Waste Is a Terrible Thing to Waste

NPR's Morning Edition ran a segment today that began:

Twelve states and a coalition of environmental groups sued the Bush administration in 2003 for refusing to issue regulations limiting carbon emissions from cars and power plants. On Wednesday, the case reaches the Supreme Court, where justices will hear the arguments on both sides.

Of all people, it's Ted Olsen who is representing the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, in an effort to turn Thank You For Smoking into a documentary. Nina Totentberg used Olsen as the spokesperson for carbon dioxide and it took him no time (just like the globe) to warm to the task, claiming:

"We're talking about carbon dioxide. It's necessary for life. A pollutant is something that fouls the air, a contaminant. No EPA administrator in history has ever considered carbon dioxide a pollutant."

What was implied by Olsen, of course, is that humans breathe out carbon dioxide, so how bad can it be? That might be because Olsen has been forcing us to swallow his shit for years and he figures that's good for us, too.