Abraham vs Monckton, Round 2

Fire up the microwave and make a big ol’ bowl of popcorn,’cause the show is just getting started…

Monckton launches vitriolic – but harmless – attack on critic:

University of St. Thomas Professor John Abraham has drawn blood.

Abraham has been getting a lot of attention for his devastating deconstruction of a presentation by Christopher Walter, the Third Viscount Monckton of Brenchley.* And while Monckton first (and wisely) declined to respond, the appearance of Abraham’s work in the Guardian this week, and the praise rendered there by columnist George Monbiot, pushed the lurid Lord over the edge, giving rise to a vicious, petty and insulting rejoinder that is all-but-entirely free of substance.

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Monckton howls back that one of the graphs in question was clearly sourced to “the SPPI’s well-known global-temperature index, compiled monthly from four separate global-temperature datasets.” And what, pray, is the SPPI? Well that would be the SPPInstitute – the oily Science and Public Policy Institute, of which Christopher Monckton is the Chief Policy Advisor. So, Lord Chris makes up a sloppy graph at the SPPInstitute, references it inadequately in his talk and then defends himself on the basis that he is using “well-known” sources. A perfectly closed, perfectly fallible loop.

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The funniest part of Monckton’s outburst is he has “initiated the process of having Abraham hauled up before whatever academic panel his Bible College can muster.” Aside from the cheap (and given his own Catholicism, inexplicable) shot at the status of the Catholic University of St. Thomas, Monckton is – what’s the expression? – blowing smoke.

Please go read it all. As best I can tell, Monckton’s act has never been more than a ploy to deceive the ill informed and serve his private ends[1], but now that he’s run into someone with the determination and skills to call him on his nonsense, he’s suddenly in trouble. So, of course he resorts to trying to have Abraham called on the carpet. When all he has to lean on is a sack of lies, what else can he do? Call Abraham a member of the “Hitler youth”? Oh, wait — he’s used that one elsewhere already.

The deniers are going to hate how this turns out.

Pass the popcorn.

[1] Yes, I’m dismissing even the possibility that Monckton actually believes this garbage he keeps shoveling at people. Go to YouTube and find videos of him speaking in public. He is quite obviously a highly educated man with considerable speaking skills, and I find it very hard to believe that his statements regarding climate change are anything but lies, pure and simple. If you want to make the case that he’s batshit crazy or this wrong about virtually every aspect of climate change, I’m willing to listen.