Reference: Fresh form of H1N1 is much more severe, Bangkok Post, August 30, 2009

The warning from the WHO that the H1N1 virus could mutate into fatal pulmonary distress (Fresh form of H1N1 is much more severe, Bangkok Post, August 30, 2009) is curious for several reasons. First, this characteristic of the virus is not new but something that has been known since day one. Why is it being presented as new information? Second, the 1918 Spanish flu also got started in early northern summer and was also relatively mild through the summer but got virulent at the end of August. So is history the scientific basis for the sudden warning of virulence? Third, if the WHO is right why are we rushing to make vaccines against the known mild strain when it is the virulent strain from which we need protection? Finally, a high fatality rate is a tragedy in the short run but a blessing in the long run. Pandemics need their hosts to be alive long enough to walk around and spread the disease. If the hosts die too soon so does the pandemic.

Cha-am Jamal

Thailand

Reference: Rising tides threaten Pacific Islands, Bangkok Post, August 30, 2009

Atolls in the South Pacific form when a volcanic island begins to sink by subduction and they remain above water as long as the rate of sinking is less than the rate of coral growth and become indundated otherwise. This process cannot in any way be related to carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and cannot in any way be mitigated by by the various proposals to be put forth in the upcoming Copenhagen meeting on climate change (Rising tides threaten Pacific Islands, Bangkok Post, August 30, 2009). The observed inundation of some of the atolls could not have been caused by sea level rise for that would have affected all atolls equally.

Also, the claim that carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels has caused an increase in the severity and frequency of natural disasters - an idea that got started with hurricane Katrina - is contrary to the data for they show no such increase. The 2007 tsunami in the Soloman islands cited in the article as evidence was a volcanic event and therefore unrelated to the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere.

Cha-am Jamal

Thailand

Reference: Water crisis in parched northern China, Bangkok Post, August 26, 2009

The Chinese kept meticulous weather records for thousands of years and these records show a recurring pattern of extreme droughts and floods. The most severe drought in recent history was the drought and famine of 1877 - a time when atmosphereric carbon dioxide was under 300 ppm. The aridity of northern China can also be understood in terms of the expanding Gobi desert now encroaching on Beijing. Droughts in China are natural events. They are not caused by carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels.

Cha-am Jamal

Thailand

Reference: Mississippi down under crippled, Bangkok Post, August 26, 2009

Southeast Australia is not at all like the lush green state of Mississippi (Mississippi down under crippled, Bangkok Post, August 26, 2009) for it is a semi arid drought prone area with a history of severe droughts during many of which its primary river system had gone bone dry. The current drought down there is part of this weather pattern, not man made, and not caused by carbon dioxide emissions from the use of fossil fuels.

Cha-am Jamal

Thailand

Reference: Tilapia exports to be promoted, Bangkok Post, August 25, 2009

The claim that the white meat of tilapia is more healthy than red fish meat (Tilapia exports to be promoted, Bangkok Post, August 25, 2009) is inconsistent with the facts. All fish are not good sources of omega-3 fatty acids but the color of fish meat may not be used to make this distinction. In fact, farm produced tilapia and catfish contain a harmful combination of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids that makes their meat even more risky than pork bacon or hamburger (Popular fish contains potentially dangersous fatty acid combination, Science Daily, July 10, 2008). Sustained consumption of these fish may actually cause rather than prevent heart disease.

Cha-am Jamal

Thailand

The Copenhagen Protocol

The Montreal Protocol went bust when it became apparent that ozone depletion over polar regions was part of a natural cycle and not man made. Thereafter, the Kyoto Protocol was necessary to ensure continued funding for the Montreal Protocol fearologists. Now that the Kyoto Protocol is about to expire without result, these scaremongering scientists have set the stage in Copenhagen for yet another round of fear-based extortive funding to support the lavish lifestyle to which they have become accustomed.

Cha-am Jamal

Thailand

Reference: Global warming impacting Greenlanders' daily lives, Bangkok Post, July 29, 2009

The global warming article about ice fishing in Greenland ("Global warming impacting Greenlanders' daily lives", Bangkok Post, July 29, 2009) is yet another in a long series of fluff AGW press releases put out to ratchet up the hype ahead of the Copenhagen meeting. Fluff AGW articles surreptitiously imply but do not show that choking our economy to reduce CO2 emissions will have any effect on the problem being described. It is sinister propaganda.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand

Reference: Study confirms rising sea levels, Bangkok Post, July 27, 2009

After sustained criticism from skeptical scientists the global warmists have revised their forecast for the rise in sea levels by the year 2100 from several meters to 38 cm give or take 20 cm (Study confirms rising sea levels, Bangkok Post, July 27, 2009). In releasing the rather innocuous new figure the warmists had to try extra hard to maintain the scare level saying that the lower figure does not mean we are safe and that things could turn out to be much worse and we should maintain our fear level and stay scared. Their motivation is that a loss in the fear level could put at risk their economically suicidal mitigation programs that they expect to sell in Copenhagen during a time of economic stagnation.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand

Reference: Why the media likes global warming scare stories

In his book "Myths, lies, and downright stupidity", reporter and media man John Stossel writes as follows: "The people who bring us story ideas are alarmed. Then we get alarmed, and eager to rush the news to you. We know that the scarier and more bizarre the story the more likely it is that our bosses will give us more air time or a front-page slot. The scary story, justified or not, will get higher ratings and sell more papers. Fear sells." So there it is right from the horse's mouth. Now we know the genesis of a media awash with global warming scare stories and insufficient reference to inconvenient scientific details and rational debate.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand

Reference: Flash floods from heavy monsoon rains claim 36 lives, Bangkok Post, July 21, 2009

Since the beginning of this year global warmists have been warning us that climate change will weaken and delay the monsoon in South Asia with devastating results including crop failure and hunger (Climate change to affect monsoon in South Asia, USA Today, February 27, 2009; Bangkok Post, March 20, 2009) and yet the 2009 monsoon in South Asia is right on time and not at all weakened and whatever devastation there is in it is in terms of heavy rains and floods not droughts (Flash floods from heavy monsoon rains claim 36 lives, Bangkok Post, July 21, 2009; Heavy monsoon rain claims 26 lives in Pakistan, Bangkok Post, July 20, 2009). Somebody ought to point out to the Secretary of State now visiting Asia to peddle the climate change agenda that global warming scientists have made many short term forecasts that can be checked with subsequent weather data and none - not one - of these forecasts has been proven true. Asians are rightly wary of her message as it is unlikely that they would want to commit economic suicide just to play the flawed climate change game of the rich nations.

Cha-am Jamal

Thailand

Reference: Ireland in dire straits, Bangkok Post, April 21, 2009

Earlier this year columnist Paul Krugman wrote that Ireland had been hit particularly hard by the global financial crisis and that it serves as a canary in the coal mine for the rest of the world to see what's coming down the pike as this crisis unfolds (Ireland in dire straits, Bangkok Post, April 21, 2009). If that is true, I have bad news for those on their toes awaiting an allegedly imminent recovery. At the time Krugman's column was written, the Bank of Ireland's GDP growth forecast for 2009 was 4%, up from -3% in 2008 and heading for recovery. Since then, the Bank has progressively reduced this estimate in stages back into negative territory and all the way down to -8.5% with five months of growth forecast revisions yet to come. The Bank's forecasters are now saying that their economic growth rate will stay in the red through 2011. The alleged imminent recovery has now been postponed even by forecasters who have a history of making rosy forecasts and then revising them downwards. The canary appears to be telling us that the much awaited economic recovery is not imminent and we really don't know how long this thing is going to last or how deep it's going to get.

Cha-am Jamal

Thailand

Reference: Energy and earthquakes, Bangkok Post, July 15, 2009

Your article on geothermal energy states that interest in this technology is driven by the Obama adminstration's support for renewable energy (Energy and earthquakes, Bangkok Post, July 15, 2009). The economically feasible rate of heat extraction in geothermal plants, given the high cost of drilling and the high cost of insurance against environmental damage, will greatly exceed the rate at which the site can be naturally re-heated and therfore these sites will eventually become functionally depleted. The total amount of energy that would be available worldwide with this technology is rather large and geothermal energy could theoretically provide all our energy needs for hundreds of years but it is not renewable. An exhaustible energy source, no matter how long the useful life, cannot be considered to be renewable. The issue is a deeply sensitive one mostly because it determines whether the geothermal industry can benefit from funds that have been earmarked by the US federal government for renewable energy development.

Cha-am Jamal

Thailand

Reference: Argentinian glacier defies global warming, Bangkok Post, July 8, 2009

A climate change scientist evaluates the rapid advance of a glacier in Argentina as follows: "We are not sure why this happens. But not all glaciers respond equally to climate change" (Argentinian glacier defies global warming, Bangkok Post, July 8, 2009). In other words, they don't take data to test the hypothesis because their hypothesis is deemed correct by definition. They take data to test the data. If the data support their theory the data are deemed to be good. Otherwise the data are deemed spurious and additional theories are needed to explain how these observations could occur in the age of global warming. In this kind of science, the man-made global warming hypothesis cannot be proven wrong no matter what the data.

Cha-am Jamal

Thailand

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