Armed Forces Day 2010 poster
At the moment the link is down, to download a sharp copy of the poster for printing in gigantic size, but that shouldn’t stop you from planning to fly your flag next Saturday, May 15, for Armed Forces Day. We honor those men and women currently in uniform serving our nation on the third Saturday in May
Previously, in Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub:
5 Comments | 
Flag ceremony, Flag etiquette, Fly your flag today, History, Military History, veterans | Tagged: Armed Forces Day, Flag etiquette, Flag Fly Dates, Fly your flag today, History, Military History | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
A good sign of wildlife recovery. Photo by Amanda Holland, all rights reserved.
A cousin-in-law spends a few months working on condor recovery in California. We get photos from time to time.
This one isn’t particularly spectacular, but I love the irony, and the levels of meaning.
4 Comments | Biology, Bird Watching, Environmental protection, History, Humor, Natural history, Natural resources, Science, Signs, Wildlife | Tagged: Bird Watching, California Condor, Environmental protection, Humor, Natural resources, Science, Signs, Wildlife | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Who gets the most out of this exchange?
“This country doesn’t value teachers, and that upsets me,” she said. “Teachers don’t earn much, and this country worships making money. In China, teachers don’t earn a lot either, but it’s a very honorable career.”
Ms. Zheng said she spent time clearing up misconceptions about China.
“I want students to know that Chinese people are not crazy,” she said. For instance, one of her students, referring to China’s one-child-per-family population planning policy, asked whether the authorities would kill one of the babies if a Chinese couple were to have twins.
Some students were astonished to learn that Chinese people used cellphones, she said. Others thought Hong Kong was the capital.
Barry Beauchamp, the Lawton superintendent, said he was thrilled to have Ms. Zheng and two other Chinese instructors working in the district. But he said he believed that the guest teachers were learning the most from the cultural exchange.
“Guest Teaching Chinese and Learning America,” Sam Dillon, New York Times, May 9, 2010, page A14.
2 Comments | China, Cultural Literacy, Current History, Education, Foreign Language, Globalization, History, Language, Learning, Teaching | Tagged: China, Culture, Education, Foreign Language, Globalization, Languages, Learning, Teaching, U.S. Competitiveness | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Utah’s political year can be odd. Among other things, there is an unusual feature to get the nomination of a party. A candidate can win the nomination outright, and avoid the party primary, by taking 72% of the delegates at the state convention. Delegates vote in rounds, eliminated those with the least support, until some magic number of total delegates is divided among the leaders. If the leading candidate gets anything less than 72% in the final round, there is a run-off at the primary election. This way, only two candidates show up on the primary election ballot in September.
The winner of the primary then appears on the ballot in November.
Saturday in Salt Lake City Utah Republicans scanned a list of eight people contesting incumbent U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett for his seat. Bob Bennett represented Utah in the U.S. Senate for three terms.
Bennett’s father, Wallace F. Bennett, represented Utah for four terms. Bob Bennett is married to a granddaughter of LDS Church President David O. McKay (LDS call the president of their church “prophet, seer and revelator”). He was president of the University of Utah studentbody in college, and he headed several corporations, including his father’s Bennett Paints, and the probably better known nationally, FranklinQuest manufacturer of organizers and appointment books. Bennett got the 2010 endorsements of the National Rifle Association and popular Mormon politician Mitt Romney.
Mr. Republican, in other words.
Utah Republicans put Bennett third in the final round, Saturday (Salt Lake Tribune story). Mike Lee and Tim Bridgewater face off in the primary election. Bennett is out. Bennett was “too liberal.” Bennett was “too Washington.” Bennett was viewed as not tough enough on government spending.
U.S. Sen. Robert F. Bennett and Utah constituent - campaign photo
What can one say about such an event?
Utah Republicans have a long history of nominating cranks and crackpots, and sometimes they get elected. Rarely does the story turn out happily for the state, or the party, though.
Douglas Stringfellow turned out to have made up the stories about his World War II bravery behind enemy lines, and lost his bid for re-election. Enid Greene’s husband was the one with the imaginary biography, but the damage from the revelations ended her career in Congress. Utah Republicans narrowly renominated Sen. Arthur V. Watkins, many Republicans refused to support him and bolted the party for that race, because they disapproved of Watkins’ having chaired the committee that recommended the censure of Sen. Joseph McCarthy. [It appears McCarthy’s history rewriting team got to Sen. Watkins’ biography at Wikipedia. Troubling.] Because of the split, Democrat Frank E. Moss won the seat and held it for three terms.
