Eli Rabett's Chris Monckton Limerick Contest

Eli Rabett's Chris Monckton Limerick Contest

UPDATE: Voting is now open

Seeing as a Limerick contest has broken out in the comments about Moncktons Gallop, Eli thought Rabett Run might offer a prize, a ticket (Eli will provide a grant) to one of his lectures in the next year, airfare, housing, etc. NOT included, but Eli will provide a decent bottle of Scotch so you can survive, Eli's choice of course, but Eli has standards. Ms Rabett, OTOH has the check book and the charge card. It will be better than OK but that's all we promise. Multiple entries allowed

To get you started here are the current entries

anonypoe started it all

Once there was a Viscount of Brenchly
Who disputed his critics most contentiously
With a lawsuit in hand
And an imperious demand
No one doubted the defense of His Excellency

Noe one doubted that is save for Poe
Who's Law is unknown by most joes
Now seeing the crank
Raised to high rank
Its impossible to tell the man from the show

A Viscount worried about his reputation
Fired up by an internet disputation
With a bunch of new slides
Screwed up his hurt pride
And revealed a self-mocking refutation.

Andy S

John Abraham once debunked an
Egregious talk by Chris Monckton
So the Lord tried to do
His own Peer review
Which he characteristically flunked on.

Ron Broberg-

Once a Lord of the House came to say
As "b is not a" so "b is not 'not a'"
So as you can see
All things that are 'b'
Are orthogonal to our reality today.

Horatio

There once was a man who used graphs
Equations and more advanced maths --
He dazzled the Tonys
With all his baloneys
And sent them down dead-ended paths.

There once was a man who used graphs
Equations and more advanced maths --
He dazzled the Tonys
With all his baloneys
And sent them down dead-ended paths.

There once was a journalist named Chris
Who thought there was something amiss
With the physics of Newton
Said he 'You're darned tootin'
"I will get to the bottom of this."

There once was a man with Nobel
Pinned to his suit-coat lapel
"When you address me, bow low"
"I'm world famous, you know"

Gareth provides a Clerihew (sorry, Eli has standards) and a limerick

There was a daft Viscount from Brenchley,
Whose shark jumping owed much to Benchley,
His downfall, they say,
Was caused by the way
His politics posed as reality

And . . .

38 comments:

Tim Lambert said...

Second prize is tickets to TWO of his talks.

14/7/10 7:39 AM

Horatio Algeranon said...

Horatio would much prefer this to watching/listening to Mocktman. ..or maybe that and then the talk.

14/7/10 8:05 AM

CapitalClimate said...

And how about a new name for the technique? Monckton Muddle

14/7/10 8:09 AM

Anonymous said...

A clown who calls himself Lord Makes pronouncments that have us all floored He's an upper-class twit who'll throw quite a fit Every time his fat ox gets gored

14/7/10 8:38 AM

justinp said...

Not a limerick: (The Limerick is a form unsuited to venting pure bile. One can inject far more venom into a cod haiku, for instance. And as for cartoon theme songs based on jazz tunes..) Monckton you snickering, bulgy-eyed hound When decency’s needed you’re never around The drivel that spews from your moth-eaten chest Is facile, deluded, and third-rate at best. So Mock the Monckton Mock the Monckton Mock the Monckton Mock the Monckton Mock that Monckton Howwww! Nab him Jab him Tab him Rag him Mock that Monckton now!

14/7/10 9:12 AM

willard said...

No promise of single malt, no look under kilt for me.

14/7/10 9:19 AM

Anonymous said...

An obstreperous journo inclined To distort all the facts he could find Enhanced his credentials To be influential And lie to the willfully blind barrymoose

14/7/10 9:24 AM

Horatio Algeranon said...

There once was a Lord sent a-leaping From the armchair where he had been sleeping Said he "I know more" "Than that movie by Gore" But his "science" was scarcely in keeping.

14/7/10 9:50 AM

Anonymous said...

Just discovered 'credentials' can be singular. Lose the 's' and that's my entry. :-) barrymore

14/7/10 9:57 AM

Horatio Algeranon said...

There once was a blogger name Rabett Who had the most ignoble habit To host goofy verses Award worthless purses And upset deniers, dang-nabbit.

14/7/10 10:18 AM

Anonymous said...

