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I'm running out of space again here. So now in this new, libtard Demented-crat era, it's time to start yet another chapter of...

THE KICK ASSIEST NEWS BLOG

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Topic: Lib Loser Stories

Glaciers in Norway Growing Again

By Michael Asher (Blog)

Scandinavian nation reverses trend, mirrors results in Alaska, elsewhere.

After years of decline, glaciers in Norway are again growing, reports the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE). The actual magnitude of the growth, which appears to have begun over the last two years, has not yet been quantified, says NVE Senior Engineer Hallgeir Elvehøy.

The flow rate of many glaciers has also declined. Glacier flow ultimately acts to reduce accumulation, as the ice moves to lower, warmer elevations.

The original trend had been fairly rapid decline since the year 2000.

The developments were originally reported by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK).

DailyTech has previously reported on the growth in Alaskan glaciers, reversing a 250-year trend of loss. Some glaciers in Canada, California, and New Zealand are also growing, as the result of both colder temperatures and increased snowfall.

Ed Josberger, a glaciologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, says the growth is "a bit of an anomaly", but not to be unexpected.

Despite the recent growth, most glaciers in the nation are still smaller than they were in 1982. However, Elvehøy says that the glaciers were even smaller during the 'Medieval Warm Period' of the Viking Era, prior to around the year 1350.

Not all Norwegian glaciers appear to be affected, most notably those in the Jotenheimen region of Southern Norway.

• Comments
Daily Tech.com ~ Michael Asher ** Glaciers in Norway Growing Again
Related: • Consensus dissipating on global warming?
• International poll: 'Growing public reluctance' to support global warming efforts
• Global Cooling? 'Thirty years of warmer temperatures go poof'
• Report 'hushed up' after finding disposable diapers more 'green' than reusable ones

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Mood:  chillin'
Topic: Lib Loser Stories

International poll: 'Growing public reluctance' to support global warming efforts

Efforts to support global climate-change falls: Poll

Peter O'Neil, Europe Correspondent, Canwest News Service

PARIS - There is both growing public reluctance to make personal sacrifices and a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the major international efforts now underway to battle climate change, according to findings of a poll of 12,000 citizens in 11 countries, including Canada.

Results of the poll were released this week in advance of the start of a major international conference in Poland where delegates are considering steps toward a new international climate-change treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

There already are reports emerging that some countries, such as coal-dependent Poland, are pushing for special treatment to avoid making major commitments to slash carbon emissions during a global economic downturn.

Less than half of those surveyed, or 47 per cent, said they were prepared to make personal lifestyle changes to reduce carbon emissions, down from 58 per cent last year.

Only 37 per cent said they were willing to spend "extra time" on the effort, an eight-point drop.

And only one in five respondents - or 20 per cent - said they'd spend extra money to reduce climate change. That's down from 28 per cent a year ago.

The Canadian results, from a poll of 1,000 respondents conducted in September, were virtually identical to the overall figures. There are no comparative figures for Canada because Canadians weren't included in the global study in 2007.

The 11 countries surveyed were Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States. There were 2,000 respondents surveyed in China, including 1,000 in Hong Kong.

The survey was conducted as part of a joint collaboration between the financial institution HSBC and environmental groups, such as the Earthwatch Institute.

"There's consumer reluctance that's creeping in, and we've seen that some are being stunned into inaction by the enormity of the task," said Earthwatch executive vice-president Nigel Winser.

Results of the poll suggested that 55 per cent of respondents in the 11 countries said their governments should be doing more by investing in renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar and wave power.

That's more than double the 27 per cent who wanted their governments to participate in Kyoto-style international agreements to reduce emissions.

In Canada, the same portion favoured renewable-energy options, while 32 per cent supported collective international efforts.

"People believe governments are focusing too much attention on indirect actions that pass responsibility for climate change onto others, such as increasing taxes on fossil fuels, encouraging individual environmentally friendly activities and participating in international negotiations, such as the Kyoto Protocol," the report said.

"More needs to be done to inform consumers about measures such as green taxation or carbon trading to help them understand how tangible these can be."

The poll helps explain why outgoing Liberal Leader Stephane Dion had so much difficulty during the election campaign trying to sell his Green Shift platform that proposed a carbon tax in order to encourage emission reductions.

Earthwatch's Winser said the silver lining in the poll was that it stresses public dissatisfaction with the performance of all governments.

"We welcome this survey because it shows that individuals want their governments to do more."

HSBC was unable to provide the poll's margin of error.

Canada.com ~ Windsor Star - Peter O'Neil ** Efforts to support global climate-change falls: Poll
Related: • Global Cooling? 'Thirty years of warmer temperatures go poof'
• Report 'hushed up' after finding disposable diapers more 'green' than reusable ones
• Consensus dissipating on global warming?
• Glaciers in Norway Growing Again

 

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Mood:  cool
Topic: Lib Loser Stories

Poor Enviro-marxists...

Consensus dissipating on global warming?

By Ed Morrissey • Hot Air.com

Global-warming skepticism has apparently gone mainstream enough to get the attention of Politico. On the cusp of getting the most progressive Congressional leadership in history, the science used to argue for central control of energy production may disappear along with the warming that by all accounts stopped ten years ago:

Climate change skeptics on Capitol Hill are quietly watching a growing accumulation of global cooling science and other findings that could signal that the science behind global warming may still be too shaky to warrant cap-and-trade legislation.

While the new Obama administration promises aggressive, forward-thinking environmental policies, Weather Channel co-founder Joseph D’Aleo and other scientists are organizing lobbying efforts to take aim at the cap-and-trade bill that Democrats plan to unveil in January. ...

The National Academy of Sciences and most major scientific bodies agree that global warming is caused by man-made carbon emissions. But a small, growing number of scientists, including D’Aleo, are questioning how quickly the warming is happening and whether humans are actually the leading cause.

Armed with statistics from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climate Data Center, D’Aleo reported in the 2009 Old Farmer’s Almanac that the U.S. annual mean temperature has fluctuated for decades and has only risen 0.21 degrees since 1930 — which he says is caused by fluctuating solar activity levels and ocean temperatures, not carbon emissions.

Data from the same source shows that during five of the past seven decades, including this one, average U.S. temperatures have gone down. And the almanac predicted that the next year will see a period of cooling.

The global-warming movement exists to provide cover for statists who demand central control over energy production. That’s an inconvenient truth that has begun to emerge as global temperatures fail to meet expectations of increase. Rather than admit that more research is needed, global-warming activists have increased the hysterical tone of their efforts, demanding immediate action and giving dire predictions of catastrophe without it.

Their cause did not get helped by the Goddard Institute’s mishandling of data. Not only did they mistakenly use the wrong month’s data, they failed to catch the error before publication. In the controversy that erupted, Goddard — the primary source for the most hysterical global-warming advocates — admitted that they don’t do any independent verification of the data they receive, making their conclusions all but worthless.

Over 31,000 scientists have now signed onto the Global Warming Petition Project, demanding more skepticism and a return to scientific inquiry into climate change rather than political propaganda. They face an uphill battle in convincing the beneficiaries of research dollars from Washington to risk their funding by acting like scientists.

Hot Air.com ~ Ed Morrissey ** Consensus dissipating on global warming?
Related: • Global Cooling? 'Thirty years of warmer temperatures go poof'
• Report 'hushed up' after finding disposable diapers more 'green' than reusable ones
• International poll: 'Growing public reluctance' to support global warming efforts
• Glaciers in Norway Growing Again

 

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Mood:  spacey
Topic: Lib Loser Stories

Ignorant libtard Obama voters outed as the morons they are

The first video is snort-worthy enough, but the second video is from Howard Stern where an interviewer found a few Obama voters, applied McCain's policies as Obama's, and asked them if they liked "Obama's policies"... and the ignoramous libtards all the sudden supported Sarah Palin as Vice President, victory in Iraq, a ban on stem cell research, etc.



It's un-freaking-believable how "intellectual, educated, smarter than everyone else" libtards are so clueless... kind of like learning about the electoral college in the year 2000, as opposed to learning about it in elementary school.

