GOP Politicians Parrot False Climate Bill Talking Points

What’s more important – actual facts, or talking points filled with false figures designed to knock down the competition at any cost? To the GOP, it’s clearly the latter. They’ve never been known for fighting fair, but in the past year or so the Republican Party has apparently decided that anything goes, with a series of jaw-droppingly dirty tactics centered upon outright lies and propaganda.

So, it’s not too surprising that eight GOP politicians are continuing to parrot talking points about the supposed costs of climate legislation, despite the fact that they’ve been repeatedly proven false. The $1,761 figure is an inflated estimate of the cost of a bill that was never even considered by Congress.

Hell, in the right-wing sphere, claims made on the news don’t have to have any basis in truth whatsoever. ThinkProgress has a great rundown on the process used to spread these false figures (via The Huffington Post):

STEP ONE: “News” generated by right-wing think tank.

STEP TWO: Right-wing print journalists write “breaking news” story.

STEP THREE: Promoted by Drudge, story repeated endlessly on right-wing blogs, Twitter, and talk radio.

STEP FOUR: Republican politicians, right-wing think tanks, and polluter front groups release statements of shock and outrage.

STEP FIVE: On Fox News, Glenn Beck calls President Obama a liar/socialist/Marxist/communist/fascist/racist.

Josh Nelson of EnviroKnow listed the many politicians who have repeated the false figure including Sen. Lamar Alexander, Sen. James Inhofe, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Rep. Roy Blunt, Rep. Fred Upton, Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, House Minority Leader John Boehner and House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence. Check out the details at The Huffington Post – it’s truly sickening.

The GOP is happy to use any means necessary to protect their wealth and power against any perceived threat, real or imaginary. But who cares about climate change or health care as long as Republicans can keep their Hummers and McMansions?

Link [ThinkProgress] + [The Huffington Post]
Photo credit: Flickr user Ingrid Taylar

Right-Wing Pundit Freak Out Over ‘Madoff-Waxman-Markey’ Bill

The climate bill that many environmentalists have decried as weak and ineffectual is being touted by right-wing pundits as a vast conspiracy to take their money (shocking, eh?). The usual suspects – Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin – are frothing at the mouth and waving pitchforks over the prospect of the bill being passed in the Senate.

From the NRDC Switchboard:

Among the most unhinged of the commentators has been the venerable Rush Limbaugh.  According to this host, the Waxman-Markey legislation should be called “Madoff-Waxman-Markey” because “this bill is a con game.”  You can see the Dittohead in Chief bloviate here courtesy of our friends at Media Matters.

In case you think Rush was alone in being off his rocker in comparing some of America’s most visionary lawmakers with the nation’s most notorious financial crook, check out Mr. Sensitivity, Glenn Beck’s rantings.

Beck suggests that lawmakers and the mainstream media have somehow colluded to use the death of Michael Jackson (!) to keep the public’s attention off climate change.   I promise you that we are not making this up:

“… it pays for everyone to be extra-vigilant.  Who stands to benefit from cap and trade? Why do we need to do it now? What does a ‘green banking center’ have to do with cooling the Earth?  And, most importantly, is there still a chance to stop this insanity in the Senate or will our politicians there simply wait for the next celebrity death before once again convening in the middle of the night to sell America out to highest bidder?”

Even worse is Michelle Malkin’s witch hunt, complete with wanted poster, of the eight GOP senators who have dared to support a cap-and-trade solution to climate change.

The NRDC goes on to question the legality/morality of shady campaigns by the Fox News-fueled “Tea Party Patriots” – be sure to give it a read.

But, when it comes down to it, the motivations of each side are telling. For what purpose, ultimately, would people like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin raise hell over a climate bill that doesn’t even measure up to the standards of environmentalists? Simple – getting attention, so they can make more money.

On the other hand, we dastardly environmentalists act out of the greedy desire to prevent humans from making the world uninhabitable for our own kind (as well as millions of other species). We’re so evil, aren’t we?

Link [NRDC Switchboard]

Hell Freezes Over, Pigs Fly and Bill O’Reilly Argues that Global Warming is Real

In what can only be a new episode of the Twilight Zone, Bill O’Reilly was actually the rational voice in an argument with conservative radio host Laura Ingraham about whether global warming is real. After you take a moment to process that statement, take a look at the video below.

