I BRING fraternal greetings from the Mother of Parliaments to the Congress of your “athletic democracy”. I pray that God’s blessing may rest upon your counsels.
Viscount Christopher Monckton.
Testimony to The Energy&Commerce Committee of the House of Representatives,
Washington, DC, Wednesday, 25 March, 2009.
http://energycommerce.house.gov/.../testimony_monckton.pdf
The bringing of "fraternal greetings from the Mother of Parliaments" is only possible if one is a Member of Parliament or a member of the House of Lords. Since Viscount Monckton is not and never has been such a member, it follows that the implication conveyed by his greeting was a form of perjury.
Viscount Christopher Monckton is a member of the British 'governing class', but is not and never has been a Member of Parliament or a member of the House of Lords. Monckton is a Lord, but that does not entitle him to say or imply that is is a member of the House of Lords. In exactly the same way, I am a commoner, but that does not entitle me to say or imply that I am a member of the House of Commons.
On being confronted with having misled the US House of Representatives’ Global Warming Committee on that subject, Monckton, in a response to the Committee stated:
I am The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley (as my passport shows), a member of the Upper House but without the right to sit or vote, and I have never pretended otherwise.Never pretended otherwise? Hardly!
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/07/12/a-detailed-rebuttal-to-abraham-fro...
Viscount Monckton has attempted to influence the political process in America by pretending to be a scientist and a member of the House of Lords, and by using his scientific knowledge of propaganda.
This article is an attempt by an ordinary member of the British working class to expose Monckton's lies and secret manipulations in the hope of putting right some of the damage.
Propaganda
Propaganda is a powerful tool which may be used to try to convince people that snow is black, but it might be a lot cheaper to try to convince them that snow is dark gray, as Bertrand Russell so astutely observed in The Impact of Science On Society, 1951.
Although this science will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated.
Bertrand Russell, The Impact Of Science On Society, 1951
Propaganda is indeed a science. Observations from the various branches of cognitive science are used to determine how best to persuade people to accept as fact a proposition which may or may not be true.
It is exceedingly difficult to persuade one group of people that black is white, or to persuade another group that white is black. It is easier and cheaper to persuade enough people to doubt the evidence of their own eyes and accept that white and black are equally likely to be gray. In a true democracy it is doubtful if any amount of expenditure on propaganda can bring about an election victory for one side or the other. But a small amount spent on the propagation of doubt may well bring about an indecisive election result.
This approach has been taken by Christopher Monckton and other professional propagandists to cast doubt on the evidence of human-induced climate change. It is very hard to persuade voters that climate change is a myth when they can see news reports of the harsh effects of climate change across the planet. It is easier and cheaper to throw up a fog of doubt so that people who have no scientific training can be led to believe that there is no consensus of scientific opinion on climate change and its causes.
One way to cast doubt on climate science is to cast doubt on the honesty and integrity of climate scientists. A recurring theme coming from anti-science propagandists is that climate scientists communicate secretly and fabricate data in pursuit of an agenda driven by political and financial motives.
I present here evidence which shows that propagandists have themselves communicated in secret and fabricated data in pursuit of an agenda. Their common goal is to convince ordinary people that there is no scientific consensus on climate change. Their agenda is the promotion of climate inaction.
These 'climate insiders', anti-science propagandists collaborating via emails and a private web site, are Viscount Christopher Monckton, Anthony Watts, Steven Goddard, Joe D'Aleo, and Jennifer Marohasy.
This is something like a blog, but it is geared specifically for keeping a group of people in touch. My thinking here is that many in the AGW are very socially networked. Skeptics, being the minority, and far flung, don’t have that advantage. I’m hoping this will help us work more as a “team with a common goal” than as individuals.
Anthony Watts
http://climateinsiders.wordpress.com/about/
Hi All
Finally successful in signing up and logging on thanks to help from Tony. Houghton’s claim about the warming of 1980s and 1990s not questioned by anyone, only disagreement as to how much. Comments on Spencer uncalled for, he is a fine scientist who could run rings around most of the foxes in charge of the data chicken coups at NASA, NCDC, CRU where data manipulation is running rampant. Lord Monckton could have some sport with Houghton’s claims. I am sure they have crossed swords.
