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nytimes.comA new ad campaign comparing people who believe in global warming to murderers has foundered, with its conservative sponsor pulling a digital billboard down less than 24 hours after it went up in Chicago.

Drivers cruising along the city's inbound Eisenhower Expressway on Friday may have been surprised to see Theodore J. Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, staring at them from a huge billboard. "I still believe in global warming. Do you?" the billboard said. Just below was the Web address www.heartland.org.

The billboard was sponsored by the Heartland Institute, a libertarian organization based in Chicago that describes its chief mission as promoting free-market solutions to social and economic problems. It said it chose to feature "some of the world's most notorious killers" on the billboards "because what these murderers and madmen have said differs very little from what spokespersons for the United Nations, journalists for the 'mainstream' media and liberal politicians say about global warming."

But late Friday, the organization canceled the ad, which had drawn criticism from some global warming skeptics as well as mainstream climate scientists.
Why I Won’t Be Speaking at the Heartland Conference]nofrakkingconsensus.com - Donna Laframboise

This morning I cancelled a non-refundable return flight from to Toronto to Chicago. The following explains why:

A few weeks ago I was invited to take part in a debate at a conference sponsored by the Heartland Institute. The topic of the debate was:

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Is it still a credible voice in the climate change debate?

Having just written a book-length exposé about that organization, I accepted this invitation. I had intended to argue that the IPCC is an international embarrassment. Much of what it has told the public about its own personnel – and about how its reports are prepared – is nonsense.

Writing The Delinquent Teenager Who Was Mistaken for the World’s Top Climate Expert was like fact-checking a pathological liar’s resumé. One by one, I worked my way down a list of IPCC claims, attempting to verify their accuracy. Again and again, I found no evidence to support them.

It turns out the mainstream media has, for years, simply accepted the IPCC’s rosy view of itself. It turns out the IPCC falls well short of being the rigorous, objective, scientific body it claims to be.

My findings are important because governments around the world point to IPCC reports as the reason they’re pursuing emissions reduction programs, implementing carbon taxes, and adding to the red tape with which small businesses must cope. In my view, the more people who hear about my book, the more likely it is that governments will start making more informed decisions.

But my participation in the upcoming Heartland conference has now become untenable. I’m a Canadian who has never been a member of any political party. Sometimes I agree with the left, sometimes I agree with the right. Many people base their climate opinions on the political tribe to which they belong. I’m not one of them.

I believe in pragmatism and common sense. I believe in cold, hard facts – and in treating people with whom I disagree with courtesy and respect...Click nofrakkingconsensus.com link to read FULL report from Donna Laframboise