O’Reilly: “Do you believe in global warming, by the way, Ingraham?”
Ingraham: “Ah, no, I’m not a big global warming champion.”
O’Reilly: “See, I do, I believe in it.”
Ingraham: “Bill, I’m stockpiling SUVs, okay, you’re barking up the wrong tree. I’m buying as many as I can. I think we’re getting cooler, not warmer.”
O’Reilly: “Well, that’s not what the temperature says.”

As far as I can tell, the sky’s not falling, nor are there pigs circling overhead. It’s hard not to wonder whether the world as we know it is about to end when someone like Bill O’Reilly argues on our side against one of his fellow right-wing half-wits.

Link [Media Matters] via [The Huffington Post]

Climate Bill Will Cost Consumers Way Less than Republicans Claim

Republicans have spent the last couple months circulating false claims about how much the House climate change bill would cost consumers, with estimates skyrocketing into the ridiculous. Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann recently claimed that the cost of climate action would be between $3,128 and $4,000 per household, and called for “armed and dangerous” opposition against climate action.

The Congressional Budget Office has put an end to all of the partisan speculation, confirming that climate change legislation would cost the average household a mere $175 a year by 2020, with the poorest 20% of households actually netting $40 annually.

From The Washington Post:

The costs would result from higher prices for carbon-based fuels, offset by a complex series of tax breaks and free allowances, new technologies and behavioral changes, and impacts on corporations and their profits.

The CBO, a nonpartisan arm of Congress, said it did not take into account any indirect benefits of slowing climate change, which are substantial but difficult to quantify.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman  Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) said the CBO report shows that his bill is “effective and affordable.”  Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), the bill’s lead co-sponsor, said it showed that the cost would be about the same as a postage stamp a day for the average household.

But Michael Steel, a spokesman for House  Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), said that the CBO analysts “got an unrealistically low number for cost per family because they didn’t factor in the millions of American jobs that will move overseas if the United States imposes this tax and our foreign competitors, like China and India, do not. I don’t know what color the sky is in a world where that won’t happen, but I’m sure you can ask the unicorns.”

Boehner’s office is hardly known for responsible and accurate number crunching. It was Boehner who initially claimed the $3,128 – $4,000 figure, citing some math done using a study by an MIT professor on a two-year-old cap and trade bill. But John Reilly, who conducted the study, says Boehner inflated the cost 10-fold by ignoring the offsetting benefits.

Eh, you know how it is. You can smell the desperation of Republican lawmakers from a mile away. They’ll do anything to con Americans into siding with them.

Link [The Washington Post]
Photo credit: [Jezebel] + [Esquire]

Green Hell: Heritage Foundation Spews Anti-Environment Nonsense

Quick, Republicans – git yer guns! Environmentalists are infiltrating the government, courtrooms, boardrooms and classrooms. Insidious!

The Heritage Foundation, known to be anti-environment, put on a little presentation about a book called Green Hell, which describes a “brave new world” in which a powerful and secretive group called “Greens” are working to tear the American lifestyle out of conservatives’ greedy little hands. The author of the book, Steve Milloy, reads an excerpt and then rails on about stupid, cowardly, secretive “Greens”.

“Throughout Green Hell, you will encounter, up close and personal, the myriad encroachments and invasive oversight mechanisms of your day-to-day life that are lurking behind a shiny label that reads ‘green’.”

It’s hilarious, really. Milloy even went through the trouble of classifying us ‘Greens’ into distinct groups. I kid you not: there are the “fanatical nature worshippers”, the “do-gooders”, the “profiteers” like Al Gore, then there are the “cowards, particularly scientists and politicians who know or are concerned about what the score is with modern environmentalism but are too timid, too afraid of standing against the tide.”

“Finally,” he continues, “there are the ‘true greens’, the ones that are running the show behind the curtain. The ones that exploit the fanatics, the do-gooders, the profiteers to advance their anti-people, anti-freedom, anti-free enterprise, anti-science agenda.”

Holy crap, did that guy just say WE’RE anti-science? It gets better.

Noting that a book about Ronald Reagan states that what the former president disliked most about Communists was that they were “secretive and deceitful”, Milloy says “Fast forward 60 years, and we see Greens acting the same way. Secretive and deceitful. What’s so secretive about the greens, you ask? They act out in the open, don’t they? Yes and no. Yes, they tell you they want us to be green, but no, they don’t tell you why they want us to be green.”

“So why do they want us to go green? Isn’t it all about the environment and saving the planet? Not at all. The environment is a shield behind which they advance their social and political agenda.”

Anti-science conservatism at its most paranoid.

