Oct. 14, 2007
Report: Mining Exec Funded Gore Film Trial
U.K. Paper: Industries Backed Parent's Court Case To Keep "Inconvenient Truth" Out Of Schools
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The Al Gore documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" won a British court case brought by a parent who claimed showed the film in schools was tantamount to "brainwashing." Now a U.K. reports the case was supported by industry figures who have long fought efforts to curb greenhosue gas emissions. (AP/Paramount Pictures)
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Brits Scrutinize Gore's Film
"An Inconvenient Truth" may be shown in schools, says a British judge, as long as teachers explain it is only a movie. Richard Roth reports.
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The documentary, authored by Al Gore, won critical praise, spectacular box office, and an Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary. But Stewart Dimmock, a school official and truck driver, charged that showing the film to students amounted to politically "brainwashing" them.
A U.K. court sided with the schools, allowing the screenings to continue, though the judge cited several what he termed "inaccuracies" in the film, saying some actions like the melting of snows on Mt. Kilimanjaro could not conclusively be linked to human activities, as Gore and climate scientists contend.
Gore's critics jumped on the judge's findings, as a means to further try to debunk the scientifically-accepted finding that man-made greenhouse gases are increasing the warming of the Earth.
But the story of a parent standing up to school administrators lost some of its "David vs. Goliath" overtone with an article today in The Observer, which reported that Dimmock was standing on well-funded shoulders.
According to the British paper, Dimmock credited an obscure Scottish party, the New Party, with supporting him in the case, without much elaboration. The party promotes lower taxes and an expansion of nuclear power.
The Observer has established that Dimmock's case actually received support from a network of business interests, including those with links to the fuel and mining industries, as well as a local Conservative Party figure.
According to Electoral Commission records, nearly all funding for the New Party came from a mining concern, Cloburn Quarry Limited in Lanarkshire, which contributed almost 1 million pounds between 2004 and 2006. The company's owner, Robert Durward, is also chairman of the New Party, and is a long-time critic of environmentalists.
He also helped form the Scientific Alliance, an industry-backed non-profit with links to other global-warming debunkers (like the U.S.-based George C. Marshall Institute) that have received funding from ExxonMobil.
The Observer also reported that Dimmock received additional support from another source, Straightteaching.com, which established an online payment system inviting contributions to support Dimmock's case, via a proxy domain purchased a month ago through the Arizona-based godaddy.com.
When asked by the Observer who else was backing the Web site, Derek Tipp, a Conservative council member in Hampshire, declined. "There are other people involved but I don't think they want to be revealed," the paper quoted him.
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There is simply no escaping the FACT that human beings burning fossil fuels contribute to global warming. You can argue about exactly HOW MUCH they contribute if you like, but you can''t explain away the critical points: 1) global warming is a major crisis, and 2) we can reduce the warming by reducing fossil fuel burning and 3) the sooner we start, the better off we%u2019ll be.
You may hope for some way to minimize the effect of keeping the fires burning so your oil buddies can keep on raking in the dough, but it will take major scientific research, possibly lasting decades, to do that and we don''t have the time to waste. (Besides, it doesn''t appear that ANY of you are intellectually equipped for to the task.)
The teacher were so outraged over this ruling and that was before THEY found out who was behind it.
Why do these Conservanots making everything for the people and humanity political.
Al Gore needs to run, if even they claim he''s making the Climate Crisis political. These Republicans have worked hard to make it political, even the Nobel Peace Prize. They are disgusting. Heck, they made childrens Health Care political.
Republicans seem to be nothing but Brick Walls on the path to progress.
Here is the article from the teachers union that couldn''t believe this case.
Teaching union slams Gore film ruling
Oct 12 2007 by Abbie Wightwick, Western Mail
WALES%u2019 biggest teaching union yesterday accused a High Court Judge of acting like Big Brother by ruling a film about climate change can only be shown in schools if accompanied by new guidance notes to balance its views.
All schools and colleges in Wales were sent free copies of Al Gore%u2019s film An Inconvenient Truth in a programme backed by the Welsh Assembly Government earlier this year.
Last night the WAG said it was considering the ruling%u2019s implications, although no similar complaints from parents have been made here.
[snip]
%u201CThis response from the High Court in London is outrageous. It is scary. It%u2019s like the thought police. It%u2019s 1984 arriving in 2007,%u201D he said. %u201CIt%u2019s a slap in the face to teachers to suggest they are incapable of chairing a mature discussion to go with showing this film.
%u201CI don%u2019t think it%u2019s appropriate for a judge to say what should be taught in schools and how. The only body that could do that would be the General Teaching Council for Wales.%u201D
Full article
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/wales-news/2007/10/12/teaching-union-slams-gore-film-ruling-91466-19940190/
have al gore spread the gospel of global warming..he did not creat the gospel..he did not creat a solution..he just decided to pick up the idea and run with it..
here is a good analogy..
would you like to have a catholic priest who molested children to have a noble prize for spreading the word of goodness and peace towards children???
crediblity..
al gore getting a noble prize for spreading awareness in the cause of global warming when he himself cannot,,would not correct his personal ways to lead the road towards curing it..
