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SCIENCE QUESTIONED

Suddenly environmentalists are questioning science:

TONY JONES: But of course, that’s exactly what he says he’s doing. He hasn’t given any formal approval, now he’s got an independent inquiry by the chief scientists. Is that not good enough?

GEOFFREY COUSINS: No, it’s not good enough because it doesn’t allow a proper public inspection of all of that and debate of the scientific evidence and it doesn’t allow all the voices to be heard, and you don’t want a situation where the chief scientist looks at these issues and makes a determination and then shortly thereafter, somebody says, but you’ve missed this point, you know, if only you’d thought about that. And the scientist says, oh yes, OK, now I see it. I mean, this deserves a proper public hearing.

People openly debating scientists’ views on the environment. What will they demand next?

(Via Alan R.M. Jones)

Posted by Tim B. on 08/31/2007 at 12:28 AM
  1. What we need is a large group of people gathered in one place debating. We could call it a big debate? A large debate? A huge debate? A giant debate? Well, that’s all the descriptive terms I can think of right now.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 08 31 at 12:37 AM • permalink

  2. “The debate is over”
    “No it isn’t, ipso facto”

    Posted by ooh honey honey on 2007 08 31 at 12:39 AM • permalink

  3. Is he the bloke who was on board of Optus etc?

    Does he live in Australia?

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 08 31 at 12:41 AM • permalink

  4. An Orgasmic Debate?

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 08 31 at 12:41 AM • permalink

  5. #1 IT,

    A Giant debate?

    We could have a Mass Debate!!

    A huge group of people gathered in one place, Mass-debating each other!!!!

    Posted by Pogria on 2007 08 31 at 12:47 AM • permalink

  6. Looks to me like Cousins has learnt his debating skills from a master.

    Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 08 31 at 12:51 AM • permalink

  7. The ‘Chief’ scientists, ooohhhhhhh umm maaaa

    Funny how the same level of review doesn’t cover the actual qualifications of those making scientific claims, for example, Gore, A and Flannery, T.

    Posted by Nic on 2007 08 31 at 12:54 AM • permalink

  8. A huge group of people gathered in one place, Mass-debating each other!!!!

    But will they all come to the same conclusion?

    Posted by surfmaster on 2007 08 31 at 12:54 AM • permalink

  9. 1.618 - he’s the govt’s plant on the Telstra board.

    Posted by anthony_r on 2007 08 31 at 12:55 AM • permalink

  10. #5 We could have a Mass Debate!!
    Is that Mass debate like the pope and the flu?
    Cousins worked for Singtel.
    Now what has Singpore got planned for paper mills?

    Posted by stackja1945 on 2007 08 31 at 12:58 AM • permalink

  11. #8, Surfie,

    No, but they may all reach the same startling climax. ;)

    Posted by Pogria on 2007 08 31 at 01:00 AM • permalink

  12. Master Bates ? Seaman Stains ? Roger the Cabin Boy?

    Time for Captain Pugwash

    Arrrggh Arrrggh

    Posted by Pickles on 2007 08 31 at 01:00 AM • permalink

  13. I’m of the view that mass debates are total wank fests. For all the good they do, you might as well stand around in a circle jerking each other off.

    /perpetual juvenile

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 08 31 at 01:09 AM • permalink

  14. People debating Gore,Collette,Di Caprio’s scientific views on the environment?

    Posted by watty on 2007 08 31 at 01:10 AM • permalink

  15. Careful people! Some of this talk about mass debates could be misconstrued as being about masturbation - apparently a form of self-abuse where you rub your own genitals, or so I’m told.

    Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 08 31 at 01:13 AM • permalink

  16. Well in real science the debate continues constatnly, with scientists looking critically at other peoples’ data and conclusions and theories to find holes.  It’s the environmentlaist loonies who have declared debate is unacceptable on the subject of Anthrop[ogenic Global Warming.  That’s because contiued debate tends to show how weak their case is.

    Posted by Michael Lonie on 2007 08 31 at 01:14 AM • permalink

  17. I swallowed a suppository once.

    For all the good it did I might as well shoved it up me arse

    Posted by Pickles on 2007 08 31 at 01:15 AM • permalink

  18. OT Cop that African farmers!

    Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 08 31 at 01:15 AM • permalink

  19. Cousins is suffering from a double affliction. 

    1. He made a lot of money.  People who do this think it makes them an expert on everything.  This is known as ‘Richard Branson syndrome’, or in Australia, ‘Dick Smith syndrome’.

    2. He made his money in advertising.  This means he spent his career spinning bullshit, which in turn makes him susceptible to other bullshitters, like Flanagan.

    Posted by cuckoo on 2007 08 31 at 01:26 AM • permalink

  20. Damn!! Pickles.

    You owe me a new keyboard!

    Posted by Pogria on 2007 08 31 at 01:27 AM • permalink

  21. reckon cousins has a cunning plan - he is really out to shaft garrett the jolly green giant

    Posted by KK on 2007 08 31 at 01:35 AM • permalink

  22. #21 - Or he’s gone all Kim Philby on us.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 08 31 at 01:39 AM • permalink

  23. #20 Poggers

    If you choose to operate computer equipment for the purposes of engaging in cheery banter late on a Friday arvo on this site, that, as they say, is a matter for you.

    Having said that, let me say this. If you choose to do so without the appropriate safety equipment, then you are, as they say, the author of your own misfortune.

    Posted by Pickles on 2007 08 31 at 01:53 AM • permalink

  24. In fact there was no “Master Bates” in Captain Pugwash, but there is in Oliver Twist.  And Dickens is usually so good with names.

    Posted by rexie on 2007 08 31 at 02:10 AM • permalink

  25. #21
    Appears the Greens are calling Garrett a watermelon following the pulp mill episode; Nettle’s stinging criticism ...

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 08 31 at 02:11 AM • permalink

  26. Snow Cone Tone debates Weird Science?

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 08 31 at 02:37 AM • permalink


  27. 9/ Anthony_ty.

    Margos, you’re in fine form tonight!

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 08 31 at 02:43 AM • permalink

  28. #13.

    “I’m of the view that mass debates are total wank fests.”

    Thou art a cunning linguist, IT.

    Posted by Hucbald on 2007 08 31 at 02:49 AM • permalink

  29. #27
    Kevni didn’t notice anything other than what you’d see in an average Sydney car park ...

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 08 31 at 02:51 AM • permalink


  30. #23,

    You cut me deep Pickles. :( 

    S’pose I’ll have to console myself with a Jumbo size bag of suppositories tonight.

    Posted by Pogria on 2007 08 31 at 03:41 AM • permalink

  31. From MMs link @ #18

    Now a stubble of stumps - all that’s left of the trees meant to absorb carbon dioxide - dots the rows of newly planted maize and budding green beans.

    I don’t know what to make of this.  Why are trees better than vegetables?  Would a tree that lives 80 years absorb more CO2 than 80 annual green bean crops growing within the space the tree would occupy?  Has anyone done the maths?  Or is it just that you can’t eat trees and what the environmentalists want is not only that we all die but that we die by starvation?

    Posted by Janice on 2007 08 31 at 04:37 AM • permalink

  32. #4. A mass debate?

    Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 08 31 at 05:11 AM • permalink

  33. Well, okay, yes, we could debate AGW.  And maybe we will.  Someday.  But until then, it’s only reasonable to cut every country’s CO2 production by 115%.

    If it turns out this AGW was all wrong after all, we can all have a good laugh.

    Posted by wronwright on 2007 08 31 at 05:17 AM • permalink

  34. #27 & #31 Mr Licciardello said the incident was taken in good humour, but a smiling Mr Rudd did manhandle him...

    Sounds just like the other stripper story

    Posted by Col. Milquetoast on 2007 08 31 at 05:17 AM • permalink

  35. hi 1.618

    Posted by Col. Milquetoast on 2007 08 31 at 05:19 AM • permalink

  36. #23

    If you choose to do so without the appropriate safety equipment, then you are, as they say, the author of your own misfortune.

    ... or perhaps “master of your domain”?

    Posted by daddy dave on 2007 08 31 at 05:22 AM • permalink

  37. Greeting Colonel (((((((((

    Posted by 1.618 on 2007 08 31 at 05:29 AM • permalink

  38. #21 Hope you are right kk

    Posted by Dave Wane on 2007 08 31 at 05:57 AM • permalink

  39. How is 1.618 today? I have news for you over here

    Posted by Col. Milquetoast on 2007 08 31 at 06:00 AM • permalink

  40. #36
    I’m sure a very TIC observation by Mr Licciardello :)

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 08 31 at 06:15 AM • permalink

  41. #35 If it turns out this AGW was all wrong after all, we can all have a good laugh.

    Yes Ron, but there will be only a few of us laughing.

    As the majority of Australians are apparently addicted to the AGW drug, they will be crying in their latte and sooking in their chardonnay.

    But also, unfortunately, if AGW is proved to be a nonsense as many of us suspect, these hard-core addicts will move on to a new stronger “cause”!

    The mind boggles with “anticipation”. The next frightening catastrophe that lurks around the corner is probably already being prepared for a new confrontation with us poor Earthlings!

    Posted by Dave Wane on 2007 08 31 at 06:16 AM • permalink

  42. Bush looking forward to Rudd talks ... I’ll bet!

    Lil Kevni looks like a choir boy in the piccy, on board the USS Kitty hawk ... U.S. Forces Mr Garrett?

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 08 31 at 06:24 AM • permalink

  43. #44

    Pleased to meet you Mr. President.

    Seen any good strip shows lately?

    Posted by Dave Wane on 2007 08 31 at 06:55 AM • permalink

  44. Wot’s this?

    He stumbles into a thread filled with lewd and lascivious puns, a reference to a Mr.Licmydilo, watercolor renditions of Iris stroked for a true love. And I’m pissed, because I missed it.

    You Oz’landers Aussies kae told me I couldn’t use OZ’landers only Aussies, are damn good…:).

    Posted by El Cid on 2007 08 31 at 07:33 AM • permalink

  45. Enviro-mentalists are very fond of challenging science when it doesn’t give them teh answer they want.

    The next time some ‘mentalist demands an enviro-mental impact assessment, they should be told to stuff off.

    Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 08 31 at 08:02 AM • permalink

  46. Wimpy, “Stuff off” beginning with an “f” is pretty much what Tasmanians are telling mainlanders in Oz about the pulp mill debate. Sydney and Melbourne have one hand on the latte and the other on the mass debate. The other Australian island doesn’t like it.

    Posted by mareeS on 2007 08 31 at 08:27 AM • permalink

  47. All this is drawing the chief scientist away from his life-long interest in the sex life of angiosperms.

    Posted by rhhardin on 2007 08 31 at 09:06 AM • permalink

  48. Time for Captain Pugwash

    Thanks Pickles - I just don’t believe that it dates from 1957

    Posted by PeterTB on 2007 08 31 at 09:15 AM • permalink

  49. But but .. the earth is flat. What we need here is the separation of science from eco-religion.

    Science is dead !!! long live Gaia !!

    Posted by 13times on 2007 08 31 at 09:50 AM • permalink

  50. #48 mareeS,

    Could it be that those with their hands on the “mass debate” are pubic servants (yes pubic servants)?

    Tasmanians may have two heads,but any self-gratification they receive is mostly real, not imagined. Unlike many of the people of Sydney’s east who live in a cloudy fuzzy world where self- gratification is common and commonsense is rare!

    Posted by Dave Wane on 2007 08 31 at 09:52 AM • permalink

  51. I don’t think that the sponsors of this event have thought it through. Have they considered the danger to the participants’ vision? Will they be able to stop before they all need glasses?

    Posted by ErnieG on 2007 08 31 at 10:00 AM • permalink

  52. “And don’t call me ipso facto.”

    Posted by Winger on 2007 08 31 at 11:07 AM • permalink

  53. Well, the cougars have spoken so I guess the debate’s over.

    Posted by Veeshir on 2007 08 31 at 11:45 AM • permalink

  54. What we need is a large group of people gathered in one place debating.

    Can we bring sticks?

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 08 31 at 02:40 PM • permalink

  55. #6 Pogria;

    A huge group of people gathered in one place, Mass-debating each other!!!!

    Wouldn’t they be worried about going blind?

    Posted by steveH on 2007 08 31 at 02:40 PM • permalink

  56. #45
    Is it Bush’s birthday soon?

    Herr Flick could do a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday, Mr President’ in drag a la Marilyn Monroe.

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 08 31 at 03:05 PM • permalink

  57. In a texan’s drawl, Rudd gets a lesson in real politics. I don’t think the ALP have the collective guts to stand up and spruik the shit to Bush, they’ve been feeding Oz media since SWAT Womble took over.

    Posted by CB on 2007 08 31 at 04:27 PM • permalink

  58. BY god, nobody has asked my opinion of the value of pi.  Mathematicians break down your walls.

    Posted by David A on 2007 08 31 at 04:52 PM • permalink

  59. Pickles you old sea dog, you have blunted my vitriolic tendencies.  All I can do is shiver me timbers, splice the main brace and keel haul myself, aaargh! me hearties!

    Posted by Howzat on 2007 08 31 at 06:10 PM • permalink

  60. #48 That’s good to hear, MareS. I picjked up a little of the lingo on my two trips there.

    Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 08 31 at 08:10 PM • permalink

  61.   A huge group of people gathered in one place, Mass-debating each other!!!!

    Wouldn’t they be worried about going blind?

    As I suggested, they might stop before they need glasses.

    Posted by ErnieG on 2007 08 31 at 08:52 PM • permalink

  62. #25 nettles often sting…

    Posted by vinny on 2007 09 01 at 04:13 AM • permalink

  63. Dave Wane—But also, unfortunately, if AGW is proved to be a nonsense as many of us suspect, these hard-core addicts will move on to a new stronger “cause”!

    I shudder to think what that might be because they’ve really outdone themselves with this one.

    A companion piece to Margos’ link at #18 is this report from the UK Times: To cancel out the CO2 of a return flight to India, it will take one poor villager three years of pumping water by foot. So is carbon offsetting the best way to ease your conscience?

    When David Cameron flew to India to open a JCB factory for a party donor, green-thinking supporters could rest assured that his visit would be carbon neutral. “We are offsetting all our emissions through Climate Care,” the Tory leader wrote on his blog. “As well as planting trees, they also invest in renewable energy projects in the developing world.”

    Somewhere in the Indian countryside, a farmer is about to repay Mr Cameron’s debt to the planet. Climate Care’s latest enterprise is to provide “treadle pumps” to poor rural families so they can get water on to their land without using diesel power. The pumps are worked by stepping on pedals. If a peasant treads for two hours a day, it will take at least three years to offset the CO2 from Mr Cameron’s return flight to India.

    I commented that next time why doesn’t Mr. Cameron stay home and they give the Indian farmer a diesel pump, a carbon trade I can live with, but they didn’t print it.

    Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2007 09 01 at 10:29 AM • permalink

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