Conspiracy to Censor: Andrew Langer and Jean Mercer
Ozymandias' Cat
on Psychology Today’s website.
Several people posted questions about her credentials (she has a
Ph.D., but not a license) and some of her associates, who have
questionable backgrounds (one, Larry Sarner, was involved in in a
voting machine investment scam).
Many comments were removed and there is now no mechanism to post new
ones.
Is it possible Mercer joined forces with Andrew Langer? Langer, who
likes be thought of as a libertarian, is actually a conservative.
Langer has stated that he often has issues with anonymous comments,
including this entry (http://langrrr.blogspot.com/
2005_09_01_archive.html) on his blog.
Langer used to be with the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEi),
which is generally viewed as a “mouthpiece” for the oil and tobacco
industries. They promulgate a great deal of pseudoscience, quackery,
and misinformation about global warming.
One of their global warming experts, Myron Ebell, admits to having had
no scientific training. His appearance on Newsnight (www.youtube.com/
watch?v=YyKUblhXJw8) is quite amusing. Ebell did not do a good enough
job for the likes of ExxonMobil, and the days of his six figure
retainers seem to be over.
Then we have John Berlau. Berlau runs CEI’s Center for Investors and
Entrepreneurs, odd, as he’s never been either. Berlau is another
global warming denier. He believes that trees pollute more than cars.
He believes that DDT is good for the environment.
Once, when asked a series of basic scientific questions, he replied
that a gas, when heated, gets heavier!
Langer and his colleagues at CEI have opposed the work of Ileana
Rosenthal and her Humanetics Foundation.
Interestingly, Rosenthal has also been opposed by Monica Pignotti.
Pignotti is a former Scientologist. She abandoned Scientology and,
after some time, became a devotee of Thought Field Therapy and Voice
Technology. She has abandoned those, and is now a frequent
collaborator of Jean Mercer, Larry Sarner, and Sarner’s wife, Linda
Rosa.
Rosa and Sarner operate various websites and blogs; at least one of
them has the disturbing title of child torture.
This blog has also seen fit to publish the “work” of Charly D. Miller.
Miller describes herself as a retired paramedic and author. She plans
to, but has not, written travel guides to locales mentioned in the
Harry Potter books.
Miller posts a great deal of copyrighted material to her website, and
she has, on more than one occasion, removed it.
When these, and other incidents, were questioned on Mercer’s blog,
commenting came to an abrupt halt.
One has to wonder whether Andrew Langer, now operating the Institute
for Liberty, was involved, given his stated opposition to the use of
anonymous comments.
Another possible “suspect” is Brooke Oberwetter. Oberwetter was with
CEI for a while, but has subsequently joined “DC Signal” which
describes itself as as “communications consultancy.” Is it possible
censorship is one of their offerings?