THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIII, Issue # 255, October 25, 2011
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
IT'S LIBEL, EXCEPT WHEN MIKE MANN DOES IT.
This Mann-Made Global Warming Lawsuit
Could Backfire on the Penn State Alarmist.
Support True Science, Energy, & Freedom.
Donate to Tim Ball's Legal Defense Fund.
By Paul K. Driessen
ANTHROPOGENIC (MAN-MADE) GLOBAL WARMING: CONTROVERSY BETWEEN THE CREATORS OF THE THEORY OF
HUMAN-INDUCED GLOBAL WARMING & THOSE SCIENTISTS WHO QUESTION THE VALIDITY OF THE THEORY -- THE CLIQUISH
CLAN OF CLIMATE CATASTROPHE RESEARCHERS WHO SEEK TO SHAPE & CONTROL SCIENCE, DEBATE, & PUBLIC POLICY ON
GLOBAL WARMING & ENERGY, & THEN GET OUTRAGED WHEN SOMEONE CHALLENGES THEIR FINDINGS, METHODOLOGIES,
OR INTEGRITY -- DR. MICHAEL MANN'S LIBEL LAWSUIT AGAINST DR. TIM BALL -- A JUDGE & JURY TO DECIDE THE
MANN VERSUS BALL CASE, AFTER CAREFULLY WEIGHING ALL THE EVIDENCE ON WHETHER DR. BALL'S ALLEGATIONS
& INSINUATIONS WERE FACTUAL, ACCURATE, & TRUTHFUL
FULL STORY:
Lewis Carroll died too soon. Just imagine the fun he’d have with the cliquish clan of climate catastrophe researchers who
seek to control science, debate, and public policy on global warming and energy – and then get outraged when someone
challenges their findings, methodologies, or integrity.
On October 1, 2011, Dr. Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University and “hockey stick” fame published an angry
riposte in Colorado’s obscure Vail Daily Voices (circulation 15,000), expressing his umbrage over an article that had
appeared in the free coffee shop newspaper a day earlier.
“An individual named Martin Hertzberg did a grave disservice to your readers by making false and defamatory statements
about me and my climate scientist colleagues in his recent commentary in your paper,” Mann began. (Hertzberg is a
research scientist and former US Navy meteorologist.) The thin-skinned Penn State scientist then ranted:
“These are just lies, regurgitation of dishonest smears that
have been manufactured by fossil fuel industry-funded
climate change deniers, and those who do their bidding by
lying to the public about the science.”
Meanwhile, NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen, recipient of huge monetary awards for strident climate disaster claims, wants
oil and coal company CEOs prosecuted for “crimes against humanity.”
So Mann and Hansen are honest scientists, trying to do their jobs. But Hertzberg and anyone else who questions the
“imminent man-made climate change catastrophe” thesis are dishonest crooks, liars, Holocaust deniers, hired guns for fossil
fuel interests, criminals threatening all humanity.
Hertzberg’s views were defamatory, but Mann’s and Hansen’s accusations are mild, rational, and truthful.
(Readers can find Mann’s letters and lively discussions about them and Hansen on Dr. Anthony Watts’
WattsUpWithThat.com climate change website. Hertzberg’s letter appeared, mysteriously disappeared, then reappeared in
the Vail Voices online archives, as the controversy raged and ebbed.)
The bizarre saga gets even stranger when viewed alongside Dr. Mann’s kneejerk lawsuit against Dr. Tim Ball, a Canadian
scientist, historical climatologist, and retired professor who has frequently voiced his skepticism about claims that
hydrocarbon use and carbon dioxide emissions are the primary cause of climate change and present an imminent risk of
widespread planetary cataclysms. Dr. Ball has analyzed Canadian and global climate history, and does not regard computer
models as much more than virtual reality scenarios that should never be the basis for real-world public policy.
Dr. Ball had poked fun at Dr. Mann, playing word games that suggest the computer guy should not be at Penn State, but in
a similarly named state institution. Unfortunately, Mann is not easily amused, as Dr. Ball should have known from the PSU
Professor’s testy reaction to the “Hide the Decline” animation and other spoofs that various AGW “deniers” posted online.
Mann insisted that Dr. Ball’s little joke was libelous and took him to court. Mann’s legal principal seems to be that libel is
fine only when he and Hansen practice the craft, albeit with far less good humor than others display. More importantly, Dr.
Ball does not live or work in the United States.
U.S. libel cases are governed by the First Amendment, “public figure” rules, and other safeguards that ensure open, robust
debate, and make it difficult and expensive to sue people over slights, affronts, insults, disagreements, and jokes.
Canada, unfortunately, has more limited free speech protections. So Dr. Mike sued Dr. Tim in Canada, assuming victory
would be rapid and sweet. Surprise! Dr. Ball decided to slug it out.
In Canada, the principal defenses against libel claims are that the alleged defamation constitutes “fair comment” or was, in
fact, “the truth.” Ball chose the latter defense.
Doing so means the penalty for losing could be higher than under “fair comment” rules. But arguing that his statement was
based on truth allows Dr. Ball to seek “discovery” of evidence that Dr. Mann’s actions reflect a use of public funds to alter
or falsify scientific data, present highly speculative results as solid facts, or otherwise engage in something that a
reasonable person would conclude constitutes dishonest activity or criminal culpability, undertaken, moreover, through the
use of taxpayer funds.
Proving that will not be easy, especially since Mann has steadfastly refused to provide such potential evidence to anyone,
including Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. That evidence might include Climategate emails; computer codes and
data used, misused, or used selectively to generate global warming spikes in historical graphs; and questionable research
or proposals used to secure additional government grants, misinform citizens or lawmakers, or promote costly or harmful
public policies.
The U.S. government, alone, spent an estimated $79 billion on climate, renewable energy, and related research between 1989
and 2009 – and many billions more since then. Obviously, there is a lot at stake for scientists, universities, government
agencies, and other institutions engaged in trying to demonstrate a link between human greenhouse gas emissions and
climate, weather, agricultural, sea level, and other “disasters.” The reputations and credibility of researchers and their
institutions are likewise at stake.
Keeping people alarmed, insisting that numerous disasters will soon result from carbon dioxide emissions and a few
degrees of planetary warming – and silencing anyone who questions climate chaos claims – are essential if this money train
is to be kept on the tracks.
Dr. Mann is likely aided by Penn State lawyers, largely paid for with climate research taxpayer dollars the University wants
to safeguard, by preventing criticism or scientific disclosure and transparency.
A judge and jury will decide the Mann vs. Ball case, after carefully weighing all the evidence on whether Dr. Ball’s
allegations and insinuations were factual, accurate, and truthful.
Dr. Mann’s research was conducted primarily with public money. It is being presented as valid, peer-reviewed science. It is
also being used to champion and justify major policy recommendations at state, national and international levels. And those
recommendations call for carbon taxes and other penalties for using hydrocarbon energy; the replacement of affordable,
dependable fossil fuel energy with expensive, unreliable wind and solar facilities; a roll-back of living standards in rich
developed nations; and limited or minimal energy and economic development in poor countries.
Therefore, as I have argued previously, the public has a right to demand that Mann & Comrades show their work, not merely
their answers and policy demands. Thus far, serious questions about Mann’s research remain unanswered. The public also
has a right to require that Mann, Penn State & Company provide their source material, not just their results – along with
anything else that may be relevant to gauging the validity, accuracy, and honesty of the work and its conclusions and
policy recommendations.
We the People have a further right, duty, and obligation to protect free speech, robust debate, the integrity of the scientific
method, our personal freedoms, and our access to the reliable, affordable energy that makes our jobs and living standards
possible. One way you can do this is by supporting Dr. Tim Ball’s legal defense fund. Just go to http://DrTimBall.com/
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
Conservative columnist and political commentator and author of Eco-Imperialism: Green Power, Black Death,
Paul K. Driessen is Senior Policy Advisor for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), the Congress Of
Racial Equality (CORE), the Center For The Defense Of Free Enterprise (CDFE), and the Atlas Economic Research
Foundation. Driessen has served on the Staffs of the U.S. Senate and the U.S. Department of Interior, as well as on that of
an energy trade association. He has often spoken and written on such topics as environmentalism, global climate change,
global warming alarmism, corporate social responsibility, and public policies relating to energy, the environment, and
economic development.
Driessen earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Geology and Field Ecology at Lawrence University, Appleton,
Wisconsin, and his Juris Doctor (JD) at the University of Denver College of Law. He received accreditation in Public
Relations from the Public Relations Society of America, New York, N.Y.
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume XIII, 2011
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity