Not surprising, but all the same ridiculous.

Lou "Mr. Independent" Dobbs said on his show today that Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) deserves a round of applause as a man "utterly vindicated" for his stand against climate change science. 

Here's the catch Lou, tell me where the facts surrounding the science of climate change have changed? Where is the science refuting the multiple lines of evidence all showing a dramatic rise in temperatures over the last decade in relation to the continued burning of greenhouse gas intensive fuels like oil and coal. 

The only applause Inhofe deserves is from the oil and gas lobby who have donated so much money to his coffers over the years.

Watch it:

The Deniersphere being alive with delight over the emails stolen from the UK Hadley Centre, my colleague Kevin Grandia has wondered aloud (see next post) about what a similar sampling of emails might look like if they were sourced from one of the most aggressive and least (climate) credible think tanks - the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Why stop there?

As a stunning amount of email traffic on this issue currently seems to be coming from uberDenier Marc Morano, why doesn't the former aide to Okalahoma Senator and Republican Denier-in-Chief James Inhofe volunteer to share his correspondence?

Kevin suggested a six-month supply from CEI. I reckon the last six days from Morano might significantly advance the question of who's credible on this issue. It might even show who hacked Hadley.

C'mon Markey. Show us what you got.

If yours is a reasonable assault on the scientists named in the CRU hacked emails, you should have no reservations about submitting to as quick second reading. Marc? Marc!!? Get your finger off that delete key!

Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank writes today about how very lonely it must be, to be one of the only dinosaurs left in the US Senate who actually believes climate change is some kind of hoax or socialist conspiracy to take over the world.

I am referring of course to Senator James Inhofe (R-OK).

Milbank writes:

"It must be very lonely being the last flat-earther.

Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, committed climate-change denier, found himself in just such a position Tuesday morning as the Senate environment committee, on which he is the ranking Republican, took up legislation on global warming. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was in talks with Democrats over a compromise bill -- the traitor!"

Climate policy can make for strange bedfellows – perhaps none as strange as the former vice president and Republican senator from Oklahoma, whose views on most issues could not be more divergent. Yet on one issue – related to climate change, no less – they agree: black carbon, or, as it’s more commonly known, “soot,” is a dangerous pollutant that deserves more study.

In fact, Inhofe considered it a grave enough threat that he recently co-sponsored a bill with Democratic Senators Carper, Boxer and Kerry to prod the EPA into studying the health and global warming impacts of black carbon emissions.

And while the insufferable Oklahoman may insist that his support for the legislation in no way contradicts his established denier bona fides – for good measure, he unleashed a typically scathing critique of the Obama administration’s proposed environmental policies the same day the bill was introduced – there is no denying that black carbon, the product of fossil fuel consumption and biomass burning, is a major agent of climate change.

George Monbiot's 'Top Ten Climate Change Deniers' reads like a keynote speaker wishlist from the Heartland Institute. Enjoy!