Russian parliament approves Kyoto Protocol, moving it that much closer to binding for all UN countries.
I say good. Assuming Putin can get it across his desk by next week (get a move on, Pootie-Poot) it will become an issue for the election. Less an environmental issue than a foreign relations one. Bush will be forced to confront the fact that as a UN member nation the US is accountable to their rules. While his "we don't need no stinkin' permission slip" attitude may work for attacking unpopular dictatorships, it won't cut it when it comes to global environmental regulations.
The greenhouse effect is also a definite Helen Lovejoy conundrum. "Won't somebody
please think of the children!" Bush can either A: commit to adopting the Protocol (which would be the world's biggest flip-flop) or B: hide behind his POS Clear Skies initiative and claim we don't need the KP since we're already working towards cleaner air.
I expect that "B" will happen, given his supporters' propensity for blind faith and lack of regard for facts. You can't expect a group that mostly believes Saddam Hussein had WMDs and was part of the 9/11 attacks to educate themselves to the fact that Clear Skies is about acid rain and mercury whereas KP is about the greenhouse effect.
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And another thing - who put the World Series so close to the election? Most people have already picked their candidate but I don't like the idea of the few undecideds spending their evenings watching baseball instead of the news the week before the polls open.