ChamberGate, some points to ponder

BPSDB On April 29th a person using the twitter account “@septscelles”  released a large file to Barrett Brown that purportedly contained secret US Chamber of Commerce documents. ~ Muskegon Critic

If you hadn’t heard about this it’s because there’s nothing to hear. The data dump seems to contain nothing that wasn’t already publicly available and/or of no interest. “a big nothing-burger.”

That works for me since I want to talk about the context rather than the content, and now can do so without the distraction of what the hacked information may or may not mean. Call this a preemptive discussion for if and when there is some sort of “real” release of information from one of the Denier monoliths.

I think there are three important issues to consider:

1. The validity of the content;
2. Our response to the content;
3. Our response to the nature of the release.

The validity of the content

Of the US Chamber of Commerce release The Atlantic Wire reports:

“Suspicions? Well, yes–Brown has reason to believe the new cache of documents isn’t totally on the level. Recall that when Anonymous released a bunch of documents from the cyberintelligence group Team Themis, those files described various strategies for discrediting watchdog groups–including creating “false documents” and “fake insider personas.” So Septscelles may be a concerned citizen who values transparency, or, as another posting at AnonNews puts it, he or she may be trying to “discredit Anonymous through a campaign of misinformation.”

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Climate change Bytes and Blogs VII

BPSDB

A Climate for Change

Brigham Young University Pwns Deniers

18 leading scientific organizations

He tolls for thee

Dubya’s War on Science

Chamber pot of commerce tries rebranding

Meanwhile, the Superfreaks are:

1. Supercensoring
2. Pwned by George Will
3. Getting hosed by The New Yorker
4. Still using mind control on Jon Stewart

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The US Chamber Pot of Commerce punks itself, again

BPSDBThe good news about the US Chamber of Commerce (CoC) and their climate change Denial public relations disaster just keeps rolling in, thanks to … The US Chamber of Commerce.

In August the CoC made a very public demand for political trials of climate change science. This proved to be a public relations “own goal” as the CoC outed itself as a regressive force for ignorance and stupidity. The tail spin just got worse as member corporations and groups began very publicly leaving the CoC accompanied by scathing critiques of the Chamber. Then the Yes Men and Avaaz Action Factory staged a press conference mocking the CoC and all hell broke loose.

Now it seems that having shot themselves in both feet, the CoC has reloaded and is aiming at their knees.

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US Chamber of Commerce Punks the Yes Men

Vodpod videos no longer available.

BPSDBThe US Chamber of Commerce (CoC) disrupted a Yes Men /Avaaz Action Factory press conference on Monday as part of an elaborate prank meant to distract attention from the Chamber’s regressive and ignorant stance on climate issues. Some have suggested that it was the Yes Men who were pranking the US Chamber of Commerce (here and here) rather than the other way around. However, given that the Yes Men’s climate policies (full text of speech here and discussed here) are reality based and rational, whereas the CoC‘s are obviously an irrational comic farce, that really doesn’t sound very credible (see also here).

Chamber of Hope

For me one of the most hopeful signs that we might be starting to take climate seriously is the plight of the US Chamber of Commerce after it’s most recent episode of climate change Denial. There are three elements to the CoC story that I find to be very hopeful

1. The Yes Men action was credible

2. Corporate flight from the CoC

3. Fallout and CoC’s attempts at damage control

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The Assault on Science: I. Climate, evolution, and the EPA “Scopes” trial

BPSDB Do some areas of science matter more? Should we ignore some of the attacks on science and focus on others? Can evolution be wrong and geology right? or astronomy wrong and climate science right? Does the US Chamber of Commerce attack on climate science matter more than the assault on evolution?

No, because these attacks are not even wrong. Even though they try to masquerade as scientific skepticism about the results of scientific inquiry, they are anything but.

They are outside the realm of science and scientific practice, and regardless of their specific intent they are an attempt at changing the definition of  science itself. Their goal is to change science from being based on empirical observation to one based on politics and/or ideology. They are attacks on the very basis of how we know what we know, which is an attack on all of science.

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Deniers denying denial, the EPA Scopes trial on trial

BPSDB

Der Prozess

Next in the docket for being criminally bewildered, the climate change Deniers at the US Chamber of Commerce (hearafter CoC). We have some updates from the blogosphere, and a jaw dropping attempt at revisionist damage control by the CoC to consider.

A few days ago I reported how the US Chamber was calling for “Scopes Monkey Trial” type hearings on the Environmental Protection Agency (hereafter EPA) endangerment findings and proposed action. Much has been going on, so let’s sample some of it.

The CoC started some damage control with the unsubstantiated, unsourced claim by Brad Peck that “… the agency [EPA] used secondary scientific sources, studies that largely weren’t adequately peer-reviewed and the selective use of scientific studies to justify a policy decision they wanted to make.”

While the evidence before us clearly shows that Peck is something of an expert on using questionable sources to justify a decision that he wanted to make, I’d still like to know what his source was. No mention of the it though; apparently the CoC does not believe in transparency and using information that is beyond question.’ Maybe we should have a trial?

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Climate Deniers demand Stalinist style political show trial

BPSDBOthers are comparing this story to the famous Tennessee Scopes trial on the teaching of evolution. There are very good reasons to suggest that it has far more in common with the Soviet show trials of dissident scientists.

The bare bones of the story is that the U.S Chamber of Commerce (hereafter CoC) would like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (hereafter EPA) to hold public hearings on climate science.

Incredibly, the CoC wants “‘Scopes’-like hearing on the evidence that climate change is man-made.” For those who are not familiar with it, the “Scopes” reference is to the famous “Scopes Monkey Trial” where school teacher John Scopes was put on trial in Tennessee for illegally teaching Evolution science .

The EPA is dismissive of the petition, particularly as the basis for it are the usual collection of climate change Denier idiocies such as “climate change has stopped.” For more on those details and further analysis see here and the links at bottom.

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