| |
 |
|
| Science Forum Index » Physics Forum » NASA, James Hansen, and the Politicization of Science |
|
Page 1 of 1 |
|
| Author |
Message |
| Guest |
 Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:34 pm |
|
|
|
|
NASA, James Hansen, and the Politicization of Science
Michael Asher (Blog) - September 26, 2007 11:04 AM
New issues swirl around controversial NASA branch
NASA's primary climate monitoring agency is the Goddard Institute of
Space Studies. Operating out of a small office at Columbia
University, GISS is run by Dr. James Hansen. Official NASA climate
statements come through GISS ... which means they must get by
Hansen. Many other scientists and agencies make climate predictions,
but Hansen's top the list for scare factor, predicting consequences
considerably more dire than his colleagues.
Hansen specializes in climate "modeling" -- attempting to predict
future events based on computer simulations. In 1971, Hansen wrote his
first climate model, which showed the world was about to experience
severe global cooling. NASA colleagues used it to warn the world that
immediate action was needed to prevent catastrophe.
Most research papers are rather dry reading, written to be as
unemotional as possible. Not so with Hansen's reports, whose works
scream alarmism even in their titles: "Climate Catastrophe," "Can We
Defuse the Global Warming Time Bomb," and "The Threat to the Planet."
Hansen was most recently in the news when an amateur blogger
discovered an error in his climate data, a mistake Hansen later
discounted as unimportant to the "big picture" of compelling public
action on climate change.
But who is James Hansen? Is he an impartial researcher seeking
scientific truth? Or a political activist with an axe to grind?
In 2006, Hansen accused the Bush Administration of attempting to
censor him. The issue stemmed from an email sent by a 23-year old NASA
public affairs intern. It warned Hansen over repeated violations of
NASA's official press policy, which requires the agency be notified
prior to interviews. Hansen claimed he was being "silenced," despite
delivering over 1,400 interviews in recent years, including 15 the
very month he made the claim. While he admits to violating the NASA
press policy, Hansen states he had a "constitutional right" to grant
interviews. Hansen then began a barrage of public appearances on TV,
radio and in lecture halls decrying the politicization of climate
science.
Turns out he was right. Science was being politicized. By him.
A report revealed just this week, shows the 'Open Society Institute'
funded Hansen to the tune of $720,000, carefully orchestrating his
entire media campaign. OSI, a political group which spent $74 million
in 2006 to "shape public policy," is funded by billionaire George
Soros, the largest backer of Kerry's 2004 Presidential Campaign.
Soros, who once declared that "removing Bush from office was the
"central focus" of his life, has also given tens of millions of
dollars to MoveOn.Org and other political action groups.
Certainly Soros has a right to spend his own money. But NASA officials
have a responsibility to accurate, unbiased, nonpartisan science. For
Hansen to secretly receive a large check from Soros, then begin making
unsubstantiated claims about administrative influence on climate
science is more than suspicious -- it's a clear conflict of
interest.
But the issues don't stop here. Hansen received an earlier $250,000
grant from the Heinz Foundation, an organization run by Kerry's wife,
which he followed by publicly endorsing Kerry. Hansen also acted as a
paid consultant to Gore during the making of his global-warming film,
"An Inconvenient Truth," and even personally promoted the film during
an NYC event.
After the the GISS data error was revealed, Hansen finally agreed to
make public the method he uses to generate "official" temperature
records from the actual readings. That process has been revealed to be
thousands of lines of source code, containing hundreds of arbitrary
"bias" adjustments to individual sites, tossing out many readings
entirely, and raising (or lowering) the actual values for others,
sometimes by several degrees. Many areas with weak or no rising
temperature trends are therefore given, after adjustment, a much
sharper trend. A full audit of the Hansen code is currently underway,
but it seems clear that Hansen has more explaining to do.
George Deutsch, the NASA intern who resigned over the censorship
fallout, said he was initially warned about Hansen when starting the
job, "People said ... you gotta watch that guy. He is a loose cannon;
he is kind of crazy. He is difficult to work with; he is an alarmist;
he exaggerates.'"
Hansen's office did not return a request from DailyTech for an
interview for this article. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| Tunderbar |
| Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 7:49 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
On Sep 26, 1:34 pm, d....@hotmail.com wrote:
[quote:20ab010698]NASA, James Hansen, and the Politicization of Science
Michael Asher (Blog) - September 26, 2007 11:04 AM
New issues swirl around controversial NASA branch
NASA's primary climate monitoring agency is the Goddard Institute of
Space Studies. Operating out of a small office at Columbia
University, GISS is run by Dr. James Hansen. Official NASA climate
statements come through GISS ... which means they must get by
Hansen. Many other scientists and agencies make climate predictions,
but Hansen's top the list for scare factor, predicting consequences
considerably more dire than his colleagues.
Hansen specializes in climate "modeling" -- attempting to predict
future events based on computer simulations. In 1971, Hansen wrote his
first climate model, which showed the world was about to experience
severe global cooling. NASA colleagues used it to warn the world that
immediate action was needed to prevent catastrophe.
Most research papers are rather dry reading, written to be as
unemotional as possible. Not so with Hansen's reports, whose works
scream alarmism even in their titles: "Climate Catastrophe," "Can We
Defuse the Global Warming Time Bomb," and "The Threat to the Planet."
Hansen was most recently in the news when an amateur blogger
discovered an error in his climate data, a mistake Hansen later
discounted as unimportant to the "big picture" of compelling public
action on climate change.
But who is James Hansen? Is he an impartial researcher seeking
scientific truth? Or a political activist with an axe to grind?
In 2006, Hansen accused the Bush Administration of attempting to
censor him. The issue stemmed from an email sent by a 23-year old NASA
public affairs intern. It warned Hansen over repeated violations of
NASA's official press policy, which requires the agency be notified
prior to interviews. Hansen claimed he was being "silenced," despite
delivering over 1,400 interviews in recent years, including 15 the
very month he made the claim. While he admits to violating the NASA
press policy, Hansen states he had a "constitutional right" to grant
interviews. Hansen then began a barrage of public appearances on TV,
radio and in lecture halls decrying the politicization of climate
science.
Turns out he was right. Science was being politicized. By him.
A report revealed just this week, shows the 'Open Society Institute'
funded Hansen to the tune of $720,000, carefully orchestrating his
entire media campaign. OSI, a political group which spent $74 million
in 2006 to "shape public policy," is funded by billionaire George
Soros, the largest backer of Kerry's 2004 Presidential Campaign.
Soros, who once declared that "removing Bush from office was the
"central focus" of his life, has also given tens of millions of
dollars to MoveOn.Org and other political action groups.
Certainly Soros has a right to spend his own money. But NASA officials
have a responsibility to accurate, unbiased, nonpartisan science. For
Hansen to secretly receive a large check from Soros, then begin making
unsubstantiated claims about administrative influence on climate
science is more than suspicious -- it's a clear conflict of
interest.
But the issues don't stop here. Hansen received an earlier $250,000
grant from the Heinz Foundation, an organization run by Kerry's wife,
which he followed by publicly endorsing Kerry. Hansen also acted as a
paid consultant to Gore during the making of his global-warming film,
"An Inconvenient Truth," and even personally promoted the film during
an NYC event.
After the the GISS data error was revealed, Hansen finally agreed to
make public the method he uses to generate "official" temperature
records from the actual readings. That process has been revealed to be
thousands of lines of source code, containing hundreds of arbitrary
"bias" adjustments to individual sites, tossing out many readings
entirely, and raising (or lowering) the actual values for others,
sometimes by several degrees. Many areas with weak or no rising
temperature trends are therefore given, after adjustment, a much
sharper trend. A full audit of the Hansen code is currently underway,
but it seems clear that Hansen has more explaining to do.
George Deutsch, the NASA intern who resigned over the censorship
fallout, said he was initially warned about Hansen when starting the
job, "People said ... you gotta watch that guy. He is a loose cannon;
he is kind of crazy. He is difficult to work with; he is an alarmist;
he exaggerates.'"
Hansen's office did not return a request from DailyTech for an
interview for this article.
[/quote:20ab010698]
The man is a fraud AND a liar. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| James |
| Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 4:27 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Add Hansen to the Michael Mann list.
<d.086@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1190831642.724176.157900@o80g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
[quote:492aa5932e]NASA, James Hansen, and the Politicization of Science
Michael Asher (Blog) - September 26, 2007 11:04 AM
New issues swirl around controversial NASA branch
NASA's primary climate monitoring agency is the Goddard Institute of
Space Studies. Operating out of a small office at Columbia
University, GISS is run by Dr. James Hansen. Official NASA climate
statements come through GISS ... which means they must get by
Hansen. Many other scientists and agencies make climate predictions,
but Hansen's top the list for scare factor, predicting consequences
considerably more dire than his colleagues.
