Eco Open Thread: '500 climate scientists' list smacked down

It's a very bad day for the chronic climate change deniers at the right wing "think" tank, the Heartland Institute.

The folks at DeSmogBlog have discovered an inconvenient truth about the Heartland Institute's "500 climate scientists" list:

Dozens of scientists are demanding that their names be removed from a widely distributed Heartland Institute  article entitled 500 Scientists with Documented Doubts of Man-Made Global Warming Scares.

The article, by Hudson Institute director and Heartland "Senior Fellow" Dennis T. Avery (inset), purports to list scientists whose work contradicts the overwhelming scientific agreement that human-induced climate change is endangering the world as we know it.

DeSmogBlog manager Kevin Grandia emailed 122 of the scientists yesterday afternoon, calling their attention to the list.

They updated the news with:

UPDATE: we have received notes now from 45 outraged scientists whose names appear on the list of 500. We've published more quotes here.

A sample quote:

"I am horrified to find my name on such a list. I have spent the last 20 years arguing the opposite."

Dr. David Sugden. Professor of Geography, University of Edinburgh

Make sure you click all the links, especially the one in the update, and bookmark DeSmogBlog so you can keep up with the story as it develops.

This is an open thread.  The Flat Earth floor is yours, for eco-news and anything else that's on your mind.

And, of course, you can read the Overnight News Digest here.

Open Thread and Diary Rescue

Tonight's Rescure Rangers are Yashua, jlms qkw, hhex65, dadanation, Avila, noddem, and joyful, with YatPundit doing a JazzFest second line while trying to drive the editmobile.

Building community, an inspiration for SusanG's Diary Rescue volunteers, has resulted in a success story that we celebrate today. Through Diary Rescue and community participation, Rescue Ranger, historiant, and now published author Unitary Moonbat has some very exciting news in History for Kossacks: Role-Playing Games, the Crusades, and Moonbat's Book.

• The Grieving Room: This coat, this ring of life beautifully reflects on life, loss, and love, in this lovely sisterly tribute by exmearden. (jlms qkw)
• Fantastic builds a solid case for the elimination of four inefficient dams in the Pacific Northwest to save the rapidly declining salmon population in Salmon Restoration and Dam Removal. (noddem)
• chiri describes A life slowly taken away because of youthful mistakes with severe punishments, and the cost of our prison program. (jlms qkw)
• GregMitch reports the sudden death of a 42-year-old Iraq combat veteran in the context of the VA's attempt to conceal disturbingly high numbers of suicide and PTSD among veterans in U.S. ex-commander at Baghdad Airport dies from "depression." (Avila)
• Bill White explains the importance of a viable space policy, the advantages that cross partisan lines and Why NASA matters -- even if it doesn't. (Avila)
• Teen Challenge: Life within the "Jesus Gulag" is yet another well-written offering in dogemperor's continuing series on the horrifying world of religiously-motivated child abuse. (joyful)
• Remember that part about electing more and better democrats? aimeeinkc brings us motivation and a checklist in WDYDT to elect a Democrat? (jlms qkw)
• cskendrick offers a condensed historical perspective on the struggle between political philosophies throughout American history in A Tale of Two Schisms. (noddem)
• truong son traveler offers an extraordinary timeline of failed sanctions in the "name of national interests," spanning over 100 years and culminating in Sanctioning Iran: Foreign Policy 101. (Avila)
• winterbanyan has an interesting theory on young voters and the politics of fear and hope perceived through generational disconnect in Brainwashed: the Cold War generation and today's politics. (Avila)
• Since the Traditional Media won't tell you, sarahlane will: Inform Yourself About McCainisms. (joyful)
• Two from RDemocrat on the KY campaign trail: Wheeee! Mitch McConnell Falling Fast in Western Kentucky! (joyful), and some outstanding photos of a campaign event in Heather Ryan and Greg Fischer Meet Kentucky Voters. (jlms qkw)
• Saska reports from an author event and tells us why columnist Howard Fineman thinks Democrats must re-argue the first principles of who they are. (joyful)

Yesterday's High Impact Diaries by jotter.

As always, we invite you to join the Rescue Ranger team by suggesting your own Rescue choices in this open thread.

Bush: It's Not My Fault

Come to think of it, nothing's ever my fault. Jimmy Baker taught me that years ago. What was I thinking? Always blame someone else for anything that I do wrong. Hey, I know! Congress! It's Congress' fault. Yeah, that's it! The press will eat it up.

President Bush put politics ahead of the facts Tuesday as he sought to blame Congress for high energy prices, saying foreign suppliers are pumping just about all the oil they can and accusing lawmakers of blocking new refineries.

Bush renewed his call for drilling in an Arctic wildlife refuge, but his own Energy Department says that would have little impact on gasoline prices.

