[H/T to Climate Depot] The U.S., European Union and 12 of the world's largest nations plan to embrace "an aspirational goal" of reducing emissions of global-warming gases by 50% by 2050, according to a draft declaration by world leaders set for release next week in Italy.

The draft, seen by The Wall Street Journal, sets up a framework for detailed negotiations on the issue ahead of a United Nations climate conference in December. But it leaves key areas in the climate-change debate in dispute. The draft is subject to change ahead of a meeting of global leaders starting Wednesday.

The declaration recognizes a "broad scientific view" that global temperatures shouldn't rise more than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, but doesn't lock in the "two-degree ceiling" that some nations and environmentalists want. Global temperatures currently are about 0.8 degree Celsius above those levels.

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Twenty-two environmental campaigners have been found guilty of obstructing a train carrying coal to Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire.

Protesters boarded the train carrying coal into the station in June 2008 after it stopped for two men posing as railway staff, Leeds Crown Court heard.

The defendants, including three from West Yorkshire, were protesting against pollution at the station in Selby.

Judge James Spencer QC said they would not face a custodial sentence.

The past week in Congress and across the country, a closer look has been taken at “climate change.” Last Friday, Congress passed a cap and trade tax bill, the main purpose for was to help reverse the effects of climate change. That controversial bill, perhaps the most controversial bill in recent memory, narrowly passed the House of Representative due to the efforts of liberal activists. Cap and trade calls for the creation of an energy tax for all Americans to pay as a penalty for climate change and the loss of at least 2.5 million jobs. Sounds like a swell bill right? Thanks President Obama for this change we can believe in!

A moonbat council in Byron Bay in New South Wales has decided that not only is global warming real, but that it cannot be beaten.

MILLIONS of dollars worth of luxury waterfront homes at Byron Bay will be demolished in the name of climate change following a council decision to enshrine “planned retreat” in law.   The radical step to block homeowners protecting their property from rising sea levels was contained in a coastal planning policy released by the Greens-run Byron Bay Council yesterday.

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Rep. Mark Kirk

As one of the eight Republicans who helped a controversial energy and climate-change bill narrowly clear the U.S. House last week, Mark Kirk continues to take heat from members of his own party for the vote.

Much of the backlash has been anonymous, coming from critics who habituate dailyherald.com, local political message boards and other Web sites. Using screen names like "Right," "Fedup57" and "Reaganlives," they've called the Highland Park lawmaker a traitor to the GOP and the nation.

President Barack Obama was supposed to be "cool." But he isn't. He's square. Not just mildly so, but embarrassingly square. He's squaresville squared. It's like you're having a party with your friends, and he's the cringe-making middle-age parent who wants to show he digs where the young people are at by grooving around in the middle of the dance floor all night long.

How do I know? I've been there, and I've been square. By "there," I mean I've been in places that have tried all the cool Obama dance moves and eventually wised up to what utter clunkers they are.

The ABC’s Emma Alberici yesterday tried to smear Senator Steve Fielding [pictured] as the dupe of corrupt scientists, paid by Big Oil to deny global warming.

ALBERICI: Bob Ward (above) - a policy director at the London School of Economics - first wrote to ExxonMobil in 2006. He was concerned about the financial support the company provided to climate change deniers…

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The professional penalty for offering a contrary view to elites like Al Gore is a smear campaign.

Wherever Jim Hansen is right now -- whatever speech the "censored" NASA scientist is giving -- perhaps he'll find time to mention the plight of Alan Carlin [pictured]. Though don't count on it.

Mr. Hansen, as everyone in this solar system knows, is the director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Starting in 2004, he launched a campaign against the Bush administration, claiming it was censoring his global-warming thoughts and fiddling with the science. It was all a bit of a hoot, given Mr. Hansen was already a world-famous devotee of the theory of man-made global warming, a reputation earned with some 1,400 speeches he'd given, many while working for Mr. Bush. But it gave Democrats a fun talking point, one the Obama team later picked up.

A leading climate scientist argues that overbroad claims by some researchers—coupled with overblown reporting in the media—can undermine the public's understanding of climate issues. Gavin Schmidt, a NASA climate modeler, author and PM editorial advisor, concurs with the consensus view that the planet's temperature is rising due largely to human activity. But, he says, many news stories prematurely attribute local or regional phenomena to climate change. This can lead to the dissemination of vague, out-of-context or flat-wrong information to the public.

Al Gore blogged, Bollywood rocked and maybe John DeLorean was a genius.

All this and hippie-mocking goodness galore in your July 4th weekend roundupalooza.

Part One: Al Gore & Friends

Global Warming Profiteer Prophet Al Gore had a busy week.  The Goreacle brushed off an inconvenient snub when his usual playmates asked him not to come to their party, and used the opportunity to blog to the masses.

Roger A. Pielke Sr.

Real Climate has posted a response titled “More bubkes” to my weblog of July 30 2009 titled  Real Climate’s Misinformation. First, it is clear they are (deliberately?) misinterpreting what I wrote on the weblog. Embedded in the personal attack comments that Real Climate permits be posted, there are several that recognize that the error in the original Real Climate post was their statement

”Some aspects of climate change are progressing faster than was expected a few years ago”.

As I documented in my weblog of June 30 2009, their statement is clearly and documentably false (and is not a “wild allegation”).

Fifty-six percent (56%) of Americans say they are not willing to pay more in taxes and utility costs to generate cleaner energy and fight global warming.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey, taken since the climate change bill was passed on Friday, finds that 21% of Americans are willing to pay $100 more per year for cleaner energy and to counter global warming. Only 14% are willing to pay more than that amount.

Fifty-two percent (52%) of all adults say it is more important to keep the cost of energy as low as possible than it is to develop clean, environmentally friendly sources of energy. But 41% disagree and say developing cleaner, greener energy sources is the priority.

Sixty-three percent (63%) rate creating jobs as more important than taking steps to stop global warming. For 22%, stopping global warming is more important.

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