The Crying Scene

Someone had to say it, so it may as well be the Chinese: climate change is a fraud, and the proposed "solutions" are disruptive and expensive: China and US Hit Strident Impasse at Climate Talks

China and the United States were at an impasse on Monday at the United Nations climate change conference here over how compliance with any treaty could be monitored and verified.

China, which last month for the first time publicly announced a target for reducing the rate of growth of its greenhouse gas emissions, is refusing to accept any kind of international monitoring of its emissions levels, according to negotiators and observers here. The United States is insisting that without stringent verification of China’s actions, it cannot support any deal.

The stalemate came on a day of public and private brinkmanship as the talks moved into their second and final week. Earlier Monday, a group of poor nations staged a brief walkout from the bargaining table, and a chaotic registration system left thousands of attendees freezing outside the conference hall and forced the temporary closing of the subway stop near the Bella Center, where the meetings are being held.

If there has been a more embarrassing international conference than this Copenhagen meeting, I would like to know its name. From the thousands of private jets and limousines spewing pollution, to the twenty-something protesters whooping it up by wearing clocks and other cute costumes, to Al Gore declaring for the umpteenth time that the ice caps may melt in 5 - 7 years (the climate changers preferred interval), Copenhagen has been an exercise in non-seriousness, even as everyone walks around frowning over the apocalypse. The only thing the climate change activists are serious about is getting their hands on the trillions of dollars they claim are needed to Save The Planet.

Congressman Edward Markey, for his part, tries to guilt trip the Chinese, lefty to lefty.

“If China or any other country wants to be a full partner in global climate efforts, that country must commit to transparency and review of their emissions-cutting regime,” said Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts and a co-sponsor of the climate and energy bill that passed the House in June. “Without that commitment, other governments and industries, including those in America, will be hesitant to engage with those countries when they try to partner on global warming.”

And the Chinese refusal to accept verification measures could also lead to calls for punitive tariffs on Chinese goods coming into the United States. The House bill allows for the imposition of tariffs on goods from countries that do not constrain their carbon output. A group of 10 Democratic senators wrote to Mr. Obama two weeks ago warning that the Senate would not ratify any treaty that did not protect American industry from foreign competitors who do not have to meet global warming emissions limits.

I think these goofy liberals are about to discovery the outer limits of liberal guilt. Note to Ed Markey, your words only work when the listener gives a s***.