The Weather Channel’s Heidi Cullen has found herself in a hailstorm of abuse after having had the impertinence to suggest that the science behind climate change is compelling and the deniers are politicizing the issue for their own purposes.

Cullen is a great deal more polite than we have ever been about the flagrant self interest of oil-soaked politicians (Senator James Inhofe), scientists for hire (Pat Michaels) and think tanks that Exxon used to pay (the Competitive Enterprise Institute) to lobby against government regulation. She is also an extremely impressive scientist in her own right.

The viciousness of the attack against her, however, seems to illuminate a cornered-rat reaction among Inhofe, his “pet weasel ” Marc Morano and others who are feeling their ill-earned public support on this issue wane away.

So, bravo Heidi, and stand your ground. We can all use a greater helping of the kind of evidence-based reportage that does not come attached to an oil-industry cheque or a matchbook-college meteorology diploma.