The politics of ‘trust us’ is wearing thin
We’ve reached a moment of truth for the climate-change debate, which is a good thing since “the truth” is what everyone has been screaming about all along.
Last week, someone released thousands of emails and other documents from the highly influential Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in England. I say “someone released” because it’s unclear whether the deed was done by an outside hacker, an inside whistleblower or someone else.
In any case, the contents are staggering.
Now on display are the scientists’ apparent attempts to manipulate climate data to fit their narrative of an ever warming planet. So, too, are their schemes to withhold and even delete documents sought under Freedom of Information laws, as well as to prevent contrarian researchers from publishing work in scientific journals and United Nations climate-change reports.
Then there’s the plainly incoherent climate data at the heart of their work, as described by the poor computer programmer tasked with compiling it in a database upon which governments around the world depend.
So far there have been no protests from the scientists or the university that any of the information was falsified, only laughably weak attempts to act as if none of it is terribly important.
Yet this episode obliterates the public credibility once enjoyed by these scientists. And these are not just any scientists: Their work has been integral to the reports of the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the related push for legal restrictions on carbon emissions. It is hard to imagine what they could do to re-earn such prominence and trust.
This new information is extremely timely, because next month the U.N. will meet in Copenhagen with hopes of drafting a climate-change treaty that would regulate trillions of dollars worth of global commerce.
Any new treaty would be based in no small way on the work of the scientists involved in the present scandal. The only responsible option is to postpone the Copenhagen agenda while this new information is digested.
Yet as critical as the climate-change debate’s outcome is to our future, this story has even broader significance than that. For it fits the running theme of 2009’s big news stories: truth versus “trust us.”
In the past year-plus, the politics of “trust us” has brought Americans bailouts for Wall Street and Detroit, a $787 billion stimulus bill, and health “reform” bills with cost estimates about which the estimators themselves are skeptical.
This is a partial list. The politics of “trust us” is wearing thin.
The trust deficit, if not the budget deficit, was supposed to be made whole once George Bush left office. Yet the Obama administration, rather than operating with the promised transparency, has been burning through public trust as fast as it’s been spending real currency.
The administration’s attempts to restore this trust keep falling flat. Look no further than the job-creation statistics the White House rolled out to show the stimulus was working. Journalists and bloggers doing basic fact-checking uncovered wild inflation in these figures, including hundreds of phony jobs in non-existent congressional districts.
The politics of “trust us” points to one of the most fundamental arguments for limited government. When government is involved in activities it can’t account for, it is too big.
Like the East Anglia crew, it doesn’t matter whether big government is intentionally deceptive or just incompetent. The result is the same: We just can’t trust it.
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256 comments Add your comment
Linda
November 29th, 2009
6:00 pm
Peter, I hate to tell you this but your home is full of carbon dioxide right now. Go to Home Depot & ask for a carbon dioxide detector. It’s slightly different from the carbon monoxide detector. Make sure you get the right one.
Did you take science in fifth grade?
Do you breathe?
Peter
November 29th, 2009
6:02 pm
Linda…….. I guess NASA is lying to us……..
The main human activities that contribute to global warming are the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) and the clearing of land. Most of the burning occurs in automobiles, in factories, and in electric power plants that provide energy for houses and office buildings. The burning of fossil fuels creates carbon dioxide, whose chemical formula is CO2. CO2 is a greenhouse gas that slows the escape of heat into space. Trees and other plants remove CO2 from the air during photosynthesis, the process they use to produce food. The clearing of land contributes to the buildup of CO2 by reducing the rate at which the gas is removed from the atmosphere or by the decomposition of dead vegetation.
http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/global_warming_worldbook.html
And of course CO2 is natural to the world………. Trees and plants need it to survive.
Peter
November 29th, 2009
6:05 pm
Hey Linda,
My house may have some CO2, but it is ALSO loaded with house plants…..making wonderful healthy Oxygen. I would bet you have lots of plants in your house as well !
