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Climate Change Czar Carol Browner on Hacked Emails: ‘Who Cares?’

If the underpinnings of the science don't matter, let's make her the Flat Earth Czar.

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  November 29th, 2009 at 08:44 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Obama’s Energy and Climate Change Czar Carol Browner is unswayed by the revelations in the Hadley CRU hacked emails, saying

“I’m sticking with the 2,500 scientists. These people have been studying this issue for a very long time and agree this problem is real,” said Ms. Browner, who President Obama has tapped as his chief of policy on global warming. …

Ms. Browner initially shrugged when asked about the e-mails, saying she didn’t have a reaction. But when a reporter followed up, she said she will stick with the consensus of the 2,500 climate scientists on the International Panel on Climate Change who concluded global warming is happening and is most likely being pushed by human actions.

On the eve of President Obama’s trip to the U.N. Climate Change conference in Copenhagen, please indulge a few rhetorical questions.

  • Those 2,500 scientists? They work for the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Of course they believe in Climate Change; it says “Climate Change” on their paychecks! The global warming opinions of organizations like the American Petroleum Institute have always been treated with skepticism; why should we not consider the source when it comes to the IPCC’s studies?
  • If money corrupts and renders ones scientific opinions tainted, what’s with Nobel Peace Laureate Al Gore? As a partner in investment bank Kleiner Perkins, he’s positioned to score big from government’s “investment” in green energy.
  • The email controversy directly calls into question the integrity of the #1 repository of temperature trend data. Hadley puts ideology above their commitment to scientific truth, and that, to me, is the key revelation of the emails. If they had found that the data no longer supports global warming, would they have reported it nonetheless? The tone of the emails suggests the answer is “no”.
  • Aside from the institutional bias (or perhaps because of it), Hadley’s data seems a mess. Before the hacked emails, we discovered that decades of raw data had been erased, making it impossible for independent researchers to audit Hadley’s statistical methods. Email content calls into question the way relatively sparse recent data were grafted onto historical trends. Without the “hockey stick”, which has become a key underpinning of global warming alarmism, what’ve you got?
  • Can we drop the “denier” bit now? Aside from subliminally conjuring up the Holocaust to help your cause, recent events suggest climate change skepticism is healthy and justified.
  • For the last decade or so, we’ve been operating under “The Science is settled. We don’t have time. WE MUST ACT NOW!” Well, last time I checked, global temps have been falling. Even if you’re right, the temperature trend has bought us some time. Maybe it’s time to start the analysis afresh, only this time with a blank slate, and without a stacked deck.
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COMMENTS

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  • http://dezignworx-ae.com tsquare

    Seems like this is the offical party line of the far left eviro-wackos:

    ‘ignore it all… it will go away.’

    I’ve gotten this over the dinner table Thanksgiving, from the guy down the block and from folks on line.

    Amazing…

    • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

      others in out-right apathy to allowing Liberals to do anything DESPITE KNOWING FACTS (or at least wanting a real hashing out of the science) is just….. Wow….. It is indeed amazing how many folks out their just don’t care, as long (of course) there are enough RICH FOLK to stick it to in order to pay for it — they are still in DENIAL on that little lie.

      +SDAA – Politically Brain-dead (in Denial)
      +Liberal Laziness – Liberal Laziness – definition and examples

      This is all how CNN/MSNBC stays in business at all — all those folks just seeking validation of their FICTIONAL WORLD they prefer to live in rather than Reality.

    • Next93

  • Old_Crow

    The facts are out there for everyone to see.

    At the very least, this means that we halt all global climate change legislation until a full investigation is conducted and new, non-biased scientific research is conducted.

    • http://spendenforcer.com/ vortigernpendragon

      This is all about money and not about science. There was an article today about how the UN expects the wealthy nations to pony up about $10 billion each to be paid to the poorer countries in order to protect them from the devastatiing effects of global warming (i.e. transfer of wealth). And $10 billion is just for starters. After that, we’re talking real money.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P21n4ZOP8KE

      • Next93

        You can’t build a steel plant using solar power. Essentially, buying “carbon credits” equates to paying poorer countries to give up industrializing, which essentially means keeping them poor forever. Poverty will, in fact, become the sole industry in many of those countries. Effectively, they’re going to be re-colonialized, “for thier own good”, by the Greenies.

