Reference: The naysayers are betraying each one of us, Bangkok Post, June 30, 2009

The oped column arguing on the side of the global warmists (The naysayers are betraying each one of us, Bangkok Post, June 30, 2009) appears to have the same kind of desperate tone one finds in all global warming articles these days as we get closer and closer to the Copenhagen meeting and as data to support the man made global warming hypothesis become harder and harder to come by. For example, the only piece of data offered in the column is that the ice caps are melting even as recent measurements reveal that they are not (see for example The Australian, April 18, 2009). As usual, the author falls back on ad hominem and what is hyped as "scientific consensus". Unlike democracy, science is not made with consensus but with a skeptical mind, critical thinking, and unbiased data collection and analysis.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand

Reference: It's going to be hot, wet and costly, Bangkok Post, June 21, 2009

The article on global warming says that the excessive emphasis on the impact of global warming on poor countries was a mistake and that they need to find new ways to bring the horror of global warming home to the citizens of the rich countries in order to ensure the passage of the post Kyoto AGW mitigation measures they will present in Copenhagen in December (It's going to be hot, wet and costly, Bangkok Post, June 21, 2009) saying that if you want voters to support the global warming agenda "it helps to make clear precisely how their own homes might be affected". Is there a reasonable and rational person out there who still thinks that the global warming hype is unbiased scientific inquiry and not an exercise in unabashed scare mongering?

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand

Reference: Greenpeace calls for coal plant rethink, Bangkok Post, July 24, 2009

Coal fired power plants can emit harmful pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides, and particulates that pose health hazards for us and our fellow creatures and these plants should be designed to minimize the emission of pollutants. However, the fact that power plants also produce carbon dioxide (Greenpeace calls for coal plant rethink, Bangkok Post, July 24, 2009) is not a pollution consideration for carbon dioxide is not a pollutant but rather an essential ingredient in the cycle of life. We are carbon based life forms that got started from carbon dioxide and sunshine. If carbon dioxide is a pollutant so are we. Those who promote carbon sequestration by power plants should sequester themselves as well for the sake of the planet.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand

Reference: White House has climate sea change, Bangkok Post, June 18, 2009

First we were told that the problem is "global warming". Some years down the line the wording was changed and the new problem description was touted as "climate change". And now the the words have been changed yet again. This time it's "global change" (White House has climate sea change, Bangkok Post, June 18, 2009). Sadly for the rest of us they are not playing games with just words. They are also playing games with the data to ensure that they are presented in a way that serves their purpose. From the start we were told that the man-made global warming era began in 1979 and yet, when necessary, they feel that a point can be made by comparing the year 2007 with the year 1958 without any consideration of the intervening years or of post 2007 data or of what is or what is not the fossil fueled global warming period in question and the reference periods to which it should be compared to detect the effect of fossil fuels. Ever since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the global warmists have been trying very hard to find some kind of increasing trend in frequency and severity of extreme weather but there is no such trend and no correlation between fossil fuel consumption and extreme weather.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand

Reference: Asia emissions to rise by 40%, Bangkok Post, June 17, 2009

Its title notwithstanding, the article says that Asia now emits 40% of the world's carbon dioxide from the use of fossil fuels (Asia emissions to rise by 40%, Bangkok Post, June 17, 2009). The charge, even if it is true, is not an indictment of the Asian way of life for Asians comprise 60% of the world's population. The question the media should pursue is why and how it is that the other 40% of the population emits 60% of the offensive form of carbon dioxide and still has the temerity to point fingers at Asia. As a footnote, we might also consider that dire predictions of the effect of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels in terms of extreme weather have been fed to us for two decades now and no sign of any of it has yet emerged. Nature is not cooperating with the global warmists and it just keeps right on generating data that are a little too inconvenient for those pushing the Armageddon scenario in terms of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels.

Cha-am Jamal

Thailand

Reference: THAI reconsiders costly jumbo deal, Bangkok Post, June 9, 2009

THAI is not the only airline that is re-thinking its plan to acquire A380 airliners (THAI reconsiders costly jumbo deal, Bangkok Post, June 9, 2009). The slump in the market for large aircraft is now a worldwide phenomenon and it comes while A380 sales are still far short of the breakeven target of 250 units. The giant technological marvel could be headed for the museum to sit next to the Concorde as another monument to a peculiarly European combination of good engineering and bad marketing.

Cha-am Jamal

Thailand

Reference: Global warming now audible study says, Bangkok Post, June 10, 2009

Convinced that global warming was causing increasing frequency and intensity of weather related disasters such as storms, droughts, and floods, and egged on by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, they first turned to weather data and then to satellite data to prove their hypothesis but to no avail as there was no trend in increasing weather severity or frequency to be found and all of their weather disaster predictions for 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 having flopped badly, they are now resorting to seismic data to listen to the intensity of waves crashing onto shorelines to see if there is any way they could support what they have already decided is true (Global warming now audible study says, Bangkok Post, June 10, 2009). This train of events does not help the rapidly eroding credibility of the global warming people but rather tarnishes their work as one not of unbiased scientific inquiry but of a desperate attempt to sell their agenda.

Cha-am Jamal

Thailand

Reference: A test of intellectual integrity, Bangkok Post, June 7, 2009

The expression of alarm over the revelation that a high profile individual's graduate thesis may have been plagiarised (A test of intellectual integrity, Bangkok Post, June 7, 2009) is mis-directed because it targets a particular individual and a specific case instead of recognising the reality that, at least in papers submitted in English, cut and paste plagiarism by Thai university students is the rule not the exception. The few original sentences, if any, stand out because they are so different from the cut and paste text. Our attention should instead be directed at why such papers get accepted now that we have so many online scanners and tools that easily detect plagiarism and even identify the source documents.

Cha-am Jamal

Thailand

Reference: California cuts run deep, Bangkok Post, June 7, 2009

With respect to California's $23 billion budget deficit (California cuts run deep, Bangkok Post, June 7, 2009), an obvious area where significant savings could be found is the state's misguided and wasteful war on carbon dioxide.

Cha-am Jamal

Thailand

Reference: Cops top graft list study finds, Bangkok Post, June 6, 2009

Corruption research is itself corrupted by the assumption that corruption derives from extortive demands made by corrupt officials and that these demands victimise innocent citizens (Cops top graft list study finds, Bangkok Post, June 6, 2009) but this is not always the case because there is also a supply side to corruption in which very rich citizens - far from innocent - use a combination of power and money to corrupt otherwise honest public servants and otherwise well functioning government agencies. Properly designed survey research minus the extortion assumption, may find that, in some sectors, corruption is imposed mostly from the supply side. Preventive measures designed only to protect honest citizens from evil officials are necessary but not sufficient. We also need measures to protect honest government officials from evil citizens.

Cha-am Jamal

Thailand