Just Another Inconvenient Truth

We've all heard about how Bush is Hitler, America is Eeeevil and how Republicans want to starve the children and kill off all the old people, blah, blah, blah. Then there's the hysterical screeching over 'global warming' and that Dubya is intent on poisoning the planet and other such nonsense.

In spite of the shrillness emanating from the Leftisphere's echo chamber, David Blair, diplomatic correspondent for the UK's Telegraph newspaper, puts things in perspective.

At present, coal-fired power stations account for more than half the electricity generated in the US. As coal is the dirtiest way of producing electricity, many of these power stations would have to close.

Cleaner, gas-fired plants would be their obvious replacements. But with only three per cent of the world's gas reserves, building more would probably render the US dependent on imported supplies, which would go against the central aim of Mr Bush's energy policy of making his country self-sufficient.

Russia is better endowed with gas than any other country, while the Middle East holds 34 per cent of the world's total reserves. These are the last places that Mr Bush wants to depend on for future energy needs. Moreover, comparisons of the relative performances when it comes to combating climate change are often misleading.

Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said yesterday that the EU's carbon emissions had fallen by 4.8 per cent since 1999 - while the US's had risen by 15.8 per cent. But Mr Barroso failed to point out that the US has a rapidly rising population and a high level of economic growth - neither of which is true of the EU.

Oops.

Since 2000, the US's population has risen by 9.5 million, or by the equivalent of Sweden. So it comes as no surprise that it faces a much harder task in reducing carbon emissions than Europe.

Who is this guy to place facts and reason in the way of progressive problem solving hysterics?