Sunshine and Thunder
November 29th, 2009
6:12 pm
Global warming is a scam and people had already started figuring that out. That’s why the fanatics began calling it “climate change”. Now we have the smoking gun of what was almost a victory by the far left to destroy capitalism in the name of ecology. I’m hearing cap and trade was dead long before these soi-disant scientists blew themselves up.
Now we’re hearing that the emails are meaningless and that the science is correct regardless. Yeah, right. How many other scientific milestones were rigged games?
Not Going To Use My Usual Name
November 29th, 2009
6:16 pm
Sunshine and Thunder–how many other scientific milestones were rigged games?
Probably that Einstein fella… and CERTAINLY Darwin… and frankly, I suspect Copernicus and Galileo.
After all, anybody with a pair of eyes can see the sun revolves around the Earth. Anything else patently contradicts what I see every day. The sun gets up in the east and sets in the west, proving without a doubt that it’s revolving around Earth. Hallelujah, God made humanity the center of the universe!
Similarly, I haven’t personally experienced ANYTHING remotely like what these scientists are claiming. Global warming… climate change… whatever they want to call it, it hit the low 40s last night outside my home. Doesn’t sound like “warming” to me! Idiots!
Not Going To Use My Usual Name
November 29th, 2009
6:19 pm
Linda, did anyone ever explain to you *why* the rainforests being cut down offers such a problem? It’s because the trees serve an extremely important purpose. Now I ask you… what’s that purpose?
Not Going To Use My Usual Name
November 29th, 2009
6:22 pm
David Axelfraud, Christopher Booker (who doesn’t believe in evolution, by the way) has been pretty thoroughly discredited by any number of sources. This is the same guy who tells us that the danger from secondhand smoke is a myth: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1556118/Christopher-Bookers-notebook.html. I don’t think I’m going to use him as an authority on anything scientific.
Linda
November 29th, 2009
6:23 pm
Peter, Have you not been paying attention? Again? The pro-global warming scientists cooked the books. They’ve been lying. The truth is out. Read a couple of the 1079 emails & 72 documents. It’s all fraud.
Why do we need copying machines when we have people like you? When you copy & paste, do you read & comprehend the material? What you copied & pasted proves what I told you an hour ago.
How much CO2 is in your house? Did you get it tested? Too bad about the demise of your plants, & you, too.
Sunshine and Thunder
November 29th, 2009
6:23 pm
Not Going To Use My Usual Name :
You wrote:
“Doesn’t sound like “warming” to me! Idiots”
The rest of your screed was just about that intelligent. Are you speaking in tongues? Or is English your second language? If you want to say something we all wish you’d say it. Please.
Sunshine and Thunder
November 29th, 2009
6:25 pm
Not Going To Use My Usual Name
Did anyone ever explain to you WHY the rain forests are being cut down? Ever hear of ethanol? Another eco vomit from the green team.
Linda
November 29th, 2009
6:29 pm
Sunshine, The cap & trade tax bill has already passed the House. The pres is attending the Kyoto Protocol summit. The media is not reporting the scandal. There’s still too many useful idiots. We can not relax.
Linda
November 29th, 2009
6:52 pm
Not, Your question seems so elementary that I must be missing something. Animals & humans inhale O2 & exhale CO2. Plants absorb CO2 & release O2. CO2 is necessary for the carbon cycle, ecology, photosynthesis & cellular respiration. CO2 increases agricultural productivity & reforestation. CO2 levels are lower over “green” areas of the world, such as much of the US. Deforestation causes temperatures to increase, droughts, erosion & loss of resources of food & medicine.
Peter
November 29th, 2009
7:15 pm
Linda after Bush’s “Faultily Intelligence”, I doubt seriously anything the Right says, and would actually side with saving the planet and our race, and not with the money mongering polluters of the world !
