Garbage In, Garbage Out

For years I've read about the massive bias of ground temperature stations that lead to higher temps as time goes on just from changes in the station population (inconveniently located rural stations abandoned) and development around the stations that exist (urban encroachment that puts concrete or heat-generating machinery around the stations). And this is the basis for computer models that show warming in recent decades even as we continue into year 19 of "the pause" based on satellite data.

So read about an examination of those stations.

And on that satellite data:

The degree and speed with which inconvenient facts are now memory-holed by AGW proponents is breathtaking, it was not that long ago that the respective accuracies of satellites and surface stations was so uncontroversial NASA was calling for surface measurements to be abandoned. I myself downloaded and wrote database scripts for the NCDC data a while back because I couldn’t believe Goddard’s claim that almost half of the data was now being fabricated, not measured. But it was true, 43% were marked as computer-generated, as anyone with modest programming skills can confirm for themselves. Naturally, the Democrats at Politifact then contacted and unquestioningly cited a geography (!) professor who self-righteously harrumphed that there was “no fabrication,” despite the fact the data is unambiguously marked as such, and added to their article a slew of additional misinterpretations favorable to Democrats, giving a perfect example of how the media covers AGW specifically and science in general.

It's science, damn it!

Speaking of science, please adjust your global warming climate change talking points accoringly:

Burning fossil fuels and cutting down trees causes global COOLING, new NASA study finds. Fossil fuel burning gives of aerosols which reflect sunlight. ...

A NASA spokesman said it was “well known” that aerosols such as those emitted in volcanic eruptions and power stations, act to cool Earth, at least temporarily, by reflecting solar radiation away from the planet.

He added: “In a similar fashion, land use changes such as deforestation in northern latitudes result in bare land that increases reflected sunlight.”

But don't worry. I kid. Even a cooling effect makes the globe warm--er, change?

“This means that Earth’s climate sensitivity to carbon dioxide—or atmospheric carbon dioxide’s capacity to affect temperature change—has been underestimated, according to the study.”

So now it’s official, they have it both ways: Burning fossil fuels causes BOTH global warming and global cooling.

Well, whatever is going to happen, it will be bad, it is our fault, and we need to curtail our freedoms and destroy our economy by turning over power to a more powerful national government and the sainted international community.

Because the polar bears are counting on us.

Tip to Instapundit on both of the latter links.

UPDATE: Science! Yeah, I've long ignored the crisis-of-the-day mentality.

The downside is no placebo effect for me. The upside is that I'm healthy nonetheless.

UPDATE: And more from the pro-science class!

The people most likely to refuse to have their children vaccinated tend to be white, well-educated and affluent, researchers report.

Yeah, what's the correlation? Just look where Prius ownership is highest? Well, access to a Whole Foods, anyway.

 Tip to Instapundit for both of these.