Al Gore Nobel nominee

Al Gore Nobel nominee
The fight for the global climate is a fight for peace, say members of parliament Børge Brende and Heidi Sørensen, and they have nominated former US Vice-president Al Gore for a share of the Nobel Peace Prize.Canadian environmentalist Sheila Watt-Cloutier is now nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Former US VP Al Gore has thrust the global climate change issue into the public consciousness.

The two green-thinking MPs suggest that Gore share the prize with Inuit Sheila Watt-Cloutier, in recognition for their efforts to put the danger posed by climate change on the global political agenda.
"This is clearly, absolutely, one of the important efforts to achieve conflict prevention. Climate change can lead to enormous flows of refugees on a scale the world has never seen before. Fighting climate change is immensely important work for global peace," Heidi Sørensen, member of parliament for the Socialist Left Party (SV), told Aftenposten.
"The Nobel Committee has previously been adept at addressing new threats with their awards. Climate change is one of the greatest and most serious threats humanity faces. The United Nations' climate panel now maintains that the earth may be changed more in the next 100 years than in the 10,000 years since the last ice age," Conservative Party MP and former Minister of the Environment Børge Brende said.
The former US VP has toured the world the past year with the film "An Inconvenient Truth", which has actualized the climate change issue for a great many people. Gore has worked with environmental issues for over 20 years and had a decisive role in forming the Kyoto protocol for reducing CO2 emissions in 1997.
Sheila Watt-Cloutier is a Canadian Inuit and for years has been one of the leaders of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, which represents over 150,000 Inuit. In recent years she has concentrated on focusing attention on the rapid warming taking place in the Arctic, and made a massive effort to explain to world leaders that the Arctic is the planet's barometer of climate change.
"Climate change is also a threat to global welfare. One hundred million climate refugees, major changes in potable water supply and a reduction in biological diversity that will first and foremost hit the poor who live in and depend upon nature - these things will quickly become a major security threat," Brende said.
"Al Gore has done a very important job as former US VP and has created so much pressure in the USA that for the first time President Bush must now say that climate change is a problem. No other single person in the last year has done so much to put the threat of climate change on the agenda, and contributed to lasting changes in international policy," Børge Brende said.
"Gore played a key role in Kyoto and Sheila Watt-Cloutier has opened the world's eyes to what is happening in the Arctic. When she communicated this, the climate debate took a new and important turn. She has communicated the drama and given it a face," Heidi Sørensen said
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1623952.ece

Some Cool to Hot Term, 'Carbon Neutral', Al Gore among its followers: Making life "carbon neutral" through tree-planting and other environmentally

Some Cool to Hot Term, 'Carbon Neutral'
By JOHN LEICESTERThe Associated PressWednesday, January 31, 2007; 1:15 PM
PARIS -- It's a trend that counts Leonardo DiCaprio, London cabs and Al Gore among its followers: Making life "carbon neutral" through tree-planting and other environmentally friendly efforts to curb emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide. The theme is a hot one as scientists in Paris this week prepare to issue a major report on global warming _ but critics say the movement is counterproductive, even a scam.
The practicalities of "offsetting" carbon dioxide emitted when flying, driving cars, even getting married are increasingly simple.

Leonardo DiCaprio poses during a ceremony at the Culture ministry in Paris, in this Jan. 5, 2005 file photo. It's a trend that counts Leonardo DiCaprio, London cabs and Al Gore among its followers: Making life "carbon neutral" through tree-planting, forsaking holidays, and other environmentally-friendly gestures. The theme is a hot one as scientists in Paris this week prepare to issue a major report on global warming, but critics say the movement is counterproductive, even a scam. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, file) (Michel Euler - AP)
A growing array of companies offer to calculate how much carbon dioxide such activities give off and how much money should be given to projects that, in theory at least, will reduce emissions by an equivalent amount somewhere else in the world. It can be done in minutes online, paid for by credit card.
Opponents say offsetting gives people the mistaken impression that they can keep on polluting or that such individual efforts can solve global warming, when much more fundamental change is needed.
They also warn that offsetting companies lack oversight and that the environment would be better served by people reducing their own pollution and demanding that governments end the use of carbon-producing fossils fuels.
The carbon neutral trend "tries to make money from tapping into consumers' guilt," said Jutta Kill of SinksWatch, an environmental group that monitors such projects.
"It's worse than doing nothing. ... Those who are in a role-model function like Al Gore do not do the movement for effective action on climate change a favor by promoting carbon offsets."
But green business can be good business, especially when a trend is so hot: The New Oxford American Dictionary declared "carbon neutral" its "word of the year for 2006," for inclusion in its 2007 edition.
The British firm Radio Taxis Group, which runs a fleet of 3,000 iconic black London cabs and other vehicles, declared itself the world's first "carbon neutral" taxi company in 2005. It said it would offset emissions by investing in renewable energy projects in Sri Lanka and Bulgaria and forests in Britain and Germany for a cost of about $195,000 a year.
Since then, the company says it has won new contracts worth $3.9 million from clients attracted by its green credentials.
"The cabs still have an impact on the environment," said Michelle Nunan, head of marketing. But "it's the best that you can do at the moment as far as taxis are concerned."
Climat Mundi's online "CO2 calculator" works out that a round-trip Paris to London flight for one person in economy class produces 0.2 tons of carbon dioxide. It says the best thing is to take the train, but if flying is unavoidable, the fledgling French company suggests contributing $5.30 to two projects it funds. One provides Eritrea with stoves that burn less wood. The other helps maintain a plant near Sydney, Australia, that captures methane _ another greenhouse gas _ from rotting trash at an adjacent landfill and burns it to power electricity-producing turbines.
Eric Parent, an engineer who quit a job in waste management to start Climat Mundi in June, says polluting without offsetting could become as frowned upon as littering.
"It remains socially very acceptable to vacation on the other side of the world or to travel for a weekend to another country in Europe on a low-cost airline," Parent said in a telephone interview. "Growing awareness of global warming and the fact that we, as individuals, can now compensate for our emissions _ which wasn't the case four to five years ago ... will, in my opinion, make traveling without compensating far less acceptable."

Leonardo DiCaprio poses during a ceremony at the Culture ministry in Paris, in this Jan. 5, 2005 file photo. It's a trend that counts Leonardo DiCaprio, London cabs and Al Gore among its followers: Making life "carbon neutral" through tree-planting, forsaking holidays, and other environmentally-friendly gestures. The theme is a hot one as scientists in Paris this week prepare to issue a major report on global warming, but critics say the movement is counterproductive, even a scam. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, file) (Michel Euler - AP)
For newlyweds, or their guests, it offers a $230 "Just Married" pack to compensate for the nine tons of carbon dioxide it calculates are given off by a wedding bash for 150 people and honeymoon trip _ accounting for travel, heating or other eco-unfriendly activity.
The French government is funding Climat Mundi's Eritrean stove project to compensate for this week's meeting in Paris on climate change. Bringing together some 500 people from all over the world for the conference is expected to produce some 1,100 tons of carbon dioxide.
To compensate will require some 360 stoves, said Parent. They burn half as much wood and pollute less than traditional Eritrean stoves.
Organizers of the 2006 World Cup in Germany said they would invest environmentally to offset the estimated 100,000 tons of carbon emissions caused mostly by car usage during the June 9-July 9 soccer extravaganza. Fans were also encouraged to take public transport and only recyclable drink cups were used in stadiums.
DiCaprio in the past has offset his carbon through organizations that plant trees and is "looking at various options" for 2007, according to Chuck Castleberry of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, which the "Titanic" star started in 1998 to promote environmental awareness. The actor switched recently to a Honda Accord hybrid car and has solar panels on his Los Angeles home.
____
Associated Press Writer Josh Ward in Berlin contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/31/AR2007013101194.html

Biden enters presidential race touting foreign policy experience

Biden enters presidential race touting foreign policy experience
January 31, 2007 (WASHINGTON) - Sen. Joe Biden officially joined an increasingly crowded field for 2008 Democratic presidential nomination Wednesday, as he has been promising for months.
"After nine months of doing this, there is no exploratory committee -- I'm running," the Delaware senator told The Associated Press.
A 34-year Senate veteran known for his foreign policy expertise and somewhat windy oratory, Biden acknowledged his campaign would generate little of the buzz surrounding the celebrity candidates New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.
However, Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, entered the race touting his plan for resolving the top political issue of the day -- what to do about the war in Iraq.
His campaign Web site, www.joebiden.com, prominently displays a map of Iraq alongside a photo of the candidate, inviting viewers to read more about "Joe Biden's comprehensive plan to end the violence in Iraq."
Biden said he filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission establishing a campaign committee.
"You have to file the formal papers to meet the legal requirements to be able to raise money and that's what I've done today," Biden told ABC's "Good Morning America" Wednesday.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=nation_world&id=4988230

Biden Announces Bid For Presidency

Biden Announces Bid For Presidency(AP) WILMINGTON Democratic Senator Joe Biden has been saying for months he’s running for president, but he made it official Wednesday.
The Delaware senator will file the paperwork with the Federal Election Commission and release a videotaped campaign message to voters on his website.
He is planning another trip to New Hampshire early next week.
A 34-year Senate veteran known for his foreign policy expertise and somewhat windy oratory, Biden acknowledged his campaign would generate little of the buzz surrounding the celebrity candidates New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Illinois Senator Barack Obama.
The 64-year-old senator said he is hoping voters will choose experience over excitement, particularly regarding the Iraq war
http://cbs3.com/local/local_story_031090915.html

