US gvt proposal: Counter Global Warming through darkened skies!

Ragusa · Feb 2, 2007

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What I find very remarkable is that in no other country the industry has managed to gain such an unjustified influence. Despite the fact that no peer-reviewed scientific articles published in recent years express any doubt that climate change is happening, more than 50 percent of news media coverage of the issue includes the oil industry’s position on the subject.

But then, there's two sides of every story, and when the media cover geography it's obligatory to mention the views of the flat earth society, else reporting will be 'biased'! Just as every report on healthy nutrition should take into account the views of Hannibal the Cannibal, else it is unballanced.
So let's pre-emptively water down everything by reporting as many opposing views as possible, even if it is palpably silly and unfounded. Fairness dictates as much!

Tonight a large warehouse was destroyed by a terrible fire, the local Fire Department reported. The facts are that the warehouse is destroyed, and there is a lot of ashes, and that in the night there was a lot of light and smoke. However, the facts are far from clear. Dr. D. Niall, spokesperson of the grassroots advocacy group FIAL* disagrees: "There is no evidence whatsoever that supports the preposteropus claims made by the so-called 'fire department'. Their baseless claim that there is something like 'fire' is not supported by any serious scientific research, and is, let's be frank, a fraud to extract taxpayers money for 'fire departments'.

"The destruction of the warehouse could also be explained by the not yet fully understood phenomenon of mystic spontaneous, smoky, cosmic illumination (MSSCI). Which is totally natural an occurence. There are no instances known of people getting hurt by MSSCI. Check the statistics! Without serious research in this field one cannot take the claims of the existence of 'fire' serious."

"It is not an accident that it's exactly the 'fire departments' who propagate the idea that there is some menacing threat like 'fire' out there, after all it justifies their very existence. These people are clearly self-interested! Without 'fire' they wouldn't have a job!"
Click to expand...

Indeed.

That is the heritage of the US right's bias attack: A 'finlandisation' of the media. The media are doing such a piss-poor job out of fear of the right-wing onslaught. Like being 'put on notice' by Bill O'Reilly, or being slandered by idiots like Coulter, Limbaugh or Savage. Todays media is led by cowards more interested in advertising fees than news or information. But then, isn't it a bad sign that today good, sober reporting requires 'courage'.

The US government makes such an obviously lunatic proposal, and isn't held to the task, isn't laughed out of DC, tarred and feathered. It seems this is more or less a non-issue in the US. The best reporting you can get on the subject comes from Britain.

The guardian reports that US the US industry lobby is offering cash for scientists to dispute, deny global warming. That tells a lot. If you can do the research and it passes peer review in scientific journals, you get all the credibility you need. Sure, 10k always come in handy. I could certainly find a use for it. But in fact it seems the sort of desired expertise is in short supply. Because it would be far out of the scientific consensus?

Read this .pdf.

* 'Fire Is A Lie', an offspring of the recreational organisation UCP, 'Union of Concerned Pyromaniacs'.

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US gvt proposal: Counter Global Warming through darkened skies!

Ragusa Eternal Halfling Paladin Veteran