"In order to separate human-caused global warming from the "noise" of purely natural climate fluctuations, temperature records must be at least 17 years long, according to climate scientists." - we're at 17 years, and we're not seeing the human caused signal. What part of that is difficult for you to comprehend? I guess the first sentence of the press release you link is too difficult to follow...

Thank you sir, for your incredibly lucid and applicable argument.

This is the Federal Government we're talking about. Not only is "sensible" a negative thing, but the costs of internal maintenance of any IT project would most likely be multiples of just paying someone else for a proprietary solution. Consider the IRS is "only" paying $12 million for a year's support for its computers; doing that in-house would undoubtedly cost 4-5 times that amount and result in slower service as all requests need to be filed in triplicate with 3 different agencies, and cross-referenced with non-sequential numbers...

Why 500 years? Why not 1000? Of course, 1000 would put us back in the Medieval Warm Period, and we'd see zero warming since that time... A cooling period, but we've just swung back up to that time 1000 years ago. Maybe that's the reason 500 years was chosen?

Well, when Dr. Benjamin Santer, winner of the McArthur award because of his findings related to AGW, sets 17 years as what is needed to determine the trend, don't be surprised when we reach that timeline with no warming and then take the good Doctor at his word - there is a pause in global warming, and we only need 17 years to make that determination.

Lies. Learn the truth. The House passed a budget (under Nancy Pelosi, speaker) that President Bush promised to veto. Harry Reid - the other half of Congress - held it until President Obama was inaugurated - and then President Obama signed the budget. FY2009, by any rational mind, is laid at the footstep of President Obama, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and Senator Harry Reid.

FY2009 was signed into law by President Obama, not President Bush. FY 2009's record-breaking $1.4 TRILLION deficit was approved by President Obama. The last Bush deficit was $453 billion, about 65% of the current FY deficit.

You got FY2009 wrong - as most of the anti-Bush/pro-Obama crowd do. FY2009 was signed into law by President Obama, not President Bush. Changes your calculus somewhat, don't you think?

What was the deficit of the last fiscal year budget that President Bush signed? What was the deficit of the first fiscal year budget under President Obama?

Those claims you make only hold up if you assign the 2009 budget to Bush. Who signed the FY 2009 budget?

It's a UTILITY PATENT, not a design patent. The look of the element on the screen is irrelevant, it is the function of the element that matters. And that is clearly predated by the Microsoft video. And whilst I am not a patent attorney, I do hold 25 utility - and 30 design - patents, I've been through it enough to understand the difference and what is relevant in each case. Design patent = look; utility patent = function.

California is not going broke because of businesses not paying; the State brings in about $5000 per man, woman and child (in the top 10 across the nation, per capita). Localities add even more to the revenue stream. It's not a lack of revenue, it's decades of continued excessive spending that has California in continual budget crises.

Wouldn't militant lesbian imply anti-shaving, thus the furry tag is redundant?

James Hansen, noted pro-AGW, ex-NASA researcher disagrees with you. The pause is real. The data we have verifies it. The models do not. Which do we believe - the models or the data?

Actually it was more akin to you taking your car to the mechanic for a squeal coming from the rear passenger side tire, and being told that your driver side front blinker isn't working right.