Global Warming Science (Part 1)

Global warming is real, is caused by people, and its consequences are likely to be catastrophic.

The deniers favorite lie is that climate scientists are greedy nerds spreading a false alarm in order to get grant money.  You don't have to know anything about science or scientists to pop that bubble: the denialist side pays much better for almost no work.  Real easy money for anyone with have Prof in front of thier name or PhD after it, and a middling talent for lying.

Thanksgiving is coming and will be an angry time around many US dinner tables.  In preparation for the arguments about climate change, I am posting information about the basic science of global warming.  The science is not new.  It started in the 19th century and ended fifty years ago with a series of measurements that proved global warming's inevitability.  Those results have been validated again and again.

Global Warming Science (Part 1)

Global warming is real, is caused by people, and its consequences are likely to be catastrophic.

The deniers favorite lie is that climate scientists are greedy nerds spreading a false alarm in order to get grant money.  You don't have to know anything about science or scientists to pop that bubble: the denialist side pays much better for almost no work.  Real easy money for anyone with have Prof in front of thier name or PhD after it, and a middling talent for lying.

Thanksgiving is coming and will be an angry time around many US dinner tables.  In preparation for the arguments about climate change, I am posting information about the basic science of global warming.  The science is not new.  It started in the 19th century and ended fifty years ago with a series of measurements that proved global warming's inevitability.  Those results have been validated again and again.

Global Warming Science (Part 1)

Global warming is real, is caused by people, and its consequences are likely to be catastrophic.

The deniers favorite lie is that climate scientists are greedy nerds spreading a false alarm in order to get grant money.  You don't have to know anything about science or scientists to pop that bubble: the denialist side pays much better for almost no work.  Real easy money for anyone with have Prof in front of thier name or PhD after it, and a middling talent for lying.

Thanksgiving is coming and won't it be a angry time around many US dinner tables.  In preparation, I am posting information about the basic science of global warming.  The science is not new.  It started in the 19th century and ended fifty years ago with a series of measurements that proved global warming's inevitability.  Those results have been validated again and again.

A Question from the new SAT

Try this.  "Global warming denier is to EPA as _______ is to _________."  10 points.   Right now, my best shot is, "...as flat Earther is to NASA."  It catches the parallel of buffoons leading science-based government agencies, but misses big time on smugness, cruelty, and real damage to real lives.  Flat earthers may be anachronistic.  Global warming deniers are criminally insane. 

Krugman's Konundrum

I went to a meeting hosted by a firm that specializes in helping sell other companies.  The presentation was surprisingly good and informative.  And, I was not surprised or discomforted that 1/3 of the presentation was a sales pitch for the company that hosted the event. The talk was free; I went in assuming they were looking for new clients.  

No.  I was bothered by the right-wing snippets included in the presentation.  Accepted-as-gospel fallacies about economics, finance, and recent history.  For example, did you know that social security is broke?  The so-called "lock box" is filled by $70 trillion in IOUs.  The US is printing lots of money, and that is debasing our currency.  No wonder that no one else but the US government is willing to buy our debt.  China, India, and Brazil are all taking a pass on our treasury bills.  And, income tax!  Whoo boy!  Here, my friends, is a facsimile of the very first 1040 form that was sent out by the IRS in 1913 and remained unchanged for 20 years.  One page and a flat, 1% tax.  Eminently fair.  John Rockefeller and my grandfather at a sewing machine were treated equally.  Nothing more democratic than that!  Now, the IRS code is bloated to thousands of pages that get changed every year.  Oh, and here is a quote from James Madison in which Madison rejected the idea of a national income tax.  Jimmy knew that governments would just squander the money.  And, he was right!

And that crash of 2008?.  All caused because that year 80% of mortgages -- all forced upon the lenders by Congress -- went to subprime borrowers.  And, when they defaulted, the economy went kablooey.  

We also learned that now is the greatest time ever for people to sell their companies.  It is a true sellers' market.  Interest rates are at 70 year lows.  Capital gain taxes are low.  Companies looking for acquisitions are flush with cash because they've had nothing to spend it on since 2008.  Europeans think US companies are bargains because the euro is strong compared to the dollar.  Why, just compare today's economic environment with the 1980's when interest rates on 10 yr treasuries were at 21%.  Back then, it was tough to find someone willing to take a risk on a buying a small company when they could earn a 21% return, risk free and backed by thefullfaithandcredit of these United States. I was too polite to ask why conservatives love them some Ronnie Reagan who oversaw that awful business climate and despise the Socialist Kenyan Muslim Usurper. 

The biggest mystery of all.  How is it possible for so many money guys to believe the right wing nonsense?  This passion for political dogma over facts has got to lose them money.  I have experienced two-score and more years of listening to ignorati making ludicrous false claims about science.  I have met physicists who dismiss evolution; but, I can't find any other examples of people who remain so steadfastly loyal to nonsense within their supposed areas of expertise.   What is going on?

Wake Me When It's Over

I am a few chapters in to James Risen's, "Pay Any Price: Greed, Power, and Endless War."  Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.  There's the story of Dennis Montgomery who conned DoD and the CIA with software that could detect and decode messages from Al Qaeda hidden in Al Jezeera's bottom-of-the-screen logo displayed during their broadcasts.  Montgomery literally got rich by watching TV.  All he needed was a big screen television, a computer, and a few credulous connections within Nevada and DC.  No one could make this stuff up.  Members of Team Montgomery included the aptly-named Congressman Jerry Lewis.  Did all these clowns use Scott Joplin ring tones?   

When the first set of deals soured, Montgomery found a new billionaire sugar-momma who made a connection to Jack Kemp and, through him, to the White House.  Surprisingly, one of Cheney's aides was the only person in Washington who demanded source code for evaluation before diverting a palette of C-notes out of the river of money that flowed from the NJ Fed to Baghdad and into Montgomery's bank account.  The software also failed the Israeli's sniff test.

For those of you under 50, Kemp was a quarterback for the Buffalo Bills, Republican Congressman, Housing Secretary, and failed VP candidate in 1996.  He was a member of the fancy-schmancy, private, Wyoming ski resort owned by the billionaire sugar-momma and her soon-to-be ex-husband.  Dennis Montgomery best skill was finding a mark within that exclusive realm, where money and connections far exceed intellect and facts.