(Received via email direct from Heartland president Bast in advance of their website posting, see Gleick’s statement/confession here – Anthony)
FEBRUARY 20, 2012: Earlier this evening, Peter Gleick, a prominent figure in the global warming movement, confessed to stealing electronic documents from The Heartland Institute in an attempt to discredit and embarrass a group that disagrees with his views.
Gleick’s crime was a serious one. The documents he admits stealing contained personal information about Heartland staff members, donors, and allies, the release of which has violated their privacy and endangered their personal safety.
An additional document Gleick represented as coming from The Heartland Institute, a forged memo purporting to set out our strategies on global warming, has been extensively cited by newspapers and in news releases and articles posted on Web sites and blogs around the world. It has caused major and permanent damage to the reputations of The Heartland Institute and many of the scientists, policy experts, and organizations we work with.
A mere apology is not enough to undo the damage.
In his statement, Gleick claims he committed this crime because he believed The Heartland Institute was preventing a “rational debate” from taking place over global warming. This is unbelievable. Heartland has repeatedly asked for real debate on this important topic. Gleick himself was specifically invited to attend a Heartland event to debate global warming just days before he stole the documents. He turned down the invitation.
Gleick also claims he did not write the forged memo, but only stole the documents to confirm the content of the memo he received from an anonymous source. This too is unbelievable. Many independent commentators already have concluded the memo was most likely written by Gleick.
We hope Gleick will make a more complete confession in the next few days.
We are consulting with legal counsel to determine our next steps and plan to release a more complete statement about the situation tomorrow. In the meantime, we ask again that publishers, bloggers, and Web site hosts take the stolen and fraudulent documents off their sites, remove defamatory commentary based on them, and issue retractions.
# # #
For more information, contact Jim Lakely, communications director of The Heartland Institute, at 312/377-4000 or jlakely@heartland.org.
Joseph Bast
President
The Heartland Institute
One South Wacker Drive #2740
Chicago, IL 60606
Phone 312/377-4000
Email jbast “at”heartland.org
Web site http://www.heartland.org
Support The Heartland Institute today!
As everything you write after this point is total fabrication and in no way resembles the actual events, can i suggest that you read the story before commenting!
”Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive”
I have a new post on this at Climate Etc.
http://judithcurry.com/2012/02/21/gleicks-integrity/
“DesertYote says:
February 20, 2012 at 10:29 pm
As some here might realize, Dr. Gleick has just become a hero/martyr of the cause. Be not surprised by the mental gymnastics the greenies will be performing in the days ahead. Their base axiom on which all else rests is that the ends justify the means.”
I’m waiting for the inevitable T-shirt with a high contrast image of Glieck’s face wearing a beanie.
Is this the sort of thing the AAAS had in mind when they held their meeting on how to “influence public perceptions and debate when the science supporting a position is not enough to carry the argument.”? 🙂
The reason for the “unprofessional” tone of the faked memo is likely because Gleick “knew” that all of the “climate deniers” were uneducated science hating knuckledraggers, and he was imitating what he was sure they all said in private.
of course, in reality he was just echoing the crazed delusions of his own deeply warped mind. So I suppose we can say that this memo is more authentically written in Gleick’s “True” voice than anything else he has ever done. This hateful, nasty, vicious liar is Peter Gleick, shorn of all of his pretensions and carefully learned mannerisms.
Ecce Homo!!!! (Behold the Man!)
geo says February 20, 2012 at 9:47 pm: “So, tell us. . .what’s the stylistic or other evidence that points at Glieck for the author of the “faked” document?”
Steve Mosher has written extensively about the stylistic similarities between Gleick’s writing and that of the anonymous author over at Lucia’s blog The Blackboard, beginning last week.
What is the Pacific Institute, and why am I bothering with it??
…you’ll see.. 🙂
Audit report/Financial Info
http://www.pacinst.org/about_us/financial_information/10%20Audit.pdf
Note that founder and CEO Peter Gleick pulled down a “reported” $152,000 for 35 hrs/week..
http://www.pacinst.org/about_us/financial_information/Pacific_Institute_990_tax_10.pdf
Funding list:
http://www.pacinst.org/about_us/financial_information/Funders%202009.pdf
(notice that one of the funding sources is the University of Alabama Huntsville… isn’t that the very same outfit that funds denier John Christy???)
Regardless……. It would seem that one institute, the Pacific, raided another institute, the Heartland, to suit its goals….showing that amongst the AGW crowd, the ends do justify the means.
Wouldn’t it be interesting to see who owns the property the headquarters is paying $120k/yr in rent to?
654 13TH STREET, OAKLAND, CA 94612
(Copy of my email to AGU)
To the president of AGU
I am assuming that Mr. Gleick has done the honorable thing and resigned as chairman of your ethics task force. May I suggest Viscount Monckton of Brenchley as a suitable replacement.
Respectfully yours. Dudley Dobinson
Paul Coppin’s post is giving me schadenfreude overload. Heartland sue Gleick, win millions, and spend the money fighting against the alarmist cause. “Big Gleick funds climate deniers”, doesn’t get sweeter than that.
BTW twitter is showing about 3-5 a minute for Gleick the great majority are not favourable.
“jim commented on February 21, 2012 at 4:24 am that DSM was using the term Whistle-Blower and he felt it was an improper use of the term. Which is usually a badge of honor.”
