Treasury secretary nominee favors Kyoto Treaty

George Bush seems to be warming up to the reality of global warming. Henry Paulson, his nominee for Treasury Secretary, is a supporter of the Kyoto Treaty and an avid environmentalist.

My head is reeling. Could it really be true that Bush has converted to fact-based, rather than faith-based, policy making? If so, the foundations of my Bush-bashing world will be shaken. I’ll be finding good things to say about a President who, up until now, has blundered along from faulty gut instinct to faulty gut instinct.

I worry that this is an aberration though.

Physics tells us that the quantum world is founded on probabilities, not predictable determinism. Just as there is a small but real possibility that a sub-atomic particle will tunnel through a solid barrier and be found on the other side, there must be a small chance that George Bush will do a few things right, if only at random.

Regardless, the conservative blathersphere is starting to bear its fangs against Paulson because of his Green leanings. Back in April a coalition of free market-based policy groups urged Bush not to appoint Paulson. One of his neo-con sins is that he has served as head of the Nature Conservancy which, horror of horrors!, seeks to conserve nature.

Can’t have that. Thus Human Events, a national conservative weekly, warns darkly: “Treasury Nominee is Ideologically, Ethically Challenged.”

Well, President Bush, give me more ideologically and ethically challenged appointees like Henry Paulson, please. You’ve got a long way to go before you begin to govern from the center, like you promised back in 2000. But it’s never too late to start.

Same with governing from a grounding in scientific facts. Try it. Whether or not you like it, the Earth and future generations certainly will.