By STEPHEN F. HAYES and THOMAS JOSCELYN

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/real-scandal_774787.html?nopager=1

The NSA gathered data from every American’s electronic communications — but it did not do it alone. Like other law enforcement agencies seeking private information, it needs a warrant, and the NSA’s handmaiden in this undertaking is a secretive panel of judges chosen by the chief justice of the Supreme Court.

Not only is it a problem that this panel conducts its affairs in secret, but it is beholden to no one.

This secret panel, known as the FISA court (after the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), has so far renewed the NSA snooping warrant 36 times!

This is unconstitutional and a direct assault on the Fourth Amendment, taking away Americans’ “right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.”

Moreover, a secret court without the powers of investigation means that when questions are asked, the NSA’s response is treated as Gospel. It’s the equivalent of a trial with only defense counsel present — no prosecutor and certainly no jury.

But there is a much bigger point in all of this. There are strong suspicions that the FISA court has reinterpreted the Fourth Amendment to allow it to grant these warrants.

In doing so, it twists and manipulates the vision of the Founding Fathers.

If the Fourth Amendment was altered in such a way, it means that American citizens no longer have a right to privacy. And without privacy, there can be no freedom.

Allowing the wholesale invasion of privacy and the storing of our electronic records when we, as citizens, have done nothing wrong, is a breach of our most sacred right “to be secure in [our] persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.”

MB Slack
Managing Editor, The Sovereign Investor

President Obama contended in his State of the Union that “the debate is settled. Climate change is a fact.” But, the president’s certainty comes at a time when even proponents of human-caused warming are struggling to account for the almost-total absence of global warming over the past 16 years. NASA and NOAA reported in a joint press conference that the average global temperature for 2013 was only about 0.6 degree C above the average for the 20th century.

This is confirmed by the scientists in the following study. They point out that over the past fifteen years (1998-2012) the observed temperature trend [as compared to computer models] over this period is not significantly different from zero, suggesting “a temporary ‘hiatus’ in global warming,” further citing the studies of Easterling and Wehner (2009) and Fyfe et al. (2011) Fyfe, J.C., Gillett, N.P. and Zwiers, F.W. 2013. Overestimated global warming over the past 20 years. Nature Climate Change 3: 767-769.

“In the eternal war between earth’s plants and the herbivorous insects that feed upon them, the ongoing increase in the atmosphere’s CO2 concentration is proving to be a powerful secret weapon, which is helping the planet’s vegetation to sustain the impressive worldwide greening of the earth that continues apace, growing ever stronger year by year.” http://nipccreport.org/articles/2014/jan/28jan2014a1.html

German wind energy giant Prokon filed for insolvency on Wednesday, leaving tens of thousands of investors worried about their money. The company advertised itself as a safe bet offering eight percent returns.
http://www.thelocal.de/20140123/german-green-energy-giant-prokon-insolvent

“We, the undersigned scientists, maintain that the case for alarm regarding climate change is grossly overstated.  Surface temperature changes over the past century have been episodic and modest and there has been no net global warming for over a decade now. After controlling for population growth and property values, there has been no increase in damages from severe weather-related events. The computer models forecasting rapid temperature change abjectly fail to explain recent climate behavior. Mr. President, your characterization of the scientific facts regarding climate change and the degree of certainty informing the scientific debate is simply incorrect.”

SYUN AKUSOFU, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA

ARTHUR G.ANDERSON, PH.D, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH, IBM (RETIRED)

CHARLES R.ANDERSON, PH.D, ANDERSON MATERIALS EVALUATION

J. SCOTT ARMSTRONG, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

ROBERT ASHWORTH, CLEARSTACK LLC

ISMAIL BAHT, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF KASHMIR

COLIN BARTON, CSIRO (RETIRED)

DAVID J. BELLAMY, OBE, THE BRITISH NATURAL ASSOCIATION

JOHN BLAYLOCK, LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY (RETIRED)

EDWARD F. BLICK, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA (EMERITUS)

SONJA BOEHMER-CHRISTIANSEN, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF HULL

BOB BRECK, AMS BROADCASTER OF THEYEAR 2008

JOHN BRIGNELL, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON (EMERITUS)

MARK CAMPBELL, PH.D, U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY

ROBERT M. CARTER, PH.D, JAMESCOOKUNIVERSITY

IAN CLARK, PH.D, PROFESSOR, EARTH SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA, OTTAWA, CANADA

ROGER COHEN, PH.D, FELLOW,AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY

PAUL COPPER, PH.D, LAURENTIAN UNIVERSITY (EMERITUS)

PIERS CORBYN,MS, WEATHER ACTION

RICHARD S. COURTNEY, PH.D, REVIEWER, INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE

UBERTO CRESCENTI, PH.D, PAST-PRESIDENT, ITALIAN GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

SUSAN CROCKFORD, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OFVICTORIA

JOSEPH S. D’ALEO, FELLOW,AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY

JAMES DEMEO PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS (RETIRED)

DAVID DEMING, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA

DIANE DOUGLAS, PH.D, PALEOCLIMATOLOGIST

DAVID DOUGLASS, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER

ROBERT H. ESSENHIGH, E.G. BAILEY EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF ENERGY CONVERSION, THE OHIOSTATEUNIVERSITY

CHRISTOPHER ESSEX, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OFWESTERN ONTARIO

JOHN FERGUSON, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE (RETIRED)

EDUARDO FERREYRA, ARGENTINIAN FOUNDATION FOR A SCIENTIFIC ECOLOGY

MICHAEL FOX, PH.D, AMERICAN NUCLEAR SOCIETY

GORDON FULKS, PH.D, GORDON FULKS AND ASSOCIATES

LEE GERHARD, PH.D, STATE GEOLOGIST, KANSAS (RETIRED)

GERHARD GERLICH, PH.D, TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAT BRAUNSCHWEIG

IVAR GIAEVER, PH.D, NOBEL LAUREATE, PHYSICS

ALBRECHT GLATZLE, PH.D, SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR, INTTAS (PARAGUAY)

WAYNE GOODFELLOW, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA

JAMES GOODRIDGE, CALIFORNIA STATE CLIMATOLOGIST (RETIRED)

LAURENCE GOULD, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF HARTFORD

VINCENT GRAY, PH.D, NEW ZEALAND CLIMATE COALITION

WILLIAM M. GRAY, PH.D, COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY

KENNETH E. GREEN, D.ENV., AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE

KESTEN GREEN, PH.D, MONASH UNIVERSITY

WILL HAPPER, PH.D, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

HOWARD C. HAYDEN, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT (EMERITUS)

BEN HERMAN, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA (EMERITUS)

MARTIN HERTZBERG, PH.D., U.S. NAVY (RETIRED)

DOUG HOFFMAN, PH.D, AUTHOR, THE RESILIENT EARTH

BERND HUETTNER, PH.D,

OLE HUMLUM, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF OSLO

A. NEIL HUTTON, PAST PRESIDENT, CANADIAN SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM GEOLOGISTS

CRAIG D. IDSO, PH.D, CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF CARBON DIOXIDE AND GLOBAL CHANGE

SHERWOOD B. IDSO, PH.D, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (RETIRED)

KIMINORI ITOH, PH.D, YOKOHAMANATIONALUNIVERSITY

STEVE JAPAR, PH.D, REVIEWER, INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE

STEN KAIJSER, PH.D, UPPSALAUNIVERSITY (EMERITUS)

WIBJORN KARLEN, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF STOCKHOLM (EMERITUS)

JOEL KAUFFMAN, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF THE SCIENCES, PHILADELPHIA (EMERITUS)

DAVID KEAR, PH.D, FORMER DIRECTOR-GENERAL, NZ DEPT. SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH

RICHARD KEEN, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO

DR. KELVIN KEMM, PH.D, LIFETIME ACHIEVERS AWARD, NATIONAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, FORUM, SOUTH AFRICA

MADHAV KHANDEKAR, PH.D, FORMER EDITOR, CLIMATE RESEARCH

ROBERT S. KNOX, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER (EMERITUS)

JAMES P. KOERMER, PH.D, PLYMOUTHSTATEUNIVERSITY

GERHARD KRAMM, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF ALASKAFAIRBANKS

WAYNE KRAUS, PH.D, KRAUS CONSULTING

OLAV M. KVALHEIM, PH.D, UNIV. OF BERGEN

ROAR LARSON, PH.D, NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

JAMES F. LEA, PH.D, DOUGLAS LEAHY, PH.D, METEOROLOGIST

PETER R. LEAVITT, CERTIFIED CONSULTING METEOROLOGIST

DAVID R. LEGATES, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE

RICHARD S. LINDZEN, PH.D, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

HARRY F. LINS, PH.D., CO-CHAIR, IPCC HYDROLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES WORKING GROUP

ANTHONY R. LUPO, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI, HOWARD MACCABEE, PH.D, MD, CLINICAL FACULTY, STANFORD MEDICAL SCHOOL

HORST MALBERG, PH.D, FREE UNIVERSITY OF BERLIN

BJORN MALMGREN, PH.D, GOTEBURGUNIVERSITY (EMERITUS)

JENNIFER MAROHASY, PH.D, AUSTRALIAN ENVIRONMENT FOUNDATION

JAMES A MARUSEK, U.S. NAVY (RETIRED)

ROSS MCKITRICK, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH

PATRICK J. MICHAELS, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OFVIRGINIA

TIMMOTHY R.MINNICH,MS, MINNICH AND SCOTTO, INC.

ASMUNN MOENE, PH.D, FORMER HEAD, FORECASTING CENTER, METEOROLOGICAL INSTITUTE, NORWAY

MICHAEL MONCE, PH.D, CONNECTICUT COLLEGE

DICK MORGAN, PH.D, EXETER UNIVERSITY (EMERITUS)

NILS-AXEL MÖRNER, PH.D, STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY (EMERITUS)

DAVID NOWELL, D.I.C., FORMER CHAIRMAN, NATO METEOROLOGY CANADA

CLIFF OLLIER, D.SC., UNIVERSITY OFWESTERN AUSTRALIA

GARTH W. PALTRIDGE, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA

ALFRED PECKAREK, PH.D, ST. CLOUD STATE UNIVERSITY

DR. ROBERT A. PERKINS, P.E., UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA

IAN PILMER, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE (EMERITUS)

BRIAN R. PRATT, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN

JOHN REINHARD, PH.D, ORE PHARMACEUTICALS

PETER RIDD, PH.D, JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY

CURT ROSE, PH.D, BISHOP’S UNIVERSITY (EMERITUS)

PETER SALONIUS M.SC., CANADIAN FOREST SERVICE

GARY SHARP, PH.D, CENTER FOR CLIMATE/OCEAN RESOURCES STUDY

THOMAS P. SHEAHAN, PH.D, WESTERN TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

ALAN SIMMONS, AUTHOR, THE RESILIENT EARTH

ROY N. SPENCER, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA—HUNTSVILLE

ARLIN SUPER, PH.D, RETIRED RESEARCH METEOROLOGIST, U.S. DEPT. OF RECLAMATION

GEORGE H. TAYLOR,MS, APPLIED CLIMATE SERVICES

EDUARDO P. TONNI, PH.D, MUSEO DE LA PLATA (ARGENTINA)

RALF D. TSCHEUSCHNER, PH.D,

DR. ANTON URIARTE, PH.D, UNIVERSIDAD DEL PAISVASCO

BRIAN VALENTINE, PH.D, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

GOSTAWALIN, PH.D, UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG (EMERITUS)

