Let the wailing and the gnashing of reptilian fossilised teeth begin ... a super dooper survey of Paris coverage, reptile style ...

There's a tremendous amount of good climate science work being done these days ...

Little Timmie Bleagh is on the case ...

What a joy it is to see a top notch climate scientist in his prime ...

And then there are the parrots ...

Yes, there second from the top this day is the Lomborgian setting the agenda for the reptile Oz. And look, elsewhere the Lomborgian is running hot ...

Why is this important?

Well it's a measure of how the Lomborgians are now routinely seized on as the new lordisly lordly Lord Monckton by sundry reptiles.

We need only look at the reptiles of Oz editorial for this day for definitive evidence, along with its reassuring proof that the while the old feather duster Mitchell might have moved on,  we can all cry "long live the new Terrorist climate scientist king" ...

Oh yes, excellent insightful climate science is to hand ... and "reality" ... did we mention "reality", the cold, clammy hand of "reality" ...

Now some will note a certain unnerving similarity to other scribbling. Yes it's the Lomborgians that serve up the corn to the reptiles:

It is of course highly likely that that is the most stupid remark in the history of the world. And no, saying "likely" doesn't actually get you off the hook ...  even when it's likely that Lomborg and others will routinely decry others for making hysterical, silly, alarmist and vastly exaggerated statements ...

But let's get closer to where the parrots got their idle notions from ...

It's almost unnerving, the chanting about Gates and all the rest, in a kind of union and meeting of minds that might remind some of Orwell, but which merely confirms to the pond that the kool aid remains strong in the Surry Hills bunker. The climate science denialist editor has gone, long live the climate scientist denialist Terrorist editor ...

Naturally the faithful of the ancien régime were out and about doing service for the nouveau régime, by casting a pall and a gloom and talking of reality ... that cold, clammy reality we all fear...

Oh yes, there's a lot of cold reality going around in reptile land. It reminds the pond of all those tales of boys in private schools being made to endure cold reality ... do childhood traumas explain all this chatter about "reality", to which only the reptiles have access, in contrast to the surreal world in which the rest of the population apparently live?

Of course it all started yesterday with alarming news on all fronts in Fairfax publications:

Sure, it's only off shore wind, and many are unhappy about the Paris agreement being too weak, but all this talk of alternative energy meant the reptiles had to rush out today to score a reassuring EXCLUSIVE:

Damn you wind turbines, damn you to hell. Get offshore and out of sight, or better still, let's remember it's dinkum Oz coal, coal, coal for the world ...

Now there's a relief, but these last few days, the reptiles and their Lomborgian fellow travellers have been in a state of deep distress as the wind shifts and the tide turns ...

The pond hates to bring up "RDS", considering its alleged source ... the fornicatory former member for Holt, the bearded wonder himself ... or at least so his wiki says ...

Evans, after eighteen years in the Senate, found the transition to the very different lower house environment not easy to manage, and – with Australia sailing comfortably through the 1997 Asian financial crisis – also found it difficult to get traction with his own economic policy brief. He also did not enjoy the move to opposition after thirteen years in government, coining the expression 'relevance deprivation syndrome', which – while he was criticised more than applauded for his honesty at the time – is now entrenched in the national vocabulary. (Greg Hunt the Antarctic walri here).

Dear sweet long absent lord, quoting Gareth. The pond feels a fling coming on, if only so it can then feel soiled and used ...

But speaking of sufferers of RDS, the reptiles of Oz have been running a string of commentaries from the supremely irrelevant and isolated Lomborgians, which will certainly not end today ...

Yesterday in his desperate bid for ongoing attention, the Lomborgian finally turned his attention to the Governator ...

Now for those who came in late on the story, almost a week ago Arnie posted on Facebook I don't give a **** if we agree about climate change - yes, the pond does links - which inter alia contained this shaggy dog proposal:

I have a final question, and it will take some imagination. 
There are two doors. Behind Door Number One is a completely sealed room, with a regular, gasoline-fueled car. Behind Door Number Two is an identical, completely sealed room, with an electric car. Both engines are running full blast. 
I want you to pick a door to open, and enter the room and shut the door behind you. You have to stay in the room you choose for one hour. You cannot turn off the engine. You do not get a gas mask. 
I'm guessing you chose the Door Number Two, with the electric car, right? 
Door number one is a fatal choice - who would ever want to breathe those fumes? This is the choice the world is making right now. 
To use one of the four-letter words all of you commenters love, I don't give a damn if you believe in climate change. I couldn’t care less if you're concerned about temperatures rising or melting glaciers. It doesn't matter to me which of us is right about the science. 
I just hope that you'll join me in opening Door Number Two, to a smarter, cleaner, healthier, more profitable energy future.

Now this is just a rhetorical routine - ranging from the ****, which turns out to be a Clark Gable 'damn' rather than a Tarantino 'fuck' - to the choice itself, which deliberately reduces matters down to a Terminator choice ...

It's not a bad routine, but what's astonishing is the completely humourless way the Scandinavian wonder responds.

First there's the cheek of that header: Memo Arnie: Facts still matter.

