A climate scientist testified down under:

“Climate is not responding to greenhouse gases in the way we thought it might. If increasing carbon dioxide is in fact increasing climate change, its impact is smaller than natural variation.

“People are being misled by people making money out of this,” Prof de Freitas said.

Hat tip: Marc Morano

When one sentence can say it all, here’s Watts Up With That?:

Today yet another scientist has come forward with a press release saying that not only did their audit of IPCC forecasting procedures and found that they “violated 72 scientific principles of forecasting”, but that “The models were not intended as forecasting models and they have not been validated for that purpose.”

This may not be a huge deal, but it’s certainly another in an increasingly long line of anecdotes that suggest we are not in imminent danger of catastrophic global warming (as the enviro-religious-fervor of the day might suggest):

One of the claims about “global climate change” is that it will affect the normal ranges of flora and fauna of our planet. Well, with a very cold northern hemisphere this winter, that seems to happening. A bird not seen (as a mature adult) in Massachusetts since the 1800’s , an Ivory Gull, normally an inhabitant of arctic areas, has been spotted.

Washington Post’s Dana Milbank offers the play by play of lawmaker awe as the “Goracle” once again graces Capitol hill with his fortune-telling presence.  The most astounding take away from the hearing wasn’t the prophetic apocalypse facing humans but the flippant invitation from Senator Menendez to his highness.

Others sought to buy the Goracle’s favor by offering him gifts. “Thank you for your incredible leadership; you make this crystalline for those who don’t either understand it or want to understand it,” gushed Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who went on to ask: “Will you join me this summer at the Jersey Shore?”

Yes, let’s talk about the end of mankind from breathtaking shores with chardonnay in hand.  Here are a few invitations we wish Senator Menendez would have extended to the Goracle:

“Come to factories in New Jersey and explain the sacrifices and job losses workers will have to make under your vision of a cap and trade system?

“Come door to door with me in New Jersey to explain to homeowners why they should pay more electricity and fuel?”

“Come with me to senior centers in New Jersey and explain why they need to be disproportionately impacted as they pay a greater percentage of their limited income on daily staples such as energy and food?”

“Come with me to the unemployment centers in New Jersey and explain to people why they have not already been hired by the green economy industries already being subsidized, many of whom are going belly up not withstanding government support, in favor of those industries in which they were employed and were not subsidized?”

Today’s New York Times highlights President Obama’s more casual work dress and his desire to keep the oval office nice and balmy..

White House Unbuttons Formal Dress Code
WASHINGTON — The capital flew into a bit of a tizzy when, on his first full day in the White House, President Obama was photographed in the Oval Office without his suit jacket. There was, however, a logical explanation: Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat.  “He’s from Hawaii, O.K.?” said Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, who occupies the small but strategically located office next door to his boss. “He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there.”

Is this the same Barack Obama who just last year chided us all for small indulgences like turning up our thermostats?

“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,” Obama said. “That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen,” he added. — Barack Obama

Fresh on the heels of news from Pew Research that tackling climate climate change is low on the public’s totem pole comes news from Rasmussen that fewer Americans are buying into the idea of man-made climate change.

Andy Revkin from New York Times reports on Dot Earth:

Although the more general issue of protecting the environment ranked higher than climate (named by 41 percent of the poll subjects) that figure was 15 percentage points lower than in the same poll a year ago. Another hint of cooling concerns about climate came Monday in a Rasmussen Reports poll on global warming…

From Rasmussen Reports, Jan. 19:

Forty-four percent (44%) of U.S. voters now say long-term planetary trends are the cause of global warming, compared to 41% who blame it on human activity.

Seven percent (7%) attribute global warming to some other reason, and nine percent (9%) are unsure in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Democrats blame global warming on human activity, compared to 21% percent of Republicans. Two-thirds of GOP voters (67%) see long-term planetary trends as the cause versus 23% of Democrats. Voters not affiliated with either party by eight points put the blame on planetary trends.

In July 2006, 46% of voters said global warming is caused primarily by human activities, while 35% said it is due to long-term planetary trends.

From Drudge Report…

GORE HEARING ON WARMING MAY BE PUT ON ICE
Mon Jan 26 2009 17:59:26 ET

Al Gore is scheduled before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday morning to once again testify on

But Mother Nature seems ready to freeze the proceedings.

A 'Winter Storm Watch' has been posted for the nation's capitol and there is a potential for significant snow...

sleet... or ice accumulations.

"I can't imagine the Democrats would want to showcase Mr. Gore and his new findings on global warming as a winter storm rages outside," a Republican lawmaker emailed the DRUDGE REPORT. "And if the ice really piles up, it will not be safe to travel."

A spokesman for Sen. John Kerry, who chairs the committee, was not immediately available to comment on contingency plans.

Global warming advocates have suggested this year's wild winter spells are proof of climate change.

Developing...

Well, you had to see this coming. The Wall Street Journal this morning reports:

President Barack Obama plans to call on the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday to consider allowing states including California to regulate automobile greenhouse-gas emissions, said people familiar with the administration’s thinking.

The move will signal a major policy break from his predecessor on an issue that has divided key Democratic Party constituencies. Mr. Obama’s announcement is almost certain to spark a war between two key Democratic constituencies: environmentalists and state officials who want power to set greenhouse-gas rules, and auto makers and unions who say such rules would exacerbate the industry’s woes following the worst year of U.S. vehicle sales in more than a decade.

UPDATE: The LA Times puts it thusly:

The Obama administration is pushing forward with plans to aggressively limit greenhouse gas emissions and fight global warming despite fears that the move could further slow the recessionary economy.

The administration plans to portray the limits as a boost for America’s “clean energy economy,” according to congressional leaders and energy experts who have talked with top Obama advisors.

Someone alert Al Gore … this, too, must indicate global warming:

RAS AL KHAIMAH // Snow covered the Jebel Jais area for only the second time in recorded history yesterday.

So rare was the event that one lifelong resident said the local dialect had no word for it.

According to the RAK Government, temperatures on Jebel Jais dropped to -3°C on Friday night. On Saturday, the area had reached 1°C.