Today, Tuesday, I'll be checking in with Sean Hannity on Fox News coast to coast at 10pm Eastern/7pm Pacific. Tomorrow, Wednesday, I'll be joining Joyce Kaufman on the radio in Florida, and Milt Rosenberg in Chicago. Hope you'll consider tuning in for one or two or maybe all three of my appearances.
~Thank you very much to all those readers who've already snaffled up my new book. After three years of the Mann vs Steyn trial of the century being stuck in the clogged toilet of District of Columbia justice, I thought it was time to get things moving by adding a few extra charges to Mann's complaint. So the book is called:
"A Disgrace To The Profession":
The World's Scientists - In Their Own Words - On
Michael E Mann, His Hockey Stick And Their Damage To Science
Volume One
It's a zippy title - and it is what it says: Scientists from all points on the climate-change spectrum talking about the most famous scientific graph of the 21st century, the man who invented it, its profoundly corrupting effect on the climate debate and science in general - and why it is vital to undo that damage. Over at Small Dead Animals, Kate McMillan cites my rationale for the book:
It begins with a quote from Ed Begley Jr, the actor-activist, in a memorable Climategate interview with Stuart Varney:
"If these scientists have done something wrong, it will be found out and their peers will determine it... Don't get your information from me, folks, or any newscaster. Get it from people with PhD after their names."
So I did.
Indeed, I did - and what the PhD crowd think of Mann's cartoon climatology isn't pretty. Anthony Watts calls it "Steyn's scathing new book", Instapundit hails it as a fine example of "Punching back twice as hard" and Dr Judith Curry said it had "much wit and plenty of zingers". I'm still slogging my way through Helsinki University Professor Antero Järvinen's review in Finnish, but readers expressed enthusiasm for our series of scientists' judgments of Mann rendered into Finnish, so I thought we'd have a couple more:
"The final stage of corruption - cover-up - had taken hold":
Korruption viimeinen vaihe – peittely – oli saanut jalansijan.
"These researchers are guilty of brazen fraud":
Nämä tutkijat ovat syyllistyneet julkeaan petokseen.
If you're in a Helsinki restaurant and spot Mann and Phil Jones at the next table, you may find these phrases from the Berlitz Mannish-Finnish language course very useful.
Personally autographed copies of "A Disgrace to the Profession" are available right now at the SteynOnline bookstore, and I'm signing them as fast as I can. But, if you can live without my cheery greeting, you can pre-order it from Amazon in print and Kindle. It's already Number One on the Scientists hit parade in Canada, whatever that means. Profits therefrom help to prop up my end of the forthcoming trial - and Josh's cartoons are worth the price all by themselves.
As you know, Michael E Mann's plan was to sue me into silence. When you ensnare someone in a sclerotic legal system, the eventual verdict is irrelevant: the process is the punishment, and the object is to let everyyone else out there know that the price for crossing Big Climate is too high. But I'm not playing by Mann's rules, and his claim that le climat, c'est moi doesn't withstand the slightest scrutiny. He has so few serious, credible people willing to defend him that over the weekend he was reduced to enthusiastically Tweeting a soi-disant "takedown" of me by some psychotic halfwit pseudonymous sock-puppet Mann himself had blocked from his own Twitter account. I know Mann blocks around the clock, and can be forgiven for being unable to keep track of them all, but even so...
~From the mailbag, re the ongoing Trump ructions:
Mark,
You insist that Trump has traction because " ... 'real' Republicans and 'real' 'conservatives' in Washington [haven't] managed actually to 'conserve' anything during their time in office".
One of Rush's common points is that we haven't had one of those in the White House since Reagan. Now we actually have several running. So not sure why it's reasonable to turn to a candidate that is the farthest thing from one in the race. Cruz? I'm not onboard but I get why people would turn to him. Trump? ... Trump???
I agree that immigration is an existential threat to the country. It needs to be at the top of the list in terms of priority. Where I guess I diverge from the Trumpkins is their seeming belief that it's the ONLY issue of import. Is a debt to GDP ratio on par with Greece not ALSO an existential threat? Is a bumbling, unprincipled foreign policy not also in that category? Is the ever expanding police state that shuts down July 4th parades for lack of compliant signage not a concern? Pray tell, then, how it's reasonable to support a candidate that VIGOROUSLY supports eminent domain? One that believes having bankruptcy law expertise is a useful tool when dealing with multi-trillion dollar governmental debt? One that "doesn't particularly care" whether Ukraine joins NATO or gets blown to smithereens?
Yes, build a wall. But when the dollar collapses it'll just make it harder for illegal immigrants to get out as they head back home for work. Let's hope by that point the place doesn't resemble East Berlin and the wall is repurposed to keep people in.
Cheers,
Matt Cruser
All you say might well be true. It could be that Trump is just a phony and a liar, but the last people in the world in a position to complain about that are the Republican establishment. What's the old saying? Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. 2010 was fool me once, 2014 was fool me twice, 2016 would be fool me thrice, which is asking a lot even for the stupid party. Which is why, collectively, Trump, Carson and Fiorina, who haven't a day in elected office between them, now command some 42 per cent in recent polls.
And on a lighter note:
Dear Mr Steyn,
You seem to be quite knowledgeable about things musical, especially songwriting teams. I have a question about such a team.
One of my favorite songwriting teams is Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. My question: How are their names pronounced? Is the "ei" in "Leiber" pronounced as a long-E or a long-I? Is the "o" in "Stoller" long or short?
Bonus question: The convention seems to be to list the composer first and the lyricist second, but references to these two guys tend to be the other way around. Why is that?
Bob Booze
Wilmington, North Carolina
It's Leeeber (long E) and Stoller (short O), and they wrote a ton of stuff for everyone from Elvis and the Coasters to Peggy Lee and Stealer's Wheel. Here's what I had to say about them when Jerry Leiber died. Bonus round: Name the song they wrote for Sinatra.
Answer: "The Girls I Never Kissed."
Re your second question: There's no convention with songwriting teams that the composer comes first and lyricist second. If there is a convention, it's that the guy with the two-syllable name comes first:
Gilbert & Sullivan; Lerner & Loewe (lyricist first).
Rodgers & Hammerstein; Kander & Ebb (composer first).
Where both guys have a two-syllable name, it goes to union arbitration.
~If you missed my first radio interview in Canada talking about "A Disgrace to the Profession", with everybody's favorite piano-playing imam Andrew Lawton, it was a fun half-hour, as you can hear by clicking below:
~There are other ways to support Mark's side in the upcoming Mann vs Steyn trial of the century, if you're so inclined:
1) STEYNONLINE GIFT CERTIFICATES
You can buy a gift certificate starting at $25 (and soaring way up from there), for yourself or your friends and family. The gift certificates have no expiration date, so if, in ten years' time, your favorite nephew has a sudden burning desire for $100 worth of Mark's disco CD, it'll still be valid. On the other hand, if you want to buy a certificate and sit on it until Mark wins the case, that works, too.
The gift certificates are available online here. Alternatively, US and Canadian customers can make a telephone purchase by calling (866) 799-4500 toll free from 8am to 3pm Eastern time on weekdays.
Aside from "A Disgrace To The Profession", he's written lots of other books, on free speech and much more. They're available individually or as part of various special offers.
3) EXCLUSIVE STEYN vs THE STICK TRIAL MERCHANDISE
Our "Steyn vs the Stick" and "Clash of Sticks" designs are available both on mousepads and coffee mugs and as T-shirts and sweat shirts.
