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minx

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I am starting to be disappointed with Obama (of course every president is disappointing to a point). His expansion of government is a little scary. AIG, GM, Chrysler should all have failed with absolutely no government help.

 

 

How is that Minx.

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kevbone, i'm spee(a)chless...i actually agree with you.

 

jon, i was busy having a life so i didn't want J&K but i do see on yahoo that they're getting divorced....gee, who'd think that could happen....

great Minxy...now i'm all curious as to what the "ignored user" said that you agree with? Should i, dare i unclick the little fellow and see what he's spraying about now...

 

no doubt something about ego this or ego that...

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Here you go:

 

BONN, Jun 12 (IPS) - A leading global environmental group has accused the United States of holding up UN climate negotiations.

 

Friends of the Earth Malaysia's honorary secretary Meena Raman said that throughout the second round of the United Nations climate talks in Bonn that ended Jun. 12, the U.S. administration had blocked progress to move negotiations forward.

 

[..]

 

Echoing general disappointment with the new U.S. administration, Karen Orenstein of Friends of the Earth U.S. said: "The election of President (Barack) Obama created tremendous hope worldwide that the U.S. would finally play a leadership role in solving the climate crisis that - more than any other nation on earth - it is responsible for causing.

 

"Unfortunately for the survival of people and the planet, the Obama administration's position at these UN negotiations sounds frighteningly similar to that of (former U.S. president) George Bush."

 

Disappointment with the U.S. derives from the fact that industrialised countries need to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent by 2020 relative to 1990 levels for a reasonable chance of avoiding catastrophic climate change.

 

The U.S. administration, however, is still talking about zero percent reduction by 2020 on 1990 levels. Japan tabled a dangerously low emissions reduction target during the talks of 8 percent below 1990 levels.

 

The 27-nation European Union remained unimpressive with their 2020 target of 20 percent (30 percent if other industrialised countries commit to similar efforts). Considering that the EU is set to offset over half of its commitments, already weak EU targets will be further watered down.

 

"While the U.S. is holding climate negotiations hostage, Japan and the EU appear to feel comfortable hanging on to Washington's apron-strings," a delegate said.

 

Delegations from around the world repeatedly warned industrialised countries that their refusal to set adequate targets is preventing any progress in other aspects of the negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

 

Equally alarmingly, industrialised countries failed in Bonn to agree to substantial transfer of money and technology needed to enable developing countries to tackle climate change.

 

more: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47202

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SUNDIAL, West Virginia, June 23, 2009 (ENS) - West Virginia State Police today arrested at least 29 demonstrators, including government climate scientist Dr. James Hansen, actress Daryl Hannah, and 94 year-old former West Virginia Congressman Ken Hechler, for tresspassing on the property of a mountaintop removal coal mining company to protest the destructive practice.

 

[..]

 

The action comes after the Obama administration's announcement last week that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will reform, but not abolish, the strip mining practice that removes the tops of mountains to get at coal seams and then dumps the waste rock into valley streams below.

 

For 20 years, Dr. Hansen has been outspoken on issue of global warming and the dangers of fossil fuel combustion. He criticized the Bush administration for its suppport of fossil fuels, and now he is criticizing the Obama administration.

 

In the June 22 issue of Yale University's "Environment 360" magazine, Hansen wrote, "The Obama administration is being forced into a political compromise. It has sacrificed a strong position on mountaintop removal in order to ensure the support of coal-state legislators for a climate bill. The political pressures are very real. But this is an approach to coal that defeats the purpose of the administration’s larger efforts to fight climate change, a sad political bargain that will never get us the change we need on mountaintop removal, coal or the climate."

 

more: Climate Scientist James Hansen Arrested in Mountaintop Removal Protest

 

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we never discuss climate change anymore :cry:

 

Because a D is in the white house, of course. The media will save it's dire global warming talk for whenever (if ever) an R is back in power.

 

Why do you say that? The current administration seems much more likely to accept and act on climate change than the previous. I think everyone is just sidetracked by the economy.

 

The problem I have is that even when people are talking about the environment and conservation and stuff like that, the official public message is always "keep buying, keep using and consuming, just buy/use/consume these newer, better things." It's the whole "green industry" boom. All that stuff still requires energy to make, it's still disposable and unnecessary. No one is publicly saying to use less, do less, etc. "The American way of life must be preserved," or some such nonsense. The "American way of life" is wastefulness.

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we never discuss climate change anymore :cry:

 

Because a D is in the white house, of course. The media will save it's dire global warming talk for whenever (if ever) an R is back in power.

 

Why do you say that? The current administration seems much more likely to accept and act on climate change than the previous.

 

The Clinton/Gore administration didn't do anything toward acting on climate change besides watering down resolutions during negociations then refusing to sign them.

 

I think everyone is just sidetracked by the economy.

 

The problem I have is that even when people are talking about the environment and conservation and stuff like that, the official public message is always "keep buying, keep using and consuming, just buy/use/consume these newer, better things." It's the whole "green industry" boom. All that stuff still requires energy to make, it's still disposable and unnecessary. No one is publicly saying to use less, do less, etc. "The American way of life must be preserved," or some such nonsense. The "American way of life" is wastefulness.

 

American shoppers misled by greenwash, Congress told

98% of supposedly environmentally friendly products in US supermarkets make false or confusing claims, campaigners say

Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent

guardian.co.uk, Sunday 21 June 2009 18.19 BST

 

More than 98% of supposedly natural and environmentally friendly products on US supermarket shelves are making potentially false or misleading claims, Congress has been told. And 22% of products making green claims bear an environmental badge that has no inherent meaning, said Scot Case, of the environmental consulting firm TerraChoice.

 

The study of nearly 4,000 consumer products found "greenwashing" in nearly every product category – from a lack of verifiable information to outright lies.

 

Even the experts are confused. Case, whose firm runs its own Ecologo certification programme, admitted he had bought a refrigerator only to find it failed to meet its claims of energy efficiency.

 

More: Greenwashing

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The Clinton/Gore administration didn't do anything toward acting on climate change besides watering down resolutions during negociations then refusing to sign them.

 

I don't doubt it. Obama has not done much so far. The difference, I would say, is that nowadays the public is much more interested in climate change (hence this discussion on CC.com?). And the Bush administration went out of its way to deny climate change existed and try to open up more public lands for oil drilling, end protection for endangered species, etc. Obama might not be progressive, but conceivably he at least will not actively make things worse.

 

Re: greenwashing: nice stats - that's a huge part of the problem. I sometimes read the Unsuitablog which covers greenwashing tactics. (Eg, "green airlines" or "green oil companies.") The whole "green industry" seems (in the mainstream) to purely be making people feel better about doing the bad things they already do. I have yet to hear a public figure say that if people want to help America and the environment, they can stop buying cars (and driving!), turn the heat down in their house, stop eating meat, never take disposable cups/utensils/etc. from restaurants, never take plastic shopping bags, etc. Seriously, if Obama went on TV and said, "Hello America. If you want to reduce your impact on the environment, then no one should buy a new car this year. And reduce your meat consumption to only a couple of servings per week." - people would lose it.

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Obama might not be progressive, but conceivably he at least will not actively make things worse.

 

Maybe in terms of the climate…..but in terms of the economy….I don’t agree. Spend, spend, spend seems to be the way of this president. What happened to capitalism? If you fail you fail.

 

 

 

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Nice of you to spout conservative talking points but some spending is necessary to create/preserve jobs, which ought to be priority number 1. Bailing out too-big-to-fail institutions without structural changes (like breaking them up) is a waste of taxpayers money and we could do w/o war spendings too.

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Obama might not be progressive, but conceivably he at least will not actively make things worse.

 

I wish it were true but putting new spin on the same old policies does make things worse. The energy bill in front of congress this friday is a good example of it:

As the LCV was threatening to pull its endorsement from dissenting members, Friends of the Earth launched a campaign to block the bill. "Corporate polluters including Shell and Duke Energy helped write this bill, and the result is that we're left with legislation that fails to come anywhere close to solving the climate crisis. Worse, the bill eliminates preexisting EPA authority to address global warming--that means it's actually a step backward," says FOE president Brent Blackwelder, a veteran campaigner –- who has often been ahead of the curve when issues of economics and the environment are in play.

 

Blackwelder argues that, "Last November, the American people voted for change. Unfortunately, while the party in power may have changed, the process through which this bill was negotiated makes it clear that the overwhelming influence of corporate special interests has not. This exercise in politics as usual is a wholly unacceptable response to one of the greatest challenges of our time, and it endangers the welfare of current and future generations. Speaker Pelosi and congressional Democrats simply must do better. We are calling on them to vote against this bill unless it is substantially strengthened. If the ‘political reality' at present cannot accommodate stronger legislation, their first task must be to expand what is politically possible --- not to pass a counterproductive bill."

Friends of Earth Score Energy Bill as 'Step Backward'

 

 

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Obama might not be progressive, but conceivably he at least will not actively make things worse.

 

Maybe in terms of the climate…..but in terms of the economy….I don’t agree. Spend, spend, spend seems to be the way of this president. What happened to capitalism? If you fail you fail.

 

I was talking about the environment. The economy is complicated, and frankly the first big bit of "spend spend," as you called it, was done by Bush's Treasury Secretary, Paulson, who basically made $700 billion evaporate into a black hole and then asked for more. (Ie, he actually said that we should give him the money but no one should be allowed to ask where it was going. What kind of retardation is that?)

 

@JB: This is why we need publicly funded elections with minimal or no lobbying contributions! I wish Lawrence Lessig's Change Congress campaign would work, though I have my doubts.

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@JB: This is why we need publicly funded elections with minimal or no lobbying contributions! I wish Lawrence Lessig's Change Congress campaign would work, though I have my doubts.

 

 

I could not agree more. Matter of fact all lobbyist should be out of Washington. Take the money out and the senators will have to actually do what they were elected to do....manage there state. Not suck the tit of the corporations that dwell in there state.

 

I am a liberal, but do have some conservative views....like all the bail outs should not have happened. The government should not be stepping in the save a private company, just because the leaders of that company suck and made bad choices. I also believe that every one of the suspects in gitmo needs to be tried and found guilty or set free. Done….. end of story on that front. I don’t believe our government can hide behind “they are not US citizens, there for they do not get our rights” any longer. What about human rights?

 

I voted for change, that is what Obama preached. So far….its business as usual.

 

I believe the elite who run the world do not care if there is a Democrat in office or a Republican. At the end of the day they get the same result. Either way the government borrowed billions from the Federal Reserve and we the people will pay it back along with an insane amount of interest.

 

Iraq is not meant to be won…..only sustained.

 

 

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