Just passing this along. Let me know if you see or hear anything suspicious.
In Prominent global warming doubter says there was a “hit list” apparently targeting climate scientists, Tom Yulsman writes:
In a comment on an August 3rd post at the Wattsupwiththat website, Patrick J. Michaels of the conservative Cato Institute said that there has been a “hit list” apparently targeting climate scientists, and that he had influence over who was on it.
At this point, it is unclear exactly what this list was about. But from what Michaels said, it looks like it consisted of scientists being targeted for termination from their jobs….
Wouldn’t surprise me. Jobs have been targeted. Why not make a list and pass it around like good little organized thugs instead of just doing it piecemeal?
And then there’s this:
http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/08/06/how-america-rising-ties-gop-establishment-stalkers-harassing-bill-mckibben-and-tom-steyer
It will be interesting to find out what they say (if they say anything). Dogma institutes like that have writers who are very good at saying very little of substance. They put the same effort into their “analyses”.
Oh for a preview button.
It would also be interesting to know how much influence they could truly yield. I can’t imagine it would be that much in academia (I know of the attempts to pay for endowed chairs in exchange for influence over nominations, etc.) but we’ll see. (I will say that the heads of Amway convinced Hope College to fire a faculty member several years ago, because of the position that faculty member took on same sex marriage (in favor), but Hope is private and the Amway folks are HUGE donors.)
Eli has two posts on this at Rabbett Run:
http://rabett.blogspot.com/2016/08/eli-dont-think-you-wanna-go-there-chip.html
http://rabett.blogspot.com/2016/08/eli-does-sou-thing.html
Also,Tom Yulsum wrote this in Eli’s comment section:
“ExxonMobil did indeed lobby the Bush Administration to oust Robert T. Watson as head of the IPCC. It came in a memo sent to the White House on Feb. 6, 2001 by Arthur G. Randol III, senior environmental adviser for ExxonMobil. In that memo, Randol asked: ”Can Watson be replaced now at the request of the U.S.?” As we know, the administration did not wind up supporting Watson for the IPCC chairmanship. Instead, it supported Rajendra K. Pachauri, who went on to become chairman.
Here is a copy of the ExxonMobil/Randol memo: http://bit.ly/1MbZpWT And here’s a story about the whole affair in Slate: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/chatterbox/2002/04/did_exxon_mobil_get_bush_to_oust_the_global_warming_chief.html
As I wrote in my own post about this at Discover http://bit.ly/2b95l69):
“Does this episode have any connection to the hit list described by Michaels? Both occurred toward the start of the Bush Administration. But there is no real evidence for any connection right now. All we have is what Michaels wrote on the Wattsupwiththat website. Even so, this episode does provide a glimpse at an effort by an industry that has supported Michaels (see below) to have a prominent climate scientist ousted from his position — and a positive response from the administration at the time.””
http://rabett.blogspot.com/2016/08/eli-dont-think-you-wanna-go-there-chip.html?showComment=1470693378650#c659248112280909516
People who are sensitive to the realities of nature know that changing the chemistry of the entire world ecosystem through continued emissions of heat trapping carbon dioxide pollution is worse than Russian roulette. It is a trip to the front door of the cave bear of chaos. There you will find an assemblage of Republicans, car lovers, fossil fuel barons, and greedy fools of all kinds, eating rare steak and hamburger with the expectation that nothing bad can possibly come of their activities. Trump and Inhofe,Lamar Smith and Marc Morano, the Koch Brothers, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and all the assorted Coal Rolling , NASCAR loving ninnies of the country are picnicking in the front court of a very large brown bear, and they are having a grand old time.
Here is a scenario to think about. If climate change damage reaches the point where society’s ability to fund scientific efforts is severely diminished, there may come a point where modern civilization doesn’t have the funding, unity, or will power to overcome the effects of atmosphere CO2 heat poisoning. At that point, welcome to Mad Max world. Bon Appetit! Wait a millennium or three and what is left of the human race can start all over again! All Hail The Stupid!
A society that persecutes its scientists is a doomed society. Spooky to see “free market” cultists acting like Scientology Inc.
““I called the Cato Institute earlier this morning….”
The Cato Institute Church never defends its behavior; when caught being unethical and evil, the cult just “double downs.”
Lack of a preview button I partly solve by usually pasting a copy to myself to see if the html renders properly.
Good for the goose is good for the gander.