Steve… that’s a terrific comment. I’ve been meaning to post a number of terrific links this week, including a story about the psychology of climate change.

I’m actually interested, believe it or not, in knowing if Anon (who isn’t so anonymous… each post comes with accurate GSP readings) actually believes that the planet is cooking.

Thanks to everyone else who commented and offered thoughts.

Consider all that we have learned from FOI/FOIA requests.
Imagine all of that gone, pfft, because the recipients destroyed the data.

Yeah, I think they should rot in jail for destroying evidence and obstructing justice.

Here is a page with some interesting history and cases of FOIA: http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/foia.html

How or why you compare that to the penalties for child molesting is silly (sorry Richard) [silly's OK, actually] because this isn’t really a discussion about equalizing sentencing.

If in this case, the data was manipulated in such a way that facilitated Phil Jones defrauding the taxpayers of $22M in grant money, I’d say prison was definitely called for.

Richard, you can do whatever the [crazy talk, crazy talk] you want to do, and I’m sure you will. You’re clearly a [venerable insult once used frequently in Hill Street Blues, well done!] with no understanding of anonymity, or science, or integrity. But [insult, crazy talk, crazy talk, cheap shot against my parents, both deceased, and against me].

Enjoy your day. {Irony]

Everyone seriously interested in this issue has known that biofuels were a mistake from the very beginning. They were a politically motivated solution designed to keep us wedded to a fossil fuel economy.

And are you seriously arguing that we should let 5-7 billion people die because elimantiing DDT had some unintended consequences? (And, as I’m sure you know, DDT had stopped working because mosquitoes adapted, so it wouldn’t have made much a difference if we had kept spraying). Admittedly, I’m providing a worst-case projection for deaths from global warming over the next 100 years, but you need to understand the stakes.

Moving to a low-carbon economy will save trillions every year on healthcare costs; maybe we can use some of that largesse to fight malaria safely.

Here’s the deal.

I have no respect for your position because you hide behind anonymity. You come to One Blue Marble, and you insult my readers, and you misstate my position. You’ve also missed the essential thrust of what Colleen said, too. She’s all for FOI in a democracy, just as I am.

So you’re behaving like a jerk. Or should I call you a dipshit.

In my country, we presume innocence until proven otherwise. You haven’t one shred of evidence that the climate scientists involved have done anything untoward, so you have nothing but conjecture and innuendo. At the moment, we merely have info on some private conversations, and if you really are a scientist (which I sincerely doubt), then you know that most of what they talked about is innocuous.

But if — if — the scientists at the CRU have cheated, then I’m all for the penalties that follow.

So you are now being warned. My house, my rules. I won’t let you insult my readers. If you persist in doing so, your comments will be moderated.

If you have something to say, stop behaving like a jerk.

Not sure where you live, but where I live, my country has a proud and robust history of respect for anonymity, going back to our founders and recognized by the Supreme Court. See the EFF for more. That you don’t know this shows your ignorance. That you disrespect that shows your disrespect and signals you have some privileged position that requires no anonymity. That you use it as an attack is ad hominem.

Regarding throwing FOI (or FOIA) violators in jail, absolutely. Almost by definition they are destroying public property, obstructing justice, obstructing an investigation. I say that not because I think Phil Jones is a guy who should rot in jail, but because I think any government official who is subject to FOI/FOIA requests has been briefed on the law, and should be striving to honor those requests in a timely, expeditious, accurate manner.

How you can justify violation of FOI/FOIA is beyond me. Is it because this time it was Phil Jones, and not Gordon Brown or Dick Cheney?

If you want to argue that prison time for child molesters is insufficient you go argue for that, maybe I’ll join in.

I am arguing that it’s not up to government thugs to decide arbitrarily how to handle FOI/FOIA requests. I am glad to see you are on the side of thugocracy.

I share your disbelief. These people are working towards inaction that will result in the death of millions.

As for wanting to find a way to ignore FOI requests? Point out one civil servant who wouldn’t like to do the same. While complying with such requests is completely necessary in a democracy, they are time consuming and expensive to taxpayers. I have seen one such response to a request that took up half a room with boxes filled with paper. Rotting in prison for not responding to a FOI request? Seriously? And if he assaulted someone or committed armed robbery? We send child molesters to prison for as little as a few months but not responding to a FOI request demands rotting in prison? Does that really make sense to you?