Russell Cook Demonstrates Lack of Credibility

A tip of the hat to Dave James for alerting me to the following comment by Russell Cook.

Debunking the Heartland Institute's hatchet man, Russell Cook, is both fun and easy. But, it does take time and I have a very full plate. That means spending time on his inane drivel is time away from something more productive. I need a reason to do that and, sometimes, I find it useful. Cook is a little man who wouldn’t amount to anything important if not for the Internet. But, that’s the world we live in and little people who are given a large forum find it possible to have an impact. The fact is climate change is already the most serious issue of our day and is only becoming more so. Russell Cook is not a serious person, but he, and others like him, have an effect that we need to pay attention to.

[UPDATE: In the comments Cook made in his posting about my 25 so-called errors, Cook states (referring to Heartland:

They do know of my history of challenging letter writers and article commenters to show readers where the proof exists indicting skeptics of corporate corruption, and they sometimes suggest places where I can pose those challenges, but I receive no instructions on what to write.

Here Cook is admitting to doing the dirty work for Heartland.]

So, let’s look at his comment below and review it for credibility and accuracy. Below is a comment Cook made in a recent article by the anti-science team of Tim Ball and Tom Harris. As soon as people showed up to point out the factual errors in it, Cook showed up.

Russell Cook ·

Institut européen d’administration des affaires

Here's a bit of an aside on this Tom Harris-commenter Dave James situation: Over at a blog which James is seen frequenting in its comment sections, the blogger accused me ( http://dialoguesonglobalwarming.blogspot.com/.../russell... ) of among other things, fitting a pattern where I supposedly was at Harris' beck-and-call to defend him. I count 25 errors in that blog post here http://gelbspanfiles.com/?p=5509 , but that is another story. What I would suggest to readers is a simple test of that particular accusation, in relative comparison to what the actual situation is: Place the name Tom Harris and mine within quote marks in a single Google search window, and see how many times I supposedly 'come to Tom's defense.' Then do a similar search, but substitute the name Dave James for my name. Again, put his within quote marks which narrows the search to only his name and Tom's. The results are most fascinating.

The larger lesson is more critical - how often do we see pushers of the notion of catastrophic man-caused global warming resort to various forms of character assassination ('he's not a climate scientist / 'he's a paid industry shill' / 'his religious/political leanings/education level taints his viewpoints' etc) as a means of marginalizing opposition, instead of conclusively demonstrating how skeptics' science assessments are refuted? How often do we also see false premise attempts to deem the issue a 'settled science' via worthless references to a so-called consensus (scientific conclusions have NEVER been validated by a 'show of hands') or via worthless appeals to authority (science societies' proclamations are pointless if influential members having control over public relations statements have been misled or have political agendas to promote, and if the proclamations do not reflect many of their own members' viewpoints).

What Tom Harris attempts to do is make up for the lack of reporting by the mainstream media about the skeptic side of the issue. While the skeptic side doesn't call for the censorship of comments such as those coming from folks like Dave James, his side does not benefit from having the appearance of having dedicated stalkers who follow Tom Harris around the internet with comments ranging from unsupportable assertions about Harris' positions to outright accusations about taking industry money to lie. But don't ask James about the latter problem; ask Al Gore to provide us ALL with the evidence he has against ANY skeptic climate scientist over that specific accusation. Deer-in-the-headlights ambush opportunity for intrepid reporters, anyone?

In his first line, Cook states, “fitting a pattern where I supposedly was at Harris' beck-and-call to defend him.” Please notice this comment was made on an article by Tom Harris and Tim Ball that was receiving comments by people showing where Harris is factually incorrect. In other words, Cook is denying he runs to defend Harris by running and defending him. Really!

[UPDATE: I am currently working on reviewing the so-called 25 errors I made in my posting concerning Cook. One of his comments was:

Tom Harris writes op-eds and letters-to-the-editor that I am totally unaware of, but he has alerted me via email to a few where he knows I would have some fun challenging his critics to prove he or others are paid by 'Big Coal & Oil' to lie.

While stating he is not at Harris' beck and call, he simultaneously states he is at Harris' beck and call. Great logic.]

