So much for global warming

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, had to cancel an appearance Monday at a global warming rally in Washington, D.C., because her flight was delayed by a snowstorm. Brianna Cayo-Cotter, the spokesman for the Energy Action Coalition that held the rally, told a group of reporters that she had been in contact with Pelosi and that her flight had been delayed because of inclement weather. A blizzard Sunday night and early Monday morning blanketed the nation’s capital with snow, causing events to be cancelled and delayed across the city.
House Select Energy Independence and Global Warming Chairman Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, who was scheduled to speak at the global warming event, also canceled his appearance because of the inclement weather, a spokesman from his committee’s office said. Eben Burnham-Snyder, communications director for the committee, later contacted CNSNews.com to say that Markey could not attend the rally, not because of the weather, but because of a “scheduling conflict". Burnham-Snyder would not say, however, where Markey was at the time the rally took place. “The problem is that I am in a tough position because I am never allowed to release his schedule but I can tell you that’s not true that he missed the rally because of the weather, because he was already in the District," said Burnham-Snyder. “It wasn’t the same situation as Speaker Pelosi; not that I'm saying Speaker Pelosi’s excuse was not right, but it was not the same position as it was with the Speaker because she was flying. The chairman was already here. He just literally had something he could not avoid as the rally was happening,” said Burnham-Snyder. Burnham-Snyder repeated that he was not at liberty to say where Markey was, but, he said, Markey “was not in the Capitol complex at the time.”
Speaker Pelosi’s office confirmed that her flight had been delayed, but they could not say where the flight was coming from or whether she was flying commercial or charter.
According to a press notification released by the Speaker’s office, both lawmakers were scheduled to appear on the West Lawn of the Capitol. “In her remarks, the Speaker will discuss the progress made and the next steps to green the House of Representatives through the Green the Capitol initiative,” said the press release. But at 9.35am on Monday the House Radio TV/Gallery e-mailed reporters that “the Speaker will not be participating in the 2009 Power Shift Conference Rally this morning at 11:30am on the West Front. It is unclear if the event is still going on,” said the release. The event did occur, however, and despite the lawmakers' absence, about 500 protesters braved temperatures in the mid-20s and congregated on the Capitol lawn.

Rico says it's this kind of thing that makes him say 'hmmmm'...