO2 as a greenhouse gas. My complaint was fowarded to the producers of the programme and I did receive an e-mail in response. Below I have copied and pasted a part of the response I received.
You are right; water vapour is by far the most abundant heat trapping gas in the atmosphere and
accounts for the largest percentage of the greenhouse effect, up to about 85 per cent when clouds are included. However, it is rarely mentioned in any discussion of anthropogenic climate change. The reason is that water vapour only lasts for a few days in the atmosphere before falling back to earth again.
CO2, on the other hand, accumulates, staying in the atmosphere from anywhere from 30 to 100 years. So the more we create through the combustion of fossil fuels, say, the more there will be in the atmosphere.
————————-
I do not know if it was Wendy Mesley who replied. Anyway, the respondent is clueless. CO2 only stays in the atmosphere for about 7 years. The comment that water vapour lasts for a few days is also out to lunch. It is very mobile transferring much more energy than CO2 during that time. The few days is not a problem as it is always being replaced existing in much greater amounts than CO2. They always fail to respond to the question of measurement. There is not one study that has measured the amount of heating caused by CO2.
But you can always count on CBC giving easy access to anyone spouting the Warmist agenda.
The wheel is spinning but it must be on solar power because the hamster is already mummified.
According to some disreputable research Dr. James Hansen’s genomes are 1–4% Neanderthal (assuming he came from Europe and not Venus). 😉
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100506/full/news.2010.225.html
This reminds me of when Dr. James Watson of DNA fame said that black people were less intelligent UNTIL he took a DNA test to look into his ancestry. It was found that he had
“16 times the number of genes considered to be of African origin than the average white European does”.
LOL.
@ old mike quoting the CBC;
You are right; water vapour is by far the most abundant heat trapping gas in the atmosphere and
accounts for the largest percentage of the greenhouse effect, up to about 85 per cent when clouds are included. However, it is rarely mentioned in any discussion of anthropogenic climate change.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Rarely mentioned? The entire CAGW meme is predicated on the theory that 1 degree of warming from CO2 will be doubled to quadrupled by water vapour!
Good lord, before we can argue their science with them we first have to explain to them what their science is!
Yes… CBC is noting less than brutal with its progressive posturing and overt disdain for politics it does not support.. Its so bad that right thinking Canadians cant even click on a CBC link for fear that this will be spun into support..
Vote for the CBC and its politics by using its services.. Not..
The funny thing is.. Our Conservative neanderthals (lol) have already jumped ship $$$ in regards to climate change / carbon tax.. They haven’t stated it yet, but I can smell it on them..
Im looking for a more politically suitable libertarian party in Canada now.. In the past my family has voted Conservative or not at all.. Now it seems never again is a third option..
Re the “Neanderthal” remark by our old friend Hansen, you can see the text and make a posting at:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/04/26/pol-hansen-oliver.html
There are many postings, sadly largely supportig the CBC and Hansen. In reply I posted the following, but it is so far down the list that I wonder if anyone will read it:
“So sad. I’ve read maybe 40 comments and everyone seems to believe what Hansen says. Hansen has no formal training in climatology- his background is in astrophysics. Yes, you need brains to do that field, but it doesn’t mean that he knows anything about climate. Hansen is an activist and is pushing his beliefs, but that does not guarantee that he knows what he is talking about. For a start…..there is no valid proof that CO2 determines climate. This is the conclusion only from computer models, and anyone who knows anything about computers knows that GIGO.
Would someone kindly point out just where this supposed warming is taking place? It was exceptionally cold this winter almost everywhere. And it still is. This is a characteristic of WEATHER; it varies from year to year. Fact: it stopped warming 16 years ago. What we are hearing is just the endess echo of wannabees who are mindlessly repeating the message that they got from activists. They do not check the facts for themselves but are content just to repeat what someone on their wavelength says- but that is no guarantee that they are right.
Our federal government should be doing MORE to counter the wave of nonsense being perpetrated on the general public. Facts are finally starting to become known, but as long as the MSM, like our beloved(!) CBC keep pushing the “global warming” theme there will be no end of people who believe what the alarmists say.
To the ignorant, 400 ppm sounds like a lot. The “m” in “ppm” stands for “million:; CO2 is less than 0.0004 of the air we breathe. Water is also a GHG and there is 10-100 times as much water as CO2 in the air.
To repeat: there is no valid relationship between CO2 and climate, so there is just no justification for any form of restriction on our emissions of CO2.”
IanM
Hansen who? Why are people still paying attention to this clown? His pronouncements and attention-seeking will only grow more bizarre as he becomes increasingly irrelevant. He had become tiresome even before he retired – just a shill, a one-trick pony masquerading as a scientist.
Brains and common sense, unfortunately, do not always go together.
High intelligence and madness have been observed.
In Hansen’s case he has managed a hat-trick.
High Intelligence, lunacy and no common sense.
@ Jay: indeed, it looks as if Harper is measuring what needs to be done in order to at the same time develop the oil sands and pay the minimum green tax imposed by the green lobby. This is highway robbery literally by the Maurice Strong and consorts. Of course, ordinary Canadians will pay the bill and make Thomsons and friends even wealthier. If Harper plays this game, as he did with the Income Trust issue, look for the tepid Justin Trudeau being backstabbed by those who are putting him on a pedestal now. Of course, Harper may simply get shame and war as to paraphrase Churchill.
@ Ian McQueen, I had not been on CBC news website for months and the level of political pandering is beyond belief. And all this paid for by our taxes… Disgusting.
It will be interesting to observe as the ‘real’ Hansen we have always exists suspected emerges in his new public record.
PM Harper may well be playing (green) politics, but he also playing with fire with about 1/3 of his long time Conservative supporters.. There is nothing a right wing mind loves more than kicking posers to the curb.. Its in our DNA to reject ideas / politics that dont work.. This base will abandon CPC and leave them no better than the broken Libs and the delusional NDP..
Thinking that we have no place else to go hasnt helped the UK with the unstoppable rise of UKIP..
Secret political meeting? Getting in line with the USA? Making due with the political situation?
All of it irrelevant if you are dishonesty $$$ off base..
Early-onset senile dementia is a terrible condition… just sayin’
Hansen is a rabid species-ist. Shun him.
That radio program interviews people from all sides and I heard nothing to be be mad at the CBC about, except that it let Mr Hansen pronounce Neanderthal with a “th” (as in “thirst”) sound and described him after the interview ended as a “climatologist”.
Hansen is neither here nor there for me.. He is the talking head of the green dragon that holds his legacy in its hands.. So he will shop himself around and visit every tax funded left wing political ghetto in the world.. Lord knows he has helped them and they will repay in kind with legacy face time and maybe even a few more tax dollars as a professional speaker..
Which really has nothing to do with science at all..
If Hansen’s thinks skeptics are neanderthals does that make him a dinosaur ?
If the climate science is “crystal clear”, how come his predictions so, so wrong? I’d say he must use a Magic 8 Ball, but even that is considerably more accurate.
Felflames says:
April 27, 2013 at 4:19 pm
“Dr Hansen , you have been writing books since the 1960′s , each one has predicted doom for humans within 10 years. Each time you have been wrong in your predictions. Why should anyone believe a word you say when you have always been proven wrong by empirical evidence?”
Now that is a question someone needs to put to him.
———————————————————-
Maybe he’s just playing the odds
He may think he has to be right once in his life.
Although he does have a very bad track record kind of like Ted Turner.
cn
If AGW skeptics are “neanderthals,” than Hansen must be an australopithecine. Let’s do a genetic test on him to see if he’s human. Of course he wouldn’t submit to that because it might prove he isn’t. /sarc
The Monster (@SumErgoMonstro) says:
April 27, 2013 at 5:28 pm
@DocMartyn
Approximately 7% of my DNA is inherited from my Neanderthal ancestors, thus as a member of an ethnic minority I take affront to this disparagement of my forebears.
Preach it, brother! How long must our people submit to these racist slurs?
—————————-
I’m with you.
I’m near my breaking point with these subspecies slurs.
Before you know it out come the jokes about my forehead, again.
cn
Are the Climate Clowns now exposed?
@ The Monster, Doc Martin, The Last Democrat and Scottish Skeptic
I was really just making a point that comparisons to supposed odious groups are not necessary and escalate barriers to rational discourse and that Hansen loses by doing so.
