What a batting average!

.280, a respectable, although not great major league baseball batting average. Oh, but this isn't about baseball, it's about accurate reporting of climate science news on PHLOX News.  Yes, that's right, good old PHLOX News is presenting inaccurate information about climate news over 70% of the time, and just like in baseball that's how many times you strike out.  So, if you're a PHLOX News fan, a regular listener who relies on the PHLOX network for information, then you probably don't know nuttin.  And that's because in the classic neocon tradition, you know your conclusion and you make up "facts" to fit it, and then you call it "news" for the neo-gullible.

Dear Noelle, science is not for you

Noelle Nikpour just doesn't get science, so it's probably a good things she's in a field where looks go further than smarts. Here she is sounding like a complete dummy on the Daily Show where of course they do their best to help you along and she delivers the dumbth. Unfortunately for Noelle and other people who don't like science, and what science tells us, science just isn't fair or open to a popular vote. It's that tyranny of data thing, that dogged insistence that you must actually deal with what is known, so you can't just make it up as you go along to agree with your preconceived notions. How dare those scientists act like they actually know something and understand things that you don't understand! Scientists have data, evidence, and Noelle has a gut feeling it's all a scam! Well, the Phactor for one just passed his mandatory Lincolnland ethics training course, with honors! Well, perhaps given the source of the training, and our politicians' track records, you are not impressed, but it's just the wrong people taking the training. Nonetheless no one would like it better if science were just a scam because it would all be just so much easier. Where is all this scam money anyways? My lab needs some! The Phactor wants to sign up. Back to Noelle. Is she really that dumb, or is it an act, you know a scam, to make money? If so, based on her experience, scientists are acting the same way she is. You know, that's a testable hypothesis, and if true, then if someone offers Noelle enough money, she'll change her tune. It's a win-win situation except do we want Noelle on our side?

Climate science and professional science organizations

The Botanical Society of America and the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, my main societies, are two of the many professional organizations that represent scientists, and one of their roles is to provide members' perspectives on scientific issues to any interested (or disinterested) party. 19 such societies jointly sent a position paper to all members of the US Congress in October 2009. Recently Senator Whitehouse (D-RI) offered remarks on climate science referencing that paper. Here's a brief excerpt.
"Their other big lie, the jury is still out on, is whether human-made carbon pollution causes dangerous climate change and oceanic change. Virtually all of our most prestigious scientific and academic institutions have stated that climate change is happening and that human activities are the driving cause of this change. Many of us in Congress received a letter from those institutions in October 2009. Let me quote from that letter.Observations throughout the world make it clear that climate change is occurring, and rigorous scientific research demonstrates that the greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are the primary driver. These conclusions are based on multiple independent lines of evidence, and contrary assertions are inconsistent with an objective assessment of the vast body of peer-reviewed science. Let me repeat that last quote - Contrary assertions are inconsistent with an objective assessment of the vast body of peer-reviewed science." "These are highly esteemed scientific organizations. They are the real deal. They don't think the jury is still out. They recognize that, in fact, the verdict is in, and it is time to act. More than 97 percent of the climate scientists most actively publishing accept that the verdict is actually in on carbon pollution causing climate and oceanic changes--97 percent. Think of that."
How 'bout that! So Congress is not bereft of people who think science actually knows something. Now on the other hand, the GOP presidential hopefuls, well.... Don't be holding your breath.