(I'm having trouble posting this; if my earlier one made it through, please disregard it.) In order to have a small chance at the prize I looked at the climate through Chris Monkton's eyes "Foul is now fairer" or he says so in error with eye-popping nonsense, well, that's no surprise jg

14/7/10 10:49 AM

Anonymous said...

Everything that they say are all lies! A.G.W I have never denied. So write out a check Or in court I'll object And you will rue my pedantic replies. -anonymous

14/7/10 12:00 PM

dan satterfield said...

A clown who calls himself Lord Makes pronouncments that have us all floored He's an upper-class twit who'll throw quite a fit Every time his fat ox gets gored MY VOTE GOES FOR THIS ONE~

14/7/10 1:27 PM

Anonymous said...

And tell the pleasant prince this Monckton of his Hath turn'd his balls to gun-stones; and his soul Shall stand sore charged for the wasteful vengeance That shall fly with them: for many a thousand widows Shall this his monckton monck out of their dear husbands; Monck mothers from their sons, monck castles down; And some are yet ungotten and unborn That shall have cause to curse the Monckton's scorn. -M

14/7/10 1:30 PM

a_ray_in_dilbert_space said...

One would think it would give a man pause; Were he ignorant of natural laws; To debate with the giants; In matters of science; On a subject with a well known cause. But the Viscount says, "Ho! Damn the science! To the facts I intend to do violence; And to deny the truth; While deluding the youth; As long as it suits all my clients." And as they form credulous ranks; Devotees of Ayn Rand, he gives thanks; With the strength of a cougar; Take note Dunning and Kruger; Watch him laugh all the way to the bank!

14/7/10 6:33 PM

jcrabb said...

there once was a man of fancy class who carried on like an ass in Climate science he did dabble for fear of the uppity rabble now his charade has been dissected his status terminally affected

14/7/10 6:36 PM

Michael Tobis said...

There once was a Viscount of Bench- ley Who thought he might win out eventual- ly, Spouting his nonsense With no hint of conscience And emitting a litigious stench. -- mt

14/7/10 7:43 PM

Rattus Norvegicus said...

There once was a Viscount from Brenchly Who thought he might win eventually But in the end it turned out That his long stream of prattle Was all hat and very few cattle

14/7/10 8:51 PM

Gareth said...

dilbert_space wins!

14/7/10 11:07 PM

Anonymous said...

...Marco There once was a man less mentally deft than the humble mollusc (The result of banging his head repeatedly against a bright pink portcullis) When he hadn’t a clue He thought it a grand thing to sue Professor John Abraham of Thomas Aquinas

15/7/10 7:27 AM

JMurphy said...

There once was a crude, merry Monckton, Who relied on a sorry assumption : That fools will follow, And the gullible swallow, His pseudo-scientific dysfunction.

15/7/10 7:39 AM

ch said...

This post has been removed by the author.

15/7/10 1:27 PM

chek said...

There once was a Viscount named Chris Who everyone thought was taking the piss. He had the understanding of climate of a shit-flinging primate and kept wondering what was amiss.

15/7/10 1:31 PM

Anonymous said...

I am known as a climate dissembler, Chief misinformation assembler Penetrate my pink gate And your urges I'll sate Unless you're a crustacean resembler. Heratclitus

15/7/10 2:25 PM

Dano said...

I sat down to pen a Limerick 'bout an insecure potty-peer dimwit. I publish'd it, but alas What got shoved up my *ss Was a lawsuit with small hope to acquit. Best, D

15/7/10 4:10 PM

Anonymous said...

Lord Monckton, I admire your tenacity I really don't know how you keep going You're dealing with people Who live in an alternative reality Where limericks scan well and rhyme barrylast

15/7/10 6:00 PM

ourchangingclimate said...

Neven over at Deltoid: (http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2010/07/i_think_that_they_might_have_t.php#comment-2656764) I'm too witty for the nerds Too witty for the nerds, so witty it hurts I'm too witty for this scam Too witty for this scam, New York and Japan And I'm too witty for your science Too witty for your science The way I'm Gish Galloping I'm a noble, you know what I mean And I do my little turn for Rush Limbaugh For Rush Limbaugh For Rush Limbaugh, yeah I tell my little lies for Rush Limbaugh I'm too witty for the truth, truth's going to leave me Posted by: Neven | July 14, 2010 6:58 AM Bart

16/7/10 2:24 AM

Zibethicus said...

