I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure. -Mark Twain Osama Bin Laden is dead. Killed, it appears, by the CIA. The question is what do we do next? Many are saying it is time for us to get out of Afghanistan, but most people saying that were... Continue Reading →

The Globe and Mail has officially endorsed Stephen Harper: Whom should Canadians turn to?... Only Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party have shown the leadership, the bullheadedness (let's call it what it is) and the discipline this country needs. He has built the Conservatives into arguably the only truly national party, and during his five... Continue Reading →

Just in case you didn’t get enough of this in Episode 19, here is Peter Sinclair’s excellent take on Muller’s hide the decline nonsense:

From a very uplifting article on the conservative website FrumForum by D.R. Tucker we get a clear, concise conservative/libertarian argument to tackle our GHG emissions: conservatives and libertarians should strongly support regulation to reduce carbon pollution, since pollution by one entity invariably infringes upon the rights of others (including property rights), and no entity has... Continue Reading →

What does taking wolves off the endangered species list have to do with the US federal budget? A rider to the Congressional budget measure agreed to last weekend dictates that wolves in Montana and Idaho be taken off the endangered species list

If [global mean surface temperature] goes up a lot, the impacts cannot be small, but if [global mean surface temperature] does not go up a lot, the impacts may still be large. -Michael Tobis Climate change is a more accurate term for what we are doing to the climate system, but the tyranny of Google... Continue Reading →

The situation at the Fukushima Daiichi is not good. The situation is so chaotic that reporting even basic facts about what is happening is difficult, though that situation seems to be getting better each day. Understanding those facts is another matter entirely. What is the worst case scenario? Who knows, but it wont be pretty.... Continue Reading →

More on the attempt to legislate away global warming, this time in a must-read Nature editorial [cached]: The legislation is fundamentally anti-science, just as the rhetoric that supports it is grounded in wilful ignorance. One lawmaker last week described scientists as “elitist” and “arrogant” creatures who hide behind “discredited” institutions. Another propagated the myth that... Continue Reading →

Global warming has been legislated out of existence: House Republicans rejected amendments offered Tuesday by Democrats that called on Congress to accept the scientific consensus that climate change is occurring, it is caused in large part by human activity and it is a threat to human health. The amendments, offered at an Energy and Commerce... Continue Reading →

Much has recently been written on various climate blogs about the problem with journalism. But I think this is the crux of the issue: Passive news reporting that doesn’t attempt to resolve factual disputes in politics may have detrimental effects on readers, new research suggests. The study found that people are more likely to doubt... Continue Reading →

It took lots of hard work, but I finally did it. I finally made it. I am officially a big shot. I have a new swagger in my walk. What catapulted me to stardom? It was none other than the world famous Michigan Skeptics Association, and the brilliant Chris Lindsey, who interviewed me last week. And now... Continue Reading →

Those of you paying attention have noticed a distinctive lack of anything here for the past week or so. Those of you who follow my tweets have noticed that I have been travelling for the past week. Those of you who are especially clever have already put both together. But why not make it official. ... Continue Reading →

Did you hear? A denier has denied climate change! Shocking isn’t it? Well, no not really. In fact it is entirely predictable, and hardly worth a blog post. If only I had the skills of a professional spin doctor, then I could turn this into something news worthy. For example look how Marc Morano spun... Continue Reading →

When I first wrote about Laughlin’s essay What the Earth Knows, I focused entirely on the foolishness of equating the survival of the earth with the survival of human civilization, and that the phrase Save the Planet was never meant to be taken literally. But I missed Laughlin’s contradiction. Thankfully Friends of Gin and Tonic... Continue Reading →

It has always been funny, in a gallows humor sort of way, to watch conservatives who laud the limitless power and flexibility of markets turn around and insist that the economy would collapse if we were to put a price on carbon. All serious estimates suggest that we could phase in limits on greenhouse gas... Continue Reading →

It was absolutely hypocritical for deniers to call the Expert credibility in climate change paper published in PNAS a blacklist. Deniers have been making lists of scientists who reject the consensus for a long time. It is one of their main debating tricks. But when someone takes the trouble to analyse the expertise and prominence... Continue Reading →

I’ve been busy, and have fallen way behind in responding to comment (but don’t worry I did read all of them), but I have now caught up.  So if you recently left a comment and were wondering why I haven’t responded, please don’t take it personally.