Washington Post Ombudsman Compounds Global Warming Misinformation In Response To Reader Protests Over Will's Column
By Nicole Belle Monday Feb 23, 2009 10:00am
Lucky Andy Alexander. Even before he introduced himself as the new Washington Post Ombudsman, replacing the embattled Deborah Howell, he has already stepped into a rather steaming pile of dung. Sadly, instead of discerning the truth for the readers of Washington Post, Alexander opted to compound the error:
As numerous progressive and science bloggers have pointed out, Washington Post columnist George Will misused data and distorted statements made by climate experts in order to suggest that human-caused global warming is not occurring. Moreover, in his reported response to criticism of Will's column, Post ombudsman Andy Alexander falsely suggested that a statement by the Arctic Climate Research Center (ACRC) supports Will's claims about sea ice levels when, in fact, the ACRC statement rebuts the very argument Will was making. Indeed, contrary to Will's suggestion that ACRC data on global sea ice levels undermine the overwhelming scientific consensus that humans are causing global warming, the ACRC document Alexander cites actually states that the sea ice data are consistent with the outcomes projected by climate-change models and studies.
In his February 15 column, Will suggested that ACRC data undermine the case for the existence of "man-made global warming":
As global levels of sea ice declined last year, many experts said this was evidence of man-made global warming. Since September, however, the increase in sea ice has been the fastest change, either up or down, since 1979, when satellite record-keeping began. According to the University of Illinois' Arctic Climate Research Center, global sea ice levels now equal those of 1979.
In response, the ACRC reportedly stated:
We do not know where George Will is getting his information, but our data shows that on February 15, 1979, global sea ice area was 16.79 million sq. km and on February 15, 2009, global sea ice area was 15.45 million sq. km. Therefore, global sea ice levels are 1.34 million sq. km less in February 2009 than in February 1979. This decrease in sea ice area is roughly equal to the area of Texas, California, and Oklahoma combined.
It is disturbing that the Washington Post would publish such information without first checking the facts.
Responding to criticism of Will's column and of the Post's refusal thus far to correct it, Alexander reportedly suggested in an email to The Wonk Room's Brad Johnson that Will's "conclusion" is supported by a January ACRC document.
Not a very auspicious start for Alexander. Wonder if he'll start referring to readers with as much snide disdain as Howell did.
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Ombudsman for the Post must be the worse job in the world. We should get Mike Rowe to try it out. lol
Is rebutting the same as mooning?
you spin 360 like Linda Blair did with her head in your earlier clip.
Mebbe I need a spin doctor.
I think you'd have to do it more than once.
What if you are responding to someone else's moon?
Here's someone not wise to moon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzXjpCLRMzI
See, that's what happens when you don't have a fridge full of Dr. Pepper.
If the baby boomer version of the Washington post was around in the 70's, do you think Nixon would have been taken down; and justice at least partially served?
I suppose you mean the one with Woodward SANS Bernstein?
You can't deny the influence of humans on global warming without asserting that billions of tons of pollutants can be released into the atmosphere annually with no effect.
as soon as the Invisible Hand of The Market so instructs them.
and we poor commoners don't even get an Invisible Reach Around anymore.
we do get continual promises of trickle-down.
poor Bill Clinton got impeached.
Are knee pads required or merely recommended?
not Clinton interns. See above.
Judging from the photo, Lucky Andy could use a little global warming himself.
before the make up artists at ABC work him over.
You would prefer him a little boehner-nut toned?
Maybe Andy is George's illegitimate white child?
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/PhotozO...
the Milk man who raped my momma. I only picked the black guy in the line-up because it was dark outside when it happened.
The basic job description is to make sure that "both" sides of every debate-- the extreme right wing view and the right wing view-- are represented. Oh and that any "extremism" (anything not right wing) is presented but debunked.
The fact that the tiny percentage of scientists (I'm tempted to put that in quotes also but there are a few actual scientists in that crackpot group I suppose) who are climate change deniers are given a voice equal to the 99% who accept what's clearly a massive global phenomenon is one of the worst examples of the conservative stranglehold on our media and our discourse that I've ever seen.
I actually blame the Washington Post more than people like George Will. Will, and his fellow right wingers, are entitled to voice their opinion, even if it's viewed as fringe nut case extremism by the vast majority of the scientific community. However a newspaper like the WAPO giving him and others a forum to publish lies, and then supporting those lies when exposed, giving the false impression that there are "two sides" equally, to this "debate"-- that's incompetent to the point of corrupt.
