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God Save Our Planet, Also Our Squiggly Lightbulbs
Okay, let's get this over with. Of the four Republicans vying for chairmanship of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee - which oversees health care - Fred Upton sees "no real science" supporting climate change; John Shimkus says there's no global warming 'cause God promised Noah there wouldn't be; Cliff Stearns boasts a 96% rating from the right-wing American Conservative Union; Joe Barton, the only guy to apologize to BP, loves Davey Crockett, sees the repeal of health care reform as his Alamo, and vows to protect the "traditional, incandescent light bulb" against attacks by "the little, squiggly, pig-tailed ones"; and all four have gotten huge donations from the health and energy industries. I know we have to adjust to lower expectations in the wake of that debacle of an election, but this is ridiculous.
14 Comments so far
Show AllYou know what? When the Democrats had control, they never once talked about electric cars. Also, I noticed that the whole "green jobs" thing has been successfully crammed down the memory hole. Just another one of Obama's sacrifices on the alter of pragmatism.
I guess what I'm hinting at is...how is this worse? The ruling class just seems to be more honest and open about not caring about trees and water now.
The "other side" has no reason to switch because they never baited us.
True,What's Wrong.....Obama invited certain 'progressives' to the table at times, and then ignored them. It is all about a difference in style. And anyway, obama campaigned on the need for more nuclear energy. No secret there.
He may say he believes in climate change, and he probably does. But he did nothing about it anyway. That has been his game all along. He is 'politically correct' in his language which was working for him. Until people caught on that it is all an act. And since people ("folks")really 'believed' in him, they are even more pissed off and hopeless now. Maybe that was the plan all along. Who knows? It worked, though.
Sorry, but i think that people who jumped on the obama love train are just as easily manipulated as the tea partiers - different actors, same plot.
I don't think Obama believes any thing. Not one darn thing. He may like money, that might be true. That might be something he 'wants' and 'desires' but I think it stops there.
"Until people caught on that it is all an act."
You know, it really IS all an act. I am as reviled by his countenance on the boob toob as I was and am at that of the GW Shrub.
Actually, the Dems in my state have successfully brought a LOT of green jobs to Colorado (large new wind turbine factories, extensive new wind farms, cutting-edge solar-cell research leading to new factories in northern Colorado).
No, it's not enough, yet -- it will never be enough in our slow-to-turn economy -- but the number of those jobs and their contribution to our state economy is growing monthly. Look it up. But no thanks to the Republicans, who are eager to pull the plug on all of the green-energy incentives that were put in place by our Dem governor.
So forgive me if I get a little touchy about this "no difference between Democrats and Republicans" meme. Talk about a "memory hole". Yeah, nationally Dems such as Obama have been major environmental disappointments, to say the least -- what do you expect when corporate America controls our national media and national "dialogue" (such as it is).
But closer to home, Dems have made a real differences, at least in my state. Not that anyone seems to be paying attention ....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/13/vestas-wind-turbine-maker_n_644770.html
Meanwhile, Colorado's Republicans only want to cut taxes, push gays back into the closet, send all the Mexicans back home and eliminate the teaching of evolution from our schools.
Thanks, but I'll throw my support behind local efforts to move in a more sustainable direction (e.g., Denver's highly-successful bike-sharing program, the metro area's major expansion of our light-rail transit network), even if those programs were promoted by the evil and irredeemable Democrats. That seems more productive than complaining in the abstract about the (supposedly monolithic?) Democratic Party's failure to perform at the national level.
Abby, I have to agree with the previous poster. I mean, these buffoons are hard to take, but what's been so easy to take about the Democrats? It's just like watching U.S. policy vis-a-vis the Israel/Palestinian issue: During Republican control, Israel takes more land. During Democratic control, Israel takes more land. And both swear allegiance to Israel. What changes?
So, the Republicans come off as a bunch of yahoos who want more carbon in the atmosphere (yeah, one of them actually said the planet is carbon-starved). And what has happened during Democratic tenure? If we were to look at a graph of global warming, the line would deviate slightly, but it would still trend upward. And Democrats in coal country want to save their industry.
Meanwhile, the poor polar bear in the picture would still be clinging to a ball and wondering what all these idiots are doing.
What would it cost to donate a high school chemistry textbook to each member of Congress? One with lots of pictures, of course.
Or have Michael Moore drive around in an ice cream truck reading a few chapters to them?
It is simply a matter of removal of kid gloves to reveal the brass knuckles beneath. The Demos walked into this one with open eyes. The strings on the marionettes are more visible. However you want to say it. The corporations control the population by controlling the information available to them [the so called media]. The Koch/Murdoch cartel owns the US.
The Salon article that this CD article links to (in the phrase "one says there's no global warming") starts with this statement:
"Back in March 2009, when Nancy Pelosi ruled the House of Representatives with an iron fist, one could chuckle at Republicans who came to committee hearings quoting scripture as the rationale for their positions on energy policy. But now, when one of those very same Republicans is in the running for the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce committee, it just doesn't seem so funny."
That statement, which portrays Nancy Pelosi in a heroic light, clearly reveals the moral corruption at the heart of what passes for liberalism these days. The author was apparently content with Ms. Pelosi's refusal to hold President Bush accountable for torture and other war crimes, as long as her power kept religious fundamentalists at bay, allowing him to snicker and scoff at the ignorant fools on the other side.
Is keeping impeachment for war crimes "off the table" more morally acceptable than disbelieving in man-made climate change?
I agree that CFL's are very bad.
Here's just one article to explain why:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-kremer/the-case-against-compact-_b_781234.html
CFL's are household toxic waste waiting for a place to happen.
If one breaks in your home the containment and de-contamination procedure is rigorous - look it up.
Lightbulbs are known to shatter by accident. With CFL's this may mean serious toxic exposure (mercury) to people in the room.
I would not have CFL's in my home.
On the other hand, my house has $6 monthly electric bills for a household of five. There's an inexpensive solar array on the roof and no AC.
I don't need to bring toxics into the house in order to light at night. Low watt incandescents ($1 store nightlights can make good mood lghting) and LCD lights are low energy.
Have you considered the growing debate out there in the not so sandal wearing but strictly scientific community revealing the enormous holes in the scientific data used by the political sales men of Anthropogenic Climate Change.
Any politician would be wise to back away from a subject which is about to reveal it's not so green natured roots.
Environmentalists need to learn how to be environmentalists again instead of the angry and ill informed extremists they have become.
By the way. Polar bear numbers are increasing and they love to swim and have a little rest on melting icebergs.Ice bergs which naturally melt every summer.This famous Propaganda image literally exposes how environmental extremists are so comfortable with lies.
Dear Joshua:
Your comment has promise, with having Michael Moore reading basic science books to the GOPers, who are relishing the possible power in which to overcome the environment.
There really needs to be a more exacting way to pick which person takes over a particular committee.
I would like a new version of NCLB, NO Climate Left Behind. How do they pick who is in charge? Perhaps a test of what the exiting high schoolers have in science and math would be good. Highest score wins, and the losers, well if they can't figure out basic science and math, then perhaps they should become lobbyists, which is what they are doing anyway.
Shouldn't there be a standard of expertise on these committees? Otherwise, they will have to rely on their staff, and while some may be honest, I'm not sure that a lot are not already becoming mini lobbyists.