Aug 1, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
James M. Taylor a Heartland Institute senior fellow and convener of the 2008 and 2009 International Conferences on Climate Change wrote this letter crtiticizing the BBC series “Earth: The Climate Wars.”
I am writing to protest the misrepresentation of the views of scientists who spoke at the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change, hosted by The Heartland Institute in March, in the BBC series “Earth: The Climate Wars.”
The BBC series is entirely one-sided and riddled with scientific errors. We regret that film taken at our conference was used in such a partisan and even mean-spirited piece of propaganda. It was particularly unfair and unethical to deliberately quote out of context scientists who spoke at our conference, plainly with the intent to mislead viewers about what they actually said and believe.
For example, climatologist Dr. Patrick Michaels gave a 30-minute keynote presentation at the International Conference with a theme (that has appeared in virtually all of his writing on the subject) that while some warming is taking place and human activity is partly responsible, there is no evidence that a global warming crisis looms. Michaels demonstrates how many “skeptics” in the global warming debate do not “deny” the basic science of climate change, but rather understand that science better than most of the “alarmists” in the debate. Global warming is “real,” but it is not a “crisis.”
BBC presented a few of Michaels’ short statements out of context to assert that he “is in surprising agreement with the advocates of global warming.” BBC entirely and deliberately obscures Michaels’ central point, that it is the amount of warming and its likely consequences that are the crux of the debate.
BBC showed a brief clip of Dr. Roy Spencer, who oversees satellite temperature data for NASA, acknowledging minor errors that needed correction in the NASA temperature datasets. BBC then took Spencer’s statement out of context to assert that Spencer now agrees the corrupted data from poorly located surface temperature stations confirm an alarming rise in global temperatures. Even the most cursory look at Dr. Spencer’s scientific work confirms that Dr. Spencer certainly does not believe what BBC asserted he believes.
BBC repeatedly asserts that only a very small minority of “maverick” scientists disagrees with the proposition that humans are causing a global warming crisis. Yet BBC fails to mention there were more than 500 “skeptical” scientists, economists, and policy experts at the conference. It fails to mention that more than 32,000 scientists have signed a petition presented by a past president of the National Academy of Sciences documenting that humans are not creating a global warming crisis.
BBC also fails to mention that an international survey completed by more than 500 climate scientists found widespread doubts about how much of the warming of the twentieth century was due to human activities and the reliability of forecasts of future warming. Or that fewer than half of the scientists surveyed believe the science is sufficiently settled to justify turning the issue of global warming over to policymakers.
The BBC goes to great lengths to assert that scientists at the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change engaged in a scientifically baseless and mean-spirited campaign to cast doubt on Michael Mann’s infamous “hockey stick” graph of alleged global temperatures during the past 1,000 years. The BBC somehow fails to note that a panel of scientists and statisticians appointed by the U.S. Congress concluded that the hockey stick graph is based on cherry-picked data and is not supported by sound science.
The BBC failed to report that The Heartland Institute invited scientists who believe global warming is a crisis to attend its conference and defend their thesis; none attended. (Joseph Bast reported this in his opening remarks at the conference; it was not a secret.) Or that the conference featured 100 speakers from a dozen countries and more than 30 universities who delivered presentations that asked questions the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change refuses to address, and delivered reports on new research casting doubt on the fundamental assumptions of the alarmist position. Somehow, the BBC managed to miss those presentations, and its “documentary” hides them from its viewers. That is a disservice to the BBC’s viewers.
Thankfully, the BBC has a chance to “get it right.” The Heartland Institute is hosting a second International Conference on Climate Change, once again in New York, on March 8-10, and we once again expect to attract hundreds of scientists from around the world who want to be heard in the debate over global warming. The BBC is once again welcome to attend and film presentations. This time, we hope they have the integrity and honesty to share with the BBC’s viewers what the speakers actually have to say.
Aug 1, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses, Dollars & Crosses 2
I found the following in release notes for a recent Sun Solaris 8 security patch:
ROC timezone should be avoided for political reasons
I.e., if Sun wants to be allowed to export its computers to mainland China, they're not allowed to have anything in their operating system that implicitly recognizes Taiwan, like a time zone for the Republic of China. Sheesh.
