We closed yesterday's Green News Report, with a new tune from They Might Be Giants called "Science is Real". The song was written for children, but seems to work as aptly for today's wingnut denialists, such as the embarrassing George Will, who, again, as we noted in the report, used his Washington Post column last week to make a fool of himself by ignoring and/or misunderstanding and/or misusing actual science when making his "scientifically illiterate" case that the world is cooling down, rather than heating up.

As Des noted during our report, which you can listen to here...

'Green News Report' w/ Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen
October 6, 2009

Click to listen (or download)
More info on today's report here...

...using the last ten years of "relatively stable" temperatures, the hottest years on record, and the "absence of significant warming since 1998" as evidence that the earth is cooling, versus the very clear evidence from the last several hundred thousand years showing that it's rapidly warming, is akin to using "one day on the stock market and calling it a trend."

Will's use of quotation marks around the word "scientists" is also rather telling.

To make matters even more embarrassing from him, his column, titled "Cooling Down the Cassandras," also misuses mythology, in that Cassandra was the prophetess who was actually always correct in sounding her alarms in hopes of avoiding disaster, but was never believed by those in power until it was too late.

Anyway, while I'm working a deadline in the background, I thought you guys might appreciate the light-hearted video for the awesome They Might Be Giants tune as a short respite from our heavy-ish coverage of late. Hopefully your kids will appreciate it. And perhaps even the wingnuts who chance across The BRAD BLOG today might end up learning something they should have picked up in 2nd grade...

IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: The planet strikes back; Mountaintop removal stalled again; San Francisco goes for scraps; Apple takes another bite out of the Chamber of Commerce... PLUS: where there’s a Will, there’s a denial ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': Malawian boy uses wind to power hope, electrify village; Supreme Court rules against U.S. on offshore drilling royalties; China says rich nations need to honor climate commitments; Obama orders agencies to reduce emissions; EPA announces Toxics Reform; "Smart" Clothes Dryers could reduce electricity demand by the equivalent of 6 coal power plants ... PLUS: The Copenhagen Wrangling, Explained ....

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: Landmark clean energy legislation finally drops in the U.S. Senate; EPA plows forward anyway; Scientists revise their predictions --- again ... PLUS: Mutiny at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': Big Utilities Pull Back on Coal Plant Plans; EPA to review ALL pending Mountaintop Removal Permits, while Big Coal fumes; Yikes: New California rules allow timber firms to sell carbon credits while continuing logging practices; Australian town become first in the world to ban plastic bottles ... PLUS: Green Building takes off: Engineering giants follow the money to green power ....

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: The long, long, LONG road to Copenhagen; An end to government support for fossil fuels?... PLUS: YOUR national parks, 'America's Best Idea' ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail, huge tracts of land for future generations? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': Belatedly, Egypt Spots Flaws in Wiping Out Pigs; Solar power stocks set to take off; Nation's largest electric utility ditches U.S. Chamber Of Commerce over climate denial; California's 'green' ink-cartridge recycling fails to cut pollution, or costs; India to launch energy-efficiency trading ... PLUS: Brad Pitt Receives Award From US Green Building Council For Making It Right!

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: Will Obama end fossil fuel subsidies?; Will the Senate block Clean Air & climate protection... PLUS: The World talks climate change ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': California Unveils TV Efficiency Standards; Wind Power Could Supply All of China's Electricity by 2030, Harvard Study Says; Organic Farming Yields Far Better Crop Resistance and Resilience; Oklahoma river heals as lawsuit against Big Poultry looms; Georgia sewage plants swamped by flooding; Fish and Paint Chips (yummy!)... PLUS: A new survey reveals just how far and how fast global warming is altering the Arctic ...

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: NYPost & Rupert Murdoch get punked!; Global recession --- bad for your wallet, good for the environment; Former Bush Interior Secretary under investigation; Grizzlies get protection --- but Tuna, not so much ... PLUS: The President talks climate at the U.N. ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': A new way to turn plastic into fuel?; Another false conservative attack on clean energy reform; Court: States may sue utilities over climate; Solar power plant on landfill could benefit thousands; No More Sex and Drugs in the Interior Department; Flu Readiness Check Finds Gaps In Care, Coverage ... PLUS: Op-Ed Columnist Says Real Men Tax Gas...

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: Interior Dept. kicks oil industry out of bed --- literally!; EPA to start regulating toxic wastewater from coal-fired power plants; Fastest electric motorcycle in the world breaks speed record... PLUS: Corporate "free speech" could get even worse...much... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': Clean energy to create more jobs than coal; Nestle Gives Up on McCloud Water Bottling Plant; Antibiotic resistance clue found; Google says We're Going into the Solar Mirror Business; UN: Gaza water supplies in danger of ‘collapse,’; Solar Filling Stations: On-Demand Fuel for Electric Cars and Bikes ... PLUS: A message from Van Jones...

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: Good news for the U.S. auto industry? Obama says 'YES'!; Good news for opponents of mountaintop removal? EPA says 'YES'! Good news for fans of clean water? The New York Times says 'NO'! Can't win 'em all... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': Geothermal-rich Iceland Fast-Tracks Electric Car Charging; Nuclear plant monitoring finds small amounts of radioactive isotope in water; Hawaii Tries Green Tools in Remaking Power Grids; Panasonic introduces new LED bulbs that shine for 19 years ... PLUS: Concept City of the Future: A Desert Oasis for a Drought-Stricken Future...

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: Who will build the World's Largest Solar Farm? Right. China!; Air pollution is bad for you. Who knew? ... PLUS: Oil, Oil, Toil and Trouble ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': Are blackboards more environmentally friendly than whiteboards?; Waste Not, Watt Not: Energy efficiency cuts pollution while lowering energy bills; World's first off-shore floating wind turbine opens in Norway; ‘Once in a century’ downpour kills 20 in Turkey ... PLUS: The least sustainable seafood in the world, and why you should avoid it ....

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: The rising cost of fighting wildfires; JAWS is back?!?; Back to school with swine flu... PLUS: Van Jones, an advocate for green jobs, loses his own ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA': Why not spend $21 billion on solar power from space?; Dams, water conservation at issue in water reform; NBC explores 'toxic town' where residents were paid to pack and leave; Innovation in energy efficient lighting with Organic Light Emitting Diodes; Wind Energy "NIMBY Backlash?"; Lithium shortage to short out electric cars? Not so much ... PLUS: Big Oil creates phony climate denial site, then lies about it!....

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

I will have more to say --- much more, I suspect --- tomorrow night (Monday) on the nationally syndicated Mike Malloy Show, where I'll be guest hosting again all this week from 6p-9p PT (9-Midnight ET).

For now then, just the basic report that the Fox "News" Thought Police, now under the ironic leadership of Glenn Beck, have won a victory in securing their first pound of flesh --- dare I say, first pound of black flesh? --- by forcing the resignation of a great public servant and a hero to many, as well as one of the very few actual progressives in the Obama Administration, his green jobs adviser Van Jones:

As mentioned, much more on this tomorrow night. Suffice to say, today I'm just trying to contain my anger...at a lot of folks here. More tomorrow night. Please tune in.

Recommended related reads elsewhere...

• Hamsher @ FDL: Van Jones: A Moment of Truth For Liberal Institutions in the Veal Pen [Particularly recommended!]
• Blue Texan @ FDL: Is There Anything More Ridiculous Than Republicans Complaining about “Extremist Views and Coarse Rhetoric”?
• Scahill @ RebelReports: Rep. Mike Pence, Who Led Witch Hunt Against Van Jones, Took $1000s From Extremist Erik Prince
• David Roberts @ Grist.org: Thoughts on Van Jones’ resignation
• Carl Pope @ Sierra Club: We All Blew It [ed note: Whaddaya mean "we", white man?]
• Sirota @ HuffPo: Obama Sells Us Out to Political Terrorist Glenn Beck & His Lynch Mob
• [And for a somewhat contrarian view] Hazen @ AlterNet: 5 Reasons Why Van Jones and Progressives are Better Off With Jones Out of the White House

IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: California burning; Killing wolves; Recycling the Great Pacific Garbage Patch... PLUS: A Fracture in the Clean Coal Coalition ... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (links below): UN inks global treaty to fight illegal fishing; Mercury Found in Blood of One-Third of American Women; City of London Launches Green Business Guide Website; Continuing fallout from Chinese lead-poisoning scandal that hospitalized 2000 children; Heat Waves Getting Worse ... PLUS: How Much Surface Area Would It Take To Power the World With Wind and Solar?

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

On our Green News Report earlier today, we spoke about the fires raging all around us here in Los Angeles County, and beyond. Here's a very interesting, 24 second, time lapse look at one of the closest, courtesy of Eric Spiegelman, which really helps to illustrate how massive these things are right now. [hat-tip Patty Sharaf]...

IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: Fires rage across California as Hurricane Jimena bears down on Baja; Lights out for incandescent lightbulbs; The Summer of Astroturf! ... PLUS: Paving the Long Road to Solar... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (links below): Clash in Alabama Over Tennessee Coal Ash; Is the United States Ready for a Higher Gas Tax?; Obama Administration sues Chicago-area coal-fired power plants; the Risks of climate geo-engineering; WHO Predicts That Within 2 Years, 1/3 Of World Will Have Caught Sickness... PLUS: Four crucial resources that may run out in your lifetime ...

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...

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IN TODAY'S AUDIO REPORT: Happy Anniversaries --- sort of; The Politics of "Fracking"; How about some weed-killer in your drinking water?... PLUS: Another sad loss for the environment... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (links below): Yummy: Industrial pig farming, salmonella, and the National School Lunch Program; Dairy farmers brace for climate change; Groups target GOP on cap-and-trade; Toyota tops list of Cash for Clunkers winners; Africa wants $67 billion a year in global warming funds; The fallacy of climate activism... PLUS: The sticky problem of how to measure miles per gallon when it's all electric...

Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today's episode follow below...