Canberra Times journo can't think of a decent argument . . .

... so resorts to petulant ad hominems instead. Always the last chance saloon for someone unable to counter the substantive arguments of "skeptics", Rosslyn Beeby attempts the impossible: portraying alarmists as reasonable chaps, always open for debate and discussion (like Al Gore, I suppose, who refuses to debate AGW with anyone who might ask a half-intelligent question, which of course rules out most journalists), and skeptics as the hysterics of the piece.

She spends the first few paragraphs cherry picking a few examples of realists' frustration boiling over with all the endless nonsense they have to deal with from the alarmists on a daily basis, branding the "name calling" of the skeptics as "grotesque", and praising Barack Obama's new science adviser, John Holdren, whose opinions are clear on:

...the climate-change skeptics who infest talk shows, Internet blogs, letters to the editor, op-ed pieces, and cocktail-party conversations.’’ Climate change scepticism is not just “regrettable’’ but dangerous.

“It has delayed - and continues to delay - the development of the political consensus that will be needed if society is to embrace remedies commensurate with the challenge,’’ he writes on Climate Shift blog.

Spot the hypocrisy there? It's OK for an arch-alarmist to write on a blog, but a skeptic? Dear me no. Shut them up. Stifle debate. Science is settled, right? By the way, I don't seen any arguments against the skeptics' substantive points relating to issues of climate change, however... maybe they come later in the article? (No, they don't - Ed)

Holdren is a warming fruitcake à la Hansen who, along with doom-monger Paul Ehrlich, spectacularly and embarrassingly lost a very public bet back in the 80s about the prices of metals ten years later (they were wrong on all counts), and whose critique of Bjorn Lomborg's The Skeptical Environmentalist was described as:

"strong on contempt and sneering, but weak on substance." (source)

See a pattern emerging here? Let's just remind ourselves of Michael T Eckhart's email to Dr Marlo Lewis, so that we can fully appreciate what reasonable, good natured and balanced chaps these alarmists are:

Marlo –
You are so full of cr*p.

You have been proven wrong. The entire world has proven you wrong. You are the last guy on Earth to get it. Take this warning from me, Marlo. It is my intention to destroy your career as a liar. If you produce one more editorial against climate change, I will launch a campaign against your professional integrity. I will call you a liar and charlatan to the Harvard community of which you and I are members. I will call you out as a man who has been bought by Corporate America. Go ahead, guy. Take me on.

Mike

Michael T. Eckhart

President
American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE)

How's that for articulate and well-mannered, Rosslyn? Truly, this is the silly season.

Read it here (stiff drink advisory)