As we saw that thing bubbling out, blossoming out – all that energy, every minute of every hour of every day of every week – that was tremendous to me. That we could deliver that kind of energy out there – even on an explosion.
That’s Ralph Hall (R-TX), the incoming chair of the House Science and Technology Committee on the BP oil disaster. Imagine how bowled over Hall will be if he ever figures out that his anti-science pro-pollution denialist policies are poised to deliver a ruined climate to future generations (see Ralph Hall: “We have some real challenges; we have the global warming or global freezing”).
Brad Johnson has more:
Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX) plans to pursue an aggressive pro-oil agenda as the incoming chair of the House Science and Technology Committee. In an interview with the Dallas Morning News this month, the “unconditional champion of fossil fuels” described his zeal for the “holy grail” of the oil industry “” the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge “” discussed issuing subpoenas to interrogate climate scientists, and explained why the BP disaster “didn’t dampen his enthusiasm for offshore drilling.”
Hall described the BP explosion that killed eleven men, injured dozens, and led to the despoilment of the Gulf of Mexico as a “tremendous,” “blossoming” flower of energy: “As we saw that thing bubbling out, blossoming out – all that energy, every minute of every hour of every day of every week – that was tremendous to me. That we could deliver that kind of energy out there – even on an explosion.”
In an extensive report yesterday, the New York Times describes the explosion differently: “Dazed and battered survivors, half-naked and dripping in highly combustible gas, crawled inch by inch in pitch darkness, willing themselves to the lifeboat deck. . . . Crew members, certain they were about to be cooked alive, scrambled into enclosed lifeboats for shelter, only to find them like smoke-filled ovens.”
Only conservatives can marvel at the damage their policies are doing — and then in the same breath continue doing them. The same Dallas News story reports:
With the House GOP full of climate-change skeptics, Hall’s committee is likely to investigate the scientific studies that say man-made activities are to blame for global warming. Environmental groups say that debate is settled. Nonetheless, Hall said he plans to appoint an aggressive legislator, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, to chair the subcommittee that investigates scientific activities.
Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., can be expected to hold hearings that question “uncertainties” in climate-change science that impact public policy, said John Mimikakis, a former deputy chief of staff for the science committee. Sensenbrenner recently referred to the scientific consensus on global warming as a “massive international scientific fraud.”
“I’m interested in the truth on that,” Hall said. “There are a lot of people who believe that a lot of decisions were made on the false statements of others.
“I’ll try to find out who those others are, and ask them to come before the committee,” he said. “And if they don’t come before the committee, well, we might subpoena them.”
And so it begins….
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
What a waste of more taxpayer dollars! More investigations on pollution, just what we need to be spending money on. We are in the middle of an economic downturn that is just as bad as the Great Depression, we have medicaid being dropped from state budgets, people going hungry, people dying without medical care, families are homeless due banks committing fraud and this jerk wants to spend money on pollution we already know exists! And the stupidity is just beginning, in the House, in January!
Burning Down the House
All investigations should be full, public affairs broadcast on live television.
OT:
Wunderground
Prins Christian Sund, Greenland
Tuesday max 2°C, min 1°C, chance of snow
Wednesday max 3°C, min 4°C, rain
Thursday max 5°C, min 2°C, rain
Friday max 4°C, min2°C, rain
Saturday max 4°C, min 2°C, chance of rain
Godthaab, 64°N expecting 8°C on thursday…
Exactly how far off the charts is this?
yes, so it begins The Great Transformation of American Society as it warmly embraces public policies deeply entrenched in ignorance and greed. Unfortunately for the rest of the planet it is not possible to simply jettison off the US since it is clear no serious political effort will be made to mitigate climate change. If anything the meagre progress that has been made can be expected to be rolled back.
Also we can look forward to the GOP not only defunding “healthcare” or “Obamacare as they refer to it, but also even basic research on all and any aspects of climate change. This will ensure the US population is completely kept into the dark about what is happening. OK it may be difficult to cover up extreme weather events but perhaps they can be blamed on those godless scientists. Given the gullibility of so many Americans (as in support for intelligent design etc) I think there is every chance that this conspiratorial theory will gain traction.
