Uh, oh…It’s about to become more about the people behind the letter, than the letter itself.
Now all we need is a steamy potboiler novel and some internal investigations and it could be Rajenda Pachauri all over again.
The big story at Climate Audit this week (see Shukla’s Gold) is about the twenty authors of the letter demanding that climate skeptics be put on trial, and in particular the man pushing the letter, Jagadish Shukla, seems to be getting quite prosperous with all that Koch Brothers money Oil Money public money he gets sent his way. Steve McIntyre writes:
In 2001, the earliest year thus far publicly available, in 2001, in addition to his university salary (not yet available, but presumably about $125,000), Shukla and his wife received a further $214,496 in compensation from IGES (Shukla -$128,796; Anne Shukla – $85,700). Their combined compensation from IGES doubled over the next two years to approximately $400,000 (additional to Shukla’s university salary of say $130,000), for combined compensation of about $530,000 by 2004.
Shukla’s university salary increased dramatically over the decade reaching $250,866 by 2013 and $314,000 by 2014. (In this latter year, Shukla was paid much more than Ed Wegman, a George Mason professor of similar seniority). Meanwhile, despite the apparent transition of IGES to George Mason, the income of the Shuklas from IGES continued to increase, reaching $547,000 by 2013. Combined with Shukla’s university salary, the total compensation of Shukla and his wife exceeded $800,000 in both 2013 and 2014. In addition, as noted above, Shukla’s daughter continued to be employed by IGES in 2014; IGES also distributed $100,000 from its climate grant revenue to support an educational charity in India which Shukla had founded.
But it seems Shukla doesn’t like people looking into that, because the letter seems to have been disappeared from the IGES website. I’ve confirmed this over 24 hours and several search techniques. What was once visible to search engines, is no more:
The original link that no longer works: http://www.iges.org/letter/LetterPresidentAG.pdf
The letter survives on the Wayback Machine here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20150920110942/http://www.iges.org/letter/LetterPresidentAG.pdf
And here is the letter as a single image, with page 1 and 2 combined from the PDF:
Bishop Hill notes:
You can imagine the horror on the signatories’ faces when they realised that some very determined people were about to take a close interest in their financial arrangements and those of their colleagues at IGES.
I’m not sure taking the letter down is going to help much though.
The Streisand effect has been unleashed Mr. Shukla, enjoy the ride.
h/t to Russell Cook
Note: shortly after publication, this story was updated to make two links active (a recent wordpress problem caused this) and a hat tip added.
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Do the FBI need to be told that these climate scams dwarf the FIFA corruption scandal.
Is he in the advisory group for the Pope?
Who will be the first consensus believer to step forward and condemn this behavior?
chirp, chirp, chirp
Looks like they kicked an own goal on this one. We should return the favour and ask for a RICO investigation in the climate industry.
The Climategate e-mails should contain enough material to justify the investigation. If not, a thorough investigation of data “adjustment” should suffice.
As an aside, I see the word “skeptic” is still bandied about vs the PC term “doubter” approved by the AP style guide and endorsed by AW.
Following or adhering to a PC or any phrase adopted by a warmist process is nothing but a trap. It also is a boot stomp on the face of free speech.
‘Doubter’ doesn’t cut it if this the sort of shennanigans going on. Even skeptic seems a bit too light in light of this!! I didn’t understand Anthony’s endorsement of ‘doubter’ and rejection of ‘skeptic’. This is exactly the argument presented by the insider CAGW scientists, that we are not skeptics – that’s the job of scientists – we are in a different category than noble skeptical scientists. They don’t want to give credit that is definitely due to self-styled skeptics. They want to pretend that their own is causing all the change. “It’s working” sort of crap. AP doesn’t want to do that either, although I’m glad they are climbing down from the previously shoddy treatment of real skeptics.
I submit, that the very good work done by real skeptics on this side has shaken the foundations of what was previously a free-for-all by “proponents” of warming science and a new world order. We didn’t let them get away with it and I’m not going to accept neutering myself to be nice.
The word ‘sceptic’ (or ‘skeptic’ over the water) still means what it always meant.
Being a sceptic is nothing to be ashamed of, especially in a scientific context. It’s the function of any intellect to be sceptical – to question everything. Integrity demands it.
We must not let the alarmists sully the word or its true meaning.
‘Skeptic’ and ‘doubter’ both have negative connotations, as they implicitly reject a ‘received wisdom’ or ‘truth’. I have long preferred ‘realist’, as opposed to ‘fabulist’ (or ‘cultist’). Of course the Climatists can claim to be ‘realists’, too, but they aren’t, and we can prove it.
/Mr Lynn
The PDF file has been replaced with a new file that contains the following statement:
Like roaches when the light comes on.
Why did the Steve Miller Band song, “Take the Money and Run” just pop into my head after reading this?
Translation: “Take the money and run.”
Wow!! They’ve been forced to fold up their tents!! “inadvertently posted” on IGES web site! I think it’s time to get the FBI in there and in NSF, NASA, NOAA and whoever else has been connected to this conveyor belt from the treasury to these pockets. Perhaps a series of investigations by Steve McIntyre of all the major grant streams to the main cast of characters will bear fruit. This may be the best avenue to bring down this surreal scam fest. They had to make do with tax evasion to put Al Capone away – why not use it on the Climb Syndicate (thanks to Mark Steyn for the term). Maybe Cuccinelli has a legitimate course to pursue this time if he is still around.
But they were still able to send an official letter to the President of the USA on September 1st. so is it dissolved or not?
If it is (as of July 1) why did they send the letter (what letter) and if it isn’t why have they said it is and are closing the website?
more questions…they really shouldn’t have started this should they.
It’s simple. They couldn’t use the GMU email because that would have clearly caused problems for the University’s tax exemption. So they used their own tax-exempt. Why? Because they thought that coming from an organization that was 99% funded by some of the most “prestigious” government agencies would lend credibility in the eyes of the letter’s recipients, Obama, Lynch, and Holdren.
Otherwise they would have used gmail.
I presume you are all aware that Congresswoman Barbara Comstock (VA-10), whose subcommittee has oversight of NSF, has been made aware of all the details. Buy popcorn futures.
But the letter is dated September 1st. How long does it take to decommission a web site?
Even though they took the letter down that doesn’t mean they didn’t mail copies to Obama, Lynch, and Holdren. Luckily it was made public before it was disappeared.
I think it’s really sad to decommission a website that has been up since at least December 1998. Goodbye IGES. It’s a pity about the timing after 17 years!
http://web.archive.org/web/19981212025811/http://www.iges.org/
This page says the website had this page updated in January 1996.
last update: 23 January 1996
comments to: www@grads.iges.org
http://web.archive.org/web/19981205191910/http://www.iges.org/igesblurb.html
This is the part of the letter that really gets my goat: “We are now at high risk of seriously destabilizing
the Earth’s climate and irreparably harming people around the world, especially the world’s
poorest people.” The world’s poorest have not been harmed one iota by global warming, but they have been harmed by the increased cost of fuels. How can the liberals not get this point?
There are few harms that can be done to a person which are irreparable.
I was crushed nearly to death in an auto accident, and only quick surgery by a brilliant surgeon to repair my internal organs saved me from certain death.
Despite massive internal injuries, and dozens of broken bones, I am healthy and fit.
Irreparable?
Not likely.
Only death is truly irreparable.
Perhaps blindness.
I know of no way to be blinded by a 0.8 degree rise in temperature.
They hope you are blinded by “science”.
Although, it does appear very easy to be blinded by ones own greed and ego.
The AGW leaders do get that point – It is simply a lie, something they are accomplished at to further their cause. They aim their lies at the general public thru the media, which is highly accommodating.
