Another chink of light in a time of darkness

The position on global climate change taken by the erstwhile regulatory authorities of the Bush administration's EPA has heretofore always been akin to something like, "Climate change is merely an unproven theory (read: liberal conspiracy), but even if it does exist there's nothing we can do about it. And nor should we."

But yesterday, the US Supreme Court, in a knife-edge decision split between its conservative and ultra-conservative wings, called bullshit on that nonsense.

Of course, it is nevertheless hard to take seriously the idea of the US ever being anything but a laggard when it comes to global efforts to stem the flow of greenhouse gasses and thus save the planet from burning. The sad truth is that we Americans probably love our gas-guzzling luxury cars and energy-sapping big appliances too much to change in time to make a difference.