In Spain, The Dead Help Fight Climate Change : [Yet another stupid story from] NPR

All Things Considered, July 4, 2009 · In the Barcelona suburb of Santa Coloma de Gramenet, the deceased are fighting climate change. Last November, the town's cemetery installed more than 450 solar panels on tops of the mausoleums, called niches.

Glen Meakem: Junk this 'science' - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

The most recent scientific work on climate indicates that solar activity beyond human control is and has always been a key driver of Earth's climate; 700 scientists now publicly support this view. Recognizing the new facts, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are all taking steps to stop their efforts to reduce CO2 emissions.

It is time for President Obama and other Democrat leaders to be true to their words and put science ahead of ideology. The stakes are just too high to do otherwise. The "cap-and-trade" bill would cause severe damage to the American economy, hurting average American families.

Severe economic pain for no environmental gain makes no sense. Obama should draw inspiration from Galileo and Bacon and muster the personal courage to end the ideology-motivated nonsense.

E. THOMAS McCLANAHAN: Kill cap and trade before it kills growth - Kansas City Star

Democrats say the cap-and-trade bill passed by the House last week will accelerate the transition to an energy-efficient economy. Loads of new “green” jobs will be created in the process.

President Barack Obama says this will be a “driver of economic growth.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi boiled it down even more: “Remember these four words for what this legislation means: jobs, jobs, jobs and jobs. Let’s vote for jobs.”

We pause now for a tactful silence. No need to jeer. The argument is silly on its face, although one might reasonably wonder how anyone could seriously believe this bilge.

What’s more interesting is the change in approach. Up to now, the usual rationale for a carbon cap is that, yes, it would involve economic pain, but we have to understand that the short-term costs would be far less than the dire, long-term consequences of doing nothing about global warming.

Now we’re told there won’t be any economic pain at all. Obviously, the two arguments are contradictory. In fact, Obama’s latest tack is refuted by statements he made earlier this year, when he remarked that under his cap-and-trade plan, “electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.”

Matthew Yglesias » Ecological Implications of Your BBQ

If you’re looking to ruin your 4th of July fun, look no further that this helpful video from Grist about ecologically sound grilling...

[Alleged] Alarm [allegedly] grows over [allegedly] big [alleged] melt in Antarctica - Environment - NZ Herald News

Antarctica is shrinking more quickly than expected and the pace is increasing, a conference has been told.

Professor Peter Barrett of Victoria University's Antarctic Research Centre summarised the latest findings at the Annual Antarctic Conference.

Recent satellite pictures showed the frozen continent was calving glaciers from its edges at a rate adding up to about 0.4mm of sea-level rise a year.

How much to mention “climate”? | Herald Sun Andrew Bolt Blog

Stick “climate” in your application for government grants and watch the money flow! Grant after grant after grant, and by the millions!

Sheep getting smaller in Scotland due to climate change, study says - Los Angeles Times

Now, using a sophisticated mathematical model, British and American researchers have concluded that warming temperatures have made it easier for scrawnier sheep to survive, thus reducing the average size of animals in the herd.
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That influence appears to have played out in a surprisingly intricate and counterintuitive manner, said UC San Diego biologist Kaustuv Roy, who wasn't involved in the study. For example, milder winters have helped the overall herd grow larger even as the average size of animals got smaller.

Twitter / Nate Mandle

...4th of July in Illinois now requires blankets and sweatshirts. Gotta love global warming.

Al Gore / AIT Index, Vol. 14

For the record, this month’s Al Gore / AIT Index indicates that global temperatures have plunged approximately .74°F (.39°C) since An Inconvenient Truth was released.

[Idiotic] book industry is flourishing - JSOnline

The festival in April named "The Carbon Diaries: 2015," a novel by Saci Lloyd its grand-prize winner, citing "its vivid portrayal of a world that may become the new normal in short order" and its "page-turning way of making the reality of the environment's possible future understandable to the average reader."

This warning tale about global warming tells the story of 16-year-old Laura Brown, a punk rocker in London, who writes about the year 2015 in diary form. She tells of huge storms that have brought massive climate changes and forced Britain to become the first country to ration carbon. Each British citizen is allowed a very small number of carbon points to be used each month. Of course, the novel ends with no clear resolution - but it should raise the attention level of many readers.

RealClearPolitics - This is How Congress Works

After years of effort, he led the House to finally pass climate change legislation, the 1,400-page "cap and trade" bill. I won't explain it to you because I can't. Only Waxman of California, and maybe his co-sponsor, Edward Markey of Massachusetts, know everything that's in there. If it passes the Senate, it will change the way we live and what we burn to keep on living.

YouTube - Rep. Waxman on his own bill: "I don't know the details. I rely on the scientists."

A Garden of Piggish Delights by Stephen Spruiell & Kevin Williamson on National Review Online

Waxman-Markey is part power-grab, part enviro-fantasy. Here are 50 reasons to stop it.

[Waxman-Markey:] Bad Legislation | Climate Skeptic

I found this bit from Bruce McQuain similar in spirit to the rest of the bill, but hugely ironic...

Sarah Palin--Why?, Craig Campbell picked for Lt. Gov.

In the mean time, she leaves the State of Alaska in the lurch to a degree, but how much will depend upon Lt. Governor Sean Parnell, soon to be Governor Parnell. Parnell is a former legislator who was fairly conservative during his tenure in the legislature. What will be interesting is what he will continue and what he will leave intact of Palin’s cabinet and structure.

My hope is that he will get rid of the Climate Change Sub-Cabinet, a do nothing, money absorbing placebo for the global warming crowd. Poor science paid for by the State.

[Still more stupidity from] THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN - Can I Clean Your Clock? - NYTimes.com

Over the past decade, whenever I went to China and engaged Chinese on their pollution and energy problems, inevitably some young Chinese would say: “Hey, you Americans got to grow dirty for 150 years, using cheap coal and oil. Now it is our turn.”

It’s a hard argument to refute. Eventually, I decided that the only way to respond was with some variation of the following: “You’re right. It’s your turn. Grow as dirty as you want. Take your time. Because I think America just needs five years to invent all the clean-power technologies you Chinese are going to need as you choke to death on pollution. Then we’re going to come over here and sell them all to you, and we are going to clean your clock — how do you say ‘clean your clock’ in Chinese? — in the next great global industry: clean power technologies. So if you all want to give us a five-year lead, that would be great. I’d prefer 10. So take your time. Grow as dirty as you want.”

America, the not-so-beautiful

...The other is the "cap and trade" legislation. At a time when it has become all but obvious that the "global warming" scare was an imposture, the U.S. government is going to war against carbon fuels, through a program that can only kill jobs, both directly and through outsourcing of American economic activity to places with lower environmental standards; while igniting protectionist trade wars over the latter.

The scheme will cause gas and electricity prices to skyrocket -- to the immediate benefit of the big private energy conglomerates (thus setting them up for further demonization, and the next round of nationalization). By triggering a massive inflation of energy prices, it will do most harm to those on fixed incomes -- to the poor and the elderly most of all. Like all such gargantuan schemes, it will create a circus of fraud and corruption. And yet, at the end of the day, it will have no significant impact on the environment.

Lord Lawson: The Tories need to find the bottle to cut public spending - City AM

Clearly irritated by the line of questioning, Lawson cuts the interview short and goes to find the BBC’s John Humphrys, who is hosting the event, to complain about the fact he wasn’t invited on to the Today programme to discuss his sceptical book on climate change. Having given the presenter a rare dressing down, he goes to meet his car. At least he doesn’t have to get the tube.

Amazon.com: An Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warming: Nigel Lawson: Books

Former British energy secretary and chancellor of the exchequer Lawson succinctly lambastes global warming hysteria in this slim book. To Lawson, save the planet is the most ludicrous slogan ever coined; Al Gore's tendentious documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, is a fanciful cherry-picking of phenomena illustrating a predetermined alarmist narrative; and the new religion of environmentalism contains a grain of truth—and a mountain of nonsense.

India’s Position on Climate Change issues

Firstly, Climate Change is taking place not due to current level of GHG emissions, but as a result of the cumulative impact of accumulated GHGs in the planetary atmosphere. Current emissions are, of course, adding to the problem incrementally. Even if current emissions were, by some miracle, reduced to zero tomorrow, Climate Change will continue to take place. The accumulated stock of GHGs in the atmosphere is mainly the result of carbon-based industrial activity in developed countries over the past two centuries and more. It is for this reason that the UNFCCC stipulates deep and significant cuts in the emissions of the industrialized countries as fulfillment of their historic responsibility.
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* In order,Earth's most abundant greenhouse gases are water vapor,carbondioxide,methane, nitrous oxide , ozone and CFCs. When these gases are ranked by their contribution to the greenhouse effect, the most important are water vapor, which contributes 36–72%, carbon dioxide, which contributes 9–26% , methane, which contributes 4–9% and ozone, which contributes 3–7% .

South Bend Tribune: Cooler June not affecting business

But barring the heat wave the week of June 22, the month of June was unseasonably cool. According to the National Weather Service of Northern Indiana, the average high temperature for the month of June was 78.5 degrees in South Bend, just over a full degree below normal. Temperatures for this week were well below normal.
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The three-month forecast for July, August and September from the National Weather Service shows equal chances that temperatures will be equal to, below or above normal. That does not mean temperatures are expected to average out around normal, but rather there is nothing indicating what will happen.

JunkScience.com -- Steven Milloy, Publisher

The wannabe rulers of the world and rationers of our energy supply can see their opportunity slipping away with the world's obstinate failure to overheat and the sun's continued quiescence. Countdown timers such as the above are beginning to proliferate (you can get the html code for this one and variants here). Their purpose is of course to pressure lawmakers and politicians into rash and panicked action against the mythical beast. Ours is a little different. We think Copenhagen is where the Kyoto farce will finally crash and burn and with it the political issue of gorebull warming.

We look on our version as a clock ticking away the life of one of the most absurd scares in human history.

A Nation’s Fatal Ingratitude

6,000 Indian soldiers fight in the minus 50 degree bitter cold of the Siachen Glacier. A callous Ministry of Defence is now giving them flimsy gear that’s fit only for minus 10 degrees, finds NEHA DIXIT

[Europe: Carbon rip-offset trading slumps] | Green Business | Reuters

According to data published by the European Climate Exchange on Wednesday, Europe-wide exchange-traded volumes dropped by 12 percent in June to 489.6 million metric tons.

Cap-and-trade madness heads to Senate

San Diego- First Washington spent a trillion dollars on stimulus without a thorough-reading by Senators or Congressmen; up next cap-and-trade legislation, the largest tax increase in American history.

“There was no reading allowed,” Congressman Brian Bilbray-R-Calif angrily said. “In January there was a mandatory 48-hour read-through process, that didn’t last a month.”

Newly minted President Obama promised a new era of transparency for the American people tired of Washington as usual, what they got according to Bilbray “is the most clandestine government since I’ve been there.”

The topic du jour was referred as tax-and-trade by the Congressman and the legislation is being jammed through by Henry Waxman who has never even run a business or city. “This bill is based on pure politics,” Bilbray said.

“I don’t know how anyone can look at their grandkids and say I was a part of the absurd subsidization of ethanol bio fuel?”

More barking madness from alarmist Bryan Walsh at Time

Bryan Walsh: The Incredible Shrinking Sheep of Scotland - TIME

That doesn't mean that animals will adapt and thrive in a warmer world. Far from it — by some estimates, rapid climate change could drive as many as one-third of the species on the planet out of existence by mid-century. Though warmer winters in blustery Scotland might sound nice — especially if you're a sheep on the small side — the changes due to global warming are likely to be far from positive in most parts of the world. Evolution will help species adapt, but there's a term for what happens when the pace of evolution can't match the pace of climate change: extinction.

Conrad Black, National Post - Tired lefties on parade

...That over-indulged industry will have to do better than that to deal with the rising tide of doubts about human-caused global warming. Australia and New Zealand have rescinded their carbon-emission legislation. The Polish Academy of Sciences has renounced its previous faith in the Al Gore/ UN conventional wisdom about climate change. Hundreds of scientists have apostacized, including Nobel Prize winner (Physics) Ivar Giaever; the world's first female PhD in meteorology, Dr. Joanne Simpson; and the Japanese environmental chemist Dr. Kimimori Itoh, who participated in the UN climate reports of recent years, but now regards the theory of man-made climate warming as "the worst scientific scandal in history"

The Earth's temperatures generally have not changed in the last eight years; and the polar ice cap, rising oceans, and the health and weather horror stories that have been used to frighten the world into harebrained self-inflicted economic wounds and nostrums have been scientifically debunked. (This includes the aptly named Obama/Pelosi Cap and Trade Bill; if passed into U. S. law in its present form, it will earn its authors dunce caps, and trade economic growth for the national poor house.)

The fact is that the world has almost been railroaded by scammers like Al Gore, he who inflicted famine on millions with his nonsense about the potential of corn as a fuel, which priced it as food beyond the reach of much of the developing world.

Chris Selley's Full Pundit: Delusion is bliss - Full Comment

We’re pleased to see the Ottawa Citizen’s Susan Riley at least concede that President Obama’s bold climate change initiatives might come to naught. Too many of her fellow global warming alarmists—Jeffrey Simpson, come on down—are willing to take other countries’ goals as faits accomplis when they denounce Canada’s obviously poor climate change record. However, having made that concession, it becomes rather more difficult for Riley to argue with certainty that in 25 years Canada will still be a filthy oil-based economy while America’s will run purely on the wind, the sun and the tides. The Globe’s John Ibbitson helpfully explains the political reasons why Obama’s climate change legislation may be defeated in the Senate, or vastly watered down and hugely delayed to avoid such a fate.

Supreme Court Grows Less Receptive to Environmental Cases - NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court heard five environmental law cases in the term that ended Monday, and environmental groups lost every time. It was, said Richard J. Lazarus, a director of the Supreme Court Institute at Georgetown University Law Center, “the worst term ever” for environmental interests.

Daily Kos: The flaw in the global warming argument

The problem is the strategy. The atmospheric heating problem ("global warming" is a misnomer and the first sign that the argument is not straight) is being put forward as a threat to enforce behavior that should be promoted on its own.
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Conservatives, you see, are authoritarians who think it's their right to give orders and to expect them to be carried out by whoever's subordinate to them. The progressive recognizes that all men have an equal right not to do what someone else wants and to be compensated when he does.

[More global warming alarmists unclear on the concept] - Scotsman.com News

The 37-year-old, who was in the Special Boat Service and has a PhD in astrophysics, and his travelling companion, explorer Craig Matheson from Bo'ness, will paddle 500km around the coast of the country trying to avoid gigantic icebergs and polar bears.

They hope to kayak between 25 and 40km a day through potentially treacherous waters during a three-week trip to highlight the impact of global warming.

The coast around Greenland is dotted with 200ft icebergs that can break up at any time, causing 60ft waves riddled with shards of ice that could prove deadly if the duo's 18ft kayak is in the way.

They will have a shotgun to fend off polar bears, but will only use it as a last resort if banging their pots and pans doesn't scare them off.

"We will be paddling most of the day and we have been preparing in rescue skills on the Forth," said Richard, who has 15-month-old twins. "It is daylight 24 hours a day, but the water is freezing and hypothermia would set in in minutes if one of us fell in. We have high-load kayaks that will carry the five laptops, our tents and equipment and three weeks' worth of food rationing."

They might be treading water in Auckland, but they will be eating popcorn at Machu Picchu. « The Constitution Club

Your messenger wonders if the AGW movement, headed up by wealthy white fat-cats like Al Gore, is just another attempt by “the man” to keep the little brown people down…

CME Revs Up for Surge in Carbon Credit Trading - Carbon [Rip-]Offsets Daily

As the Senate debates the American Clean Energy and Security Act recently passed in the House that attempts to create a cap-and-trade scheme for carbon emissions in the U.S. similar to Europe’s, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange has been ramping up its efforts to prepare for an expected surge in carbon credit trading.
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The CME Group and several partners — Evolution Markets, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch, Tudor Investment, Constellation Energy, Vitol, RNK Capital, ICAP, and TFS Energy — are building a Green Exchange that currently awaits CFTC approval. Upon approval, this exchange would trade all the environmental products the CME currently trades, including carbon emission reduction futures contracts and sulfur dioxide futures and options.

Cap-and-trade bill: Blood and Gore - Paul Mulshine

If my e-mail is any indication, every conservative in New Jersey is angry with the three Republican congressman from our state whose votes last week helped provide the winning margin for that cap-and-trade bill.

With good reason. It's an awful bill. And I'll give you two reasons: Blood and Gore.

No, I'm not talking about a horror movie, but there is a link to the cinema. Around the time Al Gore was putting together that movie about the horrors of global warming titled "An Inconvenient Truth," he was also putting together a firm with a former Goldman-Sachs executive named David Blood. The firm, Generation Investment Management, recently bought a share of a company called Camco International Ltd., which trades in carbon credits.
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Marron's biggest objection to the current bill is the way in which the tax is hidden. The market value of the carbon credits that would be created would be close to a trillion dollars. Yet the government is planning to give most of those credits away. This raises the same question in my mind that it probably raises in yours: Why can't I have some?

Because you and I don't have lobbyists, says Marron.

Does American alarmist Peter Gleick not have Internet access?

On the climate debate in Australia: Peter Gleick's seriously misinformed view

There is also no serious disagreement about climate change. Australians largely accept the science and have moved on to the real discussion: what needs to be done to prepare to adapt to unavoidable impacts on water systems.

The view from Australia

[Flannery] ...You come back to Australia and it's like going back to the Precambrian period. It's like stepping way, way back, because here, industry is still disputing the facts of the science, and that's highly corrosive.

TONY JONES: It's not only industry, it's certain key politicians. Senator Steve Fielding had a very important potential vote in the Senate, is now being described by the 'Wall Street Journal' as something like a prophet, which is quite unusual to see, and beyond that, there's a view that Australia is emerging as a sort of epicentre of the new scientific scepticism.

TIM FLANNERY: Australia's climate dinosaurs are a lot bigger and uglier than the climate dinosaurs elsewhere, that's for sure. And it is depressing, because it's just so counter-productive. And, you know, the amount of time industry will waste disputing the science and not getting on with the job of adjusting to the future and a new energy economy in this country is just dismaying.

Skeptic's Corner: The People behind the people behind the story

These are some of the companies and peoples behind the people behind the story on a world wide media outlet reporting why carbon dioxide is so bad and needs to be regulated as a pollutant, instead of a vital trace gas necessary for life on earth.

It is sure nice to know that those evil fossil fuel industries are being hunted down and exposed for their influence on policy. Obviously the venture capital firms through their proxies and gullible, uh activist college student reporters writing stories for Reuters are doing it to save the planet. Nice also to see that Reuters is willing to turn journalistic standards into trash, joining climate science community as despicable peddlers of deceit for a few silver coins.

The Money Minute Weekly™: Climate Change Hustle

Our Twitter dialog (i.e. debate) prompts us, on the cusp of broad reaching cap-n-trade legislation, to address the issue of so-called "climate change," but far from what the mainstream media reports, it's not a forgone conclusion, there are two sides to this debate. This is not over, in fact it is only beginning. And personally speaking, our staff have transformed into climate change skeptics. Only now is it coming out even those within the EPA are having their reports buried by their respective organizations, that is to say the environment may actually be cooling.

Green scrooges wanted | Herald Sun Andrew Bolt Blog

Green believer Adele Horin:

Given climate change, and the social and environmental costs of Western-style consumption, surely the world needs more cheapskates.

Obama hopes to push through G8 climate [swindle] deal

By Patrick Wintour in London, and Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington

Barack Obama is hoping to restore momentum to the search for a global deal on climate change this year when he chairs a meeting of the major economies next week during the G8 summit in Italy.

The American president is hoping that the 17-nation meeting - which will include G8 members and a range of other major economies who produce roughly 80 per cent of world carbon emissions - will sign up to a pledge to prevent world temperatures increasing by more than 2C, the maximum thought permissible before climate change becomes irreversible.

It is the first time that Obama has backed the pledge. He will also travel to Moscow ahead of the G8 to try to bind Russia to a global climate change deal.

Cap and Trade Legislation Boondoggle. « Hoosier Army Mom’s Weblog

Let me start with Andrew Clavan’s brilliant explanation on YouTube (shamefully stolen from Social Sense) for the Far Left Wing response to the other side of the “Man made Global Warming Hoax” or any other “spend and borrow from our enemies” scheme. It is basically “Shut Up”!

Green nonsense

To combat a problem which probably doesn't exist, the House narrowly passed last week a bill to restrict emissions of carbon dioxide (to 83 percent of 2005 levels by 2020 and to 17 percent by 2050).

If the Waxman-Markey bill, named after its Democratic sponsors, Rep. Henry Waxman of California and Edward Markey of Massachusetts, were to work exactly as its sponsors claim, global temperatures 100 years from now are projected to be one tenth of a degree Celsius cooler than they otherwise would have been.

We'd pay a lot for that tenth of a degree, though how much is in dispute. Cost estimates range from about $100 per family when the bill would go into effect in 2012 to $3,900 per family.
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Despite Mr. Obama's honeyed assurances, Americans are suspicious. In a Rasmussen poll released Tuesday, 42 percent of respondents said Waxman-Markey would hurt the economy, compared to just 19 percent who thought it would help (15 percent said it would make no difference; 24 percent were undecided).
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Jack Kelly is a columnist for The Blade and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

There is No Evidence by Dr. David Evans | Climate Realists

A single mistake in any one of these can invalidate the climate models. Typical engineering models that mimic reality closely contain no untested assumptions, material omissions, guesses, or gross approximations. They are the result of mature understanding of the reality being modelled, and have been tested ad nauseum in a wide range of circumstances. On the other hand, climate science is in its infancy, individual models routinely fail most tests, the climate models are riddled with untested assumptions and guesses, they approximate the atmosphere with cells a hundred kilometres square and hundreds of meters high, and they do not even attempt to model individual cloud formations or any feature smaller than the cell size. Don’t let the word “model” fool you into thinking climate models are better than they are.

Manchester Report: [Should we "invest" the public's savings in a massive swindle?] | Environment | guardian.co.uk

The British public could invest their savings in the UK's renewable energy revolution and reap the financial rewards of helping to save the planet, under ambitious plans to be discussed this weekend.

The Public Interest Research Centre, a thinktank based in Wales, says the government could sell "energy bonds" to pay for the required investment. The scheme would be similar to war bonds, which galvanised financial support in Britain during the second world war.
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Tim Helweg-Larsen, director of the Public Interest Research Centre, said: "To finance renewable energy on the scale required, Britain is going to need hundreds of billions of pounds. Energy bonds are a way to unlock large amounts of money from individuals and institutional investors."

He added: "Make no mistake, this is an incredibly expensive project, but it also has very good rates of return on investments. We should be creating the opportunity for the people of Britain to invest in their own future and a secure climate."

[Brainwashed] Pupils put climate change [fraud] at heart of their lessons

SCHOOLS from across the region celebrated their climate change achievements yesterday.

Last year, 80 North East schools signed up to a pioneering scheme to put climate change at the heart of classroom learning.

The region’s Climate Change Lead Schools Network, the first of its kind in the UK, was launched at the Science Learning Centre North East, which is part of Durham University.

Yesterday, at the centre, the schools staged a Celebration Day to showcase how they have brought climate change and green issues to life for both pupils and their communities.

They are paving the way for what is hoped will become a national programme of positive climate change education and action, led by the North East.

