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Editorial: Global warming: We're not stupid South Florida Sun-Sentinel June 24 For the second time in less than a year, White House officials have doctored an Environmental Protection Agency draft report on global climate change. The revisions were clearly intended to mislead the American people. The draft report, commissioned as the first comprehensive review of what is known about various environmental problems, had contained references to studies concluding that global warming is caused at least partly by human activity and that it could be a threat to human health and natural ecosystems. The White House edited out those references. White House officials also deleted a reference to a 1999 study showing that global temperatures had risen sharply in the previous decade compared with the past 1,000 years. They replaced it with a reference to a new study, financed partly by the American Petroleum Institute, casting doubts on the earlier study. Someone in the White House must think the American people are stupid. At one time there was widespread disagreement among scientists about whether global warming was real and how much of a threat it posed. In recent years, however, a consensus has formed that it is real, that human activity contributes to it, and that it is a threat. There are still doubts and disagreements among scientists on the subject of climate change. But this in no way justifies the Bush administration's attempts to deceive people through manipulation of words and facts. When the president rejected the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, he promised to produce an alternative strategy. That was two years ago. The international community is still waiting. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -