Monday, January 24, 2005

Empty rhetoric

Here’s an item that tells me that politics trumps all else, including the long-term survival of our species.

My very own senator from Maine, Olympia Snowe, co-chairs the International Climate Change Task Force. From their report, this international group has laid out that we are close to the point of no return on environmental damage to the planet. The group, which also includes Senators McCain and Leiberman, is recommending wholesale emissions reductions as one part of a plan to stem the degradation to our ecosystem.

Interestingly, Snowe and McCain are Republicans who have done very little to “rock the boat” concerning George Bush’s well-documented lack of concern for all things environmental.

Where was Snowe while her president was engaging in over 150 separate actions designed to undermine environmental protections? The current administration continues to wage a historic assault on the environment, yet senators like Snowe and McCain continue on, loyal to a fault to a party that cares little for anything as insubstantial as the environment.

Personally, I am coming close to my saturation point on the amount of hypocrisy I can tolerate from the likes of senators like Snowe, McCain and Leiberman.

Snowe loves to be touted as a moderate Republican, but prudence dictates that the senator recognize the gravity of the situation and leave behind a party that cares little about most of her concerns, including the Kyoto Treaty and other policies designed to stem the downward environmental spiral we’re on.

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