Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) has long been one of the most outspoken global warming skeptics in the Congress.

This morning, on C-SPAN, he denounced the pending cap-and-trade legislation by stating that "the stupidest thing that Congress could do this year is pass Waxman-Markey."

Barton, who has resisted proposals to reduce the country's oil dependence, explained that there shouldn't be any concern about carbon-dioxide emissions because CO2 is relatively harmless:

I'm creating it as I talk to you. It's in your Coca-Cola. your Dr. Pepper and your Perrier water. It's necessary for human life. It's odorless, colorless, tasteless, doesn't cause cancer, doesn't cause asthma. There's nobody that's ever been admitted to a hospital because of CO2 poisoning.

Watch the video:

Barton, who has consistently prevented any Congressional action on global warming, was condemned today for his stance in the Economist , which profiled him in its "Profiles In Stupidity" column:

We've chronicled Mr Barton's stupidity (there really is no other word for it) before. Anyone looking for exhibit A in what's wrong with the Republican Party should start with the good congressman...

Please don't get me wrong, it's not simply that Mr Barton is a climate-change sceptic. There are plenty of those and some make decent arguments against moving ahead with measures to control emissions. The problem with Mr Barton is that he is wholly uninterested in the science and statistics of the global warming debate. He is about as curious as a dead cat, as is his colleague in the Senate, James Inhofe.