By Muriel Sluyter

Greetings, Gentle Reader,

Remember the widespread consternation last summer when Harvard University oceanographer, James McCarthy, saw open water at the North Pole? The New York Times foolishly trumpeted the news that the ice pack had melted for the first time in 50 million years. Then days later, having been corrected by scientists who were actually fa-miliar with the North Pole and who knew that open water was quite common in that region, the Times admitted they had made a blooper.

Let’s discuss some facts collected by H. Sterling Burnett, senior policy advisor with the National Center for Policy Analysis:

Fact 1. Dr. David Deming, University of Oklahoma, says the earth’s average temperature was as much as 1.5 degrees higher for 5,000 of the last 10,000 years, than it is now.

Fact 2. July 2000: Science magazine announced the discovery of a previously unknown greenhouse that traps heat 18,000 times more effectively than carbon dioxide, and its effects have not been considered in present models used to predict future climate.

Fact 3. The Environmental Protection Agency says computer models used to predict the weather are insufficiently accurate to provide reliable forecasts of direction, magnitude or timing of either seasonal or annual changes.

Fact 4. June 2000: The Clinton Administration issued the "National Assessment on Regional Impacts of Climate Change in the United States." It used two computer models, one Canadian and one British. The Canadians said the Southeastern U.S. was in for less rain during the next century; the Brits said more rain. The Canadians said the Midwest would have more and worse droughts; the Brits said fewer and less severe droughts. The Canadians said water levels in the Great Lakes would fall five feet; the Brits said they would rise one foot.

NASA’s Dr. James Hansen, the scientist who started the global warming scare in 1988, has changed his story. In the past, he insisted that Carbon Dioxide emissions from fossil fuel were the primary cause of global warming. Now, he says it’s caused by urban air pollutants and greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide.

Some of this is totally phony; months ago, I wrote this: "Al Gore made the statement that it is much hotter in Tennessee than when he was a child. Scientists promptly published data showing that the temperatures in the Veep’s home state are right where they were 100 years ago. From 1899 to 1918, the average temperature was 57.44 degrees. From 1919 to 1938, it was 58.59 degrees. From 1939 to 1958 it was 58.23 degrees. From 1959 to 1978, it was 56.9 degrees. From 1979 to 1998, it was right back to 57.44." (National Climatic Data Center) So much for Tennessee.

Now, let’s report the last fact: Fact 5. European Space Agency scientists have used satellite and astronomical data to show that computer models used to predict global warming have drastically underestimated the sun’s impact on warming. They say the sun’s energy output has surged in the past 100 years, with a huge increase in ultraviolet light. The sun’s magnetic field has doubled. Why? Whatever the answer, we humans didn’t do it. But since the sun has tremendous control over earthlings’ activities, such as growing food, it could have a devastating effect on this world of not-too-smart little humans.