Lunatics
It puzzles me why deniers of global warming are so intransigent in their cause. I mean, what is it exactly that they're afraid of? And why is it viewed in terms of conspiracy? Someone please explain to me what scientists and environmental activists would gain--personally--by governments acknowledging global warming. Is it simply a knee-jerk reaction to the alleged business costs of environmental regulation? Funny though, business seems to think that emissions regulation is an inevitability and though they are prepared to fight it through their lobbying efforts, they see the writing on the wall. Groups like the Rocky Mountain Institute have been arguing for 20 years that alternative fuels and increased efficiency is not only economically feasible, but profitable as well. Clearly, then, the impediment is political. Especially when someone like James Inhofe chairs the Senate Enviornment and Public Works Committee. It's just like Bolton being the United States' ambassador to the UN: why would you appoint someone to that position who believes, fundamentally, that the UN is no more than a tool for the US to use, and reluctantly at that? Inhofe believes global warming is a hoax perpetuated by bad science and subversive freedom-hating leftists (some examples here). As chair of the committee, Inhofe is a political impediment. As the ranking member in the 110th Congress, he will simply be less of a problem.
Here's another lunatic: Michael Crichton. You may recall that Crichton wrote a novel a couple years ago about a global warming hoax that President Bush loved. They even had an in-depth conversation in the Oval Office about it. Bush has neither seen nor read the book version of An Inconvenient Truth but he'll take time to have a one-on-one with a fiction author. Par for the course for The Worst President in American History. But Crichton is especially crazy. His reaction to a negative review of his book was to portray the author of the criticism as a child rapist. Classy.
Again I ask: what is it about global warming denial that makes people like Crichton and Inhofe so crazy? I don't understand.