Define "Problem"

"By setting this goal, we acknowledge there is a problem, and by setting this goal, we commit ourselves to doing something about it" - George W. Bush

According to CNN, that's what Bush told those in attendance at his 2-day climate change conference in Washington. It sounds good, George knows that. It's also meaningless, George knows that too.

Bush isn't offering any specifics about the "problem" and, as for "setting this goal", he hasn't set anything. Now, anyone who has listened to this guy over the past seven years understands that what George says is pretty much meaningless. If he's not lying, he's spinning his message so thoroughly that he might just as well be lying. George w. Bush is a wanton liar. There I said it.

To make any sense of what this you have to shake off the soothing assurances and look at what he's really saying, and not saying. If it isn't there in black and white, indelible ink on paper, it probably isn't there at all. But, what else was he saying?

"It was said that we faced a choice between protecting the environment and producing enough energy. Today we know better. These challenges share a common solution: technology."

"We must lead the world to produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and we must do it in a way that does not undermine economic growth or prevent nations from delivering greater prosperity for their people."

Bush claims that his government's figures for 2006 show that that carbon dioxide emissions fell 1.3% while the economy grew 2.9%. CNN, however, points out that Bush has made this very claim in each year up to 2005 and, in each case, GHG emissions actually increased.

Just in case you're wondering, buried in all the claptrap was the solution - intensity based reductions. In a world already plagued by excessive GHG emissions, intensity-based reductions are ineffective, even destructive. However IBR is music to the ears of Big Oil, Bush and his clones like Harper.