My belated condolences. I always enjoyed reading his posts and will miss his insight and wide ranging views. May hew…
The Pratties 2014 – The race is on!
Christmas is bearing down on us like a massive chocolate fudge meteorite with a sprig of mistletoe on top and furry dice dangling underneath it. Before we all mellow into the season to break our dieting plans as well as our bank accounts, let’s get the Climate Prat of the Year Award underway, and out of the way before the Christmas break.
For those of you not familiar with this prestigious award, known informally as the Pratties, it’s given to the person voted by readers here to be the biggest climate prat of the year. If you needed or indeed were surprised by that description, I think it’d be much kinder on yourself if you just stopped reading now. Getting all the way to the end of two whole paragraphs must already have taken a lot out of you.
If this is your first time participating in the annual bout of madness that lurks at the quintessential heart of the Pratties, you may be unfamiliar with the term prat. You’ll find my own idiosyncratic description of a pure free-range prat here, but if you want something more formal, the OED definition can be found here.
As for what’s loosely called the rules of competition, the bones of them are in the inaugural announcement of the prize, but they’ve by necessity evolved slightly over the years, so I’ll thumbnail them for you. There are two phases to it; first the nominations followed by the actual voting process, rather than the other way around. Yes, I know, slightly obvious but certain poor benighted wretches might just have lasted to the fourth paragraph. Let’s just exercise some Christian charity here folks.
You can nominate up to five people by simply adding a comment underneath this piece. Some chancer already tried nominating the same person five times, so forget about that wheeze. You can’t nominate organisations – that would be too rich a field – it has to be a person. Ships are also out, irrespective of whether they’re stuck at opposite poles of the planet or a certain actor is leaning over the prow of it. It’s an equal opportunity contest; the nominee can be male, female or even a Greenie but it does have to be a hominid of some vague type.
That last sentence is of course totally inane – a woman will never carry off a Prattie. Their roles are severely restricted and subservient to their eco-warrior menfolk in the fundamentalist cult of global warming. Those meek and submissive silly billies all know their place in the green scheme of things. Speaking as a skeptic, by and large we tend to prefer more feisty wimmen who’re up for a bloody good fight; are you listening out there Jen? Ready for round two, bitch? I like to think I got the first one on points.
It’s open to all professions, not just what passes for a guru scientist nowadays. I’d venture to suggest that certain people in showbiz have made particularly strong showings this year, but I don’t want to unduly influence your nominations. I wonder what Leonardo DiCaprio is doing for Christmas? Perhaps he’ll be gnawing on a turkey leg after private jetting around to one of Gorgeous George’s palatial mansions.
Anyway, just add your personal favourites as a comment and I’ll total them up as the nominations come in.
At the end of a week or so, the nomination phase will close and the top five nominated will then be listed as this year’s finalists and the voting proper can begin. Young Vladimir has already lashed together the voting thingy for me and it’ll appear in the right sidebar of the blog. After a couple of weeks of voting early and often, the voting booth will close and the winner will be announced in time for Christmas.
The one other thing I have to tell you about is the Blinder Prat option. If some totally outstanding climate prat bursts onto the scene amidst the voting phase, they can be swapped into the competition at the expense of another candidate. Which candidate gets swapped out is totally at the discretion of something called the committee, which I’m about to tell you about.
Any disputes, rule splitting, hair pulling or just general handbagging will be adjudicated by this year’s Committee Running the Annual Pratties. It’s always referred to as the committee because of its unfortunate acronym, a whimsical little suggestion of mine that in all innocence I imagined would be spotted well before everyone at Skeptic Central leapt on the thing and became totally committed to the damn name – I really don’t want to talk about that painful lapse of personal judgement any more, so don’t push it. Please.
Anyway, moving on, don’t ask about the makeup of it, since it’s run on the basis of the BBC’s Berchtesgaden House rules; anonymous, unaccountable, secretive and fundamentally weasely. Actually, it’s quite a bit reminiscent of the BBC itself, but without the systemic paedophile culture. The committee may be bad boys, but they don’t need to be pulled out of general pop like the freaks.
There was an incident of attempted bribery last year, so it’s with deep regret that it’s become necessary to pay them handsomely for their time and effort, and to be frank, to keep them honest. I’m struggling to come up with the lolly so if you’re feeling flush, please click on the donate button. They are sorta honest but in the Chicago sense of that word, once bribed, they stay bribed. Anyway, a big thanks to our sponsors the Koch brothers, Big Blog and of course MaxGentleman, who’s been a hard and fast supporter of the competition from the very start. If I were you, I wouldn’t waste a moment buying their product.
As usual, cheating is strongly discouraged but since we’re dealing with the global green scam, it’s by now a traditionally ambiguous area when it comes to the Pratties, so it’s not actually banned per se. It’s part of the fun and keeps myself and the committee on our toes. We’ve really bullet proofed the thing this year, so if a new and particularly brilliant way to hack the competition is found, we may just be impressed enough to let it stand.
