angliss

Did someone associated with Heartland author the "climate strategy" memo? A recent statement intended to exonerate Heartland raises questions instead.

Climate science denial peddlers are playing by a different set of rules than the climate scientists generating the data or the journalists reporting on it. The author is less interested in whether or not Peter Gleick's actions were ethical than in whether asking that question at all is a form of false equivalence. After all, if one side lies, steals, and cheats as a matter of course and has no ethical qualms about it, is it right to criticize someone for resorting to similar tactics in an attempt to turn the tables on the liars, thieves, and cheats?

Good question.

The Heartland Institute's recent statements are filled with irony and hypocrisy, a point made abundantly clear by an official letter from the Climate Scientist Legal Defense Fund and by the admission of responsibility by Peter Gleick.

The Heartland Institute used the PR director\'s email to deliver threats of possible legal action (SLAPP suits, perhaps) against journalists who have written about the confidential Heartland documents that were published on Valentine\'s Day. And you can\'t tell me that 5 days isn\'t enough for the Institute\'s president to authenticate 100 pages of documents, especially when he\'s been blogging, threatening journalists, and begging for cash.

Steve Milloy has a long history of fighting science for anyone who can pay his price. The Center for Media and Democracy has acquired documents that show Syngenta had paid Milloy to cast doubt on the science showing their herbicide atrazine was dangerous to the environment.