Not very many years ago -- two? three? -- there was near unanimity among scientists that global warming was real and not just a statistical tic, at least among those scientists not employed by the petrochemical industry

Mike, this is incorrect. The notion of "global warming" has always been hotly (no pun intended) debated amongst scientsts outside the realm of those funded by the state (and even within the state) There has never been a near-unanimous view.

You may want to look at the Global Warming Petition project (http://www.petitionproject.org/) , as well as research studies done at the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (http://www.oism.org/s32p1853.htm)

Global warming is pseudo-science, period - it has as many pre-conceived agendas as the anti-nuclear energy agendas in the late 1970's and early 1980's, which were just as fraudulent (and wound up setting this country back, energy-wise).

There's a paper trail of warming advocates who have avoided direct debate with warming opponents.