Considering the 2006 review, I have almost no hope that this will reach the correct conclusion. In the meantime, Michael Mann’s employers are at least pretending to ask the right questions. In my opinion it shuld be the shrotest review in history and it would go like this
Boss: “You ‘screened’ for data you liked? You’re kidding.”
Mann: “Apparently you’re unfamiliar with widely accepted screening procedures. You have no credibility. Um… sir…”
Boss: “I see. The interview is concluded. Wait outside, our decision will be rendered in 30 seconds..”
University Reviewing Recent Reports on Climate Information
Professor Michael Mann is a highly regarded member of the Penn State faculty conducting research on climate change. Professor Mann’s research papers have been published in well respected peer-reviewed scientific journals.In November 2005, Representative Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) requested that the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) convene a panel of independent experts to investigate Professor Mann’s seminal 1999 reconstruction of the global surface temperature over the past 1,000 years. The resulting 2006 report of the NAS panel (http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11676) concluded that Mann’s results were sound and has been subsequently supported by an array of evidence that includes additional large-scale surface temperature reconstructions.
In recent days a lengthy file of emails has been made public. Some of the questions raised through those emails may have been addressed already by the NAS investigation but others may not have been considered. The University is looking into this matter further, following a well defined policy used in such cases. No public discussion of the matter will occur while the University is reviewing the concerns that have been raised.
the Air Vent 
It may not have any direct impact on his tenure with Penn State, but his career is over, and rightfully so in my opinion. Should someone in the federal government wise up and file criminal charges, the Penn State ruling could be rendered moot.
Mark
OK, I’m a cynic. I think the popint of Penn State initiating its own investigation is to short circuit outsiders from investigating…. like Congress for example. “See? We’re capable of self-regulation. Everrything is fine here. No need to trouble yourselves.”
We need a congressional investigation. President Obama would do himself a world of good if he stayed away from Copenhagen.
“… shuld be the shrotest…”?
Pot, meet kettle. The word was supposed to be “point”. Popint indeed… kinda like my brother-in-law’s complaint about being a “Po Rican”… as opposed to those Rich Ricans….
For the sake of the many newbies to the study of The Great Climate Fraud that may be visiting here, as background it should be emphasized that Mann’s incessant claim that he was vindicated by the NAS is a transparent lie. He was not; in fact, the NAS agreed completely and in toto with the criticisms of McIntyre and McKitrick — as did Wegman et al. M&M, by actually analyzing Mann’s raw data and methods, singlehandedly (dualhandedly?) made Mann’s temperature hockey stick graph, the centerpiece of the IPCC’s Third Assessment, into the most comprehensively discredited object in late 20th century science.
Background and details at http://www.climateaudit.org/?p=2322 — note that ClimateAudit is periodically overloaded these days due to the Climategate hubbub.
Doubtful. They (Penn State) have some pretty hefty liability here. They stand to take a major hit from donors, funding agencies, and even general public. If they strike first, assuming some wrongdoing of course, they can stave off much of the pending damage.
Mark
Rephelan posting above is right. Penn State investigating this is like the peer review investigating the peer review process which has been contaminated JUST IN CASE this kind of thing ever gets out into the public about how corrupt the peer review process is.
Sorry if that seems redundant, but… get the picture?
Voltaire wrote in Candide that it was useful from time to time to kill an admiral, to encourage the others.
This whole CRU affair should encourage the others to be more honest and transparent, but it would be especially useful to fire Mann.
Look, CRU, Penn State, NASA and the rest of the AGW crowd need to realize that at the very least, Jones and Mann have lost all credibility. They will not be able to ever publish a single paper again that anyone but “true believers” will actually trust.
So, whether they’re interested in true science or interested in furthering their agenda, these two have to go.
And, in fact, the list should probably be much longer.
What I want to know is can you core and date a french fry? If so, Mann may have a future doing QA in a fast food franchise. This may or may not be a good thing for public safety.
Nothing will happen to Mann or Penn State no matter how much Mann screws up because too many people simply want to believe the world is coming to an end and it is all our fault. Facts, science and rationality have long left the room.
Keep in mind what it took to get rid of Ward Churchill…
Mann is safely ensconced in his tenured position.
Now, why did we invent tenure to begin with? Oh yeah, something about protecting faculty with unpopular ideas from being persecuted or fired. As we all know, Mann’s positions certainly need protection…
If you were Mann, would you welcome this review? I don’t think so. This can only help to open up the process, even if it doesn’t do anything substantive in Mann’s case in particular. It is evidence that the heat, heh, heh, is being turned up. Business as usual might not be possible for much longer in the AGW world.
you don’t undertake a procedure like this, without good reason. It does sound like a formal preliminary step in a disciplinary investigation.
