Re: Nick Collingridge
Exactly!!
While global CO2 and global temperature have both been higher than they are now, the rate-of-CHANGE for both CO2 and global temperature are entirely unprecedented. (For the conservatives out there, Unprecedented = It has never happened before.) Additionally, as you pointed out, the article only refers to US temperatures, not global temperatures. Remember, the problem we are dealing with is Global Warming, not US Warming. For global temperature, 19 of the 20 warmest years on record have occurred since 1980.
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change/dn9903
I thought that I would deal with the other big point the naysayers use; "The models aren't accurate." The Global Warming models are entirely irrelevant to proving the impact of CO2 on global temperature. We don't need models to determine what will happen when CO2 levels increase. There is more than enough data available in ice cores and fossilized plankton layers to determine what happens when CO2 goes up; The temperature goes up too.
It doesn't take a model to determine that the last time the CO2 level was as high as the current level, the temperature was warmer. The last time CO2 was as high as is being projected by 2050, the global temperature was much warmer, as much as 5C warmer.
How much of a difference can 5C make? The global temperature during the last ice age was about 5C colder than it is now. The last time temperatures were 5C warmer (130,000 years ago),
"global sea levels were 13 to 20 feet (4 to 6 meters) higher than they are today."
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/03/0323_060323_global_warming_2.html
Obviously, it might take a while for enough ice to melt to cause that kind of rise in the sea level. Then again, maybe it won't:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/08/0821_020821_wireglaciers.html
PS - You talked about, "neo-con theories of personal liberty at all costs."
Apparently, you haven't noticed the way that the conservatives have been trashing our constitution lately. Preserving personal liberty is clearly not part of their agenda.