Lawmakers' Global-Warming [Scam] Trip Hit Tourist Hot Spots - WSJ.com

WASHINGTON -- When 10 members of Congress wanted to study climate change, they did more than just dip their toes into the subject: They went diving and snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef. They also rode a cable car through the Australian rain forest, visited a penguin rookery and flew to the South Pole.

The 11-day trip -- with six spouses traveling along as well -- took place over New Year's 2008.

Other legislators agree it wasn't all fun and games. "There are a lot more glamorous things to do than hang out on the South Pole," said Rep. Frank Lucas, an Oklahoma Republican who traveled as well. "I never want to wear that many clothes again."
...
For Mr. Baird, the trip was one of two such excursions in six months. Last summer, he went to the Galapagos Islands with several lawmakers, also to gain expertise in climate change.
...
On the last night of their 11-day trip, the lawmakers stayed at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki. The spokesman for Mr. Baird said he would have been "every bit as happy camping as staying in a hotel."

Flying Blind: Dems Private Plane Hubris | NBC Washington

...the jet fiasco is a perfect example of how Democrats have become their own worst enemies. There's no more perfect a symbol of an out-of-touch politician than one using the public purse to gain even greater social distance from the people that they purport to represent. Appropos of Leona Helmsley who famously said that, "Only the little people pay taxes," House Democrats now must believe that commercial air travel is also only for "the little people."

Another mission for Obama: Corral the members of his own party before they help drive him over a cliff -- or fly him directly into the sun.

Crew Log 57 - [Northwest Passage]

Considering that Franklin and the 128 chaps with him were never seen or heard from again, and that we're currently, you know, more or less encircled by ice in the Arctic, some might question the choice of Resolute for comforting bedtime reading...even though we try hard not to judge at Casa Herb.)
...
It's cold, a brisk 33-degrees, and after the deck is tidied up the crew happily retreats to the confines of our enclosed cockpit.

At last, man-made climate change is a threat - engineered by the global-warming fanatics themselves - Telegraph Blogs

As always, scientific lunacy marches hand-in-hand with entrepreneurial opportunism: people are already making vast fortunes out of the climate change hysteria and the environmental wideboys and complicit scientists have realised this is a dripping roast of billions, even trillions, of dollars and pounds to be extracted from gullible taxpayers. Global warming will not kill us, but the fanatics and know-all scientists could well do so.

Let's hold a few town hall meetings to see if American voters like this idea

UN climate change deal needs more sacrifices by West, John Prescott warns | Environment | The Guardian

Vital UN climate change talks in Copenhagen are likely to collapse unless rich nations agree a "social justice deal" built around equalising emissions per head in each country, according to the former deputy prime minister John Prescott.
...
Prescott will also stage an international conference from 28 September on the principles of a deal for Copenhagen, to be opened by Rajendra Pachauri, the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and addressed by Al Gore. The conference, organised by the Council of Europe, will have 65 states present.

Prescott is also going to lead a Gore-style campaign in schools in October showing the film The Age of Stupid, starring Pete Postlethwaite, portraying a devastated planet in 2050 owing to world leaders' failure to act on climate change.

Schools Expand Green Courses and Majors | Newsweek Kaplan College Guide | Newsweek.com

Pfirman, for example, has taught a climate-change class at Barnard for 15 years. She says more students than ever are coming to her department and they arrive more informed, having heard about global warming throughout their childhood. "It's a basic science class but more and more, students are asking for the policy applications," she says. "They see the problems and they want to figure out the answers."

Internews - Press Release - Nobel Prize Winner on Climate Change to Co-Host Internews Earth Journalism Awards in Copenhagen

Dr. Pachauri is recognized as one of the world’s greatest authorities on climate change.

Divvying up the booty | GlobalWarming.org

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing Tuesday on how to divvy up the booty (that is, allocate the ration coupons) under a cap-and-trade system. John Stephenson, testifying on behalf of the U. S. Government Accountability Office, noted the obvious: cap-and-trade works by increasing energy prices and that poor people feel the most pain because they spend a higher proportion of their incomes on energy than wealthier people.

Warning Signs: Seasoned Protesters

Crazy schemes to sell carbon credits in order to limit carbon dioxide seem like the most absurd notions to the elderly, many of whom moved to warmer climates in Florida and Arizona to get away from the cold winters of the northern states. Global warming? They’re for it!

With Friends Like This… Midwestern Democrats Fight Climate Policy | The New York Observer

This is a key issue, and if not addressed it has the potential to split the Democratic Party in two and to eliminate the possibility of climate regulation both here and throughout the world.

Wind Promises Blackouts as Obama Strains Grid With Renewables 

Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama’s push for wind and solar energy to wean the U.S. from foreign oil carries a hidden cost: overburdening the nation’s electrical grid and increasing the threat of blackouts.

The Real BS09 « the Air Vent

Today I received another form letter from Deborah Halvorson, my non-representative in Congress. I promised her that I would call attention to her shenanigans if she voted for the criminally corrupt cap and trade scam which has been in the works between Obama and his Soros funded friends since well before he was even an IL senator.

North Carolina Moves to Limit Wind Projects - Green Inc. Blog - NYTimes.com

The North Carolina State Senate has voted overwhelmingly to ban large wind turbines from the state’s scenic western ridgelines.

The 42-1 vote on Thursday represents the strongest stand against wind turbines taken by lawmakers in any state.

Meet the Mob «

You’ve heard a lot about this crazy, scary, vicious mob on some shadowy GOP payroll. By the way the DNC, Rachel Maddow, and President Obama talk, you’d think it was a motley crue of Hell’s Angels.

Let me introduce you to the mob

[This almost looks orchestrated to me, what with the coordinated clothes and the identical professionally-looking signs]: Protesters turn up heat on climate change issue

About 20 protesters sprawled across the sidewalk outside of Government House as premiers arrived for the Council of the Federation meeting.

Dressed in black with their hands painted blood red, the group lay down beside a banner declaring that the country is "dying for climate leadership."

Cap-and-trade bill should not be passed

The convoluted scheme is backed by environmental zealots, big-government statists and favor-seeking businesses. The environmental lobby is motivated by antagonism toward conventional economic development as much as by misplaced yearnings for a green utopia.

NY Times Wants a Gas Tax - Greg Pollowitz - Planet Gore on National Review Online

I wonder, however: Can the New York Times can stay in business under this plan? Higher fuel prices would drastically increase the cost of producing and distributing the Times and hit almost every aspect of the Times' business. Lower-margin smaller cars would mean less advertising money from the auto industry, as well.

Time for a new paradigm on climate change?

So, climate science, heavily influenced by global warming politics, continues to adhere to a central paradigm as described by Kuhn. Contrary evidence is clearly not going to be accepted as falsification. It will be fascinating to see what trends there actually are in climate over coming years and, if the predictions of renewed (and faster) global warming come to nothing, then what else will be necessary to cause the crisis which will lead to a paradigm shift. In the meantime, we have to hope that politicians do not take us too far down the road of trying to control the climate based on the current paradigm.

Chumps for Clunkers - Jerry Taylor and Peter VanDoren - Planet Gore on National Review Online

Sure, you think, it’s obvious why people like Ted love it when you give them money.And it’s obvious why autoworkers love it when you pay people to buy the cars that they make. But you’re not sure why anyone else should love this idea.

Mr. President, Americans are not an 'angry mob' | Washington Examiner

During his campaign last year, the president famously told his supporters to "get in the faces" of those who disagreed with his vision for America. One of his Chicago mentors recalled in a 2007 New Republic profile that Obama, as a community organizer, was "the best student he ever had, a natural, the undisputed master of agitation" to gain political power. Sadly, now that he has it, he is turning it against those who oppose him.

