AMPLIFYING THE ISSUE OF CO2 LEVELS AND GLOBAL WARMING
Jim Hansen and others are already noting the catastrophic inadequacy of the goal of 80% CO2 reduction by 2050, and even the still catastrophic inadequacy of Norway's national goal of net carbon neutrality (ie 100% reduction, however much fudged) by 2030. I want to highlight your attention to this truly urgent matter, and hope that the coalition will in the very very short term shift its demand to what is REALLY necessary. Such a position by activists, impacting the mainstream media, cultural leaders, and politicians at least in the Democratic Party in the US, has potentially enormous implications for even what policies might be followed over the next 2-3 urgent years.
SEE:
http://mwcnews.net/content/view/20133/42
Progressive groups (there already is at least one on the web (http://www.350.org/4/)) need to embrace this cutting edge demand and NOW. If we don"t take the lead on this who will?
Now the Environmental Action Coalition of 48 groups organizing youth and/or students has embraced the same long term goal as liberals in Congress like Cong Pelosi and Al Gore: 80% reduction in Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) by 2050. See:
http://energyactioncoalition.org/whatwerefor/1sky
This illustrates the state of the movement now, something that urgently needs to be COMPLETELY transformed, and VERY soon
Unearthed: News of the Week the Mainstream Media Forgot to Report
Tobacco Scientist Steve Milloy reveals front group agenda designed to scare Americans into never-ending fossil fuel addiction
In an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, former tobacco lobbyist and current global warming denier Steven Milloy defends fossil fuels as the only energy sources that aren't "foolish."
Milloy's science-deprived corporate front groups assert that "the most important junk science issue right now is global warming because it's going to affect our freedoms and it's going to affect our economy. It's all based on the unproven notion that human emissions of carbon dioxide are affecting global climate."
Milloy posits that Alcoa and other companies who express concern over climate change and call for federal action are "lobbying for laws that will make everybody be foolish." He claims that any "global-warming regulation" will "drive the U.S. economy into a ditch."
ExxonMobil has given at least $90,000 to Milloy's fossil-friendly front groups over the years, joining other corporate contributors including Dow Chemical, General Motors, Chevron, Proctor & Gamble and asbestos/pesticide manufacturer W.R. Grace. Despite his documented tobacco and oil industry funding, Milloy remains a columnist for Fox News, whose executives cast a blind eye toward his role as a corporate shill.
CO2 Levels Reach Record High In The Atmosphere, Highest CO2 Levels in 800,000 Years
NOAA scientists report that CO2 levels in the atmosphere are rising faster than expected, and now stand at 387 parts per million, up almost 40% since the Industrial Revolution and the highest level in recorded history.
Another new study published in the journal Nature by a team of Swiss, French and German scientists adds 150,000 years of data to climate records assembled from previous ice drilling, confirming that CO2 levels are the highest in at least the past 800,000 years. "We can firmly say that today's concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane are 28 and 124% higher respectively than at any time during the last 800,000 years," said Thomas Stocker, an author of the report.
These new findings all but guarantee that even the most ambitious proposals to curb greenhouse gas emissions may fall short at stopping dangerous climate disruptions.
Martin Parry, co-chair of the IPCC working group on climate impacts, said: "Despite all the talk, the situation is getting worse. Levels of greenhouse gases continue to rise in the atmosphere and the rate of that rise is accelerating. We are already seeing the impacts of climate change and the scale of those impacts will also accelerate, until we decide to do something about it."
Vaccine Court To Hear New Round Of Thimerosal/Autism Test Cases
Hearings resume this week in the federal vaccine court, which will consider the test cases of two autistic boys from Portland, OR whose families claim their autism resulted directly from exposure to the mercury preservative thimerosal in childhood vaccines.
Overall, nearly 4,900 families have filed claims with the U.S. Court of Claims alleging that vaccines caused autism and other neurological problems in their children. Thimerosal, which is approximately 50% mercury by weight, is still present at significant concentrations in the flu vaccine and certain booster shots including tetanus and diphtheria.
USDA Blocks Voluntary Mad Cow Testing
The Bush administration has employed an antiquated law in order to stop Creekstone Farms, a natural beef company, from testing its herd for mad cow disease. Creekstone had hoped to voluntarily test its entire herd to reassure customers around the world that its natural beef is safe from the disease, which is more common at industrial factory farms. But the Bush USDA has blocked Creekstone's access to test kits that can identify the disease markers in processed beef products.
