Is Monckton beyond parody?

Gareth Renowden's latest post on Monckton is pretty funny, but how can anyone compete with this?

Monckton said he had "never believed heterosexual HIV is a myth," but insisted that the correct policy at start of any epidemic is to "isolate all carriers immediately," a position he advocated in the 1980s on HIV/AIDS. Unprompted, Monckton told us he is now "working on what may prove to be a cure for HIV," but provided no further explanation or comment.

(Via Brendan Demelle, who notes that Monckton is lying about calling some protesters "Hitler Youth" despite video proof that he did.)

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Is Monckton beyond parody?

Yes.

By TrueSceptic (not verified) on 15 Dec 2009 #permalink

> Unprompted, Monckton told us he is now "working on what may prove to be a cure for HIV," but provided no further explanation or comment.

Monckton's Pills: 50% DDT, 30% asbestos, and 20% crude oil.

Monckton on youtube was unbelievable. Did he really say that there has been no warming for 15 years? Since 1994!! Even the most scientifically illiterate sceptics have bought into the meme that 1998 was the warmest year in the instrumental record. That makes Monckton unusually incompetent by even the sceptics' standards. As an aside, I'm surprised that the Jewish guy didn't have a go at Monckton.

By san quintin (not verified) on 15 Dec 2009 #permalink

Is it a coincidence that Monckton's call to: *"isolate all carriers immediately," a position he advocated in the 1980s on HIV/AIDS.* -is [the same call ](http://lyndonlarouche.org/aids.htm) as fellow traveller climate denialist Lyndon Larouche?

By Janet Akerman (not verified) on 15 Dec 2009 #permalink

I don't know if any effective treatment exists, but that man requires psychological help.

I've just read Gareth's post linked at the start of Tim's post above. It might be his best about the Laird yet. :)

By TrueSceptic (not verified) on 15 Dec 2009 #permalink

Monckton repeats lies incessantly. Does he know they are lies, though? Is he a shameless lying SOS or is he highly delusional?

(The same applies to many other denialists.)

By TrueSceptic (not verified) on 15 Dec 2009 #permalink

I get the wierd impression that Monckton is trying to create a new definition of "cured" that will essentially mean "they were never sick in the first place, and I can proove it by flipping this graph upside-down"

Is it me or did the intertubes just have a collective brainfart?

San Quintin @3. I think Monckton may have sourced this comment from something posted at The Air Vent on 12 November 2009. Jeff Id says at one point "so letâs have a little fun with the team". You can read the full post at:

http://noconsensus.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/no-warming-for-fifteen-year…

I'm not a statistician anyone care to speak to these claims. So it appears that Monckton's comment was made in reference to some stats analysis made by Jeff Id who concluded that "three of four measurements show no significant global warming for the last 15 years and came very close to clearing the 17 year mark."

The denialists were/are over the moon with this analysis. Unfortunately for them, Tamino has soundly scuttled their "brilliant analysis", today in fact, what great timing:

http://tamino.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/how-long/#more-2124

Tamino concludes that "That does not mean that thereâs been no warming trend in those 15 years â or in the last 10, or 9, or 8, or 7, or 6 years, or three and a half days. It only means that the trend cannot be established with statistical signficance. Of course, itâs another common denialist theme that âthereâs been no warming.â This too is a foolâs argument; any such claims are only statements about the noise, not about the trend. Itâs the trend that matters, and is cause for great concern, and thereâs no evidence at all that the trend has reversed, or even slowed."

Lord Monckton seems to have lied again. He is now telling AP that he did not call the young adults "Hitler youth", despite the video footage clearly showing otherwise.

By MapleLeaf (not verified) on 15 Dec 2009 #permalink

"And is that supposed to convince anyone that Monckton isn't a raving loon?"

My take away from that is that Monckton is a loon and Gillar is a credulous loon.

13 MapleLeaf,

Tamino said

The simple fact is that short time spans donât give enough data to establish what the trend is, they just exhibit the behavior of the noise.

Would that "noise" be the incessant noise made by the denydiots? ;)

By TrueSceptic (not verified) on 15 Dec 2009 #permalink

I've just come from a climate lecture with Dr. Pachauri in which Monckton in the Q&A accused the IPCC in general and Dr. Pachauri specifically of fraud.

