Bloggers: an army of irregulars. Advice for the BBC – from a BBC journalist.
Donato is now writing cartoons.
WSJ Online;
National Academy of Sciences said it had agreed to a request from Congress to assess how well researchers understand the history of temperatures on earth.
The study by the academy, an independent advisory body based in Washington, will focus on the “hockey stick,” a chart of past temperatures that critics say is inaccurate. The graph gets its name because of the sudden, blade-like rise of recent temperatures compared with past epochs.
“It�ll probably show up as an episode of the Sopranos next year”. By the way – as the latest media reports allege Gretzky was taped months ago asking how to keep Janet’s name out of the investigation – why did she bet on the Superbowl?
(Speaking of Janet Gretzky… listening to phone-ins on a variety of talk and sports shows over the past two days, the poor woman was demoted in the space of a few hours from “Wayne Gretzky’s wife” to “Janet Jones Gretzky” to “Janet Jones” to “that American woman he married” …)
Add your own in the comments.
Question, how does all this Gretzky info make it out of the investigation to the papers? Investigations of this nature are suposed to be confidential.
I could care less if Wayne and his wife have a gambling problem. What interests me is this leaking of info before the charges are even laid.
Somebody needs to be fired, me thinks.
The “demotion” of Janet Gretzky was sadly predictable and reminiscent of the Ben Johnson affair. In 24 hours in Seoul he morphed from “a true Canadian sports hero” to “a doped-up Jaimacan runner”.
Bruce,
The Aussies do similar things with Russel Crowe. When he does good he’s an aussie when he makes an ass out of himself, he’s a kiwi.
In light of the misunderstanding this week in regards to cabinet and Canadian political history I invite readers to explore two sites – with pretty pictures – which I found helpful. Seeing a political cartoon from 1896 on cabinet loyalty lends a certain perspective to today’s debate:
“Once political power is achieved, it is followed by a far more daunting challenge: leading the country. In so doing, the prime minister must contend with a wide range of competing forces, including the Cabinet, the party and caucus, Parliament, the media, public-interest groups, extra-parliamentary opposition, provincial premiers, foreign leaders – and the voters.
… Given the dimensions of the task, it is not surprising that many leaders have found Canada to be a difficult country to govern. However, as the political commentator Richard Gwyn noted, perhaps the real challenge for the prime minister is not so much that Canada is difficult to govern, but rather that “it is almost an impossible country to lead.”
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/primeministers/h4-2200-e.html
By Executive Decree: The Executive Branch In Canadian history:
The two most influential institutions of the Canadian political executive, namely the prime minister and the federal Cabinet, are not identified or defined in the Constitution Act, 1867…Typically the Cabinet is a committee made up of representatives of the government caucus — either members of Parliament or senators — chosen by the prime minister and formally appointed by the governor general. Most Cabinet members are ministers responsible for a specific federal department, while Cabinet is collectively responsible for far-reaching executive policies and planning.
When Cabinet acts in an official capacity — as, for example, when issuing orders-in-council — it does so under the name of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada, a body that has legal definition in the Constitution Act, 1867 as “a Council to aid and advise” the governor general. Group of small photographs of the Dominion Cabinet and Liberal members of the House of Commons, 1902In practice, the Cabinet’s political decisions are communicated in the form of recommendations to the governor general, who supplies formal, but largely symbolic, executive approval on behalf of the Crown. With its prevailing role in the legislative process and its advisory capacity to the governor general, the Cabinet bridges the government’s executive and legislative branches.
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/executive-decree/023004-2040-e.html
Special Canadian History edition of Friday Foto Funnies at Anonalogue:
http://anonalogue.blogspot.com/2006/02/friday-foto-funnies-special-canadian.html
“I figure I lost 13 years of my life already, I’m not going to lose any more,” Souter said at the time of his release.
But last week he learned the courts expect him to pay 13 years of child support to his ex-wife.
Oops, you’re innocent! You owe $38,000
The point about leaking info to media is one I agree with. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle. What if, perchance, some wiretaps were challenged as illegally obtained and a judge agreed? You would see the mother of all lawsuits. I am very disappointed in the NJ authorities, who seem to publicity hounds. Once more our approach seems to be ready, fire, aim.