Clinton forum planned Saturday at Concord, N.H., High School

Clinton forum planned Saturday at Concord, N.H., High SchoolJanuary 31, 2007
CONCORD, N.H. --Details are dribbling out on presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton's two-day visit to New Hampshire.
A Web site for her presidential effort says the New York senator will hold a "conversation" with the public Saturday afternoon at Concord High School.
On Sunday, she will attend an invitation-only breakfast in Keene.
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On the Net:
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2007/01/31/clinton_forum_planned_saturday_at_concord_nh_high_school/

Obama wants US troops out of Iraq by early 2008

Obama wants US troops out of Iraq by early 2008
Mark TranWednesday January 31, 2007Guardian Unlimited
Barack Obama's bill would cap US troop levels in Iraq at 130,000. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images The Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is mounting a direct challenge to George Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq.The senator from Illinois, and Hillary Clinton's most formidable challenger for the Democratic nomination, yesterday introduced a bill that would see US combat troops withdrawn from Iraq by spring 2008.
"It is important at this point that Congress offer specific constructive approaches to what's proven to be a foreign policy disaster," Mr Obama said in an interview with the Associated Press, "because we've got too much at stake to simply stand on the sidelines and c
Mr Obama - who, unlike Mrs Clinton, voted against authorising Mr Bush to go to war in Iraq - would cap troop numbers in Iraq at around 130,000, the level that existed in early January when the president announced another 21,500 more troops for Iraq. His bill would require troops to start returning to the US in May and for all combat forces to be back by March 31 2008. But unlike Democratic presidential rivals, such as senator John Edwards and the former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack, Mr Obama would stop short of cutting congressional funding for the extra troops.While Mr Obama's bill is unlikely to be approved, it adds to the weight of congressional opposition to Mr Bush's troop "surge". The Senate is expected to vote next week on a resolution opposing the troop increase. Although non-binding, such a vote is seen as politically damaging to Mr Bush, underlining his political isolation.
A senior US official said yesterday that Mr Bush's "new way forward" plan for Iraq would take several months to implement. Apart from additional troops, the US would also provide economic aid, even though Iraq had some $12bn (£6.1bn) at its disposal.
"The Iraqi budget process is dysfunctional so the US has to put in money. Iraq needs that financial bridge," the ambassador and state department coordinator for Iraq, David Satterfield, told an audience at the thinktank Chatham House.
Amid concern that the US was laying the groundwork for military action against Iran, Mr Satterfield categorically denied that there was any appetite for such a strike.
"Iran will be challenged in Iraq," he said. "We are confident our concerns with Iran can be addressed within the borders of Iraq."
But the White House rhetoric on Iran, backed by the deployment of a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf, has fuelled disquiet about the administration's intentions.
At a senate confirmation hearing yesterday for John Negroponte, who is in line to become Condoleezza Rice's deputy at the state department, Mr Obama voiced concern "that we stumble into active hostilities with Iran without having aggressively pursued diplomatic approaches, without the American people understanding exactly what's taking place".
The US is showing no signs of easing the pressure on Iran. General Raymond Odierno, the second-in-command of US forces in Iraq, has accused Iran of supplying Iraqi militias with powerful weapons such as Katyusha rockets.
"We have weapons that we know through serial numbers ... that trace back to Iran," General Odierno told USA Today.
He said the weapons included the RPG-29, a rocket-propelled grenade that can fire armour-piercing rounds, Katyusha rockets so large they are generally fired from trucks, and roadside bombs that can also pierce armour.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the US air force might use aggressive new tactics designed to deter Iranian assistance to Iraqi militants. The efforts could include more "forceful" patrols by air force and navy fighter planes along the Iran-Iraq border to counter the smuggling of bomb supplies from Iran.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2002778,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

Edwards in Iowa City

Edwards in Iowa City Iowa City, Iowa -- The Democrats now have Clinton, Obama, former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack and the one democratic candidate who never stopped running since losing in 2004.
That of course is former Senator John Edwards, who visited Iowa City today.
Edwards says, "Senator Clinton called me and told me she's looking forward to the race she thought she knew where the focus would be. I appreciated the call."
With Clinton now in the race for president, people listening to John Edwards speak at Iowa University this afternoon weighed in on her chances.
Jodi Homauni of Burlington says, "Does this country need a woman in office sure. I think that's fantastic that she's running. She's a very interesting woman. She can pull it off I think."
Homauni traveled eighty miles to hear Edwards.
"I just wanted to see if we were going to get a president that's going to make some changes."
She wants changes in Iraq. And Edwards talked about how he felt about the President's surge plan. "Dead set against an escalation of this war."
The President wasn't Edwards only target.
He says, "Senator McCain who is advocating this escalation long before George Bush went along with it. And he continues to support and advocate for an escalation."
McCain is one of the potential Republican presidential candidates. And with all the focus on the Democrats today, Elizabeth Edwards spoke of a Newsweek poll showing her husband beating the other party.
She says, "John is leading John McCain by the largest margin."
John Edwards says this is just the beginning. "It's about a year before the Iowa caucuses."
Giving voters time to look at everyone.
Homauni says, "If I could hear all three of them speak then I would know."
Living in Iowa, Homauni might get that chance.
Edwards added that unlike 2004 when he ended up as John Kerry's running-mate this time he says he won't settle for being vice president.
http://www.wqad.com/Global/story.asp?S=5967297&nav=menu132_9_4_12

Ohio likes Hillary, Rudy

Ohio likes Hillary, RudyPoll shows Clinton ahead overall, but not in SW OhioBY HOWARD WILKINSON HWILKINSON@ENQUIRER.COMOn Election Day 2008, Hillary Clinton might find herself liking Ohio as much as President Bush did in the past two presidential elections.
That election is a long time off - 21 months and four days, to be exact - but the first presidential preference poll of Ohio voters shows that Clinton would be the choice over any of the leading Republican presidential candidates in Ohio, the state that played a key role in making Bush president not once, but twice.
The Quinnipiac Poll, which surveyed 1,305 Ohio voters between Jan. 23 and Jan. 28, put the former first lady and senator from New York ahead of former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (46 percent to 43 percent), Arizona Sen. John McCain (46 percent to 43 percent) and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (52 percent to 31 percent). The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points, so Clinton is not decisively in the lead.
"Those who say Sen. Hillary Clinton can't win the White House because she can't win a key swing state like Ohio might rethink their assumption,'' said Peter Brown, assistant director of the poll at Quinnipiac University, a college in Hamden, Conn.
Hamilton County Republican Chairman George Vincent said he was surprised that Clinton was not even farther ahead this early in the game.
"With the strong showing the Democrats had in Ohio in November and her enormous name recognition, I would have guessed she'd be way out front,'' Vincent said.
Though she holds a strong early lead within her own party, Clinton also faces the strongest bloc of voters among the early contenders - 38 percent - who dislike her, perhaps explaining why she did not beat the poll's margin of error in any of the head-to-head matchups tested.
The poll comes at a very early stage, but an active one - Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards have launched aggressive campaigns in recent weeks, as have Romney and McCain, with Giuliani stumping in New Hampshire last weekend.
In the poll, Clinton and Giuliani were the clear choices of voters from their own parties to be the presidential nominee over a large field of declared and potential candidates.
By the time Ohio has its presidential primary election March 4, 2008, at least 20 other states will have had presidential primaries or caucuses; the issue of which candidates will represent the Democratic and Republican parties in the fall campaign might well already be decided.
The Associated Press contributed
The Quinnipiac Poll broke out head-to-head presidential contests by geographic areas of the state. In Southwest Ohio, the Republican contenders did better than they did statewide. While the statewide margin of error in the poll is 2.7 percent, the margin for geographic regions would be greater, because of the smaller sample sizes.
The head-to-head matchups in Southwest Ohio:
Giuliani 47%, Clinton 42%.
John McCain 46%, Clinton 41%.
Clinton 46%, Mitt Romney 33%.
McCain 41%, Barack Obama 38%
John Edwards 44%, McCain 41%
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070131/NEWS01/701310338

Hillary Clinton's Presidential Bid, Heather Schmid International Recording Artist Creates Song and Video Dedication

Hillary Clinton's Presidential Bid, Heather Schmid International Recording Artist Creates Song and Video Dedication
PRWeb) January 31, 2007 -- Pop/Rock Artist Heather Schmid just released 'Hillary's In' an original pop song dedicated to Hillary Clinton's Presidential Bid. Heather is currently on tour with her charity based concept album 'The Goddess Within' with all performances benefiting a local charity.
'I'm a girl and I'm glad that Hilary's In' is the first line of the lyrics for the just released pop song 'Hilary's In' by international recording artist Heather Schmid. After learning of Hillary's 2008 Presidential Bid, Heather penned the song and shortly thereafter the music video. A long time supporter of female empowerment worldwide and the founder of the charity based tour 'The Goddess Within', Heather was excited at the idea that the leader of the free world could be a woman.
"I am blessed to live in America, the land of true opportunity. I think our nation is ready to have a female president, and Hillary Clinton is the right woman for the job. I have met so many pioneering women worldwide. It's amazing how many opportunities are available now, and how much of a difference each one of us can actually make. "
Heather's mission has been to use music and pop culture to build bridges between east and west. Every international show performed by Heather Schmid and 'The Goddess Within' benefits a local charity. Past recipients include orphanages in China, Earthquake victims in Pakistan and Youth Aids in America. Heather's latest endeavor is the 'Adopt A Village' campaign, collaborating with a multinational corporation to create a concert series, merchandise and commercial campaign and a TV documentary. All revenue funds education, health care and sanitary water for all the citizens in an underdeveloped city. Heather Schmid performs, tours extensively the city, making many visits and help with local government to see through the construction and fulfillment of all of the plans.
Heather was Miss Millennium 2002, she performed extensively in Las Vegas and through a 30 state US tour selling 30,000 CD's. Heather has been a spokes model for many fortune 500 companies. Heather has a classical background receiving her bachelors of Music from Boston University. Heather is now performing in some of the most prestigious arenas worldwide with 'The Goddess Within'.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20070131/bs_prweb/prweb500884_1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms4W6c5OBcg

Fossil fuels are to blame, world scientists conclude

Fossil fuels are to blame, world scientists conclude
A major international analysis of climate change due Friday will conclude that humankind's reliance on fossil fuels — coal, fuel oil and natural gas — is to blame for global warming, according to three scientists familiar with the research on which it is based.The gold-standard Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report represents "a real convergence happening here, a consensus that this is a total global no-brainer," says U.S. climate scientist Jerry Mahlman, former director of the federal government's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in New Jersey.
"The big message that will come out is the strength of the attribution of the warming to human activities," says researcher Claudia Tebaldi of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo.
Mahlman, who crafted the IPCC language used to define levels of scientific certainty, says the new report will lay the blame at the feet of fossil fuels with "virtual certainty," meaning 99% sure. That's a significant jump from "likely," or 66% sure, in the group's last report in 2001, Mahlman says. His role in this year's effort involved spending two months reviewing the more than 1,600 pages of research that went into the new assessment.
Among the findings, Tebaldi says, is that even if people stopped burning the fossil fuels that release carbon dioxide, the heat-trapping gas blamed most for the warm-up, the effects of higher temperatures, including deadlier heat waves, coastal floods, longer droughts, worse wildfires and higher energy bills, would not go away in our lifetime.
QUICK QUESTION: What do you fear most about global warming?
"Most of the carbon dioxide still would just be sitting there, staring at us for the next century," Mahlman says.
"The projections also make clear how much we are already committed" to climate change, Tebaldi says, echoing the comments of more than a dozen IPCC scientists contacted by USA TODAY. Even if every smokestack and tailpipe stops emissions right now, the remaining heat makes further warming inevitable, she says.
The report will resonate worldwide because the current debate over global warming has been more about what is responsible — people or nature? — than about whether it is happening.
President Bush only recently has acknowledged the link, mentioning global warming in last week's State of the Union address. It was the first time he has included climate change in the annual speech before Congress. Bush called for developing renewable and alternative fuels.
The IPCC was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program. This will be its fourth climate assessment since 1990. The last one, in 2001, predicted average global temperatures would rise 2.5 to 10.4 degrees by the end of this century. The rise from 1901 to 2005 was just 1.2 degrees.
The report is the work of more than 2,000 scientists, whose drafts were reviewed by scores of governments, industry and environmental groups. The document is based on research published in the six years since the last report.
The analysis comes at a time when awareness of global warming in the USA and efforts to combat it are more intense than ever. Former vice president Al Gore's climate-change documentary An Inconvenient Truth scored two Oscar nominations last week. Meanwhile, some states and hundreds of American cities are taking steps to curb emissions that intensify the heat-trapping "greenhouse gases" in the atmosphere.
Leaks about droughts, floods
Officially, the panel's 2007 findings are still under wraps, but details have been leaking out for a year, particularly in recent weeks.
News accounts have featured projections of more droughts, floods, shrinking glaciers and rising sea levels.
There is so much media attention now, "I almost think there won't be any surprises compared to six years ago," says Steve Running, a University of Montana ecologist. "When the report came out (in 2001) it was all 'new' news. This time, I think everybody will say, 'Well, yeah, that's already what we've been hearing about.'
"Michael MacCracken, chief scientist for the Climate Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank, says the studies underlying the report make the broad conclusions clear anyway. A 2005 Nature magazine study, for example, narrowed the 2001 estimate of warmer temperatures to an increase from 2.7 to 8.1 degrees by the year 2100.
Similarly, two Science magazine studies in 2005 of satellite and balloon measurements of temperature confirmed the Earth's atmosphere is warming exactly as predicted from human-caused increases in carbon dioxide.
Wave of new initiatives
What will be released this week is the first of three parts of the report: a scientific synthesis of global warming's physical manifestations that includes measurements and projections of temperature, precipitation, storms, wind, polar melting and sea levels. New this time is a chapter on paleoclimatology, the study of climate change from fossils and the reconstruction of data and clues going back hundreds of thousands of years.
In addition to the extensive scientific conclusions, which MacCracken says have been settled, a short "summary for policymakers" is still being hammered out and will be released Friday in Paris.
The second phase of the report is on the effects of those measured and projected changes and is due in April. A third group's work on ways to try to lessen those impacts is to be released in May.
The IPCC report lands amid a rush of climate-change developments. Sharing the spotlight:
•Congress. After winning a majority in the House and Senate in November's election, Democrats have climate-change bills in the works. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is creating a special committee on climate change. Next week, the House Science and Technology Committee will discuss the IPCC report.
•States. More than 12 states are taking steps to reduce greenhouse gases. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this month ordered the world's first low-carbon limits on passenger-car fuels in the most populous state. The new standard would reduce the carbon content of transportation fuels at least 10% by the year 2020.
•Cities. More than 375 mayors who have signed pledges since 2005 to cut greenhouse-gas emissions in their communities launched a drive last week for major climate legislation in Congress this year. They represent 56 million people in all 50 states. The day after the State of the Union address, the U.S. Conference of Mayors announced global warming is No. 1 on its top-10 list of priorities.
•Industry. Ten major companies, including industrial giants General Electric, Alcoa and DuPont, joined four environmental and climate groups last week to demand swift passage of federal legislation to cut emissions that worsen warming. Their U.S. Climate Action Partnership says further delay only "increases the risk of unavoidable consequences … at potentially greater economic cost and social disruption."
In their own studies, Tebaldi and her colleagues at NCAR found broad agreement in climate projections for North America by 2100, including a rise in average temperatures from 3 to 9 degrees.
That could lead to more frequent heat waves and more warm nights when daytime temperatures linger longer after sundown, especially in the South and West, Tebaldi's group concluded. NCAR also says increasing rain would soak northern states but bypass the already dry Southwest, where drought would be more common except when torrential rains bring flash floods.
The IPCC report is likely to reflect climate uncertainties and disagreements, too. Scientists have strongly debated the last two years, without resolution, whether global warming intensifies hurricanes.
Rising sea levels are a huge concern for the USA because more than half the population lives within 50 miles of the coastlines, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The 2001 report contained a wide estimate of the rise this century — from 3.5 inches to 34. MacCracken says that projection has fallen to about 20 inches or less.
Such a drop in the top estimate alarms glacier experts such as John Turner of the British Antarctic Survey, who was quoted in the United Kingdom's Guardian newspaper as saying the low projection is "misleading." He says the low number accounts only for the heat-related rise of sea level and slow trickles from ebbing glaciers, and it ignores potential ice-sheet collapses in Antarctica or Greenland.
"Greenland is just a relic of the last Ice Age, after all, just jutting out into the Atlantic, frozen at latitudes further south than anything else," MacCracken says. "What might happen when it gets warmer?"
Are reports too cautious?
MacCracken contends past IPCC reports have been too conservative, partly by design, in warning about the dangers of climate change, especially sea level rise.
"Scientists don't like to be wrong, so they tend to discount the most uncertain things," MacCracken says. "And that's good, but policymakers and risk managers usually want to know the worst case, as well as the middle one, when they plan for things."
Every IPCC report has been controversial. When the 1995 report's economic analysis estimated that the worth of a human life in a developing nation is less than in developed ones, it triggered protests and sit-ins.
In 2005, federal hurricane researcher Chris Landsea resigned from the IPCC, suggesting its hurricane warnings were too overblown and "politicized."
Climate scientist Roger Pielke Sr. of the University of Colorado at Boulder has suggested that development and deforestation, rather than the burning of fossil fuels, are the main drivers behind global warming. He says on his climate-science website that the IPCC should recognize the importance of these other factors.
In contrast, Australian scientist Tim Flannery has complained in his 2005 book The Weather Makers: How Man is Changing the Climate and What it Means for Life on Earth that IPCC estimates downplay the impact of warming.
In Paris this week, the process of negotiating and revising the short summary is painstaking and "line by line," says Kevin Trenberth, one of the lead authors and climate analysis chief at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. More than 100 of the panel's 193 member nations are taking part in the negotiations on the summary, he says.
"They'll do a lot of rewriting. It's all going to change to cover the concerns of each nation," whether it's monsoons in India or polar bears in Canada, says MacCracken, who helped lead the USA's involvement in the IPCC in 1995 and 2001. The summary also must be translated in six official U.N. languages.
In 1995, MacCracken says, negotiations at the meeting in Madrid stretched from 8 a.m. to an hour past midnight.
"But luckily, it was Madrid," he adds, "so the restaurants were still open at 1 a.m."
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2007-01-30-ipcc-report_x.htm?csp=34

