The head-in-the-sand crowd, when claiming through their sand-filled teeth that global warming is a myth and isn’t happening, likes to pony up a few front scientists to support their cause and create debate over old issues proven by old and new research. It’s not a new tactic, essentially by claiming that this point or that point is still a point of contention (even though it could be corroborated by several studies and a great deal of experimental data) they attempt to draw out the global warming debate so long that people will give up on taking action to correct the actual widespread environmental problems that our global community has been presented with.

Well, as if it were any surprise to the rest of the scientific establishment, literally none of whom now truly question the existance of global warming or debate the human impact on global climate change (the question now isn’t what’s happening or why it’s happening, it’s how bad is it going to be) it appears that one of those scientists that the anti-environment advocates like to parade around as a dissenting voice is nothing more than an expensive scientific call-boy to energy interests and utilities. “We’ll give you money to stir the pot and incite debate.” Another example of the conservative right’s war on science, integrity, and honesty, but nothing new to the rest of us.

Coal-burning utilities are contributing money to one of the few remaining climate scientists openly critical of the broad consensus that fossil fuel emissions are intensifying global warming.

The critic, Patrick J. Michaels, is a professor of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute and Virginia’s state climatologist.

…

“This is a classic case of industry buying science to back up its anti-environmental agenda,” said Frank O’Donnell, president of the Washington advocacy group Clean Air Watch.

Sounds about right to me. Some people want to dismiss this as lobbying; this isn’t about lobbying, this isn’t about influencing opinion in a philosophical debate; this is about science and scientific studies and experimental results. You don’t have a consensus and one dissenting voice-one dissenting PAID voice-and allow that to throw the scientific process into debate. Between global climate change and evolution, its clear that the conservative war on science will never end until they have absolute control over what is said and what isn’t said, what’s researched and what isn’t reasearched, and what results make it to the public and which ones don’t. Of course we know which results those will be-the ones that support and are in the best interest of their benefactors-in this case the Coal industry, isn’t that right, Dr. Michaels? There’s no room in that paycheck for the best interests of the planet, is there?

Ah well. Just more fuel, or rather, another log on the conservative right’s own funeral pyre.

[ Utilities Pay Scientist Ally on Warming ]
Source: The Associated Press (courtesy of The New York Times)

Perhaps the most evocative line from this story is this:

“War is the total failure of the human spirit,” says British journalist Robert Fisk, which I think encapsulates it better than just about anything I have heard.

But war forces humans to survive under seemingly impossible circumstances, and in these conditions some strive to help others when barely capable of helping themselves.

That’s a signature line if I’ve ever seen one. Dahr Jamail writes for the Associated Press from the front lines in Beirut, covering the war there in all of its horrific details; a war started by Islamic extremists and then enflamed out of control by the overcompensation of a nation offended. Haven’t we heard that story before?

The story is an excellent primer on the conflict in Lebanon for the unitiated, albeit told from the perspective of someone who very much believes that Israel overstepped its necessary force in this arena, and the all but collapse of a fledgling democracy that only months earlier the United States and Israel have been supporting without question in the attempts to “bring democracy” to the region. Now, officials like Secretary of State Condi Rice claim that we’re witnessing the “birth of a new middle east” as opposed to the truth; a burning region set aflame by western arrogance and eastern hatred, and the President claims that these people are simply “enemies” trying to “stop the march of Democracy,” which is another example of our own arrogance. Still, regardless of the rhetoric at home, the bodies are still piling up in Lebanon, and all we can do at this point is watch and hope that eventually the people there will be convinced to put their weapons down. Jamail brings us the story in incredible detail.

[ Chest-Beating -- While Losing the War ]
Source: MotherJones

Even though the effort to repeal the Estate Tax, the tax that only fewer than the top 1% of Americans pay but brings billions of dollars to the Treasury, has gone down in flames every time the Republicans have tried to get rid of it, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist keeps bringing the matter back up again and again in an attempt to legislate the tax away, depriving federal coffers of billions of dollars at a time when the deficit is at an all time high and government spending on defense, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and homeland “security” are essentially spiraling out of control. Why? Why would Frist, one of the Republicans at the heart of this cabal of spending and irresponsible madness, want to deprive himself of essentially the lifeblood of his conservative agenda?

You’re right, it doesn’t make much sense; and even though the vast majority of Americans understand now that the lies the Republicans have been feeding the public about the Estate Tax being some kind of “death tax” or a tax on small businesses and farmers or something similar is completely false, and in reality it’s only the absolute wealthiest Americans that have to pay the Estate tax, Frist keeps pushing the Agenda, and President Bush acts behind the scenes to help his deep-pocketed friends out. (as we saw recently when the IRS fired over half of the lawyers responsible for auditing the taxes of the rich in America) So where’s the fire to cut of the flow of money to the federal government, and who’s going to have to make up the difference when the richest Americans take advantage of the tax breaks they’ve been shoveled by the Bush Administration? (both now and in the past) That’s right-probably you and I, middle class Americans across the spectrum of the middle class, and the poorest Americans who can’t afford to pay more in taxes and barely make a living wage.

Adam Hughes, director of of OMB Watch’s Federal Fiscal Policy program, has a few choice words on the matter, and on Frist’s incessant desire to keep bringing it up in Congress. He levels his sights solidly on Frist, and he has every reason to;

But outside the exclusive confines of country clubs, mahogany board rooms and private jets, the mood in the country is shifting away from the unaffordable repeal of the estate tax. A coalition of national advocacy groups sent a sign-on letter this summer urging support of the estate tax that garnered 740 organizations—a 500 percent increase over last year. What’s more, editorial boards and op-ed articles have appeared all around the country in numbers never before seen opposing repeal of the tax.

Despite this noticeable shift, Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist and a gaggle of House Republicans have been hell-bent on gutting the country’s only tax on massive inheritances. Let’s review: Last August, Frist announced the Senate would move to consider the House-passed full-repeal bill first thing in September. But after Hurricane Katrina hit, Frist apparently decided the biggest natural disaster in American history pre-empted even top-GOP priorities like more tax cuts for the rich.

…

But after all is said and done and the final outcome is known, the one thing that will remain a mystery is whether the GOP ever wanted to win a vote on the estate tax in the first place. Certainly a man of Sen. Frist’s education and intelligence should realize the votes to pass such a radical proposal are not available in the Senate. Why then does the Estate Tax Cut Caucus continue to beat their heads against the wall—even to the point of jeopardizing other priorities? Perhaps the GOP is not worried about what will happen to their multi-millionaire friends after they die, but whether they will write large checks this fall.

Interesting idea; as to whether or not it’s a token gesture, or not high enough on the Republicans’ priority list at all in the first place. Maybe it’s just a matter of cementing support among the wealthiest Americans by proving that the Democrats are hell bent on keeping them taxed and not giving them any breaks. Maybe it’s just another divisive effort by the Republicans to draw the battle lines and clearly separate the “ours” versus “theirs” camps. Who knows.

[ Frist's Obsession ]
Source: TomPaine.com