"Expert bashing... is another distinguishing mark of junk thought, and the effectiveness of the technique depends on the public's inability to distinguish among good science, bad science, and pseudo-science. Scientific evidence, however overwhelming, is dismissed by the expert-bashers as politically biased. ... The scientific consensus on global warming is a favorite target of right-wing purveyors of junk thought." -- Susan Jacoby, in The Age of American Unreason

Susan Jacoby's national best-seller should be required reading -- especially for all those who believe mostly what they like to hear and confuse that with rationality. Most Americans are too distracted -- or too lazy -- to put intellectual sweat into serious reading or research. They're easy prey for junk.

On Jan. 29, we explored links between Americans for Prosperity, George Mason University and its Mercatus Center, GMU economics professor Walter E. Williams -- and their ties to oil-rich, anti-regulatory Koch Industries. Today, we'll look at Williams' charge that human-related climate change is a "stupid," anti-rational "religion."

Polar bears: Williams correctly says polar bear numbers today are much higher than in the 1950s. In the '50s and '60s virtually unregulated hunting had decimated bear populations. When restrictions were imposed, numbers shot up. Today, bears are declining because of melting polar ice. Last year, USGS expert Steven Aistrup and six other experts reported that "... nine USGS reports, and other available information on the species and its habitat, established that the future security of polar bears is ecologically threatened." Williams cherry-picked the data.

Jumping up and down: Williams says that 6.5 billion humans "jumping up and down for a little while" wouldn't affect the earth's rotation or orbit, change the tides, stop tsunami or hurricanes. That might be a hoot to watch, but it's a false comparison.