It's critical to remember that it isn't really news that China and India were going to be major factors in world pollution. We all knew this a long time ago.

Also remember that for years Bush and others have been condemned for rejecting the original Kyoto agreement, which specifically excluded these nations. The Kyoto agreement was the equivalent of setting up a workman's "No Smoking" area next to a factory chimney. I knew this back then, and it should also be remembered that Al Gore would have cheerfully signed on to Kyoto as it stood back then.

Gore brings China and India into the mix now that it's become unavoidable, and he's not slow on the uptake. Climate conferences are still mostly about looting the West (check the itinerary at Bali), but at least they have to pay lip service now to the real pollution problems.

With a Democrat's singular lack of economic sense, Gore wails about what a warming climate will do to the poor of the world. He might want to do a few numbers on what a CO2 tax and a moratorium on coal plants will do to the poor of China or India.

But then it isn't about economics for Gore. I used to think he was a cynical exploiter of a trend, but in recent months it's become more obvious that he's a man on a holy mission. His complete Nobel jeremiad can be found here.

This is just my personal call on it, but to me the man is looking to be just a short distance this side of a line where someone decides that the Earth really needs to lose half its population--by any means necessary.