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Manufacturing Consent...
this is the documentary I'm currently watching... this miniseries by ABC seems to fall right into the pattern of white washing our governments culpability.
here's some key ideas from the movie about our media
"emotionally potent oversimplification"
"marginalizing the public... promoting apathy"
"irrational attitudes of submission to authorithy"
anyone here know what Chomsky sites as the worst attrocity since the holocaust?
I don't see anyone protesting/concerned. There are detectors everywhere on the light poles.
do you see the contradition? if they weren't concerned, they wouldn't have detectors on the light poles.
I worked for a company, many years ago, that labeled compounds with radio active materials for research, such as medical research. They also sold sources for x ray machines. There were radio active detectors everywhere. All air was sucked into the building and went out through filters that were monitored daily. I know, because I typed up the reports on the detector badges employees in the lab wore, the filters and other places. And at least once, a shipment of material was lost. I'm glad I worked there for only a year.
I know of a town north of SF that has BIG signs as you come into town that it's nuclear free.
Most likely reactors will be built near towns that are lower on the economic totem pole because they won't have the political clout to protest as strongly as elsewhere.
In Search of Accurate Vote Totals
Published: September 5, 2006
It’s hard to believe that nearly six years after the disasters of Florida in 2000, states still haven’t mastered the art of counting votes accurately. Yet there are growing signs that the country is moving into another presidential election cycle in disarray.
The most troubling evidence comes from Ohio, a key swing state, whose electoral votes decided the 2004 presidential election. A recent government report details enormous flaws in the election system in Ohio’s biggest county, problems that may not be fixable before the 2008 election.
Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, hired a consulting firm to review its election system. The county recently adopted Diebold electronic voting machines that produce a voter-verified paper record of every vote cast. The investigators compared the vote totals recorded on the machines after this year’s primary with the paper records produced by the machines. The numbers should have been the same, but often there were large and unexplained discrepancies. The report also found that nearly 10 percent of the paper records were destroyed, blank, illegible, or otherwise compromised.
This is seriously bad news even if, as Diebold insists, the report overstates the problem. Under Ohio law, the voter-verified paper record, not the voting machine total, is the official ballot for purposes of a recount. The error rates the report identified are an invitation to a meltdown in a close election.
The report also found an array of other problems. The county does not have a standardized method for conducting a manual recount. That is an invitation, as Florida 2000 showed, to chaos and litigation. And there is a serious need for better training of poll workers, and for more uniform voter ID policies. Disturbingly, the report found that 31 percent of blacks were asked for ID, while just 18 percent of others were.
Some of these problems may be explored further in a federal lawsuit challenging Ohio’s administration of its 2004 election. Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, who has been criticized for many decisions he made on election matters that year, recently agreed to help preserve the 2004 paper ballots for review in the lawsuit.
Ohio is not the only state that may be headed for trouble in 2008. New York’s Legislature was shamefully slow in passing the law needed to start adopting new voting machines statewide. Now localities are just starting to evaluate voting machine companies as they scramble to put machines in place in time for the 2007 election. (Because of a federal lawsuit, New York has to make the switch a year early.) Much can go wrong when new voting machines are used. There has to be extensive testing, and education of poll workers and voters. New York’s timetable needlessly risks an Election Day disaster.
Cuyahoga County deserves credit for commissioning an investigation that raised uncomfortable but important questions. Its report should be a wake-up call to states and counties nationwide. Every jurisdiction in the country that runs elections should question itself just as rigorously, and start fixing any problems without delay.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/05/opinion/05tue1.html?th&emc=th
Health Policy Malpractice
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: September 4, 2006
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/09/04/opinion/04krugman.html?th&emc=th
my comments:
NYT premium piece well worth reading... talks about how Bush admin is restricting access to successful VA medical program and encouraging use the "Medicare Advantage, is a clear failure"
once again, Bush admin takes away from vets while at the same time demanding the ultimate sacrifices of our service men and women
once again, Bush admin trying to undo something good for the people and promote something that is a proven failure
Opium Harvest at Record Level in Afghanistan
David Rochkind/Polaris
<< for those who think things are going well in Afghanistan... strong evidence to the contrary >>
The Afghan opium harvest has reached record levels, up 49 percent from last year, the United Nations says.
