Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Deceit about global warming

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Wow. You've got to look at this CNN headline: "Chairman: Bush officials misled public on global warming". I sincerely hope there is outrage about this. Take a look at part of what the article says:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Democratic chairman of a House panel examining the government's response to climate change said Tuesday there is evidence that senior Bush administration officials sought repeatedly "to mislead the public by injecting doubt into the science of global warming."

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California, said he and the top Republican on his oversight committee, Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, have sought documents from the administration on climate policy, but repeatedly been rebuffed.

"The committee isn't trying to obtain state secrets or documents that could affect our immediate national security," said Waxman, opening the hearing. "We are simply seeking answers to whether the White House's political staff is inappropriately censoring impartial government scientists."

"We know that the White House possesses documents that contain evidence of an attempt by senior administration officials to mislead the public by injecting doubt into the science of global warming and minimize the potential danger," Waxman said.
...
Two private advocacy groups, meanwhile, presented to the panel a survey of government climate scientists showing that many of them say they have been
subjected to political pressure aimed at downplaying the threat of global warming.

The groups presented a survey that shows two in five of the 279 climate scientists who responded to a questionnaire complained that some of their scientific papers had been edited in a way that changed their meaning. Nearly half of the 279 said in response to another question that at some point they had been told to delete reference to "global warming" or "climate change" from a report.
...
The groups report described largely anonymous claims by scientists that their findings at times at been misrepresented, that they had been pressured to change findings and had been restricted on what they were allowed to say publicly.

I'm sure there's a special place reserved in hell for those who knowingly and willfully deceive the public in this way about the very survival of our species. Simply unbelievable. And, by now, you know my stock question on this matter: Do the conservatives not think that their children and grandchildren will have to live and die with the consequences of catastrophic climate change too? What are they thinking?

No comments:

Post a Comment

New policy: Anonymous posts must be signed or they will be deleted. Pick a name, any name (it could be Paperclip or Doorknob), but identify yourself in some way. Thank you.