 |
 |
| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| Contrarian Voices
By Antonio C. Abaya Written on Jan. 23, 2008 For the Standard Today, January 24 issue This column is called �On the Other Hand� because it is hospitable to serious opinions, aside from my own, that question or deviate from the conventional wisdom. And that includes opinions on current environmental issues. Global warming and climate change have acquired such an infallible cachet of a Revealed Truth that we may have forgotten that there are serious reservations from serious thinkers who have contrarian views about the matter. Reader Jun Valenzuela of Naga City referred me to the following website: http://thereconstitutionrevolution.blogspot.com/2007/07/suvs-on-jupiter-warming-trend-solar.html. The website belongs to one Paul Joseph Watson who claims (in Nov. 16, 2006) that global warming and the resultant climate change are not due to human activity i.e. the burning of fossil fuels � as the high priests and gurus of the New Religion claim � but are natural cyclical phenomena caused by the evolution of the Sun. Watson cites data and reports in www.space.com that purportedly demonstrate that a) global warming is occurring in the thin atmosphere of the ex-Planet Pluto as it moves farther from the Sun on its long elliptical orbit; and b) that the Planet Jupiter is in the midst of global warming that can raise its surface temperature by 10 degrees F. Watson also cites a report from the Current Science and Technology Center of the Museum of Science in Boston (www.mos.org/cst) that the polar ice caps on Mars are melting, in much the same way that the polar ice caps on Earth are melting. NASA, as cited by Watson, reports that its Cassini spacecraft detected on Nov. 9, 2006 a massive hurricane on the surface of Planet Saturn�s south pole, nearly 5,000 miles across, which could be a sign of climate change on that planet. (www.saturn.jpl.nasa.gov) Global warming has also been detected on the Planet Neptune�s largest moon, Triton, since 1989, according to astronomer James Elliot of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (www.scienceagogo.com) Watson also cites an Associated Press report that solar radiation reaching the Earth is 0.036 percent warmer than it was in 1986, according to a study to be published in the Geophysical Research Letters journal. Finally, Watson cites a London Telegraph report that purports to explain Global Warming: the Earth is getting hotter because the Sun is burning more brightly than at any time during the past 1,000 years. (www.telegraph.co.uk). I do not know the academic and professional credentials of Paul Joseph Watson, but the scientific sources and journals he cites are impressive enough. The credentials of Zbigniew Jaworowski , MD , PhD, DSc., of Poland are even more impressive. According to the bio-data attached to a paper that appeared in March 16, 2007 issue of the journal Science � forwarded to me by American environmentalist Alexandra York � Dr. J is a senior adviser at the Central Laboratory for Radiological Protection in Warsaw . In the winter of 1957-58, he measured the concentration of CO2 in the atmospheric air of Spitsbergen Island ( Norway ). From 1972 to 1991, he investigated the history of the pollution of the global atmosphere, measuring the dust preserved in 17 glaciers: in the Tatra Mountains in Poland, in the Arctic, Antarctic, Alaska, Norway, the Alps, the Himalayas, the Ruwenzori Mountains in Uganda, and the Peruvian Andes. Dr. J�s paper is titled �CO2: The Greatest Scientific Scandal of Our Time� and is a counter-argument against the thesis personified by Al Gore, that CO2 � specifically CO2 generated by human activity � is to blame for global warming and climate change. He argues that a more important greenhouse gas is water vapor naturally present in the atmosphere, which contributes some 95 percent in the total greenhouse effect. He claims that 97 percent of total CO2 is from natural emissions; human activities contribute only 3 percent. As anyone who has watched Al Gore�s An Inconvenient Truth knows, his thesis is based on ice core samples extracted from a glacier in Antarctica which seem to show that CO2 levels from as far back as 650,000 years indicate low concentrations until the modern era, especially since the 1970s. Dr. J, who knows about ice core samples, says ice cores cannot be regarded as closed systems, and that low pre-industrial CO2 concentrations are an artifact caused by more than 20 physical-chemical processes operating in situ. For example, according to Dr. J, in cold water, CO2 is 70 times more soluble than nitrogen, and more than 30 times more soluble than oxygen. Therefore, CO2 trapped in ice cores ages ago have long been dissolved in the surrounding ice and snow, and cannot be regarded as valid indications of CO2 levels in the past. Dr. J also claims that environmentalists who point to ice core samples to prove their thesis, have deliberately ignored more than 90,000 direct measurements of CO2 in the atmosphere, carried out in America, Asia and Europe from 1812 to 1961, though the data were published in 175 technical papers. The UN�s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change regards the last 50 years as the warmest period in the past 1,500 years and blames this on the burning of fossil fuels. This monothematic line of reasoning, says Dr.J., does not take into account the astronomical evidence that these last 50 years had had the highest solar activity of the past several thousand years. The new science of cosmo-climatology has documented, since 1961, a close relationship between solar activity and the surface temperature of the Earth. Later studies have shown that the main mechanism by which cosmic factors regulate our weather are cosmic rays penetrating the atmosphere. Cosmic rays, says Dr.J, rule the climate by producing an ionization of air molecules at the rate required to have a measurable impact on clime. Ionization � the process by which electrons are stripped from or added to an atom�s outer structure, making it more ready to combine with another ion � helps create condensation nuclei in the troposphere, the lowest region of the atmosphere. During low solar activity, says Dr. J, more cosmic rays penetrates into the troposphere and more clouds are formed, which act as an umbrella to protect the Earth against solar radiation. Conversely, during periods of high solar activity, less cosmic rays penetrate into the troposphere and less clouds are formed, allowing more solar radiation to hit the Earth�s surface. (To which let me add that when I was in my teens, shortwave radio was one of my hobbies. I learned even then that solar flares, which come in 11-year cycles, disturb radio reception because the troposphere, against which radio waves bounce to allow them to go around the Earth, were affected by solar activity.) �Human beings may be responsible for less than 0.01 degree C of warming during the last century. The hypothesis that the currently observed Modern Warming is a result of anthropogenic (�man-made�) CO2, and of other greenhouse gas emissions, is a myth.� Can we believe all this? Dr. J�s assertion that global warming and climate change are due largely to solar activity coincides uncannily with the independent observations culled by Paul Joseph Watson from different scientific sources, that global warming was/is also occurring in the planets Pluto, Jupiter, Mars, Neptune and Saturn. It does look much more than coincidental. So should the world abandon all efforts to find energy sources other than oil? Of course, not. Whatever the truth or untruth about these contrarian views on global warming and climate change, I share the possibly politically incorrect sentiment expressed last month by, of all people, Republican presidential wannabe Mike Huckabee who said: �I look forward to the day when we can say to the Arabs �You can keep your oil!�� It would have sounded more emphatic with an expletive inserted. ***** Reactions to [email protected]. Other articles in www.tapatt.org and in acabaya.blogspot.com. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to �Contrarian Voices� Reaction to �Balikbayan Villages� Who is Barack Obama? Maestro Abbado and �Resurrection� Dear Tony, Thank you for this critical article. It seems that only government doest not find this critical. As our planets ecosystems start to collapse they are still in the orbit of western economic revival at the expense of biodiversity. And now in Davos they seem not to give the UNIPCC and the Bali action plan nil attention. (You may have mis-understood my article. It quotes two international sources that refute the claims of UN IPCC and the Bali Meeting that global warming is caused by human activities. ACA) We must all do our thing and make our voices heard. We want clean air and water. We want food security and environmental security. We want organic food and the eradication of poverty. A healthy environment is good economics. More power. Best, Antonio M. Claparols, (by email), Jan. 25, 2008 President, Ecological Society of the Philippines wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Mr Abaya Your fascinating account of the apparently conflicting causes of global warming ("Contrarian Voices") made me hark back to Bangkok in the late 1950s/early 1960s when I lived there with my late husband, Tony Escoda. He was then bureau chief in Thailand for the Associated Press and our flat was above the AP office where the news was received and transmitted by telex. There was a forest of antennae on the roof of our building, and now and then a technician had to be summoned to see why the wires to/from New York weren't functioning. I recall the reason the technician often gave was "sun spots." Would that be similar to the solar flares which you say you encountered over your shortwave radio all those years ago? (Yes, sun spots are manifestations of solar flares and disturb shortwave radio reception. ACA) Now I think of it, didn't telex machines function via undersea cables, not radio? Perhaps it was both? Another question I have is whether the myriad (contrarian) studies going on show that the sun will eventually burn up (centuries from now, thank heavens) and signal the earth's demise --- a scenario which doomsday artists call "the end of the world"? (I do not know if telex machines used undersea cables or radio waves, or both. According to astrophysicists, the Sun will eventually burn up, billions of years from now, when it uses up all its hydrogen. ACA) Whatever the answer, I'm still with Al Gore, bless his soul, for making the world aware that we just can't go on abusing the only planet we've got. Isabel Escoda, (by email), Hong Kong , Jan. 25, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, I don't know how oil and the Arabs got into the global warming picture as a punch line and a punching bag at the end of your otherwise thought-piquing report. I fail to see the connection between Arab oil and global warming. To weaken the price-gouging power of monopolists be it in oil of the Arabs, intellectual property rights (software, pharmaceuticals, entertainment, etc.) of the West or manufactured products (cars, chips, airplanes, war machines, etc.) of the industrialized nations, is to reduce demand via conservation and efficient use or boycott -- even piracy as these rich countries used to do when they were developing --, and increasing supply via alternative sources. Not war, conquest and occupation of Iraq and the threat of war against Iran lowered the price of energy. In fact, the destroyed oil facilities in Iraq and the sizable Iran war-risk premium contributed to the doubling the price of oil and gasoline at the pump. And only Bush and his neo-conservative cohorts, conservative supporters and oil buddies are to be blamed for all this. Louie Fernandez, (by email), New Jersey , Jan. 25, 2008 (The downside to ascribing global warming to solar activity, and not to human activity, is the possible rationale that we might as well burn fossil fuel with abandon, since we cannot prevent or reduce global warming and climate change anyway. (I say, we should continue to develop alternative energy sources � my favorite is hydrogen fuel cells � so that we can become independent of oil-producing countries and the greedy oil companies, which have had the world over a barrel [pun intended] since the 1970s, long before the neo-cons came to power in Washington. (Huckabee is a Republican but he is not a neo-con. He may have used �Arabs� in a generic sense, meaning all oil exporters, and I share his sentiments about looking forward to the day when we can tell �them� to keep their frigging oil. ACA) wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony: This is crazy. I am reading some controversial scientific stuff even before having my first cup of coffee? Since the article refutes Al Gore's inconvenient truth, this got me going. The man is a phony who claims to have invented the Internet and now prostituting and posturing something beyond his intellect. Dr. Z Jaworowski has all the credentials and information making him an incredible resource, bar none over this controversy. Without scientific facts, I happen to believe contrary to what Gore and his Hollywood cohorts are peddling, This is in spite of awards and recognition he received deserving or not. Great article and intellectual reading. Thanks for raising the bar and still keeping it interesting. Have a great day. Oscar Apostol, (by email), Roseville , CA , Jan. 25, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, The above subject is a very excellent article. Well researched and well explained about this controversial subject of "Global Warming". I agreed with my colleague at work that it is part of the natural evolution of our earth. With this article we can see that it is a natural phenomenon. As the article says, our contribution to CO2 is peanuts. Al Gore should read this article of yours. I doff my hat to you, Tony, for such an excellent job of informing us on the goings-on in the world of global warming. Take care and best regards, Agustin Bacalso, (by email), Canada, Jan. 25, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, Yes, the contrarian voices may be correct. I suspect we will find out sooner than later. Meanwhile, if we are not part of any solution, then......we are part of a problem. Joel Magsaysay, (by email), Silang, Cavite , Jan 26, 2008 Ilog Maria Honeybee Farms wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Sir, Debate is good, but the contrarian voices are not really bringing anything new to the table. May I refer you to the following websites as well: http://www.desmogblog.com/climate-change-deniers-herald-the-melt-on-mars http://www.desmogblog.com/400-prominent-scientists-dispute-global-warming-bunk (the comments pages dispute the assertions and credentials of the signatories including Dr. J. on whether they are currently in a position to comment on climate change) http://www.desmogblog.com/james-inhofe-the-senator-for-suspect-science I've written elsewhere that: The science behind global warming is becoming clearer over time. There are so many credible scientists who have reached the same conclusions. Apart from the 2,500 IPCC scientists, last year, the world's largest general scientific society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) released a statement on climate