Climate zombie Joe Barton defends plagiarism and incompetence

by DWG

USA Today ventured into investigative journalism in covering plagiarism in the Wegman report, which was commissioned by Texas Republican Joe Barton in 2006 when he was chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The USA story was covered in detail in a diary by Keith Pickering. However, plagiarism is really the tip of the proverbial iceberg in the Wegman report.

Barton and staff brushed off the plagiarism in the Wegman report, claiming the conclusions were valid.

Lisa Miller, a spokeswoman for Barton, reiterated the congressman's support of the Wegman report on Monday, saying it "found significant statistical issues" with climate studies.

False. Absolutely false.

continued at Daily Kos....

USA Today: Key climate denier report was plagiarism

by Keith Pickering

Back in 1998, climate scientists Michael Mann, Raymond Bradley, and Malcolm Hughes (hereafter MBH) published a famous paper on paleoclimate that showed that the Earth is warmer now than at any time in the past thousand years. This paper became known as the "Hockey Stick" because the graph of global temps looked roughly that shape: a long slow decline from 1000 AD, transitioning to a sudden warming during the 20th century.

The Hockey Stick became a shibboleth to the right-wing climate denier crowd: if MBH were right, that would mean we would actually have to do something about global warming. So the right set out to destroy the hockey stick. This attempt didn't start in academe. It started in the offices of certain Republican congressmen. They found a compliant statistician named Edward Wegman to write a report in 2006, and they fed him information from a congressional staffer. The result was an excoriation of MBH in the form of an official congressional report, read into the record at a subcommittee hearing.

One little problem: the information that the GOP staffer fed to Wegman was plagiarized. And the climate scientist whose textbook was ripped off was none other than Raymond Bradley, the B in MBH.

continued at Daily Kos....

More strange tales from the Republican war on science

by DWG

Climate science is a major front in the Republican war on science. In fact, rejection of climate science is a policy requirement to be a Republican running for elected office. Ronald Brownstein nicely summarizes the zealotry of Republicans in climate change denial in the National Journal.

Indeed, it is difficult to identify another major political party in any democracy as thoroughly dismissive of climate science as is the GOP here.

Virginia provides a perfect example for how extreme Republicans have become in their war on climate science. Last Monday, Virginia Attorney General Cuccinelli announced that he was continuing his witch hunt against climate scientist Michael Mann. A funny thing happened a few days later. George Mason University finally admitted publicly that a misconduct investigation was underway on Edward Wegman whose 2006 report to Congress is the basis for Cuccinelli's harassment of Michael Mann.

continued at Daily Kos....

Virginia AG Cuccinelli continues climate science witch hunt

by DWG

Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli has decided to continue to waste taxpayer money and embarrass the state with his witch hunt of climate scientist Michael Mann. Cuccinelli's attempts to harass Mann reveal the depths to which Republicans are willing to sink as full-fledged climate zombies in the service of fossil energy companies.

There are several reasons you should pay attention to the actions of Cuccinelli. First, he is attempting to intimidate a scientist that was formerly employed by a state university, leveling accusations of fraud, and demanding access to personal correspondence as part of a discovery process. Second, Cuccinelli has gained national prominence for his actions, endorsing candidates, and providing a blueprint for attacking federal regulations. Third, Virginia has become ground zero for Tea Party Republicanism.

continued at Daily Kos....

VA AG re-files against UVA/Mann: Climate-change McCarthyism

by seesdifferent

VA AG Ken Cuccinelli has re-filed a subpoena alleging fraud and demanding documents from University of Virginia regarding Michael Mann's research prior to his leaving in 2005, the most notable of which is the so-called "hockey stick" work, showing the sudden increase in temperatures in the industrial era. Cuccinelli's previous subpoena, dealing with that research, was quashed because VA had no jurisdiction over federal grants. The new subpoena deals with Mann's only state grant, which had nothing to do with the hockey stick concept. However, Cuccinelli is clearly trying to get at Mann (and other climatologists) any way he can, and demands, as he did in his quashed subpoena, 10 years of emails between Mann and various other scientists.  His criteria for what constitutes fraud are bizarre.

continued at Daily Kos....

Judge quashes VA AG's subpoena of UVA/Michael Mann

by seesdifferent

The University of Virginia was given a was given a subpoena by VA Attorney General Cuccinelli, who wanted to investigate/imtimidate climate scientist Michael Mann (he of "hockey stick" fame) for possible fraud. The subpoena has now been quashed for lack of evidence.  

Judge Paul Peatross Jr. ruled that while the Virginia attorney general could investigate state grants awarded to scientists, Cuccinelli and his staff failed to demonstrate that such an investigation was warranted in this case. "The nature of the conduct is not stated so that any reasonable person could glean what Dr. Mann did to violate the statute," the judge wrote. "... The Court...understands the controversy regarding Dr. Mann’s work on the issue of global warming. However, it is not clear what he did that was misleading, false or fraudulent in obtaining funds from the Commonwealth of Virginia."

continued at Daily Kos....

Yet another panel exonerates climate e-mailers

by Keith Pickering

Last December, the University of East Anglia's opened two investigations of the "scandal" arising from hacked e-mails from their Climatic Research Unit (CRU). The Oxburgh panel released its findings in April, exonerating the science at the CRU. Today, the Russell panel released its findings, a nearly complete exoneration of the scientists involved.

continued at Daily Kos....

More Nails in the Coffins of the Climate Change Deniers

by Lowell Feld NRDC Action Fund

As if we needed any more evidence demonstrating that anthropogenic climate change is real, that it is occurring right now, and that it poses a major threat to the planet’s environment, we now have it -- in spades. Let;s begin with the assessment by a Penn State University investigation, which completely exonerated climate scientist Michael Mann from any wrongdoing in the ridiculous, trumped-up, never-any-truth-to-it, pseudo-"scandal" known as "climate-gate." In reaction to this report, former House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) -- full disclosure, Boehlert's on the NRDC Action Fund board -- issued a statement which read:

continued at Daily Kos....

Global Cooling is the Hoax

by Steven D

Yes I will get to the fraudulent claims that global denialists have been pushing that our planet has actually cooled since 1998 and will continue to cool for years to come.

But first, just for fun, let's take a look at the weather outside.

(cont.)

continued at Daily Kos....

Climate Change -- Jihadist Plot?

by Steven D

Who knew that extremist Jihadi Muslim Arab Islamofascists would go to such great lengths to destroy our beloved American Oil Companies and wreck our economy as to hold a conference on Climate Change in which they push the leftist propaganda of Al Gore? The horror! No, the TERROR!

continued at Daily Kos....