http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/ en-us Copyright 2008 Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:40:07 -0400 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.36 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Clearing up nuclear waste "Senator Obama has some questions to answer about his dealings with one of his largest contributors, Exelon, a big nuclear power company. Apparently he cut some deals behind closed doors to protect them from full disclosure in the nuclear industry." --Hillary Clinton, ABC-Politico Forum, Feb. 11, 2008. Hillary Clinton has leveled a serious charge against Barack Obama, her colleague on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. During the ABC-Politico forum earlier this week, she suggested that Obama "cut some deals" on nuclear regulatory legislation with the Exelon company of Illinois, a major nuclear power operator. She implied that the backroom "deal" was somehow connected to contributions to the Obama campaign from Exelon. Both the Obama campaign and Exelon strongly deny these charges, while acknowledging "contacts" between Obama staffers and Exelon officials on the nuclear bill. For the record, Obama has not received any corporate http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/02/obamas_backroom_deal.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/02/obamas_backroom_deal.html Candidate Watch Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:40:07 -0400 Palm Beach, FL., Jan. 28, 2008. The McCain energy bill "adds a thousand dollars a year to the cost of fuel and energy for the average Florida household. If you want that kind of liberal democrat course as a senator, then you can vote for him." --Mitt Romney, West Palm Beach, FL., Jan. 28, 2008. During the closing hours of the Florida primary, Mitt Romney pounded John McCain for legislation he has championed in the Senate, including the 2003 McCain-Lieberman energy bill, which was designed to cut back on carbon dioxide emissions in line with the Kyoto treaty. He claimed that the bill would cost the average Florida household of four around $1000 a year in increased energy costs. Romney's $1000 estimate is not supported by the most authoritative government cost-benefit analysis of the original 2003 Climate Stewardship Act promoted by McCain, or subsequent energy bills that are still http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/01/mitt_pumps_gas.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/01/mitt_pumps_gas.html Candidate Watch Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:00:00 -0400 Three Republican candidates have denounced the "NAFTA superhighway". "They don't talk about it [the NAFTA superhighway], and they might not admit it, but there's been money spent on it. There was legislation passed in the Texas legislature unanimously to put a halt on it. They're planning on millions of acres taken by eminent domain for an international highway from Mexico to Canada, which is going to make the immigration problem that much worse." --Ron Paul, Republican CNN-YouTube Debate, November 28, 2007. Three of the eight Republican presidential candidates have co-sponsored a House of Representatives resolution denouncing a "NAFTA superhighway" that is supposedly a key part of a master plan to create a "North American Union." A fourth candidate, Mitt Romney, has said he has no evidence that such a plan exists but has pledged, just in case, to put a stop to it "if I am president." So what http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/12/a_superhighway_to_nowhere.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/12/a_superhighway_to_nowhere.html Candidate Watch Mon, 03 Dec 2007 06:00:00 -0400 Bill Richardson on the campaign trail. "I like to compete with other governors about which is the clean energy state. We are the only state that follows the Kyoto treaty." --Bill Richardson, on the Stephanie Miller radio show, November 7, 2007. The governor of New Mexico has a good record on environmental issues. But is he correct in claiming that his state is cutting greenhouse gas emissions in line with the 1997 Kyoto protocol that the Bush administration has refused to ratify. And is New Mexico "the only state" that is "following" the Kyoto treaty? That seems quite a stretch. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/11/richardson_i_am_the_greenest_o.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/11/richardson_i_am_the_greenest_o.html Candidate Watch Fri, 09 Nov 2007 06:00:00 -0400 VERDICT IN THE CASE OF ALBERT ARNOLD GORE Jr. vs JUDGE MICHAEL BURTON Nobel peace prize laureate Al Gore KALEE KREIDER, Environmental adviser to Al Gore: "The judge himself never used the term "errors." That was an allegation made by the plaintiff--whose motives are quite suspect. Stewart Dimmock, who brought this case, appears to have been funded by the very same fossil fuel interests who have sought to undermine the scientific consensus behind global warming in the past." --Response to The Fact Checker, October 18, 2007. MR JUSTICE BURTON, British High Court judge: "There are errors and omissions in the film [An Inconvenient Truth], to which I shall refer, and respects in which the film, while purporting to set out the mainstream view (and to belittle opposing views), does in fact itself depart from that mainstream." --Legal decision permitting the Gore movie to be shown in British schools, together with http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/pinocchio_time_for_al_gore_1.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/pinocchio_time_for_al_gore_1.html Video Watch Thu, 25 Oct 2007 06:00:00 -0400 A British judge has questioned some of the statements in Al Gore's Oscar-winning movie. Last Friday, shortly after Vice President Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on global warming, we posted an item on a recently concluded court case in Britain that questioned some of the facts in his movie, An Inconvenient Truth. We are now giving Gore's spokeswoman, Kalee Kreider, the opportunity to respond to the criticisms of the British judge. Kreider also serves as Gore's environmental adviser. You can find our original posts here and here. UPDATE: SEE VERDICT HERE. The Gore response With a column titled "Fact Checker," it is difficult not to lose the forest for the trees. First and foremost, An Inconvenient Truth presented thousands and thousands of facts. We stand by our initial statement. We were gratified that a UK High Court judge, a layperson with a full docket, http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/an_inconvenient_truth_team_gor_1.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/an_inconvenient_truth_team_gor_1.html Video Watch Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:00:00 -0400 A British judge has questioned some of the statements in Al Gore's Oscar-winning movie. "I don't understand why the Post is holding Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" up to the British High Court opinions alone. Are they the utmost authority on environmental issues, to the exclusion of all others?" --Concerned Citizen, October 12, 2007 "Fire the "Fact Checker." Today. Please." --Andy Lowry, October 12 2007. Our post last Friday--the day Al Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize--on alleged errors in his movie "An Inconvenient Truth" stirred up a tornado of criticism. Many readers felt that the Post was being unfair to Gore. (That's putting it mildly, leaving out the profanity.) Others questioned the credibility and competence of a "bewigged" British judge in ruling on complicated scientific controversies. Some even posited a connection between the Fact Checker and Big Oil, because of the large number of advertisements from the likes http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/an_inconvenient_truth_part_ii.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/an_inconvenient_truth_part_ii.html Video Watch Wed, 17 Oct 2007 07:00:39 -0400 Al Gore believes that global warming contributed to the Hurricane Katrina devastation. AL GORE: The melting of ice in either West Antarctica or Greenland would result in a sea-level rise of up to 20 feet "in the near future." --Oscar-winning movie, "An Inconvenient Truth." BRITISH HIGH COURT JUDGE MICHAEL BURTON: "This is distinctly alarmist and part of Mr Gore's 'wake-up call.'" While it is generally accepted that the melting of Greenland's ice will eventually lead to rises in sea-levels of this magnitude, this will only happen "after, and over, millenia." --Legal ruling, October 10, 2007. Al Gore received the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work drawing attention to the effects of climate change. Today's topic: Just how accurate are his assertions? http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/an_inconvenient_truth_for_al_g_1.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/an_inconvenient_truth_for_al_g_1.html Video Watch Fri, 12 Oct 2007 10:08:39 -0400