Weather

In the 1995 blockbuster film "Batman Forever," the lead character, marvelously played by Val Kilmer, quipped to Dr. Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman), "It's the car, right? Chicks dig the car!"

Well, according to Great Britain's chief scientist, this fascination women have with guys who drive sports cars is causing global warming.

I kid you not.

As reported by the British Telegraph Monday (emphasis added throughout):

For many months, NewsBusters has informed readers that when it comes to current events involving global warming, if you have any interest in learning the facts, or at least a close approximation of them, you must rely upon foreign press outlets.

What transpired on Saturday is a perfect example of this maxim: after the United States got virtually everything it wanted from the United Nations climate change conference in Bali, it gave in to a relatively minor demand from delegates of developing countries.

Ignoring the facts, America's press badly misrepresented the event as a major capitulation by the Bush administration, and a huge victory for global warming alarmists.

Yet, a number of articles published across the Pond Sunday expressed a view of these proceedings U.S. media dare not share. Take for example this Sunday Times article entitled "Bali Deal Leaves Greens In Despair" (emphasis added throughout, h/t Benny Peiser):

As NewsBusters reported, Nobel Laureate Al Gore made a fool out of himself at the United Nations climate change meeting in Bali Thursday by chastising America for having the exact same global warming policy the Clinton administration had when he was vice president in 1997.

Marvelously, former U.N. ambassador John Bolton was on Fox News the following day speaking inconvenient truths about the Global Warmingist-in-Chief that sycophantic media members disgracefully refuse to share with the citizenry.

With that in mind, get your popcorn ready, kick your feet up, and listen to the facts about this issue spoken in a fashion that press members eschew for the sake of their own politics and advocacy (video available here):

A supposedly sensational climate change pact was agreed upon in Bali on Saturday with the United States and the Bush administration finally capitulating to international demands to stave off the bogeyman known as global warming.

Yet, much as the media completely misinterpreted what came out of the G-8 summit in Germany six months ago, press outlets today are applauding an agreement that fell far short of what global warming alarmists were hoping to achieve, and much like what transpired in June, resulted in absolutely no specific international carbon dioxide emissions cuts.

Not surprisingly, this isn't how the news is being reported here as demonstrated at CNN.com in an article hysterically titled "U.S. Agrees to Bali Compromise" (emphasis added):

If a former vice president with absolutely no formal scientific training in climatology or meteorology makes a statement about the world coming to an end due to rising temperatures, media will fawn over him like teenyboppers in the presence of Elvis Presley.

Yet, if more than 100 scientists from around the world send a letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations urging him and his organization to stop wasting time, resources, and money fighting a futile climate change battle, crickets will be heard in newsrooms around the country.

Pretty disgraceful, wouldn't you agree?

Yet, such was the case when scientists from around the planet signed their names to the following letter sent to Ban Ki-moon Thursday as nations were meeting in Bali to discuss preposterous and economically damaging ideas to address global warming:

Although it's a metaphysical certitude American media will be jumping for joy about this event, United States citizens on both sides of the political aisle should be deeply embarrassed and ashamed about the disgraceful things former Vice President Al Gore said Thursday at the United Nations' climate change meeting in Bali.

It's one thing to make a movie based almost exclusively on junk science and well-documented falsehoods whilst traveling the world evoking hysteria you yourself are financially benefiting from.

However, it is something else altogether to attend an international meeting, with delegates from every country on the face of the planet present, and disparage the nation you used to serve (truly disgraceful video available here):

As a global warming skeptic, when I saw the headline "The Pope Condemns the Climate Change Prophets of Doom," it goes without saying I was as pleased as a child on Christmas Day that had gotten everything he asked Santa for and then some.

My glee accelerated after reading the marvelous beginning of this Daily Mail article (paragraph break removed for space considerations):

Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology. The leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics suggested that fears over man-made emissions melting the ice caps and causing a wave of unprecedented disasters were nothing more than scare-mongering.

See why I was so thrilled?

Unfortunately, as I reviewed the text of the Pontiff's message, defeat was stripped from the jaws of victory upon realizing the Mail's author had divined intent that might have been absent from the Pope's words:

It appears America's closest ally is beginning to see through Al Gore's international global warming con game.

