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Frank Rich: Blagojevich is small fish to the culture of corruption that Bush represents

December 15th, 2008 No comments

Further to my prior post on the early arrival of Fitzmas for Illinois governor  Ron BlagojevichFrank Rich writes that Blagojevich is small fish to the culture of corruption that Pres. Bush has led.

I agree that they are of like kind, but entirely different scale, sophistication, cynicism and hubris.  But in the end, things fall apart.

Rich’s column is worth a read.

Categories: Blagojevich, bush, Fitzpatrick, Frank Rich Tags:

Greased by Telecom $$$, Obama & spineless Dems act with Republicans to shred the 4th Amendment and to play dumb to and sanction illegal domestic spying by Bush and Telecoms

July 9th, 2008 No comments

More by Glenn Greenwald.

Obama shows his true colors regarding his supposed desire for change, transparency and rule of law.  As likely future Spy-in-Chief, why would he be interested in anything that might limit his own power?

In the 70s, Nixon was impeached and forced to resign because of illegal domestic spying; this time, Congress provides retroactive immunity, without even having investigated how and why the law was broken.  Money talks; principles and the rule of law walks.

Those Senators who voted for the “new and improved” FISA:

All Republicans (those lovers of limited government!) and the following Democrats:

Bayh – Carper – Casey – Conrad – Feinstein – Inouye – Kohl – Landrieu – Lieberman – Lincoln – McCaskill – Mukulski – Nelson (Neb.) – Nelson (Fla.) – Obama – Pryor – Rockefeller – Salazar – Webb – Whitehouse.

The following Dems OPPOSED the amendments:

Akaka – Biden – Bingaman – Boxer – Brown – Byrd – Cantwell – Cardin – Clinton – Dodd – Dorgan – Durbin – Feingold – Harkin – Kerry – Klobachur – Lautenberg – Leahy – Levin – Menendez – Murray – Reed – Reid – Sanders – Schumer – Stabenow – Tester – Wyden

It’s no wonder that our Congresscritters are even less respected than Bush, at levels lower than ever recorded for any institution over the past 30 years.

Categories: 4th Amendment, bush, Congress, FISA, obama Tags:

Haters of science? The Bush administration sounds the alarm, "climate change is coming … and is here!"

May 29th, 2008 No comments

Climate change, largely due to human activities, is currently underway, with more very serious – and largely unstoppable changes – expected in the next 25 years, and landowners, communities, farmers, businesses, communities and state and local government should pay attention, anticipate and start adapting!  So says our federal government, sotto voce, after devoting seven years and considerable effort to make sure that the public did NOT get this news and that climate change did not appear on the federal regulatory or legislative agenda.

Under pressure from ongoing climate change and boxed in by laws and a court decision, the ice dam that has blocked the flow of scientific information from the federal government over the past seven years melted this past week, yielding two long-delayed (and partially over-lapping) reports that were released rather quietly – without any prominent mention by the White House or other agency.  How interesting – has climate science finally trumped political expediency (and hidden rent-seeking)?

1.  Most notably, the Bush administration caved to an August 2007 federal court order and published on Thursday, May 29, the “Scientific Assessment of the Effects of Global Change on the United States,” its first (and long overdue) comprehensive national assessment of the impacts of climate change in the U.S.  Despite this report being expressly required by law (the 1990 Global Change Research Act) to be prepared every four years (the last one had been issued in 2000 by the Clinton administration), the Bush administration not only refused to prepare the report (which is intended to give the President, Congresscritters and government agencies a single document to refer to when evaluating climate policy) but has until now done its best to suppress and prevent action on the 2000 assessment.

According to reporting by Bill Blakemore of ABC News, the new assessment:

“Integrat[es] federal research efforts of many agencies and literally thousands of scientists, [and] reports that the global climate disruption now under way is already damaging U.S. water resources, agriculture and wildlife and is expected to keep doing so—often worsening—for “the next few decades and beyond.”

