Thursday, June 21, 2018

Fruits of Ignoring Deliberate Deception

Since no one's looking at my ConfrontingScienceContrarians.blogspot.com, I figure may as well also post this over here.  It all started with an off-the-wall assertion made by a Creationist(s) regarding the Geologic Column.  

. . .   Psalm1Tree, a YouTube drive-by shooter, inspired me to write a column for the FourCornersFreePress which in turn caused me to compose the previous three "pre-footnotes" - "meeting" James Hutton, William Smith, Blakey and Ranney.   I won't be posting the column until after the first of month{the complete column has been posted }, still the previous three footnotes demand some sort of follow up, so I'm sharing a key portion of what I'm trying to get across in this month's FCFP column. 
... Unfortunately, after decades of ignoring such belligerent denial of reality about important aspects of our life and planet, in the service of GOP political war strategies, it has become so insidious and commonplace that we find our government increasingly controlled by Republicans who feel empowered to blatantly disregard obvious down to Earth physical realities on personal whim. 
Justified only by a hubristic conceit that they are doing “God’s duty,” when in honesty they are all about pursuing their own EGO’s bidding. 
Since it matters to me,
I decided to engage Psalm with a short video that rationally explains what the geologic column is all about. Then came my second shock,

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Judge Howell rules: Pruitt must justify his climate science denial. (Text of Complete Ruling)


With a tip of my hat to Arstechnica, I reproduce a verbatim copy of Chief Judge Beryl's ruling in PEER's Freedom Of Information Act case against Scott Pruitt, the GOP's Environmental Protection Agency vandal 
I have only added some bold highlights, a few extra paragraph breaks to help with clarity and one link to background regarding Pruitt.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
PUBLIC EMPLOYEES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY (PEER),
Plaintiff,
v
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ,
Defendant.

Civil Action No. 17-652 (BAH)
v. Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell
June 1, 2018

MEMORANDUM OPINION

On March 9, 2017, Scott Pruitt, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), appeared on the CNBC program “Squawk Box” and stated, regarding carbon dioxide created by human activity, that “I would not agree that it’s a primary contributor to the global warming that we see,” and “there’s a tremendous disagreement about of [sic] the impact” of “human activity on the climate.” Compl., ¶ 18–19, ECF No. 1. 

Noting that these public statements by the EPA Administrator “stand in contrast to published research and conclusions of the EPA,” id. ¶ 20, the plaintiff, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (“PEER”), a “non-profit organization dedicated to research and public education concerning the activities and operation of [the] federal . . . government[],” id. ¶ 2, submitted a request to EPA, pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552, for agency records “relied upon by Administrator Pruitt in making these statements and any EPA documents that support the conclusions that human activity is not the largest factor driving global climate change,”