Lee clerked for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, but based his Utah campaign on a claim the U.S. government is acting unconstitutionally. Bridgewater lifted himself out of his trailer park beginnings to be a consultant on “emerging markets,” and a sometimes education-advisor to Utah Gov. John Huntsman (now U.S. ambassador to China).
What’s that ticking I hear? Do you smell something burning, like a fuse?
Is there a warning siren going off somewhere? 2010 is already a bizarre election year.
_____________
Update, May 9: A source informs me that Mike Lee is Rex Lee’s son — Rex Lee was the founding Dean of the Law School at Brigham Young University, past Solicitor General, and Assistant Attorney General, in charge of the Civil Division. He served nine years as president of Brigham Young University. Rex Lee graduated first in his class at Chicago, and clerked for Justice Byron White. Justice Alito was an assistant to Rex Lee in the Solicitor General’s office, 1981-85.
Setting up the law school at Brigham Young, Rex Lee personally recruited many of the top Mormon graduates from universities around the country, intending to make the first graduating class (1976) at BYU’s law school notable, to build the school’s reputation from the start. Political organizing may run in the family.
4 Comments | 2010 Elections, Elections, History, Political conventions, Politics, Utah | Tagged: Campaigns, Conventions, Election 2010, Elections, Politics, Republicans, Sen. Robert F. Bennett, Utah | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Members of commitee and scientist witnesses at May 6 hearing of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. From left: Rep. Jay Inslee, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, Dr. James Hurrell, Chairman Ed Markey, Dr. Lisa Graumlich, Dr. James McCarthy, and Dr. Chris Field
Excerpt from the opening statement from Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., chairman of the U.S. House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, at a May 6 hearing:
Those who deny global warming point to past uncertainties that have been refuted. They ignore the overwhelming observational evidence that the increased levels of heat-trapping pollution are already warming the planet. Instead of trying to understand the science, they use stolen emails about analysis of tree rings in Siberia to turn an honest discussion into a Russian Tree Ring Circus. Or they manufacture a cooling trend by cherry picking a few years out of a longer record of warming temperatures.
While the deniers hope to confuse the public, the real world consequences of inaction mount. Over the weekend, killer storms blew through Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky. In Nashville, nearly 13 inches of rain fell in just over two days time – almost doubling the previous record that fell in the aftermath of a hurricane in 1979.
These storms follow the wettest March on record in Boston. Two 50-year storms occurred within 2 weeks of each other. The National Guard was mobilized. Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes. The region suffered millions of dollars in damages.
No single rainstorm can be attributed to climate change. Nor can a snowstorm disprove its existence. But the underlying science and the observed trends do point to more extreme weather events, especially heavy precipitation events because a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture.
Extreme rainfall is just one of the consequences of the carbon pollution we are releasing into the air. Our witnesses today will explain how science has revealed this unseen pollution for what it is and discuss the very real consequences of its continuing accumulation in the atmosphere.
As we approach summer, our clean energy debate needs to acknowledge what many would like to deny. Our dependence on oil carries with it national security, economic and environmental risks. As gas prices rise and the oil slick spreads, perhaps we will finally acknowledge that we cannot drill our way to independence. We have less than 3 percent of proven oil reserves. Perhaps we can also acknowledge the basic facts that have been known for decades—increasing carbon pollution in the atmosphere is warming the planet and that the only way to put a halt to such warming is to move to clean energy solutions.
4 Comments | Climate change, climate_change, Global warming, Green Politics, History, Politics, Science | Tagged: Chris Field, Christopher Monckton, Climate change, Global warming, Green Politics, History, House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, James Hurrell, James McCarthy, Lisa Graumlich, Politics, Rep. Edward J. Markey, Science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Stupid is as stupid does.
Climate denialists trumpeted a hearing scheduled for Thursday before a select committee of the U.S. House of Representatives at which the madcap, veracity-challenged Christopher Monckton will carry the banner for denialism:
Also testifying to the panel will be another Briton, Lord Christopher Monckton, a hereditary peer in the House of Lords and prominent critic of the scientific consensus supporting anthropogenic climate change.
