Free Speech at the Heartland Institute  Wed, 2008-03-05
07:36Richard Littlemore Richard Littlemore's picture  Free
Speech at the Heartland Institute  And who are you that we
should care one whit about your opinion?  With that tart quip,
Diane Bast of the Heartland Institute dismissed a recent query
about the rationale for its last-stand global warming denial
conference . Bast, presumably is related to Joseph Bast, founder
and president of the Heartland Institute.  Here is the query
that elicited Diane Bast's incurious response:  Why is the
Heartland Institute paying skeptical scientists to speak at a
'conference'?  At most scientific conferences, scientists are
not paid to speak. It's an honor just to be invited to give a
talk, and they're lucky to get some travel expenses paid or the
conference fee waived.  The Heartland Institute (right-wing
“think tank” with ties to the tobacco and oil industries) is
inviting scientists to a 'conference' called “The 2008
International Conference on Climate Change”.   The p