I can't help but like the guy.  Even if he's a Republican. (Oooh that hurt.)  I mean, Global Warming, he must have seen it coming.  Otherwise, what would explain his perpetual state of scantily-cladness?  Not that I have ever minded, mind you.  No, I've always been an Arnie fan -- from the moment he burst onto the screen in my hormone-fired adolescence as Conan the Barbarian, subsequently reinforced by the release of Conan the Destroyer and The Terminator.  Mmmm... tasty!

Ahem, where was I?  Oh, yeah.

I read an article tonight about his latest exploits as the Governator, and couldn't wait to share.  Now that Arnie is re-elected, one would expect his campaign showboating and promises to go the way of the rest of the politicos' vows.  But, no!  Arnold is actually making good with the environmentalist stance.  He is marching California squarely into the flagship position on global warming legislation in this country, and showing the rest of the world that the US really does care about global warming.  He is acting as an ambassador, of sorts.  I guess it takes someone of his star-power to lead the effort and the American people are so star-struck that they will follow him.  It's a good thing (in this case).

From msnbc.com:

 

The Green Giant

CARBON CZAR: California's Hummer-loving governor is turning the Golden State into the greenest in the land, a place where environmentalism and hedonism can coexist. How a star turned pol's become the muscle behind saving the planet.

By Karen Breslau
Newsweek

April 16, 2007 issue - "Pimp My Ride" isn't the sort of television program one watches for a lesson in eco-consciousness. Each week on the MTV reality show, one lucky teenager's old clunker is transformed into an outrageously appointed dream car (imagine: a Ford Pinto with 600 horsepower, blinding chrome and hydraulic suspension that's the envy of every lowrider in your 'hood). Galpin Auto Sports in Van Nuys, where the cars are tricked out, is filled with row upon row of gleaming, vintage muscle cars-here a 1970 Ford GT two-seater (13mpg/city), there a 1968 Shelby GT 500 KR convertible (15mpg/city), each bearing a six-figure sticker price and a "gas-guzzler tax" of $1,300. For today's episode, "Pimp My Ride" has invited a man who knows a thing or two about muscle. Peering under the crimson and white hood of a pimped-out '65 Chevy Impala, Arnold Schwarzenegger all but caresses the new 800-horsepower engine, which has been overhauled to run on biodiesel for a special Earth Day episode of the show. "You can have an engine that's fast and furious and still reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 30 to 40 percent," Schwarzenegger declares for the cameras. "This is the future."

...

If Gore is the nation's environmental conscience, Schwarzenegger is its environmental pitchman, making the fight against global warming accessible, palatable and relatively painless to big-living Americans, who generate more greenhouse gases than any citizenry on earth. "It's no different than what we tried in 'Pumping Iron'," Schwarzenegger tells NEWSWEEK, referring to the 1977 documentary that made him a celebrity. "It was all about ways of getting in and making body-building hip. You create a whole new conversation."

...

As governor of the nation's most populous, wealthiest and most environmentally progressive state, Schwarzenegger has extended the conversation well beyond California-where last year he signed first-in-the-nation legislation to reduce California's greenhouse-gas emissions across every sector of the economy. In the absence of clear guidelines from the Bush administration, Schwarzenegger has emerged as the nation's de facto carbon ambassador, carrying the green banner across the nation and the globe. "Washington has been stone-cold silent on this issue," says Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, a Republican, who has consulted with Schwarzenegger on ways to apply California's greenhouse-gas model in his conservative, coal-producing state. "Arnold is a Teddy Roosevelt for our generation. He's captured some very important political real estate in a thoughtful and articulate way."

...

The administration's hesitation has allowed Schwarzenegger, who recently called America's sideline position "embarrassing," to take the lead. "What we're basically saying to the federal government is, 'Look, we don't need Washington'," Schwarzenegger tells NEWSWEEK. "And so let us create the partnerships and let us let the world know that America is actually fighting global warming." Schwarzenegger has met with his counterparts in British Columbia and Baja California to talk about setting up a carbon-trading scheme, which would allow companies able to exceed their emissions targets to sell emissions credits to those who need them via a carbon market. He's also negotiating with them for a "hydrogen highway" dotted with liquid-hydrogen fueling stations up and down the 5,300-mile Pacific coastline.

...

Schwarzenegger's carbon diplomacy has been especially well received in Britain, where he and Prime Minister Tony Blair have signed agreements to trade scientific and economic expertise, with the goal of creating a global cap-and-trade system for greenhouse-gas-emission credits.

In the stuffy world of climate-change policy, says the prime minister, Schwarzenegger has made himself a welcome player. "He adds a certain spice to it, that's for sure," Blair tells NEWSWEEK. "To have California, the sixth largest economy in the world onboard, sends a vital signal."

With an assist from Democratic lawmakers, Schwarzenegger has gleefully positioned California as the nation's low-carbon test lab. Last September, he cemented his position by approving California's Global Warming Solutions Act, which requires a 25 percent cut in the state's greenhouse-gas emissions by 2020-and an 80 percent cut by 2050-the most aggressive standard in the nation. The bill received only a single Republican vote, notes former assemblywoman Fran Pavley, who wrote the law. "As a Republican governor, he was walking a fine line with his own party," she says. One conservative Web site took Schwarzenegger to task for imposing a "neo-Euro-socialist" law on California.

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