Defects in key climate data are uncovered (published BEFORE hacked emails)

I'm posting this article in its entirety as published in the National Post, dated October 1, 2009 by Ross McKitrick, a professor of environmental economics at the University of Guelph.  Also note that this was over a month before the Mann et al. emails were hacked.

Ross McKitrick: Defects in key climate data are uncovered

Posted: October 01, 2009, 9:03 PM by NP Editor

climate change, hockey stick, Ross McKitrick

Only by playing with data can scientists come up with the infamous ‘hockey stick’ graph of global warming

By Ross McKitrick

B
eginning in 2003, I worked with Stephen McIntyre to replicate a famous result in paleoclimatology known as the Hockey Stick graph. Developed by a U.S. climatologist named Michael Mann, it was a statistical compilation of tree ring data supposedly proving that air temperatures had been stable for 900 years, then soared off the charts in the 20th century. Prior to the publication of the Hockey Stick, scientists had held that the medieval-era was warmer than the present, making the scale of 20th century global warming seem relatively unimportant. The dramatic revision to this view occasioned by the Hockey Stick’s publication made it the poster child of the global warming movement. It was featured prominently in a 2001 report of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), as well as government websites and countless review reports.

Climate Change Fraud: When Science is Subverted by Idealism

From Steve Janke at "Angry In The Great White North", this is one of the most politically enlightening blog posts I have ever read. Enjoy!

Climate Change Fraud: When Science is Subverted by Idealism

"A proper scientist does not believe in man-made global warming. It is a theory that may or may not be supported by evidence. If not, it is rejected. It is as simple as that."

Why Liberals love China

Ezra tells it like it is.

PowerCorp again.  Guess who else has sat on the board?  Maurice Strong (Kofi Annan's and Paul Martin's buddy).  Bob Rae et al.  That's the company that's supposedly been running the country from behind the scenes for the past long while. If there's been any party in Canada that has been in the pocket of big business, it's the Liberals.

Global Warming Conspiracy

There has been a recent leak by a hacker into a Russian FTP site exposing the so-called leading climate scientists and their man-made global warming theory.

The most notable name is Michael E. Mann, one of the leading people behind the infamous IPCC (UN) carbon-temperature hockey stick graph.

Seriously folks, this is real and unbelievable. Well, I had a feeling about it all along, ever since Maurice Strong has been involved.

Read it all here.

Rappin Rasputin...

By-Elections

Hatrock here, reporting live from Kansas... but on last night's Canadian federal by-elections.

Well, the Conservative won 2 out of 4 federal by-elections with the NDP and Bloc taking the other two. Liberals? Nil.

But the only surprise was the Conservatives taking Montmagny-L'Islet-Kamouraska-Rivière-du-Loup (Quebec) beating out the Bloc. It was no surprise that they took former Conservative MP Bill Casey's riding being that they've held that Nova Scotia riding for the most part since the beginning of time.

The Liberals have sent out a release basically saying that this was a referendum on the government and because the Conservatives didn't take all four ridings that this was bad for the Conservatives. Is this a joke? Does anyone take what the Liberals say seriously anymore? Do Liberals?

Anyway, the Conservatives have gained two seats bringing their seat total to 145 which means they only need 9 votes from the opposition to pass bills (as the speaker traditionally votes with the gov't in the case of a tie).

Southpark Alliance

Danielle Smith, leader, Wildrose Alliance Party

whose now polling higher in Calgary than this guy's party ...

	Alberta	Calgary	Edmonton	Rural
PC	34	30	33	38
WA	30	34	17	32
Lib	20	20	27	15
ND	9	8	13	n/a

The Environics survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 95 times out of 100. In the regional breakdowns, the margin of error is 6.2 percentage points in the major cities and 5.6 for elsewhere.

Liberals cry wolf ... again

With their low poll numbers, these friggin' Liberals look desperate making up scandals where there aren't any.

With H1N1, they blame the Conservatives for not doing a good job in getting the vaccine out there and being secretive with the pharmaceutical company but the contract with them was signed under Chretien's Liberal gov't in the first place.

So now they've been called out on it, they come up with another really pathetic attempt of a non-scandal.

As the Olympic Torch makes its way to Vancouver for the start of next year's games, there will be more torch relay ceremonies held in Conservative ridings than in the ridings of opposition members.

CTV News has obtained a list that shows that torch relay ceremonies will be held in 91 Conservative ridings, compared to 20 Liberal ridings and 17 ridings for both the NDP and Bloc Quebecois.

"It is absolutely shameful to politicize and to make partisan something such as (the) Olympics," Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh told CTV.

However, both the federal government and the head of the Vancouver Olympics organizing committee (VANOC) say that there is no plan in place to keep the torch out of opposition ridings.

"This is not political, this is what I'm stressing," Minister of State for Sport Gary Lunn said Wednesday, hours before sending a letter to all opposition MPs, assuring them that they could take part in torch events even if they are being held in Conservative ridings.

The head of VANOC also denies any Conservative involvement.

"At no time did anybody in any government, or any political party offer one iota of counsel or influence about that," John Furlong said.

"We did our jobs the way we should have done them."

This is their strategy though... they're trying continually to smear the gov't of Action-Plan pork in mostly Conservative ridings, and an inability to deal with the swine-flu, but all they come up with is B.S. on all counts and waste your money in doing so, instead of holding the gov't properly accountable, opposing where it's necessary, and offering alternative solutions.

And Canadians knows the Liberals have NO credibility on anything when EVERYONE still knows about the ultimate kick-back scheme they played. It's why their poll numbers are so darn low.





h/t The Raging Tory

Long Gun Done Gone

At tonight's vote in the House of Commons, the Canadian government's long-gun registry program, could see its demise.

Introduced by a Conservative MP as a private-member's bill, the proposal has the support of up to 8 opposition MPs, making it 143 (Conservative MPs) + 8 (opposition MPs) = 151. Four more votes are required, but if everyone doesn't show up on the opposition benches, then it could pass, and the long-gun registry would be fini. All of the Bloc MPs are voting against it.

Apparently it was introduced as a private member's bill because the Conservatives knew that the Liberals and NDP, by tradition, would have a free vote on the issue.

Keep in mind, this is on long-guns and not hand-guns. I can't stand getting into the whole gun control debate. This issue has seen innocent farmers jailed for no bloody reason other than keeping a novelty rifle in a display locker.

This law has flown in the face of property rights (which we still don't have in Canada, by the way).

Despite that, I don't like guns. I don't like hunting. They're only used for killing and I don't like killing (yeah, I eat meat, but let's not go down there, k? ..lol..) If a criminal was going to get a rifle or shotgun, do you think he's going to buy and register it in the first place?

And even despite all that, what the implementation of the registry showed was that it was overblown in costs and inefficiencies ($2 billion!!!), proving once again that gov't bureaucracy just plain sucks.

So scrapping this registry was long overdue.

Read more here.

UPDATE:

Just as I published my post, I received word that the bill to scrap the long-gun registry was APPROVED in the House of Commons by a vote of 164-137.

About our Monarchy

As Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall set to arrive in Canada for a cross-country tour, their arrival triggers the discussion amongst Canadians of why we should or should not have a monarchy.

While in Britain, Michael Ignatieff wrote an article back in 1992 (h/t Stephen Taylor) after Prince Charles and Princess Diana called it quits.

"For the choice the British face is between clinging to an institution which has had its day or affirming what their history has always taught, which is that “We, the people” and not the crown are the source of all power and authority in this island."

From it, you can tell obviously he prefers a republican-style constitution, in Britain, nonetheless. Can we transfer that opinion over to his belief of a Canadian republic? Absolutely!

Two things to note here about Ignatieff:

1) He comes from a line of Russian nobility himself, whether he feels was a legitimate rule, I'm not sure.

2) He returned to Canada for one reason only and that was to try and become prime minister of a country he's been away from for 34 years, and was eventaully "annointed" Liberal leader, not even being duly elected in contested leadership race.

Whatever contradictions you wish to make from that, by all means.

Many Canadians believe we should try and go it alone as a republic. I have thought long and hard about this for many years, but with the recent constitutional squabbles in our parliament, my belief in a Canadian monarchy grows stronger.

Why?

I had to remind a fellow Canadian living abroad that the Queen of Canada is Queen Elizabeth II. SHE is the Head of State of Canada, not the Governor General (GG).

If there happened to be a constitutional conflict between the GG and parliament (as represented by the Prime Minister), who would make the ultimate call? What if our government and parliament became so corrupt (as what just happened with Turks and Caicos) that the people demanded an immediate end to this?

Do I see it becoming so bad that we'd have to resort to the British government having to take over? The point is not whether it will happen, but that it COULD happen.

We are still a young country. Having the British monarchy reminds us of WHY and HOW we became the country we are. It provides that needed stability in a time of constitutional crisis, where parliament is at a stand-still, and the GG goes against the will of the people, say by appointing an unpopular coalition government. What then? Anarchy? We don't know and I don't want to know.

Sure you may not care about who these British monarchy folks are. I'd go so far to say that I don't think Prince Charles is all that popular figure in Canada. I don't agree with some of his views on environmental policy (that he even has policy), or especially his divorce to Princess Diana. Their son, William, is popular though. I, for one, would prefer Charles abdicate and have his son on our money, if God forbid, our Queen should pass-on one day. That said, it isn't for me or you to decide. In fact, that's the whole point. Like our courts, the monarchy is an institution, and our judgment should not be based upon our personal feelings or how popular they are, because this isn't a popularity contest.

It's about having that stability in our country where the will of the people is NOT shared by parliamentarians nor the Queen's representative. Who then can have the ultimate non-partisan authority to represent all citizens and make the final call in a time of crisis.

While Michael Ignatieff appears to tout "will of the people", by his own unelected rise to the Liberal leadership, his own disdain of the institution of the monarchy in Britain and therefore Canada, wanting an election that Canadians didn't, and ultimately, by signing the letter to the Governor General on supporting a coalition government between the Liberals, NDP and Quebec separatists, I submit that Michael Ignatieff knows nothing about the "will of the people".