Al Gore vs. The Martians

Now that he's conquered the hearts and minds of Leonardo DiCaprio and the Weather Channel, Al Gore moves across the ocean to assimilate other cultures:

A film made by former US Vice President Al Gore on climate change will be shown in every Scottish secondary school. Starting in August, every fourth and sixth-year pupil in the country will get the chance to see An Inconvenient Truth, Mr Gore's stark warning on the future of the planet.

The announcement was made yesterday as Mr Gore attended a conference in Glasgow along with former United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix. Ross Finnie, Scotland's Environment Minister, said he had been inspired by the film's "powerful message" and thought the nation's young people would be too.

Back in my school days, we used to look forward to movie days. Leave it to Al Gore to ruin even that revered institution.

I'm sure the government mandating that all children watch a piece of approved propaganda puts a touch of warming in the heart of all liberals. Why can't we be more like the Europeans?

But these presentations are going to happen in the schools - institutions of learning. Where debate and skeptical inquiry will be a part of the process. As a learning exercise, I'm sure other perspectives will be thoughtfully considered. Right, Environment Minister Finnie, sir?

"I am very clear that climate change is with us and is a real problem and that there is scientific backing to that. Anybody who has observed the pattern of this year's winter and who thinks that nothing is happening has got to be on planet Mars."

Okay, then.

Who am I to argue with a government official? Especially one projecting catastrophic, global climate change based on the weather patterns of one-half of one season? But, I suspect the Martians don't have time to give their testimony about Earth's climate, given the latest developments back on the Red Planet:

Mars is undergoing global warming that could profoundly change the planet's climate in a few thousand years, new data suggests.

I can only hope Al Gore's rocket ship is scheduled to land soon to save the day.