CLIMATEGATE RESEARCHER Dr. Phil Jones, late of the East Anglia CRU, tries to transfer the burden of proof to skeptics by attacking critics for “hijacking the peer-review process… Why don’t they do their own [temperature] reconstructions? If they want to criticise, they should write their own papers.”

Hey, Phil, you’re the one arguing in favor of global warming. The burden of proof is on you. Just because you believe there is a black cat locked in the windowless basement at midnight on a moonless night doesn’t mean I should have to prove it isn’t there.

Ed Morrissey agrees: “[B]ecause we’re not the people advancing extraordinary claims about man-made influence on global weather patterns.... This must be some new, previously unknown tenet of the Scientific Method, wherein people who point out errors, bias, bad process, and unsubstantiated claims from scientists are somehow required to disprove their unsupported hypotheses. It’s apparently no longer incumbent on Jones and his colleagues to substantiate their own conjectures with actual science,”

Instapundit recalls a similar case. Attacking the critics didn’t work then, either.

IF THE GOP cannot find some way to align itself with the Tea Party and its ethos, then it will be swept away.

I will hope the Republicans are smart enough to avoid self-immolation, but if the Tea Party rises from the ashes all will not be lost.

THE DALLAS TEA PARTY invites the White People of MSNBC to come to the protest.

Link via Instapundit.

Heh.

THE MOUNT VERNON STATEMENT: the conservative establishment’s call for action.

Instapundit senses a libertarian shift on the part of the right.

My own sense is that GOP success or failure in the 2010 and 2012 elections depends on how well the Republicans can blend Constitutional conservatism with Tea Party activism. I hope they succeed.

FUTURE FORMER DEMOCRAT STRATEGIST. Democratic political strategist Pat Caddell gets fired for “speaking truth to power”.

Caddell responds.

TEA PARTY ACTIVISTS craft 'Contract from America'. The idea is simple: use the internet, develop a 'Contract from America,' and have politicians – of whatever stripe - sign on. Signers get grass-roots Tea Party support; non-signers do not.

"You are going to be held accountable by us," said conservative activist Ryan Hecker, offering a preview of what Tea Party activists are going to tell congressional candidates later this year. "We have a plan - a proactive reform plan - for you to follow and not the other way around."

You can influence the Contract from America at its website here.

And Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit) has an interview with Hecker here (registration required).

OBAMAVILLE. Chris Muir named them, the New York Times reported them, and Don Surber has the video.

Hat tip to Instapundit for the reminder.