When Is Science a Hoax?

If someone should tell you that carbon monoxide, which comes out of the tailpipe of your vehicle, can kill you, you would probably say that you already know that.  You probably know that if you are working on your vehicle in your garage with the engine running, you should leave the door open.  You probably know that when you shut the car in your attached garage at night, you should not leave the engine running because the whole family could die when the odorless gas seeps into the house.  You probably know that you should keep the exhaust system of your vehicle in good repair because if the gas leaks into your car your passengers, or you, the driver, could die.  You probably even know that some people have committed suicide by running a hose from the exhaust pipe into the vehicle and then sat in the vehicle with the engine running.  It doesn’t take very long.  You may also know that home furnaces and heaters could leak this gas into your house and you would not know it, because it is odorless.  You may even have invested in a carbon monoxide alarm for your house, similar to a smoke alarm, to detect any such gas leakage.  If you did not already know this before y our friend told you about it, you would be shocked but you would believe him and you would be glad of the warning.  You might go to your computer and check the internet for more information about the problem.  And find such as this.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/health-center/carbon-monoxide-poisoning-what-happens.aspx

And perhaps you already know that some states have established a Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week, encouraging everyone to install detectors, and even making laws requiring the installation of detectors. http://www.kidde.com/utcfs/Templates/Pages/Template-66/0,8070,pageId%3D88200%26siteId%3D384,00.html  

You would be glad that there were scientists doing the research on this, and that they make the public aware of the dangers.  You might also be glad that there are government agencies that help collect data on deaths and illnesses from carbon monoxide, that help develop safeguards and warning systems, and that alert the public to dangers.

You would be very surprised then, if you heard that a congressperson called the threat of carbon monoxide poisoning a “hoax,” if he called hearings at which “scientists” were called in to decry the myth of the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning, to accuse the scientists of just wanting to get more money for their research, and to defund and dismantle any government agencies that had anything to do with research and prevention of carbon monoxide poisoning.

And you might be truly astonished to learn that there was a task force established to prepare curriculum for the public schools debunking the science of carbon monoxide dangers, and teaching that it was a naturally occurring gas that was beneficial to the environment, and that those “alarmists” that said otherwise should be ignored.  

Rick Perry Slander on Scientists--taken back

I have modified the following news item.   I have crossed out some words in the original, and added some of my own, all of which are italicized.

Rick Perry Slander - 'A Substantial Number of Climate Scientists Who Have Manipulated Data'

Posted: 17 Aug 2011 04:00 PM PDT

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry suggested Wednesday that global warming is a hoax perpetrated by scientists who are motivated by cash.

"There are a substantial number of scientists pseudo scientists , think tanks, Republican legislators, and right-wing talking heads, who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects pockets from the oil, coal, and gas industry," the Texas governor told a group of supporters at the "Politics and Eggs" Breakfast in Bedford, New Hampshire.

"I think we are seeing it almost weekly or even daily, pseudo scientists who are coming forward and questioning the original idea, from real scientists, that manmade global warming is what is causing the climate to change," Perry added. "Yes, our climate has changed. They And it has been changing for ever since the Earth was formed, but never more so than now since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution."

"But I do not buy into a group of pseudo scientists, who have been, in some cases, found to be manipulating this information. And the cost to the country and to the world of not implementing these anti-carbon programs is in the billions if not trillions of dollars at the end of the day. And I don't think, from my perspective of ignorance, that I want America to be engaged in spending that much money on still a scientific theory, even though it may be based on substantive investigation and evidence, that has not been proven, although of course, by the time it is, it will be too late, and from my oblivious perspective, is more and more being put into question."

“Also,” he went on to say, “I don’t believe the earth is round, because, if  it were, then when I shine this flashlight in that direction, straight ahead, the light from it would go all around the earth and shine on my backside.”