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You’ve probably already heard: In a video “press conference” that has already been seen by almost two million people, Kermit and Miss Piggy take on, and take down, Fox News.

The provocation? A comment by a conservative media watcher, Dan Gainor of the Media Research Center, on the Fox Business Channel—accusing the new Muppets movie of being  “liberal” since the bad guy in the film turns out to be an oil tycoon. It was just part of Fox Business host Eric Bolling going on about whether liberals, through the flick, are “trying to brainwash your kids against capitalism.”

In the press conference, Kermit responds to the charge by noting that in the movie, the Muppets are actually riding in a “gas guzzling Rolls Royce.”

Miss Piggy then goes one better, calling the accusation “almost as laughable as accusing Fox News as being, you know, news.”

Now even Bill O’Reilly has weighed in, telling the Muppets to “watch it.” I think he may have been joking. I think.

I wouldn’t make so much of this, were it not for the fact that this kind of thing happens all the time. I mean, it was just last year that Fox picked a fight with SpongeBob Squarepants—because SpongeBob dared to be accurate about global warming.

And liberals laughed, and snickered.

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Washington, D.C.—In a move that came as a shock both in this city and throughout the planet on which it is located, Standard & Poor’s late Monday downgraded Earth from its unique HHH rating—the only one in the galaxy—to HH+.

The coveted HHH rating—meaning, “extremely habitable”—has become indefensible, the ratings agency said, due to continuing failures to balance the atmospheric carbon budget and an increasingly toxic political debate that renders better policies unlikely any time soon. 

“Atmospheric carbon inputs continue to outweigh carbon outputs (or sinks), leading to a growing and unsustainable carbon ‘surplus,’” wrote S&P. “Unlike fiscal surpluses, this surplus is very dangerous and is already triggering rising temperatures, heat waves, droughts, and extreme weather patterns.”

Under the new HH+ rating, the Earth is still considered “highly habitable” for humans. However, S&P also changed the planet’s outlook to “negative,” suggesting the possibility of further downgrades. 

Critics Cite Dearth of Spaceships

Criticism came fast and furious.

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Love is in the air today. And it can't be easy to get a date when you're a major polluter and have a questionable vision of ethics. To assist these dirty lovers, Greenpeace created the perfect matchmaking service where industry lobbyists, corrupt politicians and oil execs can find true love.  

Polluter Harmony (and its Canadian version) is the online go-to site for those with a strong distaste for a healthy planet. Pollution lovers can prospect for partners based on industry affiliations, shady values, and huge profit margins to find that one-in-a-lifetime kind of love.  

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Donald Trump has called for Al Gore to be stripped of the Nobel Peace prize he was awarded for campaigning on climate change. The billionaire tycoon said record-breaking snow storms proved that the former US Vice-President was wrong on global warming, and that policies aimed at tackling carbon emissions were harming America’s economy.

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Check out this fine compendium of the world’s most prominent climate cranks in this week’s Rolling Stone. Tim Dickinson succinctly summarizes the wretched roles played by seventeen of the worst offenders in preventing climate progress.

Among the guilty:

• The Profiteer -Warren Buffett CEO, Berkshire Hathaway
• The Disinformer - Rupert Murdoch CEO, News Corporation
• Burning Man - Rex Tillerson CEO, ExxonMobil
• The Drudge of Denial - Marc Morano Founder, Climate Depot
• God’s Denier - Sen. James Inhofe Republican, Oklahoma
• The Pundit - George Will Commentator, ABC

Collect them all at the Rolling Stone. Maybe they should come out with action figures too…

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Science Denying Tory MP Can’t Get Anything Right

The Conservative Member of Parliament from Okanagan Shuswap, Colin Mayes, writing in an error-ridden email to a constituent (reproduced in full below) has questioned the human contribution to climate change.

“Climate warming is happening,” Mayes said. “Just what the cause is has yet to be substantiated. Is it Co2 in the atmosphere, sun activity, or cyclical?  Is this a trend that will change as we have seen recently in cooling of temperatures and rebuilding of ice caps?

“A good book on this issue is “Climate Confusion” written by a Climatologist in the US.  It’s worth the read.”

Climate Confusion is, in fact, not worth the read. It’s author, Roy Spencer, is an increasingly embarrassing scientific outlier.