Big Surprise.

[athelind]

From The New York Times:
Material Shows Weakening of Climate Reports

WASHINGTON, March 19 — A House committee released documents Monday that showed hundreds of instances in which a White House official who was previously an oil industry lobbyist edited government climate reports to play up uncertainty of a human role in global warming or play down evidence of such a role. (More here.)

In the immortal words of Iago, from Disney's Aladdin:

Wow! Theres a big surprise! I think I'm going to have a heart attack and die, from that surprise.

This is what it boils down to, folks. "Editing" is the polite term for it, but juggling data and misrepresenting the statements and conclusions of those who collected it to further the profits of private concerns is fraud, by any legal definition, and should be prosecuted as such.

This is the "controversy" about Human Climate Impact. A Texas A&M drop-out lied on his resume to land a job at NASA, then took it upon himself to falsify scientific reports to downplay stuff he didn't want people to hear. That's the "two sides of the issue": there's the Reality-Based Community, and there's the Fantasy Fairyland of the Complusive Liar. That's the sum total of the "scientific opposition", gang.

You know what? I'm a Texas A&M drop-out, and I when I worked at NASA, I didn't lie on my resume to get in. If you're gonna argue with me about climate change, if you're gonna take Phil Cooney's Red Pencil of Perfidy as a prop for your delusions that "Global Warming Isn't Real, Or If It Is, It's Not Out Fault", then you should keep in mind that I'm at least as qualified as he is.

Comments

Fraud and Punishment

[rodant-kapoor.livejournal.com]

We have been down this road before. Remember that, for decades, tobacco companies contested the evidence that linked smoking to higher rates of lung cancer. They got a free ride for a long time because no one could really afford to sue them — tobacco company pockets are deep, deep pockets. However, once individual American states realized they were having to pay for the medical care for all their tobacco-addicted citizens, the tables turned and the tobacco industry found itself paying colossal settlements.

If the tobacco industry can be successfully prosecuted for distorting the science about the harmful side effects of their products, and for committing wilful negligence in selling products that kill one-third of their users, the oil companies might just be subject to the same treatment.

[reveille-d.livejournal.com]

Hey, *I'M* a Texas A&M dropout, too! But I didn't work at NASA...

[paka.livejournal.com]

Actually, NY Times requires a subscription or something, and I'd rather not subscribe or whatever quite yet. Might I trouble you to post the article with a cut-tag, please?

Link Dump!

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Better yet: I can provide you with a link to http://www.bugmenot.com/ !

And links to related articles in:

• The Australian
  
• MSNBC
  
• The India Times
  
  Breaking news promised at OMB Watch.
  
  And a delightfully snarky comment about the NYT's priorities at The New Standard.
  
  
  

[foofers.livejournal.com]

Yay! It's the Library of Alexandria all over again, 'cept it ain't the bath water we're heating this time.

[hafoc.livejournal.com]

I don't know what you're all upset about. After all, JAYZUSSSS! will come back before the glaciers could melt, so why worry about this environment stuff anyway? What, you're not comforted? You don't swallow every word I say, no matter how stupid? Why is your heart so hardened against God? I will pray that He will give you the Truth...

(grumble grumble grumble)

[hafoc.livejournal.com]

Well, in a sense it is. Just a bigger bath.