Obama: “Drill, Baby, Drill”

Ken AshfordEnergy and Conservation, Environment & Global Warming & EnergyLeave a Comment

Really?  What a disappointment: President Obama will announce new plans to drill for oil and natural gas off America's coasts Wednesday but will rule out drilling off California, Oregon and Washington state through 2017, administration officials say. Obama's plans will include opening new areas of coastal Virginia and other parts of the mid-Atlantic region, Alaska and the eastern Gulf of … Read More

Fox News Will Believe And Report Anything

Ken AshfordEnvironment & Global Warming & Energy, Right Wing and Inept MediaLeave a Comment

The Fox Nation headline yesterday: Global Warming Activist Freezes to Death in Antarctica. This caused much chortling among Fox News fans, who left comments like this: I'm sorry but this is about the funniest thing I've ever read!! Talk about what comes around goes around!!!!!!!!!! Ya get what you ask for – this has it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you FOX I … Read More

The Stupid — It Hurts

Ken AshfordEnvironment & Global Warming & EnergyLeave a Comment

  I've seen a lot like this lately in the form of political cartoons, blog posts, radio rants, tweets and other asides — all from the conservative ranks. It all comes down to the same thought process: there is a lot of snow; therefore, global warming can't be true. Messages like this come from people who are either too stupid or too … Read More

Bin Laden Comes Out Against…. Global Warning?

Ken AshfordEnvironment & Global Warming & Energy, War on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

Apparently so: Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, has condemned the US and other industrial economies, holding them responsible for the phenomenon of climate change. In an audio tape obtained by Al Jazeera, bin Laden criticised George Bush, the former US president, for rejecting the Kyoto pact and condemned global corporations. "This is a message to the whole world about … Read More

Oh Please Oh Please Oh Please Oh Please

Ken AshfordElection 2012, Environment & Global Warming & Energy1 Comment

Sarah Palin weighed in on climate change this week in a painfully bland op-ed in the Washington Post.  (No, of course she didn't actually write it — Bill Kristol, I'm guessing, did).  It was largely a rehash of one of her Facebook posts on the subject, where words like "science" and "experts" were put in scare quotes. On Laura Ingraham’s radio … Read More

I’m So Sick Of “Climategate”

Ken AshfordEnvironment & Global Warming & EnergyLeave a Comment

Let me get this straight.  The email of one British university gets hacked and stolen, and when you cherry-pick the results, it allegedly shows that the scientists "faked" data to make it look global warming was caused by human activity? Look, assuming all that is true, I would like the proponents of this "gotcha" to answer me one question: What … Read More

Republicans’ Boycott of Climate Change Bill Committee Fails

Ken AshfordEnergy and Conservation, Environment & Global Warming & EnergyLeave a Comment

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee have been working for weeks on a bill to address climate change, and Republicans on the committee wanted to stop it.  Their tactic?  Not showing up.  Republicans were aware of committee rules saying that no business could go forward unless two members of the opposite party were present.  So, every day this week, … Read More

Melt The United States

Ken AshfordEnvironment & Global Warming & EnergyLeave a Comment

Think about how vast the United States is.  Leave out Alaska and Hawaii and just focus on the lower 48.  Think about how expansive it is, how long it takes to travel from one end to the other. That's about the size of the Arctic polar ice cap — during warm months — for the end of the last century. Even … Read More

Stats From The Cash-For-Clunkers Program

Ken AshfordEnergy and Conservation, Environment & Global Warming & EnergyLeave a Comment

The Top Ten Cash for Clunkers Trade-Ins: 1998 Ford Explorer 1997 Ford Explorer 1996 Ford Explorer 1999 Ford Explorer Jeep Grand Cherokee Jeep Cherokee 1995 Ford Explorer 1994 Ford Explorer 1997 Ford Windstar 1999 Dodge Caravan The Top Ten Cash for Clunkers New Cars: Ford Focus Honda Civic Toyota Corolla Toyota Prius Ford Escape Toyota Camry Dodge Caliber Hyundai Elantra … Read More

America’s Best Idea

Ken AshfordEnvironment & Global Warming & EnergyLeave a Comment

Wondering what documentarian Ken Burns (The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz) has been up to? He's putting the finishing touches on his six-part documentary, National Parks: America's Best Idea, which premieres on PBS on Septmber 27. Yeah.  Not a grabber.  Not for me anyway. I mean, an hour or two, at best.  But six parts?!? But it's Ken Burns, so I'll give it … Read More

Snakes In The Carolinas

Ken AshfordEnvironment & Global Warming & EnergyLeave a Comment

No, not another post about Mark Sanford. I'm talking about snakes.  Actual snakes.  Big ones.  I'm talking about Burmese pythons up to 25 feet long that eat kitties and poodles and potentially, babies. Now scientists fear this invasive species is silently slithering northward. *** "The question is really, well, can they survive in a place like South Carolina or North … Read More

Dumping Waste Into Clean Water Doesn’t Violate The Clean Water Act

Ken AshfordEnvironment & Global Warming & Energy, Supreme CourtLeave a Comment

SCOTUS ruling today: The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Clean Water Act does not prevent the Army Corps of Engineers from allowing mining waste to be dumped into rivers, streams and other waters. In a 6-to-3 decision that drew fierce criticism from environmentalists, the court said the Corps of Engineers had the authority to grant Coeur Alaska Inc., a … Read More