Fossil fuels are to blame, world scientists conclude

Fossil fuels are to blame, world scientists conclude
A major international analysis of climate change due Friday will conclude that humankind's reliance on fossil fuels — coal, fuel oil and natural gas — is to blame for global warming, according to three scientists familiar with the research on which it is based.The gold-standard Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report represents "a real convergence happening here, a consensus that this is a total global no-brainer," says U.S. climate scientist Jerry Mahlman, former director of the federal government's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in New Jersey.
"The big message that will come out is the strength of the attribution of the warming to human activities," says researcher Claudia Tebaldi of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo.
Mahlman, who crafted the IPCC language used to define levels of scientific certainty, says the new report will lay the blame at the feet of fossil fuels with "virtual certainty," meaning 99% sure. That's a significant jump from "likely," or 66% sure, in the group's last report in 2001, Mahlman says. His role in this year's effort involved spending two months reviewing the more than 1,600 pages of research that went into the new assessment.
Among the findings, Tebaldi says, is that even if people stopped burning the fossil fuels that release carbon dioxide, the heat-trapping gas blamed most for the warm-up, the effects of higher temperatures, including deadlier heat waves, coastal floods, longer droughts, worse wildfires and higher energy bills, would not go away in our lifetime.
QUICK QUESTION: What do you fear most about global warming?
"Most of the carbon dioxide still would just be sitting there, staring at us for the next century," Mahlman says.
"The projections also make clear how much we are already committed" to climate change, Tebaldi says, echoing the comments of more than a dozen IPCC scientists contacted by USA TODAY. Even if every smokestack and tailpipe stops emissions right now, the remaining heat makes further warming inevitable, she says.
The report will resonate worldwide because the current debate over global warming has been more about what is responsible — people or nature? — than about whether it is happening.
President Bush only recently has acknowledged the link, mentioning global warming in last week's State of the Union address. It was the first time he has included climate change in the annual speech before Congress. Bush called for developing renewable and alternative fuels.
The IPCC was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program. This will be its fourth climate assessment since 1990. The last one, in 2001, predicted average global temperatures would rise 2.5 to 10.4 degrees by the end of this century. The rise from 1901 to 2005 was just 1.2 degrees.
The report is the work of more than 2,000 scientists, whose drafts were reviewed by scores of governments, industry and environmental groups. The document is based on research published in the six years since the last report.
The analysis comes at a time when awareness of global warming in the USA and efforts to combat it are more intense than ever. Former vice president Al Gore's climate-change documentary An Inconvenient Truth scored two Oscar nominations last week. Meanwhile, some states and hundreds of American cities are taking steps to curb emissions that intensify the heat-trapping "greenhouse gases" in the atmosphere.
Leaks about droughts, floods
Officially, the panel's 2007 findings are still under wraps, but details have been leaking out for a year, particularly in recent weeks.
News accounts have featured projections of more droughts, floods, shrinking glaciers and rising sea levels.
There is so much media attention now, "I almost think there won't be any surprises compared to six years ago," says Steve Running, a University of Montana ecologist. "When the report came out (in 2001) it was all 'new' news. This time, I think everybody will say, 'Well, yeah, that's already what we've been hearing about.'
"Michael MacCracken, chief scientist for the Climate Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank, says the studies underlying the report make the broad conclusions clear anyway. A 2005 Nature magazine study, for example, narrowed the 2001 estimate of warmer temperatures to an increase from 2.7 to 8.1 degrees by the year 2100.
Similarly, two Science magazine studies in 2005 of satellite and balloon measurements of temperature confirmed the Earth's atmosphere is warming exactly as predicted from human-caused increases in carbon dioxide.
Wave of new initiatives
What will be released this week is the first of three parts of the report: a scientific synthesis of global warming's physical manifestations that includes measurements and projections of temperature, precipitation, storms, wind, polar melting and sea levels. New this time is a chapter on paleoclimatology, the study of climate change from fossils and the reconstruction of data and clues going back hundreds of thousands of years.
In addition to the extensive scientific conclusions, which MacCracken says have been settled, a short "summary for policymakers" is still being hammered out and will be released Friday in Paris.
The second phase of the report is on the effects of those measured and projected changes and is due in April. A third group's work on ways to try to lessen those impacts is to be released in May.
The IPCC report lands amid a rush of climate-change developments. Sharing the spotlight:
•Congress. After winning a majority in the House and Senate in November's election, Democrats have climate-change bills in the works. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is creating a special committee on climate change. Next week, the House Science and Technology Committee will discuss the IPCC report.
•States. More than 12 states are taking steps to reduce greenhouse gases. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this month ordered the world's first low-carbon limits on passenger-car fuels in the most populous state. The new standard would reduce the carbon content of transportation fuels at least 10% by the year 2020.
•Cities. More than 375 mayors who have signed pledges since 2005 to cut greenhouse-gas emissions in their communities launched a drive last week for major climate legislation in Congress this year. They represent 56 million people in all 50 states. The day after the State of the Union address, the U.S. Conference of Mayors announced global warming is No. 1 on its top-10 list of priorities.
•Industry. Ten major companies, including industrial giants General Electric, Alcoa and DuPont, joined four environmental and climate groups last week to demand swift passage of federal legislation to cut emissions that worsen warming. Their U.S. Climate Action Partnership says further delay only "increases the risk of unavoidable consequences … at potentially greater economic cost and social disruption."
In their own studies, Tebaldi and her colleagues at NCAR found broad agreement in climate projections for North America by 2100, including a rise in average temperatures from 3 to 9 degrees.
That could lead to more frequent heat waves and more warm nights when daytime temperatures linger longer after sundown, especially in the South and West, Tebaldi's group concluded. NCAR also says increasing rain would soak northern states but bypass the already dry Southwest, where drought would be more common except when torrential rains bring flash floods.
The IPCC report is likely to reflect climate uncertainties and disagreements, too. Scientists have strongly debated the last two years, without resolution, whether global warming intensifies hurricanes.
Rising sea levels are a huge concern for the USA because more than half the population lives within 50 miles of the coastlines, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The 2001 report contained a wide estimate of the rise this century — from 3.5 inches to 34. MacCracken says that projection has fallen to about 20 inches or less.
Such a drop in the top estimate alarms glacier experts such as John Turner of the British Antarctic Survey, who was quoted in the United Kingdom's Guardian newspaper as saying the low projection is "misleading." He says the low number accounts only for the heat-related rise of sea level and slow trickles from ebbing glaciers, and it ignores potential ice-sheet collapses in Antarctica or Greenland.
"Greenland is just a relic of the last Ice Age, after all, just jutting out into the Atlantic, frozen at latitudes further south than anything else," MacCracken says. "What might happen when it gets warmer?"
Are reports too cautious?
MacCracken contends past IPCC reports have been too conservative, partly by design, in warning about the dangers of climate change, especially sea level rise.
"Scientists don't like to be wrong, so they tend to discount the most uncertain things," MacCracken says. "And that's good, but policymakers and risk managers usually want to know the worst case, as well as the middle one, when they plan for things."
Every IPCC report has been controversial. When the 1995 report's economic analysis estimated that the worth of a human life in a developing nation is less than in developed ones, it triggered protests and sit-ins.
In 2005, federal hurricane researcher Chris Landsea resigned from the IPCC, suggesting its hurricane warnings were too overblown and "politicized."
Climate scientist Roger Pielke Sr. of the University of Colorado at Boulder has suggested that development and deforestation, rather than the burning of fossil fuels, are the main drivers behind global warming. He says on his climate-science website that the IPCC should recognize the importance of these other factors.
In contrast, Australian scientist Tim Flannery has complained in his 2005 book The Weather Makers: How Man is Changing the Climate and What it Means for Life on Earth that IPCC estimates downplay the impact of warming.
In Paris this week, the process of negotiating and revising the short summary is painstaking and "line by line," says Kevin Trenberth, one of the lead authors and climate analysis chief at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. More than 100 of the panel's 193 member nations are taking part in the negotiations on the summary, he says.
"They'll do a lot of rewriting. It's all going to change to cover the concerns of each nation," whether it's monsoons in India or polar bears in Canada, says MacCracken, who helped lead the USA's involvement in the IPCC in 1995 and 2001. The summary also must be translated in six official U.N. languages.
In 1995, MacCracken says, negotiations at the meeting in Madrid stretched from 8 a.m. to an hour past midnight.
"But luckily, it was Madrid," he adds, "so the restaurants were still open at 1 a.m."
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2007-01-30-ipcc-report_x.htm?csp=34

Climate is changing, politically

Climate is changing, politically
New attention from presidential hopefuls and others shows that global warming is not just the Democrats' issue anymore.By Janet Hook and Richard Simon, Times Staff WritersJanuary 31, 2007
WASHINGTON — All of a sudden, global warming is hot.
After years of languishing on Capitol Hill, efforts to curb global warming have picked up momentum, powered by a growing bipartisan belief that climate change can no longer be ignored.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) has declared it a top priority for the House. Presidential candidates from both parties call it one of the biggest issues faced by the next occupant of the White House. Even President Bush, long a skeptic, is sounding the alarm.
That's an abrupt break from the past, when many politicians shrugged off the issue. Especially among Republicans, it was regarded as an untested theory or an alarmist fantasy.
Polls show that most Americans believe the studies that show pollution is a cause of climate change. And politicians now are scrambling to keep up with science and public opinion.
Legislation to curb global warming is still a long shot in Congress, because there is no consensus on a solution. But almost all of the candidates who want to succeed Bush — including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) — are far ahead of him in proposing ways to reduce carbon emissions.
"There has been a sea change in this issue over the last year," said Cathy Duvall, the Sierra Club's national political director. "It went from a back-burner issue to something people understand is a problem. Now they are looking for leaders to take action."
The U.S. is the leading emitter of carbon dioxide, responsible for about one-quarter of the worldwide total. About 80% comes from fossil fuels, with power plants and vehicles as the leading culprits.
Presidential politics and legislative debate came together Tuesday when McCain and several other candidates discussed their climate-change legislation at a Senate hearing.
"The number of individuals in Washington who reject the clear evidence of global warming appears to be shrinking as its dramatic manifestations mount," McCain said. "We are no longer just talking about how climate change will affect our children's and grandchildren's lives, as we did just a few years ago, but we now are talking about how it is already impacting the world."
McCain, considered a front-runner for his party's presidential nomination, has introduced a bill to impose mandatory limits on the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. His cosponsors include two leading Democratic presidential contenders, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois.
Other candidates have their own proposals. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, touts his efforts to get his state to generate more electricity from cleaner sources, such as solar and wind power. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) recently introduced a resolution calling for the U.S. to return to international negotiations on climate change that Bush spurned.
Edwards, who ranks global warming as one of his top three issues, recently pointed out that he had given up his sport utility vehicle for a hybrid one. Even the very conservative Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) mentioned the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in announcing his candidacy.
The issue's prominence is rising for a variety of reasons.
There is mounting scientific evidence that pollution plays a significant role in global warming. Climate scientists who advise the United Nations are meeting in Paris this week and are expected to issue a report on how warming is likely to affect sea levels.
The Oscar-nominated documentary featuring Al Gore, "An Inconvenient Truth," that raised awareness of the issue, vividly depicting the consequences of a warmer planet.
Some states, including California, are acting on their own, causing influential business leaders to call for federal regulation to avoid a patchwork of state and local laws.
Most important, Democrats who want action on the issue now control the House and the Senate, and the party's leaders have moved it to center stage.
Pelosi has asked committees to produce legislation by July 4 and has moved to establish a special global warming committee to bypass Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), an auto industry ally who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He is seen as a potential obstacle to legislation, including new limits on tailpipe emissions.
Among those leading the Senate's efforts is Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who has called climate change "the greatest challenge of our generation." Boxer inherited the chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee from Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), who bowed out with a hearing that showcased his belief that human-caused climate change was a hoax.

