Politicians who exaggerate the effects of climate change are as much in “denial” of science as those who reject the phenomenon come what may–more so, in fact, since they exhort the public to “believe” in something they themselves can rarely explain.

Case in point: President Barack Obama, taking Texas governor Rick Perry to task for “denying” climate change even though his “state is on fire.”

Fire twister from a 2009 Texas fire (Associated Press)

Let’s put aside, for a moment, the president’s appalling use of an ongoing disaster for political purposes, and focus on the scientific claim he is making: that Texas wildfires are the result of climate change (which in turn is the result of human use of fossil fuels–which, when burned, release gases into the atmosphere that trap heat and warm the earth’s surface).

What is the scientific basis for that claim? None, according to the government’s own leading climate change scientist.  (more…)

Chuck Johnson is at it again. He must be out on a weekend pass. I was compelled to answer the Little Green Monster after I saw him go after James O’Keefe with that same tired wet noodle of a charge he has leveled at so many, calling him a white nationalist. Johnson claimed in an LGF post that “according to a group called ‘One People’s Project,’ ACORN sting filmmaker James O’Keefe was photographed attending a 2006 white nationalist conference titled ‘Race and Conservatism.’”

Sounds terrible, right? Sure, until you get the facts that Johnson doesn’t tell you. When it became clear that it wasn’t a “white nationalist conference,” Johnson tried to slither out of responsibility for his words by saying in a new post: “It’s very clear that I attributed the ‘white nationalist conference’ claim to One People’s Project; that’s what the words ‘according to’ mean.”

Busted! As if it weren’t obvious that in his original post, he was approving of and endorsing what One People’s Project said. But this is typical of Johnson’s weaselly hit-and-run smear tactics.

Meanwhile, Larry O’Connor at Big Journalism uncovered the truth about O’Keefe’s supposed participation in this conference:

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