Some climatologists are getting concerned that their scientific results have been hijacked by global warming evangelicals with an anti-growth agenda. It's about time.

Um...

Not to start an argument, but I took a TOTALLY different message away from that article than you did, Rand.

From what I read, Vranes didn't say anything about climatology being hijacked by anti-growth people. Instead, he was saying that quite a few scientists are worried that, by tempering their uncertainty (in order to gain or keep a voice in the science community), their words are now being taken as gospel truths instead of uncertain projections about what MIGHT happen in the future.

He then went on to say that he thinks that policy making should be left to policy makers, and that they (policy makers) need to be given more credit for being able to weigh options than they are.

He basically said at the end "give the policy people the straight facts, and tell them how certain or uncertain your predictions are. Then let THEM make the policy, instead of trying to make policy by calling your predictions 'the only way'".

The commenter "bruce" is the one that brought up how people with an agenda hijacked the issue, and Vranes didn't agree or disagree with him.

Sounds like buyer's remorse, alright. He talks about the monster the climate folks have created, and wonders if it was a good idea in light of how shaky their prediction models are. Well, it's too late now, dude. The eco-religionists have their tables handed down from on high and now will proceed to stomp the infidels. But at least Climate science will be very well funded for the next 20 years.

If you wish to visit the monster in person, check out these folks:

http://www.realclimate.org/

It's not clear that emphasizing uncertainty will result in less strict policies. If there's the possibility of very bad outcomes (runaway methane release from clathrates, for example), then policymakers may prefer even stricter controls, out of prudence.

For just this reason, I am bemused by global warming deniers who point to uncertainty as a reason to not do anything.