Earlier this week, Rand Simberg and the Competitive Enterprise Institute replied to Michael Mann’s libel suit. Specifically, they filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim and, more interestingly, a special motion to dismiss under the District of Columbia’s Anti-SLAPP Act. As I noted here, Mann exposed himself to this motion by […]
Archive | Politicizing Science
Pat Robertson: Young-Earth Creationism Is “Not the Bible”
Noted televangelist Pat Robertson firmly rejected young-earth creationism on “The 700 Club.” As CNN reports, when asked by a viewer how to respond to those who believe “the Bible could not explain the existence of dinosaurs,” Robertson suggested his viewers should not “fight science.” “You go back in time, you’ve got radiocarbon dating. You got […]
Mann v. Steyn — The Defendants Respond
By Jonathan H. Adler on October 25, 2012 8:51 pm in Climate Change, Defamation, Freedom of Speech, Politicizing Science
On Monday, famed climate scientist Michael Mann filed suit against National Review and the Competitive Enterprise Institute over some allegedly defamatory blog posts. Now some of the defendants have responded. Here is CEI’s official response, and a legal analysis from their lawyer. Of note, while CEI refused to apologize for the initial blog post (which […]
Mann v. Steyn — Popcorn Time
By Jonathan H. Adler on October 23, 2012 2:19 pm in Climate Change, Defamation, Freedom of Speech, Politicizing Science
Climatologist Michael Mann, creator of the infamous “hockey stick” graph, has filed suit against National Review and the Competitive Enterprise Institute for allegedly defamatory blog posts attacking Mann and his work. Dr. Mann has posted a release about the suit on his Facebook page. I’ll post links to the complaint once it’s on-line. In the […]
Carbon-Free Carbohydrates?
By Jonathan H. Adler on September 11, 2012 9:32 am in Junk Science and Quackspertise, Politicizing Science
What’s wrong with this picture? (Or this site?) I generally have a laissez-faire attitude toward product claims, so long as they are arguably true. If a claim is literally false, however, I think that’s a problem. (Ht: Hanah Volokh)
How Not to Label Biotech Foods
By Jonathan H. Adler on August 31, 2012 8:15 am in Food and Drink, Freedom of Speech, Junk Science and Quackspertise, Politicizing Science
In November, Californians will vote on Proposition 37, a ballot initiative to impose a mandatory labeling requirement on all foods produced with or from genetically modified organisms (GMOs). For reasons I discuss in this New Atlantis article, this requirement is unnecessary, unwise and potentially unconstitutional. The effort has been endorsed by numerous progressive organizations and […]
The End of (the Debate Over) Evolution
Noted paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey predicts the “debate” over evolution will end within the next few decades. As Leakey sees it, scientific evidence in support of evolution will continue to accumulate to the point where “even the skeptics can accept it.” I am not so sanguine, as I don’t believe skepticism of evolution is driven by […]
Heartland’s Mad Billboard Stunt
By Jonathan H. Adler on May 9, 2012 10:40 am in Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Politicizing Science
The folks at the Heartland Institute are mad, and that seems to have driven them a little mad. For years environmental activists have compared climate skeptics and those who raise questions about the likelihood of a warming-induced apocalypse to Holocaust deniers and worse. In 1989, then-Senator Al Gore famously compared those who downplayed the climate […]
IG Inspector Claims White House Obstructed Gulf Drilling Moratorium Report
The New Orleans Times Picayune reports the White House denied the Department of Interior’s Office of Inspector General access to e-mails and communications about White House revisions to a report Interior Secretary Ken Salazar relied upon to justify a moratorium in oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The story begins: A senior federal investigator […]
Have Conservatives Lost Confidence in “Science”?
A new study purports to show that trust in “science” as an institution has declined precipitously in recent decades. This study has received substantial attention, including these stories in Inside Higher Ed and the Los Angeles Times. The IHE story, which is fairly representative of the coverage, begins: Just over 34 percent of conservatives had confidence […]
Climategate Turnabout Continued
The revelation that Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute posed as a Heartland Institute board member to obtain confidential board documents and then distributed these documents, along with an almost-certainly-fake “Climate Strategy” memo continues to reverberate through climate science and policy circles. Folks that might otherwise be discussing the new study claiming climate change could […]
Climategate Turnabout
In 2010 and 2011 the climate science community was rocked by the release of e-mails from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit showing that climate scientists can be just as petty, political and (at times) unethical as any other group. To this day, it has not been determined who obtained the e-mail files […]
HHS Secretary Overrules FDA Decision on Plan B
So-called “Plan-B” contraception is currently available for sale over-the-counter to women age 17 and older. Those younger than 17 may only obtain Plan B with a prescription. Earlier this week, in response to a petition from Teva Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Plan-B One Step, the Food and Drug Administration decided that the age limitations should […]
ClimateGate Part Deux – Continued
The NYT on the new release of climate scientists’ emails: The new e-mails appeared remarkably similar to the ones released two years ago just ahead of a similar conference in Copenhagen. They involved the same scientists and many of the same issues, and some of them carried a similar tone: catty remarks by the scientists, […]
Assessing Endangered Species Science
By Jonathan H. Adler on October 18, 2011 11:01 am in Endangered Species, Environment, Politicizing Science
Last Thursday, at a congressional hearing, Assistant U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Gary Frazer said that the Interior Department’s Office of Science Integrity would conduct an independent evaluation of the work of FWS biologists accused by a federal judge of being dishonest with the court and acting in ‘”bad faith.” As the Los Angeles […]