Global warming propaganda coming to movie screens.

According to The Day After Tomorrow, a $125 million disaster movie opening on May 28, man-made pollution is causing nature to strike back with catastrophic retribution. The new enviro-apocalyptic film starring Dennis Quaid depicts a helpless United States hit by a calamitous instant ice age that has been caused by our gluttonous consumption of energy. Exhaust from those gas-guzzling SUV's and backyard barbecues has finally caused a global warming backlash that has sent the U.S. into a permanent deep freeze.

Not all environmental activists are pleased by the new propaganda bonanza. Many, apparently, are concerned that the movie so overstates the baseless global warming thesis that it makes it laughable. But Dr. Daniel B. Botkin, an emeritus professor of ecology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told the New York Times that the movie's propaganda value should be viewed as a plus, even if it engages in ludicrous distortion.

"I think it is a good educational opportunity, and that we should treat a disaster movie as entertainment and not get upset that it is a distortion," Dr. Botkin said. "But $125 million on global warming must be a record for publicizing the issue."

On April 1, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center sent an urgent e-mail directing its scientists and officials not to comment on the film. The message began with the heading, "Urgent: HQ Direction." "No one from NASA is to do interviews or otherwise comment on anything having to do with" the film, said the e-mail, which was sent by Goddard's top press officer. "Any news media wanting to discuss science fiction vs. science fact about climate change will need to seek comment from individuals or organizations not associated with NASA." Why the official muzzle? Global warming propagandists have been using bogus "science" and frightening scenarios for years in an ongoing campaign aimed at empowering the United Nations to deal with this ginned-up "crisis." Many, no doubt, are hoping that The Day After Tomorrow will help unfreeze the UN's Kyoto Protocol, which the U.S. Senate has, so far, refused to ratify.