Category Archives: Political Commentary

Business, Economics, Political Commentary, Science And Society

The Climate Coverup Continues

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Also, there’s a double standard in Virginia when it comes to releasing emails:

UVA and the interest groups have been in Mann’s corner, fighting Ken Cuccinelli’s request for documents for months. But it was that Greenpeace request of UVA for Pat Michaels’ work product that has legs. The environmental group filed similar requests with other institutions seeking the records of climate skeptics, and in a couple of cases, mounted campaigns to have those skeptics fired from their positions. Where were the voices of academic freedom of expression during those campaigns? Sitting on their hands.

Now, though, they have sprung into action because Michael Mann, who shares their climate change beliefs, is under what they deem to be attack. Horner says these groups are “a little bit late to the party,” because, as noted above, UVA has already said it’s willing to release an academic’s emails, “so long as he’s a climate skeptic.”

As Norman Leahy writes, we now have half a million reasons to want to see them.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary

Is Obama Too Smart For His Own Good?

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Yeah, I laughed pretty hard, too, when I read Dana Milbank’s nutty theory (unless it was really intended to be a joke). Jen Rubin isn’t impressed by it, either:

I hate to be prosaic about this, but what is the evidence that Obama is a complex guy? ( None of the three gurus have met or actually diagnosed him, of course, and I’d bet, just a wild guess here, that they are liberal Democrats who just think he is swell.)

After all, Obama has not blazed new political or policy trails as Bill Clinton did. He’s written no scholarly books (sorry, memoirs don’t count). His understanding of the Middle East has been so slight and his strategy so misguided that there are no Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, and we have been spectacularly unsuccessful in stopping the hegemonic aspirations of Iran. I mean, isn’t it just as likely that Obama’s a garden-variety liberal with poor decision-making skills?

Much more likely, actually. I’d go with Occam’s Razor here. And as she notes, they said the same thing about Jimmy Carter.

[Update mid morning]

Jonah Goldberg doesn’t think much of Milbank’s thesis, either.

Political Commentary, Space

Space Political Action Alert

Henry Vanderbilt, over at the Space Access Society, wants you to call your Congressperson:

– Call your Representative via the House Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. (If you don’t already know their name, grab an old bill and look them up by your 9-digit zipcode at http://www.house.gov/zip/ZIP2Rep.html.)

– Tell whoever answers the phone that you’d like to speak to the person who handles NASA issues for the Congressman/woman. (Ask for their voicemail if they’re not available.)

– Politely ask that staffer to: Ask your Representative to tell Chairman Wolf that he/she opposes earmarking billions to sole-source the NASA “Space Launch System”. Tell the staffer that you want to see a real competition to determine what heavy-lift booster NASA actually needs and who can build it most affordably. (If he wants to talk more about this, do your best to answer his questions.) Thank him for his time, and ring off.

For the background, follow the link.

Education, Media Criticism, Political Commentary

In Which I Scoop Donald Trump

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I’ve had a document for a while now that I have neither disclosed, or provided to Wikileaks. But now that the Donald seems on the verge of spilling the beans, I’ve decided it’s time to go public, so I can scoop, or “Trump” him (ha ha…). I can’t know for sure whether this is genuine, but in light of the rest of the history that is slowly being revealed, (e.g., by Stanley Kurtz), these Columbia transcripts that the president has refused to release look quite plausible. Continue reading In Which I Scoop Donald Trump →