There once was a fellow called Monckton Who hired himself out to a 'function' He lied about climate So much of the time that A transcript was weighed by the Bunk-Tonne (Bt).

16/7/10 4:42 PM

Anonymous said...

A ludicrous lord named chris Thought Abraham was taking the piss He yelled and he farted Wondered how it all started That his career should end like this John McManus

20/7/10 6:17 AM

indulisb said...

Monckton's kidney had heard some bad news, Like the brain it was often confused. It mistook "lie analysis" For the dreaded dialysis, And to make piss it promptly refused. Lord Monckton created a stink, "I'm a Lord despite what they think, I have made an arrangement To disprove my derangement, I've painted my portcullis pink" "Oh listen and kneel at my feet, You're in for a fabulous treat, Though with truth I am lax, It's a debate not hard facts, And if you disagree you're Nazi elite!"

28/7/10 9:34 AM

indulisb said...

Lord Monckton was caught telling lies, (Being caught is what he really despised), "But I'm allowed much leeway, In any mad things I say, It said on the box with my last Nobel prize!"

28/7/10 9:55 AM

indulisb said...

In the interests of getting it JUST RIGHT Lord Monckton created a stink, "I'm not a Loon despite what they think, I have made an arrangement To disprove my derangement, I've painted my portcullis pink"

28/7/10 10:02 AM

indulisb said...

Must break out of perfectionist loop trap! Monckton's kidney had heard some bad news, But like the brain it was often confused. "Abraham lie analysis" It misheard as "dialysis", And to make piss it promptly refused.

28/7/10 10:12 AM

indulisb said...

Said Monckton "I feel quite disturbed, by this Abraham's claims so absurd. His ad hominem attacks, On my graphs and my facts, This proves he's a prawn and a turd!" (I am definitely stuck in an OCD Limerick state now)

29/7/10 4:25 AM

Anonymous said...

Don't ascribe to him motives quite evil, He's really a thing quite primeval, That scuttles around, While making a sound, That's a cross twixt a leech and a weevil. Ann O' namouse

29/7/10 6:19 AM

Anonymous said...

"You'll try to disprove me- you can't!" Proclaimed Lord Monckton once to his old Aunt, "I'll quote physics formulas three, (Though I've a Latin degree), And make up another, a most cunning stunt!" (Ann O' No-mouse)

29/7/10 6:29 AM

Anonymous said...

"The question of Why? is unfurled, And climate change vitriol I've hurled, I'm an android you see, With a Latin Degree, Asimov's three laws don't mention the world" Android-on-a-mouse

29/7/10 6:37 AM

Anonymous said...

From SteveP A privileged peer of the realm, Made words up, meant to overwhelm, “They may not be true, But I’ll not be through, ‘Till plutocrat hands guide the helm”

8/8/10 6:51 AM

Bjorn Lomborg's copious errors!!!

Bjorn Lomborg's many, many errors!

Check out the website shown below:

THIS IS THE LOMBORG-ERRORS WEB SITE

Bjørn Lomborg is a well-known personality in the environmental debate. He is the author of several books which, due to their copious lists of notes and references, appear very technical and scientific and therefore trustworthy. Unfortunately, those reading his books or listening to his lectures are rarely aware that the facts and statements presented by Lomborg are not reliable. They are systematically manipulated to fit a certain agenda.      The web site Lomborg-errors  has been established to document this claim. It gathers and publishes errors found in Bjørn Lomborg´s books, especially  "The Skeptical Environmentalist" (2001) and Cool it! (2007).      In addition, it gives information on cases and activities related to Bjørn Lomborg, attempts to describe his methods, and points out cases where the claims about Lomborg´s dishonesty seem to hold true.      From January 2008, the page also comments on errors made by Al Gore, to allow a comparison where the two persons are judged by the same standards.     The web site is set up by, written by and hosted by biologist Kåre Fog, Denmark.

 
 

Main contents :	The Skeptical Environmentalist	Additional content :
	Copenhagen Consensus	Error list for Al Gore´s        "An Inconvenient Truth"
	Cool it!
	General issues	Howard Friel: "The Lomborg Deception"
	Lomborg versus Al Gore	Various special issues
Purpose :

   The purpose of this web site is not to present a comprehensive overview of the issues treated by  Bjørn Lomborg, but only to point out errors - as the name of the web site indicates. 

   Why is it essential to point out the errors? 

