Posted by
reasonmclucus on Monday, July 28, 2008 3:43:03 PM
Has James Hansen, head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space
Studies, been
taking
bribes from
George
Soros and others? I'm not an attorney so I don't know
if Hansen has actually done anything illegal. However, as a
political scientist the situation definitely has an odor to it.
There is no legitimate reason for any private body to spend $750,000 to "package" a government official the way
George
Soros
allegedly did for James Hansen. There is no legitimate reason for a
government official to receive a grant from a private research
organization for supporting one of its causes as James Hansen
allegedly received
from the foundation directed by Sen. John Kerry's wife. Hansen
subsequently endorsed Kerry for President, possibly in violation of
federal law.
Bribery
primarily involves someone providing something of value to a
government official to take an action favored
by the person providing the inducement. The term can also
apply to an attempt to get someone to act contrary to the
desires of an employer. Hansen's recent claim
that energy company payments to non-government scientists to support
some theory is a bribe is nonsense. Payments to private
individuals, including university professors, represents an employer
employee relationship.
Hansen may be committed to the global warming nonsense, but if he is
receiving anything of value from the private sector his continued
commitment could be for personal financial gain. I'm
particularly concerned about Hansen misusing his position
to
present false data and suppress information that
challenges his theories. These actions could
be a response to a bribe. Those offering him inducements may want
more than just his verbal support.
Hansen suppressed a discovery by NASA scientist
Ferenc Miskolczi that the
equations used to calculate catastrophic warming contained a major
flaw.
The equation falsely assumed an atmosphere of infinite
thickness.
Steve McEntire discovered in that NASA's portrayal of
1998 as being the warmest year in the U.S. was wrong and that 1934 was
actually warmer. The official explanation is that the original
claim was a "mistake", but the federal government has a history of
producing false data to support federal policies. For that matter
scientists have a long history of
altering
data to validate their theories. Is NASA playing Enron type
accounting
games with data?
If someone at
NASA was accepting a bribe, he might alter data with a plan to claim an
honest mistake if someone discovered the error. The official NASA
response to discovery of the error is that the error is small,
but the change in temperature during the 20th Century was only
0.17% which is of questionable significance. Lying about 1998
being warmer than 1934 made the claim of global warming seem more
valid. 1934 being warmer than years late in the century provides
a strong argument against the whole claim of global warming.
NASA's claim of 2007 being the second warmest is
highly
questionable and
inconsistent
with the data. NASA claims continued warming while
other
organizations disagree.
NASA has been
circumventing federal regulations requiring review
of federally funded research before it is distributed by having
employee Gavin Schmidt operate a privately funded website
RealClimate to publish
information. Websites that question NASA's
beliefs request visitors to donate money to fund the site.
RealClimate doesn't have to because it is subsidized by the same George
Soros who has been aiding James Hansen. What would be the
response if the Department of Defense used this approach to
influence public opinion?
Recently NASA has been shifting research funds to scientifically
worthless projects, such as computer studies about how global warming
might affect
tornadoes.
The studies ignore the fact that the only difference in temperatures
comparing the future and now would come on the hottest days of summer
when tornadoes are less frequent. Temperatures would still pass
through the normal seasonal changes from winter to summer.
I don't know if James Hansen is guilty if is guilt of taking
bribes under the legal definition of the term. However, he
and his supporters routinely accuse those who disagree with them of
doing so because they are being "bribed". Thus, Hansen by
supporting the claims of those who pay him from the private sector is
guilty of taking bribes under his definition of the term.