(Apologies to A.E. van Vogt.) That’s “I” for “Ideology,” and don’t you

forget it. My blogs are, I hope, a no-ideology zone.

Not so my e-mail box. A lot of readers think that if you give an inch (or a

degree Celsius) on the Global Warming biz, you are a dupe of the Green

fanatics and eco-fascists. Reader Randy Stafford is on my wavelength, so to

save writing out my own thoughts, I just quote his:

“Derb—-Apart from you and some think tank guys, I hear a great deal of

wishful, dogmatic thinking among conservatives, chattering class and

otherwise, on

the issue of global warming. I get the sense that no evidence could

convince these people that human activity could alter the climate. Does

conservatism mean irrationally thinking nothing could ever happen in the

environment which would radically change our society?

“Now, to my mind, there are several unresolved questions about global

warming: Is it occurring? If it is occurring, is it anthropogenic? If it

is occurring and anthropogenic, is it, on the whole, bad? If it is

happening and bad, do we have to put the brakes on industrial civilization

to solve it?

“However, I understand these things are unresolved and that scientists of

good faith can disagree. I also know enough about catastrophe theory and

the history of Ice Ages to know that they can possibly be caused by global

warming and come on in 2-3 years. (Science News a few years ago announced

findings from Greenland ice core samples. I remember the scientists saying

we use to think ice ages came on over decades. Now we know they can come on

in the time it takes to go through grad school.)”

I live in balmy Long Island. A mere 300 human lifetimes ago this was the

edge of the north polar ice sheet. We’re not talking about a couple inches

more snow here; we’re talking about Boston, New York, & Chicago being ground

up into teeny tiny pebbles by advancing ice sheets 200 ft thick. In the

time it takes to go through grad school. What’s that going to do to the

value of my house?