“Climategate Minority Report“. Apparently Senator Jim Inhofe, the last flat-earther, and his fellow Republican members of a Senate committee have drawn some conclusions that suit their political interests about the out-of-context e-mails stolen from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) in Britain.

It will be interesting to watch their “findings” fall apart under public discussion as everything they state has been already discussed at length and dismissed. “Honest broker” Anthony Watts is naturally all-in. Welcome to a noisy and meaningless re-run of November, 2009.

2012-07-19 Update: Norfolk police have called off their investigation for procedural reasons, but state:

“However, as a result of our inquiries, we can say that the data breach was the result of a sophisticated and carefully orchestrated attack on the CRU’s data files, carried out remotely via the internet. The offenders used methods common in unlawful internet activity to obstruct inquiries. There is no evidence to suggest that anyone working at or associated with the University of East Anglia was involved in the crime.”

“Met office pushes a surface temperature data “do over”. Anthony lays the ground for rejecting a proposed re-processing of global raw surface temperature data by Britain’s Meteorological Office. I suspect that the only temperature records Anthony likes are the ones that suit his purpose.

While the administrative issues and contractual blockages that surround the global raw surface temperature data have been known for years, the overall usefulness of that data to scientists remains unchanged. But of course right-wing bloggers and media are reporting this proposed clean-up as a capitulation due to the “Climategate” conspiracy accusations.