Peter
November 29th, 2009
7:20 pm
Linda, with Sarah Palin as a Leading Republican, classifying “Idiots”, other than Republican’s is “Faulty Intelligence” !
Sunshine and Thunder
November 29th, 2009
7:24 pm
Please give us an example of Bush’s faulty intelligence. If you can do it intelligently, that is. (I doubt it).
Sunshine and Thunder
November 29th, 2009
7:25 pm
Peter:
I’m going out to eat and I would greatly appreciate a few examples of Bush’s faulty intelligence when I get back.
Linda
November 29th, 2009
7:40 pm
Peter, are you saying the whistle blower was from the right? Do you know something the rest of the world does not? To my knowledge, the person who spilled the beans has not yet been identified, has not come forward. It appears that this was an inside job, someone who worked for this climate center, a lefty, who knew right from wrong, who had a conscience, who was willing to give up his/her career & possibly freedom to expose the most massive, devious, systematic shafting of the beleaguered world-wide taxpayers, such as yourself, assuming you pay taxes.
Cap & trade has nothing to do with saving the planet, your race or pollution.
Bottom line, you learn nothing from blogs or the internet. I recommend your visiting the library & checking out a book called “Science for Dummies,” or better yet, watch “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader?”
David Axelfraud
November 29th, 2009
7:44 pm
Not Going To Use My Usual Name, evolution is also a scam. If you or any other buffoon believes in pure evolution then by all means, go out and kill whomever you want to kill. You know, since evolution, in pure scientific terms, is the absence of morality. I always find it funny that you kook aid drinkers always try to change the subject when you get caught in your lies.
David Axelfraud
November 29th, 2009
7:45 pm
Not Going To Use My Usual Name, one more thing, there is no concrete evidence that second hand smoke causes cancer. Go ahead and try to find a medical study on the subject. It doesn’t exist because there is nothing to back up the claim. Then again, I am sure that you believe 911 was an inside job.
Linda
November 29th, 2009
7:46 pm
Peter, Obama is one the most intelligent & highest educated presidents we’ve ever had. Have you ever heard of the Nutty Professor? Unfortunately, Obama is continuing to prove the the American people why it’s more important to have a leader who has common sense, like Palin. You do know what common sense is, don’t you?
David Axelfraud
November 29th, 2009
7:49 pm
Not Going To Use My Usual Name, I highly doubt you believe in evolution because I am 100% positive that you believe in some kind of moral absolute.
1: If you believe that the death penalty is wrong then you can’t believe in evolution because evolution is all about survival of the fittest.
2: If you believe in evolution then why do you care if global warming kills anyone? Again, survival of the fittest.
3: If you believe in evolution then there is NOTHING you can do to stop the evolutionary cycle of the Earth. You are doomed.
Go ahead, make up excuses comrade, you just opened Pandora’s box on this one.
David Axelfraud
November 29th, 2009
7:50 pm
Linda, Obama is really not that smart. He’s been handed everything by the media who loves him because he’s black. Since he’s been in office he’s managed to tank the economy, piss off the world and mismanage his entire cabinet again and again and again. Not the sign of an intelligent person.
Linda
November 29th, 2009
7:52 pm
David, This blog has missed you & I’m glad you’re back.
David Axelfraud
November 29th, 2009
7:53 pm
Peter @ 7:20, you are a confusing person. First, you rant and rave about people calling you and others names yet here you are calling other people names. Second, if you are going to call someone an idiot you may want to write a coherent sentence.
Linda
November 29th, 2009
8:04 pm
David, I’m not convinced the media’s motives are race-related. I think it’s more of the far-left (9 o’clock) liberal, radical agenda, socialism.
David Axelfraud
November 29th, 2009
8:06 pm
Linda, three days ago Helen Thomas, liberal icon “journalist”, said that she is thankful for a black president. Her words.
Linda
November 29th, 2009
8:23 pm
David, Thomas has already criticized Obama for his naiveity. The media is thankful for any radical lefties in power, regardless of color, not to imply that the application of lipstick is a factor.
