US Beats Europe in Reducing Emissions?

Alright, hold on to your seats and try to contain your excitement. That's right - there's a global climate change conference going on in Montreal. In case you haven't been keeping up via live blog, here's the news: evidently, the US has reduced emissions by more than Europe since year 2000. Since the Kyoto agreement was adopted by the UN just a few years earlier in 97, this probably means that the US is either beating or similiar to Europe in terms of reducing emissions since the day it was signed. Sorry - I'm not interested enough in this oh-so-fascinating topic to get the precise 1997 data. But, can someone remind me - why do we have this protocol when a country which hasn't signed is doing better than those that have signed? And why is Bush being so maligned if this is the case?

Kyoto is a joke. Everyone knows it. If Europeans want to abide by this thing, that's their prerogative. But please - they gotta quit their whining, quit the bashing, and c'mon - it's about time they get them emissions down!