1) It probably causes cancer of some sort.
2) It probably harms the environment in some way.
3) It’s probably a sin to someone’s god.

I <3 Reverend Lovejoy.

In the words of Ned Flanders: “Hi dee ho Good Neighbor.”

What is it that Pastor Lovejoy said in [i]The Simpsons[/i]? “Look, according to the Bible, going to the bathroom is a sin?”

[[Science is NOT consensus and intimidation.]]

Consensus is very much part of how modern science is done. The scientific consensus is not a majority vote, it is a general agreement on what is already known. Sometimes the consensus has been wrong — but not as often as lone cranks and crackpots (like the global warming deniers) have been wrong.

http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.SenateReport

Short quote: “Many of the scientists featured in this report consistently stated that numerous colleagues shared their views, but they will not speak out publicly for fear of retribution.”

Whether you support AGW, plain GW or nothing, you have to admit this is NOT what science is supposed to be about. Science is NOT consensus and intimidation. The whole “the only deniers are religious idiopts, politicians and oil company shills” is propaganda and demonization that ranks with the best of history’s madmen and dictators. I hope you who indulge in this are proud of yourselves for the oppressive situation you have created.

Another quote: “Many of my colleagues with whom I spoke share these views and report on their inability to publish their skepticism in the scientific or public media.” — Dr. Nathan Paldor, Professor of Dynamical Meteorology and Physical Oceanography at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, author of almost 70 peer-reviewed studies.

But it’s just a government report, so we can safely ignore it, right? Ignore all those voices of the scientists outside the Inquisition, oops, I mean the Consensus.

The situation is shameful. Utterly shameful. It is a massive blind spot for the skeptical community.