The worst of it all is, no matter how the investigations turn out, not one Denier will change his/her mind.
My first instinct is to say, “Bring it [to articulate, passionate, informed scientists].” But then I realize that a clear response to, say, a question about how CO2 can lag temperature will be followed up by an accusation about trickery in switching terminology (“global warming” to “climate change”) or a nonsensical argument about how complexity precludes our ability to assess risk. And those bits will get widely disseminated, and the public will come to realize that scientists have been subpoenaed (and so they *must* have done something wrong). And, just like that, brilliantly, Climategate’s legacy lives on.
Leaders to the front, please.
Abbie Hoffman is rolling over in his grave.
In the 60′s there the House Un-American Activities Committee – called HUAC was the investigative operation that brandished guilt by association and drove so many out of work – this is the stuff of the Hollywood Ten and Whitaker Chambers and Alger Hiss. President Harry S Truman called it the “most un-American thing in the country”
Now Wikipedia says
“The committee lost considerable prestige as the 1960s progressed, increasingly becoming the target of political satirists and the defiance of a new generation of political activists. HUAC subpoenaed Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman of the Yippies in 1967, and again in the aftermath of the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The Yippies used the media attention to make a mockery of the proceedings. Rubin came to one session dressed as a United States Revolutionary War soldier and passed out copies of the United States Declaration of Independence to people in attendance. Rubin then “blew giant gum bubbles while his co-witnesses taunted the committee with Nazi salutes.” Hoffman attended a session dressed as Santa Claus. On another occasion, police stopped Hoffman at the building entrance and arrested him for wearing the United States flag. Hoffman quipped to the press, “I regret that I have but one shirt to give for my country,” paraphrasing the last words of revolutionary patriot Nathan Hale; Rubin, who was wearing a matching Viet Cong flag, shouted that the police were communists for not arresting him also.
According to The Harvard Crimson:
“ In the fifties, the most effective sanction was terror. Almost any publicity from HUAC meant the ‘blacklist.’ Without a chance to clear his name, a witness would suddenly find himself without friends and without a job. But it is not easy to see how in 1969 a HUAC blacklist could terrorize an SDS activist. Witnesses like Jerry Rubin have openly boasted of their contempt for American institutions. A subpoena from HUAC would be unlikely to scandalize Abbie Hoffman or his friends.”
So what might be the appropriate attire for subpoena’d testimony before this house committee?
He said he saw the Oil Spill– which soaked all the birds in thick oily goop, killed off the rich biodiversity, and turned the Gulf into a fetid swamp– as “tremendous” and “blossoming out”? What Derrick Jensen said in his books and essays is correct: these people are psychopaths. They have no conscience. They are sick, ignorant people.
On the subject of subpoenas and courts… I just read Hansen’s addition to his new paperback version of “Storms of my Children”. It was superb. He talked of suing Obama and the congress. He said he realized that the executive and legislative branches of gov’t will do nothing effectively to reduce emissions. He said, the courts, however are not so beholden to the fossil fuel industries (or other industries) and they are therefore, what we need to look at in order to get justice. Just like in the civil rights movement, etc… It’s the courts which can bring about change!
On the subject of subpoenas and courts… I just read Hansen’s addition to his new paperback version of “Storms of my Children”. It was superb. He talked of suing Obama and the congress. He said he realized that the executive and legislative branches of gov’t will do nothing effectively to reduce emissions. He said, the courts, however are not so beholden to the fossil fuel industries (or other industries) and they are therefore, what we need to look at in order to get justice. Just like in the civil rights movement, etc… It’s the courts which can bring about change!
Looking at it, they are most likely to incorporate the conspiracy theories about HAARP in order to “explain” the extreme weather events.
I wonder just how many of the incoming Teabaggers think that the Illuminati are behind “belief” in Global Warming. I suspect a lot of them, but they view themselves as being very cagey by not publicly admiting it so as not to give themselves away to the Illuminati.
If you think I am kidding about the Illuminati aspect, watch the episode of “Conspiracy Theory” where Jesse Ventura starts questioning the Deniers to get to who is really behind Global Warming. This gets right to the heart of what they believe!
Also watch the episode on HAARP for some insights on the conspiracy theories about it being used to control the weather. Tip: Visit the HAARP website first and read up on the facility and look at the webcam views of the facility. Also look up piezoelectric transducers and what they do. Then watch the HAARP episode.
I’ve heard from very reliable sources deep inside The Beltway that there is going to be a massive rollback of all liberal-tainted “science”, not just global warming. Subpoenas are being prepared for Nicholas Copernicus, Galileo Galilei (both obvious foreigners) and Charles Darwin. The Committee asks for public assistance in locating the above-mentioned “scientists” as they appear to have gone into hiding since the elections. Furthermore, in a move bound to please American students from coast to coast ((to say nothing of improving their math scores), legislation is being drafted to return the value of pi to 3 so that it is more in accord with Divine Scripture.
I’m a Canadian so I don’t quite understand how these hearings work, but I sure smell a witch hunt.
That said…if they call upon scientists such as James Hansen, Richard Alley, Gavin Schmidt, etc, etc…Hall and Sensenbrenner are not going to like what they hear.
Hansen, Alley, Schmidt and all the other real climate scientists know what is at stake and it sure as hell isn’t their funding.
It’s the future of the human race and how far we dare to go before there is no future.
Hansen, and those others who know how awful our future can be, will go toe to toe with these clowns and will mince no words to get the unvarnished truth out in front of those republican idiots.
This not just some academic or political issue.
These scientists realize that their own families are at risk.
But I think they will “subpoena” Spencer, Linzen, Micheals maybe even Singer, and maybe even that goofy Lord.
Then they will get what they want to hear…
This is only the begininng folks. They’re just getting warmed up and it’s going to get real ugly fast. The hearings will provide the smokescreen for the big cuts and new priorities that are coming.
Unrestrained or unrestricted drilling will clearly be a big push. So what will Obama be trading in exchange for unrestricted drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge later this year? Perhaps keeping his healthcare bill from being picked apart? With gas pricing creeping back up fast, does anyone think that the Obama Admin won’t cave on this one? They likely won’t have a choice.
Also expect a big push for massive cuts in Alternative Energy funding – as in Zeroing out the entire Alternative Energy budget for starters in the interest of saving the taxpayer some money. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a revival of calls to eliminate the Department of Energy.
Rep Hall would do well to remember one of the classic showdowns of the internet. The Lenski dialog is an email conversation which took place in mid 2008, between Andrew Schlafly, owner of Conservapedia, and biologist Richard Lenski.
Worth reading – http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lenski_dialog
The problem we have is ignorance– and it applies to both sides of the aisle. Because of their goofy religious beliefs, conservatives think it’s OK to rape the earth and screw future generations out of a viable future. And on our side of the aisle, people think that just because the science is true, it’s OK to hang God along with ignorant republicans. It AIN’T. And as long as people think this way, we may VERY WELL LOSE THE BATTLE!
I didn’t read all the post by Joe before making the comments at #8. He’s right: the loss of human life was just as tragic as the environmental catastrophe. Sorry about that!
— Windsong (Espiritwater)
I believe some climatologists are stating “Bring it on!”
How can the human race survive the next hundred years?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TJlfhZwCMw
I would love to have him subpoena Sen. Inhofe to testify and then to call on Representatives Holt, Ehlers or McNerney to do the questioning. These three Representative all have their PhD’s; Holt and Ehlers in Pjhysics, McNerney in Mathematics.
It won’t happen. Something about Congressional courtesy, as if that existed any more. However, I think that we all should be writing to Holt, Ehlers and McNerney to stand up for science now more than ever. I know that I will, since McNerney is my Congressman.
Well, this is what the electorate collectively voted for, either by marking a ballot or failing to do so. So now it’s just a question of what can be done with the result. Again, blogging is part of the discourse, but it’s hardly the only part.
The new ‘fossil’ fuel!
Why can’t we see the magic of renewable energy?
Colorado’s Uranium Struggle Bodes Ill for U.S. Debate
http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=186099768068613&id=139434822741700
A conflict over a plan to process uranium ore in Colorado highlights the difficulty of moving away from fossil fuels.
