Another blow to the global warming crowd

If you've read my blogs over time, you know I occasionally take on the global warming fanatics. It all started when I read State of Fear, a book by Michael Crichton in which he challenged the hysterical pronouncements of Al Gore and others like him. My belief is that there may be global warming, but it probably isn't the fault of the human race and there is little we can do about it even if it is our fault, short of going back to living in caves. It always struck me that the global warming proponents wanted the U. S. to become another third-world entity, run by those who knew best. And guess who that would be.


Over the weekend I read something featured on Drudge Report that confirmed my suspicions. Did you see it? The title was "NASA Blows Gaping Holes in the Global Warming Hypothesis." Here's a brief explanation of what NASA has discovered.


Keep in mind that the alarmists always use scientific findings to "prove" their shrill pronouncements. Never mind that these evidences, when examined closely, turn out to be bogus or inaccurate. Remember Climategate?


Well, science has turned against them. In the journal Remote Sensing, research scientists at the University of Alabama (UA) in Huntsville have suggested that global warming is not occuring at the rapid rate shown by model-based forecasts. Dr. Roy Spencer, a principal research scientist in the UA’s Earth System Science Center, and his colleague Dr. Danny Braswell claim data from NASA’s Terra satellite shows that when the climate warms, Earth’s atmosphere is apparently more efficient at releasing energy to space than models used to forecast climate change have been programmed to “believe."


So, here's the bottom line: NASA satellite data from the years 2000 through 2011 show the Earth’s atmosphere is allowing far more heat to be released into space than alarmist computer models have predicted.


What about the future, so filled with dire warnings, according to the patron saint of global warming, Al Gore? The study indicates far less future global warming will occur than United Nations computer models have predicted and supports prior studies indicating increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide trap far less heat than alarmists have claimed. In addition, the NASA satellite data show the atmosphere begins shedding heat into space long before United Nations computer models predicted.


Applied to long-term climate change, the research might indicate that the climate is less sensitive to warming due to increased carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere than climate modellers have theorized. A major underpinning of global warming theory is that the slight warming caused by enhanced greenhouse gases should change cloud cover in ways that cause additional warming, which would be a positive feedback cycle. Apparently, this is not happening.


Since this new data comes from NASA, people will have to treat it seriously. If we avoid a headlong rush to embrace all the restrictions urged by the alarmists, maybe we can avoid ruining our economy and sending us all back to the 17th century.

NASA . . . to boldly go . . .

Every time I think I have heard it all, something blindsides me. The latest really hit me hard because it has to do with NASA, the organization that got us to the moon, put the Hubble telescope in space to reveal some amazing photographs of the universe, and sent two incredibly hardy rovers to Mars where they have been exploring the surface for over five years.

NASA administrator Charles Bolden recently gave an interview with Al Jazeera. I was flabbergasted when I came across this statement by him: "When I became the NASA administrator -- or before I became the NASA administrator -- he {Obama] charged me with three things. One was he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math, he wanted me to expand our international relationships, and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math and engineering."

Now, think about NASA. What does it represent? I think of science, careful calculations, the universe, the mysteries of the solar system, human and robotic exploration, incredibly complex machinery, clever fixes of difficult problems. What don't we think of when we think of NASA? Helping different cultures "feel good" about themselves. When did it become NASA's job to stroke egos across the globe? Apparently it's now the "foremost" task of this agency, thanks to our current President, who never misses an opportunity to grovel before the rest of the world.

Well, maybe I'm missing something here. NASA is always searching for new ways to do things, new technologies, new attempts to explore the frontier of space. Maybe the Moslem world has techniques to help NASA. Let's think about this . . . what recent developments has Islam given us? Beheadings, stonings, demotion of women, suicide bombings, threats, riots over cartoons. So, all we have to do is figure out how to channel this technology into rocket flight, long-distance communication between the planets, miniaturization of scientific instruments. Hey, if Charles Bolden can channel this hatred and ignorance into advanced technology, then President Obama has made a wise choice.

But I have my doubts. It was the Judeo-Christian worldview that gave us modern science. I would be much happier if NASA concentrated on its original mission and left pandering to the experts (cue Obama).