Oh, and while the alarmists always cherry-pick the recent retreat in northern hemisphere Arctic sea ice, they conveniently ignore the corresponding INCREASE in southern hemisphere Antarctic sea ice. If the ice at one pole is melting while the ice at the other pole is accumulating, with the net result being no positive or negative trend in polar ice, how is this a sign of global warming?

Boy, HERE is a new story! For about the 10th year in a row, we keep hearing "New study says global warming worse than previously thought," while for about the 10th year in a row, global temperatures continue cooling.

Hey, who cares that study after study after study published in the world's leading scientific journals show that global drought is decreasing and global soil moisture is increasing? (See, for examples, the studies summarized and linked below) As long as we keep rigging our computer models to predict the sky is falling, research grants will keep pouring in and we will keep seeing our names in the paper as the heroic saviors of the planet!

DROUGHT SCIENCE SUMMARIES AND LINKS

The July 2004 issue of International Journal of Climatology reports, "it is now clear that many places in the Northern Hemisphere, and in Australia, have become less arid," and that "the terrestrial surface is both warmer and effectively wetter." The study concludes, "a good analogy to describe the changes in these places is that the terrestrial surface is literally becoming more like a gardener's greenhouse." (http://www.rsbs.anu.edu.au/Profiles/Grah...)

The May 25, 2006, issue of Geophysical Research Letters reports that for 20th century soil moisture trends, "An increasing trend is apparent in both model soil moisture and runoff over much of the U.S." The study adds, "This wetting trend is consistent with the general increase in precipitation in the latter half of the 20th century. Droughts have, for the most part, become shorter, less frequent, and cover a smaller portion of the country over the last century." (http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2006/20...)

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports, "A number of tree-ring records exist for the last two millennia which suggest that 20th century droughts may be mild when evaluated in the context of this longer time frame." (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/drought/d...)

The July 2007 issue of Climatic Change reports that during the Little Ice Age, there occurred three "very large-scale drought[s] more severe and sustained than any witnessed during the period of instrumental weather observations" [i.e., the 20th century]. (http://www.springerlink.com/content/5478...)