Bob Carter, the self-described “climate rationalist scientist” is once again staring resolutely at the recent record of global average temperatures and, by carefully screening off anything but the last decade, is concluding that global warming has stopped cold.

This is a man who is periodically at pains to point out that weather, which happens from time to time, is different from climate, which is what we might expect to happen based on the historic record and, increasingly, on impressively accurate climate models. Carter is certainly among those who can be expected to complain when people identify a one-off weather event – the hurricane Katrina, for instance – as a symptom of global warming.

But somehow Carter’s zest for “empirical evidence” returns when he sees a “flatline” of temperatures in the last 10 years, notwithstanding that eight of those 10 years are the hottest in recorded history. Yes, against the trends established through 120 years of careful human observation and 1,000+ years of proxy records, Dr. Carter is completely confident in saying that only the last 10 years count. What a sharp, and stunningly courageous, scientific mind.

It is, frankly, an honor to be called “trashy” by such a man.