The Copenhagen Climate Change Summit kicked off this weekend with 15,000 delegates and officials, 5,000 journalists and 98 world leaders expected to attend. Despite the ongoing “Climategate” investigation, another scandal is brewing in Copenhagen – the rank hypocrisy of leftwing elites. At a conference filled with the true believers of the gospel of global warming, one would think they would set an example by minimizing their “carbon footprint” as much as they can. But like members of the Soviet Politburo, living lives of luxury that their people could hardly imagine, many of these global warming advocates are doing the exact opposite of what they preach.

The managing director of the largest limousine firm in the Danish capital said she had more than 200 limousines booked on the opening day of the conference. On a normal day, she has 12 reservations. Between her company and others, she estimated that there will be more than 1,200 limousines on the road. How many of those limousines are powered by alternative fuels? Five.

The Copenhagen airport is also expecting 140 private jets during the peak time of the conference. The number is so great that the airport doesn’t have the capacity to hold all of them, so many are being re-directed to nearby cities. Including travel, the 11-day conference will use 41,000 tons of carbon dioxide — greater than the daily amount produced by 30 countries.

While the delegates in Denmark debate what steps we should take in response to the theory of global warming, reality in the United States is running contrary to the idea of warming. The central U.S. is bracing for its first blizzard of the year. The wind chill in the northern plains will reach 30-40 degrees below zero. In southern California, at the San Bernardino mountain range, up to 3 feet of snow is expected, and some areas set a new record low. Dallas, Texas, had its earliest snowfall in 90 years, and Houston experienced its earliest snow fall on record.

Why It Matters

In case you’re wondering why all the hot air about the weather should matter to you, here’s the bottom line: If the bureaucrats get their way, their theory is going to cost you – and it’s going to cost a lot. Germany is often looked to as a model for the green economy. It has been at the vanguard of environmental regulation, and the Washington Post recently featured a story about “The High Price of Going Green” in Germany.

According to the Post report, “A kilowatt of electricity costs three times as much [in Germany] as it does in the United States, supercharged with high taxes to discourage use and to help fund renewable energy development. Meanwhile, a 50 percent ‘eco-tax’ has sent the price of gasoline soaring to $8 a gallon.”

The Left wants to follow that example here. The Obama Administration just announced that the EPA will declare carbon dioxide a “dangerous pollutant” that must be vigorously regulated. What economic sectors produce the largest amounts of carbon dioxide? According to the Wall Street Journal, “Electricity generation, transportation and industry represent the three largest sources of U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions.” Get ready to pay three times as much for electricity, $8.00 a gallon for gasoline and watch even more jobs get shipped overseas to escape radical environmental regulations.

Here’s a news story that you probably didn’t hear about over the weekend. Some of Obama’s staunchest supporters are beginning to question his foreign policy. Former Senator Bob Kerrey (D-NE), a Medal of Honor recipient from the Vietnam War who endorsed Obama last year, wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed Friday. He congratulated Obama on his Nobel Peace Prize but criticized his foreign policy for being too “naïve.” Kerrey also criticized Obama for “apologizing for America too much.”

Kerrey wrote, “[Obama] has made too many apologies. And at this point, his strategy is too naïve and has too little coherence to be called a strategy.” Kerrey even went so far as to praise George W. Bush on Iraq. He wrote, “Then, against all reasonable predictions, President Bush chose to increase rather than decrease our military commitment. The ‘surge,’ as it became known, worked. Victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat… Great American leaders of our past had ignored popular sentiment and pressed on during the darkest hours, even when setbacks give rhetorical ammunition to skeptics.”

Kerrey is respected in and around Washington for his foreign policy opinions. In fact, he is respected so much that he was placed in charge of the 9/11 commission. Normally, when a top supporter begins to criticize a president’s foreign policy, it is a lead story on the nightly news. But then again, the mainstream media would never want to insult this Administration.