The Obama Inquisition on climate change
posted at 12:55 pm on July 3, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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Barack Obama promised to return science to its “rightful place” in government, but at least on climate change, it seems that Obama has the Inquisition in mind as the government model. When a dissenting voice at the EPA warned that the global-warming theories on which Obama had predicated his policies were falling apart, the administration did not champion a scientific approach to the debate. Instead, it took the ages-old method of silencing the scientist, as Kimberly Strassel reports:
[O]ne of President Barack Obama’s first acts was a memo to agencies demanding new transparency in government, and science. The nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Lisa Jackson, joined in, exclaiming, “As administrator, I will ensure EPA’s efforts to address the environmental crises of today are rooted in three fundamental values: science-based policies and program, adherence to the rule of law, and overwhelming transparency.” In case anyone missed the point, Mr. Obama took another shot at his predecessors in April, vowing that “the days of science taking a backseat to ideology are over.”
Except, that is, when it comes to [Alan] Carlin, a senior analyst in the EPA’s National Center for Environmental Economics and a 35-year veteran of the agency. In March, the Obama EPA prepared to engage the global-warming debate in an astounding new way, by issuing an “endangerment” finding on carbon. It establishes that carbon is a pollutant, and thereby gives the EPA the authority to regulate it — even if Congress doesn’t act.
Around this time, Mr. Carlin and a colleague presented a 98-page analysis arguing the agency should take another look, as the science behind man-made global warming is inconclusive at best. The analysis noted that global temperatures were on a downward trend. It pointed out problems with climate models. It highlighted new research that contradicts apocalyptic scenarios. “We believe our concerns and reservations are sufficiently important to warrant a serious review of the science by EPA,” the report read.
The response to Mr. Carlin was an email from his boss, Al McGartland, forbidding him from “any direct communication” with anyone outside of his office with regard to his analysis. When Mr. Carlin tried again to disseminate his analysis, Mr. McGartland decreed: “The administrator and the administration have decided to move forward on endangerment, and your comments do not help the legal or policy case for this decision. . . . I can only see one impact of your comments given where we are in the process, and that would be a very negative impact on our office.” …
Mr. McGartland blasted yet another email: “With the endangerment finding nearly final, you need to move on to other issues and subjects. I don’t want you to spend any additional EPA time on climate change. No papers, no research etc, at least until we see what EPA is going to do with Climate.” Ideology? Nope, not here. Just us science folk. Honest.
Carlin’s comments didn’t “help the legal or policy case” for the Obama administration? Actually, Carlin’s scientific analysis undermined the entire reason for those legal and policy choices. The effort to silence Carlin didn’t come because the EPA and the White House could easily refute the analysis. They silenced Carlin because they couldn’t refute it.
Now that Carlin has blown the whistle, the Obama administration has embarked on another ages-old strategy: character assassination. They have dismissed Carlin as an economist, when he actually has a degree in physics — from CalTech. They have derided his work as “sham science,” even though it relied on peer-reviewed studies. They’ve done everything but actually use the scientific method to rebut Carlin, which demonstrates the commitment they have to the “rightful place” of science when it comes to policy in this administration.
Michelle has done great work on this topic, and has a video of Carlin speaking earlier this week. Be sure to keep up with the story there.
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One term administration. The stench of failure permeates the air in Washington.
jdflorida on July 3, 2009 at 12:59 PM
It appears the Leftist Environmental Nitwit Religion is falling apart.
JamesLee on July 3, 2009 at 1:00 PM
I repent! The earth is flat and the sun revolves around it!
JellyToast on July 3, 2009 at 1:00 PM
This man and his band of thugs had better destroy the Democrat Party for at least a generation, if not several generations. These ass clowns are a million miles outside of the mainstream; or so I hope!
Keemo on July 3, 2009 at 1:01 PM
Fail.
noblejones on July 3, 2009 at 1:01 PM
I bought a lie detector… it’s called a thermometer.
mjbrooks3 on July 3, 2009 at 1:04 PM
Only one type of person believes in global warming… a moonbat. Most (if not all) know it is billshut but makes a good basis on which to take more money.