On the other hand, given Mike’s general pleasant demeanour, as seen in the emails, maybe it isn’t surprising that his colleagues want to take an interest in matters like this 🙂
chris y said — “Now, why did we invent tenure to begin with?”
I assumed it was to exclude professors that tenured professors didn’t like so they could enjoy their lunch.
As anyone can see from the emails, Mann’s manner of handling things is not always well receieved. It is fair to speculate that he has stepped on a few toes and pissed a few people off at Penn State. If they were the *wrong* people then it could get interesting…
I have written about the orchestration of victories in the climate debate, that happens on the AGW website Real Climate, before. This is the leading AGW alarmist web site, and they seem to have more credibility than others because the people who run the site are published climate scientists and they are cornerstones of the IPCC. I have noticed in the past that there is a pattern to the way that Gavin Schmidt and the other contributors moderate the site so as to appear to be engaging in open discussion and letting skeptics have their say, while at the same time, they censor any and all comments for which they have no adequate answer. In other words, the outcomes of the debates are known because Gavin Schmidt, Michael Mann, and the others will always censor their way to winning the arguments. Of course complaints about RC censoring can be found all over the net from hundreds if not thousands of people. I wrote a short piece about my findings regarding RC here:
http://reallyrealclimate.blogspot.com/2009/11/function-of-real-climate-in-climate.html
I also took some screen shots of comments that I made that were subsequently deleted here:
http://reallyrealclimate.blogspot.com/2009/10/more-fraudulent-censorship-at-real.html
http://reallyrealclimate.blogspot.com/2009/10/real-climate-attacks-mcintyre.html
http://reallyrealclimate.blogspot.com/2009/10/briffa-yamal-data-debate.html
In the last screen shot, notice the quality of the debate that Schmidt is not screening out in the comment before mine. That comment passed moderation.
So now it turns out that Climategate has exposed the reality of RC’s debate orchestration policy in Michael Mann’s own words:
Michael Mann:
“Anyway, I wanted you guys to know that you’re free to use RC. Rein any way that you think would be helpful. Gavin and I are going to be careful about what comments we screen through, and we’ll be careful to answer any questions that come up to any extent we can.”
Not only does Mann reveal that RC tactic, but he also reveals a second one that I had suspected but was unsure about. During the Briffa/Yamal debate on RC I asked some questions and made some points concerning those issues. I noticed that my comments remained in a state of moderation for two or three hours at a time. In the meantime, other comments that were posted after mine continued to flow through. So I knew that there was a moderator at work. I wondered why he didn’t simply post my comments or delete them. It occurred to me that Gavin didn’t know how to answer the comments and so he asked for help, either from Keith Briffa, or from another dendrochronologist But I had no way of confirming my suspicion. Now my suspicion has been clearly confirmed by one of the Michael Mann emails.
Michael Mann:
“On the other hand, you might want to visit the thread and post replies yourself. We can hold comments up in the queue and contact you about whether you think they should be screened through or not, and if so, any comments you’d like us to include.”
My long held comments were eventually deleted. So I assume that Briffa, or whoever Schmidt went to, was unable to respond to my points.
But the bottom line comes to this, RC may be run by peer reviewed, published, climate scientists that contribute to the IPCC, but they are fraudulently pushing the AGW propaganda on their climate site none the less.
Dr. Mann
We have read your applicaton for a postition on our Hockey Stick design team, however at this time we have to refuse.
We have found your past work in Hockey Stick design to be shoddy and easily broken.
Sincerly
Easton Sporting Goods
Mann battles back – in the past
LOL, Jeff. In the real world (aka, that part of the EVIL industrial world–that is that part that has not yet sold out to the greenies), that is exactly how it would go:
“You did WHAT, dipshit?” But in La-la-liberal-land, it gets very complicated! As you know.
Dammit, this new computer has some quirks that I don’t understand yet. More later.
Jeff – apologies, this is OT (but IMO related) and I want to vent on it. If follows on a bit from a comment I made on the post you took down recently:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/heal-our-hospitals/6680330/Shamed-the-top-hospitals-with-the-worst-death-rates.html
Snip if you will or maybe put elsewhere or even have an unthreaded, but this stuff makes me puke. I’ll not bang on beyond saying if a 100th (1000th? 10000th?) of the type and hype that goes into Climate Change went into some basics IMO we’d all be a lot better off. In defence of my OT I’d say it is related to the sentiment of your lead post – why TF aren’t heads rolling over this sh1t?
A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said: “Membership of the European parliament’s delegation to Copenhagen is a matter for the European parliament. Its delegates do not represent the UK government or its views. Nick Griffin will not be part of the UK delegation.”
