Most of my skepticism is based on published scientific information that doesn't fit into the accepted picture. I've pointed out quite a bit of it here, most from the same accepted journals and sources the other stuff comes from.

Some of my skepticism is based on the fact that thirty years ago we were all going to die in an ice age. "The evidence in support of these predictions," we were told by the same news sources, "has now begun to accumulate so massively that meteorologists are hard-pressed to keep up with it." At the same time people like Paul Ehrlich were telling us that by the 1990s we'd be out of food, out of resources, and out of luck, and the world would be a charnel house of starving masses.

Some of my skepticism is based on the odd fact that no matter what the crisis: energy shortage, climate change, health care problems, or anything else on a long list, the solution always seems to be exactly the same: give the people declaring the crisis a lot more power over your life and more of your wealth, and reduce individual freedom, prosperity, and choices. It's a lot like getting mortality statistics from someone who sells life insurance for a living.

Add to that the all-too-common tendency of the people who want all this new power to do something amazingly stupid with it. We're already starting to sink in the great Ethanol For All morass. To such people, every piece of complex electronics can be fixed by hitting it with a ball-peen hammer, preferably at a spot pointed out by lobbyists. Make incandescent light bulbs illegal. Build more trolleys. Make mining and drilling almost impossible. Mandate toilets with tiny little flush tanks. Don't build any industrial project that might actually occupy a space containing a plant or an animal. Pass a law that cars must run on water by the year 2020. Only that last one is imaginary. So far.

In the old days, the kind of minds who wanted to put pants on farm animals and legislate pi to equal exactly three, were few and far between in positions of power. Our political system selects for them. There are hundreds of idiots in the legislature, most with the science background of a lawyer, or worse, all set to take a run at this, each with their very own ball-peen hammer.

And some of my skepticism is based on the unnerving parallels between this issue and religious fervor, with prophets, indulgences, excommunication of the unbeliever, disciples sent out to preach, and now, in this article, the forgiving of the prodigals. This seems to be somewhat unique--I don't recall anything like this during the great Energy Crisis. Are you aware of how much of Al Gore's famous presentation doesn't come within a mile of even the IPCC conclusions? Does the number 60 centimeters really convert into 20 feet in English units?