change. AAAS was founded in 1848. It is comprised and/or serves 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, reaching 10 million individuals. Their statement can be found at: AAAS Board Releases New Statement on Climate Change: http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2007/0218am_statement.shtml Another useful website is: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/05/start-here/ Why is the Virgin founder offering a $25 million prize for the technological solution to global warming? See the following from Grist.org. http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2006/12/07/little/index.html?source=daily I've noted from others previously that no one, except for two Russian scientists, want to bet $10,000 that global warming (climate change is the term used by the republicans) is occurring and is being exacerbated by man's activities. See: http://julesandjames.blogspot.com/2005/06/betting-summary.html http://www.jamstec.go.jp/frsgc/research/d5/jdannan/betting.html http://backseatdriving.blogspot.com/2006/04/bob-carter-wont-bet-over-global.html http://backseatdriving.blogspot.com/2005/09/bet-offers-to-bloggers-denying-global.html The Pieser report mentioned to discredit the Oreskes article in Nature was defective methodologically. See Tim Lambert's post (http://timlambert.org/2005/05/peiser/.) Here's the primer on how to talk to a climate change skeptic (http://gristmill.grist.org/skeptics) Follow the money of the skeptics.(http://www.motherjones.com/news/featurex/2005/05/exxon_chart.html) Lastly, Mother Jones' series on anthropogenic global warming (http://www.motherjones.com/news/featurex/2005/05/world_burns.htm) should be must reading... Mabuhay! Hecky Villanueva, (by email), Tucson , AZ , Jan. 25, 2008 Sir, I also forgot to add this point-by-point rebuttal to Dr. Jawarowski: http://www.someareboojums.org/blog/?p=7 http://timlambert.org/2005/01/hissink3/ http://timlambert.org/2005/05/jaworowski/ Regards, Hecky wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww What global warming? It's too cold here! Maybe sectional at the north or south pole. Not here where I live: snow, blizzards keep falling down the slippery ice. Roy Querol, (by email), Jan. 26, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony: Surely there must be God. How else does one explain a mind that can put together such an incisive and articulate piece as this on the arguments, pro and con, on global warming? Thank you for being my friend. Jimmy (Pimentel), (by email), Sydney , Australia , Jan. 26, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Mr. Watson�s tone and style of writing borders on tabloid-shout-the-loudest-wins tactic that I can hear ringing in my ears from all the attacks he made to environmental awareness initiatives. It does not mean that his points are invalid regarding some evolutionary changes that is caused by changes in the sun�s composition or behavior. On the other hand, he is referring to planets that has no known LIVING inhabitants and where the geologic and atmospheric conditions are vastly different compared to Earth. His tone suggests that HUMANS should not be held accountable for our actions that affect this planet. It IS true that this planet will continue to evolve based on the sun�s evolution but if we continue to denude our forests, pollute our waters and stink up our air we are hastening the possible negative effects. We may not escape the alleged planetary warming but it is OUR responsibility to try and slow down this probability by doing our part to protect the only place we can call home: Earth. Dennis Ponce Tagamolila, (by email), Jan. 26, 2008 BPO Consultant wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya, Notwithstanding your sarcastic (sarcastic?, I share his opinion. ACA) point of view about the statement of U. S. Republican presidential primary candidate Mike Huckabee, he is on the right track and sentiment that the Arabs petro-dollars are financing and banking all their retrogressive and medieval policies and practices of religious intolerance and fanaticism, subjugation of their women and their illogical and paranoid belief of their religious and cultural superiority. With double expletives, I would repeat the same righteous indignation against the Arabs, more especially against Al Queida, the Taliban and Saudi Arabia . Mark Enriquez, (by email), Pomona , CA , Jan. 27, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, I was very pleased to read your CONTRARIAN VOICES article, which as you say is in the true spirit of 'On the Other Hand'. There is also the third view ('On the 'other' Other Hand'?). The skeptics. My guess is that the skeptics could well be the largest group of all, but because unlike the others they have no evidence to offer in an attempt to convert the 'unbelievers' and are not able to paint alarmist scenarios for the eager media to publicize, they largely go unheard. Just a few small points to ponder in support of the skeptics: ----Computer aided forecasting: In spite of the undoubted improvement in weather forecasting, it still becomes less accurate as the difference in time between the present moment and the time for which the forecast is being made increases. How many days (not years!) ahead can they be said to be accurate? Try plotting the predicted path of the next typhoon on the Google Earth map 72 hours ahead, followed by what actually happens. In spite of the great value to people of the typhoon predictions for a few hours ahead , it is still amazing what can change in 72 hours! -----Extrapolation: The main tool of the climate change forecasters, and a useful mathematical tool it is, but, even without any other unexpected variables coming into the picture (and what is the betting some will), extrapolation gets progressively more and more unreliable the further ahead you try to predict. As Mark Twain said of extrapolation "One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact." ------- Consider history. When was the last time any consensus of opinion produced a prediction of the future that was subsequently seen to be correct? Just like Agnostics, the climate change skeptics need to be worried by the fact that a sort of religious fervour (I used the expression ' convert the unbelievers' above advisedly) has taken over the debate. 'Infidels' are being accused of being immoral because they are not doing their bit to help 'the cause' to prevent the whole of mankind being cast into 'the burning firey furnace'. Have you noticed how: ---- Carbon dioxide (a compound fundamental to life) is now frequently referred to as 'pollution'. ----' Global warming', 'Climate change' and even ' Level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere' are now frequently used as though they were synonyms of each other. But more importantly, have you noticed how the 'exploiters' are moving in on the backs of the Climate Change Extremists. -- Financial dealing in 'carbon quotas/offsets' -- In some countries, vast profits being made out of subsidized 'alternative energy' equipment. -- Small farmers being thrown off their land and forests being cut down so that crops for bio-fuel can be grown on a large scale. -- Small rural communities being persuaded to spend their very limited money on 'solar cell' electricity generators etc. Yours, D.. John Adams, (by email), United Kingdom , Jan. 28, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Sir, Thanks for your acknowledgment. Although we are still voices in the wilderness, at least you presented our side. Thanks a lot. Jun Valenzuela, (by email), Naga City , Jan. 28, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Greetings Mr. Abaya, There is so much sense in the presentation against the issue of global warming. What I can say is that the government and environmentalists are putting much resources to address this "problem" when in fact logical and sensible "contrarian" voices explains something worth listening. I believe this issue is somehow politicized and exploited to the advantage of certain sectors. Driggs Matabaran, (by email), Jan. 30, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi Tony- I was very interested in your Contrarian Voices column and as you can see from my e-mailed cover note below, I immediately forwarded it to Kurt Cuffey, the Chair of the Geography Department here at Berkeley for his comments. Kurt is a very good guy, one of the nation's and the world's leading climatologists and specialists on ice and glaciers in the Antarctic, and elsewhere around the globe. He is widely published and has won several major awards for his ice research. Knowing that he is very busy, and as it�s the first week of the semester here, I did not expect such an immediate, detailed (and at the end, a bit intemperate) response from him. But as you will see he took the time out to both respond seriously, and specifically ask that I forward his comments to you. I don't know if or how you might want to use them. Or if you might even want to get in touch with him directly if there are elements on which you would like further information or clarification. But the issues are too important not to just let it go. All best and warm regards, David Szanton, (by email, Berkeley , CA , Jan 27, 2008 University of California, Berkeley _____________________________________________________________________ On Fri, 25 Jan 2008, David Szanton wrote: Hi Kurt- I am sure you have better things to do than educate me on the analysis of ancient ice. However, when and if you get time for it, I would be interested in your comments on the science underlying these contrarian views about the source of global warming. Tony Abaya, who wrote the article is a very bright and thoughtful friend of mine and a columnist in the Philippines . All best, David __________________________________________________________________________ >Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 19:07:46 -0800 (PST) >From: Kurt M Cuffey <[email protected]> >To: David Szanton <[email protected]> >cc: Kurt M Cuffey <[email protected]> >Subject: Re: Zbigniew Jaworowski, and Contrarian Voices > > >Hi David > >It is healthy to have a skeptical appreciation of the uncertainties >in predictions of future climate change -- we don't know precisely >what the