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Dept Energy Authorizes Second Proposed Liquefied Natural Gas Export Facility. Energy.gov, May 17, 2013. The Energy Department announced today that it has conditionally authorized Freeport LNG Expansion, L.P. and FLNG Liquefaction, LLC (Freeport) to export domestically produced liquefied natural gas (LNG) to countries that do not have a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States from the Freeport LNG Terminal on Quintana Island, Texas. NOTE: Obama has been stonewalling this for years. (the first license was issued in 2011, with five pending) This is huge. We have been writing extensively about the energy glut that could make the U.S. energy independent and bring tremendous wealth along with it. As exciting as this is, that is not the big news, however. The big news is that Obama is allowing it (think Keystone pipeline). He is throwing his eco supporters under the bus to hop aboard this bonanza to rake in trillions in all kinds of licensing fees and taxes to unleash a social program to end all social programs and ensure Democrats will be in the driver’s seat for the foreseeable future. Get ready for bobbles for everyone (that is if Obama’s policies don’t destroy us first). Global Warming: The Other Side. KUSI News, January 16, 2010. KUSI meteorologist John Coleman, Cofounder of the Weather Channel, interviews a series of climatologists to explain the real and fraudulent science and controversy surrounding Global Warming. An excellent 5 part series.
Obama Climate Agenda Faces Supreme Court Reckoning. Chicago Tribune, May 16, 2013. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other industry groups, along with states such as Texas and Virginia, have filed nine petitions in recent weeks asking the [Supreme Court} to review four U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations that are designed to cut greenhouse-gas emissions. Those challenging the rules all cite the economic burden of the regulations and note that the EPA is making plans to regulate power plants. They point out that the Clean Air Act, which passed in 1970, was not designed to tackle climate change. At least one brief, by the state of Virginia, challenges the EPA's evaluation of the climate change science that underpinned its decision to regulate greenhouse gases. NOTE: This comes one month after the EPA voluntarily postponed the implementation of these economy destroying regulations because of overwhelming opposition in over 2 million comments. The Pacific Decadal Oscillation Explained. globalwarmingclassroom.info, January 13, 2020. Accuweather's Joe Bastardi provides one of the best explanations available on the relationship between earth's temperature and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and what is happening now that we are entering the cool phase of the PDO. It explains far more than the CO2 model of climate change. This is a 5 minute video.
Green energy triumph: $11,000,000.00 spent per job created.  Human Events, May, 9, 2013. the Institute for Energy Research (IER) divided the $26 billion spent on “green jobs” by the Energy Department since 2009, divided it by the 2,298 permanent jobs created, and came up with a cost of $11.45 million per job. Says the IER: "...Energy-related tax preferences cost taxpayers about $13.5 billion in FY 2012... But solar and wind power, for which the majority of the tax preferences for renewable energy were directed, produced only 3.6 percent of the nation’s generation in 2012. In addition, the Treasury Department’s 1603 grant program, which offers cash payments to renewable energy companies, cost taxpayers $5.8 billion in 2012. NOTE: Europe's green energy efforts have been in place much longer than America's. But, Europe's efforts are disintegrating before their eyes, leading many to say it is the biggest energy failure in Europe's history. Yet, Obama continues full-steam-ahead, in classic progressive idiocy. Data Fraud and Corruption. To read newspapers and magazines, as well as TV news, it appears that the data used to prove man is causing global warming is rock solid and not open to debate. It is not. In fact, the data is so fraudulent and corrupted that it should never be used to justify cap and trade legislation. Yet, that is exactly what is happening. These are just a few of the examples of fraud.
