Senate questions Michael Crichton on fostering a new American literature

[BurtWorm]

Just kidding! ;)



Senate questions Michael Crichton on global warming

http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2005/09/senate_question.html

Yesterday, pulp fiction writer and global warming denier Michael Crichton testified before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 - His last book, "State of Fear," was published more than nine months ago, but the reviews were still pouring in on Wednesday, even as Michael Crichton folded his 6-foot-9-inch frame into a seat to testify before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

"More silly than scary," the flier dropped off by the Natural Resources Defense Council said.

"Notable mainly for its nuttiness," an analysis from the Brookings Institution said.

"Does not reflect scientific fact," the Union of Concerned Scientists said.

For all his previous works as a writer (13 novels, 4 nonfiction books, numerous screenplays) and his prominent career in Hollywood as a writer, producer or director of 13 films and as the creator of the popular television series "ER," little has yanked Mr. Crichton so deeply into political controversy as "State of Fear," an environmental thriller that casts doubt on the widely held notion that human activities contribute to global warming. <...> (Keep reading, it gets worse) NYT



So, global warming deniers like Senator James M. Inhofe have been reduced to calling witnesses who write fiction about how global warming is fiction.

In other news, the Northwest Passage completely defrosted this summer.

[burythehatchet]

1. I yearn for the Enlightenment to arrive

oy vei

[Angry Girl]

5. Truly these are the Dark Ages.

It's interesting that they use Michael Chrichton also to push their anti-environment agenda:

http://outside.away.com/outside/features/200505/counter-enviroment-power-list-3.html

Edit to correct the schlock writer's name. And then again, f*ck it. He's not worth it.

[tex-wyo-dem]

11. Angry Girl, you beat me to it...:)

A little on what Crichton has been up to...the RW science shill...

Outside Magazine (May 2005):

http://outside.away.com/outside/features/200505/counter ...

Earth Shakers: The Counter-Enviro Power List
With "the death of environmentalism" being debated across the land—and with the mainstream movement under siege from without and within—it's time to meet the winning side in America's new green wars. Here they come, ready or not: the 20 most powerful voices leading the environmental counterrevolution.

<snip>

Michael Crichton:

The 62-year-old author of stunningly successful novels like Jurassic Park, Crichton is a master at using science as a springboard for blockbusters, which is one of the reasons environmentalists have been so distressed by his latest bestseller, State of Fear. Weighing in at 603 pages, the novel is a relentless diatribe against the environmental movement, featuring nefarious, grant-hungry greenies who conspire to create deadly natural disasters just to fool the world into believing that global warming is a threat. To reinforce his view that climate-change theories are hokum, Crichton laced the book with graphs, appendixes, and footnotes from scientific journals.

A number of scientists have charged that Crichton often misinterprets data, cites questionable studies, and overlooks the consensus of the overwhelming majority of climatologists: that global warming is a serious threat. Several leading authorities—including NASA climatologist James Hansen and NYU physics professor Martin Hoffert—have said Crichton distorted their research in his work. "Crichton is not a scientist, who would examine evidence evenhandedly to get at the truth," Hansen says. "He is a scientific fraud and a charlatan."

The flak didn't stop more than 570,000 Americans from buying State of Fear—and perhaps buying its message as well—in its first three months. As one Amazon.com online reviewer notes, "You can laboriously read tomes on the science or you can give yourself a break and read Crichton to get enough to fortify or enlighten the non-scientific mind."

SOUND BITE: In a 2003 speech in San Francisco, Crichton called environmentalism "the religion of choice for urban atheists."

NEXT UP: Though the Chicago-born Crichton is not a scientist—he graduated from Harvard Medical School but never practiced—he now lectures about "Science Policy in the 21st Century" before influential outfits like the National Press Club. His thrust: decrying the poor quality of research on which environmental policy is based.

<snip>

[Ezlivin]

2. They should call up Harper Lee

And throw Kurt Vonnegut in for extra credit.

[devilgrrl]

3. Michael Crichton is an asshole...

and his books blow.

[okieinpain]

13. sorry but I disagree, he writes great fiction, I've loved him since I was

a kid. andromedia strain is one of my all time faves and jurassic park is off the chart.

[devilgrrl]

21. I saw an interview with him a few years back...

and wasn't impressed with him as a person. I really had no right to make the derogatory comment about his writing because I did enjoy Jurassic Park. :blush: However, as a human being, he came across as a very intelligent but totally self-absorbed and a miserable asshole in general. :shrug:

[okieinpain]

24. ok, I'll go half way with you and agree that he could be an asshole

[SpiralHawk]

4. Crichton and the Repubs should Open Their Eyes

GLOBAL MELTDOWN
MASSIVE LOSS OF ARCTIC ICE MEANS GLOBAL WARMING IS NOW PAST THE POINT OF NO
RETURN, SAY SCIENTISTS
By Steve Connor
The Independent
September 16, 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article312997.ece

A record loss of sea ice in the Arctic this summer has convinced scientists
that the northern hemisphere may have crossed a critical threshold beyond
which the climate may never recover. Scientists fear that the Arctic has now
entered an irreversible phase of warming which will accelerate the loss of
the polar sea ice that has helped to keep the climate stable for thousands
of years.