Every new year, I make the resolution to jot down any particularly galling prats over the coming twelve months, but I’ve never yet remembered to do that. I end up of scanning through a few blogs and picking them out. Certainly, a lot of the major prats who were resplendent in the glory days of climate alarmism have been very quiet this year; people like James “we’re all doomed” Hansen and Al “I sold out to big oil” Gore being cases in point. However, I feel that’s just the natural process of the older generation ceding their place to a vibrant new crop of prats, determined to lead lemming-like the charge over the cliffs of reality and down into the beloved fjords of the Norwegian Blue.
Australia, which traditionally fields some world-class contenders, seems to have had its prats decimated by the recent enlightenment down under. There’s still a few wandering around, like Christine “coal or death” Milne (am I the only one who thinks she didn’t quite express herself as she intended?), but they’re not a patch on the green antipodean bogies of yesteryear.
They were last seen on Bondi beach with their heads buried in the sand (rather than their more traditional position of up their arse) and their buttocks stuck up in the air. It caused a stir, not because it was a particularly good stunt but because a largely indifferent public cheekily took the opportunity to avail themselves of the proffered arse cracks as a handy facility to park their bicycles up for their day at the beach. That was bad enough, but it was the cyclist’s insistence on chaining up their bikes that caused complete bloody chaos.
In Europe, it’s not been a vintage year on the climate prat front. Far from it actually, so I fear the pickings there will be slim. The Jerries have finally looked down into the abyss and are now frantically dismantling the renewables money pit before it dismantles their economy, the Brits are looking for novel excuses for the winter blackouts they’ve already leaked prior warnings about, the Italians I believe are concentrating on electing yet another topless (and no doubt bottomless) porno star as a politician, the French have gone ominously quiet which is never a good sign and all the rest are a hoping and a praying that the EU stays in one piece because if it doesn’t, they know their ass, like all flesh, is grass.
Apart from a few Euro Green Gilberts mainly institutionalised in the legacy media, people have got real things to worry about rather than the “green crap”, as David Cameron called it in an unguarded moment.
For some unaccountable reason, there’s been a lot of prattish activity aboard the high seas this year, with people like Prof. Turkey amongst others getting ships nearly crushed in supposedly ice-free oceans or seized by the authorities. On solid land, that’s the bits that still don’t realise they should be sinking under the oceans, the American Secretary of State John Kerry has to be a leading contender amongst what I think is a very strong field.
America looks very strong this year. Having said that, I don’t believe Obama actually qualifies as a climate prat because he actually doesn’t believe a word of it anyway. He’s not very good at keeping a straight face. Saving the planet is just something he feels he might finally bloody-well succeed at. After all, there’s simply gotta be something. No prez wants to end up in the history books like a Jimmy Carter.
Outside government circles, you’ve got the usual climate clots like Stephen “I tell you they’re the ones who’re mad” Lewandowsky, Joe Romm, Weepy Bill, Tom “a fool and their money” Steyer and loads of other assorted never-wozzers, has-beens or just simply sad tarts like Manny, twice a bridesmaid at the Pratties but never a bride. Perhaps third time lucky? Did you mebbe catch Dana’s bouquet last year, you coquettish lil thang you? None of your coy smiles now. Gowon, do tell. You can be such a teasy little minx at times …
The list of possible nominees is endless. You’re spoilt for choice; there’s lots of them to pick but I’ve a sneaking feeling the Yanks are going to lift the prize for the third year running. As usual, they’ve got more. Just more. More of more, more of everything, lotsa more as my Daddy said; more money, resources, men, gob, patience, cupidity, generosity, kindness and as it turns out, even more climate prats. Lord help the poor devils.
Anyway, we’re going to do the democratic thing and nominate. Pile in you drongos. It’s time for the old world to flex its muscles in the Pratties. In passing, that transition from an African voice to a European one at about eight minutes into that piece is quite simply sublime. Some things really are to die for. Having read her book, I’d have loved to have met Karen, but there you go. I somehow think we’d have liked each other, passing ships in an out of phase temporal night. Okay, wiping away a quiet tear and getting back on track, we’re all set.
You’ve only got a week or so to get your nominations in, so do it. Do it, do it, pick your nose and chew it, as we used to chant as naughty children, and may the best prat win.
©Pointman
ps. I nearly forgot, did I happen to mention that prat Leonardo DiCapricko?
UPDATE 1: Nominations count to date.
Burka wotsisname Obama (19)
Christine Prune-face Milne (12)
Professor SoF Turney (10)
Mickey “moobs” Mann (9)
John “97%” Cook (9)
Leonardo DiCapricko (8) – Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!
Tom “moneybags” Steyer (7)
Ed Davey (6)
Lewpaper Lewandowsky (6)
John “climate change is the world’s most pressing issue” Kerry (5)
Vivienne “starve the poor” Westwood (4)
Tim “the tooth fairy” Flannery aka Tim Fanny (3)
John “i’ve got the prezzie’s ear” Holdren (3)
David “green crap” Cameron (3)
Robert “concentration camps” Kennedy Jr. (2) – hang your head in shame boy.
Harrabin (2)
Bono (2)
Emma Luvvie Matilda Dahling Seagrub Borinda Thompson (2)
Neil Young (2)
Rapley (1)
James “deaf trains” Hansen (1)
Tim “greed is good” Yeo (1)
Myles “hands on hip” Allen (1)
John “polar vortex is caused by global warming” Podesta (1)
Wan Ki Moon (1)
Baroness Sandip Verma née Vermin outta Vic Vermina (1)
Lord “greedier is better” Debden (1)
Dumbo Garnaut (1)
Camille Parmesan (1)
James Cameron (1)
Naomi Grotesque (1)
William “the scrote” Connolley (1) – Yessss – at last he’s nominated. He’s world class. More nominations please.
