TV news stations and newspapers this week carried similar pieces, proclaiming that 2013 was "the warmest year ever."

"The warmest year ever?"For starters, temperature records have only been kept in most cities for a little more than 100 years. Considering our earth could be over four billion years old, that means we've only been monitoring temperatures for about one-thirty millionth of its existence.It would be like taking over half the people in the world (the global population is listed at seven billion), putting them together, picking one at random, and determining the person you picked typified the personality of the whole planet."The warmest year ever."The reality is, records are always being broken. The winter of 1995-96 was the snowiest ever for Pennsylvania, with nearly 100 inches falling on the Wilkes-Barre-Scranton area. Last winter was the snowiest for Anchorage, Alaska.Check and you'll find the wettest year ever, the dryest, etc.Then there was the ice age two billion years ago, which was actually the coldest period on earth, and which lasted way more than a year or even a generation. One theory is that volcano eruptions helped to bring an end of the ice age. Imagine our heating bills if we were around then!The federal government loves propagating the global warming theory for boosting its own agenda.For starters, President Obama is determined to destroy the fossil fuel industry, which includes coal and oil.His passion against fossil fuels has been evident for years.On January 17, 2008, then Senator Barack Obama told the San Francisco Chronicle:"So, if somebody wants to build a coal plant, they can it's just that it will bankrupt them, because they are going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted. That will also generate billions of dollars that we can invest in solar, wind, biodiesel and other alternative energy approaches."In the same interview with the Chronicle, our fearless Green Crusader went on to say this:"When I was asked earlier about the issue of coal…under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket…even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad, because I'm capping greenhouse gasses, coal power plants, natural gas…you name it…whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retro-fit their operations."He's sticking to his policy even though he has no proven alternative energy mode.The problems with government go deeper considering the dictatorial authority that exists with the un-elected officials of the Environmental Protection Agency, who regulate our fossil fuels.We have enough fossil fuels to give Americans affordable energy, but our wealthy political leaders - who don't have the same struggles as the people they represent - are placing ridiculous burdens on the usage of it.Meanwhile, our adversaries such as China, Russia, and even India are begging us to limit our fossil fuel production while they use more and more of it. Could there be an alternative motive from them? Are we shipping our coal to these countries today like we shipped steel to Japan just before they attacked us to begin World War II?Is global warming for real? Is it cyclical?Only time will tell.We can't over-react. Over-reaction would be imposing unfair economic, security, and environmental restrictions on Americans and depriving them of what amounts to general survival.By RON GOWERrgower@tnonline.com