The BBC has just discovered what the Brits’ colonialist forefathers learned some time ago when seeking to eradicate the scourge of cobras in India. Then, colonial authorities offered a bounty for the creatues, which soon were turned in by the thousands. The Brits had no idea the problem was of such great magnitude. That is, until someone let slip that, induced by the bounty, the locals were breeding the things.

Now comes outrage that “Firms get paid to cut emissions they would have cut anyway.” In truth, others blew the lid off of this scam before, including even the International Herald Tribune. Regardless of the Beeb now being shocked — shocked! – that there’s gambling in the Kyoto casino, this is exactly the type of credit that Lieberman-Warner contemplates, allowing covered companies to meet their “reduction” promise in return for wealth transfers overseas. In fact, I’ve already noted that such practices proliferate in L-W.