Much has been made by George Bush's political opponents about his rejection of the Kyoto accord, limiting the US in greenhouse-gas production, even though the Senate rejected the treaty unanimously during Clinton's term. John Kerry claims it to be one of the primary reasons his favorite country, France, refused to support the US when it came to toppling Saddam Hussein.

It's instructive, then, to see how France's Jacques Chirac demonstrates his personal support for global-warming activism in his daily routine. Is France really committed to implementing controls on the unecessary emissions of greenhouse gases? Perhaps the French people are, but Chirac's support only extends to the limits of his beauty sleep:

The most direct route from Paris to Moscow by aircraft is to fly due east. Unless you are President Chirac, that is.

The French premier likes his sleep so much that, en route to a Black Sea summit with President Putin and Chancellor Schröder, he had his flight diverted by 1,200 miles so that he could have a long sleep. ... On August 31, Chirac was due to fly from Paris to the Black Sea resort of Sochi, to meet the German and Russian premiers.

The only problem was that the flight to the summit would not be of sufficient duration for him to get a full night's sleep.

The answer was simple: the French air force, which operates the presidential Airbus 319, was ordered to tack another 1,200 miles on to its flight so that Mr Chirac could sleep undisturbed.

The result was a trip to Russia that took the plane due west from Paris towards the Channel Islands, over Brest, south towards Nantes, down from Bordeaux to Toulouse, north back to Paris, and then due east to Moscow.

The French populace paid five figures for M. Chirac's scenic tour of the French stratosphere, instead of simply delaying his flight a few more hours so he could sleep on the ground. Last I read, the Airbus flies on hydrocarbon-based fuel, which emits the same greenhouse gases that he bitterly opposes Americans using to do silly things like stimulate our economy.

Nonetheless, here at Captain's Quarters, we hope that M. Chirac got himself a good night's sleep, and that the French one day wake up from theirs.

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