Just as AIDS is the most publicized disease in history, one would be hard-pressed to turn on the television today without the subject of global warming being served up in the form of programming and commercials alike. Both have been advertised as catastrophic events which will spell the end of civilization as we know it. However, when fact is separated from sensationalism, neither condition present much of a threat to most of us.

During the 1980's and '90's, Americans were bombarded with images of emaciated men dying of AIDS. The term 'AIDS epidemic' became an ever-present phrase in the American lexicon. Despite all of the fear mongering, AIDS remains a very low threat to the health of the vast majority of Americans. It is still almost exclusively a disease limited to homosexuals and IV drug users.

In 2003, the Center for Disease Control reported 17,011 Americans died of AIDS. By that same year, the total number of American deaths attributed to the AIDS virus was 550,394. While that number seems daunting, it becomes much less impressive when you consider that during the year 2001alone, there were 553,400 U.S. deaths due to cancer.

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The following list represents the top ten causes of death in the U.S. for 2003 according to the National Center for Health Statistics:

Heart Disease...685,089

Cancer...556,089

Stroke...157,689

Lung Disease...126,382

Accidents...109,277

Diabetes...74,219

Flu...65,163

Alzheimer's...63,457

Nephritis...42,453

Septicemia...34,069

You will notice that AIDS did not even make the list, though Flu and Septicemia did. Unfortunately the future victims of those conditions will never benefit from charity concerts nor will Tom Hanks ever star in a movie about a flu victim. Has anyone ever seen a Septicemia ribbon?

We now have World AIDS Day, AIDS concerts, the still-growing AIDS Quilt, The Name Project, and multitudes of so-called non-profits all devoted to AIDS. In 1994, Bill Clinton even signed into law a bill which created National HIV Testing Day. Last May, President Bush pledged another $30 billion in AIDS relief. AIDS in fact has become less of a disease and more of an industry unto itself.

For two decades, thousands of scientists have competed for funds from private foundations and government grants for AIDS research, resulting in billions of dollars in research projects. However, AIDS is now being replaced by global warming as the top focus for scientific research. The most likely research to be funded today is for studies into the phenomena known as global warming, especially if that research seeks to prove man's ill effect on the climate.

Despite what Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may believe, "the science" is definitely not in on global warming. The fact is, the earth goes through warming and cooling cycles. Both of these occur naturally and have been doing so since the planet has existed. The fact that we have only been keeping accurate weather data for about the last 120 years should be the first clue to any rational person that predicting these cycles is likely to be impossible. Beyond that, we know that ice ages have occurred in the planet's history and in order for those to end, a warming cycle must take place.

The most recent notable climate change was a period known as the Little Ice Age. While scientists disagree on the exact dates of this period, it is generally believed to have occurred during the 16th and mid-nineteenth centuries. Scientists do agree that beginning around 1850, glacial length worldwide began a dramatic and steady retreat. In fact, the loss of glacial ice that is occurring today which has become such a cause for concern, actually began nearly 160 years ago and ten years before the first internal combustion engine went into production. That fact as well as the Little Ice Age itself was curiously omitted from Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth."

To say definitively that the cause for global warming can be blamed upon the habits of consumers is pure speculation at this point. However, do not take my unscientific word for it. The founder of the Weather Channel John Coleman recently called it "the greatest scam in history."

In a scathing article published last November, longtime meteorologist John Coleman wrote the following:

"It is the greatest scam in history. I am amazed, appalled and highly offended by it. Global Warming; It is a SCAM. Some dastardly scientists with environmental and political motives manipulated long term scientific data to create an allusion of rapid global warming. Other scientists of the same environmental whacko type jumped into the circle to support and broaden the "research" to further enhance the totally slanted, bogus global warning claims. Their friends in government steered huge research grants their way to keep the movement going. soon they claimed to be a consensus."

"Environmental extremists, notable politicians among them, then teamed up with movie, media and other liberal, environmentalist journalists to create this wild "scientific" scenario of the civilization threatening environmental consequences from Global Warming unless we adhere to their radical agenda. Now their ridiculous manipulated science has been accepted as fact and become a cornerstone issue for CNN, CBS, NBC, the Democratic political Party, the Governor of California, school teachers and, in many cases, well informed but very gullible environmental conscientious citizens. Only one reporter at ABC has been allowed to counter the Global Warming frenzy with one 15 minute documentary segment."

"I have read dozens of scientific papers. I have talked with numerous scientists. I have studied. I have thought about it. I know I am correct. There is no run away climate change. The impact of humans on climate is not catastrophic. Out planet is not in peril. I am incensed by the incredible media glamour, the politically correct silliness and rude dismissal of counter arguments by the high priest of Global Warming."

"In time, a decade or two, the outrageous scam will be obvious."

The left is always seems to be looking for an injustice to place squarely upon the shoulders of rich white men. In the case of AIDS, white politicians are demonized if they fail to confiscate more wealth from their rich white constituents to fund more AIDS research. While in the case of global warming, it is once again those same white politicians being demonized both for not raiding the treasury as well as for not forcing their constituents to use low-flow toilets and replacing their cars with scooters.

Contrary to what the activists have told you, AIDS is still an affliction which is confined almost entirely to homosexuals and drug addicts. As for global warming, the causes for the current cycle are very much in dispute and the positive effects of a warmer period such as longer growing seasons, less dependence on fossil fuels for heating, and an expansion of crops grown in the Northern Hemisphere are never discussed.

In short...Never listen to dire medical warnings from rock stars nor to climate predictions from former Vice Presidents.