Kenji got this in his inbox today (donation links redacted):
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UCS supporter—
It’s bad enough that climate deniers get elected to Congress.
But it gets much worse: some purveyors of disinformation sit on the House Science Committee.
Rep. Lamar Smith, who chairs the committee, wrote a recent Washington Post op-ed replete with misleading information about the science of global warming.1 Rep. Jim Bridenstine believes atmospheric temperatures have more to do with solar activity than human activity. AND he is about to introduce a bill to defund climate change research. Oh, and he wants President Obama to apologize for funding it.2
I wish I were making it up, but I’m not. We need your help today so we can continue our work mobilizing prominent scientists, armed with facts, to testify on Capitol Hill, meet with lawmakers, and speak out in the press. What we do works—but it doesn’t happen without support and resources from people like you.
Before MIDNIGHT TONIGHT all gifts will be matched dollar-for-dollar, up to $125,000. Give now—time is running out!
Thank you for fighting for science.
—Kathy
P.S. Need more reasons to donate before midnight? Check out our previous message below.
1. http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/policymakers-climate-science-0383.html
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So much for the Democratic process. I wonder how UCS will use money sent today to somehow make a change to the list of people testifying on Thursday? The previous message they reference is also pretty funny. They claim Shaun Marcott was abused by ‘hate mail’ and “bloggers twisted his research” but provide no proof of it, simply linking to his FAQs on RealClimate and a USA today story about James Hansen as a reference. Pretty lame.
Here’s the previous pitch for money:
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Dear UCS supporter,
When Dr. Shaun Marcott published a groundbreaking paper showing the world is warmer today than it has been for thousands of years, climate deniers went ballistic.1 They sent him hate mail, and bloggers twisted his research.
When Dr. Joseph Skorupa’s research showed that phosphate mines were polluting waterways and poisoning trout, his supervisors at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told him not to go on The Daily Show to publicize the findings, saying: “the leadership doesn’t want you to go on and they will make your life hell,” according to Skorupa. “Part of the threat was that my colleagues would also be punished.”2 Skorupa felt he had no choice but to decline to go on the show.
The truth can’t always protect itself. When researchers get targeted, sound science can lose out to ideology and corporate agendas. The Union of Concerned Scientists helps researchers like Dr. Marcott and Dr. Skorupa, providing technical, moral, and media support.
Today, you can help even more scientists brave enough to stand up for the facts: There are only two days left to help us reach our goal. What we’re able to raise before Wednesday will have major implications for the work we can do in the months ahead.
Help scientists in jeopardy, and your online donation will be MATCHED dollar-for-dollar, up to $125,000.
When you make a tax-deductible gift to the Union of Concerned Scientists, you make a difference for science. Here are just some of the reasons why:
- You’re empowering scientists. We helped Dr. Marcott focus the media on his findings—not the false controversies dreamed up by talking heads. “I never expected this to happen,” said Dr. Marcott. “I’m glad there’s a group like UCS that can be there for scientists when they’re attacked for their work.”
- You’re helping stand up for the facts. UCS teaches scientists how to clearly communicate their research to the public and respond to attacks. And our Science Network gives 20,000 scientists and technical experts opportunities to connect with policy makers, directly impacting laws that protect our families and our planet.
- You’re protecting scientists who speak the truth. UCS members were instrumental in passing groundbreaking whistleblower protections—in part by showing lawmakers over 400 federal experts who are uncomfortable with their agency’s timid approach to censorship of publicizing the results of their science.
Will you be there for scientists who need you? The next round of attacks could happen any day—for Dr. Skorupa, Dr. Marcott, or another courageous scientist. When you give now, you’ll help them face down the insults, misinformation, and intimidation.
Don’t miss your chance. Give now to have your contribution MATCHED dollar-for-dollar, up to $125,000.
Our opponents aren’t resting—and we can’t either. Together, we’ll make sure the truth wins out. We have to—the world is depending on scientists and concerned citizens like you and me to create a healthy, sustainable future.
On behalf of all the scientists we work with, thank you for your support.
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Sincerely,
Kathleen Rest, PhD, MPA Executive Director |
1. http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2013/03/response-by-marcott-et-al/
2. http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/vergano/2013/04/06/hansen-federal-scientists-communication/2053077/
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It seems Kevin Knobloch is out and Kathleen Rest is in as president. Given the ever present drumbeat for money, perhaps the “Union of Concerned Shysters” might be a better name?
IMHO, you’d either have to be stupid or a dog to belong to this organization.
No dog of mine will sign up to the UCS! However,kudos to Kenji for operating behind enemy lines. Give that dog a bone! And Pig and Poppy say hello to Kenji from glorious sunny Somerset!
Hmmm – no mention where the matching funds come from. Maybe…Dog Lovers of America?
Who is providing the up to $125K in matching funds? And before MIDNIGHT TONIGHT!
Midnight in which time zone?
Maybe the matching funds come from Al “Big Oil Whore” Gore.
