Expect the worst and you'll never go wrong.

So, Team Bush has walked out on the climate change talks.

Two weeks of treaty talks on global warming neared an end today with the world's current and projected leaders in emissions of greenhouse gases, the United States and China, still refusing to take any mandatory steps to avoid dangerous climate change.

The Bush administration was sharply criticized by environmental groups for walking out of a round of informal discussions shortly after midnight that were aimed at finding new ways of curbing gases beyond steps taken so far.

The walkout was widely seen here as the capstone of two weeks of American efforts to prevent any fresh initiatives from being discussed.

This, from the New York Times. It shouldn't come as a huge surprise, what with Team Bush being what it is - reckless, lazy, and gleefully devoted to the most reactionary instincts of our energy interests.

But it actually gets better - by which I mean more appalling.

Bush-administration officials privately threatened organizers of the U.N. Climate Change Conference, telling them that any chance there might’ve been for the United States to sign on to the Kyoto global-warming protocol would be scuttled if they allowed Bill Clinton to speak at the gathering today in Montreal, according to a source involved with the negotiations who spoke to New York Magazine on condition of anonymity.

Bush officials informed organizers of their intention to pull out of the new Kyoto deal late Thursday afternoon, soon after news leaked that Clinton was scheduled to speak, the source said.

My God, the pettiness of it! This country's being run by sixth graders - stupid sixth graders.

Three more years. Three long, destructive years.