PIMF

The quote from the charlatan Watts particularly interests me…

“Post normal scientific political theater.”

The way science works is that the data is reviewed carefully by independent observers. The only thing post normal and political theater about this is the right’s fervent desire to keep spreading ignorance and to not accept multiple dozens of reviews of the data set they are picking on while ignoring the thousands of data sets that are also published and also tell the same story.

This really is not hard.

It takes the stupidity of a right winger to truly miss just how simple this is. So let’s break it down:

1. Ice melts when it gets hot.

I know this is hard for republicans to fathom given their ideological stances, but it really does happen.

1a. If you see vast amounts of ice melting - it is probably getting warmer…

Really there is a little known quantum mechanical effect where ice crystals decide to suicide, and they spontaneously melt… but right wing ice psychologists have not been able to determine what has made all those tonnes of ice so depressed. Maybe it’s that M*A*S*H* went off the air…

2. Energy is conserved. So when you trap more of the sun’s energy, well it warms stuff up.

This is a thermodynamic argument. Republicans love thermodynamics - except correct thermodynamics. Remember how evolution couldn’t happen or some such crap because they don’t get the Second Law… but hey that sounds more impressive to other rubes than derp!

2a. it is warmer in the sun than in the shade. So ummm yeah that sun thing really is heating us up…

Wingnuts have a “gorgeous” “thermodynamic argument” that the Earth can not be warmed by the first Law because it is cold in space or something. This one actually sounds worse than derp!

2b. putting on a parka on a hot sunny day is bad.

2c. This is all about how fast you loose heat as opposed to how fast you add it.

3. CO2 really is a GHG. We’ve known this sine 1896! The GOP payed for all sorts of IR missiles that also really nailed down exactly what the IR bands of CO2 are. through the 50’s and 60’s. But then again we all know how much the GOP hates people in uniform who don’t say what the corporate masters want.

4. Feedbacks are real. No really. Try putting the speaker by the microphone! There is a similar thing here with ice loss, methane release, death of phytoplankton etc… This problem speeds up badly. It does not slow down. The only thing to do is take the mic away from the speaker.

But the GOP hates that because it would mean ruffling the feathers of various oil and coal barons and sheiks. And to think that the GOP has a periodic faux outrage about a Dem “bowing” to the Saudis, while the GOP actually actively sucks their cocks!