There is no part of the country that escapes some sort of consequence,” said Anthony Janetos, director of the Joint Global Change Institute

Temperatures are expected to continue rising by about 4 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit before the century is out. The report says that in the West grain harvests and vegetable and fruit crops are more likely to fail because of rising temperatures. It also points out that weeds—of concern both to farmers and those who suffer from pollen allergies—are growing more rapidly due to elevated levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the air.

“These are consequences for forests in our backyard, for agriculture on which we depend, for the water resources that we depend on, both for agricultural production and household use and manufacturing, that this is the basis of a good quality of life for everybody,” Janetos said.

The report projects a likely increase in frequency and severity of heat waves and other extreme weather events, including storms and floods …. 

It also projects that because of worsening weather and heat the nation’s transportation systems face “significant challenges.” Coastal and river flooding and landslides are hitting roads, rails and ports, and heat spells buckle or soften roads.

Forests in the West, Southwest and Alaska will be assaulted by more frequent forest fires and decimated by insects that no longer die off in winter because winters are generally warmer. In the middle of the country are reports increasing drought.

Janetos warns that these dire effects are already under way, not lurking the future.

“These are things that are happening today. They’re not just things that will happen 30, 40, 50, 100 years from now,” he said. “We wanted to be within the planning horizon that land managers and conservation planners and farmers actually have to deal with.”

 According to Seth Borenstein of the AP:

Andrew Weaver, a Canadian climate scientist who was not involved in the effort called it “a litany of bad news in store for the U.S.”

And Thomas Lovejoy, a biologist who chaired the group of scientists who reviewed the report for the federal government said: “It basically says the America we’ve known we can no longer count on. It’s a pretty dramatic picture of all kinds of change rippling through natural systems across the country. And all of that has implications for people.”

White House associate science director Sharon Hays, in a teleconference with reporters, declined to characterize the findings as bad, but said it is an issue the administration takes seriously. She said the report was comprehensive and “communicates what the scientists are telling us.”

That includes:

– Increased heat deaths and deaths from climate-worsened smog. In Los Angeles alone yearly heat fatalities could increase by more than 1,000 by 2080, and the Midwest and Northeast are most vulnerable to increased heat deaths.

– Worsening water shortages for agriculture and urban users. From California to New York, lack of water will be an issue.

– A need for billions of dollars in more power plants (one major cause of global warming gases) to cool a hotter country.

– More death and damage from wildfires, hurricanes and other natural disasters and extreme weather. In the last three decades, wildfire season in the West has increased by 78 days. [TT:  As I noted on several Mises blog threads last year; e.g., http://blog.mises.org/archives/007345.asp#comment-130290]

– Increased insect infestations and food- and waterborne microbes and diseases. Insect and pathogen outbreaks to the forests are causing $1.5 billion in annual losses.

– “Finally, climate change is very likely to accentuate the disparities already evident in the American health care system,” the report said. “Many of the expected health effects are likely to fall disproportionately on the poor, the elderly, the disabled and the uninsured.”

Rick Piltz, who worked in the administration until 2005 (when he quit to protest the administration’s politicized manipulation of the climate science) and is now Climate Science Watch Director at the non-profit, non-partisan Government Accountability Project (the leading whistle-blower protection organization), commented:

“This report discusses evidence of climate disruption that has been well-understood in the science community and in the government for some time,” said Rick Piltz, Director of the Government Accountability Project’s Climate Science Watch program. “After seven years of denial, disinformation, cover-up, and delay, in its waning months, the Bush administration is finally beginning to allow the publication of reports that acknowledge this scientific reality.”

Piltz further said:

“rather than focusing exclusively on the report and the legalities of its due dates, it would be more illuminating to focus on the seven-plus years of time lost under this administration, starting from early-on when they suppressed official references to and use of the first National Assessment report, shut down all follow-on work, and pulled federal support from the emerging scientist-stakeholder communication networks around the country that were a hallmark of the National Assessment effort. The damage done by the administration’s political decision to disconnect the Climate Change Science Program from effective communication with stakeholders (with the exception of a few niche projects) is not undone by the report issued on May 29, which was drafted internally and without public review or documented stakeholder communication.”

2.  The national assessment was preceded on Tuesday, May 27 by a sector report on the impacts of climate change on agricultureThe effects of climate change on agriculture, land resources, water resources, and biodiversity in the United States, Final Report, Synthesis and Assessment Product 4.3.  This is one of many sector-specific reports by which the administration had intended to dodge the requirement for an overall national assessment.

Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post reported as follows:

Anthony C. Janetos, director of the Joint Global Change Research Institute of the University of Maryland and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, said the document aims to inform federal resource managers and dispel the public’s perception that global warming will not be felt until years from now.

“They imagine all these ecological impacts are in some distant future,” said Janetos, one of the lead authors, who noted that many animals and plants have shifted their migratory and blooming patterns to reflect recent changes in temperature. “They’re not in some distant future. We’re experiencing them now.”

The document concludes that Americans must face the fact that many of these changes are locked in even if the country takes significant steps to cut emissions in the coming decades.

“Climate change is currently impacting the nation’s ecosystems and services in significant ways, and those alterations are very likely to accelerate in the future, in some cases dramatically,” the report says. “Even under the most optimistic CO2 emission scenarios, important changes in sea level, regional and super-regional temperatures and precipitation patterns will have profound effects.” …

In addition, the number and frequency of forest fires and insect outbreaks are “increasing in the interior West, the Southwest, and Alaska,” while “precipitation, stream flow, and stream temperatures are increasing in most of the continental United States” and snowpack is declining in the West.

The Agriculture Department, the study’s lead sponsor, issued a statement yesterday highlighting some of the report’s findings for farmers, noting that the higher temperatures mean that grain and oilseed crops will mature more rapidly but face an increased risk of failure and “will negatively affect livestock.”

The report predicts that some of the nation’s most valued landscapes may change radically in the near future as precipitation and weather patterns continue to shift.

“Management of Western reservoir systems is very likely to become more challenging as runoff patterns continue to change,” it states. “Arid areas are very likely to experience increased erosion and fire risk. In arid ecosystems that have not co-evolved with a fire cycle, the probability of loss of iconic, charismatic megaflora such as Saguaro cacti and Joshua trees will greatly increase.”

According to reporting by Judith Kohler of the AP:

“I think what’s really eye-opening is the depth and breadth of the impacts and consequences going on right now,” said Tony Janetos, a study author and director of the Joint Global Change Research Institute at the University of Maryland.

Scientists produced the report by analyzing research from more than 1,000 publications, rather than conducting new research. It’s part of a federal assessment of global warming for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, sponsored by 13 federal agencies, led by the Department of Agriculture.

“Just to see it all there like that and to realize the impacts are pervasive right now is a little bit scary,” said Peter Backlund, director of research relations at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder.

Drought-strained forests in the West and Southeast are easy prey for tree-killing insects like bark beetles. Snow in the Western mountains is melting earlier, making it more difficult for managers overseeing a long-established system of reservoirs and irrigation ditches that serves Western states.

The Southeast doesn’t have the same kind of storage system because rain historically has been more consistent. Current weather disruptions have the region struggling with drought, Janetos said.

Rising carbon dioxide levels are changing the metabolism of grasses and shrubs on range land, decreasing the protein levels in plants eaten by cattle.

Warmer, drier weather is altering the biodiversity of deserts in the Southwest and the high, colder deserts of Nevada, Utah and eastern Washington, said Steve Archer of the University of Arizona. Plants and animals already living in extreme conditions face threats from wildfires and nonnative species, he said.

“These areas historically support a large ranching industry, wildlife habitat,” Archer said. “They are major watersheds and airsheds.”

The scientists said longer growing seasons provided by higher temperatures don’t necessarily translate into bigger crop yields because plants have certain growth patterns.

Their report focuses on the next 25 to 50 years, rather than the next 100 years as other studies have done.

“Sometimes it’s so far out that people just don’t grasp that it’s a problem. This really brings it home,” said Jerry Hatfield, lab director of the National Soil Tilth laboratory in Ames, Iowa.