Of course, Monckton is not a hereditary peer of the House of Lords. He has a peerage, but in Britain, they won’t let him near the levers of government. No one has a hereditary peerage any more, and Monckton has never sat in Lords or Commons.
If Monckton can lie about stuff like that, what won’t he lie about? If the denialists can be suckered so easily, what makes anyone think they are skeptics, and not gullibles? Bogus history, voodoo history, and voodoo science from the Republican end of the Select Committee. Astonishing.
At the hearing a letter from 250 scientists, members of the National Academy of Sciences, called on Congress to act wisely and soon to fight human-caused global warming.
Incredibly, Monckton was the sole witness from the Republican side. Remember the title of Chris Mooney’s book, The Republican War on Science? It’s still a valid title, it appears.
Monckton squirms among the scientists: From left, Dr. James Hurrell, Dr. James McCarthy, Lord Christopher Monckton, Dr. Chris Field, Dr. Lisa Graumlich; photo from the Select Committee
The hearing was before the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, chaired by Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass.
Written statements from the May 6 hearing:
Statements are in .pdf format.
- OPENING STATEMENT: Chairman Edward J. Markey
- Dr. Lisa Graumlich, Director, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona, and member of the “Oxburgh Inquiry” panel
- Dr. Chris Field, Director, Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, and co-chair of “Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability” portion of new IPCC report due in 2014
- Dr. James McCarthy, Professor of Biological Oceanography, Harvard University, past President and Chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, co-chair of “Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability” portion of IPCC report published in 2001
- Dr. James Hurrell, Senior Scientist, National Center for Atmospheric Research, contributor to IPCC reports
- Lord Christopher Monckton, Chief Policy Adviser, Science and Public Policy Institute
The hearing got precious little press, but it’s interesting to see the blogs that lead the denialism charge try to ignore most of the hearing.
13 Comments | Bogus history, Climate change, climate_change, Global warming, Green Politics, History, Politics, U.S. House of Representatives, Voodoo history, Voodoo science | Tagged: Bogus history, Chris Field, Christopher Monckton, Climate change, Climate Science, denialism, Global warming, Green Politics, James Hurrell, James McCarthy, Lisa Graumlich, Oxburgh Inquiry, Politics, Rep. Edward J. Markey, Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, Voodoo history, Voodoo science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
I get e-mail from the NAACP; the rest of the nation is paying attention to the follies run by the conservative bureaucrats at the SBOE:
Ed,
I wouldn’t want to be a Texas State Board member this week.
Last week, we asked you to write to your representative, telling him or her that rewriting Texas history textbooks is ignorant and unpatriotic.
Over 1,500 people have already written in, filling the inboxes of our school leaders.
This week, we’d like to offer you one more chance to get involved. The NAACP is planning rallies, hearings and press conferences in Texas to stop the state board from rewriting history. But we can’t do it without you.
An issue as controversial as rewriting history elicits strong emotions, and we want to give you the chance to speak out. Do you have something you would like to say at the hearing?
http://action.naacp.org/TextbookHearing
The NAACP works to ensure equal rights and to eliminate discrimination against all racial and ethnic groups. The proposed changes to our textbooks threaten our mission. This is not about Republicans or Democrats — it’s about our shared history as Texans. That’s why we want to use the words of our Texas supporters to turn the tide.
The Texas textbook vote is just two weeks away, so we need to push ourselves harder now than ever before.
The future of our children’s education is in the hands of just a few State Board members. Your voice could be the one to tip the scale.
Take a moment to tell us what you think about the Texas State Board rewriting history. The best submissions will be read at the hearing on May 19th.
http://action.naacp.org/TextbookHearing
Thank you for helping to protect our history.
Gary Bledsoe
President, Texas NAACP
Leave a Comment » | Bogus history, Economics, Education, Education reform, Geography - Economic, Geography - Physical, Geography - Political, History, History Methods and Tools, Rampant stupidity, Social Studies, State school boards, State Standards, Texas, Texas history, Voodoo history | Tagged: Bogus history, Economics, Education, geography, Government, History, Politics, Social Studies, Texas State Board of Education, Voodoo history | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Today is the anniversary* of our nation’s first** law generally governing immigration.
Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred Chinese immigrants from the United States for 10 years.
1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, page 1 - National Archives
1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, page 2 - National Archives
____________
* I note the image says it was approved by President Chester Alan Arthur (who had succeeded to office after President James Garfield was assassinated a year earlier). The New York Times calls May 6 the anniversary of Congress’s passing the law; if Arthur signed in on May 6, it was probably passed a few days earlier. May 6 would be the anniversary of its signing into law.