The bigger issue is that Cook is well known for showing up when the comments get too difficult for Harris to deal with. Cook comes in and uses his favorite approach – “it’s not real until I say it is” in an attempt to counter the science. I can’t recall even one instance where Cook actually produced any science or data to support his arguments. I would be interested in anyone pointing out to me any instance where he did.

He next states I made 25 errors in a blog post about him. I’ll review that one in detail in a post.

Then, he makes one seriously flawed statement that really demonstrates his lack of credibility:

The larger lesson is more critical - how often do we see pushers of the notion of catastrophic man-caused global warming resort to various forms of character assassination ('he's not a climate scientist / 'he's a paid industry shill' / 'his religious/political leanings/education level taints his viewpoints' etc) as a means of marginalizing opposition, instead of conclusively demonstrating how skeptics' science assessments are refuted?

WAIT A MINUTE! What he’s doing is describing the actions of the denier community and doing it at the same time! He actually starts by stating “pushers of the notion of catastrophic man-caused global warming” before accusing people of character assassination. For those of you not familiar with this, the common form of this statement is to call people who accept the science ‘alarmists.’ This is an effort on the part of the denier community to marginalize the science and anyone who accepts it. He then follows up by claiming that pointing out someone, who professes to be an expert on climate science, is not, in fact, a climate scientist is somehow character assassination. Wow! And, I bet Cook actually believes that line of reasoning.

And, pointing out someone is a paid shill of the fossil fuel industry is not character assassination. If someone is going to make statements to the public and claim they are an unbiased source of information, then the public has a right to know that the person in question is, in fact, not unbiased at all. When a person is paid to promote an agenda, that person is a paid shill. Tom Harris, Tim Ball, Russell Cook are just three examples of a plethora of people who fit this description and fail to advise readers of their affiliations to the very industry they are promoting.  

And, I find it very interesting to see him make comments about political and religious viewpoints. This is very much the tactic taken by the deniers, not the science community. I cannot even begin to estimate how many times I’ve been accused of being a liberal Democrat or a Hillary-lover. And, you should see the spectrum of claims about my religious beliefs. All from people who have no knowledge whatsoever of either. And, I’m not the only one. I routinely see this tactic taken by deniers when they attack pro-science people with claims anyone who supports the science of being “extreme leftists” or “Hollywood elites.” This doesn't even include the amount of vulgarities hurled by the deniers at pro-science people. No, character assassination is something the deniers do. Cook can’t put this one on the pro-science people.

As for demonstrating how “skeptics’” science is being refuted, the fact is that deniers very seldom even attempt to produce any science. They typically merely attack the IPCC or Al Gore or Michael Mann or make political/religious attacks, such as the ones mention above. But, when they do, it is routinely and easily shown to be false. The very fact of the matter is that there is no science to support the claims of the denier crowd. None! Yes, the science really is settled and anyone who tells you differently is not telling you the truth. I even went so far as to offer to pay anyone $10,000 of my own money to anyone who could produce any such science and no one could, out of hundreds of submissions (many duplicates) could do so. And, unlike similar denier challenges (which inspired me to make my challenge), I posted all original submissions and showed why each was invalid. Many denies claim that it was rigged because I was the judge. Well, I’ve offered to pay if anyone can show how any of my decisions were invalid. They are right there for everyone to see. If it was rigged, it would be easy to show it, so why hasn't anyone done so? The offer still stands. You can see all submissions and my responses here.

Once again, we see Russell Cook has zero credibility.

Let’s continue. He next attacks the consensus. This is an area that is great concern to the denier community and that level of concern can be traced back to the Luntz memo from the George W. Bush administration entitled “The Environment: A Cleaner, Safer, Healthier America.” See the a copy of the entire memo here. http://www.motherjones.com/files/LuntzResearch_environment.pdf. Luntz stated (page 137, 7^th page down) (emphasis original),

Voters believe that there is no consensus about global warming within the scientific community. Should the public come to believe that the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly. Therefore, you need to continue to make the lack of scientific certainty a primary issue in the debate, and defer to scientists and other experts in the field.

