Sometimes, it's hard to start the day off with a bit of sunshine.

Typhoon Fengshen Sinks Princess of Stars,
700-plus Missing, Presumed Dead

Bad news from the Philippines, via Reuters:

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Philippine ferry sinks; 700-plus passengers missing
By Manny Mogato and Rosemarie Francisco, Sun Jun 22, 2008 5:41am EDT

MANILA, June 22 (Reuters) - Rescuers braved rough seas on Sunday searching for survivors of a Philippine ferry that capsized with more than 700 passengers and crew during a typhoon that has killed scores and left a trail of destruction.

So far, only four people are known to have survived and they said many passengers did not make it off the MV Princess of Stars in time.

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Click the link before the excerpt for the full story.

"Though the weather outside is frightful..."

The news of the disaster in the Philippines comes right on the back of this piece, which in and of itself isn't exactly full of warmth and promise:

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Extreme floods, storms seen increasing in North America
Reporting by Timothy Gardner, editing by Chris Wilson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Floods, droughts and severe storms are likely to ravage North America more frequently as emissions of planet-warming gases rise, according to a U.S. government study.

Extreme weather events, "could seriously affect" human health, agricultural production, and the availability and quality of water in the future, according to the report, issued by the Climate Change Science Program on Thursday.

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Click the link before the excerpt for the full story.

Looking Back At Prior Dire Predictions and Misconstrued News

With all this hullabaloo, it calls to mind an interesting story from the 2004 timeframe -- two stories, in fact.

1. From The Observer:

   Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us
   by Mark Townsend and Paul Harris in New York, The Observer, Sunday February 22, 2004

   The piece tells of a March 2003 report commissioned by the Pentagon to study to worst-case potentials of Climate Change / global warming, and created quite a stir when news of the report got out. But the news may have been misconstrued.

2. From the The San Francisco Chronicle:

   Pentagon-sponsored climate report sparks hullabaloo in Europe
   But new ice age unlikely, Bay Area authors of study say
   by Keay Davidson, Chronicle Science Writer, Wednesday, February 25, 2004

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   All that Schwartz and Randall did was to investigate the "worst-case" possible events, those that are highly unlikely to happen but, if they did happen, would be catastrophic, especially in their impacts on U.S. military operations -- "low probability, high impact" events, as they are known in the futurological world.

   [...snip...]

   It isn't even a Pentagon report in the strict sense of the word. It does not constitute an official DOD position paper or policy statement, conducted by scientists and military experts. Rather, all the work was done by Schwartz and Randall -- neither of whom is an atmospheric scientist -- based on their review of what real atmospheric scientists have done.

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Well, it's good thing we got all that settled. We wouldn't want to leave people thinking that things could get much worse.

This is an Open Thread.

One of the great myths of American childhood is the premise of Santa Claus, living at the North Pole and coming to all the good little girls and boys on Christmas.

Another great American myth, courtesy of the Republican party and climate change deniers world-wide, is that global warming isn't happening.

Now, due to the herculean efforts of the Freeway Blogger, those two myths have collided head-on in a two-sign series.

The first sign reads "If you think telling kids there's no Santa is hard," and the second reads "Try telling them there's no North Pole."

Ouch.

This is an Open Thread.

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"...Ya know when that shark bites, with his teeth, babe
    Scarlet billows start to spread..."

        from Bobby Darin.net / Mac the Knife
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More information about the song Mac The Knife from Wikipedia.

Expect to see changes in animal migration and feeding patterns as global climate changes begin to accelerate. The attack below may -- or may not -- be one such example:

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The county's first fatal shark attack in a half-century focused worldwide attention on a stretch of coastline with no history of shark activity.
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This is an Open Thread.

Just a brief blurb from a Reuters news article by Deborah Zabarenko from Monday, January 7:

WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - The United States delayed a decision on whether global warming threatens polar bears, saying on Monday new data and public comment required more time. Environmentalists vowed to sue for quicker action.

Apparently, while denying that the potential reason for the exception was that "substantial scientific uncertainty" existed with regard to the threat to the bears, no really adequate answer was provided, and the head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it would take "as much as a month" to analyze all the pertinent details.

The blog just2hands provides some additional information about the initial decision to consider listing the bears under the Endangered Species Act:

well, a few weeks ago, the dept. of interior finally pulled its head out and put out a proposal to list polar bears as a threatened under the endangered species act ... gee, i wonder what convinced them? was it the reports of polar bear drownings or was it the cannibalism?

You can check the link to the blog for three action sites where you can either sign a pre-written letter or add one of your own.

Important Update: A guest post by Alisha Fowler via WattHead on DailyKos draws attention to some additional -- and more sinister -- reasons behind the delay. Check it out:

the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was due to make a decision about its "threatened" status by this Wednesday. The Service has, however, delayed the listing for up to one month!

This leaves the bear and its habitat unprotected. Coincidentally, one of the largest oil and gas lease sales is set to occur on February 6, in the Chukchi Sea off of the northwest coast of Alaska –

Does anyone smell a rat burning Bush in the room?

Stormy Weather Ahead

Whether meteorological or economic in nature, the stormy weather being felt in parts of the nation today may simply be a brief taste of what is to come.

Starting with the meteorological via CNN,

Severe storms that have brought heavy rain, snow and high winds to California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado claimed their first victim and probably triggered a levee break Saturday.

Every so often, a video comes around that makes a simple, straightforward, no bullsh!t case for using logic.

This man's logic appears inescapable. (Hat-tip g'ma of DelphiForums.)

What do ~you~ think?