Planetary warming continues unabated (see “It’s the oceans, stupid!“), so the deniers are shouting even louder in their efforts to stifle genuine discussion.

The latest disinformer raising his voice and making headlines on Drudge is Phelim McAleer.  We’ve all been at major speaking events where some jerk tries to hog the microphone, asking a series of questions that seem pointed — but are in fact just rude and nonsensical.  In this case, however, the forum Gore was speaking at was a major gathering of journalists, so the refusal to give up the microphone was the equivalent of blocking other (i.e. real) journalists from asking Gore questions:

Former Vice President Al Gore shared his optimism about the “shifting momentum” of the climate change debate with about 500 environmental journalists Friday in Madison.

“We’re very close to that political tipping point,” Gore said at the Society of Environmental Journalists annual conference at the Madison Concourse Hotel. “Never before in human history has a single generation been asked to make such difficult and consequential decisions.”

You can watch McAleer’s version of events here in what the NYT‘s Andy Revkin (who was there) describes as a “whiny video.”  But while McAleer’s a clever filmaker, he’s a bad liar.  He asserts of Gore, “He never takes questions.”  Not.

Take a look at this press conference in New York City on September 24 with Mayor Bloomberg, with extended Q&A:

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Email link for GOP Sen. Graham’s DC Office – Ph. 202-224-5972 – Graham’s SC office 864-250-1417 — SC GOP HQ Ph. 803-988-8440

Yes, sometimes I visit the website of the Swift boat smearer to see the latest in denier talking points and to be amused by his latest self-acknowledged version of performance art and to save you all the trouble!

I tend to ignore what Morano writes because:

1. He just makes stuff up (see Scientist: “Our conclusions were misinterpreted” by Morano and Inhofe, CO2 “” but not the sun “” “is significantly correlated” with temperature since 1850).
2. The latest web analysis suggests right-wing denial websites like his are only talking to themselves.

But this time I found two tidbits that need responding too.  First, he published an outright lie about me (with my photo!) that I will address shortly.  Second, he attacked Linsday Graham who, as I reported, has reached across the aisle to John Kerry (D-MA) to achieve a bipartisan solution to our climate and energy problems, as I blogged on this morning here.

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Yes We Can (Pass Climate Change Legislation)

That is the stunning banner headline from a must-read op-ed in today’s NY Times by two unlikely legislative partners — Lindsey Graham, Republican senator from South Carolina, an ally of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), and John Kerry, Democratic senator from Massachusetts, lead author of the recently introduced Kerry-Boxer bill aka the “Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act.”

The two Senators have a powerful message to the naysayers — and the status quo media which has prematurely written the obituary for both domestic and international climate action:

The message to those who have stalled for years is clear: killing a Senate bill is not success….

We are confident that a legitimate bipartisan effort can put America back in the lead again and can empower our negotiators to sit down at the table in Copenhagen in December and insist that the rest of the world join us in producing a new international agreement on global warming. That way, we will pass on to future generations a strong economy, a clean environment and an energy-independent nation.

The odds of a Senate climate bill just jumped through the roof. Now the Senate needs to get off its butt and get this done.

If the deal they describe can be done, and I’m confident it can be, that would probably mean at least four GOP votes in the Senate — Graham, McCain, and Maine’s Snowe and Collins.  But I suspect this deal brings within reach other gettable “Rs,” like Lugar of Indiana and Voinovich of Ohio and maybe even Lisa “the fiddler” Murkowski (R-AK), if she understands, as Graham and Kerry do, that the best way to avoid the problems inherent in EPA regulation is to pass this bill:

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Global warming, left unchecked, will have a huge impact on most sports, since a great many are played outdoors during the summer (for now) — or rely on cold weather and snow during the winter.  As this CAP post suggests, some sports teams are trying to green up the game.  The picture is a view from home plate at the Washington Nationals baseball stadium, Major League Baseball’s first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified ballpark.

Major League Baseball’s postseason playoffs began this week with Wednesday’s match up between the Phillies and Rockies. But regardless of who wins the whole league has managed to come together for the environment’s sake.

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