Ed Milliband (1) – Who is he anyway? Does anyone know?
“Carbon” Cate Blanchtit (1) – Totally outstanding diss.
Miriam O’Brien (1)
Andy Revkin (1)
Naomi “DNR” Oreskes (1)
Christina La Figueres (1)
Bill Nye (1)
Jim Carter (1)
Jim Yong Kim (1)
Prof Peter “Ice-Free Arctic Next Year” Wadhams (1)
Naomi “this book changes nothing” Klein (1)
David “dirty mackintosh” Suzuki (1)
Miriam “too late” O’Brien (1)
Naomi “civil war” Klein (1)
Ed Millipede (1) – superb diss, abso-bloody-lutly.
Kevin “I’m a Nobel Prize winner” Trenberth (1)
UPDATE 2: Nominations are now closed.
Related articles by Pointman:
Climate Prat of 2014 – We have a winnah!
Climate Prat of 2013 – we have a winnah!
Climate Prat of 2012 – we have a winnah!
Description of a climate prat.
Click for a list of other articles.
Pointman's 
Rapley for the inane theatrics
Mann for not updating his temp graphs for the nth year in a row
Harrabin for throwing toys out of pram about ” green blob”
Tom Steyer for spending millions for nothing at all
Ed Davey because he’s himself
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Being an Ozzie, I nominate Mr 97% aka little Johnnie Cookie whose good at cooking data.
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Pointy, I think you’re being far too generous about Prune-face Milne – she really said exactly what she meant – “death or coal” are the only options in her world.
OBummer has to be a nomination too. Highjacking the G20 agenda with his nonsensical gibberish about wanting his grandchildren to visit an endangered Barrier Reef was almost as laughable as his ‘agreement’ with China. He’ll cut the USA’s Co2 emissions while China increases theirs rapidly for another 16 years – and then they’ll think about it. Yeah, some agreement.
And Leonardo’s picture with the ciggie hanging out of his mouth reminds me of the Green’s latest quest for anti-smoking laws in Oz. They want to ban all tobacco sales to any person born from the year 2000 on – making this a “smoke-free century”. Good luck with that one.
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“Death or coal”; Milne deserves the prize because she is too dumb to realise what she said is true. Alternatively maybe she has 2 brains; one which moves her mouth; and the other brain, like a dinosaur’s, in her hip cavity which moves her legs and occasionally corrects her mouth brain.
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She’s certainly not the sharpest tool in the shed is she? I wonder if the Media will replay her dumb statement when figures come out for the number of fuel-poor victims this northern hemisphere winter will claim.
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President Obama is the epitome of a world class prat.
He should garner global votes for the coveted Pratty.
Pointy, they need to edit your reference for the public’s safety.
The Urban definition of a prat should be edited and a 8X5 color glossy of Obama added to ensure everybody knows how to spot a true prat.
Let the voting begin!
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As another Australian I must start with little Johnnie Cook, the dickhead who is organising a free U of Q course on handling climate deniers.
2) Leonardo di Caprio: who else; the rich prat of the year.
3) Our delightful Christine Milne; the winner of the milk curdling contest
4) And that pommie prat Davey for his attempts to send the British to bed in the cold and the dark this winter.
5) and David Cameron for his chronic stupidity. He should be a nominee for the Darwin awards, except that he has not (yet) done himself in.
I must add Pointman, I am always grateful that my family escaped Scotland in the 1850s to come here.
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Reading some of the other nominations, I realise that I was too hasty in my response. To think that I missed the fragrant William Connolly, the revoltingly stupid Emma Thompson; and, just think, I had just finished sending an email to the US Embassy in Canberra about their foolish President, and I failed to include him on my list.
Such a target rich environment.
Noting the second win for the UKIP, I wonder whether Cameron (Camoron) will soon qualify for a Darwin award.
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Oh, come on! There are two Naomis who must qualify.
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Well nominate them FFS.
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Naomi Grotesque of U Cal surly (typo “surely”) for one
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1. The unfortunate Oreskes woman is still at it with her blunderbuss which has taken off most of her lower extremities.
2. Watts? Barrack for another Strine imbecile. Go team Australia!
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James E. Hansen for being his self
Tom Steyer for his attempt to buy the US elction with climate change propaganda
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How about a ‘lifetime wasted’ award?
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I was going to say Ed Davey but that’s gone so…
Tim Yeo because, well he’s being deselected so it will soon be his last chance.
Prof Myles Allen for his fantastic request for the media to not be so alarmist in their predictions… with his record. And his performance before the HoC Select Committee was terrible. Especially where he sort of begged to be given more honours like his fellow panellists.
Hmm: I’m just nominating Prof Myles Allen.
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It’s the five prats who receive the most nominations who go through to the voting round.
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In that case, Obama.
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I have to say that Obama himself has been the biggest climate alarmism shill this year, with the farthest reach. He is trouble with a capital T, when it comes to spreading climate garbage, then actually forcing people to act upon it….I think he deserves the “Prattie”!
