Limabugh, who could fairly be described as a proud chauvinist, said, “I don’t understand why the media’s pretending to be so upset” about Gingrich’s behavior with his ex, Marianne. Limbaugh went on to read a “great note” from a “good friend of mine,” which posits that Newt and not Marianne — whom Gingirch left shortly after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis — is the real “victim” here. Moreover, the fact that Gingrich asked for “permission” to cheat on his wife is “a mark of character, in my book,” Limbaugh continued:

LIMBAUGH: I got a great note from a friend of mine. “So Newt wanted an open marriage. BFD. At least he asked his wife for permission instead of cheating on her. That’s a mark of character, in my book. Newt’s a victim. We all are. Ours is the horniest generation.” [...] That’s from a good friend of mine, “Newt’s slogan ought to, ‘Hell, yes, I wanted it.’” (laughing) I’m sharing with you how some people are reacting to this.

It’s worth noting that Gingrich had been having an affair for several years before he asked “permission” to cheat on his wife.

Rush Limbaugh married his fourth wife in 2010.

by Jocelyn Fong, cross-posted from Media Matters

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has canceled the climate change chapter in his upcoming book of environmental essays after Rush Limbaugh and other commentators targeted its author, atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe.

At a recent campaign event, Gingrich told a woman he had cut the climate change section after she expressed concerns about it, citing what she heard from “Rush.” “That’s not going to be in the book. We didn’t know that they were doing that and we told them to kill it,” Gingrich says in the video provided by National Journal. The woman replies, “That sounds like a good idea because I thought, why would you want to have somebody like that in there.”

By “somebody like that,” she was referring to a scientist who, like the vast majority of climatologists, will tell you that human activities are driving climate change. Gingrich’s comments came as a surprise to Hayhoe, who said on Twitter that she spent “100+ unpaid hrs” on the project. According to emails reported by the Los Angeles Times, Hayhoe was asked in 2007 to write “a good opening chapter that lays out the facts on global climate change,” including “a sense of what needs to happen.” She said via email that her chapter did not include specific policy prescriptions. Gingrich’s collaborator Terry Maple told the Times that the book will probably be released in 2013.

Hayhoe, an Evangelical Christian who often speaks about climate change to faith-based communities, has noted in the past that “there is a very intelligent, well-planned effort to deliberately try to muddy the waters on this issue.” This month, she became the target of that very cohort of activists and commentators.

Following the December 8 L.A. Times article identifying Hayhoe as a contributor to Gingrich’s book, Marc Morano, former spokesman for Senator Inhofe, spent the past month attacking her on his blog, Climate Depot. Morano also encouraged his readers to contact Hayhoe directly by repeatedly posting her email address.

Chris Horner’s American Tradition Institute also filed a request with Hayhoe’s employer, Texas Tech University, requesting any emails she sent or received about the book. ATI’s tactics of targeting individual scientists previously prompted a formal condemnation from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, one of the country’s leading scientific associations. The AAAS resolution criticizing the intimidation of scientists was introduced by Raymond Orbach, who served as a top Energy Department official under George W. Bush.

Morano got a boost from his former boss Rush Limbaugh on December 19, when Limbaugh told his radio audience that “Newt’s new book has a chapter written by a babe named Hayhoe,” who “believes in man-made global warming.” (Limbaugh also uses the word “babe” to undermine women who work in government and media.)

Morano later celebrated the news that Gingrich had scrapped Hayhoe’s chapter on climate change with the following headline:

The fiasco attests to the influence wielded over the Republican Party by right-wing media and others who reject the scientific consensus that manmade climate change demands our attention. Morano previously said Republican candidates “can believe in the science of global warming … if you keep your mouth shut about it and you advocate no quote-unquote solution to the problem.”

Limbaugh, who we selected as the 2011 Climate Change Misinformer of the Year, has also established a climate denial litmus test, saying “bye, bye, nomination” after Mitt Romney acknowledged the human contribution to climate change. Romney subsequently tweaked his position.

Limbaugh also criticized Gingrich in November for saying, “I actually don’t know whether global warming is occurring. The vast majority of the National Academy of Science says it is.” Even though Gingrich quickly added, “Science is not actually voted on,” Limbaugh responded “Newt, Newt, Newt, Newt. No! … There isn’t any global warming.” The news that Gingrich will avoid the topic of climate change in his book is particularly clarifying in light of where he stood a few years ago. Consider these comments from a November 2007 interview with the New York Times:

GINGRICH: I’m trying to say to the Right the environment’s too important to neglect. The issues are too serious to walk away from and therefore you’ve got to drop just screaming “No” and you got to show us what the right solutions are from your standpoint.

For her part, Hayhoe says via email that despite “a marked upswing in the quantity and virulence of the hate mail and other forms of attack” since the summer, she continues to speak publicly about climate science because “there is important information people need to know, in order to make informed decisions.” Otherwise, she said, she’d be a bit like a doctor who withheld bad news from a patient for fear of their reaction.

Jocelyn Fong is a researcher with Media Matters for America. This piece was originally published at Media Matters.

Dr. Katharine Hayhoe

Confronted by a Limbaugh listener, Gingrich blamed an anonymous third party for requesting the chapter, and said “we told them to kill it,” CBS News reports:

The climate-change issue arose Thursday night at a Gingrich campaign stop in Carroll, when a woman expressed concern to Gingrich about the chapter. She said she had heard about it on Rush Limbaugh’s radio program. As she began to tell Gingrich who the author of the piece would be, Gingrich interrupted. “That’s not going to be in the book,” he told her. “We didn’t know that they were doing that and we told them to kill it.”

Watch it:

“Good,” the climate denier responded. “That sounds a good idea because why would you want to have somebody like that in there?”

Gingrich and his co-author Terry Maple never told Hayhoe — a professor at Texas Tech University, mother, and evangelical Christian — that her chapter would be junked. Hayhoe was dismayed by the “ungracious” way she found out that her work was being discarded.

“Nice to hear that Gingrich is tossing my #climate chapter in the trash,” Hayhoe tweeted in response to the news. “100+ unpaid hours I could’ve spent playing w my baby.”

by  Jocelyn Fong and Shauna Theel, in a Media Matters cross-post

In 1994 Rush Limbaugh declared, “There is no global warming going on,” adding that scientists “admit” they “may need 20 years more data to prove it.” Since then, Limbaugh has managed to shield his brain from 18 years of mounting evidence that humans are changing the climate. “Science has made enormous inroads in understanding climate change and its causes,” according to the National Research Council’s latest report assessing the state of climate science. “There is a strong, credible body of evidence, based on multiple lines of research, documenting that climate is changing and that these changes are in large part caused by human activities,” the report said.

Limbaugh, whose radio show reportedly reaches roughly 14 million people per week, remains the most prominent and cocksure denier of human-induced climate change in the news industry. His unyielding belief that the world’s earth scientists are perpetrating a “hoax” has led him to some interesting places this year, from declaring that the heat index is “manufactured by the government,” to accusing NASA of sabotaging its own research satellite, to announcing that the National Academy of Sciences has “lost all credibility.” Given his large following, Limbaugh’s extreme and misguided position may well have influenced the Republican presidential primary by discouraging candidates from speaking about the threats posed by global warming. Indeed, Limbaugh made this litmus test explicit, saying “bye, bye, nomination” after Mitt Romney acknowledged the human contribution to climate change. For all this, on top of his typically bombastic distortions and obfuscations of climate science, Limbaugh wins the distinction of 2011 Climate Change Misinformer of the Year.

“Hoax”: Rush Limbaugh’s Intractable Climate Change Denial

Limbaugh: Global Warming “Is A Hoax … I Get Blue In The Face Repeating This Over And Over Again.” On his radio show, Rush Limbaugh said:

LIMBAUGH: Al Gore wrote in his blog, “Good for Mitt Romney. Though we’ve long passed the point where weak lip service is enough on the climate crisis while other Republicans are running from the truth, Mitt Romney is sticking to his guns in the face of the anti-science wing of the Republican Party.” There you go. So has been Romney endorsed by Algore on his stance on global warming, which is a hoax. There is no “settled science,” as I get blue in the face repeating this over and over again. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 6/16/11]

Limbaugh: “I Don’t Need Scientific Proof” To Know It’s A Lie. From the March 8 edition of Limbaugh’s radio show:

LIMBAUGH: How did I know global warming is a hoax? ‘Cause of who’s behind pushing it. Liberals. They lie.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: If there ever is scientific proof — and see, I don’t need scientific proof because to me the people who are promoting manmade global warming are a bunch of frauds. They are liberals, they lie. It’s not a generalization. It is an undeniable truth of life. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 3/8/11]

Limbaugh: The National Academy Of Sciences Has “Lost All Credibility” Because Climate Change Is “Bogus.” Responding to a caller who had questioned Mitt Romney about his stance on climate change at a New Hampshire debate, Limbaugh said that NAS had “lost all credibility” and that scientists “basically made it all up” at the University of East Anglia:

CALLER: I specifically quoted from a 2010 National Academy of Sciences report. I have two quotes here; the first is, they concluded — and by the way, the National Academy of Sciences, as you know, is considered the Supreme Court of science in this country. It was founded in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln and it is charged with giving the Congress unbiased scientific information. Now their conclusion was quote “a strong credible body of scientific evidence shows that climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities and poses significant risks for a broad range of human and natural systems.

LIMBAUGH: Then they’ve lost all credibility, it’s a bogus claim.

[...]

CALLER: I don’t know where you’re getting the hoax from, sir. I mean, I’m looking at -

LIMBAUGH: Well it’s called the University of East Anglia at Anglian — the Hadley Climate Center where they basically made it all up, pure and simple. It’s a hoax, there’s nothing true about it. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 6/8/11]

• Multiple investigations have cleared the scientists at the University of East Anglia of falsifying data. [Media Matters, 8/8/11]

Limbaugh: “Anything To Do With … Climate Change Is Now An Official Scam.” On August 30, Limbaugh said:

LIMBAUGH: And in fact all it is is a giant slush fund — one slush fund after another, federal taxpayer dollars going to Democrat candidates, supporters, donors, what have you, under the guise of creating a new industry, “green jobs,” weatherizing homes, protecting the environment, saving the climate. It’s a huge, huge scam. Anything to do with energy and the environment that involves manmade global warming, climate change is now an official scam. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 8/30/11]

Limbaugh: The Science “Is Fraudulent And Is A Hoax.” On November 10, Limbaugh said:

LIMBAUGH: Despite proof now, despite evidence that global warming is a political issue, not a science issue, and that the science aspect of it is fraudulent and is a hoax, we have a story here from the French News Agency: “The World Has Five Years Now to Avoid Severe Warming.”  That’s from the International Energy Agency.

[...]

The LA Times said it, and others have said that there’s no warming. It’s all over the place here. But they won’t let this die. It’s a political issue and it’s an international left-wing hoax, this whole notion of manmade global warming climate change. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 11/10/11]

Limbaugh: Global Warming “Is A Religion …There Is No Evidence.” Discussing a government initiative to recognize schools that make efforts toward environmental sustainability, Limbaugh said on May 17:

LIMBAUGH: The plan is for the U.S. Department of Education, the EPA, and the Council for Environmental Quality to develop the criteria this spring and summer and to issue the call for applications early in the fall. All based on a hoax. All based on a fraud. All based on global warming, which by the way, is a religion. It’s proponents cannot prove it. Belief in global warming requires faith because there is no evidence. There is no evidence of manmade destructive climate change, global warming, what have you. The evidence that we have suggests that the whole thing has been a hoax and a fraud. And yet, the left marches on, not educating but indoctrinating. And so now schools will be indoctrinating children to be good environmental citizens, which means wards of the state. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 5/17/11]

Limbaugh: God Would Not Create Humans “In Such A Way That We Would Destroy … Our Own Planet And Environment.” From the February 2 edition of Limbaugh’s radio show:

LIMBAUGH: When you have a bunch of bureaucrats with the power guiding them that says greenhouse gases constitute a danger to the public health and welfare, there’s no limits on them. I mean, when you’re fighting danger, when you’re fighting elements harmful to the public health and welfare, you can define anything you want however you need in order to exercise unchecked federal power. Martial law based on a hoax is one way of putting it. Now a greenhouse gas – one of them is what you exhale. Carbon dioxide, greenhouse gas, you exhale it and somehow we’ve gotten to the point where that is destroying the planet.

I happen to believe in God. I believe in a loving, brilliant – I know that this – there is no way, I don’t want to sound simpleton here, but there is not – it is not possible that we would be created by a creator in such a way that we would destroy by virtue of our created existence our own planet and environment. It just doesn’t compute and yet that’s what these people are trying to tell us. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 2/2/11]

Joceyln Fong and Shauna Theel are researchers at Media Matters for America.

This is an abridged version of the entire piece, published at Media Matters. For more head-exploding quotes from the year’s most vicious climate denier, go on over to the Media Matters for America website.

The number of students receiving subsidized lunches rose to 21 million last school year as many parents have lost jobs or homes during the economic crisis. The decades-old social safety net program reflects extensive research that students have a hard time learning when they’re hungry.

But during the Nov. 22 edition of his radio show, Rush Limbaugh suggested that Oxnard middle school — which the two boys attended — was partly responsible for King’s killing because school authorities were interested in promoting a homosexual agenda and had not done enough to dissuade King from dressing in women’s accessories, wearing makeup, and flirting with male students:

Now we’re told in Newsweek that an assistant principal was encouraging this kid to be flamboyant because it furthered an agenda. I wonder what that agenda could have possibly been? Anybody want to take a wild guess? Back in 2008, the parents and brother of Larry King, the kid who was shot, claimed that the school was allowing him to wear makeup and feminine clothing, and that this was a factor leading to his death. [...]

Is it any wonder that parents get a little worried when they send the little tykes off to school, because I’ll tell you, folks, what’s happening, especially in these blue states, what’s happening in these public schools, the last thing going on is what we’ve all thought of as traditional education. There is education taking place, and there are agendas that are being promoted, but they’re not what you and I were taught in school. So now a confused 17-year-old is dead because the school, “Ah, there’s nothing we can do. There’s nothing that we can do about this. So sorry.”

In reality, as human rights groups have long documented, the LRA is a murderous “death cult,” best known for descending on villages, “capturing, killing, and abducting hundreds of civilians,” and forcing boys to become child soldiers and girls to become “bush wives.”

Many journalists and human rights advocates — along with an LRA survivor — have responded to Limbaugh, but yesterday he received a rebuke from the Senate floor from someone who called the controversial radio host “my good friend Rush Limbaugh.”

Using Limbaugh’s and his cohorts name, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), said, “some people have mistakenly said that [the LRA's leader] is a Christian, and I want to make sure everyone knows that he was officially disavowed by the Catholic Church in Uganda.” He went on to detail their group’s atrocities.

It’s unusual for any senator to call out an ideological ally by name from the Senate floor, but even more so considering that Inhofe has in the past looked past egregious human rights violations to lend support for Christian leaders. In April, Inhofe defended former Ivory Coast dictator Laurent Gbagbo after other African and international leaders condemned him for taking up arms to retain power after losing the election to a Muslim rival. But the LRA is terrible enough for even Inhofe to reject.

Today, Limabugh responded to Inhofe on his radio show, admitting he was “misinformed” about the LRA. But Limbaugh seemed more bemused about having his name “entered into the Congressional record” than apologetic, giving a hearty laugh about it before quickly moving on to another topic.

In today’s show, Limbaugh took this news to mean that all institutions are part of a global “liberal” conspiracy, including climate science:

So here we have a real-life recent case of an agenda-driven hoax becoming scientific consensus and a popularly accepted concept that real decisions were based on. Sound familiar? Sound familiar, folks? Does it not sound exactly like what’s happened with global warming?

“The United States Congress, the White House, you name it, wherever they have dominated for a significant amount of time, you have perverse corruption, lies, outright fraud and hoaxes all for the express purpose of controlling people, all because they want to control everybody,” Limbaugh concluded. “Now, who do you think is in charge of this stupid Occupy Wall Street thing? The same bunch of fraudsters, the same bunch of liars, the same bunch of hoaxers. Nothing is real.”

Limbaugh is engaging in a fallacy common among climate deniers, the belief that climate science totters like an upside-down pyramid on a few key observations or influential scientists. In reality, the science of manmade global warming is a robust accumulation of knowledge from diverse fields, from molecular chemistry to ecological biology, from satellite-based atmospheric physics to paleoclimatology.

Limbaugh wants his listeners to believe that the 99 percent movement — which has now gone global — is part of a conspiracy of “perverse corruption” and “outright fraud.” Limbaugh has claimed, without evidence, that “Obama’s responsible” for the movement, fed by “George Soros money” and “organized and paid for by a bunch of anti-Semites.” It’s not clear what the connection is between this supposed conspiracy, climate scientists, and a psychiatrist who’s been dead for nearly twenty years.

Christie’s on-again/off-again interest in running appears to be spiking again. He is now “seriously considering getting in,” and his political advisers are preparing plans. His speculative interest is already garnering negative reviews from hate radio host Rush Limbaugh, who said he sees “a lot of John McCain” in him.

JOHNSON: Right now, I am the most Googled name on the planet because last night I came up with a witty sentence on dog poop.

In fact, it’s people like Limbaugh who are stopping the CBC from going after the president. “Nobody wants to do anything that would empower the people who hate the president,” as CBC Chairman Emanuel Cleaver (R-MO) said.

We’ve produced this video compilation to tell the story. Watch it:

As Adam Serwer noted over at The American Prospect, references to Islamic law are common in national constitutions throughout the Middle East, including those of post-occupation Iraq and Afghanistan. While theocratic extremism is a real danger in the region, such references in a constitution hardly guarantee its enactment — and ensuring a functional civic order and the absence of political repression are much more important to preventing it.

In reality, thousands of records were broken, and U.S. temperature extremes this summer continue to overwhelmingly favor hot records vs. cold records. (HT: Joe Romm)

In an exclusive interview with ThinkProgress, one of the top public health experts in the nation’s greatest metropolis, New York City, explained that the heat index and heat waves are no laughing matter. Dr. Thomas Matte, professor of urban public health at the CUNY School of Public Health, has investigated the dangers of heat waves to the 8 million residents of New York City, and is the co-author of the paper, “Summer heat and mortality in New York City: how hot is too hot?”

Matte emphasized that the heat index is a useful tool that combines two of the most important factors behind heat stress, a potentially deadly syndrome, particularly for the sick, young, and elderly:

There’s many many studies that have been done how people respond to hot conditions. They have shown that there are more variables than just ambient temperature. The environmental variables include obvious things like shade. Also, because humans cool themselves by sweating, when the humidity is higher the evaporation is less efficient.
On a warm day, a dry day will feel more comfortable than a humid day.

Heat stress isn’t just a matter of comfort, especially for people with a heart condition, or emphysema. A normal healthy person can tolerate a lot of that stress. Under some conditions it can be just discomfort, but under other conditions it can be life threatening.

“The reason that heat index is used is because high humidity makes it feel hotter, and causes more heat stress,” Matte said. Debunking Limbaugh’s claim that the heat index is a recent government plot, Matte noted, “it’s been done that way for a long long time.”

The weekend’s heat wave was the type that kills, Matte said:

When the temperature gets into this range, more people die of chronic health problems and deaths occur from heat stroke. Anybody who has a health condition or is elderly is at risk. These heat waves do kill people. Of all natural disasters, they kill more people than any other. This is not a hypothetical risk. People really die from heat waves.

When asked if he uses the heat index to promote concerns about global warming, Matte scoffed. “This is not really a climate change issue,” he responded. “When we warn people to take precautions, and we use the heat index to do that, climate change is not what’s on my mind.”

They’re playing games with us on this heat wave, again. Even Drudge. Drudge getting sucked in here. Going to be 116 in Washington. No, it’s not. It’s gonna be like 100, maybe 99. A heat index, manufactured by the government to tell you what it feels like when you add the humidity in there.

Listen here:

“We have this every year,” Rush claimed, after arguing that former vice president Al Gore could cancel the heat wave by scheduling a “global warming conference.”

Limbaugh is dangerously wrong.

This record-shattering heat wave is part of a year of extremes, with a winter and spring of record precipitation in the northern half of the country, and record drought and heat in the southern half. The record warmth baked the Great Plains, and is now expanding over the flood-soaked ground of the Midwest and Northeast, drenched by record precipitation over the winter and spring. That added moisture is creating the uniquely dangerous heat wave hitting the East Coast.

The record precipitation feeding the steam heat now is part of a long-term trend of increasing precipitation caused by greenhouse pollution. The record snows were mocked by climate deniers like Limbaugh and Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), whose family built an “igloo for Al Gore” on the National Mall.

The combination of heat and humidity in the heat index is no government conspiracy — researchers have found that sickness and mortality go up sharply when the heat index gets above 95.

This is no ordinary summer — in July alone, record high temperatures have been recorded 1,279 times. This is no ordinary year. This is no ordinary decade. The climate is changing, because of the pollution of hundreds of billions of tons of greenhouse gases from burning coal and oil. This is a more deadly planet now, and will be for the rest of our lives. Rush’s ravings are mortally irresponsible.

Transcript:

They’re playing games with us on this heat wave, again. Even Drudge. Drudge getting sucked in here. Going to be 116 in Washington. No, it’s not. It’s gonna be like 100, maybe 99. A heat index, manufactured by the government to tell you what it feels like when you add the humidity in there.

116. When’s the last time the heat index was reported as an actual temperature? It hasn’t been, but it looks like they’re trying to get away with doing that now. 116. Drudge is just linking to other people reporting. He’s not saying it, I don’t want to misunderstand, but he’s linking to stories which say 116 degrees in Washington. No!

It’s going to top out as 102, 103. It does this every year. We have this every year. There’s a heat dome over half the country, midwest is moving east. And it happens every summer. Every summer.

If we want to cool things off, please, Al Gore, schedule a global warming conference, wherever, in Washington! Go there. You want that 103, 116 to get normal? It will, within an hour of Gore announcing that he’s going! Another ten degrees off when he shows up. Plus hail, and rain, and maybe some high winds to really cool people off! That’s all that has to happen.

Wikipedia:  “The heat index … combines air temperature and relative humidity in an attempt to determine the human-perceived equivalent temperature — how hot it feels….  The heat index was developed in 1978 … and was adopted by the National Weather Service a year later.”

Rush Limbaugh:  They’re playing games with us on this heat wave, again. Even Drudge, drudge getting sucked in here.  Gonna be a 116 in Washington. No, it’s not.  It’s going to be a 100, maybe 99.  The heat index, manufactured by the government, they tell you what it feels like when you add the humidity in there.  116 -  When’s the last time the heat index was reported as an actual temperature?  It hasn’t been.  But it looks like they’re trying to get away with doing that now.

Yes, the black helicopters are after Limbaugh and the whole country now.  Well, actually if there were UN helicopters, I’m sure they’d be white, since the black ones would just get too damn hot in this weather!

In the real world, the heat index adds to the actual temperature the effect of humidity, which interferes with the body’s ability to perspire and carry away heat:  “When the relative humidity is high, the evaporation rate is reduced, so heat is removed from the body at a lower rate causing it to retain more heat than it would in dry air.”

Now it just so happens we’ve had record rainfall and flooding in the spring — precisely what you would expect from human-caused global warming (see “Two seminal Nature papers join growing body of evidence that human emissions fuel extreme weather, flooding that harm humans and the environment“). That helps boost the heat index, as one meteorologist explained today:

We are into a very dangerous heat wave this week that will last until the weekend.  Millions of people are affected, and with heat indices forecast above 100 degrees for dozens of states, the warnings are dire.   Here’s a list of the peak heat index numbers for Tuesday.  One of the reasons we’re seeing such high values is because of the record flooding that we saw this spring across the Midwest and Mississippi Valley.   There is plenty of available moisture that is evaporating and combined with the soaring temperatures, this is causing a “sauna effect” for dozens of states.

That is Janice Dean, a Fox News Channel meteorologist!  I guess she would be part of the conspiracy Limbaugh is warning us about.

For those who don’t believe Limbaugh would actually say something this inane — I know there’s a couple of you out there — here’s the video and full transcript:

• Mother Nature is Just Getting Warmed Up: Stanford climate scientists forecast permanently hotter summers

The tropics and much of the Northern Hemisphere are likely to experience an irreversible rise in summer temperatures within the next 20 to 60 years if atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations continue to increase, according to a new climate study by Stanford University scientists….

• NCAR’s Trenberth on the link between global warming and extreme deluges

… there is a systematic influence on all of these weather events now-a-days because of the fact that there is this extra water vapor lurking around in the atmosphere than there used to be say 30 years ago. It’s about a 4% extra amount, it invigorates the storms, it provides plenty of moisture for these storms and it’s unfortunate that the public is not associating these with the fact that this is one manifestation of climate change. And the prospects are that these kinds of things will only get bigger and worse in the future.

 

Below are earlier comments from the old Facebook commenting system:

Jack Boardman

Is Limbaugh really that stupid? Never mind…

July 20 at 7:10pm

Barry Saxifrage

More Lim-baugh humbug. The ghost of Climate Future has his work cut out for him to get through to Rush.

July 20 at 7:18pm

Peter S. Mizla

He is off his meds again.

July 20 at 7:18pm

Tenney Naumer

There are no meds for that kind of mind.

July 20 at 8:47pm

Tenney Naumer

Personally, we should see what he has to say if he has to stand outside in that weather for an hour. What a jerk. People are suffering all over the country. They can’t pay their electric bills for all the air conditioning. I know my mother has her thermostat on 80 or higher.

July 20 at 10:19pm

Peter S. Mizla

This weather is indeed extreme- but the Denial Song of the far right and the GOP strikes again. Denial of anything and everything that causes discomfort. In this case many are suffering.

July 20 at 10:44pm

Climate Portals

We are collective truly crazy….

http://www.bloomberg.com/n​ews/2011-07-20/nauru-s-ple​a-for-un-action-on-climate​-threat-goes-unheeded-1-.h​tml

July 20 at 7:23pm

Paul Magnus

“Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environmental Program, told the Security Council that 42 million people were driven from their homes last year by natural disasters, 90 percent of which were weather-related. The “scale and number of these disasters will increase exponentially,” he said.

July 20 at 9:11pm

Paul Magnus

“The latest science that is being published by scientific institutions across the planet is in many respects overtaking the rather conservative scenarios and predictions and models the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change brought to our attention four years ago,” said Steiner.

July 20 at 9:12pm

Paul Magnus

“Whether you look at the linear warming trend over the last 50 years, an average of 0.13 degrees warming per decade that is nearly twice the temperature increases we saw over the last 100 years; whether we look at the increases in extreme weather events and storms and cyclones; whether we look at the thermal expansion of the oceans; whether we look also at the melting of the arctic summer ice, all these are not speculative data about the fact that a changing climate is a reality,” he said. “These are proven trends.”

July 20 at 9:13pm

John McCormick

Climate Portals…another failed link. Do folks actually test their links before posting them? A lot of time wasted reading the error message. Trust, but verify. Please.

July 21 at 8:02am

Paul Magnus

http://www.bloomberg.com/n​ews/2011-07-20/nauru-s-ple​a-for-un-action-on-climate​-threat-goes-unheeded-1-.h​tml

July 21 at 9:12am

Paul Magnus

Hi John, I have just cut and pasted the exact link again from the original and it doesn’t work. This is a problem with the FB system. I did come across it but forgot that it doesn’t work here. It works when you use a tiny URL link but forgot to use it this time.

July 21 at 9:15am

Paul Magnus

http://tinyurl.com/climate​portals200

July 21 at 9:16am

Paul Magnus

oops it doesnt seem to work with tiny URLs now…. Those are the actual URLs. They just doent work from this blog. I think there are hidden characters in the links.

Joe you have to sort this out. Links still dont work!!!

Does anyone know how to get links working in this FB setup??

John,
if you click on the climate portal link then you will see the article listed in the FB stream. Alternatively you will have to google the title to get to the article.

July 21 at 9:21am

Paul Magnus

John,
if you click on the climate portal link then you will see the article listed in the FB stream. Alternatively you will have to google the title to get to the article.

July 21 at 9:22am

John McCormick

Thank you, Paul. I linked to the Climate Portals site and found the UN security Council report. It was appalling and convinced me the UN is the last place on earth to resolve the global inaction to prevent or slow down what is certain to become the extinction of humankind. Time has run out as far as I am concerned. We are now merely spectators of the chaos that is here and will accelerate. We will suffer but not the way our children and grandchildren will.

July 21 at 11:54am

Irene Budoff

People keep saying it’s the oxycontin…actually, I think he needs to go BACK on it.

July 20 at 9:00pm

David Ferguson

When do you think the last time he actually went outside was? I bet he doesn’t even actually play golf outside.

July 20 at 9:16pm

Irene Budoff

Miniature golf?

Saturday at 2:25pm

David Gunter

Limbaugh – always the Entertainer for the ill-informed.

July 20 at 9:03pm

Bailey Struss

Scarier even than Rush, are the multitudes who hang on his every word.

July 20 at 9:09pm

Candi Wease

I’ve got some land I’d like to sell Limbaughs listeners. I have lost all patience for willful ignorance.

July 21 at 2:40pm

me

I don’t suppose he’s ever complained about wind chill being a political conspiracy?

July 20 at 9:22pm

Bob Comer

The wind from Lush-Rush comes from where the sun doesn’t shine—his behind. All of his ideas reside in there, too.

July 21 at 1:54am

Rob Honeycutt

There is not a face nor a palm large enough for this one.

July 20 at 9:50pm

George Ennis

An independent review of the BBC’s science reporting concluded that journalists boosted the apparent controversy of scientific news stories such as climate change, GM crops and the MMR vaccine by giving too much weight to fringe scientific viewpoints.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/​science/2011/jul/20/bbc-cl​imate-change-science-cover​age

Rush Limbaugh would obviously find such a policy unacceptable since his ratings depend upon creating controversy where there is none.

July 20 at 9:55pm

crazy tempura

To big-name conservatives, EVERYTHING is a secret liberal conspiracy.

July 20 at 10:48pm

Richard Brenne

Wait until he sees the heat indices where he’s ending up…

July 20 at 10:50pm

Richard Brenne

So we’re repealing wind chill as well?

July 20 at 10:52pm

Richard Brenne

And does prolonged oxycontin use remove every last neuron’s ability to fire any feeling of empathy down to the molecular level?

July 20 at 10:56pm

Richard Brenne

Maybe when you’re as large and stationary as Mount Rush-more you create your own weather.

July 20 at 10:58pm

Wendy Truong

Has anyone every thought that the names Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, and Bill O’Reilly sound like a football team!

July 20 at 11:03pm

Dan Satterfield

Truly amazing ignorance. You think he really believes that stuff or is he just playing to the right wing authoritarians who listen to his program?

July 20 at 11:09pm

Bob Henson

I guess this means that wind chill is a right-wing plot.

July 21 at 1:01am

Bob Comer

Limbaugh is being paid mega-millions to daily spew his ridiculous Far Right Wing-nut B.S. The money comes from the Ultra-Rich like the Koch Bros. This is just another in a long line of B.S. that would fill a very stinky library. Next, Lush will claim the moon is made of green cheese and it’s Obama’s fault that the rats on the moon are eating it. Yes, I agree that the people who listen to his crap and actually believe it are a dangerous bunch. If this were the 1930′s, they would be saluting Adolf. No kidding–the same kind of brain-dead , know-nothings thought Herr Hitler was just IT. You can just imagine them voting for B.S. Bachmann or Pathetic Palin. Hell, if they could get a free McCafe, they’d vote for Ronald McDonald. Remember, they voted for the other Ronald McDonald (clown) in 1980. Did they sleep through all 12 years of school? YEP! You betcha!

July 21 at 1:48am

Christopher A. Young

Palin, I get. What do you have against Bachmann?

July 22 at 1:52am

Sue Orchid

I’m afraid of those crazy eyes

July 22 at 9:56am

Berne Ketchum

Bachmann is a religious extremist, the last kind of person we need in power … oh, I know, that has worked out so well in Iran and Afghanistan, but it wouldn’t work here.

July 22 at 2:46pm

Christopher A. Young

Being an Evangelical automatically makes her extremist?

July 22 at 6:44pm

Berne Ketchum

Is she an evangelical? More like Christian Taliban.

22 at 6:45pm

Christopher A. Young

Before I decide whether or not to continue this line of conversation… What are your Political axises?

July 22 at 7:03pm

Berne Ketchum

My political axes? I believe in fairness.

July 22 at 7:15pm

Chris Kmotorka

“Being an Evangelical automatically makes her extremist? ”

Yes.

July 23 at 9:27pm

Vietnam Cafeland

Great! ^^

http://cafeland.vn

July 21 at 4:44am

Jimmy Reynolds

The competition is fierce, I’ll admit, but I think we can finally declare Limbaugh America’s official Village Idiot.

July 21 at 6:37am

Jeaniene Church

Sorry, but he is right. I see nothing but bare allegations here.

July 26 at 8:24pm

Jimmy Reynolds

So, Limbaugh’s own words count for nothing? He plainly says that the heat index was manufactured by the government and goes on to connect this with a nefarious agenda.

July 26 at 8:26pm

Jeaniene Church

I am referring to bare allegations about heat index = global warming.