By CARLOTTA GALL
Published: September 3, 2006
KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 2 — Afghanistan’s opium harvest this year has reached the highest levels ever recorded, showing an increase of almost 50 percent from last year, the executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said Saturday in Kabul.
He described the figures as “alarming” and “very bad news” for the Afghan government and international donors who have poured millions of dollars into programs to reduce the poppy crop since 2001.
He said the increase in cultivation was significantly fueled by the resurgence of Taliban rebels in the south, the country’s prime opium growing region. As the insurgents have stepped up attacks, they have also encouraged and profited from the drug trade, promising protection to growers if they expanded their opium operations.
“This year’s harvest will be around 6,100 metric tons of opium — a staggering 92 percent of total world supply. It exceeds global consumption by 30 percent,” Mr. Costa said at a news briefing.
He said the harvest increased by 49 percent from the year before, and it drastically outpaced the previous record of 4,600 metric tons, set in 1999 while the Taliban governed the country. The area cultivated increased by 59 percent, with more than 400,000 acres planted with poppies in 2006 compared with less than 260,000 in 2005.
“It is indeed very bad, you can say it is out of control,” Mr. Costa said Friday in an interview before the announcement.
President Hamid Karzai expressed disappointment at the results in a statement issued on Saturday and urged the international community to expand its commitment to strengthen the Afghan police and law enforcement agencies.
The Bush administration has made poppy eradication a major facet of its aid to Afghanistan, and it has criticized Mr. Karzai for not doing more to challenge warlords involved in opium production.
On Saturday, a State Department spokeswoman, Joanne Moore, had no immediate comment on the United Nations report, but she pointed to a fact sheet posted on the department’s Web site that outlined efforts to support Afghanistan’s counternarcotics campaign.
The increase in cultivation was mainly a result of the strength of the insurgency in southern Afghanistan, which has left whole districts outside of government control, and the continuing impunity of everyone involved, from the farmers and traffickers to corrupt police and government officials, Mr. Costa said.
Afghanistan is already the world’s largest producer of opium, and 35 percent of its gross domestic product is estimated to come from the narcotics trade.
Most of the heroin made from Afghan poppies is sold in Europe and Asia, drug officials say. Most of the increase in poppy cultivation has occurred in five provinces in southern Afghanistan, in particular Helmand, Kandahar and Oruzgan, where security has sharply deteriorated this year because of Taliban attacks, Mr. Costa said.
“The southern part of Afghanistan was displaying the ominous hallmarks of incipient collapse, with large-scale drug cultivation and trafficking, insurgency and terrorism, crime and corruption,” he said in a statement released by his office.
“We are seeing a very strong connection between the increase in the insurgency on the one hand and the increase in cultivation on the other hand,” he explained in the interview.
The Taliban had distributed leaflets at night, inviting farmers to increase their poppy cultivation in exchange for protection, Mr. Costa said. The rebels also profit from levies in return for protection of drug convoys passing through the border areas they controlled.
There were also signs of a pernicious strategy to encourage farmers to increase poppy cultivation in an effort to force a government reaction, which would then turn the population further against the government, Mr. Costa said.
But he did not blame only the Taliban for the increase. He specifically accused the former governor of Helmand Province, Sher Muhammad Akhund, of encouraging farmers to grow more poppies in the months before he was removed from office. The result was an increase of 160 percent in that “villain province” from its harvest last year, he said, the highest rise in the country.
“There is evidence of major pressure exerted by him in favor of cultivating opium,” Mr. Costa said.
In the news briefing on Saturday, Mr. Costa also criticized the government’s action of removing the governor and giving him a position in the upper house of Parliament.
“I have been on record for asking the president for corrupt officials not to be moved around but to be removed, to be neutralized; if records can prove conviction, to be arrested and convicted. So far we do not have much evidence for that And we hope that more forceful initiatives will be taken exactly in that area,” he said.
Skip to next paragraph
Reach of War
Go to Complete Coverage » One province in the north, Badakhshan, where there is no problem of an insurgency, also had a significant increase in poppy cultivation.
Mr. Costa attributed that mostly to the lack of government control and the presence of powerful warlords and corrupt local officials. A substantial drought also played a part, because no alternative crop could survive as the poppies did.
While the government had improved its performance at eradication of the poppy crop, it had failed to do enough to catch traffickers and corrupt officials, he said.
The United Nations drugs office, which measures the eradication program, said about 38,000 acres of poppy fields were confirmed to have been destroyed, whereas only about 12,000 acres were confirmed destroyed last year. Government reporting on how much was eradicated was also less exaggerated, Mr. Costa said. In 2005, province governors had reported eradicating about 87,000 acres and the United Nations could only confirm 12,000 destroyed. In 2006, governors reported 57,000 acres destroyed, and the drug office confirmed 38,000, he said.
The United Nations drugs office surveys cultivation in Afghanistan through satellite imagery and with teams on the ground, who have even worked in Taliban-controlled areas. Usually they travel undercover on motorbikes, and they interview farmers and traders in more than 2,000 villages across the country.
International donors have put a lot of money into training judges and investigators and preparing high-security detention facilities for drug traffickers, and it was now time for the government to act, Mr. Costa said.
“I am pleading with the government to be much tougher,” he said. A new high-security prison block would be inaugurated in a few weeks, he said. “We have room for 100 people and I am asking the government to fill it within six months,” he said.
Afghanistan’s minister for counternarcotics, Habibullah Qaderi, said at the news briefing that the news was a setback for his ministry and for the country. But he said the government’s strategy to combat opium production would start to show results in the next three years.
He said he hoped the government would be able to capture more high-level traffickers and corrupt officials. But he said it still lacked the capacity to investigate and catch the “big fish.”
Several hundred people have been arrested and convicted for drug offenses in recent months, but Mr. Qaderi admitted most were people who were caught carrying the drugs.
One significant prosecution involved an Interior Ministry official, Lt. Col. Nadir Khan, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison two months ago for stealing 110 pounds of heroin that had been impounded by drug enforcement authorities and selling it, a Western counternarcotics official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/03/world/asia/03afghan.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
Bush acknowledges secret CIA prisons
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
39 minutes ago
"Today's shift in policy follows the sad legacy of five years during which this administration abused our Constitution, violated our laws and most importantly failed to make America safe."
WASHINGTON - President Bush on Wednesday acknowledged previously secret CIA prisons around the world and said 14 high-value terrorism suspects — including the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks — have been transferred from the system to Guantanamo Bay for trials.
He said a small number of detainees have been kept in CIA custody including people responsible for the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 in Yemen and the 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, in addition to the 2001 attacks.
"It has been necessary to move these individuals to an environment where they can be held secretly, questioned by experts and, when appropriate, prosecuted for terrorist acts," Bush said in a White House speech. Families of some people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks made up part of the audience.
Bush said of the suspects: "These are dangerous men, with unparalleled knowledge about terrorist networks and their plans of new attacks. The security of our nation and the lives of our citizens depend on our ability to learn what these terrorists know."
The announcement from Bush was the first time the administration had acknowledged the existence of CIA prisons, which have been a source of friction between Washington and some allies in Europe. The administration has come under criticism for its treatment of terrorism detainees. European Union lawmakers said the CIA was conducting clandestine flights in Europe to take terror suspects to countries where they could face torture.
"Today the administration finally recognized that the protections of the Geneva Convention should be applied to prisoners in order to restore our moral authority and best protect American troops," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. "Today's shift in policy follows the sad legacy of five years during which this administration abused our Constitution, violated our laws and most importantly failed to make America safe."
Bush has sought with a series of speeches to sharpen the focus on national security two months before high-stakes congressional elections.
The president successfully emphasized the war on terror in his re-election campaign in 2004 and is trying to make it a winning issue for Republicans again this year.
Bush said the CIA program has involved such suspected terrorists as Khalid Sheik Mohammed, believed to be the No. 3 al-Qaida leader before he was captured in Pakistan in 2003; Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged would-be Sept. 11 hijacker; Abu Zubaydah, who was believed to be a link between Osama bin Laden and many al-Qaida cells before he was captured in Pakistan in 2002.
The list also includes Riduan Isamuddin, known as Hambali, who was suspected of being the mastermind of a string of deadly bomb attacks in Indonesia until his 2003 arrest in Thailand.
Defending the prison program, the president said the questioning of these detainees has provided critical intelligence information about terrorist activities that has enabled officials to prevent attacks, including with airplanes, within the United States. Other attacks thwarted through intelligence gathered in the program include a planned strike with an explosives-laden water tanker on U.S. Marines at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti, an attack with car and motorcycle bombs on the U.S. consulate in Karachi, and a plot to fly passenger planes into London's Heathrow Airport or Canary Wharf, Bush said.
Bush would not detail interrogation techniques used through the program, saying only that they are tough but do not constitute torture. He did use language that suggested its nature, saying the CIA turned to an "alternative set of procedures" that were successful after Zubaydah and others had stopped providing information.
"This program has helped us to take potential mass murderers off the streets before they have a chance to kill," the president said.
A senior administration official said that fewer than 100 people have been detained under the CIA program, rejecting allegations that perhaps thousands have been held in secret prisons. With the transfer of the 14 detainees to Guantanamo, the CIA is no longer holding any suspects, the administration official said. He added, however, that the administration wants the program to continue.
The president said the 14 key terrorist leaders, including Mohammed, Binalshibh, and Zubaydah, who have been transferred to the U.S. military-run prison at Guantanamo Bay would be afforded some legal protections consistent with the Geneva Conventions.
"They will continue to be treated with the humanity that they denied others," Bush said.
Bush also laid out his proposal for how trials of such key suspected terrorists — those transferred to Guantanamo and already there — should be conducted, which must be approved by Congress. Bush's original plan for the type of military trials used in the aftermath of World War II was struck down in June by the Supreme Court, which said the tribunals would violate U.S. and international law.
"As soon as Congress acts to authorize the military commissions I have proposed, the men our intelligence officials believe orchestrated the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans on Sept. 11, 2001, can face justice," the president said.
Aides said the legislation being introduced on Bush's behalf later Wednesday on Capitol Hill insists on provisions covering military tribunals that would permit evidence to be withheld from a defendant if necessary to protect classified information.
As part of the package, Bush asked Congress to shield from prosecution or lawsuits federal personnel who handle terrorist suspects.
"Passing this legislation ought to be the top priority," Bush said.
Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham have drafted a rival proposal. It would guarantee certain legal rights to defendants, including access to all evidence used against them.
"I think it's important that we stand by 200 years of legal precedents concerning classified information because the defendant should have a right to know what evidence is being used," said McCain, R-Ariz.
Administration officials also have said that allowing coerced testimony in some cases may be necessary, while McCain said the committee bill would ban it entirely. "We have some differences that we are in discussion about," said McCain, who had not seen the White House bill in writing.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., is expected to side with the administration. He planned to introduce Wednesday the White House legislative proposal on the floor and refer it to the Armed Services Committee for review.
Also on Wednesday, the Pentagon put out a new Army field manual that spells out appropriate conduct on issues including prisoner interrogation. The manual applies to all the armed services, but not the CIA.
It bans torture and degrading treatment of prisoners, for the first time specifically mentioning forced nakedness, hooding and other procedures that have become infamous during the war on terror.
The United States began using the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in eastern Cuba in January 2002 to hold people suspected of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban. About 445 detainees remain there, including 115 considered eligible for transfer or release.
The president said he eventually wants to close Guantanamo as critics and allies around the world have urged. But he said that cannot happen until Congress creates the process for trying its most dangerous prisoners, and other countries negotiate acceptable terms for taking back their citizens who are being held there.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060906/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush
Rummy admitting flight 93 was shot down?
??? do you have a link to that news item???
but the question is valid. would you want one in your backyard? If not, why not?
I think if you answer that question honestly, even if just to yourself, you'll find out why I and many others are very hestitant to charge ahead with new nuclear plants.
that's all in line with what he says in his book as well... the Clinton admin was looking for opportunities to take bin laden out. Clarke tried to get Condi Rice to take bin laden seriously and she ignored him. It was the BUSH admin who was asleep at the wheel and making zero efforts in this regard.
Will Sequoias survive?
Editorial
Tuesday, September 5, 2006
CREDIT THE Bush team with this much: If there's a tree worth chopping down, they'll do almost anything and go anywhere to do it.
