Global warming: Isn't it time we stop squabbling and take action?

This is from conservative Joe Sherlock's "View through the Windshield" blog dated 3/19/07:

"Hot Topic: Thomas Sowell writes about 'The Great Global Warming Swindle', a documentary from the BBC: 'There is no question that the globe is warming but it has warmed and cooled before, and is not as warm today as it was some centuries ago, before there were any automobiles and before there was as much burning of fossil fuels as today.'

'The BBC documentary goes into some of the many factors that have caused the earth to warm and cool for centuries, including changes in activities on the sun, 93 million miles away and wholly beyond the jurisdiction of the Kyoto treaty. According to these climate scientists, human activities have very little effect on the climate, compared to many other factors, from volcanoes to clouds.'

"Here's the money shot: 'Academics who jump on the global-warming bandwagon are far more likely to get big research grants than those who express doubts - and research is the lifeblood of an academic career at leading universities.' "

Thomas Sowell is a black conservative academic in the mold of Clarence Thomas, always hewing to the far right. He's regularly quoted by white conservatives like Sherlock to show how smart blacks can be. It's interesting that when I looked for Sowell's commentary, it appeared on National Review Online, the ultraconservative mouthpiece of William F. Buckley. Strangely enough, Sowell never mentioned that the global warming "documentary" appeared on the BBC, the well-respected British telecommunications corporation, but rather on "Channel 4," an altogether different British TV station.

At the end of the commentary, I noticed this cryptic message, "Editor's note: This has been corrected since posting." Could it be that the esteemed Dr. Sowell somehow confused Channel 4 with the BBC? By accident or on purpose? Or did Mr. Sherlock get the two mixed up? I suppose we'll never know.