OK, here’s what happened at the UN Climate Change meeting in Montreal today, a meeting that one of the commenters over on Red State said should be called “The UN Conference on How to Throw Mud at the United States and Make Them Pay for Something.”
Our man in Montreal, the State Department’s Dr. Harlan Watson, said:
“With regard to what the United States is doing on climate change, the actions we have taken are next to none in the world.”
Worse yet, he’s dead-on right. That pretty much hacked off all the other countries who are still kicking themselves for getting suckered into this boneheaded deal known as Kyoto (which our Senate rejected 95-0).
So, in essence, nothing happened in Montreal today. Go figure.
October 25th, 2006 on 12:01 pm
My dear Mayor,
I take great pleasure in announcing, by way of presentation, Park Avenueââ¬â¢s ever lasting tribute to your tenure as Mayor of Montreal, in Quebec, Canada.
This functional statue depicts the Montreal Mayor in his most comfortable and best remembered question period pose, assisting Montrealers in their endeavors and listening to their concerns while completely ignoring their wishes, on a daily basis.
As when he arbitrarily decided to rename Park Avenue in spite of overwhelming local opposition to the decision.
It is with great pride that we, the people, unveil this Park Avenue Bicycle Stand.
Montrealers will be able to point to your posterior with pride as they jam their front wheel into a soft nose and lock it between spindly, parted legs.
Finally, a Montreal Mayor all Montrealers can be proud of.
Each individual stand is made of composite materials so as not to damage the wheel in any way yet firmly hold it in position and it also emits an audible sound of satisfaction whenever someone successfully jams it in!
A plaque with these words will inform all visitors to this great city of Montreal the publicââ¬â¢s sincerest wishes behind each and every useful replica for all eternity.
Enjoy the ever lasting tribute!
December 1st, 2005 on 2:44 pm
Good points (I especially like the “like a bad prom date” metaphor), but our negotiator there says we’re already doing better than most of the countries that have signed on to the Kyoto accord. It was a political document — a “love test” if you will, and the countries that signed it did so out of political pressure but they’re not hitting their targets. Also, remember the Senate agreed with our non-participation by a vote of 95-0.
Thanks for commenting.
November 30th, 2005 on 11:58 am
I would disagree. Maybe nothign happened in Montreal that the U.S. is concerned with but thats no surprise since we dropped Kyoto like a bad prom date. However, lots of other stuff of significance is going on and the rest of the world is busy moving forward while kindly leaving the U.S. out of.
It’s not about the fact that Kyoto isn’t going to solve all our climate issues. It’s about cooperation. Its a necessary first step. Here’s a comparison: if a senator is readying to cast a vote on the floor of Congress the most important thing to do is to guage support, make phone calls to fellow senators and to build a constituency. The vote usually concerns something of negligible effect and often seems like a “useless fight” for a senator. But they still make the necessary phone calls, build broad support and get as many allies on board as possible. Its the reason you have senators from Illinois voting energetically for a bill that would give the senator from Idaho the dam she requested — there’s no obvious reason why a senator from Illinois should care, but he does.
The same applies here with Kyoto. Its not the be-all-end-all for determining how to deal with climate change. Its not going to be enforced for the next 50 years, strapping the U.S. economy and sucking it dry. Its, at the very least, a necessary first step. If Bush was proposing something stronger, that would restrict U.S. emissions more than Kyoto I’d be all for it. But he’s not.