Unfortunately, it is the environmentally illiterate among us who do not realize that the nuclear energy is the cleanest energy in the world, as well as the cheapest to run. By replacing EVERY coal and natural gas power plant with a nuclear power plant, we would beat every environmental protocol ever conceived! We wouldn''t even have to change our driving habbits (out of all of the machinery that emits CO2, modern cars are some of the smallest offenders on the planet).
Give a coal miner a new job. Nuclear energy NOW!
And shows why Peace is the right category for his award--his service will soon be seen as promoting peace and freedom over fascism and weakening corporate malice that was feeding evil.
I chuckle imagining the emergency meetings going on in conservative think tanks and big money interests around the world, as their high-priced consultants shrug and say "looks like he got us, we got nothin"
Unfortunately, it is the environmentally illiterate among us who do not realize that the nuclear energy is the cleanest energy in the world, as well as the cheapest to run. By replacing EVERY coal and natural gas power plant with a nuclear power plant, we would beat every environmental protocol ever conceived! We wouldn''''t even have to change our driving habbits (out of all of the machinery that emits CO2, modern cars are some of the smallest offenders on the planet).
Give a coal miner a new job. Nuclear energy NOW!
Posted by USAyesterday at 07:45 PM : Oct 14, 2007
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With nuclear powered plants all over America it would not be a question of if, but when and how many, accidents will occur, not to mention sabotage (terrorists)
If terrorists, armed with nothing but box-cutters, could bring down three skyscrapers in New York (by flying passenger planes into only two of them) just imagine what they could accomplish with a country full of Nuclear power plants available to them.
We could be counting causalities by the millions instead of thousands.
Where would you dispose of so much nuclear waste from those plants? Nuclear waste does not simply biodegrade like most human waste, it lasts for eons.
What does it matter that a mining exec funded the case to show that there are inaccuracies in Algore''s movie?
Does that invalidate the lies that Algore told?
Not at all. Lies are lies, no matter who helps reveal them.
The byproduct of nuclear energy plants is tons of radioactive sludge which will be lethal to all human and animal life for hundreds of thousands of years! We have no safe way to store it, no safe way to transport it, no where to put it if we do transport it, and currently, no way to protect it from being used by terrorists, either!. Unless and until these problems are solved, Nuclear Power is GUARANTEED death.
Don''t be a fo-ol, USAyesterday!
In the case of "Al Gore''s lies", the situation is that the movie exaggerated a few points. None of that changes the fact that the message of the movie is 100% TRUE. All documentaries select examples to illustrate points. In this case, some of the selected examples were not 100% appropriate, but that does NOT invalidate the point they were trying to make.
Furthermore, your statement ignores something very important: CONTEXT. All lies are lies, but some are much more important than others. For example, repugs love to point out that Bill Clinton lied when he said he didn''t "have s3x with that woman" (of course, it is completely true if you define "s3x" as "intercourse", but that doesn''t really matter because he knew what they were asking). OTOH, The Great Decider decided to LIE to Congress and the American people about why he wanted to attack, invade, and forever occupy Iraq. This lie seems to be on a whole different level, considering that it has led to 3829 dead US soldiers and countless thousands of dead Iraqis. So, I''d have to say that all lies are not equal. Some are simple exaggerations, some are the "little lies" we all tell to keep a marriage from falling apart, and some are catastrophic world-changing invitations to the end of all life on this planet.
In this case, it DOES matter who bankrolled the attack on Mr. Gore''s film, because it demonstrates that the attack is political, not scientific.
Your situational ethics are very transparent, because it''s ok in your mind for Algore to lie and exagerate to create hysteria and fear, but it''s wrong for others to do so, implying that Bush lied about Iraq.
But the INCONVENIENT TRUTH is that Algore, Slick Willy, Peloozy, Kennedy, and the rest of the leaders of the Party of the Jack-Asss symbol said THE SAME THINGS ABOUT WMD in IRAQ before Bush was ever elected President.
So if you''re going to say Bush lied us in to a war, then you have to concede all the Dembots listed above lied us in to a war as well.
But the other INCONVENIENT TRUTH is that Algore LIED in his movie to try and create hysteria about the climate varying like it has done for millenia.
And the other sick part of this is that while Algore is telling us all how WE need to change how we live, Algore has multiple homes, and a mansion with an outdoor heated pool that uses TWENTY TIMES the energy of the average home.
But give Algore some carbon credit: He INTENDED to install solar panels someday.
The Global Effort to scare us all about the climate changing is a scam.
And that''s no lie.
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So this was just a political game, supposedly using a concerned father? And all the time he was being funded by some very dark characters? LOL! Dig a little and what you find may surprise the heck out of you. These greedy corporations have found a way to politize even the best of science, especially when it might cause them to lose money. So sad. It makes a person wonder.
No he didn''t lie. The science is there and is overwhelmingly accepted. I have reviewed it several times. I don''t consider Limbogg, Hannity and others to be credible sources. There may be some unanswered questions, but the only people lying are those trying to scare people about being responsible for the pollution we put in the environment.
