This will be a very short (but delicious) diary. (H/T to ClimateScienceWatch.org and ClimateProgress.org -- they are on top this one.) The Court's decision regarding Dr. Michael Mann's standing to sue has been issued, and it's a doozy -- linky here: http://thinkprogress.org/...
Here are a couple of excerpts (thanx to ClimateScienceWatch and ClimateProgress):
The CEI Defendants’ persistence despite the EPA and other investigative bodies’ conclusion that Plaintiff’s work is accurate (or that there is no evidence of data manipulation) is equal to a blatant disregard for the falsity of their statements. Thus, given the evidence presented the Court finds that Plaintiff could prove “actual malice.”
.....
Plaintiff has been investigated several times and his work has been found to be accurate. In fact, some of these investigations have been due to the accusations made by the CEI Defendants. It follows that if anyone should be aware of the accuracy (or findings that the work of Plaintiff is sound), it would be the CEI Defendants. Thus, it is fair to say that the CEI Defendants continue to criticize Plaintiff due to a reckless disregard for truth.
Dr. Mann has been on the receiving end of all kinds of abuse from dishonest political hacks simply for publishing good science -- science, BTW, that has stood up to over a decade of professional scrutiny and that has been replicated/confirmed numerous times in the peer-reviewed literature.
I rather suspect that we'll see the abuse subside after this ruling, and I'll bet that lots of rabid deniers are scrubbing their web-sites as I type this.
Anyway, the last time I saw a courtroom beat-down this harsh, it was on the Judge Judy show.
Looks like it's time to throw another bag of popcorn into the microwave!