But, it seems that the climate hysterics are basically saying that everyone is misunderstanding this stuff, the science is settled, it's just in-house squabbling, etc. Have you read some of the emails in question? Sounds like a lot more than that to me. I mean, we have people saying they can't account for the cooling of the past ten years. Yes, that's cooling for the past ten years. They cannot account for it, and it is "a travesty," that they can't. It doesn't fit their "models."
You may notice in my "currently reading," that I am reading Red Hot Lies, by Chris Horner. I have had this book on my shelf for some months now, but finally decided to read it after this all came down. It is quite interesting, in that it basically sums up all the stuff the emails seem to prove, but far ahead of them. Horner has scads of footnotes, quotes in context, and more that would (or should) make even the most ardent climate alarmist embarrassed at the very least.
But some ask, "Why in the world would these people want to deceive the world? What's in it for them, as opposed to, say, the evil capitalistic corporations that all benefit from polluting the world with carbon-based fuels?" Well, first off, I would like to know why anti-capitalists think that only capitalists can be evil (and that, of course, all of them are), but greenies, government employees, scientists, and politicians are ever and always out for truth, justice, and the "world" way. These people only ever have the good of mankind and the entire world at heart. They are never in it for themselves, power, funding, etc. Right.
I read a review of Horner's book that was written by one Lubos Motl, who was apparently a physicst at Harvard. It was an excellent review, and it elicited many responses. One was a woman named Deborah who asked how the global warming alarmists profited from their views. I shall quote from one response:
Deborah, that's a fair question. I don't know the answer entirely,
but I think that part of the reason is bound up in an emerging hatred of the
perceived evils of capitalism. I stress the term "perceived," because I
think that most Americans could not even define capitalism if you asked
them to, and worse, they cannot even point to all the plainly obvious benefits
of capitalism that surround them. We live in very strange times where the
very mechanism of economic development that permits people the luxury of
worrying about the environment--that is the capitalist mechanism of mutual
exchange within a system of private property--is now under withering attack from
virtually all quarters save a few brave voices. It's very troubling.
I think that sums up the views of many people who have no idea what capitalism is. None whatsoever. I could get up on my soapbox and decry the modern educational system that no longer teaches logic, or even reading or writing very well, and that most people are so entrenched in their iPods, video games, and who-knows-what, that they pay no attention to what's going on except for perhaps watching shows like Brian Williams's, and they rely on the mainstream media to get their views, or they just think for the moment, or whatever. Or, climate change (formerly global warming) has become their religion. Okay, so I got on the soapbox for a minute anyway!
So, I shall wrap this up by linking a few more articles about the whole "climategate" affair. Read for yourself (follow the link in my previous post) the actual emails in question and make up your own mind.
This one is great, and it has lots of both embedded links and some other articles to read linked at the end.
A very important article to read by Christopher Booker.
Another good one by George Will.
Besides being enlightening, I find this one amusing as well. It made me decide to purchase Christopher Booker's book :-).
I know some of you (and you know who you are) will pooh-pooh this article because it's from the Weekly Standard, but I'll post one from...ugh...The Nation to show you that I am fair and balanced! (Note: the Nation article doesn't mention Climategate, of course).
Okay, that should be enough reading for now.
