Sensenbrenner still has his swivel-eyed maniac

"Lead role" akin to honorary degree from Glenn Beck University

F. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin (R-Allen Edmonds) had lobbied GOP leadership to keep the panel alive to probe the Obama administration's global warming policies,* but he's expected to be offered a lead role in investigating climate science on the Science Committee.

Sensenbrenner's swivel-eyed maniac again.

Wisconsin recently added to the scientific expertise of its Congressional delegation by sending Ron Johnson to the Senate.

Nothing in science is 100 percent certain. Johnson said the uncertainty proves his point: "I don't need to go any further."

Forward!

* This in spite of Republican accusations against Democrats for using the soon-to-be-defunct special committee as a political platform.

Sensenbrenner engages a swivel-eyed maniac

• Details @ The Motley Cow.
• That just embarrasses the entire State.
• Swivel-eyed maniacs — The Spectator
• Award-winning McIlheran loves him too.
• The potty peer's usual pomposity.
• Private Eye, Issue 1235.
• Sensenbrenner funnies.

• F. James Sensenbrenner's select committee hearing at C-SPAN.

— Four experts and one upper class twit of the year.

• Witness statements here.

The Dems brought four scientists, the GOP brought ... Monckton.

"They can't even send us a real lord from the House of Lords."

— Rep. Jay Inslee

Sensenbrenner's swivel-eyed maniac again

Last month Wisconsin Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner (R-Allen Edmonds) ranking-membered a House subcommittee hearing on the Earth's climate. The Democrats on the panel produced experts in atmospheric science, oceanography, biology, and dendrochronology.

Sensenbrenner produced this twit.

Read the correspondence and then follow the links to John Abraham's thoroughgoing taking-apart of "Lord" Monckton. Monckton is cited approvingly by a wide range of conservative Republican observers,* including the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's ridiculous Patrick McIlheran. And of course F. James Sensenbrenner, for whom one almost feels sorry, for taking the pompous charlatan seriously.

Watching John Abraham's entire presentation requires a substantial investment in time and concentration. Because it's a vastly complicated subject and relies on a lot of interdisciplinary science and mathematics, so it can get pretty hairy.

Which makes it all the more preposterous when Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Ron Johnson dismisses it all with an absolutist hand wave. Now that is an extremist.

* To the extent that a "wide range" of conservative Republican views is available. See, e.g., the Shunning of David Frum.

Monckton of Brenchley goes Gamma 9 Godwin

Meet your Premier League denialists: Monckton of Brenchley

Infamous climate denializer Christopher the 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, one of the battiest swimmers in a batty gene pool (the English aristocracy), has gone fully 'round the twist in Copenhagen, chasing some American students through the United Nations convention halls and berating them as "Hitler Youth" and "Nazis."

That's the spirit, old chum. Pip pip.

Locally, Monckton is a favorite peer-reviewed* scientific source of Patrick McIlheran, the brilliant calumnist and resident dendroclimatologist at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Wisconsin's largest daily newspaper. McIlheran's esteem is so great, in fact, that the journalist insists on the highest honorific, "Lord Monckton."

A professional courtesy, I guess.

Anyway, thoroughly sordid details here.

Americans For Prosperity which, it may be recalled, is the Republican "astroturf" organization that engineered countless rude and dyspeptic invasions of town hall meetings last summer, evidently has itself a harsh inflammation of the vapors after some student activists crashed one of their Danish jamborees with a banner and a chant.

Fortunately there's no sympathy for shameless, pandering hypocrites.

Third Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, who the conservative weekly Spectator called a "swivel-eyed maniac," accosted a Jewish student and accused him of being responsible for more murders than Hitler.

And, yes, they refer to their detractors as "alarmists."

* Geddit?

More Sensenbrenner's swivel-eyed maniac

The Guardian's George Monbiot wonders:

Is this the man who was invited to testify before Congress?

Yes, he was, by Wisconsin's own F. James Sensenbrenner.

Ron Johnson's swivel-eyed maniac

Q. What do you think the CO2 does up there? Does it have an effect?
Ron Johnson: I think it's sucked down by trees and helps trees grow.

Narrator: Plants use CO2. Therefore, more CO2 is good. It's one of the hardy perennials of climate denialism. Like most generalizations, sooner or later it runs afoul of the real world.

Video: The CO2 is Plant Food Crock.

Feat. "The Third Viscount Monckton of Brenchley."

Bonus denialist Crock of the Week: Sunspots.

'How I get painted as an extremist is beyond me.' — Ron Johnson