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If media could be found legally liable for worsening the current economic crisis, mightn't they be similarly prosecuted for exaggerating anthropogenic global warming if it leads citizens, companies, and governments to waste money solving a problem that doesn't exist? 

Consider if you will a January 2008 cover story by E magazine which predicted the end of winter as we know it.

Given the often record cold that has gripped the nation the last four weeks, "Losing Winter: As Climate Change Takes Hold, Our Coldest Season is the First Casualty" seems the perfect example of how dangerous -- and potentially costly -- the media's climate alarmism is:

From June: 'No ice at the North Pole,' to January: 'Sea Ice Ends Year at Same Level as 1979'

No pairing of any two stories better illustrates the child-like alarmism of global warming religionists than these two stories. The first from June of 2008 claims that all the ice at the North Pole has melted and will be gone for the first time ever, while the second shows that by January of 2009 the polar ice measurements show that it is the same as it was in 1979, with no ice loss seen at all between then and now.

Climate realists around the world have contended for years that the real goal of alarmists such as Nobel Laureate Al Gore and his followers is to use the fear of man-made global warming to redistribute wealth.

On Monday, one of Gore's leading scientific resources, Goddard Institute for Space Studies chief James Hansen, sent a letter to Barack and Michelle Obama specifically urging the president-elect to enact a tax on carbon emissions that would take money from higher-income Americans and distribute the proceeds to the less fortunate.

The eco-socialism cat was let out of the bag on page five of a PDF Hansen published at Columbia University's website on December 29 (emphasis added, h/t Britain's Guardian, file photo):

Did you need any more proof that climate alarmism is indeed an environmental religion?

The Church of England has invested 150 million pounds with Generation Investment Management, the green fund started by Nobel Laureate Al Gore.

Can I get a "Hallelujah" ladies and gentlemen?

As reported by Religious Intelligence News Tuesday:

Can you imagine a major American newspaper publishing the headline "2008 Was the Year Man-made Global Warming Was Disproved?"

No...neither can I.

Yet, supporting the view that foreign press outlets are more willing to present both sides of this debate, the British Telegraph published a piece Saturday most climate alarmists on this side of the Atlantic would never dare:

The liberal mind never ceases to amaze me.

Our nation is experiencing record snows and cold spells, and Air America host Thom Hartmann actually told his audience Friday:

What we are seeing in this cold, that has me trapped in my house here today, is that, what we are seeing is a symptom of global warming. But you wouldn't know that from the crazies on the right.

Speaking of lunacy, Hartmann was so proud of this moment in broadcast history that he created an mp3 of his explanation as to why global warming is making us all freeze to death, and not only posted it at Air America's website, but also included an embed feature if folks wanted to share his astounding stupidity with others.

As you might imagine, I do (audio embedded below the fold, h/t Tom Nelson, readers are cautioned to stow all potables and combustibles before proceeding further):

Despite the nation experiencing its tenth straight year of temperatures cooler than 1998's peak, and much of New England experiencing its worst ice storm in decades (video embedded right), the Associated Press on Sunday published one of the most hysterical articles concerning global warming I've ever seen.

In writer Seth Borenstein's view, climate change is "a ticking time bomb that President-elect Barack Obama can't avoid." 

"Global warming is accelerating. Time is close to running out, and Obama knows it." 

Where's Rod Serling?

For those that can stand it, here are some of Borenstein's disgraceful lowlights:

If you needed any more proof climate alarmists are an extraordinarily deluded bunch that will do anything to protect their dogma, you got it Saturday when a 56-page report on military strategy incited ire because it included two paragraphs on global warming that don't perfectly fit Nobel Laureate Al Gore's agenda.

In fact, all the brouhaha was largely about one sentence: "In many respects, scientific conclusions about the causes and potential effects of global warming are contradictory."

Seems innocent enough, don't you think?

Well, not according to the Boston Globe's Bryan Bender, or any of the folks he chose to question about it:

Amidst all the sanctimonious do-gooderism and global-warming alarmism that is NBC/Universal's "Green Week," it's good to see that at least one network minion has managed to maintain his sense of humor.