On November 30, the Nobel Laureate was the keynote speaker at the Fortune Forum's Summit 2007 in London, "An historic evening of spectacular entertainment, dining and inspiration to raise global awareness and to influence good policy."

Unfortunately, the former vice president badly disappointed attendees which included Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Sir David Frost, Sir Bob Geldorf, and former Prime Minister Tony Blair.

In fact, by all accounts, Gore was a miserable flop. Think American media will be sharing this revelation with their patrons any time soon?

While you ponder, England's Daily Mail reported Sunday (emphasis added throughout):

Unless you have either been asleep or out of the country for the last two years, you are fully aware of the contention made by climate alarmists in the media that rising atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide are responsible for global warming.

In fact, this is such a common press theme that in just the last month alone, there have been more than 3,000 English-speaking news reports (LexisNexis search limit) around the world containing the words carbon dioxide and global warming/climate change.

It therefore goes without saying that this is a large part of the junk science folks like former Vice President Al Gore claim is settled, as they avow there is a significant correlation between the amount of CO2 in the air and the surface temperature of the planet. To save us all from imminent doom, the presence of this heinous greenhouse gas must be reduced immediately.

Yet, with all this finger-pointing at CO2 being the culprit for all earth's ills other than those caused by George W. Bush and every politician with an "R" next to his or her name, there's a tremendously inconvenient truth Gore and his media sycophants can't possibly refute:

Friday's adoring Associated Press piece concerning Nobel Laureate Al Gore's noble decision to take the train from the Oslo airport rather than the traditional motorcade to his hotel neglected something else besides the huge amount of carbon dioxide being emitted by the Global Warmingist-in-Chief: his luggage!

After all, Gore and wife Tipper aren't going to wear the same clothes this entire trip they wore on the plane, right?

So, where was all their baggage as the couple took the train?

Well, according to the Norwegian website VG Nett, Gore's luggage went by Mercedes van (h/t NB reader in Norway Trond Ruud who supplied the following translation):

To give you an idea of what lengths Nobel Laureate Al Gore and his media minions will go to present him as a champion for the environment, the Associated Press Friday published a story about the Global Warmingist-in-Chief taking public transportation in Norway (emphasis added, h/t NBer Sick-n-Tired):

Former Vice President Al Gore arrived in Oslo today to accept the Nobel Peace Prize he shared for the campaign against global warming, and shunned the traditional airport motorcade in favor of climate-friendly public transport.

Touching, dontcha think, especially as the piece totally ignored what Gore's carbon footprint will be on the trip. Fortunately, Libby Rosenthal of the International Herald Tribune got a copy of the schlockumentarist's itinerary, and it's filled with inconvenient truths the sycophants at AP dare not share (emphasis added):

NewsBusters readers are well aware of how American media gleefully reported Kevin Rudd's November 24 victory over Australian Prime Minister John Howard as a huge defeat for President Bush.

Stateside press representatives have also been enamored with Rudd's views concerning global warming, and his proposed deep cuts to Australia's carbon dioxide emissions.

In a truly stunning twist of fate, according to Friday's Herald Sun, Rudd, armed with new information from the electricity industry, has done a very serious greenhouse gas u-turn that will likely be met with silence from America's green press (emphasis added throughout, h/t Benny Peiser):

Capitalist democracies around the world should be very concerned about the level of socialism being discussed at the United Nations' climate change meeting in Bali.

Not only are international hands being extended to collect funds from countries like the United States in order to help poorer nations deal with a problem that might actually be disappearing since global temperatures peaked in 1998, but climate change is also being used as a means of stripping intellectual property rights from companies that have created new more eco-friendly energy technologies.

If such a power-grab for the so-called benefit of the downtrodden actually comes to pass, capitalism as we know it will cease to exist.

Think that might be a little alarmist? Feast your eyes on the following report from Bali by the Associated Press Wednesday under the headline "Poor Nations Demand Climate Technology" (emphasis added throughout):

How often in the past couple of years have you heard a climate alarmist refer to a so-called scientific consensus concerning man's role in global warming?