CC
CapedConservative on July 3, 2009 at 1:04 PM
http://www.climate-skeptic.com/
izoneguy on July 3, 2009 at 1:05 PM
NO ONE expects the Greenhouse inquisition! Repent!
the_nile on July 3, 2009 at 1:05 PM
The Copernican Revolution is condemned by Carter-the-Taller in 5…4….3…2…
Limerick on July 3, 2009 at 1:06 PM
Half-a-generation ago, I would have agreed with you about the “mainstream”. Sadly, I think the mainstream now consists of ignorant young buffoons, pony-tailed aging hippies, bitter feminists and single mommies who would turn tricks for a little subsidized day care and gubmint cheese.
guntotinglibertarian on July 3, 2009 at 1:06 PM
Tyranny , that’s a science.
the_nile on July 3, 2009 at 1:08 PM
If you look at the Obama positions, NONE of them have anything to do with the scientific method.
Economics? Its been prooven in the past that lowering Tax rates helps boost the economy, and leads to more government revenue… Obama? Lets raise taxes on EVERYTHING!
Energy? If you convert the amount of oil we use for transportation, to Kilowatt hours, you will find it will take 140% of all US generated electricity to use electricity for transportation. With Line losses that will mean we will have to TRIPLE the amount of electricity we generate… and yet we can’t build any existing type of power plant to do it. I would say that putting the cart before the horse… but its more like killing your existing horse in 1860, hoping that someone makes you a car 50 years later.
I could go on and on, but NONE of this admins policies are based on History, Fact, or Science.
Romeo13 on July 3, 2009 at 1:09 PM
man oh man, the sh*ts gettin so deep were all gonna need higher boots.
SHARPTOOTH on July 3, 2009 at 1:09 PM
So if a bus is coming full speed at someone, let’s not say or do anything because the process is already in motion. And no that’s not over the top, the desire of the current administration to put these fallacies into practice is equal to our economy being run over by a bus.
Cindy Munford on July 3, 2009 at 1:10 PM
I pray this is the nail in the coffin to cap & trade — the power grab disguised in a hoax. To the Independence Day tea parties everyone!
Christian Conservative on July 3, 2009 at 1:11 PM
http://joannenova.com.au/global-warming/the-wong-fielding-meeting-on-global-warming-documents/
Minister Wong got pawned in australia. Australia is having the warming discussiomn
at least they allow questions. Their science team admits they can’t prove warming and CO2 are related.
seven on July 3, 2009 at 1:12 PM
A young man, looked to be a college student, came to my door last night wanting me to sign a petition to “stop Big Oil from blocking Cap and Trade” in the senate.
It’s going to be a long and brutal fight.
PS: I did try to debate with him, but he had no interest in talking to a denier. As soon as I told him that I hoped Cap and Trade would be defeated in the Senate, he gave me a look of shock and horror and started backing up as quickly as he could.
MarkTheGreat on July 3, 2009 at 1:13 PM
Cindy Munford on July 3, 2009 at 1:10 PM
actually, i feel like oboobi’s throwing us under the bus, but, i see what your saying.
SHARPTOOTH on July 3, 2009 at 1:13 PM
Dear Lord,
Please let one of these petition clowns knock on my door when I’m wearing my (BigOilCompany) shirt.
Thanks,
Limerick on July 3, 2009 at 1:15 PM
I’ve been following this for a few weeks now. It first really broke at Wattsupwiththat.com, a pretty solid science blog. Anthony Watts got wind of the suppression, and has been beating the drum about it since. It has been fascinating to watch this unfold.
I fear it’s all too late, though. Cap’n'Tax will pass, in one form or another, in the Senate, and it’ll be signed into law by The One. Who’ll act sufficiently “humbled in the face of such a daunting task as to reverse the decades of damage our profligate capitalism has done to the world.” Blah, blah, blah. And we get to watch as he sets a match to the remains of our economy.
In the centuries to come, if people of reason and objectivity ever get the chance to make the rules again, they will look back on this era and shake their heads at the obvious suicide we are about to commit as a society. We have nobody to blame but ourselves. We allowed this to happen.
nukemhill on July 3, 2009 at 1:16 PM
This darn Carlin guy sounds like one of those chronic trouble-makers. Like Galileo.
guntotinglibertarian on July 3, 2009 at 1:17 PM
It’s more than just line losses, every form of conversion causes losses. Of the energy that reaches the house, less than half of it will ever reach the electric motor.
Coverting from 120VAC to 12 or 24VDC.
Coverting from electrical energy to chemical energy in the battery.
Converting from chemical energy back to electrical energy.
Converting from DC to AC (the motors used in these cars are AC, not DC)
Converting from electrical energy to mechanical energy in the motor.
We would need to increase our electrical capacity by a factor of 10, if everyone were to convert to electric cars.