Morning Joe's Willie Geist became something of a sensation with his spoof electioneering for John McCain on the sidewalks of Manhattan's ultra-blue Upper West Side.  In that same spirit, Willie ventured onto the streets of midtown yesterday, asking folks how they were celebrating Green Week, and posing provocative questions. Sample: "Do you think global warming is kinda hogwash? I mean, look how cold it is today."  He got some amusing answers and met some colorful characters, including one dazed and confused fellow who turned out to be none other than Mike Barnicle.

Remember back in November when Nobel Laureate Al Gore actually told NBC's Meredith Vieira that trying to cover global warming from a fair and balanced perspective was wrong, and only climate alarmists should be given any attention in pieces concerning this controversial subject?

Well, a Stanford social psychologist has recently done a study of how people's opinions about global warming change if skeptical views are edited out of news stories, and the results, though not surprising, should scare the heck out of free thinkers around the country.

As reported by USA Today on August 13 (h/t NBer nofate, emphasis added):

A new group has been launched to brainwash America's teenagers with a "youth-focused version" of Nobel Laureate Al Gore's hysteria-filled and factually inaccurate schlockumentary "An Inconvenient Truth."

Even scarier, its founder is the daughter of a key partner at the venture capital firm Gore joined last November.

Based in Menlo Park, California, Inconvenient Youth is a non-profit group looking to "mobilize young people to educate their communities about environmental science" in order to solve global warming.

Isn't that sweet? Now Gore's got kids brainwashing other kids to further climate hysteria in the hopes that Congress will eventually enact a carbon cap and trade program that will likely make him a billionaire.

As reported by MarketWatch Friday:

In our ongoing series "What's Happening at the Washington Post," today's "I Can't Believe I Saw This There" moment is a rather lengthy article by Joel Achenbach, conspicuously placed on the cover of Sunday's section B, and conspicuously skeptical about the liberal bogeyman known as global warming.

Maybe more surprising, Achenbach took on media representatives that feel the need to blame every catastrophic weather event on climate change.

In fact, without naming names, he even picked on our friend at Newsweek, Sharon Begley, totally debunking her claim that global warming was responsible for the June floods in Iowa (emphasis added):

Here's another malady the liberal bogeyman known as global warming is now predicted to cause: an increase in raw sewage being pumped into the ocean.

Honestly, at this point one has to wonder if much like writers for a daily comedy program there aren't teams of folks in offices around the world working 24 hours a day, seven days a week thinking up new bits of hysteria about climate change to scare the public.

With this mind, here's the next bit of nuttiness, this one coming from the Vancouver Sun (emphasis added, photo courtesy USGS):

I bet you thought EPA stands for Environmental Protection Agency.

Not according to the comedy team Penn & Teller, who during Thursday's "Being Green" installment of their hit television series on Showtime, tore Nobel Laureate Al Gore apart while referring to him as an "Egregiously Pushy A**hole."

To be frank, that's just one marvelous snippet from Thursday's evisceration of all things related to climate change hysteria. Here are a few more (video available here, h/t NBer PopTech, vulgarity alert):

In 2003, Showtime's Penn & Teller program with a name not appropriate above the fold -- unless, of course, you're a member of the Netroots! -- marvelously exposed what's behind the global warming and environmental hysteria in America today.

The videos have just come available on YouTube.

In part one (embedded right), the comedy team accurately depicted environmentalists as political and social activists who use green rhetoric to "cloak agendas that actually have more to do with anti-corporatism, anti-globalization, anti-business, and very little to do with science and ecology."

Exactly. Parts two and three are embedded below the fold with a warning that these videos contain mild vulgarity. Actually, it's typically one word that most shouldn't find too offensive for it properly characterizes what's behind all this nonsense:

The next time some media member says something stupid like "the global warming debate is over," or "the science is settled," consider the firestorm that was set off by a tiny NewsBusters article playfully titled "Clean Air Causes Global Warming, Global Warming Causes Smog."

Although it is now two weeks since this was first published, folks at NewsBusters and RealClimate -- as well as an "esteemed" NASA scientist -- continue to bicker about its contents and meaning.

