A barking moonbat speaks

PLEASE NOTE: Elements of this text have been redacted because it turns out that it was not Dr. Sachs who posted the original comment. I received a very nice email from an associate of Dr. Sachs assuring me that it was not him who posted. He was justifiably concerned that someone from Columbia would be posting using his name so I gave him the log information showing the IP Address of the poster and some other specific info. This is still a barking moonbat that needs a sound Fisking but it is an anonymous barking moonbat who hides behind the name of a respected educator. Even more egregious -- and somehow so very very typical. A few days ago, I posted this: Global Warming = Human Rights Violation. The post links to David Limbaugh's website and an article from CNS News with this headline and first paragraph: bq. Global Warming Is A Human Rights Violation, Activists Say Environmental activists say greenhouse gas emissions are destroying the Inuit way of life and therefore must be considered a human rights violation. (If you visit the CNS website, please note that it is filed under the heading of Culture and not Science.) Anyway, this morning a comment was added to this entry, the text of which is quoted verbatim:

You don't know anything about global warming. You can drop whatever isolated fact to make your point but you are not an environmental scientist. Your world view comes filtered. You've chosen your position on global warming only AFTER choosing your political position. Why don't you grow up and realize that they way we deal with global warming can't be determined by money-driven political ideologues? This is a scientific debate which assholes like Limbaugh should not be a part of.

The comment was signed "jeff sachs" and no return email was given but as administrator of this website, I can see the IP Address the comment originated from. Taking a look at Arin.net (Arin is the American Registry for Internet Numbers) I find that this IP Address belongs to the blocks owned by these people:

OrgName:    Columbia University 
OrgID:      COLUMB
Address:    612 W 115TH ST
City:       NEW YORK
StateProv:  NY
PostalCode: 10025
Country:    US

OK -- so our moonbat is from Columbia University. [text redacted - see top of post for reason] Anyway, to Fisk his comment:

You don't know anything about global warming.

I have a strong science background (more on that later) and have read a lot on the subject. I take the large long view and see what the historical record has to say as well as the current scientific thought.

You can drop whatever isolated fact to make your point but you are not an environmental scientist.

And you are? [text redacted - see top of post for reason] Not only do you not bother to quote your areas of expertise, you hide behind someone elses name. For me -- I dropped out of college in the 70's when these "computer" things became popular. I wanted to make money. Still, I am no stranger to the academic world. For the three years I was in college, my majors were Marine Biology and Physical Oceanography (yes, dual majors as an undergrad). I also took courses and was active in the astronomy department. (Boston University). I come from an academic background as well -- my Father, before he retired, was the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. You might also know him as the co-author of the best-selling Physics Textbook (Halliday and Resnick). My Mother, before she retired, was a nuclear chemist and worked on methods for separating Uranium during WW2. I am no stranger to scientific thought or discourse.

Your world view comes filtered.

And yours does not? You have embedded yourself into the world of Academia. This is a comfortable niche but it is a hermetic one and very isolated from the "real world." Your livelihood depends on keeping up this sham and you do not tolerate any outside views as witnessed by your use of ad-hominem in your comments regarding my expertise. You say I know nothing but you fail to provide any facts to back up your statement -- in fact, you lied to me about your identity...

You've chosen your position on global warming only AFTER choosing your political position.

Again, you know nothing about me. As a result of my being brought up in an academic environment, I was a very strong liberal until 9/11. After the 9/11 attack happened, I started asking questions and did not like the answers that I was getting from the left. Although I did vote for President Bush, I am not happy with a number of his policies and decisions. My vote was not for Bush, it was a vote against John Kerry whom I felt was totally unqualified for the office of President. Had the Democratic Party offered a better choice (Joe Lieberman, Zell Miller, even Joe Biden), I would have been voting Democratic. I used to work with Greenpeace and was involved with a number of the activities of the Seattle office but became very disenchanted with them when they started marginalizing themselves and moving from scientifically and historically provable issues and more into the realm of hot-button talking points and poorly thought out platforms.

Why don't you grow up and realize that they way we deal with global warming can't be determined by money-driven political ideologues?

Snort... [text redacted - see top of post for reason]

This is a scientific debate which assholes like Limbaugh should not be a part of.

Which asshole - the Radio entertainer Rush or the Lawyer David. They may be brothers and both conservatives but if you take any time to explore my blog you will see that I only link to one of them. PLEASE NOTE: Of course, I have no way of telling if this comment actually was posted by Dr. Sachs and if it was not, I apologize for any slurs on my part. I can prove that it came from a computer somewhere at Columbia -- that is not at issue...