Multi-generational ignorance.
Getting better by the minute. IGES is being dissolved.
Looks like they’re trying to take the money and run. They should have chucked the bag full of cats overboard first though instead of letting them out. An image for Josh perhaps?
Somebody needs to find that clip from the Simpsons movie where Lisa is going door to door to clean up the lake, and when she starts to go up to a house – it transforms itself into a boat and steams away to avoid her.
That is the imagery that applies here.
I guess Josh could show two frames.
1. signs and billboards advertising the awesomeness of IGES just up ahead.
2. The actual IGES Building boarded up and abandoned with a series of vehicles streaming away at top speed.
My mind’s eye pictures the old west, the “magic elixer” salesman slamming the wagon shutter and bolting out of town, trailing cloud of dust…
The gravy train derailed.
It’s almost certainly being “dissolved” like ACORN was “dissolved.”
The cockroach analogy is extremely apt – yes, they scatter when you turn the light on them. Then they recongregate where it is still dark.
The only way you get rid of cockroaches is by extermination, root and branch.
Na-na-na-na-na
Riiiiico
Na-na-na-na-na
Suaaaave
Good! Press the attack! Drive them into the sea! Show no mercy, for they have stated most plainly that they intend to show us none.
I agree. These are people who get fat on the public dime, and want jail time for people who have the effrontery to gainsay their dubious and self serving pronouncements.
It is funny how important IGES believes itself to be. According to their personnel page, they were part of the 2007 Peace Prize. Granted, the only person on the page is Shukla…
Huh? I thought that was Mann’s…
Two of the signatories are from Florida State … Oh No(les).!
Irritated alumnus Jeff
Just as long as no Bulls or Gators, should be OK.
‘Noles are a dime a dozen…
*runs fast while looking over shoulder*
From Paul Matthews at the Bishop’s we learn:
IGES has fallen!
It’s work is done. And not today but three months ago.
Reformatted-
From Paul Matthews at the Bishop’s we learn:
IGES has fallen!
It’s work is done. And not today but three months ago.
Reference:
http://www.iges.org/letter/LetterPresidentAG.pdf
Funny how the RICO thing came out under their auspices.
It takes 3 months to shut down a web site? I can do it in 5 seconds.
(Now where did they put that power switch?)
Lies and perjury as virtue for merit
Shukla but takes what he believes is his by any means as a meritorious act!
Jagdish means “ruler of the world”, Shuklais a Brahmin name meaning “White”.
See Hindu Manners, Customs & Ceremonies, by Abbe J. A. Dubois
Having lived in India for a few years I can tell you that Jagadish’s letter- he was the instigator- is standard operating procedure in Indian politics. So are his schemes for securing for himself and his family lucrative incomes. And helping out the extended family in India. It is expected.
Jagadish’s is simply bringing Indian political tricks to the US. And that ladies and gentlemen is the glory of multiculturalism. Not only do you get the new people, but you get their political tricks from the old country too.
Oh the 21st century is going to be quite a ride. Feel sorry for your kids who are going to have a tough journey ahead into a very different political future.
So, they’ve been beating the panic drum for so long that they forgot it was all made up?
Maybe they actually believe that what they’ve been doing is “science”.
Either way, I’m guessing one of their lawyers saw this and is orchestrating damage control.
re Shukla/IGES: go to this thread and search for first comment by Myrrh and then read all comments thereafter:
Nov 201: WUWT: CRU’s Dr. Phil Jones on “the lack of warming”
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/11/30/crus-dr-phil-jones-on-the-lack-of-warming/
Thanks for the link and the reminder. Reading through those comments again makes the Climategate emails look even dodgier now than ever. Those rapscallions were very busy in their skullduggery and they suffered not one jot of inconvenience despite their criminal collusion.
That’s the machinery we are up against and why Paris is so important.
Couldn’t have done it without co-conspirators at the NSF. Ugly story this one. Too bad our investigative reporters are unwilling to upend any AGW apple carts.
