The Triumvirate of Tomfoolery

By Jeff Simpson 

This story has been circulating for a few days but I ignored it because I did not think it could actually be true in the year 2015.    Unfortunately it is.

Wisconsin state officials on Tuesday banned employees of a state agency from discussing climate change, conducting any work on the topic, or even responding to an email about the warming climate, Bloomberg News reports.
The ban applies to state employees who work for an agency that oversees a Wisconsin public land trust. The effort was spearheaded by State Treasurer Matt Adamczyk, a Republican, and enacted by a vote of Wisconsin’s Board of Commissioners of Public Lands.

I was hoping the stupid was confined to Florida.  Unfortunately I was wrong.

H/T Democurmudgeon for reminding us that this all started with our Republican politicians signing a pledge to the Koch Brothers to put their profits over the Wisconsin environment and budget.

Signers of the pledge, now numbering 411, promise to "oppose any legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue” ... They include all Republicans, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, U.S. Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner, Sean Duffy and Reid Ribble, state Sens. Leah Vukmir, Alberta Darling, Rep. Glenn Grothman and Mary Lazich, and state Reps. Dale Kooyenga, Don Pridemore, Jim Ott and Bill Kramer. Governor Scott Walker,Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch … for ideological reasons and because of the state's wealth of frac sand.

Here Secretary of State Doug LaFollette explains it very well:

The two people who voted for this are new Attorney General and Scott Jensen puppet bitter Republican partisan Brad Schimel:



Brad's contact information:
@wisDOJ 

U.S. Mail:

Wisconsin Department of Justice

P.O. Box 7857

Madison, WI 53707-7857

Phone: (608) 266-1221

Fax:     (608) 267-2779

Also new State Treasurer Matt Adamczyk voted against it.   Adamczyk comes from a family that owns a HVAC company in Milwaukee(I highly recommend someone anyone else for your HVAC needs).  If they raised such an ignorant bully, is that who you really want to do business with? 

(Matt Adamczyk has worked in the family business, Adamczyk Heating & Air Conditioning, 6019 W. Bluemound Road, Milwaukee, phone:414 258-7880)

Mr. Adamcyzk contact information is:

 @voteadamczyk
Wisconsin Office of the State Treasurer  • B41 West • State Capitol •  Madison, Wisconsin 53701
Phone: 608-266-1714
Matt.Adamczyk@Wisconsin.gov 



The stupid does not stop at this agency either, as Mike Huebsch felt the need to weigh in and embarrass himself once again:

The Wisconsin Radio Network reported that when Huebsch was questioned on his climate change opinions in his confirmation hearing over the week, he said:

“I believe that humans can have an impact to climate change, but I don’t think it’s anywhere near the level of impact of just the natural progression of our planet. You know, the elimination of essentially every automobile would be offset by one volcano exploding. You have to recognize the multiple factors that go into climate change.”

People actually elected this guy at one time? 

By the way, if you can just wash away the lunacy for a minute and spend five minutes on google. you would see that Global Climate Change is very real and very much a problem for our world.   

Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities,1and most of the leading scientific organizations worldwide have issued public statements endorsing this position. 

U.S. Global Change Research Program"The global warming of the past 50 years is due primarily to human-induced increases in heat-trapping gases. Human 'fingerprints' also have been identified in many other aspects of the climate system, including changes in ocean heat content, precipitation, atmospheric moisture, and Arctic sea ice." (2009, 13 U.S. government departments and agencies)12

Science Schmience

The reason that The Daily Show resonates with such humor, is not only the talented cast they continue to employ, but more so the endless material that our elected politicians continue to supply them!

There was a time when our elected officials were supposed to be the best and the brightest!    Unfortunately that time has long passed!

Looking at what is coming down the pipeline does not hold much hope out for our future either!

A group of conservative students counter-protested environmental demonstrators on Wall Street Tuesday by carrying a cardboard cutout of President Ronald Reagan to the iconic financial site.
Kings College student Campbell Moore said he and a few friends living in the school’s House of Ronald Reagan decided to take action when they heard of the demonstrators flooding Wall Street demanding action be taken to curb carbon emissions.
“The house happened to possess a life-sized cardboard cutout of our role model, Ronald Reagan,” he told TheBlaze Tuesday evening. “We also own matching 1984 campaign t-shirts.”

I think the House of Reagan is equivalent in our society to Gotham's Arkham Asylum.   

We Need To Change The Debate On Global Climate Change

A new direction on the global climate change debate from "Tonight with John Oliver" with Bill Nye the Science Guy (NSFW):



"I can't hear you over the weight of the scientific evidence."

Science on the Down Low

By Jeff Simpson

In what should NOT be a story:

On Wednesday Rep. Jeffrey Mursau, R-Crivitz, the chair of the Assembly Committee on Environment and Forestry, will co-host a forum with the panel's ranking Democrat, Rep. Fred Clark, D-Baraboo, on the effects of climate change in Wisconsin.

