GOP Leaders: Unconvinced on Global Warming, Unconvincing on Plan

At a press conference yesterday, House Minority Leader John Boehner (OH) and 92 other GOP representatives unveiled Republican leadership's long-awaited alternative to the American Clean Energy and Security Act. Unsurprisingly, it was highly evocative of last year's simplistic campaign catchphrase popularized by now-RNC Chairman Michael Steele otherwise known as "Drill, Baby, Drill." (Which, incidentally, seemed to translate to "Lose, Baby, Lose" judging by the GOP's 2008 performance.)

And, just so you were clear, they also made sure you knew their stance on global warming (via Politico):

Republicans stressed that their plan remained focused on energy, not climate change, emphasizing that the party remained unconvinced about the science of global warming.

Unfortunately, it seems this complete denial of sound science isn't limited to the party's fringe elements. In fact, with 93 of a possible 178 House Republicans supporting the legislation, it appears that 52% of GOPers, a clear cut majority, don't believe in climate change.

Rohring Denial and the Curious Flatulence Defense

Last week, we posted footage of Senator James Inhofe (OK), the face of the Congressional Flat Earth Society (otherwise known as global warming deniers), delivering a promise to the Heartland Institute promising to stall Obama Administration action to curb the worst effects of climate change. It turns out that Mr. Inhofe brought a few of his like-minded cronies from Capitol Hill to attend the conference, in which at least a few of the meals were compliments of major funder ExxonMobil.

Representative Dana Rohrabacher (CA) was among those in attendance, and his views on global warming were unsurprisingly driven by petty politics rather than, say, the opinions of Nobel Prize-winning scientists (via the Virginian Pilot):

The California Republican was talking about global warming and could barely contain his disgust.

"Al Gore has been wrong all along!" Rohrabacher yelled into the microphone. "This is outrageous! All of this is wrong! The people who have stifled this debate have an agenda that is just frightening!"

Welcome to the third annual International Conference on Climate Change, a daylong session of speeches and scientific presentations that took place Tuesday just blocks from the U.S. Capitol. Almost no media covered the event.

But, hey, let's give credit where credit's due: at least Mr. Rohrabacher has, in the past, allowed that human creatures could theoretically be responsible for the planet's warming. Then again, it's unclear if dinosaur flatulence passes the scientific smell test as a main cause of warming (pun intended).

Seriously though, not to get too graphic here, but what's with the repeated excrement motif from Congressional naysayers regarding global warming? Perhaps in the case of Reps. John Boehner (OH) and Rohrabacher, silence wouldn't necessarily be deadly...

I'll be here all night, folks.

BK Baloney Update: Franchisee Labels BK 'Cockroaches'

Updating a previous post, Burger King franchise operators in the Tennessee area have gone all rogue on their corporate counterparts, and, according to reports, the 'Global Warming is Baloney' signage has been spotted on over a dozen BKs in the area.

Franchise operator MIC refuses to back down. In an interview with the Guardian, spokesman John McNelis shot back:

"I would think [Burger King] would run from any form of controversy kinda like cockroaches when the lights get turned on," said Mr McNelis. "I'm not aware of any direction that they gave the franchisee and I don't think they have the authority to do it.

"The [restaurant] management team can put the message up there if they want to. It is private property and here in the US we do have some rights. Notwithstanding a franchise agreement, I could load a Brinks vehicle with [rights] I've got so many of them. By the time the Burger King lawyers work out how to make that stick we'd be in the year 2020."

Suffice it to say, we highly doubt Mr. McNelis's Brinks truck is a hybrid.