Progress, sort of. Kinda. Not really.

Well, the global warming bill has been approved by the Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, but the New York Times doesn’t take that as a sign that the bill itself is going anywhere. Their reasoning, as quoted by the Charleston Gazette, is that “rising joblessness has amplified attacks from critics who deride [President] Obama’s energy policy as a big-government ‘cap and tax’ plan.” In other words, the Democrats are once again hobbled by baseless criticism from the peanut gallery. The bewildering resistance to this bill is explained further, and perhaps better, by the Center for Public Integrity’s Stalemate In Copenhagen project, which shines a light on “fossil fuel industries and other heavy carbon emitters” who’ve been trying to gum up the works. Coal is a big one here, as evidenced by Don Blankenship’s Appalachian Friends of America rallies, where attendees listen to country music and “learn how environmental extremists and corporate America are both trying to destroy your jobs.”

And even if that wasn’t an issue, actual debate on global warming legislation probably won’t start until next year anyway; according to Sen. John Rockefeller, “some people are talking about not doing it until after the 2010 election.” Sounds like what a lot of them tell their wives, actually.

In times like these, there’s only one thing most citizens who aren’t lobbyists and therefore still count as human beings can do: nag the hell out of your representatives’ office staff. Find out who to write/call at USA.gov and get to work! We did elect them to represent us, after all - maybe they need to be reminded of that.