Link [Twilight Earth]
Photo credit: Monsterland Toys

Nuclear Industry Moves to Hijack Obama’s Climate Bill

Republicans in Congress have teamed up with the nuclear industry to create an alternative climate change bill that would double the number of nuclear reactors in the US by 2030. However, saying it’s a ‘climate change’ bill is a bit of an exaggeration: climate change is only mentioned in it one time. The spoiler bill is all about getting the nuclear industry a giant piece of the green economy pie.

From The Guardian:

“If you care about climate change … 100 new nuclear power plants is the place to start,” said Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee who is the strongest proponent of nuclear power in the Senate.

Another crucial element of the Republicans’ “nuclear renaissance” are two rival proposals for a “clean energy bank” now before Congress. One version, under consideration by the Senate, envisages almost unlimited federal loan guarantees to encourage wind and solar power and, nuclear proponents hope, new reactors.

Ellen Vancko, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said: “The nuclear industry would like to be able to finance the next generation of nuclear reactors using the faith and credit of the US taxpayer to underwrite the expansion. They don’t want to be responsible for any risk of financing these plants and neither do their lenders.”

The cost of each new nuclear plant ranges between $5 billion and $12 billion dollars – no chump change, especially compared to other sources of renewable energy. Another problem is the fact that there’s still no place to permanently store nuclear waste.

Republicans just. Don’t. Get. It.

Link [The Guardian]
Photo credit: Flickr user christian.senger

9 Incredibly Stupid GOP Statements on Climate Change & the Environment

They’re known for being largely anti-science, and many of their numbers still insist that global warming either isn’t real or isn’t caused by man. Paul Krugman declared the GOP to be “the party of stupid” last August, and they haven’t done much to dissuade the public from agreeing with him since then. From declaring the planet already saved – by Jesus – to comparing kids in the climate movement to the Hitler Youth, Republicans really do say the darndest things.

Image via: Pundit Kitchen

“[Pelosi] is committed to her global warming fanaticism to the point where she has said that she’s just trying to save the planet. We all know that someone did that over 2,000 years ago, they saved the planet — we didn’t need Nancy Pelosi to do that.” – Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minnesota, August 12th 2008

Good news, folks! We can all sit back and relax, because the planet has already been saved. What’s that? The bible says absolutely nothing about Jesus saving the planet? Right. Well, kudos anyway to Bachmann for finding such a ridiculous and unique way to take a shot at Nancy Pelosi, the GOP’s favorite punching bag.

Image via: EarthFirst composite

“It’s odorless, colorless, tasteless, doesn’t cause cancer, doesn’t cause asthma… there’s nobody that’s ever been admitted to a hospital because of CO2 poisoning.” – Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, May 19th 2009

Brilliant reasoning there, Barton. Because, obviously, if a substance doesn’t taste or smell like anything and isn’t a carcinogen, that means it’s totally harmless! The fact that CO2 is in soda, and that we breathe it out, doesn’t mean it’s irrelevant to global warming. It’s doubtful, however, that Barton even cares whether the words coming out of his mouth make any damn sense at all.

Images via: Flickr user The Searcher & Wikimedia Commons

“The earth will end only when God declares its time to be over. Man will not destroy this earth, this earth will not be destroyed by a flood.” – Rep. John Shimkus, R-Illinois, on why he believes that climate change is not a threat

Well, you’re right there, Shimkus – man will not destroy this earth. However, we are well on our way to making it uninhabitable for humans and millions of other species. That’s probably good news to you, however, since according to the Bible that would seem to indicate the Second Coming. “In case of the rapture, this congressional seat will be unmanned!” And we will all be the better for it.

Interesting to see that Rep. Shimkus, who believes that the bible is the infallible word of god, also mentioned the ‘Age of Dinosaurs’ during this hearing. Last time I checked, the bible doesn’t mention anything about dinosaurs… but that can easily be explained away. They’re Jesus Horses!

Image via cbv.ns.ca & Wikipedia

“We don’t know what those other cycles were caused by in the past. Could be dinosaur flatulence, you know, or who knows?’ – Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-California, questioning the authors of a landmark IPCC report about a period of dramatic climate change that occurred 55 million years ago

Dinosaurs, flatulence and Republicans… the jokes write themselves.

“Kathy Dahlkemper has some wacky ideas. Take energy. She said we should make personal sacrifices such as ‘walking places’ and ‘riding bikes’.” – National Republican Congressional Committee ad for Rep. Phil English, R-Pennsylvania on his Democratic challenger Kathy Dahlkemper

Oh, those wacky Democrats. What will they think of next?

