That's Our Boy
"All hat, no cattle."
That's a traditional Texas put-down for the wannabes, the prime example for which is the Connecticut-born George Walker Bush. Mr. Bush showed plenty of hat this week at an international conference on climate change, and he was just as effective as usual, according to an article published today in the UK's Guardian.
George Bush was castigated by European diplomats and found himself isolated yesterday after a special conference on climate change ended without any progress.
European ministers, diplomats and officials attending the Washington conference were scathing, particularly in private, over Mr Bush's failure once again to commit to binding action on climate change. ...
Britain and almost all other European countries, including Germany and France, want mandatory targets for reducing greenhouse emissions. Mr Bush, while talking yesterday about a "new approach" and "a historic undertaking", remains totally opposed.
The conference, attended by more than 20 countries, including China, India, Britain, France and Germany, broke up with the US isolated, according to non-Americans attending. One of those present said even China and India, two of the biggest polluters, accepted that the voluntary approach proposed by the US was untenable and favoured binding measures, even though they disagreed with the Europeans over how this would be achieved.
A senior European diplomat attending the conference, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the meeting confirmed European suspicions that it had been intended by Mr Bush as a spoiler for a major UN conference on climate change in Bali in December.
"It was a total charade and has been exposed as a charade," the diplomat said. "I have never heard a more humiliating speech by a major leader. He [Mr Bush] was trying to present himself as a leader while showing no sign of leadership. It was a total failure." [Emphasis added]
Of course the President's intention was to derail the UN's December meeting, making it clear that the US under his "leadership" would never put up with mandatory targets: his buddies/paymasters in the energy industry will have none of it. It would actually require a real search for an alternative to carbon-based energy sources and the expenditures of some real money to reduce the pollution until that alternative is found.
The effect is that Mr. Bush has found yet another way to isolate this country from the rest of the world. It wasn't enough to lie us into an illegal war, or to kidnap and "detain" other nation's citizens in super-secret prisons, or to hold "terrists" on an offshore island in conditions that contravene the Geneva Conventions (to which we are signatories). No, he had to find a new way, one that involves perhaps the most important issue facing the entire world.
Heckuva job, George.
That's a traditional Texas put-down for the wannabes, the prime example for which is the Connecticut-born George Walker Bush. Mr. Bush showed plenty of hat this week at an international conference on climate change, and he was just as effective as usual, according to an article published today in the UK's Guardian.
George Bush was castigated by European diplomats and found himself isolated yesterday after a special conference on climate change ended without any progress.
European ministers, diplomats and officials attending the Washington conference were scathing, particularly in private, over Mr Bush's failure once again to commit to binding action on climate change. ...
Britain and almost all other European countries, including Germany and France, want mandatory targets for reducing greenhouse emissions. Mr Bush, while talking yesterday about a "new approach" and "a historic undertaking", remains totally opposed.
The conference, attended by more than 20 countries, including China, India, Britain, France and Germany, broke up with the US isolated, according to non-Americans attending. One of those present said even China and India, two of the biggest polluters, accepted that the voluntary approach proposed by the US was untenable and favoured binding measures, even though they disagreed with the Europeans over how this would be achieved.
A senior European diplomat attending the conference, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the meeting confirmed European suspicions that it had been intended by Mr Bush as a spoiler for a major UN conference on climate change in Bali in December.
"It was a total charade and has been exposed as a charade," the diplomat said. "I have never heard a more humiliating speech by a major leader. He [Mr Bush] was trying to present himself as a leader while showing no sign of leadership. It was a total failure." [Emphasis added]
Of course the President's intention was to derail the UN's December meeting, making it clear that the US under his "leadership" would never put up with mandatory targets: his buddies/paymasters in the energy industry will have none of it. It would actually require a real search for an alternative to carbon-based energy sources and the expenditures of some real money to reduce the pollution until that alternative is found.
The effect is that Mr. Bush has found yet another way to isolate this country from the rest of the world. It wasn't enough to lie us into an illegal war, or to kidnap and "detain" other nation's citizens in super-secret prisons, or to hold "terrists" on an offshore island in conditions that contravene the Geneva Conventions (to which we are signatories). No, he had to find a new way, one that involves perhaps the most important issue facing the entire world.
Heckuva job, George.
Labels: Global Warming, The Environment
posted by Diane at 12:23 PM
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