Earlier this week, dozens of world leaders gathered at the United Nations for detailed policy discussions about combating global warming. George W. Bush, who has repeatedly warned against “passing on problems to future generations,” decided to skip the discussions, and refused to send a U.S. delegation to the talks.

The Bush gang, unwilling to appear disinterested in the environmental crisis, came up with an alternative — instead of working with international allies on climate change, Bush would host a parallel meeting. Unlike the larger gathering working on emissions cuts, Bush’s counter-meeting would include the world’s largest polluters, including China and India, all of which would oppose mandatory cuts in greenhouse gases.

President Bush’s two-day climate meeting, opening Thursday, will emphasize creating more processes to find a solution to global warming, rather than setting firm goals for reducing carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for heating up the atmosphere.

The nations summoned by Bush will “seek agreement on the process” and more work teams for nations to set their own strategies beyond 2012, when the U.N.-brokered Kyoto Protocol expires, according to a White House statement Wednesday.

That’s a great euphemism, isn’t it? The president will “seek agreement on the process.” In other words, Bush isn’t inviting these countries to talk about climate change; he’s inviting these countries to talk about how they’ll talk about climate change.