Thursday
Feb242011
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill Virginia assembly refuses to block Cuccinelli
Feb 24, 2011 Climate: Mann The Cavalier Daily, a publication serving the University of Virginia, is reporting that attempts by Democrat legislators in the Virginia assembly to end Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's powers to demand documents from university staff have been blocked. Had they been successful, Cuccinelli would have been prevented from pursuing his investigation into Michael Mann's grant applications.
Reader Comments (13)
“The attorney general’s office is investigating whether a false claim was presented to the university, nothing more and nothing less,” Cuccinelli’s spokesperson Brian Gottstein said in an e-mail. “The attorney general’s office is not investigating Dr. Mann’s scientific conclusions.”
And we thought Republicans could behave badly!
For those who don't live in the US, and are not familiar with the M.O. of the Democratic Party here, their primary purpose is to make every issue political, and therefore in need of government intervention. So when you hear Democrats complain that something has been made political, they are just mad they are getting beat at their own game.
Andrew
Usually, you think "That's going to set a precedent. That's another piece of civility lost."
Considering how Academia is so monoculturally leftist, on this occasion I'm trying to supress a chuckle. Gavin Schmidt is employed by NASA, right? I wonder whether he's using NASA resources for political activity?
The whole kerfuffle about Judith Curry's blogposts is easily resolvable/understandable if you consider that Climate Science has entirely adopted political ethics rather than scientific ethics.
Martin A
And that is a smart move. Since they will never win an argument about scientific method & research, they are going after a perjury charge. Once you get jammed up, you're jammed up. Al Capone got busted on tax evasion and other great people have perjured themselves...and that's why they got caught, lost credibility and jobs, etc. We gotta work within the system we have.
As well the Attorney General is a political office....I'm just saying.
"...Climate Science has entirely adopted political ethics rather than scientific ethics." --Dead Dog Bounce
Yes, but political ethics would be just what, exactly...? Sounds like an oxymoron to me.
I agree with you jorgekafkazar, political ethics is predominantly an oxymoron. This is why the slide of climate science away from scientific method, towards political 'method', has been such a worrying trend. ( It's been more than 11 years now, so we can probably call it a trend!) :-)
I think, however, that a combination of Congress, Judith Curry and an ever growing army of curious taxpayers, may finally cause the dam to burst.
Of course, none of this could have happened in the first place without the sterling work of messrs McIntyre, Watts, Montford, Mosher, Condon et al.
Saaad, are you using PCA to detect this trend? I suspect that short centering and end point padding may be in play. Are you sure that you didn't hide the incline? ;->
"Yes, but political ethics would be just what, exactly...? Sounds like an oxymoron to me."
Not at all.
Modern political "best practice" seems to require the following:
1. Convince yourself your cause is right.
2. Cover your ass.
3. Deny
4. Attack the motives of anyone criticising you
Gavin's ass is covered. Jones' ass is covered. And they deny everything.
Scientific ethics require:
1. Clearly state any open questions or adverse findings
2. Clearly admit any errors.
3. Never attack the motives of other parties in a discussion, where other explanations are possible.
Congratulations to the Bish if his Beddington challenge post helped prompt Judith Curry to start her Hiding the Decline posts. There are more than 1800 comments so far.
From those comments, a lot of people want investigations, and not just in Virginia.
Don B
"a lot of people want investigations"
Sounds as though there might have already been some:-
From http://judithcurry.com/2011/02/23/hiding-the-decline-part-ii/#more-2509
The plot thickens.
"steven mosher | February 24, 2011 at 2:30 am | Reply
trust me it gets way better."
"steven mosher | February 24, 2011 at 1:38 pm | Reply
More accurately Climategate added the issue of trust to the skeptics quiver of arrows. It is much harder to restore trust than it is to publish science.
There’s more coming. And this time they put investigators on it who knew how to ask questions and double check the answers.
Who was one of the people pressuring briffa, through Overpeck, to overstate the case? And what legal request of mine did that person ignore?
And who has questioned that person? and what did they find?
Should be interesting"
Double your popcorn order!
A friend points me to this in the Evening Standard.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-business/article-23926265-rsa-catches-a-bit-of-a-chill-but-is-undecided-on-climate-trends.do
A herald of things to come?
I had to chuckle about one of the comments!
"It is not over yet.
The B.B.C. and the nutters at the Meteorological Office still have it as an article of faith. And the Chinny Git on Coast still rambles on about imaginary rising sea levels.
Mad Al Gore's followers should express repentance.
They have raised fuel costs, killed pensioners and distorted the U.K. economy with barmy schemes for Solar Panels and Windfarms."
Perhaps not how I would have expressed it, but I applaud the sentiment!
BBC news had a short section on Brassica harvest in the UK this winter being devistated by the Nov/Dec feeeze, grower said after 3 cold years they would have to consider reverting to cold hardy varieties which had been dropped due to a decade of warm winters before these 3 years, silence from the reporter on the obvious conclusion that the climate was changing in the wrong (BBC) way.