Irony Collapses After Desperate Sprint to Not Get Lapped

Thin skinned anti-science idiot Chrisopher Monckton has a big sad that a bunch of actually smart people called out his errant nonsense as nonsense so he's naturally doing what real intellectuals do when their ideas are challenged:  Defend them, I mean complain to authorities and try to have the critics fired:

In a letter to Victoria University vice-chancellor Pat Walsh, the British aristocrat claimed the professors had been dishonest and brought the university into disrepute.

He claimed professors James Renwick and David Frame, both accomplished climate scientists, had insulted him in the media by calling his views harmful with no scientific basis.

 The mot-de-juste comes not from the scientists (who are happily not concerned about ramifications from this) but Monckton himself:

"In saying I have 'no training' he [Professor Renwick] has lied. I have a Cambridge degree in classical architecture."

I'm sure there were important lessons about atmospheric chemistry and radiative forcing in learning about the Collesium.

This is your hero, cliamate deniars.  Aren't you tired of being on the same side as such an egregious moron?  There's a cure for that, accept reality and stop pulling for the wrong team.  Your grand kids may thank you (if we actually avoid the calamity that will come if we don't act, if not, I hope you have some compelling lies planned to explain why their world is a shithole.  Saying you hated Al Gore, David Suzuki and enviro hippies isn't probably going to explain it to their satisfaction).

 

New Zealand Sets the Gold Standard For Monckton Journalism

This is how every article about one of Christopher Monckton's revivalist evangelical bamboozlement roadshow sessions should go:

Lord Monckton, who once argued for the quarantine of AIDS patients in internment camp-like facilities, is a vocal leader of the climate change-denying movement. 

In Copenhagen in 2009, the member of the right-wing anti-European UK Independence Party (UKIP) caused fury when he called young climate activists, 'Hitler Youth'. 

In 2011, he was forced to apologise after comparing Australia's chief climate adviser Ross Garnaut to a Nazi. 

Lord Monckton, 61, has no scientific training, having studied classics and journalism. He has toured the world trying to convince people that climate change is being exaggerated.

Awesome.  You don't have to embellish anything, just describe the man's actual record and it's transparently obvious not only should you not take his climate views seriously, you wouldn't even buy a used car from the guy.

Christopher Monckton Knows Nothing About Economics Too

Christopher Monkcton has taken time out of his busy schedule of being completely wrong about climate change to be completely wrong about economics too, in the pages of the Obama-birther and general conspiracist World News Daily:

BANKRUPT: CYPRUS TODAY, AMERICA TOMORROW
Exclusive: Lord Monckton has action plan to protect your wealth from Cypriots' fate

Action plan!  Ok, we'll get to that.  Why is Cyprus in trouble first:

And why did Cyprus go bust? I spent eight years there. The central bank was one of the most sensibly administered in Europe. The Cyprus Pound was one of the world’s strongest currencies. Thousands of international companies (including mine) were headquartered there. Tourism boomed.
Then the people of Cyprus made a colossal mistake. They voted to abandon the democracy they had had for less than half a century. They joined the dismal, failing European Union.

So Monckton had his business at one of Europe's most notorious havens for the wealthy to dodge taxes, the place now widely reported to be full of illicit Russian mafia money.  "Birds of a feather" comes to mind here.  Ok, let's skip to his thesis about the European Union:

Cyprus joined the EU. At once, nearly every offshore company – including mine – fled. The unelected EU bureaucrats marched in and began ordering Cyprus about. The euro collapsed as predicted. Cyprus – once one of the most secure and prosperous nations in the Middle East – went bankrupt.

Cyprus joined the EU in 2004.  Monckton makes it sound like this was all nearly instantaneous but in fact joining the EU was initially a boon and boom to Cyprus.  It is likely membership in the EU has contributed to its current problems but not why Monckton thinks, because a bunch of Eurocrats screwed up the tax haven party he was enjoying.