Amazing.

Does he know about laws against slander? We do have then in Denmark. One would think that someone living in the UK would understand such laws.

Anyway, my reporting from the lecture (the part with Monckton is at the end of the post).

Kristjan #17 - is there a recording of that lecture, along with Monckton making a fool of himself?

"Monckton told us he is now "working on what may prove to be a cure for HIV," but provided no further explanation or comment."
Some further explanation and comment comes in the hooterville post cited by Mark Gillar:
I am now working on a cure for infections including HIV. Our first patient had his viral titre reduced painlessly by 40% in five days, with no side-effects except an immediate feeling of well-being. Do let people know this: we are anxious to find further patients who may wish to have their disease either controlled at no cost and with no side-effects or - possibly, though we've been advised this is unlikely - cured outright.
Can't say I think it helps much.
Oh, and that should be
"isolate all carriers in [compulsory, permanent but humane isolation] immediately" - so you can see why he had to work on the issue; this breakthrough may mean that some of the original group of internees might be considered for release in the comparatively near future.

I believe Screaming Lord A-Bit-Too-Much has just joined the UK Genuinely Raving Loonie Party

By Marion Delgado (not verified) on 15 Dec 2009 #permalink

Mark Gillar is a conservative blogger who dedicates his website http://www.TheHootervilleGazette.com to the bitter small town Americans who according to President Barack Obama cling to their guns and religion.

And I think if you ever read it, you will be forced to concede that then-candidate Obama had a point, there.

If you ever wondered what the signs carried by the Teabaggers would be like collected into a blog, well, wonder no more.

By Marion Delgado (not verified) on 15 Dec 2009 #permalink

Mark E. Gillar.

It seems to me that Monckton is admitting to practising medicine without a licence if his 'treatment' is not being supervised by a qualified medico. In most Western countries that is illegal. To the extent that it aids and abetts a crime, promoting Monckton's quackery may also be illegal.

I would dearly love to know the details of Monckton's 'treatment', as I worked for over 12 years in immunological research and diagnosis, and I am very familiar with the ætiology and the biology of HIV-related pathology. I can tell you now that very few 'cures' and 'treatments' thus far put forward have any credible basis in immunology, and those that do have potential arise from an intimate and expert understanding of the genetics and the peculiar biology of the virus.

Monckton has no demonstrated understanding of either immunology or of retrovirology: unless he is backed by a credible research team he is simply a charlatan and a fraud, and HIV patients risk their health by participating unsupervised in Monckton's scam.

That you support this quackery is a sad indictment of your judgement.

By Bernard J. (not verified) on 15 Dec 2009 #permalink

Mark Gillar

I received the following response directly from Lord Monckton regarding the Media Matters Madness Sunday, November 13, 2009 at 1:53 AM Central Standard Time. Note: Patients wishing to contact Lord Christopher Monckton
may do so by writing him at: monckton@mail.com

The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley

I am now working on a cure for infections including HIV. Our first patient had his viral titre
reduced painlessly by 40% in five days, with no side-effects except an immediate feeling of
well-being. Do let people know this: we are anxious to find further patients who may wish to
have their disease either controlled at no cost and with no side-effects or - possibly, though
we've been advised this is unlikely - cured outright.
By Marion Delgado (not verified) on 15 Dec 2009 #permalink

Monckton is not only working on AIDS, he has filed patents to cure other infectious diseases.

Here is quote from his latest CV as found on his announcement of his Ukip candidacy:

he claims to be "responsible for invention and development of a broad-spectrum cure for infectious diseases. Patents have now been filed. Patients have been cured of various infectious diseases, including Graves' disease, multiple sclerosis, influenza, food poisoning, and HIV."

Some medical researcher since he doesn't seem to know what an "infectious disease" is since most of the diseases he has claimed to cure are not "infectious.

It is also interesting to see Grave's disease included since he claims to be suffering from it. I wonder who "gave" it to him.

More of this can be found at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/dec/10/viscount-monckto…

By Ian Forrester (not verified) on 15 Dec 2009 #permalink

Breathtaking megalomania.

