Lord Monckton: 3rd Viscount of Brenchley, King of Fantasyland

I’ll have more to say about this later, but here’s a little note about some of our legislators’ tendency to rely on fake experts.  When they invited Roy Spencer (a real climatologist) to testify, an organization called the Science and Public Policy Institute (SPPI) paid for his trip.  The SPPI is basically an anti-global-warming “think tank,” whose purpose is to persuade governments not to do anything about climate change.  Their “Chief Policy Advisor” is Lord Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount of Brenchley, who is not a scientist.  He was a classics major in college.

The SPPI arranged to have Lord Monckton come to Utah and deliver a speech at Utah Valley University about how global warming isn’t a problem.  A number of Republican legislators attended the lecture and heartily approved.  Another scientist at BYU started an e-mail conversation that involved me and Lord Monckton, and since I think the guy is a ridiculous crackpot, I started bringing up some inconvenient facts.  First, I showed that Monckton had fabricated data to discredit the IPCC.  That’s right.  He made it up.  I also pointed out that he has a track record as a pathological liar, e.g., he has gone about calling himself a member of the British Parliament, when in fact he has never been a member.

Follow this link to see a thorough examination of Monckton’s claim to be a member of Parliament.

Now ask yourself.  Why are some of our legislators getting their information about climate science from a non-scientist crackpot who goes about falsely claiming to be a member of Parliament?

If you are honest, I think your answer will be that they aren’t very discriminating about where they get their information, so long as it conforms to their prior beliefs.

If you are dishonest, you will start whining that it was mean of me to bring up such an ad hominem attack.  The fact is that he is the one who padded his resumé to lend himself more credibility in the debate.  If that doesn’t bother you, then I really don’t have anything to say to you.

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