GOP Report attacking climate change science was plagiarized

[DearAbby]

A congressional report used by Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) to question the validity of the science behind global warming in a 2006 hearing was highly plagiarized, according to experts who reviewed it.

"The report was integral to congressional hearings about climate scientists," Aaron Huertas of the Union of Concerned Scientists explained. "And it preceded a lot of conspiratorial thinking polluting the public debate today about climate scientists."

The report was requested by Barton in 2005, when he was the head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, a position he is currently trying to reclaim. In 2006, he said that global warming science is "pretty weak stuff."

Plagiarism experts told USA Today that the report, which was authored by George Mason University statistician Edward Wegman, copied material from textbooks, Wikipedia, and other sources.

John Mashey, a retired computer scientist, conducted a year-long analysis of the Wegman report and found that 35 of the report's 91 pages "are mostly plagiarized text, but often injected with errors, bias and changes of meaning."

More:

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2jr6sx/www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/gop-report-attacking-climate-change-science-plagiarized//r:t

[gratuitous]

1. Joe Barton doesn't care; he's the guy who apologized to BP

Barton's constituency is, first, last and always, polluters who make lots of money while the people luckless enough to live near their sites die young from horrible causes. If you make too much noise while dying, Joe Barton is there to cover the delicate ears of your murderer so he isn't distressed by your death throes.

So, if he's caught lying in service of those polluters, he doesn't care. If he's caught cheating on their behalf, he doesn't care. And if his lax oversight of these killers causes you and your loved ones suffering and death, he doesn't care. He cares about the fat checks he gets from these assassins, and that's it.

[somone]

2. But if Wikipedia says so, it must be true

[HereSince1628]

3. Like Nixon's Plumbers Barton's gang thought no one would notice...

It seems that the point is to enter into the record a multi-paged paper that takes an opposing opinion.

Through repeated referencing to such papers, the doctored documents become not only legitimized but iconic cornerstones.

The GOP would be better off just stating plainly their objection...the control and reduction of GHGs costs money that industry and many consumers don't want to spend.

[Bonhomme Richard]

4. "injected with errors, bias and changes of meaning." Isn't that the...

definition of the GOP.

[Viking12]

5. Kudos to USA today for exposing these frauds...

An influential 2006 congressional report that raised questions about the validity of global warming research was partly based on material copied from textbooks, Wikipedia and the writings of one of the scientists criticized in the report, plagiarism experts say.

Review of the 91-page report by three experts contacted by USA TODAY found repeated instances of passages lifted word for word and what appear to be thinly disguised paraphrases.

The charges of plagiarism don't negate one of the basic premises of the report — that climate scientists used poor statistics in two widely noted papers.

But the allegations come as some in Congress call for more investigations of climate scientists like the one that produced the Wegman report.

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2010-11-21-climate-report-questioned_N.htm

[yellowcanine]

6. I am sure Ken Cuccinelli is all over this, since George Mason University is a Virginia university.

Plagiarism experts told USA Today that the report, which was authored by George Mason University statistician Edward Wegman, copied material from textbooks, Wikipedia, and other sources.

George Mason University gets support from the State of Virginia. Will Cuccinelli go after Wegman for defrauding Virginia taxpayers?