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How about Emma Thompson? Daughter called Gaia, goes to the arctic with Greenpeace, took part in People’s Climate March in September (and said anybody who disagreed was a bit bonkers or something like that), and is a ghastly Hampstead luvvie.
Vivienne Westwood as well seems to have been trying hard lately to qualify.
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Surely Professor Turney deserves a nomination for putting his wife and kids at risk whilst failing to prove some vague climatey point, in the “ships of fools” saga.
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Team Oz again!
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Seconded. When you sail with a Turney it’s difficult to soar like an Albatross. He is without doubt a rime of an ancient mariner…well his ship was rimed good and hard in any case.
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Soooo many to choose from and only 5 spots. This is difficult.
Obama
U of Queensland
Cook
Holdren
NCDC
Oh the Pain just thinking about them!
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Pointman I know that you don’t believe Obama actually qualifies as a climate prat, but please, under which one of these definitions from the Urban Dictionary would Emperor Obama not fall? See especially numbers 4, 5, 6, and 7.
prat
1. A self-aggrandizing, pompous fuck. Someone who is full of themselves and, almost invariably, stupid as well. With a hint of ‘deluded.’
2. Behaving stupidly, or looking stupid. A British slang word, similar to idiot.
3. An English term for “ass”, also used to descibe someone as stupid and arrogant.
4. An overly pretentious person. Someone who is so obviously into themselves that others notice and they fail to realize it.
5. A mild to moderately sociopathic person who is unable to see the impact of their behavior on others. Someone who is completely self-absorbed.
6. Stand for: Press Release Aware Typer. A person in charge of announcing to the press within a sporting community.
The PRAT announced the news to the press.
7. Someone that is acting like a major dumbass.
I hope you will reconsider. Thanks
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Vote for who you like EW. I’ll put you down as an Obummer nominator then?
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Yes, and in his case it should be pratt ( double t) because his prattishness is hurting twice as many people worldwide as the average two faced jackal-rat!
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Two+faced+Jackal-Rat
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1) John “climate change is the world’s most pressing issue” Kerry
2) Tom “$100m to defeat climate deniers” Steyer
3) Christine “coal or death” Milne
4) John “polar vortex is caused by global warming” Podesta
5) Michael “I’m a Nobel Prize winner” Mann
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1. Christine Milne. – consistent prattish alarmist contributions and predictions over many years.
Has outdone herself this time. ‘No, No – please give me death – anything but coal!’
2. Tim Flannery – perennial candidate I know, but he’s bounced back from having his government gravy train derailed and his loving disciples of the Gaia cult have rallied to the cause and are keeping him in the style to which he’s become accustomed. OK, I know our dams are still pretty full , the ground is not hot enough yet to prevent any runoff from rain, I’m sure future Queensland state governments will let dam water go before the overflow floods their cities, Perth W.A hasn’t dried up, the ozone hole hasn’t fried us, we’ve got lots of lovely expensive de-sal plants costing a fortune to upkeep but ready if needed if they don’t all rust out first, but I’m going to be generous.
If the Arctic ice has disappeared by 2015 as Tim predicted, I’ll withdraw his nomination ! Still got a few weeks Tim!
3. Ban Ki Moon for giving the UN universal seal of approval for all the carpet baggers to keep cashing in on all the hare-brained taxpayer subsidised bird-slicers, bird-friers etc., etc. How’s Agenda 21 going?
4. Obama for all the reasons others have given. I wish him a tongue in cheek ‘Good luck’ against Gary Inhofe.
That will do. I’m pushed for time with other corrupt fish to fry. Still, as Meatloaf might have sung, four out of five ain’t bad.
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Worthy as all your candidates are HB I worry that even a nomination will only encourage them to further inanities, heaven help us as to what they might rise, or sink, to if they win.
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The British government for handing over £750,000 to the Climate Action Fund?
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Vivienne ‘Whip frack away’ Westwood. (Obviously)
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Pointy:
not being in Australia deprives??? you of the full lunacy of Christine Milne, leader of the Greens.
She is a Senator from Tasmania.
Another Senator from Tasmania has recently had a serious dummy spit. Making stupid comments (as distinct from her previous ones), grandstanding as a champion of the armed forces (despite who forced exit from them), claiming she will vote against all legislation (regardless of the other 63 Senators), had a slanging match with her Leader (of the PUP), and is now deciding if she will set up her own party.
If there were a vote between her and Milne for the most level headed, she would trounce Milne.
Notes for foreigners: PUP is Palmer UNITED Party with 3 Senators, all newly elected, plus 1 hanger on who is “considering his position”. Tasmania is that small bit south of Victoria, and is the only australian State smaller than the UK. It is full of Greens, who are full of themselves.
So, despite your disapproval, I nominate Christine Milne for PRAT of the year.
And in a fit of patriotism I nominate Prof. Turney (Prat of the Antarctic) in case foreigners read up on Christine and decide she is fictional, made up as some sort of spoof.
John Cook of Queensland University must be a runner, from his involvement at SkepticalScience, where the other village idi*ts are having to go through hundreds of pages editing his quotes. They are, if you will pardon me, sceptical about their authenticity.