Effectiveness of CO2 as a Greenhouse Gas Declines With Greater Concentration. WUWT, May 8, 2013. According to well understood physical parameters, the effectiveness of CO2 as a greenhouse gas diminishes logarithmically with increasing concentration and from the current level of ~390 ppmv, (parts per million by volume). Accordingly only ~5% of the effectiveness of CO2 as a greenhouse gas remains beyond the current level. This inconvenient fact is well understood in the climate science community. The logarithmic diminution of the effect of CO2 is probably the reason why there was no runaway greenhouse warming from CO2 in earlier eons when CO2 levels were known to be at levels of several thousands ppmv. NOTE: This is well known, but dismissed by alarmists because the greenhouse theory doesn't depend on CO2 warming. Confused? It's deliberate. The greenhouse theory only depends upon a small increase in temperature in the topics by CO2 will increase cumulonimbus cloud formation which, upon decaying, leaves thin, high elevation cirrus clouds, cirrus clouds allow short wave solar radiation to penetrate to the earth's surface where warming occurs, but these thin clouds trap the long wave radiation emitted by earth to space. It's actually the cirrus clouds that provide the greenhouse effect. The CO2 merely acts as a catalyst. The only problem? It's not happening--period. That should kill the theory, but alarmists fanatically keep it alive.

What's Wrong With Cap and Trade? An overview by Kristie Pelletier of the science and climate models of global warming. The models are wrong and there has been natural warming and cooling for thousands of years. Cap and trade legislation is not needed.

Sunspot Cycle and the Global Temperature Change Anomaly. WUWT, May 3, 2013. There is an 82% correlation between the sunspot cycle and the Global Temperature Anomaly. The correlation is obtained through a nonlinear time series summation of NASA monthly sunspot data to the NOAA monthly Global Temperature Anomaly. This correlation is made without, averaging, filtering, or discarding any temperature or sunspot data. the model shows that the magnitude, the asymmetrical shape, the length and the oscillation of each sunspot cycle appear to be the factors controlling Global temperature changes. NOTE: For comparison there is a 42% correlation for CO2. These results are literally STUNNING if they survive the peer review process--so caution is warranted. It is hard to believe this simple correlation has not been done before. Or, if it has, the researchers were forced to use "adjusted" data that was already manipulated by the data centers trying to prove man-caused warming. Raw data has not been available until this past year.

Cap and Trade Insanity. Cap and Trade legislation in the US Senate will destroy the American way of life--forever. It puts the government in charge of our economy. It forces the use of renewable wind and solar energy which have serious problems we are not being told about. Neither are economically feasible with today's technology and will cost trillions of dollars. The same strategy in Spain has resulted in huge job losses and escalating costs to Spanish consumers.

A Crisis in UK Energy Policy Looks Inevitable. Liberum Capital, April 30, 2013. The crisis will be caused because 1) successive UK governments have grossly underestimated the engineering, financial, and economic challenges posed by the drive to decarbonise the electricity sector by 2030' 2) the total required investment to deliver policy goals is £161bn from now to 2020 and up to £376bn by 2030 and rising electricity bills by 100% by 2030; 3) fossil fuels are no longer scarce and public support will wane; 4) increasing risk of failure will cause nationalization of the power industry and shift costs of failure to the public; and 5) spiraling consumer costs/developer profits that government will find untenable. Ultimately, the government will not allow the most severe costs of failure will not be borne by the people (voters) nor the government (always protects itself), but by the industry. BEWARE. NOTE: This is not limited to the UK, but for every nation--including the U.S. Alternative energy is an utter failure; pushed by progressive zealots who ALWAYS know better than anyone else what is best for all of us. We have warned of this day for a decade.

The Crippling Cost. Although Congress tells us that the cap and trade legislation will only cost an average family less than $200 a year, that is just wrong. Very wrong. It is the biggest tax increase in the history of the United States. But Congress is hiding it so you can't see it. Analyses done by independent organizations shows that it will cost families many thousands of dollars a year and will drastically lower our standard of living. It hits the poor especially hard, even with federal rebates. This legislation will radically change the United States--forever.

Another Amplification Mechanism Discovered by which the Sun Affects Earth’s Climate. WUWT. April 30, 2013. A paper published Tuesday in the Journal of Climate finds tiny variations in solar activity over 11-year solar cycles have greatly amplified effects upon climate via changes in the Arctic Oscillation, North Pacific sea surface temperatures & sea level pressure, and via changes in stratospheric ozone from solar UV. The authors find the Arctic Oscillation evolves from a negative mode a few years before solar maximums to a positive mode at and following solar maximums. The IPCC claims the tiny variations in solar activity during solar cycles cannot affect climate, but this paper and many others demonstrate solar activity has greatly amplified effects upon climate via ocean oscillations, atmospheric oscillations such as the Madden-Julian oscillation and Quasi-biennial oscillation, stratospheric ozone, and sunshine hours/clouds. NOTE: These studies provide overwhelming evidence that the sun, not CO2 controls earth's temperature. Now that global warming has stopped for over 15 years, most scientists are beginning to doubt the man-caused theory. Not so the Obama administration, government scientists whose jobs and reputations are staked on the theory, nor the majority in the media who will believe any nihilistic, emotion-ridden concocted story.