   First, because in the handling of errors, Lomborg is not a normal person. A normal person would apologize or be ashamed if concrete, factual errors or misunderstandings were pointed out -- and would correct the errors at the first opportunity given. Lomborg does not do that.  For example, when  The Skeptical Environmentalist was heavily  criticized in a review  in Nature, Lomborg´s reaction was: "If I really am so wrong, why don´t you just document that?" -- and then, when this was documented, he ignored the facts.

   Second, because you cannot evaluate Lomborg´s books just by reading them and thinking of what you read. For every piece of information in the books, you have to check if it is true and if the presentation is balanced. If the concrete information given by Lomborg is correct and balanced, then it follows that his main conclusions are also correct. But if the information is flawed, then the main conclusions are biased or wrong. Therefore, in principle, you can only evaluate the books after having checked all footnotes, read all references, and checked alternative sources. This will be a huge task for any reader, but when the errors are described and presented in one place -- this web site -- then the task becomes manageable. 

Link:  http://www.lomborg-errors.dk/

Snowcone Greenland's Jakobhavn's Isbrae breaking up, and note the enormous melt lakes -- August 7, 2010

Snowcone Greenland's Jakobhavn's Isbrae breaking up, and note the enormous melt lakes -- August 7, 2010

Click on the images to enlarge them, then click on them once more for greater detail.

Jeff Masters: The Great Russian Heat Wave of 2010

The Great Russian Heat Wave of 2010

by Jeff Masters, Wunderblog, August 7, 2010


Figure 2. Smoke from fires in Russia on August 4, 2010, covers an area over 3,000 km (1860 miles) across. If the smoke were in the United States, it would extend approximately from San Francisco to Chicago. Visibility in Moscow dropped to 20 meters (0.01 miles) on August 4, and health officials warned that everyone, including healthy people, needed to take preventative measures such as staying indoors or wearing a mask outdoors. Image credit: NASA.

The Great Russian Heat Wave of 2010 continues
One of the most remarkable weather events of my lifetime is unfolding this summer in Russia, where an unprecedented heat wave has brought another day of 102°F heat to the nation's capital. At 3:30 pm local time today, the mercury hit 39°C (102.2°F) at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport. Moscow had never recorded a temperature exceeding 100°F prior to this year, and today marks the second time the city has beaten the 100°F mark. The first time was on July 29, when the Moscow observatory recorded 100.8°C and Baltschug, another official downtown Moscow weather site, hit an astonishing 102.2°F (39.0°C). Prior to this year, the hottest temperature in Moscow's history was 37.2°C (99°F), set in August 1920. The Moscow Observatory has now matched or exceeded this 1920 all-time record five times in the past eleven days, including today. The 2010 average July temperature in Moscow was 7.8°C (14°F) above normal, smashing the previous record for hottest July, set in 1938 (5.3°C above normal.) July 2010 also set the record for most July days in excess of 30°C--twenty-two. The previous record was 13 such days, set in July 1972. The past 24 days in a row have exceeded 30°C in Moscow, and there is no relief in sight--the latest forecast for Moscow calls for high temperatures near 100°F (37.8°C) for the next seven days. It is stunning to me that the country whose famous winters stopped the armies of Napoleon and Hitler is experiencing day after day of heat near 100°F, with no end in sight.

Thousands of deaths, severe fires, and the threat of radioactive contamination
The extreme heat has led to thousands of premature deaths in Russia. According to Yevgenia Smirnova, an official from the Moscow registry office, "We recorded 14,340 deaths in Moscow in July, that is 4,824 deaths more than in July 2009." Undoubtedly thousands of additional premature deaths have occurred in the rest of Russia as a result of the heat. The heat has also caused the worst drought conditions in European Russia in a half-century, prompting the Russian government to suspend wheat exports. The drought has caused extreme fire danger over most of European Russia (Figure 3), and fires in Russia have killed at least 50 people in the past week and leveled thousands of homes. The fires are the worst since 1972, when massive forest and peat bog fires burned an area of 100,000 square km and killed at 104 people in the Moscow region alone. Smoke from the current fires spans a region over 3,000 km (1,860 miles) from east to west, approximately the distance from San Francisco to Chicago. Dozens of flights were canceled at Moscow's airports today, thanks to visibilities of 300 meters in smoke. Also of concern is fires that have hit the Bryansk region of western Russia, which suffered radioactive contamination from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in nearby Ukraine. There are fears that fires may burn through the contaminated area, releasing harmful radiation into the atmosphere.