I am becoming more and more cynical everyday with regards to the MSM, whether they are reporting on Wayne and Janet or on the politics of the day, they have no desire to wait for the truth to come out, they just make it up as they go. And as we know they won’t get any in the MSM, we will have to support PM Stephen Harper and this Conservative Government any way we Can
Re: Janet now back to being “Jones”
I was wondering about that too. That last time I remember seeing her referred to as “Janet Jones” was when she was buck-nekkid in Playboy…or so I’m told.
More proof that the Gretzky name is sacrosanct in this country. Wayner himself could waltz into a Walmart and go on a kill-happy shooting spree, and the media would report that it was annoying shoppers that stupidly got in the way of Wayne’s gunfire.
I imagine Wayne’s been looking at that departure time on his ticket to Turin and almost willing the time to leave get here sooner
Party Loyalty � Party Discipline
The desire to legislate against MP�s �crossing the floor,� (quitting one party to join another) is based on an emotional reaction. As much as I don�t like the practice, I believe it would be a mistake to legally ban the practice.
Prior to implementing any such new rules and restrictions on MP�s, it would be prudent to more fully examine the role, expectations and responsibilities of members. For instance, is there an expectation of a certain amount of independence or are members only an instrument of the party and it�s discipline? Currently, in an election, people are choosing a person (not a party � though they very often have a party affiliation) to represent them and their community�s interests. If the member elected is a member of a party, they also must represent the party�s interests to the community they were elected by. What happens when there is conflict between what the party demands and what the community demands of the member? Could a member be forced out of the party � possibly across the floor, by unreasonable party discipline and if so does this mean another election? Does the community loose their effective say because of this process? Presently, even when the member crosses the floor, the community still has the member they elected representing them � they�ve lost nothing only the party has lost something (a member).
Would any legislation placing such restrictions on members, also then have to address how party candidates are selected and presented to constituents? Would out ticket be changed to only have the party�s names as a choice and the only individual names be those of independents?
Frankly, I�m sick of party politics and value a certain amount of independence. Currently I (like most Canadians) don�t belong to a party. I try to pick the best person. My choice is in part influenced by the party to which they belong but there are always other factors I consider and even if they change parties, I believe they remain accountable to me. Since every party has it�s own way of doing things, it�s own constitution, there is no consistency or uniformity of how a party member ultimately gets on the ticket as one of the voter�s choices � parties are not accountable to anyone but their members � should that change? Parties are kept in line in no small part, by the members ability to leave. Parties accepting the member are also subject to very tough scrutiny. That is the level of accountability I would prefer to stay with.
Irregulars article; must see for all. A very well reasoned discussion of the impact of the blogs (and from the BBC of all places). The fog is lifting?
Donato is right on.
I have followed the climate change arguments for a while, and this independant review should kill the “hockey stick” once and forever.
Good updates Kate, thanks.
I hate to do this but….
When will we hear from Emerson on his side of the delay of the softwood lumber deal?
Lets get this all on the table.
Derogatory spin from the WSJ article about Climate change.
“Dr. Mann’s critics, including two “amateur” Canadian climate researchers,”
Who knows more about hockey sticks than Canadians?
Have a look here. U of C
“When will we hear from Emerson on his side of the delay of the softwood lumber deal?”
Perhaps this headline from CTV.ca will answer the part of question…..
MP’s career “limited” for criticising turncoat
No need to speak when no one is listening.
I suspect some gophers will be raising their heads not too far down the road…..
If the softwood lumber deal that was supposedly stopped by Emerson was so good why have we not heard what was in the deal? This is pure spin and as usual has nothing to back it up. Why are we to believe that the Liberals had a good deal for us but found it more important to bash the US than let us hear and read the ‘deal’? What a load of crap that we are falling for –doesn’t anyone out there remember just a few short weeks ago when the Liberals were in charge and were destroying Canada? Why would we believe they had done anything good for us and other Canadians now that they are removed from power? The msm is still shilling for the Liberals–and stupid Canadians are falling for it.
Off topic, perhaps, but I’ve heard nothing about the Churchill recount that was supposed to take place on Wednesday.
Anyone else?
