Harry Reid: Reid: Senate to act on climate before immigration

By GottaLaff

The other day, Lindsey Graham whined and stomped and threatened to pull out of the climate bill negotiations, because the administration wants to go ahead with their plans for immigration reform.

Little Lindsey got his way:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday he is willing to bring up climate change legislation ahead of an immigration bill, the first step toward resolving a dispute with Senate Republicans that threatened to derail a bipartisan effort months in the making.

Harry Reid explained that the climate bill is much further along. The immigration bill hasn't even been written yet.

You know that awkward area between a rock and a hard place? Harry's stuck there.

And immigration reform that would allow legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants is awkward for Republicans, especially in an election year:

The bill is a top priority for Hispanic voters — and most Republicans are opposed.

But putting it off in favor of climate legislation would not exactly please environmentalists:

[They] see the Kerry-Graham-Lieberman bill as their best chance in years to address global warming.

Hence, rock, hard place.

Reid thinks they can do both this session. Optimist.

Election years can do that to a guy who's up for re-election and losing to someone who is partial to chickens.

Summers: We can walk and chew gum at the same time

By GottaLaff

Lindsey Graham wants to take his toys and go home, and GOP Leader Mitch McConnell is grumbling and rumbling in support. Lindsey is whining like a little brat, threatening to pull out of the climate bill negotiations because the administration wants to go ahead with their plans for immigration reform.

Boyoboy, he'll show us! Americans will just have to go on polluting and wheezing and hacking, and the planet will simply have to dry up like McConnell's lips if things don't go his way.

So there.


Larry Summers thinks they can do both. Multi-tasking, what a concept. Congress might even have to ::gasp!:: work extra hard:

The Obama administration wants to pursue both climate change and immigration legislation, according to a senior advisor to the president.

There is “no either/or” between the two issues, which are “both important,” said Larry Summers, the chief economic adviser to President Barack Obama.

Of course, Harry Reid sets the agenda.

Reid quickly disputed the suggestion and said he would not let Graham play one issue off the other.

That's because Harry (and Summers) wears big boy pants. Lindsey's still in Pull-Ups.

UPDATE: Apparently, I need to clarify that this post is about the ability to do more than one thing at a time, not about the substance of the bills... nor is it in any way meant to express support for Summers, specifically. I do agree with him, however, that our government can move forward on two plans simultaneously, if they can get past the usual obstruction.

Kerry says three major oil companies to back Senate climate plan

By GottaLaff

What are those sneaky Big Greasy Ol' Corporations up to now? Oh yeah, profit:

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) expects that a powerful electric utility trade group and three major oil companies will support the climate and energy bill he and two colleagues will unveil Monday, according to a source on a conference call Kerry held for business leaders Thursday evening.

So who are these possible "allies"?

The oil companies that will back the plan are BP, ConocoPhillips and Shell, according to The Washington Post.

Yeah, we trust those oil slicks about as far as we can throw them. What could be spurring them, and possibly others, to cooperate?

It could have something to do with the "$10 billion in support for 'clean coal' technologies and free pollution allowances for refiners to cover motor fuel emissions". Oh, and the investment in nukes. And this:

Sources familiar with the briefing also said the measure would preempt state and regional greenhouse gas rules, which is a key goal for a variety of industry groups but has been strongly attacked by environmentalists and state officials. The bill would also block EPA regulation of greenhouse gases under its current Clean Air Act powers, one source said.

So many compromises, so little time.

Treasury goes electronic for Earth Day, saving $400M

By GottaLaff

Silly Treasury. Don't they realize there's no such thing as global warming?

The Treasury Department is marking Earth Day by announcing plans to reduce paper use by millions of pounds.

Treasury says the initiative -- which expands the use of electronic transactions for Social Security and other benefits -- will save over $400 million and 12 million pounds of paper over the first five years.

What's Treasury got against paper? What is this, some kind of socialist plot? A pro-tree conspiracy? Or is this the Obama administration's way of keeping secret files, hmmm?

Grounding of planes across Europe 'could lead to rise in temperatures'

Wow, talk about everything having an impact. The study is here.

Temperatures in Europe could rise as a result of planes being grounded across the continent, according to research.

A study conducted after commercial flights were grounded for three days following the September 11 terror attacks found the average daily temperature range in the U.S. rose markedly - exceeding the three-day periods before and after by 1.8c.

Scientists claimed this showed that clouds formed by the water vapour in the exhaust from jet planes have a small but significant effect on daily temperatures.