** The Chinese Exclusion Act was preceded by the Page Act of 1875, which prohibited immigration of “undesirable” people. Who was undesirable? “The law classified as undesirable any individual from China who was coming to America to be a contract laborer, any Asian woman who would engage in prostitution, and all people considered to be convicts in their own country.” It was not applicable to many immigrants. The Page Act was named after its sponsor, Rep. Horace F. Page of California.
2 Comments | History, Immigration, Legislation, U.S. House of Representatives | Tagged: Chinese Exclusion Act, History, Horace F. Page, House of Representatives, Immigration, Law, Legislation, U.S. Congress | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
We’re coming up on four relatively under-appreciated flag-flying dates before Independence Day (July 4):
President Obama at the Gulf of Mexico oil spill - White House photo
I was surprised to see the “fly your flag today” note in the Dallas Morning News today, especially with the accompanying news story. As you can see above, it’s not on the flag-fly list in law. President Obama’s declaration of the National Day of Prayer doesn’t suggest flying the flag.
We are blessed to live in a Nation that counts freedom of conscience and free exercise of religion among its most fundamental principles, thereby ensuring that all people of goodwill may hold and practice their beliefs according to the dictates of their consciences. Prayer has been a sustaining way for many Americans of diverse faiths to express their most cherished beliefs, and thus we have long deemed it fitting and proper to publicly recognize the importance of prayer on this day across the Nation.
Let us remember in our thoughts and prayers those suffering from natural disasters in Haiti, Chile, and elsewhere, and the people from those countries and from around the world who have worked tirelessly and selflessly to render aid. Let us pray for the families of the West Virginia miners, and the people of Poland who so recently and unexpectedly lost many of their beloved leaders. Let us pray for the safety and success of those who have left home to serve in our Armed Forces, putting their lives at risk in order to make the world a safer place. As we remember them, let us not forget their families and the substantial sacrifices that they make every day. Let us remember the unsung heroes who struggle to build their communities, raise their families, and help their neighbors, for they are the wellspring of our greatness. Finally, let us remember in our thoughts and prayers those people everywhere who join us in the aspiration for a world that is just, peaceful, free, and respectful of the dignity of every human being.
It’s not in the Congressional Resolution that declares the day (see it tucked in there between National Aviation Day and National Defense Transportation Day).
You may fly your flag any day. But so far as I can tell, we’re not urged by law to fly the flag for prayer day.
In addition to those many worthy things to pray or meditate for on National Prayer Day, pray for a rational solution to the flap over the day. Since when does anyone need a law to allow them pray? Who is trying to claim an official flag-flying mantle, and why do they think a right to pray needs such a boost?
More:
4 Comments | Bogus history, First Amendment, Flag etiquette, History, Religious Freedom | Tagged: Bogus history, Flag etiquette, Flag Fly Dates, Freedom of Religion, History, Law, National Day of Prayer | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
(Mostly an encore post, from 2009)
You thought Cinco de Mayo was Independence Day for Mexico?
No, it’s not.
History.com has a nice explanation, with a nice little video. Yahoo has a video this year, mostly animation with lots of advertising.
Perhaps the U.S. should celebrate the day, too, at least in those states who were not in the old Confederacy. On May 5, 1862, Mexicans under the command of 33 year old Commander General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín stopped the quick advance of superior French forces trying to invade Mexico to take it over, at the Battle of Puebla. While France did eventually defeat Mexican forces (after getting 30,000 men in reinforcements), the spirit of May 5 inspired Mexicans to continue to fight for freedom. And ultimately, Mexican forces overpowered and captured the French forces and Emperor Maximilian, who was executed.
Thus ended a great hope for the Confederacy, that French-supported Mexican Army would lend aid to the Confederates in their struggle to secede from the Union.
It is one of the great what-ifs of history: What if France had kept Mexico, and what if French-led Mexican forces backed up the Confederate Army?
One thing is rather sure: Had that happened, and had the Confederacy been successful, we wouldn’t be celebrating Cinco de Mayo in Texas today.
Battle of Puebla, Wikimedia (artist?)
Mexican Independence Day is September 16.
_______________________________________
Update: Sam DeBerry sends a note that Seguin was a Texan. So the Mexican hero of the Battle of Puebla was a Texan. You couldn’t make this stuff up — real history is always more interesting than fiction.
2 Comments | 1861-1865, A Good Story, Accuracy, Civil War, Famous Battles, Heroes, History, Holidays, Mexico, Texas | Tagged: Accuracy, American Civil War, Battle of Puebla, Cinco de Mayo, Famous Battles, France, Heroes, History, Holidays, Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín, Maximilian, Mexico, Napoleon III, World history | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Endangered beaches in Chesapeake Bay - map from Jim Titus, EPA, via Wired
At Mother Jones Magazine’s website, “Buh-bye, East Coast Beaches”:
Over the past decade, [Jim] Titus and a team of contractors combined reams of data to construct a remarkably detailed model of how sea-level rise will impact the eastern seaboard. It was the largest such study ever undertaken, and its findings were alarming: Over the next 90 years, 1,000 square miles of inhabited land on the East Coast could be flooded, and most of the wetlands between Massachusetts and Florida could be lost. The favorably peer-reviewed study was scheduled for publication in early 2008 as part of a Bush Administration report on sea-level rise, but it never saw the light of day—an omission criticized by the EPA’s own scientific advisory committee. Titus has urged the more science-friendly Obama administration to publish his work, but so far, it hasn’t—and won’t say why.
So Titus recently launched a personal website, risingsea.net, to publish his work. “I decided to do my best to prevent the taxpayer investment from being wasted,” he says. The site includes “When the North Pole Melts,” a prescient holiday ditty recorded by his musical alter ego, Captain Sea Level, in the late ’80s.
Tip of the old scrub brush to Climate Desk.
1 Comment | Climate change, climate_change, Environmental protection, Global warming, Green Politics, History, oceans, Research, Science | Tagged: Climate change, Global warming, Green Politics, History, oceans, Politics, Research, Science, Sea Level Rise | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
What? The Texas State Board of Education is doing such a shoddy job of writing social studies standards that they don’t even name the current president of the U.S.?
It’s a cautionary tale of overprescribing, and of looking at everything as if it has some ulterior motive. But is there any rational reason why the SBOE refuses to utter the name “Obama?”
Who is this man? Texas social studies standards let his identity remain a mystery, despite the historical significance of his election.
SBOE should stop gutting social studies standards and vote to simply accept the updates provided by teachers, historians, economists and geographers. The process is out of control, embarrassing to Texas, and damaging to education.
Grading Texas has the story (from TSTA), here in its entirety (but go check out that blog):
April 28, 2010
The president has a name: it’s Barack Obama
TSTA President Rita Haecker created a stir among legislators today when she testified, at a hearing hosted by the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, that the State Board of Education, in its recent rewrite of social studies curriculum standards, had refused to name President Barack Obama.
That bit of news seemed to catch several lawmakers by surprise. They already knew that the right-wing bloc on the board had attempted to rewrite history. But to go so far as to omit the name of the historic, first African American president of the United States seemed preposterous, even by conservative leader Don (the Earth is 5,000 years old) McLeroy’s standards.
Haecker was correct. Barack Obama’s name, so far, has not been included in the history curriculum standards on which the SBOE is scheduled to take a final vote next month. The standards do note the “election of first black president” as a significant event of 2008, but they don’t say who that black president is.
Haecker urged legislators to make changes, if necessary, to the curriculum setting process to protect educator input and ensure that “scholarly, academic research and findings aren’t dismissed or diminished at the whim of a board member’s own political or religious view of the world.”
State Education Commissioner Robert Scott accepted the caucus’ invitation to voluntarily testify on the curriculum adoption process. He said his and the Texas Education Agency’s role was mostly in technical support of the SBOE.
Board Chairwoman Gail Lowe of Lampasas, who also had been invited, declined to attend, even though the caucus had offered to pay her travel expenses.
Predictably, Lowe was skewered for her failure to show up by the mostly Democratic legislators who attended the caucus hearing. Lowe must have figured it was better to be skewered in absentia than in person.
You can read Rita Haecker’s prepared testimony here:
Oh, go on — you can say it — tell your friends:
Leave a Comment » | Barack Obama, Bogus history, History, History blogs, History Revisionism, Rampant stupidity, Social Studies, State school boards, TAKS, TEKS, Texas, Voodoo history | Tagged: Barack Obama, Politics, Rampant stupidity, Social Studies, Social Studies Standards, TAKS, TEKS, Texas, Texas State Board of Education | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
It’s way too short, but a great idea.