David Axelfraud
November 29th, 2009
8:25 pm
Linda, yeah but she voted for him.
Linda
November 29th, 2009
8:26 pm
David, Americans voted for him.
David Axelfraud
November 29th, 2009
8:28 pm
Linda, not sure what that has to do with Helen Thomas.
Linda
November 29th, 2009
8:39 pm
David, the media & the American people voted for O because of his rhetoric, not because he was black, but despite the fact he was black. He would never have been elected without the white vote. Whites didn’t vote for him because he was black. They voted for him because they thought he was the lesser of the two evils, a situation we frequently get ourselves into during elections, & because he wasn’t Bush.
Thomas was just grandstanding.
Not Going To Use My Usual Name
November 29th, 2009
8:42 pm
Dear Sunshine and Thunder, meet sarcasm. Now maybe if you back and read my post again, you’ll understand it. Rain forest trees have been cut down because industrialized nations wanted the hardwood. Ethanol is a debacle, yes. What was your question?
Linda, *yes*, you have correctly identified deforestation as a large problem, because it results in *increased* CO2. Increased CO2 is in fact a problem. What was your question?
Axelfraud, if you really want to discuss theology with me… I believe in open, process theology–a theology in which God is able to be surprised and even to grow (you know, like people who are made in God’s image except, for some fundamentalists, not THAT part). This is why we have passages like God changing God’s mind. Evolution fits right in with that. It’s all about adaptability and growth. You can paint it as cruel and ruthless, just like I can paint an atonement God as cruel and ruthless… but as a species, we benefit from morality.
By the way, why would you think that someone who accepts the scientific consensus on evolution doesn’t have any vested interest in humanity? How very silly. It’s the fundamentalists who believe the world is going to end who give up on Earth… like Rev. John MacArthur, who once called the Earth a “disposable planet.”
You also seem to be a little confused on criteria for intelligence. Obviously there are multiple kinds, from so-called common sense to logic/IQ to mastery of a subject. It’s rather foolish to call Obama stupid unless you’re detailing how you define intelligence. After all, even before his presidency, I daresay he was far more accomplished than you or I are.
Linda
November 29th, 2009
8:51 pm
Not, I’m still not understanding your question. What was my question?
Linda
November 29th, 2009
8:56 pm
Not, no one has called Obama stupid. He’s one of the most intelligent & educated presidents we’ve ever had. The problem is that he’s turned out to be a radical & is spending our country into oblivion.
Linda
November 29th, 2009
9:10 pm
Not, you asked me a question which I answered & you seem to give me a passing grade.For the same courtesy, may I ask you a question? What is the percentage of CO2 levels right now? If they are high, what percentage of CO2 levels are safe, according to all the pro-global warming scientists? What are our objectives as a country, & even more importantly, as a globe?
David Axelfraud
November 29th, 2009
9:46 pm
Not Going To Use My Usual Name, you totally missed my point. Also, you didn’t answer any of my questions.
Oh, and comrade, read before you throw out assumptions. I did not call Obama stupid. I simply stated that he is not intelligent. Doesn’t mean he’s stupid, just average.
David Axelfraud
November 29th, 2009
9:50 pm
Not Going To Use My Usual Name, when did I state that I wanted to argue theology? Answer: I didn’t. I just asked some questions about you and evolution. You claimed that Booker is not a good resource and I called you out on it. Just because someone doesn’t believe what you believe does not disqualify that person. What it does mean is that you are too close minded and opinionated in your own beliefs which makes you…………….intolerant of other views. Funny how people like you always point the finger at other people when in fact you are what you say you are not.
David Axelfraud
November 29th, 2009
9:51 pm
Linda, exactly, no one said Obama was stupid. Usual name is on this blog to stir up trouble and self-promote his/her own self-righteousness all while undermining the intelligence of other conservative bloggers.
