Jennifer Marohasy

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William Connolley at Wikipedia – by Lawrence Solomon

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At Wikipedia, one man engineers the debate on global warming, and shapes it to his views:

Next to Al Gore, William Connolley may be the world’s most influential person in the global warming debate. He has a PhD in mathematics and worked as a climate modeller, but those accomplishments don’t explain his influence — PhDs are not uncommon and, in any case, he comes from the mid-level ranks in the British Antarctic Survey, the agency for which he worked until recently.

He was the Parish Councillor for the village of Coton in the U.K., his Web site tells us, and a school governor there, too, but neither of those accomplishments are a claim to fame in the wider world. Neither are his five failed attempts to attain public office as a local candidate for South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridgeshire County Council as a representative for the Green Party…

Read more here: http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=490337

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The Opinionator, At Wikipedia, one man engineers the debate on global warming, and shapes it to his views.
by Lawrence Solomon, Financial Post, Published: Saturday, May 03, 2008

Climate Debate on the Web

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“There are some other good Antipodean blogs that regularly touch on climate change. The mainstream view is represented by the University of NSW’s Tim Lambert at scienceblogs.com/deltoid, while the sceptics get a run at my favourite environmental website, jennifermarohasy.com/blog. Marohasy is a biologist and a fellow with the Institute of Public Affairs.”

Michael Duffy, The Sydney Morning Herald: New climate figures would make a great debate them

“It is striking, in view of the colossal implications of the current response to “the greatest challenge confronting mankind” – as our politicians love to call it – how this hugely important debate is almost entirely overlooked by the media, and is instead conducted largely on the internet, through expert websites such as those run by Mr McIntyre and Mr Watts.”

Christopher Booker, The Sunday Telegraph: Watch the web for climate change truths

The Boris Effect: UK Government to Scrap Green Taxes in Bid to Calm Voter Fury

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Gordon Brown is poised to scrap a series of unpopular tax rises as part of sweeping changes to stave off a dangerous revolt over the rising cost of living which last week dealt Labour its worst electoral hammering in 40 years. Today the Prime Minister will respond to a growing suburban uprising by signalling moves to help motorists and other consumers. Last night Downing Street sources hinted the 2 per cent rise in fuel duty due in the autumn may not go ahead, in a concession to tight household budgets.
–Gaby Hinsliff and Jo Revill, The Observer, 4 May 2008

Internal polling in London found Ken Livingstone’s green policies, such as new charges for gas-guzzling cars, alienated older voters, while the environment was at best a low priority for others, suggesting that, as families’ budgets shrink, so does their willingness to pay to save the planet. ‘My colleagues will say Labour has got to be brave on green issues, but the public are really feeling the pinch,’ said one senior minister.
–Gaby Hinsliff and Jo Revill, The Observer, 4 May 2008

U.K. voters resoundingly rejected the Labour Party in local elections last week. It was no capricious shift, but a citizen revolt against trendy carbon and nanny-state taxes that empower only bad government. For Labour, it was the worst election in 40 years. Every tax and intrusion imposed by Labour in recent years was justified as being for voters’ “own good.” Ending global warming, reducing carbon footprints, lowering carbon emissions and raising public funding of renewable energy – all were excuses used to hit the voters’ pocketbook with more taxes. Yet none of these taxes improved the quality of life.
–Investor’s Business Daily, 2 May 2008

Oh dear! The inevitable is happening. The ‘global warming’ trope is unravelling on a daily basis – scientifically, economically, and politically. The wheels are coming off the hysterical bandwagon, and it is not going to be a salutary sight watching the politicians and the media junkies jumping cart and trying to throw mud in everyone’s eyes.
–Philip Stott, 3 May 2008

Global warming is a new religion and blasphemy against that religion is not a laughing matter. The high tide of unthinking adherence to this new religion has been reached and I think it may well be in the coming years the tide will gradually recede but it will be a very glacial progress.
–Nigel Lawson, The Guardian, 3 May 2008

But, of course, people aren’t interested in these kinds of facts. They want the religion. They want the sweet moralistic feeling of telling someone to stop doing something. They want to be able to rage about Chelsea Tractors and Tony Blair’s flights, and they want to give vent to their feelings of disgust at the whole triumph of Western consumerist capitalism.
–Boris Johnson, The Daily Telegraph, 11 January 2007

For the first time in years, voters seem skeptical that solar, wind, ocean waves and currents, biofuels and other so-called renewable sources of energy can replace gasoline, petroleum-based diesel, home heating oil, natural gas, and propane to any significant degree in the foreseeable future. Among ordinary middle class, working class and poor voters, global warming appears to be a non-issue. More and more hard-pressed people are more afraid of pauperization than the manmade greenhouse gases that supposedly cause climate change.
–China Confidential, 3 May 2008

Failed asylum seekers are sneaking out of Britain – because they are fed up with the poor healthcare and bad weather. Scores have been caught trying to break past border controls in recent weeks, according to immigration staff. Les Williams, a chief immigration officer for the UK Border Agency, said: “We cannot explain exactly why they are trying to go, but when some of these people were questioned they said they wanted to go to a warmer country as they are fed up with the English weather.”
–The Daily Mail, 3 May 2008

Those who have knowledge, don’t predict. Those who predict, don’t have knowledge.
–Lao Tzu, 6th Century BC Chinese Poet

CCNet 71/2008 – 4 May 2008 — Audiatur et altera pars

Whaling News from the North Atlantic – A Note from Ann Novek

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1) News from the Icelandic Minke Whaler’s Association, 15.4.2008.
Minke whaling boat Njordur KO, will leave port in the middle of May, to start minke whale hunting that will continue to the summer.

The vessels Dröfn RE and Halldor Sigurdsson IS, will join the hunt during the summer. According to the plan, whale meat be available in the stores in the shift of May/ June, and the meat will be prepared as the previous years.

Whale meat processor Esja, will take care of the marketing and preparation of the whale meat. The minke whale hunters hope this change will increase the sales of whale meat, which they since the year 2004 , have taken care of by themselves.

2) In the Norwegian hunt, so far 5 minke whales have been killed ( Friday).

3) I haven’t mentioned this previously, but Libby Eyre was on Swedish TV, swimming with her humpbacks in Tonga. Another contributor to the blog, George McCallum, had his whale pictures featured in a Swedish traveller’s magazine on Norway “ Nordland Naturligtvis” ( Northland Naturally). A story on whale’s safaris in Norway.

4) Our old friend Rune, is now a Director for the whale meat processing plant, Lofothval, that gets Govt’s support financially.

5)Another traveller’s magazine on the Faroe Islands states: “Funky Faroes — Whale and Gay bashing is out.”

Ann Novek
Sweden