Global Warming Denier Learns About Global Cooling
Scott Bennett of Dallas Blog sarcastically reports news that cyclical sunspot activity might trigger global cooling. He calls global warming a "plot by discredited Commies and gullible liberals like [Al] Gore." He says he is not kidding, that "we will be in deep snow" by 2041. This according to a press release from something called the Space and Science Research Center (SSRC), which appears to have little history, few peer-reviewed scientific papers, a director who isn't even a scientist, and a mission of selling "research and study products tailored to meet the requirements of SSRC customers." In other words, pay us and we'll write it.
In fact, cyclical sunspot activity and cyclical ice ages have been known and studied for decades. In the 1970s, the popular press was full of stories about the possibility of the onset of another ice age. Left to itself, the Sun and Earth just might be about to enter another ice age. But the Earth is no longer left to itself. Human activity is influencing climate change. And the preponderance of evidence is that, despite sunspot activity, the Earth is warming, not cooling.
None of this is news. None of this is a surprise to anyone who has been reading the science for the last 20 or 30 years. But Scott Bennett is a journalist, not a scientist. Worse, he's a journalist who's prone to conspiracy theories. He'll accept any press release from anywhere as long as it supports his denial of global warming, but he dismisses mountains of contrary evidence by reputable scientists. Scott Bennett should be investigated for journalistic malpractice.
DMN's Texan of the Year
The Dallas Morning News chose the "Illegal Immigrant" as its Texan of the Year for 2007. Keven Ann Willey explained the controversial choice:
I fear that many of the people upset over our choice for Texan of the Year have read only the headline of the essay and not its content. The essay makes it clear that we're not glorifying the illegal immigrant. We are noting that nobody else has so roiled Texas (and all of America) in the past year as the illegal immigrant.The avalanche of critical reader reaction to the News' choice confirms the decision as a good one. Nothing has stirred the political pot, from city council apartment regulations to presidential electoral politics, as the issue of illegal immigration.
Tom Pauken of Dallas Blog piles on by calling the selection "silly" and approvingly quotes one irate reader who asks, "What part of stupid are you guys that support illegal aliens?" Pauken's coverage shows no evidence that he himself actually read the essay. The choice was not "asinine" as another reader quoted by Pauken asserts. What's assinine is leaving unchallenged the accusation that the News' choice indicates that the News supports illegal immigration.
Tom Pauken spends more time criticizing the News and its current staff than he does reviewing its choice for Texan of the Year. Pauken is bitter with the News for dismissing the old guard, journalists whose time was long past. The Dallas Morning News suffers from declining circulation, almost all newspapers do, but one thing's for sure. It's not because of the dismissal of the likes of Scott Bennett, Carolyn Barta, Bill DeOre and William Murchison, who now can be found at Dallas Blog. Maybe Dallas Blog should try to hire Ed Bark, Tom Siegfried, or other former News' writers known for good writing, not just for conservative propaganda. But don't count on it. I don't think good writing is at the top of Tom Pauken's list of goals for Dallas Blog.
2 comments:
Speaking of Dallas Blog, their intrepid cub reporter Sam Merten has jumped to the Observer's Unfair Park. Unlike the tired hacks you mention, Merten is a decent writer who did excellent work on the Trinity election issue. Too bad he's a wingnut like the rest of them. Maybe it's something in the water over there.
I noticed Sam Merten's appearance on Unfair Park. Earlier, Dallas Blog lost Trey Garrison to Frontburner. Garrison is more libertarian than conservative. Still, Dallas Blog had some energetic freshness in both. I can understand why Unfair Park and Frontburner poached them and left the others at Dallas Blog.
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