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forwarded message:
From: "Peiser, Benny"
Date: 19 July 2008
10:12:59 PM
Subject: CCNet: THE
VISCOUNT MONCKTON OF BRENCHLEY: LETTER TO THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL
SOCIETY
CCNet Xtra - 19 July 2008
-- Audiatur et altera pars
THE VISCOUNT MONCKTON OF
BRENCHLEY: LETTER TO THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL
SOCIETY
------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
The Viscount Monckton of
Brenchley has asked me to circulate the
attached letter which he
sent today to the President of the American
Physical Society.
Christopher Monckton's paper together with the
contentious APS disclaimer
can be found here:
The Announcement by the APS
editor of Physics & Society to open a debate
about the IPCC and its
scientific critics is available online here:
Benny Peiser
Editor, CCNet
-------------------
19 July 2008
The Viscount Monckton of
Brenchley
Carie, Rannoch, PH17 2QJ,
UK
Arthur Bienenstock, Esq.,
Ph.D.,
President, American
Physical Society,
Wallenberg Hall, 450 Serra
Mall, Bldg 160,
Stanford University, Palo
Alto, CA 94305.
Dear Dr.
Bienenstock,
Physics and
Society
The editors of Physics and
Society, a newsletter of the American
Physical Society, invited
me to submit a paper for their July 2008
edition explaining why I
considered that the warming that might be
expected from anthropogenic
enrichment of the atmosphere with carbon
dioxide might be
significantly less than the IPCC imagines.
I very much appreciated
this courteous offer, and submitted a paper. The
commissioning editor
referred it to his colleague, who subjected it to a
thorough and competent
scientific review. I was delighted to accede to
all of the reviewer's
requests for revision (see the attached
reconciliation sheet). Most
revisions were intended to clarify for
physicists who were not
climatologists the method by which the IPCC
evaluates climate
sensitivity - a method which the IPCC does not itself
clearly or fully explain.
The paper was duly published, immediately
after a paper by other
authors setting out the IPCC's viewpoint. Some
days later, however,
without my knowledge or consent, the following
appeared, in red, above the
text of my paper as published on the website
of Physics and
Society:
"The following article has
not undergone any scientific peer review. Its
conclusions are in
disagreement with the overwhelming opinion of the
world scientific community.
The Council of the American Physical Society
disagrees with this
article's conclusions."
This seems discourteous. I
had been invited to submit the paper; I had
submitted it; an eminent
Professor of Physics had then scientifically
reviewed it in meticulous
detail; I had revised it at all points
requested, and in the
manner requested; the editors had accepted and
published the reviewed and
revised draft (some 3000 words longer than
the original) and I had
expended considerable labor, without having been
offered or having requested
any honorarium.
Please either remove the
offending red-flag text at once or let me have
the name and qualifications
of the member of the Council or advisor to
it who considered my paper
before the Council ordered the offending text
to be posted above my
paper; a copy of this rapporteur's findings and
ratio decidendi; the date
of the Council meeting at which the findings
were presented; a copy of
the minutes of the discussion; and a copy of
the text of the Council's
decision, together with the names of those
present at the meeting. If
the Council has not scientifically evaluated
or formally considered my
paper, may I ask with what credible scientific
justification, and on whose
authority, the offending text asserts primo,
that the paper had not been
scientifically reviewed when it had;
secundo, that its
conclusions disagree with what is said (on no
evidence) to be the
"overwhelming opinion of the world scientific
community"; and, tertio,
that "The Council of the American Physical
Society disagrees with this
article's conclusions"? Which of my
conclusions does the
Council disagree with, and on what scientific
grounds (if
any)?
Having regard to the
circumstances, surely the Council owes me an
apology?
Yours truly,
THE VISCOUNT MONCKTON OF
BRENCHLEY
---------------
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We need to remember Von
Mises Great Words More so today than ever before:
Society lives and
acts only in individuals; it is nothing more than a certain attitude on
their part. Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders; no one
is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can
find a safe way out for himself if society is sweeping towards
destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interest, must thrust
himself vigourously into the intellectual battle. None can stand aside
with unconcern; the interests of everyone hang on the result. Whether he
chooses or not, every man is drawn into the great historical struggle,
the decisive battle into which our epoch has plunged us.
Pages 514 - 515 of his book
titled Socialism. (Jonathan Cape,
London.)