Obama speaking live right now. CNBC. worth watching
.
.
he's everywhere! Does this mean that the A-rabs are gonna take over now?
owned by the Emu of Gutter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q37qFxNl3lk
we didn't see it coming.
to take a dispassionate view of climate change. We humans are a part of nature, and therefore whatever effects our presence have on the planet are, by definition, "natural." The question of whether we are running ourselves off the planet is, in this context, less a moral issue than a practical one. The earth would get along just fine without us, as it did for most of its existence. We have greater abilities than other species to appreciate trends and forecast conditions; this doesn't necessarily mean we care what the planet will look like a few generations down the road from here. So, we can argue about what's causing these trends, which according to most scientific scrutiny are undeniable, or we can try to figure out whether we have the time and/or inclination to do anything about them. In short, we're never going to meet our great, great, great grandchildren; so do we, or don't we, care what their lives will be like?
It's natural for my cats to do their business, but I tend to clean out the litter box to maintain harmony and balance. I suppose its my price to pay for the unnatural way I have forced them to live with me.
Humans have never been too keen on cleaning out their own litter boxes.
I'm tired of the right wing never apologizing for anything.
I mean,one of the main tenants of their ideology demands personal responsibility,and yet they never ever take responsibility for anything.Will can lie his bought and paid for shill ass off for all I care,but for the papers "Ombudsman" to compound this misinformation is nauseating.
definition: ass-covering defender of the paper. Once defense has been found to be ridiculous, the ombudsman morphs into a totally insincere babbler of apologies and a thin skinned whiner complaining about the way the "level of political discourse"* in this country has fallen so far that it gives one the vapors.
*"level of political discourse" is not available for all viewpoints you filthy communist.
...is conducting a letter writing campaign to Mr. Alexander to encourage them to at least correct Will's lies. I went a step further and asked him to consider firing him for all his prior lies and shilling for the Republican propaganda machine.
Here's the link if you want to participate:
http://mediamatters.org/action_center/willful...
Is it just me or does Andy Alexander look like this dad?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NVr-vXIa-A
Its eerie.
Also it's too early for sudden violent attacks of mirth.I almost dislodged a cornea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU-DAWveB_g
although I don't recall that show it doesn't look like it sucks to hard.
Just askin.
CBS News Pick Claimed Democrats are Bad People
by
Ira Forman: Executive Director of the National Jewish Democratic Council
Today, I learned that CBS News named Jeff Ballabon, a New York Republican activist, to serve as the Senior Vice President of Communications.
What is CBS thinking? This guy is very far out there with his partisan rhetoric.
A decade ago, I debated Ballabon in New York. I represented the Democratic Jewish community while he spoke on behalf of Republican Jews. During the debate, Ballabon claimed that, after his most recent job in Washington, he became convinced that Democrats are inherently bad people and Republicans are fundamentally good people.
What planet does this guy come from? It's astonishing that CBS News would name Ballabon to its senior management.
just a continuation of the corporatist daisy chain.
great song that...
...be surprised. CBS is a corporate owned media that benefits from having Republicans and corporatists in positions of power. Why wouldn't they hire a right wing nutjob for the position. Makes perfect sense to me. It's why I never get my news from television or print media anymore.
It will be interesting to see if he tries to curtail any of the reporting done by the 60 Minutes team that makes Republicans look bad.
Even if global warming isn't caused by what we pour into OUR atmosphere,the pollution CAN NOT BE GOOD for any living thing on this planet!
the free market will create gas masks...and the corporatists will sell them for $100,000 a piece.
It's the free market, duuuude.
when they pry the cold dead fingers of the Invisible Hand off it.
Now here's the tooth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98VT44zaCJg
And the newspapers wonder why their sales are tanking? TheRepublican rags just can't tell the truth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjSVLxIQWzc
That humans are not the first species to poison Earths atmosphere and kill off most life on Earth.
Earths atmoshpere used to be oxygen poor. Cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, changed the oxygen content of the atmosphere and killed off most life on Earth.
What has happened before will happen again.
I always hated those blue-green algae.
It's worth noting that "most life on Earth" at the time consisted of a lot of unicellular creatures and maybe some worms.
Most Republicans are unicellular creatures and worms.
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