On the heels of a new report that climate change is seriously affecting the U.S. mainland right now, Czech president and climate crisis skeptic Vaclav Klaus challenges Al Gore to debate the issue.

Gore declines.

Money Q:

"The whole process is already in the hands of those who are not interested in rational ideas and arguments. It is in the hands of climatologists and other related scientists who are highly motivated to look in one direction only because a large number of academic careers has evolved around the idea of man-made global warming."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and it Climate Change Project weighs in.

"They imagine all these ecological impacts are in some distant future," said Janetos, one of the lead authors, who noted that many animals and plants have shifted their migratory and blooming patterns to reflect recent changes in temperature. "They're not in some distant future. We're experiencing them now."

Hmmm, migratory and blooming patterns have been altered. That means government must be given unlimited power to deal with this crisis. I'm going with Klaus.

UPDATE: Heh.