This is what we know:
Heartland claims the Climate Strategy 2012 pdf is a fake.
Peter Gleick admits that he lied to get the undisputed documents out of Heartland.
Peter Gleick says that the Climate Strategy 2012 pdf arrived from an anonymous source in the mail (not e-mail) prior to him lying to get the other files.
The time stamp on the Climate Strategy 2012 pdf was after the undisputed documents were received by Gleick.
Here is what else we know:
All of the numbers mentioned in the Climate Strategy 2012 pdf were listed in the undisputed documents with the following exceptions:
The Charles G. Koch Foundation gave $25,000.00 in 2011 not $200,000.00 as stated. The figure $200,000.00 is listed as 2012 projected figure in the next column.
The statement the Heartland paid a team of writers $388,000.00 in 2011. The actual figure was $140,000.00; the extra $248,000.00 was listed for other expenses.
The Climate Strategy 2012 pdf mentioned about $90,000.00 is actually $88,000.00 but that is a minor difference and covered by the word "about".
None of the inflammatory statements were mentioned in the undisputed documents. These include:
"This influential audience has usually been reliably anti-climate and it is important to keep opposing voices out."
"Efforts might also include cultivating more neutral voices with big audiences (such as Revkin at DotEarth/NYTimes, who has a well-known antipathy for some of the more extreme AGW communicators such as Rornm, Trenberth, and Hansen) or Curry (who has become popular with our supporters)."
"His effort will focus on providing curriculum that shows that the topic of climate change is controversial and uncertain - two key points that are effective at dissuading teachers from teaching science."
There are several basic possibilities:
Scenario 1
The original document was taken by an unknown Heartland person who sent it to Peter Gleick. In an effort to confirm its accuracy, Gleick, against all odds, lied and got files from Heartland that confirmed all of the numbers published in the Climate Strategy 2012 pdf except for two exceptions where the author apparently lifted the number from the adjacent wrong column or row. The Heartland proof reader (if there was one) failed to find the flaws. Gleick, only having a paper copy of the Climate Strategy 2012 pdf file, scanned it after he got the Heartland documents, giving it a later date then when he received it and forwarded them to bloggers anonymously. He later came forward, after multiple people were pointing the finger at him, and in courageous fashion took credit for his involvement and explained that the Climate Strategy 2012 pdf had come in the mail prior to him lying.
Scenario 2
Gleick lied and got documents from Heartland that listed donors, expenses and projects. Disappointed that Heartland had revenues of only 4.6 million in 2011 and that "Big Oil" donated only a pittance of their funding, Gleick took these and forged the Climate Strategy 2012 pdf but made two errors while forging the document. Since he was committing fraud he didn't have a proof reader to check his work. He then scanned the forged Climate Strategy 2012 pdf file and forwarded them to bloggers anonymously. Knowing that the evidence was pointing at him, he later admitted that he was involved and lied again explaining that the Climate Strategy 2012 pdf had come in the mail prior to when he lied to Heartland hoping to minimize his crime.
Scenario 3
Heartland cooked up a brilliant scheme in desperation to discredit a major opponent of theirs. They created a document that mentioned him specifically to play on his ego and mailed it to him. Against all odds Gleick abandoned his ethics, took the bait, lied, and got documents from Heartland that listed donors, expenses and projects for 2012. These documents verified most of the facts in the Climate Strategy 2012 pdf except for some brilliantly hidden "mistakes". As soon as the Climate Strategy 2012 pdf was published the evil skeptics swarmed in and using the "mistakes" pointed them out as proof that the document was forged. Lucky for Hartland and their henchmen, Gleick had neglected to scan the Climate Strategy 2012 pdf hard copy until after he got a hold of the other Heartland documents and because of that we only have his good word that he got the Climate Strategy 2012 pdf prior to the other documents.
Now what’s more likely? An honest mistake by an admitted liar, a double lie by an admitted liar or a devious and brilliant plan that outsmarted a man hatched my a bunch of moronic clowns who don’t believe in man-made global warming?
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