hoaxbook.jpg James Inhofe, Republican Senator from Oklahoma, has a new book out. It is entitled The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future. I have not read it yet. So I cannot say much about its contents, but I can say this: The title suggests that Inhofe, like
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DeSmogBlog: Want to Improve Science Communication? Start with Bad PowerPoint Habits
bad powerpoint.jpg In the past three months, I’ve spoken on panels at two scientific mega-conferences—the American Geophysical Union’s Fall Meeting in San Francisco, which draws tens of thousands of scientists, and the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting, which this year was held in Vancouver (and
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Rick Santorum, Attacking Scientists, Claims He’s not Anti-Science
Rick-Santorum3-460×307.jpg Rick Santorum is becoming the anti-science gift that keeps on giving. Yesterday, while speaking in his home state, the former Pennsylvania senator once again tilted at the idea of human caused global warming, saying that it is based on “phony studies,” and really a case of “political science.” This is, you
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Republicans Aren’t the “Truth Party,” Mr. Santorum. They’re the “Certainty Party.”
225px-Rick_Santorum_official_photo.jpg Rick Santorum has been talking about the “politicization of science” a lot lately—although (a pet peeve of mine) he seems to have a problem with pronouncing the phrase. He says “polititization.” Check it out here. Not as bad as the people who say "political-ization," but don't get me started. Anyway,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Santorum Calls Global Warming a “Hoax,” Suggesting a Full-Fledged Climate Conspiracy Theory
501px-Rick_Santorum_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg Conservatism is a political philosophy that is, at its most fundamental, about resisting change. So perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that an outrageous and absurd line uttered about global warming in 2003—Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe’s assertion that it is the “greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people”—has not, nearly
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: A Conservative Ignores the Science on Why…Conservatives Ignore the Science
discoveryGlobeHeader.jpg David Klinghoffer, of the anti-evolutionist Discovery Institute, has a revealing article in the conservative American Spectator entitled: “Republicans and Science (as opposed to liberals and the science they’ve politicized).” Why “revealing”? Klinghoffer seeks to explain the real reason why conservatives like himself resist certain scientific findings. But in the process,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Fox News Versus The Muppets: Do Conservatives Have Different Senses of Humor Than Liberals?
kermit.jpg You’ve probably already heard: In a video “press conference” that has already been seen by almost two million people, Kermit and Miss Piggy take on, and take down, Fox News. The provocation? A comment by a conservative media watcher, Dan Gainor of the Media Research Center, on the Fox Business
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: In Which Climate “Skeptics” Drop the Lysenko Bomb. No, I’m Not Kidding….
Lysenko_in_field_with_wheat.jpg There has been a much justified uproar over last week’s Wall Street Journal op-ed, in which a group of scientific “skeptics” reiterate the old line that we don’t have to worry about global warming, and that those who do so are engaging in climate “alarmism.” Ample refutations have been
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Uneasy Relationship Between Explaining Science to Conservatives…and Explaining Conservatives Scientifically
democrat_and_republican_symbols.jpg Over the past year or more, I’ve profited from a series of conversations and exchanges with Yale’s Dan Kahan, the NSF supported researcher who has made great waves studying how our cultural values predispose us to discount certain risks (like, say, climate change). Kahan’s schematic for approaching this question—dividing
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Newt Gingrich on Science: The "Say Anything" Candidate
newt_gingrich.jpg After smashing Mitt Romney in the South Carolina primary, former House speaker Newt Gingrich has now emerged as tied with the onetime Republican presidential frontrunner. So it’s time to look closely at Gingrich's record on science—which is not, perhaps, as dismal as Rick Santorum’s, but still gives ample cause
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Who’s Afraid of Kerry Emanuel? Why Republicans Are Attacking a Republican Climate Scientist
kerry emanuel.jpg Last week, MIT climate scientist and hurricane specialist Kerry Emanuel received email threats for his view on climate change. These were quickly and appropriately condemned by the progressive and environmental blogosphere—as they are condemned by me—but I want to go a bit further and contemplate why Emanuel’s views
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Classroom Climate Battle: A New Heavy Hitter Joins the Fray
Teacher-writing-on-blackb-007.jpg For a year now, I’ve been covering the growing fight over the teaching of accurate climate science in American classrooms. The conflict is being driven by politics, of course, but also by the fact that school districts are, increasingly, bringing information about global warming into the educational curriculum—leading, inevitably,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Does PolitiFact Adequately Cover Scientific Misinformation? Well, Sort Of
pinocchio.jpg I’ve been harping a lot lately on the fact-checkers, like PolitiFact, and how they too often fall for a type of phony journalistic “balance” that those of us who practice science journalism as a trade have long abhorred. And then it occurred to me: Maybe the deep difference between science
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: How to Get a Liberal to Deny Climate Science (Yes, It Can Happen)
geoengineering_diagram1-660×439.jpg Regular readers of my posts will know that I’ve often focused on the work of Yale’s Dan Kahan and his colleagues, who have published fascinating research on how our political and cultural views about how society ought to be ordered skew our perceptions of scientific reality. In particular, Kahan
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Santorum Misrepresents Climate Science. Again.
501px-Rick_Santorum_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg Rick Santorum was asked about climate change recently, while campaigning in New Hampshire. The video of his response, as well as the transcript, can be found here. Suffice it to say that while Santorum sounds thoughtful and rational in his response, in fact he gravely misrepresents scientific knowledge and understanding. Let's turn to the tape.
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Rick Santorum and Science: Bad Combination!
rick_santorum_official_photo.jpg As Republican primary season schizophrenia continues, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum is now in the spotlight, having very nearly beaten Mitt Romney in Iowa. So what do we people who care about science, and global warming in particular, know about Santorum? Whoa boy. None of the Republican candidates, with the
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: New Proof: Republicans Really Are Anti-Science
republican war.jpg As readers know, I’m a regular monitor of polls capturing various aspects of the public’s views on science. These polls consistently show that for the most part, even if people don’t know a ton about it, they basically think science rocks. Americans know very well that science has
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: “End Medicare?” How Phony Bipartisanship Created a Fact Checking Disaster
pinocchio.jpg Just last week, I wrote about the core problem facing the new breed of political fact-checkers: The political right is more factually wrong, meaning that taking a strictly “bipartisan” approach will inevitably leave the fact-checkers themselves guilty of phony “balance.” And it will also lead to them occasionally having
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Climate-Media Paradox: More Coverage, Stalled Progress
who speaks for the climate.jpg For those of us who care about global warming, 2006 and 2007 felt like pretty good years. Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize for An Inconvenient Truth, sharing it with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Media attention to the issue soared, and it
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Can Fact Checking be Politically “Neutral,” When Facts Are Not Equally Distributed Across the Political Spectrum?
pinocchio.jpg Recently, I sat in on an off-the-record meeting about political fact-checking. I can’t report or quote from the event, but it spurred along some general thoughts that had already arisen in the context of writing The Republican Brain, which focuses a great deal on fact-checking—and thus, helped propel this post.
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