Aug 1, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
Earlier this week, The Detroit News published our recent Fahranheit 9/11 cartoon, making it the first Cox & Forkum editorial cartoon to appear in a large American daily newspaper -- approximately 200,000 circulation. Not only that, but there are plans to make our cartoons part of a new weekly feature. "Yaaahooooo!" doesn't quite express our high level of excitement....
...Arrangements have also been made for Investor's Business Daily to feature Cox & Forkum editorial cartoons. IBD is a national daily newspaper with a circulation of 200,000 (and they also have tens of thousand of online subscribers). What is the significance of this? For the first time ever, you can walk into major bookstores and airports in America (even some public transportation stations) and purchase a newspaper with a Cox & Forkum editorial cartoon. In fact, you may do so this weekend -- the IBD Monday Special edition (available Saturday morning through Monday) will contain our Martha Stewart cartoon. IBD is expanding its already excellent op-ed section, and our cartoons will be included on occasion...
To sum up: Over 400,000 printed copies of Cox & Forkum editorial cartoons are being circulated this week with even more to come in the future. John and I are quite proud at the moment. So excuse us while we beam.
Congratulations guys! Next stop: The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.Jul 31, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
A column in the New York Sun reports on Nicolas Sarkozy, a popular French politician whose star is rising:
Mr.Sarkozy's popularity is evidence that the French have had enough of Chirac and everything he represents--good news for France, good news for America. Mr. Chirac is of the neo-Gaullist school that conflates French nationalism with anti-Americanism.
Mr. Sarkozy adores America and has declared himself proud that critics call him more American than French. Mr. Chirac believes in the primacy of the Franco-German relationship. Mr. Sarkozy is indifferent to Germany, instead favoring alliances with Britain, Spain, and America.
Mr. Chirac opposes a referendum on the European constitution; Mr. Sarkozy insists upon it.
Mr. Chirac delivers patronizing lecture to the new European Union member states of Eastern Europe--"badly brought up," he called them for their support of America's policy in Iraq--but Mr. Sarkozy, with his Hungarian background, gets along with them splendidly.
Mr. Sarkozy is said to have opposed Chirac's stance on the Iraq war.
Mr. Chirac courts the Arabs. Mr. Sarkozy prefers the Israelis. Mr. Sarkozy, unlike Mr. Chirac, is not a graduate of the Ecole Nationale d'Administration... [NYSun]
Jul 30, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From Richard E. Ralston, Executive Director, Americans for Free Choice in Medicine (AFCM):
In last night's Democratic National Convention acceptance speech, Sen.John Kerry proclaimed that everyone has a "right" to health care. He also said that doctors and patients should always be able to make health care decisions without the approval of HMO bureaucrats.
No one has the right to force others to give them anything they want regardless of cost. No health care system in the world ever has or ever will do that. It is impossible.
Instead of promising the health care equivalent of bread and circuses, Sen. Kerry should offer Americans more freedom and less government control of medicine.
Recommended Reading:
Health Care Is Not A Right
"I do not agree that socialized medicine is moral and well-intentioned, but impractical. Of course, it is impractical -- it does not work -- but I hold that it is impractical because it is immoral...."Jul 30, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum: 
From the transcript of Senator John Kerry's speech:"I will never hesitate to use force when it is required. Any attack will be met with a swift and certain response."
As Charles Johnson has pointed out, Kerry seems to be admitting here that another attack will be required for him to use military force. Underscoring that notion, Kerry declared that he would not send troops to war unless the threat was "real and imminent." Instead of striking an enemy to prevent the growth of an imminent threat (one of Bush's justifications for the Iraq war), Kerry is willing to wait for an enemy to mount an attack. Kerry then says: "I will never give any nation or international institution a veto over our national security." He has claimed this before but rendered it meaningless by also claiming that he would "treat the United Nations as a full partner ... in the war on terror." In his convention speech, he didn't go this far, but he stressed the "need to rebuild our alliances." Apparently Kerry wanted to give the impression that he could be a strong commander-in-chief, but his consistent criticism of unilateralism and wars of "choice" indicate otherwise.
