photo from ABC News

NASA Says 2010 Hottest Year, Warming Skeptics Put Fingers in Ears – Scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) say that 2010 is the hottest year on record since recording began in 1880.

The last 10 years have been the hottest on record as well.   But it’s not just this year that we should think about, or about the last 10 years.  Ever since climate scientists in the 1970s have predicted that human activity creates greenhouse gases that can warm up the planet, and dubbed it “global warming”, there has been a steady increase in global temperature averages.

And yet, the circus that is the official denial of what science is saying continues.  Like the tobacco companies in the ’50’s who denied that cigarettes are linked with cancer, so too are certain polluting industries (like Exxon) paying to fund the denial of scientific fact.  Fox News, a PR spokeshole for the industrial corporations that are creating the most pollution, is a regular spewer of the verbal assault on scientific facts.

What is worse, is that Fox News also touts itself as a network for the people, especially the poor people on the far right who have no business being on the side of large industries.  The marriage of social conservatism with the American brand of libertarianism (a far cry from libertarianism’s original intent) has created a false dichotomy for the poor people of social conservative persuasion.

While they dutifully vote for their candidates on issues like abortion and religion, their candidates aim to give tax cuts to the rich.  Why?  Because most of them on the Republican side are rich corporatists as well.  To a lesser extent, it’s the same with the Democrats.  And so between the two choices, we’re stuck with voting for corporate candidates who mimic the language but not the behavior of the people whom they rely on votes the most.