Bad Deeds for 10-27-2009

 

Republican National Committee Left Disgusting Posters on Their Web Site for Nearly a Week – The Republican National Committee’s web site included a poster showing Mother Teresa feeding a poor, thin child with a caption underneath that read, “Enabling scab-eating mouth breathers will do them no good. How do we expect them to take care of themselves?” It was posted to the site by someone calling himself “Gee Dub,” as in G.W. Bush. It was finally taken down after the news forum Democratic Underground complained.

The site also had a other controversial photos, including one where it appears that John Kerry has a rifle pointed at his head.

 

Conservatives Misrepresent Global Climate Data – Have you heard that the world is now cooling instead of warming? You may have seen some news reports on the Internet or heard about it from a provocative new book. Only one problem: It’s not true, according to an analysis of the numbers done by several independent statisticians.

In a blind test, the AP gave temperature data to four independent statisticians and asked them to look for trends, without telling them what the numbers represented. The experts found no true temperature declines over time.

The trick in trying to convince people that there has recently been global cooling is to compare some recent year to 1998, which was unusually hot. But even that trick doesn’t work if you use 2005 as the comparison year, because 2005 was even hotter. Looking at all the data shows a definite upward trend in temperature.
Saying there’s a downward trend since 1998 is not scientifically legitimate, said David Peterson, a retired Duke University statistics professor and one of those analyzing the numbers. “Identifying a downward trend is a case of “people coming at the data with preconceived notions,” said Peterson, author of the book “Why Did They Do That? An Introduction to Forensic Decision Analysis.”

The Union of Concerned Scientists, which said the book mischaracterizes climate science with “distorted statistics.”

“To talk about global cooling at the end of the hottest decade the planet has experienced in many thousands of years is ridiculous,” said Ken Caldeira, a climate scientist at the Carnegie Institution at Stanford.

Ben Santer, a climate scientist at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Lab, called it “a concerted strategy to obfuscate and generate confusion in the minds of the public and policymakers” ahead of international climate talks in December in Copenhagen.

 

Supreme Court Justice Scalia Says He Would Have Voted to Keep Segregation – In an appearance at the University of Arizona College of Law, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said that if he were on the court in 1954, he would have dissented in the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision that ended school segregation based on race.

Appearing on stage with Justice Stephen Breyer, Scalia cautioned against “inventing new rights nobody ever thought existed.” Scalia said he advocates an “originalist” approach to the Constitution, warning against an “evolutionary” legal philosophy that he described as, “close your eyes and decide what you think is a good idea.”

 

Lieberman Says He’d Filibuster A Health Care Reform Bill With A Public Option – Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) told reporters today that he would in fact filibuster any health care bill he doesn’t agree with–and right now, he doesn’t agree with the public option proposal making its way through the Senate.

 

Conservative Ad Spreads Rumor About Medicare – A health care ad from the conservative group, Americans for Prosperity, claims that “Medicare will be bankrupt in eight years.” That gives a false impression. The program does have huge financial problems, but there’s no reason to think it’s going out of business as the word “bankrupt” implies.

 

Republican National Committee Ad Makes False Claims About Health Care Reform – The Republican National Committee claims in a Web ad that Democratic health care plans propose taxes on “charities and small businesses. A doctor’s tax. Taxes on your health insurance. Even a tax on medical supplies.” But the ad exaggerates and misleads in a number of ways:

· It makes a downright false claim that ordinary wheelchairs would be among “medical supplies” subject to a proposed tax on manufacturers and importers. That’s not true: Wheelchairs and roughly half of all other medical devices would be exempt. (When we pointed this out, an RNC official said the ad would be modified, however.)
· It features a proposed tax on medical laboratory services, but that provision has already been dropped.
· The alleged tax on “charities” is actually a proposed limit on federal income tax deductions for charitable gifts by individual taxpayers in the highest brackets, not a tax levied directly on the charities themselves.
· Similarly, the “small business” tax also refers to a proposed tax increase on individuals making more than $280,000 a year ($350,000 for families), only some of whom own small businesses. The vast majority of small-business owners don’t bring in enough to be affected.

The ad claims “your health insurance costs will skyrocket,” but independent experts disagree. The head of the Congressional Budget Office says the biggest tax proposed in the Senate Finance Committee plan, for example, would reduce health care spending, because it cuts a tax incentive that encourages spending.

Regards,

Jim