Ever wonder why the Review-Journal hates science?

Well, the paper's parent company gives loads of money to big oil, big natural gas and similar industries trying to block any change to energy policy. And then there's the paper's little partnership with the Nevada Policy Research Institute.

NPRI is Nevada's one stop shop for the "science" suggesting climate change isn't real. A few weeks ago, NPRI blasted energy legislation with a blog post suggesting the real problem is "poorly placed thermometers." http://www.writeonnevada.com/2009/10/more-evidence-against-global-warming.html

This is a ready-made argument for the Libertarians that run the Review-Journal's editorial page and see no role for government in most any regulations. And it fits perfectly into the mind of Publisher Sherm Frederick who gives a chuckle anytime a climate change meeting is postponed because of snow or if snow threatens an October playoff baseball game in Denver of all places.

But since NPRI has been granted credibility by the Review-Journal, the loony science seeps into otherwise legitimate reporting.

Check out this January article by business writer Jennifer Robison on how the Las Vegas Strip was set to participate in the spectacular dimming of lights worldwide called Earth Hour. http://www.lvrj.com/news/38589809.html

Amazingly, Robison threw this curve into her report.

"And Geoffrey Lawrence, fiscal-policy analyst at free-market think tank Nevada Policy Research Institute, pointed to theories from atmospheric physicist Fred Singer, as well as Duke University researchers, that assert that higher levels of greenhouse gases follow global warming rather than cause it, and that solar cycles drive global warming more than earthbound carbon-dioxide levels do."