Annual mid-winter nonsense.

As I've said before; most doubts people have about the reality of global climate change stem from lackadaisical fact checking and misleading anecdotes. And the immortal mother of all of these false arguments is a simple canard that always emerges from its den around this time of year; how can there be global warming when it's cold outside?

Now, one would think this assumption should appear so obviously incorrect that only a moron would be taken in by it. But when you're buried under three feet of snow and have to warm up your car for a half hour before driving it and have to protect every inch of your body before going outside in broad daylight because a -30 degree wind chill will frost bite exposed flesh in minutes, you do tend to wonder exactly where all that warming is right now.

Peter Sinclair's Climate Crock of the Week tells us:

NBC shits the money bed.

I grew up watching Late Night with Conan O'Brien, especially during its heyday in the late 90's, and always hoped the former Simpsons and SNL writer would eventually displace Jay Leno's style of folksy, moron-targeting shtick with smarter and edgier material. That's why it pains me to see NBC doing to O'Brien what it did to David Letterman almost twenty years ago; reneging on its word and fucking him over, publicly.

In case you weren't aware, last week NBC announced it was moving The Jay Leno Show into the coveted 11:35 time slot and pushing The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien back to 12:05, witch is technically tomorrow morning, not tonight. O'Brien's opening monologue last night was one of the best of his career, as he unloaded on his bosses:



The next morning O'Brien announced he wasn't going to play along:



I didn't quite realize how badly NBC had shit the money bed until I saw this clip of Bill O'Reilly commenting on the whole fiasco and found myself agreeing with him:



It only takes a few minutes for O'Reilly and Goldberg to veer of track and start using the whole affair to somehow bash Obama, but there's no denying that NBC is in serious trouble. As for Conan, one can only hope he and his staff land somewhere fitting their caliber and talent. If such a place still exists on network television.

Bob Barker rescues Whale Wackos from sinking Bat Boat!

In case you were wondering where yahoos like Paul Watson and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society get the millions of dollars for their vessels, the answer is well meaning yet clueless celebrities like Bob Barker:



It's worth noting that at about the 4:45 mark, while Barker is claiming that the Japanese intentionally rammed the Adi Gil, the footage rolling to his left simutaniously refutes that statement, clearly showing the Adi Gil turning its bow into the path of the oncoming whaling vessel before impact.

Rachel Maddow goes pretty easy on Bob, which is understandable I suppose. Considering all he has done for animal rights over the decades, and perhaps because like myself, Bob Barker was a major part of Maddow's childhood. He and Mr. Rogers were probably my best friends from age three to five, the days where you first become self aware and start having memories and are plunked down in front of the T.V. when mom needs a break.

Still, I have a hard time not thinking about all the good that five million could have done in the hands of responsible charities and non profits, instead of adding to the aging hippie navy.

Whale Wackos sink Bat Boat!

It looks like the first casualty of Animal Planet's despicable reality show Whale Wars is a famous (now infamous I suppose) Batman inspired concept boat called the Ady Gil.

For those not familiar with the show; Whale Wars debuted on Animal Planet HD in 2007 and features disgraced former Greenpeace board member Paul Watson and a crew of useful idiots and cranks who play chicken with Japanese whaling vessels. Though it does bring attention to illegal Japanese whaling, the show is little more than Watson coaxing his loyal peons into risking their lives and those of the whalers for cheap political stunts that wind up making the whalers look like the good guys.

Up till now the show was little more than fodder for South Park, however, now it looks like they've upped the ante:



Here's the result:




A friend familiar with the Ady Gil tells me it had been involved in a similar collision in 2000 during a race around the world, which probably is why the people behind Whale Wars aquired it and then rammed it into the side of a Japanese whaler; the free publicity. At any rate, here's what a fine piece of maritime design looks like before reality T.V. gets a hold of it:

Rush Limbaugh praises socialized, unionized healthcare.

Many probably thought their prayers had been answered last week when Rush Limbaugh was rushed (no pun intended) to a Hawaiian hospital complaining of chest pains. One could compile a very long list of politicians, party bosses, journalists, and basic human beings of all political persuasions who would be grateful for him to be silenced. As it turned out everything was fine; liberals will still have their whipping boy they love to hate, conservatives will still have an endless supply of the ideological crack that is Limbaugh's routine, and moderate Republicans will still have to quake in fear and grovel at his feet.

Not surprisingly, upon his release Limbaugh took the opportunity to lavish praise on the American health care system:



At about the 2:30 mark he declares that his status as a celebrity multimillionaire got him no special treatment, a laughable statement, but one expects nothing less from him.

What is more interesting is that while he couldn't say enough good things about the American health care system, he was treated in Hawaii, which boasts features like employer madates and standardized plans, things Limbaugh spent 2009 decrying as socialist . Firedoglake points this out:

Hawaii’s health care system is distinct from the rest of the country, in that they passed a version of health reform decades ago, in 1974. The Hawaii Pre-Paid Health Care Act includes a requirement for employers to provide health coverage to their workers. As you may know, a similar requirement on large employers is a key part of the reform now pending in Congress.

And the employer requirement seems, by and large, to have succeeded. It has increased coverage–just under 8 percent of the state’s population is uninsured, second only to Massachusetts–and access to care. At the same time, Hawaii still has some of the lowest health care costs in the nation, despite its high cost of living and without an apparent decrease in quality–as Limbaugh himself discovered.

And the nurses whom Limbaugh said did such a good job were all in fact, union members:

Limbaugh stayed at Queen’s Medical Center, where nursing staff are represented by the Hawaii Nurses’ Association (read: a labor union). The nurses at Queen’s are protected by their contract, which adheres to the ANA’s safe-staffing principles guaranteeing appropriate staffing levels for any patient care unit.

In fact, Hawaii has one of the greatest percentages of organized workers of any state and also had the highest percentage of organized RNs. All private-sector acute care hospital RNs are organized, with just two known exceptions. We’re guessing this might have something to do with why Limbaugh found the Hawaii hospital staff’s work so “confidence-inspiring.”

When Limbaugh was released from Queen’s Medical Center, he cheerily noted, “The treatment I received here was the best that the world has to offer.”

Whether he realized it or not, Limbaugh was praising the care he received from union nurses in one of the country’s most progressive health care systems. On behalf of the labor movement and health reform advocates everywhere, THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT, Rush!

Treating Rush Limbaugh must have been the ultimate test of the Hippocratic oath for many professionals in that hospital; working to save the life of a man who makes a living trying to tear down everything you've worked for. Rush is lucky that there are people out there who believe that health care is a right that cannot be denied no matter how bankrupt you are, whether it be morally or financially.