Jennifer your story got great coverage. Good job. Roy did 29 radio interviews on his new book. Slowly we will erode away at the consensus if we can continue to get help from the PDO/solar.
Joe D’Aleo
http://climateinsiders.wordpress.com/2008/03/30/hi-allfinally-successful...
Viscount Monckton is the most prominent member of this group. His grandfather was a propagandist in World War 2, his father was a public relations officer for the British Army. His brother, Anthony Monckton joined MI6 in 1987 and was appointed First Secretary (Political) to the British Embassy, Zagreb, Croatia in 1996. Viscount Monckton's brother-in-law is the journalist Dominic lawson, son of the former Chancellor Nigel Lawson. Nigel Lawson is chair of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, of which Benny Peiser is Director.
Viscount Monckton is generally cited as a former adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The only evidence for this seems to be unsubstantiated assertions made by Monckton himself. He was a member of the team of Downing Street journalists formed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher - a team somewhat resembling the White House press corps. It was as a journalist that he was invited by Alfred Sherman to take the minutes of a meeting of the Center For Policy Studies. Monckton was subsequently involved with the Center For Policy Studies - but that does not qualify him to claim that he was an adviser to Margaret Thatcher.
Viscount Monckton has no real grasp of the scientific method. As evidence, consider the following piece of pseudo-science:
There were Viking farms in Greenland: now they're under permafrost. There was little ice at the North Pole: a Chinese naval squadron sailed right round the Arctic in 1421 and found none.Permafrost does not lie on top of soil, but under it. As to the Chinese sailing around the Arctic in 1421, that is a theory expounded by only one person and widely regarded as based on entirely bogus 'proofs'. The 'Chinese Fleet' idea is thoroughly debunked by various experts at http://www.1421exposed.com/
Christopher Monckton, Sunday Telegraph, 05 Nov 2006
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1533290/Climate-chaos-Dont-believ...
The consensus on global warming.
Climate scientists don't just study the weather: weather is not climate. The term 'climate scientist' may be applied to a scientist from any field of science whatsoever whose primary interest is the discovery of information about our planet's climate, past or present. The relevant disciplines cover the whole domain of science. Evidence from botanists, geologists, cryologists and from disciplines too numerous to name demonstrates how our planet's climate has changed and is changing.
There is a broad cross-disciplinary agreement amongst climate scientists that the planet is warming and that the warming is mainly due to CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. This broad agreement, or consensus, is not an an outcome of a formal voting process but is simply an expression of what form of wording was acceptable to all parties concerned in the preparation of the 4th IPCC report.
This form of collaboration is common where a number of authors contribute to a piece of writing. It has long been an unremarkable part of the science publishing process. The idea of a consensus has only come under attack in the sphere of climate change. Papers published in other spheres by multiple authors go unremarked by climate change deniers.
Collaboration is a perfectly acceptable process where the goal is to discover what it is that everyone can agree on. If the start point is a story agreed on, and the purpose is to present that story to the public as if it is fact-based, then the process is not collaboration, but collusion.
The collusion on consensus
"Slowly we will erode away at the consensus ..."
In deciding to attack, destroy or erode something, one impliedly believes that it really exists. Evidence that the people named are attacking the climate consensus is evidence that they privately accept that there is in fact a scientific consensus on global warming. Publicly, they declare otherwise:
Manhattan Declaration on Climate ChangeThe signatories to the Manhattan Declaration on Climate Change, having asserted that there is no consensus, go on to request:
“Global warming” is not a global crisis
We, the scientists and researchers in climate and related fields, economists, policymakers, and business leaders, assembled at Times Square, New York City, participating in the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change,
Resolving that scientific questions should be evaluated solely by the scientific method;
Affirming that global climate has always changed and always will, independent of the actions of humans, and that carbon dioxide (CO2) is not a pollutant but rather a necessity for all life;
Recognising that the causes and extent of recently-observed climatic change are the subject of intense debates in the climate science community and that oft-repeated assertions of a supposed ‘consensus’ among climate experts are false;
...
http://www.climatescienceinternational.org/index.php?Itemid=54&id=37&opt...
"That all taxes, regulations, and other interventions intended to reduce emissions of CO2 be abandoned forthwith."