Bottom line: No one called Obama stupid. Usual name obviously can’t decipher a few words.
David Axelfraud
November 29th, 2009
9:53 pm
Linda @ 8:39, I disagree. There is substantial evidence of white people voting for the president out of what Thomas Sowell calls “white guilt.” Meaning, a lot of white people feel guilty for slavery. A practice in which no living “white American” has anything to do with. If Obama had been white he would have lost by 20-25 million votes.
David Axelfraud
November 29th, 2009
9:57 pm
Usual name writes: After all, even before his presidency, I daresay he was far more accomplished than you or I are.
No, not at all sir/ma’am. You have no idea what I have achieved in life and therefore your rhetoric about me is just that. Rhetoric. President Obama was a community organizer who lived off of his wife’s bloated salary from the U of Chicago. She made over $200,000 while he spent most of his early “career” trying to earn the trust of black people who felt he was not black enough. He was given affirmative action at Harvard.
David Axelfraud
November 29th, 2009
10:02 pm
Not Going To Use My Usual Name, curious. After re-reading your rhetoric on evolution, I have come to the conclusion that you are a confused person. First, you stated in your first post to me that Booker is not credible because he doesn’t believe in evolution. Second, you go off on some other rant about how God and evolution go hand in hand. You can’t have it both ways sir/ma’am. Evolution in it’s truest form is survival of the fittest. IE Darwinism. Nothing more nothing less. You can try to spin it any way you want but in it’s truest form, evolution is about chance and survival.
You didn’t answer any of my questions and I can therefore deem you as “not credible” in any way. Evolution has no moral values. Moral values come from a higher being. Animals have no morals. They kill at will and do whatever they wish. No remorse and no feelings.
Now, feel free to misread my statements.
Linda
November 29th, 2009
10:18 pm
David, Are you saying that white people voted for O because of guilt for slavery? If white people feel guilty for slavery, why are they still trying to enslave the blacks? Isn’t that what is really happening in American today? Isn’t that the number one goal of the liberals?
Peter
November 29th, 2009
10:41 pm
Linda, for someone who keeps talking about a 5 grade Science lesson, please read about trees…..they use the natural CO2 from the environment, and make oxygen…..as does other plants and foliage.
The man made CO2 through pollution is the problem…..and we are making it like crazy…….plus we keep cutting down the trees, making cities, black tar parking lots, and subdivisions, without regard to the local environment.
If a car running down the street is not considered polluting, or emitting CO2……..then you are amiss.
Clapton is God
November 29th, 2009
10:41 pm
God, what is it good for, absolutely nothing, say it again……
Peter
November 29th, 2009
10:44 pm
Linda the number one goal of anyone is to be happy……..All people in life would be included in that one.
Peter
November 29th, 2009
10:50 pm
David, animals brains don’t work like ours, they live and attempt to survive.
Would a crocodile eating a child, be without morals or just hungry ?
Also being Black had some to do with his victory, but Palin had more to do with it then him being black. McCain was old, and she was under qualified……Africa is Not a Country !
Sunshine and Thunder
November 29th, 2009
10:57 pm
Peter
Still waiting for the faulty Bush intelligence. Just a couple. Or maybe even one would be nice.
Sunshine and Thunder
November 29th, 2009
10:59 pm
Palin was underqualified??? The only candidate in the race with any political executive experience. I have never – to this day received an answer on these boards to the following question: what in Obama’s background qualified him to be president?
Peter
November 29th, 2009
11:00 pm
WMDs was labeled just that…….Cost plus contracts should be considered another, and how about “Mission Accomplished”…..
How was America helped by any of these ?
Peter
November 29th, 2009
11:03 pm
Palin was under qualified??? YES YES YES !!!!
Palin thought Africa was a country…….she didn’t know squat about the world…….
Please go back and see how badly even FOX News lambasted her for her lack of knowledge and understanding of the way we work in the world.