West Virginia watered down an educational curriculum that dared to question the existence of man-made global warming

The State Board of Education voted 6-to-2 to withdraw its altered version of the Next Generation Science Standards, which were developed by 26 states, including West Virginia. The changes had been quietly made by a member of the West Virginia board before it adopted the standards in December.

The board voted to revert to the original standards, which emphasize the scientific consensus on human activity as a cause of climate change, and will adopt those standards after a 30-day comment period, said Gayle Manchin, the board president and wife of United States Senator Joe Manchin III.

The Times regularly calls him a "conservative" Democrat; she's probably a "conservative" Democrat, too.  At least, a conservative Democrat who believes in climate change.

There's just one problem: there is no such thing as man-made climate change.  This not a hypothesis; this is not a theory; this is a hard, scientifically proven fact.

Manmade CO₂ levels have been rising steadily during the past seventeen years.  There has been no warming for the past 17 years.

I probably need to repeat that, for the benefit of liberal readers: there has been no warming for the past 17 years!  The Earth has been getting slightly cooler for the past 17 years.  Not warmer!

All the models of man-made global warming predict higher CO₂ levels going hand in hand with higher temperatures.  This utterly destroys the theory of manmade CO₂ causing global warming.

Even if you still somehow believe in this theory, man-made C0₂ is only 3% of total global CO₂.  Ninety-seven percent is produced naturally, by nature.  Our emissions are so small that we couldn't have an effect on global CO₂ levels even if we wanted to.

So why is it so controversial to cast doubt on such a clearly discredited theory?  It is especially disheartening to see this happen in West Virginia, which relies on coal for industry and jobs – coal that produces that dreaded carbon dioxide that causes no global warming at all.  If this ridiculousness can't be questioned in West Virginia, where can it be challenged?

Pedro Gonzales is editor of NewsMachete.com, the conservative news site.