A few suggestions for what to do today: halt the inquisition, look at some bras, and lift a glass for trains.

Cuccinelli’s Crusade

Ken Cuccinelli continues to use his weapons of politics and the law to fight against science that he doesn’t like. He has refiled his subpoena requesting that UVA provide emails and other documents from the records of climate scientist Michael Mann. UVA continues its principled rejection of this request, on the grounds that a university has an obligation to respect and protect the academic freedom of its researchers, shielding them from precisely the type of politically motivated agenda that Cuccinelli is pursuing.

Some facts about Torquemada, first Inquisitor General of Spain: He expelled the Jews from Spain; He burned a lot of people at the stake for professing heretical beliefs; he was not a friend of science.

Cuccinelli’s crusade against Mann is unscientific, unacademic and unseemly. Unless he were to actually don the robes of an inquisitor he could not possibly project a more absurd image of a man who has confused his own religio-social bias for a legitimate scientific objection. This has to stop. As Virginians and Americans we need to unite to tell Cuccinelli to put his crusade aside and allow scientists to work freely to pursue their research. The scientific process is designed to handle its own pursuit of the truth. There are scientists in the academic community who, disagreeing with Mann’s findings, will do their own research to oppose it. If the scientific community as a body finds that Mann’s conclusions about global warming are insupportable, his conclusions will be disproved and they will be rejected. But the claim that Mann’s conclusions are actually fraudulent, completely fabricated and unsubstantiated by scientific methods, has already been disproved.

So there is nothing left to this situation except an image of Ken Cuccinelli, crusader for the climate change deniers, using inappropriate weapons to keep fighting a battle he has already lost in the court of science. It’s a position, frankly, that all deniers of climate change now find themselves in, as all the major scientific bodies in the world have accepted the scientific consensus that man-made global warming is here, caused by increased concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses that have been added to the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels.

Where Cuccinelli is using subpoenas, other parties are using PR, advertising, and lobbying to try to discredit the science. Every coal and gas company in the country is spending millions of dollars to try to influence the debate, to make the science seem shaky and uncertain, or to make the scientists seem disreputable. They have a lot at stake, monetarily. But their efforts, like Cuccinelli’s, are short-sighted, and ultimately destructive. They are spending money to convince ordinary people that nothing is wrong with the product they are selling, when in fact, the science shows that we need to do all we can to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide we are pouring into the atmosphere. That means that in protecting their business they are paying to propagate lies that will hurt us all, and already have. This should make you angry.

Bid for Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding

An Ohio company called Cleveland Ship LLC has entered a bid to buy the entire shipbuilding operation of Northrop Grumman. The terms of the offer have not been disclosed. No one knows much about this smallish company. Stay tuned on this one–I’m assuming we’ll learn more over the coming weeks. Of course, the fate of this facility matters to our region. The shipyard employs nearly 20,000 workers in Newport News, making it the largest industrial employer in the state.

Bra-ha-ha

As a fundraiser for the Chesapeake Regional Medical Center’s mammogram program, artists design and auction off fun bras for charity. The bras are on display at MacArthur Center until October 16. I’m gonna go check them out at lunch today. AltDaily’s own Asha Baisden has an entry, I believe…

An upgrade for NOAA and for HRT

The NOAA facility in Freemason, called The Marine Operational Center-Atlantic is the just off the Brambleton Avenue Bridge. It has been the home to as many as eight government research ships, but currently hosts only one, the Thomas Jefferson. The center has just been awarded nearly $5 million in federal stimulus funds to upgrade the facility, including the bulkhead and the pier. The work will be done by American Bridge Company, a group with offices in Norfolk.

The government also pledged $8.5 million to HRT to assist with construction of a new $13 milllion headquarters building. Nice to see some of this stimulus money landing in our area, where it will create construction jobs and improve our infrastructure. Seems like a good use of the stimulus to me.

The things people will do for money

Patricia Ann Curry of Virginia Beach was arrested for the crime of intentionally trying to spread HIV, after she offered to have sex for $20 with a pair of undercover cops in 2009 even though she knew she was carrying the disease. The judge, however, recognized that she wasn’t looking to spread AIDS so much as she just wanted to buy some more crack, and so let Curry off with the relatively light sentence of one year. “The court, in its concern,” said the judge, “can’t do much of anything but keep you off the street for now.” There is nothing good about that story.

Similarly, there’s not much good about the two guys from Chesapeake who pleaded guilty to insurance fraud, after they used false representations to open millions of dollars of life insurance policies on their aging relatives. They collected more than $3.5 million on two of those relatives when they died, and then the whole scheme was exposed. These guys are going to do some time. But at least they were aiming higher than $20.

Exhibit at the Chrysler

I’m just full of recommendations today. After you finish repudiating Cuccinelli’s pogrom and viewing the bras at the mall, I suggest you visit the Chrysler Museum. The Pilot features a photo of a painting by William Howell Frith that depicts a scene in a Victorian London train station. I’m inspired to go take a look at this painting for a few reasons. First, it’s full of interesting characters in novel clothing. Second, it’s in a train station. Train stations at the height of the “Age of Rail” are magnificent temples of commerce, soaring architectural tributes to the power of rails to promote trade, move people, and unite countries. I’m taking this as a kind of inspiration for my final recommendation of the day, below.

Get on the Train

It’s been called “One of the greatest challenges of our generation.” Today, Tuesday, October 5, State rail officials will describe plans for high speed and passenger rail service in Virginia and for Hampton Roads. The event takes place tonight at the Half Moone Cruise Ship terminal in Norfolk at 6 pm, where there will be a public informational meeting about getting trains to our region.

People are excited about high-speed rail (and rightly so!). So excited, in fact, that there’s going to be a pre-event party at Granby Theater at 4:45 where you can find out more about the message, get a drink or two, and pick up your “Get on Board” t-shirts and signs before we march over to the terminal.

So, that’s my final recommendation–go raise a glass to the promise of a new “Age of Rail” and its potential to unite Hampton Roads with the greater region, reduce traffic congestion, and maybe even bring back some majestic public architecture. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a new, soaring Norfolk Central Station, where you could park your bike and hop on the train to Richmond and beyond? Oh yes, it would.