As begun in FOIA Facts 1, Ed Wegman and Rep. Joe Barton repeatedly called the Wegman Report "pro bono"* but Wegman and Said later claimed it as work done for existing Federal grants paid quarterly. In response to Dan Vergano FOIA request Wegman and Said each said the work was pro bono, years after claiming for credit it and much...
read moreHeartland Institute and puzzling "genius" throw down Gore debate gaunlet
Heartland Institute and puzzling "genius" throw down Gore debate gaunlet

Just when you think the global warming denial lobby couldn't get any stranger and desperate, well... they go and get stranger and more desperate. Christopher Monckton, who is the Viscount of Brenchley, but is better known as a puzzlemaker, has teamed up with the oil-industry darling Heartland Institute in challenging former Vice President Al Gore to a global warming debate.
An advertisement pronouncing "Challenge debate: global warming is not a crisis" appeared in today's Washington Post, according to a press release sent out last night by the Heartland Institute.
No doubt Gore will ignore this "challenge" by Monckton. As Gore well knows, it is not a debate that a denier like Monckton wants, it is only the appearance of a debate that he requires in order to create doubt about the realities of global warming in the public's mind.
In fact, by even the mere act of challenging Gore to a debate in a highly publicized way will no doubt add a little fertilizer to the seed of global warming doubt.
- Kevin Grandia's blog
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Comments
In other words, Gore is afraid to debate
Hardly. The "seeds of Global Warming doubt" have already existed -- as they should. However, it is people like Gore or Suzuki's fear and avoidance of any debate which will cause these "seeds" to to blossom in to full-blown, healthy skepticism.
Of course Global Warming cultists don't want an open and honest debate -- for the same reasons Jerry Falwell won't participate in a debate over whether God exists -- they demand we accept their claims with unquestioning faith.
Please tell m
I really hate to ask the same question over and over, but tell me where is the debate?
And please keep in mind that Suzuki and Gore are not asking for faith, they are presenting the science.... it is those that deny the reality of global warming and its consequences that are asking us for faith because their claims are baseless and without any weight of scientific evidence.
?
You mean the debate which Gore is afraid to have? I suppose it's location would be decided between the participants, should Gore ever grow a pair. I don't expect that will happen any time soon, as honest debate doesn't seem to be his oeuvre.
"And please keep in mind that Suzuki and Gore are not asking for faith, they are presenting the science.... "
... or at any rate, their own version of it. But I agree, Gore and Suzuki aren't asking for faith -- rather, they seem to petulantly demand it.
"it is those that deny the reality of global warming and its consequences that are asking us for faith because their claims are baseless and without any weight of scientific evidence."
Nice straw-man argument. Nobody said any such thing in the challenge. The proposition for debate is: Global Warming is Not a Crisis. Nowhere is it suggested by that simple wording that a) Global Warming is not real, or that b) there may or may not be "consequences".
And with all your claimed evidence, then you would think it would be easy for Gore to win such a debate. Apparently Gore doesn't seem to think so, and chooses to run away.
Not at all
Whether Gore has "a pair" is not the issue, he is smart enough to know that this proposal by the Heartland is nothing more than an attempt to create the appearance of a scientific debate where one does not exist. With all the evidence, why debate? What's debatable?
Smart? Or just crafty?
"he is smart enough to know that this proposal by the Heartland is nothing more than an attempt to create the appearance of a scientific debate where one does not exist."
Of course no debate exists, since Gore keeps running away from any debate. Gore is not being challenged to a "scientific" debate, since he is not a scientist of any sort. The proposition, again, is "Global Warming Is Not a Crisis".
Since the proposition is a political question, one would think Gore, a lawyer and politician, should be emminently qualified to defend his position. So why doesn't he?
"With all the evidence, why debate?"
If Gore has "all the evidence", then he would certainly win the debate. He has nothing to lose -- unless of course he doesn't have "all the evidence"?
"What's debatable?"
To repeat the challenge in the ad -- before you photoshopped it to misrepresent it --
"Global Warming Is Not a Crisis".
That's what's debatable.
So why the continued evasion?
Pathetic excuse for a sock puppet
Tried and True Tactic
Losing a verbal exchange?
It Should Be Public
The IPCC reports are public.
Scientists should be very wary of "public" debates. In a one on one (or as recently, a three on three) debate the participants who are prepared to distort the truth and respond quickly (rather than accurately) usually win over an un-educated audience. A true scientist considers his response carefully before uttering it whereas the pseudo-scientist has a whole list of carefully rehearsed and not necessarily accurate responses. The audience marvels at his skill and repartee and fails to grasp that what he is saying is not entirely correct. Showmanship wins over substance every time in these debates. The correct forum for scientific debate is the peer reviewed scientific literature.