The UN IPCC Fraud The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is supposed to be the last word on unbiased science concerning global warming. In fact, the IPCC stifles any science that contradicts its man-caused mantra. It must not be used to justify cap and trade legislation.

NASA: Different Solar Emissions More Important Than Previously Thought.  NASA Science News, January 8, 2013. Within the relatively narrow band of EUV wavelengths, the sun’s output varies not by a minuscule 0.1%, but by whopping factors of 10 or more. This can strongly affect the chemistry and thermal structure of the upper atmosphere. The sun could be on the threshold of a mini-Maunder event (Read: Little Ice Age) right now. Ongoing Solar Cycle 24 is the weakest in more than 50 years. Moreover, there is (controversial) evidence of a long-term weakening trend in the magnetic field strength of sunspots. Matt Penn and William Livingston of the National Solar Observatory predict that by the time Solar Cycle 25 arrives, magnetic fields on the sun will be so weak that few if any sunspots will be formed. Independent lines of research involving helioseismology and surface polar fields tend to support their conclusion. “If the sun really is entering an unfamiliar phase of the solar cycle, then we must redouble our efforts to understand the sun-climate link.” NOTE: Warming skeptics have been saying this for 20 years. Apparently, after 16 years of no warming (actually, slight cooling) and the (forced?) retirement of warming zealot James Hansen from NASA, scientists are finally admitting that the sun is responsible. The Carbon Footprint. Carbon dioxide is not, cannot be a pollutant. It is a miracle gas that is essential for life on earth, and was ten times more abundant in geologic history. Kristie Pelletier explains that increased levels of carbon dioxide has been a blessing to ecosystems and food production.

Global Cooling Era to Bring Food Shortages and Social Upheaval. Space and Science Research Corp., April 25, 2013. "Here in the United States, we face the real prospect of major crop damage and food shortages as we get closer to the bottom of the next cold era estimated to be 2031. We should fully expect to see substantial crop losses during the 2020’s along with accompanying food riots, and social unrest, especially in every major US city. That means we may have seven years, and likely less, to set aside the food we will need or make adjustments to our national food production and consumption practices in order to get through the global cooling onslaught with minimal damage. This situation will be made much worse because the current administration of President Obama...unbelievably is still telling the world that the Earth is warming because of man’s industrial greenhouse gas emissions. Nothing could be further from the truth according to the overwhelming evidence that climatologists and solar physicists around the world have compiled and is discussed in our global climate report for all to read." NOTE: We have been warning of this for 2 years. We all hope they are wrong, but trends in the data suggest he is right on. Yet, Obama continues his idiotic proclamation of man-caused global warming, not because it is real, and not because he wants to help people. It is because he wants to control people and drive our economy into the ground. He is doing a fine job of that.

 Failure of Climate Models. Leading international scientists explain why man-caused global warming cannot be occurring. The entire man-caused global warming fear is based on climate (computer) models. Climate models cannot duplicate the complexity of earth's climate. When climate models attempt to predict the past they fail miserably to predict to predict what actually happened. Excerpted from the DVD Global Warming, Emerging Science and Understanding.