The World Wildlife Fund has a press release that identifies the following findings of the report of particular concern(from which I have omitted WWF’s legislative proposals):

Climate change is fueling forest fires, creating water scarcity, harming animal habitats, and causing other significant changes throughout the United States that will only worsen as global temperatures increase, concludes a new federal government assessment of current and future climate change impacts.

“The number and frequency of forest fires and insect outbreaks are increasing in the interior West, the Southwest, and Alaska.  Precipitation, streamflow, and stream temperatures are increasing in most of the continental United States.  The western United States is experiencing reduced snowpack and earlier peaks in spring runoff.  The growth of many crops and weeds is being stimulated.  Migration of plant and animal species is changing the composition and structure of arid, polar, aquatic, coastal and other ecosystems.” 

“Climate change is currently impacting the nation’s ecosystems and services in significant ways, and those alterations are very likely to accelerate in the future, in some cases dramatically…..  Even under the most optimistic CO2 emission scenarios, important changes in sea level, regional and super-regional temperatures, and precipitation patterns will have profound effects.”

“Management of water resources will become more challenging.  Increased incidence of disturbances such as forest fires, insect outbreaks, severe storms, and drought will command public attention and place increasing demands on management resources. Ecosystems are likely to be pushed increasingly into alternate states with the possible breakdown of traditional species relationships, such as pollinator/plant and predator/prey interactions, adding additional stresses and potential for system failures. Some agricultural and forest systems may experience near-term productivity increases, but over the long term, many such systems are likely to experience overall decreases in productivity that could result in economic losses, diminished ecosystem services, and the need for new, and in many cases significant, changes to management regimes.”

 

NBC castigated for kowtowing insufficiently to the Propagandist-in-Chief

May 20th, 2008 No comments

A rather extraordinary series of public communications directed from the White House towards NBC News by Ed Gillespielong-time lobbyist, “communications” specialist and former director of the Republican National Committee and now chief replacement of spin-meister Karl Rove as wholly partisan “Counselor to the President” – sheds light on what urgent matters of international and domestic affairs preoccupy the White House:  massaging public opinion and keeping the mainstream media in line with the White House message

–  on the wisdom of George Bush as the Great Deciderer on the “War on Terror” (and its importance as a political tool against the appeasing, America-hating Democrats);

– that the level of civil conflict in Iraq (at least a few hundred thousand killed and millions displaced) does not rise to the level of a “civil war”; and

– that the Administration’s economic statistics are all trustworthy and reports that the economy is in trouble are false and irresponsible. 

In essence, Gillespie’s complaint is nothing more nor less than that NBC News, by showing a modicum of independence in exercising its editorial judgment, is failing to act in its proper role as mouthpiece for George Bush

What set Gillespie off?  A rather aggressive interview of George Bush by NBC correspondent Richard Engel, in which Engel questioned Bush about Iran policy, “appeasement,” the counter-productiveness of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and other aspects of policy in the Middle East.  NBC ran pieces of the interview on the Nightly News and on The Today Show, and put the whole interview up on its website. 

But Gillespie’s claims regarding the interview are extremely weak – that NBC “deceptively edited” the interview “to completely alter the nature of the President’s answer”, in a manner that was “utterly misleading and irresponsible”.  Well, editing was of course needed – the interview was just that, not a major policy speech, so NBC ended up airing 3:25 out of 15:20 minutes.  But did NBC completely alter the nature of the President’s answer?

Q In front of the Israeli parliament at the Knesset you said that negotiating with Iran is pointless — and then you went further, you saying — you said that it was appeasement. Were you referring to Senator Barak Obama? He certainly thought you were.

THE PRESIDENT: You know, my policies haven’t changed, but evidently the political calendar has. [People need to read the speech. You didn’t get it exactly right, either.]  What I said was is that we need to take the words of people seriously. And when, you know, a leader of Iran says that they want to destroy Israel, you’ve got to take those words seriously. [And if you don’t take them seriously, then it harkens back to a day when we didn’t take other words seriously. It was fitting that I talked about not taking the words of Adolph Hitler seriously on the floor of the Knesset. But I also talked about the need to defend Israel, the need to not negotiate with the likes of al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas. And the need to make sure Iran doesn’t get a nuclear weapon.

But I also talked about a vision of what’s possible in the Middle East.]

The bracketed language was edited out – how would leaving it in have changed the meaning Bush’s response?  It would have shown that Bush didn’t really remember his own speech, in which he not only stated that we should take seriously the words of evil men, but clearly indicated that it is a “foolish delusion” and “the false comfort of appeasement” to “believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals”.  The additional language would have also shown that yes, when Bush talked about “appeasement” in front of the the Israeli Knesset he was referring not only to those who would talk with Hamas, Hezbollah or al Qaeda, but also any who would talk with (“not take seriously” the words of) Iran’s leaders, and so, by implication, Bush was referring to Obama, among others. 

Gillespie claims that Bush’s full answer to this question “makes clear: (1). The President’s remarks before the Knesset were not different from past policy statements, but are now being looked at through a political prism,    (2).  Corrects the inaccurate premise of Engel’s question by putting the “appeasement” line in the proper context of taking the words of leaders seriously, not “negotiating with Iran,” (3).  Restates the U.S.’s long-standing policy positions against negotiating with al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas, and not allowing Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.”

Nonsense.  (1)  Bush did not claim that he has previously made statements in foreign parliaments about appeasement, nor did he establish that he had no political intention in making such statements. 

(2)  Bush’s response in the interview correctly noted one of his strawmen (the “not taking seriously” the words of evil men), but the edited version certainly included that response. 

(3)  Bush restated old policy positions, but that’s hardly the point, which that he raised the other strawman that talking with one’s opponents is itself appeasement.

In the interest of “fairness and accuracy” Gillespie demanded that NBC News “air the President’s responses to both initial questions in full on the two programs that used the excerpts”!

Gillespie then decided to further hector NBC by:

  • protesting and challenging NBC’s decision to refer to take the position a “civil war” was underway in Iraq:

Gillespie implied that NBC went beyond its rightful role as a news program by deciding in November 2006, “to no longer just cover the news in Iraq, but to make an analytical and editorial judgment that Iraq was in a civil war,” and that NBC was wrong not to change its mind despite protests by the US government and the “government” of Iraq;

Gillespie noted that around September 2007, NBC “quietly stopped referring to conditions in Iraq as a ‘civil war'”; and

Gillespie inquired whether “Is it still NBC News’s carefully deliberated opinion that Iraq is in the midst of a civil war? If not, will the network publicly declare that the civil war has ended, or that it was wrong to declare it in the first place?”

  • protesting and challenging NBC’s questioning of the accuracy of the Administration’s economic reporting:

Gillespie noted that, “when the Commerce Department on April 30 released the GDP numbers for the first quarter of 2007, Brian Williams reported it this way:  ‘If you go by the government number, the figure that came out today stops just short of the official declaration of a recession’  and to ask: “Are there numbers besides the “government number” to go by?  Is there reason to believe “the government number” is suspect?  How does the release of positive economic growth for two consecutive quarters, albeit limited, stop “just short of the official declaration of a recession”?”

Finally, Gillespie expressed concern about “the increasing blurring of th[e] lines” between “”news” as reported on NBC and the “opinion” as reported on MSNBC” and asked NBC to reassure its viewers “that blatantly partisan talk show hosts like Christopher Matthews and Keith Olbermann at MSNBC don’t hold editorial sway over the NBC network news division”.  As if Gillespie and the White House – which carefully manipulate every story of concern to it and manage a whole fleet of sympathetic and partisan “journalists, lawmakers, lobbyists, conservative bloggers, military groups and others with talking points” on matters such as the “surge”, while doing their best to prevent government transparency – really care about “truth”, as opposed to maintaining their own power over government and the American people.

NBC News President Steve Capus responded to Gillespie that “there was no effort to be “deceptive,” and that Gillespie’s position that this was, “deceitful editing to further a media-manufactured storyline,” is a gross misrepresentation of the facts.” Capus declined to comment on the questions of the Administration’s economic reporting or whether there is a civil war underway in Iraq, but further noted that

“In fact, the entire interview was posted Sunday on our website, MSNBC.com, thus allowing everyone to draw their own conclusions about it, the subject matter and our editing. In addition, the entire section in dispute has already aired, unedited, on NBC’s Today program and in edited form on other NBC News broadcasts.

“Editing is a part of journalism.”

Gillespie then had the chutzpah to post another public reply, which asserted:

“While we appreciate that viewers can visit the MSNBC website to see how NBC News edited the interview to completely alter the nature of the President’s answer, we know that most will not – it’s simply absurd for people to have to log onto the internet and stream video to get accurate information from NBC News.

“We also look forward to hearing their response to our additional concerns about their labeling Iraq as a “civil war”, and if they have reason not to believe official economic data.”

I think that Ed Gillespie has done us a public service – not only is his loud screeching a clear indication that the Administration is losing control of the media, but he has helped to put a spotlight on how the Administration hypocritically calls for “truth” when its modus operandi is lies and deceit and how it strains to control what should be a private and truly independent media.  He has also challenged the media and others to show how the Administration is lying with its economics data.  One hopes that this episode with help to stiffen the spines of the media and set various people to work to on explaining the vast cooking of books that the Administration has been conducting with respect to its mismanagement of government and the economy.

Thanks, Ed!  (Believe me, these are issues that will concern you, too, once you find yourself outside of the Administration in a few months.)

Frank Zappa: Slime is the tool of the Government (and of modern politics)

April 20th, 2008 No comments

[I ran this originally as a “page” rather than as a “post”, when I had simply put up Zappa`s lyrics.  Since “posts” might be more visible to visitors I`ve decided to post this as well.]

I ran across some interesting and topical Frank Zappa lyrics the other day, so I`m putting them up here.

Does these resonate with anyone else?  I have noted a few thoughts further below.

I’m The Slime

I am gross and perverted
I’m obsessed ‘n deranged
I have existed for years
But very little has changed
I’m the tool of the Government
And industry too
For I am destined to rule
And regulate you

I may be vile and pernicious
But you can’t look away
I make you think I’m delicious
With the stuff that I say
I’m the best you can get
Have you guessed me yet?
I’m the slime oozin’ out
From your TV set

You will obey me while I lead you
And eat the garbage that I feed you
Until the day that we don’t need you
Don’t go for help . . . no one will heed you
Your mind is totally controlled
It has been stuffed into my mold
And you will do as you are told
Until the rights to you are sold

That’s right, folks . . .
Don’t touch that dial

Well, I am the slime from your video
Oozin’ along on your livin’ room floor

I am the slime from your video
Can’t stop the slime, people, lookit me go

I am the slime from your video
Oozin’ along on your livin’ room floor

I am the slime from your video
Can’t stop the slime, people, lookit me go.

 

Zappa speaks of the mass media, but one could easily say the same about
the political discourse coming not only from the MSM, but also from the
Bush administration and from each of the political parties, as well as
what we hear from various rent-seekers. They don`t discuss their own
agendas, but give us pap and slime.  This is what Glenn Greenwald is has been shining a spotlight on for some time, and now examines in the context of the recent Clinton – Obama debate, and discusses in his new book, Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics.

Manipulation by pushing and pulling on the strings of human nature
is the name of the game of those who wish to exploit us.   Preying on
our patriotism (as I noted in Goering and Madison on War) and feeding partisanship – which powerfully influences our perceptions, as I noted in a recent post, Nick Kristof on politics: why we conclude that I’m right, and you’re evil – has been a hallmark of the right, and particularly of the Bush administration
(viz., fear of “Islamofascists”, of gays, of baby-killers, of
“enviros”, of immigrants, of atheists, and of “America-haters”).

Interestingly, Andrew Sullivan asserts that the Clinton campaign is morphing into the Rovian right

Query:  Is Obama selling slime?

 

[P.S.  No, I am NOT self-identifying as a rent-seeker; and slime is not my game.]