climate will do. Uncertainties cut both ways, however -- >the warming may be less than predicted but it also may be much worse. > >The article below isn't really about the uncertainties in >predictions, however. Let's look at a few points, as examples: >(1) The record of CO_2 : The history of CO_2 is now known from half >a dozen to a dozen ice cores (depending on how far back in time you >go), and they all show the same thing. They are from parts of the >Antarctic where it doesn't melt. Moreover, the compositions of >other gases like N_2, O_2, and noble gases are measured along with >CO_2 so we know well that there is no solubility-in-water alteration >of these records. Moreover, they merge perfectly well with the >instrumental records. > This Dr. J. obviously knows nothing about ice cores... at least > not Antarctic ones, which are the only relevant ones. > >(2) "Human activities contribute only 3 percent" of CO_2 >emissions. Yes that's true; but there are also natural sinks for >CO_2, mostly burial of organic material in the oceans, but also >others. Humans are responsible for almost all of the IMBALANCE >between emissions and sinks, which is why CO_2 is rising. Arguing >that fossil fuel burning is not responsible for the rise in CO_2 is >sheer idiocy of the flat-earth sort. The increasing CO_2 is >isotopically labelled; it is radiocarbon dead. Moreover, we know >how much CO_2 is produced by fossil fuel burning because atmospheric >O_2 content is declining. In fact, more than half of the human >emissions of CO_2 are taken up by the ocean, so the question is not >whether the 3 percent change in total emissions due to humans is >responsible for the rise, but rather whether the percentage taken up >by the oceans could be reduced or increased, thereby worsening or >mitigating CO_2 rise. > >(3) The polar ice caps on Mars cannot possibly be melting in the >same way the ice caps on Earth are -- Mars is too cold to have any >melt at all, and the melt of the Earth ice caps is related to ocean >warming in large part; Mars has no oceans. The Martian ice caps do >grow and shrink over time, but it is a totally different process. > >(4) "Solar radiation reaching Earth is 0.036 percent warmer than it >was in 1986". 1986 was the minimum of an 11-year sunspot >cycle. The solar radiation varies by about 0.1 percent every 11 >years. Regardless, .036 percent of the solar constant (1370 W/m^2) >is a lot less than the radiative forcing due to CO_2. > >(5) Climate change is not due either to CO_2 OR solar forcing, but >both together plus other factors. The best estimates are that 5-30% >of the 20th century warming was due to brightening of the >sun. There is absolutely no real evidence that the warming of the >last 30 years was due to brightening of the sun. We have direct >measurements of solar radiation for the last 25+ years from >satellites, and they show the 11-year solar cycle but they also show >no upward trend in solar brightness. Whether the climate is >changing on Jupiter's moons or Pluto now is completely >irrelevant. First, we don't know much of anything about the climate >of those planets and moons, and second we don't need to; we are >measuring the sun's brightness directly using satellites at Earth. > >The climate forcing due to CO_2 increase is steadily increasing over >time, and will reach disastrous levels in a century if human >emissions continue on the current path. The warming of Earth (and, >more specifically, the energy uptake by the planet) has been >measured now and is occurring as predicted from climate models with CO_2 >forcing. The contrarian arguments have now reached a pathetic level >of stupidity that is entirely analogous to the creationist >arguments; they selectively site articles, mosy out of context, in >order to build a case. Like a house built of bricks made of shit, >the overall structure is not something you want to live with. > >Your friend may be intelligent, but cobbling together an article >from a selection of ignorant and selective sources is irresponsible, >and stupid. I've wasted too much of my life already arguing with >these idiots -- for the benefit of US politics. You need to ask >your friend why he didn't send this article to some knowledgable >climatologists or other geophysicsts for review first. Thoughtful >he may be, but this is all bullcrap. > >Please forward my comments to him. >Kurt. Kurt M. Cuffey Professor, Department of Geography, UC Berkeley (David, your friend accuses me of being irresponsible and stupid for �cobbling together an article from a selection of ignorant and selective sources,� and in doing so shows his own stupidity. He may have scanned my article in a hurry and so did not notice that it contained two sets of data and observations. One from Paul Joseph Watson who collated [cobbled together?] information from admittedly non-specialist sources such as the Boston Museum of Science, NASA, the London Telegraph, and www.space.com, and one specialist source, the Geophysical Research Letter journal, to drive home his (not necessarily mine, mind you) conclusion that global warming is occurring on other planets, not just Earth. The other � and the bulk of my article - from Dr. Zbigniew Jawoworski, an eminent specialist scientist from Poland who, according to his bio-data, has among other things studied ice core samples in 17 glaciers in six continents, including Antarctica, and who drives home his [not necessarily mine, mind you] conclusion that anthropogenic global warming is a myth. Your friend, who has studied ice core samples in one glacier in one continent, is not impressed and writes that Dr. J �obviously knows nothing about ice cores.