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Climate deniers are smart enough not to bet against Bill Nye

by Alisa97Gjk Posted on May 16, 2016

Climate deniers are smart enough not to bet against Bill Nye

By on May 16, 2016Share

No one’s surprised that last month was the hottest April on record. And, it turns out, not even climate change deniers would bet against it.

In April, Bill Nye bet two prominent climate change deniers $20,000 each that this year will be among the top 10 warmest years recorded and our current decade will be the warmest on record. Neither Marc Morano, the director of the denier film Climate Hustle, nor Joe Bastardi, a climate-denying meteorologist, agreed to the bet.

Smart of them, because last month’s heat record is by no means an isolated incident. The Guardian points out that April is the seventh month in a row to break global temperature records, and it’s the third consecutive month to break the monthly heat record by the largest margin ever, according to NASA figures.

Like the rest of us, climate change deniers can recognize the pattern of global temperatures spiraling out of control. Deep down, beneath quibbles about satellite measurements, skewed graphs, and scientific conspiracies, they understand that betting against climate change is looking more and more like a sure loss.

So why do they deny it so often? Oh, right: money. Morano currently serves as executive director of Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), a pro-fossil fuel, anti-regulation lobbying organization. And Nye points out in a video that Bastardi has given many paid speeches for coal and gas companies.

Denying climate change can be lucrative — but betting against it is another story entirely. It looks like climate deniers aren’t comfortable defending their counter-science views by taking a gamble they’re sure to lose.

ICYMI, here’s Nye’s challenge from last month:

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Climate deniers are smart enough not to bet against Bill Nye

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Sarah Palin lends her unblemished reputation to climate denier film

by GladysOswald Posted on April 12, 2016

Sarah Palin lends her unblemished reputation to climate denier film

By on 12 Apr 2016commentsShare

There’s a new anti-climate change documentary coming to theaters near you! Climate Hustle (no word yet as to whether Ace Hood did the soundtrack) recently garnered support from Sarah Palin, Tina Fey’s less eloquent doppelgänger — and some skepticism from our favorite science guy, Bill Nye.

Climate Hustle — director Marc Morano’s attempt to make mainstream climate science look like an “overheated environmental con job” — is set to open in 400 theaters on May 2. Morano is a famed climate denier and conservative communications specialist who counts Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Rush Limbaugh among his former clients. He currently serves as executive director of the pro-fossil fuel, anti-regulation lobbying organization Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT).

An April 14 documentary screening in Washington, D.C., will be followed by a “riveting” panel discussion featuring Palin and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), a congressman with a history of bullying climate scientists.

In other news, Morano turned down a $20,000 global warming bet with Bill Nye in an interview on the documentary. (Watch the video above for all the cringeworthy moments.)

“Would you take [this] bet?” Nye asked Morano, posing the stipulations: “2016 will be the hottest — among the hottest, rather — of the last 10 years, and 2010 to 2020 will be the hottest decade on record.” Morano declined.

We have a question for Morano, too: Is this film another attempt to protect fossil fuel interests, slow political action on climate change, and confuse the American public about what’s really going on with the planet?

We’re pretty sure the answer is (to borrow a phrase from Palin): You betcha!

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Sarah Palin lends her unblemished reputation to climate denier film

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In Rare Break With Tradition, Congress Might Actually Do Something Constructive Soon

by ArlenUAVqa Posted on February 7, 2014

Mother Jones

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In 1997, in an effort to rein in rising Medicare spending, Congress created a formula for paying doctors called the “sustainable growth rate” (SGR). Unfortunately, a few years later, this formula started calling not for sustainable growth, but for actual pay cuts. Doctors went ballistic, and Congress hastily passed a “doc fix” that deferred the scheduled cuts. Then they did the same thing the next year, and the year after that—and then in every year since then. At this point, the SGR is obviously deader than the proverbial doornail, but officially killing it would also officially count as a spending increase, which would officially increase the deficit by a lot. Nobody wants to face up to that, so every year Congress just passes a temporary extension to the doc fix and calls it a day.

But wait! In a rare display of constructive bipartisanship, Congress might actually do something about this. Sarah Kliff explains:

The problem with the sustainable growth rate is it isn’t sustainable at all….But because the doc-fix could cost as much as $300 billion to fix, legislators have stuck with [] short-term patches, which cost significantly less and are a whole lot easier to find offsets to pay for. The math changed this year, however, as health care cost growth has slowed, and the Congressional Budget Office has essentially cut in half the amount it thinks fixing the doc-fix would cost. Now, the CBO says it will cost $153 billion to repeal the sustainable growth rate, and legislators see that lower price tag as making it easier — although by no means certain — to pass legislation.

The proposal released Thursday is a thorough outline of the policies that would replace the doc-fix. What Congress wants to do differently this time around is, by 2021, put as much as nine percent of doctors’ reimbursements at stake if providers can’t hit certain quality standards. It would also include a bonus pool of $500 million for the doctors who do provide really great care.

This is no slam dunk. Congress still has to find $153 billion in offsets, after all. And it’s certainly possible to put a cynical spin on this: there’s no money available for the long-term unemployed, but for doctors? No problem! But I’d be less cynical. After all, it’s not as if doctors won’t get their current pay rates one way or another. This is just a matter of facing up to reality and admitting that SGR didn’t work and never will. That’s basic good governance, and we can use all of that we can get.

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In Rare Break With Tradition, Congress Might Actually Do Something Constructive Soon

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