Saturday, February 21, 2004

Cassandra Predicts Forced By The Press of Events To tell the Truth Heidelberg Scarred, part 6 The Wisdom Of Our Lawmakers On July 28, 2003, Senator James Inhofe (R, OK) took the floor in the U.S. the Senate and mischaracterized the Heidelberg Appeal: "I mentioned several of the country's leading climate scientists earlier in this speech. In addition, over 4,000 scientists, 70 of whom are Nobel Prize winners, signed the so-called Heidelberg Appeal, which says that no compelling evidence exists to justify controls of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions." This was no slip of the tongue. He immediately added: "I want to repeat that: over 4,000 scientists, 70 of whom are Nobel Prize winners, signed the so-called Heidelberg Appeal, which says that no compelling evidence exists to justify controls of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions." The charitable view is that Senator Inhofe was ignorant of the truth. The only other possibility is that this was a deliberate untruth. It would be bad enough if any U.S. Senator put forward this false interpretation of the position of "over 4,000 scientists" on a subject as vital as global warming. What is truly frightening is that Senator Inhofe is the Chairman of the Committee on the Environment and Public Works. 2:52:51 PM    comment []

Cassandra Predicts Forced By The Press of Events To tell the Truth Heidelberg Scarred, in review For Those Of You Just Joining Us The Story So Far: In 1992 a rather straightforward petition called the Heidelberg Appeal (plunkit)  was circulated. It basically said: protect the planet, science is good, fake science is bad, poor nations should be helped to become richer. A lot of scientists (4,000 we are told) signed. Since then it has been described as proof that the theory of global warming is widely disputed by reputable scientists. It doesn't say that. 1:07:44 PM    comment []

Cassandra Predicts Forced By The Press of Events To tell the Truth Heidelberg Scarred, part 5 We have just received another reply from a signatory. "My name has been misused. I have not kept up with the subject and therefore do not wish to be a signatory. Hermann Bondi" The question arises: ""So What?" Well, for one thing, the Heidelberg Appeal is being used (or misused) to influence national policy and legislation. We will show how the Appeal keeps popping up in "scientific " reports and Congressional testimony. Keep tuned. 12:50:51 PM    comment []