As Iain pointed out the other day, the head of NASA expressed some some very reasonable views about global warming and NASA’s role the debate over it, saying things like:

“I have no doubt that … a trend of global warming exists,” Griffin said on NPR. “I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with.”
Griffin added: “I guess I would ask which human beings, where and when, are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now, is the best climate for all other human beings. I think that’s a rather arrogant position for people to take.”

Now, we’ve got a slew of headlines saying things like “NASA Head Sorry for Global Warming Doubts ” and “NASA Chief Regrets Remarks on Global Warming.” From the headlines, you might think he was taking it all back, that he was apologizing for his beliefs, that he’d blown his life savings on carbon credits and repented for his sins against the environment. But no, he was simply sorry to have stirred up controversy, and he still maintains that his agency’s job is not to “fight” global warming but simply to “provide scientific data on global warming and leave it up to policy makers to decide what to do with it.”