Image via: Current.com

“I’m trying to think where else this has been done – Soviet Russia, Nazi, Germany, Mussolini’s Italy,” Beck said. “In fact, the Nazis took an extra step. Not only did they indoctrinate the kids and tell them you’re probably right, you know but your parents don’t; in fact, here’s the next step: Why don’t you tell us what your parents are telling you. Are we having the new Hitler youth? Is that what this is? The new Hitler youth? I’m sorry, that’s so politically incorrect – the new green guard. Man your station, 12-year-olds, your parents just don’t know.”– Conservative radio and Fox News host Glenn Beck on Al Gore’s ‘indoctrination’ of children

What did Al Gore say to provoke that attack? He had the gall to tell a bunch of school kids, “There are some things about our world that you know that older people don’t know.” Gasp! It’s the beginning of a new Hitler Youth! Soon those kids will be recycling and turning the lights off, and if that isn’t a major threat to the poor downtrodden Republican base, I don’t know what is.

This isn’t even the first time Beck, whose Fox News show is designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator, has likened the global climate movement to the horrific mass murder of millions of innocent people. He apparently really likes the Holocaust/Nazi analogy, because in 2007 he asserted that Al Gore is using the “same tactic” to fight global warming that Hitler used to vilify Jews in Nazi Germany. Yeah.

Image via: Third Base Politics

“The idea that carbon dioxide is a carcinogen that is harmful to our environment is almost comical. Every time we exhale, we exhale carbon dioxide. Every cow in the world, you know when they do what they do you’ve got more carbon dioxide.” – Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio

You’re totally right, Boehner. The idea that carbon dioxide is a carcinogen is comical.

“So, do you want to put your country first? Then let’s reduce our dependency on foreign sources of oil and promote oil and gas production at home. In other words: Drill, baby, drill! And drill now!” – Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele at the Republican National Convention in 2008

Yes, that’s right, the infamous(ly insipid) “drill, baby, drill” rallying cry that Sarah Palin made famous actually originated with the GOP’s totally fresh hip-hop Michael Steele. Is anyone surprised?

Image via: Current

“There are some monuments where the land is so widespread, they just encompass as much as possible. And the integral part of the–the precious part, so to speak–I guess all land is precious, but the part that the people uniformly would not want to spoil, will not be despoiled. But there are parts of the monument lands where we can explore without affecting the overall environment.”—Former President George W. Bush, media round table, Washington, D.C. March 13, 2001

Bushisms: pretty much the only enjoyable aspect of George W. Bush’s presidency. Even Bush himself didn’t understand what he just said. Irregardless, we will never misunderestimate our former President’s ability to turn what should have been a one-sentence statement into incoherent, misguided rambling.

Public Schools to Get $6.4 Billion in Green Improvements

Public schools across America are in serious need of TLC. Pitifully low budgets mean some schools don’t even have clean drinking water, let alone up-to-date textbooks. But, Congress just passed a piece of legislation that might just save school districts enough money to get back on track. $6.4 billion has been earmarked for green projects in public schools, modernizing buildings so they’re more energy efficient.

From CNN, via The Good Human:

The measure passed 275-155 in a largely party-line vote, and will now move to the Senate for further review.

Among other things, the bill allocates substantial funds for improvements along the Gulf Coast, where many school districts are still struggling to repair buildings damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The committee says the bill would require that 100 percent of the funds go toward green projects by 2015, which is the final year of funding under the bill.

“All students and teachers deserve safe and healthy learning environments, but too often, their schools are literally falling apart,” said Rep. George Miller, D-California, who is the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee and one of the bill’s sponsors.

“This legislation is a victory for students, workers and our planet. It will help improve educational opportunities and boost student achievement, it will help transition us toward a green economy by making our classrooms more environmentally friendly,” he said.

Of course, Republicans criticized the high cost, never able to look beyond today and see what tomorrow will bring. They also have a problem with the ‘increasing role of federal government’, claiming that the power to construct and renovate schools is a ‘fundamental right’ of state government.

It’s easy for old, rich white men whose grandchildren are more than likely enrolled in private schools to complain about such things while millions of school kids sit in public schools with sagging roofs, mold in the walls, peeling vinyl floors and other major problems. The American Society of Engineers says that one-third of America’s schools need extensive repair or replacement. This $6.4 billion is just a small fraction of the $112 billion the ASE says is needed to bring the nation’s public schools into an overall good condition.