The pond was immediately flung into a reverie, recalling the response to Lomborg's first outing, The Skeptical Environmentalist:

"The problem with Lomborg´s conclusion is that the scientists themselves disawow it. Many spoke to us at Scientific American about their frustration at what they described as Lomborg´s misrepresentation of their fields. His seemingly dispassionate outsider's view, they told us, is often marred by an incomplete use of the data or a misunderstanding of the underlying science. Even where his statistical analyses are valid, his interpretations are frequently off the mark - literally not seeing the state of the forests for the number of the trees." . . - John Rennie, editor in chief, Scientific American 
"On page xx of his preface, Lomborg admits, 'I am not myself an expert as regards environmental problems' - truer words are not found in the rest of the book." . . - Stephen Schneider in Scientific American.

Yes, in the book, Lomborg cheekily tried a few weasel words at the start as a pre-emptive strike to get himself out of future trouble:

In the preface: P. xx: 
"I have let experts review the chapters of this book, but I am not myself an expert as regards environmental problems." 
P. xxiii: "While every effort naturally has been made to ensure that all the information in this book is correct, errors will undoubtedly still have crept in." (these quotes and a lot more here)

The book set off a firestorm of fact checking and error counting, as did Lomborg's later books, which reached Herculean heights ...

Of course Lomborg has a great deal of difficulty dealing with criticism or accepting the notion that he might be wrong ... as you can read here ... but it makes it all the funnier that he should trade on the notion that he deals with facts ...

... which brings us back to that dour Scandinavian, Bergman-like lack of humour and a way of turning even salmon mousse into an unconscious form of solemnity ...

Here's how it's done ...

Of course, since his first book, what Lomborg has really acknowledged is that man-made climate change isn't a very big deal, isn't worth the fuss, isn't worth doing anything about, and certainly isn't worth any serious amount of money being spent on it ... though pissing money against the wall on research for a technological fix might fill the void ...

As for that glorious sentence "Since my first book, I've acknowledged the reality of man-made climate change ...", the denialism of the denialism is breath-taking and wonderful to behold ...

That first book?

“Lomborg’s book is seriously flawed and fails to meet basic standards of credible scientific analysis. The authors note how Lomborg consistently misuses, misrepresents or misinterprets data to greatly underestimate rates of species extinction, ignore evidence that billions of people lack access to clean water and sanitation, and minimize the extent and impacts of global warming due to the burning of fossil fuels and other human-caused emissions of heat-trapping gases. Time and again, these experts find that Lomborg’s assertions and analyses are marred by flawed logic, inappropriate use of statistics and hidden value judgments. He uncritically and selectively cites literature—often not peer-reviewed— that supports his assertions, while ignoring or misinterpreting scientific evidence that does not. His consistently flawed use of scientific data is, in Peter Gleick’s words 'unexpected and disturbing in a statistician.'”  (DeSmog it here)


Some acknowledgment, some reality.

Well Lomborg is now the chief contributor for the reptiles, their Paris correspondent, and bobs up in the Spectator and Forbes and elsewhere, the go to Scandinavian gadfly, desperate for attention, and routinely granted it by the reptiles, which says as much about the reptiles as it does about Lomborg.

Yes you can also read the Lomborgians at Forbes here, but for those who can't be bothered switching, here's another bit of the gambit ...

Yep, there's a humourless Bergman figure dancing like a statistician. It's classic gotcha Lomborg, as if anyone reading would simply go along.

Oh so it's only c. 4k a day ... well that's super dooper peachy keen and give your regards to the citizens of  Morwell on the way out ...

But wait, the pond promised a super dooper survey of Paris coverage reptile style, so even though the rest of it is just a wretched list of statistics in the Bergman style, it should be placed on the pond record:

The point, as always, is to downplay any hint of global warming and CO2. 

Any number of spectres and shibboleths must be raised in order to diminish the need to do anything about the minor business of climate change. 

Polls should be consulted wherein people agree with Lomborg and his priorities, money must be spent on technological fixes, Bill Gates must be praised, Arnie banished ... oh and there should be a graph.

As any viewer of ABC television finance news knows, there must be a graph. Always with the graph ...

Such a stupid man, and yet there he is, the reptiles of Oz chief correspondent, and the go to expert on climate science.

As if scribbling the kitchen is "clean and dependable" can avoid mentioning the brown coal of Gippsland that produces the electricity that makes the kitchen "clean" ... or was he just noting the fastidious way the pond keeps its kitchen clean with Ajax?

And there you have it. If anyone made it this far, they deserve a medal, signifying entry into the hallowed Order for the Study of Mendacity in the Presentation of Climate Science by the Reptiles of Oz ...

And so to a cartoon by Rowe celebrating the Xmas spirit and the unnerving sense that there's a ghost hanging around Malware, wind energy and the minds of the reptiles (and more Rowe here). Now there's a real spectre ... offering a harsh, cold, clammy reality ...

And also for the record, as a devotee of the back page of comic books many years ago, the pond did enjoy this Le Lievre yesterday, with the original on Twitter here: