Pinocchios for Perry

     The Washington Post’s fact check guy, Glenn Kessler, has given Texas Gov. Rick Perry “four Pinocchios” in response to the Republican's recent remarks about global warming.
     I especially enjoyed Kessler’s take on Perry's charge that lots of scientists have been “manipulating data”:

     Despite our repeated requests, neither [of Perry’s spokesmen] provided any evidence to back up Perry’s claim that “a substantial number of scientists … have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects” — perhaps because that particular scandal appears to be a figment of Perry’s imagination.
     Perry appears to be referring to hundreds of e-mails that were stolen from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in Britain and then disseminated on the Internet in 2009. One e-mail made references to adding a “trick” in the data, leading climate change skeptics to claim the data was manipulated.
     But, although Perry claimed the scientists “were found to be manipulating this data,” five investigations have since been conducted into the allegations — and each one exonerated the half-dozen or so scientists involved.
     So, in contrast to Perry’s statement, there have not been a “substantial number” of scientists who manipulated data. Instead, there were a handful — who were falsely accused.

     Concludes Kessler:

     Perry’s statement suggests that, on the climate change issue, the governor is willfully ignoring the facts and making false accusations based on little evidence. He has every right to be a skeptic ... but that does not give him carte blanche to simply make things up.

     Recently, SOCCCD trustee Tom Fuentes met with Perry. Evidently, Perry passed Tom's "first lady" test: "One of the gauges I have is to get to know the political wives. That tells you a lot," said Tom.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Court: Teacher can't be sued over anti-Christian remarks (OC Reg)

A federal appeals court on Friday tossed out a lower court's ruling that Capistrano Valley High School teacher James Corbett violated a student's constitutional rights by making comments disparaging to religion, saying Corbett could not have known he might be breaking the law….

Update on one-time Fuentes/GOP golden boy Jeffrey Ray Nielsen

Both gay and anti-gay

     This morning, OC Weekly’s R. Scott Moxley updates his story about one-time GOP golden boy—and sexual predator—Jeffrey Ray Nielsen: Ex-Rohrabacher Aide Can't Stay Clean Even After Prison:

     There was a time in Orange County when Jeffrey Ray Nielsen, the son of a Fountain Valley Republican mayor, seemed destined for a lofty perch. Nielsen got into USC Law School based, in part, on the personal recommendation of Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, the man who'd repeatedly take him to the nation's capital as a trusted aide. ... Before his downfall, the self-styled Christian conservative—a junior Rush Limbaugh in training—liked to berate liberals and gays for destroying the nation.
     The ironic Nielsen collapse began in the 1990s when he used his connections to win an internship inside the Orange County District Attorney's office. Police caught him urinating in public during a date….
     We may never be able to reconcile how Nielsen, who hobnobbed with Orange County's most powerful political leaders like Tom Fuentes and Scott Baugh, breathlessly targeted 7th, 8th and 9th grade boys for romance and sex while simultaneously quoting Biblical passages and hailing Ronald Reagan.
     After his 2003 arrest for the lewd, determined pursuit of a troubled Westminster High School student, Nielsen told friends that his political connections would help him quietly make the case against him go away. I made sure that didn't happen…. [My research] lead me to another victim, who as a 7th grader found himself used for two years as a sexual object by Nielsen, who'd been prowling a church youth group while working for Rohrabacher.
     In March 2008, Nielsen—then a Ladera Ranch resident who attempted to claim he was the victim of a liberal media plot run from the Weekly offices—dropped the pretense of innocence, pleaded guilty and earned himself a 36-month stint in a California prison….
     In Dec. 2009, we reported that Nielsen had been released from prison and was living in Laguna Beach.
. . .
…We've learned that in April 2010—just four month after his prison departure, Nielsen got drunk in Laguna Beach, crashed his car into a parked car and found himself under arrest again, according to court records.
. . .
     [Superior Court Judge Robert] Gannon sentenced Nielsen to serve 90 days in jail, attend another alcohol diversion program and live under probation supervision for three years.
     Worse for Nielsen, Gannon…decided in December 2010 to also send him back to prison for four more months.
     He's now free again and we're wondering what's next for the man who turns 41 years old next month.