Over 30 young people gave presentations yesterday, highlighting their projects which have ranged from global warming musicals, making ice cores and organising community eco-walks to energy audits which have saved schools thousands of pounds.

Wait a minute--In a program about The Most Important Issue of All Time involving 80 schools, with 30+ kids giving presentations and with speeches by dignitaries, why did only "more than 100" people show up?!

YOUNGSTERS from across the region have been honoured for their green campaigning.

More than 100 people attended a celebration day for the North- East’s Climate Change Lead Schools – a network of 80 schools that are focused on environmental issues in lessons and their communities.
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The day also featured speeches from a number of dignitaries.

Are climate-change deniers guilty of treason? | csmonitor.com

Of course, it’s only a small fraction of environmentalists who have openly called for jail time – or worse – for climate-change deniers. After all, the environmental movement has benefited tremendously from laws that protect freedom of expression. Far more importantly, refraining from “hanging” people for what they say – even if you believe that what they say amounts to a destructive campaign of disinformation – is a hallmark of civilized society.

Ed Dornlas: Climate change bill unreasonable - Las Vegas Sun

Taxing our energy production gives a competitive advantage to nations smart enough not to commit economic suicide by taxing their energy to please the United Nations. Their advantage will cost our nation jobs at the same time new energy taxes hit our standard of living.

Why, in the middle of a recession, would our county put itself at a competitive disadvantage internationally and burden itself with complex regulations and new energy taxes for a negligible benefit? The only answer can be that it must be a matter of religion because it can’t be reason.

Letter - On Climate Change, Young [Useful Idiots] Do Play Hardball - NYTimes.com

“Just Do It,” by Thomas L. Friedman (column, July 1), calls on youth to play hardball for our climate’s future: we are. Our challenge isn’t action: we’ve protested, lobbied, gotten arrested and more.

It isn’t numbers: Energy Action Coalition, leading the youth climate movement, has over 350,000 active members. It’s money: Energy Action is now laying off staff.

Youth organizing could change the political dynamic (hint: we know what Twitter is), but not until foundations look beyond the traditional environmental groups and support our work.

Jamie Henn
Berkeley, Calif., July 1, 2009

Jamie Henn is the co-coordinator of 350.org, an international youth climate campaign.

Newsmax.com - S. Fred Singer: Global Warming Claims a Lot of Hype

Lawmakers who described the alleged effects of global warming are spreading a lot of "eye wash," a top climate scientist says.

In an exclusive interview with Newsmax, S. Fred Singer, a renowned climatologist and professor of environmental sciences emeritus at the University of Virginia, discussed the background behind the recent open letter to Congress he and six other scientists sent to members of the House and Senate.

[Miss Guyana beauty pageant contestants believe in climate fraud] - "Intelligence" segment

President Bharrat Jagdeo would have been proud — we hope he watched the live show — as many of the contestants were touting his low carbon development strategy. It did not sound as if any of them had really read the strategy or even part of it — we haven’t either — but they agreed that Guyana should be paid to protect our forests. Climate change, global warning and low carbon, the president’s favourite terms, were the words of the night for some of the contestants.

Why climate change deniers love to hear they are committing treason | [Alarmist] Leo Hickman | Environment | guardian.co.uk

The deniers love this sort of attack, of course. It steels them to hear accusations that they are committing "thought crimes", or "treason" no less. They love to see themselves as brave, "truth"-wielding Galileos standing up against a wave of pseudo-scientific indoctrination. They trot out the predictable comparisons to the Salem witch trials and McCarthyism. It all helps to feed into their grand conspiracy theory that climate change is, indeed, a big lefty hoax dreamt up solely to squeeze more taxes out of us all.

You can't help conclude that we're heading for one hell of a day of reckoning with all this. Someone's going to lose spectacularly big in this particular culture war. I certainly know where my money is, but the sad thing is the bragging rights will be irrelevant given the reality of what will be going on outside our windows. If only it were true that all that was at stake was a debating society trophy.

FROM OUR READERS: Energy tax - Opinion - ReviewJournal.com

As citizens of this nation, we should all maintain adequate knowledge of what transpires within our government. In these difficult days, people should have focused their attention on the massive energy bill that was pushed through the House of Representatives in an absurdly rushed manner last month.

The president, leaders of his administration, the speaker and Democratic senators joined in a concerted high pressured effort to induce representatives to vote for this bill, which none of them had an opportunity to even read. Of course, citizens also had no access to the bill before it was jammed through this House.

The reason for this massive energy bill was allegedly to save the planet Earth from global warming due to man-made CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use. The Democratic Party religion! But why the insane rush? I think now we know. It appears this was all a fraud.
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Government control of all energy and use? Just business as usual by the most corrupt government ever seen in this country.

JOHN TOBIN
LAS VEGAS

Temple board milk cows to please rain gods : 04th jul09 ~ E-Pao! Headlines

Imphal, July 03 2009: Exactly one week after Manipur's King Leishemba Sanajaoba's rain invoking prayers to the Almighty, a group of devotees prayed for rains and milked the cows at the historic Shri Shri Govindajee Temple complex as per Manipuri faith to invoke the rain gods today.

Ruling MLA Elangbam Kunjeshwar, who is also Vice-Chairperson of Shri Shri Govindajee Temple Board Manipur, led today's rain invoking prayers cum milking of cows in the morning.

He told this reporter, "We perform this as per our belief in view of the drought like situation".

Since time immemorial, the traditional ritual of prayers to call rain used to be held under different nomenclatures from time to time.
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Though the State authority claimed to have earmarked Rs 4.41 crore to tackle a possible drought, opposition firebrand O Joy of Manipur People's Party on the first day of ongoing state assembly session blasted the ruling Ibobi ministry for failure to include the burning global warming issue in the Governor's address which was discussed today.

"I'm not criticizing the government, but suggesting to do something for the global warming, "he said.

Breaking: Another moonwalker is a climate realist

Buzz Aldrin [the second person to walk on the moon] calls for manned flight to Mars to overcome global problems - Telegraph

But while trying to spread the word about the possibilities of space, Dr Aldrin said he was sceptical of climate change theories.

"I think the climate has been changing for billions of years," he said.

"If it's warming now, it may cool off later. I'm not in favour of just taking short-term isolated situations and depleting our resources to keep our climate just the way it is today.

"I'm not necessarily of the school that we are causing it all, I think the world is causing it."

Feb '09: Former astronaut speaks out on global warming - BostonHerald.com

SANTA FE, N.M. - Former astronaut Harrison Schmitt, who walked on the moon and once served New Mexico in the U.S. Senate, doesn’t believe that humans are causing global warming.

"I don’t think the human effect is significant compared to the natural effect," said Schmitt, who is among 70 skeptics scheduled to speak next month at the International Conference on Climate Change in New York.

Inconvenient quotes by Al Gore

Former Vice President Gore has claimed that scientists skeptical of climate change are akin to “flat Earth society members” and similar in number to those who “believe the moon landing was actually staged in a movie lot in Arizona.” (LINK) & (LINK)

Carbon scandal linked to nephew of Papua New Guinea's PM | PNG

A nephew of Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Michael Somare has been accused of pressuring remote villagers to sign away their land for carbon deals despite there being no carbon trade laws in place.
...
Pacific Carbon's Eric Komang, the prime minister's nephew, has been promoting a five-page Memorandum of Agreement that includes a breakdown of revenue where landowners receive 48 per cent royalties.

A councillor from the area said Pacific Carbon operators last week were urging landowners to sign the contracts.

``They approach the councillors and tell them to tell their people to sign,'' he told AAP.

``Basically the forms are to sign land rights away to do carbon trading,'' he said.

``But the thing is you speak to landowners and they think they're setting up a deal to suck oxygen from the trees to create a big tank in the west,'' he said.

Playing with Jello and deducing climate change

The warmest era — when oak forests covered the lowland of Sweden — was what we geologists call "the Optimum," the balmy times of about 6,000 to 8,000 years ago. That era was much warmer than today.

