Comic Relief

In an unexpected move coming hard on the heels of Earth Hour, two of global warming's biggest bad guys sent a letter to the White House and Congressional leadership today urging immediate adoption of a stiff tax on carbon.

The Onion weighs in on the carbon footprint of the war in Iraq by assembling a panel discussion of experts to discuss eco-friendly alternatives.

Click here to play the video clip.

(Warning: It starts with a 5-second spot for KFC. Wonder what the marketing strategy behind this ad buy is.)

In his immortal hit New York, New York, Frank Sinatra croons:

And if I can make it there, I'm gonna make it anywhere

He doesn't sing about the other possibility, which is the oblivion of failure that New York can also confer -- as it did last week upon the Heartland Institute and its International Climate Deniers Conference.

They swaggered into town on the back of an expensive full-page ad in the New York Times and a favorable editorial preview provided for free by fellow-travellers at the Wall Street Journal -- and skipped town three days later exposed, ignored, ashamed and ridiculed.

They didn't make it here, and making it anywhere has now gotten that much harder.

It's not exactly what the villagers in a town in Southwestern China were after when they wanted the government to "green" a barren hillside that was once a stone pit. Green with foliage, they meant. Clearly. Not with oil paint.

Oops:

"A dozen painters spent more than 20 days painting the hill last summer. Large quantities of oil paint were used," a villager was quoted by a Kunming-based newspaper Metropolitan Times as saying.

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I couldn't help thinking when I saw this photo of John, Hillary, and Barack: "There's Pete, Julie and Linc."

They were the heroes of the Mod Squad, the late '60s TV cop show selling the idea that law and order was cool. Here's what the show's unofficial web site has to say.

Unless you live in a city or a big town, you see them everywhere, cows—Holsteins, Brahmas, Guernseys, Beefmasters, Limusins, or, if you happen to live in Ethiopia, the aptly named Barka. Why aptly named? Because climatologists estimate that cattle bark out an astounding amount of greenhouse gas, from both ends. You might call it the wind herd 'round the world.

You gotta hand it to Greenpeace. As Bush convenes his lame-duck major emitters meeting in Hawaii, they've goosed him where it hurts the most.

Here's Richard Graves on IGHIH:

Greenpeace pulled off an incredible visual action. The world hopefully will tune in tomorrow and see the real memorial left by Bush’s failed and disastrous climate policies.

Our take? The Washington Monument might soar 555 feet 5.5 inches (true!), but the size of America's carbon footprint matters more.

From the AFP’s Baghdad desk:

Iraq has formally ratified the UN's Kyoto Protocol on climate change, according to a government statement seen by AFP on Saturday.

No one, however, has been able to confirm the rumor that Iraq's presidential council worked overtime to pass the measure in time for President Bush to include the news in his State of the Union address last night. Which he didn't.

Oh well. 

Children are adorable when they play peek-a-boo. They cover their eyes with their hands and think they're invisible. Grown-ups play along. How could you not?

So what are we to make of Sunflower Electric Power Corporation, and its game of peek-a-boo that is fooling nobody?

It's the hottest ticket around. If you really want to show your support, you can buy the bumper sticker, but it will cost you -- $7, plus shipping.