Egyptian Journalist: In Actual Terms, Gaza Is Not Under Siege
Tom Gross also has a good article here
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Paul Krugman
By JAMES TARANTO
Former Enron adviser Paul Krugman delivers the good news that 2010 is "the year in which all hope of action to limit climate change died." Needless to say, he thinks this is bad news, but that's not why we're highlighting his column in yesterday's New York Times. Instead, it is for this passage:
You've probably heard about the accusations leveled against climate researchers--allegations of fabricated data, the supposedly damning e-mail messages of "Climategate," and so on. What you may not have heard, because it has received much less publicity, is that every one of these supposed scandals was eventually unmasked as a fraud concocted by opponents of climate action, then bought into by many in the news media.
Now, it would be one thing for Krugman to argue--wrongly, in our opinion--that the "supposedly damning e-mail messages of 'Climategate' " were not actually damning. But no one has denied that they are genuine. Krugman's description of them--and every other accusation "leveled against climate researchers"--as "a fraud concocted by opponents of climate action" is flatly false.
Nor is this the first time such a statement has appeared under Krugman's byline in the pages of the Times. You may dimly recall this passage of his Aug. 17, 2009, column:
In Britain, the government itself runs the hospitals and employs the doctors. We've all heard scare stories about how that works in practice; these stories are false.
Again, a categorical statement: not "some of these stories are false" (which is probably true) or "these stories paint a misleading picture; although the British health-care system has its shortcomings, on the whole it is vastly superior to America's" (which, as a statement of opinion, is at least defensible). If even a single scare story about Britain's National Health Service is true, Krugman's assertion is false.
If we were trying to mimic Krugman, we would mimic Mary McCarthy and assert: "Every word he writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the.' " But unlike us, Krugman doesn't even have the wit to employ apophasis. Instead, he--sometimes!--includes statements in his columns that are so clumsily and obviously false as to open him to easy ridicule.
We're grateful for the material, but we're not so self-absorbed as to think that Krugman makes himself ridiculous merely in order to make our job easy. Why then?
Former Enron adviser Paul Krugman delivers the good news that 2010 is "the year in which all hope of action to limit climate change died." Needless to say, he thinks this is bad news, but that's not why we're highlighting his column in yesterday's New York Times. Instead, it is for this passage:
You've probably heard about the accusations leveled against climate researchers--allegations of fabricated data, the supposedly damning e-mail messages of "Climategate," and so on. What you may not have heard, because it has received much less publicity, is that every one of these supposed scandals was eventually unmasked as a fraud concocted by opponents of climate action, then bought into by many in the news media.
Now, it would be one thing for Krugman to argue--wrongly, in our opinion--that the "supposedly damning e-mail messages of 'Climategate' " were not actually damning. But no one has denied that they are genuine. Krugman's description of them--and every other accusation "leveled against climate researchers"--as "a fraud concocted by opponents of climate action" is flatly false.
Nor is this the first time such a statement has appeared under Krugman's byline in the pages of the Times. You may dimly recall this passage of his Aug. 17, 2009, column:
In Britain, the government itself runs the hospitals and employs the doctors. We've all heard scare stories about how that works in practice; these stories are false.
Again, a categorical statement: not "some of these stories are false" (which is probably true) or "these stories paint a misleading picture; although the British health-care system has its shortcomings, on the whole it is vastly superior to America's" (which, as a statement of opinion, is at least defensible). If even a single scare story about Britain's National Health Service is true, Krugman's assertion is false.
If we were trying to mimic Krugman, we would mimic Mary McCarthy and assert: "Every word he writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the.' " But unlike us, Krugman doesn't even have the wit to employ apophasis. Instead, he--sometimes!--includes statements in his columns that are so clumsily and obviously false as to open him to easy ridicule.
We're grateful for the material, but we're not so self-absorbed as to think that Krugman makes himself ridiculous merely in order to make our job easy. Why then?
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
The Climategate Whitewash Continues
By Patrick J. Michaels
Last November there was a world-wide outcry when a trove of emails were released suggesting some of the world's leading climate scientists engaged in professional misconduct, data manipulation and jiggering of both the scientific literature and climatic data to paint what scientist Keith Briffa called "a nice, tidy story" of climate history. The scandal became known as Climategate.
Now a supposedly independent review of the evidence says, in effect, "nothing to see here." Last week "The Independent Climate Change E-mails Review," commissioned and paid for by the University of East Anglia, exonerated the University of East Anglia. The review committee was chaired by Sir Muir Russell, former vice chancellor at the University of Glasgow.
Please continue reading HERE
Last November there was a world-wide outcry when a trove of emails were released suggesting some of the world's leading climate scientists engaged in professional misconduct, data manipulation and jiggering of both the scientific literature and climatic data to paint what scientist Keith Briffa called "a nice, tidy story" of climate history. The scandal became known as Climategate.
Now a supposedly independent review of the evidence says, in effect, "nothing to see here." Last week "The Independent Climate Change E-mails Review," commissioned and paid for by the University of East Anglia, exonerated the University of East Anglia. The review committee was chaired by Sir Muir Russell, former vice chancellor at the University of Glasgow.
Please continue reading HERE
...Robert Byrd's Highways to Nowhere ...
By BRIAN BOLDUC
'His heart belonged to you," President Obama told the hundreds of West Virginians who attended Robert Byrd's funeral last week. "Making life better here was his only agenda." Maybe so. But despite the $4 billion in pork that Byrd served his constituents over the past 19 years alone—not to mention the untold billions before observers started keeping tabs—West Virginia remains the third poorest state in the country. Government spending does not prosperity make.
When Byrd became senator in 1959, West Virginia ranked No. 39 in median family income, and No. 42 in per capita income. Today, it's No. 48 in both categories.
Please read the rest HERE
'His heart belonged to you," President Obama told the hundreds of West Virginians who attended Robert Byrd's funeral last week. "Making life better here was his only agenda." Maybe so. But despite the $4 billion in pork that Byrd served his constituents over the past 19 years alone—not to mention the untold billions before observers started keeping tabs—West Virginia remains the third poorest state in the country. Government spending does not prosperity make.
When Byrd became senator in 1959, West Virginia ranked No. 39 in median family income, and No. 42 in per capita income. Today, it's No. 48 in both categories.
Please read the rest HERE
Friday, July 2, 2010
Why Is the Gulf Cleanup So Slow?
Why Is the Gulf Cleanup So Slow?
There are obvious actions to speed things up, but the government oddly resists taking them.
By PAUL H. RUBIN
Destin, Fla.
As the oil spill continues and the cleanup lags, we must begin to ask difficult and uncomfortable questions. There does not seem to be much that anyone can do to stop the spill except dig a relief well, not due until August. But the cleanup is a different story. The press and Internet are full of straightforward suggestions for easy ways of improving the cleanup, but the federal government is resisting these remedies.
continue here
.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703426004575339650877298556.html?mod=djemEditorialPage_h
There are obvious actions to speed things up, but the government oddly resists taking them.
By PAUL H. RUBIN
Destin, Fla.
As the oil spill continues and the cleanup lags, we must begin to ask difficult and uncomfortable questions. There does not seem to be much that anyone can do to stop the spill except dig a relief well, not due until August. But the cleanup is a different story. The press and Internet are full of straightforward suggestions for easy ways of improving the cleanup, but the federal government is resisting these remedies.
continue here
.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703426004575339650877298556.html?mod=djemEditorialPage_h
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)