You can see, Cook is sticking to the blueprint by claiming there is no consensus. But, it is real and you can read about it here, here and here, for starters. Notice how Cook uses his favorite tactic here – “It isn’t true until I say it’s true and I didn’t say it’s true, therefore it isn’t true.” You can tell by his language it infuriates him that there really is a consensus. This consensus has not only been confirmed with multiple studies, but has even been confirmed by deniers themselves. Read about it here. 

 

And, Cook continue with his zero credibility in the last paragraph, stating,

“What Tom Harris attempts to do is make up for the lack of reporting by the mainstream media about the skeptic side of the issue. While the skeptic side doesn't call for the censorship of comments such as those coming from folks like Dave James.”

Oh, beautiful. One of the things I keep documenting is how often comments providing refuting documentation get flagged and deleted by the deniers. They censor so much you could describe it as a plague. If fact, you can’t voice any dissenting opinion at all on many of denier sites without it being deleted. So, Cook is being less than honest on that issue. 

[UPDATE: In Cook's posting about my 25 so-called errors, Cook stated in a comment:

Since I periodically look at Keating's blog as a matter of curiosity, I found his then-proposed 6/28/17 letter-to-the-editor (archived in original form here http://archive.is/Iid5o ), and I alerted a DNT editor to it as yet another potential opportunity to challenge people like Keating to prove their assertions. The editor replied to say Keating's publication of it at his blog violated the newspaper's requirement about having first-publication exclusivity to such pieces, and he asked Keating to delete his blog post, which Keating did.

In other words, Cook is admitting to trying to censor my letter. Fortunately, it didn't work. The Duluth News Tribune published my letter.]

Concerning Tom Harris, if Harris actually produced any valid science there wouldn’t be any comments showing his errors. I have documented Harris’ efforts to deceive and mislead the public with false logic, deception and outright lies. You can read all about Tom Harris here and see for yourself. Don’t take my word for it, let Harris speak for himself.

What we have seen in this comment is that Russell Cook has less than zero credibility. In fact, like his buddy Harris, he is a paid shill, taking money from the Heartland Institute to promote their anti-science agenda. One of the things Cook is obsessed about is Ross Gelbspan. Gelbspan was an accomplished reporter and won the Pulitzer prize while with the Boston Globe, but he has since retired. Today, he writes an occasional blog post. So, Cook is either obsessed with a retired guy or a blogger. Take your pick.

I’ve spent a lot of time on this guy, but it’s for a purpose. Russell Cook is representative of so many of the anti-science trolls that it’s useful to examine his nonsense so we can combat it wherever we see it.

In a future post, I’ll review Cook’s claim about my 25 errors. It’ll be fun.

Russell Cook Deceives Again

If you follow opinion pieces on climate change you quickly recognize a pattern that appears over and over: Tom Harris will lie and Russell Cook will show up to be his pit bull when Harris is challenged. We recently were privileged to observe this tag-team at work in the Duluth News Tribune.

Tom Harris, if you aren't familiar with him, is a paid shill of the fossil fuel industry and it's his job to place anti-science pieces in as many news media outlets as possible in a campaign to undermine climate science. Harris has a long resume of association with the fossil fuel and tobacco industries, which he tries to hide, but the Internet doesn't forget and his track record is well documented. You can read about Harris and his record at TomHarrisPaidShill.

Harris placed one of his misinformation pieces in the Duluth New Tribune, a news media that is an unfortunately friendly place for the anti-science crowd. In this letter to the editor, Harris proposed that scientific theories are nothing more than opinions. Interestingly enough, the original letter has disappeared but was at this link here (in case it reappears at some future time). You can read the response Terry and I made here.

If you read our response, you'll be able to see just how fraudulent Harris' claims are and readers responded accordingly. Here is one response. Sure enough, when Harris was challenged, he ran and called in Russell Cook to do one of his attack pieces. Read it here. In case it also disappears, I've made a copy of it for future reference.

