waveflyer--I don't get all my news from Fox. I get it from a variety of sources. Sounds like you get all your news from NPR. So there...
This is obviously a contentious issue. What many of us who aren't jumping on the GW/CC bandwagon are skeptical of is that this isn't a result that has been arrived at over a period of time. Many of us lived through the "ice age" hysteria of the '70's and found that, despite the "consensus" of MANY scientists, it was simply not the case and the data supporting it was flawed.
Supporters of the "coming ice age" presented data to support their position and poo-poohed those who questioned their findings. We're seeing the same thing happening again. Washed up politicians, movie stars and the socialists are all fighting for this cause. The UN (find me a more corrupt and intellectually vacuous body outside of the African continent and you drink free for the rest of your life...) supporting this cause should be enough to give you pause.
You are making knee-jerk assumptions about those of us who are not willing to take this at face value. You assume we're just drooling "W supporters" who sit around watching Fox News all day--and you're not afraid to deride us as such. Well, you're wrong--and condescending.
As for not being interested in alternative fuels, exactly how do you arrive at that conclusion? I'm incensed at BOTH political parties for being owned by big business and not pursuing domestic sources of oil (which environmental groups are doing the work of the big oil companies) and new, non-fossil-fuel sources of energy (again, the environmental movement killed nuclear power, helping big oil...). Again, you're making an assumption based on a political stereotype.
As for China and India not polluting as much as we do, well, maybe by CO2 standards (apparently the only standard that means anything to the GW/CC crowd) but even in LA your throat and eyes don't burn like they do in Beijing. I've not seen the sun in Shanghai other than through a polluted haze. The Guangzhou Valley WILL SOON BE UNINHABITABLE due to pollution. I'm not aware of any areas in the U.S. that fit that description.
There is no EPA in India. PM Singh admits they have a serious problem with pollution and it needs to be addressed. When is the last time a U.S. President has made the same statement about our environment?
Russia is an environmental disaster. Between no pollution standards (not that any company would adhere to them), wasted dumped in open fields, spent nuclear fuel being stored above ground in poorly secured facilities and the Russian nuclear naval vessels rusting in Murmansk and Vladivostok without having their reactors secured.
We can't control what other countries do? I disagree but we shouldn't hamstring our economy and give up civil rights to embark on a unilateral course of action that will achieve nothing without the cooperation--AND adherence to the rules by the rest of the industrialized countries.
The bottom line is that the rest of the world has got a long way to go in cleaning up their act before I'm willing to gut our economy to satisfy the bleatings of a bunch of Socialists who don't exactly have my best interests at heart.
Back to GW/CC--I have no intention of heading down a road with no road map and nowhere to turn around. That's where the knee-jerkers are taking us. TC