Guest Post by Steven Mosher
Not the funniest Monty Python sketch, but for me it illustrates what the climate wars have finally come down to: blackmail. The examples range from the benign–pressuring journalists not listen to skeptics– to the professional– pressuring colleagues to avoid working with skeptics, to the petty–Ammann refusing to do a paper with McIntyre because it would be bad for his career– to the bizarre, blowing up people who refuse to sign a pledge to cut their carbon emissions.
Aptly titled, “no pressure”, this video depicts the common fantasy people have about those with whom they disagree. “Why can’t we just blow them up? “ When reasoned words don’t work, there is an ineluctable progression through the following stages—naming calling, caricature, demonizing, dehumanizing, through fantasy attacks which culminate in action. Doing something about it. Showing them you mean business.
Wegman is the perfect target. Perfect because he is not central to the skeptical position. Perfect because he’s just doing a job. Perfect because it will send a message. Shooting the messenger always does.
And the message it sends is that they will come after you with every sort of pressure if you refuse to comply. To be sure there are weak forms of pressure from the skeptic side: the recent legal action taken against Mann is a useful example. For the most part, however, the skeptics have no power, and so they are left using the meager legal tools they have: the FOIA and the subpoena.
Skeptics cannot impanel committees to whitewash and they cannot go on witchhunts. This is most clear in the case of the NCDC misappropriating the work of Anthony Watts. As Watts details here when his work was misappropriated he really had no recourse except to write a strong letter. To their credit NCDC remedied the matter by fixing the attribution, something Wegman could do by climate science corollary.
What if Watts, however, had taken legal action against NCDC and had offered to withdraw that action if the NCDC retracted its work. Blackmailing the science because of a mistake made in the preparation of a document. What would be next, asking that papers be withdrawn because of grammatical infelicities, or typos?
And so Bradley now walks in Anthony’s shoes. How well does he fit them? Did he write to Wegman and ask for proper attribution? Or did he follow in the 10:10 path and try to blow Wegman up ?
In a comment at CA Donald Rapp tells us
“The issue is not whether Wegman committed plagiarism as a technicality, but rather, who cares? Obviously, Wegman had nothing whatever to gain from using words written by Bradley in reviewing Bradley’s work. Lost in all this is the question of whether Wegman was right – and I believe that he was. If Wegman was right, then the various hockey sticks prepared by Mann, Bradley and Hughes, Esper Cook and Schweingruber, Mann and Jones, and Mann et al. are all bogus. While dozens of people continue to file their comments on whether it was plagiarism or it was not, that is akin to fiddling while Rome burns. Meanwhile, the hockey stick continues to spread through our schools and textbooks like a plague, while Bradley desperately tries to protect his turf from the truth by discrediting Wegman personally. Proof of this is that Bradley has offered to stop his prosecution (persecution?) of Wegman if Wegman will remove his report from the Congressional Register. It is like a burning of the books. Farenheit 451 all over again.”
Steve McIntyre quotes from Bradely’s mail.
“I filed a complaint with George Mason University (where Wegman is a Professor) & they have set up a committee to investigate my complaint. I[A] recent letter from their Vice-Chancellor indicates that they expect the committee to report their findings by the end of September.
That’s the long & short of it. I have told the University that I am prepared to drop this matter if Wegman makes a request to have his report withdrawn from the Congressional Record. No response on that.
Thanks
Ray [Bradley]“
Maybe Bradley had a different game show in mind.
Jim-“I’m not a criminal lawyer” Edwards frames the issue nicely
“That would be amazing because, if so, it may be evidence of an honest-to-goodness crime [not the imagined crimes AGW-debaters are constantly crowing about].
It looks like Bradley is threatening to ruin Wegman’s career unless he alters his prior Congressional testimony.
That smacks of post-facto extortion or witness tampering. [both potential felonies]
I don’t practice criminal law, but it does not look good to me.”
Or we can be charitable and suggest that Bradley is a Burro for even contemplating bringing this pressure to bear on Wegman. Finally, Wegman’s University is in Virginia, my sense is that Cuccinelli might take notice of it, were it brought to his attention.
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Didn’t anything happen with Bradlys (far more serious) plagiarism problem?
Wait, he said that? He said he would drop a lawsuit if someone decided to alter sworn testimony to congress?
Much like Cartman, this has broken my sense of humor.
Bradley says that GMU would finish in September. Have they?