More:
1 Comment | DDT, Environmental protection, History, National Wildlife Refuge, Natural history, Natural resources, Rachel Carson, Science | Tagged: DDT, Environmental protection, History, Land Use, Natural history, Natural resources, Nature Conservancy, Rachel Carson, Rachel Carson NWR, Science, Silent Spring | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
So, you didn’t think the opposition to global warming was political? You thought “skeptics” were just out to make a scientific case?
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli - campaign photo
As the Hook explains, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has ordered the University of Virginia to turn over all records they have of research done by Michael Mann while he was at the UVA (he left five years ago for Penn State). (Civil Investigative Demand, here)
It’s a fishing expedition, the very definition of a witch hunt. Also, as I read the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act upon which Cuccinelli bases his actions [see comments — better source here], it’s probably outside the statute of limitations.
Research that Cuccinelli has targeted to investigate includes work Mann did with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Cuccinelli probably lacks jurisdiction for much of the stuff he wants, trumped by those federal agencies.
Mann is the guy who put together the chart of all the different threads of research that show warming climate, commonly known as the “hockey stick” after Al Gore’s years of presentations on the chart and the movie, “Inconvenient Truths.” Mann also is among those scientists in U.S. and England whose private e-mails were exposed in the breach of the e-mail servers at England’s Hadley Climate Research Unit.
Three different investigations have put Mann in the clear so far (Penn State’s .pdf of investigation results; response to Texas U.S. Rep. Joe Barton’s assault) — odd that stolen e-mails would produce doubts about the victims of the theft, but ethical standards in science research are indeed that high. Caesar’s wife couldn’t be considered for research grants.
Why do I think the statute of limitations may apply? Look at the law, linked above, the Fraud Against Taxpayers Act:
§ 8.01-216.9. Procedure; statute of limitations.
A subpoena requiring the attendance of a witness at a trial or hearing conducted under this article may be served at any place in the Commonwealth.
A civil action under § 8.01-216.4 or 8.01-216.5 may not be brought (i) more than six years after the date on which the violation is committed or (ii) more than three years after the date when facts material to the right of action are known or reasonably should have been known by the official of the Commonwealth charged with responsibility to act in the circumstances, but in that event no more than ten years after the date on which the violation is committed, whichever occurs last.
In any action brought under § 8.01-216.5, the Commonwealth shall be required to prove all essential elements of the cause of action, including damages, by a preponderance of the evidence.
Research at a major research institution like a big, public university involves many layers of regulation and bureaucratic checking. Generally the university’s research office will require adherence to the school’s ethical code and all state laws up front, and then the auditors check the money flow and research activities through the project. There is a final sign off at most schools, which would qualify as “the date when facts material to the right of action are known or reasonably should have been known by the official of the Commonwealth charged with responsibility to act in the circumstances.”
Cuccinelli is sending a clear signal to researchers that they are unwelcome in Virginia if their research doesn’t square with his politics — and his politics are weird. Watch to see what the response of the University is, especially if their delivery of documents doesn’t put this witch hunt to bed.
[Update notice: The text of the law noting the statute of limitations was updated on May 5, to show application to § 801-216.4 as well as § 801-216.5]
Other sources to check:
23 Comments | Accuracy, Bogus history, Chilling Effect, denialism, Environmental protection, Global warming, History, Junk science, Jurisprudence, Justice, Law, Research, Science, Voodoo history, Voodoo science | Tagged: Chilling Effect, Climate change, Environmental protection, Global warming, Ken Cuccinelli, Law, Michael Mann, Research, University of Virginia, Virginia | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Here’s the Dilbert cartoon Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli should have viewed before he went fishing:
3 Comments | Accuracy, Bogus history, Climate change, Global warming, History, Hoaxes, Junk science, Research, Science, Voodoo history, Voodoo science, War on Science | Tagged: Accuracy, Bogus history, Climate change, Global warming, History, Hoaxes, Junk science, Ken Cucinelli, Michael Mann, Research, Science, Virginia, Voodoo history, Voodoo science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
You are currently browsing the Millard Fillmore's Bathtub blog archives for May, 2010.
Ed Darrell on Texas's Colorado River
Come on in, the water's fine. Come often: Cleanliness is next to godliness.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 