CHECKBOOKS OUT - AT 8:10 A.M. ET:  We've made a cash commitment at the Copenhagen hot-air conference, but it's much less than I'd feared.  From Fox:

The United States extended a $100 billion carrot to the rest of world Thursday, when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters in Copenhagen the United States is willing to commit up to $10 billion a year by 2012, and would support a global fund of $100 billion a year to help developing nations deal with climate change, provided the nations here are willing live up to the 'transparency' demanded by the U.S.

I like the fact that there are strings attached.  I'd expected we'd be in for much more.  If we actually enforce the "transparency" provision, the money might actually do some good.  But there will be those in Congress, on the left, who'll try to strike that provision through legislation, the better to suck up to African dictators.

Clinton said the money was "conditional." Clinton's words were directed at China, which has refused to meet the monitoring and verification requirements requested by the U.S. when it comes to promises of carbon reductions.

Again, good.  "Transparency" and "conditional" are musical words.

Clinton, who is one of six cabinet members accompanying President Obama to the climate summit, said climate change "is an undeniable and unforgiving fact." And the U.S. was willing to work with other nations to reduce C02 emissions, but any agreement here must have "full transparency."

Bad note.  Don't use terms like "undeniable and unforgiving fact."  You may wake up to a scientific surprise.

Critics have accused the U.S. of trying to 'buy' support for a climate treaty that meets U.S. approval.

I would certainly hope we would.  Stiff the critics.

On Wednesday, negotiators from Britain and the developing nations came to agree on the $100 billion figure by 2020, a reduction from $400 billion African and the poorest nations had previously insisted upon.

One of these days we'll ask the question, "How long does it take a 'developing' nation to develop?"  Some of these "developing nations" don't lift a finger to help themselves, and some have among the highest birth rates in the world.

Meanwhile, world leaders starting flooding into Copenhagen on Thursday, even as a Danish official acknowledged that hope was running out for a comprehensive climate deal because the negotiations between rich and poor countries were deadlocked.

The official said the Danish hosts of the U.N. conference had not given up though it appeared unlikely that their ambitious plan for the conference would be fulfilled.

That's probably good news for all involved.  Next time, don't hold a conference shot through with arrogance, scientific hustling, trendiness, and, above all, fashionable leftist politics.  The huge ovations for Hugo Chavez yesterday should tell us just what this crowd is about.  We have no obligation to eat the forbidden fruit.

December 17,  2009