Comments on: FedEx, GM, Microsoft, Toyota, Visa, and WalMart support Cato, which is buying expensive global warming denier ads attacking Obama

By: Anna

Anna — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 17:18:21 +0000

What gas station *should* we be buying from? (I’d thought Shell was ok, but apparently not)

> funding for Cato, ill advised though it might be, is not the same as endorsing their statements.

BS, unfortunately. Indirection – aka opinion laundering – is something the PR folks have learned to hide behind.

> Brignell seems to be a man in the mould of the loony Lord Monckton – ACC is a global conspiracy by some shadowy Marxist power grab.

I’m coming to think that this sort of argument is deliberate – since it is so loony, it has a “halo” effect to immunize against *all* conspiracy arguments. This has the effect of – at least partially – blinding you to the genuine conspiracies, which abound since what PR _is_, is a conspiracy (if your PR dept contains more than one staffer, and if what you’re producing is ugly enough that deception will benefit you).

So the smart heuristic, when faced by a loony argument by folks of this ilk, is to turn it around and see how well it fits if applied _to_ them. Use it as a cognitive stepstool, rather than an obstacle.

By: David B. Benson

David B. Benson — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:18:37 +0000

According to a blogger elsewhere:

“Other donors to The Cato Institute include American Express, Chase Manhattan Bank, Chemical Bank, Citicorp/Citibank, Commonwealth Fund, Prudential Securities and Salomon Brothers, Chevron Companies, Exxon Company, Shell Oil Company and Tenneco Gas, as well as the American Petroleum Institute, Amoco Foundation, Atlantic Richfield Foundation, Eli Lilly & Company, Merck & Company and Pfizer, Inc.

Much of Cato’s philanthropic backing has come from the Koch, Lambe and Sarah Scaife foundations.”

So the energenic can send lambasting e-mails to those companies as well.

By: Greg N

Greg N — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:24:18 +0000

Andy, yes I’m afraid the world’s average temperature is rising at a faster rate.

The 2000s decade was nearly 0.2 degrees C warmer than the 1990s. The 1990s were about 0.14 degrees warmer than the 1980s.

You can look at the data for yourself by googling Nasa GISS or Hadley CRU. For Arctic ice visit
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/

Follow a few of the links on this blog for yourself and you’ll soon realise that the very convincing arguments are on only one side of this debate. Enjoy your exploration of the science.

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 09:04:54 +0000

CO2 levels continue to rise at an alarming rate!

Is the worlds temperature now rising at a faster rate?
Has it leveled off?
Is it getting cooler?

There seems to be very convincing arguments on both sides of the global warming debate. Does anyone know where the lastest data is? Was 2009 the warmest winter ever recorded? What about the ice in the arctic right now.

By: stephanie

stephanie — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 07:52:53 +0000

thanks joe for this post. is there a way to share your posts on facebook? When I really like articles I like to share it with my friends through facebook but I was not able to find a way to share it besides just linking it with a url.

By: Gail

Gail — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 05:56:18 +0000

Russ, don’t let the door slam your a** on the way out, but grab a little actual science on the way (see references on the right side of CP home).

By: russ

russ — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 05:51:29 +0000

Finally figured it out – this is the Fox News equivalent of ‘fair & balanced reporting’ for the greenie whinos.

I’m outta here – the site wasn’t even worth checking on

By: Steve H

Steve H — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:13:34 +0000

I’ll let you all in on a little secret. If its a publicly held company, they’re probably bad. Not because they want to be, but Wall Street doesn’t reward honesty. I spent enough time in traded company that I was able to realize that profits don’t matter, the only thing that the stock market rewarded was essentially committing fraud on one’s customers. I hate to sound so anti-capitalist, which I am not, but my general feelings toward our economy is that it became dependent upon fraud at every level. So yeah, it kinda stinks that the makers of the better hybrids support Cato, but I’m more bummed by reporters that don’t question what Cato publishes.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:16:15 +0000

Can anyone provide a link to an example of this advertising. Want to chase down the Australian branches of these companies.

By: Gail

Gail — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:10:48 +0000

K, this is OT,but check this out:

http://www.newscientist.com/ article/ dn16864-halo-effect-explains-brightest-patches-of-sky.html

I know I’m getting to be over-hyped in my near-dotage, but I have felt, recently, that the air and sky seem different. My oldest friend in NJ, who grew up in the far northland of Sweden eating reindeer and sardines and snow, describes our current situation as “hollow”.

A few others I know have noticed the silence (predicted by Rachel Carson) of spring peepers and birds.

To me, it seems we are in the midst of a total ecosystem collapse. It is a source of much grief, guilt, fury, and fear. And I am trying to find ways to understand it, and recognize it, and maybe possibly do something to thwart it.