Climate deniers at Heartland Institute liken global warming believers to Osama bin Laden, Charles Manson

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      The climate-change denial machine has sunk to new lows.

      South of the border, the Chicago-based Heartland Institute has launched what the Guardian calls "quite possibly one of the most ill-judged poster campaigns in the history of ill-judged poster campaigns".

      Check out what Heartland has to say about its ridiculous billboard campaign:

      1. Who appears on the billboards?

      The billboard series features Ted Kaczynski, the infamous Unabomber; Charles Manson, a mass murderer; and Fidel Castro, a tyrant. Other global warming alarmists who may appear on future billboards include Osama bin Laden and James J. Lee (who took hostages inside the headquarters of the Discovery Channel in 2010).

      These rogues and villains were chosen because they made public statements about how man-made global warming is a crisis and how mankind must take immediate and drastic actions to stop it.

      2. Why did Heartland choose to feature these people on its billboards?

      Because what these murderers and madmen have said differs very little from what spokespersons for the United Nations, journalists for the “mainstream” media, and liberal politicians say about global warming. They are so similar, in fact, that a Web site has a quiz that asks if you can tell the difference between what Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, wrote in his “Manifesto” and what Al Gore wrote in his book, Earth in the Balance.

      The point is that believing in global warming is not “mainstream,” smart, or sophisticated. In fact, it is just the opposite of those things. Still believing in man-made global warming – after all the scientific discoveries and revelations that point against this theory – is more than a little nutty. In fact, some really crazy people use it to justify immoral and frightening behavior.

      Of course, not all global warming alarmists are murderers or tyrants....

      Let's stop there. That's more than enough delusion for one blog post.

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      Comments

      8 Comments

      miguel

      May 4, 2012 at 12:42pm

      If they're going to make lame correlations between disparate people, they can't have missed the fact they resemble the Sturmabteilung.
      Miguel

      Martin Dunphy

      May 4, 2012 at 1:21pm

      I feel obliged to add that the Heartland Institute has gotten big money from big oil (ExxonMobil), has been funded by big tobacco and big pharma, has received a huge paycheque from a foundation run by the Wal-Mart family, is the darling of conservative-foundation funding sources, and regularly gets many millions from a single "anonymous" donor.

      Joe Bastard

      May 4, 2012 at 1:53pm

      If their campaign means anything, then I guess it's only right to point out that mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik is a climate change denier who is fond of quoting Heartland "global warming expert" Christopher Monckton and Heartland regular speaker Steve McIntyre in his rambling manifestos!

      Victoria Bruce

      May 4, 2012 at 6:50pm

      These guys aren't the greatest conference organisers.. just over two weeks until it starts and all of their 3 days of three tracks of concurrent sessions are marked 'Topic and Speakers TBA' (as of May 4)

      http://climateconference.heartland.org/schedule/

      They seem to be having trouble getting speakers, compared to a real climate conference in Montreal last month:
      www.ipy2012montreal.ca

      Morty

      May 4, 2012 at 11:36pm

      When I first saw this this morning, I shook my head. Then I realized that it means only one thing: We've won. If all the denialist crowd has left is arguments by association, then they have nothing.

      James G

      May 9, 2012 at 2:45pm

      It is extremely stupid as a tactical political maneuver to at the same time reduce all of those on one side of an argument to a single image and then demonize it. It essentially says to anyone who disagrees with a position, "you're just like Hitler!"

      It never works since the stupidity is self-evident and the arrogance is off-putting. It therefore does no argument any good, just as doing the very same thing by accusing opponents of being "climate change deniers" to invoke the Holocaust and say, once more, "you're just like Hitler!"

      glen p robbins

      May 9, 2012 at 3:34pm

      I suspect some institutes possess a brain trust more in keeping with sanitariums. The less ignorant religious institutions are fast going Green as apparently someone has realized that the principle of heaven on earth - is being lost to the johnny come spiritualists.