Take back Al Gore's Oscar, 2 Academy members demand in light of Climategate [Updated]

No, it wouldn't do anything for the environment.

But two Hollywood conservatives (yes, there are some) have called upon the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to rescind the prestigious, profitable gold Oscar statuette that it gave ex-Vice President Al Gore et al two years ago for the environmental movie "An Inconvenient Truth."

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FOR THE RECORD:
A Top of the Ticket post Dec. 4 about former Vice President Al Gore and the film “An Inconvenient Truth” incorrectly reported that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Gore an Oscar. Although Gore appeared in the film and participated in the Academy Awards ceremony, the Oscar was given to the movie for best documentary. The post also refers to the “leak” of controversial e-mails concerning research into global warming but did not explain how the documents were obtained. The e-mails were obtained by computer hackers who then leaked their contents to the public by posting them online.

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Roger L. Simon and Lionel Chetwynd, both academy members, are among a small, meandering pack of known political conservatives still believed to be on the loose in the liberal bastion of movie-making.

In 2007, Hollywood's academy sanctified Gore's cinematic message of global warming with its famous statue, enriched his earnings by $100,000 per 85-minute appearance and helped elevate the Tennesseean's profile to win the Nobel Peace Prize despite losing the election battle of 2000 to a Texan and living in a large house with lots of energy-driven appliances.

Chetwynd and Simon were prompted to make their hopeless demand this week by the ... 

... leak two weeks ago of a blizzard of British academic e-mails purporting to show that scientists at the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit systematically falsified data to document the appearance of global warming in recent years.

The university is reportedly investigating the claims, which added dry fuel to the never-ending political debate over whether the Earth really is warming as a result of human activity or if it's just normal natural cycles and the debate is what's heated. The demand to withdraw Gore's award provides yet another opportunity to argue.

The startling leak comes at an inconvenient time just before next week's United Nations climate change meeting that will cause an immense carbon footprint with thousands of people flying up or over to Denmark to talk about saving the environment.

These airplanes will include Air Force One with its primary passenger President Obama, who's returning to the Copenhagen scene where he didn't help win the 2016 Summer Olympics for Chicago, which could do with a little global warming at this time of year.

Simon, a screenwriter who is also chief executive officer of Pajamas Media, a network of conservative online blogs, conceded he knew of no precedent for the Academy withdrawing a previously-awarded Oscar, despite decades of Hollywood hijinks and worse. But, he added, "I think they should rescind this one."

The controversial leaked documents have been assembled here by Pajamas Media and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The joint demand by Simon and filmmaker Chetwynd is available on video here.

The television news-watching world in America has not learned much about the so-called Climategate scandal because it has not really been mentioned on the air except for a notorious cable news channel named for a three-lettered, wily, wild animal that often seems to revel in debunking liberal shibboleths.

Network news programs have been far more concerned with the obviously more important White House party-crasher story involving a couple of formally-dressed phonies.

The falsified documents do not come up in Gore interview excerpts published late last night here by Politico's John F. Harris and Mike Allen.

This week White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs claimed that global warming was no longer in dispute by most people. But a subsequent Rasmussen Reports poll of Americans finds only 1 in 4 adults believe that most scientists agree on the topic.

And while only 20% claim to have followed the leaked e-mail story Very Closely, nearly 60% believe it is at least somewhat likely that scientists have falsified environmental data to support their own global warming beliefs and theories.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photos: Associated Press

Comments

[omeca]

Honor in Hollywood? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Parish the thought.

[Peter Gaultney]

This article is well written. Much appreciated.

[John]

I concur with Roger Simon & Lionel Chetwynd. I for one have never given in to the whole "Global Warming" rubish. Climates are constantly changing and have always been since the begining of time. It was and is a completely ludicrous and absurd hoax constructed to make Al Gore money. Genius on Gore's behalf however, grab a few respected scientist and put the word out. Who are normal citizens to tell world renowned scientist they are wrong, and liberal media coverage didn't hurt either. He also got a Nobel Prize out of the deal. A bit of a premature and naive decision if you ask me. But when someone finally contests the theory and finds the data to be inaccurate and insufficient, the media can't be found. Its the same scenario that gets played out time and time again. "History is written by the victor", Winston Churchill. Therefore, could history be full of lies? When you just accept everything your told and never question the source, you become a fool. The only thing warming up was Al Gore's jet engine, so he could fly around the country, releasing toxins into to the air, to collect money. I believe in recycling and conserving, and I'm not saying these toxins don't affect our planet. Global warming however is one big hoax.

