"That you are or have been up to your butt in academia has been obvious for quite a while. Believe me I recognize the thinking process. I'm sure my writing and thinking radiates "engineer" just as strongly, with all its strengths and weaknesses. ;)"

At the end of the day recall: I long left academia behind and speak primarily as a software engineer. We have more in common than you think. For example, I largely agree with your next point

"The more I think about it, the more I think the research scientists aren't the problem as much as those who make political hay out of interpreting their results. A major paper came out last year on global warming where the cautious statements within the study itself were overridden by a much less cautious abstract or summary statement, the latter written by only a few scientists. It goes without saying that the summary is what was trumpeted in the press.
"

Worst of all, the 'think tank' whitepapers that quote and source a lot of parsimonious, cautious and heavily sourced papers in a very rough-and-tumble way. I have not made any conclusions for myself about the proximity or seriousness of Global Warming because I have not studied it enough to allow myself to have an opinion- but I will say that a lot of the "its not a problem" type publications have been from think tank organizations, not traditional academic institutions.

"I am less concerned by scientists who say rising CO2 levels are of concern and need to be watched, a perfectly reasonable statement, than by those who seize on this kind of thing to implement what they have always wanted, massive centralized political control over the West and technological civilization. The Kyoto Accord was about the latter, not about any real concern over maintaining a prosperous world without polluting it, and pretty much everyone knew it"

Here I think you are jumping the gun, and should wipe some of the froth from your mouth. Reasonable controlls on industry is not "massive centralized control over the West and technological civilization". Free trade agreements, for example, have significant international enforcement and bureaucracy, and substantial power over industry. Most of the "it will be the end of the economy" arguments against regulatory actions, especially environmental, have never bourne out. Emission standards causing the death of domestic auto-companies, for example, never turned out to be even remotely true.

Davin L.