Those remarks weren't directed at you, 999. I said "in general." I have no opinion about fracking. I don't know that much about it.

The phrase "bought and paid for," however, has been tossed around by both sides in the public-relations war about Global Warming and many other issues. It's easy to make, because people don't usually work for free.

To too many people, partisanship and ideological purity are more important than facts, which they often deride as "just an opinion" or the result of "deeply flawed studies." Of course, these phrases never seem to apply to their own position.

("Flawed study" is another easy charge to make, since a perfect study is by definition impossible. Anyway, it usually requires more than one less-than-perfect study to establish a new fact.)