[phlogiston]

An "inconvenient lie?"

What a sobering revelation, that academics become so embroiled in fostering a position they have taken that they abandon all protocols in an attempt to have their conclusions become "the consensus," and provide the basis for policies that divert resources based on priorities established predicated on what seems to be corrupted data and conclusions.

If Mr. Gore is indeed sufficiently intelligent to understand the data, then he may have been misled. Regardless, he has been quite opportunistic in positioning himself to profit from trading in "carbon credits." Should we impugn entrepreneurial initiative. Well, if his undertaking was based on establishing an equivalent to "bucket shops" in a "long con" then we should.

But we are all compromised by our gullibility and our deference to "science," imputing to scientists virtues that they seemingly don't merit. Again, we are confronted by an "emperor who has no clothes."

Mr. Gore should be accorded credit for perseverance in pursuing his objectives. Certainly his personal behavior and energy consumption do not indicate that he is willing to don sackcloth and smear himself with ashes, but rather that he is indifferent to the impact of his program on the personal lives of others who must contain their use of fuels, and who of course, probably don't possess the wherewithal to buy exemptions. Mr. Gore seems quite content to have others sacrifice in terms of the impact on their lives, but unwilling to compromise his own comforts.

The anthropogenic aspect of global warming is what is at issue. Climate change has been with us before the activities of humans had any significant impact, including successions of Ice Ages and Warming Periods. It seems that we are living under the "Sword of Damocles" subject to catastrophic events beyond our control. As recently as 12,000 years ago, significant portions of North America and Eurasia were covered with glaciers more than a mile in thickness. The "freeze" in Europe is now believed to have occurred within a 10 month period. We like to delude ourselves regarding incrementalism and stability of our environment to reduce our anxiety. By the way, CO2 is "plant food," and in the past couple of decades Eastern Aspens have doubled in size with the increase of this gas in the atmosphere.

The dynamics of climate change are such that we are not the "Captains of our Fate nor the Masters of our Souls." We are vulnerable. And this rallying of "our forces" to "combat" nature is quite prayerful, yet will no more propitiate the gods of change than placing fruit at the foot of a volcano to prevent eruption. Adapt rather than engage in useless rituals that may reassure but have no meaningful effect on our environment, while impinging negatively on our lifestyle.

[ronfromhollywood]

wow!!! great article. keep it up and i might consider L.A. Times as a legitimate source of news.

as a conservative, i want you to go after the truth, not any ideology, including my own. be critical of all... even the poor.... even the minorities... even thyself...

[Drew]

"a Texan and living in a large house with lots of energy-driven appliances."
Excuse me but Al Gore has a VERY large house here in Nashville that he DOESN'T USE and it uses the 2nd most energy of a private residence in the Metro Area. And i repeat, he doesn't even live there.

[MAC]

"An Inconvenient Truth" is a work of fiction. Al is a master of same so he certainly deserved an Oscar.

[McFly]

Damn right he should lose the oscar, it was based on fraudulent information.
Of course we all know it won't matter to the liberals running Hollywood.

[Fred McKinney]

Tee hee hee! What I've thought for a long time has finally been PROVEN -- just like all the other global warming alarmists, Al Gore is officially full of hot air!

[Joey]

Also the main stream media is too busy worrying about Tiger Woods.

This is a very important issue. This is going to cost the American people. Obama himself has admitted his Cap and Trade bill will skyrocket utility prices for the common citizen.

I personally do not believe global warming is man made, I'm also now one who wants to be wrong. I believe that we should investigate and before we put our necks on the line (which China and India who are also big industrial nations will not) I think we need to be 100% right on this and not 99.9%.

Senator Boxer said this is theft because this is now out to the general public. What is wrong with that? Why shouldn't we know when it's people like her and her liberal colleagues that want to push this agenda. Do we not have the right to know why we are doing things.

Unfortunately some people are like sheep and want to follow their sheep herder. These "hackers" should be commended and not condemned because they brought out questions and hopefully will bring a bigger discussion to the table. But I am afraid that our Great President will over look this like he has done everything else and continue with his plan to weaken our nation even further.

[Banjo]

What has happened to the LA Times that something like this can appear?

