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Another superb column by Lawrence Solomon, this one on the global-warming alarmists who, to quote Andrew Lang, "use statistics as a drunken man uses lamp posts: for support rather than illumination."

Highly recommended.

The smell of settled science:

Dinosaurs may be partly to blame for a change in climate because they created so much flatulence, according to leading scientists. Professor Graeme Ruxton of St Andrews University, Scotland, said (Dinosaurs) spent 150 years emitting the potent global warming gas, methane. Large plant-eating sauropods would have been the main culprits because of the huge amounts of greenery they consumed.

The team calculated the animals would have collectively produced more than 520m tons of methane a year - more than all today's modern sources put together. It is thought these huge amounts could easily have been enough to warm the planet. It is even possible that the climate change was so catastrophic that it caused the dinosaurs' eventual demise.

Professor Ruxton:

"Our calculations suggest these dinosaurs may have produced more methane than all the modern sources, natural and human, put together."

Ever wonder how Mo Strong and the other Chi-com elites stay so healthy in such a toxic environment? Well I guess it's a sinch if you don't breath the same air, eat the same toxic food ot drink the same toxic water as the proletariat - http://tinyurl.com/6mkknay

""The Privileges of China’s Elite Include Purified Air - BEIJING — Membership in the upper ranks of the Chinese Communist Party has always had a few undeniable advantages. There are the state-supplied luxury sedans, special schools for the young ones and even organic produce grown on well-guarded, government-run farms. When they fall ill, senior leaders can check into 301 Military Hospital, long considered the capital’s premier medical institution.
> But even in their most addled moments of envy, ordinary Beijingers could take some comfort in the knowledge that the soupy air they breathe on especially polluted days also finds its way into the lungs of the privileged and pampered.

Such assumptions, it seems, are not entirely accurate.

As it turns out, the homes and offices of many top leaders are filtered by high-end devices, at least according to a Chinese company""

So..Ralph was right..?

...brings to mind the bedrock of consiousness...for some strange reason...

Opinion column in Montana's Daily Inter Lake: "Call 911: Your country is being mugged."

h/t Maggie's Farm

What bothers me about these no-mind scientists theorizing, with the benefit of govermrnt grants, is this.

They speculate that domestic cattle and other bovines are causing global warming through flatulence. Yet they ignore the fact that, according to all published accounts, buffaloes used to "roam the range" in the tens of millions.

I can't possibly excuse the rapacious methods employed by the buffalo hunters...that was cleary wrong and a waste.

But environmental scientists can't have it both ways.

Bruce:

Today there are 1.3 billion cattle worldwide - far more then the number of cattle and bison than existed in the 1800, so your argumant is based on an incorrect assumption.

I have been around some vegatarians that emit a lot of flatulence too from all the beans. perhaps the scientists should take that into consideration

I have been around some vegatarians that emit a lot of flatulence too from all the beans. perhaps the scientists should take that into consideration

Well, another assumption, probably also incorrect, is that dinosaurs produced methane in their digestive tracts at much the same rate as do cattle, adjusted for body mass.

We really don't have a lot of knowledge (with a few notable exceptions) of what they ate, how much they ate, and how efficiently their gut worked. Nor do we know what sort of bacterial fauna populated their gut. So any estimate of methane production is purely a wild-ass guess.

Gord, the "quality" of diet on average is a fair bit higher for domestic cattle than for bison, so they produce much less methane on a per head basis. I don't know how the totals compare.

Environmental scientists have often tried to have it both ways. They advocate for stringent laws regarding protection of "vulnerable" species, but the campaign to wipe out smallpox was precisely the eradication of a species from nature, and in theory could have had as devastating environmental consequences as the disappearance of the spotted owl or whatever other "endangered species" you care to name. But apparently not (thankfully for humanity).

A letter in the Post yesterday in response to Solomon's article helpfully pointed out that James Lovelock is "not a climate scientist". I don't recall objections of this nature prior to his becoming deprogrammed. And of course it bears repeating that the much-vaunted David Suzuki is not a climate scientist either.

O's Trinity: Hope*, Change, and Fear*.

"But this time fear is also his running mate."

...-

"Hope, Change, and Fear"

Barack Obama once wanted to “Win the Future.” Now he's just hoping to get there. "Forward" is the new message of his re-election campaign, which he outlined Saturday in the first two official speeches of his 2012 presidential campaign. While his message still contains the old slogan’s optimism of a brighter tomorrow, the force of the president's new argument is not so much that Americans could achieve greatness but that they must lock arms to keep Mitt Romney from dragging the country back to a dark past. Hope and change are still alive, said the president, referring to his 2008 election themes. But this time fear is also his running mate."