Paging David Rose, Christopher Booker, James Dellingpole…
There is this very old fairytale story about some evil queen or witch or king is asked ‘How do you want (some innocent girl/boy) punished’ and the evil ruler says, ‘Put them in a barrel lined with nails, fill it with tar and roll it down the mountain!’
Then the Good Fairy waves her wand and voila: the evil king/queen is punished in this very same way.
So it is with the warmists. They want to punish anyone questioning their crazy ‘research’ but this will backfire in the end.
IGES is now closed
Just in time to avoid corruption charges?
HAHAHA! Into the Memory Hole!
They are erasing everything as fast as they can. Wow.
trouble is that the shredder doesn’t work on the internet
Any minute now their server is going to crash and completely wipe itself !!!!!
What, like with a cloth?
Perhaps they can borrow Hilary”s cloth,…….
For what it is worth – George Mason was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was suspicious of the power of the federal government. Along with James Madison, he was a primary proponent of passing the Bill of Rights amendments to the Constitution. Of course, the First Amendment about freedom of speech and freedom of the press was part of the Bill of Rights.
I wonder if the University understands the irony of having its staff come out in favor of restricting free speech.
I would think the University should fire those who signed the letter.
The university has sold out its founders principles for money…lots of money hahahahahahaha……where are the student protests? what is the youth of today coming to, there are sit ins to organise, slogans to write, and marches to be marched…oh wait all the students have been infected by these so called teachers already, ther is no hope for academia, we should pull down the hallowed halls and start again.
You should have issued a trigger warning before you wrote that. Some poor arts student could be innocently reading your post and…..wham
This all just too delicious (or rico en Espanol)
I was a CFO at a foundation for 8 years and am very familiar with the tax returns. It is always interesting to look at the 990’s. I remember the first one I delved into after entering the non-profit sector after years in private enterprise was the Carter Foundation. I expected that the numbers would prove virtuous and in fact they proved the opposite. After 8 years I came to the conclusion that the businesses that I worked for were more ethical than the non-profits. Not because those at the top were more ethical but because non-profits lacked vested stakeholders to help drive efficiency. I also found that in general those in business had a need to do outside altruism (volunteering) while those in non-profit felt their work was more than enough and that in fact society owed “them” because they were overworked and underpaid having chosen a career in the “common good”.
The IGES 990 is so typical of non-profits. As Yogi Berra said “nepotism is ok as long as it stays in the family”
Foundations can hire family as long as they disclose it on the 990 and do not pay “excess benefit. Googling a Finance Business Manager http://www.indeed.com/salary/q-Finance-Business-Manager-l-Rockville,-MD.html
I get an average salary of $77k
Looks like the IGES IS paying excess benefits to disqualified people and either has some explaining to do or should revise their tax return
Lets say charitably that you argued that Anne’s salary could be $100k her salary and benefits is $50k over that and she would be subject to a tax of 25% of that and the IGES would be subject to a tax or 10%. And considering its gone on for quite a few year’s the Jagdish’s are veritable tax scoundrels
26 U.S. Code § 4958 – Taxes on excess benefit transactions
Considering all the good work the US Federal government is doing to combat global warming Jagdish and Anne should be more than happy to pay that for their oversight
btw for the comp of Jagdish they have a note that basically says that the IGES auditors approve of his salary and have gone through some process to verify. This is a typical thing that auditors do knowing that the IRS will rarely ever go after the pay of non-profit execs (even conservative ones – they will just revoke the np status)
have attempted & failed to post this multiple times on the thread & in Tips&Notes:
re Shukla/IGES: search first comment by Myrrh December 2, 2011 at 4:36 pm and read all comments thereafter:
Nov 2011: WUWT: CRU’s Dr. Phil Jones on “the lack of warming”
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/11/30/crus-dr-phil-jones-on-the-lack-of-warming/