When Rep. Mursau and Rep. Fred Clark decided to get together and have a discussion on the effects of climate change, it seemed innocent enough.

The forum will include testimony from a number of experts, including two UW-Madison climate scientists — Dan Vimont and Galen McKinley — and other environmental experts, such as Michelle Miller, associate director of the UW Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, and David Liebel, a UW engineering professor who specializes in storm water systems.
"Our goal on this thing is to open the conversation with our colleagues about climate change," says Clark.

 In Fitzwalkerstan though, common sense and logic are so 2009.   It seems that having a discussion about climate change and including actual scientists and experts in the discussion is something that is inexcusable.

The right wing noise machine went ballistic, from the racist Brian Sikma to the  racist, sexist, boring Jerry Bader to the shrill, hateful Vicki Mckenna.  All are having a three year old temper tantrum thinking that people might actually learn something during a bipartisan gathering.  

In today;s republican party, open minds, compromise and bipartisanship are unwelcome and will be punished!     As prominent as the hate and ignorance is amongst the base and the right wing echo chamber on the right, a lack of backbone is just as prominent in the elected official class. 

It is this type of controversy that Clark said he is trying to avoid by keeping the forum, which is not an official committee hearing, off-limits to media and the public.
"Unfortunately some of these extreme tea party groups are really threatening a lot of legislators who might even have an interest in coming to learn about this issue," he said. "This is a briefing for legislators. We want to dial down the expectations or the grandstanding as much as possible."

 How sad that when our Legislature is finally discussing one of the most important topics facing mankind, they are forced to do it behind closed doors in private. When people in Wisconsin have an actual opportunity to learn something important and our legislature has a chance to show real leadership, they have to do it on the downlow! 

I guess we are relegated to pushing women around and cronies cashing out with taxpayer money as long as Scott Walker and the republicans are in charge of WI! 

 

Last Hours!

A Must Watch Video:

It's Gettin' Hot In Here!

By Jeff Simpson

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2013 Summary for Policymakers report was recently leaked, and many in the media are reporting the conclusion:

It is now "extremely likely"—or, 95 percent certain—that humans are behind much of the global warming seen over the last six decades.

H/T Mother Jones for digging deeper and finding the top 5 Holy Sh*T moments in the report:

We're on course to change the planet in a way "unprecedented in hundreds to thousands of years." This is a general statement in the draft report about the consequences of continued greenhouse gas emissions "at or above current rates." Unprecedented changes will sweep across planetary systems, ranging from sea level to the acidification of the ocean.
Ocean acidification is "virtually certain" to increase. Under all report scenarios, the acidification of the world's oceans will increase—the draft report calls this outcome "virtually certain." As we have previously reported, more acidity "threatens the survival of entire ecosystems from phytoplankton to coral reefs, and from Antarctic systems reliant on sea urchins to many human food webs dependent on everything from oysters to salmon."

Long-term, sea level rise could be 5 to 10 meters. Journalists are already citing the draft report's prediction that by the year 2100, we could see as much as three feet of sea level rise. But there is also a more long-range sea level scenario alluded to in the draft report, and it's far more dramatic and alarming.

Taking a look at the planet's distant past, the document ascribes "very high confidence" to the idea that sea levels were "at least 5 [meters] higher" during the last interglacial period, some 129,000 to 116,000 years ago. It also adds that sea level during this period probably did not exceed 10 meters higher than present levels. Finally, the draft report says, with "medium confidence," that temperatures at that time weren't more than 2 degrees Celsius warmer than "pre-industrial" levels.

Add it all up, and what that means is that if we exceed 2 degrees of warming beyond pre-industrial levels, then we could be looking at radically higher oceans, and submerged coastal cities, in the long run. And just how close are we to exceeding 2 degrees Celsius? Several scenarios used for the draft report project "high confidence" that we'll get there by the end of the century. At that point, seas would continue to rise well beyond the year 2100, and by much more than three feet.

This also implies a substantial melting of the Greenland ice sheet. The draft report adds that during the last interglacial period, the melting of Greenland "very likely" contributed between 1.4 and 4.3 meters of global sea level rise, with additional contributions coming from the melting of Antarctica. If Greenland were to melt entirely, it is estimated that sea level would rise by about seven meters.

Thus, a substantial Greenland melting could also be set in motion by the end of this century, which would eventually result in dramatic sea level increases. To be sure, most of this wouldn't occur during the current century—it would play out on a much longer time scale. But over 1,000 years or more, the draft report says, Greenland could melt almost entirely, and much of the change might be "irreversible." (Granted, the report expresses low confidence about the precise temperature threshold required to bring about a full melting of Greenland.)