Who the heck is matching up to $125k?????????
Is is Soros?
These yahoos want to use donation levels as leverage of public opinion tomorrow. They probably saw the same statistics on where climate actually stands in the public opinon polls, and it aint very high up there the list.
Would you want a creationist testifying at a hearing about superbugs? Why would you want someone who takes the same stance about climate science at a hearing about climate?
“Rep. Jim Bridenstine believes atmospheric temperatures have more to do with solar activity than human activity.”
Who doesn’t?
Perhaps she meant: Rep. Jim Bridenstine believes the barely measurable 20th century increase in atmospheric temperatures have more to do with solar activity than human activity.
That hasn’t been ruled out. Time will tell.
Please, send a copy of this article to all members of the Senate. Oh yes and before I forget, tell them the biggest glacier in the Italian Dolomites has stopped retreating: http://iceagenow.info/2013/07/largest-glacier-dolomites-stops-retreating/
Wattsupwiththat?
“We need your help today so we can continue our work mobilizing prominent scientists, ”
Yeah that’s how you do science. First mobilize, then invade, then subjugate the enemy. That’s the scientific method.
Do they take prisoners?
Thanks, Kenji. Be safe behind that dog-cover.
“You’re empowering scientists. We helped Dr. Marcott focus the media on his findings—not the false controversies dreamed up by talking heads. “I never expected this to happen,” said Dr. Marcott. “I’m glad there’s a group like UCS that can be there for scientists when they’re attacked for their work.””
Marcott found a gradual cooling over the holocene, with a statistical artifact at the end that looks like a warming but was a fluke, as Marcott and Shakun admitted.
I agree with Marcott that the current warm time is cooler than the MWP, which is cooler than the Roman Warm Period etc.
We need to keep kenji undercover to report these important developments. Perhaps a moustache, a trench coat and dark glasses would be in order? I wonder if Ms Rest got her PhD in a kelloggs pack or whether it is another of those communication ones.
I love Ms. Res’ts use of bold, BLOCK, and italics. TO MAKE HER POINT. Only missing are the adolescent reliance upon exclamation points!… Er…
A real Union Maid!
The ice cream trucks somehow latched onto this melody. Now every time they tinkle past, we get The Union Maid. Maybe Kenji can howl along.
The UCS was a Soviet front run by Helen Caldicott.
So, they need $125,000 + $125,000 match = $250,000. Is this the current going amount needed to bribe a public official? I’m just saying…….
Ryan says:
July 17, 2013 at 9:31 am
Would you want a creationist testifying at a hearing about superbugs? Why would you want someone who takes the same stance about climate science at a hearing about climate?
Kenji has a bone to pick with you: heasks that you please stay focused on the issue at hand, which is climate. I’m inclined to agree.
I always find it fascinating while looking at the academic background of people who act as experts in climate science.
Dr. Rest earned her doctorate in health policy from Boston University and her master’s degree in public administration, with a focus on health services, from the University of Arizona.
Need I say more. But, hey she’s a doctor.
“It’s bad enough that climate deniers get elected to Congress.”
I wish they would prove that people actually deny this:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/attachments/weather/12007d1198280484-best-climate-humans-us-climate-zones-map.png
Also…
UCS upside down hockey stick:
http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000057911&year=2012
I would send a Penny taped to a note stating:
“Dear Ms. Rest,
I would normally be able to send you $1000 for your cause but due to the taxation of Carbon and the dramatic increase in energy prices due to the afore stated taxation, this penny is all I can now afford. Even that penny came from another letter I received seeking donations for some other cause.
Until you can fight your cause without raising my energy costs, I will be unable to donate more a penny.
Sincerely
Kenji Watts”
Prominent scientists? Like Bill Nye the Science Guy?
Ryan says:
July 17, 2013 at 9:31 am
“Would you want a creationist testifying at a hearing about superbugs? Why would you want someone who takes the same stance about climate science at a hearing about climate?”
How does a non-creationist explain that complexity back-extrapolation seems to indicate that life would have to be 10 billion years old?
“Recent studies, applying the equivalent of Moore’s Law to biological evolution and extrapolating backwards, propose that life began “9.7±2.5 billion years ago”, billions of years before the Earth was formed […]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia#Complexity
(Notice that this is part of Jimbo Wales’ NPOV worldview!)
Notice that I offer no explanation; but you should read about the viewpoint of creationists before spewing your bile.
Everybody sing! You in the back there, with the hairy muzzle:
“Oh you can’t scare me, I’m stickin’ with the union…”
Woof
Sincerely,
Kenji
Ryan says:
July 17, 2013 at 9:31 am
Would you want a creationist testifying at a hearing about superbugs?
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Totally agree, Ryan, well said!
Which is why people who believe in the Religion Of AGW, which increasingly flies in the face of empirical scientific evidence using nothing but blind faith to keep itself airborne, should be allowed nowhere near these hearings.
“Consensus” is an entirely faith-based concept in case you haven’t noticed 😉