Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Saturday, July 02, 2011

Climate Change Skeptics Unite At Heartland Conference

WASHINGTON -- Prominent climate change skeptics gathered at the Heartland Institute's sixth international conference on climate change on Friday to take on the body of scientific evidence showing that human emissions are contributing to global warming.

Sen. Jim Inhofe, a famous climate change denier, was set to headline the event's kickoff on Thursday, but canceled when he came down with a cold. Instead the Oklahoma Republican, who has long called climate change a hoax, insisting "we're in a cold spell," sent a statement alleging that while President Obama may have scaled back his speechifying on energy and the environment, he has not given up trying to push forward a green agenda in creative ways.

"He understands that the green agenda is not popular but that doesn't mean he has given up trying to implement it,” Inhofe said in a written statement. "Take a good close look at the President's administration. With sky high unemployment and a weak economy, who does he ask to head the Department of Commerce? The founder of the Natural Resource Defense Council, John Bryson. That's right, a committed green activist who supported legislation that would have imposed huge costs on consumers and shipped American jobs overseas."

Heartland’s conference, held at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park hotel, featured presentations from scientists skeptical of climate change, including Patrick Michaels, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, who argued humans are either having a limited impact on climate change or no impact at all.

Michaels said that public figures are overestimating the extent to which climate change can be attributed to humans, which in turn is leading to costly, ineffective polices that will not help reverse the warming trend. (Michaels, a self-described "luke-warmer," had his research called into question earlier this year, when Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce committee, asked fellow Republicans to investigate how much of his research funding was coming from the oil industry.)

But if there was only a tiny sliver of the scientific perspective on climate change in attendance, it wasn't for lack on an invitation. Heartland Institute communications director Jim Lakely said it's a “myth” that only skeptics are invited to the conference.

Full Article
Source: Huffington 

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