Bill, you said, "if someone has a pet idea that is ultimately wrong and has an emotional interest in it, they will often defend it to the last"

Yes! Exactly. ;-) And that IS precisely what worries me about most of the more enthusiastic adherents to the recent popular theories of "Global Warming". They have rushed like lemmings to join in the popular and trendy theme of their day, and they have a very big emotional interest in maintaining their present state of belief. They defend it with the zealousness of priests defending Holy Scripture.

Now in my case, Bill....I initially was extremely impressed by Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth", and I became a strong believer in the Global Warming theories just as they were presented in that film. I also like Al Gore personally, I like him politically, I'm not against him in any way, and I have no axe to grind against Al Gore at all (unlike many conservative opponents of the Global Warming theory).

However....I have since gradually come to the conclusion that his global warming theories are far from correct, and that human-produced C02 concentrations are not a major cause of global warming.

So, Bill. Who has been unable to alter a past opinion due to their emotional attachment to it? Not me. I HAVE altered my past opinions on this subject. I've altered them radically.

And I still like Al Gore, but I think he's simply mistaken in his global warming theory. That doesn't make him a bad guy in my books, it just means he's probably in error about something, that's all.

And now if I may quote you again....

"Aahhh...never mind. You have decided."

Haven't you? ;-D