*One* tree.

They hung absolutely critical long-term policy positions on the results of one freaking tree.

At the forefront of those who found suspicious the graphs based on tree rings from the Yamal peninsula in Siberia was [Canadian statistician Steve] McIntyre himself, not least because for years the CRU refused to disclose the data used to construct them. This breached a basic rule of scientific procedure. But last summer the Royal Society insisted on the rule being obeyed, and two months ago Briffa accordingly published on his website some of the data McIntyre had been after.

This was startling enough, as McIntyre demonstrated in an explosive series of posts on his Climate Audit blog, because it showed that the CRU studies were based on cherry-picking hundreds of Siberian samples only to leave those that showed the picture that was wanted. Other studies based on similar data had clearly shown the Medieval Warm Period as hotter than today. Indeed only the evidence from one tree, YADO61, seemed to show a “hockey stick” pattern, and it was this, in light of the extraordinary reverence given to the CRU’s studies, which led McIntyre to dub it “the most influential tree in the world”.

Via Protein Wisdom. At this point, I have to start wondering whether I should be showing these people the same reluctant respect that I would any really successful grifter. Except, of course, that regular devotees of the Spanish Prisoner con are not attempting to rewrite the tax code to keep taking my money.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

The non-AGW non-snows of Kilimanjaro.

Oops.

Professor Sinninghe Damste’s research, as discussed on the site of the Dutch Organization of Scientific Research (DOSR) — a governmental body — shows that the icecap of Kilimanjaro was not the result of cold air but of large amounts of precipitation which fell at the beginning of the Holocene period, about 11,000 years ago.

The melting and freezing of moisture on top of Kilimanjaro appears to be part of  “a natural process of dry and wet periods.” The present melting is not the result of “environmental damage caused by man.”

Guess that Al Gore’s going to come up with a new talking point – HA! I kid, I kid. He’ll ignore it completely, of course. Doesn’t fit the religious orthodoxy.  It’s too good an iconic image for proselytizing efforts.  Can’t confuse the faithful, no?

[pause]

Eppur e’ meno umido.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

The answer, by the way, is ‘No.’

I’ve been trying to avoid the whole wretched Tiger Woods affair, but Dr. Helen asked this question a couple of days ago:

So my question to this proponent of violence against men is this: Given that women’s marital infidelity is approaching that of men (who are catting around just like Tiger), should their husbands feel free to take the tool of his wife’s trade and smash in her car and perhaps her face?

…in response to some since-hastily-updated commentary by Jessica Ashley on the subject of domestic violence.  Ms. Ashley would like everybody to know that it’s OK to use improvised weaponry to scare your partner and break his or her stuff, just as long as you don’t actually hit him or her…

Hey, take it up with Jessica Ashley, not me.  I was taught by a ruthless, oppressive patriarchal system not to hit women.  Which is probably saying all sorts of regressive and prejudiced things of me, but then again: I don’t hit women.

Moe Lane

The more things Hope and Change…

[UPDATE]: Welcome, Instapundit readers.

There is a school of thought that says, Do not delight in reminding your extremist ideological opponents that they are being betrayed by their own.  The underlying rationale is that doing so help make the people doing the betrayal appear to be ‘moderate,’ even when they’re really not.  Given that said extremist ideologues will also still vote for their betrayers in the future, the argument is that pragmatically there’s not enough of an upside to mocking them for it.  I respect the reasoning behind of this school of thought.

It’s just that sometimes I don’t give a tinker’s dam. Via AoSHQ, not a Photoshop or parody. This is real:

mpphv

And the neocons laugh. Oh, how we laugh.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

UK Met office pushes reset button on CRU data.

It’s going to take a while for them to cycle through the process, though. As in, more than a week. A lot more than a week.

The Met Office plans to re-examine 160 years of temperature data after admitting that public confidence in the science on man-made global warming has been shattered by leaked e-mails.

The new analysis of the data will take three years, meaning that the Met Office will not be able to state with absolute confidence the extent of the warming trend until the end of 2012.

The Met Office database is one of three main sources of temperature data analysis on which the UN’s main climate change science body relies for its assessment that global warming is a serious danger to the world.

Just in time for Copenhagen, which relied heavily on the climate change data that CRU provided, and can no longer even remotely back up.  Meanwhile, the President – who seems to have a real gift at walking into these controversies at the worst possible moment for him – seems determined to use the luster of his name to ensure results at the Copenhagen thing.  Personally, I think that it’d be good for the planet, the country, and his political party if the President just dropped the trip entirely.  Which he won’t, of course.

Via Q&O, who thinks that they should completely cancel Copenhagen; and Hot Air, who thinks that the British government should stop trying to keep the Met Office from pushing the reset button.  And if either actually happens, all three of us will be massively surprised.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Worse than you think, Ace.

When you’re a Democrat, not only can you use “I’m sleeping with her” as a stealth job prerequisite for an US Attorney’s position – HI, Senator Max Baucus (D) of Montana! – but when you’re a Democrat you can also publicly disrespect inconveniently conscientious female journalists (even if they’re African-American ones) when they insist on doing their jobs. Although I will admit that at least Bobby Gibbs didn’t use the word ‘uppity’ in public:

Yet.  They’ll be saving it for after the midterms, no doubt.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Rep Carol Shea-Porter (D, NH) can’t remember what she believes.

In this case, she apparently forgot completely that the antiwar movement was supposed to be all about fighting in Afghanistan, not that awful Iraq place. Why else would she be trying to abandon headlong the war that we’re fighting there now?

‘Because she was cynically lying about the need to win in Afghanistan all along?’ Interesting answer, but that would imply that Shea-Porter was smart enough to pull that off.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.