They must be getting desperate. Bali climate change meeting, Nobel Prize for Al-- the spin is getting lamer and even bizarre.
I'm no great fan of the current pope, who played a role in helping fascists in south America and purged Priests who sought justice and democracy.
But today, the drudgereport, fanning the flames of the right wing echo chamber's hyperbolic assault on global warming theory, linked to an article, on the UK Daily Mail Website, with the headline, The Pope condemns the climate change prophets
The actual article was titled, "The Pope condemns the climate change prophets of doom" and the article reported,
Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.
The leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics suggested that fears over man-made emissions melting the ice caps and causing a wave of unprecedented disasters were nothing more than scare-mongering.
Sounds pretty nasty, eh? But this is the reporter, Simon Caldwell's interpretation of a statement released early, before the pope gives his message for World Peace Day, on January first, so it would coincide with the UN Bali summit meeting on climate change.
But if you read the actual words by the pope, which this reporter or spinmeister cites, there is nothing like the message the reporter claims. Here's what the pope actually says, in his message entitled "The Human Family, A Community of Peace".
"Humanity today is rightly concerned about the ecological balance of tomorrow."
"It is important for assessments in this regard to be carried out prudently, in dialogue with experts and people of wisdom, uninhibited by ideological pressure to draw hasty conclusions, and above all with the aim of reaching agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances.
"If the protection of the environment involves costs, they should be justly distributed, taking due account of the different levels of development of various countries and the need for solidarity with future generations. "Prudence does not mean failing to accept responsibilities and postponing decisions; it means being committed to making joint decisions after pondering responsibly the road to be taken."
Efforts to protect the environment should seek "agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances."
So, I don't see anything like what Drudge or the Brit rag claims the pope says. Blogger Robert Duncan, writing on speroforum.com, writes, in agreement, commenting on the article, "It's funny how a person can write something, and others read only the things that interest them. Take for instance the press today reporting that the Pope condemns the climate change prophets.
To read this article one would think that the Pope primarily wrote about global warming," and cites some examples of how the speech was NOT primarily about that.
Duncan discusses more of what the pope says,
The earth is the home of the human family, says the Holy Father, highlighting the need "to care for the environment" which "has been entrusted to men and women to be protected and cultivated with responsible freedom, with the good of all as a constant guiding criterion. Human beings, obviously, are of supreme worth vis-a-vis creation as a whole. Respecting the environment does not mean considering material or animal nature more important than man."
"Humanity today is rightly concerned about the ecological balance of tomorrow. It is important for assessments in this regard to be carried out prudently, in dialogue with experts and people of wisdom, uninhibited by ideological pressure to draw hasty conclusions, and above all with the aim of reaching agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances. If the protection of the environment involves costs, they should be justly distributed, taking due account of the different levels of development of various countries and the need for solidarity with future generations."
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