Greenhouse gas emissions have not only heated the earth to its hottest temperature in millennia; they have also made heat waves more intense. The journal Nature said in 2004 that “severe heat waves are now four times as likely to occur because of increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.”

A roundup of news coverage from this week’s heat wave in the U.S. and Europe gives a sense of what we can expect in the future:

Nevada: “Reno set a record for heat Sunday, breaking an 81-year-old record, according to the National Weather Service.”

Czech Republic: “The temperature in Prague climbed up to 34.3 degrees centigrade today and beat the 141 year old record of the day by 0.6 degrees.”

South Dakota: “Saturday’s statewide high temperature that unofficially tied a South Dakota record set 70 years earlier is likely to stand, a National Weather Service employee says.”

Britain: “Britain sweltered on the hottest July day for nearly a century as the current heatwave reached its peak.”

California: “Indio (122 degrees), Palm Springs (118), Riverside (108), Sun City-Perris (108), San Bernardino (107), Temecula (106) and Moreno Valley (104) all set record highs Saturday, according to the National Weather Service and records kept by The Press-Enterprise.”

Arkansas: “Another scorcher today after record temperatures were set in some Arkansas cities yesterday. Monticello reached 109 degrees Wednesday and in Little Rock a record of 104 degrees for the date was set.”

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is that it requires too much fossil fuel to produce. But David Hallberg of E3 biofuels has created a closed loop system to create ethanol with less than 3% input from fossil fuels. Take a video tour of Hallberg’s plant on kicktheoilhabit.org.

The National Journal reports that, among the top 20 White House staffers, “there are no African-Americans or Asians…and only one Hispanic.”

Today, following President Bush’s speech to the NAACP, a reporter asked Press Secretary Tony Snow about the lack of diversity in the White House. Snow reponded “You can come aboard and do personnel. You want it?.” Then Snow snapped saracstically, “Let me leave no one behind. Just, every group, raise your hand, we want you.”

Full transcript:

QUESTION: If he is proud of the diversity in his Cabinet, wouldn’t you expect him to improve diversity amongst the White House staff?

SNOW: What the president does is he looks for the best available people.

QUESTION: And they’re all white?

SNOW: I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?

You can come aboard and do personnel. You want it?

QUESTION: I’m asking a question.

SNOW: I know you are, but it’s an argumentative question that also applied to other previous administrations. Would we like more blacks and Hispanics on? Yes, sure.

QUESTION: And Asians?

SNOW: Asians, too, yes, thank you. Let me leave no one behind. Just, every group, raise your hand, we want you.

Today White House Press Secretary Tony Snow claimed President Bush had closed the income gap between races:

QUESTION: After the speech, people said that the president said what he needed to say about the Voting Rights Act and they were very appreciative of that, but that the speech fell flat when he spoke about education, jobs and other issues. And they felt very passionately that on jobs, housing, education, affirmative action, the administration has not put forth policies that have improved their lives.

How do you respond to that?

SNOW: Well, two things.

First, you take a look at the economic data. And you have seen growing — I guess I could put it this way — income equality has a better record in this administration than in previous.

There was this widening gap. It’s not widening anymore.

But a look at U.S. Census data (Table 674) shows that not only is the income gap still widening, but African-Americans are faring worse under Bush than they were under President Clinton. The chart below shows that, under Clinton, the racial income gap was closing because the average median household income of African-Americans grew faster than that of whites. Under Bush, the opposite has been true:

will be investigated by the House Government Reform Committee. Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) announced today that that they will launch a bipartisan inquiry into allegations that White House officials, including former adviser Philip Cooney, edited climate reports to play down the potential threat of global warming.

Former Vice President Dan Quayle walked out of a John Mellencamp concert this weekend after the singer dedicated a song to “all the poor people who’ve been ignored by the current administration.”

Suprisingly, long-time conservative and NBA star Charles Barkley, who for years has suggested he may run for Alabama governor as a Republican, took Mellencamp’s side:

“He’s right,” Charles Barkley said of Mellencamp. “The word conservative means discriminatory practically. It’s a form of political discrimination. [Conservatives are] against gay marriage and for a war that makes no sense. A war that was based on faulty intelligence. That’s all they ever talk about. That and immigration. Another discriminatory argument for political gain.“

Barkley’s shift against conservatism may also have something to do with his interest in poverty. “My No. 1 priority is to help poor people,” Barkley has said. “In this country, 90% of the money is controlled by 10% of the people, and that’s not right.”

Tony Snow is quoted in today’s Washington Post: “Does [President Bush] often talk about poverty? No.”

Israel today “hinted at a full-scale invasion” of Lebanon, warning residents “to flee a nearly 20-mile swath of south Lebanon along the border. Its warplanes also launched new airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.” Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the Security Council that “hostilities must stop” between Israel and Hezbollah, and condemned Israel’s “excessive use of force” in Lebanon.

“U.S. spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said there has been an average of 34 attacks a day against U.S. and Iraqi forces in the capital over the past five days. The daily average for the period June 14 until July 13 was 24 a day, he said.

(UPDATE: Alternet has the video)

President Bush addressed the NAACP today for the first time in his presidency. Speaking on behalf of his friend, multi-millionaire conservative BET founder Bob Johnson, Bush used the opportunity to promote the repeal of the estate tax on the ultra-rich:

One of my friends is Bob Johnson, founder of BET. He’s an interesting man. He believes strongly in ownership. He has been a successful owner. He believes strongly, for example, that the death tax will prevent future African-American entrepreneurs from being able to pass their assets from one generation to the next. He and I also understand that the investor class shouldn’t be just confined to the old definition of the investor class.

President Bush’s “death tax” pitch demonstrates his stunning disconnect from the African-American community. According to an American Progress analysis, just 59 African-Americans will pay the estate tax this year, and that number will drop to 33 in 2009.

Meanwhile, as of 2004, 24.7 percent of African-Americans lived under the poverty line (up from 22.7 in 2001) — that’s more than 9 million people. The number of times Bush mentioned “poverty” in his speech: 0.