July 26 at 8:30pm

Colorado Bob

Meanwhile in the real world -
11.81 inches falls in an one hour in Montreal -
” Montreal’s sewer system was put to the test during an intense deluge that struck the downtown area of the city on Monday.

The downpour dropped 30 cm of water on the downtown and Plateau Mont Royal areas in less than an hour, causing flooding in some buildings and a spectacular sewer geyser on Wolfe St. between Ste-Catherine St. and René Levesque Blvd.

MyNews contributor Andrea Spector sent in this video of a car being sent into the air by a rocket of water exiting a sewer.
http://montreal.ctv.ca/ser​vlet/an/local/CTVNews/2011​0719/mtl_geyser_110719/201​10719/?hub=MontrealHome

July 21 at 8:24am

Pam Eliason

is this a heat wave or a liberal campaign… um…. not sure…..

July 21 at 9:31am

Jeffrey Davis

It won’t need much here this morning to hit double 80s: both temperature and dew point in the 80s. We had an 81 dew point back on Monday. So, Hell twice in one week.

The last time we had an +80 dew point, in the 70s, I had a huge dog to walk and lots of hair on my head. And people like Limbaugh are trying to make that kind of misery the New Normal.

Except, I’ve seen the curve on the climate projections: we’re done with the prelude. The first movement will begin shortly. We’ll look back on this New Normal as the good old days.

And be sure to hang around for the climax. It’s a doozy.

July 21 at 11:03am

Larry Robinson

Do any of you own a thermometer that displays the “heat index temperature”?

July 21 at 11:19am

Kyle Vester

I don’t, but I don’t have a thermometer I use for measuring ambient temperature. But, guess what Larry, you can buy heat index indicator. It’s this incredible magical, most likely government manufactured, device that takes the ambient temperature and relative humidity and spits out this number that the government says is what it really feels like. Oh wait…

http://www.google.com/sear​ch?q=heat+index+thermomete​r&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&r​ls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Ao​fficial&client=firefox-a#q​=heat+index+thermometer&hl​=en&client=firefox-a&hs=ri​c&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:of​ficial&prmd=ivns&source=un​iv&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=​9Y4pTt2eCMTJgQfSkJiHCw&ved​=0CEsQrQQ&bav=on.2,or.r_gc​.r_pw.&fp=638e4ae79ecbd0fc​&biw=1280&bih=837

July 22 at 10:55am

Bryan Seigneur

Actually, in Alabama, we embrace the sauna. As bad as humidity is during our hot summers with scattered showers, without the occasional shower and humidity, it’s even hotter because the evaporation reduces the heat. I’d rather have 90F sauna than 105F dry (and hardy plants dying). Of course, there are states which are 105F sauna right now. I wonder how high it would be without all of the available moisture.

July 21 at 11:22am

Jeff Wood

If Rush doesn’t think it’s hot, then turn off the air conditioning in his office, mansion, chauffeur driven limousine, etc. etc. and lets see how he feels.

July 21 at 12:31pm

James Hwang

All that heat must be getting to his brain. The humidity must be high, he always seems sweaty in his videos, or maybe that’s just the result of hot air coming out of his head.

July 21 at 2:04pm

Patti Ski

http://www.addictinginfo.o​rg/2011/07/21/republican-g​overnors-who-dont-believe-​in-climate-change-call-for​-day-of-prayer-to-end-the-​heat/

July 21 at 2:15pm

Patti Ski

yes that will work… just like ‘praying the gay away’ works… idiots

July 21 at 2:15pm

Mary Beaulieu

Teh Stoopid, it burns…..

July 21 at 2:25pm

Bob Walker

Ahhhhh! I feel cooler already!

July 21 at 2:53pm

boscodegamma

For the smug, holier than thou, I Know Better Than You, crowd, which is about everyone here. He’s commenting the heat index is being reported as the actual temp. It’s not 116, it’s 100, with a heat index of 116. Now start making the excuses. Oh Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy. The competition isn’t so fierce. Rush has yet to beat out front runners like Hill, the originator of village idiocy, Algore, the inventor of the internet, messiah and cashier of the greenies, Obama, cult leader of the unquestioning.

July 21 at 2:25pm

Kyle Vester

You’re right, but then he says this:

“The heat index, manufactured by the government, they tell you what it feels like when you add the humidity in there.”

The heat index is not a government conspiracy!

And then this:

“If we want to cool things off – please Al Gore, schedule a global warming conference, wherever, in Washington!”

This second thing has nothing, nothing whatsoever, to do with the heat index and what it means.

July 22 at 10:50am

mtmariner101

Wake me when Limbaugh stops making stupid accusations. That will really be news.

July 22 at 1:12pm

Cheri Boeneman

I would think if there was anyone to BLAME for the heat index it would be the power companies so everyone would crank up the a/c.

July 21 at 3:26pm

Kimberly Butler Garrison

This guy is going off the deep end with his comments. The oxycontin must be really frying his brain cells where his pronouncements are so stupid and outrageous people shake their heads and laugh.

July 21 at 3:29pm

Tom Gray

Pretty simple, the heat index is like the wind chill index. I’m guessing that Rush doesn’t object to that, since it makes cold temperatures sound even colder.–Regards, Tom Gray, Wind Energy Communications Consultant.

July 21 at 3:53pm

Aubrey Fletcher

Rush is the Dathan from the Ten Commandments, screaming: “No… go back to Pharoah, he’ll make everything right, this weather thing is a conspiracy! There’s no Global Warming, it’s a left conspiracy.” When uh… it’s true, and every year we get hotter and hotter. When is he ever going to learn?

July 21 at 5:08pm

John Seward

What’s scary is the number of people who’ll lap that up.

