Posted by
Steve on Wednesday, December 09, 2009 2:32:29 PM
No matter how often I hear them do it, I am constantly amazed at the left’s ability to lie in the face of the facts. It seems like nobody on the left ever tells the truth to anyone at any time. Whenever they do, they have it revealed like the climate gate memos for the world to see. Then they are made to look stupid. Of course, they looked stupid during the entire process, but they fooled themselves into believing that they were being taken seriously.
At Copenhagen, the outrage that should be evident over the climate gate memos is there. The unfortunate part is that the outrage is being placed on those that leaked the memos, not at the memos themselves. This is obviously phony outrage. When the New York Times leaked those sensitive governmental secrets, there was no outrage over the leak. The difference is that the left liked the Times printing and does not like climate gate.
Another bunch of lies are being told by Democrats in Congress. They say that they have no control over the EPA and their decision to regulate carbon dioxide. The Democrats are trying to have their cake and eat it too. By having the EPA do the dirty work, the Congressional Democrats gets a pass on the skyrocketing energy prices that will result. They believe that everyone will blame the EPA and not them. The Congress could stop the EPA in their tracks today, if not sooner. All they have to do is pass a bill that says that the EPA budget will be reduced 10% per month for every month they leave carbon dioxide on the list of pollutants. You will see carbon dioxide off of the list so fast that there would be smudges on the report. But, Congress will not act and expect us to put the blame on EPA instead of Congress.
Now, don’t think that I am absolving the right from also telling their share of lies. I am not. People on the right tell their share of lies as well. The problem with people on the right is that we are not as good at telling lies, so we get caught quicker. Of course, the news media seeks out those on the right that tells lies and do not look for those on the left. Also, when someone on the left tells lies, the entire left nods their head as if that person is telling the truth. When someone on the right tells a lie, someone on the right almost always catches them in the lie. Also, part of being in Washington is that you cannot tell the truth. That stems from a basic philosophy in Washington that the public is stupid. Also, you may not want to tip your hand on your next move at this particular time. Not tipping your hand leads to many lies. These are the usually easily penetrated type lies where you say one thing, but mean another.
What really gets me mad is when someone who is supposed to be impartial turns out to have a hand in the game. The climate gate story is one of this kind of situation. The people writing these emails were supposed to be scientists. I know that scientists are supposed to be impartial, but we are people too. We can put aside our natural bias to report on scientific facts as facts. I know that is possible because I do that every day as a teaching scientist. My method is to use the “I report, you decide” method. That is I report the facts with as little editorial comment as possible. This way the students have to decide on their own, instead of just parroting what I believe. It does take practice, but when used it creates dividends. It would be so easy to tell them what I believe and call that position a fact, but that would not be honest. I try to divorce myself from the emotion of the data as I can. In the climate gate memos, the authors were caught up in the emotion and were doctoring information to get the data they wanted. This is not only lies, but is completely dishonest. Any of those “scientists” should be disbarred from receiving any grants for a period of 5-10 years. Being without grants for that number of years would create very humble scientists. Grants are the lifeblood of science. Being without the lifeblood for a period of time would cause even the most partisan scientist to straighten out.
Lies are never the best way to handle something. The truth is always the best policy. I was told once that if you lie, you have to have a great memory. If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember what you told to which person. I try and apply this principle to everything that I do. I am not perfect, but am striving for perfection in everything. I have a long way to go before anyone ever mistakes me for someone approaching perfection. But, I can see progress over time. The progress is slow and steady. It may take me another 2-300 years, but I will make it to perfection, yet.