Racing around the internet are some internal documents that appear to be from the Heartland Institute, a relatively obscure hard-core anti-science think tank. As DeSmogBlog explains, “An anonymous donor calling him (or her)self ‘Heartland Insider’ has released the Heartland Institute’s budget, fundraising plan, its Climate Strategy for 2012 and sundry other documents (all attached) that prove all of the worst allegations that have been levelled against the organization.”

Personally, I was skeptical of these docs, at least until I read the 2012 Fundraising Plan, which attacks the temperature station data of the “the National Aeronautics and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).” That kind of error is classic Heartland.

And here’s another apparent blunder: “The Charles G. Koch Foundation returned as a Heartland donor in 2011. We expect to ramp up their level of support in 2012 and gain access to the network of philanthropists they work with.”

Those Heartland folks are such satirists.  Philanthropy “etymologically means the love of humanity,” whereas funding climate denial and inaction, as the Kochs do, is perhaps the cruelest thing you could possibly do to humanity.

My colleague Brad Johnson has just blogged on Heartland’s “Secret, Corporate-Funded Plan To Teach Children That Climate Change Is A Hoax,” which I’ll excerpt at the end. It’s funny in the way that The Shining was funny.

But DeSmogBlog has also noticed that Heartland’s 2012 Strategy Memo mentions me by name along with a couple of climate scientists and some other folks you’ve heard of:

“Efforts might also include cultivating more neutral voices with big audiences (such as Revkin at DotEarth/NYTimes, who has a well-known antipathy for some of the more extreme AGW communicators such as Romm, Trenberth, and Hansen) or Curry (who has become popular with our supporters).”

More satire.  How could the former top climate reporter for the paper of record have a “well-known antipathy” for two of the top climate scientists in the world?  Or me, for that matter?  And who could believe Judith Curry, the Chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech, could be popular with the most extreme, fringe climate science deniers?  Maybe it’s a typo, and they mean Indian curry has become popular with supporters. Who could blame them for liking tasty food?

These documents just make no sense, kind of like climate science denial itself.  Perhaps this is a spoof put out by The Onion.

Certainly the page on Heartland’s secret plans to dupe children supports the latter theory:

“Whether humans are changing the climate is a major scientific controversy“ — what satire!

And who could believe that “a consultant with the Office of Scientific and Technical Information at the U.S. Department of Energy in the area of information and communication science” would get paid cash money to push a bunch of easily debunked lies on school children, of all people.  Heck, the International Energy Agency has said the world is on pace for 11°F warming, and “Even School Children Know This Will Have Catastrophic Implications for All of Us.”

And no real science communicator would agree to a plan aimed at thwarting science education (as laid out in the strategy document):

“His effort will focus on providing curriculum that shows that the topic of climate change is controversial and uncertain – two key points that are effective at dissuading teachers from teaching science.

If these documents are real, they revealed the desperate efforts of a fringe denial group to deceive children and ruin their future.  No, this must be from the brilliant staff at The Onion.  And they almost had us fooled!