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Everyone knows who Al Gore is, but the snarky little so-called scientist in the Green pea patch of global warming has long been Dr. James Hansen, the Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS).

Since 1988, Dr. Hansen has been spreading alarms about global warming and, despite the fact that the Earth has been cooling since 1998, he continues to abuse the truth and, while on the public payroll, to seek the spotlight. He has done this for many years, most recently claiming he was being censored by the Bush administration.




At a recent Capital Hill hearing, Rep. Darryl Issa (R-CA) reminded him that “You are speaking on federal paid time. Your employer happens to be the American taxpayer.” Rep. Issa then revealed that an Internet search demonstrated that, in 2008, Dr. Hansen had engaged in more than 1,400 interviews and appearances.

Despite evidence that GISS had been deliberately releasing false data that the Earth was warming, Dr. Hansen’s most recent egregious behavior included a personal letter to President Obama outlining his plans to save the planet.

Signed by both himself and his wife, Dr. Hansen said that proposed cap and trade regulations are not enough. Indeed, he proposed that all coal fired generating plants be closed down. Since coal provides just over 50% of all the electricity generated in America, this is absurd.

Dr. Hansen, though, isn’t opposed to just coal. He has made it known that oil company executives should be charged with crimes against humanity because of the same greenhouse gas emissions that the use of oil products such as gasoline represents as well.

The truth, however, is that greenhouse gas emissions, chiefly carbon dioxide, have virtually nothing to do with the Earth’s climate. Anybody who tells you this is lying to you. Water vapor, also a greenhouse gas, plays a far greater role and you never hear the alarmists refer to it.

As reported in the January issue of Environment & Climate News, published by The Heartland Institute, “NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies was forced to admit it committed an egregious error when it publicly claimed October 2008 was the warmest October in history.”

“It turns out October 2008 was nowhere near a record. Global temperature measurements of the Earth’s lower atmosphere by NASA satellite instruments show it was fairly typical compared to temperatures over the past 30 years and significantly cooler than average temperatures over the past seven years.”

How, then, did GISS manage to get it so wrong? Because NASA needs funding and the best way to get it is to cook the books, to demonstrate the importance of GISS in presenting data and predicting trends. Lies, however, are of little value when it comes to science and Dr. Hansen in particular should be held in the greatest contempt for his claims about global warming over the years.

That didn’t prevent the American Meteorological Society from recently bestowing its highest honor on Dr. Hansen. This is a shameful act by an otherwise respected professional group.

For the record, 1934 was the warmest year in U.S. history, not 2006 as GISS had publicly announced. Only four of the top eleven warmest years have occurred since 1954.

What this means is that, despite having three or more temperature measuring satellites, NASA’s ability to collect data from NOAA and foreign sources to determine global temperatures cannot be trusted because of its deliberate misstating of that data.

Dr. Hansen is far less a scientist than a political agitator. In this he has been enriched by sources outside the U.S. government, his employer. In 2001, he received a Heinz Foundation award that included a payment of $250,000 for his promotion of the global warming hoax. If the name sounds familiar, Teresa Heinz is married to Sen. John Kerry and guess who Dr. Hansen endorsed for president in 2004?

Investors Business Daily has reported that Dr. Hansen had been funded by George Soros’ Open Society Institute by as much as $720,000 for the purpose of his public advocacy of global warming. This is the deliberate politicizing of science that debases its essential neutrality and objectivity.

Why should a man with the audacity of claiming that President Obama has only four years in which to save the world be allowed to hold such a critical position in government?

It’s not like his government pension wouldn’t be enough to live on if he was replaced. He would continue to rake in thousands of dollars to distort the truth about greenhouse gases and a global warming that doesn’t even exist. Al Gore would see to that.

Alan Caruba writes a daily blog at factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com Every week, he posts a column on the website of The National Anxiety Center, www.anxietycenter.com.