Unrepentant Political Gangster Ken Cuccinelli's Dirty Dozen Lies

This Stalin-era political cartoon from the satirical magazine Krokodil (January 1953) depicts the "Doctors' Plot." A "saboteur-doctor" is being unmasked as a poisoner of the Soviet political and military leadership. Dollars from the CIA are falling from the doctor's pocket. As soon as Stalin died, in 1953, Soviet leaders reevaluated and denounced this conspiracy theory. Perhaps the most famous denunciation of the Doctors' Plot was made by Nikita Khrushchev in his "Secret Speech" to the 20th Party Congress in February, 1956.

Over a year ago, on August 2, 2010, the Union of Concerned Scientists documented twelve mistakes in Virginia Attorney General Cuccinelli's attack on the famous climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann. More than a year has passed, but the arrogant Cuccinelli stubbornly refuses to admit his mistakes and continues to persecute Dr. Mann in spite of the fact that scientists keep pointing out his errors. I think Cuccinelli continues to persecute Dr. Mann because his father is a lobbyist/consultant for the gas industry. It seems to me that our so-called "law officer" is nothing but a political gangster, the "sword and shield" of the fossil fuel industry who has hijacked the AG's office on behalf of his sponsors. Attorney General Cuccinelli is attacking the climate scientist Dr. Mann and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 4th Assessment Report, which is accepted by the National Intelligence Council (16 U.S. intelligence agencies).

Here is what the Union of Concerned Scientists wrote on August 2, 2010:

Latest Court Filing from Ken Cuccinelli Continues to Make Basic Scientific Errors

Below are a dozen of the most egregious errors the Union of Concerned Scientists found in Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's July 13 court filing requesting documents from the University of Virginia related to climate scientist Michael Mann.

1. Cuccinelli inaccurately asserts that the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age "disappeared" in Mann et al.’s original hockey stick paper.

2. Cuccinelli misrepresents the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

3. Cuccinelli falsely maintains that climate scientists are primarily motivated by money, and suggests they are skewing their research results to attract grants.

4. Cuccinelli exaggerates the importance of the hockey stick, implying that it provides the rationale for laws that would require emissions reductions.

5. Cuccinelli cites a paper that criticized the hockey stick, but fails to cite refutations of that paper’s conclusions or the unusual circumstances under which it was published.

6. Cuccinelli uncritically cites a study by Stephen McIntyre and Ross McKitrick that erroneously criticized Mann et al.’s hockey stick research.

7. Cuccinelli implies Mann was hiding something in a data folder marked "CENSORED," but fails to acknowledge that the folder was publicly available.

8. Cuccinelli extensively cites the 2006 Wegman report, but fails to note valid criticisms of that report.

9. Cuccinelli incorrectly cites three emails that were stolen last fall from Mann.

10. Cuccinelli and his staff again make a basic mistake when describing the now well-known email that features the phrases "trick" and "hide the decline."

11. Cuccinelli confuses the Muir Russell report’s criticism of a Phil Jones graph with Mann et al.’s hockey stick research.

12. Cuccinelli’s filing demonstrates a lack of understanding of how science works.