Al Gore is a hero of mine, and probably yours, for schlepping that damned slide show for years. He did the right thing, and that was one of the best Nobel Prizes in years. We're on the same page.

I think it's fair to acknowledge vets in the same way. Sacrifice cuts across party lines. I'm not trying to diminish the argument, just be respectful where it's due.

So many of the anti-AGW posters here are 16-year-old wackos just posting and posting the same nonsense without any reflection at all. I'm glad to see someone, especially someone older and experienced, move away from the 24/7 hard right misinformation. Gives me a weird twisted hope for solidarity, action being the number one priority in this case.

Here is a link to photos of glaciers disappearing over the last 40-50 years. Stark and scary (scroll down for best example):

http://www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org/pages/glaciers.html

The site also has documentation by one photographer of various global warming events - permafrost melting (that's HUGE - releasing masses of dormant CO2 into the atmosphere again); trees leafing out earlier and earlier; species shifting in locations and habits.

ALL of these things point to temperature moving upward. ALL.

Bigguns is right - forget about Al Gore. He's a messenger, he's not world climate. I think he's done an amazing job of helping to wake us up, but it's SO not about him. This truly is about us.

I appreciate that you're being reasonable and open to proof, as opposed to someone like haufenmist who's just a crank - no proof, no facts, just snark - or spectralmist, a fibber.

One thing you should know is that the models for global warming show a broad range of temperatures happening in the future, but all within a general warming trend.

Have a look at the temperature charts on the BBC link I posted earlier, here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/guides/457000/457037/html/

You can see there's a clear upward swing in temperature, but still up and down variations. In fact, the variations are supposed to get even more extreme.

Think about it as a pendulum or metronome that's gotten out of whack. It used to vary somewhat, but now it's starting to swing wildly. Hots getting hotter, colds getting colder, harder rain storms, longer droughts. Out of whack, because we're introducing an excess of one element that's always been there in more or less balance - CO2. But all trending upward.

Your coldest winter is part of the prediction. Same for more and more severe snowstorms in the Northeast, Central America drying out, American West in a permanent drought, increased monsoons.

I can think of nothing more alarming than photographs of glaciers disappearing - not just ebbing, but going away - all over the globe. If there's one part of Al Gore's presentation/movie that should engage you, it's those photos, which are available all over the web. Just google them. If I find them I'll post for you.

What they say is that watersheds/water supplies are disappearing for whole populations that depend on the glacial runoff. That's huge - both for small societies in South American and for Europe as a whole (which depends on Swiss glacial runoff substantially).

Just look at the evidence. You're correct that no one can prove anything 100%, but if you think about it that way, you actually can't "prove" gravity definitively - there's always a point-infinitesimal chance that the apple will fall up. It's all about extreme probabilities.

I didn't know you were a disabled vet. My hat's off to you.

"Sen. Harry Reid believes "pushing" an unwanted and costly healthcare reform on "refusing American citizens" is more important than cleaning up ACORN."

Actually the most recent Times/CBS Poll shows clearly that a solid majority of the country wants healthcare reform, including 2/3 in favor of the Public Option. Here's the link:

http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/poll_health_care_092409.pdf?tag=contentMain;contentBody

It's ok about ACORN - Reid isn't so interested in investigating the Bush administration's - specifically Cheney's - lies and treasonous behavior either, so I guess we're even.

PS: The various bills have been published online if you want look take a gander.

Come on, you can do better than that. That all sounds like Roland Emmerich's new movie, and you do NOT want to be like him, believe me. He's Hollywood fruitcake at most rancid.

But you raise an interesting point about intelligent people needing to balance belief in god and belief in science, always changing but always in front of their eyes. I think the argument between evolution and creationism is a smokescreen. One does not preclude the other, especially as our ideas about god also change with our awareness of the world.

God used to be a multiplicity of natural voices, as we saw the world in that way. Then he became unified as befitted our understanding of the connectedness of nations and phenomena. But he was always the prime force behind our changing world.

Now we have an evolutionary model for the way things work, a mechanism for change and adaptation - a clockwork orange, so to speak. Who is to say that there isn't a god-like force that puts that mechanism in motion - a divine underlying trigger? A force, a (not necessarily gray-bearded) perpetual motivator? A unitary homeroom for all we see......... and will come to see.

Buddhists think the world simply unfolds (I oversimplify in all of this of course, but indulge me). That too does not preclude a generator beneath the awesome unfolding. Buddhists just maintain that we cannot know, and the unfolding is enough for our infinite thanks.

Just some thoughts to try out on you. We should talk about global warming and conservative doctrine too. They're more connected than meets the eye.