"Scientists have an independent obligation to respect and present the truth as they see it," Al Gore sensibly asserts in his film An Inconvenient Truth.  With that outlook in mind, what do world climate experts actually think about the science of his movie?

Professor Bob Carter of the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University in Australia gives this assessment: "Gore's circumstantial arguments are so weak that they are pathetic. It is simply incredible that they, and his film, are commanding public attention."

Perhaps the most difficult problem of immigration policy is how to cope with the 11-20 million illegal aliens already within this country.

This number includes not just unattached working age males, but also millions of spouses, children and aged relatives. Some of them have been here illegally for decades, either on false documentation or simply in the shadows beyond the reach of the law.

Deporting illegals apprehended within the country is difficult. The courts have held that apprehended aliens have due process rights, and legal aid organizations are ready to provide assistance. Since apprehended illegals not wanted for a crime (other than illegal entry) cannot in practice be detained until the legal process plays out, they are commonly released on their own recognizance, quickly to disappear from view.

What the debate so far lacks is a proposal that will expeditiously reduce the illegal alien population at modest expense to American taxpayers. For instance, why not require illegals who want to remain as guest workers to pay for other illegals to depart? Think in terms of the Civil War practice of draftees paying for a substitute.

No doubt he is a genius when it comes to software and innumerable gadgets and such; I am really pleased he got into computers big time. I certainly got a lot from that in my own line of work.

But Bill Gates really needs to shut about some other things he is confused about. Like his claim the other day, when he announced his impending retirement and turn to full time philanthropy, that he "needs to give back to the community."

On Monday, July 31, less than two weeks before his 80th birthday, Fidel Castro temporarily relinquished power to his brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro, the official successor as head of state, the armed forces, and the Communist Party.

Whether or not Fidel, who seized power on January 1, 1959 and has not relinquished it for a single day until now, recovers from this particular infirmity - officially described as an "intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding" - it is clear that his rule is at an end.

Less clear is what will happen to his regime.

 The Marine incident, and its aftermath, at Haditha last November tells us much more about the media than it does about the Marines. And what it tells us ought to outrage us to the core.   

On every radio and television show I appeared on last week (and all I observed) in which this topic came up, without exception at least one of the media people immediately attempted to implicate not just the still-presumed-innocent Marines, but the American military's leadership and methods in general.     

The "Drive By Media" (Rush Limbaugh's scientifically accurate description) has already started to report this story in a manner that is likely do vast damage that may last for several years to the morale (and possibly recruitment) of our military. It will create a propaganda catastrophe of strategic proportions in our mortal struggle with radical Islam and their terrorist spear point.     

With oil prices reaching record levels, the left is up to its old tricks, blaming the President and calling for lots of expensive big government "solutions". As part of this push, they argue that we're running out of oil.  

But clearly, this argument is not new -- and it's dead wrong.  

Truth be told, the world's estimated oil reserves grew from 60 billion barrels in 1920 to 600 billion by 1950, 2,000 billion by 1990, and 3,000 billion by the year 2000. And in the next few years, they'll keep rising. Here's why.

When I went to college I had my biggest problem with the discipline of history. It may have started when I was a kid in Hungary and first ran up against official "scholars" who rewrote Hungary's history-renamed the streets in Budapest, rewrote all the textbooks, and reshuffled the holidays, and even completely recast Western intellectual history.

Under Marxism there was room for just one account of the development of philosophy, namely, what Karl Marx and his epigones wrote.

At first I thought that in a relatively free society historians could be trusted a lot more than under Marxism. But I am not so sure about this now.

In the advertisement "A Renewed American Agenda" (USA Today, May 4, 2006) - placed by The Bedell World Citizenship Fund of Spirit Lake, Iowa - the organization urges us to "Recognize that All Americans Have A Right to Medical Care."

I suppose they mean well but in fact they are perpetrating a gross misunderstanding about individual rights.

Medical care is a value doctors, nurses and other medical professionals would, if they were free men and women, provide to those they would choose as recipients, on terms they regard as acceptable.

These provisions are not owed to anyone. Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals may not be placed into involuntary servitude to those needing their services. The relationships must be voluntary, no matter how vital those services are to the recipients.

The belief that others may justly be placed into involuntary servitude so as to secure funds to pay medical professionals - who then will service those who need their work - is a gross moral error.