re: #502 Charles Johnson

I’ve been reading the claims that the Strategy paper is faked, and I am not convinced. They simply have not proven it. Is it possible that it’s a fake? Maybe, but since Heartland has confirmed that the other documents are genuine, it seems very unlikely to me that there would be one fake among them.

If there is a fake, it would be introduced by their anonymous source, for whatever purpose (e.g. provocation), so this is not in itself an argument for authenticity.

What is quite weird about the purported memo is both the date of its creation (scanned on Feb. 13 almost right before the release - even though supposedly there would be an electronic copy at hand) and some of the contents. E.g.:

Principals and teachers are heavily biased toward the alarmist perspective. To counter this we are
considering launching an effort to develop alternative materials for K-12 classrooms. We are
pursuing a proposal from Dr. David Wojick to produce a global warming curriculum for K-12
schools. Dr. Wojick is a consultant with the Office of Scientific and Technical Information at the
U.S. Department of Energy in the area of information and communication science. His effort will
focus on providing curriculum that shows that the topic of climate change is controversial and
uncertain - two key points that are effective at dissuading teachers from teaching science. We
tentatively plan to pay Dr. Wojick $100,000 for 20 modules in 2012, with funding pledged by
the Anonymous Donor.

Most deniers do not think of themselves as anti-science. Quite the opposite. And those who are in it only for money are still unlikely to put such words on paper.

No, this doesn’t prove it’s a fake, but it does make it suspicious.