Oops: Three years after Buzz Aldrin declared he was skeptical of man-made climate fears, fraudster Michael Mann still believes that Aldrin is on his side

NASA Climate Change Letter Belongs To Long Tradition Of Fake Expertise

WASHINGTON -- When former NASA administrators, astronauts and engineers released a letter earlier this week attacking the science of climate change, its veneer of legitimacy kicked off a media blitz. Yet none of the letter's 49 signatories are climate scientists, and with more than 18,000 people currently working for NASA, to say nothing of the tens of thousands more who are retired, the letter seems more than anything like a empty publicity stunt -- for which there's considerable precedent.
"This is an old stunt," explained Michael Mann, a well-known climate scientist and Penn State professor. "When you have an area of the science where there is a consensus like in climate change, where the problem is real and the scientific implications are on a collision course with vested interests like the fossil fuel industry, you often see this."  [What other areas of science is Mann talking about?]
..."They can't discredit the science in the legitimate sphere of scientific debate, which is to say, the peer-reviewed literature, the various assessment reports published by various governments ... so what they try to do is create the illusion that the science is being hotly contested by finding the small group, often of curmudgeonly individuals, who might feel left out," said Mann, who documents this recurrent phenomenon in his newly released book, "The Hockey Stick And The Climate Wars: Dispatches From The Front Lines."
Author John Cook similarly considers such public announcements as one of the five most easily identifiable characteristics of science denialism, wherein deniers use fake experts to undermine established science.
...Of course, two can play at enlisting the support of false experts.
Mann -- who, having survived the phony Climategate scandal, has as much experience as anyone in fighting off the political attacks of climate deniers -- offered a bit of media bait of his own.
"What's really telling is that they couldn't get people like Buzz Aldrin -- or for that matter John Glenn -- to sign this petition," Mann said. "I think it speaks volumes that the most prominent astronauts were completely uninterested in having any part in this ploy, and I was proud of them for that."

Flashback: Another Moonwalker Defies Gore: NASA Astronaut Dr. Buzz Aldrin rejects global warming fears: 'Climate has been changing for billions of years' | Climate Depot

NASA's Dr. Aldrin -- who earned a Doctorate of Science in Astronautics at MIT -- declared he was skeptical of man-made climate fears in a July 3, 2009 UK Telegraph interview.

"I think the climate has been changing for billions of years," Aldrin, the second person to walk on the Moon, said. On July 20, 1969, Aldrin and astronaut Neil Armstrong made their historic Apollo 11 moonwalk, becoming the first two humans to set foot on the Moon. According to his bio, "Aldrin has received three U.S. patents for his schematics of a modular space station, Starbooster reusable rockets, and multi-crew modules for space flight." Aldrin was also decorated with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest American peacetime award and he has received numerous distinguished awards and medals from 23 other countries.

"If it's warming now, it may cool off later. I'm not in favor of just taking short-term isolated situations and depleting our resources to keep our climate just the way it is today," Aldrin explained.

"I'm not necessarily of the school that we are causing it all, I think the world is causing it," Aldrin added.