madrobins ([info]madrobins) wrote,
2006-11-30 09:59:00
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Someone Needs a Mommy

When you were a kid, did you get out of doing things because someone else of your acquaintance didn't have to do it? Around here the response to a comment like "Kathleen doesn't have to make her bed!" would be "This isn't Kathleen's house, and that isn't a reason not to make your bed."

Some of the justices on the Supreme Court don't seem to get this principle (in much the same way that Our President doesn't seem to get it). "Chief Justice John Roberts "echoing the Bush administration's view, wondered why the United States should reduce its greenhouse gas emissions if China's output of gases will rise sharply in coming years."

When I'm China's mother, they'll reduce their greenhouse gases. In the meantime I expect my government not only to keep its room clean, but to set a good example for the other kids on the planet.

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  • 9 comments

[info]jonquil

November 30 2006, 18:03:30 UTC 5 years ago

::applause::

Then again, not much the Bush administration does stands up to the Grow Up Already test.

[info]calimac

November 30 2006, 19:00:18 UTC 5 years ago

Another mommy noticed the same thing:
Now, maybe it's because I have a toddler at home, but the EPA's argument, presented by Deputy Solicitor General Gregory Garre, quickly sounds very familiar. 1) I can't clean it up; 2) Even if I could, I don't want to clean it up; 3) You can't make me clean it up; and 4) China is making an even bigger mess. How come China never has to clean it up? When and if all that fails, the EPA, like my son, just puts its hands over its eyes and says there is no mess in the first place.

[info]kateelliott

November 30 2006, 19:16:26 UTC 5 years ago

"When I'm China's mother"

Heh. If only.


Man, that's pathetic about Roberts, though. I thought he was supposed to be this great legal mind.

[info]madrobins

November 30 2006, 22:44:58 UTC 5 years ago

"Well, if China's greenhouse gas emissions are going to rise, why can't ours stay the same. In fact, it's not fair that China gets to have more emissions than we do. Waaaaaaah! We want more emissions too!" I begin to hear echos of the old "if everyone was jumping off a bridge, would you demand the right to be first in line? And do it twice?" Maybe he's good at citation, but I don't think much of his real-world logic.

[info]handworn

December 1 2006, 00:21:00 UTC 5 years ago

He'll only change when he discovers papayas growing in his underwear.

I'm pretty mystified at the lack of comprehension here on his part of Technology To Sell To China.

Parent to a billion Chinese? Man alive, must that be exhausting.

[info]madrobins

December 1 2006, 00:55:46 UTC 5 years ago

The secret is delegating.

[info]stevengould

December 1 2006, 03:39:55 UTC 5 years ago

Parent to a billion Chinese

(And they're all only children.)

[info]stevengould

December 1 2006, 16:39:40 UTC 5 years ago

I liked it so much, I blogged the company.

Blogged this at Eat Our Brains, since it's so succinct.

[info]inf_matrix

December 1 2006, 19:40:42 UTC 5 years ago

Someone Needs a Mommy

I think Justice Roberts offers a more subtle argument than the childish one -- that, as China becomes more like the US, its greenhouse gas emissions will rise. This amounts to "Why should I have to make my bed if, five years down the road, China will also have a messy bed?"

Or, maybe it's not that the argument is too subtle for a child. Maybe it's just so stupid a proposition that even a kid wouldn't waste time on it.
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