Climate Scientist Michael Mann Is the Real Thing!

Climate change is a scientific issue. The Bible does not discuss climate change, although many religious organizations are concerned about climate change and cite the passage in the Bible about being good stewards of God's creation as a justification for speaking out on this important issue.


Politicians who attack climate change usually claim to be conservatives, but are they the real thing? What are they conserving? These politicians are corrupt, rapacious wolves in sheep's clothing: they are actually radicals in the pockets of the fossil fuel interests who have appropriated the label "conservative" because many people identify with the traditional values of this country. These radicals don't really agree with those values; they are just using them as a disguise for taking total power.


Many people see themselves as "conservatives." They stick to the traditional, tried-and true-values; however, they are willing to change if they see a problem. Remember the song we sang at camp when we were children: "Make New Friends but Keep the Old"? I think it is good to respect traditions but also to be open to new ideas that enrich our traditions. Of course, not every new idea is a good one.


"Liberal" climate change activists who hope to build a consensus about global warming should not antagonize people who are being confused and misled by climate change denialists with labels that are meant to be disparaging, like "conservative" or "religious."


To my shame, I voted for Virginia's Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli because I didn't understand what he really stood for. He claims that climate scientists "trick" people, but Cuccinelli tricked me with his phony-baloney appeal to traditional values. Now that I understand what Cuccinelli really is, I won't be voting for him again.


It would be better if "liberal" climate change activists would just give people the scientific information about climate change and political information about who funds the denialist propagandists and politicians so people can make better judgments. It's also good to be really honest and not trick people. They they will trust you.


After Climategate, I tried to figure out what was true. Because I am kind of conservative, I didn't like it that anonymous hackers broke the law and then arrogantly declared themselves "honest men." The hackers didn't break the law openly in an act of civil disobedience and take the consequences like the climate scientists who demonstrate and get arrested.


I compared what the scientists and their denialist critics were saying on their own sites, and I was able to see the dishonest way that the denialists manipulated and mischaracterized what the scientists were saying. I was really shocked to see that a crude propagandist like Marc Morano used to work for a Senator. I used to believe that climate change was a genuine scientific dispute because the newspapers treated both views the same and because there was debate in Congress. I knew that this was a very complicated subject and that I would not be able to really judge the scientific arguments. However, when I looked into the issue of climate change, it was immediately clear that real scientists and real scientific organizations say there is climate change. Not being a scientist, I think I will have to trust the experts who have their work peer-reviewed.


Peer-review is not perfect, but it's better than saying all theories are equal. We don't let anyone enter the Olympics as a contestant, and we don't accept anyone as an authority on climate change. Peer-review might be compared to our legal system. It is a set of procedures and precedents developed over hundreds of years for getting at the truth. Being a conservative, I respect the long traditions our scientific and legal scholars have worked out over centuries in order to seek the truth.


Trusting traditional authorities when we lack expertise is usually considered a conservative value. Of course, the authorities have to be real authorities--not just charlatans. I think its very radical to trust someone like Joe Bast, who doesn't even seem it indicate if he has an undergraduate degree in any field, much less a Ph.D. in a scientific field. Climate change denialists like Joe Bast are just propagandists.


Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is not a conservative at all. He's not a real authority on science or the law. He's nothing but a charlatan. He attacks the great scientists Michael Mann with despicable lies in spite of the fact that the fact that Dr. Mann's research is constantly vetted by his scientific peers. Attorney General Cuccinelli constantly loses in court because the judges recognize that he flouts our laws and disrespects Dr. Mann's human rights. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is supposed to be protecting our people, but he is really nothing but a mendacious demagogue who wastes our tax dollars and abuses his high office by persecuting scientists on behalf of private industry---the fossil fuel interests.


Cuccinelli has transformed the high office of Attorney General into a  real political police like the KGB----the "sword and shield" of the oil and gas interests. This is the business of the Cuccinelli family. The father is a career lobbyist for the gas industry. Cuccinelli is in government to protect the family business, not the people of Virginia.


Let's not forget that the father of the Koch brothers built Stalin's oil refineries. The Koch family did not have any problem with big government then and they don't now! They love big government, provided they own the politicians.


Cuccinelli also uses very totalitarian tactics to undermine Virginia laws. For example, although abortion clinics should be regulated for health and safety, Cuccinelli hope to use unneccessary building and safety codes that are more appropriate for hospitals to shut down abortion clinics. Even people who disagree with abortion should not like this radical tactic which could be used to repress any organization. For example, the communists exploited health and safety codes to close churches. Oppressive regulation is a classic Bolshevik tactic that can be used to eleiminate any organization a politician doesn't like. The so-called communist "purges" of churches in the Soviet union were often no more than taking away a church's licence or "registration" on the pretext that the authorities were enforcing health, safety, and fire codes. Cuccinelli uses tries to use unnecessary health and safety regulations to close abortion clinics, but he doesn't care about regulating health and safety when it comes to unsafe levels of CO2, which are causing dangerous extreme weather, floods, drought, and crop failures. 


Liberal activists who are concerned about climate change should not help Cuccinelli spread the lie that he is a conservative. Cuccinelli is a radical demagogue. Calling Cuccinelli a conservative reinforces his lie and causes people who have a conservative outlook vote for a man who is really quite radical and who hopes to destroy, not conserve, our educational, scientific, and legal institutions.


In my opinion, the climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann is the real conservative! He is standing up and protecting our people's traditional scientific, educational, and legal institutions. He actually understands what our country is all about, and I think he is a real patriot. Cuccinelli is a vandal, a barbarian who is attempting to undermine our traditional scientific, educational, and legal institutions. So far, this charlatan has not prevailed in the scientific or legal arena; and traditions developed over centuries have been conserved.


I used to vote Republican because I believed that they shared my so-called "conservative" outlook, but "Climategate" changed my political outlook and made me decide that I have more in common with the values that most Democrats profess.