Bush is blowing off the U.N. climate meeting happening this week, choosing instead to focus on his parallel international climate meetings. I ask you to savor the multiple absurdities embedded in this paragraph in the NYT:

Mr. Bush’s aides say that the parallel meeting does not compete against the United Nations’ process — hijacking it, as his critics charge. They say that Mr. Bush hopes to persuade the nations that produce 90 percent of the world’s emissions to come to a consensus that would allow each, including the United States, to set its own policies rather than having limits imposed by binding international treaty.

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Yeah, you read that right: "persuade the nations .. to come to a consensus that would allow each … to set its own policies rather than having limits imposed by binding international treaty."

He wants to persuade them to set their own policies rather than submitting to a climate treaty.

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But that’s not supposed to affect the UN process, nosiree.