Hansen specializes in climate "modeling" -- attempting to predict
future events based on computer simulations. In 1971, Hansen wrote his
first climate model, which showed the world was about to experience
severe global cooling. NASA colleagues used it to warn the world that
immediate action was needed to prevent catastrophe.
Most research papers are rather dry reading, written to be as
unemotional as possible. Not so with Hansen's reports, whose works
scream alarmism even in their titles: "Climate Catastrophe," "Can We
Defuse the Global Warming Time Bomb," and "The Threat to the Planet."
Hansen was most recently in the news when an amateur blogger
discovered an error in his climate data, a mistake Hansen later
discounted as unimportant to the "big picture" of compelling public
action on climate change.
But who is James Hansen? Is he an impartial researcher seeking
scientific truth? Or a political activist with an axe to grind?
In 2006, Hansen accused the Bush Administration of attempting to
censor him. The issue stemmed from an email sent by a 23-year old NASA
public affairs intern. It warned Hansen over repeated violations of
NASA's official press policy, which requires the agency be notified
prior to interviews. Hansen claimed he was being "silenced," despite
delivering over 1,400 interviews in recent years, including 15 the
very month he made the claim. While he admits to violating the NASA
press policy, Hansen states he had a "constitutional right" to grant
interviews. Hansen then began a barrage of public appearances on TV,
radio and in lecture halls decrying the politicization of climate
science.
Turns out he was right. Science was being politicized. By him.
A report revealed just this week, shows the 'Open Society Institute'
funded Hansen to the tune of $720,000, carefully orchestrating his
entire media campaign. OSI, a political group which spent $74 million
in 2006 to "shape public policy," is funded by billionaire George
Soros, the largest backer of Kerry's 2004 Presidential Campaign.
Soros, who once declared that "removing Bush from office was the
"central focus" of his life, has also given tens of millions of
dollars to MoveOn.Org and other political action groups.
Certainly Soros has a right to spend his own money. But NASA officials
have a responsibility to accurate, unbiased, nonpartisan science. For
Hansen to secretly receive a large check from Soros, then begin making
unsubstantiated claims about administrative influence on climate
science is more than suspicious -- it's a clear conflict of
interest.
But the issues don't stop here. Hansen received an earlier $250,000
grant from the Heinz Foundation, an organization run by Kerry's wife,
which he followed by publicly endorsing Kerry. Hansen also acted as a
paid consultant to Gore during the making of his global-warming film,
"An Inconvenient Truth," and even personally promoted the film during
an NYC event.
After the the GISS data error was revealed, Hansen finally agreed to
make public the method he uses to generate "official" temperature
records from the actual readings. That process has been revealed to be
thousands of lines of source code, containing hundreds of arbitrary
"bias" adjustments to individual sites, tossing out many readings
entirely, and raising (or lowering) the actual values for others,
sometimes by several degrees. Many areas with weak or no rising
temperature trends are therefore given, after adjustment, a much
sharper trend. A full audit of the Hansen code is currently underway,
but it seems clear that Hansen has more explaining to do.
George Deutsch, the NASA intern who resigned over the censorship
fallout, said he was initially warned about Hansen when starting the
job, "People said ... you gotta watch that guy. He is a loose cannon;
he is kind of crazy. He is difficult to work with; he is an alarmist;
he exaggerates.'"
Hansen's office did not return a request from DailyTech for an
interview for this article.
[/quote:492aa5932e] |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| Thomas |
| Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 5:57 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
On Sep 27, 1:49 am, Tunderbar <tdcom...@gmail.com> wrote:
[quote:f2ee1776c2]The man is a fraud AND a liar.
[/quote:f2ee1776c2]
Agreed. There is absolutely no other way to comment on this person.
It's as black and white as that. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| HangEveryRepubliKKKan |
| Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 2:43 am |
|
|
|
Guest
|
<d.086@hotmail.com> (Swift boat Lier) wrote
[quote:353d81ba20]A report revealed just this week, shows the 'Open Society Institute'
funded Hansen to the tune of $720,000, carefully orchestrating his
entire media campaign.
[/quote:353d81ba20]
Another lie....
Both Hanson and Soros have denied this accusation and the Swift Boat Liars
can provide <NO> evidence of their accusations.
I strongly suggest a lawsuit be filed for their slander. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
|
All times are GMT - 5 Hours
The time now is Sat Nov 07, 2009 7:43 pm
|
|