I'm new to the global arming answers section. Do cons here still use the fake petition argument?

Question

They post a link saying 15,000 scientists are against global warming.

What they don't tell you is that the list was never verified. All you needed to be a "scientist against global warming" was to print out some from from a website, fill it out, and send it in. You didn't even have to do climate research or even have a degree. You could just lie about it.

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Jokers Add Fake Names To Warming Petition

Arthur Robinson, a physical chemist from Cave Junction, Ore., who circulated the petition by mail among scientists, said questionable names were added to the petition by pranksters.

While the petition has been portrayed by global-warming skeptics as authoritative evidence that many scientists reject the catastrophic scenario of global climate change, Robinson acknowledged that little attempt was done to verify credentials of those who responded.

Several environmental groups questioned dozens of the names: "Perry S. Mason" (the fictitious lawyer?), "Michael J. Fox" (the actor?), "Robert C. Byrd" (the senator?), "John C. Grisham" (the lawyer-author?). And then there's the Spice Girl, a k a. Geraldine Halliwell: The petition listed "Dr. Geri Halliwell" and "Dr. Halliwell."

Asked about the pop singer, Robinson said he was duped. The returned petition, one of thousands of mailings he sent out, identified her as having a degree in microbiology and living in Boston. "It's fake," he said.

"When we're getting thousands of signatures there's no way of filtering out a fake," Robinson, 56, said in a telephone interview from Oregon.

Robinson, who acknowledges he has done no direct research into global warming, said the petition includes thousands of people "qualified to speak on this subject" including biochemists, geophysicists and climatologists.

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=2748308&date=19980501&query=jokers+petition

Answer 1

Welcome
These web sites are great all you guys should use them hower you can to help fight for recogition of global warming.

Answer 2

Same as the list who support "global warming." The so called "scientists" are everything from gynecologists to cosmetologists. How does that make it true?

Since the whole thing has been proven to be a big expensive hoax, it doesn't matter anyway.

If you check the history, it keeps being recycled. There was the "global cooling" hysteria of the 1890's, followed by the "global warming" scare of the 1940's, followed by the "global cooling/ice age" scare of the 1970's. Now it's back to the "global warming" nonsense. They're hoping no one will look deep into the issue because the more you know the less you believe.

They just want the ability to lower your standard of living and tax you for everything you do. Once you agree to it, they put their foot in the door and they're no stopping them. (It's a form of socialism.)

The worst part of the issue is that it hurts the poorer countries the most since it prevents them from advancing above their present poverty levels.

Answer 3

Naw I ain't no "con" you can call me a heretic if you want. I don't need no list I just watch what the Eco elite do and develop opinion based on that. I have found IPCC travel itinerary rather luxurious, algores lifestyle rather hypocritical and use him as a metaphor for all actors,politicians and rockstars who would say "do as I say not as I do" .
This leads me to believe that if they aint sweating the load then they must know the real figures and facts and just want to punk us out so they can keep more to themselves.



Al Gore's admission in Grist Magazine that 'I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous it [global warming] is."

Answer 4

Welcome to the global warming section, hope you'll join us here and be a regular.

The petition used to be brought up quite frequently but along with many of the skeptics arguments it's been blasted out of the water so many times that it's lost every last bit of credibility that it ever had.

The petition you refer to is the Oregon Petition. It's the brianchild of Professor Frederick Seitz. You may have heard of him, he's the person employed by R J Reynolds tobacco to counter claims that smoking was harmful (a claim he still maintains to this day). After parting company with R J Reynolds he turned his attention to the oil industry where he is now a major shareholder.

The petition collected names by being sent at random to people whilst masquerading as having come from a respected scientific journal. The petition has changed over time, originally it was directed at the US Government urging them not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, global warming wasn't mentioned.

There was no system of verification of the signatories and the only requirement was that they held a scientific degree, many of the people who returned the reply card failed to indicate they had any qualifications at all. The system was open to abuse and malicious names were frequently added. Geri Halliwell (the ex Spice Girl) appeared five times.

Answer 5

I missed that, was it sceptics with no imagination shooting themselves in the foot, or people joining the petition with monikers designed to be flagged up? Sounds like a bit of a giggle anyway.

Answer 6

are you one of those left wing idiots that think just because algore said it.. it has to be true....
please dont be an idiot, I would like to point out that the liberals and Gov.. Have NEVER fixed 1 problem the world has ever faced.. while the private sector has solved ever problem that has faced it.. you wackos on the left wing have no answers. while the right wing..oh wait let me use wording you would understand.. BIG BUSINESS.. is solving the proble, below is just one link to point that out.. Oh by the way.. remember your viewing the world using something the gov. would never think of and if the DNC had its way you would be paying a big chunk of taxes on.. the WWW...
I would also point out that in the mid 1970s idiots on the far left wing cried and screamed about OMG OMG OMG Global cooling.. and they said they same crap you are saying now.. OMG if you dont believe in Global cooling you have to be stupid.. OMG....
stop being an idiot and remember.. those of us on the right fix problems people like you only talk about.. and it has always been that way.. and always will

Answer 7

No, we haven't seen anyone mention the Oregon Petition for a while. I think most people know that it was a bogus list by now. A few months ago people were still mentioning it quite frequently though.

By the way, welcome to the Environment section. It's a bit less frustrating than talking to people in the Politics section about environmental issues.

Answer 8

What is a con? is that the opposite of a Libtard?

Answer 9

There's more debunking this "petition" here;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Petition