Compare
I tweeted one of these articles yesterday, but I want to revisit it for a moment. Consider this avowed Young Earth Creationist:
Todd Charles Wood is a “young-Earth creationist,” strict Biblical literalist and holder of a doctorate in biochemistry from Thomas Jefferson’s own University of Virginia. He acknowledges that there are difficulties involved in proving that Darwin and his disciples — the list would include virtually every reputable scientist since 1859 — are incorrect.
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“I don’t have a theory from which to work,” Wood admits. “Once Darwin hit on natural selection, he had a theory with which to work. Evolution is well- supported. It is not bogus. It is not a failure. It is not in crisis. I just happen to think it’s wrong.”
And then consider this “reputable” climate scientist:
Well I have my own article on where the heck is global warming? We are asking that here in Boulder where we have broken records the past two days for the coldest days on record. We had 4 inches of snow. The high the last 2 days was below 30F and the normal is 69F, and it smashed the previous records for these days by 10F. The low was about 18F and also a record low, well below the previous record low. This is January weather (see the Rockies baseball playoff game was canceled on saturday and then played last night in below freezing weather).
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The fact is that we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can’t. The CERES data published in the August BAMS 09 supplement on 2008 shows there should be even more warming: but the data are surely wrong. Our observing system is inadequate.
In a way, isn’t the same pathology at work in both men? Both admit to being confronted by evidence which contradicts their own deeply held beliefs, and yet insists that their own deeply held beliefs are in fact the truth…and then lament that there appears to be no justification for those beliefs, in spite of their conviction.
One expects that sort of thing from Young Earthers; that goes with the territory. But from a climate scientist? Can the man in question — Keith Trenberth — even be called a “scientist?”
I started blogging back in 2004 -- in May, if the Wayback Machine is to be believed. Not that I remember the exact day. To be honest, I didn't take it that seriously then; it was a fun distraction, but nothing more.
That all changed, I think, once the Danish cartoons were published, and the assault on the right to freedom of expression became very visible. With the recent issues in Canada concerning the "human rights" commissions, the gravity of the matter has only increased, and my interest in blogging has increased right along with it.
I used to blog at a domain called Time Immortal, but it seemed to be the right time for a change -- there's been a lot of that in my life of late. Hence this blog: a fresh start, and proof positive that I won't shut up even if I get shut down once in a while.