I must also nominate his collaborator Prof. Lewandowsky, who is from the USA, but achieved notoriety at the University of WA, before infesting Bristol. 97% of Australia thinks he’s a prat.
Last, POTUS, or since the election ImPOTUS. Posing as a leader he addressed the recent G20 Conference about urgent action on climate change, despite the fact that a majority of the countries attending were taking no action or were hostile to it, despite embarrassing his host, and despite showing considerable ignorance of the subject. His squeal about hoping the Great Barrier Reef would be there in future also managed to upset real environmentalists who have worked for years to make it safe. And he managed to get the Chinese and Indian governments to agree to buy more coal from Australia.
Future historians will mark him as the great disaster.
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There are now a lot of villages missing their idiots … Equality! Send them back!
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Yes, are we not blessed with abundance? Is not Australia truly the “Lucky Country”? Once again we “punch above our weight”. (I wonder how true that really is or are we just kidding ourselves?)
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Baroness Sandip “the Pause show our climate policy is working” Verma
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Bono for prize prat, trying to lecture us on the Great Barrier Reef when we spend 10’s if not 100’s of millions looking after it.
Barack Obama is an obvious pick but when you are as hollow as him, where would you pin the prize.
Christine Milne of course, coal or death statement. Maybe a chromosome check for lasck of a smile gene might determine whether she actually qualifies.
Then Lord Deben for saying we did not know anything about science, the windfarm mogul of the UK who wants a few hundred million in subsidies from the Australian taxpayer for setting up windfarms here. But prat doesn’t really fit, grub and trougher is more apt.
Lastly no prize prat nomination is complete without pretend professor Flannery and Dumbo Garnaut.
a
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I was about to get all stroppy at the thought that we women couldn’t possibly win (we can be just as big prats any day) but I see there are quite a few female nominations so I’ll say nothing.
Gotta be Loopy Lew, creepy as well as prattish, a double whammy.
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My last posting vanished into the ether so I’m obviously being a bit ‘Prattish’ myself, fumble-fingers and all that, so I’ll cut to the chase:-
Loopy Lew, creepy AND a pratt, what a combination!
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David Cameron for his series on climate change, noone has ever seen
President Obama because he’s a real prat
John Kerry because he is even prattier
Camille Parmesan because she knows how texas textbooks should look like and her clotted oeuvre
Prof. Lew has definetely earned his third nomination
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Freudian slip, James Cameron of course, but David is not bad a choice either. Pointman, please choose or take both
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Only one, like last year, Micky “Man” Mann
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I forgot about M Mann. In pursuing Steyn, Mann has managed to get the ACLU, various media organisation (both commercial and media organisations) and the District of Columbia all lined up against him.
He also maintains there are now hockey sticks everywhere, when even at unSkeptical Science their presentation on the medieval warm period from temperature reconstructions shows very similar temperatures to today.
On this basis I want to make Michael Mann my fourth nominee for a Prattie.
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Not a bad list you have there. Lets see if I can get a couple of the dark horses across the line:
Tom Steyer – have you seen those mid term adverts?
Cook (et al?) is still worth doubling down for a win
Turney obviously missed the cut last Xmas. But his was the gift that keeps on giving…
Holdren & Kerry are rank outsiders but worth a $ each way
Lock it in please.
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My nominations –
Chris “Ship of fools” Turney ( http://i43.tinypic.com/2uz6n7o.jpg )
Christine “Death or coal” Milne
Mike “I’ll sue, I’ll sue!” Mann
John “Forget ISIL, it’s all about AGW” Kerry
Barack “Legacy of inanity” Obama
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Robert Kennedy Jr. for wanting to lock us all up.
Barak Obama, because of many, many reasons.
Tom Steyer, who spent all that money for all those lies.
And last, but certainly not least, Lenny Dicaprio, for making an absolute fool of himself in front of the General Assembly of the UN and the representatives of billions of people who could not even conceive of having his lavish lifestyle.
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DiCaprio
Turney
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1) Obummer: for sheer damage factor.
2) Decaprio: for unbelievable hypocrisy.
3) Kennedy: “deniers should be jailed”.
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My nominations are based on visualizing a proper debate on global warming – whether the evidence or on policy – what spokesperson for their case would make the true believers cringe and make want to disappear. On this basis my prattie nominations for 2014 are as follows.
John Cook for
– knowing that his 97% consensus paper is not about CAGW, or the opinions of climate scientists, but pretending it is. (at Bristol University)
– dissing the efforts of activists in forcing scientific societies and professional associations to make proclamations in support of the climate faith. (at Bristol University)
– setting standards for others that he breaks. (Though this might be more a hypocrite than a prat) Try the “Debunking Handbook” co-written with nominee 2 at Sks see what I mean.
Stephen Lewandowsky
A complete prat is somebody who on being shown to be wrong, belligerently claims that everybody else is wrong. On this basis he very publicly made a complete prat of himself over the withdrawal of the Recursive Fury paper. But also a prattie nomination for
– claiming to be an expert on everything, whilst ignoring the real experts. This year he has published on “decision-making under conditions of uncertainty” and the “hiatus” in warming.
– setting standards for others that he breaks.
– calling out others for being blinkered by ideology, when it is clear to everyone else that he is totally oblivious of his own faults.
