Sunday, June 7, 2009

‘Skeptics Meeting’ Mildly Ridiculed

What a surprise, though I AM shocked to see some positive coverage of climate realism in this article that hasn’t appeared before in others. First, they admit that almost NO media covered the event. Surprised? Probably not. Doesn’t fit the media’s agenda to admit that global warming has vast problems. Of course, the line about the absence of media coverage could be meant to convey how ‘outside’ the ‘skeptics’ are, and that’s probably more the case.

But, they did actually cover some of Dr. Spencer’s scientific data, which is something that hasn’t been done much in the mainstream media. To actually talk about his cloud data and how it’s a missing variable in the consensus view is very surprising. Even to say that ‘scientist after scientist’ pointed out the flaws in global warming theory was quite a bold move for this writer, who may harbor some secret skepticism of his own.

However, he lost me when he said that skepticism over global warming isn’t new and that it has ‘been around since the 1970s.’ On the contrary, the 1970s was the decade that major media outlets proclaimed global cooling was the problem contributing to a ‘coming ice age,’ which would bring with it nothing but horrendous consequences. (Sounds like familiar fear, huh?)

Global warming? Not so fast, skeptics say at meeting

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher was in a froth, and his audience loved it.

The California Republican was talking about global warming and could barely contain his disgust.

"Al Gore has been wrong all along!" Rohrabacher yelled into the microphone. "This is outrageous! All of this is wrong! The people who have stifled this debate have an agenda that is just frightening!"

Welcome to the third annual International Conference on Climate Change, a daylong session of speeches and scientific presentations that took place Tuesday just blocks from the U.S. Capitol. Almost no media covered the event.

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But scientist after scientist at the conference pointed out flaws and shortcomings in the calculations of the IPCC, especially its reliance on computer models to make forecasts.

One researcher, Roy Spencer, a professor at the University of Alabama-Huntsville, noted that the IPCC did not adequately calculate how clouds play a major role in ground temperatures.

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Skepticism over climate science is hardly new. Indeed, skepticism has always been a part of scientific discourse and has been around global warming since the 1970s, when the theory first gained credence.