How Obama Got Elected.com ~ John Ziegler ** Media Malpractice... How Obama Got Elected
WGKA - 920AM Atlanta ~ Amanda Carpenter ** Preview of Anti-Obama Documentary Outrages Left
YouTube.com ** How Obama Got Elected... Interviews With Obama Voters
YouTube.com ** Harlem voters

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Mood:  silly
Topic: Lib Loser Stories

Libtard Chris Matthews Calls Africa a 'Country'

By Mark Finkelstein (Bio | Archive) • News Busters.org

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Topic: Columns

Election Analysis: America Can Take Pride In This Historic, Inspirational Disaster

From Right Voices • Iowahawk

Although I have not always been the most outspoken advocate of President-Elect Barack Obama, today I would like to congratulate him and add my voice to the millions of fellow citizens who are celebrating his historic and frightening election victory. I don't care whether you are a conservative or a liberal -- when you saw this inspiring young African-American rise to our nation's highest office I hope you felt the same sense of patriotic pride that I experienced, no matter how hard you were hyperventilating with deep existential dread.

Yes, I know there are probably other African-Americans much better qualified and prepared for the presidency. Much, much better qualified. Hundreds, easily, if not thousands, and without any troubling ties to radical lunatics and Chicago mobsters. Gary Coleman comes to mind. But let's not let that distract us from the fact that Mr. Obama's election represents a profound, positive milestone in our country's struggle to overcome its long legacy of racial divisions and bigotry. It reminds us of how far we've come, and it's something everyone in our nation should celebrate in whatever little time we now have left.

Less than fifty years ago, African-Americans were barred from public universities, restaurants, and even drinking fountains in many parts of the country. On Tuesday we came together and transcended that shameful legacy, electing an African-American to the country's top job -- which, in fact, appears to be his first actual job. Certainly, it doesn't mean that racism has disappeared in America, but it is an undeniable mark of progress that a majority of voters no longer consider skin color nor a dangerously gullible naivete as a barrier to the presidency.

It's also heartening to realize that as president Mr. Obama will soon be working hand-in-hand with a former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard like Senator Robert Byrd to craft the incoherent and destructive programs that will plunge the American economy into a nightmare of full-blown sustained depression. As Vice President-Elect Joe Biden has repeatedly warned, there will be difficult times ahead and the programs will not always be popular, or even sane. But as we look out over the wreckage of bankrupt coal companies, nationalized banks, and hyperinflation, we can always look back with sustained pride on the great National Reconciliation of 2008. Call me an optimist, but I like to think when America's breadlines erupt into riots it will be because of our shared starvation, not the differences in our color.

It's obvious that this newfound pride is not confined to Americans alone. All across the world, Mr. Obama's election has helped mend America's tattered image as a racist, violent cowboy, willing to retaliate with bombs at the slightest provocation. The huge outpouring of international support following the election shows that America can still win new friendships while rebuilding its old ones, and provides Mr. Obama with unprecedented diplomatic leverage over our remaining enemies. When Russian tanks start pouring into eastern Europe and Iranian missiles begin raining down on Jerusalem, their leaders will know they will be facing a man who not only conquered America's racial divide but the hearts of the entire Cannes film community. And those Al Qaeda terrorists plotting a dirty nuke or chemical attack on San Francisco face a stark new reality: while they may no longer need to worry about US Marines, they are looking down the barrel of a strongly worded diplomatic condemnation by a Europe fully united in their deep sympathy for surviving Americans.
 

So for now, let's put politics aside and celebrate this historic milestone. In his famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial 45 years ago, Dr. King said "I have a dream that one day my children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." Let us now take pride that Tuesday we Americans proved that neither thing matters anymore.

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Topic: Yahoo Chat Stuff

Internet Generation 'Makes Bad Jurors' because they can't listen...

Web-savvy young make bad jurors because they cannot listen, says Lord Chief Justice

Young people brought up with the internet are not used to listening for long periods and would not make good jurors, according to the most senior judge in England and Wales.

By Christopher Hope, Home Affairs Editor • UK Telegraph

In a speech, Lord Judge of Draycote, the Lord Chief Justice, said it might be better to present information for young jurors on screens because that is how they were used to digesting information.

He said: "Most are technologically proficient. Many get much information from the internet. They consult and refer to it. They are not listening. They are reading. "One potential problem is whether, learning as they do in this way, they will be accustomed, as we were, to listening for prolonged periods.

