2916 The Truth is Inconvenient

"In May, our nation was exposed to perhaps one of the slickest science propaganda films of all time: former Vice President Gore’s "An Inconvenient Truth." In addition to having the backing of Paramount Pictures to market this film, Gore had the full backing of the media, and leading the cheerleading charge was none other than the Associated Press.

On June 27, the Associated Press ran an article by Seth Borenstein that boldly declared “Scientists give two thumbs up to Gore's movie.” The article quoted only five scientists praising Gore’s science, despite AP’s having contacted over 100 scientists. http://www.usatoday.com/weather/news/2006-06-27-inconvenient-truth-reviews_x.htm

The fact that over 80% of the scientists contacted by the AP had not even seen the movie or that many scientists have harshly criticized the science presented by Gore did not dissuade the news outlet one bit from its mission to promote Gore’s brand of climate alarmism. http://epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?party=rep&id=257909

I am almost at a loss as to how to begin to address the series of errors, misleading science and unfounded speculation that appear in the former Vice President’s film Here is what Richard Lindzen, a meteorologist from MIT has written about "An Inconvenient Truth." "A general characteristic of Mr. Gore's approach is to assiduously ignore the fact that the earth and its climate are dynamic; they are always changing even without any external forcing. To treat all change as something to fear is bad enough; to do so in order to exploit that fear is much worse." http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110008597 "

From "Hot & Cold Media Spin: A Challenge To Journalists Who Cover Global Warming" speech by Senator James Inhofe, Chairman, Senate Enivornment and Public Works Committee, September 25, 2006

The one area I might disagree with Sen. Inhofe, is when he says, "The American people know when their intelligence is being insulted--when they are being used and duped." For starters, that's almost a campaign slogan used both by the right and left. But more tragically, I meet a lot of gullible people who have swallowed these lies and truly believe that humans have the power to control the climate. They have refused to look at centuries of climate data and trends and can only remember a decade of mild winters, or last year's hurricanes, if that. The previous global warming scare was around the time I was born, so mostly I remember the coming ice age scare of the 70s and 80s. That's warmed up a bit now. The Gullibles (or Democrats or Humanists) don't want to look at the Kyoto results, or the increasing population of polar bears, or the huge sums environmental groups spend on political campaigns. They just want to be afraid, worried, and in power.

Climate Change
global warming
An Inconvenient Truth

See also:

http://epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?party=rep&id=212247
http://epw.senate.gov/pressitem.cfm?party=rep&id=213589