The undeniable ravages of global climate change have increased exponentially. The need for action has grown exponentially. And as we’ve seen over and over, the higher the stakes for the people of this nation, the more intractable the Republican Party becomes in protecting the corporate interests which line its collective pockets. The big oil barons are turning the screws on the handful of once-climate change moderates – John McCain, Tim Pawlenty and a gaggle of others who previously expressed rationality on the need to abate the man-made pollution which is causing global climate change, are now putting the their tails between their legs and bowing to the all-mighty corpo-pollution money machine. By this time next year, there may be so few rational Republicans on climate change, they’ll have to be adopted by the remaining polar bears.

The undeniable hyperbole of your opening salvo would be amusing if not for the fact that actual acceptance of your goals would lead to increased poverty and hunger worldwide. I actually feel sorry for those of you on the left who think that individuals and businesses who harness energy and provide jobs are inherently motivated by evil and pursue profit at all costs. Oil barons? Scot, do you have a 401(k), any money in mutual funds or any money left in the State Retirement System? Congratulations, you are likely an oil baron. In the '70s it was the 'coming ice age,' then for the last 20 years the fear mongering was 'global warming,' but as the brewing Climategate scandal is proving, data surrounding the global warming theory was manipulated and manufactured to 'hide the decline,' in temperatures. So now, it is 'climate change.' Just admit it, this isn't about 'Mother Earth,' it is about promoting a command and control, anti-capitalist ideology that takes money out of the private sector and allows governments to redistribute wealth as they see fit.

Your half-hearted attempt at swiftboating the “reality-based” scientific community notwithstanding, who with the exception of a handful of paid corporate shills burnishing suspect credentials, do not unquestionably agree that climate change is real and a global catastrophe in the making? Crazy Jim Inhofe? Wacky weatherman Jim Ott? Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce? Exxon? If that’s your source material, yikes. All predictions made about the effects of global warming in the last 10 years have proven to be even more dramatic. Ocean levels have risen. Droughts are more severe. Temperatures have increased faster and species are more quickly being depleted. Two words: Hurricane Katrina. The reason Katrina was so devastating (beyond the Bush administration ignoring the warning of the unsafe levees) was due to the effects of climate change. Argue as much as you want on behalf of the corporations whose business models involve the assault of our natural resources, but you sit in a vocal, but sadly, well-financed, super minority.

I agree man can do dumb things. George Bush's Katrina (c) 2005, was so devastating in large part because man developed New Orleans below freakin' sea level! I notice you've ignored the solid evidence of the fact that some of the world's most prominent global warming theorists manipulated their formulas to arrive at their predetermined 'cause' of global warming, conspired to intimidate peers who disagreed with them (including, as MacIver reports today, threatening physical violence and academic retribution), discussed ways to subvert freedom of information laws and no longer possess the original data upon which they formed the foundation of their theories. Hundreds of scientists dispute these theories, Scot, it's not just me, Rep. Ott and the oil barons. Finally, with the release of the East Anglia emails and codes, the foundation upon which the alarmist movement was built is crumbling.

If your evidence is the reliability of anonymous thugs who illegally stole private information by hacking into people’s email accounts, I think that’s all one needs to know about your laughable “evidence.” It used to be your pals in big pollution would just claim the science was junk. Now they’re attacking scientists. The only ones manipulating the truth are the polluters, their lackeys and a gaggle of Beck-bots whose typical idea of science is that the Earth is 6,000 years old. There is absolute consensus on the threat faced by climate change and that much of that threat is human-created – through corporate polluters and the harm they inflict on our planet. The upside is: the real job growth coming is in the creation of green jobs and green technology and progressive elected officials are committed to and putting the resources for the development of these jobs. Go science!

Scot, you have no idea whether the East Anglia emails were obtained via hackers or a whistleblower on the inside. In fact, looking at the notes left by programmers within the computer code, it is clear several folks there were not buying into the fabrication of data. Notes like "As far as I can see, this renders the (weather) station counts totally meaningless," are abundant. The documents from East Anglia are damning evidence of manipulated data, breaches in scientific protocol and a conspiracy to silence and discredit those who disagree. The 'consensus' within the global scientific community of which you speak simply does not exist. Furthermore, among policy makers here there is a growing bipartisan movement emerging to ease up on efforts to make wholesale changes in our economy based on the notion that man is more powerful than the sun. Thanks in part to these leaked documents, the world is discovering that -- like the photoshopped special effects of Al Gore's movie -- the man-made global warming theory is a fraud perpetrated by the self interested and self righteous. Plainly, further talk of carbon credits, Copenhagen talks and cap-and-trade are all based on a lie. Go science? Absolutely. Go 'theory based on fraud and anti-free market ideology?' I think not.