In the past, the administration has sought roads in wilderness country, expanded logging in the name of fire prevention and gutted a consensus timber-cutting plan for the Sierra.
An especially disturbing target is the Sequoia National Monument, created in 2000 by President Bill Clinton. The monument -- next to the national park of the same name -- hosts half of the surviving big trees. Some are 3,000 years old and 30 feet around. The monument designation was intended to safeguard these rough-barked skyscrapers and the surrounding forests.
Incredibly, the Bush team has picked apart wording in the monument designation to produce an excuse for timber cuts. The argument is that forest health requires clearing small trees up to 30 inches in diameter to remove fire hazards.
In reality, though, this plan is plain-and-simple logging. Yes, small trees that pose a fire danger will be removed, but doing so includes cutting trees up to 300 years old. The timber business in the south Sierra is all but through -- only one major mill remains -- so why continue it with plans that could harm the last stands of sequoias?
Fortunately, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco halted the federal plan. He called the tree-cutting arguments "decidedly incomprehensible,'' mainly because the federal agency neglected required scientific studies. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer and environmental groups challenged the plan last year.
What happens next is critical. The U.S. Forest Service could appeal Breyer's decision. Or it could follow the law cited by the judge: Study the impact of a logging plan in sensitive terrain and heed the evidence. There's a third option in the outside lane: Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, is proposing to exempt logging in the area from such rules with a bill in Congress. This end-run should be rejected.
The sequoia groves were rightfully protected along with the forests around them. This landscape may need nurturing, but it doesn't need knocking down.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/09/05/EDGJKKT7L91.DTL
words that appeal to emotional "thinkers" rather than logical thinkers
ROFL!!!
do you want one in your back yard?
I'll readily admit I don't and would fight against one.
interesting... learning is a life long endevour
hadn't heard that specific quote before...
exposes their true mindset
me too! In the early days I used to keep a dictionary on my desk ready to use...
LOL... glad I'm not the only one spelling impaired.
I'd like to see Bush, CHeney and Rumsfeld face these guys face to face... face the Iraqi people face to face...
nothing worse than chicken hawks as commanders over our troops
I also want to thank Southern Company and Georgia Power for arranging this event
geez... and I'm so happy (NOT) that $ 2 billion of our tax dollars are going towards
protect the builders of the first six new nuclear plants against the potential cost of regulatory or litigation-related delays.
IF NUCLEAR ENERGY IS SO SAFE, WHY DO THEY NEED PROTECTION AGAINST LITIGATION?????
very true
often people accuse others of what they themselves are guilty of
Anybody read anything by Howard Zinn?
Was particularly interested in A People's History of the US
Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train
must see documentary about Howard Zinn, historian.
Americans have been taught that their nation is civilized and humane. But, too often, U.S. actions have been uncivilized and inhumane.
Howard Zinn
If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves.
Howard Zinn
In the United States today, the Declaration of Independence hangs on schoolroom walls, but foreign policy follows Machiavelli.
Howard Zinn
One certain effect of war is to diminish freedom of expression.
Howard Zinn
There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.
Howard Zinn
We need to decide that we will not go to war, whatever reason is conjured up by the politicians or the media, because war in our time is always indiscriminate, a war against innocents, a war against children.
Howard Zinn
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/howard_zinn.html
so are we back to aspirin as the best alternative?
Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train
must see documentary about Howard Zinn, historian.
Americans have been taught that their nation is civilized and humane. But, too often, U.S. actions have been uncivilized and inhumane.
Howard Zinn
If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves.
Howard Zinn
In the United States today, the Declaration of Independence hangs on schoolroom walls, but foreign policy follows Machiavelli.
Howard Zinn
One certain effect of war is to diminish freedom of expression.
Howard Zinn
There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.
Howard Zinn
We need to decide that we will not go to war, whatever reason is conjured up by the politicians or the media, because war in our time is always indiscriminate, a war against innocents, a war against children.