This is not to say that the climate scientists should not be seeking more public platforms, just that staged public debates are not the right way.
Ian Forrester
Gore Is Not a Scientist
John, I'm sick of your lack
John, I'm sick of your lack of comprehension and that you seem to puff yourself up as some sort of authority figure. You seem to attack Gore in order to make it seem like you are better than Gore or more of an authority on climate change than he is.
Gore is simply echoing what the scientists (i.e. the IPCC and Dr. Hansen) have been saying for 15 years and 19 years respectively. He is only representing the state of the science in a way that the general public can understand and is cutting through the think-tank and policy wonk gobbledygook to give us all a thorough synopsis of climate change. He never claimed to be a scientist. However, he is a defender of real science and attacks the pseudo-science spewed out by the NRSP, FOS, Heartland Institute, Marshall Institute, FCPP, and others about climate change.
Get the facts
Jon, there is nothing
Jon, there is nothing factual at all about your posts on this thread. You have the FOX News perspective, unfair and unbalanced, and spew out the same industry-fed PR crap which has been refuted time and time again by actual scientists.
Oh, and there's no debate. AGW is happening and nothing anyone says against it can pass any peer-reviewed test.
You also said something absolutely ridiculous:
"Fear mongering is right when Republicans (which they are accused of) do it with regards to terrorism and its not right for Democrats like Gore to do it with respect to the environment."
The Pentagon said climate change is the US's number one national security issue for the 21st Century. These aren't some left-wing "extremists" or "alarmists".
Also, saying the Republicans are right to fearmonger while the Democrats are wrong to fearmonger shows your lack of balance and objectivity.
Reality Or Hyperbole?
Really? Why would it? You'd think with all the alleged and often refered-to "overwhelming consensus" and "evidence", Gore would completely bury any debating opponent?
Maybe the impression isn't so false after all?
I guess all these evasions serve to demonstrate just how much confidence you Global Warming enthusiasts really have in your own "evidence". Not enough to withstand an honest debate, it seems.
Lets be fair here. Everyone
Sorry; the authors Singer
Sorry; the authors Singer and Avery are corporate shills. Not a good source of information.
Here's a real scientist refuting their arguments.
Do you realize how stupid it looks when you accuse other people of making assertions based on emotion? Your own assertions are nonsense.
Sorry Avery and Singer are corporate shills?
It doesn't matter if Avery and Singer are funded by oil. Prove to me that the SCIENCE in their book is wrong. If theur science is right it doesn't matter where they get their money.
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John Dowell, you wrote this
John Dowell, you wrote this in one of the posts above: "Not even the IPCC makes the kind of wild assertions made by Gore." Here's your chance to debate. Give us details on a "wild claim" made by Gore, what he said and where, wherein it differs from the IPCC, and why you consider it to be a "wild claim".
This is your chance to face a public debate.
Gore and ignoring
-
Ignoring challenges from someone as well-publicized as Monckton is not a viable response. Everyone on our side deserves better leadership than Gore (and DeSmogBlog) are giving us.
Click here for previous discussion.Monckton Already Did It
Lord Monckton has already done the comparisons. Here they are:
"Gore showed heart-rending pictures of the New Orleans floods and insisted on a link between increased hurricane frequency and global warming that has no basis in scientific fact (IPCC, 2001, 2007).
Gore said global sea levels would swamp Manhattan, Bangladesh, Shanghai and other coastal cities, and would rise 20ft by 2100, but the UN estimate is just 8in to 1ft 5in. (IPCC, 2007; Morner, 1995, 2004).
Any claim that seems to have been pulled from thin air, as Gore's do, can be called "wild".
Wrong again John
John, are you just careless or are you deliberately distorting the truth?
Gore never said that sea levels would rise by 20 feet by 2100. Please re-read what he said and report back with the truth.
Ian Forrester
Wrong, Ian
Gore said that we should worry about sea levels rising by 20ft which implies that it would happen in the forseable future.(next 200 years) If it were to happen in the unforeseable future ex. next 1000 years I would'nt be worrying about it, and if I would be then everybody should be pissing their pants because the next ice age is due.
Science has debunked
Gore and ignoring
No answer
Just to comment on the one
Just to comment on the one article, in regards to Greenlands ice sheet, the method used and the one you use to show growth of greenlands icesheet was with radar. However, newer more accurate technology in the form of the NASA GRACE program shows a decrease in total ice mass from the greenland ice cap.
Recent Greenland Ice Mass Loss by Drainage System from Satellite Gravity Observations
S. B. Luthcke,1* H. J. Zwally,2 W. Abdalati,2 D. D. Rowlands,1 R. D. Ray,1 R. S. Nerem,3 F. G. Lemoine,1 J. J. McCarthy,4 D. S. Chinn4
Mass changes of the Greenland Ice Sheet resolved by drainage system regions were derived from a local mass concentration analysis of NASA–Deutsches Zentrum für Luftund Raumfahrt Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE mission) observations. From 2003 to 2005, the ice sheet lost 101 ± 16 gigaton/year, with a gain of 54 gigaton/year above 2000 meters and a loss of 155 gigaton/year at lower elevations. The lower elevations show a large seasonal cycle, with mass losses during summer melting followed by gains from fall through spring. The overall rate of loss reflects a considerable change in trend (–113 ± 17 gigaton/year) from a near balance during the 1990s but is smaller than some other recent estimates.
In addition the paper you refer to, Journal of Glaciology, December 2005, the lead author is J. Zwally, is the second author on the more recent GRACE program publication. Where as they state
"In the 1990's the ice was very close to balance with gains at about the same level as losses. That situation has now changed significantly, with an annual net loss of ice equal to nearly six years of average water flow from the Colorado River."
Meaning the research you are using to justify the no change in greenland icesheet is old data and need to be updated.
Your data is old
Kindly provide evidence for
Kindly provide evidence for this statement: "It is true that for a very brief period around 2005 Greenland's ice sheet lost mass. The brief period of ice loss has since ended."
What scientific study states that the period of ice loss has ended? I find this claim hard to believe since you say it ended two years or less ago, which hardly allows anyone to decide if there is a trend up or down since then.
Why do you make this nonsense up?
Do you make this stuff up or do you have a subscription to an organization that makes up any data you ask for?
The paper you discussed about glaciers expanding in the Himalayas is typical of the distortion of facts that you and your organization are responsible for on a daily basis.
Since you do not cite authors or any useful information (except the journal) I cannot find the paper you refer to. However, I did find this article by Fowler (University of Newcastle) and Archer that presents data on glaciers in that area of the world.
“Conflicting Signals of Climatic Change in the Upper Indus Basin”, Journal of Climate, vol. 19, 4276-4293, September 2006.
It can be accessed at:
http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/h.j.fowler/fowler&archer_JC2006.pdf
They report that a small number of glaciers in the Karakoram and Hindu Kush Mountains of the Upper Indus Basin are thickening and expanding. However, this is not the normal for the Himalayas or elsewhere on the globe. Here is a quote from their paper:
“The observed downward trend in summer temperature and runoff is consistent with the
observed thickening and expansion of Karakoram glaciers, in contrast to widespread decay and retreat in the eastern Himalayas”.
Cherry picking and quote mining are all you people are able to do in your feeble efforts to distort the science. You take a finding from a small area and then make the statement that it is occurring over much larger areas. That is scientific fraud.
It is significant that you do not provide accurate quotes of references, no doubt to ensure that scientists cannot follow up and see if you are correct or not. I think it is safe to say that 99% of what you say is utter nonsense and should be completely disregarded by anyone looking for factual information.
Ian Forrester
Replying
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqne
VJ i'll answer that one!
Prove it.
Polar Bears
So where's your proof?
Whoever said the debate is
Whoever said the debate is closed ?
Apparently Al-Gore cannot defend his inaccurate "heuristic 'Al-Gor[e](ithms)' on global-warming". Period.
Polar Bear Myth
Jon,
Any fool can make unsubstantiated claims!
Such as:
“The Earth is flat!”
“The moon is made of cheese!”
“global warming is a myth!”
Quote [your spelling retained]
Just ask the Candadians. Their number are growing in Canada. Polar Bear population has been steadily growing for the past decade.
End quote
Show us your scientific evidence for your claim that “Polar Bear population has been steadily growing for the past decade”!
SHAM DEBATE
It is perfectly clear that the astute Gore realises that Deniers with a political agenda like Monckton will never concede defeat just because of inconvenient minor details like overwhelming scientific evidence revealing the bankruptcy of his arguments.
Gore recognises the only purpose of such a sham debate, is to provide ExxonMobil's propaganda with the oxygen of publicity by providing the media with headlines which is precisely what Monckton and his parasitic ilk seek, knowing that is all that most people will ever read.
Why can't the media such as the UK's Telegraph newspaper, stop publishing Monckton's execrable scrawlings?
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