Andrew Kimbrell, Huffington Post: Obama's Choice of Vilsack: AgriBusiness as Usual at USDA?

Vilsack has also been a big supporter of ethanol, as is President-elect Obama. On this issue, they're clearly in synch, but their enthusiasm is terribly misplaced. The latest science demonstrates clearly that corn-based ethanol exacerbates rather than mitigates global warming, while so-called "cellulosic" ethanol from crop waste and prairie grass (which might have value, the jury is still out) is years away from commercial use. Even some of ethanol's strongest supporters in Congress, like Senator Tom Harkin, have come to question corn-based ethanol. President-Elect Obama and Mr. Vilsack should make elimination of federal subsidies for corn-to-ethanol -- which now total several billion dollars per year -- a top priority.

A Look at the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) Index « Digital Diatribes

I don’t want to be glib about this. I’m not wringing my hands in fear, nor am I gleeful at the thought of cooling, even if it shows the folly of the global warming alarmism that I despise. And while I don’t pretend to know all the ins and outs of climatology, I can look at charts and data. Sometimes the simplest answer really is the best one. Look at the charts. They explain the warming since the 1970s. They explain the last 10 years being flat. They explain why we’ve cooled and Europe/Russia haven’t. They explain why they too will soon will be cooling. They explain why this will likely be more predominant cooling than 60 years ago.

Carbon Dioxide may have some small impact in all of this, but it simply does not effectively explain near as much as all these other elements do.