Jeremy,
Not only alter, withdraw.
J**** C****
Whats next?
Denouncing your wife and children as Heretics, confessing you knowingly infected your colleagues and their children with Skepticism?
In a race to the bottom, the Warmist crowd have all the Gold medals.
I am bemused by this.
I am not an expert on US constitutional law but it is not dissimilar to its UK equivalent.
And as far as I understand it, as I pointed on this blog some time ago, the Wegman reports was published under the imprimatur of Congress. Which means it is not within the jurisdiction of any state or federal court of the USA.
I am sure that an attempt to force someone withdraw evidence given to Congress trespasses on the privilege of Congress: but I do not know what the procedures might be. No doubt, if little used, they exist: and presumably there is precedent.
I am fairly sure that state and federal courts would have jurisdiction over any such attempt without invoking Congressional authority. But whether that constitutes a criminal offence under state and/or federal law is another matter.
Moreover I am not at all sure that an academic body either could or should even consider this because they might not only trespass of the constitutional rights of Congress itself not to mention, given the disclosure made of the intention to force withdrawal of evidence to Congress, being complicit in what might be a criminal offence.
The whole thing reeks of hubris and utter asininty as though the law does not apply to these very superior people.
Still time will tell.
Kindest Regards
Steve Mosher,
Good post. Thanks.
This isn’t chess or croquet. It is more fun than that!
This is a hybrid version of 5 card stud poker (guts poker) and no-holds-bared lacrosse. We see allegorical climate scientist violence everywhere and high stakes (grant money) in the middle of the poker table. John Wayne should have played Steve McIntrye in his ‘True Grit’ persona. Lee Van Cleef of ‘The Good Bad and the Ugly’ fame could have been Bradley. Mann could have been . . . . ahhhh, Golem.
John
Wegman Report is available here:
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~rmckitri/research/WegmanReport.pdf
from the report
“The Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce along with Chairman of the Subcommittee of Oversight and Investigations have been interested in discovering whether or not the criticisms of Mann et al. are valid and if so, what are the implications. To this end, Committee staff asked for advice as to the validity of the complaints of McIntyre and McKitrick [MM] and related implications. Dr. Wegman formed an ad hoc Committee (Drs. Edward J. Wegman – George Mason University, David W. Scott – Rice University, and Yasmin H. Said – The Johns Hopkins University). The Committee was organized with our own initiative as a pro bono committee.”
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce along with the Subcommittee of Oversight and Investigations asked Professor Wegman to determine if criticisms are valid and the implications of the complaints.
Of course Wegman isn’t going to request to have his report withdrawn from the Congressional Record and if he did they wouldn’t comply because they requested it.
I respectfully disagree.
“Blackmail” is one of their funniest skits.
OT but breaking news in Canada. Major US Corporate Wealth funds sponsoring “Canadian First Nations against Climate Change” and Environmental Groups to attack Oil companies to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Environmental Organizations may not be as “grassroots” as they appear – that they are funded by arms-length intermediary companies for the sole purpose of distancing donors from the ear-marked actions prescribed by millions in donations appears highly suspicious if not downright underhanded.
“These Big Five have poured at least US$190-million into Canada’s environmental movement over the last decade, but their American logos are nowhere to be seen. Instead, we see a pageant of Canadian icons: dogwood, herds of caribou, wild salmon, First Nations and loons. U.S. tax returns show that the David Suzuki Foundation has been paid at least US$10-million from American foundations. This hasn’t exactly been out in the open.”
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2010/10/14/u-s-foundations-against-the-oil-sands/
and
“U.S. tax returns for 2008 show that Tides Canada paid two coastal First Nations US$27.3-million in a single grant. This mega-grant was “to fund conservation planning projects and conservation initiatives” and was earmarked for the Nuxalk and the Lax Kw’alaams. Tides Canada’s objective was to pay for “Mobilizing First Nations Against Climate Change in B.C.” and for “support of Coastal First Nations to hire a co-ordinator to engage with government, industry, environmental groups, media and the public regarding the proposed Enbridge Gateway tar sands pipeline.””
The Tides foundation receives a good chunck of its funding from the Heinz Foundation – John F. Kerry’s wife.
It is strange that USA Today et al were happily reporting Bradley vs. Wegman, even quoting the supposedly wronged Bradley (“Clearly, text was just lifted verbatim from my book and placed in the (Wegman) report,” says Bradley…).