William Connolley
For thinking he can make a comeback without a hint on contrition, and claiming to be an expert on everything, whilst ignoring the real experts. Pointman had an excellent piece on a comeback attempt.
I took a different approach in August. http://manicbeancounter.com/?s=connolley
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Okay, okay – what’s going on? Leonardo gets 18 votes? That’s weird. After all, he’s only a professional mouthpiece – give the dude a heap of cash and a script some Green useful-idiot wrote and Leo would say anything. Does he really count in the scheme of things?
Hey Pointy – Is this ‘vote’ being put under pressure?
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I may have miscounted his nominations. It’s a busy post and you just might be right. I’ll have a recount.
P
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I did a quick recount of his nominations, so he’s down to 11. Sorry about that.
P
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I think that “celebrities” from the entertainment business should be excluded as they are mostly prats to begin with and that’s their day job. Besides, they give themselves enough awards as it is and let’s not give them another opportunity to commit crimes against fashion!
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Trouble is, celebs are probably far more influential than politicians or scientists.
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Sadly Mike it is true that the influence of (often undeserved) affluence clogs the drains of society with effluents.
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Pointy I get the feeling you want Leo into the finals but I count only 7 nominations for him.
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I must have miscounted. An honest mistake. Doh …
Pointman
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1. Leonardo DiCapricko
2. Ed Davey MP Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
3. Harrabin
4. Bono
5. Ed Milliband
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When comments get an “up” rating, should that be seen as an additional nomination(s) for the base comments?
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Interesting point Steve. I have noticed a lot of thumbs up for Leo nominations. Perhaps it counts as a vote for the shy. What do people think?
P
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why not?
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Tricky if there are multiple nominations. A thumbs up might not be specific to each but general approval of the tenor of the comment.
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Barry Hussein Obama. The king of prats. And a tosser and wanker to boot.
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How about a nomination for Barry Hussein Soetoro? – as his Indonesian school registration form shows …..
He gives ‘man of the world’ a whole new spin – just can’t make his mind up who he is.
Maybe that’s why he feels he has to save the planet from trace atmospheric gases, repaying his debt to so many countries who have claimed him as their own.
Prat, pillock, drongo, galah – they all fit nicely.
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1. DiCaprio
2. Ed Davey
3. John Cook
4. Michael Mann
5. LewPaper
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Prune-face, Oh Bummer, Cate Blanchtit, Tim Fanny.
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I’m gonna do a best guess at this nomination paper, if only as a H/T for the Blanchtit crack.
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Obama
Milne
Di Caprio
Turney
Miriam O’brien
The last is probably the opposite of a prat. Can’t find a noun that means “likely to induce retching”.
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You could try using nauseating as a gerund. If you prefer to use an adjective as a noun bilious is worth a go.
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“Emetic” works as either an adjective or a noun.
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G’day pointy.
I’d like to nominate Andy Revkin & his never ending, carbon-liberating fossil fuelled world tour.
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Has to be Tom Steyer for my money…….or should I say, his money!
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Like to nominate the entire teaching cohort of the NSW Education Department.
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plus the Board of Studies which presumably sets the curriculum.
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Yes the lack of a Corporate or Group award is limiting but understandable. If educational institutions or systems are nominated it would be easier to nominate the ones to exclude. The NSW system presumably has the edge being one of the largest, if not THE largest, employer(s) of teachers in the World.
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Christina La Figueres of the UNFCC. Completely unqualified for the position, and with an IQ smaller than her brassiere size.
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There are cases when a persons knowledge is too low to let him realize that his knowledge is too low. Under circumstances like that the individual can’t really understand his opponents arguments and believes that his antagonists are utterly ignorant or are talking gibberish just to to make fun of him. That only spurs him to share his non-knowledge with even more eager.
Thus, I hereby would nominate Bill Nye, ”The Scientific Guy”.
Extra points given for his colourful bow ties.
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Good clean fun, Pointy, thank you. From a UK non scientist’s perspective :
1) Mikey Mann. Simply couldn’t resist. The posterboybutterblob & nobel laureate climategate star of CAGW fraud. A laughable prat.
2) John Holdren. His cure for 1970s Global cooling was mass depopulation. His cure for global warming is …mass depopulation. He’ll reverse effortlessly in the coming cooling. A deadly prat.
3) Obarmy Barry Obummer Obomber. It’s all in the name. A despicable prat.
4) Cabbage Patch Camoron. It’s all in the name. Ditto, a despicable prat.
5) Jim Carter. There’s something very Stasi-like in frightening children to put pressure on their parents in the name of the cause. a disgusting prat.
Carter plays the butler in a popular Brit WWI period drama Downton Abbey.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr2LCTdIzd4
1.47 mins.
Or, put in search box : An upload from Santa himself. “Christmas 2013 might be cancelled !”
I wrestled for no. 5 with William Connelly, but realising that these nominations are a measure of emotional repulsion rather than intellectual disdain, Carter won.
When you realise that US & UK countries, & armies are in the charge of the two empty suits 3 & 4, you know the World’s entire political system is in dire need of….
