I found the motherlode for Global Warming Denial - it turns out we are all "crazy".

[mwb970]

It's called ICECAP (http://www.icecap.us). They go way beyond Global Warming Denial, all the way to "Global Cooling Belief". They push their ideas relentlessly by linking to articles like this one:

Government By Crazy People by Alan Caruba
(Warning Signs, February 16, 2009)

Meanwhile, poll after poll indicates that the public has concluded in ever growing numbers that global warming is pure hogwash. I recently wrote about a paper by a leading authority on “Narcissistic Personality Disorder” who concluded that President Obama gives ample evidence of it. One might conclude that Dr. Hansen has the same problem. Indeed, Dr. Pielke said that Hansen’s commentary “swerves from scientific authoritarianism to megalomania.” Anyone who can write that “Coal is the single greatest threat to civilization and all life on our planet” is surely irrational and in need of the same sequestration that Hansen wants for carbon dioxide.

The problem for the rest of us is that people like Dr. Hansen, Secretary Chu, and all of President Obama’s science and environmental advisers hold genuinely crazy ideas about coal, oil, solar and wind energy, biofuels, and global warming that will be implemented as government policy and law.

It is worth noting that perhaps the looniest of the whole bunch, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, recently said, “The new Administration is stopping the headlong rush to open offshore areas of drilling”, commending Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar for “wisely initiating a review of the potential that offshore renewable energy projects can proceed in an environmentally-responsible manner.” In other words, the 85% of the nation's continental coast will continue to remain unexplored and untapped for the billions of barrels of oil and natural gas it is estimated to contain.

Try to square this up with the Administration’s claim that it wants America to become more “energy independent.” You can’t because the two statements are diametrically opposed. That’s why only crazy people can keep two such opposing ideas in their heads at the same time. Meanwhile, absolutely nothing stopped the “headlong rush” to pass the most massive spending bill in the history of the nation with Speaker Pelosi leading the charge along with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. This isn’t the way our government is supposed to function. This is the real threat to the lives and welfare of all Americans.

So, to summarize, here is a list of the "crazy people" that Caruba identifies in just this one little screed:

* Barack Obama
* James Hansen (director of NASA's Goddard Institute)
* Stephen Chu (Secretary of Energy)
* "all of President Obama’s science and environmental advisers"
* Nancy Pelosi
* Ken Salazar (Secretary of the Interior)
* Harry Reid
* The Guardian (British newspaper)

That's a lot of crazy people! Of course, this is the familiar right-wing tactic of referring to those with whom the author disagrees as "crazy". The sheer number of "crazy people" who have nonetheless made it into high positions of power and authority might make another person wonder whether all of them can actually be literally insane. But not this Caruba person! He's very, very sure that only he is right.

This all reminds me of the way America's Republicans have characterized the world leaders with which they disagree. It's always the same: he's crazy. (This seems to be the only arrow in their pathetic little quiver.) Remember these leaders, each one declared at some point to be "crazy" or insane by Republicans?

* Khomeini
* Noriega
* Saddam
* al-Sadr
* Gaddafi (I think he is considered sane now)
* Ahmadinejad
* Chavez
* Castro
* etc.

Once again, that's a lot of crazy world leaders. These are apparently a special kind of crazy people, the kind with millions of followers and lots of power. IMO, the way to deal with them is to engage them in debate and to counter their ideas in an intelligent way. Simply dismissing one's opponents as "crazy" as an excuse to ignore them (or attack them) is childish and immature. And ain't that just like Republicans!

P.S. (this post isn't quite long enough yet!)
Regarding Caruba's imaginary polls showing that "the public has concluded in ever growing numbers that global warming is pure hogwash", check out this article, which gives the actual poll numbers involved.

[moggie]

1. On those polls

I really don't care whether "poll after poll indicates that the public has concluded in ever growing numbers that global warming is pure hogwash", because "the public" is not well informed on the subject. This, after all, is the same public of which a shockingly large fraction don't believe that humans evolved, and even that the sun orbits the earth. On the subject of climate change, who are you going to believe: climatologists, or Joe Sixpack?

[tanyev]

2. Yeah, gotta watch out for that Steven Chu.

You know the Nobel Prize is given out every year to recognize significant achievements in Crazy Talk.

[RandomThoughts]

3. well to be completely honest

All people are crazy.

The mind is not built to process information in the way that it is currently dispersed. Basically the amount of information requires one of two things,

1)Receiving information out of perspective. Like thinking the stimulus bill had condoms in it so its all pork.

Or

2)Trusting specialist to synthesis information and then trusting their findings.

Because of this, any group with a little money can make anything up and market it as truth. All they have to do is skew perception of value of information (30 second clip of a Reverend to define the life of a political candidate). Or give them somebody to trust like a paid think tank, then have that think tank or specialist lie to them.

I think the only sane person is the one that knows they don't have a clue about 99% of what goes on. However these are the same people that learn to detect when a synthesis source is sound, or just blowing smoke that there brain wants to hear already.

There is even a group that so wants to believe what they already believe, that they actively seek out only information that matches what they already believe. This further unbalances their information 'out of perspective', but is very comfortable, since they don't have to change any beliefs. Changing belief requires thinking, which can be uncomfortable for many people. Also if someone offers info that supports your position, you can think you are right, which is a ego positive, since being right to many people is the same as being smart, good, better or something they like for some reason. Not sure if I understand all that yet.

And if you don't believe people are crazy, here is an example. One gossip said about a person forms an opinion for most people, there desire to agree with group overrides thinking. They ignore the fact that 1 minute told about a life, told by hearsay, out of perspective, is not what should be used to evaluate.

But how many people do you know that use something like that to form an opinion? That is also the way they think about things like global warming or politics or economics.

[FormerDittoHead]

4. Yet Another AstroTurf source financed by old-energy. n/t

[Johonny]

5. If a crazy person calls you crazy

9 out of 10 people know Alan Caruba is false. The 10 th person is just nuts. Everyone knows that.