GERD-RAINERWEBER, PH.D, REVIEWER, INTERGOVERNMENAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE

FORESE-CARLOWEZEL, PH.D, URBINO UNIVERSITY

EDWARD T. WIMBERLEY, PH.D, FLORIDA GULF COAST UNIVERSITY

MIKLOS ZAGONI, PH.D, REVIEWER, INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE

ANTONIO ZICHICHI, PH.D, PRESIDENT, WORLD FEDERATION OF SCIENTISTS

This is a reposting of an open letter to President Obama which appeared in the New York Times and several other newspapers.

BREAKING: NEW CLIMATE DATA RIGGING SCANDAL ROCKS US GOVERNMENT

http://www.principia-scientific.org/breaking-new-climate-data-rigging-scandal-rocks-us-government.html

http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2014/01/19/just-hit-the-noaa-motherlode/

Excellent graphics at the above links.

“But does this evidence prove an intentional fraud? Goddard certainly thinks it possible and only a full examination of all the files will show that, one way or the other. Goddard wants backing from others to compel the Administration to come clean on this massive story, using Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) rules. The ramifications are that hundreds of bilions of tax dollars have been misallocated to “solve” a non-problem, all due to willful malfeasance and/or incompetence in data handling.”

“Judging by recent history, the bureaucrats should be worried…”

TO: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, inquiries@un.org 14th of July, 2008
Copied to the G8 leaders

Dear Secretary General Ban Ki-moon,

The UN Climate Change Panel must be called to account and cease its deceptive practices- Policies based on false science must be ended.

We, an independent group of experts in various aspects of science and the environment, ask you to redress the lack of scientific integrity of the UN’s Climate Change Panel (IPCC) and to stop making reactionary and futile ‘Climate Change’ recommendations that hold back the developing world.

As you read this, policies that you endorse are already causing misery and starvation for the world’s poor.

On the 14th of April this year some of us wrote to the Chair of the IPCC, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, copied below and available on the UN CAPSA site (ref E), asking him to present clear and graphic evidence of the theory that carbon dioxide (CO2) drives global temperature. We pointed out that no such evidence exists and offered charts and references that refute the man-made global warming theory.

Dr. Pachauri has failed to respond. Perhaps he lacks the knowledge to defend his position. Nevertheless, the IPCC’s 51 ‘drafting and draft-contributing authors’ of the Summary for Policymakers (ref A) – not thousands as claimed – includes scientists who are surely obliged to provide such evidence if any exists.

For your illumination we refer you to:

(i) The chart in our letter of 14 April (page 3) which shows, using official data, that for the last decade World Temperatures have been falling whilst CO2 keeps rising, and

(ii) A geological (Greenland ice core) chart of polar climate covering the last 10,000 years (Ref B) which shows that while CO2 levels have been rising, temperatures have been falling since the Bronze Age around 4,000 years ago (see page 2). The assertion that the recent rapid rise of CO2 is unique and dangerous is both deceptive and irrelevant because CO2 does not drive the world’s climate. Claims that such rapid rises have not happened before are not supported by ice-core or other geological records (ref C).

Either the IPCC is simply failing to notice these gross discrepancies or it is consciously evading or covering-up observations that challenge its theories.

Given the facts (i) above, from observations over the last decade alone, there can be no justification for trying to restrict CO2 levels and retard third-world development while temperatures are in fact falling (also see Note D). Considering data over the last 4,000 years (ii), in its Summary for Policymakers and in its Full Report, the IPCC depicts CO2 rising but fails to depict a corresponding fall in temperature.

From its obstinate resistance to answer inquiries — an insult to the public, let alone to other scientists — one can only conclude that the IPCC is engaged in a self-serving distortion of data acquired at public expense.

