On Jan 31, 9:54 am, "Michael Tobis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I think this may be an unfair criticism. I get 633 results on "climate > change" form whitehouse.gov .
Well, it is accurate. They obviously have done something to the search function to censor "global warming". It is true that they don't censor "climate change" in many cases. But they do censor "climate change" in the January 18 press briefing by Tony Snow, perhaps because it it located close to one of the censored instances of "global warming". Are you saying it was unfair for me to fail to point out that www.whitehouse.gov only censors part of the instances of "climate change"? > > Global mean temperature, which is what a scientist refers to by the name > "global warming", is a symptom. Like a thermometer under your tongue it is > easy to measure and can give you an indicator of your state of health. It is > not, however, the problem. No one will care much if their local temperature > goes up by 2 degrees C and all else remains equal. We are concerned because > all else shows no sign of remaining equal at all. > > The problem is accelerated climate change (as well as changes in the > chemistry of the biosphere) due to human-induced changes in the composition > of the atmosphere, in the context of increasing population and rapipdly > increasing per capita impact on the environment. "Global warming" is a lousy > name for this quandary. This is why the IPCC is not the IPGW. If that is true, then it is perhaps a good reason for reporters and administration officials to have refrained from using the term. But given that they used the term numerous times during press briefings, I don't see how that justifies censoring the search function. Also, they are selectively censoring the term "global warming". There is only one hit on the term in this context: "Global warming is not so hot 1003 was worse, researchers find" but they censored instances where Tony Snow says that the president will address global warming in the State of the Union address, for instance. > > Whatever other basis one has for criticizing the current administration, we > cannot make progress back toward civility and competence in public discourse > unless we are scrupulously fair to each other. Good point. I think my ironic presentation of the issue has value in this case, but the point is arguable. I think that the selective censoring of "global warming" in the whitehouse.gov search function is uncivil, incompentent, unfair, and unscrupulous. Do you agree? > > I argue here:http://www.realclimate.org/index.php?p=92 > that "global warming" is a very poor name for what we are talking about. I > am pleased that, whatever else they may or may not be doing, the White House > is at least avoiding this confusing nomenclature. They are not avoiding this nomenclature. Instead they are selectively indexing it in the search function. Al Hubbard, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director, National Economic Council used it within the last 24 hours: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/01/20070130-1.html The President's Press Secretary Tony Snow has used the term a number of times since the first of the year. > > When you say references to "global warming" were "eradicated" this implies > that they existed in the past and have been extirpated. Are you claiming > that this is the case? I am claiming that it is eradicated from the search function when the term is used in most cases, all but one case as of now. I am not claiming that the search function previously worked as one would expect it to work, if that is what you are asking. I don't know when they started this censoring. > > mt > > On 1/31/07, Tom Adams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > > The White House (www.whitehouse.gov, that is) has nearly eradicated > > global warming (the phase "global warming", that is) from the web > > sites search function, the search box in the upper right hand corner. > > The is only one instance of "global warming" left searchable , one > > from a memo that seeks to cast doubt that the cause is human > > activity. (BTW, you need to use quotes around the phase "global > > warming" if you want to reproduce the results reported here.) > > > Here we all thought it would that massive reductions greenhouse gas > > emmissions to eliminate global warming. As far as I can tell, they are > > using some kind is electronic correction fluid, computer white out. > > They just wipe it over a phase in a press conference and, shazam, > > utterances of "global warming" by Press Secretary Tony Snow, other > > administration figures, and the press are not found by the web site's > > search function. They even wiped out President Bush's use of the > > phrase "globe is warming" in a March 29, 2006 press conference. > > > Unfortunately, this eradication of "global warming" may not eliminate > > the heat, the political heat that I hope to see come to bear on this > > adminstration for this blatant and stupid act of censorship. Turns > > out that whitehouse.gov's electronic correction fluid does not work on > > google. You can recover all the "global warming" utterances and the > > single "globe is warming" one by doing a google advanced web search > > and limit the search to only return results from the domain > >www.whitehouse.gov. > > > Please help me get the word out on this. I just discovered this > > yesterday and I am trying to catch the attention of higher profile > > media any way I can think of.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Global Change ("globalchange") newsgroup. Global Change is a public, moderated venue for discussion of science, technology, economics and policy dimensions of global environmental change. Posts will be admitted to the list if and only if any moderator finds the submission to be constructive and/or interesting, on topic, and not gratuitously rude. 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