Cold and Snow Wave Grips the USA. WUWT, April 23, 2013. There have been 9787 new cold and snow records since March 13th. This was nearly 3 times the number of warm temperature record breakers. If this were a month of a heatwave across thus USA, like last July, you can bet it would be MSM headlines all over the place and breathless stories from AP’s Seth Borenstein and pronouncements from the Mannian climate cartel about how all this is connected to global warming, er climate change, er climate disruption. But so far nary a peep from the warming doomsayers. NOTE: There have been many such cold record breakers over the past 10 years, and none of them have been widely reported by the press. The bias would be laughable if it wasn't for the fact that the policies being generated by the Obama administration to stop global warming (read control the economy) weren't so devastating to our economy. This is merely more evidence we are slipping into a 30-70 year cooling cycle. The Critical Importance of CO2.  These leading scientists explain how critically important CO2 is to life on earth. Atmospheric CO2 was as much as 10 times higher in the past as it is today, and concentrations as much as 5 times current levels have not shown any adverse effects. Plants are CO2 starved and thrive when CO2 levels are elevated. It is estimated that crop production worldwide has increased already by 12 percent. It is essential to an expanding human population. Excerpted from the DVD Global Warming, Emerging Science and Understanding. 
E.P.A. Will Delay Rule Limiting Carbon Emissions at New Power Plants. New York Times, April 12, 2013. The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday that it would delay issuance of a new rule limiting emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from new power plants after the electric power industry objected on legal and technical grounds... The EPA had received more than two million comments on the proposed rule. Newer power plants burning natural gas already easily meet the new standards, so the rule presents little obstacle for new gas plants. But the rule would have effectively killed any new coal-fired plants... Coal today provides about 40 percent of electricity generation in the United States. NOTE: This is great news. Every study on the rule proved it would devastate the economy of the U.S. That's the exact goal of progressive environmentalists. Hopefully, it will never be issued.  
EU climate change policy in crisis after MEPs vote against high CO2 prices. The Telegraph, April 16, 2013. "The price of carbon crashed up to 45 per cent to a record-low €2.63 a metric ton, after the European Parliament rejected a proposal to change the EU emissions-trading laws to delay the sale of 900m CO2 permits on the world's biggest carbon markets. The European Commission measure, known as "backloading" was aimed at artificially raising the price of EU carbon permits by restricting supply after they fell to a record low in January due the economic slowdown and contraction in manufacturing across Europe. The rejection of the measure is expected to trigger further falls in the price of carbon, to as low as €1 and could herald the end of an EU system," NOTE: Good riddance. We have long predicted this would happen, especially when it was revealed about a year ago that 95 percent of the trading was corrupted. Thank God, the legislation that would have created a U.S. carbon trading system was never passed.  
GAO: Billions in Clean Energy Aid Unlikely to be Used After Failures of High-Profile Recipients. Washington Guardian, April 17, 2013. The Energy Department expects to spend only a portion of its remaining advanced energy loan guarantee authority and funds, in part because of negative publicity caused by the high-profile failures of some recipients, the Government Accountability Office reports. The DOE had no expectation of backing any new projects under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loan program, which has $16.6 billion in unused authority and $4.4 billion in unused appropriations. NOTE: Maybe the Obama administration is finally realizing the government should not be in the capital venture business because it is politically driven to support ventures that don't work. Don't get too excited, however. Progressives in Congress made sure the ten year $12.1 billion subsidy (Production Tax Credit (PTC)) for 2013 was renewed in the January "cliff" deal.  
Global Warming Didn’t Cause Big US Drought. Yahoo, April 12, 2013. Last year's huge drought was a freak of nature that wasn't caused by man-made global warming, a new federal science. Scientists say the lack of moisture usually pushed up from the Gulf of Mexico was the main reason for the drought in the nation's midsection. "This is one of those events that comes along once every couple hundreds of years," said lead author Martin Hoerling, a research meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "Climate change was not a significant part, if any, of the event." He said the jet stream that draws moisture north from the Gulf was stuck unusually north in Canada. Global warming scientist blasted the report. NOTE: Of course this disclaimer will never see any widespread reporting in the as were the headline stories that global warming caused the drought.  
States Show Folly of Energy Mandates. Politico, April 2, 2013. Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia already have a renewable energy mandate on the books. According to the Institute for Energy Research, utility bills in states with a renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) are 40 percent higher on average than in states without one. Since North Carolina issued the mandate imposition in 2009, utility bills have increased a 33 percent faster compared to the annual rate of growth prior to passage of the state’s RPS. if it remains in place, would increase electricity costs for consumers by $1.8 billion and result in the loss of 3,500 jobs by 2021. NOTE: I suppose it wouldn't be nice to say "I told you so" years ago. Yet, the Obama administration and progressives across the country are still full-steam ahead to make this a federal mandate. They are dangerous and must be voted out of office.  
