Friday, May 19, 2006

MORE LIES FROM FACT-CHECK BOY

Tim Lambert claims to be a fact-checker; in reality he's a crafty manipulator of information. His attempt to discredit the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition is a classic of distortion.

In his post Lambert links to a flaky letter by "long range weather forecaster" Ken Ring, sarcastically claiming it is indicative of "the top-notch climate science that NZCSC promotes...". Typically, Lambert fails to note that Ken Ring is not a member of the NZCSC, with the NZCSC's link to Ring's letter being the only visible connection between the two. Lambert also fails to link to the NZCSC homepage which prominently displays this disclaimer:
The Coalition encourages the reading of a wide variety of opinion and information on climate change, from many differing viewpoints. We provide links to a range of such material, including some older writings that have historic significance in the public or scientific debate. For some items, we also provide an editorial comment or correction. Responsibility for the accuracy of the pieces that we link to rests with their authors and the publication in which they appear.
If Lambert was really interested in informing his readers he would have linked to Ken Ring's site, which sells long range forecasts generated "only by calculating the orbits of the moon". In other words, Ring does weather by astrology and his unlikely to be taken seriously by the NZCSC.

When commenter Hans Erren points out the lack of association between the NZCSC and Ken Ring, Lambert goes all evasive:
Hans, it's the Climate Science Coalition who has done the associating, not me.
Nope, the NZCSC doesn't endorse, recommend or comment on Ring's letter, it simply links to it for readers to consider on its merits. Lambert, on the other hand, uses lies of omission to attempt to make a link that isn't there. He's not to be trusted, ever.

Update: Here's another of Lambert's increasingly frequent distortions, this time regarding Africa Fighting Malaria's Roger Bate:
It is interesting to note that one of the authors of the criticism of the World Bank is Roger Bate, who last year wrote how the main failing of the World Bank's efforts against malaria was that it didn't support DDT use.
Lambert doesn't quote Bate because he's distorting what Bate said:
These programs entail spraying tiny amounts of insecticide, such as DDT, on the inside walls of houses to repel or kill (or both) the malaria-carrying mosquitoes. This method of control is safe and highly effective: Malaria rates have plummeted in the very poor northern parts of Zambia where this approach is currently employed. Yet RBM and the World Bank, always politically correct, have eschewed this method of control. The World Bank even went as far as to require that its of funding malaria control in Eritrea be conditional on non-use of DDT.
Bate summing up:
The World Bank's stinginess, lack of transparency, and overall malaria strategy need serious overhauls.
Deltoid is strictly for true believer lefties, and RWDBs looking for entertainment.

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