Some of the great shifts in climate were global in scope, some were only regional. And just to give us all nightmares, some of the biggest shifts in temperature occurred in just 20 years or so — well within a single human lifetime.

Studying past climates demands strength in the field, patience in the lab, strong eyes for microscope work — and plenty of courage, too. The simple but brutal fact is that major and minor climate change is woven into the fabric of the Earth itself.

Obama assured of a chilly Russian welcome despite first signs of thaw - Scotsman.com News

A recent poll by Russia's Levada Centre found only 23 per cent of citizens believe the US president will "do the right thing in world affairs", with many doubting his promise of change will heal antagonisms between Russia and the West.
...
Russian news agency Pravda was less than subtle in an editorial summing up the Obama administration, headlined: "Obama: Deceiver, cheat, swindler, liar, fraudster, con-artist."
...
Michael McFaul, Mr Obama's director for Russian and Eurasian affairs, said: "There are ways that we can co-operate to advance our interests, and at the same time do things with the Russians that are good for them as well."

Climate change is one such issue, and Mr Obama will also find common ground with his Russian counterpart in his two days of talks on efforts to tackle the global recession, terrorism and drug trafficking.

Pure farce

Noah’s Ark on Thames urges climate action on Independent Catholic News

A bishop, Carmelite friars from Aylesford Priory, a replica ark, 200 plus Christian school children dressed as animals, and an array of real alpacas, sheep, goats and ducks celebrated a colourful climate event beside the Palace of Westminster on 2 July.

Organised by Operation Noah, the churches’ climate change campaign, an ‘ark’ on the Thames and event following in Victoria Tower Gardens drew attention to Christian concern about the crunch UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December. It was pointed out that Noah, as the first recorded person to respond to climate change, offers us a story of hope in the face of disaster, provided that bold and ambitious action is taken.

Speaking through a bicycle-powered PA system, the Anglican Bishop of London, Rt Rev Richard Chartres, called on the UK government to take a strong stand in Copenhagen. “Take the action that we all know is necessary to protect this fragile and very beautiful globe” he said, calling for agreement and cooperation over substantial cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

“We’re all in this together” he told the children and some politicians who strolled across the park to join the gathering, seemingly happy for a break on the sunny afternoon. One of them was Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. “Now is the time for decisive action and faith groups have a decisive role to play in fighting climate change” he said. “We need people of faith because they have particular regard for future generations” he added, and he urged Christians to be involved in Operation Noah and other similar campaigns.

Catholic Mark Dowd, the Campaigns Strategist of Operation Noah, handed him several hundred origami ‘ark’ petitions, which Christians had signed.

Britain's help to the Third World to be rebranded 'UKAid' - Home News, UK - The Independent

Britain's development ministry is to change the name of its key aid distribution arm in a major rebranding exercise.

Operations by the Department for International Development (DfID) in the developing world will be known as "UKAid" in an attempt to make clear that the contributions are coming from Britain.

The move is due to be unveiled in a DfID White Paper on Monday which will also lay out a swathe of measures including how the Government intends to support countries affected by climate change.

The White Paper is expected to state that years of development aid could be wiped out if the issue of climate change is not addressed urgently. Studies would take place to ascertain how money could be allocated to tackle the problem without endangering other funds for alleviating poverty.

The Climate Change Truth

When money is not a motive, it is a blind liberal ideology. The cap and trade bill is clearly unnecessary, but was passed to make government bigger. Many proponents of climate change are using the issue to raise taxes, create new agencies, make stricter standards you have to live by, and put capitalism out of business. It is sick because they are using a nonexistent issue, which many people believe in, to promote creeping socialism on this country. That is what they are doing, and pay attention because it is getting worse. Luckily, people are discovering the truth about these issues and the numbers for those who do not believe in this fallacy are rising.

Senate May Pass U.S. Climate Bill, Reject Treaty, Kerry Says

July 2 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Senate may pass legislation to slow climate change and then fail to approve a global treaty that commits nations to do so, Senator John Kerry said.

Kerry, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, will be a leader in Senate efforts to place the first domestic curbs on greenhouse gases, after the House approved a measure last week. Even if a Senate bill passes, there may not be enough support to ratify an international accord incorporating the U.S. commitments, the Massachusetts Democrat said in an interview.

A possible Senate rejection poses a threat to the 192- nation effort to forge an agreement, which scientists say can help slow warming that’s raising sea levels and changing rainfall patterns globally.

“We are definitely going to make more progress if there is a strong international agreement that the U.S. is a party to,” said Nigel Purvis, who in the 1990s worked as a U.S. negotiator on the Kyoto climate treaty that the U.S. didn’t ratify. Passing domestic climate-change legislation remains the most crucial step, Purvis said.

Senate ratification of a treaty would require 67 votes, compared with 60 for legislation.

“Sixty-seven votes is a big target here,” Kerry said last week, before Congress left for a one-week break. “We may be able to pass something that puts America on track to accomplish our set of goals. But we may pass it with 60 votes, or 61 or whatever, and that’s not 67.”

More complete insanity from a good-looking, powerful lawyer who doesn't understand climate science OR energy production

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan - Obama sure of US economic recovery despite job loss figures

Future growth, Obama argued, had to be built on new economic foundations — which include alternative energy — and he highlighted historic climate change legislation passed last week by the House of Representatives. The bill, which faces a tough ride in the Senate, includes incentives for the development of alternative energy, which Obama has made a keynote policy goal of his administration.

“Now it’s up to the Senate to continue the work that was begun in the House to forge this more prosperous future. “We’re going to need to set aside the posturing and the politics, and when we put aside the old ideological debates, then our choice is clear.”

Rush Limbaugh: We Cannot Eliminate Coal, and Global Warming is a Hoax Anyway!

The bill -- the climate trade bill, the cap-and-trade bill, the climate bill, global warming bill, the save-the-planet bill -- would also tinker with the earned income tax credit by doubling the EITC for those with no dependents and include an inflation adjustment. That's on page 1209. And then there's an interesting section right after the EITC language, Section 433, protection of Social Security and Medicare trust funds in the climate bill. From the way it's been read here by Jamie Dupree, who is a blogger, the administrators of Medicare and Social Security would be able to tap into general revenues of the US government if it's determined that the cap-and-trade bill has resulted in a reduction of revenues going into those two trust funds. Okay, the poverty line for a family of four is $22,050 for one person, a single family. For a single person poverty line is $10,000. That's a lot of people that are going to be having direct deposits. So the people that run Medicare and Medicaid are going to be able to rob the general fund as a result of the cap-and-trade bill if the costs of cap and trade deplete trust fund. The trust funds are empty anyway. It's another piece of legislation that has very little to do with what its title or claim is.

China joins carbon tax protest : Qatar's leading English Daily

London/Beijing: Beijing yesterday joined a growing clamour of complaint about US plans for a carbon tax on imports from countries without their own emission caps, warning it could set off a global trade war. The warning follows the passage of a cap-and-trade bill in the US House of Representatives last weekend, which contained tough provisions to impose carbon tariffs to ensure that American companies would not lose competitive advantage.

Hot Air » Blog Archive » The Obama Inquisition on climate change

Carlin’s comments didn’t “help the legal or policy case” for the Obama administration? Actually, Carlin’s scientific analysis undermined the entire reason for those legal and policy choices. The effort to silence Carlin didn’t come because the EPA and the White House could easily refute the analysis. They silenced Carlin because they couldn’t refute it.

Now that Carlin has blown the whistle, the Obama administration has embarked on another ages-old strategy: character assassination. They have dismissed Carlin as an economist, when he actually has a degree in physics — from CalTech. They have derided his work as “sham science,” even though it relied on peer-reviewed studies. They’ve done everything but actually use the scientific method to rebut Carlin, which demonstrates the commitment they have to the “rightful place” of science when it comes to policy in this administration.

Michelle has done great work on this topic, and has a video of Carlin speaking earlier this week. Be sure to keep up with the story there.

The Charleston Gazette - Don Surber - Would Galileo buy global warming? 

...In 1992, Pope John Paul II expressed regret and officially recognized that no, the Earth is not the center of the universe.

That was a little late for Galileo, but the audience for that retraction was the living, not those who have long departed this Earth.

Today, the Church of Manmade Global Warming holds that man's sin of materialism is causing the Earth to burn up.

Apparently there was a vote and many scientists agreed that man was causing global warming. As with the $787 billion stimulus, the $410 billion budget, and the cap-and-trade tax, no one read the thing before voting.

The theory is that the global warming is happening because of man's generation of "greenhouse gases." Greenhouses seem to be good for plants.

The adherents to the theory of manmade global warming have computer models and everything that take into account all sorts of factors, except the one that may matter most - solar activity.

Full Text Of Palin's Resignation Speech | LiveWire

We built a sub-Cabinet on Climate Change and took heat from Outside special interests for our biologically-sound wildlife management for abundance.
...
...I am taking my fight for what's right - for Alaska - in a new direction.

Now, despite this, I don't want any Alaskan dissuaded from entering politics after seeing this REAL "climate change" that began in August... no, we NEED hardworking, average Americans fighting for what's right!

Powell airs doubts on Obama agenda - Washington Times

Colin Powell, one of President Obama's most prominent Republican supporters, expressed concern Friday that the president's ambitious blitz of costly initiatives may be enlarging the size of government and the federal debt too much.

"I'm concerned at the number of programs that are being presented, the bills associated with these programs and the additional government that will be needed to execute them," Mr. Powell said in an excerpt of an interview with CNN's John King, released by the network Friday morning.

I wonder if Powell agrees with the "destroy the economy trying to improve the weather" part of Obama's agenda?

Pachauri & Lomborg: eco-politics of climate change - Lab Rats

Coming back to the discussion, those like Lomborg felt nothing much would be achieved in Copenhagen, and "we'll waste 10 more years"; but Pachauri sounded optimistic. The world has changed since Kyoto and the public pressure would force the politicians to come to a consensus.

Molina, the polite scientist whose life has not been the same since he discovered the ozone hole 25 years ago, was convincing everybody that it's not right to confuse climate change with global warming -- the former is about irreversible changes to the climate like altering the arctic ice, Himalayan glaciers or thermohaline circulation in the oceans.

I wonder how Pachauri can look at these poll results and conclude that the public is buying into his global warming fraud.

Daily Kos: [Best?]. Rant. Ever. James Inhofe on Global Warming

Six years ago, Inhofe took to the Senate floor and delivered a two-hour-long, 10,000-plus-word screed entitled "The Science of Climate Change".

[And your tinfoil hat looks sort of like a real astronaut's helmet!] Action on climate change : Opinion : The Buffalo News

This time, we’re all going to the moon.

The climate change bill that narrowly passed the House of Representatives Friday recalls nothing so much as President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 call for the United States to send a man to the moon within a decade.

There are differences, of course. While Kennedy’s challenge was mostly about inspiration and politics, the task before us now is about planetary survival. And, instead of watching intently on TV, we are all going to take part in the bold venture, soaring to success or crashing to failure.

Tim Slagle : Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » Democrat Utopia Nothing More Than a Fantasy

Cap and Trade, the biggest tax increase in American History, sailed through Congress without anybody even bothering to read it. What will prove to be perhaps the biggest historical change to the American way of life seemed nothing more than a Congressional mouse click, the Terms of Service Agreement on a new software installation. What is it about Democrats that they have such trust in other Democrats?

There was no debate, no discussion; in fact the bill wasn’t even finished when they started voting on it. Yet they all knew they would like everything in the bill, and rushed the vote. I’m somewhat envious of the common goal they all seem to share, but I’m also suspicious of why nobody bothered to read it. Granted it was fifteen hundred pages, Fourth of July recess, and the deposit on the Martha’s Vineyard cottage wasn’t refundable.

Instapundit » Blog Archive

PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Speaker Pelosi unfavorables: Jan 37% June 57%.

Warming millions good, sceptics’ thousands bad | Herald Sun Andrew Bolt Blog

Which makes Ward a monumental hypocrite.He complains that a few hundred thousand dollars from Big Oil corrupts debate, but says nothing about the more than $20 million his own university gets from Big Warming.

Why did Alberici not mention this?

So here’s the deal for the ABC. Debate the science, but if you must claim that the funding corrupts, at least admit which side gets the most of it.

Gasssing on about a deal | Herald Sun Andrew Bolt Blog

Tom Switzer is right to doubt there will be much a deal at the Copenhagen summit on global warming at the end of the year:

Instapundit » Blog Archive

NANOTECHNOLOGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE: The big point is that — unlike many other proposed remedies — nanotechnology is worth developing ASAP regardless of what happens with the climate. Plus, a warning: “Be careful, though: while natural climate variability is not an existential risk — we do fine in steaming jungles and have lived through ice ages — a Weather Machine run by the same people who ran our financial system recently could be a very dangerous toy.”

SustainabiliTank: Barron’s Magazine Editorial

...That’s the story in some economics textbooks. In the real world, it is hard to find competent regulators, harder to understand the best scientific evidence and hardest of all to determine what emissions actually are noxious. The difference between theory and practice is that, in theory, there is no difference. But in practice, there is.

The House of Representatives passed a cap-and-trade bill last month to control carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. It’s considerably different from the textbook version of cap-and-trade. It is a remarkable case study in political science, focused on special-interest pleading and rent-seeking.

The bill, drafted under the supervision of Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), is crammed with energy-wasting, money-wasting pet ideas. After promising to hand out 85% of the permits at no charge, the bill also provides loopholes and exemptions and escape clauses from the cap-and-trade system.

From coast to coast, the Waxman-Markey bill subsidizes, mandates and spends the taxpayers’ money on the ideas and industries dear to them and to a couple of hundred other congressmen. Markey and Waxman imagine cap-and-trade as a tax on business that won’t tax customers.

[How far we've come: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. writes on coal, doesn't even mention global warming?!] - Obama Should Stop Mountaintop Mining - washingtonpost.com

Mountaintop removal coal mining is the worst environmental tragedy in American history. When will the Obama administration finally stop this Appalachian apocalypse?

2007: Doubting Global Warming Could Be Treason - Associated Content

At the Live Earth Concert at Giants Stadium, one of the non musical acts, Robert Kennedy Jr., shouted himself hoarse. He called those people who doubt either that global warming exists or that it is man-made or that it matters traitors and that they should be dealt with as such.

"Get rid of all these rotten politicians that we have in Washington, who are nothing more than corporate toadies for companies like Exxon and Southern Company. ," shouted Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "These villainous companies that consistently put their private financial interest ahead of
American interest and ahead of the interest of all of humanity. This is treason. And we need to start treating them as traitors." Kennedy went on to attack John Stossel, a journalist working for ABC news, as well as radio talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glen Beck for being "flat earthers", "corporate toadies", and "liars." Kennedy is the president of Waterkeeper Alliance and Robert F. Kennedy's son.

Twitter / Scott Brown

Winnipeg has had below normal temperatures for 7 straight months. Maybe it's regional warming with global effects and not global warming?

'Joe the Plumber' joins Zilker Park 'tea party' | Postcards

They held signs that touted secession, criticized President Barack Obama and said things like “Climate change for Congress: Go to Hell.”

Mark Steyn: Global warming is so last century

...I mean that most of the developed world has already gone down the paved road of good intentions and is now frantically trying to pedal up out of it. New Zealand was one of the few Western nations to sign on to Kyoto and then attempt to abide by it – until New Zealanders realized they could only do so by destroying their economy. They introduced a Dem-style cap-and-trade regime – and last year they suspended it. In Australia, the Labor Government postponed implementation of its emissions-reduction program until 2011, and the Aussie Senate may scuttle it entirely. The Obama administration has gotten to the climate-change hop just as the glitter ball's stopped whirling, and the band's packing up its instruments.

The congressional cap-and-trade shtick would be tired even if weren't the familiar boondoggle of tax hikes, big-government microregulation and pork-a-palooza payoffs to preferred clients of the Democratic Party. Granted that carbon credits were already a dubious racket equivalent to the sale of "indulgences" in medieval Europe, the decision by congressional powerbrokers to give away credits to well-connected Democratic Party interests surely represents the environmental movement's formal Jumping of the Endangered Great White Shark.

I'm not a leading climatologist, but this doesn't seem like alarming evidence of runaway overheating to me

June 2009 Global Temperature Anomaly Update: 0.00 deg. C « Roy Spencer, Ph. D.

June 2009 saw another — albeit small — drop in the global average temperature anomaly, from +0.04 deg. C in May to 0.00 deg. C in June, with the coolest anomaly (-0.03 deg. C) in the Tropics.

[From fraudster Al Gore's world] : Bi-Partisan Leadership

I was so pleased to see a majority of the House of Representatives, Republicans and Democrats, vote to pass the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act. The Republican leadership and some on the right have promised "dire consequences" for those who helped to pass this bill, but Michael Gerson, former speechwriter to President George W. Bush, in an op ed in the Washington Post said, "And for the eight House Republicans who took this stand at great political risk, it is not only legitimate – it is admirable." I agree.

[Gore's pride: All of eight Republicans voted for the climate swindle bill, while only a mere 168 voted against it]  » Waxman-Markey Cap-and-Trade Bill Vote

There were 168 Republicans and 44 Democrats who voted No, and 8 Republicans who voted Yes

This is "genuine debate" on climate? - Crikey

So, how is Lateline going about complying with Leigh Sales call for genuine debate about climate change on Lateline?...
...
Then it was over to a (friendly) lengthy interview between Mr Jones and environmentalist Tim Flannnery — who now boasts the brand new title of Chairman, Copenhagen Council. Could this be what Ms Sales has in mind?

Climate Science: Roger Pielke Sr. Research Group News » Gavin Schmidt’s Interview On Media Hype On Climate Science Issues

I was pleased to see an interview of Gavin Schmidt in Popular Mechanics on July 3 2009 with the headline “5 Climate Studies That Don’t Live Up to the Hype”[and thanks to Joe D'Aleo for alerting us to it!].

This news article is refreshing, after the Real Climate’s recent overstatement on climate..., as it provides a balanced presentation of the subject by Dr. Schmidt. Hopefully, this will translate to more balance, and less personal criticisms on Real Climate than we have seen repeatedly in the past and as recent as this week [e.g. More bubkes].

Roger Pielke Jr.'s Blog: Wishing You a Nice Holiday Weekend

(And by "Your Grandma" above, I believe the cartoonist means "Nancy Pelosi and/or Barack Obama").

How to Profit from the Biggest Tax in American History

In 1964, Lyndon B. Johnson proposed legislation which became known as “The War on Poverty.” Five years later, Richard Nixon, introduced “The War on Drugs.”

And what do we have to show for these brilliant government initiatives, 40 years later? Not much, besides massive expansion of the welfare state and the costly incarceration of millions of people for victimless crimes. These two “wars” have done nothing to reduce poverty or curb the abuse of drugs.

But their effects are minor compared to the next “war” which our government is set to engage. And this is one in which you will be enlisted, whether you like it or not. I’m talking about the “War on Climate Change.”

I predict this new “war” will have the same effect as those that have preceded it. It will serve to enrich government coffers and expand its power, while failing to have any effect on the climate whatsoever.

We're saved!: Colorado company offers banana coffins

DENVER (AP) — Casket makers catering to natural burials have offered biodegradable coffins made of such materials as recycled newspapers or cardboard. Ecoffins USA, based in Montrose, Colo., is selling caskets made of banana sheaves.
...
Her interest in ecofriendly coffins grew after her son's school showed the movie "An Inconvenient Truth" in which Al Gore warns of climate change. Her son came home wondering why he should bother with homework if the world would be destroyed.

Climate Science: Roger Pielke Sr. Research Group News » Roger A. Pielke Sr. Comments On The NCDC Talking Point Response To The Report “Is The U.S. Surface Temperature Record Reliable?” By Anthony Watts

NCDC would be a much more valuable resource in the climate community if they worked to be inclusive in presenting all peer reviewed perspectives in climate science. Currently, they are only reporting on information that supports their agenda and not communicating real world observational data that conflicts with that agenda. The fault for this failure in leadership is with Tom Karl who is Director of NCDC.

Too cool to you-pick: Strawberries ripening more slowly than normal | Wisconsin

TWO RIVERS — The pickers are ripe to go, but late strawberries are keeping them waiting.

Dave Wilfert, owner of Wilfert Farms with his wife Terri, said Thursday lingering cool weather has slowed the growth of this season's strawberry crop tremendously.

Bugs: The Forgotten [Alleged] Victims of Climate Change | LiveScience

They are also particularly sensitive to climate change — as invertebrates, they can’t regulate their own body temperatures — making them “great little thermometers,” Hellmann adds.
...
How will those “great little thermometers” respond when climate change makes their habitats too hot or too dry for them?

Because of the inherent alleged diabolical nature of carbon dioxide, don't we already know that slight warming is a tremendous boon to any insect that anyone dislikes, while slight warming would be devastating to any insect that anyone likes?

Northwest Voices | Climate change: Is it treason to deny global warming? | Seattle Times Newspaper

How long will The Seattle Times continue to repeat the tired mantras of global-warming believers?

While there can be no justification for opposing conservation or alternate sources of energy, there are considerable current climate and atmospheric science reasons for opposing the fraud of cap-and-trade legislation.

-- Steven Keeler, Seattle

Letters - Taking Steps to Fight Global Warming - NYTimes.com

While it’s encouraging to see Congress taking steps to reduce global warming, the approach championed at the moment — cap and trade — is fraught with perils and ineffectiveness. The biggest drawback is the creation of a trillion-dollar market in carbon futures and derivatives, a speculator’s playground that has economic disaster written all over it.

Your admonishment to the Senate notwithstanding, the bill that was passed in the House appears dead on arrival.
...
Come late fall, when the Waxman-Markey bill has languished in the Senate, lawmakers will see the need to move on to Plan B — the carbon tax.

Steve Valk
Atlanta, July 1, 2009

The writer is the communications director for Citizens Climate Lobby.

American Thinker Blog: How's that transparency in science coming, fellas?

Making carbon a pollutant and subject to the tender regulatory mercies of the EPA is going to add a massive layer of bureaucracy to energy production, thus driving up costs, discouraging innovation, and all the attendant evils that a huge increase in paperwork entails.

Read the rest of Strassel's article on this clear example of hypocrisy by the Obama administration.

The mobius band of climate science

A Mobius band is a surface with only one side and only one boundary component. I have always thought this is an obvious metaphor for the current strain of climate science. From the governmental reports, to the opportunists, to the politicians and their staff, to the majority of media and educational institutions, there is but one side to the question of man-made global warming. Let me illustrate with a few examples.

Sawnee EMC rate hike possible | AccessNorthGa

“We are seeing tremendous pressure, from a cost standpoint, in the area of environmental compliance as well as other key business areas,” said Michael A. Goodroe, President and CEO. “Existing federal requirements, such as those found in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, as well as several proposals that are working their way through the U.S. Congress relating to climate change and mandates to purchase renewable energy, are suggesting that “how” we collect revenue from our members must change”, he added. “Green energy or dealing with climate change is not cheap and all of the proposals in Congress, if they become law, will require that our retail rates go up to meet these mandates.”

Mitchieville » Blog Archive » Krugman and Kristof: tag-team stupidity

The jury is still out on the environment, but the evidence is overwhelming that the Times has a bleak future.

Republicans – Christians – Global Warming Denial | Politics, Economics, Religion and People

Christians seemed to be the first ones to denounce Global Warming and laugh/mock the science behind it, they also mock science in general.