July 21 at 6:45pm

Ron Bishop

Heat index has been used for years. I remember being exposed to it in HS and then again in college. There is also a Clo-1, Clo-2, used to describe how many layers you need to put on to be comfortable. Rush must be Clo-0 Bare Naked Intelligence.

July 21 at 7:50pm

Jim Schatte

LOL I think his mind was effected by the wind chill blowing thru that empty head of his.

July 21 at 7:55pm

Chuck Pierce

Back in the 70′s there was a study done with volunteer subjects who attempted to describe their subjective feelings about who hot it felt to them at different temps and levels of humidity. This is what our “heat index” is based on. It, (like “wind chill”) is a great way for media to keep us tuned in when they throw around these ridiculous numbers. Rush is an idiot, but “heat index” is a farce.

July 23 at 9:21am

Susan Wood

The fat man can afford to keep his AC set at 65, and pump all the heat out into the street for the rest of us to enjoy. I’m not saying I wish a power failure on his neighborhood, or anything, but karma is karma.

July 21 at 8:26pm

Tenney Naumer

I’m thinkin’ there’s plenty of backfat there to sizzle.

July 22 at 5:26pm

Gary Kennelly

Sounds as if Rash Lamebrain is at it again.

July 22 at 12:48am

Bobby Holmes

huh? ever hear of wind chill factor….same thing.

July 22 at 12:54am

Christopher A. Young

Ironically, all he is doing is being a pedant. The HI is not the “Actual Temperature”. And unfortunately he’s right, people have been saying all over DC Metro area that the Temperature is going to be 105-115. All forms of media sell stories on a shock value. They have been leaving out the fact that those are the indexes, and that the Actual Air Temps are going to be between 95 and 100F.

And to further convolve things, that’s a shade temperature. (i.e. the standard by NWS.) In the sun the temps are 10-15 degrees higher with a proportunate increase in the HI as well.

Or at least he was until the Liberal Gov’t Hoax part came up. That I know is more rhetoric. :/

July 22 at 1:50am

Christopher A. Young

Sorry, *proportionate*

July 22 at 1:54am

laska1818

Tell me again why people lilsten to this blowhard? Obviously years and years of self-medication has taken its toll.

July 22 at 4:07am

Sue Orchid

Fox Meteorologist? ha ha

July 22 at 9:55am

Bill Krohn

You mean people still pay attention to what this lunatic says? Somebody pull the plug on his air conditioners and let him swelter in his own how air.

July 22 at 11:03am

Abe Drayton

What an idiot…

The heat index has to deal with how your body can handle it. If there’s more moisture, sweating isn’t as effective, no matter how much water you drink.

I wouldn’t care that much except that if people act on his claims, they’ll end up getting killed. A couple years working on the AT was more than enough to clearly demonstrate the dangers of under-estimating the heat/humidity combination…

July 22 at 12:47pm

Jill Cockrum

Um… Really Rush?

July 22 at 8:25pm

Fern Mackenzie

We’ve been using a humidex up here in Commie Canada since the ’60s — further “proof” eh?

July 23 at 1:34pm

Stuart Poss

Ditto Heads Unite! Put on your parkas and demonstrate to everyone that its not hot outside. The earth is cooling. Grab your parkas.

July 23 at 2:01pm

Cathy Moore

Oh, my goodness! I sure hope he feels what he’s denying. Of course, he’s an absolute IDIOT! Oh, wait – it’s Rush…I so forgot…

July 23 at 8:19pm

Heather Mynyk

he is so outspoken about everything….like he is just so angry I can’t stand to listen to the words coming out of his mouth because he comes off as a know-it-all who is wrong but just keeps going… there is freedom of speech yea! in my opinion I think he is a dork!

July 23 at 8:31pm

Jerry Hatmaker

just in case you thought he couldn’t get more inane!

July 24 at 9:27am

Karen Robertson

Scary.

July 24 at 1:36pm

Mandy Herring

The weather is the weather. This is a good day to give thanks to the Lord! Thanks for the air and He has our best interest at heart. Heat and Cold have always been a variable and so have the natural elements. Seek the Lord and keep your cool.

July 24 at 2:06pm

Tom Waeghe

See this scientist’s data and web site: http://www.drroyspencer.co​m/global-warming-natural-o​r-manmade/.

July 24 at 2:18pm

Charles Carlton

More hot air from a… Oh never mind…

July 24 at 3:30pm

Michael A Brito

Not only is the heat index a left wing conspiracy so are air conditioning unit’s. All conservatives should shut off there AC units. It’s only hot because the left wing AC units make you think it’s hot. Once you turn them off you will see it’s not that hot after all! Oh and you will conservatively save money, which is very conservative. Kills two birds with one stone, which by the way is also very conservative.

July 24 at 4:07pm

Bob Doublin

I’m such a weather junky I subject myself to the godawful right wing ads on The Weather Channel.(You know, ex-gov of Arkansas Huckleberry Hound ranting about Obamacare Shazam! Shazam! Shazam!) They’re constantly talking about the Heat Indices occurring all over the states.Sure sounds like a Liberal Conspiracy to me.hee-hee.

July 25 at 12:21pm

Jeaniene Church

I think it’s great to have a website devoted to idiocy.

July 26 at 8:25pm

Jeaniene Church

I am referring to bare allegations about heat index = global warming.

July 26 at 8:29pm

Jeaniene Church

“In the real world, the heat index adds to the actual temperature the effect of humidity, which interferes with the body’s ability to perspire and carry away heat: “When the relative humidity is high, the evaporation rate is reduced, so heat is removed from the body at a lower rate causing it to retain more heat than it would in dry air.”.

As a Southerner, I get that. It doesn’t change that this has not set any new records.

July 26 at 8:32pm