In fact, as of Thursday evening, NASA's Gavin Schmidt was still battling to make his point:

For many months, NewsBusters has been reporting the financial interest Nobel Laureate Al Gore has in advancing global warming hysteria, and has continually wondered when media will raise this issue to the American people.

On Sunday's "Meet the Press," Gore gave host Tom Brokaw the perfect setup to ask him about his investments in renewable fuel technology when the former Vice President mentioned how much money T. Boone Pickens has put into windmill farms.

Predictably, Brokaw missed this opportunity to be the first major, mainstream media member to ask the Global Warmingist-in-Chief about his own investments, and just how much he stands to make if America does indeed shift all of its electricity production to renewable sources of energy.

Here's the exchange in question (video embedded below the fold):

Updates at end of post: Schmidt responds to (and ignores!) NBers' questions.

Last Saturday, one of the nation's leading climate alarmists -- a government employee with a history of attacking people that don't agree with his views on anthropogenic global warming -- wrote rather disparagingly about a somewhat satirical NewsBusters piece.

Despite claiming he typically doesn’t comment on things “written about climate change in the more excitable parts of [sic] web,” NASA’s Gavin Schmidt took time out of his busy Saturday schedule to respond to something he described as “probably the most boneheaded article that I have seen in ages.”

Was this an effort by one of the founding members of RealClimate – the world’s leading website specializing in climate change hysteria – to correct errors he felt existed in my article? Or, was this a predictable attack on a popular conservative blog that not only regularly exposes the one-sided nature of media reports about global warming, but also frequently brings attention to studies that go counter to RealClimate’s, and maybe more importantly, Schmidt’s views?

After all, to climate alarmists like Schmidt, media shouldn’t be reporting the realist (nee “skeptical”) side of this issue as was made perfectly clear by Nobel Laureate Al Gore during an interview with NBC’s Meredith Vieira during the November 5, 2007, installment of the “Today” show (photo via NPR):

As my fellow NewsBuster Amy Ridenour accurately reported, global warming obsessed media are predictably gushing over Nobel Laureate Al Gore's call for America to completely convert all of its electricity production to solar, wind, and other renewable sources by 2018 (photo courtesy AFP).

As they gush, fawn, and genuflect, will press members dare to point out that Gore is heavily invested in companies which manufacture that which he's recommending America convert to?

After all, as NewsBusters reported on April 11, Gore admitted his financial stake in such things to an audience in Monterey, California, back in March (video available here, relevant section begins at minute 15:00):

Our friends at Minnesotans for Global Warming -- the folks who brought us the fabulous video "If We Had Some Global Warming" -- have just released a new number deliciously set to John Lennon's "Imagine."

Update: Lyrics at end of post.

In today's "People Can Prove Whatever They Want If They Really Try Hard Enough" moment, Swiss scientists claimed early this week that efforts to clean the air over Europe the past three decades are responsible for at least half of that continent's 1°C rise in temperatures since 1980.

In an interesting chicken and the egg conundrum, scientists in America claimed Thursday that global warming causes smog.

So, cleaning the air causes global warming -- which ends up leading to higher levels of smog?

Let's start with the Swiss study reported by NewScientist Wednesday (emphasis added, photo courtesy Reuters):

From the "You've Got To Be Kidding Me" department: "Global Warming Causing California Glacier to Grow, Scientists Say."

What? Hasn't Nobel Laureate Al Gore and every climate alarmist in the media been warning us that global warming is causing glaciers to melt, and that we're all going to die if we don't do something about it?

Well, not so fast, because according to the CBC, much like climate change can cause droughts AND torrential rains, it now seems the tricky little devil can make glaciers grow too (emphasis added, better stow fluids and sharp objects):

Two weeks ago, a parent-teacher council blamed the online research source Wikipedia for falling test scores in Scotland.

On Tuesday, Canadian columnist Lawrence Solomon blamed Wikipedia for helping to spread global warming hysteria around the world.

The connection? Oftentimes "inaccurate or deliberately misleading information" published by Wikipedia being taken as fact by unsuspecting readers.

