On Kyoto: I'm firmly of the opinion that the rejection of Kyoto was to appease Californian voters and American industry.

G-man points out that China and India are let off the hook as developing nations, and this is true. Their argument is that strict pollution controls would stifle their economic development. I don't know that I agree with that, given I suck in polluted air floating south from the properous Guangzhou province every day. Some pollution regulation would go a long way.

In any event, the US, as the world's principal polluter, has no excuse of being a developing country.

Suffice to say, America's withdrawal has not scuttled the treaty, but only crippled it: to the best of my knowledge it is currently being implemented by Europe and Japan.

quote:
No serious person thinks that we are in the middle of a civil-liberties crisis. We have just seen thousands of fellow Americans slaughtered by legal immigrants to this country. And John Ashcroft has detained several hundred illegal immigrants?
Let me finish that sentence for Ann. Without access to legal representation, without access to the justice system, without access for the media or human rights monitors, for indefinite periods of time.

I'd expect that in authoritarian China, where the rule of law is an annoyance and not a priority, but I do not expect this in the US, which purports to hold the moral high ground.