REFLECTIONS

In this issue: 1. SPPI 2. O’Keef 3. Toyota 4. Space 5. Hayworth 6. Autis 7. Yemen

Howdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy –

1. SPPI. Meteorologists Joe D’Aleo and Anthony Watts published a 111 page report on ground stations used to gather global temperatures over the last century and a half. The paper is entitled: Surface Temperature Records: Policy Driven Deception. Like most things associated with government-funded climate science these days, even the basic data collection is corrupted. You can find the paper as a pdf at:

scienceandpublicpolicy.org . Here is the Summary for Policymakers (also cross-posted at PowerLine, Mon):

1. Instrumental temperature data for the pre-satellite era (1850-1980) have been so widely, systematically, and unidirectionally tampered with that it cannot be credibly asserted there has been any significant “global warming” in the 20th century.

2. All terrestrial surface-temperature databases exhibit very serious problems that render them useless for determining accurate long-term temperature trends.

3. All of the problems have skewed the data so as greatly to overstate observed warming both regionally and globally.

4. Global terrestrial temperature data are gravely compromised because more than three-quarters of the 6,000 stations that once existed are no longer reporting.

5. There has been a severe bias towards removing higher-altitude, higher-latitude, and rural stations, leading to a further serious overstatement of warming.

6. Contamination by urbanization, changes in land use, improper siting, and inadequately-calibrated instrument upgrades further overstates warming.

7. Numerous peer-reviewed papers in recent years have shown the overstatement of observed longer term warming is 30-50% from heat-island contamination alone.

8. Cherry-picking of observing sites combined with interpolation to vacant data grids may make heat-island bias greater than 50% of 20th-century warming.

9. In the oceans, data are missing and uncertainties are substantial. Comprehensive coverage has only been available since 2003, and shows no warming.

10. Satellite temperature monitoring has provided an alternative to terrestrial stations in compiling the global lower-troposphere temperature record. Their findings are increasingly diverging from the station-based constructions in a manner consistent with evidence of a warm bias in the surface temperature record.

11. NOAA and NASA, along with CRU, were the driving forces behind the systematic hyping of 20th-century “global warming”.

12. Changes have been made to alter the historical record to mask cyclical changes that could be readily explained by natural factors like multidecadal ocean and solar changes.

13. Global terrestrial data bases are seriously flawed and can no longer be trusted to assess climate trends or VALIDATE model forecasts.

14. An inclusive external assessment is essential of the surface temperature record of CRU, GISS and NCDC “chaired and paneled by mutually agreed to climate scientists who do not have a vested interest in the outcome of the evaluations.”

15. Reliance on the global data by both the UNIPCC and the US GCRP/CCSP also requires a full investigation and audit.

2. O’Keefe. Breitbart and Big Government contributor James O’Keefe was arrested in Mary Landrieu’s New Orleans office last week. He had two others with him who were also arrested. All three were posing as telephone technicians. O’Keefe was the young conservative that documented ACORN’s corruption in a series of video stings last year. Breitbart has not yet released all of those videos. O’Keefe was arrested and spent over 28 hours in jail while the federal prosecutor told the world that he was attempting to install wiretapping electronics in Landrieu’s office. The state run media picked up that meme with as much vigor and gusto as they spent ignoring O’Keefe’s expose of ACORN. What appears to be going on is that during the runup to the senate vote on health care last December, nobody was able to call Landrieu’s congressional offices and talk to an actual human. Apparently she shut her phones off statewide and was lying about them being busy. O’Keefe was staging a photo opportunity to demonstrate that the phones indeed were working. If this goes to discovery – for whatever reason – Landrieu may end up very embarrassed.