MarkTheGreat on July 3, 2009 at 1:18 PM
And I fear crap & trade is going to pass. Am I the only one?
Knucklehead on July 3, 2009 at 1:19 PM
The sun does revolve around the earth if you use the earth as a frame of reference.
Darth Executor on July 3, 2009 at 1:20 PM
I love that. Carbon is a pollutant. Are they going to start arresting people? Cows? Trees? All life forms? No, just charge us. That’s the solution. Tax, tax, tax. What is wrong w/people who voted for this crazy man?
JAM on July 3, 2009 at 1:21 PM
If not directly it will get stuffed into some other bill fifteen seconds before the floor votes. Sorta like that $4,500 consumer car buying bribe stuffed into the Defense Bill.
Limerick on July 3, 2009 at 1:21 PM
Science Base Policy, Rule of Law, Transparency…
Stand by for the eventual revisions:
War Is Peace, Slavery Is Freedom, Ignorance is Strength.
Kenosha Kid on July 3, 2009 at 1:22 PM
Dog business in your yard?
The Tax Man cometh!
Limerick on July 3, 2009 at 1:23 PM
Obama should start executing some AGW denying Humans to appease the Eco-Gods. That will shut them up! It makes as much sense as his other proposals and is a lot cheaper.
RadClown on July 3, 2009 at 1:25 PM
Facts have no meaning with zealots unless they coincidentally agree with their religion.
Global cooling and then global warming, Gollums from the club of Rome, are simply means for getting control of the means of production without which world socialism has no chance.
Central Planning 101.
patrick neid on July 3, 2009 at 1:25 PM
Taking my family to a Rodeo up in Red Lodge this afternoon and evening. I must have a reminder of what a true American tradition looks like.
For those of you who have never been to a rodeo…
I walk away from every rodeo with a deep feeling of how great it is to be an American, energized to fight the fight we are encountering with this government. Watching these cowboys reminds me of what kind of men built this country, as opposed to what kind of men are dead set on it’s destruction.
Keemo on July 3, 2009 at 1:26 PM
Easy to see why scientists who depend on government funding toe the line on global warming rather than be defunded and marginalized. As this continues and pressure to conform increases, fewer and fewer will have to courage to speak out, and at some point the scientific community will be nothing more than a propaganda tool of the left. Might as well have Michael Moore direct this movie.
infidel4life on July 3, 2009 at 1:26 PM
A stupid but sincere question: why do liberals seem to have such a vested interest in clinging to
their guns and religionanthropogenic global warming … even when the actual science is increasingly suspect?Couldn’t they save billions and spend it on important stuff like saving minnows and building abortion clinics if they abandoned the climate change silliness?
Seriously. I don’t get it. Sooner or later, they’re going to look really – as if they don’t already.
Or is just all about expanding government and nothing to do with mother Earth at all?
Professor Blather on July 3, 2009 at 1:27 PM
They will lie as needed to advance their programs. I hesitate to think what they will do when the lies are no longer sufficient.
n0doz on July 3, 2009 at 1:31 PM
E pur si muove
DarkCurrent on July 3, 2009 at 1:34 PM
You know who this going to help?
Fox News and Mr. Carlin.
Cindy Munford on July 3, 2009 at 1:35 PM
Yes. I would imagine there are “true believers” that are genuinely concerned about the environment and buy into this baloney, but the playas at the top are pursuing totalitarian goals. Green is the new red.
infidel4life on July 3, 2009 at 1:37 PM
It will because it is the biggest leftist power grab short of an obvious coup. The left knows it will not do squat for the climate but their dirty little elephant in the room is that they never expected it to. The left cares only that a “cause” will get them political positioning and never care about the “cause” otherwise.
jmarcure on July 3, 2009 at 1:38 PM
Next up: Congress repeals the laws of thermodynamics!
ZenDraken on July 3, 2009 at 1:40 PM
Hit that one squarely on the head you did.
jmarcure on July 3, 2009 at 1:42 PM
The only way I can understand how people can vote/support this dufus is the saying: “A person is smart, but people are dumb.” These people treat our President as if he’s a god. Regardless of policy opinions, that alone makes me vomit in my mouth.
search4truth on July 3, 2009 at 1:42 PM
This man seems to have become so dependent on political games that he cannot shake loose. Speaking for myself, I will probably never like him but might begin to respect some of his decisions if I thought they were based on good, well thought out common sense. At present they seem to center on stubborn ideologies that are slowly eroding.
jeanie on July 3, 2009 at 1:45 PM
Carlin is obviously mentally unstable or whatever, he seemed to be lost in a daze during the last policy session meeting.