Frank Zappa: Slime is the tool of the Government (and of Republicans and Hillary?)

April 17th, 2008 No comments

I ran across some interesting and topical Frank Zappa lyrics the other day, so I`m putting them up here.

Does these resonate with anyone else?  I have noted a few thoughts further below.

I’m The Slime

I am gross and perverted
I’m obsessed ‘n deranged
I have existed for years
But very little has changed
I’m the tool of the Government
And industry too
For I am destined to rule
And regulate you

I may be vile and pernicious
But you can’t look away
I make you think I’m delicious
With the stuff that I say
I’m the best you can get
Have you guessed me yet?
I’m the slime oozin’ out
From your TV set

You will obey me while I lead you
And eat the garbage that I feed you
Until the day that we don’t need you
Don’t go for help . . . no one will heed you
Your mind is totally controlled
It has been stuffed into my mold
And you will do as you are told
Until the rights to you are sold

That’s right, folks . . .
Don’t touch that dial

Well, I am the slime from your video
Oozin’ along on your livin’ room floor

I am the slime from your video
Can’t stop the slime, people, lookit me go

I am the slime from your video
Oozin’ along on your livin’ room floor

I am the slime from your video
Can’t stop the slime, people, lookit me go.

 

Zappa speaks of the mass media, but one could easily say the same about
the political discourse coming not only from the MSM, but also from the
Bush administration and from each of the political parties, as well as
what we hear from various rent-seekers. They don`t discuss their own
agendas, but give us pap and slime.  This is what Glenn Greenwald is has been shining a spotlight on for some time, and now examines in the context of the recent Clinton – Obama debate, and discusses in his new book, Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics.

Manipulation by pushing and pulling on the strings of human nature is the name of the game of those who wish to exploit us.   Preying on our patriotism (as I noted in Goering and Madison on War) and feeding partisanship – which powerfully influences our perceptions, as I noted in a recent post, Nick Kristof on politics: why we conclude that I’m right, and you’re evil – has been a hallmark of the right, and particularly of the Bush administration (viz., fear of “Islamofascists”, of gays, of baby-killers, of “enviros”, of immigrants, of atheists, and of “America-haters”).

Interestingly, Andrew Sullivan asserts that the Clinton campaign is morphing into the Rovian right

Query:  Is Obama selling slime?

 

 

Bush announces bold inaction on climate change

April 16th, 2008 No comments

As I noted in my April 15 post, http://mises.org/Community/blogs/tokyotom/archive/2008/04/15/bush-hoist-by-own-petard-prepares-global-warming-initiative.aspx, President Bush has indeed just made a specific policy statement on climate change.

There is much in it to discuss – and disagree with – in what Pres. Bush had to say, but I think it’s fair to conclude that the speech was all talk and no action, and represents no act of leadership, at least with respect to domestic policy.  I’m not so sure that is anything to cheer about, regardless of one’s view of the science or whether the government ought to do anything about it, because, as I noted previously, in fact the Administration’s hand is being forced by court decisions.  Failure by Bush to propose a legislative agenda means we will end up not with a policy designed by the Administration or Congress, but with various uncoordinated ad hoc regulatory actions.  As a result, doing nothing is simply a surrender of responsibility.

So what does this speech do, other than in part to shift to Congress – the Congress that he held in check for seven years – the responsibility for regulatory actions that Bush clearly finds undesirable?   First, it appears that Bush is trying both to have his cake and eat it too at home, by conceding grudgingly that action is needed on climate change (if only to cope with a regulatory agenda that has forced on the Administration), but actually proposing no legislative agenda.  And on the international front, Bush appears to be trying to create some shred of credibility for upcoming talks later this week in Paris with Sarkosy and leaders of other major economies concerning progress under the “Bali Plan” climate agenda, which will be discussed at the G-8 summit in July.  It does seem clear that Bush is also insistent that China and India join any post-Kyoto plan (the Kyoto protocol expires in 2012), as a condition for any agreement by the US to take action, but whether his administration is actively making any efforts to persuade China or India is not so clear.