Most Christians are Republicans.

Republicans are fighting global warming tooth and nail.

I'm just curious--if referencing "God" implies that you are anti-science, doesn't it follow that Obama and Pelosi are anti-science?

The Barack Obama Evolution » Blog Archive » To God’s creation

As President Obama states, “We can’t be afraid of the future and that prisoners of the past. We need to come together and meet our obligations – to our constituents, to our children, to God’s creation, and to future generations.”

Pelosi: "Moral Issue to Preserve God's Creation"

Speaker Nancy Pelosi described the imperative for the new global warming legislation as coming not only from national security, health and economic concerns, but in terms of the "moral issue to preserve God's creation" without hurting the poor.

Goldman Sachs Drools Over Cap And Trade scam | Politics, Economics, Religion and People

Obama's insane energy plan, Cap and Trade, will be another bonanza for the uber-rich and oh-so-lucky firm that has it's tentacles entrenched at the highest levels of power in our country. The new carbon-credit market is a virtual repeat of the commodities-market casino/scam that's been kind to Government Sachs, except it has one nifty new feature: If the plan goes forward, the rise in prices of carbon credits will be government-mandated. Goldman won't even have to rig the game! It will be rigged in advance.

Bobby Rush sells his vote for pork - Dennis Byrne's Barbershop

Turns out that one of the biggest beneficiaries was our own Rep. Bobby Rush, the South Side Democrat. Said the story:

Liberal Democrats got a piece, too. Representative Bobby Rush, Democrat of Illinois, withheld his support for the bill until a last-minute accord was struck to provide nearly $1 billion for energy-related jobs and job training for low-income workers and new subsidies for making public housing more energy-efficient

BBC NEWS | UK | England | West Yorkshire | Power station protesters guilty

Twenty-two environmental campaigners have been found guilty of obstructing a train carrying coal to Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire.
...
None of the defendants denied being on the train but they told the jury they did not believe they were doing anything criminal because they were trying to prevent climate change.

A Slightly Skeptical Look at Global Warming by Allen Best

And, finally, there is the role of natural variability in changes now being observed. Nobody disputes that the climate, independent of human activities, changes. The question is to what extent changes now underway can be attributed to natural variability. “So far, in the 21st century, global warming has stabilized and no one really knows why,” writes Dr. William Cotton, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University. “None of the ‘known’ climate forcing mechanisms can explain the discrepancy.” We know too little about natural variability of the climate to confidently make predictions, he insists.

In fact, 2008 globally was the coldest year since 2000. But Trenberth notes that it was still in the top 10 of globally averaged annual temperatures. The slowing of warming, he insists, is only temporary, and has something to do with the “weird formation of clouds.” Why this is, he can’t say—nor can anybody else. That is exactly the point Cotton makes.

What's The Electric Vehicle Charging Market Worth In 5 Years? : TreeHugger

Research & Markets is projecting $200 million dollars in annual US electric vehicle charging sales by 2015. Let's assume that's a reasonable estimate. Compared to existing gasoline sales in the US, which approaches $2 billion/year, it's obvious that we have a long way to go before plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles, together, make a serious dent in gasoline markets.

Open Passage Expedition: Still burning fossil fuel, Northwest Passage still far away

We've been sailing for about three weeks now, and have covered some 1700 miles. We've just reached Dutch Harbor, Unalaska. But we'll only spend a few days here to re-provision and refuel before again setting off, this time turning North. This is a pretty brisk pace for yacht cruising, and we're not really getting time to visit the towns we've passed through so far.

So why bother, you might ask. We're doing all this sailing to get to Canada's Northwest Passage, which is still nearly 2,000 miles away. It's easy to forget the purpose to all this when you're kept busy with watches,
cooking and keeping the boat moving forward. Climate change and cultural preservation seem a lot less pressing when you are groggily pulling on your oil skins at 0300hrs and there's a cold rain falling on deck.

Hot Air » Blog Archive » Ramirez: The ADD media

Michael Ramirez wonders what it takes for the national media to focus on the biggest tax increase in American history, which is what the House passed last week.

The State of the Climate—and of Climate Science | Global Warming | DISCOVER Magazine

Caldeira: Climate science has reached the point that plate tectonics reached 30 years ago. It is the basic view of the vast majority of working scientists that human-induced climate change is real. There is a real diversity of informed opinion on how important climate change is going to be to various things that affect humans, and there is a diversity of opinion on how to address this problem, but the debate over human-induced climate change is over.

Audience member: I work in a hard-rock mining industry, and the majority of my colleagues tell me I’m crazy when I talk about climate change. Where are some good sources of information that rationally discuss all of these different naysayers’ theories?

Caldeira: One useful Web site is realclimate.org.

Schneider: I have a contrarian section on my Web site, which is climatechange.net. We’re about to triple it because we had to deal with those famous climate professors, you know, professors Limbaugh and Crichton. [Laughter] They have a standard technique, doing much the same thing that the American Tobacco Institute did for a long time, which is to cite the three studies that were equivocal and ignore the 33 studies that were definitive. They use the argument that we still do not, to this day, understand the detailed biological connections between smoking and cancer, but the evidence and data are so overwhelming you’d have to be nuts not to act on it—unless you’re in the business.

Letter to The Oregonian | GORE LIED

Global warming is essentially a politically motivated behavior-change device. The only reason predictions have recently become more dire is that the less dire predictions failed to scare people into action. This is both unnecessary and silly. Lowering carbon emissions is a no-brainer and shouldn’t require resorting to junk science and apocalyptic rhetoric.

GARY MIRANDA

Heliogenic Climate Change: ITCZ has been moving northward since the Little Ice Age

The ITCZ has been moving northward since the temperature minimum of the Little Ice age 300 years ago:

"New research from the University of Washington indicates that the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), which is a persistent band of showers and heavy thunderstorms that produces heavy rainfall near the equator, has been creeping northward for more than 300 years now. The zone, on average, has been moving northward at just less than 1 mile a year." "ITCZ Creeping Northward over the Past 300 Years"

In the Dark in the Midwest - Henry Payne - Planet Gore on National Review Online

...Washington has purposefully crafted a complicated, back-door tax increase in the hopes that voters won’t notice until its too late (and even then, the pols will blame rate increases on evil utilities). But isn’t that what a press watchdog is for?

None of the papers reported the cost studies. None of them referenced Europe’s failed cap-and-trade experience. None of them mentioned that global temperatures are falling.

The major story of the week that the EPA had covered up its own report that global warming science is flawed — the story that should be on the front page of every Midwest paper — was broken, not by the press, but by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (home of Planet Gore’s Chris Horner).

Will a top down solution ever deal with global warming?

And global warming is wicked, in the sense that it is hard to get our arms and minds around the scope, causes and sometimes even the right definitions. Global warming is likely to have 'clumsy solutions' that will be controversial, shotgun-like as opposed to a scalpel approach. It will require us to learn things we don't really want to know, mostly about ourselves and how we practice politics, in my opinion.

Hot Air » Blog Archive » Poll: Obama slipping further on economy

Rasmussen’s new poll, taken before the release of June’s unemployment numbers, shows significant slippage for Barack Obama on the economy, his central issue. Only 42% of American voters give him excellent or good marks on handling the economy, the lowest ratings he has yet received. His personal approval rate has fallen to 53%, and the “passion index” has dropped to -2

Killing Coal - Henry Payne - Planet Gore on National Review Online

Detroit, Mich. — From California (see Rep. McClintock below) to Michigan, the Green Church is slowly, silently strangling cheap electricity generation in the U.S.

Under pressure from Greens, Northern Michigan University this week canceled its permit to build a 10-megawatt coal-fired power plant at its Marquette campus. The planned cogeneration plant received its permit over a year ago but construction was on hold thanks to a lawsuit by the anti-coal Sierra Club of Michigan.

January '08 Audio: Obama Tells SF Chronicle He Will Bankrupt Coal Industry | NewsBusters.org

[Obama] So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted.