Top NASA climatologist James Hansen endorses eco-vandalism.

Prominent NASA climatologist James Hansen, a close ally of global-warming activist Al Gore and one of the world’s leading scientific voices warning of a global climate crisis, has endorsed eco-vandalism.

Hansen’s controversial turn stems from testimony he gave this month in a London criminal trial against Greenpeace supporters who were accused of defacing — at a cost of $60,000 in property damage — Kingsnorth, an English coal plant. Hansen testified in support of the defense’s assertion that the Greenpeace members had a “lawful excuse” because they were acting to protect property around the world “in immediate need of protection” from the impacts of global warming — caused in part, they allege, by coal burning.

By crossing the line to the side of destructive violence, Hansen — often hailed as the “the world’s leading climate scientist” by green organizations and praised by Time magazine as one of the world’s “100 Most Influential People” — has seriously damaged the credibility of a movement that has struggled to separate its apocalyptic rhetoric from more extreme environmentalists who demand violent action to match that rhetoric.

[H/T to Gore Lied]  Never underestimate a politician's ability to wriggle out of a clear choice. So it is with the so-called "Gang of 10" energy plan that is becoming the political escape hatch for Members of Congress, especially those "green Democrats" who suddenly want to appear to favor more oil and gas drilling.

The Gang of 10 compromise was released before the August recess by five Senate Republicans and five Democrats. The plan would at least allow drilling offshore of four states -- Georgia, Virginia and the Carolinas -- and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. It would also allow modern seismic surveillance, which would show how much oil and gas is really out there. Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu, who is undeniably pro-drilling, tells us this compromise is about as much as the current Congress will do and would galvanize other states to follow when they see the financial windfall.

CCF Note: This weekly feature from The Daily Bayonet is becoming a regular staple among many blogs and for good reason: It's informative, well-written, and funny. Be sure to let Mr. Bayonet what you think of his efforts as I'm sure he'd appreciate it. Enjoy!

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The European Union has already accepted the Kyoto Protocol, and we are being pressured to join. In 1997, our Senate votes 95-0 to oppose the treaty. Now the presidential candidates are talking global warming. I doubt that a Democratic Congress will continue to resist.

Charles Krauthammer, in a recent column, quoted the Czech president, "that the ambitious, arrogant, unscrupulous ideology of environmentalism is the largest threat to freedom, democracy, the economy and prosperity."

The first phase of Kyoto's emission reduction requirements is estimated to cost $716 billion. You guessed it, two-thirds to fall on the U.S. supposedly because we're the world's worst polluter. China, India, South Korea and Mexico will not be required to join. Even with that estimated cost, what would it achieve? Even the U.N. computer formula says global temperature by 2050 would be equivalent to .05 degrees centigrade, or 1/20th of a degree. How insane is that?

Let's look at the facts about warming. Environmentalists and the so-called intelligentsia want you to believe the 100s were the hottest ever. Wrong. The hottest in the past century was actually the years between 1920 and 1940.

It is the last week of August, a good morning for a steaming hot bowl of oatmeal. The rain is pouring down at a 45-degree angle, driven by 30-mile-an-hour winds. It is out of the east and the waves crashing against our boat at the dock are getting bigger with each passing hour. This is summer?

The weather woman last night said, “The temperature will drop to 38 degrees in the foothills and the snow level is already down to 3,500 feet.”

In conversation with a friend from Vail today he said, “Last week Vail got dumped on by six inches of snow that stuck around for almost a week.” All of this weird weather is because Al Gore narrated a movie about global warming and he got a Nobel Prize in Norway for his forecast of a hot planet. In his effort to cut down on worldwide pollution he even flew to Norway in his private jet from his 22-bedroom house.

DEAD ZONES are hypoxic (low-oxygen) areas in the world's oceans

Scientists did not have any clear evidence of what was causing the dead zones, and they were clearly alarmed by the situation. The Oregonian was alarmed too. Therefore the scientists and the journalists resorted to the usual tactic of blaming any unexplained environmental malady on human-induced causes - in this case (as in so many others) it was anthropogenic global warming.
July 6, 2006, The Oregonian reported:

The ocean is behaving strangely along the west coast in the latest of a string of unusual years, with scientists reporting crashing bird populations off California for the second consecutive year and hiccups in the nutrients that feed marine life off Oregon.