Patterico's Pontifications

3/26/2007

Notes From A Proud Global Warming Skeptic (Part 2)

Filed under: Accepted Wisdom,Environment — Justin Levine @ 8:16 pm



 [posted by Justin Levine]

Remember Carl Sagan? He wasn’t only a famous astronomer, but he was a self-proclaimed “skeptic” who tried to convince himself and others that he was dedicated to scientific principles over “pseudoscience and irrationality”.

However, that didn’t prevent him from falling into the common trap of using his “scientific credentials” to try and feign credibility on topics well beyond his area of scientific expertise: nuclear war, SDI, environmentalism, etc.

Part of this came from an internal contradiction in Sagan’s outlook. As David Morrison explains

(more…)

Notes From A Proud Global Warming Skeptic (Part 1)

Filed under: Accepted Wisdom,Current Events,Environment,General — Justin Levine @ 3:26 pm



[posted by Justin Levine] 

Have any of you actually seen “The Great Global Warming Swindle?” – the British documentary that debunks “An Inconvenient Truth” and the global warming fear mongers?

Do yourself a favor. Set aside 75 minutes to watch this vital program from one of numerous video sharing sites across the Internet. (If you are guilt ridden over copyright concerns, I can only say that it is your loss if you still wish to be as informed as possible over the global warming non-debate debate.)

It traces how current global warming theory got started and explains the evidence showing that it is actually global warming that causes increased CO2 – not the other way around. After considering the program’s claims, go ahead and (re)read the U.N.’s current summary on the issue and ask yourself what it has really shown.

Purveyors of man-made global warming theory refuse to recognize that some of the strongest critics of the theory are lead authors of the IPCC reports that they have come to fetishize. A number of them are featured in the documentary. (It also debunks the argument that all of the critics are simply on the payroll for big oil. There is little media scrutiny concerning the billions that are now behind research that is specifically tailored to try and legitimize global warming theory.)

As long as they show this program in schools, then I would be fine with showing “An Inconvenient Truth” and any other global warming documentary they want to try and rebut it.

Will Jonathan Chait have the guts to watch it and comment directly on it? I doubt it. If we follow Chait’s logic then, it must be proof that Democrats simply don’t believe in science.

But it will be fun to watch the religious zealots come out of the woodwork again to post comments here taking me to task for “refusing to believe settled science”. Grab some popcorn and observe their hyperventilations.  And yes, you read the title of this post correctly –  This is only part 1 of a contuning series. There will be future posts to also help bring forth the Pavlovian green spittle.  Cheers!

[posted by Justin Levine]

U.S. Attorneys Balked at Seeking Death

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 6:09 am



The Los Angeles Times reports that three of the fired prosecutors (Margaret Chiara, Kevin Ryan, and Paul Charlton) balked at seeking the death penalty.

I fail to see how this amounts to politicization of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. It sounds more like U.S. Attorneys who had a hard time following directives from their superiors. You can disagree with the call, as I do with the priorities on obscenity cases — but ultimately, these are calls that DoJ superiors have a right to make.

Vexatious Litigant Makes Living off ADA

Filed under: General,Law — Patterico @ 12:00 am



Jarek Molski of Woodland Hills is disabled. He goes to a lot of restaurants, finds violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and sues.

A lot.

You can get some background on the guy, and his lawyer Thomas Frankovich, in a series of “Overlawyered” posts accessible here.

Anyway, a recent Ninth Circuit decision orders a new trial in a case where the jury found against Molski. Read this excerpt and marvel at what is permitted under the ADA:

The defendant did not call any witnesses, but relied primarily on its cross-examination of Molski and Dalkas. In essence, the defendant’s strategy was to discredit Molski by exposing an ulterior motive for bringing suit: Molski and his lawyer Thomas Frankovich (“Frankovich”) were purportedly in the business of tracking down public accommodations with ADA violations and extorting settlements out of them. On cross examination, Molski acknowledged that: he did not complain to any of Cable’s employees about his access problems; he had filed 374 similar ADA lawsuits as of October 8, 2004; Frankovich had filed 232 of the 374 lawsuits; even more lawsuits had been filed since that date; Molski and Frankovich averaged $4,000 for each case that settled; Molski did not pay any fees to Frankovich; Molski maintained no employment besides prosecuting ADA cases, despite his possession of a law degree; Molski’s projected annual income from settlements was $800,000; Molski executed blank verification forms for Frankovich to submit with responses to interrogatories; they had also filed lawsuits against two other restaurants owned by Cable’s; they had filed a lawsuit against a nearby restaurant; and [Molski’s private investigator] Sarantchin obtained up to 95% of his income from Frankovich’s firm for performing investigations for ADA lawsuits.

My dad was a George Gershwin fan, and it’s a Gershwin tune that’s going through my head right now: “Nice Work If You Can Get It.”

Suing guys who put their
Paper towels too high
Nice work if you can get it
And you can get it if you try

Now, it’s the American Way that when you get a court decision this absurd, you blame the court. Damn Ninth Circus! Buncha libs! This is why we need conservative judges! Etc.

But I’m here to tell you: the case doesn’t seem badly reasoned to me. The evidence was undisputed. The restaurant was in violation of the ADA. And under the law, the owner is liable.

If the court ruled correctly, this can only mean that this law is completely out of control.

If you think this is ridiculous, don’t blame the courts. It’s up to you, the citizens of this country, to do something about this.


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