P.S. No problem executing this command with mysql command line client:
>> mysql -h
lsst-db1.ipac.caltech.edu -u qsmaster -P 4040 -D LSST --protocol tcp -e "/* mysql-connector-java-5.1.6 ( Revision: xxx ) */SHOW VARIABLES WHERE Variable_name ='language' OR Variable_name = 'net_write_timeout' OR Variable_name = 'interactive_timeout' OR Variable_name = 'wait_timeout' OR Variable_name = 'character_set_client' OR Variable_name = 'character_set_connection' OR Variable_name = 'character_set' OR Variable_name = 'character_set_server' OR Variable_name = 'tx_isolation' OR Variable_name = 'transaction_isolation' OR Variable_name = 'character_set_results' OR Variable_name = 'timezone' OR Variable_name = 'time_zone' OR Variable_name = 'system_time_zone' OR Variable_name = 'lower_case_table_names' OR Variable_name = 'max_allowed_packet' OR Variable_name = 'net_buffer_length' OR Variable_name = 'sql_mode' OR Variable_name = 'query_cache_type' OR Variable_name = 'query_cache_size' OR Variable_name = 'init_connect'"
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| Variable_name | Value |
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| character_set_client | latin1 |
| character_set_connection | latin1 |
| character_set_results | latin1 |
| character_set_server | latin1 |
| init_connect | |
| interactive_timeout | 28800 |
| language | /home/lsstadm/stack/Linux64/mysql/5.1.65/share/mysql/english/ |
| lower_case_table_names | 0 |
| max_allowed_packet | 1048576 |
| net_buffer_length | 16384 |
| net_write_timeout | 60 |
| query_cache_size | 0 |
| query_cache_type | ON |
| sql_mode | |
| system_time_zone | PST |
| time_zone | SYSTEM |
| tx_isolation | REPEATABLE-READ |
| wait_timeout | 28800 |
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+