Bishop on July 3, 2009 at 1:51 PM
Have you ever gone back to the old neighborhood you grew up in and noticed how many more trees there are now than there were back then? I also saw some old aerial photos of the rural area where I grew up and compared them to current Google Earth photos. Many more houses, true, but orders of magnitude more trees! Never see this mentioned, but I think America, at least, is getting re-greened.
drunyan8315 on July 3, 2009 at 1:53 PM
You and Romeo 13 are forgetting about the FFD. Fairy Dust Factor. Once you put that into the equation efficiency will immediately go to 150% and we will actually get more energy out than we put in. We will be able to run entire cities from one square meter of magic solar panels. Hell, entropy will reverse itself and we won’t have to worry about mortgages, filling up our gas tanks or anything.
Oldnuke on July 3, 2009 at 1:55 PM
Crap, not FFD, FDF. This stuff hacks me off so much I can’t type. That and the fact that I can’t type.
Oldnuke on July 3, 2009 at 1:57 PM
Didn’t Nancy Pelosi and Barney Fwanks just submit a bill to Congress to repeal the Law of Conservation of Energy? and amend the Laws of Thermodynamics…
Cause, they are so… like… last Century!
Romeo13 on July 3, 2009 at 1:58 PM
Sadly it wouldn’t surprise me if they actually did that and it passed.
Oldnuke on July 3, 2009 at 2:04 PM
This was all over the papers (above the fold page on NYT & WAPO), on every alphabet news channel, and lead on AP… oh wait that was when Hanson was giving thousands of interviews and claimed Bush was stifling his views.
The inmates are running the asylum.
jukin on July 3, 2009 at 2:06 PM
In Obama speak, science being in it’s “rightful place” means nothing more than taking junk science and twisting even that to meet the current political goals, which in this case is the entire domination of economic America and subjugation of it’s citizenry.
If and or when cap & tax passes, I really want to see first a general strike nationwide to get it repealed, and if that goes nowhere or gets resisted I want to see states start to secede from the union in groups of 5 or 10.
I’d rather see the dissolution and reformation of this country under the constitution than a continued slide toward the destruction we’re headed for now under this marxist fascist.
.locked
.and
.loaded
Spiritk9 on July 3, 2009 at 2:09 PM
I’m waiting for John Kerry to pop up and say neither he nor any of the other Dems voted for it in the first place and then blame Bush for getting it passed.
Dave_d on July 3, 2009 at 2:36 PM
Why would anyone expect the scientific method to even be known to a junta whose leader doesn’t even understand 8th grade mathematics, as he proved to everyone with his moronic “profit and earnings ratios”?
We’re lucky these morons can read … though Congress has been trying to hammer home the futility of trying to exercise ones ability to read, as applied to governing, and the administration has shown that it is unable to read the Honduran Constitution (with any level of comprehension, at least).
Governance by idiots. That’s what we have. And that’s the best that can be said about them.
progressoverpeace on July 3, 2009 at 2:42 PM
An inconvenient lie by the climate Nazis to suppress the truth. God Bless Mr. Carlin….
DL13 on July 3, 2009 at 2:51 PM
I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK !!
:-(
pambi on July 3, 2009 at 3:10 PM
Global Warming is regarded by the sheeple as true, by the mentally free as false and by the rulers and money grubbers as useful.
MB4 on July 3, 2009 at 3:16 PM
It appears the Leftist Environmental Nitwit Religion is falling apart. JamesLee
We all wish this to be true. However, it seems that nothing will stop the dihimiKrats from getting this POS ”energy” catastrophe through the senate, esp. with the Red Diaper Doper baby (frankendofus) now seated to give then 60 votes. And the truly atrocious National Socialists’ Health destruction bill, as well.
Absolute bummer. Prepare for complete destitution if you can.
TennDon on July 3, 2009 at 3:22 PM
I knew something like this would happen. The scientists Obama hired are far more ideological than those who worked for Bush.I thought Obama’s continued shots against Bush on that were really cheap, and now we know them to be hypocritical too.
Lefties consider hypocrisy the greatest sin. Obama’s vow of of transparency and non-ideological science are great examples of that.
juliesa on July 3, 2009 at 3:28 PM
Brings to mind this related parody: “Democrats Force Quick Vote on ‘Cap and Tax’ Legislation, Citing an ‘Escalating Skepticism Crisis’ Regarding Climate Warming Theories”: http://www.optoons.blogspot.com/ (June 27 entry)
Mervis Winter on July 3, 2009 at 3:43 PM
Hey they got their plans and they don’t want reality getting in the way.