Russell Cook is a hatchet-man for the Heartland Institute who gets paid thousands of dollars to obsess over Ross Gelbspan. Gelbspan was an accomplished reporter and won the Pulitzer prize while with the Boston Globe, but he has since retired. [CORRECTION: Gelbspan conceived, directed and edited a series of articles in the Boston Globe that won a Pulitzer Prize in 1984. But, he was not named on the prize.] Today, he writes an occasional blog post. So, Cook is either obsessed with a retired guy or a blogger. Take your pick. Either way, it doesn't reflect well on Cook. My first run-in with Cook was several years ago when he made a poorly-disguised threat on this blog to sue me if I didn't stop criticizing the Heartland Institute. I showed it to two lawyers who both agreed it was an effort to intimidate me. He picked the wrong guy. I not only laughed at him, but begged him to sue me. I still am. It would be so much fun to get him in court. He quickly backed down and claims I over reacted. Again, two lawyers agreed with me.

One of Cook's traits in his attacks is to simply proclaim nothing is evidence until he says it is. If he doesn't like the facts, he merely declares they aren't facts and moves on. In this way, he creates an alternative universe where he's always right because he says so. For example, examine his latest letter in the Duluth News Tribune in response to the letter of July 5th which criticized Tom Harris.

In the first line, Cook states, "Letters like the one July 5, "Don't believe climate deniers," that describe cataclysmic-sounding situations as evidence of the certainty of man-caused global warming..." Wait a minute. Go back to the July 5th letter and show me where the author describes "cataclysmic-sounding situations" anywhere. The fact is, she doesn't. She references some events that are actually occurring and suggests the deniers are creating an alternative universe (they're good at that) that could be disastrous for us in "25 to 50 years." That's it. If she isn't making those claims, then why is Cook? Maybe it's to attack the author of that letter and make it sound as if she doesn't have any credibility.

But, he continues with, "...are often livid at the mere mention of famous-name climatologists and climate-denier organizations which doubt it." Wow! Twice in just the first line! Once again, the author of that letter said NOTHING about being 'livid' and Cook provided NO climatologists who doubt it. One of the things people like Cook hate is the fact that essentially every climate scientists in the world who is active in the field acknowledges manmade climate change is real. This has been firmly established by multiple studies, including by the deniers themselves. Read about it here. So, we know why Cook didn't produce the names of any of these "famous-name climatologists." It's because he can't.

I think you probably already see the pattern of the Harris/Cook tag team. But, let's continue.

Cook goes on to claim there is no evidence that the fossil fuel industry has been funding the anti-science community to protect it's profits.

Far worse, there's been no media revelations about Exxon or any other fossil-fuel industry being caught with secret material proving it conspired with "industry-bought scientists" to create and orchestrate a deception campaign where all agreed to spread lies and fabricate reports to the public in order to save the profits of the industry.

Really, Russell? Do you expect anyone to believe that? At least, anyone who isn't in your alternative universe? Let's see, try reading this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this. Just for starters. And, by the way, this evidence includes internal documents from the Heartland Institute detailing their efforts. These documents were so damaging Heartland threatened to sue anyone who posted the documents and then, when they couldn't get them removed, changed strategies and claimed they were fakes, despite the fact that they were received directly from Heartland. Additionally, word analysis showed they came from the same source as other Heartland documents.

Of course, Cook will just tell you this isn't evidence. Welcome to his alternative universe.

Russell Cook: Climate Science Harasser

Harassment of climate scientists has become the norm in recent years. Climate scientist Michael Mann has received numerous threats, including death threats. But, he isn’t the only one. Essentially, any climate scientist who steps up and speaks on the issue to the public is facing attacks and harassment.

This appears to be a mostly American strategy. Scientists in other countries report little of the harassment American scientists experience. A major tactic of the denier lobby industry is to harass and attack climate scientists and anyone that even appears to be supporting valid climate science and that lobby is headquartered in the U.S.

Why would climate change deniers be interested in this tactic? Simple. By chasing climate scientists out of the public forum, the deniers have it to themselves. This makes them free to tell the public their lies, deceits, falsehoods, and false arguments without having to worry about someone calling them out. This activity is routine, organized, and well funded. A leaked memo from the American Institute of Petroleum revealed detailed plans to "recruit, train, and pay willing scientists to sow doubt about climate change among the media and the public."

While at nowhere near the level of the university researchers, I personally have received quite a bit of harassment and threats. People have sent me emails and comments that can only be described as vile. I have been called many things and have been threatened with several lawsuits. Unfortunately for them, I don’t intimidate very easily. I come from a different kind of background than most scientists and the prospect of a fight doesn’t scare me.