        But thier own “democratically elected” leaders will get to skim off the top, so they can be expected to pronounce it a GOOD form of colonialism. This makes them not much different from the “crony capitalists” who’ve positioned themsevles to make a fortune from new government regulations that will actually cripple our own industry.

        Isn’t it wonderful that the one thing that binds us all in this vast Human family, transending race, creed, color, geographic location or political system, is the willingness of our politicians to sell us out for a chance to wet thier beaks.

  • http://xmmlbchat.blogspot.com katesmith

    Reported 5/2/07, likened the struggle to Britain’s against Nazi Germany in WWII at a business meeting in his St. James Palace residence. Report by Fox News online.

    • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit
    • Next93

      Really, how many more generations do you think it will be before we see the Royals sitting out on the porch at Buckingham Castle, playing the banjo and drinkin ‘shine ?

      I would have made a comment about listening to the political pronouncements of a man in his 60′s who’s never held a job, but then I figured that would leave me open to someoe mentioning the Kennedys and/or Rockefellers currently serving.

  • VizBiz

    Yeah I’m reaching, but with a “stacked deck” I couldn’t help it.

  • bs

    So there is no way to get the real information. All there is remaining is the data that they doctored.

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6936328.ece

    Liberal Liars strike again.

    • bs

      Must. Pay. Closer. Attention.

      The whole thing really pissed me off tonight.

  • izoneguy

    Climate change data dumped

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6936328.ece

    SCIENTISTS at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have admitted throwing away much of the raw temperature data on which their predictions of global warming are based.

    It means that other academics are not able to check basic calculations said to show a long-term rise in temperature over the past 150 years.

    The UEA?s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) was forced to reveal the loss following requests for the data under Freedom of Information legislation.

    The data were gathered from weather stations around the world and then adjusted to take account of variables in the way they were collected. The revised figures were kept, but the originals ? stored on paper and magnetic tape ? were dumped to save space when the CRU moved to a new building.

    I say it is time to dump Browner.

    Obama climate czar has socialist ties

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/12/obama-climate-czar-has-socialist-ties/

    Socialist International, an umbrella group for many of the world’s social democratic political parties such as Britain’s Labor Party, says it supports socialism and is harshly critical of U.S. policies.

    The group’s Commission for a Sustainable World Society, the organization’s action arm on climate change, says the developed world must reduce consumption and commit to binding and punitive limits on greenhouse gas emissions.

    Mr. Obama, who has said action on climate change would be a priority in his administration, tapped Mrs. Browner last month to fill a new position as White House coordinator of climate and energy policies. The appointment does not need Senate confirmation.

    Enough of these socialists!!!

  • bcmoney82

    It should be understood that these emails will not sway those who now hold power. They have an agenda that does not rely on traditional evidence.
    It is important, however, that this reality is consistently exposed for what it is. In the past, proponents of far-reaching government control needed to maintain a public image that did not show this with such boldness. It has never been a mystery to many of us what the true goals of big government progressives are, but the members of this movement who expected to hold public office had to be careful not to show their true colors, and instead maintain a very moderate facade.
    The game has changed, now. Several high ranking and visible leaders, up to and including Obama, are unafraid to say what they mean and mean what they say. Obama minces no words in expressing his desire to redistribute wealth. He has no problem voicing his support for powerful unions despised by many Americans. The Secretary of State and the former “Green Jobs Czar” also left little to the imagination when explaining their redistributive agenda. Other czars and leaders proudly tell of their support of restricting energy usage, population control, and rationing of goods and services.
    We must take this opportunity to educate on the absolutely horrific track record of these policies.

  • OneCleverCookie

    to see these clowns chain themselves to the wheel of the sinking ship that is “Climate Change”. This story hasn’t hit critical mass yet, but with a little inertia initiated by our friends in the alternate media this story will become the metaphorical scientific Titanic!

  • mbecker908

    HT to Powerline.

