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On Thursday I was accused of being a libertarian because I wrote too sympathetically about dog breeders; today I find myself agreeing with a "scholar" from the oil-industry funded Cato Institute, the libertarian think-tank that has since time immemorial denied the existence of climate change. O what's become of me!:

"The legacy of Live Earth will be one of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide and decreasing wealth," says Cato's Patrick Michaels, "wealth that could be saved and used to invest in the technologies of the future, rather than being frittered away in a futile attempt to change the earth's temperature today."

I guess official denial of the warming planet no longer squares with current events -- droughts, weather patterns, melting ice caps and such -- so the Cato folks have decided to apply their petroleum and pollution industry-donated dollars to less hoary arguments, such as suggesting that Live Earth [link: cool Australian blog] really has no point.

Well, it's an easy target, and yeah, they're kind of right. I mean, even the unassailable Bob Geldorf is a little nonplussed about the the seven-continent concerts Al Gore has organized for 7-7-7:

"I hope they're a success," De Volkskrant newspaper quoted Geldof as saying in an interview.

"But why is (Gore) actually organizing them? To make us aware of the greenhouse effect? Everybody's known about that problem for years. We are all (expletive) conscious of global warming," he said.

Still and all, there are some good things happening this weekend. For instance, you can participate in Environment California's "Phone Jam" by calling your congressperson and demanding the U.S. adhere to a 20 percent renewable energy standard by 2020, which would "reduce global warming by 40 percent." (How do they arrive at these statistics?). Click here to let them know you're calling.

You can also bike or take public transporation, please, to local events in your neighborhood, where people will be gathering around television sets and the like to watch the shows on MSNBC, or just having parties.

Up in the Hollywood Hills, there's a party at the top of Glen Green St. called "Little Hot!", featuring a lineup of bands and films from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m., all to benefit the local civic-environmental group TreePeople. Organizer Angela Gygi was rushing off to set up the porta-potties when I spoke to her this morning, so you know it's gonna be a good one. You can see the lineup here.

In Lincoln Heights, the Green Acres Medicinal Urban Farm will host the opening celebration of a "new aesthetic medicinal urban farm named after the famous Eddy Albert's GREEN ACRES TV show." So, they can't spell the guy's name, but they do have land donated by Eddie's friends, Ralph and Shirley Fierro, and it does seem like it could be interesting. You know, different.

In Santa Monica, "a community of environmental activists, social rights defenders, yoga practitioners, spiritual aware individuals and artists" will host a Live Earth concert viewing at Bonsorte Studios beginning at 7 p.m. Bring food; it's potluck. Details, details.

And here's the Wikipedia page for the lone band, Nunatak, playing Antarctica.

Plus, there's Seam's "Earth day" party, a bash at J's house and thousands of MoveOn House Parties associated with Live Earth, where people will no doubt be talking about unplugging their cell phone chargers while not in use and switching to fluorescent lightbulbs. That's all good, but it doesn't obviate the desperate need for an immediate, global, political solution to the carbon problem, including but not limited to mandatory caps on carbon dioxide emissions.

Which brings us back to Bob: ""I would only organize [Live Earth] if I could go on stage and announce concrete environmental measures from the American presidential candidates, Congress or major corporations," he said.

In other words, said MoveOn's Eli Pariser, “For us, it’s not just about new light bulbs, it’s about new leadership.”

(For the record, I am a vegetarian, not a libertarian, except on the matters of reproductive choice and marijuana, which I sadly can't tolerate but believe should be legal, if only for simplicity's sake. But I believe the guys and gals who sign my paycheck these days have a libertarian bent, so maybe they're taking over my brain.)

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