I don’t care about Griffin. But this is a very interesting quote. Apparently, the EU has “progressed” to the point where it doesn’t even pretend to represent the member nations anymore. Nations? What nations? This is Europe. We’re one glob, and as a glob, we decide about climate change and what ideas may be aired and what ideas must remain locked away. Did you think we’d maintain this fiction about national importance for very long. Obey the glob.
Dr. Mann is supposed to have used Tiljander upside-down again in a paper released very shortly.
Again, the issue isn’t about properly inverting something with a known negative correlation, but instead inverting varve thickness that are supposed to have a positive correlation. (But should be snipped completely anyway because of contamination!)
Just wow.
THIS IS A CALL TO ACTION
We have been given a powerful tool in the form of GlimateGate.
It now has a name and has the potential to get a life of its own.
So if the mains stream media is not going to report on this then let us use the social Facebook and emails to spread the news.
Send the following two YouTube videos to two people that you know and ask them to send it onto at least 2 others.
And
If you have a Facebook page post the two links.
Will
#14 Raven,
I think you are right.
I wish you were not.
I’m gonna be cynical. Look at this last line:
“No public discussion of the matter will occur while the University is reviewing the concerns that have been raised.”
In other words, Sh! It’s hard to concentrate on damage control with all that chatter!
I spotted this. I don’t know if it’s been discussed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8383713.stm
“Phil Willis MP said the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee – of which he is chair – had written to UEA asking for copies of the e-mails and an explanation. Depending on the response, the committee will decide whether to proceed further.”
May I respectfully suggest that one or more of the most senior and famous sceptics also send this guy an explanation? I’m just not sure the UEA will be entirely… honest. Please, not just any Tom, Dick or HARRY 😉 because he needs to get the best explanation from someone who’s identity will carry some weight and who really understands the science and maths.
http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/science_technology.cfm
http://www.philwillis.org.uk/contact
Thank you for all your hard work so far.
Look at this piece of news:
Link:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6936328.ece
‘Climate Change Data dumped’
SCIENTISTS at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have admitted throwing away much of the raw temperature data on which their predictions of global warming are based.
It means that other academics are not able to check basic calculations said to show a long-term rise in temperature over the past 150 years.
The UEA’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) was forced to reveal the loss following requests for the data under Freedom of Information legislation.
The data were gathered from weather stations around the world and then adjusted to take account of variables in the way they were collected. The revised figures were kept, but the originals — stored on paper and magnetic tape — were dumped to save space when the CRU moved to a new building.
SNIP
In a statement on its website, the CRU said: “We do not hold the original raw data but only the value-added (quality controlled and homogenised) data.”
Wwords fail me.
The medical profession has discovered that a poison contained in a United Nations variant of fudge was the cause of a debilitating brain disease among scientists.
The disease is known to have steadily spread among the scientific community for over two decades and taken a terrible grip over the reasoning powers of many. Victims can readily be identified by a green complexion. Other side effects include an irrational hatred of mankind and a Tourette syndrome-like verbal abuse of anyone who uses fossil fuels. Threats of violence may occur. But as leaked over the Internet on November 20th 2009, a break through treatment to the affliction has been found at the UK’s Climate Research Unit (CRU). A vast community of Internet surfers soon sought to memorialise this profound happening by naming it, ‘Climategate.’
From leaked documents we understand that the catalyst for this epoch change in scientific understanding occurred when a climatologist and self-taught computer programmer known as ‘Harry’ was sat at his laboratory computer chewing on some fudge. It was then, after three years mulling over the problem and in a Fleming-like eureka moment, it dawned on him. In Harry’s hands was the cause of brain fog mystery.
“Fuck! It’s the fudge! It’s serial!” he cried.
Inadvertently, Harry has become the hero the public associate with the solving one of the great mysteries of modern science. Since those findings have appeared on the Internet the world has quickly accepted that it was foul fudge that caused scientists to suffer that dreadful disease.
Pyschologists have been quick to identify the hallucinagenic properties of the offending fudge and unravel this whole mystery. The fudge has been found to contain a psychotropic substance that acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it alters brain function, resulting in changes in perception, mood, consciousness and behavior leading patients to feel delusions of grandeur and a sense of spiritual purpose in their lives.
It appears lone-wolf Harry, after a debilitating three years wasted in the CRU laboratory had inadvertently and subliminally faced the truth and by a process of ‘cognitive dissonance,’ shocked himself out of the effects of the psychotropic intoxicant that in some causes the hallucinogenic appearance of a mythical beast known as, ‘Man-Bear-Pig’. Apparently, most recovering ‘addicts’(for the fudge-eating was clearly an addiction) soon notice a change in the physical appearance of their eyes which begin to lose their tainted green colouration once they come off the fudge.