Figure 3. Fire danger in Russia for August 5, 2010. Extreme fire danger (Category 5, red colors) was seen over much of the European portion of Russia. Image credit: Hydrometcentre, Russia.

Why has Russia's heat wave been so long and intense?
Dr. Rob Carver has done a detailed analysis of the remarkable Russian heat wave in his latest post, The Great Russian Heat Wave of July 2010. A persistent jet stream pattern has set up over Europe, thanks to a phenomena known as blocking. A ridge of high pressure has remained anchored over Russia, and the hot and dry conditions have created helped intensify this ridge in a positive feedback loop. As a result, soil moisture in some portions of European Russia has dropped to levels one would expect only once every 500 years.

Link:  http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1568

Joseph Romm: Global boiling fuels disasters in nuclear nations

Global boiling fuels disasters in nuclear nations

Masters: "The Great Russian Heat Wave of 2010 continues.... Thousands of deaths, severe fires, and the threat of radioactive contamination"

by Joseph Romm, Climate Progress, August 7, 2010

Prior to this year, the hottest temperature in Moscow’s history was 37.2 °C (99 °F), set in August 1920. The Moscow Observatory has now matched or exceeded this 1920 all-time record five times in the past eleven days, including today…

… soil moisture in some portions of European Russia has dropped to levels one would expect only once every 500 years.

That’s meteorologist Jeff Masters writing about “One of the most remarkable weather events of my lifetime.”  The impact of the decline in soil moisture, along with the epic heat and fires, has been devastating, causing Russia to ban wheat exports.  Coupled with extreme weather around the globe, it has helped nearly double wheat prices since June.

Sharp and long-lasting declines in soil moisture over much of the planet’s habited landmass are a major prediction of climate science, something I’ve called “DUST-BOWL-IFICATION” (since readers pointed out to me that many deserts really aren’t so bad).  Here’s what the recent scientific literature says we face in the second half of the century if we stay anywhere near our current emissions path:

DUST-BOWL-IFICATION

Met Office’s Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research projects moderate drought over half the habited land, plus the loss of all inland glaciers that provide water to many tens of millions.

“The unexpectedly rapid expansion of the tropical belt constitutes yet another signal that climate change is occurring sooner than expected,” noted one climate researcher in December 2007. A 2008 study led by NOAA noted, “A poleward expansion of the tropics is likely to bring even drier conditions to” the U.S. Southwest, Mexico, Australia and parts of Africa and South America.”

In 2007, Science (subs. req’d) published research that “predicted a permanent drought by 2050 throughout the Southwest” — levels of aridity comparable to the 1930s Dust Bowl would stretch from Kansas to California. And they were only looking at a 720 ppm case! The Dust Bowl was a sustained decrease in soil moisture of about 15% (”which is calculated by subtracting evaporation from precipitation”).

A NOAA-led study similary found permanent Dust Bowls in Southwest and around the globe on our current emissions trajectory (and irreversibly so for 1000 years). And as I have discussed, future droughts will be fundamentally different from all previous droughts that humanity has experienced because they will be very hot weather droughts (see Must-have PPT: The “global-change-type drought” and the future of extreme weather).

I should note that even the “moderate drought over half the planet″ scenario from the Hadley Center is based on 850 ppm (in 2100). Princeton has done an analysis on “Century-scale change in water availability: CO2-quadrupling experiment,” which is to say 1100 ppm. The grim result: Most of the South and Southwest ultimately sees a 20% to 50% (!) decline in soil moisture.

We risk such high emissions concentrations on our current emissions path (see U.S. media largely ignores latest warning from climate scientists: “Recent observations confirm … the worst-case IPCC scenario trajectories (or even worse) are being realised” — 1000 ppm).

See also Australian Scientists: Contrary to media reports, “our paper does not discount climate change as playing a role in this most recent drought, the ‘Big Dry’. In fact, there are indications that climate change has worsened this recent drought.”

More from Masters on Russia:

Thousands of deaths, severe fires, and the threat of radioactive contamination

The extreme heat has led to thousands of premature deaths in Russia. According to Yevgenia Smirnova, an official from the Moscow registry office, “We recorded 14,340 deaths in Moscow in July, that is 4,824 deaths more than in July, 2009.” Undoubtedly thousands of additional premature deaths have occurred in the rest of Russia as a result of the heat. The heat has also caused the worst drought conditions in European Russia in a half-century, prompting the Russian government to suspend wheat exports.

The drought has caused extreme fire danger over most of European Russia (Figure 3), and fires in Russia have killed at least 50 people in the past week and leveled thousands of homes. The fires are the worst since 1972, when massive forest and peat bog fires burned an area of 100,000 square km and killed at 104 people in the Moscow region alone. Smoke from the current fires spans a region over 3,000 km (1,860 miles) from east to west, approximately the distance from San Francisco to Chicago. Dozens of flights were canceled at Moscow’s airports today, thanks to visibilities of 300 meters in smoke. Also of concern is fires that have hit the Bryansk region of western Russia, which suffered radioactive contamination from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in nearby Ukraine. There are fears that fires may burn through the contaminated area, releasing harmful radiation into the atmosphere.

GLOBAL BOILING

Finally, Wonk Room’s Brad Johnson writes“Fueled by the buildup of fossil fuel pollution, the world’s out-of-control climate is destabilizing many of the nations that control nuclear weapons, including Russia, China, North Korea, India, and Pakistan. Thousands have died in fires and floods, millions left homeless, and crops failed in the withering heat, the greatest the modern world has ever faced:”

RUSSIA Moscow has reached 102.2 °F, after never before even breaking the 100-degree mark in recorded history. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitri Medvedev have flooded the airwaves in response to outrage over the wildfires and droughts caused by the global heat wave, as officials are forced to admit the situation is out of control. The Russian government has recommended people evacuate Moscow, banned wheat exports, diverted flights, fired senior military officers, and warned the fires could pose a nuclear threat if they reach areas contaminated by Chernobyl. Medvedev called the linked disasters “evidence of this global climate change,” which means “we need to change the way we work, change the methods that we used in the past.”

CHINA The worst flooding ever recorded in northeast China, caused by weeks of torrential rain with no end in sight, has caused nearly $6 billion in damage to water projects there, In addition, “52 people are reported to have died and an additional 20 are missing following rain-triggered floods in central China’s Henan Province.” “In the southwestern province of Yunnan, at least 11 people died and 11 were missing following a landslide caused by heavy rain.”

INDIA “Record temperatures in northern India have claimed hundreds of lives in what is believed to be the hottest summer in the country since records began in the late 1800s.” “The death toll in flashfloods that hit the remote mountainous region of Ladakh in Indian-held Kashmir has risen to 103.”

NORTH KOREA “Flooding last month caused serious damage in North Korea, destroying homes, farms, roads and buildings and hurting the economy,” the secretive dictatorship of North Korea admitted yesterday. “About 36,700 acres of farmland was submerged and 5,500 homes and 350 public buildings and facilities were destroyed or flooded,” the official Korean Central News Agency said. “The news agency had previously reported heavy rains fell in the country in mid- to late July, but those earlier reports did not mention flooding or damage. State media in the impoverished, reclusive nation often report news days or weeks after an event takes place.”

PAKISTAN “Islamist charities, some with suspected ties to militants, stepped in on Monday to provide aid for Pakistanis hit by the worst flooding in memory, piling pressure on a government criticized for its response to the disaster that has so far killed more than 1,000 people.”

“Thousands of people are fleeing Pakistan’s most populous areas as devastating floods” that have already affected more than 3 million people “sweep towards the south.” Fatima Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto’s niece, lashed out: “The floods are just the latest, most tragic example of how inept the Pakistani state truly is.”

As warming-fueled disasters grow more intense and more frequent, they put greater pressure on the governments of these nuclear states. This threat to global security was brought to the White House’s attention as far back as 1979, when top scientists warned that global warming “would threaten the stability of food supplies, and would present a further set of intractable problems to organized societies.” As the CNA Corporation wrote in 2007, “climate change is a threat multiplier in already fragile regions, exacerbating conditions that lead to failed states — the breeding grounds for extremism and terrorism.” The Pentagon’s 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review recognized that global warming impacts and disasters will “act as an accelerant of instability or conflict.”

In Bonn, international climate negotiations have stalled. Record global temperatures, forest fires in Russia, lethal floods in Pakistan “are all consistent with the kind of changes we could expect from climate change, and they will get worse if we don’t act quickly,” said US negotiator Jonathan Pershing.

