The Dangers of Goverment Supported Research Pushing Policy Decisions
Posted: Monday, November 30, 2009
by Richard Vail
Chisel & Plane
In 1961, Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States warned in his farewell speech not to trust the "military-industrial complex." That's well known phrase often quoted by the Left when criticising Defense Budgets. What is far less known is a quote warning against Government support of scientific research. Eisenhower said, "The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present -- and is gravely to be regarded. Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite." {emphasis mine, ed.}
To me, this means that we must not allow public policy to be driven solely by the research/studies of a limited number of scientists whose support comes almost soley from the Government itself. The wisdom of the only recently has become apparent, as this has come to pass with AGW or as it is more commonly refered to "climate change. Our government is proposing to raise a staggering amount of money through "Cap & Trade" of carbon "credits" through direct taxation, as well as indirect forms of "revenue" (fines and fees). This will have a tremendous impact upon our society, not to mention our civilization, because literally, just about everything will rise steeply in price. Evidently the desire to do this is to match the more sluggish, and sustained high unemployment economies that are the norm in Europe.
When you throw in the prospect of a Value Added Tax; which Mrs. Pelosi, as Speaker of the House has said will be considered for passage next spring; on pretty much everything you can easily predict what will happen to our depressed economy: We as a country, as well as the rest of the world, excepting India & China (who flat out refuse to be a party to economic suicide), will spiral into a prolonged and deep economic pit that will take decades to recover from. One that will make the "Great Depression of the late 1920's and 1930's look like a short-term blip in the economic road.
Fortunately, a whistle-blower at the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, who identified himself on a Russian based website as "FOI" (it's pretty much now accepted that the 64 MB file dump wasn't done by a hacker) may very well have single handedly headed off western civilization's economic self-destruction. Because depending upon "settled" science that is anything but settled is beyond stupid and enters the realm of imbecility.
The implications that have been revealed by the emails that have now gone viral all across the net is mind blowing. A handful off researchers have warped the "peer review process" beyond belief. Having scientific papers "reviewed" by other climatologist who have authored papers with those who are presenting articles/research for publication is a conflict of interest of the highest sort. Oddly enough, many of the scientists who work at these various places, have at one time or another, have coauthored papers with one another that "validate" the science of AGW. When you consider that nearly all present research is based upon studies that have apparently been altered to fit a predetermined goals, and a political agenda, upon which ALL of the various laws that are proposed or have been enacted for capping and trading of carbon emissions have been based is...disconcerting to say the least. In addition to the above, they have labored to get editors at publicantions that they had previosly considered to be "friendly," and whom they view unfavorably fired from journals for publishing papers that were critical of the cabal's positions.
As the late Billy May would say, "but wait, there's more"...the icing on the cake are emails from the climatologists associated with the CRU to researchers around the globe urging them to delete emails and data that might come under the purview of Freedom of Information Act requests, both in the UK as well as the US. Then according to UEA, the CRU's basic untainted data, was recently accidentally "lost", and all that remains is the "massaged/altered" data. When you add that the New Zealand government's official climate agency NIWA appears to have altered data that pertains to historical temperatures within New Zealand by artificially raising tempuratures...as well as issues with France's database that looks to have been manipulated upward as well. Furthermore, just a few weeks ago, NASA, through their climate agency located at the Goddard facility in Maryland, altered their data base to reflect temperatures that were lower than "originally" reported.
Now, Mr. Obama is preparing to head to Copenhagen, Denmark for the United Nations Climate Change Conference hosted by the Danes on behalf of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to present a plan wherein the United States will reduce it's carbon emissions by 17%. Factor in China (who surpassed the US this year as the single largest producer of CO2) and India's (who will pass the US in production of CO2 next spring) refusal to be bound by any agreements along with the inability of Europe to remain anywhere near those goals they set for themselves and any possible agreement that could come from Copenhagen, based upon the CRU's tainted data...is a travesty and utterly ridiculous as well as economic suicide.
Fortunately, a whistle-blower at the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, who identified himself on a Russian based website as "FOI" (it's pretty much now accepted that the 64 MB file dump wasn't done by a hacker) may very well have single handedly headed off western civilization's economic self-destruction. Because depending upon "settled" science that is anything but settled is beyond stupid and enters the realm of imbecility.
The implications that have been revealed by the emails that have now gone viral all across the net is mind blowing. A handful off researchers have warped the "peer review process" beyond belief. Having scientific papers "reviewed" by other climatologist who have authored papers with those who are presenting articles/research for publication is a conflict of interest of the highest sort. Oddly enough, many of the scientists who work at these various places, have at one time or another, have coauthored papers with one another that "validate" the science of AGW. When you consider that nearly all present research is based upon studies that have apparently been altered to fit a predetermined goals, and a political agenda, upon which ALL of the various laws that are proposed or have been enacted for capping and trading of carbon emissions have been based is...disconcerting to say the least. In addition to the above, they have labored to get editors at publicantions that they had previosly considered to be "friendly," and whom they view unfavorably fired from journals for publishing papers that were critical of the cabal's positions.
As the late Billy May would say, "but wait, there's more"...the icing on the cake are emails from the climatologists associated with the CRU to researchers around the globe urging them to delete emails and data that might come under the purview of Freedom of Information Act requests, both in the UK as well as the US. Then according to UEA, the CRU's basic untainted data, was recently accidentally "lost", and all that remains is the "massaged/altered" data. When you add that the New Zealand government's official climate agency NIWA appears to have altered data that pertains to historical temperatures within New Zealand by artificially raising tempuratures...as well as issues with France's database that looks to have been manipulated upward as well. Furthermore, just a few weeks ago, NASA, through their climate agency located at the Goddard facility in Maryland, altered their data base to reflect temperatures that were lower than "originally" reported.
Now, Mr. Obama is preparing to head to Copenhagen, Denmark for the United Nations Climate Change Conference hosted by the Danes on behalf of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to present a plan wherein the United States will reduce it's carbon emissions by 17%. Factor in China (who surpassed the US this year as the single largest producer of CO2) and India's (who will pass the US in production of CO2 next spring) refusal to be bound by any agreements along with the inability of Europe to remain anywhere near those goals they set for themselves and any possible agreement that could come from Copenhagen, based upon the CRU's tainted data...is a travesty and utterly ridiculous as well as economic suicide.
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More commentsThis is really a good article. Hope to read more articles from you. =)If you'd like to do so...take a look at my blog, on blogspot. It's called thevailspot and if you google or use bing, you should be able to find it. Thanks for coming by.
Great thought provoking article, you bring up many good points. It is truly frightening the state our economy is in right now, especially for the reason that the people we as Americans trust to "keep us safe" are the ones behind the wheel of this car wreck. Personally, as a Califonian, I have watched San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis make hasty and selfish decisions that have not only been detrimental to her fellow San Diegan's, but all of Califonia as well. (please note, this is coming from a slight insider prospective, as I am a part of a very politically involved family)Countless times, Bonnie Dumanis has maliciously gone after propositions that would, if passed, all but solve the economic crisis currently being experienced in California, choosing instead to spending tax payers money to help reinforce her twisted beliefs. California Judges are being forced to take furlough days, thousands of court clerks are being laid off, Judges will soon be sharing courtrooms with 2-3 other judges, these are a few among many other budget cuts. Do I personally care about whether or not a judge doesn't get his own court room? Not really. But when there is a solution to a problem right in front of your eyes and you see someone actively fighting against it, it really makes you wonder how far these disgusting politicians will take their personal agendas. For more information on bonnie dumanis' own "economic suicide", just do a google search for bonnie dumanis operation green rx, look at the projected amount of money that could be made compared with the defecit she has caused trying to fight it in regards to prop 215wow-I knew things were bad in CA, but not that bad...it might be time for the people of your state to either start making significant cuts in spending or seriously raise taxes...it's an eithe or proposition there.thanks for coming by.
It's obvious a lot of thought has gone into this article. I would have enjoyed it more if it was written in simpler terms. It was a bit over my head.Joshua, thanks for stopping by. I tend to write...just like I speak. So if I sound a little like a "blow-hard" you have my appologies.
Richard, thank you for writing this article on this very important topic. I like you introductory paragraphs quoting past presidents and emphasizing a fundamental flaw in government sponsored scientific research. Perhaps the same logic applies to public school curriculum. If the government pays for the education, hasn't the government been indoctrinating students about flawed climate change research?Certainly, that''s one of the reasons I am no longer teaching...I couldn't teach that socialism/statism is the wave of the future.
My husband and I saw the movie on Global warming and my husband who is a chemist told me that the facts had been skewed. He was telling me how easy it is to make up your own flow charts. Not long after that (I wish I could remember their names), some of the scientists even said that their statements had been skewed. That took place long before the e mail leaks.The government is now our biggest employer in the US. Shame on us (we the people) if we vote these people back into office and continue to allow their total disregard for the American people.Great article,Linda DI think that it's not just time to vote ALL da bums out starting with the politicians...but we need to seriously overhaul the way our government works...eliminate Depts of Education, Commerce, either HUD or HHS (overlapping Depts) and Homeland Security (that's what I thtought the Dept of Defense was for)...end the "jobs" programs that masquerade as departments and don't really do anything except give people work...With the money saved from those departments, we could do any number of more useful things like pay down the debt, as well as giving very generous block grants to the states...who are far more efficient at using funds any way. If government could be efficient that is.Pay down the debt??? I do not believe da bums understand that concept.
Richard,Well said! What amazes me are the number of people who continue to accept the skewing of the numbers. I don't understand their blindness to this whole matter. Sadly, when it gets as bad as has been predicted and our economy suffers because of Cap and Trade, the country will still try to blame it all on Bush.Nancy, you just have understand that Geo. Bush is the ROOT of all bad things, he is the fount of all evil in the world...once you come to understand this, it just sort of falls into place...it explains the media hatred of any view point other than their own, as well as their shrieking fit of Sarah Palin, after all, how could she even consider running for VP...she didn't go to an elite ivy league school and just doensn't know all the right people...I hope you realize that this is all tongue in cheek...These scientists have manipulated data and refused to publish it so that others may replicate their results, which leads me to believe that not only can they NOT replicate their own results,, but they never could.
The people must always be vigilant when it comes to the government no matter which party is in power. Good commentary.Indeed, that's is the job of a free press, but ours seems to have thrown it's lot in with the administration.
The very idea that our government would be less than sincere and forthcoming is just beyond my belief!(sarcastic wry smile)
Thank you for giving objective info. I personally believe that all is not well with the clmate change frenzy.I agree...now, the Saudi's have thrown their considerable financial weight against anything agreement in Copenhagen.
Probably it is more that it is not my personal choice for reading that I didn't give better ratings.
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