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Monokultur » 2012 » October


Do not doubt dirty weather

Diverse — Drokles on October 31, 2012 at 7:54 am

Der er sand middelalderstemning i klimadebatten efter superorkanen Sandy ramte USA’s østkyst i går. Alarmisterne har travlt med at udlægge et vejrfænomen som straffen for vorers synder. “Weird, extreme weather makes people worry, makes them think the world is changing” skriver Chris Mooney for Mother Jones og tilslutter sig den antagelse. For selv om Mooney medgiver at Sandy er et sammenrend af naturlige omstændigheder der sker fra tid til anden så kan man med en eksperts udtalelse om menneskets bagvedliggende påvirkning spekulere “it might be” - og den teoretiske mulighed er vel så godt som et bevis. Og som John McCains datter Meghan ifølge The Hill langede ud efter sine partifællers bagstræberiskhed: “So are we still going to go with climate change not being real fellow republicans [sic]?” slog tidligere vicepræsident Al Gore fast at “Dirty energy makes dirty weather“ . I samme logik foreslår Huffington Posts Kevin Welner polemisk at man opkalder fremtidige orkaner efter klimabenægtere; det er jo dem der spreder denne ’dirty doubt’.

Men ”there remains far too much natural variability in the frequency and potency of rare and powerful storms — on time scales from decades to centuries – to go beyond pointing to this event being consistent with what’s projected on a human-heated planet.” minder Andrew Revkin os køligt om i New York Times og citerer et par uhysteriske eksperter

Martin Hoerling, a meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration focused on the forces influencing extreme weather, sent this note:

Great events can have little causes. In this case, the immediate cause is most likely little more that the coincidental alignment of a tropical storm with an extratropical storm. Both frequent the west Atlantic in October…nothing unusual with that. On rare occasions their timing is such as to result in an interaction which can lead to an extreme event along the eastern seaboard. As to underlying causes, neither the frequency of tropical or extratropical cyclones over the North Atlantic are projected to appreciably change due to climate change, nor have there been indications of a change in their statistical behavior over this region in recent decades (see IPCC 2012 SREX report).

So, while it will rain like “black cats and Frankenweenies” over the midatlantic, this is not some spell conjured upon us by great external forces….unless you believe in the monster flicks of Universal Stuidios fame!

Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research offered these thoughts (I’m adding links to explain some of the acronyms):

The sea surface temperatures along the coast are 5 degrees F. or more above average and 1 degree F. is from global warming. Stronger storm and more precipitation results.

But with respect to the Arctic connection, I don’t believe it. Yes the NAO and NAM have gone negative: the NAO since about the middle of October, and it is projected to go back to close to zero in a week or so: heading to more positive now. The NAO and NAM (or AO as some call it) are natural modes of variability. They occur in models with no external forcings and just climo SSTs. The SAM in the Southern Hemisphere is similar in that regard and the SAM has been affected by the ozone hole and perhaps CO2 to make for a more positive sign. This is clear. So the natural mode can be influenced by externalities. There are several possibilities in the Northern Hemisphere. One may be the Arctic sea ice melt, another might be ozone depletion and certainly events in the stratosphere (including solar effects). To the extent that cooling in the Southern Hemisphere makes for a more positive phase of SAM, one might argue that warming in the Northern Hemisphere works the other way, but it is far from clear. NAO and NAM can do this all by itself. How less sea ice does anything is not clear. It does mean air is apt to be warmer and moister and with prospects for more snow on nearby land in the Fall. But the actual heating of the atmosphere is very small to cause it to do anything.

The studies published on this report associations that, to me, do not tell us cause and effect.It is true that hurricanes normally recurve and head east, especially at this time of year. So we do have a negative NAO and some blocking anticyclone in place, but the null hypothesis has to be that this is just “weather” and natural variability. The more definitive study on effects is by Balmaseda et al in QJRMS last year. [*There's more from Trenberth here.]

Here’s a thought from Patrick J. Michaels, the climatologist best known for his work for the libertarian Cato Institute:

By any standard, this is an impressive cyclone for our latitude. You might want to check Ludlum’s “Early American Hurricanes” for the Snow Hurricane of 1804, which was earlier and a bit further north — but NYC showed a pretty similar barometric pressure. Are you familiar with his great series of books on pre-1900 weather?

Alluding to my line about variability excluding any global warming link beyond saying the storm is consistent with projections, Michaels wrote this:

It’s also consistent with a planet with colder temperatures as well as one with warmer ones. More important, events like this are inevitable on a planet that has an ocean with the geography of the Atlantic (meaning a Gulf Stream-like feature), a large north-south continent on its western margin without a transverse mountain range to inhibit the merger of tropical warmth with polar cold, and four seasons in the temperate latitudes. And I predict confidently that we will survive Sandy, which should not be a tropical cyclone at landfall.

Og Roger Pielke jr. har efter forvoldte skader opstillet en top 10 over lignende orkaner der har ramt USA i samme område som Sandy

Der krydses finge for Frankenstormen

Diverse — Drokles on October 30, 2012 at 8:14 am

Klimaet blev ikke nævnt en eneste gang i hver af de 3 dueller mellem den amerkanske præsident Obama og hans udfordrer senator Romney. Og det er - lidt overraskende - kommet bag på Obama fortæller Think Progress

The answer is number one, we’re not moving as fast as we need to. And this is an issue that future generations, MTV viewers, are going to have to be dealing with even more than the older generation. So this is a critical issue. And there is a huge contrast in this campaign between myself and Governor Romney. I am surprised it didn’t come up in one of the debates.

Et par chancer havde han dog for selv at bringe klimaet på banen. For eksempel da Romney sagde “By the way, I like coal“. Men uanset Obama er propagandisterne begyndt at lede efter forklaringer. Og de skal ikke lede langt når deres politiske fordomme ligger lige for. Michael Noble skriver for Fresh Energy

Here’s a stronger indictment: a cottage industry of well-funded climate denial advocacy groups has been highly successful in intimidating politicians. On October 23, a PBS Frontline special called Climate of Doubt documented how a shadowy blend of nonprofit and political groups have deliberately created a political atmosphere where the most popular position on global warming is avoiding it altogether.

The program featured Representative Bob Inglis (R – South Carolina), a conservative Republican who lost his Congressional seat because he accepted and spoke of scientific reality. Also interviewed was the National Journal’s Coral Davenport, whose reporting last December about how climate change had become a toxic subject among Republican office holders inspired the Frontline report.

Og som om det ikke var nok, fortsætter Noble, så er der ingen love eller reguleringer der kan hæmme hverken private eller firmaer i at donationere enorme pengebeløb til disse “climate denial advocacy groups”. Og da man end ikke behøver at oplyse nogen, hverken bestyrelsen eller ægtefællen om disse “dark money” så er “the amount of money changing hands between fossil-fuel interest groups and dark money PACs is anybody’s guess“. Med andre ord er det med klimaet som med klimabenægterne, teorien om dem er skræmmende, men ingen dokumentation foreligger.

Guardian spurgte David Attenborough om, hvad der kunne øge bevidstheden om den kommende katastrofe

Asked what was needed to wake people up, the veteran broadcaster famous for series such as Life and Planet Earth said: “Disaster. It’s a terrible thing to say, isn’t it? Even disaster doesn’t do it. There have been disasters in North America, with hurricanes and floods, yet still people deny and say ‘oh, it has nothing to do with climate change.’ It visibly has got [something] to do with climate change.”

Vi krydser fingre for katastrofen. Og ifølge Brad Johnson er katastrofen på vej i form af en “Frankenstorm”, som Watts Up With That skriver (deres fremhævning)

“If the candidates won’t listen to the voters demanding they break their climate silence, maybe they will listen to Mother Nature’s October Surprise. We know the candidates will be asked about Hurricane Sandy, and will express their sympathy with those affected. They will rightly applaud the first responders, the compassion of neighbors, and the strength and resolve of the American people. But what their role as national leaders demands that they also do is explain that Hurricane Sandy is a true Frankenstorm, a monster created by man tampering with nature with oil, coal, and gas pollution.”

Masser af fascister i Malmö’s gader

Diverse — Drokles on October 29, 2012 at 7:55 am

Ved Geert Wilders foredrag i Malmö i weekenden viste fascismen endnu engang sit ansigt under antifascistiske paroler da nogle hundrede sortklædte AFA’er mødt op for at intimidere Wilders tilhørere. Medlemmer af Trykkefrihedsselskabets bestyrelse fik en lille smag på venstrefløjens debattone, som man kan læse på Sappho, hvor Katrine Winkel Holm skriver

Det første, vi bemærkede, da vi steg ud af taxaen, var helikopteren, der hang højt oppe over os. Det næste, det fjerne, men taktfaste råb: ”Inga rasister på våra gator.”

Begge dele sikre tegn på, at vi var på vej det rigtige sted hen: Til idrætsanlægget Kockum Fritid i Malmø, hvor Geert Wilders skulle tale i Tryckfrihetssällskapet.

På bästa malmövis”

Politiet var massivt tilstede, deres neonfarvede uniformer kunne ses langt væk, men foran dem stod en sort mur af råbende AFA’er: ”Antifascistisk aktion” (Antifa), der havde indkaldt til aktion på Facebook med følgende ordlyd:

”På lördag samlas vi utanför Tryckfrihetssällskapets lokaler en timme innan deras möte börjar, för att välkomna rasisterna på bästa malmövis. Det gör vi genom kreativa och fantasifulla inslag som att kasta frukt och färg, skrika slagord och bua ut rasisterna när de kommer.

Det betyder, at ”vi fysiskt kommer att ställa oss i vägen för mötesdeltagarna.”

Stille sig i vejen for mødedeltagerne var det, de gjorde – og det, politiet lod dem gøre.

Da vi, fire kvindelige medlemmer af det danske trykkefrihedsselskab, nærmede os de sortklædte skrighalse, henvendte jeg mig til en lille pluskæbet racistråbende person og spurgte, hvorfor han kaldte mig racist.

Det gav anledning til en flodbølge af skældsord:

”Nazisvin! Dit fede fascistsvin! Gå hjem til flæskedanmark! Luk grænserne!”

Og Aia Fog, som det gik hårdest ud over, udtaler til Uriasposten

Til mig råbte de “Fede fascistiske svin”. Katrine begynder at argumentere med dem, men det er jo fuldstændig omsonst, og ret hurtigt hiver jeg hende i ærmet og siger til hende, at hun skal droppe det, så vi kan komme gennem mængden og ind.

Og så går det meget hurtigt: Katrine og jeg bliver pludselig isoleret fra Kit og Trine, og jeg er omringet af AFA. Eller: jeg mener, det er AFA: danske mænd i tyverne, med sorte hættetrøjer og små grimme tatto´er med tegn. De er ekstremt truende – ikke bare i attituden (som er rasende, hadefuld – og bare ventende på at få lov til at slå), men også fysisk: Jeg er fuldstændig omringet af 4-5 stykker, der ikke bare afskærer mig vejen, men som hårdt skubber til mig med skulderen, så jeg er ved at komme ud af balance. Så mærker jeg et slag i baghovedet, og derefter et til – denne gang mindre hårdt, hvilket viser sig i sidste omgang at være et æg jeg får kylet i nakken.

Skånskan har dette lille indslag som i bedste svenske tilforladelige stil viser, hvor tæt det svenske politi tillod ‘moddemonstranterne’ at komme på foredragstilhørerne

Weekenden i Malmö sluttede grangiveligt med en kulturberigelse

En 23-årig kvinna utsattes under natten mot måndag för ett sexövergrepp medan hon knivskars och rånades.

Kvinnan hade just låst sin bil som var parkerad i området Annelund när hon slets in i ett buskage av en, för henne, okänd man.

Han rispade och skar kvinnan bland annat över brösten och på halsen samtidigt som han utsatte henne för ett sexövergrepp som jämställs med våldtäkt.

Kvinnan rånades också på kontanter. Polisen har ett signalement på mannen men går inte ut med det i nuläget.

Snaphanen kan man læse, hvorledes Sverige synker længere ned i sølet som indvandringen øges

Enligt Migrationsverkets GD kommer nu 5 000 asylsökande i månaden till Sverige. Plus den stora anhöriginvandringen som just påbörjats. Tillsammans kommer cirka 200 000 asylsökande och anhöriga att söka sig hit under 2012+2013. Enligt Agenda ikväll rör det sig om en tredubblad asylinvandring nästa år jämfört med 2011. Sverige har beviljat en miljon uppehållstillstånd under 2000-talet! Det handlar om en demografisk förändring som pågår utan att den får diskuteras.

Finland tar emot mindre än 2 000 asylansökningar på ett år, en tämligen konstant siffra. På en och en halv vecka tar Sverige emot fler asylsökande än vad Finland gör på ett helt år! Sverige har OECD:s största sysselsättningsglapp mellan utrikes och inrikes födda (27 procent mellan 25-64 år). Ingen politiker i regering eller opposition verkar se att detta kan ha någonting med SD:s framgångar att göra. Även journalisterna gör vad de kan för att inte rapportera relevanta fakta och ge analyser. Document.no – Til tallene nedenfor skal tillæggges 21.000 bevilligede familiesammenføringer indtil 1.9 i år.

Så det er næppe sidste gang en kvinde bliver voldtaget og skåret i. Åh jo, Geert Wilders tale, den som venstrefløjen ikke kan møde med argumenter, men kun vold, den skal da lige med

Dear friends, I am very happy to be in your midst today. Thank you, Ingrid, for inviting me to address the Swedish Free Press Society. No demonstrator will prevent me to speak in Sweden.

I love Sweden and its people. One of my great heroes, Raoul Wallenberg, was a compatriot of yours. Wallenberg embodies all that is good and generous in the Swedish people. He defended the freedom and dignity of others. He protected those who had been marked for death by an evil ideology. And he gave his own life for it.

Recently, your minister for Integration, Erik Ullenhag, was in The Hague on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Wallenberg’s birthday. He abused the occasion to attack my party, the Dutch Party for Freedom.

Minister Ullenhag said that in Sweden a party like mine would never be given the opportunity to influence politics. I wonder what these remarks had to do with Wallenberg. But I know that Mr Ullenhag is wrong: Like the Netherlands, Sweden, too, and all the Western countries need a party defending freedom.

Because Sweden has the same problem as the Netherlands, Denmark and the rest of the Western world. We are all in the same boat. Our freedoms are in danger. Our political and often leftist media establishment turns a blind eye to the largest threat to liberty in our present age. This threat is called Islam.

Den hele kan læses, selvom der ikke er de store overraskelser.

Antisemitismen får frit løb i det Ægyptiske forår

Antisemitisme, Israel, Jihad, Multikultur, islam, muhammed, venstrefløjen — Drokles on October 29, 2012 at 5:55 am

De får det som de vil have det, venstrefløjen, når det gælder Israel. Selvom det Arabiske Forår ikke har været den civiliserende proces som de foregøglede sig selv så er hadet til Israel endelig stormet fra gaden ind i magtens centrum. Fox News skriver

The new tone coming out of Egypt - punctuated by President Mohammed Morsi mouthing “Amen” to an Imam’s call for the destruction of Israel - is rattling residents of the Jewish state, who claim the Obama administration isn’t taking the ratcheted-up rhetoric seriously.

Lip reading by the Anti Defamation League and the Middle East Media Research Institute confirmed Morsi’s approval of a prayer delivered by influential Imam Futouh Abd Al-Nabi Mansour last Friday, in which he stated, “Oh Allah … grant us victory over the infidels. Oh Allah, destroy the Jews and their supporters.” Israelis already nervous by the rise of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood say it is the latest example of a disturbing trend.

“There is no question that the rise to power of the Muslim Brotherhood has prompted open expressions of anti-Semitism in ways that were never publicly expressed during the Mubarak period,” Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Israel office told Fox News.com. “The Obama administration is treating this far less seriously than it should be.”

Forhåbningerne til det Arabiske Forår gik ikke kun på en fornægtelse af islams væsen og styrke, men også en falsk ide om de sekulære kræfter og deres væsen.


Venstrefløjen har noget at se frem til, som New York Times skriver

LAST week, Twitter shut down a popular account for posting anti-Semitic messages in France. This came soon after the firing of blanks at a synagogue near Paris, the discovery of a network of radical Islamists who had thrown a hand grenade into a kosher restaurant, and the killing of a teacher and young pupils at a Jewish school in Toulouse earlier this year. The attacks were part of an escalating campaign of violence against Jews in France.

Today, a sizable section of the European left has been reluctant to take a clear stand when anti-Zionism spills over into anti-Semitism. Beginning in the 1990s, many on the European left began to view the growing Muslim minorities in their countries as a new proletariat and the Palestinian cause as a recruiting mechanism. The issue of Palestine was particularly seductive for the children of immigrants, marooned between identities.

Capitalism was depicted as undermining a perfect Islamic society while cultural imperialism corrupted Islam. The tactic has a distinguished revolutionary pedigree. Indeed, the cry, “Long live Soviet power, long live the Shariah,” was heard in Central Asia during the 1920s after Lenin tried to cultivate Muslim nationalists in the Soviet East once his attempt to spread revolution to Europe had failed. But the question remains: why do today’s European socialists identify with Islamists whose worldview is light-years removed from their own?

Venstrefløjens verdenbillede ligger dog ikke helt så langt fra islam’s som New York Times tror. De deler de samme fjender, som ud over jøderne også tæller USA, kapitalismen, Vesten, friheden og folket.

Wilders i Malmö - Direkte

Diverse — Drokles on October 27, 2012 at 1:36 pm

Human Engineering: Should We Change Our Bodies To Battle A Warmer Climate?

Campusradikalisme, Diverse, Politik — Drokles on October 27, 2012 at 11:38 am

Et andet billede af Mitt Romney

Diverse — Drokles on October 25, 2012 at 4:49 pm

National Review har et korrektiv til karikatur Obamas valgkampagne med amerikanske medier tegner af republikanernes præsidentkandidat Mitt Romney og som danske medier kolporterer

• After Joey O’Donnell, 12, died of cystic fibrosis in 1986, Romney built a playground in his honor. “There he was, with a hammer in his belt, the Mitt nobody sees,” the boy’s father and Romney’s neighbor, Joseph O’Donnell, told Michael Kranish and Scott Helman, authors of The Real Romney. A year later, Joey’s Park needed maintenance. “The next thing I know, my wife calls me up and says, ‘You’re not going to believe this, but Mitt Romney is down with a bunch of Boy Scouts and they’re working on the park.’ . . . He did it for like the next five years, without ever calling to say, ‘We’re doing this,’ without a reporter in tow, not looking for any credit.”

• On a chilly December night in the 1980s, a Mormon bishop told Romney about a parishioner’s daughter. This single mom, a non-church member, was shivering after her heating oil had been shut off. Romney and his sons stuffed their Gran Torino with firewood, drove from Boston’s affluent Belmont suburb to the modest Dorchester district, unloaded the logs, and built a fire for the relieved family.

• Ellen Hummel’s father worked with Romney at Bain Capital, but died when she was just 5. She later asked Romney to help her attend Columbia Medical School. He loaned her tuition money. Just before graduation, Hummel received a Christmas letter from Romney. “It was something caring,” Dr. Hummel, now a Michigan general practitioner, told TheDaily.com. “It was something saying, ‘This is a gift.’” Romney forgave Dr. Hummel’s loan.

• In 1995, Romney heard about the Nixons, a family who moved to Boston. Soon after, a car wreck left their sons paraplegic. Romney called and asked if they were available on Christmas Eve. Romney, his wife, and his sons arrived with a stereo and other gifts for the crippled boys. Romney offered to put them through college and supported them through numerous fundraisers. As their father told Kranish and Helman, “It wasn’t a one-time thing.”

Beyond generosity, Romney has demonstrated organizational leadership and personal courage while aiding others:

Frustration over manglende klimadebat

Diverse — Drokles on October 24, 2012 at 9:07 pm

Heller ikke den tredie og sidste debat i det amerikanske præsident valg mellem den regerende præsident Obama og udfordreren senator Mitt Romney bød på et ord om klimaet. Det var der heller de store forhåbninger til da den sidste debat drejede sig om udenrigspolitik. I Huffington Post summeres der op

History was made at the third and final presidential debate at Lynn University on Monday night. President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, sparred over American policy in Libya and Iran. They traded generalities on trade with China and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and made brief mentions of renewable technology and “energy independence.”

But as noted by several debate watchers, climate change was never mentioned — not by the candidates, and not by the debate moderator, Bob Schieffer of CBS News. Given the absence of the topic at the two preceding meetings between Obama and Romney, the close of Monday night’s event marked the first time in roughly a generation that climate change has failed to receive an airing at any of the presidential debates.

Og mange, som Time Magazines Bryan Walsh er foruroligede. “We are, after all, talking about a problem that has the potential to alter the fate of the entire planet, one that requires solutions that utterly alter our multi-trillion dollar energy system.” fortæller han

Environmental groups are so frustrated by the disappearance of climate change as a campaign issue that they recently launched a website, ClimateSilence.org, that argues Romney and Obama have toned down their statements on global warming in a “collective descent toward mute acceptance of global calamity.” Translation: climate change is getting worse all the time, but our Presidential candidates can’t seem to be bothered to debate about it.

Og konkluderer

In the end, though, it’s difficult to blame either candidate for dropping climate talk in this election. Beyond committed environmentalists, there hasn’t been much evidence that Americans even want to think about global warming, much less vote on it. But the job of a leader — or someone who is applying to become a leader — should involve telling the occasional difficult, even inconvenient truth. That’s been missing in this campaign.

Andrew Revkin forsøger i New York Times at lægge en positiv vinkel på den manglende klimadebat

Given how little progress has been made through the years when global warming did come up, perhaps the silence this year signals a change?

After all, the reality is that Obama has moved pretty aggressively, if quietly, to roll out restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions through regulations, tighter standards for energy use and vehicle fuel economy and pursue policies fostering a shift from coal to gas.

Is a little climate silence golden?

Men Revkin står alene med sin optimisme. De fleste ligger på linie med Reason’s Shikha Dalmia

Sometimes silence can reveal more than words. And the complete silence of both candidates during last night’s (and previous nights’) presidential debate on climate change speaks volumes about just how dead the issue now is.

Der slutter af med følgende

Which proves one thing: Just what a waste Al Gore’s life has been. His career is dead. His marriage to Tipper is dead. His cause du juor is dead. The only thing he can hang on to….hmmm….can anyone think of anything?

Penge, mange penge er sikkert svaret. Det fraværende klima har trukket bitterheden så langt frem at nogle har svært ved at styre den. David Roberts mener således i Grist Magazine at det er racisme, der står bag den manglende klimabekymring

Right around 2008, however, there was a sharp uptick in skepticism about climate change, almost exclusively among far-right conservatives.

Now, what happened in 2008 that might have turned conservatives against climate? Hm … thinking … wait, wasn’t there an election that year? Why yes, I believe there was. Black Democrat took office, as I recall.

The sharp conservative turn against climate was part and parcel of the Tea Party phenomenon. When Obama and congressional Democrats championed legislation to address climate change — legislation not that different from what McCain championed in 2008 — the right immediately aligned against it, like a school of fish.

Sort eller ej, så har præsidentkandidaten for The Green Party, Jill Stern, ifølge Guardian kaldt Obama for en klimabenægter for hans klimadiskretion. Rart at se vanvid renset for fordomme. En mindre vulgær udgave af Roberts Tea-Party teori står Suzanne Goldenberg for i Guardian

Since the rise of the Tea Party conservatives in 2010, energy and climate change have emerged as among the most contentious issues dividing Republicans and Democrats.

The backlash from anti-government conservatives led Obama to downplay his green agenda, delaying and weakening environmental regulations. It also led to the adoption of what Obama called an “all of the above” energy strategy, which saw a role for expanded offshore oil drilling and domestic production, due to new techniques in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. Obama also moved to fast-track the southern portion of the Keystone XL pipeline, which will help step up Alberta’s huge tar sands production.

Administration officials, including Obama, began to avoid the very mention of climate change threats, opting instead to frame the issue in terms of the economic opportunities created by clean energy industries such as solar and wind power.

Romney, meanwhile, responded to the rise of the Tea Party by backtracking on his earlier support for climate action as governor of Massachusetts. He also called for phasing out subsidies for the wind industry.

By the time of the Republican convention, Romney was using climate change as a laugh line, a way of tagging Obama with grandiosity for his 2008 election promise to help heal the planet.