Yet, when it subsequently transpires that:
1) The Bradley text in question was heavily reliant on a previous text book by a previous author
2) That Bradley’s main contribution to the text had been to delete the known role of CO2 in directly determining tree ring widths
3 That Bradley has apparently admitted to attempting to trade the end of his complaint, for a requested withdrawal of the Wegman report from Wegman
…then the newspapers fall completely silent!
I guess ‘news’ needs to be carefully defined in the modern world.
It is almost as though the journalists were being fed the ‘approved’ news by a team of CAGW activists.
“The ends justify the means,” and all, but what justifies the ends? Especially when they are the same as the means = naked Totalitarian thought control.
Those who scream the loudest tend to have the most to hide. The cry of plagiarism is a red-herring meant to turn your attention away from the real issue.
—
The Heinz Foundation is also thick as thieves, literally, with James Hansen. It was during the Kerry-Bush presidential election that James Hansen cried about being “silenced” by the Bush administration regarding climate change. It was all a political ploy.
That was dated September 26, 2007.
Tides is more a George Soros operation than a Kerry/Hines one.
Soros, who once declared that “removing Bush from office was the “central focus” of his life,
Only a true idiot…..
I don’t even know where to begin, but that line alone takes the cake.
On the bright side, his life’s ambition has been accomplished for almost two years now. Not sure what else to say without reaching into snip territory.
Yet, when it subsequently transpires that:
1) The Bradley text in question was heavily reliant on a previous text book by a previous author
2) That Bradley’s main contribution to the text had been to delete the known role of CO2 in directly determining tree ring widths
3 That Bradley has apparently admitted to attempting to trade the end of his complaint, for a requested withdrawal of the Wegman report from Wegman
…then the newspapers fall completely silent!
I guess ‘news’ needs to be carefully defined in the modern world.
It is almost as though the journalists were being fed the ‘approved’ news by a team of CAGW activists.
=========
Absolutely right ZT. Disgraceful and lazy, Very frustrating. Jo Nova hits the nail on the head here.
http://joannenova.com.au/2010/10/what-the-heck-are-science-journalists-for/
Jeremy this is amazing!
I wonder if we can read about this in Hoggan’s book… LOL
The link, once again:
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2010/10/14/u-s-foundations-against-the-oil-sands/
So if the real motives behind Bradley’s GMU complaint are those stated in his email, then this is a game changer and it puts Mashey and Deepclimate in a very interesting position…
I find this to be appalling. Insane. I am suffering a serious disconnect.
“I have told the University that I am prepared to drop this matter if Wegman makes a request to have his report withdrawn from the Congressional Record. ”
Don’t know how they got the name of ‘the gang who can’t shoot straight’ when they keep shooting themselves in the foot. In this case, I think the appropriate criminal charge might actually be blackmail – although I know very little about US law, a quick google turned up:
“Blackmail is gaining or attempting to gain anything of value or compelling another to act against such person’s will, by threatening to communicate accusations or statements about any person that would subject such person or any other person to public ridicule, contempt or degradation. ”
I think it says a lot about the man in question that having pulled a sneaky move, he has to tell everyone about it so they know how clever he is.
What else is Bradley going to do? The AWG emperor is exposed as naked and pretty ugly to boot. Damn right he is gonna kick and scream that we are too stupid to understand how pretty the imaginary clothes are. And then say look over there….Blackmail is exactly what we see and its all part of the group think of team IPCC. The CRU email dump showed the ethics of this bunch, this is normal and expected behavior for persons of this caliber. But so funny too, every time he protests and threatens, more people are drawn to read the Wegman report.Just another example of truth will out and the problem with lying is that you have to remember your lies.Once you buy your own BS you are lost and the public seems to be saying the AWG meme is lost. Up here we measure Global Warming in inches for the next 6 months.
I don’t understand what’s behind the final sentence in the article:
What’s up with that?
As usual you are missing the obvious
1. Elsevier believes that its copyright has been damaged and has complained to GMU
2. GMU has, after holding an inquiry, opened an investigation into complaints (more than one) against Wegman and Said which means that a fairly high barrier has been met
Silly rabbit, your tricks are for kids. Eli Rabett proudly, nay boldly, shows us all how nothing can be too obvious for a committed swingman to miss.
Other than that, how did you like the play, Mrs. Lincoln?