The political e-mail picks up as the time draws closer for Heartland Institute's climate change conference -- a conference devoted to denying significant human contributions to climate warming.

You may recall the video I included last week about cow flatulence. It was from Heartland, ridiculing global warming. I thought it was funny. Others did not.

I have no problem with the video or Heartland putting on this show in New York next month. It's a free country. This group has assembled skeptical scientists and a former astronaut who say the campaign to slow down cimate change is nothing more than political hysteria.

Here's what you may not know. This nonprofit group filed a 2007 financial statement showing contributions of nearly $5 million. This is not your garden-variety nonprofit.

But neither are the folks on the other side. The Environmental Defense Fund, the giant green watchdog based in New York, listed more than $80 million in public support in 2007.

Conspiracy, politics, big money, worldwide effects, finger-pointing, anger, worry about our children's children. It's an epic battle.