Howard Zinn
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/howard_zinn.html
Nicotine Levels Rose 10 Percent in Last Six Years, Report Says
<< they may not force the cigerette in their mouth, but they obviously do everything they can to make sure they get hooked ... tabacco companies are evil >>
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 31, 2006
BOSTON, Aug. 30 (AP) — The level of nicotine that smokers typically consume per cigarette has risen 10 percent in the past six years, making it harder to quit and easier to be addicted, said a report that the Massachusetts Department of Health released on Tuesday.
The study shows a steady increase in the amount of nicotine delivered to the smokers’ lungs regardless of brand, with overall yields increasing 10 percent.
Massachusetts is one of three states to require tobacco companies to submit information on nicotine testing to its specifications and is the sole state with data as far back as 1998.
The study found that the three most popular brands with young smokers, Marlboro, Newport and Camel, delivered significantly more nicotine than they did six years ago. Nicotine consumed in Kool, a popular menthol brand, rose 20 percent.
Jennifer Golisch, a spokeswoman for Phillip Morris USA, part of Altria and the largest cigarette maker and manufacturer of Marlboros, declined to comment. Reynolds American, manufacturer of Kools and Camels, also declined.
The study has always measured nicotine levels based on the way smokers use cigarettes, health officials said. That includes partly covering ventilation holes while smoking and taking longer puffs.
Traditional testing does not take habits into account and typically reports lower nicotine contents, researchers said.
“The amount of nicotine in a cigarette has increased steadily over the past six years,” the department said, indicating in its reports that the smoking habits simulated had not changed in that period.
Of the 179 brands tested in 2004, 93 percent fell into the highest range for nicotine. In 1998, 84 percent of 116 brands were in the highest range.
“We want health care providers to know that smokers are getting more nicotine than in the past and may need additional help in trying to quit,” the public health commissioner, Paul Cote Jr., said.
The report said that for all brands tested in 1998 and 2004 there was no significant difference in the total nicotine delivered among full flavor, medium, light or ultralight cigarettes.
The finding means that agencies trying to help smokers quit may have to adjust the strength of nicotine replacement therapies like nicotine patches and gums.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/31/health/31nicotine.html?th&emc=th
Go California!
<< and nice that Dems & Republican Gov working together >>
SACRAMENTO, Aug. 30 — California’s political leaders announced an agreement on Wednesday that imposes the most sweeping controls on carbon dioxide emissions in the nation, putting the state at the forefront of a broad campaign to curb the man-made causes of climate change despite resistance in Washington.
Also in the Guide The Race for the U.S. House Governors' Races The deal between the Democratic-controlled Legislature and the Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, calls for a 25 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2020, and could establish controls on the largest industrial sectors, including utilities, oil refineries and cement plants. The state has already placed strict limits on automobile emissions, although that move is being challenged in federal court.
The Bush administration has rejected the idea of similar national controls on carbon dioxide emissions, and efforts to get Congressional approval for such firm caps on emissions have repeatedly been defeated.
Although the deal in California is strongly opposed by Republicans in the Legislature and many business leaders across the state, it assures that a bill on the restrictions will be passed before the legislative session ends Thursday and will be signed by Mr. Schwarzenegger, the leaders said Wednesday.
The first major controls are scheduled to begin in 2012, with the aim of reducing the emissions to their level in 1990. The legislation allows for incentives to businesses to help reach the goals, but opponents warn that the state may be sacrificing its economic interests for a quixotic goal.
“If our manufacturers leave, whether for North Carolina or China, and they take their greenhouse gases with them, we might not have solved the problem but exacerbated it instead,” said Allan Zaremberg, the president of the state’s Chamber of Commerce.
Since taking office in 2003, Mr. Schwarzenegger, who is seeking reelection in November, has supported efforts to fight climate change, most recently by signing an agreement with Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain to do cooperative research on new clean-energy technologies.
The governor said Wednesday that the deal struck with Democrats would make “California a world leader in the effort to reduce carbon emissions.”
“The success of our system will be an example for other states and nations to follow as the fight against climate change continues,” Mr. Schwarzenegger added.
The Assembly speaker, Fabian Núñez, who sponsored the bill along with Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, said at a news conference here, “We feel that California has always been a leader in protecting the environment.”
“We now have moved it to the next level,’’ said Mr. Núñez, a Los Angeles Democrat. “We’d all like to see California one day be carbon free.”
