Ken Ward reports on the  West Virginia gubernatorial “debate” last month  between Tweedledum and Tweedledee:

Q:  “Do you believe man’s actions are causing the world to warm?”

Maloney (R): “We’re in a cooling cycle.”

Tamblin (Democratic): “Once again, there are differences of opinion as to whether we’re in global warming now.”

This is, sadly, only a slight caricature of where the national debate seems headed, given the fecklessness of the entire Obama administration on the issue.

For the record, the 2007 Fourth Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded its review of scientific literature and relevant observations:

Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level.

The key word is “unequivocal,” which is to say, “leaving no doubt.”  Remember, every word in this sentence was signed off on by every single member government, including the Bush Administration (and Saudi Arabia).

The scientific evidence has become even stronger in recent years — see, for instance, Met Office finds “evidence for man-made warming has grown even stronger in the last year.” And so the traditionally conservative and staid U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the equivalent of our scientific Supreme Court, concluded its recent review of climate science saying that it is a scientific “settled fact” that the Earth is warming.

Here’s the backstory from Ken Ward on the WV race:

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Our Guest Blogger today is a Karner Blue Butterfly — via America’s Finest News Service

I think people always expected that when the time came for us to go extinct, we’d go down all quietlike—that just because we’re small blue butterflies with a wingspan of an inch, we wouldn’t put up a fight. Well, I can assure you that before my kind dies out there will be a reckoning. Blood will run in the streets. Human blood.

I swear to you on all that is good and holy that before the Karner blue goes extinct, myself and the last remaining members of my species will take out as much of the human race as we possibly can. There will be mayhem….  People will suffer.

You can take that to the bank.

I know when you look at me all you see is a pretty little insect with a taste for the nectar of wild lupine plants. Sure, you can comfort yourself with that thought, but I tell you what: You put my species’s back against the wall and you are going to see another side of this butterfly. One that has a can of gasoline, a match, and is pissed off enough to light up you and everyone you know.

Here’s the thing: I’m actually fine with going extinct.

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A cyber-penny for your thoughts (on any subject, not just the cartoon).