Irony Alert

Marc Morano, director of communications for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, appeared at a U.N. conference in Nairobi and said that scientific debate on the issue of global warming was being suppressed and that global warming skeptics were being demonized. Conference attendees didn't have to wait long for a couple of examples of what Morano was talking about.

U.N. Chief Kofi Annan, speaking at the same 189-nation meeting of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), equated global warming with the dangers faced from weapons of mass destruction and went on to cite global warming as the cause for everything except the Britney/K-Fed break-up. One day later Al Gore referred to Australia and the U.S. as the "Bonnie and Clyde" of the global warming crisis.

You don't have to be a rocket (or climate change) scientist to recognize Kofi Annan's claim as absurd on its face. Given the choice of being at Hiroshima or at the foot of Mt. Kilamanjaro as the glacier melts is a pretty easy pick for most of us.

Gore is no doubt upset that Bonnie and Clyde didn't drive a hybrid car and is most likely looking to blame them for the rise in carbon dioxide prior to the 1960s. I think if we get to choose, we should opt for the U.S. to be Warren Beatty and let Australia be Faye Dunaway. (We'll enjoy some historical irony here since it was widely believed that Clyde Barrow was gay.)

On a broader point, it seems we've lost all ability to have a reasoned and nuanced discussion on the topic of global warming. Soundbites and absurd analogies have taken the place of any kind of rational discussion. If these two sides were your kids you'd have them take a timeout.

I think it's time for a TV show where you're not allowed to shout and anytime you make a patently ridiculous claim you're ejected from the studio. Sure it would be like being back in kindergarten, but that seems to be what's called for in the current debate.