posted on June 19, 2003 08:46:49 AM new
The New York Times snagged an early copy of a report, commissioned in 2001 by the EPA and recently "edited" by the White House. When the report (which is supposed to be a comprehensive review of environmental challenges facing the U.S.) left the EPA, it had a lengthy discussion of the threat of global warming that cited several large-scale, credible studies documenting the risks of rising global temparatures, including a respected, federally funded study by the National Research Institute.
The Times had access to that earlier version, as well as the heavily edited release approved this week by the White House. They took out most of the section on global warming - and the studies that supported it - and replaced it with a study performed by the American Petroleum Institute.
From the Times: "Political staff are becoming increasingly bold in forcing agency officials to endorse junk science," said Jeremy Symons, a climate policy expert at the National Wildlife Federation. "This is like the White House directing the secretary of labor to alter unemployment data to paint a rosy economic picture."
You can read the The New York Times' story here (One surreal note: they interviewed Whitman as she was sitting in the green room waiting to go on Letterman.)
Or if you're not registered at the NYT site, you can read the MSNBC account (which basically re-writes the NYT story) here.
------------------- We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are.
------------The Talmud
posted on June 19, 2003 09:16:44 AM new
If I may be so bold as to speak for the neo-cons,
No pain no gain, acceptable losses, collateral damage, free market, stop whining, ‘Screw the globe’
and that’s only IF you can get the neo-cons to admit that global warming is nothing more than a war-fuzzy feeling.
“I give the poor money and they call me a saint. I ask why they are poor and they call me a communist”
Someone.
posted on June 19, 2003 10:24:26 AM new
I'm not really saavy on the global warming issue although I do plan on reading the sites you suggested, msincognito, when I get home to a non-dialup Internet. I can say this much:
No global warming here in Cleveland. Our weather seems to be getting colder, not warmer. A global colding perhaps? Hey, how about a garage sale Thursday with no rain? It has rained 15 out of the 19 days in June here. And, on the 15 days that it rained, the temps were at least 10 degrees below normal. It's only in the 60's today.
I just had to gripe about the miserable weather we are having here in the northeast.
Cheryl
My religion is simple, my religion is kindness.
--Dalai Llama
posted on June 19, 2003 10:45:37 AM new
Actually, that could be part of it. Global warming increases relative humidity, which makes cold weather seem "chillier." If I could send you some sun, I would We've already had a few triple-digit days, and I've put away all my dresses and tops with sleeves. Fortunately, sleeveless shifts with jackets are acceptable business wear here
If you want a good primer on the topic, this page lists myths and facts about global warming.
However, a warning - if you do a Google search you'll hit on a lot of pages with nameslike "Envirotruth.org," "globalwarming.org" and "The National Center for Public Policy Research". These are almost all funded by the petro-chemical industry.
------------------- We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are.
------------The Talmud
We've already had a few triple-digit days, and I've put away all my dresses and tops with sleeves. Fortunately, sleeveless shifts with jackets are acceptable business wear here