Opponents say that the nostalgia many residents here cherish about the boom years is the product of willful forgetfulness about the well-documented cancer deaths and environmental destruction the uranium mines produced. They also say that the mill company is cynically exploiting the idea of a return to simpler times.
The minority should call the Koch Brothers, and others at the root of the industry financed disinformation machine, as minority witnesses. The minority should focus the issue on the disinformers and their enablers.
Earths going to come tumbling down…
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/features/print/3928/unnatural-disasters
Unnatural disasters
by Emma Young
As the climate changes, glaciers and ice sheets will start to shift their enormous weight around the globe, causing chaos in nature’s underlying geological processes.
Yes indeed the committee will be a tragic waste of tax payer money, however, on the other hand the scientist called will make this idiot look like an asshole. As shrub said some years back ‘bring them on.’
Wintry Weather and Global Warming
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/27/wintry-weather-and-global-warming/?partner=rss&emc=rss
Soon these Republicans will sense they will lose a fair fight before the sub-committee and work to stack the deck to make their side look correct. Oil companies will bring in plenty of help to make this happen.
The Minority should start now working on ways to counter this. It would be good to, if possible, have a debate format with leading Deniers on one side and the best and most articulate real climate scientists on the other actually debating each other, rather than simply testifying.
While these Congressman may be truly ignorant, Oil companies know full well facts on CO2 emissions and burning of fossil fuels, just as tobacco companies were completely aware of the addicting, cancer-causing effects of their cigarettes. Yet tobacco companies pulled out all the stops for important hearings and came out fairly unscathed.
If we want pending hearings to finally reveal the truth about man-caused CO2 and eventual lethal consequences, some very detailed, careful planning must start now. Big Coal and Oil are about the toughest adversaries on Capitol Hill.
OK, so Ralph wants to start dragging in scientists with subpoenas and grill them on the underpinnings of climate change. Let him! Let him also swear them in, remind them they are under oath, and then go after any of them that commits perjury. The rules are the rules, right? So — this is a ripe opportunity for true scientists to watchdog the lesser, pseudo-scientists and accuse them of perjury where it applies. In the House, the rules are fuzzy about the consequences of perjury, I believe, but Hall’s and Sensenbrenner’s witch hunt just might backfire if it can be shown that they are on a self-serving mission to discredit good scientists. But — both are smart, cunning, sharp-tongued men and both have it out for climate change in general so it might be a blood bath. But part of me says it’s time to duke this out, gloves off, pulling no punches. Then let the people decide. My money is on true science — all it will take is for the scientific community to step up to the plate and not let themselves be intimidated by this, rather, to use it as an opportunity to get the truth out even more effectively than before.
It’s all fake. Simply another move to keep that façade of skepticism around their denial.
I viewed the Richard Alley – Rohrabacher hearing and that wasn’t hopeful. I saw a politician more interested in hearing himself talk than being educated in the field of climate science. A politician never going beyond the brainless repetition of debunked talking points.
When hearings are over they will simply continue their denial and say to the public: “You see, I really, honestly tried. I stepped in with an open mind, but the evidence presented was unconvincing”.
And the public? As long as they have their bread and circuses (SUV’s and reality shows) they don’t give a s**t.
There is nothing to gain here, we’ll just lose more time. And so does the circus go on.
Lighten up, Ralph, and grow up. You’ve been watching too many reruns of “Left Behind.” Your bravery in defense of The Old Rugged Derrick is on the record. It’s weird – even my old friends in the clergy think so – but your zeal is so noted, meaning you need not witness to the scientists during the hearings. Among other things, I doubt they want to risk getting baptized in a congressional district where the water is liable to catch fire.
One way or other, the end times of The Oil Cult are nigh. Ol’ Ralph here knows it and intends to eat, drink and be merry because he has lived a long life and doesn’t care if he takes civilization down with him. That deserves a nuclear response from scientists and the rest of us.
George #4: “it may be difficult to cover up extreme weather events”
The MSM did a pretty good job not covering the 2010 Pakistan floods. Now they’re doing a pretty good job playing up the snow in the NE and UK.