However—– Claiming to have Neanderthal genes is a nice sentiment (in this context) but the probability is that they were inherited not directly but from a common ancestor. The evidence for claims that Homo sapiens overwhelmed Neanderthals (species or race) is the in sites where remains of both are found, H.s replaces N after a time gap. This can just as validly be interpreted as N extinction some time before H. s arrived. Contemporaneous sites are widely separate. When body type, technology and ecology and changing climate are considered the latter seems more convincing to me. But don’t trust me, read Finlayson.
Peter Gulutzan says: April 28, 2013 at 11:35 am
Perhaps, but then again, perhaps not.
Typically (and this Solomon interview was certainly no exception), when a CBC program does deign to interview someone whose views do not reflect the all-climate-change-all-the-time party line, all one hears is a few sound-bites to serve as a foil or backdrop for the main act.
The actual interview can be heard at:
http://www.cbc.ca/thehouse/popupaudio.html?clipIds=2381955582
Hansen’s wolf howlings (and howlers which Solomon allowed to be left unchallenged, as though they were gospel truth) segment begins at approx. 12:29
Oliver was heard on the air for – what seemed to me to be – considerably less than a minute. Any further comments from Oliver were filtered by Solomon’s (and/or his producers’/writers’) choices.
Not only did Solomon mistakenly call Hansen a “climatologist”, but also dubbed him as a “world renowned scientist”. Furthermore, Solomon’s intro was positively dripping with unadulterated adulation and appeals to Hansen’s haloed “authority”. So the set-up was clearly “politician vs scientist”.
Yet (and here’s one of the howlers Solomon let pass without comment), during the course of this particular CBC exercise in the promotion of unchallenged advocacy propaganda, Hansen appealed to the authority of U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, as well as to that of Obama. Both of whom are … politicians!
As an aside, Hansen clearly demonstrated, at last year’s AAAS meeting here in Vancouver, that he cannot hold his own – and comes in a very distant third – when placed on the same platform as those who actually know what they’re talking about:
http://hro001.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/science-is-not-enough-invitation-to-an-exceptional-aaas-live-webcast/#comment-769
Hilary Ostrov
P.S. Janice Moore April 27, 2013 at 8:56 pm : Many thanks for your kind comments on my posts!
P.P.S. Michael Palmer April 27, 2013 at 9:16 pm: I’m sorry that you don’t appear to recognize and/or appreciate that there is a BIG difference between saying that an individual “should be ashamed” with its implicit “of himself” – almost as an afterthought to a series of valid factual observations – and “trying to ‘shame'” a person.
Perhaps to a professor of Chemistry there is no difference or distinction between the two scenarios; but I can assure you that to a pre-post-modernist English major, there certainly is 😉
The only way in which Oliver could be deemed to have “denigrated” or “shamed” Hansen is if one believed that drawing attention to and quoting Hansen’s very own words is tantamount to “denigrating” or “shaming” him. However, IMHO, this would be a very mistaken belief that lacks a sound foundation..
I would rather be an Honest Neanderthal than a Professional Fearmonger with a line in dodgy statistics
Dang, if it was not for this article I would not remember who the CBC is, I am a Canadian and pretty much up to date on what is going on, no thanks to that waste of tax money! One Billion $$ per year and the only reason they are still on the air is “Unions” and “Human Rights” without either they would not know how to make a nickle! (venting sorry)
Dr/ Hansen is an academic, and as such should demonstrate more sensitivity. This h. sapiens-centric bigotry must stop:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tVY6CWfJWsw/Si2ShCwkHdI/AAAAAAAAAa8/hBSz3-rtGFM/s320/geico_caveman.jpg
One last observation on Dr. Hansen;
He looks waaaaay too much like a certain iconic cartoon character to be indulging in calling anyone names:
@ lurker passing through, laughing says:
April 28, 2013 at 7:24 pm
The likeness really is uncanny isn’t it? Is is almost unsettling. I wonder if whoever drew Homer was working from some archetype, either in personal observation, or seen “in books” about pre-history. It can’t be accidental.
I’m disheartened by how many comments are focused on the Neanderthal comment and the politics of the situation, and how few comments touch on the climate change issues. It seems the public is kept well educated on pipelines, protesters, and carbon taxes, while actual science is deemed too complicated for the news.
Don’t listen to this guy.
Don’t listen to the government.