"Even if they have the ability to endure hours and days of sitting listening, how long would it be before some ask for the information on which they have to make their decision to be provided in forms which adapt to modern technology?

He said: "Our system of jury trials depends on 12 good men and women and true coming to court and listening to the case. Orality is the crucial ingredient of the adversarial system.

"Witnesses speak and answer questions. Counsel speak and address the jury. Judges speak and give directions."

Currently information is provided on screens to jurors, such as in complex fraud trials, but "not without difficulty and with great expense", he said.

He added: "What about the defendant's oral testimony and child witness complaining of an indecent assault which the defendant adamantly denies?

"What process aimed at finding the truth between them, and enabling a jury to decide where the truth lies, will be in place in 25 years time? What will happen to our oral tradition? Should it, will it, be forced to change?"

Lord Judge also conceded that it was inevitable some jurors defy a judge's direction and make "private enquiries" into a case using the internet.

In one case a juror went online using a Blackberry-device during a rape case, causing the conviction to be quashed.

Lord Judge said that he did not have solutions to these concerns. But he suggested that in the future the courts system must be "capable of development and adaptable for the future".

Lord Judge, who took over as Lord Chief Justice last month, also warned this week that criminals should be "frightened'' of going to court, signalling a stricter attitude towards sentencing.

UK Telegraph ~ Christopher Hope ** Web-savvy young make bad jurors because they cannot listen, says Lord Chief Justice

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Now Playing: Conservatism on the ballot:
Topic: News

Conservatism on the ballot: Libtard Green Initiatives Get Slaughtered in California

Green Initiatives Get Slaughtered in California, Will Media Notice?

By Noel Sheppard (Bio | Archive)

Californians by very wide margins defeated two green initiatives that anthropogenic global warming enthusiasts in the media and in legislative houses across the fruited plain should take heed...but will they?

To begin with, Proposition 7 would have required utilities to generate 40 percent of their power from renewable energy by 2020 and 50 percent by 2025.

Proposition 10 would have created $5 billion in general obligation bonds to help consumers and others purchase certain high fuel economy or alternative fuel vehicles, and to fund research into alternative fuel technology.

Much to the likely chagrin of Nobel Laureate Al Gore and his global warming sycophants in the media, these measures went down, and went down in flames:

Proposition 7 Renewable Energy Generation
Yes 3,294,158 35.1%
No  6,102,907 64.9%

Proposition 10 Alternative Fuel Vehicles
Yes 3,742,997 40.1%
No  5,581,303 59.9%

Will global warming-obsessed media share this news with the citizenry? Shouldn't this be HUGE news given President-elect Obama's green sympathies and his desire to enact a carbon cap and trade scheme to reduce carbon dioxide emissions?

We'll see.

News Busters.com ~ Noel Sheppard ** Green Initiatives Get Slaughtered in California, Will Media Notice?
• Comments • 

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Mood:  chatty
Now Playing: Conservatism on the ballot:
Topic: News

California, Florida voters put a stop to gay marriage

California voters approve gay-marriage ban

LOS ANGELES - In an election otherwise full of liberal triumphs, the gay rights movement suffered a stunning defeat as California voters approved a ban on same-sex marriages that overrides a recent court decision legalizing them.

The constitutional amendment—widely seen as the most momentous of the nation's 153 ballot measures—will limit marriage to heterosexual couples, the first time such a vote has taken place in a state where gay unions are legal.

Gay-rights activists had a rough election elsewhere as well. Ban-gay-marriage amendments were approved in Arizona and Florida, and Arkansas voters approved a measure banning unmarried couples from serving as adoptive or foster parents. Supporters made clear that gays and lesbians were their main target.

In California, with 95 percent of precincts reporting Wednesday, the ban had 5,125,752 votes, or 52 percent, while there were 4,725,313 votes, or 48 percent, opposed.

Similar bans had prevailed in 27 states before Tuesday's elections, but none were in California's situation—with about 18,000 gay couples married since a state Supreme Court ruling in May. The state attorney general, Jerry Brown, has said those marriages will remain valid, although legal challenges are possible.

Spending for and against the amendment reached $74 million, making it the most expensive social-issues campaign in U.S. history and the most expensive campaign this year outside the race for the White House.

Elsewhere, voters in Colorado and South Dakota rejected measures that could have led to sweeping bans of abortion, and Washington became only the second state—after Oregon—to offer terminally ill people the option of physician-assisted suicide.

A first-of-its-kind measure in Colorado, which was defeated soundly, would have defined life as beginning at conception. Its opponents said the proposal could lead to the outlawing of some types of birth control as well as abortion.

The South Dakota measure would have banned abortions except in cases of rape, incest and serious health threat to the mother. A tougher version, without the rape and incest exceptions, lost in 2006. Anti-abortion activists thought the modifications would win approval, but the margin of defeat was similar, about 55 percent to 45 percent of the vote.

"The lesson here is that Americans, in states across the country, clearly support women's ability to access abortion care without government interference," said Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation.

In Washington, voters gave solid approval to an initiative modeled after Oregon's "Death with Dignity" law, which allows a terminally ill person to be prescribed lethal medication they can administer to themselves. Since Oregon's law took effect in 1997, more than 340 people—mostly ailing with cancer—have used it to end their lives.

The marijuana reform movement won two prized victories, with Massachusetts voters decriminalizing possession of small amounts of the drug and Michigan joining 12 other states in allowing use of pot for medical purposes.

Henceforth, people caught in Massachusetts with an ounce or less of pot will no longer face criminal penalties. Instead, they'll forfeit the marijuana and pay a $100 civil fine.

The Michigan measure will allow severely ill patients to register with the state and legally buy, grow and use small amounts of marijuana to relieve pain, nausea, appetite loss and other symptoms.

Nebraska voters, meanwhile, approved a ban on race- and gender-based affirmative action, similar to measures previously approved in California, Michigan and Washington. Returns in Colorado on a similar measure were too close to call.

Ward Connerly, the California activist-businessman who has led the crusade against affirmative action, said Obama's victory proved his point. "We have overcome the scourge of race," Connerly said.

Energy measures met a mixed fate. In Missouri, voters approved a measure requiring the state's three investor-owned electric utilities to get 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2021. But California voters defeated an even more ambitious measure that would have required the state's utilities to generate half their electricity from windmills, solar systems, geothermal reserves and other renewable sources by 2025.

Two animal-welfare measures passed—a ban on dog racing in Massachusetts, and a proposition in California that outlaws cramped cages for egg-laying chickens.

Amid deep economic uncertainty, proposals to cut state income taxes were defeated decisively in North Dakota and Massachusetts.

In San Francisco, an eye-catching local measure—to bar arrests for prostitution—was soundly rejected. Police and political leaders said it would hamper the fight against sex trafficking. And in San Diego, voters decided to make permanent a ban on alcohol consumption on city beaches.

Associated Press writer Paul Elias in San Francisco contributed to this report.
• Comments
Breitbart.com ~ Associated Press - Lisa Leff ** California voters approve gay-marriage ban

Abortion bans lose, Florida stops gay marriage

SAN FRANCISCO - U.S. voters firmly rejected two state proposals to limit abortion rights on Tuesday, undermining an attempt to force the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court.

But results of more than 150 state measures across the nation showed a more complex cultural map than the easy election of Democrat Barack Obama as president might indicate, according to preliminary results.

Florida and Arizona banned same-sex marriage and Arkansas passed a measure that would stop homosexuals from adopting children, NBC projected.

"The passage of this amendment is a bright star on an otherwise dismal night, in which America elected the most liberal President in her history," Liberty Counsel founder Mathew Staver said in a statement after the Florida measure passed. The state of Florida went for Obama.

Colorado voters rejected by about a three to one margin a measure that would have made abortion the legal equivalent of murder by defining human life as beginning at conception. South Dakota was on track to defeat a ban on abortion by a 10-percentage point margin, with most votes counted.

"We defeated it here, and it won't spread to other states," said Sarah Stoesz, president of the local Planned Parenthood chapter. "And now we've started a counter movement in a very conservative part of the country."

More preliminary results, called by major U.S. networks, showed Michigan allowing medical use of marijuana, Nebraska ending affirmative action to help minorities, and Washington allowing doctor-assisted suicide.

(Reporting by Peter Henderson, Editing Patricia Zengerle)
Yahoo News ~ Reuters - Peter Henderson ** Abortion bans lose, Florida stops gay marriage