Its bizarre to think that Heartland can be in such denial of climate change but like the tobacco industry you will always find loose-knit associates, with political and financial motives attached to such institutes. You will also notice that similarities between those associated with the studies to downplay the affects of tobacco are also associated with studies to disprove or discredit climate change. Its sad to say but its of no surprise that your findings are as similar as you have found.

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http://greenfyre.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/its-twins-evolution-and-climate-change-deniers/

http://greenfyre.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/its-not-just-the-evolution-denying-creationists/

ACC deniers also share many tactics and rhetorical tricks with creationists, particularly in the realm of slandering science. Another post?

Keep up the good work.

I’ll add you to my blogroll in the next day or two, and I’m glad that I’ve found you (through Greenfyre).

I’ve also written frequently about the connection between big tobacco and big oil… It’s connection that I remembered, after reading Heat because I looked into launching a media awareness campaign for youth about smoking around 1997, where I first learned about astroturfing, and how effective it can be. But illness intervened, and I never managed to make it work.

Anyway… here are a few links about big oil and big tobacco from OBM…

http://one-blue-marble.com/climate-change-denial-industry.html

http://one-blue-marble.com/blog/2009/04/21/big-tobacco-big-oil-big-coal/

http://one-blue-marble.com/blog/2009/07/05/ethics-and-alberta-oil/

Is there a sinister connection between the US car companies and the oil ones? Seems to me the GM CEO must have been on the payroll of Exxon.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/science/earth/24deny.html

BTW, if this link is still alive, it is a place containing some good stuff that will make you angry and maybe amuse you at the same time… more on your topic and in keeping with Greenfyre above – a Frontline interview with Seitz (several others, too – actually quite a good site to get lost in for awhile… at least until your brain starts throbbing):

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/hotpolitics/interviews/seitz.html

And I can’t resist clipping this from a July 23, 2001 Newsweek article by Fred Guterl on Richard Lindzen (“The Truth About Global Warming”):

“Lindzen clearly relishes the role of naysayer. He’ll even expound on how weakly lung cancer is linked to cigarette smoking. He speaks in full, impeccably logical paragraphs, and he punctuates his measured cadences with thoughtful drags on a cigarette.”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/78772