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I nominate – Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group
Extreme weather from global warming is unstoppable and irreversible, warns World Bank
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2847140/Extreme-weather-global-warming-unstoppable-irreversible-warns-World-Bank.html#ixzz3K0J1EtMz
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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Dear Mr Pointman and Readers,
Australia has given the World some treasures (Germaine, Kylie,The Wiggles and The Winged Keel) to name but a few, but last December, and into January, Prof Chris Turney, and the Ship of Fools, nearly took over The Front Pages from Santa and New Years Day and gave all of us weeks and weeks of Comedy Gold. I fear much has been forgotten.
They ventured to Antarctica to Find Irrefutable Catastrophic Global Warming Penguin, Polar Bear and Panda Slaughtering Annihilation and they and the rescue ships got stuck in rock solid ice by the gargantuan load.This led to the “Global warming causes Global cooling” mantra being parroted by alarmavistas all over the World and the people of the World laughed themselves silly at these silly people and their silly Mantra.
As much as we love and revere Chrissie, Timmie, Caty and Cooky never has one Australian done so much to entertain all of us over the holiday period and brought so much discredit and mockery to an Inane Concept.
23 million votes from Australia go to Professor Chris Turney and Colleagues of The Ship Of Fools. A bigger certainty than the Bloke who put on a frock, grew a beard and sang a tuneful ditty at the last Eurovision Ditty Contest or Black Caviar (25 races and the super Mare wins 25 times including England at Ascot and met the Queen)
Australia is watching this nomination closely Mr Pointman and readers and the political voice for Australian Drongo of the Year is gaining momentum. A drongo is our term for Prat, nerd, goose,or fool and in the climate change sense or nonsense we are Absolutely Fabulous.
I am doing my best to squash this momentum as your institution is the Wimbledon of its genre so may I suggest you and your readers think very seriously about our Exceptional contribution to your award and reward us appropriately. A nomination is essential and winning is … well … let that hang there … for the moment… Secession can be a very messy and friendship shattering concern.
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I think Turney’s credentials are superior because he wasn’t just mouthing off but was actually engaged in physical comedy (very nearly tragi–comedy). Surely the true essence of the prat is to commit a pratfall. That he had engaged a paying audience to participate in the routine only strengthens the case.
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Marie Antoinette’s “Let them eat cake” remark has gone down in history as probably the most prattish quote ever said by a woman even if, more than likely, she never said it. So it would be an extraordinary event if another woman managed to top such a lack of empathy with that in mind, Dame Vivienne Westwood may have actually managed that with this:”When a BBC Radio 5 Live interviewer suggested that “not everybody can afford to eat organic food”, Dame Vivienne replied: “Eat less!””
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/11225326/Vivienne-Westwood-People-who-cant-afford-organic-food-should-eat-less.html
While putting the poor on a diet here in the states might be a good thing, where the most common causes of death among the lower 10% is diseases related to obesity, I suspect that in England, where they’ve so screwed up the production of electricity with one green initiative or another, including shipping in wood pellets from Georgia(US) that electricity may considered a luxury good many pensioners and the poor have to choose between heat and eating, saying something like this represents a lack of empathy not seen since the days of the French monarchy.
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My initial reaction was that the thought of nominating such people for an award might be giving them more kudos than they are worth. Then I thought of a good nomination: anyone who disagrees with me! I quickly realised that this numbers somewhat more than five, so decided to do some thinking: Turn-key seems a good start, as do Davey, Yeo and Lord Drivel; however, as with Lucas (pronounced “Look-arse”), these three are politicians, so are, almost by definition, proven prats, so I shall limit the choice to the likes of Viv Westworld, Lenny DiPratio and Emma Thumpson (I do hope my spelling is right…). Loopy Lew could be worth a mention, but he is not answering my questions.
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Maybe only relevant to Canadian readers but I would propose Neil Young, the demented songster for his ridiculous behavior and grandstanding regards AGW.
A total self-important prat and pillock.
My second vote is Obama, a prat in so many ways, not just regards climate, he has done serious damage that will take years to reverse, only good thing to come out of his presidency is that he has revealed the hidden agendas of the “progressive moment” to some who were previously blind to it.
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Neil has a long history of being a complete prat. Listen carefully to this rock anthem, he gets a mention and it ain’t honourable.
Pointy
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Hi Pointy
Best put down ever. However, Free Bird is their best song and probably the best rock song.
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Must be Obama.
You’ve got to be planet sized pratt to receive a public rebuke from the Australian Foreign Minister (whose job it usually is to shamelessly brown nose POTUS) for the sheer enormity of your climate pratiness. – And on our own turf FFS.
No brainer I think.
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Hi Pointy
To help out, William “the unflushable turd” Connelly who got his knickers in a twist when I commented on Jo’s site that one of the reasons why I was a skeptic is because I hate bullies. However, if I was you I would claim editors prerogative and put him in the voting anyway.
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Obama, Turney, Milne, Davey, Kerry in no particular order
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Block head Manny the tree ring master; his time has come
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Prof Peter (Ice-Free Arctic Next Year!) Wadhams
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My nomination is for Professor “Ship of Fools” Turner …
How can you go pass going to the Antarctic to show the “missing” ice and then getting stuck in the ice that was not there so another ship had to get you out.
Prat cubed I tell you.
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I nominate Professor “Ship of Fools” Turner.
