Today's Losers: ExxonMobil, James Inhofe, and Wei-Hock Soon

By now, you may have heard that leading climate change denier Wei-Hock Soon was paid more than $1.2 million by oil and gas companies like ExxonMobil, the New York Times reports.

And no, Wei-Hock Soon never revealed these ties.

According to the Times, Soon “has often appeared on conservative news programs, testified before Congress and in state capitals, and starred at conferences of people who deny the risks of global warming.”

As for climate-change denying Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) (chair of the Senate's Environment and Public Works committee), he’s continually cited Soon's work over the years. In reference to him, Inhofe said, "These are scientists that cannot be challenged."

Really, now?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/22/us/ties-to-corporate-cash-for-climate-change-researcher-Wei-Hock-Soon.html

Science Fact Check: Rand

SciCheck is a service of Fact.Check.org. Much respect!

So the first step in dealing with a moron is not to tell him he's a moron?

Stephan Lewandowsky is a psychologist at the University of Bristol and the author of The Debunking Handbook. Here’s how she suggests dealing with someone who doesn’t believe in climate change:

There’s a couple of things I can suggest. The first thing is to make people affirm their beliefs. Affirm that they’re not idiots, that they're not dumb, that they’re not crazy — that they don't feel attacked. And then try to present the information in a way that’s less conflicting with [their] worldview. 

One of the problems I've been working with is people's attitudes toward climate change. For a lot of people, the moment they hear the words "climate change," they just shut down. But there are ways that you can get around that. For example, it’s been shown that if you show the health consequences of climate change or if you can have market-based solutions to the problem, that does not challenge their worldview too much. 

If you tell people that there is an overwhelming scientific consensus that 97 out of 100 climate scientists agree on the basic notion of global warming, it seems that is a gateway belief that enables people to recognize the importance of the issue. 

More often than not, that is effective with people who are ideologically disposed to reject global warming as a fact. In general, people are very sensitive to what they perceive to be the majority opinion around them.

Read the full interview at Vox.

Roll Call of the Idiots

Below is a full list of the science-denying senators who voted that “Human activities don’t contribute to climate change.” See if you can notice what they have in common! (Hint: They're all Republicans.)

Barrasso, John (R – WY)

Blunt, Roy (R – MO)

Boozman, John (R – AR)

Burr, Richard (R – NC)

Capito, Shelley Moore (R – WV)

Cassidy, Bill (R – LA)

Coats, Daniel (R – IN)

Cochran, Thad (R – MS)

Corker, Bob (R – TN)

Cornyn, John (R – TX)

Cotton, Tom (R – AR)

Crapo, Mike (R – ID)

Cruz, Ted (R – TX)

Daines, Steve (R – MT)

Enzi, Michael B. (R – WY)

Ernst, Joni (R – IA)

Fischer, Deb (R – NE)

Flake, Jeff (R – AZ)

Gardner, Cory (R – CO)

Grassley, Chuck (R – IA)

Hatch, Orrin G. (R – UT)

Heller, Dean (R – NV)

Hoeven, John (R – ND)

Inhofe, James M. (R – OK)

Isakson, Johnny (R – GA)

Johnson, Ron (R – WI)

Lankford, James (R – OK)

Lee, Mike (R – UT)

McCain, John (R – AZ)

McConnell, Mitch (R – KY)

Moran, Jerry (R – KS)

Murkowski, Lisa (R – AK)

Paul, Rand (R – KY)

Perdue, David (R – GA)

Portman, Rob (R – OH)

Risch, James E. (R – ID)

Roberts, Pat (R – KS)

Rounds, Mike (R – SD)

Rubio, Marco (R – FL)

Sasse, Ben (R – NE)

Scott, Tim (R – SC)

Sessions, Jeff (R – AL)

Shelby, Richard C. (R – AL)

Sullivan, Daniel (R – AK)

Thune, John (R – SD)

Tillis, Thom (R – NC)

Toomey, Patrick J. (R – PA)

Vitter, David (R – LA)

Wicker, Roger F. (R – MS)

House Republicans yell "Cut!" for Obama's SOTU

From ThinkProgress:

The official website for House Republicans has posted on YouTube a doctored version of President Obama’s State of the Union address which cuts out comments where the President was critical of Republican rhetoric on climate change... 

In the website’s “enhanced webcast” of the State of the Union speech, President Obama’s comments criticizing Republicans for saying they are “not scientists” when it comes to climate change are erased. 

At the 43:25 minute mark, President Obama is supposed to say “I’ve heard some folks try to dodge the evidence by saying they’re not scientists; that we don’t have enough information to act. Well, I’m not a scientist, either. But you know what — I know a lot of really good scientists at NASA, and NOAA, and at our major universities. The best scientists in the world are all telling us that our activities are changing the climate, and if we do not act forcefully, we’ll continue to see rising oceans, longer, hotter heat waves, dangerous droughts and floods, and massive disruptions that can trigger greater migration, conflict, and hunger around the globe.” 

Instead, the entire section is skipped. Obama’s comments resume with “The Pentagon says that climate change poses immediate risks to our national security. We should act like it.”

Pope Francis says global warming is "man-made"—right wing pinheads seethe

I just read this article about Pope Francis weighing in on global warming... and it's refreshingly on target.

But by saying climate change is caused by human activity (something science shows is appallingly obvious), the Pope has angered idiots like Steve Moore of The Heritage Foundation.

And just a reminder—the head of the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee is Sen. James Inhofe, who calls global warming a "hoax."

Jeb Bush on Climate Change: "I am not a scientist."

Want to know how the GOP presidential frontrunner deals with climate change? He doesn't—check out his record on it.

Ruben Bolling has this "climate change" myth figured out

Via Boing Boing.

Marsha Blackburn is the Small Mind of the Day

"We need you to change things, not deny what's happening," Bill Nye told Representative Marsha Blackburn (Republican, Tennessee). He implored her to stop questioning the facts behind climate change, while Blackburn maintained that there is not consensus in the scientific community about global warming.

This despite the fact that 97% of climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities, according to NASA. Experts say that there is still some uncertainty in absolutely linking isolated extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy or bad droughts to global warming, but the vast majority of scientists ascribe climate change and the increase in extreme weather to human activity.

That makes Blackburn either willfully stupid or corrupt. But maybe when the planet heats up a bit, it'll melt the butter in her mouth.

Paul LePage is the Small Mind of the Day

Even the most hidebound Republicans have reluctantly begun to admit that climate change is real. But leave it to Maine Governor Paul LePage (Republican) to try to actually think it's a GOOD thing:

"Everybody looks at the negative effects of global warming, but with the ice melting, the Northern Passage has opened up. So maybe, instead of being at the end of the pipeline, we're now at the beginning of a new pipeline. 

"The Northeast Passage, also known as the northern sea route, is a maritime route through the Arctic Circle that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, providing a shortcut from the U.S. East Coast to Asia -- and all the markets therein -- that shaves 40 percent off the distance of the traditional route through the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal."