Global Warming Consensus

I can't for the life of me understand why anyone still seriously believes that there's any sort of scientific "consensus" on man-made global warming. There absolutely isn't. And as for scientific "consensus" here's something on that by the late Michael Crichton:

I regard consensus science as an extremely pernicious development that ought to be stopped cold in its tracks. Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you're being had.

Let's be clear: the work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world. In science consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus.

There is no such thing as consensus science. If it's consensus, it isn't science. If it's science, it isn't consensus. Period.

But what I really wanted to get at is the Global Warming Petition that has been signed by over 31,000 American scientists. If there's any sort of "consensus" on global warming, it goes the other way. Here's what was signed:

We urge the United States government to reject the global warming agreement that was written in Kyoto, Japan in December, 1997, and any other similar proposals. The proposed limits on greenhouse gases would harm the environment, hinder the advance of science and technology, and damage the health and welfare of mankind.

There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate. Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth.

Now how's that for "the science is settled"? Obviously, it isn't. And yet our wonderful representatives in Washington are passing a Cap & Trade bill that will make all of us worse off. Shame on them, and shame on those who support them.