Almost any time you see a report on the subject, correct?

Have you ever considered how this belief that a consensus exists came to be, and if it actually means anything?

Answering such questions is the Wall Street Journal's Holman W. Jenkins Jr, whose op-ed Wednesday should be must reading for citizens, media representatives, and especially politicians that actually believe an overwhelming majority of scientists around the world are drinking Al Gore's Kool-Aid (h/t NBer dscott, emphasis added throughout):

Want more proof of just how biased the United Nations is?

A group of reporters representing the conservative newspaper Environment & Climate News were refused press credentials to attend the U.N.'s climate change meeting in Bali this week.

I kid you not.

The paper's publisher, the Heartland Institute, released the following statement Monday:

Did you know that you're causing global warming just by reading this article on your computer screen?

Or that a medium-sized server has the same annual carbon footprint of an SUV that gets 15 miles to the gallon?

Well, shame on you for not being aware of just how harmful to the environment your laptop is, because according to an English environmental organization called Global Action Plan, the Information and Computer Technology industry is about to surpass the aviation industry in annual carbon dioxide emissions.

I kid you not.

Here are some of the highlights of this organization's paper on the matter entitled "An Inefficient Truth":

As climate alarmists around the world gather at a tropical resort in Bali to discuss the liberal bogeyman known as global warming, it is a metaphysical certitude green media will cheerlead the event while distorting science and history to blame all the planet's supposed ills on George W. Bush.

A fine example of this was a piece posted at Yahoo Friday evening which in its very first paragraph completely misrepresented the facts behind the Kyoto Protocol, and, especially, who was in the White House when this treaty was agreed upon and signed.

As reported by Agence France-Presse (h/t Tim Graham, emphasis added throughout):

Have you noticed the genie concerning the real modus operandi behind climate alarmism beginning to peek its head out of the bottle lately?

After the United Nations announced earlier in the week that rich countries - code for America, of course - are going to have to pay billions of dollars to help poor nations deal with global warming, several international press outlets published articles of similar content.

Is it possible media are recognizing that since the Democrat presidential candidates are all advocating a tax the rich platform it is safe to begin discussing the need for developed nations to foot the bill for international global warming solutions?

Consider an op-ed published Friday by Britain's Guardian (emphasis added, reader is strongly advised to hide wallet or purse before proceeding):

As climate alarmists around the world head to a tropical paradise on Bali next week to discuss how developed nations should pay to solve global warming, an inconvenient truth has emerged: many countries that are part of the Kyoto Protocol are going to dramatically overshoot their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions limits.

While it seems a metaphysical certitude that America's green media will largely boycott such revelations so as not to put a damper on the hysterical proceedings, the fact that taxpayers in countries missing these targets will end up footing the bill also appears likely to be ignored.

As reported by Bloomberg Friday (emphasis added throughout, h/t Benny Peiser):

As NewsBusters has been reporting for many months, one of the key elements to the advancement of global warming hysteria is money, in particular, taking it from those that have to give to those that don't.

Of course, during this time, the media have been less than forthcoming concerning this inconvenient truth.

A fine example of where all this alarm is heading was surprisingly reported by the Associated Press Tuesday.

In a piece hysterically titled "Poor in Need of Help From Global Warming," AP author John Heilprin exposed - with tugs at the heartstrings, of course - the real modus operandi behind the hysteria (emphasis added throughout, h/t NBer DontFeedTheTrolls):

In April, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich rocked the conservative world by stating in a highly publicized Capitol Hill debate with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) that he believed global warming was real.

Since then, Gingrich has published a new book on the subject entitled "A Contract with the Earth."

A few weeks ago, the former Speaker sat down with New York Times environment reporter Andrew C. Revkin to discuss his views on this controversial subject.

This resulted in a marvelous video posted at the Times website (available here), along with a November 13 article entitled "Challenges to Both Left and Right on Global Warming" (h/t NBer botg):

On Monday, NewsBusters asked, "How soon before someone in the media blames the cyclone in Bangladesh on global warming, the war in Iraq, President Bush, or all of the above?"

On Saturday, the Boston Globe's Derrick Z. Jackson came very close.