Whatever might have seemed the case ten years ago, now, with better data and understanding, there is clearly no evidence for the CO2-based theory of global warming. Indeed, there is only evidence against it. Therefore, as a matter of utmost importance we urge you to:

1. Call the IPCC to account – Hold an Inquiry into its operations. Insist that it adhere to the same ‘prove and predict’ norms as other sciences. Further, noting its impotence in the face of contradictory evidence, lead the UN into abandoning the CO2-based theory of global warming and nullifying its former recommendations.

2. Immediately announce your opposition to biofuels – whose large-scale production entails the displacement of food crops, thus raising the price of food and bringing starvation to the poor.

Please do not hesitate to ask us for further information or assistance and we will provide it directly or through other independent, qualified colleagues.

Yours sincerely,
Piers Corbyn Astrophysicist & forecaster, WeatherAction, UK piers@weatheraction.com
Vincent Gray IPCC Expert Reviewer, Climate Consultant, NZ vinmary.gray@paradise.net.nz
Richard Courtney IPCC Exp. Rev., Energy & Envir. Consultant, UK RichardSCourtney@aol.com
Hans Labohm IPCC Expert Reviewer, Economist & Author, Holland H.Labohm@freeler.nl
Will Alexander Prof. Em. Dept. Civil & Biosystems, South Africa alexwjr@iafrica.com
Don Parkes Prof. Human Ecology (Ret.) Australia & Japan dnp@networksmm.com.au
Joseph D’Aleo Certified Consultant Meteorologist, Fellow AMS, USA jdaleo@icecap.us
Svend Hendriksen Nobel Peace Prize 1988 (shared), Greenland hendriksen@greennet.gl
Alan Siddons Climate Researcher, USA alan618034@earthlink.net
Bob Ashworth Chem. Eng. (Energy & Environment), USA bobashworth@earthlink.net
Norm Kalmanovitch Geophysicist, Canada, kalhnd@shaw.ca
Jim Peden Atmospheric Physicist (Ret.), USA peden@middlebury.net
Hans Schreuder Analytical Chemist (Ret.), UK hans@tech-know.eu

Daniel Patrick Moynihan, late Dem Senator from New York,  said, “A case can be made … that secrecy is for losers. For people who don’t know how important information really is. The Soviet Union realized this too late. Openness is now a singular, and singularly American, advantage. We put it in peril by poking along in the mode of an age now past. It is time to dismantle government secrecy, this most pervasive of cold war-era regulations. It is time to begin building the supports for the era of openness which is already upon us.”

“Snowden’s leaks have done less damage to the NSA’s ability to snoop than they have to its bureaucratic power. For the first time in almost four decades, the agency finds its authority questioned and scrutinized.”

“Moving laws off the public books and into the shadows where the governed cannot view them is something only a self-protecting, self-perpetuating bureaucracy could think up.”

“Analysis, far more than secrecy, is the secret to security,” Moynihan wrote.

http://blogs.reuters.com/jackshafer/2013/12/27/daniel-patrick-moynihans-1998-lesson-on-the-price-of-secrets/

The White House has once again said that it will not negotiate on the debt ceiling. Therefore, the House should permanently remove budget authority from the White House, reducing the budget for White House executive staff accordingly (saving that money), and return fiscal budget responsibility to House where it belongs. Spending is the Constitutional duty of the House, the wing of government closest to the citizens and taxpayers. The President should be left with his Constitutional duty to veto or sign any law including a budget. Not so long ago, Congress held all the budget strings and refused to grant budget authority to the Executive branch.  Congress realized then that control of spending by the President of a country has led to tyranny and too much power concentrated in one part of the government.

Re-configuring this check and balance in the wings of government as it was written in the Constitution, if the President vetoes a budget which has been duly passed by Congress, then to voting citizens it will be supremely obvious who causes the next shutdown, tyranny is less likely, and also who is responsible for deficit spending.

The current debate on the Ryan-Murray budget deal does not change the fact that the debt ceiling will be hit again on February 7.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/white-house-obama-wont-negotiate-on-debt-ceiling/article/2540803