Don’t listen to the corporations.
Listen to the many books and documentaries that explain with empirical evidence and sound science what is happening to our planet. It is changing. It always has been, and will continue to do so until our sun goes supernova and envelops us (if we’re still around as a species at that point). While many of the forces that drive these changes our out of our control, it’s pretty clear that our species has a major effect on the planet. We’re also the only species capable of mitigating these changes. Therefor, it is our responsibility – not just to future generations of humans, but to every species on the planet – to learn all we can about how our planet operates and to attempt to counteract any potentially cataclysmic events.
Educate yourself.
Deal in facts.
Ignore propaganda and politics from both sides of the argument.
Question authority.
Joel, what empirical evidence would that be? The ones on hurricanes, volcanoes, snow, rain, wind, floods, droughts? Would the documentaries you like to watch be the ones Al put together? Or maybe Bill Nye? Or maybe that oriental guy (can’t remember his name)? Yeh, those would be the ones I would hang my tax dollars on. Where do I sign up to have my pocket picked. I’m old and a woman. Maybe you could guide me to some documentaries that include puppies and kittens.
Hansen was to NASA’s GISS as Schmidt was to RC. (And I do mean was in both cases)
Both celebrated and honored themselves as the pseudo scientists they emulated sacked and pillaged both NASA’s reputation and the public’s respect for climate science.
John
– – – – – –
Joel Parsons,
Yes.
And authority is just a tiny subset of what each person should persistently question.
John
Perhaps Dr. Hansen could use some remedial education if he continued to use the term “neanderthals” as a pejorative, All modern Indoeuroasians (of which he, and I are members) share 2.5 percent of our DNA with the neanderthals. He is essentially insulting himself.
mandobob:, you probably meant to say, “all but 2.5 percent of our DNA”?
We share 2.5 percent with nearly everything.
Gene Selkov says:
April 29, 2013 at 8:35 am
mandobob:, you probably meant to say, “all but 2.5 percent of our DNA”?
We share 2.5 percent with nearly everything.
No I meant what I wrote. I have no doubt that overall we share 2.5 percent of our DNA with other organisms but I am referring to neanderthal specific DNA markers.
Right. I followend the 2.5% lead and found that the source (Svante Pääbo) claimes 2.5% identity in mitochondrial DNA between non-Africans and Neanderthals. That’s a fun fact, but the media talk about “2.5% of the genome” (and you said “of our DNA”). It’s not even “our” DNA.
Well, isn’t “Neanderthal” in the list of neo-Marxist/Post Modernist smear words, inferring that they are progressive?
It gets funny, they are so obvious.
Of course Marxism came from old conditions in continental Europe, albeit Marx was too stupid to see that good things had happened in England due to increasing freedom.
@ Hilary Ostrov — My pleasure. He cited “… fifty-seven states, uh, not counting Alaska and Hawaii…” [quoted from memory only] Doh!bama?! Desperation is not pretty.
@ lurker — Thanks for the laugh (and hat tip to Jimbo, great minds…). Yes, as jc pointed out, a striking resemblance… BTW, what in the WORLD did Marge say in the last scene? I ran it back three times. Probably something like: “A Jim Hansen called. Is he really your father?”
As a proud neanderthal, I can only hope that Hansen is charged, with uttering hate speech, by one of our Orwellian Human rights commissions.
The more we learn about Neanderthals, the more we see that in the context of their time they were exceptionally advanced people. How would you rate Hansen?
Eric Worrall
points to Hansen’s boiling oceans comment. But the start of the clip starts with something much more embarrassing for the climate consensus. Rapidly melting ice caps will cool the polar oceans – reducing temperatures. As the most extreme warming in the future will, according to the UNIPCC, be in the Arctic, Hansen is saying melting ice caps will have negative feedbacks.
As a Canadian I can save you some time and effort. No contribution from you will be published unless it forwards the AGW theme.Skeptics are routinely cut off or labeled as cranks during radio call in shows, David Suzuki is treated like a scientist instead of a environmentalist activist hack and the Conservative government is the result of a horrible perfect storm of corrupt election promises, voter ignorance and the powers of darkness. The only exception to this rule is when the CBC includes at least two “expert” rebuttals to the skeptical view. It’s the CBC, not an actual legitimate media outlet.