In his column entitled "Hesitance on the Warming Front," Jackson was quick to blame everything but nature for the planet's most recent natural disaster (emphasis added throughout):

As climate alarmists from all over the world head to Bali to talk about the sacrifices regular folks have to make to save the planet from global warming, it seems certain media will ignore all the private jets clogging the tiny airport.

As if it’s not enough that the United Nations Climate Change Conference is being held at what NewsBusters reported as "a truly beautiful tropical island paradise," the management of the nearby airport has issued a warning to attendees that they are going to have to park their private jets somewhere else.

I kid you not.

As reported by Bali Discovery Tours on November 3 (emphasis added):

As irrefutable evidence mounts that Nobel Laureate Al Gore's climate alarmism is about nothing other than lining his supposedly green pockets with green currency, manmade global warming skeptics around the world wonder when the former vice president's house of cards will collapse.

Without question, if Gore were to lose the support of almost universally adoring Hollywoodans, the scam would implode quicker than a Democrat demanding a recount after losing a close election.

As such, the following comments by actor and environmentalist Robert Redford, reported by the New Statesman last week, should bring hope to folks not buying the snake oil Gore is selling (emphasis added, h/t NB reader Lee):

As NewsBusters has been reporting, Nobel Laureate Al Gore's recent employment by a Silicon Valley venture capital firm puts him in a fabulous position to turn his estimated $100 million net worth into billions.

Upon further examination of the particulars, Gore's fortunes might rest on the defeat of tax law changes currently proposed by Democrats.

Maybe more delicious, as a former congressman whose voting record shows a proclivity towards higher taxes, this could pit Gore's future earnings potential against his legislative history, especially if he ends up not supporting Democrat efforts to close a tax loophole enjoyed by hedge funds and venture capital firms.

As reported by TheStreet.com Wednesday (emphasis added throughout):

When this first appeared in my inbox, I thought it was a joke from one of the many satirical websites on the Internet which regularly lampoon the liberal bogeyman disaffectionately known as global warming.

Then, I thought the good folks at the Washington Times were having a little fun the day before Thanksgiving highlighting tips to make your holiday more eco-friendly.

Sadly, a visit to the World Wildlife Fund's website proved that the joke's on us as the largest multinational conservation organization in the world offered readers ten tips for a greener Thanksgiving:

Time magazine, November 26, 2007 (Michael Grunwald):

[Georgia's] drought was a natural event transformed into a natural disaster by human folly. And while it's still hard to say whether global warming caused any particular drought or flood or fire, it's going to cause more of all of them.

Time magazine, June 24, 1974:

In Africa, drought continues for the sixth consecutive year, adding terribly to the toll of famine victims... Climatological Cassandras are becoming increasingly apprehensive, for the weather aberrations they are studying may be the harbinger of another ice age.

As NewsBusters readers are aware, one of the positions of those not buying into the manmade global warming hysteria is that the United Nations -- whose Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a large part of the alarmism -- is an organization that has seen more than its share of malfeasance and corruption.

The recent scandal surrounding the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food program is one example, with problems that eventually plagued UNICEF another.

Now, it has been revealed that the U.N. has been exaggerating the AIDS epidemic for many years. As reported Tuesday by the Washington Post (emphasis added throughout):

Is the press beginning to see through Al Gore's global warming scam?

A brief article posted at Newsweek's website offers hope that the media might finally be recognizing the former Vice President could be this decade's Ken Lay.

For those that have forgotten, Lay was the CEO of Enron (h/t NBer well99, emphasis added):

Will a television news magazine like "60 Minutes," "20/20," or "Dateline" ever devote an entire segment exclusively to the horrid state of America's weather stations?

Given the incessant reports of rising temperatures threatening to kill us all, wouldn’t a lengthy exposé into the accuracy of the devices at the heart of the matter be of interest to a population frightened to drive their cars, heat their homes, and – God forbid – exhale?

Consider the following information shared by weather station analyst extraordinaire Anthony Watts, published Sunday at Steve McIntyre’s Climate Audit, and try to figure out why this isn't one of the hottest stories in town (emphasis added throughout, h/t NBer dscott):