You don’t think that all those scientists and hanger-ons from the warming side paid their own way to the previous conferences, do you?
Dismissing things out of hand, especially before they even take place, intimates a bit of bias.
At least these guys aren’t holding the conference in a tropical area while the rest of the planet freezes:
“A new and very different conference on global warming will be held in New York City, under the sponsorship of the Heartland Institute, on March 2nd to March 4th — weather permitting.”
http://www.heartland.org/NewYork08/ConferenceSchedule.pdf
Well, it depends on your definition of "paying your own way". Most meetings charge a registration fee to attend; rarely does a meeting pay you to attend. If you think I'm wrong, check the sites for the American Meteorological Society or the Geological Society of America or IAVCEI (I know about them from my interest in geology and geochemistry). I'd love to go to IAVCEI's General Assembly, which happens to be in Iceland this year, a location on my dream trip list.
The early registration fee is $550, the late registration fee is $650 -- if you're a member. It's higher if you're a non-member. Student member early registration is listed as $450! (Grad students do NOT make a lot of money!)
So you have to pay your own way. Frequently this comes out of research funding. It might be argued that research funding is a way to get money to go to meetings, but still, rarely do you see a scientific conference offering to pay the attendees to come (and to pay their travel expenses to boot!)
Dismissing things out of hand, especially before they even take place, intimates a bit of bias.
Is it biased to judge it based on the previous track record of the sponsors? You tell me.