Guess what else causes global warming?

I checked my calendar; it's not April Fools Day. I checked the link; it's not a fake, funny news story from The Onion. This is the actual headline from a column in last Sunday's Los Angeles Times:

Why cleaner air could speed global warming

From what I can tell, they are dead serious folks. After decades of hand-wringing about our dirty air and smokestacks belching filth into our atmosphere, we are now told that we apparently need to bring all that back in the name of stopping the (non-existent) threat of human-caused global warming:

Cleaner air, one of the signature achievements of the U.S. environmental movement, is certainly worth celebrating. Scientists estimate that the U.S. Clean Air Act has cut a major air pollutant called sulfate aerosols, for example, by 30% to 50% since the 1980s, helping greatly reduce cases of asthma and other respiratory problems.

But even as industrialized and developing nations alike steadily reduce aerosol pollution -- caused primarily by burning coal -- climate scientists are beginning to understand just how much these tiny particles have helped keep the planet cool. A silent benefit of sulfates, in fact, is that they've been helpfully blocking sunlight from striking the Earth for many decades, by brightening clouds and expanding their coverage. Emerging science suggests that their underappreciated impact has been incredible....

Good God in Heaven, I think these global warming cultists are truly beginning to lose their already tenuous grip on reality. This is especially apparent when you read further into the column and find out what the author proposes be done:

In the face of severe climate risks, credible scientists are beginning to study geo-engineering -- tinkering with global systems to reduce warming directly. One scheme is to spew sulfates or other sun-blocking particles miles high in the stratosphere. If it worked, it would mimic the natural cooling effect of volcanoes, replacing the near-surface sulfate mask with a much higher one. But the possible side effects could be dire, including damage to the ozone layer. The potential geopolitical implications, like wars over the thermostat, could be devastating as well.

As a wag at the Newsbusters website (see my blogroll) so aptly put it, we have now reached the apex of "heads I win, tails you lose" global warming alarmism.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson