I greatly enjoyed my appearance at the Heartland Institute a couple of months back, so I was very pleased when Jim Lakely invited me to join him on his Heartland podcast to talk about my new book on a certain global warm-monger and his notorious hockey stick. It's a half-hour jaunt through some of the most discreditable behavior of the Clime Syndicate:
Steyn joins Director of Communications Jim Lakely to talk about the fallacies of the popular and well-known hockey stick graph.
Steyn and Lakely dissect the "hockey stick" and explain where Mann went wrong. Steyn also comments on the current state of scientific review and how it is slanted against real peer-review.
You can hear the entire interview here. Grab a nice cup of tea, settle back, and enjoy.
~Meanwhile, over at Amazon, we have our first celebrity thumb's down, from "P Ehrlich" - and yes, it's that Paul Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb:
A TRIUMPH OF DENIAL PROPAGANDA
It is sad that with humanity facing catastrophic climate disruption as part of an existential threat that there are still people willing to attack Mike Mann, one of the real heroes of climate science, outrageous lies. But one must admire the well-funded denier campaign, carried forward by the likes of Rupert Murdoch and his "False News" network, for the campaign's persistence in the face of massive evidence, its success in confusing much of the public, and creating a propioganda [sic] triumph equivalent to that of creationism in keeping Medieval nonsense embedded in the brains of many Americans. Unhappily the "triumph" may prove doom for many of our descendents [sic]. Mike Mann is admired by all real climate scientists, even those who may have same disagreements with him (there is no certainty in science, unlike in the world of denial propogandists [sic]) -- and I know many of the leading players and follow the field closely. The best one can say of this silly collection of comments from hacks and has-beens, mixed with quotes-out-of-context, is that it is NOT a disgrace to the profession of its perpetrators, nor to their pimps.
"Hacks and has-beens"? Pretty funny to hear the Population Bomb huckster dismiss as "hacks and has-beens" two (real) Nobel Laureates, the former President of the Royal Statistical Society, the former President of the Statistical Society of Canada, the former President of the Royal Meteorological Society, the former President of the New Zealand Association of Scientists, the founder of the Lamont-Doherty Tree-Ring Laboratory, the inventor of the Gaia hypothesis, the inventor of the argon ion laser, the proponent of the Mobile Polar High, the founding editor of the journal Climate Change, the chief scientist of the UK Met Office, the principal investigator for the National Centre for Atmospheric Research, the man who developed the first satellite temperature record, etc.
It's not clear from P Ehrlich's flaccid generalities whether he actually read the book, but, if he did bother to pick it up, I do hope he got as far as page 240, where he and his hero "Mike Mann" make a joint appearance:
Mann, Ehrlich, and Rahmstorf: What a scurrilous bunch. My sympathy to you and anyone else who has to deal with them. They're gravediggers of science.
Or maybe he did get that far and this is one of those "quotes out of context" he's complaining about.
Still, always nice to hear from one of the gravediggers. Keep digging, Professor.
Oh, and the screaming capitals (A TRIUMPH OF DENIAL PROPAGANDA) are a nice touch for a guy who has a reputation only has an hysterical drama queen. Oddly enough, everyone else seems able to express themselves calmly, in lower-case.
~On the other hand, this review from "GD Hulk" expertly lays out the story so far:
A Brilliant, Funny, Timely, and Well-Deserved Evisceration of a Mann Who Has It Coming
Let me break this down so that even D "One Star" Howitzer of Vancouver, and the rest of Mann's loyal sycophants, can understand it. As an attorney who has read all the pleadings and followed the case closely, here's what I've found:
--In referring to Michael Mann's hockey stick as "fraudulent" a few years ago, Mark Steyn was only sharing the opinion of hundreds of scientists who have looked at Mann's work—and Steve McIntyre and Ross McKitrick's evisceration of it—and deemed it highly flawed, sloppy, misleading, and (yes) quite possibly "fraudulent."
--The thin-skinned, incredibly insecure Mann responded by puffing out his chest and suing Steyn for $9 million for "defamation of a Nobel Prize recipient," before being forced to amend his complaint to acknowledge that he hadn't actually won a Nobel Prize.
--In order to defend himself against possible financial ruin, Steyn needs to show either that what he said about Mann was true, or that Steyn believed it to be true and was not reckless in so believing and opining. (This desire of the defendant to defend himself against a multi-million dollar lawsuit is deemed by Mann's acolytes to be evidence of an unhealthy "obsession" with the plaintiff. Go figure.)
--To accomplish the above, Steyn set about gathering evidence in the form of opinions by highly decorated and accomplished scientists in the field—including many AGW (anthropogenic global warming) supporters and many of Mann's own colleagues—that Mann's work was indeed highly flawed, sloppy, misleading, and fraudulent. (See above.) This turned out to be not so very difficult--hence the "Volume I" of the title.
--Meanwhile, Steyn has done all he can to clear the way for his day in court, even refusing opportunities to try to get the case dismissed. He'd rather get Mann in the courtroom to try the merits of the case and to pursue Steyn's own counterclaim regarding Mann's attempt to sue him into silence. This has confused Mann and his followers. "Not cricket!" they seem to be saying. "This isn't how the game is played!"
--Mann, on the other hand, has filed all manner of motions seeking to delay the trial, avoid discovery, and, in general, avoid Steyn and the consequences of suing him—even to the point of not showing up in courts whenever there's a possibility Steyn might be there. Apparently, he's too busy promoting flawed "science" and being a celebrity. That and spending the money of the Big Climate outfits who are paying for his lawyers.
--So Steyn got tired of simply collecting evidence from the legions of experts who it turns out think Mann's hockey stick is indeed highly flawed, sloppy, misleading, and fraudulent, and he's decided to put that evidence in a book and publish it. "Screw waiting for the courts to get serious—here's what the experts really think and why I'm pretty comfortable thinking and saying it too."
--The book is well-written, well-organized, and well-explained. Every single quote is placed in context, notwithstanding the knee-jerk reactions of the small-minded Mann-o-philes who pretend to review the book but obviously haven't opened it. What they—and Mann--can't seem to wrap their small brains around is the concept of a defendant like Steyn who is prepared to fight and will not be silenced by a bully like Mann. And instead of raising money by begging for donations, Steyn has written informative, annotated, and often funny books as a means of financing his defense and countersuit. What a concept, paying your own way, huh?
The bottom line is this is a highly informative, well-written, eye-opening, and—yes—entertaining book compiled by a brilliant and bold writer and thinker who has stepped up to face down a narcissistic, phony bully who bit off more than he could chew when he filed the lawsuit. I highly recommend A Disgrace to the Profession for anyone who wants to understand what the "climate wars" and the "hockey stick" are really all about.
~Amazon UK is also stacking up the five-star reviews. Here's a sampling:
~Essential reading.
~This book ought to be required reading by anyone working in climate science, related fields and any area of scientific research.
~Mark Steyn's book was an eye-opener for me.
~This is a devastating takedown of Dr Michael Mann's infamous 'Hockey Stick Graph'.
~A hilarious and biting must-read book!
And if, after all that, you'd like to pick up this "hilarious and biting must-read", it's called "A Disgrace to the Profession", and it's available personally autographed by yours truly direct from SteynOnline - or, alternatively, signature-free but steeply discounted at Amazon. And, if you need it in the next 90 seconds, it can be yours anywhere on the planet via Kindle or Nook.
~If you enjoy the Heartland podcast with Jim Lakely, listen in the days ahead as I return to the airwaves with Ben Mathis at KickAss Politics, Sean Hannity on the radio, and many others.
