Mr. Michael provides a perfect example of the big lie. As the late and unlamented Josef Goebbels once stated, if one is going to tell a lie, make it a big lie, tell it loudly and tell it often and eventually people will begin to believe it.

Just for the information of interested readers, since Mr. Michael trashed the IPCC, with, of course, not a shred of evidence to back it up, lets look at some of the deniers. The thread in the attached link describes an online petition organized by the CATO institute of scientists who deny the scientific consensus on global warming. Aside from the fact that very few of them have expertise in the field of climatology, there are a number of nutcases on the list. It includes HIV/AIDS deniers like one Eduardo Ferreyra, and orgone energy proponents like one Dr. James DeMeo.

Of course, the CATO petition, like the Imhofe petition proves nothing. There are similar petitions with multi-hundred signers denying HIV/AIDS, the theory of evolution, big bang cosmology, CFCS/ozone depletion, cigarette smoking/lung cancer, etc.

http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2009/04/cato_copies_the_discovery_inst.php#more

1. “These guys [the scientists in the IPCC] were chosen by their repective countries not because of climate expertise, but because of an overwhelming commitment to the concept of hunam caused global warming.” Can you document the selection process to back up your claim?

2. ” Thousands of extremely expeienced and respected scientists are now speaking out on this politically supercharged subject, and they are totally in disagreement with the broken model used by the IPCC” This certainly requires substantiation. I believe it to be incorrect.

3. ” The earth is cooling down. It has been cooling for over a decade now”. Please present your analysis and your evidence, taking into account the thermal inertia of the earth’s climate system.

4. Don presents three sources that he claims support global cooling. However, my understanding of the evidence produced by these sources is that they support AGW. Please provide the specific evidence to which you refer.

I have found that global warming deniers are long on accusations and short on substantiation. I hope that you will break this tradition.

As for the 650 climatologists, that story has been debunked as a stunt.

I’ve read lots of research papers that end with “and there’s still stuff we don’t know, so more research is needed.” I don’t think I’ve EVER read a research paper that ends with “we understand this pretty well, so we should find higher-priority things on which to spend money.”

Thousands of extremely expeienced and respected scientists are now speaking out on this politically supercharged subject, and they are totally in disagreement with the broken model used by the IPCC, and the misleading and dangerous forcasts made to scare people into coughing up money and political influence.

One key reason that we are making so little headway is the fact that it is in the interests of lobbyist to delay action as long as possible. I would agree with Erasmussimo above that we need economic analysis from someone else other than Lomborg clones. We never see the costs of doing nothing that can be avoided.

Earth Day will be hear in a couple of weeks. What an opportunity to tell everyone that the big time lobbyists have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, that they are only seeking the funding that flows only to the smoothest liars, and that they all are willing to kill millions for the sake of a bigger deal. It is the same ideology that brought us unregulated credit default swaps. Just follow the money.

When a concensus becomes science fact, then all science is damaged. The earth is cooling down. It has been cooling for over a decade now, and is very likely to continue to cool for another 15-30 years at least. This is despite the horrific predictions of the political alarmists.

Folks, do your own homework. If after some unbiased research you still believe that we humans are warming up the earth, then at least you came to that conclusion by your own means, and not through a group of shrill people predicting a false doom.