Be careful what you wish for

Looks like right-wingers are falling into the trap they built for themselves concerning hurricanes and global warming. Last year when people mentioned the two together (e.g. global warming may contribute to increased future likelihood of strong storms like Katrina), they were up in arms trying to show that '05 wasn't all that unusual and besides, it's not the storms that are more frequent and intense, it's that we're living closer to the water nowadays. But their main criticism arose from the use of images of hurricane Katrina to imply that global warming was responsible. Though most accounts were careful in how they connected the dots, it was a slightly valid criticism to remind folks that year-over-year it'll be difficult to say that one season or another's extremes were due to climate change.

Now this report comes out showing how and possibly why 2006 was such a quiet year for hurricanes in the US.

Mary Katherine Ham takes the bait and is today's wingnut excellence in science winner:

Someone accused me the other day of being "anit-science" when it comes to global warming. Nah, not anti-science, but I am pro-skepticism, and climate change fanatics really push the envelope when it comes to narratives I'm willing to buy.

The idea that every single change in the environment and weather patterns can be attributed to global warming and human activity despite the fact that we've only been measuring such changes reliably for a couple of generations is about as believable as the idea that Bush is to blame for every single unfortunate incident to befall the United States and its denizens over the past six years. Of course, it's the same people who believe both, which makes me even more skeptical of the climate change fanatics. If your neighborhood climate change activist is wearing a "Buck Fush" T-shirt, it makes him somewhat less credible.
[MKH's italics]

Funny, that's not at all what climate scientists do, but it sure looks like a favorite game amongst right-wing pundits to track "every single" weather event to prove that global warming isn't happening. It's almost as though it were a religious creed for them to do so: Only God influenceth the weather, thou shalt go out and findeth evidence therof!