Good Comeback, Paris.

Who says she can't act/ read a TelePrompter?
Better than some people, anyway.

It would be funny if "her" energy plan became the new gold standard in this election.

Quote du Jour: Semi-anonymous California Motorist

from Reuters:

U.S. motorists brave Mexico border violence for fuel

"It's worth taking the risk even with the violence," said a retired California engineer named Terry, who declined to give his surname, as he filled his red Ford pick-up truck in Tijuana, over the border from San Diego. "I know they could kill me or kidnap me, but the cost of filling my tank in the United States is just too much," he said.

WTF? I thought for a second I was reading The Onion. I've heard a lot of people bellyaching about the price of gas since it passed the $4 mark, and I've done some bellyaching about it myself, with good reason, especially knowing how little the oil companies are suffering in all of this, but saving $100 a month is worth the genuine risk (based on the recent travel advisory for border areas like Tijuana) of being kidnapped or murdered? Some people are just much, much braver than I am.

A Large Majority of Americans Actually Care About Science & Stuff

85 percent of them, according to a poll, want to see a presidential debate on the subject.

"Bitter" Quote du Jour: Rep. John Shimkus

I guess I'm not the only one switching camps.
Now House Republicans are doing PR damage control for Obama in their speeches on energy prices. I know this guy's from Illinois, but still...

from a news conference today:

REP. JOHN SHIMKUS (R-IL): Illinois was just declared one of the biggest states that is moving wind power. We want them all. Because more supply, with a demand, will mean lower costs. And these are true costs.

And why do we use the terminology "bitter?'

Well, you know why we use "bitter." There is bitterness out there. And it's bitterness because of these high costs. And in rural America, where people have to travel long distances to get to work -- and we don't have the buses, we don't have the light rail. We have working trucks, big trucks to haul our beef and our pork and our beans and our corn.

Nobel Watch Update: Yep, he did.

Not a big surprise, but good news, nonetheless, from an earth-based perspective (hard to imagine an alternative perspective, but some factions may claim one...)
Maybe he'll run and maybe he won't. Polls show him with a much better chance to beat Giuliani than Hillary. I'll be honest. I'd like to see a woman (not just any woman; I'm not talking Elizabeth Dole or Condi Rice) but a moderate-to-liberal woman in the White House, whether as veep or in the top spot. Reservations notwithstanding, (in a nutshell, the hawkish persona she's cultivated for this campaign) I think Hillary would do a fine job at the top. But I wouldn't mind seeing another Clinton/Gore / Gore/Clinton ticket, and I could get behind Gore/Obama or Gore/Edwards as well.
But regardless of that omnipresent election year question, and regardless of the precise details on what's happening environmentally, (that's what Gore's co-recipients, the IPCC, are trying to find out) the more attention paid to the planet on which we depend for our survival, (barring that expedition to Mars) the better. And this can't hurt.

Related: Nobel Watch: Will he get it? Will he get it?

Nobel Watch: Will he get it? Will he get it?

Yes, with all that's going on in the world, sometimes it's still fun to engage in a little frivolous speculation... and some Democrats are acting a bit like kids waiting for Christmas morning.
A) Will Al Gore receive the soon-to-be-announced Nobel Peace Prize?
B) If so, will it prompt him, as some diehard Gore fans are hoping, to ride the momentum into the race?

Quote du Jour: John Edwards/ Arcade Fire

So that's what that song that's hopelessly stuck in my head is about...

The black mirror knows no reflection
It knows not pride or vanity
It cares not about your dreams
It cares not for your pyramid schemes

Maybe...

I read an article in a British newspaper a couple weeks ago. It said, based on some work being done by American scientists -- suggested that the polar ice cap will disappear in 23 years, unless we change our behavior.

And once it's gone, it is not coming back. And this is -- you know, I won't claim to be a scientific expert, but I'm smart enough to figure out that a polar ice cap reflects the sun's heat. And when that ice cap is gone, the black, dark ocean is going to absorb the sun's heat. And it is not healthy for America.

from Edwards' MySpace/MTV presidential candidate forum last night

MTV, what have you done to me?
Save my soul, set me free!
Set me free! What have you done to me?
I can't breathe! I can't see!
World War III, when are you coming for me?
Been kicking up sparks, we set the flames free
The windows are locked now, so what'll it be?
A house on fire or a rising sea?

Why is the night so still?
Why did I take the pill?
Because I don't wanna see it at my windowsill

http://www.arcadefire.net/lyrics/neon/

Downside to Global Warming # 197: The Canadian-American Water Dispute War of 2073?

Warming could spark N. American water scramble: U.N.

And another one from the Republicans-talking-sense file

Arnold on pumping up the environmentalist movement:

For too long, the environmental movement had been powered by guilt.

But I believe that this is about the switch-over from being powered by guilt to being powered by something much more positive, something much more dynamic, something much more capable of bringing about major change.

