In a Congressional hearing today, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher launched the usual set of right-wing talking points about coal, carbon dioxide, and global warming, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't expecting Alan Grayson to educate him quite the way he did.

"Millions of dollars, if not billions of dollars, we're talking about is all based on the idea that CO 2 is heating our planet," Rohrabacher sneered.

Rep. Rohrabacher went on to posture about the terrible, terrible notion of signing global agreements that have a "tremendous impact on jobs, especially in the coal industry," and how it's just terrible to leave some decisions about the planet in the hands of the occupants of said planet instead of Americans, and only Americans.

Speaking of those workers in the coal industry who are losing their jobs, Rohrabacher continued, "There are men and women who are just being thrown out of their jobs because of the theory [of climate change]."

Grayson's reply put it all in perspective, and perhaps educated a few in the process.

"If he thinks that carbon dioxide doesn't cause any human health problems, I advise him to put a plastic bag over his head, tie it tightly around his neck, and see what happens next."

Nervous laughter ensued, but the point was made, and made well.