I would limit “whistle-blower” to a person speaking out from within an organization with the truth about what that organization is getting up to. What Gleick and DeSmog et al have done, in my opinion, is better described as “Yellow Journalism”, per Wikipedia: “Yellow journalism, or the yellow press, is a type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers.[1] Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism.[1] By extension, the term yellow journalism is used today as a pejorative to decry any journalism that treats news in an unprofessional or unethical fashion.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism
We have already deduced that Gliek is a tad naive when it comes to IT mechanics. That said, it seems unlikely, to me, that he will be able to produce or have produced for him, satisfactory evidence of the receipt of the original forged document from some anonymous source. He is on his back waiting for the coup de grace, but Heartland will come under intense pressure to withhold the fatal blow. We might yet not see justice done.
Hey, we have a partial eclipse happening on the Solar Images and Data Page above.
(I realize this is off topic, sorry, I can’t help it)
This is the very reason why there is such a thing as professional licensure for those of us who practice in the real world, and why persons in academia are NOT automatically granted licensure in many jurisdictions. We are held to an overarching standard that everything we do has the underlying goal of protecting the public health and welfare. The licensure laws mostly contain a code of ethics and we can be reprimanded, fined, sanctioned, our licenses suspended and even revoked for behaviour such as Glieck’s.
For the record, I am the current President of the Pennsylvania Licensing Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors adn Geologists and this kind of thing is not countenanced amongst professional practitioners. They wonder in academia why they cannot simply be licensed like the rest of us – the answer is, being a scholar has NOTHING to do with running a successful practice which is founded on actions on behalf of the public weal – in all senses of teh word. The big word is successful. If one of us pulled a stunt similar to Glieck’s we would lose our ability to practice and would be out of bsuiness. Academics’ words have no such consequence, except with tax-greedy politicians.
Academia – What a ‘profession’!!!! They get tenure to protect their jobs, AND they are immune from state legislatures which empower licensing boards to police the competence, ehtics and probity of licensees.
Not sure which thread/post up dates should be going in but heres another one for you HI.
‘Confidential documents obtained last week from the Heartland Institute, a U.S. libertarian think tank, reveal a multi-million- dollar campaign to mislead the public about climate change and subvert government action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One project intended to undermine science lessons for schoolchildren. Heartland is also funding climate change contrarians in Canada and other countries, the documents reveal.’ – Can you prove it?
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106834
Funny thing it was post about one hour ago so they must knwo that this is a hot potato.
I shot the Sheriff, but I did not shoot the Deputy……..
Ken Harvey says: February 21, 2012 at 6:18 am
but Heartland will come under intense pressure to withhold the fatal blow.
Most oil companies have a lot of money tied up raking in grants from wind.
Who’s going to make a bet with me, that if Heartland drops this case, they don’t get a very lucrative contract with one of the big-oil companies … which means they can’t spend so much time on the non-science of global warming.
The continuing and overwhelming reaction from the left in support of Gleick, in this matter, goes far beyond an embrace of propaganda and crosses into the realm of mental disorder on a mass scale.
Al Gore’s Holy Hologram says February 21, 2012 at 1:30 am “A fundamentalist religion?”
More like Scientology if you ask me. Fundamentalists are not known for misdemeanor and felony behavior.
The top scientists on the Fiddlestick Team have posted a major statement on this matter over at UNReal Climate.Con.
The statement reads:-
End of statement.
Ps Apparently The Chairman of the IPPC has been receiving death threats, yawn yawn yawn
Memo to the team. Stop hitting yourself.
Dr. Gleick has lectured in writing, but I don’t see any other credentials. Until other evidence arises, it appears that his main profession is writing (i.e. and English/Linguistic degree).
He is on quite a few boards and committees:
He looks to be a pretty strong guard at the gate, considering recent developments.
questions, questions, questions……
Gleick’s “modified, limited hangout” (infamous phrase from US Watergate scandal long ago) raises more questions than it answers. Among the as yet unanswered questions might be:
1) Is it plausible to believe that Gleick did not create the “strategy” document himself?
2) Is there any evidence that Gleick received the “strategy” document from a 3rd party?
3) Isn’t it curious that it was specifically the language of the “strategy” document that caused Mosher and then others to focus upon Gleick as its potential author?
4) Isn’t it interesting that only the fabricated juicy quotations in the “strategy” document gave the story its “legs” to begin with?
Which leads me to my main question for the moment: can one really believe that Gleick has come clean and acknowledged the full range of his transgressions in this affair?
Russ R. says:
February 20, 2012 at 8:49 pm
Predictions:
1. Desmog and other alarmist outfits will rush to support Gleick, accepting his story uncritically, and offering up plausible defenses, contorting the evidence and timeline to explain how things could have transpired. They will also continue to act as if the strategy document were authentic. They will portray him simultaneously as a hero (David standing up to Goliath), and a victim (an innocent whistleblower being harassed by evil deniers and their lawyers).
http://www.desmogblog.com/whistleblower-authenticates-heartland-documents
“Whistleblowers – and that’s the role Gleick has played in this instance – deserve respect for having the courage to make important truths known to the public at large. Without condoning or promoting an act of dishonesty, it’s fair to say that Gleick took a significant personal risk – and by standing and taking responsibility for his actions, he has shown himself willing to pay the price. For his courage, his honor, and for performing a selfless act of public service, he deserves our gratitude and applause.”