Om der er noget at grine ad afhænger vel af en selv, men der er god grund til at omfavne omtanken. Temperaturen er ikke steget i 15 år, hvilket ikke var meningen, hvilket vil sige at CO2 ikke er en dominerende klima-faktor. Og hvis ikke temperaturen stiger forandrer klimaet sig ikke. Med ‘Climate gate’ stod stod det klart at de mest skråsikre forskere er ganske usikre og tilbøjelige til fiflerier. En stor svulst Penkowa har metastaseret sig ud i hele det klimavidenskabelige miljø. Og som lugten spreder sig holder alle vejret. Lubos Motl skriver

I think that the “soft landing” is a natural form of slow death for this opportunistic, frequently mutating disease of the mankind. The candidates don’t really know whether it would help them to mention the topic in one way or another so they prefer to keep it safe and say nothing about the topic. In 2016, once this hysteria cools down a little bit more, the candidates may already possess the hindsight that some of us have had for decades – and they will build upon the wiser atmosphere in the society – needed to openly admit that this whole hysteria will have been (and already has been) a completely irrational mass hysteria that the world economy has paid a trillion of dollars for (but it could have been much much worse).

(…)

We’re not there yet but once mainstream America becomes really detoxified of this global warming junk, we in Europe and elsewhere will be looking at the other side of the ocean with hopes that our U.S. friends will kindly help us to detoxify our top-tier political systems, too (especially the EU-level layer in our case of the old continent) – in a similar way as they did in 1944-1945 but perhaps with much smaller casualties. ;-)

Jesper Langballe sammenlignede engang venstrefløjen (den marxistiske del) efter Murens fald med en kylling der havde fået hugget hovedet af. Ja den løb måske energisk rundt på gårdspladsen, men den var de facto død og det var kun et spørgsmål om kort tid, før den ville falde livløs om.

Wake up, Doctor Jones

Diverse — Drokles on October 24, 2012 at 9:00 pm

Forrige uge bød på endnu et slag i klimadebatten og endnu et nederlag til det man kunne kalde FN-sporet, nemlig ideen om at klimaet bliver ulideligt varmt på grund at noget vi her i Vesten foretager os. I 2009 skrev klimaforskeren Phil Jones i en intern e-mail til sine kollegaer

“Bottom line - the no upward trend has to continue for a total of 15 years before we get worried. We’re really counting this from about 2004/5 and not 1998. 1998 was warm due to the El Nino.”

Phil Jones var manden der udarbejdede PN’s klimapanels temperaturkurver, den øverste autoritet på klodens tilstand. At Jones vælger 2004/5 at regne ud fra for at udskyde det truende (han vil bekymre sig, hvis der ikke er en “klimakrise”!) nederlag til CO2 postulatet er underordnet den pointe at 15 år er en trend, altså en tidsperiode der er lang nok til at den definerer en virkelighed. Med andre er 15 år uden opvarmning nok til at begrave tesen om en CO2 genereret global opvarmning ude af kontrol. Og det er bekymrende når man nu lige gik og håbede…

Det citat blev lystigt citeret på ‘klimaskeptiske’ blogs sidste år da den engelske avis Daily Mail oplyste at der ikke havde været nogen opvarmning af atmosfæren i de seneste 15 år. Yderligere legede de med tanken om en nært forestående lille istid eller i det mindste et mindre fald i den globale temperatur i det kommende årtier

Meanwhile, leading climate scientists yesterday told The Mail on Sunday that, after emitting unusually high levels of energy throughout the 20th Century, the sun is now heading towards a ‘grand minimum’ in its output, threatening cold summers, bitter winters and a shortening of the season available for growing food.

Solar output goes through 11-year cycles, with high numbers of sunspots seen at their peak.

We are now at what should be the peak of what scientists call ‘Cycle 24’ – which is why last week’s solar storm resulted in sightings of the aurora borealis further south than usual. But sunspot numbers are running at less than half those seen during cycle peaks in the 20th Century.

Analysis by experts at NASA and the University of Arizona – derived from magnetic-field measurements 120,000 miles beneath the sun’s surface – suggest that Cycle 25, whose peak is due in 2022, will be a great deal weaker still.

Om det falder så trist ud afhænger selvfølgelig af om forudsigelserne for Solens opførsel holder og om teorien overhovedet har noget på sig. Erfaringerne med skråsikre prognoser er jo ikke for gode. I forrige uge gentog Daily Mail så kunststykket og oplyste at vi nu er på 16′ende år uden opvarmning. “Global warming stopped 16 years ago” skrev Mail stolt “…and here is the chart to prove it”.

MoS2 Template Master

Mail skrev overivrigt at det var konklusionen på en rapport offentliggjort af MET, det engelske meteorologiske institut. Det var det ikke helt, for den slags kedelige nyheder om at verden alligevel ikke går under betler MET ikke til medierne af frygt for at det kan give folk et forkert opfattelse af virkeligheden. Grafen havde Mail selv lavet, men på baggrund af data diskret offentliggjort af MET. Og så var fanden løs. Og fanden skrev i vrede i Guardian “Why the Mail on Sunday was wrong to claim global warming has stopped

The British newspaper the Mail on Sunday and its writer David Rose are notorious for publishing misleading (at best) climate-related articles, as we have discussed previously here, for example.  They have recently struck again, claiming that according to a “quietly released” Met Office report, global warming stopped 16 years ago (a myth which Skeptical Science debunks here and here).  This assertion is entirely fabricated, as the Met Office explained by publishing David Rose’s inquiry and the Met Office’s responses.

Og citerede MET’s benægtelse af at de overhovedet kunne finde på at offentliggøre en rapport der kunne sætte klimahysteriet i forlegenhed for at fortsætte

Rose’s factually challenged article was predictably reproduced uncritically by the usual climate denial blogs and referenced by Fox News, perhaps in an attempt to distract from this year’s record-breaking Arctic sea ice minimum.  However, virtually every point made in the article was factually incorrect, as Rose would have known if he were a Skeptical Science reader, because we recently pre-bunked his piece.

Denne skeptiske blog hoppede dog ikke med på Mail-vognen, men det var kun fordi jeg har været stærkt beruset hele efterårsferien. Guardians vrede blev affærdiget af atmosfærefysikeren Judith Curry. “Nothing in the Met Office’s statement or in Nuticelli’s argument effectively refutes Rose’s argument” konstaterede hun tørt og kom med en besk opfordring til hysterikerne: “Raise the level of your game“! På sin blog gennemgik hun argumenterne fra de stridende parter og konkluderede bl.a

Given that we are in the cool phase of the PDO and a strong El Nino is unlikely for the next decade, the plateau may continue for at least another decade. Latif has made this argument, whereas most other ‘establishment’ scientists seem either puzzled by the pause or don’t expect it to continue beyond the expected 15-17 year period.

And if the PDO and solar factors are sufficient in strength to counter the anthropogenic warming, then we need to ask the question as to how much of the warming in the 1980?s and 1990?s were ‘juiced’ by the warm PDO and transition from cool to warm AMO, plus a solar max.

With the IPCC focus on anthropogenic forcing, these other issues have received insufficient scrutiny.

Således videnskabeligt opmuntret fulgte Daily Mail forleden op med endnu en artikel, der måske vil holde debatten i live lidt endnu. Phil Jones kan altså godt være bekymret nu hans 15 års pause viser at “klimatruslen” ser ud til at være ubegrundet. Og deraf også den vrede reaktion på at simple fakta entrerer debatten og fortrænger anekdotiske fortællinger om isbjørne, ishav, gletsjere og vand i kælderen (det samme som man ser i indvandrerdebatten) Det er en debat ikke kan vinde for i kampen om det globale klima er det den globale temperatur, der er vinderargumentet. Uden stigninghar CO2 ingen større betydning og uden stigning forandrer klimaet sig ikke. Efter i ti år at have erklæret debatten for ovre ser de nederlaget tegne sig i horisonten.

Third Presidential Debate on Foreign Policy 2012

Diverse — Drokles on October 23, 2012 at 6:33 am

Little ICE Age - Big CHILL

Diverse — Drokles on October 22, 2012 at 10:41 am

Svære tider for grønne jobs

Grøn energi, Klima, USA, Økonomi og finans — Drokles on October 21, 2012 at 7:14 am

Fremtiden tilhører el-bilerne og hvem er bedre end staten til at skubbe fremtiden frem? Wall Steet Journal skriver om den store amerikanske batteriproducent A123’s lovende start

Massachusetts-based A123 is — or was — part of President Obama’s grand design to build a U.S. electric-car industry more or less from scratch. The company was founded by entrepreneurs in 2001 to make lithium ion phosphate batteries and attracted private investment from the likes of Sequoia Capital and GE. Then Washington picked up the green energy fad.

