Til the Thames Freezes Over, Part Two

This will come as a horrible shock to the Global Warming Zealots

and others throughout time who sought to stifle scientific inquiry,

 but the earth is spherical, revolves around the sun

and is not the center of the universe.

Global Warming may be occurring.  After all, it would hardly be the first time in earth's long history that warming has occurred.  Cooling cycled have occurred, too.   What is interesting is that man has almost always coped better with these cycles in the past than we are today.  We've moved north, moved south, planted different crops, hunted different game, stored fuel, changed lifestyles.  And we did it slowly and in perfect rhythm with our wonderful planet.


But not today.  Today, we have turned climate change into a powerful religious orthodoxy, with priests, bishops and even false gods.  And God help you if you cross these powerful servants of the holy writ.


No sooner than yesterday's controversy reared it's ugly head (see my original blog post, yesterday) than we get news of a mini-revolt with the scientific community over the exact same issues.  It's magnificently documented in The Wall Street Journal article quoted below:

No Need to Panic About Global Warming

There's no compelling scientific argument for drastic action

Editor's Note: The following has been signed by the 16 scientists listed at the end of the article: 

In September, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ivar Giaever, a supporter of President Obama in the last election, publicly resigned from the American Physical Society (APS) with a letter that begins: "I did not renew [my membership] because I cannot live with the [APS policy] statement: 'The evidence is incontrovertible: Global warming is occurring. If no mitigating actions are taken, significant disruptions in the Earth's physical and ecological systems, social systems, security and human health are likely to occur. We must reduce emissions of greenhouse gases beginning now.' In the APS it is OK to discuss whether the mass of the proton changes over time and how a multi-universe behaves, but the evidence of global warming is incontrovertible?"

In spite of a multidecade international campaign to enforce the message that increasing amounts of the "pollutant" carbon dioxide will destroy civilization, large numbers of scientists, many very prominent, share the opinions of Dr. Giaever. And the number of scientific "heretics" is growing with each passing year. The reason is a collection of stubborn scientific facts.

----- Significant additional data follows ------- Read the entire article for complete information ------

SIGNED: Claude Allegre, former director of the Institute for the Study of the Earth, University of Paris; J. Scott Armstrong, cofounder of the Journal of Forecasting and the International Journal of Forecasting; Jan Breslow, head of the Laboratory of Biochemical Genetics and Metabolism, Rockefeller University; Roger Cohen, fellow, American Physical Society; Edward David, member, National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Sciences; William Happer, professor of physics, Princeton; Michael Kelly, professor of technology, University of Cambridge, U.K.; William Kininmonth, former head of climate research at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology; Richard Lindzen, professor of atmospheric sciences, MIT; James McGrath, professor of chemistry, Virginia Technical University; Rodney Nichols, former president and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences; Burt Rutan, aerospace engineer, designer of Voyager and SpaceShipOne; Harrison H. Schmitt, Apollo 17 astronaut and former U.S. senator; Nir Shaviv, professor of astrophysics, Hebrew University, Jerusalem; Henk Tennekes, former director, Royal Dutch Meteorological Service; Antonio Zichichi, president of the World Federation of Scientists, Geneva.

Please read the ENTIRE ARTICLE in The Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204301404577171531838421366.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

The problem is politicization of the scientific community has made discussion and even investigation into climate change nearly impossible.  Anyone who disagrees with the orthodoxy loses their job, is unable to get funding for research and become a pariah in both the scientific and political community.

There is so much we need to do to protect the earth and improve the environment, much of it in perfect harmony with the goals of the Global Warming zealots.  Third world destruction of the vast forests needs to slow or stop.  Pollution in Bejing is fatal for many of its residents.  I could go on and on.

What we should NOT do is stifle scientific investigation or lock away adversaries as the religious zealots did with Galileo so many years ago.

Religion Versus Science

Throughout history the conflicts between religion and the scientific community have been explosive, emotional, violent and, occasionally, deadly.

When we think of science versus religion we often think of Galileo Galilei, whose on-going battle with the Catholic Church resulted in his imprisonment and, ultimately, in his death in 1642.

Galileo is best known for is his studies of astronomy, free fall, and his several inventions. His inventions include the telescope, microscope, compass and thermometer. Galileo studied medicine, philosophy and mathematics and taught mathematics at the University of Pisa and at the University of Padua.

While teaching his theories, Galileo gained a following of students that recognized his genius. In 1616 however, he came into disfavor with the church. Galileo, as a man of science, expressed his support of the Copernican theories that stated the earth and other celestial bodies rotated around the sun.

Unfortunately his teaching directly contradicted the teachings of the church and he was summoned to Rome and reprimanded for his "heresy". In 1633 he was sentenced to life in confinement. Even though his health was declining and became completely blind by 1638, he continued developing his theories and communicated, often in secret with his followers.

Over 300 years after his death, a statement by the Pope before the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 1992 is interpreted as the official rehabilitation of Galileo by the Catholic Church.

Any time an idea or philosophy becomes a religion it tends to lose all flexibility. True believers defend the orthodoxy at all costs and make every effort to silence, or even imprison or kill opponents.

Ultimately, it tends to all be about power. The church in Galileo's time had enormous power and wealth. It felt terribly threatened by Galileo's ideas. If people no longer believed the earth was the center of the universe, they might not continue to support the church with tithes, taxes and lavish gifts.

Today we have a rather strange twist on the old science versus religion battle. But, in this case, the "religion" is the orthodoxy of "global warming" or, as it is now more properly called, "climate change." The great religious leaders of climate change are still hounding, censuring and trying to silence the scientists who dare to question the established religion.

And, just as in the time of Galileo, it is still about money and power. There is the opportunity for great power and immense wealth in climate control. One Prophet of the new religion, former Vice President Al Gore, has already made millions of dollars, won a Nobel Prize and is poised to make billions. But the issue certainly isn't Al Gore. Governments and corporates stand to gain immense profits and power from the enforcement of climate control regulations.

For some time a rapidly growing number of scientists have realized that climate change models just don't work. We've had global cooling for eleven straight years and it now appears this cycle of cooling will continue for at least twenty more years. In addition, some models point to entirely different, and occasionally more dangerous scenarios going forward. And the solutions being proposed by the established global warming religion might make matters a whole lot worse.

The very unscientific efforts to hide conflicting facts, destroy historical data and marginalize those who dared to question global warming all came to light when a huge series of emails were hacked and then released to the public. And, as is often the case, the cover-up quickly became worse than the original crimes.

The more the established global warming community attempted to explain the email, the obvious it became that the cover-up was long running and unacceptably extensive. The most recent "disclosure" that historical data was destroyed to "save space" is so laughable that all remaining integrity of the climate change community has been lost.

Science will ultimately prevail, as it always does. Those who forecast global may ultimately be proved correct. Or, it may be determined that the global warming heretic's ideas were censured or imprisoned under false pretenses.

But certainly the warnings about the dangers of turning scientific research into a political or religious cult should be learned and heeded.

Excellent articles that should all be read:

Financial Times: Secrecy in science is a corrosive force By Michael Schrage

The Telegraph UK: Climate change: this is the worst scientific scandal of our generation

Associated Press: UK climate scientist to temporarily step down

US News and World Report: Penn State Will Investigate 'Climategate'

Finally, a real and genuine tip o' the Wizard's Pointy Cap to Lee over at Lee's Tid Bits who has been at the leading edge of this controversy for over a year. Like the scientists who dared to question the global warming orthodoxy, Lee has been subject to great harassment and persecution. Lee has constantly held his own. His blog is a must read in my book (for this and for many other reasons, including that he is just a great guy).

Mother Nature Strikes Back!

Mother Nature has a new invention. And, as brilliant and creative as man might think he is, he doesn't hold a candle to the infinite abilities of the Goddess of Creation herself.

I know this will sound like science fiction. It's not. However, the Grayson Wray track you can listen to on the Amazon Widget to the right will sound exactly like Science Fiction. And, if you purchase the mp3 from Amazon the Wizard will actually make a little cash. He is going to need it to do battle with Mother Nature soon. Why?

The Rasberry Crazy Ants are headed this way and they are attacking computers, video games and even vehicles in their paths.

You heard right. Ants that damage computers! And Cars! And the damned things are tiny. About the size of fleas. They've been dubbed Rasberry Crazy Ants after the exterminator who first did battle with the invaders (Tom Rasberry) and their swarming "crazy" behavior.

Worse yet, they are virtually impossible to kill. They ignore the ant bait used by most exterminators and they ignore fire ant killer, too. Nests have multiple queens. You simply can't kill them all.

If there is any good news, they also kill fire ants.

They are omnivores and attack plants, insects and eggs. But they are attracted to electronic devices. Tom Rasberry told Techworld "I think they go into everything and they don't follow any kind of structured line. If you open a computer, you would find a cluster of ants on the motherboard and all over. You'd get 3,000 or 4,000 ants inside and they create arcs. They'll wipe out any computer."

The little ants are currently found in five counties around Houston, Texas. They have established a beach head in the Johnson Space Center. While NASA officials say they have the problem under control, they admit they cannot eliminate the colonies.

It is likely they will spread nationwide over the next few years.

Additional news articles: KOCO TV5 News, Associated Press Report