Terrye on July 3, 2009 at 4:32 PM
Still stuck on stupid, eh Barock?
capejasmine on July 3, 2009 at 5:34 PM
That explains the “TheGreat” part, Mark.
ericdijon on July 3, 2009 at 6:44 PM
When Carlin was an undergraduate at Cal Tech, most students had SATs in excess of 1400 out of 1600, and that was before the powers in Princeton arbitrarily added over fifty points to the scores because the quality of the students taking the tests had declined over the years.
burt on July 3, 2009 at 6:56 PM
I wonder which BO desires more in this debate, tyrannical power or greatness? Both have global implications, but one would be achieved in a Lex Luthor fashion while the other would be the stuff of legends. In the 60’s, Kennedy said the goal of our collective technology is to have a man on the moon in 10 years – or something like that. Kennedy had a couple of advantages to help his Buck Rogers plan along. The Soviets were making their few successes in space launches and orbits public, and the US and Europe was scared to death of them. Kennedy reduced taxes to kick off his goal.
Yes, yes, NASA is for peaceful purposes but the technologies developed for it were quite handily transferrable to defensive and offensive machines. The growth of the defense industries forced growth in the electronics industries. The growth in the electronics industries is in my opinion just the sector of industry that has made our lives so much more efficient, productive and manageable of grander task loads and creature comforts. It was greatness on Kennedy’s part to raise the bar for a grand science-fiction goal so impossibly high that the ingenuity of the US made it happen.
Again we encounter a very grand science-fiction goal – ok, ok, it’s a flat out lie – of changing the climate of the planet by condemning the granular and molecular essence of our existence. What new technology does BO imagine may emerge and serve society while increasing our offensive and defensive strengths, and make our lives yet more efficient, productive and manageable? I’m not saying that we are at a technological lull and couldn’t use a good inspiring push – I’m saying I doubt that tackling Global Climate Change is as suitably inspirational as Kennedy’s man – moon challenge turned out to be.
If we reposition our policies on domestic energy mining and production, we don’t have to import oil and we sure as yesterday is behind us don’t need to give our excesses away. Scrubbing pollutants at their sources is much more efficient and much less expensive, on the whole, than abandoning the energy production that is currently the backbone of our existence. All the stuff to generate clean electricity has been around since Michael Faraday invented the electric generator. The generation of green electricity is empirically less efficient and has impossible returns on investment to justify the expense involved in declaring a war on carbon – our molecular essence – without the technology to properly replace it. Perpetual motion can only exist in the outer space, and receiving more energy output over fuel input is atomic technology – noted for any that may suggest otherwise.
My bet is he is on a tyrannical bent. We usually didn’t discover Lex Luthor’s worldly and tyrannical intentions until the last few pages of the comic, and then all that while all his contraptions were exploding and burning out of control thanks to the kind-hearted intervention of a beloved superhero. So, I suppose we’ll see a lot of devastations before our superhero emerges.
ericdijon on July 3, 2009 at 7:47 PM
When the Fuhrer speaks, His words become FACT. Just ask any Obamabot.
GarandFan on July 3, 2009 at 9:07 PM
They cannot even predict the weather past two weeks. Conservatives are for environment also, but democrats have made business out of advocacy so they have to make up science to support their business adventure. Most programs democrats and liberals have come up with do nothing for the environment except redistribute wealth. I remember the environment in 1970s and it is 1000% better now. Sound environmental policy is great, but liberals have prostituted it for political and monetary purposes. We need to frame the arguments so that the liberals don’t make us look anti-environmental.
Ed Laskie on July 4, 2009 at 7:51 AM
And, according to the infallible One, the sun has absolutely no effect upon the climate: it’s all your cows, automobiles, hair spray, and your nasty habit of exhaling!
Off to re-education camp!!! (Leave your wallet here with us…for…uh…safekeeping!! Yeah, that’s it, safekeeping!)
/sarc>
landlines on July 4, 2009 at 11:14 AM
Where did you get that “after” photo of the one? Like the double chin but the mangy hair sets it off. Next best laugh after reading the LA Times news. If fake, I nominate it for Photoshop of the Year.
Flying 50 Stars
Caststeel on July 4, 2009 at 5:27 PM
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