After a brief run in Copenhagen, the curtain may finally close on a dreary global warming farce

A few days ago, the Democrats in Congress were hell-bent on passing a series of bills that would remake America. Now, they're taking time out to stage political theater in the Senate.

How else can the Senate Environment and Public Works Committe's passage of a cap and trade bill be explained?

Yes, the bill might make a long trip with President Barack Obama to Copenhagen  next month, a token of America's interest in Europe's global warming obsession. Since the Danes are known for their sense of humor, they are likely to be entertained by the committee's passage of a cap and trade memorial.

But the global warming alarmists will not be amused that their investment plays on carbon abatement likely won't pan out.

The curtains eventually will close on a strange period in American history - a period that will be examined not just by political scientists but also psychologists and students of the paranormal.

Incidentally, I once read a book about a playful experiment in which a student of mass psychology stopped at a corner and gazed at the sky - for hours. Eventually, he was surrounded by strangers, who also were gazing at the sky.

The question here is: How did alarmists persuade a large number of Americans, mostly liberals, that a ubiquitous gas, carbon dioxide, which is required by plants to produce oxygen, doubles as a noxious gas that will cause oceans to boil and end life as we know it on earth?

The reason that global warming is ending its run is that China and India, fast-growing societies focused on genuine and immediate issues, have declined to participate in global warming histrionics or the self-flagellation required by carbon abatement.

Because of lower production costs, both are already undercutting U.S. firms on price in international markets. If Congress were to proceed with cap and trade, U.S. firms would have to pay a tax on their carbon emissions, disadvantaging them further and worsening America's indebtedness to foreign treasuries.

If that were to happen, the Democrat-controlled Congress would inadvertently have authored winning campaign themes for Republicans in upcoming elections.

Better to make a brief run in Copenhagen, then take a boat ride in the harbor and hang the bill around the neck of the Little Mermaid. A burial at sea before the water starts boiling.