Thank You, Mr. President
Via Reuters:

President Bush will not attend the Johannesburg Earth Summit this month and will send Secretary of State Colin Powell to lead the U.S. delegation, officials said on Friday.

But the professional whiners are taking it poorly:

It's reflective ... of the fact that the United States has not been providing the kind of leadership that's essential if we are going to be trying to deal with the problems of climate degradation and environmental protection and sustainable development," said Jacob Scherr, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's international program.

"The United States is the only country that really has the technology, the organization skills ... to really deal with these problems," he said in a telephone news conference on Thursday.

Translation: The US taxpayers have not given us enough of their income.

The News24 (South Africa) version of the same story adds:

The next most senior US official planning to be at the summit is Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky, who will likely attend for a longer period of time than Powell, the officials said. Powell is expected to visit at least two other African countries as part of the trip, possibly Angola and Gabon, they added.

Looks like all they're going to get out of Colin is a quickie! What a hoot!