FOX News: Climate scientist Michael Mann sues over comparison to child molester

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Climate scientist Michael Mann sues over comparison to child molester Oct 23rd 2012, 20:45 Climate scientist Michael Mann, who helped raise the global warming's profile by representing temperatures as a rapidly escalating "hockey stick," has filed a defamation lawsuit against skeptics at the National Review and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Mann said statements by the two organizations that compared him to convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky were offensive and defamatory, and called them the latest in a series of attacks he and other climate scientists have faced. "Unsatisfied with their lacerations of his professional reputation, defendants have also maliciously attacked Dr. Mann's personal reputation with the knowingly false comparison to a child molester," the complaint reads. Mann described the comments as one in a chain of attacks he has faced for his research into the effects of carbon dioxide -- and mankind -- on the climate. 'Defendants have also maliciously attacked Dr. Mann's personal reputation with the knowingly false comparison to a child molester.' - the case of Dr. Michael E. Mann vs. The National Review and The Competitive Enterprise Institute "There is a larger context for this latest development, namely the onslaught of dishonest and libelous attacks that climate scientists have endured for years by dishonest front groups seeking to discredit the case for concern over climate change," Mann wrote on his Facebook page, where he had earlier announced the lawsuit. The case centers on a sentence in the July 13 blog post that called Mann "the Jerry Sandusky of climate science, except that instead of molesting children, he has molested and tortured data in the service of politicized science." Written by CEI's space technology and policy analyst Rand Simberg and picked up by the conservative National Review, those words were eventually removed said Sam Kazman, general counsel at CEI.  "That was partly premised on the fact that Mann himself had spent time at Penn State," Kazman told FoxNews.com. "Looking back at it after a few days, we decided it was somewhat inappropriate. But the piece itself is up there." But Kazman defended the larger post, which accused Penn State of whitewashing an investigation into Michael Mann to avoid negative publicity. "Mann demanded retractions and apologies, and even though we had removed one or two sentences that involved the rhetoric, we thought the basic claims were substantially supported and declined to do anything more," Kazman told FoxNews.com. Michael Halpern of the Union of Concerned Scientists described the sentence as stunning and offensive on July 23. "I am aghast that a representative of the Competitive Enterprise Institute—purportedly, a think tank that wants the public to take it seriously—would compare climate scientists to child molesters," Halpern wrote. Mann is being represented in the case, which was filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, by John B. Williams of the law firm of Cozen O'Connor in Washington, D.C. "The conduct of the defendants is outrageous, and Dr. Mann will be seeking judgment for both compensatory and punitive damages," reads a statement posted to the scientist's Facebook page.  "The defendants assert that global warming is a 'hoax,' and have accused Dr. Mann of improperly manipulating the data to reach his conclusions," it continues. Williams was not immediately available to comment. Mann, a professor and director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, is a climate scientist whose research has focused on global warming. "There's irony in a global warming proponent trying to freeze discussion of this issue," Kazman told FoxNews.com.

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