[WikiEN-l] Not hopping, but still mightily annoyed

Wed Oct 8 14:38:43 UTC 2003

Sheldon claimed:

<< Ed on the 
other hand has thrown in simplistic generalizations and numerous 
factual errors that others have had to correct. If anyone doubts that 
this is the case and wants me to prove it, I can list some of those 
errors here. To give just one example, Ed falsely claimed (on the 
global warming talk page) that the National Association of Science 
predicted a looming ice age in 1975. I corrected him, and to his 
credit he backed off of his error. One again, however, it illustrates 
his pattern of factual sloppiness mixed with disdain for leading 
scientific voices and organizations. (The NAS is the most prestigious 
scientific body in the U.S. and arguably the world). >>

Sorry about my "false claim", Sheldon. Perhaps I was wrong to believe
Lowell Ponte, who attributed the "ice age" prediction to the NAS:

> In "The Cooling: Has the next ice age already begun? Can we 
> survive it?", published in 1975 by Prentice--Hall, its author 
> Lowell Ponte captures the then prevailing mood: "The NAS report 
> was shocking, for it represented a warning from some of the 
> world's most conservative scientists that an Ice Age beginning in 
> the near future . . . was not impossible." Contending that we may 
> be "on the brink of a [10,000 year] period of colder climate," the 
> NAS urged an immediate near- quadrupling of funds for research. 
> "We simply cannot afford to be unprepared for either a natural or 
> man-made climatic catastrophe [of global cooling]." 

=> Quoted at http://www.sepp.org/glwarm/sciaddheat.html

Or maybe I was wrong to believe that S. Fred Singer was quoting Ponte
correctly.

Or maybe I just misunderstood the quote. You're an expert on
disinformation, and you probably have Ponte's book on your shelf.

On the other hand, if Singer correctly quoted Ponte, and if he in turn
correctly characterized the views of the NAS, then maybe my mistake lay
in knuckling under to pressure from a biased, axe-grinding
environmentalist.

If the shoe fits, wear it. If it doesn't fit, stop beating me over the
head with it!

Ed Poor