"If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor,"

“If the crib's on fire, you don't speculate that the baby is a flame retardant. You take action."

- Al Gore, Testifying before Congress

And if Big Ol' Dr. Al tells you that the planet has a fever, and the only remedy is for the federal government to coerce and extort billions of dollars from U.S. citizens, you better listen! There is not enough time for debate! No time to review or even consider the scientific evidence that refutes Big Al's claims. "Congress must act now!" he said.

Never mind the mounting dissent, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Never mind that ordinary Americans are doing more than any other citizens of any country to combat global warming. Never mind that Big Al's 10 point plan would hurt the U.S. economy and put many Americans at a grave disadvantage [pdf] . You must submit, or face humiliation (like being compared to a holocaust denier!), professional or political retribution, or even death threats.

I have never believed much of the global warming hype. However, I will submit that there is little doubt that the planet is warming, and that the warming might change the way we live. But the weather has been changing for millions of years, with greater temperature shifts than we are worried about now. Despite the rhetoric, 2 facts remain: Man might be responsible for 5% of the "greenhouse gas" C02 (a gas required to sustain life on this planet!). Natural resources (animals, vegetation and volcanic activity) are responsible for the remaining 95%. And man, especially the U.S. alone, will not change the projected temperature variance.

Man has survived the harshest conditions: ice ages, droughts, heat waves, etc. If any of the hype is real, shouldn't we be focusing our energy on learning how to adapt and face the challenge? More importantly, shouldn't all voices be presented in this "debate"? Yes, I know, the debate is over. But not because science and reason has triumphed. The debate is over because the politicians have silenced the dissenters to the best of their abilities.

I do strongly support reducing our dependence on foreign oil in the interest of national security. However, that is a long road that most Americans are unlikely to enjoy. I will address that issue at a later date.

And for those of you who believe that global warming is the threat that that Big Al proposes-- do you really want to turn the fate of this planet over to the federal government? And by government I mean the people who brought you the compromised levees in New Orleans, the fiasco that is Ground-Zero, the crisis at Walter Reid Hospital, and a failure to stem the tide of illegal aliens flowing into this country daily?

I thought not.