Inauguration day and climate change politics

In his first speech today Obama brought up the warming Earth as one of the great dangers America faces right along with the wars and the economic meltdown.

It’s been one heck of a winter here in the Upper Midwest, and it looks to continue, even into early spring IMO. “Classic” is a good adjective. Doesn’t seem like much of a coincidence that solar mins help produce stout winters around here. Obviously there are more factors than that, but it’s a piece of the puzzle IMO.

Unfortunately a Washington blizzard on the 20th will be used as an example of “climate change”. Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t wouldn’t enjoy watching it from here in So Cal.

Im not seeing any white area, only blue and no dash marks. Lake Erie is the bottom one right? I’m from the Northwest.

Too bad they didn’t hold the inauguration in northeastern Indiana during the last 3 days. Thursday, Friday and today yielded lows of -13, -18 and -14 respectively. I can’t recall how long it’s been since we’ve seen a string like that. The last time it hit -18 was in December, 1989.
One would truly hope that with the financial and credit crisis, climate change legislation will be put on the back burner (pardon the pun).

Shawn Whelan:

In his first speech today Obama brought up the warming Earth as one of the great dangers America faces right along with the wars and the economic meltdown.
You have to understand that politicians must pander to their constituencies. That does not mean they are going to do anything specific, simply connecting with those who put them into power.
Would you go to a Rolling Stones or [insert your favorite group here] concert if they never played Sympathy for the Devil and Satisfaction and [insert list of your favorite songs here].

We should not confuse weather with climate. It’s disingenuous to mention the cold wave in the East if you do not also mention the record warmth in California.

Note that at her Senate confirmation hearing for Sec State, Hillary Clinton declaimed, “Climate change threatens our very existence.”
http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=258213

The Coming Green Tsunami
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/7660
Despite the record-breaking extreme cold that is freezing the Midwest and dropping temperatures close to 50 below in spots, the incoming Obama administration continues to appoint, enlist and enable global warming warriors in the highest echelons of government.
Hillary promised that she would shape foreign policy that would fight climate change.
Lisa Jackson to be administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and Nancy Sutley to be chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality. Jackson tells the committee that cutting emissions of toxic chemicals and pollution that contribute to global warming will be among the new administration’s top environmental goals.
Steven Chu, President-elect Barack Obama’s pick to be U.S. energy secretary, said Tuesday that he will tackle the threat of global warming by seeking a cap-and-trade system to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which would require power plants, oil refineries and other industrial facilities to buy and sell pollution permits to spew global warming emissions. Translation: redistribution of wealth from wealthy countries to poor countries.
Bureaucrats at the EPA are chomping at the bit, eagerly paving the way for more regulation over ever increasing segments of the economy by seeking to have WATER VAPOR classified as a pollutant. This would result in government control over such common activities as watering the lawn, or using a hot tub or swimming pool. Even breathing.
Imagine, the government could soon regulate any conceivable activity under the rubric of either harming the environment or endangering national security.
Another cause for alarm is the fact that all the proposed solutions to this faux crisis just happen to coincide with every issue dear to liberals: i.e.: more government, more regulation, wealth distribution, population control, and global governance.

For those of you who read the Alice Goretex impression of the cause(s) of the crash of Flight 1549, with a “grain of salt,” Time had an article by a “real” journalist on the true cause of the crash.
————————————————————
The Flight 1549 Blame Game
http://www.icecap.us/
“When word first broke that the remarkable Hudson River emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549 was caused by a flock of Canadian geese, two thoughts immediately occurred. One – Somehow PETA would focus more on the agony of the geese that were sucked into both of the plane’s jet engines than the safety of the 150 passengers and five crew members, perhaps even suing US Air and hero pilot Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger for animal cruelty.”
“And Two – Somehow, somewhere, global warming would be blamed.”