Hey Kate instead of highlighting the quest to find a needle in the global warming haystack why not put up a link to 2-3 peer reviewed studies that actually have evidence to counter.
You’ll have a hard time finding it. If you were keeping score by peer reviewed studies then global warming wins 1000-(0?)
And no the opinions of a crappy science fiction writers don’t count.
“Iqbal”, the conman, using the Koran & Mohammed to con/bilk suckers. >>
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1576002/posts
Good question, dude. I checked on elections.ca & it’s still “in progress.” I seem to recall in one of the stories that they expected it to take 2-3 days.
I believe the correct reference is now: Janet Betzky
jose, pick up the spoon and feed yourself.
maz2, “”Iqbal”, the conman, using the Koran & Mohammed to con/bilk suckers. ”
You seem to have forgotten about christian televangelists.
Who was that guy who said God would kill him if people didn’t give him lots of money?
Union Productivity at it’s best
SLACKER CITY WORKERS EXPOSED BY SECRET PROBE
City workers in the Montreal borough of Ville Marie are facing disciplinary action after an investigation showed it took 90 staff hours to fill nine potholes….The workers, who earn about $22 per hour, were on a shift dedicated to filling potholes….
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/02/08/mtl-workers060208.html
http://www.efootage.com/images/snapshots/B-2350/85347.jpg
kate “jose, pick up the spoon and feed yourself.”
Fair enough. If I can find a credible peer reviewed study supporting the con hypothesis I’ll post a link here.
Personally, I do not have a problem with Mrs. Gretzky placing $500,000 in bets (being rich must be boring). She picked the wrong organization to deal with. Gambling is legal in the States. The people the authorities should be concentrating on are the organizers of the betting ring. The Americans may have had another agenda when they leaked information from the investigation.
(time to grab your tinfoil hat)
As I write this, the opening ceremonies to the winter Olympics are going on in Italy. The timing of the charges and the leakage of information about the Gretzkys is fishy. What better way for the Americans to throw a monkey wrench into Canada’s defence of their olympic gold metal in hockey than to have the general manager of the team engulfed in controversy and media attention? Just look what it has done to the Phoenix Coyotes in the last two games.
(you can take your hat off now)
Here’s a nice link:
http://spleenville.com/2006/?p=147.
Comparison of goings-on within the ‘House of war’ and the ‘House of peace’.
dude: re: Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River
A recount began Wednesday
Kate, Jose,
I feel like, so ignored. 🙁
Jose if you have your spoon the first dish is being served.
Overall that was a balanced article by BBC standards. Two comments caught my attention that made me feel that this journalist still doesn’t get the big picture.
“If the MSM does not respond, it will suffer.”
Will suffer?
They can’t respond. That’s what is killing them.
Printing corrections, buried on page 16, three days later versus the Wikipedia approach of immediate fact correction by the public is never going to happen. The paltry prefunctory letters to the editor aren’t enough in the digital age. Comments aren’t invited on most MSM sites and they are selected. The BBC’s posted comments on the cartoon jihad were ludicrously selected to advance their position. I laughed looking at them.
“The MSM should concentrate on what it can do – explain, analyse and verify.”
Enough of the explaining and analyzing, just give me the damn facts. I can arrive at my own conclusions. The MSM can’t even get the facts correct half of the time. If they had more fact checkers and less sensitivity consultants they wouldn’t be in the mess they are in.
I’m sorry.
There are certain Canadian symbols and icons that are just above criticism.
Montcalm and Wolfe, Laura Secord, Sir John A. and Sir �tienne Cartier, Lucy Maude Montgomery, Billy Bishop, the Vaniers, Rocket Richard, Doug and Bob, Scotty on the Canadian Tire Money, Wayne Gretzky and Tim Hortons.
Cal- I followed your link. You misunderstood, I was referring to peer reviewed studies.
Your link points to an opinion piece. A scientific one yes but its still just an opinion piece with some contrarian speculation like “solar variance” that isn’t supported by any observable evidence. Yes there is such a thing as solar variance but no its been conclusively proven not to be a factor. The earth is getting less energy from the sun than in the past not more. I suspect that this guy knows it.
This guy isn’t trying to convince other scientists he’s just misrepresenting science to laymen.