The following endorsers of The Manhattan Declaration on Climate Change were physically present at the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change, which took place in New York City on March 2 - 4, 2008 at the Marriott New York Marquis Times Square Hotel:
24 - Joseph D’Aleo, MS, Meteorologist and Climatologist (retired), Executive Director, ICECAP (International Climate and Environmental Change Assessment Project), Hudson, New Hampshire, U.S.A.
76 - Jennifer Marohasy, BSc, PhD, Biologist, Writer, Senior Fellow, Institute of Public Affairs, Director, Australian Environment Foundation, Sydney, Australia
83 - Christopher Monckton, Viscount of Brenchley, Chief Policy Advisor, Science and Public Policy Institute, Quantification of Climate Sensitivity, Carie, Rannoch, Scotland
112 - Anthony Watts, ItWorks/IntelliWeather, Founder, surfacestation s.org, Chico, California, U.S.A.
http://www.climatescienceinternational.org/index.php?option=com_content&...
These propagandists, and others, use a 'secret' web site to co-author articles and to exchange data. Occasionally, while pages from Anthony Watts' site wattsupwiththat.com are loading, it can be seen that data is coming from a site called Climate Insiders. Watts presumably did not wish to reveal the existence of the Climate Insiders site.
Climate InsidersNot visible to prying eyes? Hardly!
External shared authoring blog
“The Climate Insiders”.
It is a private, protected discussion group. It is not visible to search engines nor to prying eyes. It’s purpose is to give us a search-able post and thread system to give all of us far flung professionals a place to try out ideas, post graphics, ask questions, ask for reviews, and plead for help in projects of importance. It is not intended to replace email as a way to alert everyone of something happening, such as what Mr. Morano does, but rather you could think of it as an ongoing climate seminar in a safe zone. Membership is by invitation only.
This is a free and open forum, all participants will have equal rights to post new threads and to comment. There is no moderation. This forum will run independently of me 24/7.
This is something like a blog, but it is geared specifically for keeping a group of people in touch. My thinking here is that many in the AGW are very socially networked. Skeptics, being the minority, and far flung, don’t have that advantage. I’m hoping this will help us work more as a “team with a common goal” than as individuals."
http://climateinsiders.wordpress.com/about/
This is an open format forum, any user can post, all posts are hidden from the outside world and from search engines. Feel free to express yourself and your thoughts. You may know of others that would benefit, and if so invite them to register with WordPress and have them contact me at awatts@tvweather.com to be added.Hidden from the outside world? Hardly!
http://climateinsiders.wordpress.com/2008/03/23/hello-if-youve-reached-t...
One of the claims made by climate insider Viscount Monckton is that he is very knowledgeable when it comes to computers. One might think that he would know enough to help Anthony Watts make his secret web site a little more secure by modifying the Wordpress defaults. As things stand, far from being hidden from the outside world, the machinations of these propagandists are searchable by any ordinary web user who cares to enter search terms in this box:
Screenshot of the search box - http://climateinsiders.wordpress.com/?s=*****
If you are going to search that 'private' site, be quick, and if possible save screenshots or whole web pages. Anthony Watts censors his website whatsupwiththat.com by deleting comments and even articles, often without explanation.
"not only does Watts doctor up the information he takes and posts from reputable news sources (as Joe Romm pointed out in this post), he clearly censors and edits the information you are allowed to see on his site. "
Paul K, comment #28
http://climateprogress.org/2009/08/02/anthony-watts-wattsupwiththat-inan...
http://wattsupwiththat.com/.../climate-skepticism-could-soon-be-a-criminal-offence
Further reading:
http://pr.thinkprogress.org/2009/12/pr20091210/index.html
http://www.desmogblog.com/skeptics-journal-publishes-plagiarized-paper
http://www.desmogblog.com/who-nigel-lawson-and-he-climate-change-expert
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/24/voices-of-climate-chan...
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/07/12/a-detailed-rebuttal-to-abraham-fro...
http://blogs.ft.com/rachmanblog/2010/10/a-night-at-the-oxford-union/
http://climatecrocks.com/2010/04/11/debunking-lord-monckton-part-one/
http://hot-topic.co.nz/monckton-is-a-fraud/
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