USA Today isn’t known for being a hugely political paper. It usually reports the news right down the middle and doesn’t get called out on Fox News for being part of the “Mainstream Liberal Media” cabal.

Which is one of the reasons it was the number one newspaper by circulation until last year (since eclipsed by the Wall Street Journal – this country is going to hell in a hand basket). They report the news and stay out of the big fights.

So it’s a pleasant surprise to see them come out with a strong editorial blasting climate deniers. It’s an indicator of just how far out of touch the GOP is and how the sensible majority views science denial.

Our view: America, pick your climate choices

One way to deal with a problem is to pretend it doesn’t exist. This approach has the virtue of relieving you from having to come up with a solution, spend money or make tough choices. The downside, of course, is that leaky faucets and other problems rarely solve themselves and, in fact, usually get worse if ignored.

Such is the case with climate change, a threat that too many members of Congress, most of them Republicans, have decided to manage by denying the science. That head-in-the-sand approach avoids messy discussions of higher energy prices, but it just got harder to justify.

Late last week, the nation’s pre-eminent scientific advisory group, the National Research Councilarm of the National Academy of Sciences, issued a report called “America’s Climate Choices.” As scientific reports go, its key findings were straightforward and unequivocal: “Climate change is occurring, is very likely caused primarily by human activities, and poses significant risks to humans and the environment.” Among those risks in the USA: more intense and frequent heat waves, threats to coastal communities from rising sea levels, and greater drying of the arid Southwest.

Read the rest at USAToday.com