(snip)

The team behind the 2002 research, from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, compared the average daily high and low temperatures over North America from 11 to 14 September 2001, with climatic records from 1977 to 2000.

They matched the weather over those three days with similar weather in September over that period, and found that the difference in daily high and nightly low temperatures in the absence of planes' contrails was more than 1c greater.

The researchers said that in regions with crowded skies, the clouds formed by the planes' water vapour worked like cirrus clouds to prevent days from getting too hot and trapping the Earth's heat at night.

ClimateGate Schlimate Gate: Panel clears scientists

By GottaLaff

Another Rushpublic talking point down the drain. Yes, all those "nasty, ill-informed" accusations of the so-called e-mail scandal, aka ClimateGate, got Drano'd:

[A] panel of experts tasked with examining the underlying science said it "saw no evidence of any deliberate scientific malpractice in any of the work" by the university's Climatic Research Unit.

That sound you hear is the glugging of unfounded accusations swirling downward...

Instead, "we found a small group of dedicated if slightly disorganized researchers" who did not store their data and working notes as well as they could have but whose science was conducted "with integrity," the committee said in a report released Wednesday.

Glug... glug... into the sewer the accusations go...

So after all the skeptics' denial of, you know, scientific fact about climate change in favor of smearing what turns out to be legitimate research, the panel found that a few scientists fit a watered-down version of the old stereotypical absent-minded professor profile.

In other words, their desks look like our desks, and like us, they pretty much know where everything is under all those piles of Post-Its and crumpled reports. What a crime! Why aren't they in prison getting waterboarded?!

"The fact is we found them absolutely squeaky clean," the head of the panel, Ron Oxburgh, a geologist and former government advisor, told the BBC. He said some of the criticism by skeptics, who pointed to the e-mails as proof of a massive scientific coverup, was "just plain nasty and ill-informed."

Fred MacMurray would be proud.


Now back to saving the planet. Glug.

VIDEO- Maddow calls b.s. on GOP: Attacks on ACORN, "Climate-Gate" were "bull pucky"

By GottaLaff

Once again, Rachel Maddow nails it:

"Let's have the great debate about the role of government... only you can't threaten to shoot people. And you have to stop making stuff up."

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Those are awfully important revelations, aren't they? The ones Rachel covered in the video? They're stories one might expect MSNBC to go out of their way to report hourly, right?

Apparently not.

All morning, MSNBC concentrated on those other "big" stories, the ones about iPad and Tiger Woods.

Meanwhile, ACORN is no more, and voters believe that Climate-Gate was real. They continue to believe lies that the corporate media drive, repeat, perpetuate incessantly, lies that affect our elections and the well-being of the entire planet.

That is not news. That is propaganda. And it is not only unacceptable, it is toxic.

The World: Unplugged

By GottaLaff

I love it when the world comes together for a good cause:

Europe's best known landmarks - including the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben and Rome's Colosseum - fell dark Saturday, following Sydney's Opera House and Beijing's Forbidden City in joining a global climate change protest, as lights were switched off across the world to mark the Earth Hour event.

In the U.S., organizers said some of the participating landmarks would be the Mt. Rushmore presidential monument, the glittering Las Vegas strip and the marquee lights of Broadway theaters in New York.

Millions of people were turning off lights and appliances for an hour from 8:30 p.m. in a gesture to highlight environmental concerns and to call for a binding pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions. [...]

"It's saying to our politicians - you can't give up on climate change," said WWF spokeswoman Debbie Chapman in the U.K. [...]

"Tackling climate change is urgent and vital to both safeguard our environment and our children's future. We can make a difference if we act now and act together," said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who switched off lights at his Downing Street residence in London.

Climate change is real. People can deny it all they want, but their irresponsibility will affect generations to come, including their own children and grandchildren.

Wake up. Conserve. Keep the planet healthy and alive.

Are you listening, righties? Or will you endanger your own families to make a few bucks off Big Oil?

Start small. Turn off the lights and...

There goes that debate: Global warming sinks disputed island

By GottaLaff

Have you ever been in the midst of a heated argument only to get cut off at the knees? Welcome to Climate Change Land:

Reporting from New Delhi - Global warming appears to have finally resolved a dispute that gunboats never could: An island midway between India and Bangladesh that became a catalyst for military threats in the 1980s is now submerged under the rising sea.The Bay of Bengal island, which India called New Moore Island and Bangladesh referred to as South Talpatti, has ceased to exist, the Jadavpur University's School of Oceanic Studies declared this week. [...]

As for the future, a United Nations panel predicted that 17% of Bangladesh will disappear by 2050, displacing 20 million people, if water levels rise by 3.3 feet, as some expect.

"There's a lesson here that the world should learn while negotiating over territory," Hazra said. "It's not whether some country makes a gain. It's whether we all collectively win or lose given the impact we're seeing on the global environment."

Existence v. extinction: That is the real bottom line.

Liveblog: Conference call with Al Gore for Repower America

By GottaLaff

I'm liveblogging a conference call with Al Gore. I came in 10 minutes late... they never called and I had to get a call-in number.

In progress:

Gore is talking:

The fundamental conclusions are UNchanged in any way. We have to act. The consensus has been attacked by skeptics, but no matter what they blow out of proportion does not change that EVERY academy of sciences in the world has been the same.

We've seen the changes, physically for ourselves.

The N.E. snowstorms: They're evidence of winter! And evidence that the increasing temperatures accelerated evaporation of moisture from oceans, putting it into the atmosphere. Overall moisture worldwide has increased 4%.

The downpours, winds are consistent with warnings from scientists.

We must do something. Rather than spend billions on foreign oil, must invest in clean renewable energy at home.

Security threat must be addressed. Admirals, generals say fossil fuels pose security threats: "Our approach to energy and climate change impact on our national security."

Our energy $ should go to American businesses. Reduce energy linked conflicts overseas.

Military leaders, including CIA, include climate change in longterm planning.

90 million tons of pollution are dumped into atmosphere daily.

Wind, solar, retrofitting buildings, fuel efficient cars, all can restore U.S. economy and manufacturing jobs (850,000 jobs in fact).

We're not winning because we have pressure of TIME. Heat build up, etc. means that trapping of heat, we could cross a threshold that would be hard to come back from

We must lead clean energy economy. GM is going electric, but they already chose a Korean co. to supply battery cells for Volt. China is ahead of us. Germany has 5x solar panels than we do.

What to do? A clean energy revolution. Tell our elected officials that we want them to lead. Not bicker.

Sen's. Kerry, Lieberman, L. Graham are leading, and Boxer playing role.

Reid insisted on passing a bill, isn't wavering.

It may not have everything we want, but we should call on our leaders to make it as strong as possible. Time to act is NOW.

There is no longer any doubt that pollution affects climate.

Repower America needs your help. Be heard. Call your Senators, write letters, visit their offices.

Demand clean energy here at home. We have a moral responsibility to our kids. Call your Senator. Demand action on clean energy and climate change. Public officials must rise to the challenge, we must demand. We must not lose this fight.

Next few weeks are crucial.

Questions:

Q from Ohio, a steel worker: Urgent need for clean energy jobs. What can we do to keep jobs in Ohio, not outsourced?

Gore: Thank you! Unions have helped lead the way. Steel workers union, for example. Hiring for windmill parts to be installed in midwest. We need changes in U.S. law to counterbalance subsidies for carbon fuel. U.S. perfected technologies, but we go to other countries! We need to keep the jobs here, jobs that cannot be outsourced... like building technologies for what we're betting on. Industrial Revolution provided jobs, so will Clean Energy Revolution.

Joe from New Hampshire: Small businesses here. Transition means what to them? Will bills go up?

Gore: They'll go down over time if we do it right. Up? Do nothing, they'll go up. We've had a roller coaster of oil prices over the decades. Production is cut, or embargoed, etc. Gas prices/heating oil prices shoot up. When they go back down, then the sense of urgency dissipates, policies lapse. Other countries don't have the see saw pattern. Plus, in world energy marketplace, new discoveries for oil rates are down, production rate in middle east declining more rapidly than predicted, while demand goes up. Predictions: Roller coaster will crash, we're in front car. SO, we need to accelerate shift to low carbon fuel... w/ super grid, wind/solar centers, retrofit homes/businesses... new technologies, we can reduce energy build and become efficient.

Mike in Montana, state rep. and chairman of Dem. caucus in Montana: Historical perspective on how you remain hopeful to get 60 votes for bill.

Gore: People on this call make me hopeful. Thousands! We got calls from Senators' offices being deluged. You get busy on phones, writing to Senators... Even with all the attacks from deniers... there's still an overwhelming majority of Americans who support this transition. When special interests create the IMPRESSION they're the majority, they get their way. But when you do your thing, they get the real picture. The weather patterns/floods, etc. have made an impression on regular people, farmers, etc. Oil is running low, demand high, so they know it's crazy to continue the way we are, sending troops to Gulf region partly because we need oil... esp. when we have renewable energy here. I'm optimistic because of YOU.

Thank you so much to everyone on this call. Your participation is so important. More depends on the outcome of this vote than on anything I can remember. Thanks for standing up and fighting for the future your children and grandchildren deserve.


Handwritten letters are most effective, asking to pass comprehensive legislation. Then hand deliver the letters during the recess to your senator's local office.

www.repoweramerica.org/letters for suggestions on how to write them.

Fresh Evidence Global Warming Is Man-Made

By GottaLaff

Dear Michele Bachmann, Grabby McOscarSwag, et al:

Climate scientists hit back at the sceptics today with new research they say has uncovered the "fingerprint" of man-made global warming.

Researchers working like detectives investigating a crime compared real observational evidence with data from computer simulations to see how they matched up.

They concluded there was an "increasingly remote possibility" of human behaviour not being the chief driver of climate change.

"Remote".

Main Entry: ¹re·mote
Pronunciation: \ri-ˈmōt\

Function: adjective

Inflected Form(s): re·mot·er; re·mot·est

Etymology: Middle English, from Latin remotus, from past participle of removēre to remove

Date: 15th century

1 : separated by an interval or space greater than usual
2 : far removed in space, time, or relation : divergent
3 : out-of-the-way, secluded
4 : acting, acted on, or controlled indirectly or from a distance computer operation>; also : relating to the acquisition of information about a distant object (as by radar or photography) without coming into physical contact with it
5 : not arising from a primary or proximate action
6 : small in degree : slight remotest idea of what was going on>

Dr Peter Stott, from the Met Office Hadley Centre in Exeter, who co-led the study:

"This wealth of evidence we have now shows there is an increasingly remote possibility of climate change being dominated by natural factors rather than human factors."

By the time the skeptics are convinced, if ever, it could be too late. The damage will have been done, damage that could have been prevented. As it is, irreversible harm has already taken place.

How does it feel to screw up the planet for your children, grandchildren, and beyond? I wonder how Trig will enjoy the new coastline...

The study found natural forces such as volcanic eruptions and cyclical changes in the brightness of the Sun could not explain what was happening to the world's climate, said Dr Stott.

For example, solar heating would have warmed both upper and lower layers of the atmosphere, the stratosphere and troposphere. However, what was seen was that while the stratosphere had cooled, the troposphere had warmed.

H/t: BuzzFlash

Al Gore: We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change

By GottaLaff

Al Gore finally does what we all need to do. He calls out the "market fundamentalists" and goes after the Senate:

It would be an enormous relief if the recent attacks on the science of global warming actually indicated that we do not face an unimaginable calamity requiring large-scale, preventive measures to protect human civilization as we know it.

Wouldn't it though?

We would no longer have to worry that our grandchildren would one day look back on us as a criminal generation that had selfishly and blithely ignored clear warnings that their fate was in our hands. We could instead celebrate the naysayers who had doggedly persisted in proving that every major National Academy of Sciences report on climate change had simply made a huge mistake.

Just like those old Three's Company premises: One big, ongoing, silly misunderstanding.
What a laugh riot.

And just think of the spin-offs! Why, there's no telling what Naysayers Inc. could come up with for, say, health care or the economy.

[T]he scientific enterprise will never be completely free of mistakes. What is important is that the overwhelming consensus on global warming remains unchanged.

And now, for those who still need a refresher course... Climate Change 101:

Here is what scientists have found is happening to our climate: man-made global-warming pollution traps heat from the sun and increases atmospheric temperatures. These pollutants — especially carbon dioxide — have been increasing rapidly with the growth in the burning of coal, oil, natural gas and forests, and temperatures have increased over the same period. Almost all of the ice-covered regions of the Earth are melting — and seas are rising. Hurricanes are predicted to grow stronger and more destructive, though their number is expected to decrease. Droughts are getting longer and deeper in many mid-continent regions, even as the severity of flooding increases. The seasonal predictability of rainfall and temperatures is being disrupted, posing serious threats to agriculture. The rate of species extinction is accelerating to dangerous levels.

That Al, he's such an optimist. Seriously, I kid Mr. Gore, but he's spot on.

As for a remedy:

The political paralysis that is now so painfully evident in Washington has thus far prevented action by the Senate — not only on climate and energy legislation, but also on health care reform, financial regulatory reform and a host of other pressing issues. [...]

It’s important to point out that the United States is not alone in its inaction. Global political paralysis has thus far stymied work not only on climate, but on trade and other pressing issues that require coordinated international action.

The reasons for this are primarily economic.

There is so much more in the editorial, but he ends this way:

We have overcome existential threats before. Winston Churchill is widely quoted as having said, “Sometimes doing your best is not good enough. Sometimes, you must do what is required.” Now is that time. Public officials must rise to this challenge by doing what is required; and the public must demand that they do so — or must replace them.

Please go read the whole thing.

VIDEO: GOP state lawmaker accused of plagiarizing Washington Times’ editorial

By GottaLaff

Could this be any more obvious?

Tsk tsk tsk. This can't end well.

But hey, they're just words, right? Wrong:

Rep. Matt Wingard [a state representative in Oregon], who has a degree in broadcast journalism, admitted on Monday that he lifted his speech from an editorial entitled "Osama and Obama on global warming," which sought to link Osama bin Laden's recent declaration on global warming to the US president's policies. [...]

Wingard reportedly also lifted several paragraphs from columnist Margaret Wente in Canada's Globe and Mail. [...]

[Kari] Chisholm [who published a story showing Wingard's speech to be almost exactly the same as the Washington Times editorial] added that copyright infringement is "hypocritical for a guy that goes on and on about property rights." In a follow-up story, Chisholm noted that "[t]his incident is especially damning for Wingard because he's a trained journalist."

Here's an idea: If you're going to call something a hoax, you might try avoiding your own first.

Donald Trump is as dumb as a box of his hair

By GottaLaff

I'm wondering who controls this ignoramus's mouth, The Donald or his comb-over:

With the coldest winter ever recorded, with snow setting record levels up and down the coast, the Nobel committee should take the Nobel Prize back from Al Gore. Gore wants us to clean up our factories and plants in order to protect us from global warming, when China and other countries couldn’t care less. It would make us totally noncompetitive in the manufacturing world, and China, Japan and India are laughing at America’s stupidity.

Wow! He's right! Except for this:

In reality, China, Japan, and India have all submitted greenhouse gas emissions targets under the Copenhagen Accord, and are leading the United States in the race to build the clean-energy technologies of the future.

And this:

[T]he unprecedented weather patterns that have brought snowfall to every state in the continental United States are the product of a record-hot planet. Following the hottest decade on record, we are now in the hottest winter in the satellite record, and this past January was one of the hottest Januaries on record for the planet. (H/T EcoPolitology)

That "he's right" thing? Pfft, that was just a writer's device... Which, of course, means Trump is wrong.

Or his hair is. One never knows who's doing the talking, because that thing on his head is clearly alive.

Actually, his hair is so very, very wrong:

Quickie: Aww, Oil Companies Being Harmed edition

By GottaLaff

Today's Quickie:

From the Department of Feigned Shock:

ConocoPhillips announced Tuesday that it is abandoning the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a major coalition of corporations and environmental groups that’s pushing Congress to approve cap-and-trade legislation.

ConocoPhillips, the country’s third-largest oil company, said that the major House and Senate climate change bills would harm oil companies.

Here's the feigned shock: What?! Oh no!

Poor Big Oil. They're being harmed. We aren't, of course. Just them.

That was today's Quickie. I hope you'll still respect me in the morning.

VIDEOS: Al Gore's group calls out Democrats (!) and GOP in new ad campaign

By GottaLaff





The Becks of the world have been asking, "Where's Gore?" He's been busy, that's where. Busy at what, you ask?

Calling out Republicans. Oh yeah, and Democrats.

Oh no he didn't! Ohhh yeah. He did. Al Gore's group, the Alliance for Climate Protection, just put up not one, but two Tee Vee Machine ads in Indiana and Maine, with two more expected in Missouri and Arkansas.

You may be asking, as you're wont to do, so what? Here's what. The ads, featuring regular old Americans, call out Democrats for backing off of cap and trade climate legislation.

That's right, not just Rushpublics, but Al Gore, the former Vice President, is mentioning Even Bayh, Claire McCaskill, Blanche Lincoln, and others by name via Repower America. And that's the so what:

Repower America, a project of Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection is upping the pressure on swing-vote Democrats to support legislative action on climate change.

Let's hope it works... because "so what?" won't work when it comes to saving our planet.

Cartoon of the Day

Good Ole Joe Scarborough this am told Mika that he wanted to suspend all discussion of global warming because of all the snow. I forget the exact words he used, but he basically implied that there is none because of the snow. The last line of this cartoon is dedicated to Joe. Click to enlarge, via.

Conservatives try to suspend California's global-warming law

By GottaLaff

I cannot fathom how these people can be so shortsighted. It's beyond comprehension. Do they not realize that all that money they'd supposedly save won't do anyone any good if nobody is around to spend it?

Republican politicians and conservative activists are launching a ballot campaign to suspend California's landmark global-warming law, in what they hope will serve as a showcase for a national backlash against climate regulations.

Supporters say they have "solid commitments" of nearly $600,000 to pay signature gatherers for a November initiative aimed at delaying curbs on the greenhouse gas emissions of power plants and factories until the state's unemployment rate drops.

GOP gubernatorial candidates and Tea Party organizers paint the 2006 law, considered a model for other state and federal efforts, as a job-killing interference in the economy. Talk radio is flailing at what John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, drive-time hosts on Los Angeles' KFI-AM (640), call "the global-warming final solution act" promoted by "fascist, Nazi" officials.

"We are on fire," said Assemblyman Dan Logue (R-Marysville), a sponsor of the proposed initiative. "People are calling from all over the country. This will be the most intense campaign the state has seen in 50 years."

"We are on fire." Hey Dan Logue, so is the planet.

The measure would halt proposed regulations until the state's jobless rate dips to 5.5% or below for a year. That's a level that California has not seen since 2007.

This is mind-achingly stupid. California's habit of governing via ballot initiative needs to be broken. Schwarzenegger* is proof of that.

*To be fair, he's fighting this campaign. I'll give him that.

VIDEO: Climate isn't weather. Weather isn't climate. Neither is an opportunity to lie.

By GottaLaff

Via Mother Jones:

Nonetheless, the Virginia GOP sees a blizzard as the perfect time to start the mid-term elections battle with lies and opportunism.

Rushpublics aren't that bright, are they? As the article says, it's supposed to snow in winter.

And of course, there's this little lesson that they have yet to learn:

Main Entry: ¹weath·er
Pronunciation: \ˈwe-thər\

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English weder, from Old English; akin to Old High German wetar weather, Old Church Slavic vetrŭ wind

Date: before 12th century

1 : the state of the atmosphere with respect to heat or cold, wetness or dryness, calm or storm, clearness or cloudiness
2 : state or vicissitude of life or fortune
3 : disagreeable atmospheric conditions: as a : rain, storm b : cold air with dampness

VS.

Main Entry: cli·mate
Pronunciation: \ˈklī-mət\

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English climat, from Middle French, from Late Latin climat-, clima, from Greek klimat-, klima inclination, latitude, climate, from klinein to lean — more at lean

Date: 14th century

1 : a region of the earth having specified climatic conditions
2 a : the average course or condition of the weather at a place usually over a period of years as exhibited by temperature, wind velocity, and precipitation b : the prevailing set of conditions (as of temperature and humidity) indoors climate-controlled office>
3 : the prevailing influence or environmental conditions characterizing a group or period : atmosphere

Study those words, GOP. Read them. Memorize them. Learn them. They're in the dictionary. It's not hard, honest it isn't.

Expanding one's vocabulary can be fun!

And educational!

And can ruin all their lying talking points.

Panel partially clears professor in climate e-mail inquiry

By GottaLaff

They can try as hard as they can to deny the existence or causes global warming, but trying to delegitimize it by wrongly accusing a climate professor won't change the facts:

A Penn State University panel on Wednesday cleared a climate professor [Michael E. Mann] of falsifying data, concealing information and misusing confidential information, but ordered a full investigation into whether he violated academic standards in researching global warming. [...]

Mann called the university's initial report a "vindication" and welcomed the further investigation. [...]

The Foley inquiry determined there is no credible evidence that Mann deleted AR4 e-mails.

A Nov. 16, 1999, Jones e-mail, which Mann and others received, discussed a "trick" to "hide the decline" on Briffa's 600-year temperature chart. The Foley panel found that the "trick" did not refer to deception but to a technique to make the chart more understandable.

The panel also found that Mann did not misuse privileged or confidential information to prevent the publication of articles skeptical of global warming.

Climate change is real. Now deal with that instead of going after professors.