Global Warming: Back to School

The immortal image of Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School – one of the great unsung schlock classics- popped in my head when reading Howard Kurtz’s column this morning on NBC’s sponsorship of the Live Earth semi-extravaganza:

Wasn’t NBC, whose news division covers the debate over climate change, providing a huge platform for advocates on one side of a contentious issue? And isn’t the network helping a prominent Democrat — who granted “Today” an interview last week in which he was asked again about his presidential ambitions — raise money?

Dan Harrison, an NBC senior vice president, does not back away from the message. He calls the Gore effort “an initiative we believe in,” including parent company General Electric. “I really don’t think climate change is a political issue,” Harrison says.

So now NBC senior vice presidents are “scientists” too. Hello, Rodney Dangerfield. Okay, that’s not fair. Maybe Mr. Harrison is Dr. Harrison and has a secret PhD in climatology – or perhaps physics. And in that spirit I checked. Alas, Dan Harrison doesn’t have his own Wikipedia entry yet and I didn’t see anything else indicating any scientific training. But perhaps I missed something… can you help, dear reader? Or perhaps NBC would provide some indication of Harrison’s scientific qualifications. For all we know, they could even be more than Al Gore’s.