Liberals and radical leftists are using "man-made global warming" as a vehicle to grab more power from freedom loving Americans. It's a Trojan Horse full of socialist policies and government restrictions on your life, with the stated purpose of reducing our contribution to greenhouse gas production. The leftist Pied Pipers of global warming doom, henceforth known as "warmistas", want us Americans to drastically alter our lifestyles to reduce our collective "carbon footprint." Don't expect warmistas like Al Gore (the Goreacle), John Kerry, Sheryl Crow or ANY Hollywood dimwit to give up THEIR private jets! For that they have devised a way of buying absolution for their carbon "sins". They're called carbon offsets and carbon credits. Would you like to purchase them? Contact Al Gore, he owns the company!

To be sure, the Earth has in fact warmed by approximately one degree F over the last 100 years and most warmistas believe that man has caused this slight warming. Just in case this turns around-look at last winter-the warmistas have that base covered too. As I write they are desperately trying to change the name of their cause celebre to "climate change." That way no matter WHAT happens temperature-wise they will push onerous government regulations and socialism in the form of higher taxes as the cure. After all it would be foolish to place all of your totalitarian eggs one "warm" basket.

Wei-Hock (Willie) Soon and Sally Baliunas are two of the world's foremost astrophysicists. Willie Soon is with the Solar and Stellar Physics division of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and has testified at length to Congress on the subject of global warming. Sally Baliunas works at the George C. Marshall Institute. Together they have compiled reams of data and created charts that point to one unmistakable conclusion: There is a DIRECT correlation between increased solar activity and land temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere. The Southern Hemisphere has shown such a small increase that it may be nothing more than statistical "noise." The increased solar activity takes the form of mass solar ejections (those huge flares), and more significantly magnetic storms on the surface, also known as "sunspots." This direct correlation goes just as far back into antiquity as we are able to measure. More sunspots equal a warmer earth, period. I doubt even a warmista would make the argument that American SUVs and Chinese smokestacks are causing increased sunspot activity, but you never know with them.

Mars is experiencing a far more dramatic temperature increase than the Earth. Increased solar activity has caused larger temperature increases on Mars due to the weak Martian magnetic field and thin atmosphere. The carbon dioxide (CO2) ice caps near Mars’ south pole have diminished radically for at least three consecutive summers. This is data from NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions. Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of space research at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia believes that increased solar activity accounts for nearly ALL of the temperature increases that we see on both planets. Do they have SUV’s on Mars?

So how do we explain the increased levels of greenhouse gases? Let’s use CO2 and methane as examples. It appears to many researchers that increased levels of these greenhouse gases are a “lagging factor”, which means that they came AFTER the earth started to warm. Violent magnetic storm cycles on the Sun's surface cause the Earth to warm a little, and that temperature increase causes more vegetation to grow on land and more blue-green algae and seaweed in the oceans. As this vegetation rots it gives off CO2 and methane as it “passes” through animals. Our total contribution to CO2 levels amounts to less than 3%, and for that Sheryl Crow wants to limit you to ONE piece of toilet paper per wipe! No wonder Lance Armstrong dumped her.

There is speculation that the most important and abundant of all the greenhouse gases is the one which we have absolutely no control over, water vapor. The effects of evaporation and cloud cover are still largely unknown, although water vapor is definitely a greenhouse gas and probably the most important. A hotter Sun results in more evaporation and more rain which should be a boon to the Canadian marijuana crop!

Those of you over age fifty may remember the April 28, 1975 edition of Newsweek Magazine. It was entitled “The Cooling World.” Global cooling was the leftist scare back then and they claimed it was being caused by "our overuse" use of fossil fuels. Imagine my surprise! Ironically, significant global cooling truly would be a disaster as it has been in the past. If the frostbelt moved hundreds of miles south, millions of acres would be removed from crop production.You’d think that anyone with even a modicum of intellectual skepticism (and access to Google) would think REALLY hard before buying into the OPPOSITE story in the same lifetime!

Here’s the bottom line folks. It’s becoming increasingly clear that man’s contribution to global warming is so tiny that it’s statistically insignificant. As presented by Al Gore, the idea of man-made global warming descends to the level of a cult-like new religion or even a Vaudeville freak show. PT Barnum once said, “A sucker is born every minute.” At least when Al Gore’s movie is playing, we’ll know where to find them!

Morgan Orlins

morgorlins@comcast.net