1 It's always mystified me how we are winning the science battle but losing the political war.

2 Because they're winning the culture.

3

Conservatives win with sound logic, morals, and better (by a lot) solutions.  Unfortunately, the GOP doesn't represent conservatism any more.  That's the real problem.  When one appeals to emotion, the Dems will always win ... their hopey-changey trumps the half-assed approach of Bush.

Eventually, of course, logic will always win out ... the question is if America realizes that before driving over the cliff and going the way of Rome.

4 In "polite" society, I'm regularly told to not express my opinions.

Not just family, but in general.

Um, well, I'm Wickedpinto and I have my small bit of acclaim because I don't give a fuck, but I try to be polite.

I'm sorry, being polite, to the degree that being polite even stifles the creature I created in Wickedpinto, isn't being polite, it's stifling.

I might explode soon.

5 Oh, leave him alone.  Al Gore doesn't have any friends. - Stan, South Park

6 I've been fighting the AGW religion since about 2000, when I engaged in a lengthy debate over in on my defunct blog, "The Safety Valve" with David Appell of Scientific American.  Before it degenerated into hysterical emails from Appell, I posed a Simon/Ehrlich bet: I said that I'd pony up $1000 that global temperatures would fall on average over the next ten years (I was well aware of the upcoming Maunder Minimum, Appell clearly was not).  It says something very clearly that Appell would not agree to the bet, muttering something about it being "beneath his dignity."
After all these years of following AGW, I've come to realize that it stopped being about the actual climate debate within about two or three years.  It is now almost entirely a political and financial game.  Socialists see it as the best chance they've ever had to impose government control of everything, and it has been openly stated by pols such as Chiraq that it represents a crucial first step to a world government.  And the financial motivations are obvious.  Hundreds of millions are donated to enviro groups or spent lobbying in Washington for regulations that will benefit the company making the effort (T. Boone Pickens is a classic example, although BP is second place).  The enviros hail this naked money grab as "responsible corporate leadership."
So, yes, we are well on our way to smashing the "consensus" and being able to move ahead on the science.  But like the "second hand smoke" fiasco (note that it has been exonerated as a dangerous pollutant by the EPA, OSHA, and WHO, to name just a few) the regulations are in place for pushing others around, charging obscene taxes, and grabbing political power.  The science is long forgotten.