[Alice]

For those people who do not know yet... Gore is going to go down in history as the biggest con artist profiteer in American history

[phlogiston]

By the way, there are only 35 egregious errors in the "documentary." Maybe the category should be changed and the award retained for a new genre. "Fictional Documentaries."

[Dan Collier]

Ok, so have these people ever heard of teleconferencing? If this is as real and dire to people as they claim, they would be doing things personally to avoid the disaster. Instead, they are generating enough CO2 to run a small city for months!!! This does not smack of hypocrisy, it knocks it to the floor!!!
dc

[Fred Coulter]

I don't see why Gore should return his Academy Award. Most of the films (including other documentaries) which win Academy Awards are fictional. Just because it appears that An Inconvienient Truth may be factually challenged doesn't make it ineligible for an Acadamy Award.

[tutilal]

Dont leave him alone.... poor little boy, next has to be obama for his "nobel prize" on false promises.

[pdxlee]

Take back the Oscar? No how about arresting him for fraud, put him in the cell next to Bernie

[EK]

The lack of mainstream media coverage of this Watergate of our decade is amazing. Mr. Gore is set to make billions (trillions?) in a swindle that rivals any of the 1800s robber barons. He should never have been given the award, which simply revealed Hollywood's political bias, and investment strategy.

[Dayahka]

President Obama should at the very least spend 3 or more months reviewing the climate change science claims before flying off to commit the country to a very questionable pseudo-scientific geo-engineering scheme with little, if any, evidence to back it up. Mr. Obama has clearly not performed due diligence on an issue that is far more important to the country and the world than a minor war in Asia.

To see Mr. Gibbs, the press secretary, and thus the president, talking as if they have the credentials to evaluate scientific claims is outrageous and immoral and intellectually dishonest. Mr. Obama's science czar, a totalitarian ignoramus, is notoriously unfit to be a science adviser, much less a faculty member of some university, given his self-appointed status as a deity able to elevate the pseudo-scientific claims of AGW to the level of natural laws. But it is people like this that Mr. Obama is listening to, and this does not bode well for science or the nation or the world to see ignorance and religious fanaticism elevated to the level of divine truth.

The president should cancel his Copenhagen appearance, fire his so-called science adviser, and perform due diligence on climate change claims. Otherwise, he is being irresponsible.

[kykate]

My husband and are socially and fiscally conservative. For 35 years, we've practiced "leave no trace" camping/hiking. In our modest home we use limited amounts of water and electricity. I imagine we've done more to save the environment than Al Gore and his band of socialist followers have ever thought of doing.

[brent]

You need a little more fact checking on this. The emails were released months and months ago...to the BBC. The BBC ignored the story. The emails were not hacked two weeks ago..it's simply that the arrogant know-it-all press decided to report on it two weeks ago.

Also, there is no evidence that the computer systems at the school were actually hacked or security was broken. It is looking more and more everyday like it was an inside job by a whistle blower with access, not an external break-in.

Third, none of the involved parites including the professors themselves have denied that the content of the emails are true and accurate.

This is seriously scarry stuff.

[tired]

why are we constantly subjected to this hack's political spin, and expected to accept it as "reporting"?

so some emails were leaked. so a few scientists falsified some results. the entire climate change denier argument is BASED ENTIRELY on false results. this whole brouhaha its the scientific equivalent of saying birds don't fly because penguins swim. there is enough evidence of climate change to make it real.

can we please get a real reporter here instead of a right wing press release recycler? please?

[mary]

Well, it looks like he won't recognize the significance of him giving it back of his own accord so they should publicly address this and begin some precedence. The last thing we need is for Michael Moore to think he just has to get his hands on one.....

Maybe if this is corrected, then there is hope for the future of the Nobel Peace Prize after all?

[Bill R]

A detail that would make this article complete is the fact that the vast majority of climate scientists to agree that our climate is being influenced by rapidly changing concentrations of greenhouse gases, and that drastic action is necessary to avert a major crisis. I matters politially that only a quarter of americans know this, but it does not change the truth.

[DEX]

Another inconvenient truth: Rescinding Gore's Oscar would be difficult, as he doesn't have one. Although Gore accepted the statuette as the marketable face behind "An Inconvenient Truth," the award went to director Davis Guggenheim.

[aron]

Instead of rescinding the Oscar, maybe the Academy should just reclassify it under Best Comedy.