Despite signs that Congress might shift from talking to legislating, advocates of limits on greenhouse gases warn against high expectations, noting that any measure must make it through the narrowly divided Senate and past Bush's veto.
And proposals to cap emissions, especially from coal-fueled power plants, also face opposition from many Republicans and some Democrats who contend they would harm the economy.
"There's going to be a lot of sound and fury," said Daniel Becker, director of the Sierra Club's global warming program, "but unless something changes pretty radically, it's really hard to see how an important bill passes this Congress — and is signed by this president."
That's why many environmentalists are looking ahead to the 2008 elections. The League of Conservation Voters Education Fund has launched an initiative, called "The Heat is On," to ensure global warming is at the center of debate. The organization is tracking what candidates say and hopes to pressure them through town hall meetings and ballot initiatives.
"We will make sure there is an expectation they will outline clear solutions," said Navin Nayak, director of the project.
Like ethanol in Iowa, global warming could become a litmus-test issue for candidates in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary. More than 100 Granite State towns plan votes on a resolution calling for federal action to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
Ted Leach, a Republican and former state lawmaker from New Hampshire, is co-chairman of the Carbon Coalition, which persuaded the towns to weigh in. He has issued a warning to presidential contenders: "If we don't hear out of you what we want to hear, you're probably not going to get our votes."
The 2008 presidential candidate most deeply involved in the issue is not a Democrat, but a Republican. McCain has for years pushed legislation to impose mandatory limits on emissions that contribute to global warming. That goal has put him at odds with most in his party and has helped him build his reputation as a maverick.
One candidate who has kept a distance from the issue is Republican Mitt Romney. As governor, he pulled Massachusetts out of a regional accord to reduce emissions, worried about its effect on energy bills.
But GOP pollster Whit Ayres said Republican candidates would do well to follow McCain's lead. Ayres argues that global warming is a winning issue not just among Democrats, but among Republicans as well.
In a July 2006 survey of GOP voters, he found that a majority agreed that the Earth's temperature was rising and that human activity, not normal climate cycles, was the cause.
Ayres said the issue was "an opportunity for Republicans to reach out to people in the middle and demonstrate their sensitivity in an area not normally thought to be a Republican strength."
He acknowledged, however, that there was political risk for candidates in certain regions, such as coal- and auto-producing states. Those pressures were in evidence in 2004, when Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) backpedaled on a proposal for a major increase in fuel economy standards while campaigning in Michigan.
John Weaver, a top McCain advisor, dismisses the political risks, noting that McCain won the Michigan primary in 2000 despite his views. "We are evolving not only as a party but as a country on the issue, as people come to grips with reality," Weaver said.
The issue's high profile notwithstanding, there's no guarantee politicians will take quick action to combat global warming. Three months into his presidency, Bush reversed a 2000 campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
Environmentalists, however, are optimistic that the political dynamic has shifted dramatically and that this campaign will be different.
"I don't think a position like the current president has will be acceptable," said Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. "Virtually every candidate is going to be more progressive than that."
*http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-warming31jan31,1,6944839.story?page=1&track=rss

Al Gore heads into enemy territory: Alta. CanWest News Service

Al Gore heads into enemy territory: Alta. CanWest News Service
Published: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 Article tools cALGARY - Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, whose criticisms of the oilpatch have raised the ire of many in Alberta, will travel to Calgary in April to speak on the growing threat of climate change.
Gore will specifically address his award-winning documentary film An Inconvenient Truth - which says the biggest threat facing the world is global warming - when he speaks on April 23rd.
He blames the use of carbon-based fuels, such as oil and coal, as the leading factor for climate change.
Last year, Gore accused the oil industry of financially backing the federal Conservatives and their ''ultra-conservative leader,'' Stephen Harper, to protect its stake in Alberta's lucrative oilsands.
Gore also targeted the oilsands in an issue of Rolling Stone magazine, saying that ''for every barrel of oil they extract there, they have to use enough natural gas to heat a family's home for four days. And they have to tear up four tonnes of landscape.''
Going to those lengths for oil ''is truly nuts,'' he said. ''But you know, junkies find veins in their toes.''
Tickets went on sale Monday morning for the event, sponsored by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and University of Calgary.
Some of the proceeds from the event will be used to establish a student award related to environmental sustainability and global climate change at the U of C.
jfekete@theherald.canwest.com
http://www.canada.com/cityguides/winnipeg/info/story.html?id=5e532759-41c8-4570-badb-85e29aa6b69d&k=86987

Al Gore brings his Truth

Al Gore brings his Truth

The planet's foremost climate-change crusader is coming to win over Canada's energy capital.

Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, whose cautionary documentary on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, has been nominated for an Oscar, will address a Calgary audience April 23.

He's agreed to an invitation from the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, whose president, Heather Douglas, acknowledged Gore's views on human contribution to global warming will face some hostility.

"Part of our principle ... is to bring in people with new thoughts -- here's a man who's done a lot of research," said Douglas.

Gore has criticized development of the oilsands, which he's dubbed an obstacle in addressing global warming emissions.

Tickets for the event will be $100 for chamber of commerce members and $150 for non-members.


http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2007/01/30/3481260-sun.html

Al Gore May Be Full of Hot Air, Singlehandedly Causing Global Warming

Al Gore May Be Full of Hot Air, Singlehandedly Causing Global Warming

by Teresa January 30th, 2007

I supported Gore in the 2000 election, and I still think he’d be a pretty good President. But after reading this article about Gore’s refusal to listen to opposing viewpoints and his Michael Moore-ish embellishment of the facts, I’m a little less convinced that his perspective on Global Warming is the right one.
I think, it’s possible that we may need to think about taking a more moderate tack towards global warming…
The Republicrat Speaks, Current Affairs, Science, Politics Al Gore, an inconvenient truth, global climate change, global warming
http://teresacentric.com/2007/01/al-gore-may-be-full-of-hot-air-singlehandedly-causing-global-warming/

Hillary, Giuliani Favoured for 2008 U.S. Showdown

Hillary, Giuliani Favoured for 2008 U.S. Showdown
January 30, 2007
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Democratic New York senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani are the most popular presidential contenders in the United States, according to a poll by Princeton Survey Research Associates released by Newsweek which included nine prospective head-to-head match-ups.
Rodham Clinton holds a three-point edge over Giuliani, a six-point advantage over Arizona senator John McCain, and a 19-point lead over former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
Democratic Illinois senator Barack Obama leads Giuliani by three points, McCain by six points, and Romney by 26 points. Democratic former North Carolina senator John Edwards holds the upper hand in contests against McCain and Romney, but trails Giuliani by one point.
Yesterday, Romney criticized Rodham Clinton’s foreign policy views, saying, "She can do what she likes—but I take exception to her conclusions. (...) We should look at the interests of America and our friends and our citizens and our soldiers and do what it’s our collective best interests. This president has taken action which he believes is calculated to make America a safer land. We should not make decisions based on an election schedule."
In American elections, candidates require 270 votes in the Electoral College to win the White House. In November 2004, Republican George W. Bush earned a second term after securing 286 electoral votes from 31 states. Democratic nominee John Kerry received 252 electoral votes from 19 states and the District of Columbia.
Bush is ineligible for a third term in office. The next presidential election is scheduled for November 2008.
Polling Data
Now I’m going to describe some different choices of candidates voters might have in the 2008 election for president. As I read each one, please tell me how you would vote if the election for president were being held today.
Rudy Giuliani (R) 46% - 49% Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)Rudy Giuliani (R) 44% - 47% Barack Obama (D)Rudy Giuliani (R) 47% - 46% John Edwards (D)
John McCain (R) 44% - 50% Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)John McCain (R) 42% - 48% Barack Obama (D)John McCain (R) 44% - 48% John Edwards (D)
Mitt Romney (R) 37% - 56% Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)Mitt Romney (R) 30% - 56% Barack Obama (D)Mitt Romney (R) 26% - 60% John Edwards (D)
Source: Princeton Survey Research Associates / Newsweek
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewItem&itemID=14566

Al Gore heads into enemy territory: Alta.