Thus, enter Russell Cook, who I fondly refer to as the Heartland Institute’s henchman. Cook has appeared in my comments many times making many bizarre, even incomprehensible claims, but always with the apparent intention of harassment in an attempt to silence or undermine me. If I comment on submissions from known fossil fuel lobbyists, such as Tom Harris, it takes only a short while before Cook shows up to attack me. Note, he doesn’t defend the denier, he attacks me. That is his modus operandi.

Who is this guy, Russell Cook? Like I said, he is affiliated with the Heartland Institute and his webpage with that anti-science organization lists him as an “unpaid contributing editor” and is responsible for investigating Ross Gelbspan. Notice, there is no mention of being paid on a free-lance basis. So, it would be entirely possible for Cook to be paid by Heartland without ever showing up on their books. That is how these things work. Continue reading and you will below how Heartland is actually paying him, despite their claims.

Why does Heartland feel it is necessary to have someone with the job of investigating a particular journalist and blogger? Take a look at who Ross Gelbspan is. He has written two popular books on climate change, TheHeat is On and Boiling Point. And, he’s no light weight. He won the Pulitzer Prize while working at the Boston Globe.

But, he retired several years ago. So, why are the antiscience people so interested in him? Well, for one thing he continues his work with regular contributions to DeSmogBlog.com – one of the websites most hated by the denier world.

Now, it makes sense. And, I have to admit I’m very flattered. The denier lobbyists think I’m so dangerous they have sent the same man to harass me that they sent to harass Ross Gelbspan. They may not see it this way, but I consider that to be a high compliment!

Speaking of DeSmogBlog.com, this is one of the quotes they had from Cook:

“My conclusion can be readily summarized: the accusation [“that those who express skepticism about the theory of man-made global warming are being paid by the fossil fuel industry to lie about the issue”] appears to be a false claim, a myth generated by a small group of enviro-activists with significant direction from ex-Boston Globe reporter Ross Gelbspan.”

Note to Cook: ExxonMobil has admitted providing funds to denier groups for years. So much for credibility.

Recently, Cook has appeared on my blog with some ad hominem attacks. I initially intended to simply ignore them as the ramblings of someone who has left reality, but instead decided they need to be turned into a posting. These comments quickly degenerated in diatribes. I have provided the two most egregious examples below for your perusal so you may see I am not misquoting him or taking him out of context. The crux is, they graphically demonstrate his harassment technique while, at the same time, demonstrating he has a total lack of credibility.

Having said that, let’s wade into this mess and take a look at some of the things he said.

Cook:

You openly say the "evidence is massive, conclusive and irrefutable", yet when I challenged you last year via the three different analogies of presenting evidence at a courtroom evidentiary hearing, or to prove a pure hearsay sighting of a rare bird, or to satisfy the demands of a Washington Post-style legendary news editor, you struck out rather than hit what should have been home runs.

Response:

Cook last year challenged me to a debate. Sounds good and I’m willing to do that. Except, the terms of his debate were that we both put up $10,000 and the money would go to a charity of our choice. Nice. His fossil fuel buddies pay his $10,000 and I have to take $10,000 out of my savings. I would have to be an idiot to accept that and he would have to be an idiot to think I would. But, that wasn’t the goal. The goal was to make it look as if I was afraid to meet him in public debate. Not only am I not afraid of debating the issues in public, but have sent challenges, including one to his Heartlandcomrade John Coleman. By the way, they acknowledged receiving my challenge, but never responded.

The other challenge Cook made was for me to produce evidence deniers are funded by the fossil fuel industry and have instructions to undermine climate science. Unfortunately for Mr. Cook, this was pretty easy and I did a large posting on the subject. My evidence consisted, among other things, of documents filed with the SEC and the IRS, court documents, and internal memos. Cook says this is all invalid because I don’t have secret recordings and canceled checks. Well, Mr. Cook, you don’t get to decide what constitutes evidence and proof. Of course, he doesn’t have to worry about that. All he has to do is keep repeating the same lie and there will be people who believe him.

Included in those original challenges was a veiled threat of a lawsuit. Mr. Cook insists it wasn’t a threat, but when I showed the comments to two lawyers, they both agreed it was a case of making a threat without actually making a threat. The purpose, they told me, was to make it clear to me the threat was on the table without saying anything I could exploit against him. When I stated the first thing I would do if sued would be to subpoena Heartland’s financials, he stopped making the threat. Surprise.

Cook:

What follows next is a whole series of personal attacks.

Response:

What this has to do with the subject matter is never revealed. What is of particular interest is how Cook accuses me ‘name calling’ when I say Tom Harris is a paid shill for the fossil fuel industry. See my posting here on that topic. So, why did Cook engage in this attack? You’ll have to ask him.

Cook:

You don't read my blog. I read yours. I read your heroes' books, articles, I watch interviews of them and their own video presentations. But you just shot yourself in the foot with a cannon again - you don't read opposition material because it undermines all that you BELIEVE.

Response:

Again, what does this have to do with the subject matter? But, it has a lot to do with Russell Cook. How in the world does Mr. Cook know what I do and don’t read? No, I don’t read his blog. I tried once but it has no value, even in the realm of denialism. However, I read denial blogs, statements, articles, etc. on a nearly daily basis. I need to stay informed on what the deniers are lying about. It is a occupational hazard. Sorry, Mr. Cook, but you are the one who shot yourself in the foot. You have demonstrated your lack of credibility in a big way.

Cook:

You only believe I'm employed by Heartland to knowingly spread lies, you believe criticism against your dear leaders is collapsing, and you believe in the 'tobacco industry parallel' talking point, but you literally cannot prove a word of it. Hurl all the accusations you like, and torture yourself to sleep with nightmares of apocalyptic climate mayhem, but ask yourself why it is that you are compelled to pursue this on BELIEFS which are enslaved to erasing criticism, rather than facing it head-on.

Response:

You say you read my blog, but then you say I cannot “prove a word of it.” You may have pointed your eyes at my blog, but you certainly did not read it. My guess is that you can’t understand the science. And, how could you possibly know how I sleep? This is a great example of how you do business - you merely assume what you want without any supporting evidence, or even a chance of supporting evidence. I can assure you, I have never lost any sleep over you or your cohorts and I cannot remember the last time I had a nightmare. I simply don’t have them. I guess that’s the product of a clear conscience. So, how do you sleep at night?

Cook:

You view me and other critics with unrestrained hatred which tears you apart. I view you as potentially one of the strongest skeptics there could ever be, once you have actually objectively viewed both sides of the issue. You've already indicated you don't read material you oppose. I've probably already read more of your own side's political material than you have, and maybe even more of the scientific material than you have, that's why I am as confident as I am, and that's why I have confidence in a positive outcome for you.

Response:

Once again, Cook demonstrates his lack of credibility. How could he know any of these things about me and what does any of this have to do with the subject? This is nothing more than a continuation of the diatribe from a desperate man. I certainly feel no “unrestrained hatred” and I am not being torn apart. Of course, you know there is no way you can know that, so you say it for the sake of your fans. (The alternative is you're a sick person who needs to seek counseling. Your choice.) Again, if you really have read my blog, you know I continuously refer to the antiscience statements of deniers. How could I do that if I wasn’t reading them? One more giant hole in your logic you don’t seem to be able to see and another example of your thought processes. And, I am almost certain you do not read more of the scientific material than I do. I am also highly skeptical you understand any that you do read. It is not possible to understand the science and still be a denier. Of course, you are financially vested in being a denier and a harasser, so you will never be able to understand the science.

Let’s move on to Mr. Cook’s second diatribe.

Cook:

Live in whatever alternate reality, 911Truther/ChemTrail-style conspiracy-driven world you wish, there is no way on Earth you can prove I didn't first arrive here at your blog purely on my own volition, nor can you prove I've questioned the veracity of yours and others regurgitations of the 'industry-corrupted skeptic climate scientists' accusation for the last 7+ years under the direction/payment of ANYBODY.

Response:

Well, most of this is nothing more than personal attacks and is irrelevant to the issues. But, let’s take a look at one of these comments. He states he doesn’t work under the direction/payment of anybody. Then, explain this from DeSmogBlog:

After January 2013, with his “savings drawn down to a critical level,” the Heartland Institute offered Cook a “$12,000 strings-free grant to enable [him] to continue devoting time to [the] subject.

So, he really is receiving payment from someone to continue his attacks and that someone just happens to be one of the worst of the denier institutes.  Once again, Mr. Cook has demonstrated a total lack of credibility.

So, there you have it, a climate change denier harasser exposed. Below are the two comments to which I have been referring.

Russell Cook Christopher Keating

Puh-lease. You openly say the "evidence is massive, conclusive and irrefutable", yet when I challenged you last year via the three different analogies of presenting evidence at a courtroom evidentiary hearing, or to prove a pure hearsay sighting of a rare bird, or to satisfy the demands of a Washington Post-style legendary news editor, you struck out rather than hit what should have been home runs. You response here is as bad as Dan Rather sidestepping his 'George W Bush National Guard fabricated documents' disaster by saying there is evidence out there somewhere proving his accusation. Skeptic climate scientists didn't manufacture evidence out of thin air at the behest of industry people, they were pointing out doubt in the global warming issue that was pre-existing to begin with and industry people found that out AFTERWARD. Your beloved Ross Gelbspan felt compelled to take words out of context from industry annual reports in order to twist that into an 'industry sought out scientists' line. I have those report copies and you do not, and Gelbspan has never shown his copies for a very good reason. If you would read my blog, you'd know all about that particular wipeout.
You don't read my blog. I read yours. I read your heroes' books, articles, I watch interviews of them and their own video presentations. But you just shot yourself in the foot with a cannon again - you don't read opposition material because it undermines all that you BELIEVE. As I've said now at ClimteCrocks, DesmogUK and elsewhere, look in the mirror and repeat as often as it takes until you get it: "It doesn't matter what I believe, it only matters what I can prove!"
You only believe I'm employed by Heartland to knowingly spread lies, you believe criticism against your dear leaders is collapsing, and you believe in the 'tobacco industry parallel' talking point, but you literally cannot prove a word of it. Hurl all the accusations you like, and torture yourself to sleep with nightmares of apocalyptic climate mayhem, but ask yourself why it is that you are compelled to pursue this on BELIEFS which are enslaved to erasing criticism, rather than facing it head-on.
This is your wake up call. Read my blog, read skeptic climate science assessment, watch skeptic presentations, do some critical thinking, and you can look forward to the uplifting prospect of being freed from your own unsupportable ideology. As I said at the end of one of my Breitbart pieces ( http://www.breitbart.com/big-j... ) several years back, quoting a famous US movie line, "Man looks in the abyss, there's nothing staring back at him. At that moment, man finds his character. And that is what keeps him out of the abyss."
You view me and other critics with unrestrained hatred which tears you apart. I view you as potentially one of the strongest skeptics there could ever be, once you have actually objectively viewed both sides of the issue. You've already indicated you don't read material you oppose. I've probably already read more of your own side's political material than you have, and maybe even more of the scientific material than you have, that's why I am as confident as I am, and that's why I have confidence in a positive outcome for you.

Russell Cook Christopher Keating

Live in whatever alternate reality, 911Truther/ChemTrail-style conspiracy-driven world you wish, there is no way on Earth you can prove I didn't first arrive here at your blog purely on my own volition, nor can you prove I've questioned the veracity of yours and others regurgitations of the 'industry-corrupted skeptic climate scientists' accusation for the last 7+ years under the direction/payment of ANYBODY. Stop and think about your line of reasoning for a moment: one of the interesting things about the accusation against skeptic climate scientists is how it never showed up until they criticized your dear enviro-activist leaders - but none of your dear leaders in the mainstream media ever fact-checked the core of the accusation, where it originally came from, or who was promulgating it.
I did, and you continue to sidestep every challenge I put to you to back up the core assertion of the accusation.
Meanwhile, what's up with the "the sold[sic] job of attacking one particular blogger" line? What blogger? Show us all exactly where it says that. Surely you don't actually believe the "Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist" Ross Gelbspan is a mere blogger, do you?? Really???