Hansen finally 'Muzzled' by Obama? WUWT, April 8, 2013. Dr. James Hansen, NASA's point man on global warming with a salary of $180,000/yr, has retired claiming "As a government employee you can't testify against the government." "Hogwash," claims Attorney Chris Horner of CEI. "Not that 'Job 1' for Hansen at NASA was attentiveness to ethics guidelines or anything, but the rules say no such thing. See 5 C.F.R. Part 6901.103 (c) and 5 C.F.R. 2635.805." Hansen has made millions "consulting" while working for NASA. Suddenly, the Obama administration is denying his requests to serve as an "expert witness" that would earn him an enviable consulting fee. During the Bush administration, Hansen shouted that coal trains were "death trains" and CEOs of coal companies should stand trial for crimes against humanity. NOTE: While the Obama administration apparently liked Hansen for cooking the books on temperature data to show increasing global warming, they apparently didn't like him drawing so much negative attention on NASA and the Obama administration.  
A Sensitive Matter. The Economist, March 30, 2013. Preface: This article in the Economist -- which historically been a strong supporter of man-caused warming -- is creating a major buzz in the mainstream media. Article: "OVER the past 15 years air temperatures at the Earth’s surface have been flat while greenhouse-gas emissions have continued to soar. The world added roughly 100 billion tonnes of carbon to the atmosphere between 2000 and 2010. That is about a quarter of all the CO2 put there by humanity since 1750. The mismatch between rising greenhouse-gas emissions and not-rising temperatures is among the biggest puzzles in climate science just now... This lack of new warming is a surprise... Surface temperatures since 2005 are already at the low end of the range of projections derived from 20 climate models... If they remain flat, they will fall outside the models’ range within a few years... It does not mean [however, that] global warming is a delusion." Note: While this is a major crack in the media's unflinching support of the man-caused warming theory, the Economist makes sure to say this is probably temporary and warming will likely resume. Several reasons are postulated, but none reflect the most likely reason; the sun's slipping into hibernation, thereby allowing more cosmic radiation to enter the earth's atmosphere, which in turn causes more clouds to form that cools the earth.  
Here Comes Team Obama's Carbon Tax. Fox News, March 21, 2013. To readers: I have been on a 3 week whirlwind speaking tour that has taken me out of action. Here is one backlogged item. A FOIA request to Treasury's Dept. of Environment and Energy has provided provide solid evidence that the Obama administration and its allies in Congress have every intention of implementing a carbon tax if we fail to stop them. Ian Parry of the Fiscal Affairs Department on “Public Sources of Climate Finance...suggests a $25 per metric ton carbon tax" that would allow $25 billion a year [to] be sent abroad “for climate finance.” There are an additional 10,000 emails from 2012 alone that have yet to be released. NOTE: The Obama administration is hell-bent-for-leather to impose taxes and mandates that allow the government to CONTROL the U.S. economy and systematically destroy it.  
Green Cars Have a Dirty Little Secret. Wall Street Journal, March 11, 2013. If an electric car is driven for 90,000 miles, it will cause just 24 percent less carbon-dioxide emission over its lifetime than a conventional car. Over its entire lifetime, the electric car will be responsible for 8.7 tons of carbon dioxide less than the average conventional car. The 8.7 tons of carbon dioxide that would be saved is valued at about $44, yet the federal government continues to subsidize electric-car buyers with up to $7,500. More than $5 billion in federal grants go to battery and electric car manufacturers. What was once thought of as an environmentally-conscious endeavor is turning out to produce more pollution and waste government money. NOTE: Why am I not surprised? The entire global warming hysteria and green energy has been a shame from the very start.  
New Study Claims Global Temps Highest in 4000 Years. Climate Depot, March 8, 2013. Global warming activists and media outlets are hyping a new study published in Science that claims the Earth is experiencing unprecedented temperatures... But the new media touted study is "based on 'reconstructed data' from 73 data sites, pretended to cover space-time of 196 million sq. mi. and 11,300 years." The new study is also counter to a preponderance of existing peer-reviewed studies showing the Medieval Warm Period and the Roman Warming were both as warm or warmer than today without benefit of modern emissions or SUVs. NOTE: These scientists also combined two apples and oranges data sets--a NO NO in science. This is horrible science that will be totally discredited, just like Michael Mann's "hockey stick" curve was in the early 2000's.  
California's Green Jobs Bust. Washington Examiner. February 27, 2013. California has embraced the entire green agenda on global warming legislation. How's that working? California now has the highest gas prices in the country. As of the third week in February, the price of regular unleaded was 40 cents more ($4.15 per gallon) than the national average ($3.74). California already has some of the nation's highest electricity prices -- 39 percent higher than the national average -- and those will continue to rise. Cap-and-trade will cost [businesses] about $1 billion a year, according to the California Chamber of Commerce. According to the best numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, fewer than 2,500 green jobs have been created in California since 2010. NOTE: How many examples of failure do progressives in power need before they finally realize green energy DOES NOT WORK!? Never! They are incapable of recognizing the truth even when it is destroying them.  
U.S. Energy Boom -- Maybe. Range Magazine, Spring 2013. The U.S. has enough oil and natural gas to make us completely energy independent for a long, long time. It would provide an economic infusion to cash-strapped rural America. If the U.S. can avoid a complete economic collapse over the next three years, the future not only looks bright, but we could see the greatest economic boom in America’s (maybe the world’s) history. So far Obama has blocked almost every effort to develop our oil and gas resources. If he abandons his progressive ideology to allow this development, it is probable he will heavily tax the oil and natural gas to fund an enormous social agenda; thereby insuring continued progressive control of the government for the next generation. NOTE: It is tragic that we have an individual in the White House who will squander the best opportunity this nation has ever seen  
California Girds for Electricity Woes. Wall Street Journal. February 26, 2013. California is weighing how to avoid a looming electricity crisis that could be brought on by its growing reliance on wind and solar power. Regulators and energy companies met Tuesday, hoping to hash out a solution to the peculiar stresses placed on the state's network by sharp increases in wind and solar energy. Power production from renewable sources fluctuates wildly, depending on wind speeds and weather. At Tuesday’s meeting, experts cautioned that the state could begin seeing problems with reliability as soon as 2015. NOTE: If you live in California (both my kids do) we feel sorry for you. No other state (and there are some bad ones) has insanely destructive policies as does California. Their politicians live in another universe.Not surprisingly, Britain, Germany, Spain and other EU nations are crying the same story the past few days.  
Rethinking Wind Power -- Harvard Study Shows It to be Overestimated. WUWT, February 25, 2013. Research has shown that the generating capacity of very large wind power installations (larger than 100 square kilometers) may peak at between 0.5 and 1 watts per square meter. Previous estimates, which ignored the turbines’ slowing effect on the wind, had put that figure at between 2 and 7 watts per square meter. "These geophysical limits may be meaningful if we really want to scale wind power up to supply a third, let’s say, of our primary energy.” NOTE: This is huge because it means there is a definite upper limit to how much power can be produced by wind farms. Reduction in power production could be as high as 700 percent and may explain why wind power has always fallen short of expectations.  
Blackout Britain: EU Environmental Directive Puts Millions at Risk of Power Cuts. Sunday Express, February 24, 2013. ONE million homes narrowly escaped a power cut last month as bitterly cold weather placed a massive strain on Britain’s creaking electricity network. Shutdown was only avoided because a gas-fired station [Fawley] due to close by next winter came to the rescue. Last night experts warned that life-threatening blackouts are increasingly likely as “we head downhill – fast”. Fawley is one of a number of coal and oil power stations being forced into retirement to comply with EU environmental targets. Winter weather, ...increasing reliance on wind power, which requires back up generation for days when there is no wind, all add to the risk of blackouts. “What worries me most is that the average household energy bill will be £1,400 ($2,134) by end of the year; £1,500 ($2,286) is a cliff edge at which most people say they’ll switch off the heating entirely.” NOTE: Electricity prices have doubled over the past five years as more wind farms have been brought on line. It is a train wreck in progress.  