In declining to embrace the word "recession," Mr. Bush said that many Americans were just beginning to receive their tax rebate checks as part of an $168 billion stimulus program, and that it would be some time before the effects of those checks on the economy were clear.

As for rising energy prices, including the eye-popping cost of filling up the gasoline tank, Mr. Bush said that "if there was a magic wand to wave, I'd be waving it, of course."

Once again, he chided Congress for not approving exploration for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which he said could be done in an environmentally safe way, and for not sharing his belief in "clean, safe nuclear power."

Hey, I think it's working. Isn't it?

The numbers? Only 21% approve of President Bush's job in handling the economy -- his lowest number ever as president on that question.

Also, a whopping 81% believe the US is currently in a recession.

Man, I love being the President. You can get away with anything.

Cable News Discovers Scary Black People! Eeek!

Ellen at News Hounds offers a detailed journey through Sean Hannity's long history of "caring deeply" about race... that is, when he imagines some white person somewhere is being put upon. It's well worth a read...

Apparently, Hannity has concluded that whites are the oppressed people in our country. At the drop of an n-word, Hannity will make a cause celebre of any white person accused of bigotry. Yet Hannity is obsessed with "revealing" racism in African Americans. So it was no surprise that during a discussion about the role of race in the presidential campaign, Hannity wasted no time in accusing Barack Obama of racism. With video.

Hannity is so obsessed with race that he once spent three nights discussing some unknown bookstore owner who had advocated the extermination of whites during a panel discussion about Hurricane Katrina a year earlier. A Hannity & Colmes producer even ambushed the man for a special "H&C Investigates" segment about this non-news event. Similarly, Hannity is almost certainly the only broadcaster on a national news network to present the Jena 6 case as a question about reverse racism.

On the other hand, an accusation of bigotry toward a white person will almost surely trigger a Hannity-to-the-rescue response. Don Imus, Mel Gibson, and Duane "Dog" Chapman were all recipients of Hannity rehab.

Pretty much. And this sudden obsession with Rev. Wright is, if you can get through the banging-your-head-against-a-wall part of it, fairly amusing. It's like the American media has just discovered -- OMG! Black people! And with religion!?

Now, none of these pundits gave a flying, candy-coated damn about some of the most influential preachers in America saying vile, despicable things and being continually rewarded for it with political praise and power. Robertson, Falwell, Dobson, Hagee -- there is an entire movement of evangelicals devoted to saying vicious things on national TV under the cloak of religion. Hagee seems to make a special habit of saying loathsome things against others -- blaming Hurricane Katrina on gays, or calling Catholicism "the great whore" and a "cult" -- and there sure haven't been hours and hours of attention devoted to him and his various political connections. No weeklong agonizing on how figures who asininely blamed 9/11 on feminists and abortionists continued to receive the praise and attention of the White House and other prominent politicians -- it was just presumed that they would. It wasn't even a serious question.

Wright, on the other hand, is being treated as zoological specimen. Good gracious -- what is this strange religious creature we have discovered? He talks about religion, and he tells jokes, and speaks angrily about bigotry! Eek! Everybody stand on their chairs!

Wright has said controversial, even ridiculous things -- and glory be, let us all marvel at the notion of a preacher in America saying controversial, even ridiculous things -- but I think it's hard to argue against the notion that he would not be receiving this level of obsessive scrutiny if he were white. I mean, no kidding: as evidence, see the above list of politically entrenched white evangelicals saying worse things to larger audiences with no significant impact whatsoever. Of course, Wright doesn't represent "black" religion any more than Pat Robertson represents "white" religion -- yet another thing I earnestly hope the pundits of America figure out sooner, and not later -- but they're both representative of certain religious movements in the nation, and one wonders what would happen if they received the same amount of scrutiny.

I'm reminded of the comparison by Jon Stewart of the media as preschoolers playing soccer, everyone trundling eagerly after the rolling ball with no gameplan, or goal, or even basic sense of direction. Wright's past link with Obama is I think almost secondary, at this point... certain segments of the media seem absolutely giddy at the idea of being able to hold this guy up and examine him, and the Obama connection has given them an "in" to do it without looking quite as salacious as they would under other circumstances. It's a typical media Shark Attack Week, but with scary black people instead of sharks.

Is it more funny than embarrassing, or more embarrassing than funny? I suppose it's all in how you look at it.

In any event, Obama has now disavowed Wright, and using stronger words than any candidate has ever used against Robertson, Dobson, Hagee, etc. This will likely lead to no public reflection whatsoever about the role of religion in politics, or about the treatment of equally controversial religious figures that get coddled by the press and politicians instead of chastised. So the game continues, and the rules are the same as always.

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