US: Statement by Secretary Tim Geithner at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group Development Committee Meeting

The World Bank Group is already making an exceptional contribution by leading a coordinated effort through mitigation and adaptation activities to combat the affects of climate change. We applaud the World Bank Group and our international partners for working together to launch the Climate Investment Funds, which will make an immediate impact in addressing climate change.

The "Noble" Lie of Cap-and-Trade

There's a reason Dingell and other moderates -- as well as many Republicans -- prefer a direct carbon tax, and it's not because such a tax would "prove ineffective at limiting carbon dioxide." Quite the opposite, a direct tax would be far more difficult for the oil and gas and coal industries to manipulate. It would also make it possible for citizens/voters/taxpayers to see just what the cost of saving the planet really is, and allow them to do their own cost-benefit analysis.

A few years ago the New York Times offered this more accurate assessment of what motivates opposition to a direct carbon tax: "Supporters of a cap-and-trade program argue that explictly raising carbon taxes high enough to make a serious dent in the output of global warming gases would be politically impossible." It's not that a tax would be ineffective. It's just that if people had any idea what this was all going to cost they'd never sign off on it.

Clinton(s): U.S. to Lead the Way - Chris Horner - Planet Gore on National Review Online

The story closed with what had to be delivered in studied deadpan, "Kevin Curtis, deputy director of the Pew Environment Group, issued a statement hailing the talks as a "much needed momentum boost" to climate change talks."

I recall writing something for NRO years back revealing the obsession with recycling among Kyoto-friendly headline writers and reporters, along the lines of "World reaches historic climate pact. Again. But not really".
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So, the song remains the same, except for the billions more we just spent for those technologies that, apparently, are still sitting on the shelf. (Ever get the feeling that politicians aren't being straight with you on these marvelous technologies that are always just over the horizon? Just wondering). They're right next to the 200 mpg carburetor I've heard is also being stymied by the industrial-government complex.