The Orbiting Carbon Observatory Satellite: NASA, We Have A Problem

It was really a good idea. Get accurate data on green house gasses and spend a little quality time with "science" (as opposed to the usual hysterical fear mongering).

The OCO, orbiting carbon observatory, was set to start working this month, but the satellite shit the bed soon after liftoff. See NASA's explanation here.

Why do I have a feeling that Al Gore and Mark Serreze are secretly happy that this thing went bad? If the science debate is over (Al Gore) and we are in the "death spiral" (Mark Serreze), the new data would only be a distraction. Because they really like the current GHG-global warming hypothesis, and without a platform like the OCO we are back to having science standing on it's head trying to disprove an unproven hypothesis.

Vaclav Klaus: Czech Republic President To Take Turn At EU President

This is rich. Vaclav is a free market guy and strong skeptic of the frothy global warming scare tactics. He has famously called Al Gore the “apostle of arrogance.”

The New York Times article is here.

PRAGUE — In the 1980s, a Communist secret police agent infiltrated clandestine economics seminars hosted by Vaclav Klaus, a fiery future leader of the Czech Republic, who had come under suspicion for extolling free market virtues. Rather than reporting on Marxist heresy, the agent was most struck by Mr. Klaus’s now famous arrogance.

“His behavior and attitudes reveal that he feels like a rejected genius,” the agent noted in his report, which has since been made public. “He shows that whoever does not agree with his views is stupid and incompetent.”

My favorite quote: “Klaus is a provocateur who will twist his arguments to get attention,” said Jiri Pehe, a former adviser to Vaclav Havel, Mr. Klaus’s rival and predecessor as president." Hmmm, pot meet kettle.

Like many people who grew up in a communist country, the cool factor of Marxist ideas and enforcers like Che and Uncle Joe is quite low.

Those who know Mr. Klaus say his economic liberalism is an outgrowth of his upbringing. Born in 1941, he obtained an economics degree in 1963 and was deeply influenced by free market economists like Milton Friedman.

Mr. Klaus’s son and namesake, Vaclav, recalled in an interview that when he was 13, his father told him to read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn to better understand Communism’s oppressiveness.

“If you lived under communism, then you are very sensitive to forces that try to control or limit human liberty,” he said in an interview.

After Vaclav, I'll wager the EU will find a way to end the rotating presidency thing.

Pope of Environmentalism Speaks

And he wants some nonbelievers sent to the tower.

Proving once again that environmentalISM has turned into a cult-like movement that is completely unfounded in science, James Hansen today called for crimes against humanity trials for CEO's of energy companies.

James Hansen, one of the world's leading climate scientists, will today call for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming in the same way that tobacco companies blurred the links between smoking and cancer.

Ugh, where to begin? First, scientists trying to test a hypothesis do not usually try to stop competing ideas and experiments by having those people executed - political thugs and religious cult leaders trying to silence opponents do.

Second, comparing studies from serious researchers to that of tobacco company hacks is the science equivalent of calling a politician "Hitler" or "racist."

But again this is not about science. It's about settling an issue before the science is complete.

To turn a phrase, zealots like Hansen are the McCarthy's of science: shouting down those who dare oppose him with slurs that damn without rebuttal. The Hansen's of the science world have always bowed to the most powerful political masters of their time: whether it was to support the sun revolving about the earth, to prove that evolution did not happen, or to help devise the solution for the "Jew" problem; men like Hansen will always find a lucrative and comfortable spot within the embrace of tyrants looking for legitimacy.

If he is so sure about his science that he is willing to call for the execution of others: why not put his own neck on the line? Let's say that if the man-made component of global climate change turns out to be less than 25%, would he be willing to take his own life. Of course not, because it's no longer about being right, it's now about being on the right side.