Andanh.com

In normal times, the fate of Planet Earth would not ride on a decision issued in Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta. Decisions of such importance are supposed to be made in more lofty arenas, such as the White House or Congress.

However, because the decision-makers in Washington, D.C., have forfeited their legal and moral responsibilities, a county judge hundreds of miles away has been forced to step into the vacuum to address global warming. And in a recent ruling by Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore, the planet emerged victorious.

At least temporarily.

The case in question involves a proposed large coal-burning power plant in Georgia. The Sierra Club and other environmental groups sued to block the plant, charging that it would emit up to 9 million tons of carbon dioxide a year, a primary culprit in global climate change.

In most circles, there's no longer any question that the planet is warming and that mankind is driving that change. Both Barack Obama and John McCain acknowledge the challenge and promise to address it.

On April 7, the Wichita school board postponed a scheduled May 6 special election for a proposed $350 million school bond at the behest of a volunteer bond-support group. Citizens Alliance for Responsible Education argued that more time was needed to "educate the public" regarding the bond specifics and therefore a postponement was warranted. The board concurred, despite earlier arguing that postponing the vote would add tens of thousands of dollars to construction costs.

It was concluded that CARE would educate the community and return to the board with a bond recommendation.

Prior to hosting four community meetings this summer, CARE commissioned a telephone survey in early June to gauge public sentiment and asked such questions as the age and political party affiliation of the responder as well as questions with regard to the size of the bond and other proposal specifics. The results of the survey have not been made public.

Fewer than 50 citizens attended the four educational community meetings. Perhaps people did not attend because they already had made up their minds as to how they would vote. Perhaps people were busy with summertime activities. Or perhaps people felt that because opponents were denied a voice when the bond postponement was suggested to the board, any opposing viewpoint would not be welcomed at these community forums.

As the summer meetings failed to attract the public, neither the school board nor the volunteer group had a backup plan to educate the public. No bulk mailing was undertaken, nor were informational telephone banks set up to reach the public. The "more time is needed" argument translated into a waste of time, as no further steps were taken.

Imagine my surprise early Saturday morning to discover, in my e-mail inbox, a news bulletin from the White House calling attention to an interview that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had just given to the German publication Der Spiegel. In that interview, Maliki made it quite clear that he likes the concept of a 16-month withdrawal timetable -- as proposed by the Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama.

Well, as it turned out (and this tidbit would not be known for many hours), the Bush team messed up. The White House had intended to circulate the Der Spiegel story for internal use only; mistakenly, it had sent it out to the broader journalistic community. Thanks, guys.

McCain's aides have been hammering at Obama, claiming that the 16-month timetable reflects ignorance of the facts on the ground. Yet here was Maliki, sounding supportive for a 16-month timetable, based on his own reading of the facts on the ground.

It took the McCain people all day Saturday to come up with some kind of response. In the early evening, finally, they did. It was transparently weak: "John McCain believes withdrawal must be based on conditions on the ground. Prime Minister Maliki has repeatedly affirmed the same view, and did so again today."

That spin wasn't very effective, since Maliki had essentially refuted almost every facet of McCain's Iraq policy.