After curing all known disease, next on his list is permanent world peace, discovering perpetual energy, and granting infinite wealth for all. Don't get in his way, lest he smite you with his munificent disin-genius for being such a communist fascist misanthropic enviro-Nazi killjoy!

Truly, you could not invent such a character. Only real life can do this and get away with it.

Every time Monckton tells a lie, his eyes bug out just a little.

"Monckton's Pills: 50% DDT, 30% asbestos, and 20% crude oil."

I want to be like frank.

By Majorajam (not verified) on 16 Dec 2009 #permalink

Umm. Munchkin is not just a crackpot; he is now also a quackpot!

By TrueSceptic (not verified) on 16 Dec 2009 #permalink

"we are anxious to find further patients who may wish to have their disease either controlled at no cost and with no side-effects or - possibly, though we've been advised this is unlikely - cured outright."

Considering HIV incorporates itself into the genome of host cells, this is rather unlikely.

Gods, the man is too incompetent for words.

By Sock Puppet of… (not verified) on 16 Dec 2009 #permalink

Has anyone on this thread read Duisberg's book on AIDS? Or Kary Mullis's - he's the Nobelist who invented PCR? No, I didn't think so. You are a bunch of ignorant head-nodding twits.

By Robert Speirs (not verified) on 16 Dec 2009 #permalink

It's spelled "Duesberg," not "Duisberg." You are an ignorant head-nodding twit.

Robert Speirs.

As I have already [noted above](http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2009/12/is_monckton_beyond_parody.php#c…), I worked in immunological research and diagnosis for more than 12 years, including working with HIV and other immunocompromised patients. I understand the biology of the virus, I am intimately familiar with the field of HIV ætiology and biology, and I know exactly what the credibilities of Duesburg and Mullis are amongst the body of immunology/virology experts - exactly zero when it comes to HIV. And yes, I have read their work. I even own Mullis's texts on PCR.

Of course, if you actually want to engage in a technical discussion about why Duesburg and Mullis are not correct in their "HIV does not cause AIDS" canard, and why the world's immunologists, virologists, and microbiologists are not, bring it on.

Have you read the body of peer-reviewed literature on HIV biology? Have you worked in immunology research labs, and in hopsitals treating HIV patients? No, I didn't think so. As Silkworm observes, you are the ignorant and head-nodding twit.

You are also morally responsible, and perhaps even legally responsible depending on circumstances, for any deaths resulting from anyone infected with HIV, who takes encouragement from your promotion of Duesberg's and Mullis' nonsense.

By Bernard J. (not verified) on 16 Dec 2009 #permalink

Monckton should be given as much media attention as possible, and should then be thoroughly ridiculed like he deserves to be. Any sane person doubting the theory of AGW will soon realize how nutty the peer is and as there aren't any denialist or skeptic outlets that distance themselves from Monckton AFAIK, they look guilty by association. In fact, Monckton enjoys the status of heroic Galileo on Watts Up With That, which should be a sign on the wall for anyone looking for trustworthy information that calls AGW in question.

Please, let the man speak as much as possible.

Robert Speirs:

Abby over at http://endogenousretrovirus.blogspot.com/ is always interested in fresh perspectives on HIV. I am not sure if she's heard of Peter Duesberg or Kary Mullis, and perhaps you could enlighten her.

Good luck!

By Marion Delgado (not verified) on 17 Dec 2009 #permalink

Dr. Duesberg and Dr. Mullis are incorruptible â a rare kind among their peers. I suggest you check out their lifestyle against other researchers living lavishly like wealthy Hollywood stars. It is quite clear: the rich scientists play along with the labs. Their data tend to agree with big lab´s interest. Unbiased, independent, honest research is not possible under big lab funding. It is a clear conflict of interests.

Upon quickly scanning the posts hereon, it is easy to identify posters funded by big labs (or looking forward to it). The ranting flows with little variation.

The good news is that out here in Brazil, (I am Brazilian) big pharma´s tentacles are quite feeble. There are a few science Mavericks having their way with government grants â free wily â coming up with real, applicable, useful research with a fraction of the ideal funding.

