If global warming is real then why is it cold?

Heh.

Jackson: I will serve with science as my guide

At her confirmation hearing, Obama nominee for EPA administrator Lisa Jackson was asked by Senator James Inhofe if she would "take science seriously" with regard to global warming.

“If confirmed, I will serve with science as my guide,” said the former commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection.

“Science must be the backbone of the EPA,” Jackson added. “We will make decisions based on the best available science … based on the judgment of the agency’s scientists and independent scientists.”

That's good news if she's really willing to listen to scientists who have added their names the ever growing list of skeptics.

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) called Jackson’s pledges to make scientific integrity the core value of the EPA “music to my ears,” but admonished her to consider all available scientific opinions on climate change -- especially critics of "global warming."

The ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee asked Jackson to commit to listen to a speech he made on the Senate floor last week about the science and economics of global warming.

A Senate minority report titled, “More Than 650 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims,” provided the basis for the speech.

The report lists the names of hundreds of internationally recognized scientists who are now skeptical of global warming, many of whom currently or formerly worked for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),

Guess what? She agreed.

Consensus in Freefall

Senator James Inhofe explains how a carbon tax would punish the poor, how Al Gore is getting rich selling his global warming "whopper", the failed Lieberman-Warner climate change bill and how the IPCC's so-called scientific consensus on global warming is now in full freefall.

Pravda: Global cooling

The earth is now on the brink of entering another Ice Age, according to a large and compelling body of evidence from within the field of climate science. Many sources of data which provide our knowledge base of long-term climate change indicate that the warm, twelve thousand year-long Holocene period will rather soon be coming to an end, and then the earth will return to Ice Age conditions for the next 100,000 years.

In the Shadow of Saturn

Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA

Explanation: In the shadow of Saturn, unexpected wonders appear. The robotic Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn recently drifted in giant planet's shadow for about 12 hours and looked back toward the eclipsed Sun. Cassini saw a view unlike any other.

Far in the distance, visible on the image left just above the bright main rings, is the almost ignorable pale blue dot of Earth.

Click image for larger view. More info here.

h/t: lgf

No wonder they call it the Holy Land

Israel or Hamas. 2 videos to help you decide.

Lou Dobbs

The Gore effect

story here.

Dr. Roy Spencer

Dr. Roy Spencer, Ph.D. in meteorology has a new blog. Check it out.
I like how Dr. Spencer puts CO2 into perspective.

Global Warming for Dummies

I guess it was inevitable. The "For Dummies" series has a new addition.

The 342-page paperback translates scientific and enviro-speak jargon, ranging from terms like "abrupt climate change scenario" through "biomass," "carbon credits," "Kyoto Protocol," and "photovoltaic energy," all the way to "zero-energy homes."

Following the For Dummies series formula, the fact-packed book explains climate science with plenty of drawings, charts, and graphs; and icons in the margins alert readers to information considered to be technical stuff, situation critical, good news, or controversial, as well as information to remember while studying the subject. A "cheat sheet" at the front condenses the contents for quick digestion.

The authors of this remarkable scientific work? None other than Canada's Green Party leader Elizabeth May who co-authored the book with Zoe Caron. And what credentials do these two bring to the scientific debate about global warming?

Both authors are globally recognised environmental activists. Ms. May, currently federal Green Party leader, was executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada for 17 years and policy adviser to former prime minister Brian Mulroney. Ms. Caron’s pedigree includes membership in the Canadian Youth Climate Change Coalition and the board of directors of the Sierra Club of Canada.

Did I miss the part in there where they mentioned their science credentials?

Not to fear, despite the lack of scientific background by these two "environmental activists", this science book has been thoroughly reviewed for accuracy by, wait for it...

The book was fact-checked by scientists from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a 2,000-member body that has created an objective source of climate information.

OK, now we can feel better. There wouldn't possibly be any bias from the IPCC now would there?

Seriously, if you want to read a book about global warming, I can suggest a few that would be far more informative, and truthful.

29 years of ice melt erased in 2008

The world's ice is melting at an alarming rate, right? Well, not exactly...

Via DailyTech.com:

Thanks to a rapid rebound in recent months, global sea ice levels now equal those seen 29 years ago, when the year 1979 also drew to a close.

Ice levels had been tracking lower throughout much of 2008, but rapidly recovered in the last quarter. In fact, the rate of increase from September onward is the fastest rate of change on record, either upwards or downwards. Each year, millions of square kilometers of sea ice melt and refreeze. However, the mean ice anomaly -- defined as the seasonally-adjusted difference between the current value and the average from 1979-2000, varies much more slowly. That anomaly now stands at just under zero, a value identical to one recorded at the end of 1979, the year satellite record-keeping began.

Attention MSM: no news here. Move along to the next alarmist story.

EU Leadership: Vaclav Klaus

A somewhat surprising statement from the European Union Presidency yesterday:

"At the moment, from the perspective of the last days, we understand this step as a defensive, not offensive, action," Czech EU presidency spokesman Jiri Potuznik said.

Of course, Israel's actions are defensive. But perhaps this statement is not so surprising considering that the Czech Republic now holds the Presidency of the EU. That would be Vaclav Klaus, who's frank talk and common sense is not limited to topics like global warming.

Update: More level headed comments from German Chancellor Angela Merkel: the responsibility for the conflict lies "clearly and exclusively" with Hamas.

Michael Bloomberg heads to Israel to show his support.

George W Bush: Hamas is entirely responsible for the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

Also of interest Robert Fulford: Israel vs. Hamas; civilization vs. terror, Victor Davis Hanson: Surreal Gaza, Roger L. Simon: Israel Alone, Melanie Phillips: the Moral Battleground, John Hinderaker: Internecine Warfare