Facts Versus VIPs

If you have ever looked at my masthead (up there ^ at the top) you may have wondered what in Blaise Pascal's Provincial Letters  was so remarkable. I'm about to tell you in simple terms.

He made a clear distinction. Be wary about following the recommendations of famous men simply because there is similarity with what they said then and what is being discussed now. Follow instead the procedures that let them arrive at the substantive and universally acclaimed opinions that earned them their fame.

This is an important distinction that every common man should bring to bear when powerful people try to invoke the words of famous men to aid them in their quest for power. It may well be, and sadly is true, that all the powerful men are doing is exploiting the names of the men who were once famous or courageous, but who have no more wisdom about the current issue at hand than do you. Indeed, their names may have been bought, or at least they were patronized and flattered into going along. In allowing their names to be used, they trustingly fell prey to the powerful men. We, to our advantage, have the benefit of not having been flattered into letting our guard down. For this reason alone I was not prepared to discredit accomplished men until the depth of their involvement with the scoundrels was better known. Cautious skepticism was good counsel. Now the degree of deception employed by many climate "scientists" stands revealed.



A lot has been made of the U of East-Anglia's CRU emails and data that got released by person or persons as yet unknown.

By rights the disclosures should shut-down the anthropogenic global warming movement in short order. As has been discussed by many, my favorite author being Richard Fernandez, here and here, just because the fraud that has been long suspected is now available for perusal in the black and white, as it were, does not mean this embarrassing fact is enough to shut-down the AGW Titanic. Now that its captains have this farrago zooming along with, if not a full head of steam, a plethora of hot air, it's going to be costly to stop her in any event. With so much at stake,  and so many powerful players in the game to win, this story will get heated. Watch out.

I'm uniquely in a position to bring to light another facet to this movement that I have not yet seen discussed. In 1656 Blaise Pascal began writing the series of pamphlets anonymously  that we know as The Provincial Papers.

For now I will connect you to my commentary at the Belmont Club this morning. I will tailor it for this space later. Happy Thanksgiving.