The Hudson Institute's Thomas Sowell has a piece on the National Review Online today touting the Heartland Institute's Denial-a-palooza being held next week in New York City.

Sowell takes no time heading down the misinformation highway with his opening sentence:

It has almost become something of a joke when some 'global warming' conference has to be canceled because of a snowstorm or bitterly cold weather."

Lumping weather and climate is a nice little trick-of-the-denier trade - comparing weather (i.e. a single event like a snowstorm) to climate (a long term trend over time) is simply incorrect and misleading. It would be kind of like comparing, well, Thomas Sowell to a rational, reasonable commentator on the issue of global warming.

On the New York conference, Sowell reports:

It is called an 'International Conference on Climate Change' that will examine the question 'Global Warming: Crisis or Scam?' Among those present will be professors of climatology, along with scientists in other fields and people from other professions."

I am assuming that the "people from other professions" Sowell is referring to would be the 36 "scholars" and "fellows" employed by industry-cozy freemarket think tanks that are scheduled to speak at the conference.

As far as "professors of climatology," I will assume those include:

Dr. Frederick Seitz who is scheduled to present at the conference on the field of climatology. Maybe conference organizers didn't see the memo that the 96-year old Seitz, former principal scientific advisor to tobacco-giant RJ Reynolds, was considered "quite elderly and not sufficient to offer advice" by his former employers in 1998.

Dr. Patrick Michaels, who is scheduled to do a keynote speech titled: Global Warming: Some Convenient Facts. Here's a few DeSmog posts we have done over the years on Michaels, with a few convenient facts of their own:

• Climate skeptic Pat Michaels refuses court request to disclose funding sources
• Pat Michaels Ousted as Virginia State Climatologist For Industry Funding
• More bad press for Viriginia's State Skeptic Michaels
• Double Dipping Pat Michaels Told to Choose Sides
• "Vampire Memo" Reveals Coal Industry Plan for Massive Propaganda Blitz

Christopher Monckton, who is listed to present on climatology. Oh wait, Monckton isn't a climate scientist at all - he's a puzzle-maker!

I could go on, but I'm sure you're getting the point. Here's a link to briefing notes that have been prepared on most of the presenters.

I hope these provides a little context for those inclined to take this conference seriously.