it's really an editorial but that's not what I find important here. What I do notice, however, is that it seems the author and Mr. Jon Boone have more in common than a love for birds and a disdain for wind turbines. Like Mr. Boone, I believe Mr. Webb is knowingly using his position and association with a distinguished university to inflate his resume or at the very least allow others to do it for him.
After a quick search, I found this from one of the persistent anti-wind websites. Notice in the text they refer to Mr. Webb as a Professor in the Environmental Sciences Department at UVA, ("UVA Environmental Sciences Professor Rick Webb"). Here's a link to the faculty of that department and oddly enough, no Professor Webb. What I did find, however, is a bio that states, "He received a Masters in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia." Well, at least he's not claiming to have a PhD too. Here's the link that shows Rick Webb's real position, "Projects Coordinator," which is quite a bit different from "Professor."
As I told Mr. Bambacus, these wind action sites are full of so many lies no one really knows what to believe. How are we as average folks supposed to separate the facts from the fiction? Thanks for bringing this to my attention Mr. Bambacus.
We can be honest and have a real discussion of the issues or we can stretch the truth and turn everything into propaganda. It's time for these anti-wind websites to stop the lies and propaganda and just tell the truth. Then maybe someone will take them seriously.
Don't forget to check back to Dan's Deep Creek Blog for future updates.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
This morning I got an e-mail from John Bambacus linking me the following "article" ..
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2 comments:
Dan,
According to the bio posted on his Virginia Wind website, Mr. Webb is a Senior Scientist with the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia (click on "bio" after his name in bottom left corner of this website - www.VAwind.org ).
Your attempt to malign Mr. Webb and denigrate his position on industrial wind energy is hard to understand. You insinuated that Mr. Webb is not credible source of information about wind energy because one reporter in one story referred to him as a "professor" instead of correctly stating that Mr. Webb was a research scientist with a leading university. This "over the top" if not completely undeserved criticism rings hollow from a blogger who doesn't even reveal his last name!
For someone who professes to be in favor of "fair and objective reporting", your treatment of Mr. Webb, Mr. Boone and Mr. Bambacus indicates otherwise. Your ridiculous claim that Mssrs. Boone and Webb purposefully inflated their resumes doesn't pass the smell test. And to expect them to correct relatively minor errors of the kind you found is absurd and shows how limited your "horizons" really are.
Thanks for your comment Mr. Marsh. As I have said many times, all thoughtful opinions are welcome here. And yes I am in favor of objective reporting which is generally why I find myself telling the other side of story such that a balance can somehow be reached. I don't expect any of these men to correct every single error printed about them. However, in the case of Mr. Boone in particular he is endorsing websites knowingly printing false information about his background and education and implied authority on the subject matter. As I noted in the original posting concerning Mr. Boone he may not be inflating his own resume but by failing to set the record straight and endorsing these sites he might as well be. You have your opinion on the matter and I have mine, which is that he allows it to happen so he is guilty by association and therefore cannot be trusted to provide an objective and honest analysis. But that's just my opinion and what I'm really concerned with here are the facts. Does Mr. Boone have a PhD and was he a Professor at the University of Maryland or not? Is Mr. Webb a Professor at the University of Virginia and does his bio on his own site differ from the one on the UVA site? Facts answer those questions, not opinions.
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