Why don’t Americans understand science better? Start with the scientists. - The Boston Globe

On politicized issues like climate change, embryonic stem cell research, the teaching of evolution, and the safety of vaccines, many Americans not only question scientific expertise but even feel entitled to discard it completely. The reason, many scientists infer, is that the public is just clueless; perhaps we wouldn’t have these problems if the average citizen were better educated, more knowledgeable, better informed.

CO2 cuts a $1000 bonanza | Herald Sun

Replacing the old fridge with a new one will save $125.

Short Interest Highlights: Out Of Banks And Into GE (GE) – 24/7 Wall Street

The largest increase in short interest among stocks traded on the NYSE was in GE (GE).

The Migrant Mind: No Change at Cape Leeuwin

Looking at the data from Cape Leeuwin, Australia, obtained from this site, we can see that the maximum yearly temperature has not increased beyond that of the late 1880s, even though there is a huge increase in CO2, which, according to the global warming hysteriacs, should have increased the temperature greately. But it didn't.

Breaking: In Virginia gubernatorial debate, both Republican AND Democratic candidate speak of opposing cap and trade

McDonnell Presses Deeds on National Issues in First Va. Gubernatorial Debate - washingtonpost.com

[Republican McDonnell] said Virginia needs a governor who would resist congressional encroachment, citing "socialized medicine," "micromanaging AIG, GM and some other large businesses," the cap-and-trade proposal to limit greenhouse emissions and "card-check" legislation backed by labor, which would end secret balloting for workers deciding whether to join a union.
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[Democrat] Deeds said he would oppose cap-and-trade legislation if it would result in higher energy costs during a recession, a position that could trouble environmentalists in his party.

Climate Money: Auditing is left to unpaid volunteers | JoNova

Billions for “the climate” but nothing left for audits?

It’s the most “important crisis” on Earth today, and we must rely on the science, yet it’s not quite important enough for anyone to independently double check those results. And just in case you think that the peer review process does that double checking, think again. Most papers are reviewed by only 2 or 3 colleagues who may be hoping to prove the same “theory” as the authors (so not especially keen to find holes in it), and who are unpaid and anonymous. (The saying “you get what you pay for” comes to mind. We pay to find a crisis, and we don’t pay to check the results).

The best examples of unpaid auditing are the work of independent scientists Steve McIntyre, and Anthony Watts. The irony is that skilled workers are providing a pro bono service, normally a service to help those who can’t afford it, but in this case, to assist the largest single financial entity on the planet.

The Blackboard » Free the CRU data!

For this reason, I endorse the notion that people -- especially those who are disturbed by the secrecy surrounding the product-- should pester the UK Met Office with FOIs.

Twitter / Cheryl Gallant

NO to $.46/kWh wind-generated electricity. The global warming gig is up! http://ow.ly/hlLl #roft

Cheryl Gallant: Information from Answers.com

Cheryl Gallant, MP (born May 23, 1960 in Sarnia, Ontario) is a Conservative Canadian politician.

It's the pace, not the total, that matters most in global warming

If temperatures rose (again) by 2 degrees or more over a longer period of time, both humans and wildlife would have time to adjust--and we've done so repeatedly. But cramming that rise into a timespan of a century or less would cause unnecessary stress. We probably would not lose polar bears--they've survived more dramatic climate shifts in the past. But we might lose other 'charismatic megafauna' such as cheetahs, rhinos and other species that we've already stressed with our other profligate habits.

Global cooling hits Al Gore's home - Telegraph

Nashville, the home of leading global warming prophet Al Gore, has enjoyed the coolest July 21 on record, observes Christopher Booker.

The Reference Frame: Greenland not exceptionally warm now

No unprecedented recent warming is found. For example, they find that the 1919-1932 warming was 1.33 times greater than the 1994-2007 warming.

Rex Murphy: So where's that global cooling alert? - The Globe and Mail

I bring this up merely to make a single point. Not that these studio meteorologists were making the elementary mistake of confounding weather with climate, for this is a distinction familiar now even to kindergartners. Rather, to point out how “accepted” the vague, soft, but relentlessly propagandized theory of global warming has become. That being on the “right” side of the global warming argument is so very much the politically correct place to be. It's the “virtuous” side to be on, so naturally our supper-hour meteorologists, even if unconsciously, were eager to encourage virtue.

Now, however, Toronto in July is cool and I am waiting in vain for the lips of just one forecaster to ask how can this be. Waiting just once to hear the familiar phrase “global warming” in a sentence that even hints that the theory behind it is so much more tentative than we have been urged with such fervour to believe.  [Via Dr. Roy]

Deeds, McDonnell trade punches in first Virginia gubernatorial debate | Washington Examiner

McDonnell, in keeping with the jobs theme he has used as a central part of his platform, also took the opportunity during the debate to attack the federal government’s cap-and-trade climate change legislation, which he said would hurt Virginia manufacturers.

Breathtakingly idiotic mainstream journalist Suzanne Goldenberg weighs in - "Revealed: the secret evidence of global warming Bush tried to hide" | Environment | The Observer

One particularly striking set of images - selected from the 1,000 photographs released - includes views of the Alaskan port of Barrow. One, taken in July 2006, shows sea ice still nestling close to the shore. A second image shows that by the following July the coastal waters were entirely ice-free.

Slow, Costly and Often Dangerous Road to Wind Power - NYTimes.com

Plenty can go wrong despite months of planning. In Idaho and Texas, trucks laden with tall turbine parts have slammed into interstate overpasses, requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs. In Minnesota last year, a truck carrying a tubular tower section got stuck at a railroad crossing; an approaching train stopped just in time. Also in Minnesota, a woman was killed last September when her car, driven by her husband, collided at an intersection with a truck carrying a wind turbine. (After a police investigation, local officials found that the truck driver was not at fault.)

Maine had a glitch of its own two years ago, after a truck carrying a big piece of turbine got stuck for hours while trying to round a corner near Searsport, a port near Belfast that receives many turbine parts from overseas.

In case you missed it -- IBD: Ignoring Science

Despite efforts to keep the global warming scare alive, the growing evidence that humans aren't heating the planet is piercing the public consciousness and alarmists are becoming marginalized.

Sharp Americans are starting to understand H.L. Mencken's observation that "The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it." That pretty much sums up the modern environmentalist movement.

Bank Pilots New Approach to Web with Launch of Climate Change [Scam] Beta Site

uly 20, 2009—Visitors to the World Bank’s website used to have to scan more than 20 sites and hundreds of pages to get a complete picture of the Bank’s role in climate change. That all changed with the launch of a new climate change beta website—a harbinger of things to come for www.worldbank.org.

The new website consolidates the best of the Bank’s climate change content in a fresher, more data-rich and interactive format that pilots a new online look and approach to sharing results and knowledge, aligned with audience needs.

Rasmussen Reports™: The Most Comprehensive Public Opinion Data Anywhere

The number who Strongly Disapprove of the President has increased slightly following the prime time press conference on Wednesday night. That figure—39%--is now at the highest level yet recorded. As a result, the overall Approval Index has fallen to the lowest level yet recorded for this President.

PROGRESSIVE MORAL FASHIONS

The history of science is rife with examples of political, social and moral fashions which not simply influence, but pervert the scientific method and corrupt the conduct of scientists. Einstein faced off the political and moral fashions of Nazism and eugenics but plenty of his colleagues happily incorporated those twin systems into their own research. Eugenics also laid the foundations for the moral crusade against alcohol in early 20th Century America which was again a supposedly scientific assessment delivered as a moral panic which must be addressed immediately lest America fall into a deep pit of moral degeneration.
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Scientists don't live in a fashion-free vacuum. They dress themselves in the fashions of the day, read the latest scare stories of the day, follow the latest celebrity soap operas of the day and most of all abide by rules to not upset the funding apple-cart from which their work is done, whatever their personal and moral qualms, at least until retirement.

Fighting climate change the key to ending poverty

Fighting climate change and overcoming poverty are the defining challenges of our time. You cannot, however, fix one without the other.

Professor Garth Paltridge on The Climate Caper « An Honest Climate Debate

From the Foreword by Lord Christopher Monckton:

Nevertheless, when the history of the bizarre intellectual aberration that is “global warming” comes to be written, once it is even clearer than it already is that the disasters, catastrophes, cataclysms and apocalypses that have been so luridly and so widely predicted have not and will not come to pass, Dr. Paltridge’s little book will be regarded as one of the few, rare, precious beacons of enlightenment that prevented humanity from wandering through carelessness, ignorance and absent-mindedness into a new Dark Age.

Climate Research News » The Slaughter of Migratory Bats by Wind Turbines

With wind power booming around the world—in Germany alone, nearly 20,000 wind-energy installations have been built since 1990—researchers are seeing a marked increase in dead bats. The turbines simply rotate their blades too quickly for the winged mammals to avoid.

WWF’s ‘One in Five’: Business travel can help save the planet too

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has recently launched a campaign to educate business travelers on how to reduce flights without sacrificing productivity – while helping preserve wildlife and save the planet in the process.

Cap and Trade’s Effect on Diesel Prices » The Foundry

Do you drive a truck or a farm tractor? If not do you use any products grown on a farm or shipped by truck? Well, here’s some news: The Waxman-Markey energy tax bill will make all those products more expensive.

Healthcare delay may complicate U.S. climate debate | Green Business | Reuters

Climate change legislation is not expected to be considered on the Senate floor until October, and a spokesman for Reid reiterated that timetable still holds.

But many of the leading senators will likely be preoccupied longer on healthcare reform, which could complicate Obama's efforts to get legislation passed just as the world prepares for a December summit in Copenhagen on global warming.

Amy Ridenour's National Center Blog: What's Happening Now

Under the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade climate bill, the taxpayers have to give General Electric $200 every time it sells a refrigerator.

Aspen Institute: Arctic in trouble - CKA News

WINNIPEG — The deteriorating state of the Arctic shows the world is running out of time to address global warming and complacency is the biggest obstacle to reversing the damage, international commissioners studying climate change said Thursday.

At a meeting in Winnipeg, commissioners from the Aspen Institute said the Arctic is a bellwether for the rest of the world. The North is warming at a dizzying pace, losing sea ice and threatening both residents and wildlife, they said.

The Arctic also acts as the world’s cooling system and, without it, they say life on Earth is at risk.

Movie “Food Inc.”

The movie goes along entertainingly enough until about 2/3 the way through when it’s true colors come out. An interview with Stonyfield Farm’s CEO Gary Hirshberg begins the assault.

“We’re never going to get rid of capitalism. At least we’re never going to get rid of it in time to arrest global warming and the food crisis.”

FT.com / Asia-Pacific - India minister accuses west over glaciers

Mr Ramesh said that the rate of retreat of glaciers in the Himalayas varied from a "couple of centimetres a year to a couple of metres", but that this was a natural process. Some were, in fact, growing, he said.

Senior Indian hydrologists say the retreat of glaciers is far from catastrophic and that they would take several hundred years to disappear.

Food products should carry 'water footprint' information, says report | Environment | guardian.co.uk

The hidden amounts of water used in manufacturing food and drink products should be made known to customers, according to lobby groups

Nearly 13 Consecutive Weeks Without Severe Weather

Northeast Wisconsin’s nearly nonexistent severe weather in 2009 continues to set records.

Four Other Planets Experiencing Global Warming - Associated Content

Mars, Neptune, Jupiter and Pluto are ALL warming.

US Forest Service - Caring for the land and serving people.

New Climate Change Awareness Toolkit

Helping to prepare youth to understand their role in addressing environmental issues is an important focus of Forest Service Conservation Education efforts. Environmental education begins with awareness, and builds to increased knowledge and skills. And the goal of environmental education is to lead to action.

With this in mind, the Forest Service’s Conservation Education program, in partnership with EPA and other Federal agencies, designed the "Climate Change, Wildlife and Wildlands Toolkit" for classroom teachers and informal educators—or anyone with an interest in the environment! Check it out at: http://www.globalchange.gov/resources/educators/toolkit

Global warming, George Will and the madness of repetition, or the repetition of madness

I'm offering to host a debate between people from both sides of the spectrum, here in our comments section. The only requirement for participation is acceptance of the following assertions--after that, we can fight through the remaining questions.
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2. Temperatures rose dramatically between 1975 and 1998, and CO2 probably contributed significantly to this rise (This is tough for many skeptics, for obvious reasons).

A Climate of Fear

No one makes it through life without experiencing fear, and often that fear is nebulous, hard to pin down, at times making us feel anger. So we look for a culprit on which to focus that anger. In the case of the video it was the hapless (and, I dare say, brave) Mike Castle. Oftentimes that human predilection toward fear can be manipulated by others, cynically preying upon the dark corners of fear that haunt us all.

New Zealand Struggling to Meet its Climate Goals… because of Climate Change? : EcoWorldly

...a report released by the New Zealand government this month shows that they have experienced a sharp rise in greenhouse gas emissions since last year. The reason? Climate change.

Awesome choice - Shelley Poticha to take sustainability post at HUD

Wow. Only a week after I wrote a post celebrating how well the Obama administration seems to be getting its act together on smart growth and sustainability, they have done it again. My friend Shelley Poticha has accepted a senior position at HUD, Shelley Poticha (courtesy of Reconnecting America)where she will be a sustainability advisor and, likely soon, director of the agency's Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities. (I write "likely" because there is legislation in the works to create the office.)

American Thinker: Science Fiction, Global Warming & Universal Healthcare

Martian # 1: We must destroy the Earthlings. But how?

Martian # 2: Why not let man-made global warming do it for us?

Martian # 1: Are you kidding? We do not have 100,000 years.

Martian # 2: Why not just wait for Earthlings to pass their Cap and Trade Climate Bills?

Martian # 1: Great idea! That way the energies of the planet remain preserved while the Earthlings quickly tax themselves to death.

Martian # 2: I think it would be a win-win for us.

RealClimate: Friday round-up

...there is an atrocious paper that has just been published in JGR by McClean, de Frietas and Carter that is doing the rounds of the denialosphere.
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Nevermore let it be said that you can’t get any old rubbish published in a peer-reviewed journal!

EPW POLICY BEAT: BROKEN WINDOWS AND GREEN JOBS

With all of the talk these days about green jobs—or, more precisely, the Democrats’ version of taxpayer subsidized green jobs—EPW Policy Beat wondered whether they will usher in a “clean energy future.” They won’t. We came to this conclusion after reading Henry Hazlitt’s classic book, “Economics in One Lesson.”

Green Car Insurance

One way to increase public interest in eco-friendly living is to provide cheaper car insurance for people who purchase green cars.

Hybrid Drivers More Ticket- and Accident-Prone - The Car Connection

Quite a few big-name auto insurers have been giving hybrid owners a discount on their premium. But those deals might not last much longer; as an insurance data-analysis firm points out, the insurance industry could be losing big because of this.

The surprising result: Hybrid drivers typically drive farther, get more tickets, and have significantly more expensive insurance claims.

Rhys Darby Poem Video | Sign On

Enough twatter bleeting - let's get Kiwis the world over to Sign On!

Al's Journal : Backwards and forwards

"That's right, we're talking about the past. The electric car had its heyday over a century ago. Its brief reign came to an end in 1912, when gasoline-powered Cadillacs began to come fitted with starter motors."

Farm Bureau: Rushing Climate Bill Would Be ‘Height of Folly’

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 22, 2009 – American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman today asked the Senate Agriculture Committee to take an active and aggressive role in the climate change debate, but cautioned committee members that rushing to pass such sweeping legislation would be a fundamental mistake. AFBF President Bob Stallman testified before the Senate Agriculture Committee on proposed climate change legislation.

“On a matter that could affect our nation for literally decades to come, it would be the height of folly to rush to judgment in a matter of days or weeks,” said Stallman.

Perspective: 'Cap and trade' spells disaster (OneNewsNow.com)

'Filling in the blanks later' (Mark Steyn, conservative commentator)
As a business entrepreneur, I believe in free enterprise and the strength of our capitalist system. But after close examination of this cap-and-trade bill, it is clear that this piece of legislation does not reflect the basic beliefs and tenets that millions of Americans hold dear. This legislation grants the government alarmingly enormous power and latitude to develop or expand their own programs by "filling in the blanks later."

Cap-and-Trade: The Industrial Anti-Revolution | Economy | theTrumpet.com

Even if this legislation is not ultimately adopted, the fact that so many politicians are endorsing it, despite its horrendous economic implications, is a clear signal that economically and industrially, America is a nation in rapid decline. Expect the deindustrializing of America to continue.

Why people are cool to global warming

To be blunt, scientists who believe in anthropogenic global warming have yet to prove their case.

Some people will choose to believe them anyway, which is their right. Others, fearing in their own way some of them may be as agenda-driven as they believe their opponents to be, still ask for better evidence.

Reid will find it frustrating, but if trillions of dollars are to be spent, that too is their right.

Obama's long six months

But his own Environmental Protection Agency director acknowledges that his cap-and-trade bill will have no effect on the climate and it will neither raise revenue nor reduce carbon use. It must be replaced with a straight carbon tax of bearable impact, coupled with sensible conservation and alternate-energy-source and oil-exploration incentives. The bill that limped through the House of Representatives was a Rube Goldberg contraption of Al Gore myths and Congressional vote-buying boondoggles. Its adoption would be a disaster. The President's claim of putting millions of Americans to work making windmills and solar panels is a fable that extends the frontiers of quixotry.

Canada Wheat Board told to pay in damaged wheat row

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, July 24 (Reuters) - A judge has ordered the Canadian Wheat Board to pay two of its overseas grain customers C$1.8 million ($1.6 million) to resolve a 26-year-old dispute over frost-damaged spring wheat.

Climate bill will do nothing positive, but it will impose more financial burden on people - The Daily Observer - Ontario, CA

When I hear a politician state that we must take steps to stop climate change I think are they that stupid or are they motivated by political self interest. Vaclav Klaus, the Czech president, is one politician I admire because he does not follow that route. He stands for the truth and that is that humans are not responsible for climate change, and in the next 10 years people will realize that this anthropogenic global warming nonsense is the biggest fraud in the history of the planet, and I will be around to remind them of that.

Mack Thrasher

'Hold on to your wallets'

Another of your great Democrats, Al Gore, is flying around the globe promoting his global warming hoax leaving carbon footprints from his Gulf Stream jet. Our children are being brainwashed in all the schools with all this garbage. Hold on to your wallets. Cap-and-trade tax plan is next.

Bertha R. Jackson

Greenland comes in from the cold

As world leaders grapple with the perils of climate change, there are parts of the globe where warmer temperatures are welcomed. Hardtalk presenter Stephen Sackur has just returned from Greenland where he found plenty of people eyeing opportunities amid the melting glaciers.
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For Greenlanders, all 56,000 of them, the long-term prospect of being able to "grow their own", from tomatoes to timber, is little short of intoxicating.

Your say on climate

The only thing Gordon Brown understands about "climate change" is that it can be used to fill the Treasury's coffers. What a rip-off it is. Richard, Nottingham

It's time people like Sir Jonathon Porritt were kicked into touch. Their one-sided views are a major contributor to today's economic shambles. Dave, Rotherham

I'm with Gordon on climate change, but for the tax con. Is it a natural phenomenon we can't change. There are too many scientific differences. Bev, Harlow

I would say most people don't get climate change. How can Brown or indeed anyone do more? It's been happening for millions of years. John, Berwick

I personally think Brown is getting far too much from climate change by way of new and raised taxes under the green fiasco. Grant, Sheffield

Potato Crops endangered by unusual Coldness

South Iceland has been experiencing an unusually cold weather recently, with temperatures even going below zero at night.

Yesterday, mbl.is reported that due to the coldness, the potato plant has been damaged which affects the crops. Bergvin Jóhannsson, Chairman of the Potato Farmers Union calls that the fact that this is happening in July highly unusual.

The Associated Press: Cool summer disappoints tourists, delays crops

"There's more griping about the weather than we've seen in recent memory," said Norris Clark, marketing director for Morey's Piers, an amusement complex in Wildwood, N.J., where low temperatures and excessive rain have cut revenues by about 4 percent from last year.

"We're changing our advertising to talk about the heated pools in our water parks," Clark said.
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But, Angel said, the forecast for at least the next couple weeks suggests more unusually low temperatures are likely.

Apocalypse Soon

Flooding. Drought. Wildfires. Mass migrations of desperate people. Mike Blanchfield explains why security experts fear climate change will lead to war on a scale we have yet to see on this planet.

Students give up their summer to fight global warming - EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA

Other students in the group cited various scientists, including James Hansen of NASA, who have warned that humans and other forms of life cannot continue to survive if the percentage of carbon dioxide keeps climbing.

What about those who claim global warming does not pose a threat, that it's all a big hoax?

"Our goal is not to convince the naysayers," Xu said. "Climate change is a threat. Politicians need to see grass-roots support for action."

Policy Peril - Minnesotans For Global Warming

Why Global Warming Policies Are More Dangerous Than Global Warming Itself.

An new movie by the Competitive Enterprise Institute

Weather is troubling peach farmers and the fruits of their labor

COSHOCTON -- There's nothing fuzzy about it: Ohio is in for a much smaller peach crop this summer because of an extreme cold snap in January and a cool spring.
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Mike Siegrist of Siegrist Orchard in southwest Coshocton County said the temperature there reached 25 degrees below zero in January, ensuring he wouldn't be harvesting 500 bushels of peaches this year.

"I just finished spraying the trees this week for disease, though," he said. "You still have expense, even if you're not going to have a crop."

Global swine flu death toll swells to 800

WHO spokesperson Gregory Hartl warned that the virus is expected to increase this winter in the Northern Hemisphere due to cold weather.

[Because they're all idiotic Christians who blindly follow their leader, Rush Limbaugh?]: India Not Buying Global Warming Story

India is not buying the global warming story created by the Western media.

Twitter / Lovesh Vashist

increasingly nobel prize will lose its value; first the option pricing scandal; now global warming + most of peace prizes are political

YouTube - AIR CON: The Seriously Inconvenient Truth About Global Warming by Ian Wishart

Part one of the new documentary on global warming based on the #1 bestselling book Air Con by Ian Wishart

An Englishman's Castle: Air Con - Book Review

I haven't read the book he damns but I am reading Air Con: The Seriously Inconvenient Truth About Global Warming which is a very readable, wide ranging and worthwhile book. I think you can guess from the title the stance it reaches but it is fastidious in examining and referencing numurous sources and giving them all a fair crack of the whip. Even floppy haired blonds with their eborian degrees in History and Politics would understand and learn from it. Make sure there is a copy packed in the family suitcase for this summer so as you shelter from the rain wondering what happened to the Met Office's BBQ summer you have something to read.

Pennsylvania: Cool summer

It was 1985 when temperatures in the region last failed to crack 90 in June and July, at least according to official temperatures logged at Lehigh Valley International Airport, said Kristin Kline, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

This month's average daily temperature was 68.6 as of Friday, about 5 degrees cooler than normal, a blessing in many ways but a downer in others.
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Bob Leiby, director of the Penn State Extension in Lehigh County, said the cooler, wet weather has meant troublesome fungal diseases, particularly for wheat crops, which have been been hit with fusarium, also known as ''scab.'' ''It has caused some problems for marketing the wheat,'' Leiby said.

Clouds Appear to Be Big, Bad Player in Global Warming -- Kerr 325 (5939): 376 -- Science

The first reliable analysis of cloud behavior over past decades suggests—but falls short of proving—that clouds are strongly amplifying global warming. If that's true, then almost all climate models have got it wrong...One interpretation, the researchers say, is that the warming ocean was transferring heat to the overlying atmosphere, thinning out the low-lying clouds to let in more sunlight that further warmed the ocean. That's a positive or amplifying feedback.

Again, this explains why in the past, every slight warming has been amplified by runaway positive feedback until all life on Earth was snuffed out.

Turnbull sets $20b terms to back emissions plan : thewest.com.au

Gaining Opposition support for his emissions trading scheme is likely to cost Kevin Rudd more than $20 billion after Malcolm Turnbull released a wish list of changes last night.

After a hastily convened 45-minute telephone hook-up of the shadow Cabinet, the Opposition Leader released nine principles to be satisfied for the Prime Minister to get coalition support for his ETS.

Ottawa: Summer of our discontent: Coldest, soggiest July in 17 years

(The summer of 1992, on the other hand, was ruined by the eruption of the Pinatubo volcano a year earlier, which, said Phillips, “created a dust veil that surrounded the northern hemisphere and essentially blocked the sun, changed the jet-stream location and gave us that year without summer.”

This year’s low-pressure system finally seems on the move. But will it be in time to save summer?

Phillips admits there’s a little panic out there.

“Every day now’s getting a little shorter in terms of daylight,” he said.

“When is summer going to arrive? It may be September or October — who knows? But our models are showing that there is some hope.”

The Begley Ray-pore! | GlobalWarming.org

I could spend all my days hat-tipping Marc Morano at Climate Depot for the treasure trove of climate realism he posts there, but it’s almost like citing a Drudge link — what’s the point of drawing attention to a story that everyone else who follows Web news has already read?

Nevertheless occasionally it’s still worth doing, and today’s reason is Newsweek science editor Sharon Begley. Morano’s link calls her column in the August 3 issue “silly,” but for years Begley has been a doddering old media leftist whose science perspective parallels Helen Thomas’s political taint. Still operating as though weekly newsmags add insightful background to mainstream thought, Begley rambles through tired global warming alarmism peppered with her own clumsy brand of activist exhortation

Sun's antics continue: "Old" cycle 23 sunspot trying to form | Solar Cycle 25

The strange transition between solar cycles 23 and 24 continues. For the first time in several months, a cycle 23 sunspot is trying to form. This further illustrates the fits and starts that the sun has experienced during its deepest solar minimum in 100 years.

The strange transition between solar cycles 23 and 24 continues. For the first time in several months, a cycle 23 sunspot is trying to form. This further illustrates the fits and starts that the sun has experienced during its deepest solar minimum in 100 years.

AFP: Britain 'sceptical' over carbon import tariffs

AARE, Sweden — Britain opposes the use of carbon import tariffs against developing countries to encourage them to tackle global warming, British Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband said on Saturday.

A bill passed by the US House of Representatives last month could allow import taxes on products made in countries that do not have statutory curbs on greenhouse gas emissions, sparking an outcry from emerging economies such as India and China.

Debunking the Claims Heat Waves are Becoming More Common by Joseph D’Aleo | Climate Realists

Although there has been some high heat in the southern Plains and most recently the southwest, for many areas of the lower 48 states, unless August turns around big time, it may be remembered as “a year without a summer.” After some early heat with 92F in April, Central Park peaked at 86F in May, just 84F in June and so far in July 86F.

Cooler Heads Digest 24 July 2009 | GlobalWarming.org

[Myron Ebell] Senate Democratic leaders said this week that delaying votes on health care legislation until the fall will not derail the global warming express. Sure. Seriously, the question is whether health care will dominate town meetings during the August congressional recess or voters will still be angry about passage of Waxman-Markey. If enough voters still want to give their Senators an earful about cap-and-trade, then my guess is that it will have no momentum in the fall and the leadership will have a hard time rounding up sixty votes for anything related to energy rationing.
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A recent whining fundraising appeal from Fred Krupp of Environmental Defense Fund confirms that the House was flooded with calls and e-mails opposing Waxman-Markey: “For some House offices, their calls overwhelmed the switchboard.” Krupp blames it on an organized conspiracy led by Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin and “financed with hundreds of millions of dollars from big polluters.” Too bad he doesn’t mention who those big polluters are.
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[Julie Walsh] Last week, I went heli-hiking near Glacier National Park in the Canadian Bugaboos where they were enjoying spring flowers. A 40-something guide mentioned that their recent spring was the coldest that she had ever lived through. Heartland Institute’s James Taylor recent piece explains the still-receding glaciers despite the long-term cooling [?] trend.

Note: Anyone can sign up to receive the Cooler Heads Digest weekly, for free, just by going here and punching in their email address.

The Press Association: PM doesn't get climate issue: aide

The Government's top environmental adviser has accused Gordon Brown of failing to see the importance of the environment and hindering work to prevent climate change.

Sir Jonathon Porritt, the chairman of the Government's Sustainable Development Commission, told The Independent that as Chancellor, Mr Brown did not "get" climate change and saw the environment as "middle-class stuff".

Global Warming » Maunder Minimum

Other historical sunspot minima have been detected either directly or by the analysis of carbon-14 in tree rings; these include the Spörer Minimum (1450–1540), and less markedly the Dalton Minimum (1790–1820). In total there seem to have been 18 periods of sunspot minima in the last 8,000 years, and studies indicate that the sun currently spends up to a quarter of its time in these minima.

 Investor's Business Daily -- Ignoring Science

Climate Change: A new scientific paper says that man has had little or nothing to do with global temperature variations. Maybe the only place it's really getting hotter is in Al Gore's head.

Pajamas Media » Reuters Takes Sides on Climate Change

On the top is a link I have frequently seen that tells the world that fighting global warming is a Reuters cause. It links to the wire service’s related Facebook page, called “Help Reuters Fight Global Warming.”

Blackburn, Conaway Move To Stop Egregious Regulation

Washington, Jul 24 - Representatives Marsha Blackburn (TN-7) and Michael Conaway (TX-11) today filed a discharge petition for HR 391, a bill that would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating “greenhouse gases” under the Clean Air Act.

Daily Kos: Are birthers also "moon-landing deniers"?

When scientists point out to evidence about global warming, one of the many pieces of evidence they use is remote sensing data. And in the US, who provides that data? You guessed it - NASA! And therefore, the "birther, global-warming denier" loons know that they have to do everything to give NASA a bad name. And what better way to do it than to discredit NASA on one of their greatest achievements (indeed one of the greatest achievements of humanity) ever?

Now, there may be some "birther, global-warming denier" troglodytes who might think that we did go to the moon, not because they have any evidence or can understand any of it, but because they want to believe that America did what the Communists couldn't. Or something like that. However, I still think that there is a very high degree of overlap between the "birthers" and the "moon-landing deniers".

India Balks at Hillary Clinton’s Carbon Reduction Talk, Questions Global Warming Science » The Foundry

But it’s good to see that India isn’t drinking the cap-and-trade Kool-Aid, valuing economic growth and prosperity over uncertain environmental gains. U.S. lawmakers and diplomats want countries like India and China to follow our lead but perhaps we should be following theirs.

Looking for an antidote to An Inconvenient Truth? Your search is over. | GlobalWarming.org

Over the next two weeks, I’ll be posting one excerpt from the film a day along with comments and links to newer information that has since come out. The global warming debate is very far from “over.” In fact, the scientific, economic, and moral case against Kyoto-style energy rationing keeps getting stronger.

I look forward to your comments on the film, the individual segments, and the supporting materials.

– Marlo Lewis, Senior Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute

Turnbull changes tune on emissions trading - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Family First Senator Steve Fielding is scathing of the Liberals change of heart.

"Well look, I think they should grow some spine and stand up to the Government of the day and fight for what's right for the country, rather than just operate in their own interest," he said.

American Chronicle | Time And The Challenge Of Global Warming

The massive cap and tax bill passed out of the House is in a moment of hiatus before it gets to serious Senate consideration. I sure hope cooler heads, no pun intended, prevail over there. All the science folks admit that the proposal will have minimal effect on the carbon emissions worldwide. That is especially true if one factors in China, India, Brazil, Russia and Indonesia. Indeed no matter what we do here the carbon emissions will increase over the next several decades because of their continued growth and use of carbon based products. The real purpose and effect of the legislation is to control virtually every segment of our economy right down to the house you live in.

Twitter / Luis Andrade: Where is the freeking Glob ...

Where is the freeking Global Warming??? I'm freezing here!!!! 5º Degrees now the Wind chill is 0ºC...In Brazil!!!!

[Global warming scam Civil War: Brother against brother]

It’s Washington’s version of Family Feud, starring those well-connected Podestas. Today’s category: global warming.

In one corner, John Podesta, who served as co-chair of President Obama’s transition and was White House chief of staff to President Clinton. John Podesta’s think tank, the Center for American Progress, has been an ardent voice in favor of Congress taking bold steps to address climate change — making its views known on Capitol Hill through its action fund. American Progress has been especially critical of the coal industry’s “clean coal” campaign, calling it a “smoke screen” aimed at delaying meaningful action on global warming.

In the opposite corner, John’s brother, Tony Podesta, one of Washington’s most successful lobbyists — who picked up a significant new client as the climate debate revved up in the House this spring, according to the just-filed lobbying disclosure forms for the second quarter of the year. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) — the very industry group derided by John Podesta’s group — paid Tony Podesta and five other lobbyists in his Podesta Group $50,000 in the second quarter to help represent its interests on the climate bill passed by the House in June.

Josh Dorner, Deputy Press Secretary for the Sierra Club: The Rabid Right

[On the Mike Castle video]...a longer version also showed numerous attendees spouting traditional right-wing nonsense questioning the science of global warming or the economic impacts of clean energy legislation. If you don't understand what the media means by "lunatic fringe," just take a looksee at this video:
...
And this, my friends, took place in a state that went nearly 62 percent for Obama. I can only imagine what goes on elsewhere. It just goes to show what happens when people are "fed a constant stream of misinformation and incitement from Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Prison Planet, Americans for Prosperity, and the rest of the right-wing machine," as our friends at ThinkProgress put it.

[The costs are real; what is the measurable climate "benefit"?] Carbon capture to cost $3B a year to succeed

CALGARY - If capturing and storing industrial carbon emissions is to succeed as a climate change strategy, Alberta and the federal government will have to provide as much as $3 billion a year for an undetermined length of time, says a provincial report released today.

GLOBAL: IPCC to help prepare for short-term climate extremes [Should we come inside when it's raining?]

JOHANNESBURG, 21 July 2009 (IRIN) - In a significant move, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international body of climate change experts, is set to produce a "how to" manual for policy-makers and disaster officials on managing the risks of extreme weather events and bolstering resilience, to promote adaptation to global warming.
...
The report is expected to be released in 2011.
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These nations have regularly asked what "portion of disasters can be attributed to anthropogenic climate change [caused by man] compared to existing climatic variability?, said van Aalst and Mitchell.

In the IPCC scoping paper, the panel's officials acknowledged that reducing vulnerability to climatic variables could improve resilience to the increased hazards associated with climate change.

Global warming to push future championships indoors | Sports | Reuters

ROME (Reuters) - The ongoing world aquatics championships in Rome could be the last held outdoors after governing body FINA said on Friday they want indoor venues in future because of global warming.

"It is clear the weather is developing. We know things are getting hot around the world," FINA executive director Cornel Marculescu told a news conference.

"It's very difficult for us to organise this type of magnificent event outdoors. We are definitely going to indoor venues in the future."

Pool attendance dives in cold July - Peoria, IL - pjstar.com

Attendance at park district pools is down 55 percent so far in July, said Sue Wheeler, supervisor of aquatics for the Peoria Park District. And it is down 40 percent for the entire summer.

Lakeview has closed or partially closed 13 days this month alone, and other park district pools normally follow its lead.

"We've been hit pretty hard," said Wheeler, who's been aquatics manager for the last 17 years. "I haven't seen a summer like this."

Chuck Schaffer, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Lincoln, said temperatures have been running six degrees below normal for the month.

"We are running the coldest July in record, so far," he said.

Newsmax.com - Sens. Kerry and Boxer to Palin: Get Real on Energy

Palin isn’t the only one opposed to cap and trade. “This is just going to destroy a lot of jobs,” financial author Stephen Moore told CNBC.

“I call this cap and trade bill the India and China redevelopment act, because all those jobs are going to move there.”

Popular faith in Obama dwindles amid setbacks | The Australian

Charlie Cooke, respected commentator and author of online newsletter The Cook Political Report, says Obama's health and climate change agendas are too expensive at a time when voters are not willing to shoulder any more tax burden. He predicts Obama will drop his preferred "public option" for health insurance.

He also predicts the heart of Obama's climate change plan on carbon emissions -- a cap-and-trade scheme -- could go missing from legislation that ultimately passes in the Senate.

Let's review Obama's proposed remedies

As time passes by, more and more information becomes available that casts more and more doubt on President Obama’s proposed remedies for global warming. Maybe that’s why Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and others, have pushed so hard for quick passage of the so-called cap-and-trade program.

AFP: EU ministers shun French carbon tariff proposal

AARE, Sweden — European ministers rallied on Friday against a French proposal to introduce so-called carbon tariffs on non-EU nations that fail to agree on a new global deal on climate change.

Emerging Energy News: Capping carbon emissions or capping the economy?

BILLINGS, MONT.: A "dreadful piece of legislation." That's how Kenneth Green describes the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, which has passed the U.S. House and is on its way to the Senate.

Green is a biologist and environmental scientist by training and is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He was the featured speaker during an Energy Users' Summit held Wednesday at Montana State University Billings. Green sees the bill, also known as the Waxman-Markey bill, not as a cap and trade on carbon but as a cap and trade on the economy.
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Even Rhyno Stinchfield, CEO of Montana Wind Resources, balked at giving his endorsement. The legislation would benefit his industry, he said, but as a Montanan he's wary of government involvement.

Pelosi Hits Throttle on Health Care Bill Despite Democrats' Concerns - Political News - FOXNews.com

Amid the intra-party struggle, Democratic consultant Dan Gerstein penned a column this week calling for Pelosi's ouster.

He told FOX News that on issue after issue, the speaker has hurt the president's efforts to set a new post-partisan tone in Congress.
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The cap-and-trade climate bill that recently passed out of the House and is now in the Senate is a "Frankenstein monster."

Dan Gerstein: Get Rid Of Pelosi - Forbes.com

On Pelosi's watch, Congress screwed up the president's stimulus plan, botched the oversight of the bailouts, rammed through a jerry-rigged, special interest-driven climate-change bill and is now sabotaging the president's top policy priority by producing health care bills that won't reduce health care costs...
...the most troubling finding in that poll for Democrats is about Pelosi: only 24% of Americans say they trust the speaker. That's 11 points lower than for Sarah Palin, who most Democrats contemptuously dismiss as a national joke.

What Senators Kerry and Boxer Got Wrong About Energy and Cap and Trade » The Foundry

The reality is that it will destroy 1.15 million jobs. Higher energy prices ripple through the economy producing slower economic growth and higher unemployment. The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis found that, for the average year over the 2012-2035 timeline, job loss will be 1.1 million greater than the baseline assumptions. By 2035, there is a projected 2.5 million fewer jobs than without a cap-and-trade bill. But Heritage isn’t alone in these estimates.

Krauthammer's Take - NRO Staff - The Corner on National Review Online

However, these guys who already are in conservative districts have swallowed hemlock on behalf of the president on cap-and-trade. They have been really wounded on that, extremely unpopular, and it didn't even pass in the Senate. So it was a wasted negative vote...

I'm not sure they want a second swig of that hemlock on health care.

The Death of the Carbon Fund ETF (ASO) – 24/7 Wall Street

XShares Advisors LLC has determined to liquidate its AirShares EU Carbon Allowances Fund (NYSE: ASO). This held much promise for the green investors and for those investors who might have needed some exposure to carbon offsets. Unfortunately, that promise never took off in trading volume.

[After the cash-for-clunkers money is spent, will there be a noticeable improvement in the weather?]

It is weighted heavily in favor of carmakers looking to unload unsold gas-gulpers on a skittish market. But Americans have an opportunity in coming months to turn it greener.

Carbon trading omen: Goldman Sachs’ legalized cheating « Green Hell Blog

If Congress enacts carbon trading through a cap-and-trade scheme, look for Goldman Sachs to figure out how to game the market at our expense.

Medicine Hat News - World leaders falling for global warming 'scam'

Kudos to Duane Roset. He's right. Global warming could be the scam of the century and many world leaders are falling for it.
In response to Ken Gousseau's interview with Dr. Sue Higgins: Where were the tough questions? This interview was so blah I almost fell asleep reading it.
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I challenge Dr. Higgins to a debate with Dr. Tim Ball, Ph.D. (historical climatologist from the University of London, England). Dr. Higgins can arrange the time and place and I will make the arrangements. If she refuses, it wouldn't surprise me as no one has consented to debate Dr. Ball, including Dr. David Suzuki.
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Gert Murray, Medicine Hat

The Summer of '09: What global warming?

The family and I were supposed to go on vacation in northern Saskatchewan in mid-June. A few days before we were to fly out we received a phone call from the camp’s owner who said we’d have to postpone the trip. The lake was covered by four feet of ice!

So, we went there a couple of weeks back. Not surprisingly, the lake still had mammoth sheets of ice floating on it on July 11. Mind you, this was not the tundra. It’s a lake that’s normally ice-free by the end of May.
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Most people in Middle America are practical souls and have never fully believed in the nonsense and fear mongering of the Inconvenient Truth and its zombie-like following in academia and the media. But, sadly, policy-makers aren’t so logical and have tuned-out the not-so-hot real world. They continue to believe in the questionable science of Gore’s doomsday prophecy while pushing for equally-cartoonish and oppressive regulations such as CAFE and Cap-and-Trade.

Rudd pushes for climate talks at G20 meeting | The Australian

KEVIN Rudd is trying to lift climate change on to the agenda of the global financial crisis meeting of the G20 meeting of nations in Pittsburgh with US President Barack Obama in September.

Can Carbon Sequestration be 'Leased'?

f you plant trees to earn carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol, you'll earn temporary Certified Emission Reduction (tCER) certificates, which expire after a few years to reflect the perceived fragility of carbon captured in plants. They've proven unpopular with buyers, and sell for a fraction of the price of normal CERs. The United States, however, may use five-year term offsets for land-use offsets under its cap-and-trade scheme, and sellers say lower prices are fine with them. Here's why.
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So, what can we expect from the US as we move towards Copenhagen? The climate-change science certainly isn't changing, and it's clear that a weaker climate bill would not be in anyone's best interest.

[How much money should be blown paying people not to cut down trees that they wouldn't have cut down anyway, in order to cool the planet [when this doesn't really cool the planet], when a warmer planet would probably be more desirable?] - Environmental Capital - WSJ

The problem: How can you tell when a forest is left alone specifically to fight climate change—in which case that inaction is worth billions of dollars–and when it is just left alone?

[Plus, we kind of wanted you to do this anyway]

"They (villagers) believe their acts would get the weather gods badly embarrassed, who in turn would ensure bumper crops by sending rains," Upendra Kumar, a village council official, said from Bihar's remote Banke Bazaar town.

"This is the most trusted social custom in the area and the villagers have vowed to continue this practice until it rains very heavily."" "Naked Girls Plow Fields For Rain"

Texas Agriculture Talks | Welcome to Texas Agriculture Talks!

Many folks have challenged Farm Bureau on our opposition to the cap and trade bill that recently passed the U.S. House and now faces action in the Senate. This bill promises to add a significant new level of costs to agricultural producers who are, of necessity, big users of energy. The sale of agricultural products occurs in an arena where there are many sellers and relatively few buyers. In that environment, farmers and ranchers are "price takers," not "price setters." There is no way to pass along increased costs, which is routine with most other businesses.

Despite concessions for agriculture in the final version of the House bill, the package is still a bad deal for farmers. There is little doubt it will force still more farmers to leave agriculture, and that’s a bad deal for America. Is there a point beyond which we cannot pile additional costs upon agricultural producers in the form of regulations and taxes and still hope to keep them on the land? I believe so, and the climate change legislation just may be the tipping point.

Wind farms risk becoming 'redundant symbols' warns CPRE - Telegraph

Trish Pemberton, of the National Association of Wind Action Groups, said the "human right" to enjoyment of the countryside was at risk.

"What is going to happen is we will end up with these monstrosities in the landscape when other renewables have been developed and they will not take them down," she said.

However, Maria McCaffery, Chief Executive of the British Wind Energy Association, insisted that wind farms will play a key role in meeting climate change targets without ruining the countryside.

"The most emotive issue around wind farms is the visual impact," she said. "The trouble is it is not the only consideration or the most important consideration. It has to be balanced out."

Wyatt: Hubris in climate change - Opinion Extra - The State

Avoid hubris. The global climate will change. It has in the past and will continue in the future with or without us. It is a part of our dynamic planet that makes life possible. We learn, understand, adapt and utilize.

Before we assume that not only are we the cause of global warming but also the cure, let us make sure the science is comprehensive and that we have the knowledge and wisdom necessary. As the writer of Ecclesiastes aptly states, "Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever".

Dr. Wyatt is a geologist and geophysicist in Aiken.

Twitter / Edward Brown

Obamcare and Climate change bill are OBAMAS twin bridges to NoWhere.

Why Climate Change Is Even Worse Than We Feared | Sharon Begley | Newsweek.com

...the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is already enough to raise the mercury 2 degrees. The only reason it hasn't is that the atmosphere is full of crap (dust and aerosols that contribute to asthma, emphysema, and other diseases) that acts as a global coolant. As that pollution is reduced for health reasons, we're going to blast right through 2 degrees, which is enough to ex-acerbate droughts and storms, wreak havoc on agriculture, and produce a planet warmer than it's been in millions of years. The 2-degree promise is a mirage.

The test of whether the nations of the world care enough to act will come in December, when 192 countries meet in Copenhagen to hammer out a climate treaty. Carlson vows that IPY will finish its Arctic assessment in time for the meeting, and one conclusion is already clear. "A consensus has developed during IPY that the Greenland ice sheet will disappear," he says. Cue the Jaws music.

May '07 - Newsweek Editor Suggests President Bush Is Mentally Ill - Brit Hume | Special Report

The senior science editor at Newsweek magazine has suggested that President Bush is mentally ill — writing that he is "in a state of denial" over the Iraq war.

Sharon Begley offers as proof the president's insistence the war will succeed, despite what she calls "setback after setback." She continues: "While it's always risky to psychoanalyze a politician from afar, a few things in his past are consistent with the capacity for denial."

[Worldwide weather to improve soon!] | Nike Won't Use Leather From Amazon-Bred Cattle

In a statement, Nike said its Brazilian leather suppliers have until next July 1 to "create an ongoing, traceable and transparent system to provide credible assurances that leather used for Nike products is from cattle raised outside of the Amazon Biome."

"We understand how important rainforests are to the health of the planet and the implications deforestation has on climate change and global warming" the statement added.

Jan. '09: New Jungles Prompt a Debate on Rain Forests - NYTimes.com

By one estimate, for every acre of rain forest cut down each year, more than 50 acres of new forest are growing in the tropics on land that was once farmed, logged or ravaged by natural disaster.

“There is far more forest here than there was 30 years ago,” said Ms. Ortega de Wing, 64, who remembers fields of mango trees and banana plants.

Can we really make the drive-thru a source of power? | Grist

The technology, the company says, is the cousin of that used in hybrid cars, but it’s installed on the street, soaking up the heat generated by an idling automobile and transforming it into electricity—possibly enough to power 250,0000 homes daily, if they could trap the heat generated by all 250 million cars on the road. And what better place to grab that heat than the drive-thru?

Skeptic's Corner: "Notable Quotes"

"If Climate Change is so serious that we would apply a $600 billion cap and trade 'tax' on energy in the US, and we all know this will be largely unsuccessful even if 'global warming' is real, why isn't the Navy getting extra funding to provide disaster recovery along the shorelines of the US in preparation for the awaiting climate caused calamities?"

2009: The year that Ben Stein became a climate realist

Feb 21, '09 - Ben Stein - The Dangers of ‘Cap and Trade’ - NYTimes.com

Indeed, President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency now seems likely to act within months to begin restraints on carbon dioxide. This move had been resisted by the previous administration.

Obviously, oil and gasoline are a big part of the emissions problem, and something needs to be done. I seem to have trouble breathing on too many days.

April 27, '09: Ben Stein: "Global Warming is By No Means Proved" : TreeHugger

Courtesy of Media Matters, actor and global warming denier Ben Stein told Fox News that "global warming is by no means proved." Mr. Stein added "Cap and trade is a nightmare, disaster, will benefit only the speculators."

July 24, '09: Ben Stein - The American Spectator : We've Figured Him Out

Now, we face a devastating loss of freedom at home in health care. It will be joined by controls on our lives to "protect us" from global warming, itself largely a fraud if believed to be caused by man.

How many influential people (and how many voters) have followed similar paths to climate realism over the last two years?

Youngstown, Ohio: This could end up being the coldest July on record

The average temperature for the Valley for the month so far is 65.9 degrees, 3.7 degrees lower than average, according to National Weather Service statistics.

If it doesn’t warm up, this would be the coldest July on record.

What caused The Arctic Warming of 1919-1939?

In recent years attention is being directed more and more towards a problem which may possibly prove of great significance in human affairs, the rise of temperature in the northern hemisphere, and especially in the Arctic regions. (Brooks, 1938)

At the time of the writing of these lines in 1938, the Arctic had got as warm as in the first decade of the 21st Century. How much do we know about the mechanism that caused the previous arctic warming? Not very much, as Bronnimann et a. acknowledged

[Stop snickering]: The IPCC Wants to be an "Honest Broker"

Such a role would be a very useful step forward for the IPCC, and a marked change from the role taken by its leadership in recent years, which has been to advocate for particular policies that are not evaluated or even discussed by the IPCC.

Jeff Reinartz: Global warming bill a tax on middle class

My question to all this would be that if these people really believed CO2 was warming the planet, as Mr. Gore claims, do you really think they'd let us buy our way out of it? If CO2 is really the threat to civilization they say it is, aren't they negligent in allowing us to go ahead and keep pumping it out as long as we pay for it?

California’s expensive carbon tax delayed « Green Hell Blog

California regulators postponed a final vote on implementing a statewide carbon fee because of litigation fears from taxing imported electricity, according to ClimateWire. The measure would tax electricity imported from the coal-fired power plants located just over California’s eastern border.

Regardless of the imported electricity issue, ClimateWire reports that the new fee would cost a California cement plant about $200,000 per year and an oil refinery about $1.3 million per year.

Climate Science: Roger Pielke Sr. Research Group News » A New Paper “A Case Study on Wintertime Inversions in Interior Alaska with WRF” by Mölders and Kramm 2009

The same type of inaccurate paramterizations is used in the multi-decadal global climate models that were used in the 2007 IPCC report.

Rasmussen Reports™: Today marks the first time Obama's overall approval rating has ever fallen below 50% among Likely Voters nationwide

Among those not affiliated with either major party, 37% offer a positive assessment.

Michelle Malkin » Ghoulish science + Obamacare = health hazard

Who is Holdren’s intellectual mentor, Harrison Brown? He was a “distinguished member” of the International Eugenics Society whom Holdren later worked with on a book about – you guessed it – world population and fertility. Brown advocated the same population control-freak measures Holdren put forth in Ecoscience. In “The Challenge to Man’s Future,” Brown envisioned a regime in which the “number of abortions and artificial inseminations permitted in a given year would be determined completely by the difference between the number of deaths and the number of births in the year previous.”

Brown exhorted readers to accept that “we must reconcile ourselves to the fact that artifical means must be applied to limit birth rates.” If we don’t, Brown warned, we faced a planet “with a writhing mass of human beings.” He likened the global population to a “pulsating mass of maggots.”

National Journal Magazine - Obama's Fate Depends On Perot's Voters

Inside the Beltway, we sophisticates understand the unforgiving congressional arithmetic that requires Obama to appease Hill barons and liberal interest groups. We understand the pressures that turn a cap-and-trade bill into a Christmas tree, that neuter efforts to consolidate fragmented financial regulation, and that strip cost controls out of health reform. To Perot voters, however, all this reeks of business as usual, which is precisely what Obama promised to, ahem, "change." They might forgive Obama for being a liberal if he governs effectively, but they are not likely to forgive him for being a conventional liberal. The face he is wearing is beginning to look an awful lot like Walter Mondale's.

Senate Dems Wrestle Over [idea to destroy the US economy with a trillion-dollar carbon trading scam layered on top of the greatest scientific fraud in history] - NYTimes.com

Diverging views about how to regulate trillion-dollar carbon trading markets that would grow under a cap-and-trade law have emerged as a major hurdle for Democrats trying to pass a climate bill this year.
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One former CFTC official said lawmakers are right to be concerned about creation of new carbon markets. "Those skeptical of carbon markets probably have a very strong ground to stand on," said Michael Greenberger, who headed CFTC's Division of Trading and Markets under President Clinton and is now a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law.

"My suspicion is that Dorgan and Cantwell see right now we are in the status quo situation with extreme volatility in crude oil, heating oil" and others, Greenberger said. "The carbon market is a market that will be sensitive to volatility, the physical commodity [what physical commodity?] will be shrinking while I expect, and others expect, the [underlying derivatives] market will be expanding. In a market of that sort I think the betting would be it would be an exceedingly volatile market."

[Wait a minute: To improve the world's weather, should I use my cell phone, or not?]

In a joint report entitled Carbon Connections, Vodafone and Accenture have concluded that wireless telecommunications have the potential to reduce carbon emissions by 113 Mt CO2e a year and cut associated energy costs by €43bn across the 25 EU countries in 2020.

Rodale Field Day Focuses on Carbon Trading | Lancaster Farming

KUTZTOWN, Pa. — Climate change is always a topic of discussion at the Rodale Institute. But now that the federal government is seriously considering climate change legislation, it’s taken on a whole new meaning.

At the “Cashin In On Soil Health” field day last Friday, which was attended by more than 100 people, Rodale’s CEO Tim LaSalle urged agriculture be more boisterous and involved in the overall discussion regarding climate change.

“We can be the largest single solution to climate change,” LaSalle said. “That is the message we need to educate people with and get into policy conversation.”

Obama's 'Green-Jobs' Guru: From Activist to Environmentalist | CommonDreams.org

"People talk about global warming. ... I want to cool the Earth down. I also want to calm the block down," said Jones.
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Now, he is the president's pitchman for green jobs, helping to coordinate government agencies focused on delivering millions of green jobs to the ailing U.S. economy.

"I see myself as the green-jobs handyman. My job is to make sure that the president's desire that we have literally millions of green jobs in our country actually turns into reality," said Jones.
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Critics, though, have serious concerns about the "green collar" agenda. They argue that those green jobs -- retrofitting homes to make them more energy-efficient, for instance -- will be mostly low-level and low-paying.

Waiting may be better for Democrats than losing on climate change or health care reform.

Taking the time to fix the problems in the health care and climate-change bills while waiting for enough good economic news to make people feel a bit more comfortable with new spending might not be the worst thing for Democrats to do. Waiting is not a great option for the Democrats, but it may be better than losing one or both of Obama's signature proposals or passing legislation that could trigger a disaster for their party in next year's midterm elections.

Carbon tax won't change anything - Letters, Opinion - Independent.ie

Who in their right mind could give credence to any party that would countenance such a ridiculous proposal?

The Greens' proposal to introduce a carbon tax is to assuage a small, elite minority.

It cannot achieve a meaningful reduction of greenhouse gases but its imposition will add more misery to 85pc of the travelling public and a further unnecessary burden on businesses already struggling to compete with countries that continue to have much lower taxes on their transport fuel.

Des Quinn

Granholm’s California-by-the-Lakes - Henry Payne - Planet Gore on National Review Online

To summarize then: Having required state utilities to generate 20 percent of their electricity from more expensive wind sources (a similar program in Denmark has driven power rates to 30 cents per kWh compared to Michigan’s current 8.5 cents), Democrats now may require the same utilities to cut their bills by 20 percent.

You heard that right: Granholm will require utilities to provide costlier energy — and cap the prices customers pay for it. Does anyone in the Michigan Democratic party know basic economics? They plan to artificially prop up demand at the same time as they artificially restrict supply: the only way to square that circle is to ration the product.

Barbara Boxer and John F. Kerry - What Palin Got Wrong About Energy

The truth is, clean energy legislation doesn't make energy scarcer or more expensive...
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The carefully crafted clean energy bill that we will present to the Senate, building on the Waxman-Markey legislation passed by the House, will jump-start our economy, protect consumers, stop the ravages of unchecked global climate change and ensure that the United States -- not China or India -- will be the leading economic power in this century.

By creating powerful incentives for clean energy, it will create millions of jobs in America -- building wind turbines, installing solar panels on homes and producing a new fleet of electric and hybrid vehicles.
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We are already working every day in the Senate to pass legislation that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil, create millions of clean energy jobs and protect our children from pollution. We respectfully invite Gov. Palin to join that reality-based debate -- one that relies on facts, science, tested economics and steely-eyed national security interests. Our country needs nothing less, and our planet depends on it.

Flashback: Obama: Energy Prices Will Skyrocket Under My Cap and Trade Plan | NewsBusters.org

…under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket…

USW’s Gerard blasts GE on ‘Buy American’ stance

The head of the United Steelworkers union has blasted General Electric Co.'s top executive for talking out of both sides of his mouth in touting the importance of a strong U.S. manufacturing base while at the same time opposing "Buy American" provisions and shifting large parts of the company's production offshore.

USW president Leo Gerard is specifically zeroing in on GE's long-standing practice of buying parts for products like wind turbines and jet engines from countries having the lowest costs, like China or India.

American Thinker Blog: The euphemistic White House

When skeptics began to question Al Gore's and his acolytes' hysterics over global warming during last winter's cold months--or even began to long for global warming--the non scientist hysteria mongers smoothly segued to warnings of "climate change." That simple phrase change covered all possibilities.

Waxman Blends Idealism, Pragmatism in Effort to Safeguard Environment and Health

Waxman has been prominent on Capitol Hill this year due to his co-sponsorship of a bill to reduce carbon emissions through a cap and trade system and his committee's role in reforming health care.

For cap and trade, Waxman said he would like the Senate to pass a bill quickly so any differences with the House version can be worked out in a conference committee.

He wants to ensure that legislation has passed before December's United Nations Climate Change Conference to boost President Barack Obama's leverage in obtaining an international agreement on carbon emissions.

My iron-clad weather forecast - Lee Hart

I shouldn’t always show disrespect for concern over global warming, but to be honest it is hard to pay it much heed, just by looking out the window.

It wasn’t too long ago – early July – they were scrapping frost off the windshields near Camrose, Alberta...

World religions join the fight against climate change - COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference Copenhagen 2009

"Green Islam" impresses the UN, as the effort to combat global warming receives support from an unexpected side.

The Takeaway: A Conversation with Secretary of Energy Steven Chu

[Chu] ...if the United States says this is where the new wealth creation will be, this is where we re-capture high-quality high-tech manufacturing, this is our future and, by the way, it’s also going to save the world.
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Katherine Lanpher: I would like your 90-second pitch on just how eminent the boiling point is with our climate.

Steven Chu: This is something that’s, 90 seconds, how eminent it is, the worst effects of what we’ve done today won’t be felt for 100 years. It’s very hard for the American public to understand this. If we continue doing what we’re doing, many climate models are saying there’s a 50/50 chance, if we continue as business as usual, we will be four to six degrees warmer, Celcius. That doesn’t sound like much. Let me remind you, where we are today, where we were in the ice age, it was only five to six degrees Centigrade colder. Very different world. Canada, United States down in Ohio to Pennsylvania, covered year-round in ice. A world four to six degrees Centigrade warmer will also be a very, very different world.

Just When You Thought Global Warming Couldn’t Get More Stupid, In Walks John Kerry | The Daily Instigator

Of all the ridiculous arguments in support of global warming legislation, this one has to be the most idiotic. John Kerry is leading a panel to determine how global warming threatens national security. What did they find? Well, that’s a little tough to pin down. All we get is vague and absurd warnings like “Crop devastation, melting glaciers, water shortages and displaced people will drag the military into conflict…” So – you guessed it – we must act now “to save the world!” If we don’t, these “climate conflicts” will melt the rainbows and make bunnies cry.

Any questions?

Michael Gerson : Obama, Science and God - Townhall.com

WASHINGTON -- According to one survey, just 7 percent of elite American scientists believe in a personal god -- the kind to whom you pray.

News Analysis - Scientists Welcome Obama’s Words - NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON — When he vowed in his Inaugural Address to “restore science to its rightful place,” President Obama signaled an end to eight years of stark tension between science and government.

The Associated Press: Obama says he prays 'all the time' for guidance

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says he's gone from praying nightly before going to bed to praying all the time because he has a "lot of stuff" on his plate and needs "guidance all the time."

Great Plains GOP Senators Say No To Cap And Trade – Talk Radio News Service

Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) firmly said that “this bill is not going to work in the Senate,” and claimed that it lacks “even a 5% chance of being successful.”

Sen. Johanns, formerly the Secretary of Agriculture under President George W. Bush, said that the legislation would hurt the economy, especially in agricultural communities. “The average farmer will never buy into the idea that maybe, just maybe, if they pay higher production costs and go through this regimen that is going to be established, that they might do better,” he said.

The Senators dismissed testimony given by the United States Department of Agriculture to the Agriculture Committee on Wednesday. “The USDA analysis…has holes enough to drive a grain truck through,” said Sen. Roberts. He said it was based on assumptions of the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency], which he argued is “driven by their agenda. I don’t think it is driven by accurate assessment…as to the effect on farmers and ranchers in rural, small-town America.”
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Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) questioned how effectively the legislation could protect the environment, arguing that other carbons will not act to cut carbon emissions, thus stripping the U.S. of competitive advantage in the marketplace. He said that the “costs are real and the savings are theoretical.”

KLA: USDA Projections For Cap-And-Trade Bill Come Under Fire - Cattle Network

Roberts and Johanns questioned how much pasture and cropland would shift into trees if a carbon offset market is created. Johanns suggested most of the income projected by USDA would go to forestry projects, while most crop and livestock producers would have no way of offsetting higher energy costs.

[Where's the data to back this claim?] « Climate Progress

Between 2007 — the record low ice extent — and 2008, some 2000 cubic kilometers of Arctic sea ice were lost.