Global warming denialism reached a fever pitch this last year, with pathological liar George Will leading the way, thanks to a high-profile platform with the mendacious Washington Post. Back in March, I added my voice to the mix:
George Will , Washington Post: Traitors To Humanity
January 2007 was the warmest January since global surface records were instituted.
But now, NASA has announced that 2009 was tied for the second hottest year ever recorded, and the 2000s were the hottest decade. It's not even close to being close:
[Author's calculations from NASA data]
This chart of decadal averages filters out a great deal of the year-to-year noise that global warming deniers--George Will one of the most prominent among them--have tried to use to confuse matters. But there was never really any doubt, as one can see from the chart I included in my March post, just below the passage I quoted above:
No rational person can pretend that there's any doubt about global warming. It's way too late for that. By now it's clear that the "let's hear both sides" crowd is openly pro-lie, and in fact, pro-end-of-human-civilization. They are moral monsters. Period.
Grand Theft. Pathological Lying About Global Warming. Attempted Genocide.
Back in February, George Will went into a paroxym of lies about global warming, and WaPo editor Fred Hiatt and Ombudsman Andy Alexander both vigorously defended him. I wrote about this (as well as the work of debunkers--Hilzoy, The Wonk Room) in "George Will, Washington Post: Traitors To Humanity". Now Will is up to his same old tricks. A deeper look is called for this time around--a look into Will's class-based criminal pathology.
George Will is a criminal. In 1980, he helped Ronald Reagan prepare for the presidential debate with Jimmy Carter, using a stolen Carter debate book. Receiving stolen property is a crime. The value of the stolen debate book was incalculable. Possibly enough to cost an election. But certainly enough to qualify as grand theft. That makes receiving it a felony. And George Will is guilty of it. One should always remember this about George Will: He is a criminal. A felon. An unrepentant one. But, then, he is a member of a criminal class--the aristocracy.
When I wrote a diary about narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) last weekend, several commentators made the point that the aristocracy as a class suffered from NPD, and while there are certainly plenty of individual exceptions, the point is most certainly true. And a perfectly straightforward way to show what this means is to look at George Will, and his steadfast refusal to acknowledge any error whatsoever when he gets absolute everything wrong about global warming.
Sane, mature adults make factual claims based on facts, to the best of their knowledge. When challenged in a reasonable manner, they either defend their claims by marshaling facts in support of those claims, or they admit to having made a mistake. But narcissists cannot be bothered with any of this. Engaging in good faith arguments is beneath their exalted sense of dignity. Indeed, the only way that aristocrats know how to settle factual disputes is the same way they settle all disputes: by dueling. Which is to say, by ritualized attempted murder.
Attempts to get George Will to act like a responsible interlocutor on the issue of global warming have failed once again, and this is the simple reason why: he is psychologically incapable of being a responsible interlocutor. He does not recognize anyone else's factual claims. He is an aristocrat. The only thing he recognizes is an offense to honor, from another aristocrat. Nobel Prize-winning scientists be damned. The fricken human race be damned. He is a lord of the realm. Only we don't have such things in America. It's time we remembered that and started acting accordingly. Because George Will is damn sure never going to.
January 2007 was the warmest January since global surface records were instituted.
Extended quote:
Global temperatures during 2007
The analyses made by leading climate centres rank the year 2007 amongst the ten warmest years on record. The Met Office Hadley Centre analyses showed that the global mean surface temperature in 2007 was 0.40°C (0.72°F) above the 1961-1990 annual average (14°C/57.2°F) and hence marks the seventh warmest year on record. According to the National Climatic Data Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the global mean surface temperature anomaly was 0.55°C (0.99°F) above the twentieth century average (1901-2000) of 13.9°C (56.9°F), which ranks 2007 the fifth warmest year in its record.
January 2007 was the warmest January since global surface records were instituted.
I'll say one thing for George Will: at least the guy believes in recycling--when it comes to global warming lies, that is. Because that's his entire shtick in his most recent columns on the subject, "Dark Green Doomsayers" (Feb 15) and "Climate Science in A Tornado" (Feb 27), both of which have been widely and thoroughly debunked, perhaps most succinctly here at the Wonk Room, which also takes note of the Post's Fred Hiatt's dishonest defense of Will's lies as 'inferences.' (Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings, provides the lowdown on the Post Ombudsman Andy Alexander's shameful performance here.)
Via commenter "the new" in quick hits, we learn (surprise) that long time foe of democracy George Will opposes mandating special elections for senators. Will's column is amusing because he can't constrain his rage against the proponent of this Constitutional amendment, Senator Feingold (D-WI) for his past work on the McCain-Feingold campaign finance legislation. Let's take a look at what the brightest light of the conservative intellectual movement has to say this Sunday.
Sen. Feingold's Constitution By George F. Will
Sunday, February 22, 2009; Page
A simple apology would have sufficed. Instead, Sen. Russ Feingold has decided to follow his McCain-Feingold evisceration of the First Amendment with Feingold-McCain, more vandalism against the Constitution.
You'd think a guy who was just proven a liar over his column denying global warming would be shy about demanding that other people apologize for things, but that's the utterly shameless true conservative, George F. Will for you.
The "Chewable Pampers" commercial on Saturday Night Live last weekend was pretty hilarious, turning brown to green with an eco-friendly edible diaper that comes in three different flavors: "tangy cheddar, spicy lentil, and corn chowder." Gag me with a biodegradable bamboo spoon.
OK, so it was funny--but how farfetched, really? Thanks to our tanking economy, folks are eating crap en masse. Who knew that a pyramid scheme would generate its own food pyramid? Frank Rich took a peek at the ponzi'd-out pantry in his Sunday op-ed in the New York Times:
What are Americans still buying? Big Macs, Campbell's soup, Hershey's chocolate and Spam - the four food groups of the apocalypse.
When I was at MoveOn, media reform was one of my main issues. I had substantial dialogues with the folks at ABC's This Week about the right-wing skew of some of their Sunday roundtables.
To his credit, George Stephanopoulous had Paul Krugman on the roundtable this weekend to discuss the economy. If you want a treat, watch this 5 minute segment from the show. As you watch, ask yourself, "What would this segment be like if Krugman wasn't there?"
Aside from Krugman, what other progressive voices are "ready for prime time" and should be on Sunday roundtables? (I nominate David Sirota, Cenk Uyger, Christy Harvey, and Ari Melber, to name a few...your turn. Include YouTube links if you have them.)
Often as we have watched the ongoing catastrophe that results from the implementation of conservative philosophy some defenders will appeal to some kind of "true conservativism" to say that what we have seen is some kind of aberration rather than the natural and inevitable result of putting conservatives in charge.
One of the most often cited people held up as paragons of true conservativism is George F. Will. Will wrote a column in this week's Newsweek which is pretty telling. If this is true conservativism's champion, that's pretty sad.
Thanks to those who read and contributed to this morning's liveblogging of ABC's This Week - where George Stephanopoulos interviewed John McCain, and then a ridiculous roundtable discussion ensued.
Below are 3 top outrages from the show - from YouTube (the third one's my favorite). If you want to hold ABC accountable, please sign MoveOn's petition to ABC here. Over a quarter million have signed so far, and the final number will be in an ad this week...so if you've already signed, tell a friend.
Straight Talking McCain on Hagee (and Jews and gays)
McCain on Iraq: "Eliminate" Casualties or "Keep Them Down"?
This is a Catch 22 for McCain, which reporters should ask about. If his standard for staying in Iraq for 100 years is to "keep casualties down" during those years, that's still a whole lot of casualties. If his condition for staying 100 years is zero violence, how many years is he willing to stay in Iraq before achieving zero violence? (100 years?)
People have noted for some time the curious phenomenae of conservatives attracted to Barack Obama. At Salon, Joe Conasan's article "Why conservatives love Barack Obama" carried the subhead, "Clinton haters who think the Illinois senator can beat Hillary support him now, but their affection will fade if he gets the nomination." The irrational exuberance of Hillary hatred seen before the New Hampshire primary certainly reminds us of how potent a force such hatred remains, not just within the official conservative establishment, but among its Versailles enablers as well. Still, that's only part of the story.
some conservatives, in particular, can't wait to bum rush the current crop of media-anointed black leaders out the door.
"The big losers, two big losers tonight are probably Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton," George Will observed after the Illinois senator swept the Iowa Democratic caucuses last week.
The Revs. Sharpton and Jackson, Mr. Will said, were "representative of those who have a sort of investment in the traditional and, I believe, utterly exhausted narrative about race relations in the United States."
Conservative radio host Bill Bennett said Mr. Obama "has taught the black community you don't have to act like Jesse Jackson; you don't have to act like Al Sharpton. You can talk about the issues. And, this is a breakthrough."
Page's reference to "media-anointed black leaders" is bizarre, of course. Jackson ran for President twice. In the 1988 primaries, he got over 7 million votes, won ten states and went to the convention with over 1,200 delegates. Sharpton ran in 2004, and repeatedly confounded expectations with his cogent arguments in the debates. This comment by Page is indicative of how, even when he's questioning what white conservatives are saying about black political issues at one level, he's buying into their assumptions at another: Jackson and Sharpton don't really represent the black community, according to the subtext that Page has casually endorsed. They are "media-anounted black leaders." (Unlike Obama?)
[Author's calculations from NASA data]
Grand Theft. Pathological Lying About Global Warming. Attempted Genocide.