3. Toyota. Toyota announced a recall of nearly four million vehicles due to a problem with accelerators that may stick in the “down” position. There was another ongoing recall of four million other vehicles with slipping floor mats that also could interfere with the proper working of an accelerator pedal. The dealer fix is to install a spacer in the accelerator pedal mechanism. Concurrently with the recall, Toyota announced they were suspending manufacture of eight lines of new vehicles so they could get the modification done at the factory. Those manufacturing lines, all based in the US, are expected to restart later this month. While it is easy to believe all the worst things about the motivations of the Obama administration in all of this, it is highly suspicious that both GM and Chrysler – both government owned and operated – nearly simultaneously with the Toyota announcement – started ad campaigns aimed directly at Toyota owners. Additionally, a gentleman who identified himself as a long time Toyota employee called Limbaugh late last week and claimed that the entire thing was trumped up, an artificial Obama administration hit intended to damage Toyota’s reputation and American sales so as to elevate GM and Chrysler. Have no clue as to the veracity of this claim, but given the heavy-handed, Chicago-style thuggery of the Obama administration in the legal, financial and regulatory regimes over the course of the last year, this claim is not without merit. It’s not paranoia if they are really out to get you.

4. Space. One of the few (only?) good things in the new Obama budget is a restructuring of NASA. The ARES and Constellation programs – essentially Apollo II – have been cancelled. Instead, the agency is being told to swing their efforts toward making it possible for private enterprise to move people permanently into orbit. Done properly, this will move NASA from the sole owner – operator of manned spaceflight capability in this nation to an entity that simply charters rides and equipment from the private sector. By weeks’ end, new NASA Administrator Charles Boldin was talking about thousands of people permanently in space. For over 40 years, NASA has maintained and vigorously defended an absolute government monopoly in manned space flight. It appears that this monopoly is well on its way to ending. Too bad this administration does not apply that same logic to health care, student loans, auto manufacturing, banking, home mortgages, energy, or a thousand other things they are mucking around in. Good show to all involved. The door has opened a little bit. We will see if we can keep it open.

5. Hayworth. Former Arizona Congressman and current talk show host J.D. Hayworth announced he was going to run against John McCain for US Senate in Arizona last week. Hayworth was part of the first round of Republicans that were run out of office in 2006, mostly over his virulently anti-immigration reform position. McCain responded immediately by filing a FEC complaint that essentially forced Hayworth to resign his radio show. The complaint alleged that Hayworth was using the talk show to illegally campaign against him. McCain also released the first round of ads accusing Hayworth who had been a pretty reliable budget cutter of voting for lots and lots of earmarks while in congress. Of course, Hayworth can point out McCain’s vote for TARP in response. Yada. Yada. Yada. This has all the makings of an old fashioned grudge match with Arizona conservatives versus the leader of senate RINOs. The worry about this fist fight will be that whoever wins the primary will be too damaged to survive the general election in November. Finally, McCain had former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin campaigning for him in Arizona. Palin owes McCain for elevating her to the national stage and is paying back that obligation.

6. Autism. Last week also saw the refutation of the autism – vaccination by the British General Medical Council. It found that Dr. Andrew Wakefield, a Canadian GI who published the first paper attempting to link autism with vaccinations had acted unethically in preparation and publication of his paper. This guy has been singularly damaging to overall health care worldwide, as he became of the modern anti-vaccination movement. That movement has parents in fear of vaccine based autism refusing vaccinations for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) for their children. This in turn has led to a significant increase in all three diseases among children worldwide. The Council found that Wakefield was doing tests that he had no business doing; that he was unqualified to do those tests; that he had a financial interest in developing an alternative to vaccinations; and that he may have even faked test results. Reason, Thurs.

7. Yemen. Now that Yemen has become yet another center of Islamist and Al Qaida activity, US forces in the Gulf have started moving forces (primarily UAVs) to engage the enemy. However, the mollycoddling vermin infesting Eric Holder’s (In)Justice Department have halted our ability to take out the center of the problem. The reason is that one of the leaders is an American citizen who converted to Islam; and they have are trying to figure out how to make war against an American citizen who is making war against America. It’s pretty easy to figure out and we have the formal precedent with Lincoln, Grant and Sherman. It’s not all that easy to figure out if you are viewing the current anti-Islamist festivities as a police action rather than a World War. Perhaps this is change we can believe in.

More later — AG

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”
- Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776.

Note: Interesting Items can be found also at the following locations: MatSu Valley News and the home page. Rod Martin’s The Vanguard site is also a long-time supporter of this column. Alex Gimarc is a long-time member of the Town Hall Conservative group.