To make a long story short, a highly skilled surgeon of indelible competence, devised a ´home made´ cancer vaccine, curing himself of prostate cancer. Sure, he was immediately silenced by local authorities. However, the principle - simple and elegant as good, honest science usually is - can be easily used by others in case of need.

To those who happened to fall into this page through a learning attempt, I highly recommend understanding the politics of science, before attempting science itself.
It is called âHigher Superstitionâ by Paul Gross and Norman Levitt.

Moreover, if one aspires to understand what science really is, do read âSurely You´re Joking Mr. Feynman!â, by the physicist himself.

So last but not the least, before you assimilate any research as true, check the funding first. Much like you check the sender of a personal letter in your mailbox.

Does anyone else detect the irony of someone naming themselves '[Aspasia](http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2009/12/is_monckton_beyond_parody.php#c…)' , speaking about "researchers living lavishly like wealthy Hollywood stars"?

Oh, and a word to the ignorant - "Dr. Duesberg and Dr. Mullis are incorruptible" might be true, but their denial of the relationship between HIV and AIDS is patently absurd. Financial incorruptibility is a different beast to intellectual incorruptibility, and with respect to the latter both Duesburg and Mullis are off like buckets of prawns in the sun.

If you do not understand why this is so, you probably do not understand the biology of HIV, nor the fundamentals of immunity.

Sometimes 'Emeritus' and ignorance are indistinguishable...

By Bernard J. (not verified) on 21 Dec 2009 #permalink

Beyond parody? Perhaps a parody of a parody? He's like a badly drawn character in a Gilbert and Sullivan flop.

You picked up on his blaming Jackie Kennedy for 40 million malaria deaths, but I was not aware at the time that there were two of his grotesque performances in the same week. I stumbled across a video of his interview with Michael Coren on Canadian television, and it was much worse than his presentation at Bethel College.

He got absolutely everything wrong about DDT and its ban, and he was even more insulting towards Jackie Kennedy and President Kennedy. The man was downright offensive, talking as a drunken sailor losing an insult match.

You can read my analysis here:
http://timpanogos.wordpress.com/2009/12/31/climate-change-and-ddt-monck…

Who exactly are these "rich scientists" of which you speak, Aspasia? Who are these scientists living like "wealthy Hollywood stars"?

I've never met one, and I know a few scientists.

Im not a skeptic - I'm an absolutist.
Monkton is not a very convincing purveyer of the truth but he is right.
2010 hottest year! absolute rubbish 1990 -1993, 5000 land based weather stations were removed from use (the coldest ones at that) '93 - 2008 another ~2000 removed again the colder ones.
If you want the facts about climate and weather then you should seek information from competant sources.
NOT one meteorological office throughout the world is capable of long term climate/weather predictions to any useful degree of accurracy and certainly non of the climate models with one exception - climate audit UK (Piers Corbyn) and he only uses data from the suns output.
Logically it does invalidate other theories by empiricism alone but hey, I dont want to preach to the conditioned!

By steve baker (not verified) on 31 Jan 2011 #permalink

More lies. Monckton has neve denied that he called those evil, disgusting wastes of DNA 'Hitler youth'.

Only the truly idiotic and corrupt support the man made global warming hoax now when ALL the science is against it. There is ZERO evidence to support it and a mountain of overwhelming evidence against it. Time to educate you all:

The Earth has been warming steadily for 300 years, well before humans could've had any impact, and cooled for the past 8 years. As the climate has been steadily warming naturally, independent of human influence, then of course the hottest days are going to be at the end of the record!!! So claiming the hottest days/years being evidence of AGW is a fallacy.
The fact is there has been no warming for 15 years!!!!!!

CO@ lags 800 years behind temperature rise in the climate record, showing that temperature drives CO@ and not the other way round.

The medieval Warm period was warmer than today. CO2science.org provides comprehensive collation of studies around the globe and has found it was hotter. Temperatures have been steadily increasing since a period called the Maunder Minimum, a mini-ice age straight after the MWP. The steady upward trend since shows no human signal as man had no heavy industry then. The incline from the 70s to '98 is repeated many times in the past, even before the turn of the centurey and thus is not significant or unique in any way.

Global ice levels are normal and sea levels have not risen significantly for 60 years.Sea temperatures according to the ARGO buoys deployed years ago show no increase! there goes the 'hidden warmth' theory of the Alarmists.