 Link:  http://climateprogress.org/2010/08/07/russian-heat-wave-drought-soil-moisture-wheat/#more-31293

Jakobshavn Isbrae, August 5, 2010

Jakobshavn Isbrae, August 5, 2010

Ha! If you thought the Jakobshavn Glacier was sliding out fast, just have a look to the south where the heights of the edge of the ice sheet are melting en masse and flowing out toward the western shores.  Click on the photo, then click on it again once a new page opens to see the best magnification of the melt lakes.  Note the grey stuff flowing out into the water -- that is coming from the rocky sediments ground out of the land beneath the ice sheet.

Petermann Glacier loses the end of its tongue, August 2010, northern coast of Greenland

Petermann Glacier loses the end of its tongue, August 4, 2010

See also this post:   http://climatechangepsychology.blogspot.com/2009/07/petermann-glacier-river-runs-along-top.html

Chrissy Pissy Monckton found out with pants down. House of Lords taking action to stop his use of parliamentary emblem

Monckton Watch: Lordly Phony Threatens Phony Suit

by Richard Littlemore, DeSmogBlog, August 5, 2010

 

Tags: christopher monckton, Friends of Gin and Tonic, John Abraham, Richard Littlemore, Scott Mandia

 

The British House of Lords has once again disavowed any association with the embarrassing Christopher Monckton, Third Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, even as his Lordship has labored to earn even wider notoriety by threatening a lawsuit against yet another U.S. academic.

The Lordly disavowal came in response to a very funny letter of inquiry from the wonderful wiseacres at Friends of Gin and Tonic (temporarily the "Lords of Gin and Tonic" in faux tribute to the self-promoting Viscount).

Monckton himself launched the unconvincing legal threat against Scott Mandia, a professor at Suffolk County College in Seldon, New York. In addition to operating an excellent informational website on climate change, Prof. Mandia also runs his own blog, on which he had the impertinence to call out Monckton for his earlier ridiculous attacks on University of St. Thomas Professor John Abraham.

Mandia had encouraged his readers to write letters to mainstream media sources, urging them to look into the issue and, "Expose Monckton for the fraud that he is." Monckton chose to interpret that as an accusation that he had committed fraud, a topic on which much rich discussion could follow. For example, lying so frequently about being a member of the House of Lords that the House itself feels moved to take countermeasures might reasonably be interpreted as fraud.

But Mandia was so clearly saying that Monckton IS a fraud, a contention well-supported by the definition of that word in my Oxford English Reference Dictionary: "3. a person or thing not fulfilling what is claimed or expected of him, her, or it."
For clarity - and because Monckton seems to have difficulty understanding things on first reading - useful synonyms might include, "imposter, pretender, masquerader, mountebank, quack, charlatan, fake, phony, fourflusher, flimflammer, trickster, bamboozler or dissembler."
I personally like mountebank, as in, Christopher Monckton, Third Mountebank Monckton of Brenchley - although, like Monckton himself, such a title would dishonor the members of his family who actually earned the hereditary peerage in the first place.

Link:  http://www.desmogblog.com/monckton-watch-phony-peer-threatens-phony-suit

Monckton NOT A MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS! What a wanker!!!

The Monckton Files: The Investigation Begins!!!

by Barry Bickmore, Anti-Climate Change Extremism in Utah blog, August 5, 2010

[Maniacal laughter.]  After threatening everyone under the Sun with libel lawsuits and academic investigations, Lord Christopher Monckton might just be getting his.  Friends of Gin and Tonic has just posted a response by the House of Lords Information Office to their inquiry about Monckton’s claim he is a member of the House of Lords.  Here it is:

From: House Of Lords Information Office

Date: August 5, 2010 5:07:52 AM MDT

To: Friends of Gin & Tonic

Subject: RE: inquiry

Dear Derek,

Many thanks for your emails.

Viscount Monckton of Brenchley is not and has never been a member of the House of Lords. However, allegations that he has claimed to be a member, and that he has used an emblem resembling the parliamentary emblem, have been drawn to our attention.

The House is currently taking steps with a view to ensuring that Lord Monckton does not in future either claim to be a member of the House or use the parliamentary emblem or any variant thereof.

Best wishes,

Information Office
House of Lords
London SW1A 0PW
020 7219 3107
www.parliament.uk/lords

[More maniacal laughter.]

UPDATE:  Richard Littlemore comments on this incident here.

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Dance, Monckey!
• The Monckton Files: Even MORE Threats?
• The Monckton Files: Still in Denial About the House of Lords

George Shultz: There’s a climate problem connected with the burning of fossil fuels

George Shultz challenges CA to lead on clean energy, defeat Proposition 23: Losing “would be a catastrophe.”

Former Secretary of State and Treasury: "There's a climate problem connected with the burning of fossil fuels.... The basic facts are pretty clear."

by Joseph Romm, Climate Progress, August 5, 2010

Former U.S. secretary of State George P. Shultz believes it’s crucial to fight global warming to protect national security.

Global warming is created by burning fossil fuel, he says, and payments for foreign oil sometimes wind up financing terrorism.

And Shultz, who’s also a former Treasury secretary, thinks the nation suffers an “economic vulnerability” because of its oil addiction…

The L.A. Times article notes that “the man who set up the Environmental Protection Agency four decades ago,” also added:

There’s a climate problem connected with the burning of fossil fuels.  The basic facts are pretty clear.

“So we have a three-pronged set of problems” created by greenhouse gases, he says. “Security, economic and environmental.”

This post is part of a series on the fossil fuel-funded Proposition 23 effort to repeal California’s clean energy and climate laws. Read previous posts on Prop 23’s economic impact, national repercussions, and funding from Texas oil companies.  Here’s more from the LAT piece on the background of a dying breed — a conservative Republican who is willing to champion climate science and clean energy:

Shultz, 89, has been there, done a lot and thought through much — from the time he was President Nixon’s first budget director to when he was President Reagan’s chief strategist for ending the Cold War. In between, he became president of Bechtel, the engineering giant.

He’s now with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

And he’s co-chairman of the campaign against Proposition 23 on the November ballot.
Prop. 23, largely bankrolled by two Texas oil companies (Valero and Tesoro) that operate refineries in California, would significantly hamper this state’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The goal is to pare back emissions to the 1990 level by 2020 — a cut of about 30% from what would be emitted if the state did nothing.

Prop. 23 would suspend AB 32 — the 2006 anti-global warming act championed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — until the unemployment rate in California fell to at least 5.5% for a full year. Unemployment now exceeds 12%.

The act probably would be suspended for “many years,” says the nonpartisan legislative analyst…

The ballot measure is a major issue in the gubernatorial campaign — at least, in Democrat Jerry Brown’s view. He calls the global-warming fight a defining distinction between him and Republican Meg Whitman. Brown strongly opposes Prop. 23. Whitman is neutral but favors at least a one-year moratorium on AB 32.

Shultz also is a co-chairman of Whitman’s campaign. But he disagrees with her on global warming. Suspending AB 32, he says, “would be a catastrophe.”

For more on Brown vs. Whitman on this, see Jerry Brown says state’s job-creating climate law is key difference between him, Meg Whitman.

… Shultz addressed the “go it alone” argument before I could even ask him about it:
“As in a great many issues, a lot of the action and constructive activity, particularly in the United States, comes from the ground up, not from the top down. It comes from creative individuals, creative companies, universities and states that do things that then get emulated and spread.
“Obviously California can’t take these issues on by itself. But it can lead the way. And it can be contagious. And we’ve seen that many times.”

And, Shultz emphasizes, “national security is threatened:”

“President Eisenhower — a guy whose credentials on national security you had to respect — said that if we imported more than 20% of the oil we used, we were asking for trouble in national security terms. Now we’re over 60%…

“The flow of funds from … oil producers in many cases goes to states that are antithetical to us and are trying to do us damage. And some of the money leaks out into terrorists’ hands.”

Shultz continues:

“People are saying, well, [AB 32] is a job killer. Undoubtedly there will be changes. That’s the idea — to shift away from things that emphasize their dependence on oil…

“Sooner or later, somehow or other, there’s going to be a price put on carbon. So everybody running companies … take a deep breath … better start adjusting to it.

“We’re going to make energy created by the burning of fossil fuels more expensive. That’s the idea. So people will use less of it.

“Those who are creating ways of producing energy with less of a carbon footprint will benefit.”

A clash of the old and new economies.

Shultz is 89 but thinking like a post-grad student with his future still ahead.

Kudo to Shultz.

Link:  http://climateprogress.org/2010/08/05/george-shultz-proposition-23/#more-31209