  • http://www.thehayride.com MacAoidh

  • spainishirish

    The fact that we have documentation that purportedly peer reviewed journals were bullied and stacked to keep out the competition, so to speak, will hurt the scientific community for many years to come…and not just paleoclimatologists. The American and Euro Left could care less, of course, but as a consumer of medications to treat illnesses and other wonderful things we get from science I certainly mind.

    From a strictly political standpoint, this is the American Left’s Waterloo. They can shrug and divert all they want, but this is larger than a massive hoax. It is an absolute metaphor for the Left and shows how willingly it will lie, defraud and ultimately steal. This is a gift that will keep on giving for the foreseeable future, and the image of Obama in Copenhagen smoozing with these blatant criminals is an image that couldn’t be bought .

    • http://impudent.blognation.us/blog kyle8

      Let’s face it, this is not the first time we have been deliberately lied to by scientists, and there are the many cases where they just plain got things wrong.

      I think it is a good thing if the public becomes skeptical and treat scientists the same way they treat other “experts”. They will listen, but not trust them completely. It has taken a long time but the public have finally come to that conclusion about the medical profession as well.

      I think skepticism is good and healthy.

      • redneck_hippie

        crooks. The nut of the problem is that skepticism was throttled. This is only different in degree from the Inquisition. Dissent wasn’t burned at the stake, but it was threatened with extinction nonetheless.

      • spainishirish

        Skepticism is the reason scholarly articles are peer reviewed. My concern is for survival of a system that has served us pretty darned well, and whether our best and brightest will continue to be attracted to it (this was a problem in the United States before this massive hoax).

        • Uma Richie

          when Sci-Am’s “The Skeptic” Michael Shermer declared himself not skeptical of AGW, I started waking up.

          Article: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-flipping-point

  • bobojake

    Browner shouldn’t be aloowed to even work forthe Federal Government let alone be the EPA Energy CZAR. Having Browner as Energy CZAR is like having Madhoff in charge of Wall Street or Jefferson in charge of illegal cash payments stored in a Deep Freeze in New Orleans.

    • http://impudent.blognation.us/blog kyle8

      If they could only fill the administration with liberals with clean records then most of the jobs wouldn’t get filled.

  • 10ksnooker

    Those in the know knew it was a fraud all along. They want their taxes.

  • nolan

    to keep sticking in the faces of nitwits and lowlifes is that the IPCC and all the scientist who are on board w/ the idea have been using the CRU’s information!!! All the models and all the data and all the “consensus” is based on CRU’s falsified, now missing, info!!! Correct me if I’m wrong, confirm if I’m right, but I remember seeing that in the whole mess of info. I’ll try to find it again. Arghhhhhhh! I have so much more important stuff to do than fight these morons.

  • throwback59

    allow facts to get in the way of dogma. She is no different than the leftists who insisted (and still insist) that communism wasn’t a failure.

  • http://www.scottbomb.com scottbomb

    Of course, they don’t get GRANT MONEY….

    What’s that old saying about “follow the money”??

    And why won’t Algore accept any debate? Aren’t liberals supposed to be in favor of “open dialogue” of “differing ideas” and such?…

    *sigh*

  • tazzmax

    need to be held accountable,..they will lie in order to get the desired results.

    NASA is a good example,….they’ve been lying to the public for years and I am certain there are many other govt scientists guilty of the same crime.

    Bottom line,….This international criminal enterprise, {Goracle incl}, is the largest scam in human history, and IMO, every one of them should be punished to the full extent of the law!

    It makes Bernie Madoffs’ “ponzi scheme” look like a Sunday school picnic.

    • Tbone

      and all we got out of it is Tang.

      • aeaeren

        I surely hope you are kidding here, if you just do a google search on NASA inventions list you will see you are getting a lot more bang for you buck then anywhere else govt spends money.

        • Tbone

          “you will see you are getting a lot more bang for you buck then anywhere else govt spends money.”

          Your right. Getting Tang is a better return than most government spending.

