Kyoto in effect and a president who shuns church
The Oct. 15 issue of "The Week" arrived today with some interesting items. If you aren't familiar with it, The Week is a short version of news magazines that carries briefs from many other news sources. This week there were three items of special interest.
1. Amy Sullivan wrote in the New Republic that, although George Bush "is a religious man", he doesn't got to church. "That's right," she wrote in the column briefed in the magazine, "The most overtly religious president in modern times does not spend his Sunday mornings in anyone's pew. Bush doesn't even belong to a congregation." She points out that Billy Carter and Bill Clinton were regular attendees. My addition: Maybe baby bush can't take the chance of anyone denying that he's God or that God speaks through him?
2. An overlooked bit of news in this country was brought to my attention again. Russia has agreed to sign the Kyoto treaty which will put it in effect for must countries except the U.S. Our president couldn't talk Putin out of it. That means there will be a lot of selling and swapping of emission rights in the world that will leave the U.S. out. Then when our pollution swarms into Canada or Mexico they can swear at us. In fairness, an Australian columnist said that it won't make any difference, that it's too late to do any good.
3. And, finally, in connection with the post I had a few weeks ago about seceding from the U.S., Patt Morrison suggested in the Los Angeles Times that California should opt itself out of the union since it still has its weapons ban, its emissions rules, and its higher minimum wage in place and would immediately become the fifth largest independent economy in the world. "As American becomes more and more conservative, California has less and less in common with the rest of the country," he wrote. A good idea gathers no moss.
1. Amy Sullivan wrote in the New Republic that, although George Bush "is a religious man", he doesn't got to church. "That's right," she wrote in the column briefed in the magazine, "The most overtly religious president in modern times does not spend his Sunday mornings in anyone's pew. Bush doesn't even belong to a congregation." She points out that Billy Carter and Bill Clinton were regular attendees. My addition: Maybe baby bush can't take the chance of anyone denying that he's God or that God speaks through him?
2. An overlooked bit of news in this country was brought to my attention again. Russia has agreed to sign the Kyoto treaty which will put it in effect for must countries except the U.S. Our president couldn't talk Putin out of it. That means there will be a lot of selling and swapping of emission rights in the world that will leave the U.S. out. Then when our pollution swarms into Canada or Mexico they can swear at us. In fairness, an Australian columnist said that it won't make any difference, that it's too late to do any good.
3. And, finally, in connection with the post I had a few weeks ago about seceding from the U.S., Patt Morrison suggested in the Los Angeles Times that California should opt itself out of the union since it still has its weapons ban, its emissions rules, and its higher minimum wage in place and would immediately become the fifth largest independent economy in the world. "As American becomes more and more conservative, California has less and less in common with the rest of the country," he wrote. A good idea gathers no moss.
posted by Chuck Rightmire at 4:52 PM
3 Comments:
what i don't understand is why kerry didn't hit bush harder on the environmental issues during the debate. they handed him that question, and he didn't get into it as deeply as he could have. bush is the worst environmental president EVER. not signing the kyoto treaty is just one terrible thing he did out of hundreds.
i think i'll move to california.
Jill - if you want to move to The Peoples Republic of Kalifornia nobody will stop you, but why not stay here and try to make it better?
I've been to California, and they can keep it. Way too many people there.
The Week is a great magazine! I keep forgetting to get a subscription....
The Bush administration's failing to sign the Kyoto Protocol is one of the surest signs of this administration's lack of wisdom. The primary objection to signing the treaty is that it puts a disproporationate burden on US industry. But what these objections fail to see is that we're more responsible for global warming than any other single country (except for perhaps China and Russia), and that as manufacturing continues to shift elsewhere, our burnden will decrease. We would benefit from the treaty by breathing fresher air and drinking cleaner water; and we would save money by the exchange of CO2 credits, no? I may not be totally on the mark here, but this is exactly the kind of short-sightedness that had permeated the Bush administration, and just another reason to vote against them on November 2.
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