Wednesday, April 19, 2006
"Republican War on Science"
to speak in San Diego
Chris Mooney, one of the ur-bloggers at ScienceBlogs.com, is scheduled to appear at UCSD on May 1. Mooney has been a strong and articulate critic of conservative Republican policy on access to contraception, global warming, intelligent design creationism and other issues.
Mooney is careful with his facts, and manages to combine strong debunking skills with being civil. He is busily promoting his book on tour. Disagree with Mooney? Think up some tough questions for him and let's see how they're handled.
Here is Mooney on a recent global warming skeptic article in the Wall Street Journal's Opinion section. Mooney's reaction to it parallels mine.
Richard Lindzen, the author, is a qualified scientist trained in the relevant areas. But he is misrepresenting the arguments by the global warming "alarmists," as Lindzen calls them. That's just dishonest. It is one thing to disagree with evidence one disputes, quite another to ignore it entirely, make up something else, and then disagree with what one has concocted. Read Lindzen's piece carefully, then read Mooney. Note the difference between tropical and extratropical storms, which Lindzen glosses over. My take on Lindzen's disinformation will be published next Sunday.
Here's the details on Mooney's San Diego appearance:
CALENDAR ANNOUNCEMENT
May 1, 2006
UCSD Science Studies Lecture in Science and Public Policy
Science and politics writer Chris Mooney, author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed book “The Republican War on Science,” will give a talk of the same title, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., in the Natural Sciences Building Auditorium, Rm. 1205, on the UCSD campus, 9500 Gilman Drive. Book signing to follow. Information: (858) 534-4786.
Mooney is Washington correspondent for Seed magazine and senior correspondent for the American Prospect. His book, recently announced as a finalist for a 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize, has been described as “a landmark in contemporary political reporting” by Salon.com and a “well-researched, closely argued and amply referenced indictment of the right wing's assault on science and scientists” by Scientific American.