[John]

If hollywood did something so responsible, I would sell all of my stocks, run up credit cards and live like there was no tomorrow. Because obviously, that would indicate the end time are here!

[Dan Shockley]

There are many things in this post to discuss, but I'll pick the non-controversial one: You really should know what a word means before you use it. To quote Inigo Montoya, "I do not think that word means what you think it means."

You use the word shibboleth as if it means "dearly-held belief." It does not. The closest (and least common) definition to what you said is "a common saying or belief with little current meaning or truth." (dictionary.com) That doesn't quite match your usage, unless you happen to strongly agree with the network named after the cunning little canid. The primary definition is very different. It is "a peculiar distinction about a group that allows them to be identified." It comes from a Hebrew story (in the book of Judges in the Hebrew scriptures, or Bible as some might know it) about a test used by Gileadite soldiers to identify enemies trying to pass through a check point to flee from a losing batle. Ephraimites couldn't pronounce the "sh" sound, which gave them away.

Wikipedia has a decent article on this if anyone wants to know more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibboleth

So, while the word can be used to denote something that members of a group share, the context of your usage doesn't match well. The words "tenets," "beliefs," "convictions," "ideologies," "precepts," and so on would have all meant what you said much more accurately.

[charles brown]

looks like Big Al has been finaly found out.think he should give back oscar and money. he should give his money to salvation army and his estates also. Too bad Alger but the party is over for YOU!!!

[anon]

I'll trade:

Take back Bush's electoral-fraud Presidency and you can have anyone's Oscar back you want.

Deal?

[Jennifer Harris]

So glad to see no bias in your reporting! Could it be any more blatant about which news station frightens you so much! Why are so many in the now no longer main stream media so afraid of the truth? Is it because it really isn't about science and the truth? It is about an ideological media that has placed all its chips on a false premise and now sees it falling apart and can't admit it- because then you might be accused of the same fraud? Your readership might not be falling so much if you actually printed the truth even when it is "inconvenient".

[reality]

Huh, Andrew Malcolm distorting the truth to push a conservative agenda? There was no falsification of data from those illegally obtained emails. They were private emails basically saying how insane global warming deniers are, making fun of them and calling them idiots. What's next Mr. Malcolm, the good news on jobs today is really a conspiracy by everyone to prop up Pres. Obama's "failed" term? If getting us out of the Republican's disastrous economic policy, which caused 3 recessions from 2001-2008 (huh, who was in charge during that time I wonder?) then I support failure.

[Zip]

Note to right wing whack jobs. Move out of Mom and Dad's basement. Try to find a girlfriend. Life is pretty good out here if you have a life. This constant Debbie Downer routine is stale. We get it. You're bitter and angry at everything. Get over yourself.

[bAGb]

Excellent article, funning and revealing. Thanks for having the guts to report something worthwhile.

[EndCorruptionNow]

Climate-Gate

[David]

If they were able to get us to believe that humans, the most complicated and advanced entity we know of was not created by a higher power – but only the things that man has made was created.

If they were able to get us to believe that life does not start at conception –

If they can remove the name of the creator – Yahweh – from the bible –

If they can get us to believe that the way to get peace is always a bigger stick, more advanced weapon, more troops, police etc, while we pump thousands of images of violence per minute to the minds of the people,

Then teaching that global warming is caused by CO2 that is needed to plants which we eat – is a cake walk for “scientists”

When you tell a lie you have to tell a really big one and people will believe it.

[Bill]

His resemblance to some of those tele-evangelists is startling: give me money or the world will be destroyed. Travels around the world to preach his message of doom, denouncing those who dont believe as heretics, only this 'preacher' wont even give you a handshake for anything less than 1200, whereas you can get an authentic roll of 'shroud of turin toilet paper' for a 50 buck donation from the others.

[James]

The taking back of the Oscar is a good place to start. What about the MILLIONS$$$ that he scammed from the public, government and world?
He should be required to return the profits and forever be discredited on anything he claims (i.e. climate change, internet creation).

[AnJ]

For this White House, "most people" don't dispute global warming only because it does not consider those who disagree with it to be "people" but "right-wing extremists" whose views need not be acknowledged (except by Homeland Security).

