Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Drudge Misquotes, Misleads Article for Anti-Science

Matt Drudge, everyone's favorite, lovable, not-gay wingnut has done it again. I've grown used to the anti-science on the site (Today: it's cold in NYC...and it's August! OMG!!11! [implied: global warming is bullshit]), but this pushes it a little far in my estimation. On the site today:

Drudge Report Misquotes, Misleads

But in Norway's Moose Population in Trouble for Belching, the actual quote in the article is "Bacteria in a moose's stomach create methane gas which is considered even more destructive to the environment than carbon dioxide gas." The actual methane produced is the same as a car that travels 13,000 km (8077.8 mi) - this being a Dane study, I'm guessing they don't include many excessively-low mpg vehicles. The information I was able to scrape up was that the average person (American) drives about 15,000 miles per year, nearly double the impact of a single moose.

Am I seriously comparing a moose to a car?

Yes, I am. Because the moose/cow methane argument is commonly used to justify all the filth we're dumping into the atmosphere: "Well, if a cow's farts are hurting the environment, then my sweet Escalade's just fine." No sense of balance, of avoidable consequences vs. nature. These are the same people who see that it's cold in NYC today so global warming's a lie, and the same people who will take Drudge at his quote, not read the article, and poop the "moose worse than car" argument as fact over and over.

Thought I'd take the time to let everyone know it's bullshit so when you do run into that person, you're well prepared.

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