Very funny Jazzmox, that Oregon Petition has zero credibility. Pot calling the kettle black mate. Can't you spot a scam when you see it? The signatories cannot be validated. For example:
"In May 1998 the Seattle Times wrote:
“ Several environmental groups questioned dozens of the names: "Perry S. Mason" (the fictitious lawyer?), "Michael J. Fox" (the actor?), "Robert C. Byrd" (the senator?), "John C. Grisham" (the lawyer-author?). And then there's the Spice Girl, a k a. Geraldine Halliwell: The petition listed "Dr. Geri Halliwell" and "Dr. Halliwell." Asked about the pop singer, Robinson said he was duped. The returned petition, one of thousands of mailings he sent out, identified her as having a degree in microbiology and living in Boston. "When we're getting thousands of signatures there's no way of filtering out a fake," he said.[21] ”
In 2001, Scientific American reported:
“ Scientific American took a random sample of 30 of the 1,400 signatories claiming to hold a Ph.D. in a climate-related science. Of the 26 we were able to identify in various databases, 11 said they still agreed with the petition —- one was an active climate researcher, two others had relevant expertise, and eight signed based on an informal evaluation. Six said they would not sign the petition today, three did not remember any such petition, one had died, and five did not answer repeated messages. Crudely extrapolating, the petition supporters include a core of about 200 climate researchers – a respectable number, though rather a small fraction of the climatological community.[22] ”
In a 2005 op-ed in the Hawaii Reporter, Todd Shelly wrote:
“ In less than 10 minutes of casual scanning, I found duplicate names (Did two Joe R. Eaglemans and two David Tompkins sign the petition, or were some individuals counted twice?), single names without even an initial (Biolchini), corporate names (Graybeal & Sayre, Inc. How does a business sign a petition?), and an apparently phony single name (Redwine, Ph.D.). These examples underscore a major weakness of the list: there is no way to check the authenticity of the names. Names are given, but no identifying information (e.g., institutional affiliation) is provided. Why the lack of transparency?[23] "
Plus there are many other holes, check the rest here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Petition
By comparison the Copenhagen Diagnosis (as a recent example) has its full list of authors, not signatories to a knee jerk petition, but qualified experts authoring a scientific report. As Todd Shelly said above, why the lack of transparency with this petition? Usual story. Manna from heaven for the totally gullible but no cedibility whatsoever. It never ceases to amaze me. But people will continue to trot out such bollocks so I guess we need to get used to it. Maybe a petition signed by circus clowns next time? At least circus clowns with a degree... Everyone's got a degree these days haven't they?
