See no dissent, call it science

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 1/30/7 | Debra J. Saunders

[SmithL]

IT IS a sign of how politicized global warming has become when a father's push for his daughter's junior high school science class to present both sides of the global warming controversy becomes a national story -- with the father being portrayed as the villain.

To recap, Frosty Hardison, the parent of a seventh-grader who attends school in Federal Way, Wash., was troubled to learn that science teacher Kay Walls had planned on showing her class Al Gore's global-warming pic "An Inconvenient Truth" -- without presenting any contrary information.

Hardison is an evangelical Christian who, as the Washington Post reported, sees global warming as "one of the signs" of Judgment Day. That is, Hardison fits the sort of stereotype bound to attract national media attention under the rubric: religious zealot fights science in schools.

The school board put a moratorium on showing the movie -- since lifted -- while it investigated whether Wells was violating a school policy that requires that when class materials "show bias," that educators "point out the biases, and present additional information and perspectives to balance those biases."

On the one hand, it is a sad commentary that districts see a need to restrict teachers' ability to communicate -- and that this country has become so sensitive that parents feel a need to muzzle what teachers can say in class. On the other hand, we've all seen teachers who think their political views are gospel.

[stm]

"On the one hand, it is a sad commentary that districts see a need to restrict teachers' ability to communicate -- and that this country has become so sensitive that parents feel a need to muzzle what teachers can say in class."

Unless of course they are spouting liberal and diversity mantras. That's still ok, especially in San Fransickness.

[jess35]

All hail the Church of Global Warming. Dissenters will be punished.

[Ronaldus Magnus Reagan]

Yes, tell all the liberal Bush Bashers that the theocracy is here! It's the church of man-made global warming.

[E Rocc]

"Aliens Cause Global Warming"

I want to pause here and talk about this notion of consensus, and the rise of what has been called consensus science. I regard consensus science as an extremely pernicious development that ought to be stopped cold in its tracks. Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you're being had.

Let's be clear: the work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world. In science consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus.

There is no such thing as consensus science. If it's consensus, it isn't science. If it's science, it isn't consensus. Period.

[Spok]

The liberals have brought censorship back into vogue, but they sure don't like it when the tables are turned. It's an incredible arrogance that openly declares such righteousness that the suppression of opposing viewpoints is justified.

[From many - one.]

I don't get this one.

If Dad thinks "global warming" is one of the signs of a coming "Judgement Day" and Gore thinks it is happening, where is the issue?

Is Dad challenging the science (possibly valid) or claiming that the scientific conclusions (even if correct are against his religion?

For the record: my position is that there is global warming, which may or may not be countering a trend toward an ice age and I don'care if it is man-made or not. If it is "inconvenient" can we fix it?

[xjcsa]

For the record: my position is that there is global warming, which may or may not be countering a trend toward an ice age and I don'care if it is man-made or not. If it is "inconvenient" can we fix it?

Interesting. My position:

1. There may or may not be "global warming." It's far more complicated to measure than people think.

2. If the earth is warming, it's almost certainly not caused by human activity.

3. If it is happening, regardless of whether our activity is contributing significantly, there is nothing we can do that is likely to stop it, and anything we try is likely to cause more problems than it solves.

4. Even if it is happening, and even if it is caused by us, and even if we could stop it, global warming is probably more beneficial than harmful. All the publicity is given to supposed negative effects, with no attention paid to any potential benefits, of which there are many.

All that said, I'm doing what I can to increase my "carbon footprint" as much as I can, as fast as I can. Carbon dioxide is *not* a pollutant.

[CharacterCounts]

TheOld Scientific Method

1. Observation and description of a phenomenon or group of phenomena.

2. Formulation of an hypothesis to explain the phenomena.

3. Use of the hypothesis to predict the existence of other phenomena, or to predict quantitatively the results of new observations.

4. Performance of experimental tests of the predictions by several independent experimenters and properly performed experiments.

The New Climate Warming Scientific Method

1. Think up a Thesis.

2. Get government funding.

3. Create a model which supports your prior thesis.

4. Get stupid politicians to write political books supporting your thesis.

5. Claim a consensus regarding you thesis.

6. Call anyone who may question your thesis a denier.

7. Get more government funding.

[JennysCool]

Frosty Hardison, the parent

Not surprising Frosty would be opposed to "global warming."

[CharacterCounts]

Not surprising Frosty would be opposed to "global warming."

What is JennysCool position.

[TC Rider]

Earlier this week I believed in global warming, then I learned that the woman in the cube next to mine had put a space heater under her desk.

[Matchett-PI]

bttt

[JennysCool]

Har! :-)

[Phsstpok]

I'm glad you posted the excerpt from Crichton's speech and provided the link. It was very relevant and insightful. However, the linked page also caused the browser to shrink down and shift position on the screen. It does so by using the following script code in the header of the linked page:

function SetWindow()

    { self.moveTo(5,5);

    self.resizeTo(350,375);

    self.scrollTo(0,0) }

If you're going to include a link to web site that does something like that either make the link open in a new window by setting the link property to _blank, like this:

     "Aliens Cause Global Warming"

the coded link looks like this for those that insist on hand coding:

<a target="_blank" href="http://www.crichton-official.com/speeches/speeches_quote04.html">"Aliens Cause Global Warming"</a>

or at least warn us that it's going to happen.  It's most annoying ;^<

It is a great speech, however.  Have you read State of Fear, which he was talking about in the speech?  The plot is pretty lame, but the factual content is astounding.  It's the first science fiction novel I've ever read with a full index of links and scientific references for the citations the characters use in debunking global warming.

[Major Matt Mason]

What vehicles were cavemen driving that caused the ice age? For that matter, what activity of any type were they doing that would have lead to the ice age? Too many smoke signals? Too much gassy food? Of course the whole global warming scheme is a sham. And the more shrill the proponents become, the more obvious it is that it is concocted.

[Dumb_Ox]

to present both sides of the global warming controversy becomes a national story

There are only two sides? Binary logic.

[TwoSue]

I'd like to find out what they did to get us out of the ice age we were to be in by 2000 that they predicted in the 80s.

[neverdem]

global nonsense ping

[Caleb1411]

They're out there, Albore. You just don't want to acknowledge them.

Allow me to present a few names. Massachusetts Institute of Technollogy's Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology Richard S. Lindzen complained to the Boston Globe about the "shrill alarmism" of Gore's flic. Neil Frank, who was considered authoritative when he was the director of the National Hurricane Center, told the Washington Post that global warming is "a hoax." Hurricane expert William Gray of Colorado State University believes the Earth will start to cool within 10 years.

University of Virginia professor emeritus Fred Singer' co-authored a book," Unstoppable Global Warming -- Every 1,500 Years," that argues that global warming is not human-induced but based on a solar cycle. Last year, 60 Canadian scientists signed a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper in which they argued that there is no consensus among climate scientists.