Did You See The News Reports On Yesterday's Climate Change Hearing???

No, and you won't, either. Don't bother to go looking for them. There ain't much there.
As we mentioned earlier in the week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing yesterday featuring Dr. Edward Wegman, the Chairman of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics, no rube. He had looked at the statistics and statistical methods used by Michael Mann in developing his famed "hockey stick" graph, ostensibly proving the theory of global warming.
Since everybody else who doubts global warming is accused of being on the oil companies' payroll (they are not), Dr. Wegman actually worked pro bono, i.e., for free. He concluded that the statistical methods -- and thus, presumably, the conclusions -- of Mann's famed study were flawed. People who were at the hearing told us he was "bullied" by the minority (i.e., Democrat) members of the Committee. Lovely. That's what dissenting views get you.
In any event, wouldn't you think that with all the media hype over global warming and Al Gore's movie that a dissonant view might be newsworthy? If you thought so, you'd be wrong. The WaPo, which has covered this story almost more than it has covered the Nationals (that's our baseball team...), had nary a word about it. The Grey Lady? Bupkiss. Look, we understand that these folks supported Al Gore, trust him, trust his version of the facts. But in some fundamental respects he's just wrong. And the opposing view deserves equal time, doesn't it? How about a shred of time?
And so, in the interest of trying to be the de facto ombudsman for the mainstream media who will ignore the good work of Dr. Wegman, we just wanted to remind you of yesterday's hearing and link once again to his paper so you can read it for yourself and -- God forbid -- draw your own conclusions.
Posted by Pat Cleary at July 20, 2006 07:15 AM