Do you support James Hansen in his act of civil disobedience?

Hippie with science degrees and a job with a lot of power. He shouldn't be doing this. He needs to act like a professional and not a rabid hippie.

So from reading your link it seems all this little coal company want to do is take the top off a mountain. That you call Greenpeace a terrorist group sounds familiar I can think of another ID on here that use the same wording 'perhaps you are brothers' to both of you even if that is only one person I would suggest looking up the words terrorist and protest, flying a plane into a building or blowing up a bomb is terrorism. Trying to save a whale by risking only your own life as Greenpeace do is protesting.

The only act of terrorism linked to the Rainbow warrior was carried out by the French secret service when they blew up the first ship of that name in New Zealand because it kept protesting nuclear testing in the pacific. I'm sure from the tone of your comments you would have been in favor of that testing, all that nice healthy radiation blowing in over the U.S's Western seaboard how dare those Greenpeace terrorists try to stop that!

I would actually agree with you over Paul Watson he goes to far, but we were talking about Greenpeace and the Rainbow warrior. Paul Watson was expelled from Greenpeace in the 70s and founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society which was formed in the late 70s their ship was the Sea Shepherd now it is the Steve Irwin.

If it were a right winger and he was arrested at an abortion clinic or an NRA ralley, they would be looking for his scalp. Hansen should have been fired long ago. He isn't a scientist. He is a political hack. I once googled political hack and Hansen and my YA pop up first so I feel I have some authority here as well as some additional evidence that I was correct all along (in regard to his political hackness).

Gwen's comment: "You answered the question yourself when you said, " people certainly have the right to protest". What makes Hansen any different?

Denying selected people from speak out is what nations like Iran, China, Burma and North Korea do. Is that the kind of society you wish your nation to become?"

I thought you were from Canada?

Gwen, I invite you to look at the scientific method and then tell us all if a scientist should be political. Here is one excerpt from one explanation of it.

"As stated earlier, the scientific method attempts to minimize the influence of the scientist's bias on the outcome of an experiment. That is, when testing an hypothesis or a theory, the scientist may have a preference for one outcome or another, and it is important that this preference not bias the results or their interpretation. The most fundamental error is to mistake the hypothesis for an explanation of a phenomenon, without performing experimental tests. Sometimes "common sense" and "logic" tempt us into believing that no test is needed. There are numerous examples of this, dating from the Greek philosophers to the present day."

It is a matter of professionalism Gwen, not activism, to be a good scientist. There are other sectors listed that exclude political aspirations.

There is freedom of speech but government employees are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that reflects positively upon the government. When I worked for the Forest Service for the summer a couple of years ago, mixed in with all of the training was a continuous reinforcement of the fact that we are government workers and should conduct ourselves professionally. They probably over-emphasize this with seasonal workers and assume that career scientists shouldn't need to be told this.

Long story short, getting arrested at a protest isn't really the epitome of professional behavior.

Hansen is speaking at a climate conference at my university tonight, I'm really looking forward to listening to him.

*Edit*

I just got back from Hansen's speech, and I was actually pretty surprised, he seems pretty innocuous and unassuming, not quite was I was expecting. Funny though despite the fact that he directly addressed the issues with coal power plants and the need of people to protest he did not mention his run in with the law which leads me to believe he is either embarrassed or that he didn't think it important enough to mention.

That leftist activist hack can rot in jail for the rest of life as far as I am concerned. He is worse than Gerbils (alarmist that use denier better not pretend to be offended) in that he calls for jailing certain people who don't buy his bogus propaganda.

http://theautopsy.wordpress.com/2008/06/22/james-h...

The "Hatch Act" governing federal employees only forbids partisan political activity. Federal employees do not lose the right to express their opinions on issues on their own time.

Hansen's science is first class. He has been warning for 25 years that we must reduce CO2 emissions. Occasionally, Congress listens to his testimony and does nothing. Even now, when the planet is already melting, there is not the political will to do anything.

BTW, the 'hippies' protests were enormously influential in breaking the back of segregation.

Yes, he has the same rights as you & me, it is that simple. Should a state govenor resign because he has an affair, but is in AGW denial like you and that gives him a pass? I bet you'd vote for a quitter to be Commander & Chief, right? Bias and prejudice is so predictable isn't it?

I don't really support that, for someone that works in a somewhat important position for the government I don't think it really helps his cause. Also, I'm mostly pro-mining--the problems occur when the CO2 is released, not at the mines.

As for your characterization that "his climate science hasn't been up to par," I think you have nothing to base that on. People in a better position than you to judge, the American Meteorological Society, gave Hansen their highest prize this year, the Rossby Medal. He has won numerous other awards for his climate science. Which climate science awards have you won?

EDIT: I find it interesting that 5 out of your last 13 questions are directly about Hansen. He's definitely a favorite of yours--I'm in climate science and I can go weeks without thinking about him.

Another EDIT: You are joking, right jim z? To test your credentials, I googled "jim z political hack" and sure enough it led to one of your answers also ;-)

Of course. Hansen has been the most right about the climate for the longest period of time (i.e. decades) and it's a fair bet that he has the keenest sense of what's coming in the future - if he is worried enough to take direct action then the rest of us ought to be very worried indeed.