Carla and Les AuCoin have Vulcan Mind Meld

Okay we didn't...but we're definitely on the same page:

At last week's oversight hearing on forest science in Medford, Daniel Donato, a graduate student at Oregon State University's School of Forestry, was taught a harsh lesson in political science: In today's climate, if a scientist follows his findings to wherever they lead, he risks sticking his neck into a congressional noose.

Heh. Not bad, Les. Maybe TJ and I should consider asking you to guest blog for us.

After all, you did pick up on some stuff I missed:

Although Donato's findings are far from the last word on logging charred forests, they were peer-reviewed and published by the editors of Science magazine, one of the nation's premier scientific journals.

On the other hand, the spiritual sire of the Walden-Baird bill is a 2002 report by John Sessions, a professor at the OSU School of Forestry. Sessions' report contended that up to 2.5 billion board feet of timber could be commercially harvested in the area of the 2002 Biscuit fire in Southwestern Oregon -- in contrast to a 278 million board-foot cut that same year in Oregon and Washington combined -- with salutary effects on the Siskiyou National Forest. The Bush administration seized on those findings to propose one of the largest timber cuts in history.

I wonder if Mike Dubrasich knows that the guy whose research he's ass kissing isn't a forester??? After all, Dubrasich says that nobody but foresters know how to conduct forest research.

Loser.

The dithering crap about Donato's research not having scientific cred is is garbage. Especially in light of the fact that Sessions' research hasn't undergone near the same rigorous review as Donato's.

This is about the money and where it leads. Not about good science inquiry.