Are we going through Global Warming or are things really Cooling off instead?

Good question. Yes, there was robust global warming from the late 1970s up through 1998. Essentially, it was a rerun of the unstoppable (sarc) global warming of the 1930s.

Overall, there's been no statistically significant global warming since 1998, going by the satellite data from AQUA. However there's been extensive data withholding and data fraud with respect to temperatures from surface stations. Example.

Phil Jones, of Climategate fame, told a colleague in an email that he would rather destroy the original data than hand it over to skeptics, who were pursuing FOIA requests. Lo and behold! That's exactly what he did.150 years of original data, with which he was entrusted, is gone forever.

The only thing that remains is 'adjusted data'. If the raw data does not support the Warmies' foregone conclusion of man-made climate catastrophe, then they look for some flimsy pretext to 'adjust' it. The diddled 'data' is all that remains in the collection at CRU (Climate Research Unit) at East Anglia University.

I'm sorry, but that's not the way real science is done. And there's more fraud, much more. Don't get me started.Anyway... On average, the land masses have been cooling for the last couple of years.

Interestingly, 2010 was a warmer-than-average year for our fair planet, because of slightly increasing SSTs (sea surface temperatures).(The oceans cover roughly 70% of the planet's surface. ) As a counterpoint, there's been no discernible trend in overall ocean temperatures since 2003, as measured by the Argo Buoys. Ken, your suspicion is reasonable.

CAGW (catastrophic anthropogenic global warming) is a thoroughly falsified hypothesis. However the recent cooling of the land masses has not been going on long enough to say with reasonable confidence that we're entering a long-term cooling trend.

The colder and longer winters are effects of global warming. Actually, the overall warming of the earth due to greenhouse gases creates a situation where warm summers are brutally hot while winters are extremely cold, as well as other extreme weather patterns. We already know the polar ice caps are melting.

I doubt it is due to global cooling.

Thanks Larry, your answer is well thought out and informative. I agree that the major things going on right now are more about what the governments are trying to push than real science. Anything to make a buck goes, even lying to the people, as long as they can fatten their back pockets.

I found it a bit surprising when I found out that big business is actually counting on the Polar Caps melting so they can use the Northwest passage to ship products over the poles rather the more expensive way they do now. As far as low lying cities getting flooded as the sea levels rise, that doesn't seem to matter to them, just as long as they can ship cheaper and make more money. Again, it's all about money, not people.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.