Al Gore heads into enemy territory: Alta.
Published: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 CALGARY - Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, whose criticisms of the oilpatch have raised the ire of many in Alberta, will travel to Calgary in April to speak on the growing threat of climate change.
Gore will specifically address his award-winning documentary film An Inconvenient Truth - which says the biggest threat facing the world is global warming - when he speaks on April 23rd.
He blames the use of carbon-based fuels, such as oil and coal, as the leading factor for climate change.
Last year, Gore accused the oil industry of financially backing the federal Conservatives and their ''ultra-conservative leader,'' Stephen Harper, to protect its stake in Alberta's lucrative oilsands.
Gore also targeted the oilsands in an issue of Rolling Stone magazine, saying that ''for every barrel of oil they extract there, they have to use enough natural gas to heat a family's home for four days. And they have to tear up four tonnes of landscape.''
Going to those lengths for oil ''is truly nuts,'' he said. ''But you know, junkies find veins in their toes.''
Tickets went on sale Monday morning for the event, sponsored by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and University of Calgary.
Some of the proceeds from the event will be used to establish a student award related to environmental sustainability and global climate change at the U of C.
jfekete@theherald.canwest.com
Calgary Herald
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=5e532759-41c8-4570-badb-85e29aa6b69d&k=86987

Rudy & Hillary Take The Lead In New Hampshire

Rudy & Hillary Take The Lead In New Hampshire Not content to just whip the competition in their home state, Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani are also getting high marks in the key primary state of New Hampshire.
A SurveyUSA/WBZ-TV (Boston) poll released yesterday gives Giuliani a 33-32 lead over Arizona Senator John McCain if the Republican primary were held today. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney grabs 21% of the vote, despite his New England roots.
Clinton enjoys an even bigger lead, with 40% preferring her over Illinois Senator Barack Obama (25%) and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards (23%).
http://www.nypress.com/blogx/display_blog.cfm?bid=10413711

Obama travels to New Orleans for tour, hearing

Obama travels to New Orleans for tour, hearing
By MICHAEL KUNZELMANPublished: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 9:17 AM CST
Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama toured hurricane-scarred New Orleans on Monday after criticizing the White House for the slow pace of recovery from storms that hit the Gulf Coast almost a year and a half ago.
‘‘There is not a sense of urgency out of this White House and this administration,'' Obama said during a Senate committee hearing on the response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita. ‘‘If nothing else, I hope that this hearing helps restore that sense of urgency.''
The hearing by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and governmental Affairs was attended by Obama, D-Ill., committee chairman Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La.
After hearing a few hours of testimony from federal, state and local officials the senators and staffers boarded a bus that carried them from the Louisiana Supreme Court building in the relatively unscathed French Quarter to Jackson Barracks, the badly flooded National Guard headquarters, and then to the largely uninhabited Lower 9th Ward.
‘‘Welcome to the isle of New Orleans!! Forgotten by our own country,'' read a sign carried by one of several protesters on the street as the tour got underway.
At the hearing, Obama urged federal, state and local authorities to try to speed up the process of getting aid money into the hands of storm victims.
He also expressed support for proposals to waive a federal requirement that states provide matching money for federal aid, and for a change in funding formulas governing the allocation of aid to states.
Landrieu had complained that Louisiana, while it received as much as seven times more damage than Mississippi from Katrina, has had only twice as much money - $10.4 billion to Mississippi's $5.2 billion.
Bush's coordinator for the Gulf Coast recovery, Donald Powell, blamed the disparity on caps Congress set limiting the percentage of money a state can get arising from a disaster.
Obama was careful not to slight Mississippi, which suffered major damage from Katrina. ‘‘I don't think that Mississippi is unduly benefitting, in the sense that they've got a lot of work to do, too,'' Obama said.
The visit by Obama, who is expected to formally announce his candidacy for president next month, comes about a month after another 2008 presidential contender, John Edwards, kicked off his campaign in New Orleans.
Obama was critical of Bush for failing to mention the hurricane recovery effort in last week's State of the Union address to Congress.
Powell sought to assure the committee that Bush is determined to rebuild the region.
‘‘President Bush is committed to rebuilding the Gulf Coast and rebuilding it stronger and better than it was before hurricanes Katrina and Rita,'' Donald Powell said Monday, but he added that it will take a ‘‘long time'' to finish the job.
Earlier, a protester shouting ‘‘Stand up for Justice'' interrupted Lieberman's opening remarks. The man yelled, ‘‘Stand up for justice! We want somebody to stand up for justice!'' before a law enforcement officer led him out of the hearing room at Louisiana's Supreme Court building.
‘‘It's hard to come back here more than a year after Katrina... without feeling that emotion,'' Lieberman, D-Conn., said after the interruption of the hearing by the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which Lieberman chairs. ‘‘We're here to say that we understand the work is not done, to put it mildly.''
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin testified that he doesn't see ‘‘the will to really fix New Orleans'' in light of how much money the city is getting compared to the billions spent on the war in Iraq.
And he repeated his long-standing complaint that federal money is taking too long to reach the city and its residents.
Nagin said the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as of Jan. 18 has agreed to pay for $334 million for infrastructure repairs in New Orleans, but the state only has forwarded $145 million to the city so far.
While Nagin has been critical of the state, state officials have said city leaders have failed to provide required documentation to receive the money. In turn, city officials have said the process through which money is distributed is cumbersome, a theme echoed in Nagin's remarks Monday.
‘‘I strongly urge you to return responsibility and accountability to the local government,'' he said.
http://www.leesvilledailyleader.com/articles/2007/01/30/news/news5.txt

Local scientists say Gore accurate

Local scientists say Gore accurate
By BEN SHOUSEbshouse@argusleader.comPublished: January 21, 2007Al Gore is set to touch down Tuesday in Sioux Falls, likely as an Oscar nominee.
His documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," is expected to get an Academy Award nod in the morning for best documentary. That would be more evidence of a growing focus on climate change, the former vice president's signature issue.
As Gore is speaking to almost 4,000 people at Augustana College's Elmen Center, President Bush also is expected to talk about global warming during his State of the Union address.
Gore, who beat Bush in the 2000 presidential popular vote but lost the election, lately has been accused of hyping the climate threat. Yet much of the science he relies on is uncontroversial, and Gore plans to shift his focus toward solutions Tuesday.
"Unfortunately, I think the public views a lot of this politically. They view a lot of what is said about this based on people's politics rather than what the science is," said state climatologist Dennis Todey in Brookings.
For one thing, few climatologists dispute that the planet is getting warmer on average and that carbon dioxide released by the burning of fossil fuels is at least partly responsible, he said.
However, "there is still a huge amount of uncertainty as to how this will all play out."
Gore's critics have accused him of glossing over that uncertainty and prescribing expensive fixes. Most recently, an opinion piece in Thursday's Wall Street Journal called his climate solutions "the costliest political project ever" and ascribed a $553 trillion price tag to them.
In his Tuesday evening Boe Forum speech, titled "Thinking Green: Economic Strategy for the 21st Century," Gore almost surely will argue the contrary - that ignoring the problem poses a far greater economic danger.
The core of Gore's scientific message is accurate, says ecologist Carter Johnson of South Dakota State University, who works with computer models of the climate in forecasting its effect on wetlands.
He has seen Gore's movie and said it simplifies the science to reach a general audience but does not stretch the truth.
"I wouldn't say exaggeration," Johnson said. "People start to glaze over if you go into numbers and details."
Gore is venturing into murkier territory by addressing economics, but Johnson said it's important he do so.
"Everybody responds to pocketbook issues, and only a certain portion of people respond to ecological, environmental issues. So I suppose he's going to have everybody's attention if he starts talking about money."
Todey says the uncertainty about local effects has been another barrier to public awareness of climate change.
In South Dakota, some have predicted drought will become more common, though Todey said that is highly uncertain.
Johnson's research projects that many key wetlands in South Dakota could become too dry for duck nesting, which would effect duck populations across North America. He said snowpack in the Missouri River basin also probably will decline, which would mean more low levels on Lake Oahe.
Ironically, another potential barrier to public awareness of climate change is Gore's own media policy for Tuesday's appearance. A spokeswoman said all reporters will be asked to leave after the first five minutes of his speech.
The Wall Street Journal piece said Gore recently canceled an interview with Denmark's largest newspaper at the last minute. But his speech Monday in Boise, Idaho, while closed to television cameras, is open to reporters, said Kathleen Craven at Boise State University.
Reach Ben Shouse at 331-2318.
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070121/NEWS01/701210303
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...EWS01/701210303

