Non-Experts use Abstract Facts and Unsubstantiated Events to "Prove" Theory

Today the AP and the Independent cover the story of John McCain and Hillary Clinton traveling to Alaska to observe the effects of global warming.

"We are convinced that the overwhelming scientific evidence indicated that climate change is taking place and human activities play a very large role," McCain said.

"I don't think there is any doubt left for anyone who actually looks at the science," Clinton said. "There are still some holdouts, but they are fighting a losing battle. The science is overwhelming, but what is deeply concerning is that climate change is accelerating."

Please realize that the senators observed retreating glaciers, shoreline erosion, and a forest being attacked by beetles in Alaska. Also, the most bizarre account comes from Hillary:

She said that, flying over the Yukon, she saw forests devastated by spruce bark beetles, believed to be increasing at an unprecedented rate because of warmer weather. She also talked of what a 93-year-old woman at a fish camp at Whitehorse told her. The woman said she had been fishing there all her life but now fish have strange bumps on them.

Let's review the facts. The average global temperature has increased 1.1 degrees F since 1860, the first year that global temperatures were accurately recorded. Clinton and McCain keep referring to "scientific evidence" and "science." What science did they observe in Alaska? I realize that they witnessed events taking place in Alaska that could be related to increasing temperatures, but there is no evidence that this temperature increase is related to industrial emissions or that it is not a regular cycle in world temperatures. Furthermore, the Independent makes no bones to throw in the mutant fish reference to global warming. My back is sore today - do you think it has some connection to global climate change?

Realistically, some scientists are using 140 years of climate data out of billions of years of Earth history to formulate a theory that human activities are increasing global temperatures. It's simply ridiculous. Ice cores from the poles (and evidence of glaciation in the central United States) show that the Earth has gone through innumerable global climate swings that are most likely related to solar activity. Yes, the temperature has gone up about 1 degree; however, if a major volcano erupts again, global temperatures will drop as much a .73 degrees F.

You can not prove a theory, you can only disprove it. The evidence is clearly against the theory of global warming, no matter how hard Clinton and McCain beat the drum.