Viewpoint by Terry Webster/ne news editor

A bizarre string of events is once again heating up the debate over global warming.

On Oct. 1, a gory video by the British-based activist group 10:10 hit the Internet, depicting schoolchildren and working professionals who explode after refusing to take up the cause to mitigate global warming.

The group removed the video from its website shortly after and apologized for it. It was intended as a joke, they said. Surely, someone must have wondered if everyone would see the humor in a video that simulates blowing up schoolchildren, complete with blood and body parts spraying across their classmates.

Overall, the credibility of the global warming movement is taking some serious hits. Convicted murderer Charles Manson recently began campaigning from his jail cell about global warming. Osama Bin Laden has said that he, too, is concerned about it. Manson and Bin Laden are the last people who should place a humanitarian face on this cause.

Another notable event is the scandal over a group of e-mails from England’s University of East Anglia suggesting scientists manipulated data to build a case for global warming. In November 2009, skeptics declared the e-mails proof the movement is a farce. 

Tied into this are debates here and around the world about taxes to help reduce carbon emissions. It sounds like a noble cause. Yet we already gave billions to another cause – the banker bailouts — which were shot in the air with almost no accountability. The U.S. simply cannot afford to add more liability to its already soaring debt.

Talks about carbon taxes during a global economic recession are, at best, poorly timed and, at worst, highly suspicious. We would be wise to seek answers about the financial impact of proposed carbon taxes and how they might be carried out. Imagine the impact of shutting off electricity for hours or days on end in these economically depressed times.

Still, without question, we need to make changes to improve and protect our planet and its resources.

But for everyone concerned, let’s keep it clean. That applies to the environment as well as the methods and the message for making a positive change.