This is a deliberate decision by the ownership. News outlets are for-profit businesses. Can’t say anything that might reduce Advertising revenue.
An earlier post asked for ideas on how scientists should prepare themselves for the grilling they will surely get in the US House of Representatives in the 112 Congress.
I go back to the exchange between Rep. Roarbarker and the scientists last month.
My suggestion to any scientist who comes before him and hears tht banal man making stupid comments and spouting his opnions is simply to say:
‘Congressman, that comment does not deserve a response. But, if I must respond, what you said is not only based on incorrect data and analysis, it is plainly wrong. I apologize for being so blunt.’
John McCormick
The Filipino revolutionary José Rizal once wrote,
The non-response to Ralph Hall’s callous disregard for human life shows that the US has truly turned into a nation of willing slaves.
And the rest of the world is paying the price for this.
– frank
Surely climate hawks can find a way to turn the denier hearing circus into a hawk carnival. It’s a given that there will be two witnesses at every hearing, one a peer reviewed climate scientist and the other an articulate Koch shill. The impression always left is that half of the scientists think climate change is a crock. Hence the need for a 1,000 peer review journal published climate scientist march coinciding with the hearings. They can march from the Capital to Fox News’ Washington bureau in their academic robes. They’ll look to some like the choir which might not hurt.
The fact that the deniers realize they can’t ignore us is a major victory.
carpe diem
Some good suggestions here- I like the idea of climate scientists making a public show of force, complete with fact sheets.
I disagree with the commenter who said that Rohrabacher or Hall will come out OK when the cameras are running. Santer and Alley left Rohrabacher and his witnesses in a state of anal ecstasy when the circus came to town a few weeks ago.
And I love the idea of the minority bringing Koch or Tillerson to the witness stand, and watching them squirm and bullshit their way through. It won’t happen, though- the Democrats are scared of the wealthy, which is just as bad as the Republicans being in thrall to them.
#34 John,
I like your idea. Its all show business these days with our visual means of getting what passes for news.
Your parade sounds just right. Have each actual climate scientist carry a visible placard with his/her name, title, affiliated organization and specialty.
The thing to remember is there are lots of energy company endowments out there, plus grant money. Will our scientists come forward? Again, Big Oil and Coal will work to see the good idea of the march doesn’t happen, but its a perfect PR idea.
George #4: “it may be difficult to cover up extreme weather events”
Terra Daily ( In Oct.) was the only site I found on the web that reported the death toll from the Russian heat wave based on the Russians own figures.
41,262.
We hid 41,262 dead Russians pretty good.
As for the upcoming “hearings” …… I got $5 that sez Mr. Hall will take a page from the Romans. They didn’t put 25 Christians and 1 lion in the Colosseum, they put in 25 lions and one Christian .
The committee chair gets to call the people to testify. Expect Anthony Watts carrying a stacked deck.
To believe in the global warming is a hoax conspiracy, you’d have to believe that 95%+ of scientists have been engaged in a mass cover up for 120 years. The global warming theory first came up in the 1890s when a scientist discovered that CO2 warms the climate.
I have to agree with Ann van der Bom and Colorado Bob. The Republicans will make sure they hear what they want to hear. The fact that he was under oath did not stop Patrick Michaels from presenting “interesting” findings at the recent hearings, findings that Ben Santer had to rebut repeatedly. I doubt they’ll call Ben Santer or Gavin Schmidt or James Hansen or Mike Mann(except to do their best to make these scientists look bad). And they have plenty of “skeptical” scientists to pick from; heck, they’ll probably even include folks like Watts and Monckton.
I think we can expect at least 4 years of complete inaction on climate change (except to gut the EPA rulings) from U.S. politicians.
We run another risk by defunding or blocking scientific research. The paleoclimate record currently locked in Ice is irreplaceable. When the ice is lost, so is the opportunity to collect the data, which spans thousands of years in Greenland, and up to 400,000 years for the Vostock Ice cores in Antarctica. In effect, this is like modern humans burning the library at Alexandria.
Windsong #8, the estimable Jensen is right on the money. Another invaluable source is Yablonsky’s ‘Robopaths’ which I read yonks ago, in my salad days-I’m still green, particularly around the gills.