The regime every decade or so uses the military to crush civilian protest and cower opposition and has routinely interfered in Lebanese politics – including terrorist acts/assassinations.

The Islamists fighting them are being armed (and paid) by Saudi Arabia. There is a Shia minority in the NE of SA near southern Iraq – now ruled by a Shia majority government with close links to Iran. This is part of the Saudi Arabia “Cold War” vs Shia Arab Moslems (Bahrain and Syria are the hot spots) under “Persian imperial influence”.

Most people are on the side of local democracy, not either tyranny. And notably it is Sunni Arab Islamists who resort to bombings (killing Shia in Iraq and Pakistan), with the exception of Syria (state) and their Hizbollah proxy in Lebanon (“armed gang” in the government of a state).

http://rt.com/news/syria-blast-explosion-damascus-201/

The secretive funding

It is not that much of a secret if you know about it and it is all over the internet climate conspiracy sites you frequent Grifffy.

And here’s the Appleman chart, showing that permanent contrails were impossible that day whether at 20,000 or 30,000 feet. At 30,000′ the pressure was 304 and relative humidity 23%. But at 20,000 feet the temperature was only -21.5C with 30% relative humidity. The commercial planes at intervals throughout the day left at most a tiny white comma, and many times not even that: the trails were just not there. The only trails were left by jets which did not show up as civilian, commercial or private traffic. This conclusion isn’t open to debate, and it isn’t a theory – it is a fact which can be verified by anyone with an iPhone and at least one eye, and the ability to tilt the head skyward

But climate was at the top of the list. By 2010, Donors Trust had distributed $118m to 102 thinktanks or action groups which have a record of denying the existence of a human factor in climate change, or opposing environmental regulations.

Recipients included some of the best-known thinktanks on the right. The American Enterprise Institute, which is closely connected to the Republican party establishment and has a large staff of scholars, received more than $17m in untraceable donations over the years, the record show.

But relatively obscure organisations did not go overlooked. The Heartland Institute, virtually unknown outside the small world of climate politics, received $13.5m from the Donors Trust.

Americans for Prosperity, the Tea Party group seen as the strike force of the conservative oil billionaire Koch Brothers, received $11m since 2002.

Levi Russell, spokesman for Americans for Prosperity, declined to comment on the importance of that support to the organisation. “We’re very grateful for each of the millions of activists and donors that make what we do possible,” he said in an email.

Gleick gets a new job and his old job back while Heartland lost major donors, board members and staff quit and has been reduced to selling t-shirts and coffee mugs. Too funny.

Does this mean no more lies about Heartland getting all that money from BIG OIL and the non-existent( but scary sounding) “carbon industry” ?

Speaking of donors, how much funding does the IPCC get annually ?

It’s almost as if something other than the sun has changed!

Gosh Ryan Sproull, For sure, your a smart guy. The earths climate is in constant change. Change is normal when your talking about climate. Do you know, for example, that the earth was covered in ice numerous times ?

In fact humans would not even be here if the earth did not go through warming cycles. Some cycles were so extreme that they melted most of the ice off the earth and allowed people to evolve. The amount of ice was huge, kilometers thick in places and it all went away. (this was before capitalism and America were invented). We are either in an Ice age or emerging from one. No one is quite sure, but with no temperature rise and increasing ice, I tend to think we are on the down hill slope to a new ice age. So do scientists it seems:

Climate Scientists Predicts a ‘Mini Ice Age’ in the Future Amid Evidence Of Sun’s Diminishing Acitivity

NASA’s prediction that the sun’s next 11-year activity phase or “Cycle 25: will be one of the weakest in centuries and is likely to decrease until 2100, has led some scientists to foresee a “mini ice age” in the future.

Data issued recently by the Met Office and the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit confirmed that the rising trend in world temperatures ended in 1997.

http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/291814/20120203/climate-scientists-predicts-mini-ice-age-future.htm#.USX4Ox2mgQh

Do you know Griff some crazies actually discount the Sun as a factor in climate change ? They think burning a few lumps of coal or running down the shop in your car is the deciding factor. Crazy a ?

With all that energy coming off the sun, it’s a wonder the Earth didn’t explode a million years ago! It’s almost as if something other than the sun has changed!

“Principia Scientific International is a self-sustaining community of impartial scientists from around the world deliberating, debating and publishing cutting-edge thinking on a range of issues without a preconceived idea of outcomes.”
http://principia-scientific.org/supportnews/latest-news/120-new-global-warming-report-scientists-lied-to-australian-parliament.html

And Andrew Bolt fisks the CAGW nutters
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/in_the_faint_hope_that_emerson_has_an_open_mind/

And things must be desperate (for ALARMISTS) if “National Geographic” has to stoop this low to find someone to discuss climate science.

“The National Geographic Science Blogs have added Dr. Peter Gleick to its roster of contributors despite the fact that he stole documents from The Heartland Institute in 2012, creating and disseminated a phony ‘memo’ to defame the 28-year-old, non-profit research organization.”
http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/protecting-global-warming-liars.html

I liked this bit :

The numbers are staggering and surprising. In 88 minutes, the sun provides 470 exajoules of energy, as much energy as humanity consumes in a year. In 112 hours – less than five days – it provides 36 zettajoules of energy – as much energy as is contained in all proven reserves of oil, coal, and natural gas on this planet.

Do you know Griff some crazies actually discount the Sun as a factor in climate change ? They think burning a few lumps of coal or running down the shop in your car is the deciding factor. Crazy a ?

Other benefits of eliminating them include; reduced incidence of beard growing, less post menopausal women thinking they can have a connection with dolphins, millions of tons of co2 will not be liberated by flotillas of greeny ships, the Japs can go back to building decent cars, hippies will be more inclined to work…

The cheapest solar modules, not yet on the market, have manufacturing costs under $1 per watt, making them contenders – when they reach the market – for breaking the 12 cents per Kwh mark.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2011/03/16/smaller-cheaper-faster-does-moores-law-apply-to-solar-cells/

We will see. I’ll probably be on kiwiblog in ten years so if the exponential trend doesn’t continue because all the scientists and engineers fell asleep you can have a good laugh at my expense.