Warmist Suzanne Goldenberg: Rightwing US thinktank uses FoI laws to pursue climate scientists | Environment | guardian.co.uk

The ultra-conservative [does the fair-and-balanced Goldenberg ever label groups as "ultra-liberal"] American Tradition Institute has expanded its legal pursuit of climate scientists, using transparency laws to try to flush out potentially damaging emails.

...Now for the first time the media is being drawn in as well, with ATI seeking the release of scientists' communications with specific journalists. The list of news organisations targeted by the request includes the New York Times, the Associated Press, Frontline and the Guardian.

...Horner defended his use of transparency laws, arguing the scientists' objections were themselves political. "Our motivations are surely whatever Greenpeace's were when pioneering these requests," he said in an email. "The truth is, they see no problem with using transparency laws this way. They only have problems with people they do not like using them as such."

Not just another war story

[Warmist David Karoly] Unfortunately, the frightening aspects of this story are the details of the Climate Wars, of the repeated attacks on Mann’s research by climate change confusionists. Commentators with no scientific expertise, ranging from politicians such as Republican congressman Joe Barton from Texas, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, or Republican Senator James Inhofe from Oklahoma, to blog writers Stephen McIntyre and Marc Morano, have repeatedly promulgated misinformation and sought to launch formal investigations into Mann’s research, claiming professional misconduct or worse, even though it had been peer reviewed and confirmed by other scientists. They found a group of media reporters and commentators ready to repeat these claims without question and to amplify them. The blogosphere and some media outlets can be very effective echo chambers for communicating misinformation.

Russell Cook: The '96-to-present smear of skeptic scientists - or at least what I've dredged up

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