Rachel Gutter of the U.S. Green Building Council emphasizes the benefits:

“The typical green school saves $100,000 a year on direct operating expenses. In school terms, that’s enough to hire two new teachers, purchase 200 new computers or 5,000 textbooks,” Gutter said.

“So these are major savings. And that’s just one year. The typical school lasts 40 years. And when you do the math, it starts to become some serious savings. … It pays for itself after a few years of operation.”

Link [CNN] via [The Good Human]
Photo credit: Flickr user woodleywonderworks

Could Senator Spector’s Party Switch Aid a Cap-and-Trade Bill?

Arlen Spector is no environmentalist. This former Republican, now Democrat Pennsylvania senator is rated a mere 32% by the League of Conservation Voters and has made many an anti-environment vote in the Senate. Sure, Spector’s switch from one party to another may be more motivated by a desire to survive the 2010 elections than a real change in his standpoint. But, some believe that his about-face might help speed a cap-and-trade bill through the Senate.

From The Daily Green:

Specter’s party switch nominally will make it easier to pass a climate bill with the 60 votes necessary to shut off filibusters. If and when the interminable Minnesota Senate race finally ends with comedian Al Franken clinging to a narrow lead, the Democrats will have reached the magic number of 60. Specter, however, like other conservative Democrats from coal-dependent states, won’t necessarily be a slam-dunk vote for a cap-and-trade bill unless there are free allowances or other provisions to ease cost impacts.

Specter’s record on environmental issues has been, at best, fair to middlin.’ He tended to follow rather than lead, and it showed in his ho-hum numbers in Republicans for Environmental Protection’s annual Congressional Scorecard. With new leaders to follow, perhaps his environmental voting record will change.

Others aren’t so sure. From Reuters columnist John Kemp, via The Guardian:

Until now, the threat of a filibuster sustained by the 41 Republicans in the chamber has masked divisions among Democrats themselves. If the Republicans are reduced to 40 votes and unable to block legislation, Democrats will find themselves in an uncomfortable spotlight.

Party divisions were on display earlier this month when 26 Democratic senators from industrial and Midwest states broke with colleagues from the coasts to bar the use of the expedited budget reconciliation process to pass climate change legislation using a cap-and-trade programme.

On financial regulation, healthcare, and Social Security, the party is deeply split between liberals anxious to push ambitious reform, and centrists who favour a less radical approach. Given these divisions the president may not have 50 votes, let alone 60, with or without the support of Specter and Franken.

Specter’s change of party makes little difference. Together with Maine Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, Specter was already one of the most liberal Republicans in the Senate. In many areas, the administration could already count on his support to assemble ad hoc 60-vote majorities even as a Republican. Nothing will change.

It’s also important to remember that Spector is from a coal state, and he’s not likely to support any cap and trade programs that don’t include special provisions that allow the industry in Pennsylvania to remain relatively unharmed.

As anxious as we are to get a move on with climate change legislation, this likely won’t be a quick and easy battle, even with a 60-vote majority in the Senate.

Link [The Daily Green] + [The Guardian]
Photo credit: MSNBC

RNC Clown Michael Steele Weighs in on Global Warming

 

Michael Steele is the gift that keeps on giving. Voted chairman of the Republican National Committee in what smells suspiciously like a “Hey, look, we’re not all fat white guys” stunt, Steele hasn’t exactly provided the hip, diverse edge that the RNC was apparently going for. Now, after several embarrassing missteps – including dorky, awkward misuse of urban slang and a tail-between-his-legs apology to Rush Limbaugh – Steele is inserting his foot even deeper down his throat with statements about global warming.

Steele said the following on a radio broadcast originally picked up by The Huffington Post’s Sam Steele, via DeSmogBlog:

“We are cooling. We are not warming. The warming you see out there, the supposed warming, and I am using my finger quotation marks here, is part of the cooling process. Greenland, which is now covered in ice, it was once called Greenland for a reason, right? Iceland, which is now green. Oh I love this. Like we know what this planet is all about. How long have we been here? How long? No [sic] very long.”

At least this time, Steele’s statements don’t put him at odds with the party he represents. Dumb as they are, they do fit in with the general Republican view that global warming – if it’s happening at all – isn’t caused by man.

As usual, DeSmogBlog has a concise explanation for why Steele is wrong:

While Steele is correct in implying that a cooling period helped make Greenland what it is today, he doesn’t seem to realize that that period, dubbed “The Little Ice Age” by historians and climate scientists, ended a long time ago – over 150 years ago, to be exact. During this era, which lasted several centuries, Norse settlements on the island were wiped out due to a combination of malnourishment, armed conflict and declining temperatures.

Similar century to millennia-long periods of intense cooling and warming, triggered by abrupt climate shifts, have occurred throughout history. Therefore, while it is certainly not implausible that the planet may eventually lapse into another mini ice age, most projected trends point to several decades of warming, made worse by anthropogenic influences. Of course, if Steele understood this, then he’d already know why scientists are so concerned about the dramatic rate of melting of Greenland’s ice sheet – melting prompted by higher air and water temperatures, I might add.

Boy, Michael Steele is so “off da hook”. He’s fighting that Obama stimulus bling-bling and giving the GOP a “hip-hop makeover”. Even Michele Bachman says “Michael Steele, You be da man!”. Between Steele, Bachman, Rush Limbaugh and Bobby “Kenneth the Page” Jindal, the Republican Party is definitely gearing up to drop it like it’s hot on our liberal asses. Friggin’ awesome. Word.

Link [DeSmogBlog] + [The Huffington Post]

Democrats Might Have a 60-Vote Bloc on Energy, After All

Despite the fact that Democrats didn’t reach that magical number of 60 filibuster-proof seats in the Senate, they might be able to get a lot done without interference from staunch business-first Republicans after all. Democrats currently have 56 seats with a few still undecided, and both candidates in Oregon are pro-clean-energy. Beyond that, there may be as many as half a dozen Republicans willing to reach across the aisle and help pass important clean energy legislation.

From The Wall Street Journal:

New Energy Finance says that could include both Republican senators from Maine, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. Ms. Snowe worked with California Democrat Diane Feinstein on energy-efficiency and solar-power incentives. Ms. Collins is a true “all of the above” energy advocate, supporting biofuels, tougher fuel-economy standards, and a national renewable-energy standard.

Longtime Republican senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and John Thune of South Dakota are both big-time ethanol supporters. And as prairie-state senators, they have both become vocal advocates of federal support for renewable energy, especially wind power. In Nevada, Republican Sen. John Ensign worked with Washington Democrat Maria Cantwell to bolster federal support for alternative energy.

Other possibilities include incoming Republican Senator Jim Risch, and Obama’s former opponent John McCain.

This help from Republicans won’t necessarily come across for all issues, especially cap-and-trade schemes. But, it will make all the difference in moving forward the way we need to in order to properly address the energy crisis, global warming and the economy all at once.

Link [The Wall Street Journal]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Bush Administration Rushing to Ease Endangered Species Laws

In the final months of Bush’s rule as President of the United States, his administration is feverishly working to push through government-approved building projects that can only be carried out if endangered species laws are eased.  In fact, Interior Department officials are so eager to loosen the laws that protect these animals, they’re poring over 200,000 public comments in just 32 hours.

From Yahoo News:

The Fish and Wildlife Service has called a team of 15 people to Washington this week to pore through letters and online comments about a proposal to exclude greenhouse gases and the advice of federal biologists from decisions about whether dams, power plants and other federal projects could harm species. That would be the biggest change in endangered species rules since 1986.

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., whose own letter opposing the changes is among the thousands that will be processed, called the 32-hour deadline a “last-ditch attempt to undermine the long-standing integrity of the Endangered Species program.”

At that rate, according to a committee aide’s calculation, 6,250 comments would have to be reviewed every hour. That means that each member of the team would be reviewing at least seven comments each minute.

It usually takes months to review public comments on a proposed rule, and by law the government must respond before a rule becomes final.

It’s the Republicans taking the side of business over anything and everything else, as usual. Lobbyists are paying big money to push these projects though, and if the Bush administration does manage to make the regulation final before they leave office, it could take months or even years for the next president to undo. Obama has already said he would reverse the proposal, and McCain’s campaign has not commented.

Perhaps this is Bush’s way of saying, “Hey, look at me! I’m still a crappy President!” After all, we’ve practically forgotten that Bush is still in office in our excitement about seeing someone else taking his place. If you thought he was done screwing things up, think again.

Link [Yahoo News]

Walking, Riding Bikes – Too Wacky For Republicans

Are Republicans afraid to step out of their SUVs to take a walk or *gasp* ride a bike? It sounds like a silly stereotype but the National Republican Congressional Committee recently released a video against Democratic nominee Kathy Dahlkemper with just that message.

