And the prize for stating the bleedin' obvious goes to ...

The Independent, for the SHOCK!! HORROR!! revelation that the fossil fuel industry are funding the climate change denier 'think' tanks:

Free-market, anti-climate change think-tanks such as the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in the US and the International Policy Network in the UK have received grants totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds from the multinational energy company ExxonMobil. Both organisations have funded international seminars pulling together climate change deniers from across the globe. (1)

If this is the start of a big fight back by the 'pro'-climate change sane people, then we're all doomed.

First of all, trying to play the anti-goons at their own ad hominem game is not going to work, because they are always going to be able to go further and nastier, and because ultimately, they will have the brass neck to turn around, after a dozen rounds of mud slinging, and say, "Gosh, these peoplearen't interested in debating the science, why is that, do you think?"

Second, because if this is the best mud that we can sling, we're going to get caned. If you want to do it properly, accuse a leading 'sceptic' of being a paedophile. Yes, a paedophile. When they deny and threaten libel, say you are just trying to engage in a healthy debate and that, just because the overwhelming weight of evidence suggests that the 'sceptic' in question isn't a paedophile, equal balance should be given to opposing viewpoints.

n.b. I am joking. Actually lobbing such an accusation at someone wqould be a rather evil thing to do.

1 - "Think-tanks take oil money and use it to fund climate deniers," by Jonathan Owen and Paul Bignell. Published in The Independent, 7th of February, 2010. (http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/thinktanks-take-oil-money-and-use-it-to-fund-climate-deniers-1891747.html)