Since you seem to have a permanent seat on the AGW bandwagon, I thought you might enjoy a little more reading; Dr. Peiser's name surfaces once again, this time to challenge the notion of a "scientific consensus" on AGW:

Ever wonder how Al Gore, the United Nations, and company continue to get away with their claim of a “scientific consensus” confirming their doomsday view of global warming? Look no farther than Wikipedia for a stunning example of how the global-warming propaganda machine works.

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To sum up: it is a cooling planet which has led to the fall of civilizations like the Mayan and Hittite, according to Dr. B. Peiser. You asked about the price of civilization. There is no record of any civilization declining because of warming, global or local. In any event, carbon taxes on Americans are not likely to have much effect on widespread coal burning in China and India, except perhaps to make industries there even more profitable. The cost is too high for those who are fooled into falling for this scam. The only benefit is to those like Mr. Gore "...the chair of a green private-equity firm invested in products that a climate-scared world would buy," according to the WSJ article you are trying so hard to misunderstand.

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