Originally published November 12 2015
Democrats launch McCarthyist witchhunt against researchers questioning climate change agenda
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) As their climate change-global warming narrative begins to fall apart under the withering scrutiny of hard data and facts, desperate liberal Democrats are turning to bullying tactics reminiscent of a 1950s-era Republican senator they all despise to force universal acceptance.
As reported by Watchdog.org, U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, is among a small group of Democrats who are demanding that colleges and universities turn over grants, congressional testimony and other activities from a group of professors and scientists who have testified at congressional climate hearings.
The group, adds The College Fix, is being targeted because they don't buy into the argument that climate change and global warming is occurring as a result of man-made activities.
One of the scientists being targeted by Grijalva is Pepperdine University Prof. Steven Hayward. On the Power Line blog he wrote of his targeting:
Let's start by axing (sic) a simple question: If I say "two plus two equals four," does the truth of that proposition depend on whether I've received a grant from the Charles G. Koch Foundation? Apparently it does for Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), the ranking member of the House Committee on Natural Resources.
I've received - and am receiving - no grants, honoraria, consulting fees, good karma baubles, or even Christmas cards from any fossil fuel interest, though I'd be proud and open about it if I did. And I didn't consult anyone for the content of my congressional testimony over the years, though so what if I had? Is the good congressman really telling us that he is incapable of assessing factual claims and judgments about the wisdom of policy on the merits alone? That doesn't speak well of his probity.
'They are not going to be successful'
The witch hunt has also been taken up by Senate Democrats. Watchdog.org reports that California Sen. Barbara Boxer and two other Democrats on the Committee on Environment and Public Works have sent out 100 letters to free market think tanks and energy firms demanding they turn over funding documents related to any climate change research they've done.
Many of the groups are resisting, believing the effort is just a ploy by Democrats to conduct opposition research on behalf of their political candidates, at taxpayer expense.
"These folks have been trying to open the vaults of donor lists from all of our organizations over time. They have not been successful, and they are not going to be successful," Kory Swanson, president of the John Locke Foundation, a North Carolina-based think tank, told Watchdog.org.
The letter from Boxer and Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island requests information about "payments made ... in support of scientific research and scientists, as well as support for other efforts related to climate change, if such payments have been made."
'This is unconscionable'
The requests come suspiciously on the heels of a report in The New York Times with the following headline: "Deeper Ties to Corporate Cash for Doubtful Climate Researcher" (see it here). The paper attacks Wei-Hock Soon of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who is a known critic of climate change theory.
"This is clearly an attempt to intimidate anyone who has a different opinion on the issue than theirs," said Hans von Spakovsky, a former commissioner on the Federal Election Commission and currently senior legal fellow in The Heritage Foundation's Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies. "This is an abuse of power. Maybe these senators don't understand or don't care about the fundamental First Amendment rights of Americans and their membership organizations."
He added that the 100 groups targeted should get together and send one letter back to the senators stating, "We're not providing you with this information and your attempt to get it is unconscionable."
What makes this request even more outrageous is that Democrats are the minority in the Senate and on these very committees in which they sit - yet they act like they are still in the majority.
For his part, Hayward said he had a few questions of his own for Grijalva, should more hearings be scheduled in the future, such as what green group wrote his letter and what happens to government-funded scientists who don't produce "research" that "proves" global warming is "real."
Sources:
http://www.politico.com
http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/21469/
http://watchdog.org/203041/climate-change-senate-first-amendment/
http://www.powerlineblog.com
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