Choking

I think I had a dream about this, or maybe I was sleeping in front of a "turned on" television. Anyway, the fossil fuel burners are being shamelessly shameless with their new ad campaign.

Now through Sunday, look forward to two 60-second spots from the Competative Enterprise Institute as they focus on the alleged global warming crisis and the calls by some environmental groups and politicians for reduced energy use.

Is Kansas City one of the 14 lucky cities to see these? No, but you can watch them on your computer and laugh, I hope, like I did, at the counter-alarmist red herring tossed out calmly by the female narrator:

The fuels that produce CO2 have freed us from a world of back-breaking labor, lighting up our lives, allowing us to create and move the things we need, the people we love. Now some politicians want to label carbon dioxide a pollutant. Imagine if they succeed - what would our lives be like then?

Hmm, let's see. Maybe the United States wouldn't be consuming everything under the freaking sun. Maybe I could take a train to work or use a car that didn't run on sludge or live in a house that didn't require natural gas to heat it.

(Meaning that the alternative energy sources that do not release the earth's pent-up carbon dioxide are viable but have been avoided out of habit, profit-habit and the fact that "modern man" has been telling itself that all technology is good, no matter its side effects.)

Speaking of side effects and how I'm apparently "freed from back-breaking labor," this show on NOVA made me even sadder. Long story short, the fact of having crap in the air might be a "good" thing, especially if you are the president or member of the CEI and like to have your global warming data mitigated:

Scientists have uncovered a new factor that may be masking the full impact of global warming. Called global dimming, it's powerful enough to alter temperatures in a matter of days. It may have contributed to the world's deadliest drought, and it could mean that the Earth's climate is about to start heating up as fast as the most dire predictions.

The researcher found that when all the planes were grounded after September 11, 2001 for three days, the temperature range changed significantly in the United States (significantly, if you are a glacier). Days were hotter, nights cooler, and he had the 30 years of data to show it was a big deal.

Vapor from planes is one thing that clouds the air, blocks the sun, etc. Along with other air pollution, it masks the effects of global warming, which is caused by CO2.

We seem to have blindly created yet another delicately balanced mess. Too much CO2? Add other stuff to the air to block out the burning sun? Can't breathe with all the ozone and particulates? Go back inside and plug in your HEPA filter.