Bob McCarty Writes

EDITOR’S NOTE: On April 27, 2007, I published a post that loosely linked Mike Penner, a Los Angeles Times sportswriter who had announced he would undergo a sex-change operation, and the multi-faceted controversy surrounding global warming.  Today, I republish that post for two reasons:  (1) I learned that Penner died yesterday of an apparent suicide; and (2) I learned about e-mail evidence about the apparent manipulation of climate change data by researchers at the UK’s East Anglia University’s Climate Research Unit that many believe will put the proverbial nail in the coffin of global warming alarmism.  Please know that, in republishing this piece, I do not intend any disrespect to the family and friends of Penner.

Gender-Bending Reporter Case Prompts Question

An article, Old Mike, new Christine, appeared in the Los Angeles Times yesterday, offering a first-person perspective on the bizarre, gender-bending “transition” of the newspaper’s long-time sports reporter Mike Penner into a “new” creature he plans to call “Christine Daniels”. Strange stuff, no doubt.

More curious to me, however, is the fact that he’ll likely keep his job as a sports reporter at the Times, become a minor celebrity-freak in the world of journalism and be ostracized by baseball. Makes me wonder whether a science reporter at a newspaper like the Times would be accepted in a similar manner after defying convention in such a politically-incorrect way.

For instance, what would happen to a journalist who declared himself a non-believer when it comes to the global warming theology of the Rev. Al Gore and his Warmin’ Church?

To answer that question, I composed the blog post below on behalf of just such a fictitious reporter:

SCIENCE REPORTER TAKES A STAND

I’m publishing this article as a post on my personal blog, since the newspaper where I worked for more than 23 years fired me upon learning I don’t buy the theory that human-caused global warming is soon to doom our planet.

Though many readers, colleagues and friends will be shocked to read those words, please know it didn’t take more than 30 seconds for me to drum up the courage to type them. After all, they’re backed up by actual scientific research to which I’ve been privy as a result of interviewing the experts who conducted the research.

I know I’m one of the few science reporters who refuses to transition from fact-based to consensus science. Why? Because, truth be told, scientists know far too little about the global climate, about what causes it to change and about how to measure changes if and/or when they occur.

I believe environmental extremism is a complicated and widely misunderstood medical condition. It is an unnatural occurrence resulting, in part, from over-exposure to cultural and societal factors, such as tabloid journalism, junk science and dumbed-down public school education.

An environmental extremist friend provided the best and simplest explanation I have heard: We are bombarded with propaganda about this, we fight it as long as we can, and in the end it wins. Except in my case.

I’m giving it as good a fight as I possibly can. I’ve never succumbed. But others have.

After growing tired of the public humiliation received for going against the consensus-science thinking of the masses, others abandoned their training and instincts and said, “What the heck!” before swallowing the junk-science findings of bestselling books and Academy Award-winning documentaries on the subject. Now, they carry the “water” for guys like Al Gore.

On occasion, I’ve pondered the possible repercussions from writing a story such as this one. In the end, however, I could not abandon some of my most important beliefs, ones I’d spent a lifetime reporting, to a world that has grown familiar and comfortable with hype, sensationalism and limited attention to facts. So I opted to come out of my conservative “closet”.

When I told my boss, he leaned back in his chair, looked through his office window to scan the newsroom and mused, “After I fire you, no one can say we don’t have consensus on this staff.” Then he fired me.

All I can say at this point is that I am now happier, more focused and more energized than ever, looking forward to my next job at the National Enquirer, the only publisher that will hire someone like me who’s willing to buck convention.

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EPILOGUE: For the most part, the predictions I made in the post above proved accurate. Penner kept his job at the LA Times and received a lot of attention as a result of his very-public sex change.  As to whether or not he was ostracized by baseball, I do not know for sure.