Texas, La Nina, global warming, Perry's prayers

This used to be a 5,400-acre lake.

Oops, oops, oops. Looks like Rick Perry needs to pray hard at The Response - real hard.

The U.S. Climate Prediction Center says La Nina may return in just a couple of months, which would guarantee the current drought extends into 2012.

As if it's not bad enough right now:

Also Thursday, the state climatologist declared this the most severe one-year drought on record in Texas. Officials expected to declare soon that it has become the worst drought since the 1950s.

Cities in West Texas that have long relied for much of their water for small lakes dammed on upper stretches of Texas rivers fear they may run out of water next year.

And, in East and Central Texas, especially, this ain't the 1950s:

In the mid-1950s, Texas had a population of 7 million.

"We got a state with 25 million now. You can see the impact would be significantly greater if we had a drought that the 1950s had," said Travis Miller, a member of the state's Drought Preparedness Council and AgriLife Extension Service leader.

That said, the climate center does not directly link an early La Nina return, or its strength, to anthropogenic global warming. But, it's hard not to tentatively make that connection, if La Nina returns that quickly, especially if it's a strong one again.

If Obama had any cojones, he'd link further disaster relief for Texas (and Oklahoma) to Congressional action addressing global warming. Period. End of story.

But, we already know he doesn't.

And, I mean more than cap-and-trade, which is toothless anyway. But, getting that passed would open the door. And, while there's no chance of a carbon tax passing, there are other things ... further upping mpg requirements for trucks and SUVs, promoting LED as well as CFL lights, abolishing alt-fuel exemptions for car, truck and SUV CAFE ratings and more. I'm sure readers can think of even more examples.