� My, my, I didn�t know professional jealousy descends to the level of fishwives. Your friend asks why I did not submit my article first to some �knowledgeable climatologists and other geophysicists.� I do not know if such creatures exist in this corner of the planet. But even if they did, I do not see any need for them to vet my article since Dr. J�s paper, which I quoted and summarized extensively, was published in a March 2007 issue of the eminent journal Science. Unless your friend considers the editors and publishers of Science to be nothing but �idiots� who have �reached a pathetic level of stupidity,� to use his endearing words for those who do not share his professional biases. David, as you can see from my subsequent article �More Contrarian Voices� � based on a minority report from the US Senate � there are more of these idiots in other wealthy countries who have reached a pathetic level of stupidity. Time to bring out the stretch rack and the nail pullers to teach them the One and Only Truth. ACA) wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Reaction to �Balikbayan Villages� Dear Tony, Di ko alam kung matawag kong magandang idea itong Balikbayan Village para sa mga OFW at iba pa. Hindi ko alam kung ito'y pangbobola lamang sa aming mga OFW para masabi lang na hindi nila kami nalilimutan na kami ay talagang "modern heroes". I remember one time, when my house was constructed during the OFW booms in the early eighties (unfortunately I am still an OFW), when I told my wife, what if I may suddently be terminated from my job, what would we do with the house. Can we eat the post? This is not a sarcastic comment, but a practical one. My point here, Tony, is. What would happen to an OFW who plans to quit his OFW job if their savings is not enough to pay the amortization of those condo in that Balikbayan Village ? Remember that health insurance fund of the OFW that was misappropriated/transferred by the Secretary of Health in the 2004 election? Why is nobody taking up the cudgels for these OFW's. Why not create a retirement or pension plans for us OFW, like those working in the private sector. This way, at least our retirement would be assured a bit and have something for our family's mouth when we have that condo in that Balikbayan Village ? Hope our political leaders would think and reconsider and truly we be assured that they care for us, Bert Celera, (by email), Jan. 30, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Who is Barack Obama? http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2004/03/30/obama/ Obama's biography is both intriguing and inspiring, an American story for the 21st century. The r�sum� detail that initially caught wide attention was his election in 1990 as the first African-American president (that is, editor in chief) of the Harvard Law Review, the premier legal academic publication in the United States . Banish any lurking thought of an affirmative-action wind at his back. Exams at Harvard Law School are graded blind, and Obama graduated magna cum laude (also unlike me.) He has taught for many years at the University of Chicago Law School, along with many of the country's preeminent legal scholars. ... His parents met as college students in 1960. His father, also named Barack Obama, was from Kenya 's Luo tribe, the first African exchange student at the University of Hawaii . His mother, Anna, had gone to Hawaii from Kansas with her parents. Even in Hawaii 's polyglot culture a black and white couple remained at best an oddity in 1961, when Obama was born; at the time miscegenation was still a crime in many states. Nor was Obama Sr.'s marriage welcomed in Kenya . Under those pressures, Obama's father departed when Barack was 2 to pursue his Ph.D. at Harvard, leaving his son with mother and grandparents. When Obama was 6, Anna remarried. Her new husband was Lolo, an Indonesian oil company manager, and the new family moved to Djakarta , where Obama's sister Maya was born. (Obama describes her looks as those "of a Latin queen.") After two years in a Muslim school, then two more in a Catholic school, Obama was sent by his mother back to her parents' home so that he could attend Hawaii 's esteemed Punahou Academy . Living with two middle-aged, middle-class white people (his grandfather was a salesman, his grandmother a bank employee trapped by a glass ceiling), Obama struggled as an adolescent with the realities of being African-American, an identity that was in part imposed by others, and yet one he also embraced as the legacy of a father for whom he yearned but with whom he enjoyed only sporadic contact. He attended California 