Free Republic

The Earth's temperature hasn't increased significantly in about 15 years, which wouldn't be big news except global warming extremists had predicted temperatures would soar during that time because of manmade greenhouse-gas emissions. That forecast would be just another failed hypothesis, except governments around the world used the threatened overheating as an excuse to regulate, tax and subsidize in order to curb greenhouse gases and, of course, to save the Earth. . . .

It seems much of the world is wising up to the Global Warming Alarmism that has driven so much foolish and costly taxation and regulation, subsidies and profiteering. Well, much but not all of the world. Here’s a quick overview, courtesy of the British Global Warming Policy Foundation: . . .

In a brazen denial of the obvious, Gov. Jerry Brown now insists the proposed California high-speed rail can be built for much less than its own business plan stipulates, and wants to use anti-global-warming carbon taxes to underwrite the proposal, whose price tag has nearly tripled in the three years since voters approved it. The governor seems intent on demonstrating how California's state government has burdened taxpayers with mounting debt, while overspending to create consecutive years of budget deficits. . .

The Register is reporting this morning that private employers added 170,000 jobs in January. So, isn’t that good news? Well, probably for those 170,000 people, whoever they are. But economists tell us that, give or take, from 125,000 to 200,000 enter the job market monthly. That means . . .

FLASH! BULLETIN!! NEWS ALERT!!! State Controller John Chiang has announced that California will run out of cash by early March. Yawn. Haven’t we heard this before? So, what’s Chiang’s best advice? The state will have to take swift action to find $3.3 billion through payment delays and borrowing, he writes in a letter to state lawmakers today. Yawn. Let’s see, what got the state into this mess? . . .

One of our letter writers, and we love you all, complained that our Sunday column wasn’t civil enough for his liking. “While columnist Mark Landsbaum cannot be accused of harassing the president…” Whew. At least we aren’t a harasser. But the writer had his complaints:...

It's finger-shakin' timeWe normally don’t comment on blogs in the neighborhood, but this one was too sweet to ignore. Some fella named Prevatt over at some blog called TheLiberalOC.com took exception to our characterization of the angry fellow in the White House as being, well, angry. Our post was titled “Obama the Angry,” for reasons pretty much apparent to anyone with ears to hear. But Mr. Prevatt said that we went on, “to promote the stereotype of the ‘angry black man’ to describe the president’s” State of the Union speech. Stereotype of an angry black man? . . .

The Wall Street Journal has a letter today signed by 16 noteworthy scientists who wanted to go on the record about global warming. What they had to say constitutes today’s Global Warming Oops Moment, one of those delightful public displays that reveal the emperor has no clothes. We quote:...

When President Barack Obama promised this week to open 75 percent of potential offshore gas and oil resources to drilling and praised the controversial fracking method for extracting untapped oil reserves on land, a collective shudder went through his green constituency. Welcome to election-year rhetoric. The green lobby is learning what other loyal Democratic Party constituencies have learned about being taken for granted. Like blacks and union members before them, the green lobby is discovering that, despite promises to champion their cause, reelection campaign rhetoric commands higher priority. It's safe for the president to offend loyalists. To whom would they...

It’s been a few days since our last Global Warming Quote of the Day, and because our readers probably have yearned for another, we bring you without further ado, today’s Global Warming Quote of the Day. “I don’t pursue the electrification of the automobile out of any fear I might have of planetary meltdown. . .

The president raised some eyebrows this week speaking well of fracking and drilling and getting more of those nasty fossil fuels to use. The greens had conniptions. Meanwhile, the proof, as they say, is in the pudding. The Akron Beacon Journal reportsthat FirstEnergy Corp. has announced will will shut six coal-fired power plants, including four in Ohio, because of stricter federal anti-pollution rules. That would be stricter Obama rules. . .

We got an email from a reader who reminded us of Newt Gingrich’s 2007 book “A Contract with the Earth,” full of the usual green stuff. I imagine Gingrich hasn’t mentioned the book since for good reason. He “repented” of his global warming hugging TV spot with Pelosi, but only after being criticized for it. If criticized for the book, he’d probably do the same. What that means, we will leave you to figure out.

During the State of the Union speech last night we had the TV turned up very loud so I could hear the speech while following along in the released transcript on my computer screen and taking notes at the keyboard while simultaneously roughing a draft of our editorial today. Let him make this perfectly clear... During the 65 minutes he spoke, I developed something of a headache. It seemed to me the president virtually shouted his entire speech. . .

We see that a poll says 68 percent of likely California voters support Gov. Jerry Brown‘s plan to raise taxes. The survey by the Public Policy Institute of California is understood by some to mean that we should have higher taxes. Let’s look a bit closer at the poll.

We expected a political speech tonight from the president and he delivered. It can now be said, the campaign is underway. House Speaker John Boehner has complained that the president ceased governing about a month ago and doesn’t know how to negotiate, so all that’s left for him is to campaign. As we recall, he knows how to do that. You get to keep this much of your money Lest you take our word for it, . . .

The state’s auditor said today despite its critical report last year on the high-speed rail project, the rail authority’s “funding situation has become increasingly risky and the authority’s weak oversight persists.” . . . “The cost estimates for phase one increased to between $98.1 billion and $117.6 billion—of which approximately $12.5 billion has been secured,” the auditor says. Remember when the cost was about $35 billion? Then about $45 billion? Then about $98 billion? And now, the auditor says it’s up to $117 billion?

. . . o kick off the GOP candidates’ debate when last night’s moderator brought up the question of his ex’s allegation of his desire for an “open marriage,” Gingrich seemed to turn the tables by blasting the questioner and mainstream media generally for zeroing in on tawdry affairs in a presidential campaign. Gingrich’s retaliation drew a standing ovation from the debate audience. Not even the Ron Paulites have shown that kind of passion. Knight in shining armor If there’s a point in this it may be that each candidate is a complicated mix . . .

By denying a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline this week, President Barack Obama may succeed in delaying until after November's election the politically difficult decision of which loyal constituency to offend, big labor or environmental activists. What is more certain is that the political maneuvering to deny a permit for the controversial 1,600-mile pipeline from Canadian wells to Texas refineries has an immediate, deleterious effect: It costs America thousands of jobs. The president's decision is contrary to consumer needs, ultimately contributing to higher energy prices, and misses an opportunity to reduce reliance on oil from unfriendly nations.

Over at Real Science they have pulled back the curtain on another of the global warmists’ deceptive tactics. We will republish here what they have to say, which is so revealing of the way the warmists work:

Gov. Jerry Brown, in his annual State of the State message, said Wednesday that "California is on the mend." But what the still-ailing state needs, he said, is more medicine in the form of higher taxes, intrusive regulations and more debts to pay off. Someone needs to tell Dr. Brown that bleeding patients kills them, as the medical profession discovered long ago. The governor said not only must Californians increase sales taxes on everyone and income taxes on the most-wealthy, but he also proposed increasing the state's debt by issuing bonds for a high-speed train that polls say voters don't...