"Recently on "20/20," I said "give me a break" to Al Gore for claiming that the global-warming debate is over and suggesting that all dissenters were in it for the money. I interviewed independent scientists who say Gore is wrong.
Some people were relieved to finally hear the other side: "Thank you, thank you, thank you for your report on climate change. ... I'm sick of hearing 'the debate's over' and writing anyone who differs off as a nut. This report showed the true nature of the debate and true lack of consensus, something you can't get anywhere else." Others were just mad: "Your 20/20 report on Global Warning made me sick. ... Your sarcastic ridiculing of Al Gore ... I have lost all respect for you and your reporting." Yes, the globe has warmed, but whether severe warming is imminent and whether human beings are causing it in large degree are empirical questions that can't be answered ideologically. The media may scream that "the science is in" and the "debate is over," but in fact it continues vigorously, with credentialed climate scientists on both sides of the divide. (For example.) The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change may present a "consensus view of scientists," but the "consensus" is not without dissent. "Consensus is the stuff of politics, not science," says Paul Reiter of the Pasteur Institute. The scientific process ought to be left to play itself out with as little political bias as possible. Politically influenced research is poison to science." http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/11/dont_look_to_government_to_coo.html But by far the best quote in this piece is noted below my comments...... Mr Stossel has just saved me hours of typing in regards to explaining why Government cannot fix anything. If only some of the people who realize Government is helpless to solve Global Warming would also realize Government is helpless to solve other problems as well..... For example, ehem.....Illegal Immigration...... "As coercive monopolies that spend other people's money taken by force, governments are uniquely unqualified to solve problems. They are riddled by ignorance, perverse incentives, incompetence and self-serving."--John Stossel Vic [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
