The preznit is nothing if not consistent in both his contempt for the rest of the world and in his demonstration of that contempt with diversionary bullshit like this Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change. The man sticks with what works for him.

First it was get your own scientists. When he took office and promptly pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol, dubya questioned the validity of a consensus of thousands of scientists from all over the world, basing his decision on the "work" of a dozen or so oil industry funded pseudo-scientists. That's been good for going on seven years of stonewalling any international greenhouse gas treaty.

Then it was get your own coalition. When the United Nations wouldn't stand up and salute his hard-on for invading Iraq, dubya twisted arms and greased palms to put together his "coalition of the willing" false-front of international support prior to the invasion. That's been good for four and a half years of our benevolent empire nation building in the Middle East.

Now it's get your own climate treaty. With a UN climate summit upcoming, dubya is making a pre-emptive strike with this dog-and-pony show calling for an agreement in which industry enacts voluntary measures to cut emissions. On the international stage dubya's latest big idea is being met with the same derision as it's predecessors. And deservedly so. He is, after all, merely selling the status quo and touting it as change. (By the way, "voluntary" is the Republican code word for "You don't have to do it if it decreases profits unless the government provides you with an offsetting tax cut.)

But the rest of the world is not really his target audience anyway. No, this is dubya at his best, playing to his base. The genuinely stupid and the willfully ignorant 30% percent of Amurka who will continue to support him no matter what levels of ludicrousness he ascends to. The people behind whom he's been able to stifle democracy and label dissent treasonous. The people for whom dubya has an incredible Orwellian ability to render facts debatable.

The United States uses 25% of the world's energy supply. We've known for decades that we would not be able to continue this rate of consumption. Yet we've steadfastly refused to take any serious steps toward changing the way we do things. We have, in fact, adopted a policy of maintaining our consumption rate militarily. It's the only truly bi-partisan aspect of our government. To the rest of the world, the message is abundantly clear. American capitalism is paramount to all issues. Our government is going to continue riding the horse that is our oil-based superpower economy until it falls dead under us, blustering and bullying and bombing all the way. It's not going to be pretty.

Note: I know the photo doesn't really have anything to do with this post, but I just had to swipe it from the CNN story I linked to above because Condi is particularly sexy with that just-burned-a-doob look.