The Reality Check » Blog Archive » Your carbons and your life: A look at the death dealers for a better tomorrow

The man-made global warming policies of the Barack Obama administration, such as Cap and Trade, are starting to receive sharper scrutiny as more focus is being placed on the tremendous cost of implementing Obama’s quest for a carbon reduced, “better tomorrow.”

Oh the Times, It’s Still A-Changin’ - Chris Horner - Planet Gore on National Review Online

It’s all good, though. The issue of whether President Obama asks the Senate to ratify Kyoto II may never rear its head. We know from the Guardian and domestic trade press that the Obama administration is telling the Europeans that he likes the advice some transationalist-types are giving him, and that they should prepare to extend the Kyoto II timetable in the event the president needs to ready his domestic case for declaring Kyoto II “not a treaty” — to get around that pesky constitutional requirement he’s skirted on so many other occasions (hint: “more Czars than a Romanov portrait gallery”).

Climate Change: Harry Reid Will Determine Carbon-Permit Allocations - Environmental Capital - WSJ

One of the most important issues in drafting climate-change legislation is figuring out who gets free carbon-emissions permits worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

The House already did that, by committee. In the Senate, majority leader Harry Reid will be calling all the shots.

June '08: YouTube - Harry Reid Says "Coal Makes Us Sick"

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) proclaims that the hidden cost of coal and oil is that they make us sick.

Congress Gets an Upgrade - WSJ.com

WASHINGTON -- Congress plans to spend $550 million to buy eight jets, a substantial upgrade to the fleet used by federal officials at a time when lawmakers have criticized the use of corporate jets by companies receiving taxpayer funds.

The purchases will help accommodate growing travel demand by congressional officials. The planes augment a fleet of about two dozen passenger jets maintained by the Air Force for lawmakers, administration officials and military chiefs to fly on government trips in the U.S. and abroad.

Reality check: Trucks win in Cash for Clunkers game - Aug. 7, 2009

Because of distorted sales figures, Ford's Escape cross-over SUV, not the Focus small car, tops the list for most popular 'clunker' buy.

Frost on the sweet corn? Not quite, but July was chilly in Minnesota - TwinCities.com

July saw the Midwest's lowest average temperatures on record, according to the Midwestern Regional Climate Center, which covers nine states. From Ohio to Missouri, temperatures averaged 68 degrees, or 4.7 degrees below normal.

For Minnesota, the mean statewide temperature for July was the third-lowest on record, coming in at 64.1 degrees — about 4.8 degrees below the average temperature dating back to the 1890s. The record was 62.2 degrees, set in 1992.

[Intrade: Another record low (11)] - A cap and trade system for emissions trading to be established before midnight ET on 31 Dec 2009

Minnesota: Can crops catch up to beat the first killing frost?

ST. PAUL -- Minnesota's crops are running eight to 11 days behind schedule and Mark Seeley doesn't know when they'll make up that time.

The latest forecast from the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center calls for continued cooler than normal temperatures through October with equal chances for above, below or normal precipitation.

Seeley, University of Minnesota professor in the Department of Soil, Water and Climate and Extension climatologist, said this is only the third or fourth time in his 32 years at the university that farmers are worried about the corn crop maturing before the first freeze.

John Kerry to coal: Surrender or face destruction « Green Hell Blog

Translation: If the coal industry stops fighting the green mob, it will get taxpayer welfare for the rest of its days. If it doesn’t, the green enforcer (EPA) will rub it out.

Polar Bear Bath Plug

The Polar Bear Bath Plug floats on top of your bath water, meanwhile the plug on the other end should keep the water in your bath. This Polar Bear might be a perfect reminder that the ice caps are melting and we should take some action to save energy and stop global warming. $28.

Libs ready to lock horns on emissions | The Australian

Senator Joyce said he would vote against the government's scheme next week and again in November, "even if it means losing my Senate leadership".

“Debunking Climate Change Myths”

August 13, 2009
Ramada Oasis Hotel and Convention Center
Springfield, Missouri

List of scheduled speakers at the event above

Climatologist Dissents: 'I am ashamed of what climate science has become today' [PDF]

Are climate skeptics psychologically maladjusted? : Stop The ACLU

Psychologists are overwhelmingly Leftist. I know. I have a doctorate in psychology and used to teach it and have had many articles published in the academic journals of psychology. And psychologists have been trying to prove that conservatives are mentally inadequate in some way since at least 1950 — with a singular lack of success if you insist on normal scientific standards of proof. See here, for instance. So it was only a matter of time before they attempted to tar climate skeptics with the same brush. The article below seems to be an attempt in that direction

Screaming Deniers are Getting What They Deserve: Victory

I hope we can organize to defeat the Deniers.

ORGANIZING THE 'WRONG' COMMUNITY - New York Post

Get this: The party of "community organizers" is now whining that President Obama's critics are organizing communities -- against his health-care scheme.

The nerve of 'em, huh?

[And don't even get them started on those potential CO2-spewing grandchildren]: Having Children Brings High Carbon Impact - Green Inc. Blog - NYTimes.com

“Clearly, the potential savings from reduced reproduction are huge compared to the savings that can be achieved by changes in lifestyle,” the report states.

[From people who think they're taking the high road, while promoting the greatest scientific fraud in history] « It’s Getting Hot In Here

There’s a lot of negative energy out there, with tea-baggers disrupting town halls, lobbyists forging fake letters, and a the growing frenzy that seems to be engulfing politics in this country. If this is how the fight for clean energy and health care reform is going to be won, and we feel like we have the people and resources to make our case strongly, than we need to step up to this challenge today.

But lets keep something in mind: we will never win by being more ass-holish than the ass-holes. We’ll never be more sleazy, and we’ll never be as good at saying ‘No’. Even those of us that oppose the violent and dangerous coal industry are committed to offering peaceful and prosperous solutions. We, as a movement for clean energy, are positive, constructive force for change.

First Thoughts — A First Things Blog

Who would have guessed that psychology could help cool the planet? Seriously, is there anything our scientific overlords can’t do? And why didn’t we think to ask the psychologists for policy advice on climatology sooner?

All American Blogger » Two Rules From the Dem Playbook: Get In Their Faces and Punch Them Twice As Hard

[Obama] “I want you to argue with them and get in their face…”

Is Cash for Clunkers a "Threat" to the Environment and the Economy? | cleanskies.com

Clean Skies News monitors the Cash for Clunkers vote as the Senate may or may not invest an additional $2 billion dollars into the program. But Marc Morano of Climate Depot tells Clean Skies News this program has already caused job loss and will "steal from economic growth".

Climate Bill Success = Treaty Failure? - Dot Earth Blog - NYTimes.com

Is there a way to for Mr. Obama to move forward on both the domestic and international climate and energy fronts without one effort scuttling the other?

Weather, other factors add up to bad growing year - Peterborough Examiner - Ontario, CA

The slow start to summer and lack of heat has already shortened the growing period for crops like corn and tomatoes, Vanderwindt said yesterday.

Heart attacks more likely for people in cold weather

"A peak in (heart attack) onset in this population was observed at the passage of a cold front, but not a warm one," the study found.

Michelle Malkin » Roll call vote: Senate rejects Cash-for-Clunkers aid to charities and poor

Thought you be interested in this roll call vote on Sen. Tom Coburn’s proposal to allow traded-in Cash-for-Clunkers cars to be used to assist charities and poor families.

Twitter / bicyclism

It seems that (anthropogenic) climate change denial is now one of the world's few growth industries...

Investor's Business Daily -- Getting In Their Faces For A Change

Public Discourse: The candidate who told his supporters "to argue with them and get in their face" now finds the shoe on the other foot. So they're taking names and encouraging you to turn in your neighbors.

Investor's Business Daily -- Can Cap-And-Trade Save Planet For Just 'Postage Stamp A Day'?

Still, at the end of the day, would either cap-and-trade or the Plan B of Clean Air Act regulations really save the planet for pennies a day? Or are such claims too good to be true for both strategies?

Real Climate Enemies of Global Warming

It's almost too much to hear that the scientist who did this comes from the same 'tribe' of climate scientists that run Real Climate, a weblog devoted to climate issues. Started by a PR flack of Al Gore's, it is now a branch of the mysterious Fenton Communications, listed as a non-profit that doesn't disclose its sources of funding or its directors. Real Climate started out by providing a valuable primer or tutorial on the basic science of climate change, but has since spent much of its time defending the sloppy science of its contributors. It is this group, you may recall, that produced the infamous Hockey Stick, and several other flawed studies. In addition to defending themselves, they also find time to badmouth everyone who doesn't agree with them--which apparently keeps them too busy to thank a fellow scientist who was actually trying to help them.

American Thinker: Doing the Obama Hustle

Cap and trade, which sounds more like sports lingo, now only enjoys a half-life. If it's stymied in the Senate, it's one stillbirth that won't be lamented.

Democrats want to cap industrial emissions, drive up the cost of energy, and with higher costs, cap energy consumption. The "trade" part falls squarely on the shoulders of most every American not considered elite.

Americans are expected to trade prosperity and their standards of living for the satisfaction of helping 1) restore the Garden of Eden; or 2) return to the Dark Ages, or some approximation thereof. Democrats aren't very choosy, but they are quite nostalgic.

American Thinker: Two Hundred Days of Hope and Change

The president convenes federal legislators, as if they were his employees and not our protectors from executive abuses and tell them to come up with plans to submit to him. His floor leaders present unreadable and unread bills and twist arms to get congressmen and senators to vote for the bills -- how this is intended to mimic a legislative process is not clear: Why not just ask for a vote on Obama's Four Year Plan, details to come later?

Appeasing the Corn God - John Stossel's Take

So if we do get ObamaCare, don't worry. The Corn God will still be appeased.

Obama Campaigns With Candidate for Virginia Governor - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com

The event marked the first public meeting of the men since Mr. Deeds came from behind to clinch the nomination in June. Mr. Deeds’s choice not to appear with the president during two visits to the state by Mr. Obama in July fueled speculation that he wanted to distance himself from the president’s controversial health care and climate change proposals.

EPA DENIES SENATE REQUEST FOR COMPLETE ANALYSIS OF WAXMAN-MARKEY

Sen. Inhofe: “In effect, EPA has refused to provide members of Congress, as they prepare for meetings and events with their constituents over the August recess, with critical information on the Waxman-Markey energy tax and how it will affect jobs in the Midwest, South, and Great Plains, as well as food, gasoline, and electricity prices for all American consumers.

American Thinker: The Real Climate Agenda

For the first time since America's incarnation, it will then be the official, codified policy of the federal government that the present generation must have its liberty and prosperity diminished without limits; and for the next generation, the American Dream will become criminalized. All in the name of a non-existent climate crisis.

War is upon us whether we will it or not. It is time to become angry. It is time to engage. As President Reagan said of winning the Cold War: "If not now, when? If not us, who?"

Homely Costs of Energy Conservation - WSJ.com

Banana Farm 2.0, as Mr. Lovins calls his updated digs, was renovated largely with equipment donated by individuals and companies eager to be associated with the project. Mr. Lovins says he doesn't know what the two-year renovation would have cost had he had to pay the full tab. But just a few of the major items would put the retail cost of the project well beyond $150,000.

Roger Pielke Jr. Challenges Joe Romm: Looking for Intellectual Improvement — MasterResource

This is an instance where bad behavior by Romm is backfiring on him and his sponsor, the Center for American Progress (CAP).

iowahawk: Know Your Town Hall Mob Agitators!

Behold the face of infiltrators and saboteurs, citizen! Look at the surly anti-American anger and carefully practiced dishevelment. Note that their signs are scrawled, fiendishly tricking cameramen into closeups. All are expertly handmade, an expensive graphic design luxury only affordable to their puppet masters in the drug and insurance cartels. Note these mobs are so well paid for their agitation that they actually arrived in their own cars and expensive non-matching t-shirts. Fishy? You bet! Report them at once!

Kausfiles : Keep Off the Astroturf!

If an "astroturfing" campaign gets real people to show up at events stating their real views, isn't it ... community organizing?

Real World Libertarian: Concern on Carbon Costs of Camel Cull.

[Viv Forbes] “At a carbon emission price of say $40 per tonne of carbon dioxide, the carbon tax on one million rotting camels would be about $28 million.

“If we add to that the actual cull costs of about $19 million and the carbon tax due on helicopter emissions and other activities, the total cost of the cull is about $50 million.

Tcktcktck? Tsk tsk tsk

Sigh. Welcome to NGO campaigning in 2009 - where it doesn’t matter whether you have anything to say, as long as you’re getting the donations, attention, members and airtime.

Climate Change Chocolate: Change Observer: Design Observer

...you can buy Climate Change Chocolate, a 3.5-ounce confection that, for $4.95, offsets 133 pounds of carbon dioxide — the average American’s daily carbon impact on the planet. “It’s a great way to treat yourself while washing away your sins,” says John Edson, president of Lunar Design, which created the chocolate bar for San Francisco–based TerraPass, a company that develops carbon-reduction products.

Pajamas Media » Humans and Their CO2 Save the Planet! » Print

Those who want to reduce the use of fossil fuels are the mortal enemies of the biosphere. They must be stopped at all costs! Write your senator at once!

'Cloud ship' scheme to deflect the sun's rays is favourite to cut global warming - Telegraph

Ships with giant funnels which travel the world's seas creating more clouds to deflect the sun's rays could help cut global warming, say scientists.

Crist may cancel summit on climate change - Political Currents - MiamiHerald.com

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Charlie Crist is cooling to global warming.

Under mounting criticism from fellow Republicans, Crist looks ready to cancel his climate-change summit and is backing away from advocating a ``cap-and-trade'' energy policy.
...
But Crist's plans were shredded by the Republican Legislature and his cap-and-trade proposal has been bashed as a ``tax'' by his Republican U.S. Senate opponent, Marco Rubio, who has been ardently courting the GOP's conservative wing.

``Well, it may be [a tax]. That may be accurate,'' Crist, who recently signed an anti-tax pledge, said Thursday.

Global Warming In Minnesota - For Real?

July was the third coldest on record for Minnesota.

Climate change advocates are having a hard time keeping people on board with their cause with the lack of 90 degree days this year.

Climate Change and Conservatives | Bill McKibben | Orion Magazine

I think the syllogism in many minds went like this: markets solve all problems; markets aren’t solving global warming; Q.E.D., global warming isn’t a problem.

The Age of Stupid

Please help by either investing (in which case you might get some money back in the future) or donating (in which case you definitely won't). Either way you'll be making a positive contribution to fighting climate change in the last few months we have left to prevent catastrophe.

[Lack of global warming and North Dakota flooding]: Report

The report also pinpoints the reasons the Red River Valley flooded: High soil moisture at freeze-up in late 2008, and a heavy snowpack in the United States was made worse by cold weather and thick, stubborn ice on the river and in culverts and ditches.

Flashback: Obama: North Dakota Flooding Is Because Of Global Warming

He said, “I actually think the science around climate change is real. It is potentially devastating. ... If you look at the flooding that’s going on right now in North Dakota, and you say to yourself, ‘If you see an increase of 2 degrees, what does that do, in terms of the situation there,’ that indicates the degree to which we have to take this seriously.”

Fervor evident at N.Y. health town hall - Victoria McGrane - POLITICO.com

Health care, at least here in this Republican-leaning upstate New York district, is proving far more contentious than the late June climate change vote. Massa voted against the cap-and-trade bill, telling POLITICO that calls to his office split 80-20 against it.

Idaho: Valley to break record low high Friday

Friday's high is expected to top out at only 67 degrees. That will obliterate the record low high for the date kept in Boise of 74 degrees set in 1976.

"It's very rare to get anything that cold for a high temperature in early August," Colin said. Earlier this week the area's low temperatures were warmer than Friday's expected high.

The American Spectator : Clinton's Hard Labor

Al Gore was not sufficiently glamorous for the role, Kim Jong-Il felt, according to the Washington Post: "The administration had wanted to send former vice president Al Gore to North Korea instead of Clinton; Gore is a co-founder of Current TV, which employs the journalists who were detained. But North Korea officials hinted that they wanted an envoy of Clinton's stature, sources said."

Long Debate Ended Over Cause, Demise Of Ice Ages? Research Into Earth's Wobble

ScienceDaily (Aug. 7, 2009) — Researchers have largely put to rest a long debate on the underlying mechanism that has caused periodic ice ages on Earth for the past 2.5 million years – they are ultimately linked to slight shifts in solar radiation caused by predictable changes in Earth's rotation and axis.
...
The melting was first caused by more solar radiation, not changes in carbon dioxide levels or ocean temperatures, as some scientists have suggested in recent years.

Paterson says New York will reduce ghg emissions 80%

Governor David Paterson signed an executive order today that establishes a goal to reduce 80 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions in the state by 2050. The executive order also creates a climate change council.

Congressman Markey Defends Climate Change Bill

“Yes, you can find deficiencies in the bill,” Markey conceded. “But this won’t be the last time we visit this. And we’ll be able to return to this in five or six years, and then in 10 years, and then in 15 years, to accelerate this revolution so that we’re the global leader.”

The so-called Waxman-Markey bill passed the U.S. House in June and is now pending in the Senate. Markey said he expects the legislation to become law by the end of the year.

Twitter / Tom Asiseeitnow

If Senate action on Cap and Trade is pushed to 2010 then there is time to fully expose the junk science behind the Waxman-Markey bill.

Foundation Center - Focus on [the climate swindle]

Large U.S. foundations invested $436 million to address climate change in 2007

[And it's only $14.99!: Buy this bag and reduce the chance of natural disasters!] | Project GreenBag™ Eco Friendly Organic Cotton Shopping Bag

A Project GreenBag comes to the rescue, letting you grab some last -minute wine and cheese, knowing you'll leave nothing behind but the bottle (which you could always make into a candle holder for the next impromptu picnic!).

Swerve Left: Robert Entman on global warming coverage

As is true of traditional national security issues, pure democracy here is neither desirable nor possible.

Farmers' Summer Frustrations Continue | News Talk 650 CKOM

It's been one problem after another for Saskatchewan farmers this summer.

The mercury dipping dangerously close to freezing is creating more headaches. A handful of communities, including Saskatoon, set new records for overnight lows earlier this week.

Grant McLean with Saskatchewan Agriculture says there haven't been any reports of frost, but it remains a big concern.

Climate Baptists and Carbon Bootleggers « The Enterprise Blog

...this is a sterling example of what economist Bruce Yandle calls the “Baptist and bootlegger” phenomenon. As Yandle explains, both Baptists and bootleggers favor closing liquor stores on Sunday. The Baptists reduce the risk of their parishioners (or clergy) showing up for services drunk, while the bootleggers get to charge higher prices when they sell hooch in a black market. Meanwhile, honest business store owners get the shaft.

In Waxman-Markey, NRDC is the climate Baptist, true believers who want greenhouse gases controlled no matter what they have to do, or whom they have to work with. Edison Electric is cast in the role of the bootlegger, who’ll be happy to use regulation to cripple their competitor and increase their bottom line.

Let Freedom Ring » Blog Archive » Peterson Changes Tune, Walz Spins Cap & Tax

If you take Rep. Peterson’s statement literally, which you shouldn’t do, it’ll give you intellectual whiplash. If Speaker Pelosi gave Rep. Peterson “everything I wanted in agriculture”, why does the bill “still needs some more work”?

This is Peterson doublespeak. He initially said that he wouldn’t support the bill because of the damaging effects it would have on farmers. Then it becamse a close vote and Speaker Pelosi required his vote. At that point, they threw a few trivial provisions to him to get him to roll over and play dead. This Peterson did like a good puppies should do.

Climate Research News » Enjoy Outgoing Greenpeace Head’s Interview Struggle

It’s not often that a well informed interviewer asks challenging questions about climate alarmism and energy policy reality, especially on the BBC. All too often the likes of Greenpeace are allowed to make absurd statements on science and policy unchallenged. Enjoy some ‘global squirming’ from the outgoing Executive Director of Greenpeace International, Dr Gerd Leipold, whilst being interviewed on BBC News HARDtalk by a clued up Stephen Sackur. Possibly my favourite part was where Leipold was forced to admit that Greenland’s ice wouldn’t melt by 2030, depite a Greenpeace PR claiming that it could. His “I don’t read all the PRs” line had me rolling with laughter. Of course, CRN knows that it would take millennia to melt Greenland, even if warming continues. As expected, Leipold attacked lifestyle, economic growth and energy use, which is what climate alarmism is really a shield for.

They Don’t Think Much of You, Part II - Chris Horner - Planet Gore on National Review Online

Rep. Collin Peterson Tells Minnesota Farmers That “He Wouldn’t Want the [Cap-and-Raid] Bill That Passed the House to Become Law” — You Know, The One He Teamed Up With Waxman to Pass.

Arctic Ocean may be polluted soup by 2070 - environment - 06 August 2009 - New Scientist

WITHIN 60 years the Arctic Ocean could be a stagnant, polluted soup. Without drastic cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions, the Transpolar Drift, one of the Arctic's most powerful currents and a key disperser of pollutants, is likely to disappear because of global warming.

Al Fin: Peak Oil: Meet North Dakota Oil

Peak oil catastrophe and climate catastrophe are two useful facades to facilitate the agenda. North Dakota is an awkward counterpoint to the talking points. There will be more -- many more. This is a time for those persons who have escaped the academic and media camps with their intellectual curiosity intact, to start paying attention. Things are soon to become interesting.

Walking the Green talk — Hot Topic

To label this alarmism is wrong. I’ve not felt Greenpeace is pushing the boundaries in its warnings. It doesn’t need to. Leipold made it clear in the interview that the science has continued to move in the directions that Greenpeace has drawn attention to. Catastrophe is not an inappropriate word to use when pointing to the result of carrying on with business as usual. There is nothing to retract.

Open Passage Expedition

The first ice I’ve seen on the trip announced itself with an angry growl when an unseen chunk grinded against the ship’s bow.
...
Of course, those were much colder times and we’re expecting to stay at Banks Island for days, not years. Although, if all this passing ice is any indication, we may be in for an unwelcome surprise.

Roger Pielke Jr.'s Blog: Common Decency Goes a Long Way

Here is another tone-deaf incident involving the activist wing of the climate science community that has the effect of making the entire enterprise look corrupt. The short story is that a professor from Ohio State found an error in a paper on Antarctic temperature trends in Nature. He published his analysis of the error on the blog Climate Audit and sent a gracious note to the authors letting them know of his discovery.

What did the authors do? They turned around and submitted the correction to Nature as their own work, and then had it published under their own names without so much as an acknowledgment to the Ohio State professor who actually did the work and made the discovery of the error. In academia this sort of behavior is called plagiarism, pure and simple.

Twitter / Cameron Dueck [Northwest Passage expedition]

blowing from the north, forecast calls for snow...oh where oh where shall we overwinter?

BUST Magazine

The Bitches on Bikes are saving the world, one issue at a time. They’ve joined the Wind Power Pedalers Climate Ride Team to help raise awareness on climate change and renewable energy.

Liberal Congressional Leaders Buy Luxury Jets, Trash the Environment | GlobalWarming.org

Congress plans to spend $200 million on luxury jets for liberal House leaders, even though it earlier denounced the automakers for having corporate jets, and even though the luxury jets the House plans to buy emit vast amounts of pollution and greenhouse gases. Now they’ll be able to go on foreign junkets and hob-nob with wealthy lobbyists in style.

Victor Davis Hanson » Prairie-Fire Anger

The approval ratings on nearly every one of the President’s key policy initiatives—cap-and-trade, health care overhaul, government take over of industry and finance, deficit spending, stimulus—are already less than half of polled voters. Obama’s own popularity has fallen dramatically and hovers near fifty percent. A number of well-publicized town meetings have erupted in shouting, as administration and congressional representatives try, often in condescending fashion, to explain the Obama agenda. The Republicans—written off just a few weeks ago as an obsolete party headed for oblivion—are now often polling higher in generic surveys than are Democrats.
...
In other words,  a great number of people are scared of these new versions of Al Gores and John Edwardses who live one way, and quite shamelessly preach another. I don’t think anyone in this green administration is going to be chauffeured to work in a Civic. Few will put their kids in the DC school system as they oppose vouchers. None would be happy in an environmentally-correct 1200 square foot home, with an ideal carbon-footprint, as they preach cap-and-trade taxes on energy for apartment dwellers.

Cap and Trade: Ten Democratic Senators Call for Carbon Tariffs - Environmental Capital - WSJ

Today, ten Democratic senators sent President Obama a letter demanding a “level playing field” for U.S. manufacturing in any climate plan. In plain English: If you want your climate bill, you better include “carbon tariffs” to make sure U.S. jobs don’t scurry off to unregulated China.

The list of senators includes some heavyweights, but all are swing votes for the bill—Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin of Michigan; Robert Byrd of West Virginia; Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania; Evan Bayh of Indiana; and Al Franken of Minnesota. Without the support of these lawmakers, you can stick a fork in the climate bill—it’s done.

Economy Mimics Global Climate Change

And this is exactly what you would expect from the strange disappearance of spots on the sun that has made me crazy with fear in the last year or so as it developed, which is admittedly not the only thing that has made me crazy in the last year or years or decades, but the sun is the source of the earth’s energy, and when something happens to the sun, it is Important Freaking Stuff (IFS) in that all-important weather way that, Chaos Theory-wise, affects everything.

SpaceWeather.com -- Quiet sun

Indeed, the sun is being remarkably quiet. After a promising eruption of sunspots in early July raised hopes that Solar Cycle 24 was gaining strength, the sun reversed course and retreated to peaceful slumber. Only four weeks after behemoth sunspot 1024 amazed onlookers, solar minimum has never seemed deeper. The sun's 77% rate of spotlessness in 2009 confirms the ongoing minimum as a century class event.

Guess What 'Cash for Clunkers' Is Costing You - FOXNews.com

Add up all the various government costs of administrating the program and it will likely come to several hundred million dollars, which makes the true taxpayer cost of each clunker approximately $6,000.

In addition to the high costs comes tremendous execution risk in the Clunker program and the likelihood of fraud. Perhaps, one of the most disturbing parts of the Clunker program is that the recipient of the $4,500 doesn't need to provide a Social Security number. So, it is possible for illegal immigrants, as well as resourceful folks from Canada and Mexico, to cross our borders, trade in their clunkers, and get American taxpayer dollars. But don't expect anyone in Congress to admit that taxpayers are paying around $6,000 to provide a $4,500 rebate for a foreigner or illegal immigrant to buy a new car.

Climate Bill Dead: The Answer is Blowing in the Wind

The death of this bill gives us a chance to get it right: transition to renewable energy.

Obama wants tort lawsuits over CO2 « Green Hell Blog

President Obama apparently intends for the proposed EPA endangerment finding on CO2 to spur tort claims against emitters.

'Serious' climate talks hinge on U.S. bill: lawmaker | Reuters

One of the challenges facing the climate bill is the crowded legislative agenda. U.S. President Barack Obama has also made health care reform a top priority -- leaving Congress to take on a thorny and emotional issue that Americans have been debating for decades.

"These are the top two priorities of the President and the Congress and so they're going to be moving along simultaneously this fall within the legislative process," Markey told reporters after his speech. "Each of them will require, to some extent, success on the other. It's important for us to move forward on these together because the opponents of them are using both bills as reasons why President Obama is taking us in the wrong direction and we have to make the counter-argument that it's why he's taking us in the right direction."

GeorgeAllen.com » Blog Archive » ‘Consensus’ Takes Another Hit…

Respected scientists in Germany will disseminate their views with the modern day Gutenberg press, the internet. Maybe they will start a present day Reformation.

-George Allen

The Ugly Numbers for Global Warming Legislation

Once again, class: Everyone wants to ensure our kids grow up in a clean environment. Some just want to bankrupt us while doing it, and some of us would prefer a more logical route.

Herbert may keep four-day workweek - Salt Lake Tribune

This summer, state workers also got serious about reducing personal energy use on the job -- by unplugging phone chargers and microwaves at night, and turning off computers and printers at the end of the work day, for example.

Roger Pielke Jr.'s Blog: From Science Arbiter to Issue Advocate

One of the arguments that I develop in The Honest Broker is that there are strong incentives for a scientific organization to slip into advocacy, either explicitly or in a "stealth" manner (i.e., by arguing political preferences through science).

In case you missed it: Inhofe Eulogizes Waxman-Markey - Edward John Craig - Planet Gore on National Review Online

And when all is said and done, the American people will reject it and we will defeat it.

[If I say I believe in global warming, will you give me someone else's cookie?] | The Dallas Morning News

The Obama administration handed out $2.4 billion in grants to companies that will help make advanced batteries and electric vehicles. None of the companies are in Texas.

Perhaps this is just bad luck. Or maybe the Austin companies vying for the grants, Valence Technology and ActaCell, turned in weak bids.

Or, maybe this is what happens when top state politicians deny that humans are contributing to global warming, and tell the feds that Texas can handle its own energy issues just fine.

Kiwi takes climate [swindle] hotseat for Deloitte - Business - NZ Herald News

The irony of criss-crossing the world in carbon-emitting aircraft as he advises clients on how to move to a low-carbon economy is not lost on Nick Main.

The local chairman of Deloitte has been picked for a new role in London heading the firm's climate change and sustainability services.

British Enviro Regulators Try To Sweat it Out, Throw in Towel - Environmental Capital - WSJ

Pity the poor junior staff left behind in the U.K.’s Department of Energy and Climate Change this summer.

While the ministers are on holiday, those remaining at DECC sweltered indoors in muggy London August temperatures after the air-conditioning was switched off to raise the building’s energy rating from its rock bottom position.
...
The air conditioning has since been switched back on after staff complained.

Is Texas a Wind-Power Success or Failure? - Environmental Capital - WSJ

The Lone Star state famously leads the U.S., itself the world leader, in wind power. But how much wind power—really—does Texas have?

Less than one-tenth of its official tally of more than 8,000 megawatts, says Robert Bryce in the Energy Tribune. That’s because wind power is a lot more fickle than other power sources, such as natural gas, coal, or nuclear power.

Energy Tribune - Texas Wind Power: The Numbers Versus the Hype

The punchline for the wind power business in Texas is that despite all the hype, the reality is that the Lone Star State will continue to rely on the same fuels that it has relied upon for decades: natural gas, coal, and nuclear.

The Daily Bayonet » Global Warming Hoax Weekly Round-Up, Aug. 7th 2009

Another week draws to a close, which means another weekly round-up. Discover Greenwich’s dirty secret, Australia’s war on camels, what makes this the best time to be a skeptic and why Americans should pay attention to Spaniards.

Rep. Chris Murphy's 'Congress on Your Corner' Crowd - Courant.com

Rep. Chris Murphy, D-5th District, drew a passionate crowd during one of his "Congress on Your Corner" sessions outside the Super Stop and Shop on Bushy Hill Road in Simsbury Wednesday, August 5, 2009. Police were called to move the crowd, which they estimated to be 120-150 people, from the front of the store to the side of the parking lot. There were no physical altercations.
...
[comment] Murphy is one of those cowards who is trying to avoid speaking with constituents who may disagree with his lapdog support of statist governmenty policies like a government-run health care system, and cap and trade. He thought a one-on-one strategy would allow him to avoid having to deal with crowds of constituents who oppose his socialist agenda. But it back-fired and he got an earful

Britain's energy crisis: How long till the lights go out? | The Economist

Many of Britain’s neighbours may find this rather amusing. Britain, the only big west European country that could have joined the oil producers’ club OPEC, the country that used to lecture the world about energy liberalisation, is heading towards South African-style power cuts, with homes and factories plunged intermittently into third-world darkness.

By Doug Fine -- Climate Change, Survivalism and a Post-Oil World - washingtonpost.com

...What if cap-and-trade and plug-in hybrids don't get here in time?

Suddenly the end of globalization and other apocalyptic visions of the planet's near future, once the purview of Idaho survivalists, are primetime stories on CNN. Mainstream suburban friends of mine who used to say that my experiment in neo-rugged-individualism was radically subversive have abruptly changed their minds. Now they just say it's radically unfeasible. Yet everyone seems to sense that 69-cent plastic garden buckets might one day be difficult to come by.

Weather stations give flawed temperature data, meteorologist claims | Washington Examiner

Researchers who have inspected climate monitoring stations across the U.S. have found that almost 90 percent of the weather monitoring stations have failed to meet National Weather Service requirements.
Anthony Watts, a retired meteorologist, and a team of over 650 volunteers, photographically documented 1003 out of 1,221 of the climate monitoring stations managed by the U.S. Weather Service. The results of this survey show that the temperature cited as proof of man-made global warming is laced with false biases in favor of alarmism.

BREAKING: Sprint announces the “eco-friendly” Samsung Reclaim | Wilsonbroadcast

Let me preface this post by saying that this whole “green movement” is a freaking scam. No company is making it easier for anyone to “go green” and buying a cell phone that’s made with recyclable materials doesn’t do anything for the environment. You’re still plugging it in to charge and they’re still churning them out in the same factory as their other phones. Rant over.

US retail sales fall on caution and cold weather - Times Online

Poor weather also deterred shoppers, with last month ranking as the coolest July in North America in 17 years.

Is Climate Change In Our Heads? » Pirate's Cove

Here’s a reason: a good chunk of people find the science of anthropogenic global warming to be a steaming pile of mule fritters, and the science behind that belief is convincing more and more people of such. Meanwhile, the hysterical rhetoric emanating from the True Believers is less and less convincing, especially in light of their leaders being climate hypocrites.

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JAMES M. INHOFE on the cap and tax swindle

...it was the Democrats who cut right to the chase; it was the Democrats over the last two years who exposed what cap-and-trade really means for the American public.

We learned, for example, from President Obama that under his cap-and-trade plan, "electricity prices would necessarily skyrocket."

We learned from Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) that cap-and-trade is "a tax, and a great big one."

We learned from Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) that "a cap-and-trade system is prone to market manipulation and speculation without any guarantee of meaningful GHG emission reductions. A cap-and-trade has been operating in Europe for three years and is largely a failure."

Get the Popcorn and listen now! Climate Depot's Morano featured on G. Gordon Liddy Show for Full Hour [MP3]

Heartwarming stuff from Texas - Sleeping giant awoken; citizen speaks out against "global warming nonsense"

YouTube - Town Hall with Rep. Pete Sessions

Amazing town hall meeting in Richardson Texas. Attendance was about double what could fit into the large conference room. These are just a few of the highlights.

[Ooh, that taunt has to hurt]: | The Australian

Yesterday, the government taunted the Liberal Party about its leadership. Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Mr Robb was a "climate change sceptic".

What if we simply disagree? | Herald Sun Andrew Bolt Blog

Hey, treating dissenters for psychological problems worked for the Soviet Union, too.

Hot Air » Blog Archive » Cornyn to Obama: Shut down Snitch Central

Jon Henke asked when the White House debuted its effort to collect information on political dissenters, “What, exactly, does the White House plan to do with this information?” A day later, John Cornyn has started asking the same thing from the Senate floor. Cornyn accused Barack Obama of acting in an unprecedented manner to stifle legitimate political dissent — and wondered aloud how long Obama would have remained silent had George Bush tried it

Dalai Lama [believes in the greatest scientific fraud in history]

Climate change poses a bigger threat to Tibet than current political pressures, the Dalai Lama told a top Swiss parliamentarian on Thursday.

YouTube - dalai lama

[Be careful what you pray for]: Swiss seek Pope's blessing to stop glacier melting | World | Reuters

ZURICH (Reuters) - After centuries of praying for a local glacier to stop growing, Swiss villagers are now seeking an audience with Pope Benedict to get his blessing for prayers against the global warming that is causing it to recede.

I Fail to See the Threat - Chris Horner - Planet Gore on National Review Online

...it's fair to say that international rent-seekers see us coming — and plan to milk you U.S. taxpayers for all that they can get. Because, you know, we cause the weather now. The government says so.

Flashback: Hillary Clinton apologizes in India for US “climate change mistakes” « Sister Toldjah

“We acknowledge now with President Obama that we have made mistakes in the United States, and we along with other developed countries have contributed most significantly to the problem that we face with climate change,” she said.

[Funny headline]: Drowning states ask world to stop global warming

THE world has fallen well behind in their race to find a formula to deal with global warming in time for December's Copenhagen summit, regional leaders have warned.

California Governor hopeful, Whitman, answers tough questions

After that the conversation shifted to more serious topics like AB32, California’s version of Cap and Trade which is Job killer. This question was brought forward by 14-year-old, Joe Naritelli, an incoming La Costa Canyon High School freshman.

[Meg Whitman, former Ebay CEO] explained that if she were governor, she would modify or revoke AB32 and acknowledged it was a job-killing piece of legislation.

Your say on emission cuts

Never forget that in the lexicon of politicians, green is another word for gullible, and if we fall for this scam we are very green indeed! Ian, Ebbw Vale

No. What we really want Gordo and co to do is admit that CO2 doesn't alter the climate and stop fleecing us with "green" taxes. Sid, Leeds

The TaxPayers' Alliance - Better Government: The Government misses its emission targets at the taxpayers’ expense

Thus, by not meeting the desired targets the Government could be required to fork up £20m-£40m. This is taxpayers’ money that won’t be allocated to defence or schools.

The CRC is not the only a drain on the public purse; its parent scheme costs the private sector an estimated £500m a year, a cost that eventually falls on the taxpayer.

Climate Research News » Atmospheric Residence Time of Man-Made CO2

With the short (5−15 year) RT results shown to be in quasi-equilibrium, this then supports the (independently based) conclusion that the long-term (100 year) rising atmospheric CO2 concentration is not from anthropogenic sources but, in accordance with conclusions from other studies, is most likely the outcome of the rising atmospheric temperature, which is due to other natural factors. This further supports the conclusion that global warming is not anthropogenically driven as an outcome of combustion. The economic and political significance of that conclusion will be self-evident.

PM tells Keisha: Stick to acting - National - NZ Herald News

Prime Minister John Key has told Whale Rider star Keisha Castle-Hughes to "stick to the acting" over her stance on climate change.
...
Mr Key also gave a blunt assessment of his expectations for next week's talks in Copenhagen.

When asked if he had any optimism for those talks, he said "not really".

Heliogenic Climate Change: I'm from the government and you can believe me

Ration and Tax is nothing but a gigantic taxation scheme, cloaked in a green veil of AGW alarmism based on laughable climate models, expected by the government to bring in trillions of dollars for greedy politicians to create more dependence and buy more votes. But as American businesses and taxpayers are slowly bled dry and tax revenues plummet, who's going to pay for the Ponzi scheme?

[Canada: Still more record-breaking cold]

We know it's been unseasonably cold this summer, but just how cold? Well, Environment Canada says Regina experienced its third coldest July in 100 years.

Wednesday, Saskatoon hit 2.9 degrees breaking a record from 1917, Rosetown was at 2.8 breaking their record from 1953, but the coldest was in North Battleford where they touched 1.9 breaking a record from 1932.

Top 5 green 'South Park' episodes, Nos. 3-1 | MNN - Mother Nature Network

When it comes to environmental satire, no show makes us laugh harder.

Hot Air » Blog Archive » Who We Are

We believe government should be punished for failing to live up to the expectations of its citizens, not the other way around. We don’t think people who destroy thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in market value should get a pass because they meant well. We’ve had enough of dodging a massive State that wants to organize, subsidize, penalize, and divide us. We refuse to pay tithe to a religion we don’t support, including the official State religion of global warming. We demand honesty, humility, and transparency from our public servants, no matter how many elections they’ve won. We won’t settle for making the only important decisions about our futures in the voting booth, once every couple of years.

Coal Feet: Carbon Capture and Storage Too Pricey, China Says - Environmental Capital - WSJ

Is China getting cold feet about clean coal? It certainly sounds that way. Bloomberg reports:

FT.com / UK - Abuse claim over Germany's car scrappage scheme

Criminals in Germany are buying tens of thousands of cars meant for the scrapyard and exporting them as they profit from a government subsidy intended to bolster the sale of new cars, a German police trade union has warned.

Mont Saint Michel Turbines Spark Village Wars in Energy Fight - Bloomberg.com

Organizers of a national petition that started this week demanded a debate on the economic justification for wind energy and the “visual blight” it creates in villages and at tourist sites such as Mont Saint Michel off the Normandy coast.

“Wind turbines have the potential to spark war in our villages,” said Yves Verilhac, the former director of a regional nature reserve who is spearheading the petition. “This is a complicated and highly politicized issue that needs further debate.”

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll - Rasmussen Reports™

Seventy-one percent (71%) believe the President’s policies have driven up the federal deficit. Fifty-four percent (54%) say that middle class tax cuts are more important than new spending on health care. Thirty-three percent (33%) now believe the country is heading in the right direction.

Defend green jobs! Smash ungreen jobs! | spiked

Environmentalists’ sudden interest in workers’ rights when the Vestas dispute unfolded was always unconvincing. Normally greens implicitly campaign for people to be thrown out of work.

Roger Pielke Sr. Research Group News » Comments On A New Paper “A Unified Modeling Approach to Climate System Prediction” By Hurrell Et Al 2009

This is an amazing admission. If “quantifying prediction skill becomes even more difficult” for decadal and longer time scales and that “we have no current method to prioritize or weight their impact in measuring uncertainty in predicting future climate change for temperature, precipitation, soil moisture and other variables of critical interest to society”, how is the proposed modeling approach to satisfy the “[d]emand for more accurate predictions of regional climate” as written by the authors in their abstract?

Will Russia Drill Off Florida's Coast?

Energy: As Russian attack submarines patrol our eastern seaboard, Moscow signs a deal to help Castro's Cuba drill for oil off the Florida coast. In Moscow and Havana, the cry is "Drill, Comrade, Drill!"

Flashback - Castro: Climate Change Is More Serious Than Financial Crisis

HAVANA – Former Cuban President Fidel Castro says that climate change is more serious than the international economic crisis that is the main subject of Thursday’s G-20 summit in London.
...
He added that while the Antarctic ice cap is melting at a faster rate, the skeptics are crying that “the scientists are exaggerating” and continue to dream “such feeble hopes.”

Northwest Passage update: Still closed

Twitter / Cameron Dueck

We're surrounded by hulking blue icebergs

Crew Log 55 - Booth Island, Canada

The ice chart shows some slight change but nothing really significant. I think we'll be waiting for the next few days.

Fiona Attempts Northwest Passage in 2009: Fiona Reaches Resolute

Eric was kind of thinking about heading south to "wait it out," "it" being the ice melt. Last night's talk with the Enviro Canada pilots and ice experts convinced him otherwise. They said the lower Peel/Franklin won't begin to be passable by regular vessels for "two to three weeks." They have been up here long enough to have a grasp on these things. Unless something interesting develops this may be our turning point. We may be heading back from here in a week or two. We'll see."

Map of one of the choke points

[red=ice]

IJIS Web Site--Sea ice running well above 2007

[Note that the Northwest Passage was closed in 2005 and 2006]

The fabled Northwest Passage remained closed in 2005. Arctic ice recovered a bit in 2006, and both passages remained closed.

[Note that the Northwest Passage was open many times in the years before 2007]

The Northwest Passage was successfully navigated in 1906, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1944, 1957, 1969, 1977, 1984, 1988, and 2000 (and probably in other years as well).

Weather forecast for Resolute: Lots of 30s and 40s

BERNAMA - Vietnamese Children Join Battle Against Climate Change

On a question, the 14-year-old Do Hai Long from the Ca Mau province said: "The piece of ice melts by the rubbing of our hands, just as the ice at the North Pole and South Pole is melting by global warming caused by human activities".

"It is human hands that causes the ice to melt and the climate change. It is our irresponsible actions, like cutting down trees and discharging too much smoke into the environment that leads to climate change," said Le Hoai Anh, 12, from Hanoi.

Guest commentary: Another look at global warming : Guest Opinions : Boulder Daily Camera

The global warming bandwagon is finally beginning to lose a wheel, to the benefit of everyone!

Don Lloyd lives in Boulder.

American Thinker: The Assault on American Business

Waxman-Markey is nothing but a huge scam that will bankrupt any business that relies heavily on energy, boosting fuel prices by 22 cents a gallon and socking the average family with an $1,800 a year tax hike.

Bonnaroo: [Attempting to improve the weather]

The thing is, Bonnaroo went carbon neutral in 2008. Superfly Productions and AC Entertainment, the festival’s organizers, hired the Clean Air Conservatory to assess the festival’s carbon footprint, from planning to breakdown, bands to fans, busses to trains to planes to cars. The CAC mapped the demographics of attendees according to region and derived the average emissions generated by their round-trip travel. They did the same for the bands, the vendors, themselves, everyone involved. Then they worked out the level of emissions generated by powering the amps, by cooling the talent trailers and the media tent, by charging the electric golf carts driven by staff.

Total emissions: 875 metric tons of CO2. They promptly retired that tonnage from the Chicago Climate Exchange, meaning that those carbon credits can never be traded again in the Cap and Trade system that Congress is in the process of instituting as law.

Chilly Reception to Sideline Cap-and-Trade Bill?

Stiff opposition to cap-and-trade legislation could push bill from 2009 calendar, while election-wary midwestern Democrats in 2010 could remove it altogether.

Examiner Editorial: U.S. cap-and-trade bill would trigger new global trade war | San Francisco Examiner

Among the least discussed flaws in the Obama-Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill that recently passed the House and is pending in the Senate is the serious damage it will inflict upon international commerce and trade. Steven Chu, President Barack Obama’s energy secretary, warned in March that “if other countries don’t impose a cost on carbon, then we will be at a disadvantage.” To compensate, the argument goes, we would impose penalties — aka “tariffs” — on products bought by Americans and produced in other countries that don’t abide by politically correct limits on carbon emissions.

This is why the bill would undermine America’s legitimate overseas interests by authorizing carbon tariffs against products produced by our new global competitors like China and India, which refuse to participate in anti-global warming schemes.

Government spending imperils economy, Alabama's U.S. Rep. Bachus says - al.com

Bachus criticized the so-called "cap and trade" legislation, which has passed the House but is still being debated in the Senate. All seven members of Alabama's Congressional delegation voted against the bill, which they said could cripple the state's steel and coal industries.

The Obama administration says the legislation will create a new generation of clean-energy jobs, but Bachus said the proposal will actually cost jobs, something the country can't afford.

"What they are doing in Washington ... they are going to bankrupt us ... that's the bottom line," he said.

Firlapalooza » Blog Archive » Climate Change Success!

Although some stakeholders suggest that this inconveniently cold weather is all part of a natural cooling trend or even that the entire climate change debate is fully media-contrived, I wouldn’t minimize the positive results of Kyoto just yet!

CO2 does NOT stay long in the atmosphere; so no accumulation from human activity

Guest Editorial below by Tom V. Segalstad, Associate Professor of Resource and Environmental Geology, The University of Oslo, Norway

2001: Nasa aims to move Earth | Environment | The Observer

Scientists have found an unusual way to prevent our planet overheating: move it to a cooler spot.

All you have to do is hurtle a few comets at Earth, and its orbit will be altered. Our world will then be sent spinning into a safer, colder part of the solar system.

This startling idea of improving our interplanetary neighbourhood is the brainchild of a group of Nasa engineers and American astronomers who say their plan could add another six billion years to the useful lifetime of our planet - effectively doubling its working life.

Sceptics create a best-seller | Herald Sun Andrew Bolt Blog

Once more scientists and politicians realise there’s an audience for scepticism at the claims of warming alarmists, more will speak out.

[Is Al Gore coming to Nevada?]: Cooler Reno weather coming; snow possible in mountains | rgj.com | Reno Gazette-Journal

McGuire didn’t know the last time the Sierra had snowfall in August but described the situation as “fairly unusual” and resulting from an unseasonably cold weather system.

[Yes, he is]: Al Gore coming to Vegas for energy summit - Las Vegas Sun

WASHINGTON -- Al Gore is heading to Las Vegas next month for the second annual clean energy summit of industry and political leaders at UNLV.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is convening the Aug. 10 gathering with John Podesta, the Obama transition team adviser and president of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Baby emissions fuel global warming

So now that you know that becoming a parent could lead to a legacy of 262 times more carbon emissions than failing to convert to energy-saving light bulbs, are you still keen to start a family?

An Open Letter to Obamabots and the Obama

I object to the farce of anthropogenic global warming and the further rape of American's wallets by a non-existent crisis. The earth goes in cycles--learn your geology (particularly your paleo-geology) and quit telling me what light bulbs I can use.

YosemiteBlog.com | Snow in Yosemite in August? Grab Your Camera

The National Weather Service has issued a Severe Weather Alert for the central Sierra (including Yosemite). An unseasonable low pressure is moving in over Central California and bringing with it some wild weather. Thunderstorms are expected for the foothills and Central Valley along with snow at higher elevations down to 8500 feet. If you’re going to Tuolumne Meadows or Tioga Pass tomorrow take tire chains, warm clothes and a camera. I’ve never seen it snow in August in my lifetime.

Politics vs. Science at EPA: The Carlin Matter Revisited — MasterResource

Carlin wrote in his critique that the bedrock principle of good science is determining the correctness of an hypothesis by comparing empirical data with real world data. “We do not believe that science is writing a description of the world or the opinions of world authorities on a particular subject, …[it] is not a statement of belief by scientific organizations.” It’s also not about the new and improved EPA being dismissive of contrarian views that aren’t in synch with their leadership’s political agenda.

Rain, cooler temps hit Delhi farms - Delhi News-Record - Ontario, CA

For local strawberry growers Jenn and David VanDeVelde, owners of Wholesome Pickins, the cool temperatures mixed with heavy downpours of rain have drastically affected their crops.

“The rain isn’t good, but it’s the lack of heat that is really hurting us,” said Jenn. “For the last two months we have seen some cool nights where we actually had to worry about frost.”

Eye of Polyphemus: Barack Obama's Dangerously Liberal Mindset

Fourth, he believes American became wealthy by exploiting minorities, therefore we need to be poor, miserable, and as few in number as possible. So he is going to balloon the deficit, tax the middle class into oblivion, make energy costs skyrocket, shorten life spans and curtail research with socialized medicine, and sacrifice as much of America’s fortune to preventing alleged global warming as possible.

CNSNews.com - The Global Redistributionist at Obama’s Left Hand

Does President Barack Obama believe economic and population growth ought to be stopped because they imperil the planet and that wealth should be redistributed both within the United States and among nations? Or does he think such a view is ludicrous?

He does not think it is ludicrous; a man who has promoted zero growth and global wealth redistribution for years is now one of Obama’s top advisers.

Time running short for global climate deal: UN

Speaking on the sidelines of the Pacific Islands Forum summit of 15 regional leaders, the UNFCCC's executive secretary Yvo De Boer said there were many obstacles to be overcome before finding agreement on emissions reductions to 2020 and beyond to 2050.

"We are around 120 days of real time away from those negotiations in Copenhagen and we are only about five weeks in negotiating time away from those negotiations," he told journalists.

"Time is getting tight and I am getting concerned that we still have a long way to go," he told journalists.

Earthworms: Do They Help or Hurt in Terms of Climate Change? : Sustainablog

So if you find earthworms out in your garden or compost pile, don’t hurt them. They are probably still good on the whole.

Climate change confusion | Community | Health Service Journal

Civil servants are notorious sticklers for detail, but one glaring blooper somehow made it past Whitehall quality control.

A policy document produced by the Department of Energy and Climate Change appeared to impose a whopping 90 per cent reduction target on Department of Health carbon emissions between 2012 and 2018. Sure to cause a stir, one might have thought.

But the problem seemed to slip under the DH’s radar - understandable really, as climate change gets little attention from the public, media or politicians.

Can National Parks be saved from global warming? | Greenspace | Los Angeles Times

The federal government must take decisive action to avoid "a potentially catastrophic loss of animal and plant life," in the National Parks, according to a new report which details the impact of global warming on the nation's most treasured public lands.

The 53-page report from the National Parks and Conservation Association, a Washington-based advocacy group, details a litany of concerns related to climate change in the parks...

RealClearPolitics - Video - Pelosi: Town Hall Protesters Are "Carrying Swastikas"

Nancy Pelosi claims protesters are "carrying swastikas and symbols like that to a town meeting on healthcare."

Policy Peril Segment 5: Is the Science Debate “Over”? | OpenMarket.org

The climate science debate is not “over.” In fact, it is just starting to get very, very interesting. All the basic issues–detection, attribution, and sensitivity–are unsettled and more so today than at any time in the past decade.

The Battery Politic: Did the Electoral Map Shape Funding Decisions? - Environmental Capital - WSJ

Not surprisingly, companies that lost out in the competition had sharper words. Several that had unsuccessfully sought grants for battery manufacturing facilities noted that the awards went predominantly to projects in the political swing states of Michigan and Indiana, and that most of the winners were large established companies, such as General Motors Co., Johnson Controls Inc. and Saft Groupe SA of France, rather than upstarts.

No Increase in Flooding Due to Global Warming - by Bonner R. Cohen - Environment & Climate News

The increase in global precipitation in the late twentieth century appears to have been largely benign in the northeastern United States, according to a study in the Journal of the American Water Resources Association.

July temperatures never hit 80, By KATIE KOLT HALL, Staff Writer | International Falls Daily Journal

The city did not reach 80 degrees all month, and the mean temperature was a chilly 58.8 degrees — 7.3 degrees below normal.

International Falls has not had a July without hitting 80 degrees since 1925. Since 1897, the Falls has averaged 14 days with high temperatures of at least 80 degrees, according to Carol Christenson, meteorologist for the NWS.