Sunny Day, Sweepin' the Clouds Away... (Part 1)

So, it seems Blogging Tory Raging Tory is, among his other failings, a global warming denier. Now, I could take this gentleman, his beliefs, and his politics, to task, but instead I'm going to address a particularly heinous document he produced as "proof" of the "controversy" surrounding Anthropogenic Global Warming.

Namely, U. S. Senate Minority Report: More Than 650 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims Scientists Continue to Debunk “Consensus” in 2008.

Now, in my initial brief perusal of the document in question, my impression was that it was a massive example of quote-mining and showboating. However, given that dear Justin suggested that I had overlooked this document, I felt it was worthwhile to give it a more thorough going-over.

So, here goes. (Note: Initially, I'd planned to make this a single post, but given the magnitude of the document - and the attempt at misdirection it makes - it really needs a bit more time. So here's part one.)

First impressions - too many links - and this is me talking. Also, for a document supposedly updated on January 27th, 2009, there are an awful lot of broken links. Regardless, in the first full page of the document (not counting the colossal crest), there are forty-nine links. Of these:

• Links to articles the author of the document wrote: 20 (including one link back to the document itself!)


• Duplicated links: 3 (or 6, depending on how you look at it.)


• Links to articles authored by organizations or individuals whose primary (or only) concern is disproving AGW: 4


• Links to articles authored by retired academics: 2 (One of whom thinks that second hand smoke is harmless, too!)


• Links to powerpoint presentations by current academics: 1


• Links to articles authored by current academics: 3 (Some sketchy funding there, though)


• Links to articles that do not support the premise of the document (that AGW is a fraud): 9


• Links to articles that include links to thorough rebuttals: 1


• Links to op-ed pieces: 3


• Links to blog posts: 1

So. Not a spectacular start to this (in the author's own words) "blockbuster report".

Next time, we'll have a look at a few of the six hundred and fifty scientists who make up the body of the report. Any guesses as to what we'll find?