Posted on 09/30/2003 12:40:25 AM PDT by Steve Schulin
September 30, 2003
It takes a genius: "the Emperor has no brains" plays better as bumper sticker than as Nobel Prize winner's thesis
It's not a pretty sight when the intelligencia deigns it prudent to dumb down its message. But that's the blight we're seeing as the globalists sense a chance that Hillary could yet become president, sooner rather than later. Today's syndicated column by Columbia economist Joseph Stiglitz is a good example. "I normally write about economics, not politics", he says. Your humble nuclear.com editor notes that his excursion displays a stunningly pedestrian blend of mean-spiritedness, lies, and ignorance. His tales are so tall and rapid-fire that "Tale-gunner Joe" is worth considering as a nickname, although it would be a shame to further besmirch the late Senator McCarthy by this association.
Let's take a look at Prof. Stiglitz' discussion of President Bush's decision on Kyoto Protocol: "For three years, America's president has pursued a unilateralist agenda, ignoring all evidence that contradicts his positions, and putting aside basic and longstanding American principles. Take global warming. Here US President George W. Bush is conspicuously absent without leave (AWOL in military jargon). Time and again, he questions the scientific evidence. (Of course, Bush's academic credentials were never very impressive.) Bush's position is more than wrong; it is an embarrassment. Indeed, when asked by Bush to look into the matter, the US National Academy of Sciences came to a resounding verdict (the only one they could honestly reach) that greenhouse gases are a menace. But America's automakers love their gas-guzzlers, and Bush's oil industry pals want no interference with their destruction of the planet's atmosphere. So no change in policy."
nuclear.com wonders if the condescending professor took the time to read the NAS panel report he so enthusiastically misrepresents here. It explicitly refers to the misleading nature of UN IPCC summaries that give the impression that the science is "settled" (a tactic that Prof. Stiglitz also employs quite, uh, liberally). It explicitly points out that the variance between surface and tropospheric temperatures is at odds with our best understanding of the processes involved. It explicitly points out that temperatures have not risen as much as the models' lowest-range predictions. It explicitly concludes that the climate observing system available today "is a composite of observations that neither provide the information nor the continuity in the data needed to support measurements of climate variables." It explicitly refers to our inability to even assign a positive or negative sign to the cloud feedback. It explicitly states that "proxy data indicate that the range of natural climate variability is in excess of several degrees C on local and regional space scales over periods as short as a decade." Prof. Stiglitz is a hack, despite his impressive resume. You heard it here first.
[Ref: Joseph Stiglitz (Columbia U prof-econ; Nobel laureate; Clinton appointee), The time has come for the world to start saying no to Bush, Taipei Times, September 30, 2003, p. 9]
This esteemed dope.... -- neverdem
"The key word here is blackwhite. ...Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction to the plain facts. Applied to a Party [agent, vassal, or unwitting gamesman], it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this. But it means also the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary...." -- George Orwell, 1984.
Recognized now, you may be among the army that brings about reversal. (Laughter with an edge, contumely, may wind up being the best tool. Plain truth is too easily blunted, as you gents are witnessing.) Continue to chalk it up to dumbness, and the face of change will become much uglier.
Orwell had been well schooled in the deception practices. He was not the only one to reveal what was the training. He never intended his work to be just grim fiction, but knew it would take time for the truth to sink in. It's time to reread 1984.
I also bought up some stuff near, but not too near, the San And -- I mean, the Gray Davis' Fault. My friend is a geology PhD student at Columbia. I know what's up!
I agree with the President. As a biologist myself, which must surely trump being an economist in this discussion, it is my considered opinion that the Kyoto protocol is simply a way of punishing First world countries, the U.S. in particular. Any agreement that excludes about 1/3 or more of the world's population from the regulations of the Kyoto protocol is inherently flawed particularly with respect to the premise that the protocol will lower greenhouse gas emissions. Indian and China are booming economies, and with their populations, set to blow right past us in overall capacity to pollute, particularly with zero pollution controls. The U.S. would be better positioned to simply sell or donate the pollution reducing technology that we have developed to these other countries in exchange for the "credits" that Kyoto doles out to the better performing countries.
Stiglitz is simply out of his league. He is definitely a hack, but being at Columbia should make that obvious. He should stick to economics and dumbing down Columbia econ majors, a job he is suited to do.
September 30, 2003 -- http://www.nuclear.com -- It takes a genius: "the Emperor has no brains" plays better as bumper sticker than as Nobel Prize winner's thesis
Are you familiar with what the climate change research community regretfully recognizes as "Schneider's dilemma"? The reference to "Tale Gunner Joe" in the criticism at the above link refers to the same type of scary tale as is described in that dilemma.
Best wishes for getting something right, if that's what you desire,
Steve Schulin,
yr humble nuclear.com editor
cc: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/992041/posts
A Nobel Prize winner? Puh-leeeze!
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