This wouldn’t be one of those climatogists collecting paychecks from a petrochemical companies marketing department. Those ones are crafty. They know better to publish peer review journals, people have learned over the tobacco lawsuit fiasco. Fake research will get you into trouble further down the line when the game is up but no one can sue over simply publishing contrarian opinions.
And that’s all you get on the con side.
when I read it, the part that jumps at me is,
at “Blog Agendas” it says “most blogs have political agendas. Many of them are on the right of the spectrum. But it is not that hard to discount the opinionating and pick out the facts”
are many of them on the left of the spectrum as well?
if they are on the left, is it still opionionating? or facts?
as Penny said, “just give me the damn facts”
By George, monkey movie finds itself fodder for cultural wars
For the politically correct Bay Area parent, the “Curious George” children’s books are a minefield of cultural horrors through which to tiptoe. Imperialism. Animal abuse. Bad parenting.
…Most of the seven stories they wrote feature the antics of a monkey whose sweet curiosity gets him in trouble until he’s rescued by the nameless Man with the Yellow Hat, George’s keeper/parental figure/pal with bail money. To some, that’s the core of an unhealthy relationship.
“The books are really irresponsible to me. It’s sickening, really,” said Robin Roth, managing editor of http://www.arkonline.com, an animal welfare Web site.
…”Why would you send a monkey off to a human jail with other humans? In the ’40s that was probably OK, but not now. It would involve too much explaining.”…
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/10/GEORGE.TMP
marco-
Opinions on the left aren’t peer reviewed studies either. We don’t have to argue definitions, there is a very simple and clear definition of what a peer review study is. Factors of right or left don’t come into it.
CBC Fudges Ratings
PANTS ON FIRE
Network news ratings have CBC and CTV at each other’s throats. So who’s telling the truth?
…”When the polls closed across the country and the results were pouring in,” blared the Mother Corp.’s ad, “more than 2.2 million Canadians turned to Peter Mansbridge and the CBC News team for their election results — more than any other network.” …..CTV took a more minimalist, but no less brash approach. “The results are in,” it proclaimed, as if the nation had been voting on TV coverage rather than political leadership. “Once again, Canada chooses CTV.” The private network scored an average audience per minute of 1.48 million through the entire evening, the ad noted, while CBC averaged 1.253 million…
…officials at Nielsen Media Research, the company that provides overnight ratings, took a look at the competing claims and phoned up the networks with a pointed reminder about standard practice when it comes to reporting results…
…Burman defends the CBC practice of conflating numbers across two channels as a more accurate reflection of the viewing audience…
…Privately, CTV officials suggest the CBC’s unique arithmetic stems from its increasing struggle to compete….
Jose:
Who do you think the ‘peers’ are? They’re people. People with political views.
It’s naive to think that peer reviewed scientific articles are somehow immune from politics.
PANTS ON FIRE
http://www.macleans.ca/culture/media/article.jsp?content=20060213_121291_121291
Jose,
I dun gradgeeated past the 6 th grade.
I don’t need the high priests of academia to divine the “Truth” and then pass it on to the ignorant rabble.
Your way of thinking fits in very nicely with the way they do things in the Arab world. Individuals are not expected to do any heavy intellectual lifting for themselves. Analysis of problems and their solution are left to the few known as prominent Arab intellectuals. Their decision is then passed down to the masses.
If you want to wait for the jury to come in, be my guest.
But I can read and think for myself.
I think, the BBC gives news “a slant” and this article is indicative of that slant, in that the writer paints the blogs of the right as not being “that hard to discount the opinionating…”
Dude-
“Peer reviewed” is simply a way of saying “show your proof”. Politics has absolutely zero to do with this.
Jose: I know what ‘peer-reviewed’ means, and I also know that the editors of journals in which ‘peer-reviewed’ articles appear are not invulnerable to the tempation to being selective about what sort of articles they accept for final publication; i.e. selective in favour of those that fit their predetermined political views.
Do you honestly think that five scientists, given the same set of objective data, will come to the same conclusions? Having ‘proof’ does not equate to having the truth.
oops… *red-face* I wrote ‘Jose’ in the name field in the above post. That was actually a response to Jose.
Why would you send a monkey off to a human jail with other humans?.
In psychiatry it’s known as concrete thinking – someone who can’t grasp metaphors, humor or fantasy – a sad cognitive dysfunctionally impaired state.
The Winnie the Pooh censoring leftist idiots in Britain suffer the same dysfunction as the concrete and illogical Islamic nutballs.
The inmate have escaped the asylum, folks.
National Post TV ad. “It’s Not The News, It’s How We Spin It!” Ran Fall and winter 2005. Haven’t bought the post since.
I remember back in ’84 the Edmonton Urna..err Journal had big headlines splashed across it calling her “Jezebel Jones” when Gretz wanted to move to LA.
And that wasn’t Lethbridge or Legolf, Alberta either.
dude –
You are correct, a climatological study isn’t proof. But when you got 982 ticks in one column and zero in the next column you have to start wondering if there isn’t a trend.
Aren’t you the least bit skeptical about a very small minority of industry funded scientists who never publish research?
Roll the year back to 1975 and people we had the same bogus “debate” over tobacco and cancer. And we all know now what those tobacco company scientists were doing.
Global Warming isn’t a certainty but the evidence is as overwhelmingly compelling but not as certain as things like the age of the earth. Ah crap, tons of folk don’t believe in those branches of science either.
crap, roll back to ’75 and remember scientists were telling us we were heading for another ice age…
10.02.2006
Sweden aims to become the world�s first oil-free country by 2020….
…The idea is to combine tax relief for conversion from oil with a boost for more renewable energy such as geothermal or biomass heating…
…Sweden took the decision to phase out nuclear power in 1980, and today renewable sources account for 26 percent of Sweden�s total power supplies…
…The EU is the largest importer and second largest consumer of energy in the world…
http://euobserver.com/9/20871
Why would anyone in the New Jersay Police force leak “information” that would smear the Gretzky’s reputation to the media??? And why would a member of the New Jersey media report “information”, from an undisclosed source, that would smear the Gretzky’s reputation? Could it be that twenty some years ago when a very young Gretzky was with the Oilers and in New Jersey to play the Devil’s that he offended someone when he referred to the “New Jersey Devils” as a Mickey Mouse organization. That was no way to make friends in New Jersey and he did apologize a couple days later. Perhaps his apology was not accepted by some New Jersey residents who now are members of the local police and/or media.
tomax “crap, roll back to ’75 and remember scientists were telling us we were heading for another ice age…”
That’s true but that was a fringe opinion. There’s always fringe opinions. You remember the fracas as to wether light was a particle or a wave?
How about we cut a deal? We give you guys prayers in schools (I can’t remember if you still want that) and get rid of what political correctness stuff that is bothering you in exchange for traction on alternative energies. If in 10 years the global warming case falls apart or alternative energy proves non viable we’ll simply stick with our installed base of fossil energy infrastructure.
In a way this is all moot. Alternative energies are looking set to trump fossils economicaly eventually anyways.
Anyone see the ugly uniforms on our cdn team today. Wish I had 500,000 to place on a bet and not have to worry if I won or not. Wonder what the pillow talk was when this broke. Also wonder whether these were legal wiretaps. At least it hasn’t stopped Wayne and his wife from going to Turin. A few years ago we were warned of another ice age, now we are warned about global warming. My theory is the same with any of these computer generated findings, garbage in, garbage out. I wonder, with all this so called expertise on what will happen in 100 yrs, why can’t they tell me what will happen next week, or even tomorrow. And, how many of you will be here in 100 yrs to know if they are telling the truth. Talk to anyone who is over 90 and see how many predictations, re the weather, they lived thru have come true.
Tell you what Jose. You go figure out a way to weld steel so it doesn’t leak hydrogen and I’ll be the first in line for hydrogen fuel. You want alternative fuels, you better figure out a way to store ’em and transport them by pipeline.
Currently there is no method of welding or fastening metal that can contain liquid hydrogen without leaking. Ever wonder why the fuel up the rockets at the last minute? That’s one reason.
As for peer review, I refer your trusting self to the medical literature on gun control. A more gawd awful pile of politically motivated falsehood you’ll never see, every single paper peer reviewed. Medical literature, mind you.
Now tell me its different in atmospheric science. G’head, I’ll wait.