The state’s action, he said, could set off a “bottom-up” movement for curbs of heat-trapping gases in states around the country.
That has been the goal of national environmental groups like Environmental Defense and the Natural Resources Defense Council, which helped sponsor the California legislation. It has also been the goal of Ms. Pavley, a Democrat from Agoura Hills and the author, in 2002, of a groundbreaking law reducing tailpipe emissions of heat-trapping gases.
Already, the governors of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and four New England states have signed an agreement to curb power-plant emissions, cutting them by 10 percent by 2019. That would amount to about 24 million tons, said Dale Bryk of the New York office of the Natural Resources Defense Council, about one-seventh of the total envisioned in the California legislation, which will be an estimated 174 million tons.
Ms. Bryk added that Massachusetts and New Hampshire had enacted some emissions curbs, but that the number of power plants involved was minuscule compared with the California effort.
A recent poll of Californians by the Public Policy Institute of California showed nearly four of five respondents said urgent action on climate change was needed.
Aside from its long coastline, which could be vulnerable to sea-level rises due to global warming, the state depends on the Sierra Nevada snow pack for much of its water.
A study in 2004 by the National Academy of Science showed that unchecked global warming would cut the size of the snow pack by at least 29 percent by the end of the century. It also predicted a doubling in the number of heat waves, like the record-breaking one in July that killed 139 people statewide.
The deal on Wednesday on the emissions legislation nearly foundered at least three times in the past week as Mr. Schwarzenegger’s negotiators reached seeming impasses with the Legislature over important issues: whether the bill would require the creation of market mechanisms like emissions credits to help industries meet the new standards; how broad to make exemptions during emergencies like the state’s electricity crisis six years ago, and how to administer and enforce the law.
more...
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/31/washington/31warming.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
he should have been fired ages ago
he has a mind? lol
ignore works best for me as well
Well, if you're living in a home you intend to stay in and are at least 50, I think paying off the mortgage early is one of the smartest moves you can make.
good to know. I've been debating about paying off my second and now there is no doubt in my mind that it's a good idea.
... TXU expects to get $6 billion in tax credits, nuclear risk insurance and federal loan guarantees approved by Congress in last year's energy law.
interesting... didn't know about that part of the energy law they passed last year.
great picture
Action Item...
found this website were they regularly have action items re Global Warming... here's the current one:
http://ucsaction.org/ucsaction/home.html?qp_source=wacucs%5fheada
Popular vote gets thumbs up in Calif.
By ROBIN HINDERY, Associated Press Writer
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The California Legislature passed a bill that would give California's 55 electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote, rather than the candidate who captured the state — but for now, the measure stands a slim chance of becoming reality.
That's because it could go into effect only if states with a combined total of 270 electoral votes — the number now required to win the presidency — agree to the same process.
Similar legislation is pending in Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana and Missouri — which have a combined 50 electoral votes. With California's 55, the legislation would still be less than halfway there.
The movement is a reaction to the 2000 presidential contest, when Democrat Al Gore won the nationwide popular vote but lost the presidency to George W. Bush, who won more Electoral College votes. Gore also won California that year.
Democrats control the California Legislature. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has yet to take a public position on the bill, passed Wednesday.
Supporters said the move would boost California's relevance in national elections. California is a key fundraising state for presidential candidates but is often not visited in general campaigning because it is safely Democratic.
"Candidates don't come to California," said Assemblyman Rick Keene of Chico, one of the few Republican supporters of the measure. "We are currently disenfranchised in the electoral process."
But many Republicans criticized the bill.
"This is a way of amending the Constitution through the backdoor," said Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, a Republican from Irvine.
Critics also argued that campaigning would focus on heavily populated areas at the expense of other parts of the state.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060831/ap_on_el_pr/california_electoral_votes
fortunately not many are still buying it... we already lost along time ago.
It's difficult to admit a mistake, to admit defeat... but even worse is not admitting it and continuing to sacrifice lives to avoid doing so.
a perfect example of why a link should always be provided.
you are correct, I forgot the link, here it is:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=plagiarism
(see how easy it is to say oops... forgot the link and then provide it?. I do it now and then.)
sick minds think alike
he really said that? he's really lost it.
[edit] probably never had it LOL
good analogy