So if you''''re going to say Bush lied us in to a war, then you have to concede all the Dembots listed above lied us in to a war as well.
Posted by hawksprings at 11:25 PM : Oct 14, 2007
Nice try, hawksprings, and it might even work on some, but there are two big gaping holes in your scenario as presented.
First, Clinton, et.al. made comments regarding stopping Iraq''s suspected WMD developement, sure, but what you don''t say is that inresponse Saddam permitted inspections. Case closed.
Secondly, claiming that someone who threatens action is as responsible for someone else''s actions as the person(s) who actually performed the act is the ranting of a lunatic.
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You mean, appointed president by a GOP-stacked majority of the US Supreme Court, which rubber-stamped a GOP effort to halt the Florida vote count?
Dems not only groused about Saddam, but claimed they knew he had belligerent intentions. What they did not do, however, was (1) claim iron-clad proof Saddam was preparing to attack the US (2) urge congress to write a carte blanche authorization for invasion (3) start an orchestrated public relations campaign of distorted intel to justify an invasion on which they ALREADY had decided and planned well in advance.
As for your comments about the Dems mascot/symbol, the donkey was chosen when Jackson wanted to show his stubbornness in refusing to re-charter the National Bank. However, in terms of gross output of mascot droppings, your pachyderm mascot beats all contenders in sheer volume of exhaust / BS. Which continues, of xourse, to this day. The only area in which GOP witnesses before congress do not live up to their mascot billing is their complete loss of memory.
californiar, I did that so you could see how ridiculous your post reads.
Posted by alphaa10
Omigosh alphaa, how many times did Mrs. Clinton say she didn''t remember when she was testifying?
You probably don''t remember.
How typical of liberals when they are caught lying to try to change the subject.
I''d love to stay and argue some more, but I gotta go to bed. The Rockies are up 3-0 over the D-backs, woohoo!
By the way, all you Global Warming Sheep, here in Cheyenne Wyo, it snowed today. Please tell Father Algore to exagerate some warmth for us. Maybe he needs to crank up the heat in his outdoor pool some more.
Good night!
Oh wow! You got snow in October? In Wyoming? That must mean everything is normal. No need to worry about those disappearing glaciers in that National Park north of you, right? I live just west of you, and you know what? Last week we got snow too! Of course, it went back to 80 degrees this weekend. Oh well, go back to sleep and pretend that it is all just a bad dream.
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This is the old GOP game of finding the exception which is supposed to disprove an embarrassing trend. For example, using only press-based information, the GOP salivated over Rep. Jefferson''s apparent guilt, then condemned the same press for daring to mention Abramoff, Cunningham, Delay, Hsstert, et al, within an incriminating context.
By the same token, Mrs. Clinton DID do the "cannot recall" but she is hardly representative of her party, or a series of Bush figures which have taken the Virtual Fifth before committee.
Bush appointees and staff (including Gonzales) routinely would evade congressional questions-- or, at Bush''s instructions, skip an appearance altogether. Even members of your own party were disgusted at Gonzo''s performance, and joined with Dems in subpoenas to many Bush figures.
Even GOP members of congress do not issue their subpoenas to be ignored (or deceived) by Bush and minions.
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Neither Gore nor any climatologist has said global warming means no snow will fall, or that you never will need snowchains again.
And to argue that global warming is but a subtrend in a much longer natural period still begs the question-- what evidence even suggests such a period?
The "Longer Period" argument against global warming is like claiming proof God does not exist because you recognize no proof He does. Yet, clearly, this might invite your self-contradiction by the hallowed Cheney Principle-- "Absence of proof is not proof of absence."
As for me, I need to warm up for tomorrow, and am signing off.
Whether or not you believe in global warming, the fact is that we pollute our only supply or air and water, and alter the chemical balance of our land. In short, we unnecessarily create a filthy home for our children''s generations, diminishing the world''s capacity to support life.
The health effects are long since proven and obvious, and the best you can do is sit around on the Titanic, and argue over whether captain Smith was a "liberal" or a "conservative"?
Posted by brianbwb at 01:31 AM : Oct 15, 2007
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LOL!
Beautifully said, as usual brian.
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by terrorislam1
October 15, 2007 12:35 PM PDT
- the goracle could not even predict his losing his home state of tennessee in his presidential election lol
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See all 30 CommentsGore gets a cold shoulder
ONE of the world''''s foremost meteorologists has called the theory that helped Al Gore share the Nobel Peace Prize "ridiculous" and the product of "people who don''''t understand how the atmosphere works".
Dr William Gray, a pioneer in the science of seasonal hurricane forecasts, told a packed lecture hall at the University of North Carolina that humans were not responsible for the warming of the earth.
His comments came on the same day that the Nobel committee honoured Mr Gore for his work in support of the link between humans and global warming.
"We''''re brainwashing our children," said Dr Gray, 78, a long-time professor at Colorado State University. "They''''re going to the Gore movie [An Inconvenient Truth] and being fed all this. It''''s ridiculous."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/gore-gets-a-cold-shoulder/2007/10/13/1191696238792.html