Greenhouse gases become a hot topic

Re “Congress vs. Bush on a new front: emissions,” April 4

We might as well be in a monarchy. And it’s not a benevolent one either. In this story about President Bush attaching conditions to the court’s EPA ruling, who does he think he is? First, he devises “signing statements” to congressional acts -- duplicitously signing legislation while announcing that he’ll be ignoring the new law from one branch of the government. Now Bush is attaching signing statements to Supreme Court decisions and blithely ignoring the second branch.

It’s long been clear that we have a president who is clueless and insolent about the very Constitution (especially separation of powers) he swore to uphold. Increasingly, it’s even clearer that for him and his administration it’s really always been La Constitution, c’est moi. Small wonder he so disdains the French. He’s cribbing from them, or their 300-years-ago monarchs, at least.

CAROLYN TAYLOR

Los Angeles

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I have read several headlines describing pollution creating global warming with the term “greenhouse gases.” I live and work in a community and industry of greenhouse owners and operators. The use of the term “greenhouse gases” has been a sore point with our grower community, especially because greenhouses are effective carbon dioxide absorbers with the high-density growing taking place inside.

We are not the originators of this problem, a conclusion the uninitiated could easily draw. I therefore would urge the use of “global warming pollution” to make the point in future articles. This term was also chosen by former Vice President Al Gore in his documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” and it effectively covers the problem.

PETER STUYT

Carpinteria

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Re “Justices push EPA to act on car emissions,” April 3

Monday’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court is a major turning point in our nation’s fight to protect future generations from global warming. For six years, the Bush administration has toed the oil-, coal- and auto-industry line on global warming, but Monday was a day of reckoning. The administration should immediately give California the green light to put our clean-cars program into effect. Any delay is completely unjustified given the ruling.

MOIRA CHAPIN

Federal field organizer

Environment California

Los Angeles