Jesus, It's Freaking May

IT's more than three weeks until the official start to hurricane season and we already have out first named storm. It's subtropical storm Andrea with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph. No threat to anyone, but what the hell?

Send Me The Cash

Since the American Enterprise Institute is offering $10,000 to disprove the new UN report on climate released today, I figured I'd throw my hat in the ring to try to claim the cash. I've been working on two competing theories that are rather simple so that even the AEI can understand them.

The first is that there simply are not enough white people in the world, or conversely, there are too many non-white people in the world, especially Arabs Everybody knows that white people reflect the Sun's radiant energy back into space while those of darker skin tone absorb more of that energy, especially Arabs.

I suggest that this course could be reversed through the implementation of injecting depleted uranium into these darker skinned energy absorbers at a rather high velocity, especially Arabs. This would help to even out the white people to less white people ratio and thus end global warming.

There, that's it. I can't help but believe that $10,000 is mine given the shit that comes out of the AEI on a regular basis. Screw the $10,000, that tripe ought to get me a fellowship at that stink tank provided I can prove I didn't rework a Michael Ledeen essay which, while I don't think I have, it is certainly a possibility because this so closely mirrors the majority of the body of his work.

My other theory revolves around the equally less proven fact that mercury has developed a resistance to gravity. If we would just turn our thermometers upside-down it would prove that the world is actually cooling. As for electronic thermometers, well, I'm still trying to hash that out.

Global Dumbing

I swear, the idiocy from the Bush administration when it comes to Global Warming knows no bounds. From the Telegraph:

The US has also tried to steer the report, prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), away from conclusions that would support a new worldwide climate treaty based on binding targets to reduce emissions, the Guardian said.

In response to a draft copy of the report, the US said the idea of interfering with sunlight should be included in the summary for policymakers, the prominent chapter at the front of each IPCC report.

The response, obtained by the Guardian, says: "Modifying solar radiance may be an important strategy if mitigation of emissions fails. Doing the R&D to estimate the consequences of applying such a strategy is important insurance that should be taken out. This is a very important possibility that should be considered."

What they are talking about here is the lame-brained idea that we can shoot billions of tiny mirrors into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight to cool the earth. This would have a catastrophic impact on the earth and it just goes to show how simple minded the administration is when it comes to Global Warming.

You see, we would simply be trading one very bad problem for one that would more likely than not kill most everyone on the planet. The problem with lessening the amount of solar radiant energy that reaches the earth is that this energy is the single greatest catalyst in the evaporation process. Temperature has very little effect on it.

If you don't have evaporation, you don't have rain. And if you don't have rain, well, in a very short order you turn almost all of the planet into desert. Think of the US as a never ending sea to shining sea dust bowl where agriculture is a thing of the past. That means nobody eats. It would truly cause a famine of biblical proportions.

The fact that the executive branch of the most advanced country on the planet would propose such a thing is just mind boggling. We can never again let this branch fall into the control of such idiots.

Found via Talking Points Memo.

Ayles Ice Shelf Collapses

This is a picture of a large portion of the Ayles Ice Shelf on the north shores of Canada breaking free. Ii amounts to 54.5% of the entire Ayles Ice shelf, or to put that in perspective, roughly the size of 11,000 football fields. The Ayles Shelf is one of only six ice shelves left in Canada. From The Age:

"This is a dramatic and disturbing event. It shows that we are losing
remarkable features of the Canadian North that have been in place for many
thousands of years. We are crossing climate thresholds, and these may signal the
onset of accelerated change ahead," [Laval University's Warwick] Vincent said
today.

In 10 years of working in the region he has never seen such a dramatic loss
of sea ice, he said.

It's called Global Warming. Act now.

Mutiny At The EPA

This is very good news. While the Supreme Court seems to be on the fence over forcing the EPA to enact regulations involving global warming, those in the trenches are taking their argument for such regulations straight to the new Democratic Congress. PEER's press release reads as follows:

In an unprecedented action, representatives for more than 10,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scientists are calling on Congress to take immediate action against global warming, according to a petition released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The petition also calls for an end to censorship of agency scientists and other specialists on topics of climate change and the effects of air pollution.

The petition stresses that time is running out to prevent cataclysmic environmental changes induced by human-caused pollution and urges Congress to undertake prompt actions:

“If we wait, we will be committing the next generation of Americans to approximately double the current global warming concentrations, with the associated adverse impacts on human health and the environment.”

The filing of this petition coincides with today’s oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on a case (Massachusetts v. EPA, Case No. 05-1120) brought by states seeking to force the Bush administration to regulate greenhouse gases that fuel global warming under the Clean Air Act.

The petition signatories represent more than half of the total agency workforce. Addressed to the members of the Senate and House committees overseeing EPA, the petition argues that:

The Bush administration strategy of “using primarily voluntary and incentive-based programs” to reduce greenhouse gases is not working nor “has [this approach] been effectively carried out;”

EPA has abdicated its enforcement responsibilities by “failing to investigate coal-electric plants for technical options to control carbon;” and

“EPA’s scientists and engineers [must be able] to speak frankly and directly with Congress and the public regarding climate change, without fear of reprisal.”

“Professionals working for the Environmental Protection Agency are protesting being ordered to sit on the sidelines while we face the greatest environmental challenge of our generation,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, noting that the petition began among agency staff.

“Under a new Congress, perhaps the scientists at EPA can begin to directly communicate with their true employers – the American public.”

The letter is signed by presidents of 22 locals of five unions: the American Federation of Government Employees, the Engineers and Scientists of California, the National Association of Government Employees, the National Association of Independent Labor, and the National Treasury Employees Union. These unions represent more than 10,000 EPA scientists, engineers and other technical specialists.

The newly elected Democratic Congress would be wise to heed this request.