MAYBE SOME PROGRESS – AT 10:33 A.M. ET:  While Al Gore continues to argue that nothing is wrong in the global-warming kindergarten – just a few student crayon drawings out of place – more serious people are starting to move...maybe, maybe.  From today's Wall Street Journal:

The world's leading authority on climate change announced Saturday it is appointing an independent committee to investigate whether it needs to change its procedures to ensure it practices rigorous science.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, beset in recent months by a string of allegations of factual mistakes and improper scientific behavior in the preparation of its high-profile reports, said it will share details of how the independent review will work in early March.

A story in The Wall Street Journal on Friday detailed the IPCC's current effort to resuscitate its reputation and a longstanding tension within the organization between the desire by policy makers for clear, usable conclusions about climate science and the massive complexities of that science, many aspects of which scientists continue to debate.

And now the required garbage:

In the statement, IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri said that leaders of the United Nations-sponsored organization "stand firmly behind the rigour and robustness" of the IPCC's 2007 report. That report concluded that climate change is "unequivocal" and is "very likely" caused by emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from human activity, notably the burning of fossil fuels.

"But we recognize the criticism that has been leveled at us, and the need to respond," Mr. Pachauri said in the statement.

COMMENT:  Announcements like this need to be looked at very carefully.  And we need especially to look at how the investigation is executed.  Organizations, including universities, investigate themselves all the time, and the result is a whitewash.  Maybe this will be different, but I have my serious doubts.  Remember, there are people who have staked their entire careers on "global warming."  And there are billions of dollars involved. 

It will take heavy lifting by journalists, who themselves might well worry about their careers, to determine whether there'll be a real investigation, or a UN-style investigation. 

At the same time, the Obama administration continues to act as if there are no questions.  What strikes us is the anti-intellectualism of this position...although anti-intellectualism is a common malady among those who call themselves intellectuals.

February 28, 2010