They believe global warming is melting Arctic ice so rapidly that the region
is beginning to absorb more heat from the sun, causing the ice to melt still
further and so reinforcing a vicious cycle of melting and heating.

[NYC]

6. What does Michael Crichton know about global warming?

Why don't they call someone who actually knows something? Is this like Intelligent Design? Ignore all facts, and talk about opinions?

[BurtWorm]

8. About as much as he knows about fostering a new American literature.

[NYC]

17. Someone gave me a book by Crichton.

It was anti-Japanese, and it treated women as though they didn't exist. I thought he did a nice job of insulting two groups of people at once.

The name of the book was Rising Sun.

[Johonny]

19. I think he knows

there's $$$$ to be made writing book for the people who are voting for Bush. Books that tell them what they want to hear sell great. He's just trying to tap into that market. Clearly it's working. A trip to the senate is free advertising for his book. Does he have anything real or interesting to say about environmental science. No. The most enjoyable part of the book is the part at the end where he explains why all the computer models and predictions are crap, then pulls a warming number out of his #$@#$. His blind guess is better than the best human predictions. That's an expert for yah.

[Mutley]

7. Damn. I like(d) Crichton.

*sigh* Oh well. Time to take a few books to Goodwill.

[Hobarticus]

9. Where's Ron Silver? Another blowhard half-assed celeb

ready to squander his last fifteen minutes in support of a bankrupt philosophy. Surprised he isn't falling all over himself to get before the Senate.

[highplainsdem]

10. Inhofe said he read all of Crichton's books? So that includes TRAVELS?

That's the NON-fiction book Crichton wrote where he describes his personal experiences with spoon-bending, talking to a cactus, channeling, having his aura ruffled, etc.

Oh, how I wish the Democrats had asked him about this. I still wish they or the media would ask him about it, but it would have been best to ask about this yesterday.

For more about the book, check out the review in The North Texas Skeptics newsletter at http://www.ntskeptics.org/1989/1989januaryfebruary/januaryfebruary1989.htm . The review's about halfway down the page, and the section after that is worth reading, too.

[tex-wyo-dem]

14. Interestingly, Inhofe is featured in the same Outside Magazine article...

http://outside.away.com/outside/features/200505/counter-enviroment-power-list-8.html

A three-term senator and the former mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Inhofe has always been an impassioned defender of oil and gas interests, but as chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works—which oversees environmental, wildlife, and federal highway legislation—his power to act on their behalf has grown considerably. Inhofe, 70, vigorously challenges the scientific consensus on climate change in his committee hearing room, where he frequently invites skeptics to testify, and during wider debate on the Senate floor.

Inhofe was instrumental in defeating last year's bipartisan McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship bill, which proposed minor curbs on greenhouse gases. He was also the lead sponsor of the Clear Skies bill, an attempt to amend the 1970 Clean Air Act. (The bill died in committee in March.) The legislation would have given power plants more time to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury—with higher allowable limits than in the existing act—and did not include limits for carbon dioxide.

Not surprisingly, Inhofe's leadership draws plenty of industry support. In 2002, he took in $427,000 in campaign contributions from the energy and extraction industries, more money than all but two other U.S. senators.

SOUND BITE: In 2003, Inhofe described global warming as "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people."

NEXT UP: This year, Inhofe will try to resurrect his Clear Skies bill and will continue to monitor the Environmental Protection Agency's grant program, which he believes favors environmental groups and what he calls the "snake-oil salesmen" that they send out to mislead the public.

<snip>

[Angry Girl]

15. It's one big Kafkaesque clique.... creepy. n/t

[MisterP]

16. you'd think he'd write better books after doing all that

and Inhofe is a super-fundie, so that would mean Crichton worships the DAYYYVull

[jane_pippin]

12. Why? Why do they want us constantly choking back vomit?

I mean Jaysus H. God! Oooh, I know! Let's get Danielle Steel to brief the education department about teaching about sex in schools. And how about John Grisham teaching 'em all how the law works too.

Just when I think I can't take it any more, BAM--they up the ante.

[Sabriel]

18. I can't wait for L. Ron Hubbard to testify for NASA

Oh, he's dead. Too bad.

[meow mix]

20. XENU SAVES! hmm i wonder what mike thinks of this graph

nothing going on here i suppose, that sea ice is not melting and warm atlantic waters are not persisting into the arctic.

[BurtWorm]

22. Why, look! It's getting darker again!

Purple (2005) is closer to black (1979-2000) than pink (2002) is, right?

:patriot:

[McCamy Taylor]

23. What does Crichton know about science or literature?