The Union of Concerned Scientists has weighed in on VA Attorney General Ken Kookynelly's suit against the University of Virginia in which the AG claims that climate scientist Michael Mann defrauded the state when he accepted grants for his global warming research.
While reasonable people will recognize the UCS submission as factual and important, Kooky and his supporters no doubt will dismiss it as just another load of nonsense from pointy-headed intellectuals. The Court may see things differently.
Details below the fold.
As everyone knows, a couple of global-warming deniers stole a few emails from a climate scientist, Michael Mann. The entire radical rightwing global-warming denial community then went berserk, claiming that the stolen emails "proved" that global warming is a hoax.
A few years ago, Mann was on the University of Virginia faculty and, during that time, the school received a few state and federal grants, some of which supported Mann's work.
Here in Virginia, our radical reactionary attorney general Ken Cuccinelli -- lovingly known to clear-thinking Virgnians as "Kookynelly" -- has filed suit against the university, claiming that the state was defrauded by Mann's "phony" work.
Kooky is wrong as wrong can be but being wrong has never stopped a radical
nutcase. Kooky's suit is not about global warming or state grants --
it's about the radical rightwing's hatred for anyone with more than a
6th grade education; Kooky wants to destroy Virginia's universities.
Now, the Union of Concerned Scientists has weighed in. They read
through Kooky's suit and found it filled with simple errors.
Here is the summary from the UCS website. Go to the link to read the details in which they destroy Kookynelly.
Cuccinelli inaccurately asserts that the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age "disappeared" in Mann et al.’s original hockey stick paper.
Cuccinelli misrepresents the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change.
Cuccinelli falsely maintains that climate scientists are primarily
motivated by money, and suggests they are skewing their research
results to attract grants.
Cuccinelli exaggerates the importance of the hockey stick, implying
that it provides the rationale for laws that would require emissions
reductions.
Cuccinelli cites a paper that criticized the hockey stick, but fails
to cite refutations of that paper’s conclusions or the unusual
circumstances under which it was published.
Cuccinelli uncritically cites a study by Stephen McIntyre and Ross
McKitrick that erroneously criticized Mann et al.’s hockey stick
research.
Cuccinelli implies Mann was hiding something in a data folder marked
"CENSORED," but fails to acknowledge that the folder was publicly
available.
Cuccinelli extensively cites the 2006 Wegman report, but fails to note
valid criticisms of that report.
Cuccinelli incorrectly cites three emails that were stolen last fall
from Mann.
Cuccinelli and his staff again make a basic mistake when describing
the now well-known email that features the phrases "trick" and "hide
the decline."
Cuccinelli confuses the Muir Russell report’s criticism of a Phil
Jones graph with Mann et al.’s hockey stick research.
Cuccinelli’s filing demonstrates a lack of understanding of how
science works.
Let's hope the Court understands the UCS submission.
Meanwhile, the UCS submission is an excellent resource to be used in destroying arguments from the global-warming deniers.