Also climate models and IPCC predictions vastly exaggerate warming, they overstate CO2 levels, and exaggerate climate sensitivity forcing equations for CO2. They propose a fictional runaway feedback effect as the CO2 heats up the oceans which then release more CO2 into the atmosphere in a vicious circle. While this feedback does happen to a certain extent, not only is CO2 a lesser greenhouse gas in terms of contribution, the greenhouse effect is counterbalanced by other factors.

The IPCC admits that GHG warming alone without feedbacks will account for no more than 1 degree over the next century. Empirical data shows feedbacks to be zero to negative otherwise we would have seen much more warming due to the CO2 than we have. There are negative feedback variables that the IPCC has vastly understated or ignored. For instance, the climate models vastly exaggerate upper tropospheric water vapour leading to understated Outgoing Longwave Radiation, and thus vastly exaggerating warming.

In reality, Increased cumulonimbic convection and humidity creates more return flow subsidence and radiative mass sinking, leading to less upper tropospheric water vapour. This leads to more OLR escaping and thus less warming.

The models also ignore or understate low level clouds resulting from increased humidity that reflects radiation back to space and cools the planet. The albedo effect resulting from cloud cover corresponds to cooler periods in the climate record.

The mid tropospheric hotspot that should be there according to the IPCCs greenhouse gas warming contribution projections is NOT there, proving the IPCC's models incorrect.

Lindzen (you might have heard of him, the top climate scientist in the world) has studied the climate for 40 years and has plotted the satellite data that shows that Outgoing radiation goes UP with surface warming, NOT down as the IPCC suggests.

Sea acidification is also complete rubbish as even if all the CO2 in the atmosphere was dissolved in water it would not even come close to approaching a neutral PH, let alone acid.

Corals, crustaceans and other life forms flourish with more CO2.

Add to that all the data tampering and manipulation, for example the Darwin tampering, the elimination of weather stations from higher altitudes, the attempted removal of the mediaeval warming period, and the bullying of scientists who didn't support the AGW scam, in other words the bullying of scientists with a least a shred of conscience and morality and you have a 100% certainty that AGW is a scam.

By Sabretruthtiger (not verified) on 18 Jul 2012 #permalink

Sabrefalsetiger

"The medieval Warm period was warmer than today. CO2science.org provides comprehensive collation of studies around the globe and has found it was hotter"

Correction: That website is is a science-free zone. What published research do they produce? Where is their evidence for a Southern Hemisphere( therefore Global) MWP? Do they compare the Chinese monsoonal region temps and correlate timing with the North Atlantic-centred record?

By Anthony David (not verified) on 18 Jul 2012 #permalink

It's the Poepe.

By Bernard J. (not verified) on 19 Jul 2012 #permalink

And the Poepe shows that no, Monckton is not beyond parody.

Rather clever, actually.

By Bernard J. (not verified) on 19 Jul 2012 #permalink

"More lies. Monckton has neve denied that he called those evil, disgusting wastes of DNA ‘Hitler youth’."

Indeed he hadn't.

He HAS called Jewish kids "Hitler Youth", though.

Ooooh! I filled my card! BINGO! I called it first, what do I win?

Still, its good to know that satire is not dead...

Dear Sabretruthtiger,

You're an imbecile, an ignoramus, and a prime example of the Dunning-Kruger effect. Your head is filled with garbage scavenged from denier sites, garbage that we have all seen before and that has been refuted over and over and over again. It's sad, really, that you mistake all these claims for truths and are so certain of them (for no reason other than that you want them to be true, for the evidence most certainly does not support them) that you imagine that, by merely making your claims at a site where people actually know something about climate science, you will somehow "educate" us. Sorry, but rational people need evidence and logic, and you have provided none.

It’s the Poepe

Actually it's a conspiracy-minded whackjob, a fan of Alex Jones.

Sabretruthtiger managed to make not one correct statement, and he/she really babbled for a while. A truly impressive feat, one worthy of Monckton. Bravo!

By Robert Murphy (not verified) on 20 Jul 2012 #permalink

Shabbytiger; did you do that for a bet?