Much of the carbon we've emitted will stay in the atmosphere for a millennium…even after we've stopped emitting it. The draft report says that 20 percent of the carbon dioxide currently in the atmosphere will stay there for an almost unimaginably long time—more than 1,000 years. Even if we were to completely cease all greenhouse gas emissions, the draft report adds, warming would continue for "many centuries." "A large fraction of climate change," the document intones, "is thus irreversible on a human time scale." The only way out would be if our emission levels were "strongly negative for a sustained period"—which, to put it mildly, seems highly unlikely.
 

 In the year 2100, many people reading this right now, your children and grandchildren will be alive then.  Is that what you want to leave them? 

Global Climate Change

By Jeff Simpson

Is finally being made a priority.  Let's hope it is not too late!

"But for the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change. Yes, it’s true that no single event makes a trend. But the fact is, the 12 hottest years on record have all come in the last 15. Heat waves, droughts, wildfires, and floods – all are now more frequent and intense. We can choose to believe that Superstorm Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires some states have ever seen were all just a freak coincidence. Or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment of science – and act before it’s too late." - President Obama

Shrill's Family Tree

By Jeff Simpson

Shrill Labarre, was caught on video talking to her family tree.   One would think that if Shrill had found an Ent, she could have at least found an intelligent one!   I personally would have figured that Shril's family lineage would have been that of a bunch of rocks, but trees make sense also.  

H/T Blue Cheddar:

Unfortunately the three time assembly loser, and failed recall leader, would have picked up on the hint  of her perpetual rejection by her friends and neighbors that they have no interest in anything she has to say.  Unfortunately this time she comes very well funded, to the great dismay of the people and wildlife of Northern Wisconsin. 

By the way Shrill, it turns out Global Climate Change is worse than we even thought! 

Lord Stern, author of the government-commissioned review on climate change that became the reference work for politicians and green campaigners, now says he underestimated the risks, and should have been more “blunt” about the threat posed to the economy by rising temperatures.

In an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Stern, who is now a crossbench peer, said: “Looking back, I underestimated the risks. The planet and the atmosphere seem to be absorbing less carbon than we expected, and emissions are rising pretty strongly. Some of the effects are coming through more quickly than we thought then.”

Looks like someone forgot to tell the tree!  

EDIT NOTE:  Looks like we have uncovered the unedited version of Shrillee and the Tree!  Enjoy!

Koch-Funded Study Shows Global Climate Change Is Man Made

This Koch-funded reanalysis of millions of temperature observations from around the world, “A New Estimate of the Average Earth Surface Land Temperature Spanning 1753 to 2011,” concludes: solar forcing does not appear to contribute to the observed global warming of the past 250 years; the entire change can be modeled by a sum of volcanism and a single anthropogenic (human-made) proxy.

Read the whole thing here.

Walker Does What He Says Doesn't Work To Solve A Problem He Denies Exists

Wait! What?!

Gov. Scott Walker today requested two federal agricultural disaster declarations for Wisconsin to help farmers that sustained losses this spring and summer as a result of extreme weather conditions that impacted fruit trees and the maple syrup collection.

"Agriculture is the backbone of Wisconsin's economy and many farmers are hurting as a result of unseasonable weather over the last year," Walker said. "The hot conditions in March followed by a cold, wet April damaged many crops including Door County cherries and northern Wisconsin's maple syrup harvest."

Walker requested the Secretary Disaster Declarations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The first request is for the entire state for the anticipated fruit tree losses. The extreme weather this spring impacted Wisconsin's fruit trees including apples and cherries. Unseasonably warm temperatures in March caused many trees and vines to flower early, but frost conditions in April killed many fruit buds. Agriculture officials estimate statewide losses could potentially be as high as 80 percent.

In addition, state agriculture officials report that the maple syrup losses were greater than 30 percent this spring as a result of the early warm weather in March followed by a cold April. The counties listed in the request for maple syrup losses are Barron, Door, Florence, Forest, Kewaunee, Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Marinette, Pierce, Polk, St Croix, Shawano and Vilas.
Walker made the requests based on information provided by the State Emergency Board. The requests, if successful, could help Wisconsin farmers qualify for federal assistance.

Scott Walker, who says that government isn't the solution, and tried to refuse stimulus funds as Milwaukee County Executive, is now asking the federal government for help. He's asking for help from he feds because of the effects of global climate change, which he denies even exists.

And the corporate media and squawk radio listeners keep eating this slop up without even once recognizing the hypocrisy of it all.

Right Wing Idiocy In 3...2...1...0...-1...-2...

The forecast for tonight is for temperatures below zero and dangerously cold wind chills, reaching as deep as 30 below. It will stay cold for at least a couple of days.

You know that some right winger will point this out and say something stupid about global warming, ignoring the fact that this is the first time that it hit below zero in just over two years, when it used to happen every year.

But why let facts get in the way when you can make an adolescent cheap shot?