The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (known more commonly as the IPCC) presented a 938 page Fourth Assessment Report that was the basis for the panic-mode approach to climate change of the Obama Administration (think Al Gore). This report, ostensibly from experts, is so riddled with mistakes that one wonders if any of the authors bothered to read it themselves. The reported melting of the "Himalayan Glacier" story was one of the funniest. Now, we find out that 55 percent of the Holland is below sea level, according to the IPCC. Not so, says Holland. We are only 26 percent below sea level. The IPCC is now in the process of correcting another of the numerous errors in the report. No wonder folks are skeptical about the global warming siren song.
Errors occur, of course, in every report. Witness, the recent popular book, "Game Change." On page 392, you find the following curious statement:
"The following Monday, September 29, the Paulson bailout plan was voted down in the House of Representatives, 228-205; not a single Republican pulled the lever in its favor." Bullshit. Not only did the entire House Republican leadership including Boehner and Cantor vocally support the Paulson Bailout, only a bare majority of Republicans voted against the bailout. The tide was turned by near unanimity of the Democratic "black caucus" vote, which went almost solidly against the Paulson bailout plan.
This tells you that authors Heilemann and Halperin weren't paying attention during the debate over the Paulson bailout. The vote for and against the Paulson bailout was significant for its bi-partisan character, not as Heilmann and Halperin suggest. It was not a partisan vote at all. But, Heilemann and Halperin are men on a mission. They want to show that the Republicans were partisan but Democrats were not. Don't let facts get in the way. Heilemann and Halperin made numerous other mistakes in the book that are of the same character. Their reporting of the Sarah Palin candidacy is so one-sided that one wonders where they were during the campaign. Certainly, the didn't pay much attention to the Paulson bailout controversy and perhaps Katie Couric was their main source on Sarah Palin.
Mistakes are often telling. Some mistakes are trivial and inadvertant. But some mistakes can and do reveal biases and raise questions of motive and integrity.