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/05/barack_obama_officially_launches_his_presidential_re_election_campaign_.html

...-

*Hope and *Fear:

Charles Lamb:

"Hope* is charming, lively, blue-eyed wench, & I am always glad of her company, but could dispense with the visitor she brings with her, her younger sister, fear*, a white liver'd-lilly-cheeked, bashful palpitating, awkward hussey that hangs like a green girl at her sister's apron strings & will go with her whithersoever she goes."

(Letters of Charles and Mary Anne Lamb)

No more cuts to the left-liberal arts.

"The New Brunswick government is launching a new program focused on supporting local storytelling by local film makers. This program is one I support."

...-

"The Maritimes have no business in show business
DAVID CAMPBELL"

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/daily-mix/the-maritimes-have-no-business-in-show-business/article2424739/

Haven't done a music link in a while.
Leonard Cohen, Everybody Knows matches my cynical Monday mood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F8QM3tjkTE

enjoy

The war between Suzuki and PM Harper warms up a notch.

"A range of groups, including the David Suzuki Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace and the Sierra Club, launched an ad campaign Monday called "Black Out, Speak Out" that urges Canadians to darken their websites June 4."

Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20120507/environment-tory-war-on-nature-120507/#ixzz1uC3tjdKq

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20120507/environment-tory-war-on-nature-120507/

Unmasking the criminals. Soon we will be able to see who our anarchist friends are.

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/1625282635001

The student with the " Life is wasted " t-shirt story takes another twist.

" Today's meetings for students will involve officials with the education and justice departments, human rights commission, school board and the school. "

I'd pay to listen to that,but Dad isn't so enthusiastic,he pulled the kid out of school while waving a bible.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/93698-dad-pulls-jesus-t-shirt-student-out-of-school

Neo-AGW Progress Report.

"The Met Office said a giant eight inches of snow".

"The country is currently colder than Siberia".

...-

"The mercury plunged to -5.9C on Monday at Kinbrace, Highland, Scotland, close to the UK’s lowest ever May temperature, the -9.4C recorded in 1941. At least four stations have broken May lowest temperature records.

Snow hit Yorkshire over the weekend and south-east England fell below freezing in parts. Frost damaged farmers’ crops and gardeners’ plants.

The Met Office said a giant eight inches of snow will hit mountains across the northern half of Scotland on Tuesday night.

Britain is shivering through the biggest spring temperature plunge since 1938. But forecasters say the washout - which saw Oxford University record its wettest April in 245 years - will get even worse."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/9250271/Britain-back-on-flood-alert-as-a-months-worth-of-rain-to-fall-in-24-hours.html

The only type of climate change that could have killed the dinosaurs, is drastic cooling. Is he saying methane caused cooling, or is he asserting that warming inevitably causes draught conditions? His statement is not to be taken seriously, and probably won't be, in the scientific community. Heat, plus carbon, plus water, equals botanical garden.

re: maz2 at May 7, 2012 11:18 AM

*deep breath*

Weather.... Is...... Not.... Climate!!!!!!!

I would have caps locked that if I could, but you get the idea.

Seriously though. Stop it. Idiotic stuff like this only serves the AGW cause or, best case scenario, makes you look like a dumbass.

Yet another jihadi wanted to face his 72 raisins with no nuts - announced one hour ago...

CIA Thwarts al-Qaeda Underwear-Bomb Plot On Anniversary of bin Laden's Death

where is the outrage ? the media chaos ? the calls for his resignation by CAIR and every othr muslim organization, the riots in the streets, the threats by every islamic country in the world ? the condemnation from the President...oh, wait.....

cbs too, no less, looks like the media can see who's going to be handing out their press credentials next year..and it "ain't gonna be 'bama"

Muslim Woman Wearing Burqa Kicked Out of Obama Campaign Event…

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/05/07/woman-in-black-burka-kicked-out-of-obama-campaign-event/

RICHMOND, Va. (CBSDC/AP) — A woman dressed in a black burka was removed during President Obama’s inaugural re-election campaign stop at Virginia Commonwealth University Saturday.

According to a White House pool report, photographers observed the woman being escorted out of the gym by Richmond police and other security officials. The woman appeared to be wearing dark clothing and U.S. military pins and was carrying a book. She cooperated with police, according to the report.

CBSDC obtained video of the incident from VCU journalism instructor Vivian Medina-Messner. In the video, you can hear the woman shouting while being escorted out of the building by police.

VCU Police Chief John Venuti told CBS 6 WTVR that the Secret Service is now investigating the incident.

"socialist" protestor schooled by Russian so badly she doesn't want anyone to see it....priceless

funny though...if you're carrying a protest sign and chanting slogans, doesn't that mean you WANT to be seen and heard ? apparently not...at least not when things start to go bad for your arguments...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em4btiNve4Q