I have looked over the Penn State University’s report issued yesterday, “RA-10 Inquiry Report: Concerning the Allegations of Research Misconduct Against Dr. Michael E. Mann, Department of Meteorology, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences”. Below are eight points addressing my initial impressions, in the order they appear in the report (with one bracketed exception from page 4, moved up slightly in order of appearance here].

Findings_Mann_Inquiry –

My take-away, to spoil the ending for you, is that the panel revealed most of what we need to know about the ability of this internal inquiry to credibly assess charges of misfeasance, by limiting their evidentiary pursuit outside of select blogs and media reports to speaking with Mann, aided by a supportive NAS report (to the exclusion of the Wegman Committee report, inexplicable including for a factor cited, below) and one panel member interviewing ex parte two Mann supporters.

In my opinion, by this approach they did not do, and will in hindsight not be deemed as having done, themselves or their institution any favors.

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This week, diplomats from around the world are gathering in Copenhagen for the global climate change summit—an event that has been marked by controversy in the wake of the “climate-gate” scandal that has recently and rightly gained significant international media attention.

This scandal has provoked many questions that I believe deserve answers.  Among other things, it would seem that information relating to climate change research may have been held back from the public— and key decision-makers, too.  This could of course impact the appropriateness and effectiveness of policy that the US, and indeed world leaders, might pursue.  Before moving forward, given the potentially significant economic consequences associated with some of the steps under consideration, I personally think it is important to get a handle on all the facts, whether they be good, bad or ugly.

Unfortunately, Barbara Boxer and her colleagues in Congress who seek to pass major cap and trade legislation that analysis shows is a job killer take a different view—and have different questions they want answered.

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A little known corollary of Copernican law tells us that, like the Earth, Big Media is also not, in fact, the center of the Universe. Just because the ‘journalists’ willfully choose to ignore ClimateGate–the proverbial tree falling in the enviro’s beloved rainforest–doesn’t mean the public and the political class aren’t paying attention. Of course, other than Barbara Boxer calling for criminal investigations into the hacked/leaked e-mails, it is mostly the political classes in other countries paying attention.  (If Boxer’s fantasy comes to pass and there are criminal charges pressed, how, pray tell, will Big Media report on it, since their readers presumably know nothing about the scandal.)

Fortunately, with the internet, we are no longer captive of Big Media for our news. The government-owned Canadian Broadcast Corporation, of all things, has been covering the controversy extensively. In this clip, noted commentator Rex Murphy lowers to guns to deck level on the scandal. It should be noted that Murphy is a former man of the left, having served in the leadership of the Liberal Party in Newfoundland.

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