Man who wants to turn every Scots child into an environment evangelist

Man who wants to turn every Scots child into an environment evangelist
IAN JOHNSTONENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT (ijohnston@scotsman.com)
A GENERATION of environmental activists is set to emerge from Scotland's schools after it was agreed every pupil in the country will hear Al Gore's "powerful message" about the dangers of climate change.
The Scottish Executive announced yesterday - as the former US vice president flew in to Glasgow to address business people, environmentalists and others - that his documentary film An Inconvenient Truth would be shown to secondary school pupils.
Ross Finnie, the environment minister, said he felt the status of Mr Gore would ensure pupils listen to the message of the film, but was sure they would make their own minds up about it..
He dismissed any suggestion that the film was political propaganda, saying there was firm evidence of climate change and that anyone disputing it "has got to be on planet Mars".
The showing of the documentary is being sponsored by ScottishPower, which runs the coal-fired Longannet but is also a major wind-farm developer, at a cost of "tens of thousands" of pounds. Every secondary school in the country will receive two copies of the DVD.
Mr Finnie said: "The film, which is very well put together, is not only a powerful message - it's also been put together in a very easily understandable way. And Al Gore is not just a former vice-president. I think he's established in his own right an international reputation as a very powerful advocate on environmental matters.
Mr Finnie added that it would be "up to the teachers' discretion" whether pupils watched the film.
Asked if a new generation of environmental activists would produce a landslide for the Scottish Green Party at the 2011 Holyrood elections, Mr Finnie, a Liberal Democrat, said "there are [other] parties who have perfectly sensible environmental credentials".
Yesterday's event, at Glasgow's Hilton hotel, called "What Our Future Holds: an audience with Al Gore and Hans Blix" was chaired by television presenter Dougie Donnelly and attracted the cream of Scotland's business community, including companies such as Shell and Cairn Energy as well as environmentalists and politicians such as Mr Finnie and SNP leader Alex Salmond.
They listened to a speech by former United Nations weapons inspector Dr Blix, who said: "I am more worried about global warming in the long run than weapons of mass destruction."
Annabelle Njenga, 16, a fifth-year pupil at Bellahouston Academy, said she had seen the film on Monday and was already thinking of changes to her lifestyle.
"I didn't think climate change was that big, but I think I'm going to throw away my mobile phone," she said. "The film was very informative, enlightening ... and scary as well."
She said she had been switching off lights more often than usual as she thought more about reducing her use of energy and thought seeing the film would have a big impact on others in her class.
Michelle Simpson, 16, a sixth-year pupil at Stirling High, said while she had not seen the film, others at her school had. "It sparked quite a lot of interest, people were really inquisitive, asking lots of questions," she said.
"I think it is quite an important problem when you consider global warming and all the ice caps that are melting, it is quite concerning, it is very worrying for the future."
Showing the film in schools she said would be "quite a big deal". "I think it will be good for him to get the message across," she added.
A spokeswoman for Mr Gore said yesterday: "Clearly, one of the hopes that vice president Gore, the producers and director had in mind was that An Inconvenient Truth would serve as an educational tool. It's wonderful to see that in practice in Scotland."
Scottish educationalists broadly welcomed the idea of showing the film.
However Ronnie Smith, the general-secretary of the EIS teaching union, said that the film would have to be put in context. "I entirely accept that the environmental issue is moving up the agenda, but I think it would be preferable that it was used as part of the curriculum, rather than taking an one-off, piecemeal approach," he said.
Bill Lynch, a development officer at Learning and Teaching Scotland, said the organisation was involved in ensuring that Mr Gore's film was presented in a thoughtful way and pupils would not simply be presented with the Inconvenient Truth and expected to swallow it without question.
"We will be approaching it [the film] like any other education material. 'Here's a topic, here's something worth discussing' rather than taking the Al Gore line through this," he said.
"There's a need to create the skills and expertise and confidence in children to influence the adults now. If we wait 20 or 30 years when they are our age, we've maybe waited too long."
A spokesman for the Scottish Green Party challenged Mr Finnie to enable everyone in Scotland to watch Mr Gore's film before this year's Scottish Parliament elections.
"If that happened there's no doubt there would be a huge swing towards the Green Party. It is an incredibly powerful film," he said.
Mr Salmond shared the Green Party's and Mr Finnie's views on the power of Mr Gore's polemic.
"I've seen the film and read the book quite some time ago. He [Al Gore] has taken up a hugely important cause and, in terms of political influence, he probably wields as much as anybody on the planet in terms of popularising the cause," he said.
Mr Salmond added that he did not agree "with every detail" of Mr Gore's views in the film "but with the broad thrust ... that we need precautionary action. There are observed effects and we need
precautionary action and big ideas".
Related topics
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=84422007

Chairman: Bush officials misled public on global warming

Chairman: Bush officials misled public on global warmingPOSTED: 2:28 p.m. EST, January 30, 2007
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Democratic chairman of a House panel examining the government's response to climate change said Tuesday there is evidence that senior Bush administration officials sought repeatedly "to mislead the public by injecting doubt into the science of global warming."
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California, said he and the top Republican on his oversight committee, Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, have sought documents from the administration on climate policy, but repeatedly been rebuffed.
"The committee isn't trying to obtain state secrets or documents that could affect our immediate national security," said Waxman, opening the hearing. "We are simply seeking answers to whether the White House's political staff is inappropriately censoring impartial government scientists."
"We know that the White House possesses documents that contain evidence of an attempt by senior administration officials to mislead the public by injecting doubt into the science of global warming and minimize the potential danger," Waxman said.
Administration officials were not scheduled to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. In the past the White House has said it has only sought to inject balance into reports on climate change. Present Bush has acknowledged concerns about global warming, but strongly opposes mandatory caps of greenhouse gas emissions, arguing that approach would be too costly.
Waxman said his committee had not received documents it requested from the White House and other agencies, and that a handful of papers received on the eve of the hearing "add nothing to our inquiry."
Two private advocacy groups, meanwhile, presented to the panel a survey of government climate scientists showing that many of them say they have been subjected to political pressure aimed at downplaying the threat of global warming.
Survey: Scientists pressured to downplay threatThe groups presented a survey that shows two in five of the 279 climate scientists who responded to a questionnaire complained that some of their scientific papers had been edited in a way that changed their meaning. Nearly half of the 279 said in response to another question that at some point they had been told to delete reference to "global warming" or "climate change" from a report.
The questionnaire was sent by the Union of Concerned Scientists, a private advocacy group. The report also was based on "firsthand experiences" described in interviews with the Government Accountability Project, which helps government whistleblowers, lawmakers were told.
At the same time, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, sought to gauge her colleague's sentiment on climate change. She opened a meeting where senators were to express their views on global warming in advance of a broader set of hearings on the issue.
Among those scheduled to make comments were two presidential hopefuls -- Sens. John McCain, R-Arizona, and Barack Obama, D-Illinois. Both lawmakers favor mandatory reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, something opposed by President Bush, who argues such requirements would threaten economic growth. (Watch why the president has proposed his own global warming initiative )
U.N. climate change report expected soonThe intense interest about climate change comes as some 500 climate scientists gather in Paris this week to put the final touches on a United Nations report on how warming, as a result of a growing concentration of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, is likely to affect sea levels. (Watch how global warming my be changing Asia' climate )
They agree sea levels will rise, but not on how much. Whatever the report says when it comes out at week's end, it is likely to influence the climate debate in Congress.
At the Waxman hearing, the two advocacy groups said their research -- based on the questionnaires, interviews and documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act -- revealed "evidence of widespread interference in climate science in federal agencies."
The groups report described largely anonymous claims by scientists that their findings at times at been misrepresented, that they had been pressured to change findings and had been restricted on what they were allowed to say publicly.
The survey involved scientists across the government from NASA and the Environmental Protection Agency to the department's of Agriculture, Energy, Commerce, Defense and Interior. In all the government employees more than 2,000 scientists who spend at least some of their time on climate issues, the report said.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/30/congress.climate.ap/index.html

Al Gore charms, daunts crowd of 10,000 at Taco Bell Arena

Al Gore charms, daunts crowd of 10,000 at Taco Bell Arena
By Anne Wallace Allen - Idaho StatesmanEdition Date: 01/23/07
A cheerfully raucous crowd greeted former Vice President Al Gore Monday night when he stood in the Taco Bell Arena to deliver his somber message about global climate change.The Tennessee politician made his visit personal, trading anecdotes with Bethine Church, the widow of former U.S. Sen. Frank Church, about the years — decades ago — when the floor of the U.S. Senate was a familiar place to both of their families.
Bethine Church, who called Gore "my presidential candidate'' had called Gore at home last year in Nashville, Tenn., to ask him to be keynote speaker at a conference on global warming sponsored by the Frank Church Institute at Boise State University.
Byron Johnson, president of the Frank Church Institute, noted that Frank Church had spoken about a "greenhouse effect" foreseen by scientists when he addressed the first Earth Day celebration in 1970.
"This era will be marked by two events,'' said Bethine Church, 83, "the Fiesta Bowl, and the conference with Al.''
Gore, once known for his stiff mien, warmed up the capacity crowd of 10,000 with several funny anecdotes about his two terms as vice president.
"I flew on Air Force Two for eight years, and now I've got to take off my boots to get on an airplane,'' Gore said.
BSU announced last fall that Gore was visiting the university. It was Gore's second keynote address at a Frank Church conference, and the immediate demand for tickets to his speech surprised officials.
The speech, originally planned for a Student Union ballroom, was moved to the Taco Bell Arena, where tickets also quickly sold out.
Appeals for tickets appeared on craigslist.org, the online classified advertising service.
Monday night, Gore went over his evidence on global climate change, showing slides of glaciers that have receded dramatically in the last 25 years. He told the audience he hoped the problem could be addressed without partisan politics.
And he said that unless humans deal with the underlying causes of global warming, such as excess carbon dioxide release, the planet would heat up and suffer stronger storms, among other consequences.
Outside the Taco Bell arena, a half-dozen protesters huddled with hand-lettered signs before the speech, joking that they were cold and would like to see some global warming.
Some of the protesters said Gore's message was linked to other political movements, including animal rights, and was against their Christian beliefs.
"These movements are trying to put us into effect of one world government with the United Nations,'' said protester Bill Manahan of Meridian.
Inside the auditorium, security was unusually tight.
The audience was told that any recording of any kind was prohibited "under penalty of law,'' and ushers ordered people to put away their cell phones as they walked in the empty halls.
Gore, who is a visiting professor at a state university near his home in Tennessee, went over his slides patiently.
It was material that many people in his audience had covered before.
"I love it. It's fascinating. It's turned out to be really eye-opening,'' said Katy Laible of Nampa, who was walking the corridor with her baby daughter. Laible, a physician's assistant, recently moved to Idaho from Michigan and said she was surprised there wasn't more public transportation available.
"It terrifies me,'' she said of Gore's message. "I definitely want to recycle more.''
But not everyone who worked to get a ticket was there because they agreed with Gore's work on climate change.
"I don't know what he wants us to do. I think it's just scare tactics,'' said Aldi Wilcox, a BSU student who left the speech about halfway through.
"He's not a scientist; he's a politician.''
Contact reporter Anne Wallace Allen at aallenidahostatesman.com or 377-6433
http://www.idahostatesman.com/102/story/68512.html

