Pinko Punko applied for a job at the CEI.
The Editors award Ron Bailey the coveted Golden Winger.
Ron Bailey comments on my earlier post:
You invited me to come on down, so here I am a bit late (you really should email those invitations to me rather have me google them). Anyway, CEI's spots are not subtle and not effective and yes, they do lend themselves to parody. Sigh.
hmmh, on the wanker/wingnut continuum can Bailey be found above or below the line of the Times?
I think the wanker/wingnut continuum needs more dimensions. No response yet on the e-mail. I'll of course keep you updated.
Well, there is always wanker/wingnut string theory if you want some imaginary dimensions.
Yeah, but since there are no brains* in the winger/wingnut continuum, the theory falls apart.
*alternatively, brane. I pun.
Bailey eminently deserves this award. This guy is, in my humble opinion, a total and utter gold-plated wingnut (he may be even worse than Fumento, if this is possible). Bailey was/is one of Bjorn Lomborg's biggest defenders. After the scathingly critical Nature review of Lomborg's book came out (I was a co-author with Stuart Pimm), Bailey went on to the offensive. I particularly liked his description of me as a "green harpy" on his Reason slot, as I was allegedly hounding the poor hapless Lomborg. For some months my colleagues here thought that I must have wings and spend my free time harrassing old women doing their shopping. The guy is hard to take seriously, as he has no formal scientific qualificiations and writes some of the most absurd stuff I have ever read. But then again, what formal scientific qualifications do most of the think tank sceptics have? Myron Ebell? Paul Georgia? Roger Bate? Julian Morris?
I looked through his Mad-magazine equivalent book, "Earth Report 2000" and some of the matetrial in there, especially the more ecological stuff, was hilarious. The guy who wrote the chapter on biodiversity was, as far as I remember, some old retired metallurgist who'd taken a course in resource management later on. This made me realize how difficult it was/is for the anti-environmental lobby, even the monied think tanks, to recruit credible scientific voices willing to join them in their denial. There are a few bought-and-paid for sceptics as we know in their ranks, but in environmental science there's virtually no-one.
Jeff, I fully agree, which is why they are left with such hacks as McIntyre as their "expert witnesses." Unfortunately the "blogosphere" helps 'em, since anybody can setup a website (esp if you have funding from oil co's ;-) with a thin veneer of credibility. And of course there are always willing "Freepers" to be a cheerleader for "the cause" of bashing any scientist that doesn't immediately hand over their dataset so they can concoct strawmen!
"Green harpy".
I guess anyone with an Intro Biology class is a "green nag". Someone with an undergraduate in the natural sciences could be, say, a "green shrew".
Best,
D
I prefer to be regarded as a Green Manalishi
With a two-pronged crown, of course.
D