Lie with conviction; convince your cronies to repeat the lie; pay people to repeat the lie; soon the lie becomes “public knowledge.” This strategy has worked so well for the fossil fuel industry that conservatives adopted it as their official strategy long ago. Or was it the conservatives first, then big oil; who knows?

Repeating lies doesn’t make them true. Phil Jones did not admit a cooling trend; his words were manipulated. And no scientists have been silenced.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a group of more than 2,000 unpaid experts who all agree anthropogenic climate change is real; there’s no government funding. However, oil companies will pay big money to any “scientist” willing to sell their soul and lie. Since they can’t prove Al Gore is a hypocrite, they just pay lots of people to say it and repeat it so often that ignorant people believe it.

As far as Beck, O’Reilly and their ilk: The difference between adding to the debate and muddying the waters is hard to discern, so here’s a clue: if it’s reported by anyone working for Rupert Murdoch, it’s more than likely a flat-out lie or a very distorted version of a slight possibility.

They have done such a thorough job of muddying the waters that the truth is very difficult to find, which is their objective.

Mr. Paul demonstrates his own ignorance in his incorrect usage of the term “ad hominem.” I didn’t attack “old people” or say their claiming it false proves it true—I stated that a lot of people who believe the lies are old.

I don’t have a problem with old people, only people who are self-centered enough to not care about what kind of world they leave future generations.

Regardless of age, people who do this are ignorant, irresponsible and selfish. Negative adjectives, yes, but when you’re highly intelligent and have done as much research as I have, it’s extremely difficult to have patience with lazy, ignorant people who are so willing to be spoonfed by proven liars, such as Beck, O’Reilly and others paid by Murdoch.
Sherry Jensen
Thousand Oaks