Exposing Scientists as tricksy and false

The Hockey Stick Graph showing rising temperatures recorded during the end of the 20^th century concerns right wingers greatly. They are apparently not concerned with melting polar ice caps, the shrinking Greenland Sheet or disappearing Glaciers, but this chart showing a sharp rise in temperature really, really pisses off the wingers. Go figure.

As such, one of the scientists behind the chart (a dude named Mann) is the target of right wing ire. So much so that the wingnut Attorney General from Virginia has targeted Mann with a Civil Investigative Demand related to work he performed while he was at the University of Virginia.

This seems overdue to some:

The situation at hand seems abundantly awkward. Attorney General Cuccinelli appears to be afflicted with a syndrome epidemic among states attorneys general: the desire to make colorful, headline-grabbing declarations. He wouldn’t be the National Association of Scholars’ ideal pick for someone to take a serious look into the backfiles of Professor Mann’s career. Was there anything dubious in Mann’s “Paleoclimatic Reconstructions of the Arctic Oscillation” or “Resolving the Scale-wise Sensitivities on the Dynamical Coupling Between Climate and the Biosphere” or “Decadal Variability in the Tropical Indo-Pacific:--three of the five University of Virginia projects that fall under Cuccinelli’s review? Chances are that Cuccinelli and his staff will have a hard time deciphering the scientific protocols in this work and discerning whether Mann was on the up-and-up or slanting the analysis. Yet as in the East Anglia emails, some of the side chatter could reveal habits of mind and character that do cast light on the larger question of the scientific integrity of Mann’s work. [em-mine]

Peter Wood, anthropologist, reader of Powerline Blog and director of the National Association of Scholars (an apparent Wingnut Welfare Outfit).

Seriously, you think it’ll be difficult for lawyers to decipher years and years of scientific research. No! Really.....?

In other words what is desired here is not a peer review of the science (which could be helpful) but a fishing expedition conducted by a known loon to give Climate Deniers something else to spin out of context to create the next great wave of fake outrage.

You know who else is/was part of the Global Warming Conspiracy to fool Ol’ Woody at NAS and Powerline Blog writers? How about bureaucrats from the Bush Administration. Here is an archived page from the National Climate Data Center posted during the Bush Administration. You know what is there? Professor Mann’s Hockey Stick charts, that is what. And remember, according to the folks at PowerLine Blog, George W Bush is an absolute GENIUS. The Hockey Stick Chart must be true then, right?

It got to be tough to be a winger these days. Everyone is against you. The arctic ice is melting without permission. Plants are growing farther north than they are supposed to be growing. The Scientists are ALL tricksy and false. Retired Generals and Admirals have published reports showing how climate change will lead to national security challenges with some of those same folk committed to reducing the Carbon footprint of the Armed Forces. Man it is tough to be a winger. Hockey Sticks really Suck, too.

H/T Powerline Blog

UPDATED: Web links added.