As predicted, the bishops of the Church of Man-Made Climate Change have directed their flock to begin attacking The Great Satan -- newspapers that have the hardihood to report and/or editorialize on the hardy har har that is "global warming."Whence it originated is yet to be divined. But this correspondent received four different versions of what's basically an e-mail form letter -- astroturf, as it's known in this cyber age. Three contained the very same subject line ("news judgment") while the fourth's subject line read "Climate Change is Happening, the Attacks on Scientists Should Stop."
The names and telephone numbers of all four supposed "letter writers" were in the exact same format. And all shared much the same verbiage if not the exact same sentences. And the theme was as expected.
"The science is overwhelming and clear," goes one line. "Our planet is warming and we are responsible," goes another. "(N)ewspapers across the country have been repeating the same, tired attacks against (global warming)," goes a third.
And lordy, lordy, those poor scientists, so many of whom appear to be engaged not in "science" but in something resembling a theology in pursuit of continuing government-delivered taxpayer grants, "are starting to pay the price" for all those newspaper-generated attacks, "dealing with harassment and threats, just for doing their job," goes a fourth line.
By golly, "This is wrong, and it needs to stop," goes the fifth similar line in all four e-mails.
"I urge your paper to report on the facts, use sound news judgment, and stop repeating the baseless attacks on scientists who are simply doing their best to help us understand the world," goes yet another.
Three of the "writers" did not respond to e-mails and telephone calls. But a fourth, who also did not respond to an e-mail, did pick up her telephone at the University of Pittsburgh on Thursday. She probably wishes she hadn't.
The longest of the e-mailed "letters" came from Maria Teresa Saenz-Robles, a Ph.D. scientist engaged in, according to her Pitt bio, research in "mechanisms controlling cell growth and cellular differentiation during animal development."
Long story short, she studies mice intestines "to analyze the properties of actively growing and differentiating cells" and "the mechanisms governing tumor induction."
One can only imagine the precise scientific protocols required for such an important field of study. How odd, then, that such a learned and disciplined mind would attach her name to such an attack-the-messenger, shibboleth-filled form letter.
Where did she find the form letter? I asked.
"I honestly don't remember," she said.
And she had no problem affixing her name to such spam? I inquired.
"No, because I did write the letter and I changed some of the language in the letter," she said. "(But) I thought (the original) was better written than what I could write."
Yikes.
Continued Dr. Saenz-Robles, after I again questioned the prudence of doing such a thing (especially, I add here, given that she's a scientist with, supposedly, a fealty to original discovery and discourse):
"I don't have a problem reading something and taking it as my own," she said.
THUD! That loud sound you just read was the jaws of readers hitting their kitchen tables.
Sirens! Alarm bells! Buzzers! Somebody didn't take the security tag off that pair of slacks at Kohl's.
In a word, Whoa!
Given the damning self-indictment and pointing that out to her, I asked if she'd like to restate her answer and, recognizing the unintended implications of her first response, she did. Saenz-Robles said she accepted the sentiment of the form letter as being in agreement with hers and, thus, defensible for passing on under her name, albeit with some rewording.
"But ... ," I began to press again. She begged off, obviously not liking how the conversation was going, said she was in the middle of something, and ended the call.
That said, I'll give the mouse intestine scientist high marks for answering her own phone.
In the spirit of the subject matter, I'll close this Sunday with this line, thoroughly conscripted from the gang e-mailers but altered to fit my sentiment:
I urge those tempted to attach their names to a piece of propaganda written by someone with an obvious political and social re-engineering agenda to employ the facts, use sound judgment and stop repeating the baseless attacks against those courageous enough in the media who are simply doing their best to help us understand the world.