As Mr. Obama put it in August 2009, the government would create an “infrastructure of innovation” by doling out “$2.4 billion in highly competitive grants to develop the next generation of fuel-efficient cars and trucks, powered by the next generation of battery technologies, all made right here in the U.S. of A.”

In a September 2010 congratulatory phone call to A123?s Livonia, Michigan plant, Mr. Obama called it “the birth of an entire new industry in America.”

Democrats were explicit that this was an attempt to rehabilitate the idea that government could nurture new industries. As Michigan Senator Carl Levin said in a 2011 speech, A123?s factories “are a forceful rebuttal to those who argue against public investment in this field, people who label this ‘industrial policy.’ In the not too distant past, that label—’industrial policy’—was the kiss of death for any proposal. That’s an ideological hang-up that we’ve now overcome.”

Trods alle de gode intentioner og de mange penge fra skatteyderne gik selskabet dog konkurs (National Legacy And Policy Center har en tidslinje, for de der måtte være interesseret i fremtidens dødskramper). Bloomberg skriver bl.a

A123 Systems Inc. (AONE), the electric car battery maker that received a $249.1 million federal grant, filed for bankruptcy protection and said it would sell its automotive business assets to Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI)

(…)

A123 has posted at least 14 straight quarterly losses. Its shares had fallen 85 percent this year to 24 cents as of yesterday’s close in New York.

Det var nu ikke fordi ledelsen lå på den lade side fortæller Washington Guardian

Even as advanced battery maker A123 Systems struggled for financial viability, it played the Washington insider game, where political money and access go hand in hand.

The Massachusetts firm dished out nearly $1 million to hire a powerhouse lobbying firm with close ties to President Barack Obama between 2007 and 2009, and two of its top executives made personal donations to several high-profile Democrats in Congress as it won federal funding for its efforts to build the next generation of lithium batteries for electric vehicles.

And its president and CEO, David Vieau, an early financial backer of President Barack Obama, scored five invitations to the White House in 2009 and 2010, including a meeting he attended with the president, White House logs show.  And when the company opened a new Michigan plant, Obama made a high-profile call to congratulate.

The Foundry har en liste over de selskaber, som Obama har set en fremtid i (eller er det de selskaber, som har set en fremtid i ham?)

So far, 36 companies that were offered federal support from taxpayers are faltering — either having gone bankrupt or laying off workers or heading for bankruptcy. This list includes only those companies that received federal money from the Obama Administration’s Department of Energy and other agencies. The amount of money indicated does not reflect how much was actually received or spent but how much was offered. The amount also does not include other state, local, and federal tax credits and subsidies, which push the amount of money these companies have received from taxpayers even higher.

The complete list of faltering or bankrupt green-energy companies:

  1. Evergreen Solar ($25 million)*
  2. SpectraWatt ($500,000)*
  3. Solyndra ($535 million)*
  4. Beacon Power ($43 million)*
  5. Nevada Geothermal ($98.5 million)
  6. SunPower ($1.2 billion)
  7. First Solar ($1.46 billion)
  8. Babcock and Brown ($178 million)
  9. EnerDel’s subsidiary Ener1 ($118.5 million)*
  10. Amonix ($5.9 million)
  11. Fisker Automotive ($529 million)
  12. Abound Solar ($400 million)*
  13. A123 Systems ($279 million)*
  14. Willard and Kelsey Solar Group ($700,981)*
  15. Johnson Controls ($299 million)
  16. Schneider Electric ($86 million)
  17. Brightsource ($1.6 billion)
  18. ECOtality ($126.2 million)
  19. Raser Technologies ($33 million)*
  20. Energy Conversion Devices ($13.3 million)*
  21. Mountain Plaza, Inc. ($2 million)*
  22. Olsen’s Crop Service and Olsen’s Mills Acquisition Company ($10 million)*
  23. Range Fuels ($80 million)*
  24. Thompson River Power ($6.5 million)*
  25. Stirling Energy Systems ($7 million)*
  26. Azure Dynamics ($5.4 million)*
  27. GreenVolts ($500,000)
  28. Vestas ($50 million)
  29. LG Chem’s subsidiary Compact Power ($151 million)
  30. Nordic Windpower ($16 million)*
  31. Navistar ($39 million)
  32. Satcon ($3 million)*
  33. Konarka Technologies Inc. ($20 million)*
  34. Mascoma Corp. ($100 million)

*Denotes companies that have filed for bankruptcy.

Grønne jobs.

Khankans muslimske cirkelslutning

Satire, Ytringsfrihed, islam, muhammed — Drokles on October 21, 2012 at 5:14 am

Sherin Khankan mener ikke at religionskritik og hadsk tale er det samme, kan man læse i Kristeligt Dagblad. “De to ting bliver alt for ofte forvekslet med hinanden og derfor ender nogle forkæmpere for ytringsfrihed med at forsvare retten til hadefulde og propagandistiske ytringer” konkluderer hun. I sit forsøg på at skelne mellem de to begreber definerer hun først den rette udlægning af islam

Karikaturtegningerne fra 2006 og den nuværende islamfilm får muslimer verden over til at reagere så kraftigt, fordi de udlægger islam som en primitiv, kvindeundertrykkende og voldelig religion, samt tillægger Profeten en negativ værensmæssig status.

De angriber kernen i det, som mange muslimer opfatter som essentielt, nemlig idéen om Profeten som en barmhjertig revolutionær, der gjorde op med alle former for diskriminerende skel, herunder raceskel, økonomiske skel, nationale skel, sociale skel, religiøse skel og ikke mindst skel mellem kønnene.

Profeten er for aktive muslimer Koranens levendegjorte symbol på alt retfærdigt og godt, og det ypperste forbillede på samme måde som Jesus er det for kristne.

Sådan!På en præmis om at profet Muhammed var super dejlig og kun gjorde godt kan man, hvis man ikke kan lide godt, men ondt, komme med sin kritik. Alt det er selvfølgelig fordrukkent sludder. Muhammeds forståelse af barmhjertighed demonstrerede han da han udryddede den jødiske Qurayza stamme i Medina, ved at slagte 600-900 mænd og drenge og tage resten til slaver. Derfor er det også falsk når Khankan fortsætter

En metode, Profeten Muhammad praktiserede, da han blev mødt med had, spot og fysiske overgreb.

Han søgte ikke menneskets anerkendelse men Guds anerkendelse. Således står der i Koranen: “Den som udviser tålmodighed og tilgiver har i sandhed praktiseret den mest noble form for mod og beslutningernes styrke.” (Koranen 42:43)

Muhammed gjorde selvfølgelig heller ikke op med nogle skel - andre end de der skiller sindet fra vanviddet - da hele hans lære er en lang skelsætning mellem haram og halal. Kvinder er underlagt mænd, vantro underlagt muslimer, slaver deres herrer, krigens hus og islams hus og så fremdeles. Der er heller ingen økonomisk lighed i islam, hvorfor man forlader sig på en ganske beskeden almisse (og kun til muslimer!) og vantro skal betale ekstra skatter for ikke at blive slagtet. Og hans serielle voldtægter af et barn gør ham kun til et forbillede som Joseph Fritzl gør det for sick fucks.

Disse indvendinger jeg her har stillet hurtigt og sjusket op er faktuelle banaliteter, men i Khankans forståelse er de hadsk tale fordi de ikke blot strider imod hendes demonstrativt falske udlægning men tillige fordi jeg ikke respekterer islams egne dogmer. For som hun fortsætter (og hold nu godt fast i bordkanten)

Islamfilmen anfægter også idéen om Koranens hellighed. Koranens hellighed refererer ikke til et passivt dogme og betyder ikke, at man som menneske ikke kan forholde sig aktivt og kritisk til fortolkningen af Koranen. Tværtimod mener flere modernistiske retslærde, at Koranen opfordrer mænd og kvinder til at fortolke de af Koranens vers, som er åbne for fortolkning, i forhold til den tid, og det samfund man lever i.

