Climate scientists may still be debating to what extent climate change is going to translate into stronger and more frequent hurricanes, but insurance companies aren't waiting for the final answer. The 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, which included Hurricane Katrina and multiple landfalls in Florida, sent the industry reeling. More than 5.6 million claims paid out $81 billion.

Swiss Re, an insurer to insurance companies, keeps three climatologists on staff to try to predict such future damages. In a report released just before the 2004 season, the reinsurer predicted that another decade of global warming would cost insurers more than $30 billion in weather-related claims every year.

• I find that accusing someone of being gay is the perfect shield against the facts. At least, it’s always worked for me.

‘Shorter’ concept created by Daniel Davies and perfected by Elton Beard, and shamelessly pilfered from Sadly, No.

(hat tip: Greg Laden)

Expected shortfall of gross domestic product below normal growth path in 2009: $900 billion

Decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average from its decade high to its value at the close of business, Jan. 7, 2009: 5,394.83, or 38.1 percent

Number of manufacturing jobs lost since 2000: 3.78 million

Increase in number of unemployed workers from 2001 to 2008: 4 million, a jump of 2.7 percent in the unemployment rate

Real median household income according to the 2000 census, adjusted for inflation: $51,804

Real median household income as of August 2007: $50,233

…

Cost of finance industry bailout: $350 billion, with another $350 pending congressional approval

Cost of auto industry bailout: $17.4 billion, so far

…

National debt: $10.6 trillion

Amount of that debt owned by China: At least $800 billion

…

Amount of money earned by a married U.S. Army sergeant with children per day in Iraq in 2007: $170

Amount of money earned by a Blackwater military contractor per day: $600

Number of U.S. military deaths as of Jan. 7, 2009: 4,222

Average cost of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle: $3.166 million

Cost of the new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad: $592 million

Cost to conduct the war per month: $12 billion

Amount the Bush administration estimated the war would cost from start to finish: $60 billion

If your mind needs further boggling, go read the whole thing.

(hat tip: Boing Boing)

One of President Buckwheat’s advisers defends President Buckwheat’s choice? Imagine our surprise!

And he immediately confirms his status as a racist with a twofer:

Wednesday of last week, President Buckwheat clearly agrees with the Senate Majority’s refusal to seat Blabbervich’s pick, Affirmative Action Burris…

As is usually the case with these asshats, the racism was always there. Eventually they slip up, and it becomes overt.

[T]here is no actual confirmation that the Israeli’s are using cluster munitions.

Oops:

The ground invasion was preceded by large-scale artillery shelling from around 4 P.M., intended to “soften” the targets as artillery batteries deployed along the Strip in recent days began bombarding Hamas targets and open areas near the border. Hundreds of shells were fired, including cluster bombs aimed at open areas.

Stop lying to your readers, Porter.

• I’m not an advocate of randomly launching rockets into populated Palestinian areas. But I am delighted to see bombs being lobbed into populated Palestinian areas.

‘Shorter’ concept created by Daniel Davies and perfected by Elton Beard, and shamelessly pilfered from Sadly, No.

Yesterday he vomited up his list of “the 5 WORST people in the blogsphere”, in which he made the following accusation:

#3 Thinking Meat (Or thinking of meat)

This is another libtard troll, he has frequented here and several other “Right minded” blogs, he really never says anything other than the daily KO’s talking points. Rumor has it he is under house arrest for child molesting, I am not sure how true that rumor is, but I wouldn’t doubt it. TM is by far one of the most prolific trolls the blogworld has seen, he posts comments and blogs about us “Conservatives” He insults us the best he can by showing how big of a traitor he is. He has posted lies upon lies but calls it “education” I love the faux intelectual type, as you will see soon enough. Congratulations TM you have made the list..

Laughable, yes? So I challenged him to back up his bullshit, and posted the following comment (mirrored here):

Yo, dickwad…

You got the stones to list the specific lies you’re accusing me of, and cite the evidence that what I said was actually false?

Or are you one of the usual run of peckerwood fucknuts who are great at making vague accusations, but scuttle back under the rocks when you are challenged to back up your spew?

That’s kinda what I thought…

Not only does Robert lack the balls to make specific accusations, he lacks even the minimal guts needed to accept that he’s been challenged to do so. He has posted a forgery in place of my comment.

That’s the norm among wingnuts. They are cowards of the most blatant kind. I thank Robert for illustrating that fact so clearly.

Remember, it’s not restricting Free Speech,it’s just protecting the children!

Wired News – AP News

A proposed Internet filter dubbed the “Great Aussie Firewall” is promising to make Australia one of the strictest Internet regulators among democratic countries.

And the same deal is happening in Great Britain – who have high hopes of working with Great Leader to do the same thing here. Soon we’ll be even MORE like China and Stalinist Russia.

Burhans’ insinuation that Obama (“Great Leader”) will conspire with Great Britain to implement the sort of draconian Internet content filters proposed in Australia is, of course, based firmly on… um… on… errrr… well, on nothing at all, it would seem.

That’s what lying wingnuts like Jeff Burhans do, you see — they invent boogeymen to scare themselves with. Must be exhausting, working so hard to terrify yourself all the time…

UPDATE 12/31/08 1:57 PM EST: Burhans has also invented “a coup which destroyed what little was left of our Constitutional government”. You must have seen it, it was in all the papers…

• Price gouging is great! I love being gouged! It’s right up there with Mom, baseball, and apple pie! Gouge me, baby! WOLVERINES!

‘Shorter’ concept created by Daniel Davies and perfected by Elton Beard, and shamelessly pilfered from Sadly, No.

OK, all you Climahysterics try a little experiment. Take a glass. Fill it with water about 1/2 way or so. Take an ice cube, drop it in. Mark the water level. Now, let it melt. When done, where is the mark? The same level? Holy cow!!!!

Good. Freaking. God. Is it actually possible (barring a lobotomy) for a human being to be this jaw-droppingly ignorant?

Now, Billykins Porter is right about the ice cube and the glass. When the ice cube melts, the water level in the glass does not rise appreciably. Why? Because the ice had displaced an equivalent volume of liquid water. Of course, this requires that the ice be in the water in the first place.

Billykins Porter is trying to tell us that, because ice floating in a glass does not raise the water level in the glass when it melts, there cannot possibly be any resultant increase in worldwide sea levels were the ice caps in Greenland and the Antarctic to melt. This means, of course, that Billykins Porter actually believes that the ice caps of Greenland and Antarctica are floating in the ocean.

Poor cretinous Billykins Porter apparently missed the news in geography class: Greenland and Antarctica are actually land masses. This, of course, means that the ice resting on those land masses is not displacing water in the oceans, and that any runoff from melting ice must increase the total volume of the oceans — thus increasing mean sea level.

This is what the civilized world is up against in dealing with the issues raised by global climate change — flat-out, blatant ignorance. The words of Friedrich Schiller could not be truer than they are today: “Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain”.

Cao looks at this, and through the wingnut haze that filters her entire perception of reality, sees:

…George Soros counting his gold at what looks like a gambling table.

Deranged.