's Occidental College , then Columbia . After graduation he moved to Chicago , where he worked for a number of years as a community organizer on the city's South Side, employed by a consortium of church and community groups that hoped to save manufacturing jobs. Obama's father died in a traffic accident in Nairobi in 1982, but while Obama was working in Chicago , he met his Kenyan sister, Auma, a linguist educated in Germany who was visiting the United States . When she returned to Kenya in 1986 to teach for a year at the University of Nairobi , Obama finally made the trip to his father's homeland he had long promised himself. There, he managed to fully embrace a heritage and a family he'd never fully known and come to terms with his father, whom he'd long regarded as an august foreign prince, but now realized was a human being burdened by his own illusions and vulnerabilities. With that, Obama began to feel more accepting of himself. Harvard, law practice, teaching and politics followed. ... (His wife Michelle is no slouch either. She's a Princeton and Harvard Law graduate.) Louie Fernandez, (by email), New Jersey , Jan. 30, 2008 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (Forwarded to Tapatt by Cynthia A. Prat) Is this true? Who is Barack Obama? U. S. presidential candidate, Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu , Hawaii , to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a black Muslim from Nyangoma-Kogel , Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white athiest from Wichita , Kansas . Obama's parents met at the University of Hawaii . When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced. His father returned to Kenya . His mother then married Lolo Soetoro, a radical Muslim from Indonesia . When Obama was 6 years old, the family relocated to Indonesia . Obama attended a muslim school in Jakarta . He also spent two years in a Catholic school. Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim. He is quick to point out that, 'He was once a Muslim, but that he also attended Catholic school.' Obama's political handlers are attempting to make it appear that he is not a radical.Obama's introduction to Islam came via his father, and that this influence was temporary at best. In reality, the senior Obama returned to Kenya soon after the divorce, and never again had any direct influence over his son's education. Lolo Soetoro, the second husband of Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, introduced his stepson to Islam. Obama was enrolled in a Wahabi school in Jakarta . Wahabism is the radical teaching that is followed by the Muslim terrorists who are now waging Jihad against the western world. Since it is politically expedient to be a Christian when seeking major public office in the United States , Barack Hussein Obama has joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim background. ALSO, keep in mind that when he was sworn into office he DID NOT use the Holy Bible, but instead the Koran. Barack Hussein Obama will NOT recite the Pledge of Allegiance nor will he show any reverence for our flag. While others place their hands over their hearts, Obama turns his back to the flag and slouches. Let us all remain alert concerning Obama's expected presidential candidacy. The Muslims have said they plan on destroying the US from the inside out, what better way to start than at the highest level - through the President of the United States , one of their own!!!! Please forward to everyone you know. Would you want this man to lead our country? (It sounds like, ah, black propaganda from the neo-cons. ACA) wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Maestro Abbado and �Resurrection� Tony, You might find time to enjoy this too. Forwarded by another fine music lover. Good morning! � Ed J. Tria Tirona, (by email), Paranaque City , Jan. 28, 2008 Subject: Maestro Abbado gives himself a workout Thought you might enjoy this wonderful performance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKeH3oYkFiw&NR=1 The closing segments of Mahler's 2nd symphony --easily a candidate for the most ___________(choose an adjective) in any of several categories of comparison, should one care to make them. As one listens, there are also icons for a few other segments or versions "nearby". It is one of my favorites (Thank you, Ed, but I wrote about this recording in my article �Resurrection� of April 08, 2007 http://www.geocities.com/dapat_tapatt/resurrection.html In this article, I wrote: If you are looking for a Mahler DVD, choose the performance of the Resurrection by the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under Claudio Abbado, recorded live at the Lucerne Summer Festival in 2003. The visual images are crystal-sharp, the soprano and contralto soloists properly ethereal, the mixed choruses alternately angelic and portentous, and the strings, the woodwinds and the brasses simply divine, all masterfully strung together by Abbado, who, in my opinion, is the best living orchestra conductor. If this is what resurrection is all about, I don�t mind dying. ***** OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |