NASA Scientist James Hansen on a Roll!

Just when I think I can get back to writing humor, James Hanes has to fire out another email on his Columbia University blog of sorts. The head of the prestigious NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS), is an irate blogger? Well, he is not really a blogger. A blogger makes posts on a blog; Hansen links to emails he sends to whom ever he thinks really cares.

His latest is in response to the minor error his agency made that has no impact on anything that the whole skeptical world is blowing out of proportion. His minor error, er... his agency's minor error, is meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Anthropogenic Global warming is a proven fact; the science is settled so there can be no honest debate. Any debate over such a minor point has to be due to the captains of industry. Or was that reference to captdallas2? No, it had to be the captains of industry because I am meaningless in the whole debate.

So what are the high points of Dr. Hansen's latest email?

"The real deal is this: the 'royalty' controlling the court, the ones with the power, the ones with the ability to make a difference, with the ability to change our course, the ones who will live in infamy if we pass the tipping points, are the captains of industry, CEOs in fossil fuel companies such as EXXON/Mobil, automobile manufacturers, utilities, all of the leaders who have placed short-term profit above the fate of the planet and the well being of our children. The court jesters are their jesters, occasionally paid for services, and more substantively supported by the captain's disinformation campaigns."

He continued for longer than I care to type so check the whole email at "The Real Deal: Usufruct & the Gorilla" (http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/realdeal.16aug20074.pdf). He goes on to mention that the error made only was only about 0.15 degrees and only in 2000 and after. Those that can remember or ever really cared know that the great hockey stick debate centered around the year 2000 and beyond. When the hockey stick chart predicted an exponential increase in temperatures in the future it was news. That exponential increase predicted was roughly 0.35 degrees if I read the charts correctly. Then it is hard to find the correct chart to read with the changes.

Dr. Hansen seems to have no problem announcing that this is the warmest year in history, but he takes a cue from the New York Times on printing retractions, bury them. Of course any questioning of the accuracy of his work is a conspiracy of big oil and big conservative government.

Given that the US is only 2% of the area of the globe, the point is moot. Africa, which surely has more accurate temperature records than the US is also a minor percentage of the globe. Heck everyone knows that the oceans are 70% plus of the global surface, so there is no chance to win that argument.

The odd thing is that Dr. Hansen does not understand that there are billions of people that are not scientists or captains of industry or celebrities that just want to know, "what's up"? Why does he email the New York Times with favored press releases? Why does he not use the NASA GISS site to post news or at least something other than what he does use? To paraphrase Al Franken, "Only James' butt buddies know".

I don't want to sway anyone's opinion, but I would love to get more people involved in making their own decisions. Read the latest email from James Hansen and dig a little deeper than Oscar winning films. There are plenty of things we can all do to improve our planet without breaking the bank or calling anyone that disagrees an idiot.

Oh, and Dr Hansen, as the head of GISS, a part of NASA, could you please be professional enough to make proper press releases? It is becoming difficult to tell if you are ranting personally or as a representative of a government agency.

This artical was submitted for non-payment. The views expressed are not endorsed by Associated Content. The author is solely responsible for thinking that a gag order should be imposed on Dr. Hansen's emails without review of superiors at NASA.