Inconvenient Truth is told to students

Inconvenient Truth is told to students
By Peter Trute30jan07FORMER US vice-president Al Gore could feature in all Australian classrooms this year as his climate change documentary An Inconvenient Truth is distributed to secondary schools.
The Oscar-nominated film will be offered to about 2800 high schools following its release on DVD last week.
Among the first schools to receive it is Loreto Normanhurst, in Sydney's northwest.
Maddie Migdoll, who starts Year 9 at the girls college this week, said she was worried about climate change.
"I can't speak for all 14-year-olds but I do (worry about it)," she said. "Definitely a lot more could be done."
Planet Ark founder Jon Dee, who is a spokesman for the DVD launch of An Inconvenient Truth, said he wanted the documentary to be seen by every school student over the age of 12.
"This DVD can educate kids about the problems of global warming," he said.
A NSW Department of Education spokesman said individual schools could decide whether to use the DVD in their curriculum
http://townsvillebulletin.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,21141419%255E421,00.html

Al Gore heads into enemy territory: Alta. CanWest News Service

Al Gore heads into enemy territory: Alta. CanWest News Service
Published: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 Article tools - Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, whose criticisms of the oilpatch have raised the ire of many in Alberta, will travel to Calgary in April to speak on the growing threat of climate change.
Gore will specifically address his award-winning documentary film An Inconvenient Truth - which says the biggest threat facing the world is global warming - when he speaks on April 23rd.
He blames the use of carbon-based fuels, such as oil and coal, as the leading factor for climate change.
Last year, Gore accused the oil industry of financially backing the federal Conservatives and their ''ultra-conservative leader,'' Stephen Harper, to protect its stake in Alberta's lucrative oilsands.
Gore also targeted the oilsands in an issue of Rolling Stone magazine, saying that ''for every barrel of oil they extract there, they have to use enough natural gas to heat a family's home for four days. And they have to tear up four tonnes of landscape.''
Going to those lengths for oil ''is truly nuts,'' he said. ''But you know, junkies find veins in their toes.''
Tickets went on sale Monday morning for the event, sponsored by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and University of Calgary.
Some of the proceeds from the event will be used to establish a student award related to environmental sustainability and global climate change at the U of C.
jfekete@theherald.canwest.com
http://www.canada.com/cityguides/winnipeg/info/story.html?id=5e532759-41c8-4570-badb-85e29aa6b69d&k=86987

Exon Sponsered Angry Parent Wants Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth Out Of Schools

Angry Parent Wants Gore's Inconvenient Truth Out Of Schools
Posted Jan 30th 2007 1:34PM by Jennifer DeFilippoFiled under: Documentary, Celebrities and Controversy, Newsstand, Cinematical Indie
Al Gore still has work to do; he has yet to convince everyone that global warming is scientific fact and not just liberal lore. An Inconvenient Truth was the cause of a recent controversy in a suburban Washington school that drew great attention in the community at large, and specifically within filmmaker and activist circles. Here's what happened, in a nutshell: a science teacher in the Federal Way School District was set to show the Oscar-nominated documentary in class, when an angry parent's email put an end to all that.
Although there hasn't been much scientific rebuttal to Gore's documentary, there's still a portion of the population that does not believe that global warming is scientific fact. Like the parent in question, Frosty E. Hardison. (Frosty? Oh, they can't be serious!?) Not only do they believe that there is no truth behind this whole global warming thing, but that it is also relatable to the second coming of Christ -- this was in the email, and due to America's constitutional principle that declares the separation of church and state, Mr. Hardison's outrage shouldn't have been given such a quick result in his favor.

Instead of the email being controversial, the film was deemed controversial, and a discussion was immediately brought before the school board. Do they or do they not show the film? What they decided -- per the parent's request -- is the following approval checklist:
The teacher must receive written permission from all parents for their children to see the film. The film materials must be approved by the principal and the school board. Students must be shown an opposing view giving the kids "two sides." In this case, that would be the global warming argument. Ironically, the science teacher has only been able to find one valid document that is 37 years-old.
Has global warming become a scientific dogma that 'non believers' render as belligerent outcries? To some like Mr. Hardison, yes, which just adds more fuel to the Al Gore flame. Al Gore will soon be training over 1,000 individuals in his presentation on global warming so that they may help spread the word throughout the world; major cities and suburbia included.ReadPermalinkEmail thisLinking BlogsComments [13]
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Reader Comments(Page 1)1. From now on, all science classes will only watch Finding Nemo.
Posted at 1:39PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Stan Winsome
2. This is why we're losing to the Japanese and the Germans...
Seriously though. Science classses have been accused of being liberal and biased for years, but I've yet to see one that didn't bend over backwards to accomadate the "views" of any backward ignoramus who took offense to hard science being taught instead of Christian mysticism that belongs in English Lit.
Posted at 1:59PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Maho
3. What pisses me off about this is that school boards are nows so gun-shy that a man like Hardison can make ludicrous claims of bias and the school boards jump into ultra-protective mode. Just once, can't a school board say "um, actually, no, our curriculum is based on, you know, SCIENCE." Seriously, grow a spine.
Posted at 2:28PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Sam
4. "Although there hasn't been much scientific rebuttal to Gore's documentary, there's still a portion of the population that does not believe that global warming is scientific fact"
Seriously? Most scientists rebut his findings. In fact, Al Gore will only do "friendly" interviews where the hosts already agree with his movie.
Thank goodness there is some common sense out there where people don't surrender to this.
Posted at 2:38PM on Jan 30th 2007 by const
5. Global warming is a scientific fact now??? Are you kidding me??? ROFL ...talking about exposing yourself to too much propaganda from the left crowd. I guess Joseph Goebbels had it right ...If you tell a lie big enough (or in this case, something that has not proven to be true or there is no way of proving it to be true i.e. global warming) and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.
Posted at 2:56PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Sy
6. const: right on... i was just about to type a similarly dry / sarcastic response but i noticed your post and it really hit the spot.
in spite of this school controvery (and similarly exxon trying to get the film barred from classrooms) i'm glad to see the issue getting more visibility. let's force lawmakers to step up to the plate and act in the interest of life on this planet. if we can live well in an economically and ecologically sustainable way, then why not?
Posted at 3:14PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Lane
7. how apropos -- from current headlines:
Chairman: Bush officials misled public on global warming
"We know that the White House possesses documents that contain evidence of an attempt by senior administration officials to mislead the public by injecting doubt into the science of global warming and minimize the potential danger," Waxman said.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/30/congress.climate.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
http://www.cinematical.com/2007/01/30/angry-parent-wants-gores-inconvenient-truth-out-of-schools/

Biden says experience will fuel White House run

Biden says experience will fuel White House run
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden said on Tuesday his foreign policy ideas and experience would be the ideal assets in a crowded and star-studded 2008 White House race that is likely to focus on ways to end the Iraq war.
The six-term Delaware senator, who will announce his presidential candidacy on Wednesday, said he was not worried about competing for money or support against high-profile Democratic contenders like Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois.
"It's not so much whether I can compete with their money, but whether they can compete with my ideas and my experience," Biden said in a Reuters interview, adding the rush of publicity around the first campaign trips by Obama and Clinton would fade.
"That was a gigantic response, but now what happens? You have to go town to town and sell yourself," he said. "I'm confident I can compete on any level with any one of them."
The new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who lost a 1988 presidential bid, has been a prominent congressional voice on Iraq, terrorism and foreign policy for decades.
Biden sponsored the nonbinding resolution approved by his Senate committee last week opposing Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq.
He said he had never seen Americans as "sober and serious" about the future as they are now.
"The American public understands the next president is going to have to be prepared to immediately step in and act without hesitation to end our involvement in the Iraqi conflict," Biden said.
"President Bush has dug us a deep hole, his foreign policy has made us more vulnerable, not stronger and safer, and his domestic policy has made the middle class more vulnerable," he said.
"I think I'm better prepared than any other candidate in either party to deal with those issues that are front and center."
Biden said more Republicans would speak out against Bush during the congressional debate on Iraq, further isolating the president.
"Once we fully engage this debate, he is going to find very little comfort in anything anybody has to say on the floor of the Senate," Biden said. "You are going to hear a cacophony of voices with one simple message. If that doesn't stop him, what does?"
Biden, the eighth Democrat to enter the 2008 White House race, typically registers in the low single digits in polls behind Clinton, Obama and 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards.
He plans a trip next week to New Hampshire, which holds the first primary, and said his goal is to raise about $20 million to compete in early voting states like Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.
That would put him well behind the $75 million to $100 million that favorites like Clinton and Obama could raise by the end of the year. But Biden said his $20 million would be enough.
"If I can raise $20 million, I know I connect when I'm in a room," he said. "I feel like we're in the game. It's not like we're starting from a place that's disadvantageous in those early states."
Biden, 64, was elected to the Senate in 1972. A month later his wife and young daughter were killed in a car wreck and his two young sons were injured. Since then, he has commuted to Washington by train each day from Delaware, an 80-minute trip.
Biden's 1988 presidential race foundered after he faced charges of plagiarizing stump speeches from other politicians, including Britain's then Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock. Biden said he learned valuable lessons from that campaign.
"The thing I learned the most is how to take a punch, a gut punch, and get back up. I was pretty naive 20 years ago," he said.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/01/30/biden_says_experience_will_fuel_white_house_run/