FROM THE FOLKS WHO BROUGHT YOU WMDs:
GLOBAL WARMING DOESN'T EXIST
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1185292,00.html
ANTONY BARNETT, OBSERVER, UK - George W. Bush's campaign workers have hit on an age-old political tactic to deal with the tricky subject of
global warming - deny, and deny aggressively. The Observer has obtained
a remarkable email sent to the press secretaries of all Republican
congressmen advising them what to say when questioned on the environment
in the run-up to November's election. The advice: tell them everything's
rosy.
It tells them how global warming has not been proved, air quality is
'getting better', the world's forests are 'spreading, not deadening',
oil reserves are 'increasing, not decreasing', and the 'world's water is
cleaner and reaching more people'. . . Among the memo's assertions are
'global warming is not a fact', 'links between air quality and asthma in
children remain cloudy', and the US Environment Protection Agency is
exaggerating when it says that at least 40 per cent of streams, rivers
and lakes are too polluted for drinking, fishing or swimming.
It gives a list of alleged facts taken from contentious sources. For
instance, to back its claim that air quality is improving it cites a
report from Pacific Research Institute - an organization that has
received $130,000 from Exxon Mobil since 1998. . .
The memo's main source for the denial of global warming is Richard
Lindzen, a climate-sceptic scientist who has consistently taken money
from the fossil fuel industry. His opinion differs substantially from
most climate scientists, who say that climate change is happening.
But probably the most influential voice behind the memo is Frank Luntz,
a Republican Party strategist. In a leaked 2002 memo, Luntz said: 'The
scientific debate is closing [against us] but not yet closed. There is
still a window of opportunity to challenge the science.'