Termen “Koranens hellighed” refererer derimod til en bestemt respektfuld og hengiven adab (omgang og tone i forhold til Koranens indhold og Profeten Muhammads sædvane). Denne særlige adab, som også kan oversættes med gode manérer, sensitivitet og situationsfornemmelse, praktiseres af aktive muslimer, såvel som af mange ikke-muslimer.

Man behøver således ikke at være troende muslim for at forstå betydningen af Adab. På samme måde er de stærke irrationelle religiøse følelser som vi er vidne til i disse uger ikke kun et fænomen som kan tilskrives muslimer.

Kritik af islam er hadsk tale fordi det står der i koranen! - Og koranen er også gældende for vantro.

Anden runde uden klima

Diverse — Drokles on October 20, 2012 at 8:05 am

Romney og Obama tørnede endnu engang sammen i den anden debat før præsidentvalget om 3 uger. De fleste er enige om at Obama klarede sig bedst og i lyset af hans meget sløje indsats i den første debat var det i sig selv en stor sejr, en sejr demokraterne og journalisterne håber har stoppet Romneys momentum. Men mens de fleste analytikere har travlt med at bedømme udfaldet og dets konsekvenser så springer der noget andet i øjnene på denne klimamaniske blogger: Ingen nævnte klimaet!

Der var ellers god mulighed for det, da debatten drejede ind på energi. I den første debat havde Romney pludseligt udbrudt “And by the way, I like coal!” og havde fortsat med at revse Obama for både at spilde de chancer for energiuafhængighed, som fossile brændstoffer i den amerikanske undergrund lover og de økonomiske gevinster der ville følge. Obama sagde ingenting, men virkede bare træt af det hele den aften. Men i debatten forleden var det anderledes. Obama var tilbage i storform, gik til stålet og ville ikke lade Romney skose sig for noget som helst. Så hvad sagde han så da han fik chancen for at revanchere sig om fossil energi? Her i E&E Publishing’s referat

“Governor, when you were governor of Massachusetts, you stood in front of a coal plant and pointed at it and said, ‘This plant kills,’ and took great pride in shutting it down,” Obama said. “And now suddenly you’re a big champion of coal.”

Romney did work to reduce pollution at a Massachusetts coal plant about a decade ago, accusing it of killing people. But he also didn’t shut it down — the plant still operates today.

Romney, meanwhile, accused Obama of creating a hostile environment for coal plants, due to increased regulations from U.S. EPA.

“Coal production is not up. Coal jobs are not up,” Romney said, later adding, “I don’t think anyone really believes that you’re a person who’s going to be pushing for oil and gas and coal.”

Obama claimed the opposite, saying at one point last night that “we have seen increases in coal production and coal employment.”

While there have been layoffs in the coal industry recently, the broader picture is more complex. Analysts say that competition from natural gas and energy markets is to blame for many plants retiring or switching to natural gas, though they also agree that the administration’s regulations have made the business tougher (Greenwire, May 25).

That nuance meant Obama and Romney could essentially cherry-pick the facts that helped make their case.

Romney, for his part, brought up a recent Migratory Bird Treaty Act prosecution to make the point that the White House has not been friendly to oil and gas production. The case has provoked considerable anger within the industry, not least because no wind energy operators have been prosecuted under the statute (Greenwire, April 27).

“So where’d the [oil and gas production] increase come from? Well a lot of it came from the Bakken Range in North Dakota,” Romney said. “What was his participation there? The administration brought a criminal action against the people drilling up there for oil, this massive new resource we have. And what was the cost? Twenty or 25 birds were killed, and [it] brought out a Migratory Bird Act to go after them on a criminal basis.”

Last year, the U.S. attorney in North Dakota charged seven oil companies with misdemeanor violations of the act for the death of more than 25 endangered birds. But in a ruling on Jan. 17, Judge Daniel Hovland of the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota dismissed charges against three oil companies.

The decision suggested that companies operating in compliance with all relevant regulations should not be prosecuted, with Hovland writing that the act was not written to “criminalize lawful commercial activity conducted in the oil fields of North Dakota.”

According to USA Today, the three other defendants reached plea agreements, and the charges against the final company were dropped by the government.

Climate change ignored — again

While the candidates talked at length about coal and oil, they also addressed the need for renewables.

“We’ve got to control our own energy,” Obama said early in the debate. “Now, not only oil and natural gas, which we’ve been investing in; but also, we’ve got to make sure we’re building the energy source of the future, not just thinking about next year, but 10 years from now, 20 years from now. That’s why we’ve invested in solar and wind and biofuels, energy-efficient cars.”

Romney surprised some environmentalists by voicing his support for wind power, after Obama criticized the Republican for his opposition to the production tax credit, which expires for the wind industry at the end of this year.

“Look, I want to make sure we use our oil, our coal, our gas, our nuclear, our renewables,” Romney said. “I believe very much in our renewable capabilities; ethanol, wind, solar will be an important part of our energy mix.”

Intet, absolut intet om klimaet. Oceanerne kan stige støt igen. Uden ideen om en truende global opvarmning giver Obamas voldsomme satsning på irrationel energiudvinding ingen mening. Og hvis der er en truende global opvarmning giver Romneys energipolitik ingen mening. Så hvorfor ikke bringe klimaet på banen og mobilisere de demokratiske vælgere, der ellers ville hænge mismodigt fast i sofaen?

I stedet for at hvile i en præmis om en truende global opvarmning, som ville underbygge Obamas energipolitik og samtidig underminere Romneys havde team Obama valgt at basere sin argumentation på Romneys præmisser og således virke almindeligt utroværdig. Det var et bevist valg. Obama havde på forhånd opgivet at vinde slaget om energi- og klimapolitikken og blot stille sig tilfreds med at begrænse nederlaget så meget som ellers muligt ved at prøve at virke stærk gennem påståelighed.

Men kerer ingen i USA sig da om klimaet? Jo, men slet ikke nok til at at man gider spilde kostbar tid på at mundhugges om, hvem der kan bore flest arbejdspladser frem af undergrunden:

…the issue of climate change did not come up directly, though it formed a backdrop for the candidates’ sparring over regulation and support for “cleaner” energy sources.

Moderator Candy Crowley said in an interview after the debate with CNN colleagues that she opted not to ask a question on climate change proposed by one of the audience members.

“I had that question, all you climate change people,” she said.

But Crowley said she passed over the topic because “we knew that the economy was still the main thing,” even though other non-economic issues like gun control were given time.

Klimahysteriet er døende.

Idiot sammenligner klima og slaveri

Diverse — Drokles on October 20, 2012 at 3:34 am

Romney - et sikkert bet

USA — Redaktionen on October 19, 2012 at 9:53 pm

Monokulturs USA korrespondent Sobieski har besluttet sig til at sætte handling bag ordene, eller mere præcist “put his money where his mouth is”. Der er satset 500 danske kroner på at Romney bliver USA’s næste præsident. Skulle denne forudsigelse vise sig at være sand venter der adskillige aftener i selskab med en ulideligt selvhævdende nar.

Romney, Ladbrokes

Læg mærke til datoen: 10-10-2012

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NB: Jeg vil gerne tilføje at Sobieski allerede under republikanernes primærvalg sidste år har været i ganske sikker overbevisning om at Romney højst sandsynligt ville slå Obama i præsidentvalget.

Drokles

Second Presidential Town Hall Debate 2012: Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney - Oct 16, 2012

USA — Drokles on October 17, 2012 at 5:54 am

Det amerikanske præsidentvalg 2012, del 4. - Republikaner bashing

Pressen, USA, venstrefløjen — Sobieski on October 13, 2012 at 8:55 pm

Den quasi-borgerlige avis Berlingske var indtil i går fast besluttet at Romney har tabt valget. Nu er et andet narrativ begyndt at tone frem, og der skal findes en mine der passer. Det skal nok lykkedes. Men derudover lancerer Berlingske påstande om at amerikanerne og især republikanerne lever i et såkaldt post-faktuelt samfund. Det er ikke en term Poul Høi og Berlingske har fundet på i denne artikel, men de viderefører et højst tvivlsomt synspunkt som spiller kortene i hænderne på venstrefløjen.

Berlingske 26. september:

Hvorfor har Te-bevægelsen fået politisk magt, mens Occupy Wall Street ikke har? Hvorfor har højrereligiøse magt og ikke AIDS-benægtere? Fordi Demokraterne tænker som i 1700-tallet, mens Republikanerne har forstået den post-faktuelle virkelighed, siger kendt professor…

…Højrefløjen har muligvis fakta-frigjorte kommentatorer som Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones og Bill O’Reilly, men venstrefløjen har Kevin Trudeau og John Perkins, som begge har skrevet bestseller-bogserier. Den første påstår, at der er en sammensværgelse mellem lægerne og medicinalindustrien om at holde den rigtige medicin væk fra forbrugerne, og sidstnævnte hævder, at den amerikanske efterretningstjeneste sendte ham til udviklingslandene for at dræbe ethvert tilløb til økonomisk vækst for at bevare den amerikanske verdensorden.

Så langt, så godt, men…

Så venstrefløjen har i princippet ikke noget at lade højrefløjen høre i post-faktuel aktivisme, men på et helt afgørende punkt adskiller de sig fra hinanden - og det er politisk indflydelse. Højre har den, venstre har ikke.

Tag reaktionen efter sammenbruddet på Wall Street i 2008: På højrefløjen fik vi Te-bevægelsen, på venstrefløjen fik vi Occupy Wall Street, men mens te-aktivisterne gled ind i første geled i det republikanske parti, blev Occupy Wall Street holdt ude hos Demokraterne. Te-aktivisterne har fået valgt mellem 40 og 50 medlemmer og sympatisører til Kongressen; Occupy Wall Street har ikke fået valgt et eneste.

I sin natur er der ingen forskel på birthere og fluor-aktivister, i sin essens er der ingen forskel på højrereligiøse og AIDS-benægtere, i sit princip er der ingen forskel på højreorienterede og venstreorienterede teorier om en hemmelig verdensorden, men i praktisk indflydelse er der en grundvold til forskel. Republikanerne indlemmer dem i folden, Demokraterne gør det ikke.

Hvorfor mener Poul Høi, at Tea Party bevægelsen er en konspiratorisk bevægelse som skal slås i hartkorn med AIDS benægtere? I øvrigt, hvorfor skal Occupy Wallstreet folkene sværtes på samme måde? Tea party bevægelsen er for lavere skatter og mindre stat. Det er en konstitutionel ‘originalist’ bevægelse i modsætning til ‘the living constitution’ tolkningen. Læs gerne mere her How to Read the Constitution: Self-Government and the Jurisprudence of Originalism.
Der er noget prosaisk og u-spektakulært ved the Tea Party. Blot et hurtigt opslag på Wikipedia vil aflive meget mytedannelse. Hermed er idéen givet videre til Poul Høi.
Men hov, Tea Party er jo konservativt og stemmer republikansk, og så er de jo postfaktuelle som manden har læst en klog professor skrive. Demokraterne er derimod langt bedre, idet de ikke inkorporerer Occupy Wallstreet, som om der skulle være nogen sammenligning mellem de to protestbevægelser. I tante Berlingskes hoved bliver det hele til et fedt. Ja, det med at sidde i den politiske midte og afvise alle udefrakommende tendenser er noget Berlingske excellerer i, som de sidder fast i Schlüter firserne og drømmer sig tilbage til firkløverregeringen. Ak ak.

Så hvis det kan koste et præsidentvalg, hvorfor vil Demokraterne så ikke have det yderste og alternative venstre inden for teltet? Hvorfor holder de dem væk med en glødende ildrager?

»Fordi Demokraterne er slaver af kendsgerninger,« siger en af sin generations førende politiske forskere, professor George Lakoff fra University of California i Berkeley.

Han har brugt det meste af sin karriere på at besvare spørgsmålet: Hvor kommer amerikansk politik fra? Og som han siger i et interview med Berlingske: »Demokraterne tænker med en hjerne, som de har med sig fra 1700-tallet. Fra René Descartes og Voltaire og John Locke.«

»De sidder fast i oplysningstiden, de sidder fast i bundrationel tænkning, og hvis noget ikke kan bevises, så vil de ikke vide af det. Demokraterne føler ikke politik, de tænker politik.«

Slaver af kendsgerningerne og bund-rationelle. Hvis det er hvad der karakteriserer demokraterne, må det jo være andre ting der karakteriserer republikanerne, så som; mindre interesserede i kendsgerningerne og irrationelle. Nu er det imidlertid sådan, at politik handler om alt det der ikke findes en klar og umiddelbar løsning på. Det er i det felt, der hvor der ikke er direkte kausalitet mellem det man ved, eller tror man ved, eller såkaldt ‘fakta’, og så den optimale løsning. Og demokraterne har ikke patent på sandheden, de har ikke patent på fakta, og de har ikke patent på den rigtige løsning. Beklager, bladsmørerne og co. - det er på tide at blive voksen. Gymnasietiden er overstået. Bemærk hvor tæt man er komet på at kalde republikanerne for ‘løgnere’.
Udover de løse påstande der føres til torvs, så er der ligeledes noget galt med logikken, for hvis the Democrats er rationelle og hjemme i kendsgerningerne ville de jo kunne udmanøvrere deres modstandere, samt hele tiden at være et træk foran. Hvis demokraterne - altså venstrefløjen - ‘ejer’ fakta, så kender de jo den kendsgerning at republikanerne er mindre-rationelle og faktuelt lemfældige, og det vil de kunne udnytte. …Hvis de rent faktisk var bundrationelle.

Nuvel, med hensyn til Berlingskes ukritiske brug af venstrefløjsfloskler, så kommer Jonah Goldbergs værk “The Tyranny of Clichés - How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas” her til sin ret. Den kan varmt anbefales.
Sidst, men ikke mindst: Hvis venstrefløjen er så rationel og faktabaseret, hvorfor er der så uenighed internt på venstrefløjen? Obama Care blev først vedtaget efter at demokratiske modstandere blev banket på plads. Ligeledes er det med forholdet til Israel, her råder stor uenighed. Hvis alle relevante fakta er afdækket og tilgængeligt for rationelle mennesker, hvorfor bliver de så ved med at diskutere?

Romney kan lide kul

Diverse — Drokles on October 11, 2012 at 6:58 pm

På Twitter mindede dommedagsprofeten Paul Erlich om at “a vote for lying Mittwit is a vote to kill your grandchildren“. Anledningen var at Romney i løbet af debatten med Obama nærmest som en strøbemærkning erklærede sin støtte til kul-kraft

And by the way, I like coal. I’m going to make sure we continue to burn clean coal. People in the coal industry feel like it’s getting crushed by your policies. I want to get America and North America energy independent, so we can create those jobs.

Det var selvfølgelig ingen strøbemærkning, Romney prøvede at vinde vigtige svingstater. Men Obama kom ikke med et modangreb og sagde intet om de verdenshave han lige med møje og besvær har stoppet i at stige. Intet om global opvarmning, klimaforandring eller dårligt vejr. Næh, Romney fortsatte endda endnu mere aggressivt med at påpege at Obama aldrig ville klare sig som investeringsrådgiver

But don’t forget, you put $90 billion, like 50 years’ worth of breaks, into—into solar and wind, to Solyndra and Fisker and Tesla and Ener1. I mean, I had a friend who said you don’t just pick the winners and losers, you pick the losers, all right? So this—this is not—this is not the kind of policy you want to have if you want to get America energy secure.

Obama var ikke sig selv under den debat, eller også var det måske præcis, hvad han var. Men hans passivitet hænger måske også sammen med at de grønne jobs og den grønne økonomi er en tabt sagt. Som Doug L Hoffman skriver

Even though the Wind Production Tax Credit (PTC) may be extended when Congress reconvenes in a post-election, lame duck session, American wind turbine manufacturers are laying off workers right and left. Estimates from the Institute for Energy Research (IER) indicate approximately 3,000 jobs have already been cut or designated to be cut soon. That number is almost 30% of the 11,000 direct manufacturing jobs in the industry. At the same time, the European Union (EU) has launched an investigation of Chinese photovoltaics exporters. Similar charges in the US led to the imposition of preliminary anti-subsidy tariffs on China in March and preliminary anti-dumping tariffs in May. Instead of bringing promised prosperity to developed nations, the green energy industry is collapsing or fleeing to the developing world. Just as the US enters the last 30 days of a bitterly contested presidential race, a flood of bad news is coming from the green energy sector.

This is particularly unwelcome to the Obama campaign, since Barack Obama has made the promotion of green jobs and manufacturing a cornerstone of his economic recovery plans.

(…)

The entire wind industry is based on an economic fantasy and can only survive with government mandates and handouts. How anyone could think that expensive labor in developed countries could compete with cheaper labor from Asia and other developing areas is baffling. Even hightech manufacturing has migrated offshore—Apple may design its cutting edge products in the US but they are all manufactured in China. Is it any wonder that solar cells, let alone wind turbines, cannot be manufactured profitably anywhere in the developed world? But then, the imbecility of politicians knows no bounds.

I mens i Danmark anses klimaminister Martin Lidegaard som den mest troværdige minister i regeringen.

Ansvarlige SF’ere

Diverse — Drokles on October 10, 2012 at 11:15 am

Sundhedsminister og formandskandidat for SF, Astrid Kragh kom med en lidt besynderlig, men meget markant udmelding ifølge Berlingske Tidende

Mens formandsopgøret i SF nærmer sig slutspurten, kaster formandskandidat og sundhedsminister Astrid Krag sig nu ud i et opgør med landets cirka 500 frie grundskoler, som både omfatter privat- og friskoler, skriver Politiken. Astrid Krag forlanger, at de i højere grad end i dag tager et socialt ansvar og optager svage elever. Og formandskandidaten er parat til at bruge tvang, hvis det bliver nødvendigt.

- Vi skal finde modeller, som enten tvinger eller motiverer privatskolerne til at tage et samfundsansvar. I dag er det ofte folkeskolen, som løfter de svære opgaver med mange elever fra hjem uden boglige traditioner og børn med indvandrerbaggrund. Jeg er helt med på, at billedet ikke er sort-hvidt, men mange steder er det altså sådan. Jeg vil sige meget tydeligt, at vi skal prioritere folkeskolen over andre skoler, siger hun.

Kraghs børn er åbenbart ikke i den skolepligtige alder kan vi altså roligt konkludere. Det er selvfølgelig overraskende at Kragh vælger en udmelding, der har virket så dårligt for Mette Frederiksen, da hun tilbage i 2005 sagde: “Det nytter simpelt hen ikke, at forældre med overskudsbørn sender deres børn i privatskole, så snart der er problemer i folkeskolen. Alle har et ansvar for, at folkeskolen fungerer“. Frederiksen sendte sine egne børn på privatskole da truslen stod for døren med bemærkningen “Hør nu her. Mine børn kommer i første række, og så må jeg tage de politiske tæsk“. Ja det er bedre af hun, frem for hendes børn, tager de tæsk, der tilkommer hende. Og tæsk fik hun, som hun stadig får en på munden i ny og næ, som et af de klareste symboler for især venstrefløjens politikeres hykleri. Frederiksen ville hellere være en god mor end en god socialdemokrat. Vi venter og ser hvor meget Kragh elsker sine børn i forhold til SF - det afhænger måske også af, hvem der bliver formand?

Og det kunne meget vel blive den anden formandskandidat, Annette Wilhelmsen - som måske uforvarende, er kommet i skudlinien for Kraghs udmelding. For Wilhelsen er en god mor, mens hun giver den som en god SF’er. i 2010 kunne man nemlig i Fyens Stifttidende læse

En anden af de politikere, hvis børn har gået på friskole, er Annette Vilhelmsen fra Kerteminde Kommune.

- Den skole, man vælger til sine børn, kan ske ud fra flere overvejelser. Holdninger, kammerater med mere. Der er alene undervisningspligt i Danmark - og forældrene vælger for børnene, forklarer hun.

SF var tillige det parti der svigtede folkeskolen mest, mens konservative alle havde deres børn i folkeskolen. Det var dengang i 2010, hvor også Folketingets politikeres valg blev gennemgået, med et særligt og fortjent fokus på venstrefløjen. BT

Eksempelvis har de De Radikales formand Margrethe Vestager tre børn fra 1. til 9. klassetrin, og de går alle på eliteskolen Den Classenske Legatskole i indre København, hvor 11 procent af eleverne har indvandrerbaggrund. Familien Vestager bor ellers på Amager og hører til Amager Fælled Skole, hvor indvandrerandelen i år er faldet til 50 procent.

- Det er et spørgsmål om skolens størrelse. Den Classenske Legatskole har færre elever, og jeg synes, at det er rart at kunne kende navnene på mine børns kammerater i parallelklassen. Og så ligger den tæt på Christiansborg, siger partiformanden.

(…)

Også SFs tidligere formand Holger K. Nielsens datter er netop skiftet fra den lokale Ålholm Skole, hvor 47 procent af eleverne har anden etnisk oprindelse, til Sankt Annæ Gymnasiums Grundskole med 21 procent to-sprogede, cirka ti kilometer fra hjemadressen i Valby.

- Det er helt hendes eget valg. Sankt Annæ er en skole med fokus på musik, og derfor har hun søgt optagelse der, siger Holger K. Nielsen.

(…)

Uden for hovedstadsområdet går Socialdemokraternes politiske ordfører Henrik Sass Larsens datter på Køge Private Realskole med 11 procent indvandrere.

- Jeg vil ikke kommentere mit privatliv. Min datter skal ikke drages ind i mit arbejde, siger Sass Larsen til B.T.

Undskyldninger er der nok af. Når Vestager siger at hun gerne vil kende navnene på sine børns kammerater mener hun i virkeligheden at hun gerne vil have en chance for at udtale kameraternes navne. Og det er ganske forståeligt at Holger er utryg ved at kaste sine poder i orkestergraven når muslimerne indtager scenen. Det er nemlig, som også Sass Larsen siger, ikke ens egne børn, der skal bære byrden af ens gerninger.

Eller som medlem af skoleudvalget i Københavns kommune Trine Schaltz udtrykte det, til Berlingske Tidende i 2004 da det kom frem at Københavns skoleborgmester havde sendt sine børn ud af kampzonen fordi de som adoptivbørn havde bedst af at være omgivet af hvide

»Jeg bliver ked af det, når jeg hører, at andre forældre vælger folkeskolen fra, fordi de tror, den er for dårlig. Det mener jeg nemlig ikke. Jeg valgte privatskolen til og ikke folkeskolen fra, fordi jeg gerne ville give min børn en kreativ skolegang, som man ikke kunne få i folkeskolen,«

De gode vælger til, mens de onde vælger fra og kreativitet er helt sikkert reciteret ud af det muslimske sind. Men valg er altid motiverede. Som Frederiksens udtalelse om de ressourcestærke forældres svigt var en understregning af forældres tvivl på Folkeskolens kvaliteter er Kraghs krav ligeledes en understregning af hendes egen tvivl på Folkeskolen. Den samme tvivl som Mette Frederiksen tog konsekvensen af da hun erkendte at hendes børn kom i forreste række og ikke i første bølge.

Desperationen i de to politikeres udtalelser dækker over at danskerne er begyndt at se det, som deres politikere længe har vist; at Folkeskolen er en fælles folkelig tillidserklæring. Svigtes denne tillid bliver Folkeskolen overflødig og den tillid svigtes i takt med at folket udtyndes i befolkningsudskiftningen.

Årtiers dannelsestab og nedgøring af faglighed, til fordel for det, Marianne Jelved beskrev som ‘holdningsbearbejdning, til gode radikale socialdemokrater er i de seneste år muteret logisk til det utålelige for selv hærdede socialister. For Folkeskolens formål er nu et helt andet og skræmmende

Bondo fortsatte med at argumentere for nødvendigheden af at fylde skolen op med de frasorterede på ingen løn med at vi har “det her store integrationsprojekt“. Og det her store integrationsprojekt uddybede han; “Altså at vi skal kunne rumme flere elever med indlæringsvanskeligheder“. Det tror jeg på og mens dagpengemodtagerne stiller sig op foran den del af diget flygter forældrene over til Mette Frederiksens børn for at sikre sig nogle færdigheder og ja, bare for at sikre sig imod det indlæringsvanskelige integrationsprojekt i al almindelighed.

Læring er et spørgsmål om koncentration - af gode danskere. Falder den, forsvinder den folkelige forankring og dermed tilliden. Folkeskolen ophører i disse år med at være Folkeskole og derfor vil lærerforeningen tage det logiske skridt og undervise de tilbageværende elever i deres modersmål nu de alligevel ikke kan dansk.

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