Pielke Jr. misses it again

Roger comes down on Junkscience for a refreshing change, usually prefering to disguise himself and mingle with the sceptics. Of course, if you read him carefully, he is not one, he just plays one on "the internets". It is all about personal positioning in a very public debate.

Roger posts about Steve Milloy, who has written a letter to the U.S. government's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) trying to stop certain corporations from "making potentially false and misleading statements pertaining to global warming and other environmental issues".

Of course, the statements he calls out are not false or misleading except in bizzaro world. But speaking of bizarro world, let me come to Milloy's defense against Roger's criticisms....

Pielke speaks out in defense of free speech once again. And once again he misapplies the concept. Free speech does not mean anyone gets to say anything they like in any situation they happen to be in. Life is just not that simple! Milloy is pursuing his "warning to registrants" via completely legitimate avenues that have to do with preventing deceitful manipulations by corporations in the pursuit of illegitimate profits.

Just as advertisers do not get to lie (well, aren't supposed to) to trick you into buying their products, corporations can not make false or misleading statements to encourage you to invest in them. Too bad Milloy has not found any such statements.

So thanks to Roger for being evenhanded in chastising Milloy as well as Hansen, but he is wrong both times.