Cancun climate con

We global warming scoffers have had a lot of fun over the past week mocking the disastrous United Nations conference on climate change in Cancun.

The optics surrounding this doomed summit meeting have been mind-boggling from the beginning:

Thousands of bureaucrats and do-gooders from around the world have jetted into a Mexican beach resort. Surrounded by palm trees and bikinis, they're trying to decide how best to fleece working people to pay for imaginary climate improvements.

Twitter / Kate Sheppard: Stern won't comment on whe ...

Stern won't comment on whether this is the end of the Kyoto Protocol or not. #COP16

Climate Talks End With Modest Deal on Emissions - NYTimes.com

The year was marked by extreme weather events, from a record-breaking heat wave in Russia in July to the dramatic floods in Pakistan. High sea temperatures were also blamed for a global bleaching of coral reefs.

A cold snap under way in Britain and northern Europe was unusual, but would do little to alter global average temperatures for the year, said James Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute. “This regional cold spell has caused widespread commentary that global warming has ended,” Dr. Hansen said. “That is hardly the case.”