Climategate

[DuncanONeil]

Research funded by companies is automatically suspect.

Why then is research funded by a Government automatically free from suspicion?

I would hope you can back this up with data. Otherwise it sounds all too much like the usual conspiracy nuts who accuse everyone who disagrees with them of conspiring with the government. The 9/11 'Truthers', the anti-Obama 'Birthers', or any other similar group. They claim to know the real truth and anyone who presents data or information that shows them to be wrong automatically becomes a member of the "conspiracy".

"Weathermen, chemists, physicysts, foresters, solar experts, engineers and thousands of informed people" are not experts in climatology. While there may be some overlap, especially with weathermen and solar experts, this does not necessarily give them the expertise to analyze and interpret the complex data which climatologists use.

And the claim that the climatologists are pawns of the governments is just misleading. In the modern world virtually all scientific research is financed in some manner by the government or big business/industry. It's just too damned expensive to set up independent laboratories on your own.

The bigger question is, who gains by falsely proclaiming global warming, and who gains by falsely denying global warming. Sadly there are suspects on both sides, making it even more difficult to determine the truth. And the fact that the media will tend to portray only the most dire and horrific effects of GW, or the most dire and horrific outcomes of fighting GW when it doesn't exist, only makes matter worse.

My personal feeling is that the scientists are getting it right. But it's a very complex issue, with a lot of misunderstanding and misrepresentation. And there's still a lot of science to be done. Let them do it.

[Thorne]

Research funded by companies is automatically suspect.

Why then is research funded by a Government automatically free from suspicion?

I never said it should be free from suspicion, but when research from governments agrees with independent research, or research from other governments, you have to take that into account. Of course, if you really don't want to believe in global warming it's far easier to believe in a vast global conspiracy to fabricate evidence for it. After all, the governments stand to make so much money on it, don't they?

Don't they?

[DuncanONeil]

I never said it should be free from suspicion, but when research from governments agrees with independent research, or research from other governments, you have to take that into account. Of course, if you really don't want to believe in global warming it's far easier to believe in a vast global conspiracy to fabricate evidence for it. After all, the governments stand to make so much money on it, don't they?

Don't they?

I am glad of that opening line. I really would not expect less from you.
But ... The US Government sees money and is planning to grab a lot of it.