I was invited to be on the Murnaghan programme on Sky News this morning – which I always find a great deal more intelligent than the Andrew Marr alternative on the BBC. I declined because I did not want to get up and get a 7.30am train from Ramsgate on a Sunday morning. I had a meeting until 11.30pm last night planning a conference on human rights in Balochistan [I still tend to say Baluchistan], and I have a newly crowned tooth that seems not to want to settle down. But I am still worried by my own lack of energy, which is uncharacteristic. Is this old age?
I also have some serious work to do on my Burnes book, and next week I shall be staying in London to be in the British Library reading room for every second of its opening hours. So there may be a bit of a posting hiatus. I have in mind a short post on an important subject on which I suspect that 99% of my readership – including the regular dissident commenters – will strongly disagree with me.
This is a peculiarly introspective post, perhaps because my tooth is hurting, but I seem to have this curmudgeonly spirit which wishes to react to the huge popularity of this blog by posting something genuinely held but unpopular; a genuine view but one I don’t normally trumpet. The base thought seems to be “You wouldn’t like me if you really knew me”.
Similarly when I wrote Murder in Samarkand I was being hailed as a hero by quite a lot of people for my refusal to go along with the whole neo-con disaster of illegal wars, extraordinary rendition and severe attacks on civil liberties, sacrificing my fast track diplomatic career as a result. My reaction to putative hero worship was to publish in Murder in Samarkand not just the political facts, but an exposure of my own worst and most unpleasant behaviour in my private life.
I am in a very poor position to judge, but I believe the result rather by accident turned out artistically compelling, if you don’t want to read the book you can get a good idea of that by clicking on David Tennant in the top right of this blog and listening to him playing me in David Hare’s radio adaptation.
Anyway, that’s enough musing. You won’t like my next post, whenever it comes. Promise.
Glenn, yes thank you. I can confirm I am already familiar with the sites you linked.
If you have something new to bring to the table, please do. I’m interested in science, not government funded propaganda. And you have read Agenda 21 and the Club of Rome, no doubt.
What about water vapour and what do we do about all the volcanos?
We’re doomed, doomed.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ieYnlaZjLC_IWNuYY_QcmGuQyjzg?docId=CNG.875c00bfeca01f27b8e7e9b2096b2f6d.1a1
Would like to see a full transcript of his statement, and more than one independent translation.
Pieczenik is not hedging any bets –
Former State Dept. Veteran Drops Bombshell: WWIII Starts Sept. 25
…“In a couple of weeks, they [Israel, Saudi and neocons] will try to initiate another war, unless their ex-Mossad operatives and their ex-Shin Bet will take out Netanyahu, and do to Netanyahu what happened to Rabin,” exclaims Pieczenik. “They know what I’m talking about. Otherwise he will bring down Israel, the world, and there will be a third world war.”
Zoologist, thank you for your kind words – it’s nice to be appreciated.
Like you I have no agenda other than I care about the future of humanity and our environment.
I am certainly not paid to pass on information, live frugally and have no time for the sick pantomime of the false left/right political paradigm.
However, I suspect those stuck in the “class struggle” have never even heard of Clinton Roosevelt but there you go.
I was ruminating, whilst picking blackberries yesterday, that our education system in its widest sense teaches us to focus on and react emotionally to symptoms, whilst it does the hard work and tells us what the processes and underlying causes are.
In the words of John Rawlings Rees back in 1940, “We can therefore justifiably stress our particular point of view with regard to the proper development of the human psyche, even though our knowledge be incomplete. We must aim to make it permeate every educational activity in our national life.… We have made a useful attack upon a number of professions. The two easiest of them naturally are the teaching profession and the Church; the two most difficult are law and medicine…”
Things have moved on and the fifth columnists he refers to later in his speech have well and truly permeated every aspect of society.
I imagine Orwell and Twain watching on both taking no satisfaction in being correct.
Clegg had the chance Mary, the chance to revive the LibDems, the chance to represent a changing society, a nation sensitized by marauding, violating and murder of the blameless.
Yet Clegg chose the establishment, like a glutenous mass he dissolved into the collective, functioning as a drone with a cortical node connected to agent Cameron.
Shame on him and further grief to the LibDems who wept at my Iraq war delivery.
From a banner at Anfield today:
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”
Yes Mark, I agree. The voluble Clegg was on Marr this morning using all those Bliar like hand movements to emphasize what he was blathering on about. Mostly it was about taxing the wealthy. He did mention the Iraq war in the context of Miliband coming in as leader with ‘a clean sheet’!! and actually said that he has had conversations with Bliar, Mandelslime and both Milibands. Perhaps he thinks he can cook up a LabLib coalition next time round.
All the stuff about taxing the wealthy are just his soundbites to clutch at straws with empty populist utterances. http://www.fairertax.org/
He sent this to a friend yesterday –
Friend —
Fairer tax. There’s two words that rarely appear together. Too often it feels like there are two sets of rules when it comes to tax in Britain. One rule for the richest. Another for the average worker.
I want to change this. It’s time for fairer tax.
It means cutting the tax bill of average workers. It means making the very rich pay their fair share.
I want the super-rich to pay their fair share, through policies like our mansion tax.
If you support this, please add your name to the campaign now.
Make no mistake – if this was a majority Liberal Democrat Government, we would introduce this tax tomorrow.
But we can already see that opposition to this tax will be strong from those that want to protect the status quo. That’s why I need your support.
Back the campaign today and help make sure the richest pay their fair share.
Together we can deliver fairer tax in Britain.
Thank you,
Nick Clegg MP
Leader of the Liberal Democrats
PS. It will only take thirty seconds to add your name to our campaign – we won’t succeed without your support. Add your name now.
@ScouseBilly
The point made somewhere on this thread that people here are ready to question the establishment line on almost anything but GW did smart. I have not had any great interest in GW and thus, it’s true, I have not questioned the consensus. Although I am far from convinced by the ‘deniers’ here I do believe that your beliefs are sincere. I have just looked at a few documantaries and will readily admit that much GW warning does stink of propaganda. My world view insists that anything peddled by the likes of Gore must be suspect.
So, Billy, I know I have pissed you off regarding the petiton but help me out here. Reading your posts and following your links here’s what I have grasped might be your views:
1) The climate has always changed dramatically
2) Previous climate doomsday predictions have been wrong
3) There is no conclusive scientific proof that global warming is anything man made and there is evidence to suggest otherwise
4) There is an establishment political agenda pushing the GW consensus
5) Money is being made from useless technologies
6) GW diverts attention from real threats including real pollution
Is this a fair, if simplified, summary of your position?
Shortly on Radio 4 in case you are interested but it might be too painful to listen to.
14:45 – 15:00
Witness The Invasion of Iraq
An Iraqi woman remembers living through the US-led invasion of 2003 with Robin Lustig.
Trust that Bliar and the other criminals tune in.
I hear Mr Straw is unburdening on his ‘depression’ in his memoirs.
Mark,
Clegg had the chance Mary, the chance to revive the LibDems ……
I am surprised to read this statement, Clegg was chosen preciously for what he has done, ever since the day one of the “coalition”. Charlie Kennedy got the shaft because he would have been a pain the butt and upset the apple-cart no end.
The plutocratic bastards set their ducks in a row as of today for the events to unfold in five ten years time. That is the trouble while we are all running after the next weeks rent, and food, those bastards are busy plotting the next twenty years.
Clegg delivered exactly what was required from him after Menzies Campbell had softened the party members enough to go along with the Blair liberal democrats that the current party has become. I and many others left the party and some of us have gone so far as reviving the old Liberals. The scant few councillors (overpaid hot air bags) they had dotted around the county have been kicked out and not many of these will be back in, far longer than foreseeable future.
Phil, yes, that is a fair summary although I would add that there is no physical evidence for the greenhouse hypothesis.
In fact, good old classical physics explains the energy budget perfectly well at a planetary level. Surface temperature is confused with planetary temperature by Trenberth-Kiehl.
However, surface temperatures which after all affect us all appear to be modulated by lower atmosphere cumulus clouds, poorly understood and largely ignored by climate science. This is why the cosmic ray theory of Svensmark et al is exciting stuff.
Someone mentioned that the CLOUD experimens at CERN are not conclusive and this is perfectly true. As in all good science, Jasper Kirkby and his team at CERN are proceeding cautiously but preliminary results are encouraging.
Mary,
I hear Mr Straw … on his ‘depression’
Is he suffering from depression?
That war criminal wanker, ought to be suffering from eve worst maladies, I still remember his stunt with the little Blue UN book he used to wave at the cameras and threaten the Iraqi army personnel with all manner of Nuremberg style trails. This was purely designed to dissuade the Iraqi generals from staying and fighting in Iraq, and instead choosing to take the bribes on offer and the first plane out of Baghdad airport, along with their newly acquired green cards.
As Fallujah was getting written into history alongside the Stalingrad the Blue UN book was back in the drawers and no one was counting bodies, any more. Instead David Chater was reporting from the front lines (embedded of course) about; “with pizza and pretzels US army was greeting” the old and tired refugees. These had just lost their homes, that had been demolished in Fallujah, and were getting their compensatory rewards, for the benefit of the cameras of course.
@ScouseBilly
What do you consider “real pollution”?
@Mary Here is another interesting blogger: http://nsnbc.wordpress.com/2012/09/22/abla-sa´adat-a-palestinian-stateswoman-marked-by-terrorism/
@Phil, too many to enumerate here but I would include diesel particulates, raw sewerage, mercury, pesticides, gmo’s, most pharmaceuticals (we all have an internal environment), asbestos (think WTC 1 & 2), old tech. nuclear waste, and so on and I didn’t even mention chemtrails…
Fedup – In my world every one gets another a throw of the dice – sometimes I bomb (Obomba) other times I win. It is the wins I remember.
@ScouseBilly
So is it fair to say that your beef is with the particular message that C02 is a threat, but you would agree there are real man made threats to the environment?
@Phil. Great summary. Simple, to the point, unemotional.
Ditto Billy’s quick list. Also add heavy metals, depleted uranium weapons, water fluoridation, GMO crops, etc etc.
Pollution is a real problem. Fukishima, the BP oil spill, Fallujah and the ME generally, recipients of our DU weapons – these have disappeared down the memory hole and are no longer reported by the MSM. But we hear about climate “events” every day as if they are evidence of imminent Armageddon.
CO2 is a naturally occurring gas.
The focus on one single variable in a complex and chaotic system is misleading, unhelpful and ultimately political. The computer models are so simplistic as to be worthless.
The polluters are the corporations, the MIC and the complicit politicians, scientists and media who are bought and paid for to promote an agenda. Divert all blame away from the guilty onto the serfs for using their cars, never the elites for using their private jets.
Assange interviews Noam Chomsky and Tariq Ali in the Ecuadorian embassy:
http://youtu.be/4iJjtEMamjc
RE: my above Assange post. Sorry I thought this was new but it appeared in June. My mistake.
@Phil, yes, of course there are – and I believe that the original, noble cause of environmentalism was usurped long ago.
See, for example, Patrick Moore, the co-founder of Greenpeace (not the astronomer) for his views on this and one should not ignore the policy statements nor the personnel of the Club of Rome.
Also weaponized viruses and genetically modified biotoxins – Anthrax, Rabies, smallpox etc. GM mosquitoes as vectors. Not to forget the oldies but goodies, Agent Orange and dioxins a la Vietnam.
Don’t get me started on vaccines – soon to be compulsory. Ignore the correlation to autism and neurological disorders please.
Quite so Zoologist, pragmatic, objective, yet ambient air pollution kills hundreds of thousands of children, millions die from drinking infected water.
Nearly all of these deaths are either treatable with existing medicines or preventable in the first place.
Ok, do I understand you would add another to the list?
7) GW instills fear to engender compliance
If a fraction of the money spent chasing natural and benign CO2 had been spent on more worthy environmental causes I’d, be much happier. As ever cui bono? Entryism is a fact of life in environmental organisations, but the sheep keep contributing because they still think they’re the good guys. A bit like the Labour party.
I might add A=440Hz tuning as opposed to the 444Hz of Mozart, for example – leading to less social cohesion and more aggression.
Last question (for now) honest. Just so I understand clearly: When you challenge GW you are only questioning the effect of C02?
Phil, your 7) is implicit in the way GW has been sold/marketed to the people.
As Steven Schneider once wrote, “…we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we might have…”
To be fair I think he was sincere but nonetheless, scientists should stick to what is reasonably known. Of course, once the media and politicians follow such a lead, the exagerations and hype take on a life of their own.
Phil, speaking for myself, I take strong issue with the greenhouse hypothesis, and that mankind has a discernible effect on the climate (with the exception of the US military’s attempt to own the weather by 2025 through geo-engineering). Natural cycles and events are dominant and still insufficiently understood to make any long term predictions.
@ScouseBilly & Zoologist
Thanks for answering my questions. I am intrigued and am reading further. For what it’s worth I will write a comment once I feel I have enough to start forming an opinion.