Oh and the Euro has not "collapsed" in any sense whatsoever.  It's still a currency, not one nation has left it, and its value against the US dollar is about the same as it was in 2004, and was worth more over most of the years between now and then.  Still, this comment about the Euro is as close as Monckton gets to why Cyprus is in trouble:  It doesn't control its own currency and thus has to beg other EU member states for bailout money to keep its ailing banks afloat.  The Cypriot government would not be in trouble except for its desire to not let the banks themselves go bankrupt.  If Cyprus had its own currency, it could bail out its banks without difficulty.  Monckton cannot mention any of this because it would completely spoil his attempt to equate Cyprus' troubles with some kind of looming US fiscal disaster.

Why does all this matter for America? Well, your nation, like mine and many others in the West, is as bankrupt as Cyprus. And your people, like the Cypriot people, actually voted for bankruptcy. The Cypriots voted for the EU. You voted for bankruptcy, too. You voted for Obama. Twice. 

Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.

The US is not "bankrupt."  This is just flat nonsense.  Owing a lot of money does not make one bankrupt.  The US has been far deeper in debt in the past, particularly during and immediately after World War 2.  It was not "bankrupt" then.  Further, the US controls its own currency.  It literally cannot suffer a shortfall of cash with which to pay its debts, as those debts are denoted in US dollars and the US can produce as many dollars as it ever wanted to, if it found raising the money through taxation difficult (a problem Greece suffers).

The latter comment is some hilarious unintentional irony, except that the gods haven't evidently destroyed Monckton which sadly disproves the premise.

Why does Monckton think the US isn't suffering a similar crisis?

The sole reason why the United States is not in the same dire straits as Cyprus is that the markets cannot quite believe just how quickly what was once the world’s most prosperous nation has been brought down.

Note "sole reason."  Absolutely no evidence for this bold claim is supplied but it's laughably nonsensical.  Those wily, highly educated and hard nosed financiers and traders who comprise the bulk of what people mean when they say "the markets" have spent the last several years being stunned, so much so that not only do they not sell sell sell their US government treasuries, and say, buy gold, but instead they have such demand for US treasuries that they are actually paying the US government to hold their money when you account for inflation.

Now for the "horrendous advice" section of the article. First: Buy gold. Second: Buy Iraqi and Vietnamese currency.  The first one is bog-standard goldbugism.  Well, if you bought gold a year ago you lost money.  If you bought 6 months ago, you lost even more money. As gold is near multi-decade highs still, it's easy to imagine it is more likely to go down than up.  The second one is bizarre.  Basically Monckton's great advice just amounts to some highly speculative gambles on things that may or may not go up if other events happen.

There's a third piece of "advice" though:

Thirdly, get your congressman and your senators to write to the U.S. Treasury demanding to know on what conditions each tranche of U.S. sovereign debt to countries such as China has been borrowed. Your representatives will be astonished when they learn how much of the assets and undertaking of America has been given away by stealth.

How is this advice to protect your family's wealth from a Cyprus type collapse?  What does this even mean? What is supposedly going to astonish your representative?  What will they do?  Monckton never tells us.

This is the person climate deniers would rather trust than actual, qualified scientists who study climate change professionally and publish in peer-reviewed journals.  Well deniers, you'd better buy gold, dinars and dong.  You do trust Monckton right?

Solid Monckton Journalism

Viscount Monckton is on another one of his highly lucrative climate denial evangelism tours of Australia.  I caught this great piece from a Tasmanian newspaper called "The Mercury", Monckton's Hot Air:

At a public lecture in Hobart this week, he said there had been no global warming for at least 16 years. 

"The climate models were wrong and the world is not going to end," he said. 

Tony Press, former director of the Antarctic Division and now CEO of the University of Tasmania's Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Co-operative Research Centre, said Lord Monckton's interpretation was unscientific. 

"The argument of 'no recent warming' is wrong and has been debunked time and again," Dr Press said. 

"The cherry-picking of dates or selected time periods to cast an argument in support of a pre-conceived idea is not scientific method.

Good stuff, no "he said, she said" false equivalence, most of the piece is scientific experts rebutting Monckton's many falsehoods.

Chrisopher Monckton, Climate Skeptic Hero

This post provides the sources of a series of claims I am making over Twitter.  My main points are two:

1) Christopher Monckton is the leading climate "skeptic" and is held in extremely high regard by climate skeptics.

2) Monckton is singularly unreliable, dishonest, deceitful, preposterous and possibly some kind of compulsive liar or outright sociopath.  If he were some kind of fringe figure in the climate skeptic movement, this might not matter, but given #1, it says a great deal about the credibility of the whole movement that they cannot seem to find anyone more credible and trustworthy to be their leading voice.

This started yesterday when a climate ostrich posted a link to "10 Killer Questions" that Monckton poses to what he calls "climate extremists."  I googled the title of the post and found:

Who is this person who so-called climate skeptics find so enthralling that so many of them repost his every utterance?  Here's the statements I make over twitter, and my sources:

Eg. In 2010, US House Republicans asked Monckton to testify to a congressional commitee as an expert witness. Their only witness. #cdnpoli

First up, Monckton has a BA in Classics and an MA in Journalism. No science formal education. #cdnpoli

Monckton repeatedly falsely claims to be a member of UK House of Lords. The Clerk of that body wrote an open letter denying this. #cdnpoli

Monckton claims to have been Margaret Thatcher's chief science advisor. Members of Thatcher's cabinet have mocked this. #cdnpoli

Monckton did advise Thatcher, but on domestic policy. His thing: privatizing housing, l8r called a failure by a Con party leader #cdnpoli

If Monckton did advise Thatcher on science, she ignored him because she accepted global warming was real and helped found IPCC. #cdnpoli

Thatcher's autobiography never mentions him. She had many advisors, Monckton was not inner circle. #cdnpoli

Monckton chickened out of a debate at Anthony Watts' site (skeptic central) on climate science with Peter Hadfield. #cdnpoli

Monckton is a "birther", claiming Barack Obama's birth certificate is fake. #cdnpoli

Monckton claims repeatedly to have invented a drug that cures HIV, MS, Malaria, Grave's disease, the Flu and the Common cold. #cdnpoli

Re: Nobel prizes, Monckton claims to have one too. Called on it, says he was joking, but still claims it in skeptic venues. #cdnpoli

Monckton accused NASA of purposely crashing a climate satellite to suppress data undermining climate science #cdnpoli

Monckton says he advised Thatcher to use biological weapons against the Argintinians in the Falklands war. #cdnpoli

Monckton further claims, without evidence, that Thatcher actually did use biological weapons. #cdnpoli

Monckton infamously argued in 1987 that people with AIDS should be interned for life in camps. #cdnpoli

Monckton also argued that the governments should institute mandatory monthly tests for HIV/AIDS for everyone. #cdnpoli

Despite his own fascism and advocacy of WMDs, Monckton delights in calling climate realists things like "Hitler Youth."  #cdnpoli

Monckton travels around with his bizarro skeptic version of Gore's slideshow. A climatologist tore it apart in detail: http://www.stthomas.edu/engineering/jpabraham/ #cdnpoli

Monckton tried to have that scientist fired. #cdnpoli

I expect climate deniers would be inclined to reply with something about Al Gore, his big houses, plane flying or the money he makes from his green business interests.  Ok.  I have previously compared Gore and Monckton's relative credibility and even if you think Gore is an unworthy spokesperson for climate reality and action, he is nowhere near Monckton's league of duplicity and farce.

Gore Versus Monckton

In a recent post on climate deniers, one showed up in the comments.  I made a comment about Monckton's status as a leader of the climate denier movement, and how any group that would take him seriously cannot be taken seriously.  In reply, the anonymous denier threw a comment about Al Gore at me.  It occurred to me that the two have more in common than merely being the most prominent spokespeople for their viewpoints, but that Monckton is actually a kind of bizarro-Al Gore, a goatee universe evil version of him.  Usually, climate realists shy away from embracing Gore since he's not an actual climate scientist, and of course he's a politician with plenty of legitimate baggage, but really, if deniers want a side by side comparison, I'm game, let's play:

Christopher Monckton	Albert Gore Jr.
(source: Wiki Commons)	(source: Wiki Commons)
Legislative Experience:
None.  Repeated claims to be a member of the upper chamber of the UK legislature.  The Clerk of the House of Lords published an open letter stating explicitly he is not and never was. Defeated four times in running for election to the House of Lords, receiving zero votes each time (he didn’t even vote for himself!). Ran for election to the Scottish Parliament, not elected.	Actually was a member of the upper chamber of the US legislature, the Senate.  Elected by the voters of Tennessee, twice.  Also elected to the US House of Representatives numerous times.
Executive Branch Experience:
Member of Margaret Thatcher’s policy advisory team.  Claims to have advised the PM on science and climate change.  Thatcher’s autobiography never mentions him, and names someone else as her science advisor.  Thatcher’s Environment minister calls him a “bag carrier” and the idea that he advised Thatcher on climate policy “laughable.”	Twice elected Vice-President of the United States with President Bill Clinton.  Noted for his especially strong relationship with Clinton, described as his “indisputable chief advisor.”  Described by Clinton as “the most powerful Vice-President in history.”  Promoted information technology extensively in the Executive branch, and across the US economy. Won the 2000 Presidential election popular vote, lost in the Electoral College.
Policy Effects on Head of Government:
Margaret Thatcher famously surprised the UN with a 1989 speech calling for action on climate change.  Thatcher, with an actual science education evidently did not take Monckton’s dubiously claimed advice on the subject. Thatcher’s government did implement Monckton’s social housing privatization ideas, which now even prominent UK Conservatives regard as having failed.	At Gore's urging, Bill Clinton signed the domestically unpopular Kyoto treaty even though ratification in the Senate was impossible.  While the US did not implement Kyoto, it did achieve full ratification and remains the only formalized global greenhouse gas emissions reduction treaty.
Education:
B.A. , M.A. in Classics from Cambridge Diploma in Journalism studies from University College, Cardiff.	B.A. in Government from Harvard. Studied Law (incomplete, left to run for Congress)
Remarkable claims:
Curing Grave’s Disease Also claims the treatment is effective against influenza, Multiple Sclerosis and Herpes. No evidence of these claims has ever been supplied. Accused NASA of crashing a weather satellite on purpose so to suppress data that would refute climate science. Is apparently an Obama-born-in-Hawaii denier too.	“I took the initiative in creating the Internet” He did say the words once in an interview, but clearly was speaking about the multiple legislative efforts he started, supported and lobbied to fund research, investment into multiple areas of information technology.  Newt Gingrich admits of all members of Congress Gore “most systemically” worked to support the technology that would become the internet.  A multitude of internet pioneers credit Gore explicitly for his legislative advocacy and he has won awards relating to the work.  The 1991 “Gore Bill” was credited by Netscape founder Marc Andreessen for creating the first browser, Mosaic. It's really more of a gaffe  than a ridiculous claim.
Beyond the Pale:
Called for forced life internment of AIDS patients in 1987 in a published article.  Article also advocated mandatory monthly AIDS blood tests for the entire population of UK.  Has defended the article in recent years.    Claims to have suggested to Thatcher that she employ biological weapons against Argentine forces in the Falklands war, and that she did so.  No evidence of UK use of biological weapons in that conflict has ever emerged.	There’s nothing really remotely like this on Gore’s record.   On these two topics, Gore co-sponsored a 1990 bill to fund health care for AIDS patients.  The Clinton administration oversaw the ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997.
Political Ideology:
Too right wing for the Conservatives, left the party for the anti-EU, anti-immigration UK Independence party, and briefly served as Deputy-Leader.	Self described “raging moderate.”  A Democrat elected in Tennessee, Gore took numerous moderate and even conservative positions on multiple issues.  As Vice-President he led a major bureaucracy reduction effort within government.  His solutions to climate change are market centric and supportive of businesses finding ways to profit creating and selling the technology needed to transform the energy system.  One of 10 Democrats to vote for the 1991 Gulf War.  Picked noted hawkish conservative Democrat Senator Joe Lieberman as his running mate.
Climate Science Credentials:
It’s difficult to find any actual source of claims calling him an “expert.”  Member of the Christian cult “The Family” Senator James Inhofe does list Monckton as a “climate researcher” doubting the consensus (the report is billed as containing 700 doubting “scientists”).   Monckton has no peer reviewed published papers.  Still, he is employed as a climate science “expert” or “advisor” by numerous Climate sceptic think-tanks and has been invited to testify by Republican majority committees as an “expert” witness a number of times.  I suppose by now he’s become an expert of some sort by virtue of playing one for this long, but the original source of this “expertise” seems to be his out-of-nowhere 2007 rebuttal movie to Gore’s  2005 “An Inconvenient Truth”, titled “Apocalypse? No!” – which apparently makes such a splash I can’t find it on IMDB and never heard of it before seeing it listed in his UK Independence Party profile.	Studied under one of the first scientists to study anthropogenic climate change, Roger Revelle while at University.  Held the first congressional hearing on Global Warming in 1976.  Long history of government advocacy and policy in climate science.  Gore makes no claim to any scientific expertise but has a long public track record of detailed policy involvement on the issue. Would go on to make the most popular and successful documentary on climate change,  the Oscar winning, “An Inconvenient Truth” based on his self-devised multi-media climate science presentation.  Gore would also be awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize (along with the IPCC) in relation to his work to promote public understanding of the climate crisis.
Accuracy:
It’s difficult to summarize the rampant litany of egregious false claims, lies, mistakes, mischaracterizations and logical fallacies that characterizes all of Monckton’s work on climate change.   But perhaps the best is this excruciatingly detailed fisking of Monckton’s bizarro-Gore slideshow by engineer/scientist Prof. John Abraham at reputable private school, the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota).  Monckton was so incensed by Abraham’s work that he had a little tantrum and even threatened to initiate academic misconduct procedures against Abraham.	An Inconvenient Truth was actually tested in a UK court due to its inclusion in school curricula.  The Judge eventually found 9 errors, but still ruled the movie was “broadly accurate” and “substantially founded on scientific research.”  He ruled the movie could be shown to school children as long as additional material noting the nine errors was distributed with it.  Aside from one UK Judge, in general, actual climate scientists were generally impressed with the accuracy and currency of the science in the movie.
Major Criticisms:
Aside from a quasi-fascist plan for dealing with infectious disease and making up ridiculous things like curing multiple diseases without any scientific background, a complete lack of credibility and repeatedly twisting, distorting or misquoting the climate science he is responding to, none worth mentioning here.	Gore’s biggest crime is apparently that he doesn’t practice what he doesn’t preach. He lives in a big house and flies in planes, which apparently makes him a hypocrite because climate sceptics imagine that in advocating for action on climate, one must move to a cave, eat kelp and travel only by low-emission donkey.     Thing is, Gore says no such things.  His solutions to climate change are market centric, with some kind of price on carbon, and some neoliberal subsidies for clean energy.   None of this requires individual personal zero emission living. He also pays carbon offsets for his flights, his homes are outfitted for efficiency and he opts for more expensive green energy to power them.  Meaning Gore already voluntarily pays a carbon price even without the laws he advocates that would compel him to.  Where is the hypocrisy? He’s also frequently accused of seeking to profit from the climate issue which is a bizarre companion to the frequent denier claims that global warming is an excuse for global socialism.  Gore has put his money where his mouth is, and this is a bad thing?

The main point here is not that Gore is super-perfect and should be canonized, he's a politician, there's plenty to criticize in his public service record, but on the climate issue, he has a long track record of leadership and sincerity.  Monckton is in my opinion a shameless huckster who jumped into the issue around 2006 and was welcomed by the denier movement because they really have no one more credible to carry their message.  If deniers want to compare the two, I'm fine with that.  It's an indirect way to assess the sincerity of each movement, but it does bear out.  If there was a more credible climate denier, she or he would already be in Monckton's shoes.  The AIDS thing alone should disqualify him from ever being taken seriously by anyone on anything, but for deniers it is any internment camp proponent in the storm.