France becomes an even bigger jerk... film at 11.

So I'm checking out some of my favorite news sites today and I come across the little diddy on drudgereport.com:

Chirac: U.S. Could Face Euro Carbon Tax

Apparently, French presi-weasel Jacques Chirac was able to find an opening on his schedule somewhere between the 3 p.m. Hide Head in Sand and the 5 p.m. Hide Head in Sand to step up to whatever microphone was around and claim that, with the full support of the European Union, a tax would be brought against the United States if we did not sign both the Kyoto agreement and the subsequent agreement that takes effect in 2012, when the first Kyoto treaty expires.

For those of my readers unfamiliar with the Kyoto agreement, it is a United Nations backed plan to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. Sounds good, right? Global Warming being the big evil that it is. Well, there are a few hitches in this thing. First, the Kyoto agreement is ratified by two nations that are not even subject to the agreement, China and India. These nations happen to be developing industrialy, and as such are emitting a vast amount of CO2. Secondly, the US and Australia refuse to sign the agreement because of a two-fold argument. A) The Kyoto Agreement is viewed as a restriction on industrialized capitalist economies. B) The possible machinations of the United Nations in an attempt to distrubute income globally.

Jacques Chirac sees things a bit differently. Don't get me wrong, Chirac is far from being the most enviro-friendly European leader. But he claims that he will have the full backing of the EU to pursue taxation on American goods.

Lawyers are beginning to join the fray, questioning the legality of such a tax. Chirac, though, is unworried. “A carbon tax is inevitable,” Mr. Chirac said, in a quote found in the NY Times. “If it is European, and I believe it will be European, then it will all the same have a certain influence because it means that all the countries that do not accept the minimum obligations will be obliged to pay.”

You know, the more I think about this, the more a history lesson comes to mind. Seems to me the last time the United States were taxed without having governmental representation, a little island nation in Europe lost bunches o' land. Last I checked, the name United States of America isn't on the European Union roll call.

Makes you glad to live on this side of the pond, eh?