  • http://erickbrockway.wordpress.com/ Erick Brockway

    The fact is this isn’t about “Climate Change” or “Global Warming” and it never was.
    It was, is, and always will be about politics and the money that generates.
    The only “science” that’s settled it the political science of making money to get elected, re-elected, and maintain their power.

  • rbdwiggins

    Actually, there were only 52 scientists that contributed to the IPCC Report. The rest were government bureaucrats, environmentalists and representatives from the various NGA’s that do business with the UN. The key words is were, because many of the scientists with expertise in climatology and physics have sued to have their names be removed from the report because the IPCC would not allow their input in writing the report and misrepresented their work in the final product.

    But the fraud and deception is much deeper than that.

    The entire Theory of the Atmospheric CO2 Greenhouse Effect is founded on pseudo-science and a series of falsehoods and impossibilities that date back to Fourier (1824), Tyndall (1861), and Arrhenius (1896), and essentially describes a fictitious mechanism, in which a planetary atmosphere acts as a heat pump driven by an environment that is radiatively interacting with but radiatively equilibrated to the atmospheric system.

    Global Warming, especially Anthropogenic Global Warming, can never be proved. It can only be falsified,

  • RedBeard

    After watching her rise to power here in Florida, then flitting from one cushy government post to another, there is no surprise in her dogmatic positioning.

    Browner is a stereotypical elite leftist, the sort all too often bred by the modern university system. She has spent almost her entire life on the public payroll, with a couple of minor forays into the world of a private leftist think tank and a short-term token position with an investment company.

    Browner needs to be retired. Let her spend her remaining days bicycling through the Everglades, as she says she used to do during her formative years. Shades of Janet Reno. Back to nature.

  • Scope

    is that it will put a big huge question mark in front of the word “science”, especially if the projects are getting government funding.

  • Scope

    is that it will put a big huge question mark in front of the word “science”, especially if the projects are getting government funding.

  • ellisclarke

    There is more hot air and gas emanating from politicians, their respective party leaders and their supports, than from the scandalous science of global warming manipulated models and dubious theories that no longer have any supportive back up research materials?..

  • johnt

    science takes a dive in the name of power and economic stagnation.
    I daresay the wrong religion is being backed and make no mistake, the confluence of government and science is faith based.
    People want more government in science? They will get more corruption, call it the Lysenko syndrome, and it comes with a bigoted zeal only imagined in traditional belief.

  • Achance

    you haven’t heard a thing about the leaked emails and your view of AGW “skeptics” is that they’re right in there with the people who beleive the Earth is flat and is the center of the universe. Just try expressing any skepticism about AGW in any ordinary group of people, especially young people. There reaction ranges from simply looking at you like you’re crazy to howls of outrage at your expression of a heresy. Not only is it a religion, for many it is THE religion.

    • yoyo
  • dnha14

    When scientists manipulate data to achieve a predetermined result, they are no longer scientists. They become politicians. When that happens all science becomes suspect. We need to trust the scientists, but when revelations like the climate e-mails come to light, that trust is lowered another notch. Scientists must not have an agenda.

    Oh, please help me. I’m so naive to think that this type of gambling is not happening in this establishment. Shocked!

  • tedpomeroy

    What are you doing to get Jeff Bingaman to call for Browner’s resignation?

  • archer52

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiability

    They lost credibility when they refused to change their theories in the face of the “black swan.” At the moment their greed and egos moved to the front of the line bumping truth and ethic to the rear, they became lost and useless.

    In science, there are few laws and even those are subject to challenge. The rest of the ideas or theories are just that, theories. The scientist who states one of his theories expects to be proven wrong, but hopes that proof moves his theory along by refining it.

    In the “black swan” example, the scientist makes the observation he sees only white swans. Therefore, he can say that there are only white swans in the world. He also knows, he is probably wrong, there has to be a swan of a different color in the world. So, his theory launches a search for the further truth. If one is found, the theory is not proven wrong, but modified. All swans are white except one. If more are found, at some point the scientist can say there are both black and white swans. New theory to fit the facts discovered.

    This is how science is moved along. In the global warming conflict, those in charge have used another method, they simply call the critics, those who have proved them wrong, insane and fools.

    Not exactly scientific or professional. Shame on them.