Sunday
Jan032010
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill New Year starts badly for Mann
Jan 3, 2010 Climate: Mann James Delingpole has the scoop
Michael Mann – creator of the incredible Hockey Stick curve and one of the scientists most heavily implicated in the Climategate scandal – is about to get a very nasty shock. When he turns up to work on Monday, he’ll find that all 27 of his colleagues at the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University have received a rather tempting email inviting them to blow the whistle on anyone they know who may have been fraudulently misusing federal grant funds for climate research.
Reader Comments (11)
Awesome!!
There's an American law against racketeering that has been pressed into service in various unexpected ways - whereas the climate hoodlums would seem to me to be a natural case to try it on. Does anyone happen to know its name?
RICO - Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
@ dearieme: There's an American law against racketeering that has been pressed into service in various unexpected ways - whereas the climate hoodlums would seem to me to be a natural case to try it on. Does anyone happen to know its name?
RICO--Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
According to Wiki (shudder): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act
Under the law, racketeering activity means:
* Any violation of state statutes against gambling, murder, kidnapping, extortion, arson, robbery, bribery, dealing in obscene matter, or dealing in a controlled substance or listed chemical (as defined in the Controlled Substances Act);
* Any act of bribery, counterfeiting, theft, embezzlement, fraud, dealing in obscene matter, obstruction of justice, slavery, racketeering, gambling, money laundering, commission of murder-for-hire, and several other offenses covered under the Federal criminal code (Title 18);
* Embezzlement of union funds;
* Bankruptcy fraud or securities fraud;
* Drug trafficking;
* Money laundering and related offenses;
* Bringing in, aiding or assisting aliens in illegally entering the country (if the action was for financial gain);
* Acts of terrorism.
"Under RICO, a person who is a member of an enterprise that has committed any two of 35 crimes—27 federal crimes and 8 state crimes—within a 10-year period can be charged with racketeering. Those found guilty of racketeering can be fined up to $250,000 and/or sentenced to 20 years in prison per racketeering count. In addition, the racketeer must forfeit all ill-gotten gains and interest in any business gained through a pattern of "racketeering activity." RICO also permits a private individual harmed by the actions of such an enterprise to file a civil suit; if successful, the individual can collect treble damages.
When the U.S. Attorney decides to indict someone under RICO, he or she has the option of seeking a pre-trial restraining order or injunction to temporarily seize a defendant's assets and prevent the transfer of potentially forfeitable property, as well as require the defendant to put up a performance bond. This provision was placed in the law because the owners of Mafia-related shell corporations often absconded with the assets. An injunction and/or performance bond ensures that there is something to seize in the event of a guilty verdict."
You could argue that the climate hoodlums have tried their hands at (at least)
* extortion,
* counterfeiting, theft, embezzlement, fraud,
* Money laundering and related offenses;
* Acts of terrorism.
Obviously this anthropogenic climate change science looks more and more like a fraud. Yet this whistle blowing suggestion just stinks. Let the fraudulent science go down the drain by its own gravity. Lots more money has been allocated to far worse causes. So far AGW has killed nobody especially those polar bears so dear to Al Gore. However two wrongs don't make a right.
Charly,
The global warming hype has indeed killed lots of people. By starvation! By using crops not for food, but instead to first ferment and then distill them (using energy) and use them as so called bio-fuel. This has increased foodprices around the world. And guess who are the first to suffer from radically increased food prices?
Exactly! Precisely those who have the hardest time feeding them selves and their children.
Oh, please. I doubt Mann will be disturbed that an ambulance chaser has shotgunned a solicitation letter to everybody.
I predict 27 deletions of 27 emails before it has been read to the end.
Well, let's first wait and see what comes out of it....
Guys, thanks for reading James Delingpole's scoop that I gave him. We over here at climategate.com are team players in spreading the word over this criminal fraud. I'm a legal expert in govt. fraud and I set up this reward scheme along with my associates. We need this story go viral so that all whistleblowers hear us loud and clear. Please read my follow up article to JD's , "Attention Penn State: Top fraud attorney seeks climategate whistleblowers"
http://www.climategate.com/penn-state-climategate-whistleblowers/comment-page-1#comment-510
Let's hope for a whistle concert!