Shawn Whelan (10:51:46) :
In his first speech today Obama brought up the warming Earth as one of the great dangers America faces right along with the wars and the economic meltdown.
———————————–
I wonder if the word “warming” was reintroduced with some careful thought. It’s probably easier to defend than anthropogenic climate change … for now at least.
Did he say what the great danger was ?? Maybe I should get a transcript.

The “weather” in England didn’t stop their Parliment from enacting stupid legislation. Why would anyone believe that committed AGW advocates change their minds, despite conditions?
And – when was the last time our Congress really ever made informed, rational legislation of this import? Personally, I think “never” is my response. Don’t hold your breath. Short of reality, we are a disastrous course led by people who claim to be intellectuals. You have to wonder how such hubris could ever survive the light of true scrutiny.

Perfect timing. Please allow me my part in helping to raise global warming awareness.
– Sea levels are NOT rising. They are actually decreasing in some areas. Our previous sea level rise had only been at a rate of 1-2 mm per year.
– The polar bear population is increasing. Polar bears should not be on the endangered species list if they are thriving.
– Antarctica is expanding. Hi, is this thing on?
– Solar cycle 23 finished eerily quite. Solar cycle 24 will likely be short lived. This will most certainly effect our climate.
– We are still setting record cold and snow conditions, despite a 40% increase in CO2. Keep in mind that these records are also short lived.
– The planet has been warming for the last 10,000 years. The Great Lakes are a result of retreating glaciers.
– 0.01% CO2 has zero toxic effects on human beings. 0.01% CO2 has has zero toxic effects on the rest of our biosphere.
– Despite all of this “dirty” pollution in our atmosphere, the snow is-as white and prestine up here in New Hampshire. The White Mountains are truly spectacular.
– Our planet is a particle, if you will, which absorbs the sun and cosmic energy. Our biosphere and atmosphere are a result of this ‘initial’ absorption, feedback.
– If you sprinkle soot over snow, the snow melts more quickly because of the particles absorbing the suns energy. The snow melts more quickly because of black body radiation and NOT liner amounts of CO2. Radiation generated from the earths absorption of the sun (not gas) is what causes the ice to ‘climate change’ to water. This now welcomes water into our atmosphere and biosphere which will then help to create and sustain life.
– Any sun absorbing region, including water, is what initially warms the oxygen and nitrogen on earth. Co2’s role is truly microscopic.
So relax and take a DEEP breath. See you’re gonna be fine. The planet is not unstable nor is it in peril. The planet is behaving as it should. It’s the people who are unstable.
It’s time to wake up folks. We are now a socialist nation. The Fall of Rome. Greed and corruption have decayed our political and economic structure, leading to a collapse in the banking system.
We did it to ourselves from within. It’s the people who failed the system. Oversight was there, but guidelines for the system were ignored. It’s the people who failed the system.
Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac were commisioned by congress to offer substandard and subprime loans to under qualified borrowers. This was known as wealth or credit distribution. Massive defaults occured which lead to a partial collapse in the housing and banking system. Wealth distributions failure played a key role in our current economic debackle.
But please never mind all of that. Focus on what’s in front of you. The poor polar bears. You people amaze me. Please read from the top again if this did not register.

Its not about science, and it hasn’t been about science for a long time.
Its about concentration of power and control. Its about the right to arm-twist just about any behavior by any group or industry that pops up on the political radar.
The ability to legislate whatever you please against whomever is in your way, based on “regulation” of a naturally occurring molecule, is a prize so valuable that it will have to be pried from their grasp with a crowbar.
The worst blizzard in history could bury the inauguration in snow and it wouldn’t change a thing. Its not about the science, and it is certainly not about the weather.

It doesn’t matter how many years of global cooling we’ve had or might have, or that it’s plainly obvious that the sun and oceans control our climate. This new Socialist regime is hell-bent on destroying our fossil-fuel based economy and controlling the lives of the American people. It must know CO2 is harmless. It must know that despite continually rising CO2 emissions none of the catastrophes touted by the fraudulent IPCC, Gore, Hansen or Schmidt will transpire. We’re witnessing pure corruption and evil. How far will this new regime go? A new ice age might be the only thing to stop this madness.

Preaching to the choir Rich.

Hey guys
Dont worry everyone. For sure the ‘fourth-estate’ will apply scrutiny and reason to politics proposed and pursued and prevent even the US subcoming to agenda driven and feel-good politics as we have it in Europe.
[/sarcasm]
On the ‘nicer’ side at least Obamas plan for windenergy involves tax-deductions rather than direct government spending and 10-year subsidies as we see it in Denmark and Europe in general. Quite different effects on economics and if it must be certainly the lesser of two evils.
Also congrats to Anthony and guestwriters for the best science blog award. Also to commentators for an in genreal positive tone without to many ad-homs and ‘loud’ language. Part of what makes this blog enjoyable to read.

Check out the ice in the Hudson, from the first picture in this article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/nyregion/18plane.html?ref=nyregion

Thanks Steven 😉

pyromancer76:
A serious problem today is the misuse of a most important political and philosophical concept, “liberal”. So-called “conservatives” hurl the word as an epithet — and an epitaph for those so labelled.
Fwiw, I feel your pain, but have gotten over it by simply distinguishing between “Faux Liberals” and “Classical Liberals”, which I think covers what’s going on currently in propagandistic politics, as you have perhaps also intimated in your post above.
The word game involved in keeping the term “liberal” in broad use while actually changing what it entails politically and functionally to what is not “liberal”, so as to confuse people who still want to be called and vote for “Liberals”, is an old and well-known propagandistic trick.
I can’t describe myself as an “environmentalist” anymore, either, as a result of the same tactic being employed by controllist propagandizers, who know exactly what they’re doing and think that confusing word meanings aids them in achieving control.
Or consider the attempt of the AGW “Climate Scientists” to redefine what “science” is while still trading on what it used to mean and still is, while not actually practicing science themselves.
It’s reprehensible and irritating, but understanding what is being done to words by such propagandists does help us see what we Classical Liberals are up against.

According to this map Lake Erie has “open water” in the center but not necessarily ice free.

Mike,
You said “We should not confuse weather with climate.”
Convincing the Congress to confuse weather with climate was the primary purpose of the Wirth/Hansen hot weather stunt in 1988. That is the point of this article.

Maybe the reduction of CO2 emissions is not so bad. Maybe it wan’t help anything for bringing the climate back to little ice age conditions. But C02 emissions are always accompagnied with some other, really dangerous co-emissions (e.g. benzene, soot, fine dust,…..)
If a CO2 emission reduction also reduces these dangerous substances in the air we need to breath, then we are taking large steps forwards !

Willem de Rode:
Maybe the reduction of CO2 emissions is not so bad. Maybe it wan’t help anything for bringing the climate back to little ice age conditions. But C02 emissions are always accompagnied with some other, really dangerous co-emissions (e.g. benzene, soot, fine dust,…..)
If a CO2 emission reduction also reduces these dangerous substances in the air we need to breath, then we are taking large steps forwards !
This type of thinking is fallacious, and is an argument AGWers frequently use. We have made great strides in this country in reducing air pollution. Of course, more could be done, and will be. But, there are a number of problems with focusing on C02, which isn’t pollution, instead of actual pollution, which make the air unhealthy to breathe. Many of the things being considered, such as CCS, and geoengineering, in addition to being costly will have no environmental benefit whatsoever, and could even be harmful. While we should continue to investigate, and where possible, implement alternative energies such as wind, solar, geothermal, etc., it should be done carefully, and with full consideration of the economics involved. Nuclear power should definitely be on the table, though the alarmists don’t seem to like nuclear, which is hypocritical. Energy independence is one other positive outcome of this. The alarmists want to frighten us into this, though, saying we need to do it immediately, because of the “climate crisis”. That would be a huge mistake. Nothing positive can ever come from acting out of fear, especially a misplaced and completely unfounded one. Finally, and perhaps the biggest reason many of us fight against AGW is Science and Truth, which have become victims of the AGW behemoth.

Is there a temperature history for the Presidential Inaugurations?
REPLY: Yes, see the link under the photo – Anthony

If everyone in the United States quit breathing, driving, eating, etc. the total reduction in CO2 emissions (25%) would be much less than what Dr. Hansen requires. Europe and Asia will also euthanise themselves, in order to reach the stated goals.

I’m not sure I would rate the threat of CO2 quite as high as nuclear war with the Soviet Union, WWI, WWII, Stalin, Hitler, Communism, the Great Depression, or Polio, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion …..

Opps, forgot another point I was going to attempt to make. Most of the largest US companies will simply move offshore if US regulations become too onerous. They will not succeed in reducing emissions, they will simply succeed in moving the emissions to a different place. But that might be part of the global strategy of “wealth redistribution”.

“I’m not sure I would rate the threat of CO2 quite as high as nuclear war with the Soviet Union, WWI, WWII, Stalin, Hitler, Communism, the Great Depression, or Polio,”
Unless you are James Hansen. If Obama doesn’t do anything in the next four years, Hansen’s world as he knows it may indeed be at grave risk. It all depends on perspective, I suppose.

I have a hint, but only a hint, from Chu’s responses at his confirmation hearings that he’s already moderated some of his positions in the short term. I guess a lot depends upon with what integrity he and other members of the climate and energy team re-evaluate ongoing temperatures and understanding of climate processes. Then again, maybe the hint I got was him just making convenient political speech.
I don’t trust Carol Browner any further than I could throw an Ice Bear. I think she’d be willing to bend science in the furtherance of politics, and she wants to enslave us all.
===============================

Shawn Whelan (10:28:19) :
Obama
“Only a handful of times in our history has a generation been confronted with challenges so vast. An economy that is faltering. Two wars, one that needs to be ended responsibly, one that needs to be waged wisely. A planet that is warming from our unsustainable dependence on oil.”
The speech
http://i.usatoday.net/news/TheOval/Obama-in-Baltimore-1-17-2009.pdf
I think that you forgot to mention that the above statement seems to be a classic non-sequitur.
I.e. How does “a warming planet” come from an “unsustainable dependence on oil”?

I.e. How does “a warming planet” come from an “unsustainable dependence on oil”?
Only liberals can understand such things.

Politicians always cover their collective asses, once the economy really goes into a recession, and the unemployment queue’s get real long, western political leaders will discover suddenly that its actually cooling and turn it to a political purpose , and say reduced use of coal and oil is the reason , see Hansen Stern & co were right after all, they got the models a bit wrong! . But with the increasing cold starting to kill people on the dole or a benefit, who can no longer afford heating, wont it be intersting to see how these new climate appointees react.
They will start to quietly to take the advice of the sceptics they have so despised, at political direction of course, and AGW will quietly slide off the radar.
Interesting times ahead !!
Great to see WUWT out blogs Real Climate 7.6 million to 6.9 I just wish someone would edit the rubbish on their their RC wiki entry.

weather report from Yahoo for tomorrow in Washington DC:
# Today: Variable clouds with snow showers. Temps nearly steady in the low to mid 30s. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 50%. Snow accumulations less than one inch.
# Tonight: Snow flurries early. Then partly cloudy overnight. Low 21F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
# Tomorrow: Occasional snow flurries developing. High near 30F. Winds NNW at 10 to 20 mph.

Via link from: http://heliogenic.blogspot.com/2009/01/norm-kalmovitch-in-ccnet.html
Norm Kalmanovitch in CCNet:
“Apart from common sense, the only other aspect totally absent from the global warming debate is “global warming” itself. There is talk of emissions reductions, carbon trading, and even drowning polar bears; but there is no talk about actual current global temperature increases with the continuous increase in global CO2 emissions.
The December 2008 temperature data confirms that 2008 was the coldest year of the last decade, adding one more year to the cooling trend that started after 2002.
Common sense would dictate that after six years of cooling with only one year, 2005, being warmer than the previous year, the “global warming” debate would be over and the world would now be debating “global cooling” in earnest.
Apparently common sense was never part of this debate even when the globe was actually warming. Clouds block about 20% of the 1368 W/m2 of solar radiation. If cloud cover decreased and only blocked out 19% of the solar radiation or cloud cover increased and blocked out 21% of the solar radiation these 5% changes in cloud cover would equate to 13.68 W/m2 of either heating or cooling.
AGW is based on computer models that attribute forcing of just 3.71 W/m2 to a doubling of CO2 from the 280 ppmv, and somehow this is more likely to drive climate than a 5% change in cloud cover.
The actual physical properties of CO2 interacting with the thermal spectrum radiated by the Earth, dictate that far less than 10% of this 3.71 W/m2 is even physically possible. Remarkably, the world is committing economic suicide, starving the poor and ignoring real pollution problems, because an environmentalist lobby has convinced the world leaders that it is more likely that 0.371 W/m2 from CO2 emissions will cause catastrophic warming of the Earth, than 13.68 W/m2 from a 5% increase in cloud cover can cause serious cooling of the Earth.
The global climate models all state that we should be on a warming trend. The global temperature data sets all show that we are on a cooling trend.
The debate is now called “climate change” to avoid any reference to global temperature and the issue is somehow elevated to a level of such great importance that countries are actually debating whether to adhere to the dictates of the Kyoto Protocol for the purpose of stopping the now non-existent global warming, or save their countries economies using “Kyoto unfriendly” energy sources.
Norm Kalmanovitch P.Geoph
Calgary Canada”

From Alan Sullivan, Fresh Bilge, http://www.seablogger.com/?p=12649
Postmodern Faith
Monday, 19 Jan 09, weather
“It’s snowing in Washington, DC as a very strong disturbance passes at upper levels. The temperature is well below freezing, and light snow should continue much of the day. A couple of days ago I mentioned that some models projected the formation of a vigorous coastal low. It appears such a development is commencing. Tomorrow the snow will be racing northeast into New England, but flurries may continue, and it will become very blustery as the departing storm tightens the pressure gradient over the mid-Atlantic region. Winds from the NNW will sweep the west-facing Capitol stairs, where the ceremony will be held. Streets and sidewalks will remain icy unless salt is used liberally.
It would not be wise for Obama to make any reference to “global warming” or the vaguer “climate crisis” on such a day. He’ll look like a damn fool. But he probably has some list of challenges in his text, and he probably won’t edit out any reference to a central tenet of his postmodern faith. Heaven help us if some break in the rushing low cloud sends a shaft of sunshine onto the stage when Obama speaks. The media will announce the Second Coming, but I’ll be thinking about the Book of Revelation”.

Of course the evil part about the AGW folks is that as temps continue to fall, they will simply exclaim “See! Replacing all of your incandescent bulbs with CFLs *is* paying off!” No matter what happens, hot or cold, they will spin it to their advantage. If Obama installs a switch in the White House, and flips it at his leisure, he can — and no doubt will — claim credit for whatever climate patterns he chooses to praise. No doubt his 2012 campaign slogan will be “better weather through more and better legislation.”
Costa Rica sounds better with each passing day.

Willem de Rode (03:48:50) :
“Maybe the reduction of CO2 emissions is not so bad. Maybe it wan’t help anything for bringing the climate back to little ice age conditions. But C02 emissions are always accompagnied with some other, really dangerous co-emissions (e.g. benzene, soot, fine dust,…..)
If a CO2 emission reduction also reduces these dangerous substances in the air we need to breath, then we are taking large steps forwards !”
Willem de Rode,
Today the KNMI has presented a report stating that the number of days with fog in Europe has reduced significantly since 1980.
The cause for this is the clean air.
The number of days with fog will stay constant now because we do not have (much) more possibilities to make the air cleaner as it already is.
There is one set back. Because of the clean air the temperature rises and the scientists stated that this effect was responsible for 5-10% of the rise in temperatures over the past years.
If you look at engine development it is nice to look at the Rolls Royce V8 engine that was introduced in 1959.
“The process of evolving the engine has been gradual and continuous; by 2006 the final 1959-specification engine components had been replaced; the twin-turbo 6.75 L engine produced over 150% more power and torque than at the beginning of its life, it had a 40% better fuel economy, and produced 99.5% less exhaust emission”.
We have seen similar developments with coal fired power plants, jet-engines steel factories, cement mills etc. etc. and now enjoy “clean air, even in the cities.
The fine dust that is measured however is not caused by emissions.
It is caused by the wear and tear of break pads and tires of cars and trucks, a totally different problem which will be solved with the introduction of new materials (ceramic brakes and new wear proof tire materials).
Therefore using the argument of reducing CO2 in order to reduce other sorts of pollution is a joke.
It is like giving your car a car wash when your house is on fire!
It also undermines the factual discussion weather CO2 is causing AGW yes or no, and if it is necessary to eliminate the basic energy system of our industrialized economies by reducing CO2 emissions.
I don’t think so.
To think that CO2 emissions have the potential to stop or delay an ice age is as absurd as your arguments to reduce CO2.

Jack Simmons (20:32:11) :
If global warming is caused by unsustainable oil consumption, we have no problem. Anything unsustainable will soon end, by definition. As oil consumption ends, so will the purported results, global warming.
Jack, My thoughts exactly – someone needs to acquaint the speech writer with basic logic.

Tomorrow for DC: High of 31, chance of snow, NW winds 10-15 mph with 25mph gusts.
I will DIE laughing if he mentions global warming. Just DIE laughing….

RICH (12:18:23) :
It would be impossible to build a model based on chaos and expect any degree of accuracy.
:). Have you noticed that nature is built on this chaos and manages to solve all the equations and propagate into the future everything, most of the time not catastrophically? The implementation of chaos and complexity theory in climate is in my opinion the only way to go, to get a handle on what is happening in climate. Chaos and complexity theory are a vigorous field of study over many disciplines, from biology to climate and I am sure that eventually human collective intelligence will be able to get good results for climate.
See . Tsonis et al have tried to model the climate with a neural network, the paper can be found here http://www.nosams.whoi.edu/PDFs/papers/tsonis-grl_newtheoryforclimateshifts.pdf
From their abstract: “This is the first time that this
mechanism, which appears consistent with the theory of
synchronized chaos, is discovered in a physical system of
the size and complexity of the climate system.”
Isn’t this what current climate models are based on, chaos?
No. Climate models are models where the earth atmosphere is gridded into cubes and approximations of deterministic thermodynamic equations are used for time step propagations and boundary conditions. The problem with their approach, IMHO, is that they are mainly basing their equations on first order approximations and averages, whereas the true solutions are highly non linear and diverge from the approximations after a number of time steps.

Sekerob (15:16:15) :
Weather forecast for Washington is about freezing point. It’s winter, so seems not to be exceptional.
Yeah, might even be a bit warm. Of course you can subtract 5-8 degrees for the surrounding suburbs.

MattN (18:55:21) :
Tomorrow for DC: High of 31, chance of snow, NW winds 10-15 mph with 25mph gusts.
I will DIE laughing if he mentions global warming. Just DIE laughing….

He won’t, he’ll mention “climate change”. Besides, 31 is not cold for DC in January. 10f would be cold.

tallbloke (10:13:25) :
Yes, I immediately searched his speech for “warm” and “green” and “envir” and only warm came up in the phrase you quoted:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090120/ap_on_go_pr_wh/inauguration_obama_text
With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense,
The context is also important “roll back” is less arrogant than “stop”. The beginning of the next sentence is also a hedge.

Anna,
“Have you noticed that nature is built on this chaos and manages to solve all the equations and propagate into the future everything, most of the time not catastrophically?”
Absolutely! God works in amazing ways. But “most of the time” is subjective only to those who recognize it to begin with. There is no begining and there is no end, for time is irrelevent in the highest of power.
“Chaos and complexity theory are a vigorous field of study over many disciplines”
Again, isn’t this what models are based on? Chaos? Complexity?
Who is to say that an asteroid will not strike the earth? Or what what about the onset of war, plague, or famine? We are using computers to foretell the outcome of our life, our climate, and our planet. However it is humanly impossibly, despite great achievements in science, to account for all of the known and unknown variables. And even by focusing strictly on CO2, there is clearly no conscensus as to what the outcome will have on humanity.
Super computer models predicitng our future, is man made prophecy. And most likely… false.
Have a good one.

Absolutely! God works in amazing ways. But “most of the time” is subjective only to those who recognize it to begin with. There is no begining and there is no end, for time is irrelevent in the highest of power.

Wow, that was scientific.
NOT!

“Or is Obama hedging his bets here and fence sitting here?”
I “hope” he is fence sitting. But with tipping points, Gore, and Hansen blowing in the wind, he is bound to fall off that fence and into the environmentalists backyard.
600 private jets touched down and $150 million was spent for this party. That’s quite a footprint… especially for hypocrites.

E.M. Smith,
Thank you for your insight and recommendation, one that I will certainly consider.
As a former agnostic, I understand the difficulty one has in seeing the light that shines through the prism of God. Perhaps I deserved a bit of criticism, as I have recently been short to people with opposing points of view.
Some form of payback I suppose? Anyway, I would like to share my thoughts on, dare I say, God, logic, science, weather, climate change, technology, and recent news.
What a great website.
Be GREEN all… but do not emit GREENhouse gas. Doesn’t this seem strange to anyone? IMHO, I find this completely illogical.
And speaking of Einstein…
“I know not with what weapons world war III will be fought, but world war IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
Any quotes from the discoverer of quantum mechanics on the ‘dangers’ of carbon dioxide?

After hearing all the alarmism about CO2 and reading about the “green ball ” at the inauguration yesterday I think I will have for lunch today the “global warming” special. That is lots of hot fried baloney, with refried beans in hot sauce served on a bed of chilled finely chopped iceberg lettuce and for dessert, melting watermelon sherbet as in “red on the inside,green on the outside. All serve on recycleable dinnerware and flat, cheap imitation Champagne for a beverage.

Tallbloke, Re President Obama’s inaugural address and administration’s new tone.
I am purely speculating here, but we know that President Obama has received highly classified briefings in the past few weeks that, I suspect, have caused a certain CHANGE in his thinking. I certainly HOPE so.
One such briefing is underway even as I write this, with the top military advisors. I look for certain softening of his stance following this meeting, too.
It is this way with all new Presidents, especially if they were not previously a vice-President. The information is just too classified, there is no way as a U.S. Senator he would know. Using Truman as an example, “We have an atomic bomb that can do WHAT?????”
As I frequently debate with my friends and colleagues, President is not a popularity contest. Many of my liberal friends believe the President (Bush in particular) should make/(have made) more popular decisions, those that would garner accolades from the U.S. population and from around the world. I remind them that Roman emperors went down that road, and look where it took them!
The fact is, that none of those groups have access to the information the President has, so his decisions based on that information may very well be for the best, yet not be pleasing to those groups.
And that, IMHO, is why a President should be elected based on attributes like character, judgment, crisis-management, clear-thinking, and not just rhetoric or star appeal. A rare President has good attributes and star appeal, and the older I get, the more it appears that John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan were the only two in my lifetime. One democrat, one republican.

You may be interested in this story from the excellent Harmless Sky about how the BBC’s Newsnight manipulated Obama’s speech to make it sound far closer to their climate change agenda than it really was:
http://ccgi.newbery1.plus.com/blog/?p=147
I know from personal experience that the BBC’s sound engineers are very skilled at playing around with a recording to make what is said fit their story. Humble people have to learn to live with it. But the US President – that’s serious!