At least three cases of mad cow disease have been confirmed in the U.S. since 2003. The Bush administration claims that voluntary testing by proactive beef companies would create confusion and possibly result in a false positive that could scare consumers away from U.S. beef.
The USDA tests less than 1 percent of the nation's beef cattle for mad cow disease, while many other countries test a far greater percentage of their herds. Creekstone formerly sold its products in Japan but has been blocked from doing so because Japan requires 100 percent testing of its beef for mad cow disease. Creekstone is suing USDA to gain access to the test kits, alleging interference by the Bush administration.
Wounded Veterans Denied Help in Registering to Vote
Wounded veterans will have a much more difficult time attempting to exercise their right to vote in the upcoming election. The Department of Veterans Affairs has retreated on a recently announced policy to allow voter registration drives at veterans' hospitals, claiming that any assistance provided to hospitalized veterans would violate the Hatch Act, which restricts political activities by federal employees. Members of Congress and voting rights advocates argue that the interference amounts to voter suppression, and that it will greatly hinder wounded, ill, and disabled veterans' ability to cast ballots in the fall election.
Fallen U.S. Soldiers Cremated At Pet Facility
Defense Secretary Robert Gates learned from an appalled Army officer that Dover Air Force base - where the remains of fallen soldiers first arrive back into the United States - contracted out the cremation of service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan to a local pet crematorium. The Pentagon has discontinued the practice due to outrage among military families. More than 4,600 soldiers' remains have passed through Dover Air Force base since 9/11. About 10 percent of fallen soldiers have requested cremation. The Washington Post reported this story on the front page Saturday, the slowest news day of the week.
The practice only came to light when a fellow soldier attended the cremation of a fallen friend and emailed Defense Secretary Gates to explain that when his friend's coffin was taken to the crematory it was not flag draped and when it arrived the only sign outside the crematory said 'Friends Forever, Kent County Pet Cremation Service.'
Blackwater Contract Renewed, Company Unlikely to Face Criminal Charges for Iraqi Civilian Deaths
Private military contractor Blackwater is unlikely to face criminal charges for the shooting deaths of seventeen civilians in Baghdad in September 2007. An ongoing Justice Department investigation is narrowly focused on as few as three or four Blackwater guards who could be indicted in the civilian shootings. This would exonerate Blackwater's executives and pave the way for further abuses by essentially guaranteeing the continued outsourcing of security duties to private contractors who face few repercussions for such atrocities.
The light-handed investigation highlights the fact that the Bush administration is relying heavily on private contractors in the Iraq war. State Department spokesman Patrick F. Kennedy admits that "We cannot operate without private security firms in Iraq," and adds that "If the contractors were removed, we would have to leave Iraq." The Bush administration recently renewed Blackwater's contract to protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq for another year. Blackwater continues to provide around 1,000 personnel in Iraq under its State Department contract.
State Department Whistleblowers Allege Iraq Corruption Cover-up
Two former State Department employees detailed to members of Congress last week how the Bush administration repeatedly ignored high-level corruption within the Iraqi government and hid potentially embarrassing information in order to maintain bilateral relations with Baghdad. The whistleblowers explained that their post, the Office of Accountability and Transparency, was chronically understaffed and its warnings and recommendations ignored. The State Department's policies "not only contradicted the anti-corruption mission but indirectly contributed to and has allowed corruption to fester at the highest levels of the Iraqi government," according to Arthur Brennan, who headed the now-defunct office ostensibly charged with training anti-corruption officers in Iraqi agencies. Brennan said the office was "window dressing" and that the report his staff produced detailing the corruption was initially ignored and later retroactively classified in order to hide the truth about the depth of corruption.
McCain Aides Resign Over Myanmar Junta Connections
John McCain lost two key aides this week as the brutality of the Myanmar junta has been exposed in the wake of Cyclone Nargis. Doug Goodyear, whom McCain picked to run the 2008 Republican National Convention, resigned after it was disclosed that his lobbying firm, DCI Group, represented the military regime. Doug Davenport, who also resigned as McCain's regional campaign manager for the mid-Atlantic states, founded the DCI Group's lobbying practice and oversaw the contract with Myanmar. DCI collected $348,000 in 2002 and 2003 to lobby on behalf of the junta. Other DCI Group clients include ExxonMobil and General Motors. The group is also a major player in GOP circles.
