Clear as Mash

Regardless of political affiliation, you *have* to agree that global warming is actually happening. Al Gore said so in that movie that was based loosely on his book that was actually the result of his work as a young college researcher.

United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) also issued a *huge* scientific report summarizing climate change a few years back.

Key findings included:

• "Warming of the climate system is unequivocal."
• "Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations."

And this:

• It is "likely" -- "more likely than not" in some cases -- that man made greenhouse gases have contributed to hotter days and nights, and more of them; more killer heat waves than before; heavier rainfall more often, major droughts in more regions, stronger and more frequent cyclones and "increased incidence" of extremely high sea levels.

Well if it is perhaps pretty much maybe possibly happening or not happening, I think we all know what we need to do.

Drink more Sierra Nevada and wait for our government to figure all this stuff out for us.
(I read today that Sierra Nevada has installed charging stations for plug-in vehicles. Sweet! Where do I plug in my Tahoe?)

Personally, I like driving sports cars and SUV's, my house to be 70F and dry, I watch three TVs simultaneously, and I own 4 refrigerators. But I'm glad our elected leaders are working on saving the environment despite my enormous footprint.

An Inconvenient Brew-th

Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) are currently drafting a bill for people like me... oh and to meet President Obama's environmental agenda. The aptly named Waxman-Markey bill is being vigorously negotiated at the moment around Washington. And although Waxman and Markey probably are burning the midnight oil to save our Earth in the name of the U S of A, everyone has to take a day of rest every once and a while. While I appreciate the man's work, I think Markey might have hit the sauce a little hard the night before giving this quote to the media:

"It's difficult to measure the impact such an educational set of hearings can have on the cerebral mechanisms of open-minded members of Congress, so I just think it would be premature to have a whipping system be put in place as all the fermentation of these new ideas are now percolating, especially through the staffs as they over the weekend begin to digest the new ideas."

What do *you* think was on Markey's mind besides ending global warming? Sounds to me like he may have given that quote with that morning hangover where you are still a bit buzzed from the previous night. As a cover, he just overcompensates with some psuedo-intellectual word muddles. Don't worry man, I understand it's hard to find a good menudo in DC. Maybe he was just feeling a little tipsy after reading K-dub's blog and Twitter posts here at The Ferm.

Mr. Officer, it is "likely" -- "more likely than not" in some cases -- that I may or may not have had 1 or 15 drinks, which contributed to the knotty vehicular administration and unintentional curbulation and possibly more of them.

Just sayin'.