Climate scientists, who have been identified as the worst fudge sufferers are reporting the same side effects as Harry. Patients routinely exhibit anxiety, guilt, shame, anger, embarrassment, stress, and other negative emotional states until the disease clears the system. The recovery process, say psychologists, is always accompanied by a thought pattern change they term, ‘cognitive dissonance.’ A new name has been coined to describe the fudge-induced malady and “Climate War Syndrome” is fast following “Climategate” into common usage as the world gets a new handle on what was one of the great mysteries of our time.
Of course, like any serious disease, there will always be cases that won’t respond well to treatment. Those worst cases permeated with the deepest shade of green are alleged to be James Hansen, Michael Mann and Phil Jones whom may all need to be quarantined in isolation for several years.
Raven, you got it right. On the other hand, had Mann been a protagonist on AGW there would have been requests for his scalp from on high and drums at Penn State would start beating.
Can anyone spell damage control?
PS: There are limits to what a college will tolerate, no matter the number of papers, personal prestige or popularity of the person’s advocacy position, but in Mann’s case this not even a close call.
John at 34 – it might be worth putting a numeric in your cursing – I think some of the site monitor programs pick it up and block sites accordingly. I think this happened to CA.
@curious
thanks – will take the precaution of re-posting in the expection my earlier un-censored post actually is deleted….
The medical profession has discovered that a poison contained in a United Nations variant of fudge was the cause of a debilitating brain disease among scientists, now termed Climate Wars Syndrome (CWS).
The disease was secretly suspected by sceptical scientists to have spread rapaciously among the scientific community for two decades and to have taken a terrible grip over the reasoning powers of many. Victims can be identified by their green and alarmist complexion. Other side effects include an irrational hatred of mankind and a Tourette syndrome-like verbal abuse of anyone who uses fossil fuels. Threats of violence may occur. The world first learned of these sensational developments from the Internet on Friday November 20th 2009. The story broke that both the underlying cause of CWS and an effective treatment had been discovered by the due diligence of one man working at the UK’s Climate Research Unit (CRU). A vast community of Internet surfers soon memorialised these profound events by naming them, ‘Climategate.’
From leaked documents we understand that the catalyst for this epoch change in science occurred when a climatologist and self-taught computer programmer known only as ‘Harry’ was sat at his laboratory computer chewing on some fudge. Only after three long years working on this problem and in a sudden eureka moment, did it finally dawn on him. In Harry’s hands was the cause of brain fog mystery.
“F**k! It’s the fudge! It’s serial!” he cried.
Inadvertently, Harry has become the hero the public associate with solving one of the great mysteries of modern science. Since those findings have appeared on the Internet the world has quickly accepted that it was the UN’s foul fudge that caused scientists to suffer this dreadful disease.
Meanwhile, epidemiologists and clinicians have been quick to identify the hallucinagenic properties of the offending fudge to further unravel the mystery. Incredibly, the fudge has been found to contain a psychotropic substance that acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it alters brain function, resulting in changes in perception, mood, consciousness and behavior leading patients to feel delusions of grandeur and a sense of spiritual purpose in their lives.
It appears lone-wolf Harry, wiling away his time in the CRU laboratory subliminally faced the truth and by a process of ‘cognitive dissonance,’ shocked himself out of the effects of the psychotropic intoxicant, a drug now known to cause the hallucinogenic appearance of a mythical beast known as, ‘Man-Bear-Pig’ (MBP). Other experts who have replicated Harry’s experiments confirm the efficacy of the cognitive dissonance reasoning process as a cure. Apparently, most recovering ‘addicts’ (for this fudge-eating was clearly an addiction) soon notice a change starting with improvements in the appearance of their eyes which lose their tainted green colouration.
Other convalescing climatologists, that body of scientists identified as the worst fudge sufferers, are reporting the same side effects as Harry. Symptoms include anxiety, guilt, shame, anger, embarrassment, stress, and other negative emotional states that torment the patient. Epidemiologists have coined the name ’Climate War Syndrome’ (CWS) to describe the fudge-induced malady. Both ‘Climategate’ and ’Climate War Syndrome’ (CWS) have fast entered common usage giving a new handle on what was one of the great mysteries of our time.
Of course, like any serious disease, there will always be patients who won’t respond well to treatment. Those worst cases permeated with the deepest shade of green are believed to be James Hansen, Michael ‘upside down’ Mann and Phil Jones whom, its feared, may all need to be quarantined in isolation for several years.
@John O’Sullivan
Ha ha, nice satire.
There is another one in video (and not stored in a Russian server)
I wonder if Sharon Begley (any relationship to Ed?) will recant her infamous article in Newsweek from 2 years ago?
http://www.newsweek.com/id/32482
Quite a hack job on skeptics.