March 9th, 2009
Denial as a political position
The Deniers are convening right now in New York. These are not those who deny a Supreme Being. Nor deny the being of the Supremes. It’s not even those athletes who deny having used steroids–no convention hall would be big enough, right? These are they who know in their hearts that Climate Change is a hoax, or worse, a modern-day conspiracy.
You can check the conference website for all the latest talking points about how global warming is a delusional religious faith. The conference is run by the Heartland Institute and its rallying the troops now that pro-oil politicians no longer control the White House.
Heartland? They hate government regulations to begin with. They do not support limits on tobacco smoking either. And they claim Milton Friedman as one of their front door saints. Along with John Locke and Thomas Jefferson. Perhaps Jefferson’s estate could sue over the use of his image to support an ultra-conservative cause?
Heartland says they get over 70% of their money from “foundations.” Any lobbyist worth his lunch bill knows how friendly the right foundations can be. No telling where the foundations’ money comes from. Here’s sourcewatch on some of the Heartland foundation donors. The only major corporations represented on the Board of Directors are Amoco and General Motors. Exxon apparently stopped donating after 2006. I’m just trying to figure out who really thinks they will gain by denying global warming?
FORGET GLOBAL WARMING, IT’S DONE
We can all rest easily now. One of the conference speakers will tell us its all over. “Don Easterbrook, professor of geology at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, who will present new data showing ‘the most recent global warming that began in 1977 is over, and the Earth has entered a new phase of global cooling’.” Glad that’s done. S’pose these folks can now prove there’s no recession and the housing mess is really just a misinterpretation of data by scheming politicians?
Here’s grist’s skeptical look at the speakers lined up for the denial conference.
For a little pro-global warming balance, there’s one man’s list of the ten most visible deniers of global warming. Many are at the New York conference right now. This global list includes some fine Americans, of course. You can easily guess which U.S. governor is on his list. Click here to see the list.
A newsman since 1969, Harry Fuller has worked for CBS, ABC, CNBC Europe, CNET and was founding news director at TechTV. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
Subscribe to GreenTech Pastures via Email alerts or RSS.
