With all those lights on in his Tennessee mansion, Al Gore reads Canada Free Press (CFP).

Or at least Kalee D. Kreider, “Communications Director/Environmental adviser in the Office of the Hon. Al Gore and Mrs. Tipper Gore”, does.

“I am writing to respond to the CFP piece: Gore’s electricity consumption up 10 percent despite “energy efficient” renovations,” said Ms. Kreider.

“This is essentially the press release of a group that has continually attacked the Gores using incorrect, outdated and inflated information.”

In a cover story Wednesday, CFP noted “At the same time global warming alarmists in Canada and Australia are stooping to bogeymen tactics for school age kids, their leader Al Gore has been caught with his global warming pants on fire.”

Tom at Radio Free New Jersey has a tall, beautiful oak tree in his yard. He found that the tree was casting a shadow on the solar heater for his pool, so he planned to cut the tree down.

Then he had in inspiration: Why not leave the tree alone, and sell its carbon sequestration services to someone out there who was feeling guilty about their lifestyle? He would do a good deed, and for that he would be willing to put up with a slightly cooler swimming pool.

So, he put an ad on eBay, hoping to get a bid of $420 based on his calculation of how much carbon the tree would end up sequestering.

The morality play on offer from greenies and their media buddies holds that "we can't drill our way" to cheaper oil prices, but "conservation" and "new technologies" for "alternative energy" are the answer.

Thus, I am thankful to Al Gore for proving that even in a high profile demonstration project these "solutions" won't work. The Tennessee Center for Policy Research reports that Gore's home in Nashville has increased its energy usage by 10% in the past year. This is in the face of proudly-announced (and expensive) energy-saving steps. Stop the ACLU cites the Soros-Funded Think Progress  site for information:

Gore's family has taken numerous steps to reduce the carbon footprint of their private residence, including signing up for 100 percent green power through Green Power Switch, installing solar panels, and using compact fluorescent bulbs and other energy saving technology.

A new paper has been published by Sicre et al in Earth and Planetary Science Letters entitled: 'Decadal variability of sea surface temperatures off North Iceland over the last 2000 years.'

The Abstract states:
Ocean variability at decadal time-scales remains poorly described partly because of the scarcity of high temporal resolution marine records. Here, we present a reconstruction of Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs) over the past two millennia at unprecedented temporal resolution (2 to 5 years), from a marine core located off North Iceland. Alkenone paleothermometry was used to infer SST variability, and tephrochronology to build the age model. Spectral analyses of the SST signal indicate intermittent 20–25 year oscillations, with periods of strong and weak power, that are likely reflecting the ocean response to wind forcing, presumably the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Warmer SSTs and paleo-magnetic proxy data, between 1000 and 1350 year A.D., overlapping the Medieval Warm Period (MWP), suggest enhanced heat transport across the Denmark Strait by the North Icelandic Irminger Current (NIIC). This is in contrast with the subsequent period, which includes the Little Ice Age (LIA), showing continuous cooling towards the 20th century. Reduced NIIC flow through the Denmark Strait likely resulting from higher freshwater and sea ice export from the Arctic would account for the observed colder conditions.

The Democrats have been doing some seriously stupid things lately.  And yet, if the polls and pundits are to be believed, they are going to kick the Republicans’ butts in November.  If that happens, get ready for some big-time buyer’s remorse.

The Democratic Party has been shifting left for years and now has reached the Insanity Zone.  Some of the things they’re doing or will do if they control all branches of government give new meaning to the word “stupid.” 

Start with the Lieberman-Warner bill a.k.a. America’s Climate Security Act.  At a time when gasoline prices are spiraling past $4 a gallon, it’s hard to understand a party that supports a plan that will make things worse.  Much worse.

This is the “cap and trade” legislation that would award to the government the exclusive right to decide who could emit carbon dioxide and how much to charge (tax) them for it.  According to Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Lieberman-Warner would result in higher prices at the pump in addition to raising taxes on Americans by more than $1 trillion over a decade.  The Federal Energy Information Administration estimates that we’d see a 9.5% drop in manufacturing output.  Low income Americans who spend more of their income on energy will pay through the nose.

Some members of Congress recently tried and failed to pass a bill tackling global warming. In California, a landmark climate change law is already on the books, but before the year is out, state regulators may approve a "cap-and-trade" system.

It's a popular strategy for reducing emissions but a bit tough to understand. Here's how it works: Regulators set mandatory limits on various kinds of industrial emissions. Firms that need to exceed their limits, or "caps," can buy permits from firms with allowances to spare. Hence the phrase "cap-and-trade."

The concept was put to the test at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. There, professors Severin Borenstein and Jim Bushnell teach a class called Energy and Environmental Markets, the crowning glory of which is a computer simulation of an electricity market.

Here is some interesting news; according to data from NOAA’s Earth System Laboratory, atmospheric water vapor is on the decline globally.

You’ve probably heard many times how water vapor is actually the  most important “greenhouse gas” for keeping our planet warm, with an effectiveness far greater than that of CO2.

It is generally accepted that the rank of important greenhouse gases is:

• water vapor and clouds which causes up to 70% of the greenhouse effect on Earth.
• carbon dioxide, which causes 9–26%
• methane, which causes 4–9%
• ozone, which causes 3–7%

The environmental movement, only recently poised for major advances on global warming and other issues, has suddenly found itself on the defensive as high gasoline prices shift the political climate nationwide and trigger defections by longtime supporters.

Opposition to offshore drilling -- once ironclad in places like California and Florida -- has begun to soften. Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida on Tuesday eased his opposition to new energy exploration off the coast.

"Floridians are suffering, and when you're paying over $4 a gallon for gas, you have to wonder whether there might be additional resources that we might be able to utilize to bring that price down," said Crist, a Republican.

At the same time, pressure to drill is mounting.

In Canada, you have Global Warming warrior numero uno, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) poster boy David Suzuki encouraging children to rat out their own parents in a treehouse setting televised advertisement (The David Suzuki Foundation YouTube).

In Australia, the state-run Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) targets 9-year-old children in Planet Slayer, which includes “Prof. Schpinkee’s Greenhouse Calculator.  Find out when you should die”.  Planet Slayer’s when you should die option comes for kiddies whose don’t use only their “fair” share of the Earth.  (Parents can view Planet Slayer here).