Despite what you may have read, a bunch of illegally hacked emails does not actually change the fact that the climate is changing. As a prelude to the Copenhagen Conference next month, a group of scientists has updated the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s 2007 report. The jist? Things are worse than predicted.

Lots of folks have taken note of new polling today showing John McCain potentially in trouble in next year’s Arizona Republican primary for his Senate seat.

Matt Yglesias flags an important aspect of this:

This seems like pretty much terrible news for the world. The most likely path between Point A and Senate passage of a reasonable climate bill is for McCain to rediscover his interest in the issue. But that’s not the sort of thing a Senator worried about a right-wing primary challenge is likely to do.

This is exactly right. And of course, a Politico story (where else?) provides the evidence:

Sens. Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman have been working overtime to craft a climate bill that can attract significant GOP support. But they aren’t exactly scoring points with their mutual best friend in the Senate, John McCain. “Their start has been horrendous,” McCain said Thursday. “Obviously, they’re going nowhere.”

This should not be a surprise for anyone who has been paying attention to McCain’s statements on climate legislation since last year’s election.

I know it will be an absolute SHOCK to everyone on this site who has been struggling through the Senate’s snail’s pace on Healthcare Reform, but the slowest legislative body in the world is doing the same thing on climate change.

The Kerry/Boxer or (CEJAPA) is the Senate’s version of Waxman/Markey (ACES – better acronym) that passed the House last summer. It is now meandering through the Senate (aren’t we all sick of the workings of the Senate after the slog we’ve been going through on Healthcare Reform?). This is President Obama’s OTHER legislative priority, and here’s why it’s important.

Here we go again. James Inhofe, the most prominent climate change denier in the United States Senate, has concocted a new and innovative strategy to thwart the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. To wit, he and his Republican colleagues on the Environment and Public Works Committee have worked up a plan to simply not show up for next week’s markup:

But Boxer cannot hold the markup unless at least two Republicans show up, and EPW ranking member James Inhofe (R-Okla.) signaled that he has unanimous support among the panel’s minority members to boycott the session until they get more data on the legislation from U.S. EPA and the Congressional Budget Office.

Inhofe said he will wait for Boxer to file an official notice of the markup — expected today — before responding with his own declaration of the GOP’s markup strategy.

“As soon as we find out what her announcement is and what she wants to do, we’ll have our response,” Inhofe told E&E last night. “We’ll have our unanimous expression ready.”

Sadly, this is a continuation of the GOP’s longstanding strategy of delaying clean energy legislation…

A call for the Netroots to support the Senate Climate bill put forward by the Environment and Public Works Committee

Yesterday, Senators Kerry and Boxer introduced the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (CEJAPA). You can view a section-by-section summary and the full text of the legislation here.

Many bloggers have already weighed in with their initial reactions. What follows is a round-up of these first impressions, as well as a few thoughts of my own.