How could you go past someone who travelled to the Antarctic (that has been growing ice at a stupendous pace) to show the danger of “global warming” only to get stuck in said ice because you spent too much time playing on the ice that was not meant to be there.
Prat cubed I tell you.
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WordPress delay caused the double posting … apologies all round.
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None required Truthseeker, for some reason WordPress has been diverting comments by regulars such as yourself into the spam/moderation queue. I’ve been fishing them out but have been remiss in alerting people to the problem. Apologies.
P
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Turney is such a prat that a double nomination from the same persons seems appropriate to me.
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As another Canuck reader I’m partial to a mostly Canadian list
1) Naomi Klein – for her ridiculous new book “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate”
2) Neil Young – as already nominated and slagged
3) David Suzuki – spouting off on the state of the climate and global warming but does not even recognize the acronyms of the various global temperature datasets
4) Stephen Lewandowsky – nuff said
5) Miriam O’Brien – more than enough said
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Yes they are worthy but give Terra Australis a go. Be happy with actually having a National Anthem and a simple, distinctive and beautiful flag. Next year I promise to vote for Suzuki dead or alive—him not me of course! So Pointy my vote for next year is pledged. If you start handing out lifetime achievement Pratties count me in for that too.
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Dear Pointman, my nomination depends on the definition of Prat, which I would translate in Dutch as ‘Kletsmeier’, with still a sympathetic connotation. The word should also have the meaning of Useful Idiot. Yesterday in an interview in my alarmist newspaper, Naomi Klein said that we need a civil war in order to save the climate. Yes, we need a mondial fake crisis in order to accept mondial fascism and we need useful idiots for selling it.
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Pleased to see that, as really big chunks in the tank are bound to do, the notorious voyage charterer of the ‘Ship of Fools’ has steadily risen towards the top. I wonder if there was an Ice Clause in the charta partita and, if so, what its provisions were.
I also hope the handicappers take proper account of the publicity that naturally attaches to politicians and other entertainers as opposed to most academics. Admittedly academia is increasingly becoming another segment of the entertainment industry and the fantasy genres in particular.
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There are so many to choose from, even though self-publicising luvvies should be ignored. I’ll go with John Cook, Barrack Obama and (just for existing, as well as for his once and future crimes) Ed Millipede.
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Turney. This year it has to be Turney. The only thing that could have made it more of a cock-up would be if half the crew got eaten by penguins.
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If only they’d ventured to the Arctic they might all have been eaten by Polar Bears 😉❗️
I reckon Polar Bears could develop a real taste for donkey 🐴 on the hoof.
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A plethora of Pratts on display here, I’m sad to say I missed Bob Ward off my list. Any kind hearted sceptics out there who can make sure he doesn’t feel slighted?
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1. Steyer
2. Cook
3. Mann
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I’m sorry, but this is a no-brainer for Australians. Hopefully for everyone else as well.
Christine (coal or death) Milne
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Kevin “I’m a Nobel Prize winner” Trenberth for still claiming to be a Nobel Laureate after all these years.
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I’m going fer the prat-power-grid-triad, prats who managed ter git themselves into
positions of high authority beyond their ken and then, behaving at maximum prat
level, do the greatest possible ecological damage ter the liberty and productivity of
entire nations.
(1) Obama: ‘Tax Energy, dammit! Tax it!’
(2) Ban Ki Moon, leader of an unelected UN Cabal, inflicting unworkable Millennium
Goals on the world: ‘If it’s productive yer must ban it.’
(3) Michael Mann who by manipulating scientific method and free speech has
worked to reduce scientific objectivity to Hokey cli-sc- ‘ Science has ter be
protected in the Courts!’.
beth the serf.
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Don’t know what happened to my comment. Testing.
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Ok so I’ll try again.
I am going fer the prat-power-grid-triad, prats who managed ter git themselves into
positions of high authority beyond their ken, and then behaving at maximum prat
capacity ter do the greatest possible ecological damage ter the liberty and productivity
of entire nations.
(1) Obama: ‘Tax energy, dammit! Tax it!’
(2) Ban Ki Moon, leader of an unelected UN cabal. inflicting unworkable Millennium
Goals on the world. ‘ If it s productive yer must ban it.’
(3) Michael Mann who by manipulating scientific methodology and free speech has
worked ter reduce scientific objectivity ter hokey cli-sci. ‘ Science has ter be protected
on the law courts!’
beth the serf.
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Apologies for impatience and double posting. What a prat.(
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There are a few “Doppelgänger”
Miriam O’Brien (1) and
Miriam “too late” O’Brien (1)
Naomi Grotesque (1)
Naomi “DNR” Oreskes (1)
Ed Milliband (1) – Who is he anyway? Does anyone know?
Ed Millipede (1) – superb diss, abso-bloody-lutly.
Naomi “this book changes nothing” Klein (1)
Naomi “civil war” Klein (1)
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Geez Pointy, you’ve made it hard, or rather all those who nominated did. How the hell do you expect a girl to choose between that lot for the biggest prat of all? Every time I select one I have a second guess and click another one instead! Sheesh! Can’t I just select them all, pleeeeze?
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Sorry bushkid but as the highlander says
P
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Is there a special award for the person who first nominated the eventual winner?
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