Canada pisses off Dick Cheney. GO CANADA! WOO!

[Grimmlok]

U.S. angered by Martin's climate comments
Dec. 8, 2005. 08:32 PM


MONTREAL (CP) — With one day of talks to go at the UN climate conference, desperate efforts to draw the United States into the global effort to curb greenhouse emissions appear to have hit a brick wall, and Prime Minister Paul Martin is being blamed.

An official with close contacts in the U.S. delegation said any hopes of drawing Washington into the process were killed when Martin pointed a finger of blame at the United States in a news briefing at the conference.

"That was a big mistake," said the delegate, speaking on condition of anonymity Thursday. He said the U.S. delegation, which is directed from Washington by Vice-President Dick Cheney, was deeply angered by Martin's comments.

In his comments Wednesday, Martin called on all nations to join the global effort to fight climate change, adding: "To the reticent nations, including the United States, I say there is such a thing as a global conscience, and now is the time to listen to it."

It is not clear that the United States would have agreed to participate in new climate talks in any case, said the official, but chances now have been reduced to zero.

In this context it is expected the U.S. will veto a new Canadian-inspired proposal calling for further talks within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC).

The United States is party to the UNFCC although it has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

Experts say there can be no realistic hope of controlling climate change unless there are deeper cuts after 2012, beyond the 5.2 per cent reduction required in the existing Kyoto Protocol.

They also say the international effort will be doomed without the participation of the United States, which accounts for about a quarter of global greenhouse emissions.

Environmentalists have been arguing that Kyoto countries should forget about trying to engage the current U.S. administration while waiting for a more sympathetic regime. They cheered Martin's remarks, which were a big topic of conversation Thursday.

"I think it will come to be seen as a historic speech," said Bill Hare of Greenpeace International. "I really think it was a very, very powerful statement from a main political leader."

The White House is likely to be further angered by news that former U.S. president Bill Clinton will address the conference on Friday at the invitation of the City of Montreal.

Clinton was a major supporter of the Kyoto Protocol while president, although his successor George W. Bush pulled out of the accord soon after taking power.

The visit was arranged on the initiative of Elizabeth May, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada, who has known Clinton since working on one of his campaigns in the 1970s.

Although Clinton's speech is officially designated as a "side event" to the conference, it is expected to take place in the main conference hall, allowing thousands of delegates from around the world to attend.

Despite the U.S. reaction, Canadian delegates were upbeat Thursday, noting that a committee had reached consensus on a proposal for further talks within the Kyoto Protocol. Those talks would exclude the United States.

The United States is entitled to participate in the conference because it has ratified the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). It is not entitled to participate in negotiations under the Kyoto Protocol, which it has not ratified.

Here's an idea: Bush and his whole administration are a bunch of puerile selfish dickwads, and MOVE ON WITHOUT THEM.

Actually, do one better: Kick the American delegation right out of the building and send them packing back across the border.

*silent scream* This is why people get pissed off at the US

[ohmygoodness]

Eugh. The states are just acting like a spoiled brat. GRRR.

[Grimmlok]

I can practically see ol Dicky boy scowling and growling under his breath at Martin.




"motherfucking Martin, go fuck yourself..."

[Sojiita]

Could y'all please use "The American government" or the "Current US Regime" or even "the fuckwads currently running America" instead of just saying "The US"..or "America"????? Thanks. Too bad we can't reelect Clinton...
..well there is still Hillary huh?

[ohmygoodness]

But that takes so many more letters!

[Sojiita]

Originally Posted by ohmygoodness

But that takes so many more letters!

Then just substitute and use one evil four letter word: BUSH!

[ourmaninBusan]

U.S. angered by Martin's climate comments

It is not clear that the United States would have agreed to participate in new climate talks in any case, said the official, but chances now have been reduced to zero.

Those chances were already zero.
They have as much commitment to Kyoto as I have to learning Korean, i.e.,
zero.

The Bush-Cheney junta made excuses to back out of Kyoto
after pretending to play along for appearance's sake.
They never planned on signing in the first place.

They also say the international effort will be doomed without the participation of the United States, which accounts for about a quarter of global greenhouse emissions.

It's worse than you think.
The US has been using a loophole in the system to avoid cutting
greenhouse emissions -- I'm not sure if this makes sense, but
every represented country has certain amounts it has to reduce by.
So a collapsed economy like Soviet Uzbekistan can say, "well,
our greenhouse emissions have dropped by six percent...because
we don't have an economy left."

The US then buys that 6% and applies it to their own "quota,"
in exchange for what I don't know. It's like instead of cutting
their gas emissions, the Bush-Cheney junta is increasing their
"credit limit" of allowable emissions.

[Mr. Authority]

And add the fact that the Bush administration is known for letting some of their "donating" corporate friends slide in terms of how much pollution they release from their factories. Hell this is the same administration that had that "clean skies" initiative crap they only showed how pollution increases.
Canada should'nt even have to put up with Bush's crap. Just fuck them and work with some other Us offficials that are'nt republican.

[Grimmlok]

AHAHAH Go Clinton!!!!

MONTREAL (AFP) - Former US president Bill Clinton took to the podium at the UN climate talks here to ram home a grim message about global warming and demand the United States move quickly away from the fossil fuels causing the problem.

In a show-stealing appearance rumoured to have ired the US delegation, Clinton defended the UN's Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gases that was ditched by his successor, President George W. Bush, and said the switch to cleaner energy would create millions of jobs for the American economy.

"There's no longer any serious doubt that climate change is real, accelerating, and caused by human activities," Clinton said.

The Earth, he said, was "literally a biological miracle ... it's crazy for us to play games with our children's future."

He pointed to an array of gloomy scientific studies published in past weeks, including evidence that carbon dioxide levels are at their highest in 650,000 years, that glaciers in the Himalayas and Arctic sea ice were melting and the warm Atlantic currents that bathe northwestern Europe were slowing down.

The United States "is the worst offender" for the problem, said Clinton.

America has just four percent of the world's population, but accounts for nearly a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Clinton stoutly defended the Kyoto Protocol, whose framework was approved by his administration in 1997, but which was ditched by Bush in March 2001, in one of his first acts in office.

Bush said the evidence for global warming was uncertain and Kyoto's format of binding industrialised countries to making cuts in greenhouse gases was too costly for the US economy, and unfair because big developing countries did not have a similar obligations.

To loud cheers from an audience of thousands of delegates and green activists, Clinton said: "I liked the Kyoto Protocol. I helped to write it. And I signed it."

Clinton acknowledged, though, that the protocol "was not a perfect agreement" and there were some big criticisms of it at the time.

Conservatives argued -- and still do -- that the move to cleaner energy sources and tougher fuel efficiency standards would cost jobs and weaken the economy, he said.

In fact, cleaner technology "would strengthen, not weaken our economy," said Clinton, "... in America, there's no telling how many jobs we could create."

He spelt out a long list of things that could be done, including improving energy efficiency in US power plants, cars and buildings, switching to solar, wind and biofuels and even simple initiatives for ordinary citizens, such as using high-efficiency lightbulbs.

Clinton was invited by the Canadian branch of the Sierra Club environment group to speak at the final day of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the treaty that oversees Kyoto.

Because it was not an official UNFCCC event, all UN logos and backdrops were carefully removed from the podium.

Negotiations were going to the wire on Friday on how to further greenhouse gas cuts beyond Kyoto's present commitment, which runs out in 2012.

Rumours spread among the conference that the US delegation was angry that Clinton had come, and that it had even tried to block his appearance.

The delegation issued a statement, though, saying it encouraged "stakeholder presentations" of the kind symbolised by the Clinton visit.

[ohmygoodness]

I miss Bill. He was so sexy. Lol. I still don't understand why you need to impeach someone because they were unfaithful to their wife. I mean, everyone loved JFK and I think he was far worse!

[ourmaninBusan]

Rumours spread among the conference that
the US delegation was angry that Clinton had come,
and that it had even tried to block his appearance.

Whatever you do, Mr. President (Clinton), don't take a small plane
from one speech to the next. They have a notorious habit of
crashing when carrying liberals, union activists and left-wing
politicians like Paul Wellstone (Sen. D--Minn).

Politicians killed in aircraft accidents or disasters: 48 since 1918 and climbing