In the case of climate change, such inaccurate or deliberately misleading information acts to solidify the myth being espoused by Nobel Laureate Al Gore as millions of people across the globe believe Wikipedia is a purely factual resource.

As the Scotsman reported on June 21, such an assumption carries risks (emphasis added):

As media members have advanced global warming hysteria by claiming the naturally occurring gas carbon dioxide is going to destroy the planet, one seemingly obvious scientific constant has eluded them: plants love that which people like Nobel Laureate Al Gore want to eliminate.

Truth be told, without carbon dioxide, we'd all die, a scientific fact that has been inexplicably lost in this so-called debate.

Well, as amazing as it may seem, a group of German scientists have discovered what, with all due modesty, has been inherently obvious to yours truly for years.

Believe it or not, Agence France-Press reported Tuesday that crops love all this extra CO2 (emphasis added):

Newsweek's Sharon Begley, who earlier this week had the unscientific gall to blame the Midwest floods on global warming, continues to offend more and more people with her every keystroke.

The object of her current disaffection, comedian/magician Penn Jillette, isn't taking her affront lying down. In fact, he published a response at the Los Angeles Times Thursday to her recent attack on his global warming skepticism.

To set this up, here's what Begley posted at her Lab Notes blog last Friday concerning June's "Amazing Meeting" conference sponsored by the James Randi Educational Foundation (emphasis added throughout, h/t Reason):

For years, climate alarmists in the media have loved showing video footage of Greenland glaciers slipping into the ocean in order to evoke feelings of global warming gloom and doom in the citizenry.

On Friday, the journal Science is publishing a seventeen year study of Greenland's ice sheet that flatly contradicts all such hysterical reports and claims.

In fact, the paper concludes that such melting is a normal summertime event, and that when looked at over a longer period of time, there has been little change in the ice sheets in this region, and even possibly a slowing in glacial movement.

Imagine that.

Somewhat surprisingly, the New York Times' Andrew C. Revkin appears to be the first to report some of the findings (emphasis added):

Due to record snowfalls in Montana this year, Glacier National Park's famous Going-to-the-Sun Road was finally opened to tourists Wednesday -- much later than normal.

With the exception of 1943 when park officials chose to let the white stuff thaw naturally due to the nation being in the middle of World War II, this is the latest opening in the history of this thoroughfare which connects both sides of the park.

As reported by the Missoulian Wednesday (emphasis added, picture courtesy Missoulian via AP and NYT):

You can add another thing to the growing list of causes of global warming: television sets.

I kid you not.

Frankly, I think the climate alarmists are going too far with this one, for a nation hooked on TV doesn't seem likely to change its viewing habits to save the planet.

Of course, I could be wrong about how folks will respond to what the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported Thursday (emphasis added):

According to Him -- meaning the amazingly pompous and holier-than-thou rockstar Sting -- the world is coming to an end if we don't stop global warming.

Yet, the self-described "environmentalist" bassplayer for the rock band the Police continues to symbolize the hypocrisy of wealthy liberal elites that tell us we have to make sacrifices for the good of the planet...as long as they don't have to!

In the most recent incident, the man who in 2005 arrogantly stated, "I think we need to convince Mr. Bush that global warming is in fact a reality" flew from England to Germany, in a private jet with a seating capacity of fourteen, BY HIMSELF!

I guess his concerts and convenience are FAR MORE important than the planet...as reported by the Daily Mail Monday evening (emphasis added, h/t NBer mastersofdeceit):

Newsweek's senior editor Sharon Begley has taken it upon herself to publicly declare the recent floods in the Midwest are being caused by global warming.

Those familiar with her work shouldn't be even slightly surprised by this, as Begley was the person responsible for the August 13, 2007, Newsweek cover story "Global-Warming Deniers: A Well-Funded Machine" which evoked widespread criticism including from one of her fellow editors.

Regardless, Begley is at it again with an article in the upcoming issue of Newsweek disgracefully entitled, "Global Warming Is a Cause of This Year’s Extreme Weather" (emphasis added throughout):