re: #2 Ben Hur

Lindzen is a well known scientist who made a name for himself many years ago. He is now essentially in semi-retirement, and he has made it his end-of-career goal to try to keep poking holes in various AGW theories. While willing taking the attention of denier organizations such as Heartland, Lindzen himself has expressed frustration at the ultra-hard-core deniers - people who deny CO2 is a greenhouse gas, for example.

Unfortunately for Lindzen his various critiques of AGW theories haven’t held up. That is the point. His endowed chair at the prestigious university at which he is tenured means that he is impervious to any negative professional fallout from his failure to punch holes in AGW theories… so he can keep on doing what he is doing.