The Associated Press reports that the scientist who made polar bears the “poster [children] for the global warming movement” by claiming that they were drowning is under investigation:

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A federal wildlife biologist whose observation in 2004 of presumably drowned polar bears in the Arctic helped to galvanize the global warming movement has been placed on administrative leave and is being investigated for scientific misconduct, possibly over the veracity of that article.

Charles Monnett, an Anchorage-based scientist with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, or BOEMRE, was told July 18 that he was being put on leave, pending results of an investigation into “integrity issues.” But he has not yet been informed by the inspector general’s office of specific charges or questions related to the scientific integrity of his work, said Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

On Thursday, Ruch’s watchdog group plans to file a complaint with the agency on Monnett’s behalf, asserting that Obama administration officials have “actively persecuted” him in violation of policy intended to protect scientists from political interference.

Ah, there is that word “political” again. It is interesting how, when the science doesn’t do what the politics wants, the two are suddenly protected by a wall of separation. But when the science provides what the politics wants, it is evidence of a symbiotic call to action, and justification for billions of dollars in federal funding. Calls to Keep The Government Out Of Science are shockingly selective, bringing to mind the “irregular verbs” of which Bernard was so fond in the satirical TV show, Yes Minister: ”I have an independent mind; you are an eccentric; he is round the twist.”

Back in the real world — where “integrity issues” are less euphemistically known as “naked lying” — it is worth noting that even the Obama administration, hardly known for its climate realism, considers reports of the polar bear’s extinction to have been premature.