Hundreds of thousands of lives remain in danger because of the totalitarian regime's efforts to thwart international assistance. The United Nations now reports that up to 2.5 million people have been "severely affected" by the cyclone and the junta's subsequent interference in the international effort to provide aid to survivors.
McCain Earns A Zero From LCV For Missing Every Major Environmental Vote This Congress
Sen. John McCain has missed every major environmental vote this Congress and ranks last among current members of Congress according to the League of Conservation Voters, which tracks how each member votes on environmental issues. McCain's lifetime LCV score is just 24 percent.
While McCain is known for sponsoring legislation to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and for talking about the threat of global warming in speeches, he has yet to vote for proposed efforts to tackle the problem. McCain was the only member of Congress to skip every environmental vote scored by LCV this session, earning a score lower than members who missed much of the session due to serious illnesses or death. The 15 missed votes included a key vote on repealing tax giveaways to big oil - a measure that failed by only one vote.
McCain cast votes against tightening fuel efficiency standards, failed to require public utilities to provide a certain percentage of their power from renewable sources, and removed Endangered Species Act protections that conflicted with the priorities of Arizona businesses.
Congress Seeks to Limit Use of Secretive National Security Letters
Committees in both houses of Congress are working to limit the FBI's ability to collect private data on virtually anybody using a secretive tool called a National Security Letter (NSL). The FBI's use of NSLs exploded since passage of the PATRIOT Act which paved the way for rampant abuse by removing legal impediments that protected the right to privacy and other civil liberties. NSLs can be used to obtain an individual's phone use data, financial statements, insurance and business information. An individual who is served with an NSL must comply with its request for information and is gagged in most circumstances from discussing the request. Unlike subpoenas, NSLs aren't subject to the approval of any court or judge, and can be issued under extremely broad circumstances.
A 2007 FBI audit discovered hundreds of instances in which the bureau collected information despite lacking the authority to do so. The FBI deleted only four of these inappropriately obtained files, according to the audit. Hundreds of other examples of NSL abuse were reported in an inspector general review in 2007, and a follow-up report released this March concluded that the FBI still has not implemented safeguards to limit such abuse.
Current Congressional efforts aim to drastically limit the circumstances under which NSLs are issued and to strictly regulate how the FBI handles information obtained through their use.
The White House Likely Purged Critical Pre-Iraq War Email Archives
Lawyers for the Bush administration claim that a "primitive" email preservation system is to blame for wide gaps in its email archives covering critical pre-war periods in 2003. The White House admitted in court this week that it has no back-up archives for the missing emails, a claim information technology experts say is hard to fathom. The White House predicts it may never be able to recover the archives, which include 12 work days with no e-mails at all for President Bush's immediate office and 16 days for Vice President Dick Cheney.
The missing emails are thought to include conversations about the bad intelligence used to launch the Iraq war, the identity leak of former C.I.A. operative Valerie Plame Wilson, and various unspecified activities involving Karl Rove.
By law, the missing communications belong to the taxpayers, according to the ongoing federal lawsuit filed against the White House by the National Security Archive at George Washington University, and the Washington, D.C. watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics.
Send tips about other stories the mainstream media forgot to report: unearthednews@gmail.com
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
"McCain Aides Resign Over Myanmar Junta Connections: John McCain lost two key aides this week as the brutality of the Myanmar junta has been exposed in the wake of Cyclone Nargis. Doug Goodyear, whom McCain picked to run the 2008 Republican National Convention, resigned after it was disclosed that his lobbying firm, DCI Group, represented the military regime. Doug Davenport, who also resigned as McCain's regional campaign manager for the mid-Atlantic states, founded the DCI Group's lobbying practice and oversaw the contract with Myanmar. DCI collected $348,000 in 2002 and 2003 to lobby on behalf of the junta. Other DCI Group clients include ExxonMobil and General Motors. The group is also a major player in GOP circles"
Okay...can someone please explain to me why McCain's lobbying cronies are skating past media attention. Goodyear and Davenport have certainly influenced McCain's operating philosophy more than Rev Wright did Obama's operating philosophy. The abundance of lobbying personnel influencing the McCain campaign are far more threatening to this nation's citizens (and apparently also to the people of Myanmar) - they are actually participating in molding McCain's policies. This information deserves a "loop" or two, and a bit of media focus!
Mr. Kennedy and Mr. DeMelle,
Thank you for providing this important information to us. Of course, with this article we are also now painfully reminded of the media giants' failure to inform. We may never again experience great journalism from the nation's "free press" - the propaganda machine now has godzilla proportions. Your intent to keep us informed becomes more valuable with each day that passes.
Those emails are not lost. What bullshit, How are we going to find them? Any hackers out there--oh, and look up possible "destroyed" evidence that vaccines cause autism, as we know they do, and the drug companies know it too--the question is 'when?' This is an infuriating and necessary post that I hope will continue.
About the illegality of buying testing kits - couldn't the meat company ask the test company what's in the kits, buy the chemicals and substrates, and test anyway? Or - if the test kit components are proprietary - the meat company could still search the literature (use something like Medline) and use whatever scientists have developed for testing. It's not always easy to replicate results, and they'd have to hire someone who could set up a mini chemistry lab, but it's certainly not impossible to do.
"couldn't the meat company ask the test company what's in the kits, buy the chemicals and substrates, and test anyway?"
The USDA is supposed to protect our food supply. How can the fact that Creekstone is being forced to sue the USDA to gain access to the test kits possibly be justified? Here is a case where the supplier actually WANTS to improve the safety of their product, and the Bush administration stands as an obstacle to food safety. Why in this world would they do such a thing?
I know a doctor who saw a case of CJ disease and believe me, it isn't pretty. A red meat-eater, the doc immediately stopped eating meat. But the Administration prefers to run the risk of exposing people to CJD rather than impinge on the meat business, even by example. How short-sighted.
Further, on the point of testing: there's a lot of human health tests we could and should be doing to assess risk factors, toxic exposures, functional areas etc. These would help address factors leading to disease manifestation and treat them prior to their escalation, at which point more costly, invasive, (and long term) treatments become necessary. But once again, vested interests block these and we keep our heads firmly planted in the sand. Anyone interested in proactive health care can sign up for my ezine at www.health-journalist.com
Thanks to you, RFK Jr for this report. I hope we hear from you every single week. You are stepping in to offer what a bankrupt mass media fails to report. I had the honor of shaking hands with both your Dad and your uncle when I was a small child and their spirit of honest public service is alive in you, and I am grateful for that.
Thanks for the info. That "the Administration prefers to run the risk of exposing people to CJD rather than impinge on the meat business..." is very distressing to me. You are correct; this is very "short-sighted." Although I have been an infrequent consumer for the "meat business," I am now determined to be a non-consumer; worse for them, I will be telling everyone I know about this traitorous behavior by the USDA.
The MSM does not report news. They report gossip and present infotainment. For news one has to read the international news sources.
Hippies are everywhere disparaged, yet their values have become mainstreamed to the point where now the average person is starting to realize that perhaps eating bad food is causing all the chronic diseases, that maybe the government wants to control and confine us, rather than promote freedom, that maybe the vaccines and medicines they force on us aren't healthy, and that consuming less, recycling and working with nature rather than against it, is the way of the future. The seeds of change that my generation planted have germinated and taken root in the American psyche, finally. Hope.
"The seeds of change that my generation planted have germinated and taken root in the American psyche, finally. Hope."
"Taken root in the American psyche," and hopefully the understanding will continue to grow and expand. The 80s brought with them a big setback; so have the years since 2000. My children, both adults now, are just now beginning to understand why I operate as I do. I've been recycling, conserving, and advocating peace their entire lives; now as they ponder upon the fate of their children, their actions now more closely mimic mine. I believe, zizyphus, that it may now truly be safe to "Hope."
My sister died a horrible death from CJD, mad cow disease. The doctors were puzzled, did not know what was wrong. Only testing a section of brain or tonsil were sure indicators of the disease. First her sight failed, then her hearing, then her ability to swallow. After the autopsy confirmed CJD, the specialist said "My mother in law passed away last year. The cause of death was listed as Alzheimers, but after seeing your sister, I am wondering if she actually had CJD". I wonder how many people have died from CJD but been recorded as Alzheimers? This is no disease to fool with, it is horrible. To stop testing is foolish. Par for the course for this administration, though. To HELL with the people.
Forgot to mention, this happened in England. The hospital stay was 4 months. Luckily she was not in the US. She would have lost her house paying the bills, or my nephew would have I should say.
Amen! Sorry about your sister - it's too bad that she passed on from such a disease. may she rest in peace. And I'm grateful to know that at least she lived in a civilised country where her bills didn't cost her family their home.
Thank you. Anyone who does not want health care for everyone should talk to my brother-in-law. He has had eye surgery, ear surgery and radiation therapy for prostate cancer, all within the last 3 years. He is now 83 years old. He is the most up-beat person I have ever met. He says "Thank God for the National Health Services" They live near Liverpool (pop. almost 1 million) and have NEVER been on a waiting list for any medical procedure. The insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies, plus lobbyists and politicians, scare people with their stories. Everyone should see "Sicko" for a dose of the truth. The politicians should go to Canada, England and Cuba to see how their systems for health care work. They could surely come up with a plan for the US that would make more sense than what is in place now. What do politicians care, thy have wonderful health care, paid by many people who cannot afford their own. What a great country, eh???
Thank you for this summary of issues that should be covered much more widely.
I hope you can make this a regular feature here!
CO2 is up, but the earth is cooling. The oceans are cooling. It stopped warming 10 years ago. The warmest years were in the 1930's, the warmest being 1934, before the CO2 increase.
Yeah, they have a "branding problem" but it's still global climate change.
And the band plays on.....
I laugh at the title because most of the coverage listed here was in some part...covered by...yes the mainstream press like the New York Times. So question is why wasn't the story place in the echo chamber
Bobby Kennedy often correctly points out that the media concentrate on sex and celebrity stories that appeal to the reptilian part of our brain. Unfortunately, HuffPo does too sometimes. Stories about Eva Mendes doing some salacious photo shoots for a magazine and PETA seem to get more attention on this site than Mr. Kennedy's important, much needed post about real stories.
If you go to www.rfkin2008.com, you will find an article from the April/May edition of Spectrum magazine that covers all the hostility Mr. Kennedy has faced from the media because he wants to bring the public's attention to the link between autism and vaccinations. At least he can discuss it here as well as on his radio show.
Thanks again, Bobby, and keep bringing us all these important stories to light. I will eagerly await your post every week.
continued-
Conclusions: This animal model, which examines for the first time, behavioral, functional, and neuromorphometric consequences of the childhood vaccine regimen, mimics certain neurological abnormalities of autism. The findings raise important safety issues while providing a potential model for examining aspects of causation and disease pathogenesis in acquired disorders of behavior and development.
and from CBS--great job--!
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/05/12/couricandco/entry4090144.shtml
"Perhaps the most puzzling thing about autism and ADD is that more than a decade into this public health crisis, our best, smartest government scientists and public health officials still say they have no idea what's causing it. Scary stuff, when parents having a child today realize there's at least an estimated 1 in 150 chance their child will have an autism disorder (1 in 90 if it's a boy).
While the government has been utterly unable to stop it, or even tell us what is causing it, they say they do know one thing: it's not vaccines. But today, in an exclusive interview with CBS News, Dr. Bernadine Healy becomes the most well-known medical voice yet to counter the government on that claim.
continued--
Objectives: The objective of this study was to compare early infant cognition and behavior with amygdala size and opioid binding in rhesus macaques receiving the recommended childhood vaccines (1994-1999), the majority of which contained the bactericidal preservative ethylmercurithiosalicylic acid (thimerosal).
Methods: Macaques were administered the recommended infant vaccines, adjusted for age and thimerosal dose (exposed; N=13), or saline (unexposed; N=3). Primate development, cognition and social behavior were assessed for both vaccinated and unvaccinated infants using standardized tests developed at the Washington National Primate Research Center. Amygdala growth and binding were measured serially by MRI and by the binding of the non-selective opioid antagonist [11C]diprenorphine, measured by PET, respectively, before (T1) and after (T2) the administration of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR).
Results: Compared with unexposed animals, significant neurodevelopmental deficits were evident for exposed animals in survival reflexes, tests of color discrimination and reversal, and learning sets. Differences in behaviors were observed between exposed and unexposed animals and within the exposed group before and after MMR vaccination. Compared with unexposed animals, exposed animals showed attenuation of amygdala growth and differences in the amygdala binding of [11C]diprenorphine. Interaction models identified significant associations between specific aberrant social and non-social behaviors, isotope binding, and vaccine exposure.
--to be continued
Thanks for posting on the Autism-Vaccine Court Story...yes, where is The Media? You can now add this to the story--
Pediatric Vaccines Influence Primate Behavior, and Amygdala Growth and Opioid Ligand Binding Friday, May 16, 2008: IMFAR
L. Hewitson , Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA B. Lopresti , Radiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA C. Stott , Thoughtful House Center for Children, Austin, TX J. Tomko , Pittsburgh Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA L. Houser , Pittsburgh Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA E. Klein , Division of Laboratory Animal Resources, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA C. Castro , Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA G. Sackett , Psychology, Washington National Primate Research Center, Seattle, WA S. Gupta , Medicine, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of California - Irvine, Irvine, CA D. Atwood , Chemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY L. Blue , Chemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY E. R. White , Chemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY A. Wakefield , Thoughtful House Center for Children, Austin, TX
Background: Macaques are commonly used in pre-clinical vaccine safety testing, but the combined childhood vaccine regimen, rather than individual vaccines, has not been studied. Childhood vaccines are a possible causal factor in autism, and abnormal behaviors and anomalous amygdala growth are potentially inter-related features of this condition.
---
to be continued on next post
I'm thinking that big safe in Cheney's office is the "Secret Server".
Judging by the list of most-viewed posts on HuffPost this week, its readers are no less distracted by bread and circuses than the Hannity-Limbaugh-O'Reilly crowd. If you were really concerned about the important issues we are facing in this country, you would have done your part to make sure that the massive corruption in Iraq contracting was the leading talking point in the Obama campaign and on cable news all week. Instead you're focused on a hissy fit that O'Reilly threw more than a decade ago and other such nonsense.
No wonder we keep reelecting idiots.
Dear Mr Kennedy and Mr. DeMelle,
Thank you for bringing these issues to light. It is so sad that none are shared with the public at large. (I can think of significant portions of the population that need to know this stuff (read West Virginia). Have you discussed including this in Keith Olbermann's program? Sounds like it would be a superb segment. Please consider this plea to bring this to more people's awareness.
Milloy posits that Alcoa and other companies who express concern over climate change and call for federal action are "lobbying for laws that will make everybody be foolish." He claims that any "global-warming regulation" will "drive the U.S. economy into a ditch."
What planet is he living on???
here's a better question... what will it do to our economy when we use all the oil up and are left with no other ways to power our cars, heat our homes, and prepare our food?
Ok, lets get the spelling right.
Keep pushing that Junk Science boys. You did a good job with Ethanol. You got a bill passed that's starving millions of humans around the globe AND it's producing MORE CO2 than gas, thus making the problem WORSE.
This is the perfect example of the far left Do anything for the "emergency" agenda. They starve people to death while fueling up on their FOOD using Ethanol that creates more green house gases. And Rain-forest and other carbon sinks are being destroyed to help produce this ethanol.
Meanwhile, China puts 2,000 cars a day on the road, every day. And China starts up a NEW DIRTY COAL PLANT every 7 to 14 days to power the MASSIVE growth they have.
China is about to pass us in carbon and they have a long long way to go to catch up to our standard of living, and India is coming on behind them. Most nations that signed Kyoto have acknowledged it was a bad deal and they can't afford to follow it. Kyoto failed.
We need nuclear power. Let us have CARBON FREE nuclear power so we can run battery cars and heat/cool with green power? It's time to stop burning coal, stop burning gas, it's time to use nuclear power and battery powered cars and of course, we can also get some from solar and wind. But no wind farms in a Kennedy back yard please, they are privileged.
Yeah, that "radical lefty" Bush passed it so he could pass out farm subsidies to his "leftist" Corporate factory farm buddies--the commie! Oh, and the world food crisis is all a part of the vast left wing conspiracy to pretend that weather patterns are actually changing, except for the food shortage in India caused by those "commie bastard" American corporations that forced seeds down the farmer's throats, you know, the ones that wouldn't grow. If we have to do the whole nuclear power thing--instead of actually working on controlling our energy consumption--can I keep the waste at your house? Because I'm guessing it's not on the same earth normal human beings inhabit. Or is the earth of the future? You know, McLame's 2013: A SPACE ODDITY--that beautiful Hugo Gernsbackian future that only exists in the Sci-fi pulp magazines of McLames prime years of the 1930's?
Agreed re: ethanol - it's a boondoggle love letter to Ginormous Agriculture since they now have a fantastic excuse to raise prices and toss GMO into the breach in order to "save the environment." Who cares if we push some already
Posted May 16, 2008 | 03:52 AM (EST)