You know the kind of guilt I'm talking about: the smoke-stacks belching pollution that are powering our Jacuzzis and our big-screen TVs, and in my case, powering my private airplanes.

(LAUGHTER)

So it is too bad, of course, that we can't all live as simple lives as the Buddhist monks in Tibet.

But you know something? That's not going to happen. So, ladies and gentlemen, I don't think that any movement has ever made it and has ever made much progress based on guilt. Guilt is passive; guilt is inhibiting; and guilt is defensive.

You remember the commercials a number of years ago, the commercials specifically of a Native American who sees what we have done to the environment and then a tear runs down his cheek? You all remember that?

Well, let me tell you something. That approach didn't work because successful movements are built on passion; they're not built on guilt. They're built on passion; they're built on confidence; and they're built on critical mass. And, often, they're built on an element of alarm that galvanizes action.

The environmental movement is, to use a popular term, about the tipping point. It's about to get to the tipping point. There's a tipping point, and I believe the tipping point will be occurring when the environmental movement is no longer seen as a nag or as a scold, but as a positive force in people's lives.

-- from Gov. Schwarzenegger's speech yesterday at a Georgetown University-hosted Conference on Environmental Leadership.

Quote du Jour: NASA's James Hansen on the media's current conception of "balance" (again, no kin to moderation, IMO)

from today's House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on possible political interference with government climate change scientists:

REP. DARRELL ISSA (R-CA): Among scientists, you appear to believe that the debate about any aspect of science being settled, that you think is settled, has a chilling effect on people's understanding.

You said so in your opening remarks here today. You said that the American people were confused by these contrarian opinions.

I guess we could be talking about Senator Jimmy Inhofe, who says that there isn't global warming. You say that it's settled science. Is that correct?

JAMES HANSEN, DIR., GODDARD INSTITUTE FOR SPACE STUDIES, NASA: I wouldn't state it the way that you just did.

ISSA: Please rephrase...

HANSEN: What I would refer to is the fact that, very often, the media -- sometimes with pressure from special interests -- will present "balance." And "balance" means we have one person describing the science and one person who disputes it, even in cases where the science is 99 percent certain.

And both of them speak in a technical language, which the public often -- sounds like they're, you know, technical scientists -- and they don't understand the language.

And so it looks like a 50/50 thing even when it's not.

The best thing the 108th Congress ever did...

... was pass the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Yeah, it left out some provisions that maybe should have been in there, and vice versa, but from a personal perspective, it's the Best Act Ever, all due to the Daylight Savings Time provision that pushed back the start of that magical time of year three weeks, to make it effective today.
This guy disagrees, but I don't trust people who are against sunlight, so who cares? Besides, they said on the NewsHour that he's an English professor, so what does he know about energy policy? ;)
All I know is that now is the time of year when the last drop of vitamin D drains from my body, and that, thanks to this act, I can get up from my computer and go out there to enjoy the sunshine for one hour longer each day, starting right now. Theoretically.

P.S. The new look is in anticipation of spring fever. Once it hits, I won't be able to stay inside customizing my blog. Bring it on!

I Don't Heart Huckabee, and other Highlights from CPAC

The thing is, Mike Huckabee used to be my favorite Republican contender (ever since John McCain's Bush-calls-this-a-troop-surge?-I'll-show him-a-troop-surge push.) But this statement is scary as hell:

Here's what I don't understand. For those who say we shouldn't amend the Constitution, they seem to be more than willing to amend the Holy Bible, the Koran, as well the Talmud. I'm not sure why we would take a sacred Biblical text and amend it and not be willing to amend the Constitution to be consistent with the very texts upon which that Constitution was based.

Unsurprisingly, this guy, Sen. James M. Inhofe, R-OK, who gave an anti-Al Gore (I'll call it "An All-Too Convenient Fancy") PowerPoint presentation at the conference, isn't running for president:

Why are politicians so afraid to tell the truth about man-made global warming?

It's because the families are subjected to every conceivable insult and attack. I have been called -- my kids are all aware of this -- "dumb," "crazy man," "science-abuser," "Holocaust denier," "villain of the month," "hate-filled," "warmonger," "Neanderthal," "Genghis Khan," and "Attila the Hun."

(LAUGHTER)

And I could just tell you that I wear some of those titles proudly, considering where they're coming from.

P.S. It's hard to read conservative activists sometimes, but I would say that Rudy Giuliani at least came close to stealing the show. If he can keep up that momentum, he may have a shot, despite his much-discussed liabilities. If I agreed with more than 20 percent of what he was saying, I would have been sold myself. He has a way of inspiring confidence.

Well, that's a bit troubling.

Immense ice shelf breaks off in Canadian Arctic...

... or it broke off over a year ago, but it took people a while to figure it out, so it's just making the news today.
I would add a rib about global warming deniers, but they've had it rough enough lately...