How about this? Former US Climate Action Partnership (USCAP, a Batptists and Bootleggers coalition if ever there was one) member, cap-and-trade energy rationing lobbyist Caterpillar, is buying mining equipment manufacturer Bucyrus. Surely you remember them?

This comes on the heels of CAT slipping away from USCAP, which in turn came after admirably dogged education campaign and pursuit for explanation of the peacocking boondoggle by Tom Borelli.

Yes, yes, this is styled as “Caterpillar is expanding its mining business as coal and metals producers raise investment to meet growing demand from emerging economies.” (Bloomberg, emphasis added). But I wouldn’t read too much into that; that’s where the growth is now and, sadly, for the foreseeable.

To pretend that this does not signal that CAT’s inane, admittedly not well-considered flirtation with a politically correct agenda is finished is to ignore as much as all manner of CEOs had to ignore in order to buy their consultants’ advice that cap-n-trade was ‘inevitable’ so they’d better try to cut some deal getting goodies in return for support. All they got in return for this expensive, absurd advice was a black eye for the reputation-harming pose it led to (more than a few customers I met contacted both CAT and John Deere, furious, to ask, ‘do you even know who your customers are?’). Others among us gave them much better, free advice that it would prove to be BTU II.

CCX, Caterpillar…who is next on the cap-and-trade pantheon to fall from Olympus?