[Joe-Newport Beach]

Ladies & gentlemen, Hollywood is a place to play "make-believe" - it is NOT REAL. Al Gore won an Oscar and we now know that it was for - the "Best FICTIONAL Documentation Film". Hence, he has not only invented the Internet but a new classification of film making.

[Dr. Proctor]

Ever seen or heard a liberal apologize and accept resposibility? Didn't think so.

[Perry Kneisel]

What kind of condescending drivel are you purveying here, Malcolm? The whole "Global Warming" canard foisted on us by a bunch of left wing Chicken Littles is certainly in doubt. Far from being "settled science", it is certainly up for debate. The latest poll I viewed on the news last night indicated 53% of climatologists agree. Your slamming of conservatives in Tinsel Town is sooo L.A. Times. You should be getting your A list Christmas (oops, I should say Winter Solstice Holiday) party invitations soon.

Al Gore deserved an Oscar but not for his movie. He deserved it for pulling off the greatest public stunt since Orson Welles famous radio broadcast about an alien invasion from Mars.

[eric of Reseda]

Simon & Chetwyn are clearly nuts. Ihope the rest of the Hollywood community isolates these guys. Climategate is indeed news. But using those tainted e-mails as proof that Global Warming is a lie, and that human beings aren't playing a part is akin to saying that because one lab makes a fraudulent claim that they've identified the definitive cause of Alzheimers, then that act of fraud proves that Alzheimers Disease doesn't exist. Warming is happening. This is a fact. the question of what role humans play in it is debatable. But after 150 years of MASSIVE dumping of pollutants in the air, water and soil, and the IMMENSE heat released by millions of cars and factories, slashing and burning of forests, above ground nuclear explosions, UHI's, etc., my guess is that human beings probably play a significant role in the Warming. And while there might be a NATURAL warming trend, human activity is tipping the scales.

[Mike E. Coon]

ALGORE: typical lying leftist, a "sky is falling alarmist" with clabber for brains. Kind of like all Demonrats !!Look at any city ran ( RUINED ) by Demonrats, Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, California, all basket cases due ti liberal insanity. The pathetic aspect to this is that these same scum want others to bail them out ??!!

[sammy]

Liberal activist "science" revelations about destroyed data, obstructed peer review process and FOI requests, "Fudge factor" programming to achieve a "hide the decline effect"??? Appearing in the LA Times (well, Blog anyways)??? Better hurry and read before they find out!

[Bruce Scofield]

Actually, our friend Bobby Gibbs said that "climate change" was no longer in dispute by most people. He's right. The climate is changing daily, as has been its wont for the past 4.5 billion years. Right now we are in a cooling phase. No one is sure of how much longer this will last. It's is important to note that "climate change" and "global warming" are not synonymous.

[Bob Last]

I need to seriously ask, are you joking? I thought the LA Times actually had journalists, not a bunch of Fox news propagandists on its payroll. This article is filled with assumptions, lies, and innuendo, and reads like a hit piece from the GOP...oh wait, it is a GOP hit piece. You should be ashamed to even call this journalism. What once was a excellent newspaper has been turned into a right wing, celebrity obsessed, yellow journalism rag.

A real journalist would have asked the very basic of questions about who stole these e-mails, did they falsify any of them, did the thieves have a relationship with the climate deniers who are posting this drivel, was there really any climate fraud (hey you should ask a real scientist! now that's a new idea for a journalist), and maybe even should the scientists start fearing for their own safety since it seems that some groups are now willing to start breaking the laws to further their own political objectives.

Instead we get your joke of a news article. How sad for America that your newspaper has returned to its pre-1960 ways of rapid right wing journalism.

[Jim Lanphere]

Al Gore and others have defrauded the citizens of the world for far more than Bernie Madoff ever envisioned. The fraudulent documentary information has cost the citizens of earth an enormous amount of money. The dire consequences that Al depicts are part of natural evolution, and I for one am only savy enough to figure that this whole lie allows a bunch of liars to get paid handsomely for speaking about the well coordinated "Global Warming End Game". Anybody niave enough to walk in lockstep with this pathological liar/idiot, should be sent away to ponder the error in their ways, along with AL.

[G K]

The word is out. Let's see how far out the MSM allows it to go. Billions of dollars, massive changes in public policy and law, self-righteousness, bullying, and even massive property damage in the guise of protest - these are a few of Al's Inconvenient Things

[Jim]

Al Gore's brain should be removed and put in a LOCK BOX. Then throw away the key.