Sunspot cycle 24: Smallest cycle in 100 years. NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center, February 2, 2013. The current prediction for Sunspot Cycle 24['s peak]...is about 69 in the Fall of 2013. The smoothed sunspot number has already reached 67 (in February 2012) due to the strong peak in late 2011... We are currently over four years into Cycle 24. The current predicted and observed size makes this the smallest sunspot cycle since Cycle 14 which had a maximum of 64.2 in February of 1906. Note: The midpoint is supposed to be this year, but looks like it was in late 2011--2 years early. The beginning of cycle 24 was 2 years late. The peak in solar cycle 23 was 175, more than double cycle 24. Cycle 25 is predicted to be smaller yet, or non-existent. Historically, solar hibernations bring very cold temperatures and short growing seasons. We'll see. So much for global warming.  
Bjorn Lomborg: Climate-Change Misdirection. Wall Street Journal, January 23, 2013. In Obama's Inaugural address he said he would double down on "the threat of climate change:...the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms "devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms What threat? Worldwide number of wildfires have declined 15% since 1950 and will continue to do so. A major study reported in Nature reveals "there has been little change in drought over the past 60 years."  Finally, The U.S. is currently experiencing the longest absence of severe landfall hurricanes in over a century. NOTE: As is always the case, the wild-eyed claims of alarmists, including the president, are not only exaggerated, they are bald-faced lies.  
EPA Email Scandal Worse Than Originally Thought. Breitbart, January 27, 2013. After stonewalling a FOIA request by attorney Chris Horner  for nearly a year, the EPA was ordered by the court to produce some 12,000 of these emails sent to or from a secret email account used by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson named "Richard Windsor." They were to be released to Horner in batches of 3,000 every month. The first release was only 2100 with the email account name redacted, making it nearly impossible to determine if they were the Richard Windsor account. By systematically tracing each email, Horner determined that "not one of those emails was from Richard Windsor’s account. Not one..." It is obvious "the point of this scheme was to evade public accountability, to conduct official government business under the table, outside of the public eye...,  allowing official EPA business to be conducted secretly. NOTE: The EPA is now launching an economy-killing series of draconian regulations cooked up secretly. The EPA cannot be salvaged. It is time to abolish the EPA before it destroys America entirely.  
Ethanol Mandates Too Costly to Maintain. LSJ.com, January 19, 2013. Ethanol benefits only those groups that sell the raw material comprising it and the politicians who receive their donations while wreaking immeasurable harm on the world’s most economically vulnerable and providing little to no environmental advantages. Unfortunately, although the corn ethanol subsidies are gone, the federal mandates remain. The 2007 Renewable Fuels Standard still requires that all U.S. fuel contain a blend of 10 percent ethanol, resulting in 44 percent of all corn grown in the United States being, pardon the pun, earmarked for ethanol production. This percentage represents an estimated 15 percent of all corn grown in the world. NOTE: Another colossal failed effort to “save” the environment. Don’t expect the eco-nuts or politicians to learn from their near 100% failed batting average.  
Not to Worry--Greenland Much Warmer in the Past. WUWT, January 24, 2013. Greenland ice sheet is not as sensitive to temperature increases and to ice melting and running out to sea in warm climate periods. During the Eemian period 130,000 to 115,000 thousand years ago the climate in Greenland was around 8 degrees C warmer than today. Even though the warm Eemian period was a period when the oceans were four to eight meters higher than today, the ice sheet in northwest Greenland was only a few hundred meters lower than the current level, which indicates that the contribution from the Greenland ice sheet was less than half the total sea-level rise during that period.” Also, when the temperature was only 2-3oC warmer than now, the icecap had very little melting. NOTE: So, why are we worried about a 1oC to 2oC increase?  
Team of Ex-NASA Scientists Concludes No Imminent Threat from Man-Made CO2. WUWT, January 23, 2013. A group of 20 ex-NASA scientists have concluded that the science used to support the man-made climate change hypothesis is not settled (it never was) and after thorough analysis, no convincing physical evidence exists to support catastrophic climate change forecasts. These scientists have advanced degrees in engineering, physics, chemistry, astrophysics, geophysics, geology and meteorology, many with PhDs. Most important, these scientists stated the U.S. Government has overreacted to a possible catastrophic warming...Environmentalists have been grossly misled to believe CO2 is a pollutant. NOTE: The implications of this report are staggering given Obama's plan announced in his inaugural address to launch an avalanche of new regulations to reduce CO2 emissions. Unfortunately, these scientists will be ignored like all the other skeptical scientists. It never was about science. It was always a political agenda.  
A New Role for Coal in German Energy Revolution. Spiegel Online International, September 7, 2012. Renewables such as wind and solar are subject to large fluctuations in output. Coal has long been considered their dirty alternative, but a new generation of power plants may herald a glowing future for the fossil fuel. Conventional power plants grind coal into dust, which is then blown into a boiler. But, by using a new technology, the pulverized coal is first stored in a silo, making it possible to control much more closely the amount that is later fed to the flame, allowing the power production to drop to 10% of maximum when wind and solar power maximizes, and ramp up quickly when wind and solar suddenly drop. NOTE: This new technology could revitalize the U.S. coal industry if it proves out over the long run. It doesn't reduce CO2 emissions, however. With natural gas prices 4 times higher in Germany than the U.S. it is also cheaper than natural gas power generation. That would not be the case in the U.S.  
Obama Inaugural Gives Climate Policy Center Stage. Chamber of Commerce, January 22, 2013. “We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that failure to do so would betray our children and future generations,” Mr. Obama said on Monday at the start of eight sentences on the subject, more than he devoted to any other specific area. “Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms.” NOTE: The biggest threat to our children is Obama's progressive policies -- not climate change. Once again there is absolutely no empirical scientific evidence to suggest man is causing global warming. Zero! Expect an avalanche of new economy killing regulations.  
NASA's GISS Adjusts Data Again, Increasing Temperature by 0.1oC Since 2008! WUWT, January 18, 2013. Comparing [the 2008] dataset with today’s version, we can see that about 0.10oC of warming, or more, has been added to temperatures in the last decade, compared to data up to about 1950... Prior to 2008, other adjustments of about 0.03oC had already been added to the numbers originally declared just a few years earlier. NOTE: I discussed a 0.3oC increase by data manipulation from 1991 to 1999 in the Winter, 2013 article Climate Fraud (rangemagazine.com). James Hansen, the hyper alarmist NASA head of the GISS, has manipulated the data AGAIN to add another 0.1oC to the past decade. Is it any wonder NOAA and NASA claim 2012 was the warmest year on record, when, in fact, more accurate data shows a hot/dry summer but much less so than the 1930s?  
Black carbon is a larger cause of climate change than previously assessed. WUWT, January 15, 2013.  Black carbon is the second largest man-made contributor to global warming and its influence on climate has been greatly underestimated, according to the first quantitative and comprehensive analysis of this issue. The direct influence of black carbon, or soot, on warming the climate could be about twice previous estimates; approximately two thirds of the effect of the largest man made contributor to global warming, carbon dioxide. NOTE: Except for alarmist literature, science is showing CO2 has a very low impact on warming. I have always suspected black carbon could be a significant contributor. Compared to CO2, black carbon is relatively easy to reduce. By many orders of magnitude, China and India have the highest emissions.  
Climate Fraud and the Decline of America.  Range, Winter, 2013. NOAA's National Comate Data Center (NCDC) is making headlines claiming 2012 was the hottest year on record for the US and one of the top two most extreme years. Don't believe it. The NCDC is cooking the books by including temperature measuring stations that have experienced large increases in temperature due to the heat island effect (local temperatures increase due to development and asphalt, not climate change), and outright data manipulation to increase recent temperatures. NOAA also didn't mention their new U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCCRN) whose 114 stations are strategically located both across the U.S. and well away from any local heat sources. Those stations reported temperatures nearly 2oF cooler than the exaggerated NCDC readings. The hottest and most extreme years in the U.S. are still those in the 1930s -- by a long shot. NOTE: Figures don't lie, but liars figure. NOAA's bold proclamations are disgusting.  

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