Dahlkemper, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Phil English to represent Pennsylvania’s 3rd District, is quoted in the video as saying Americans should “walk places” and “ride their bikes”. Apparently, that’s supposed to be a bad thing. Of course those activities seem pretty normal to us but that probably makes us “wacky” too.

Palin Unable to Recall McCain’s History of Supporting Regulation

Sarah Palin is criminally unprepared to step foot in the White House, let alone be a heartbeat away from the presidency.  The McCain campaign has done everything they can to keep this woman under wraps and unavailable to the media, and the reason is becoming clear.  She doesn’t know enough about politics to be a middle school social studies teacher. Just look at how she reacted to questioning by Katie Couric about running mate John McCain’s history of supporting regulation.  She couldn’t name a single instance in which McCain had pushed for more regulation.  Check it out:

Is anyone else reminded, when watching Sarah Palin in interviews, of another beauty queen being asked a ‘tough question’?  Here, let me refresh your memory:

Gee, if Sarah Palin can’t even handle Katie Couric in an interview, I can’t wait to see the Vice Presidential debates.  It’s doubtful that Joe Biden will be anywhere near as gentle as Katie.  Whee!

Link [The Huffington Post]

Sarah Palin Spouts Lies on Oil Drilling, Bridge to Nowhere

By now, anyone who’s truly paying attention knows that Sarah Palin is a liar.  Not that she’s the only one, of course – there were plenty of inaccuracies and all-out falsehoods stated by folks like Joe Lieberman, Fred Thompson and of course John McCain at the Republican National Convention last week.  But, Sarah really laid some whoppers on the nation in her speech, and she continues to stretch the truth, skip over inconvenient facts and lie outright to anyone who will listen.

In this clip from Charlie Rose’s ‘The Green Room’, not only is Palin completely absorbed with Alaska (um, hello, you’re running for Vice President of the entire country), she also claims that drilling in her state would revitalize the economy and give us energy independence.  Check it out at 2:15 below.

That was a knee-slapper. What else do you have in your comedy routine, Palin? Oh, yeah, your continuing insistence that you’ve opposed the Bridge to Nowhere all along, when in fact you were its biggest champion until it became clear that the Senate wasn’t going to back it. Check out the video of the entire episode at Grist, which includes more of her big fish stories.

You know, it’s funny how Palin notes that supplying our own energy is one of the most important ways we can keep America safe and secure, yet oil is the sole focus of her plan to make that happen. Never does she mention any other sources of domestic energy – it’s oil, oil, oil. Big surprise. She’s just another ignorant Republican pushing the agenda of Big Oil.

Link [Grist]

Big Shocker: McCain Has Missed 8 Crucial Votes on Renewable Energy

John McCain is a hypocrite. He tours the nation proclaiming himself to be a forward-thinking, green politician who cares deeply about the environment, attempting to paint himself as a reformer. He puts on a big show for his constituents, yelling about how Congress needs to come back from vacation and get started on legislation that will aid America in this energy crisis. And yet, he has personally missed eight – yes, EIGHT – crucial votes on a renewable energy bill.

The bill in question, S. 3335, would have extended investment tax credits for installing solar energy as well as the production tax credits for building wind turbines and other energy-efficiency systems. It’s absolutely vital to the emerging renewable energy industry, which depends on such credits to be competitive with the current polluting industries like coal and oil.

On July 30th, when McCain once again failed to show up to vote for the bill, it failed for the eighth time. As The New York Times reports, McCain missed all eight votes – and one of the times, he was in his office and couldn’t be bothered to saunter on down to participate in the vote.

From The New York Times:

What impact does this have? In the solar industry today there is a rush to finish any project that would be up and running by Dec. 31 — when the credits expire — and most everything beyond that is now on hold. Consider the Solana concentrated solar power plant, 70 miles southwest of Phoenix in McCain’s home state. It is the biggest proposed concentrating solar energy project ever. The farsighted local utility is ready to buy its power.

But because of the Senate’s refusal to extend the solar tax credits, “we cannot get our bank financing,” said Fred Morse, a senior adviser for the American operations of Abengoa Solar, which is building the project. “Without the credits, the numbers don’t work.” Some 2,000 construction jobs are on hold.

Big Oil uses the ‘it’s not cost effective’ excuse to keep solar and wind energy down, but making it cost effective is exactly what this bill is designed to do. No doubt the oil industry has something to do with all the ‘nay’ votes – our congressmen and women can’t seem to keep their hands out of Big Oil’s pockets.

This just goes to show that McCain is all talk and no action – he wants voters to believe that he’s an open-minded, middle-of-the-road Republican who’s out to protect the environment. It’s simply not true. When it comes down to it, McCain is clearly not passionate about turning this country around and bringing clean energy and millions of green collar jobs to American citizens.

If elected, there’s no question that he’d settle immediately into Big Oil’s cozy bosom and remain there until his term was up. Luckily, that’s not going to happen.

Link [The New York Times]
Photo credit: Flickr user Hot Rod

Right-Wing ‘Hot for Jesus’ Congresswoman Claims Planet Already Saved

Meet Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minnesota. Congratulations, America – though Bachmann may not have been on your radar before (unless you’re a Minnesotan), you’re not likely to forget her now, much to your chagrin, since she’s demonstrated herself to be a total right-wing whackjob.

You see, Bachmann’s got a problem with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s insistence that we need an energy policy to ‘save the planet’. It seems that Bachmann is offended by Pelosi’s efforts to prevent us from completely destroying the planet that, according to Bachmann’s own beliefs, was entrusted to us by a ‘higher power’.

From PoliticalBlogs.StarTribune.com:

“[Pelosi] is committed to her global warming fanaticism to the point where she has said that she’s just trying to save the planet,” Bachmann said. “We all know that someone did that over 2,000 years ago, they saved the planet — we didn’t need Nancy Pelosi to do that.”

It’s depressing that there are people in the world – let alone in Congress – who think like this. Call me crazy, but uh – if I remember correctly, the Bible says absolutely nothing about Jesus saving the planet. Just the immortal souls of the people on it, or something like that. So, this line shouldn’t even make sense to people who subscribe to the same beliefs as this wonk-eyed slag. It’s likely an effort to inject some fire into a dejected Republican base before the election, though that may be giving her too much credit. She might just really believe what she said.

We shouldn’t be surprised, though. This is the same woman who told a crowd of parishioners at the Living Word Church in Brooklyn,

“What does God say when he looks at you or looks at me? He wants to say, ‘she’s hot, he’s hot,’ because we are hot for him on the inside,” Bachmann said. “When you are hot for Jesus Christ, nothing is like that life.”

Christ. On. A. Cracker.

Link [Star Tribune]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Obama: Republicans Take Pride in Being Ignorant

At a town hall meeting in Berea, Ohio, Obama struck back at attempts by McCain and the Republican National Committee to ridicule him by passing out tire gauges labeled ‘Barack Obama’s Energy Plan’. This, of course, was after Obama suggested that one thing ordinary Americans can do to save energy is to keep their tires properly inflated.

“They’re making fun of a step that every expert says could absolutely reduce our oil consumption by 3-4%! It’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant!”

Awesome, and so true!

Link [Gristmill]

Senate Fails Again to Extend Key Renewable Energy Credit

The U.S. Senate has failed to extend a key investment tax credit for renewable energy, which endangers billions of dollars worth of solar and wind power projects and green collar jobs. This was the eight attempt to extend the credit beyond its January 1st, 2009 expiration date. It was blocked by Republicans (big surprise) due to the fear that it would raise taxes (amazing, truly). This is despite backing from renewable energy startups, tech giants, Fortune 500 companies, Wall Street banks and utilities like PG&E and Edison International. The utilities were pushing for an 8-year extension that would give solar projects enough time to get off the ground.

From Green Wombat:

Without the 30 percent tax credit, the viability of several large solar power plant projects remains in doubt. Spanish solar company Abengoa Solar has said it probably will pull out of plans to build a 280-megawatt power plant in Arizona if Congress doesn’t renew the tax credit. Green Wombat happened to have breakfast this morning with a PG&E executive who said that the large solar projects that California utilities are counting on to meet renewable energy mandates would have a hard time securing financing absent the investment tax credit.

First Solar (FSLR) CEO Michael Ahearn said on an earnings call Wednesday afternoon that if the investment tax credit is not extended the thin-film solar module maker would focus its efforts on the European market. “We don’t have massive volumes of solar planned for the U.S. in the short term,” said Ahearn.

WTF? This is disgusting. Republicans and their obsession with taxes. Nevermind that even if taxes were increased, it would be a huge boon to the American economy, giving us more jobs and helping the planet in the process. They don’t care about that – they only care about their wallets.

Did one or more of your state senators block the extension? Check out the list and if so, write them a letter expressing your anger at their selfish decision. You can find your senators’ contact information here.

Link [Green Wombat] + [United States Senate]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons + Wikimedia Commons

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