GOP's climate denial farce begins to unravel

[kpete]

Climate study gets pulled after charges of plagiarism
By Dan Vergano, USA TODAY

Updated 10h 15m ago |


Evidence of plagiarism and complaints about the peer-review process have led a statistics journal to retract a federally funded study that condemned scientific support for global warming.


The study, which appeared in 2008 in the journal Computational Statistics and Data Analysis, was headed by statistician Edward Wegman of George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. Its analysis was an outgrowth of a controversial congressional report that Wegman headed in 2006. The "Wegman Report" suggested climate scientists colluded in their studies and questioned whether global warming was real. The report has since become a touchstone among climate change naysayers.

The journal publisher's legal team "has decided to retract the study," said CSDA journal editor Stanley Azen of the University of Southern California, following complaints of plagiarism. A November review by three plagiarism experts of the 2006 congressional report for USA TODAY also concluded that portions contained text from Wikipedia and textbooks. The journal study, co-authored by Wegman student Yasmin Said, detailed part of the congressional report's analysis.

"Neither Dr. Wegman nor Dr. Said has ever engaged in plagiarism," says their attorney, Milton Johns, by e-mail. In a March 16 e-mail to the journal, Wegman blamed a student who "had basically copied and pasted" from others' work into the 2006 congressional report, and said the text was lifted without acknowledgment and used in the journal study. "We would never knowingly publish plagiarized material" wrote Wegman, a former CSDA journal editor.

MORE:
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2011-05-15-climate-study-plagiarism-Wegman_n.htm
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/16/976431/-GOPs-climate-denial-farce-begins-to-unravel?via=siderecent

[SpiralHawk]

1. RepubliCorp, Inc. (R) has been paying for climate lies for a long time

totally trashing America and the world with its ugly lies (R) to prevent wise action...Glad the Reality Deniers (R) are all getting Rap-turd later this week.

[pintobean]

3. "the study concluded that climate scientists

favorably publish one another's work because of too-close collaboration"

Climategate emails showed that to be the case.


edit: I meant to reply to the OP.

[jpak]

2. deniers are the silliest peoples

yup

[starroute]

4. Koch brothers money at work?

http://www.desmogblog.com/koch-and-george-mason-university

Since 1985, George Mason University (GMU), and its associated institutes and centers, has received more funding from the Koch Family Charitable Foundations than any other organization--a total of $29,604,354. The George Mason University Foundation has received the most funding, $20,297,143, while the Institute for Humane Studies has been directly given $3,111,457, the Mercatus Center $1,442,000, and George Mason University itself has received $4,753,754.

In addition to financial ties, Koch also has personnel involved with the university. Richard Fink, the vice president of Koch Industries, Inc., and the former president of the Charles G. Koch Foundation and the Claude R. Lambe Foundation, serves on the board of directors of the George Mason University Foundation and the Mercatus Center. Fink's connection to George Mason University is strong. Besides teaching at the university from 1980-1986, Fink has also served on a number of boards at the university including the Institute for Humane Studies and the Center for the Study of Public Choice, the Board of Visitors, and the Student Affairs Committee.


http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/mercatus-center/

The Mercatus Center is a conservative think-tank at George Mason University, in which Charles Koch sits on the Board of Directors. The Mercatus Center was previously known as the Center for the Study of Free Market Processes and was founded--with an initial grant from Charles Koch--by Richard Fink, now a Koch Industries executive vice president and president of the Charles G. Koch and Claude R. Lambe foundations.

The Mercatus Center suggested in 2001 that global warming would be, "beneficial, occurring at night, in the winter, and at the poles." In 2009, they conceded that global warming is man-made and problematic but recommend doing nothing to cut emissions, instead promoting "work to facilitate movement of people from areas likely to be harmed by climate change."

In 2001, 14 of 23 government regulations targeted by the George W. Bush White House were suggested by Mercatus, including rollbacks of Environmental Protection Agency pollution regulations.

Mercatus has targeted EPA authority to monitor greenhouse gas emissions from major sources.

[ellenfl]

5. gmu appears to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of koch industries. eom