Interested readers should take a look, both at Bush’s speech, and at the Bali Plan:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/04/20080416-6.html

http://unfccc.int/files/meetings/cop_13/application/pdf/cp_bali_action.pdf

Categories: AGW, bali, bush, China, climate change Tags:

Bush – hoist by own petard – prepares global warming initiative

April 14th, 2008 No comments

More at the Washington Times:  http://washingtontimes.com/article/20080414/NATION/676175489/1001

And at the Wall Street Journal’s enviro blog:  http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2008/04/14/green-bush-white-house-to-push-climate-package/?mod=WSJBlog

And, finally, at a press briefing at the White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/04/20080414-3.html

But there are more questions than answers here about Bush’s motives and intentions.  Given Bush’s lame duck staus in the face of a Congress not controlled by Republicans, what is he hoping to achieve?  Is his focus on making some kind of breakthough with China and India, where he probably has the greatest room to act, or is he just trying to fend off the regulatory changes that his own recalcitrance – with the help of environmentalists and courts – have boxed his administration into regarding regulating CO2 under the Clean Air Act and protecting polar bears under the Endangered Species Act?

 

For convenience, I’ve excerpted the relevant portions of the press briefing (by Dana Perino) below:

Q You said this morning that the story that was in The Washington Times pretty much laid out where the administration was in terms of this global warming thing. It said, basically, that, you know, he was ready getting ready to propose something. So where are we, exactly, and —

MS. PERINO: No, I think if you read it carefully that is not exactly true.

Q Well, that’s what the lead says —

MS. PERINO: We’ll back up —

Q The lead says that “We’re poised to change course and announce as early as this week” —

MS. PERINO: Well, I didn’t say he got everything right. (Laughter.)

Q Okay. Well, maybe you can sum up more where we are and what we’re doing.

MS. PERINO: I will; let me sum up for you, and let me just walk you through —

Q And also is there a change of course?

Q What are you guys working on?

MS. PERINO: Well, for those of you who follow this issue — and I think that in the White House briefing room, reporters here have to dip in and out of this issue because you cover all the issues that we deal with at the White House. So let me take you back through just a little bit of what we’ve been doing.

Over the course of several years the President has advocated a range of policies, both legislative and regulatory, to address the global challenges of climate change. Last year in the State of the Union address, the President called for reducing traditional gasoline use by 20 percent in 10 years; it is called 20-in-10 program. In December of 2007 he largely got what he wanted, except it didn’t go as far and as fast as he wanted to, to help us wean ourselves off of traditional uses of oil.

Also, last May he gave a speech in which he said that the United States would lead an effort to establish a post-Kyoto discussion for nations of the world to address the global challenges of climate change, and that in this process we would work to include China and India and other developing nations who were excluded from the Kyoto process, and which we believe made it unworkable. So discussions have been ongoing in the administration to follow up on these policy processes.

After that speech in May last year, he went to the G8, in which he presented this to the G8 — and it was well received. Then in September of 2007 the President hosted a meeting here at the State Department, in which he gave a speech and talked about how the major economies of the world needed to work together to help solve this problem, and that we would all establish a national goal, and that each country would come forward with its own plan as to how they were going to reach that goal.

We are a part of that process as well. And so as we’ve moved along and to try to follow up and continue to be the leader in the major economies process, we’ve had ongoing discussions, and we have kept Congress informed along the way. That includes getting ready for this week’s major economies meeting, which is being held in Paris and hosted by President Sarkozy.

On a separate track — or at the same time, I should say — here in this country we are dealing with what we call a regulatory train wreck. We have several different laws that were never meant to deal with — to address climate change, heading down a path that we believe is not reasonable, nor sustainable, would hurt our economy, and is not good public policy. This would have the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act all addressing climate change in a way that is not the way that they were intended to.

At the same time on Capitol Hill, we are getting ready for a legislative debate. And Senator Reid, I believe, has called for the first week of June to be the one where they bring up these bills for debate in the Senate.

We have been in discussions with Congress. Internally, we have conversations. We have conversations with Congress to let them know where we are. And we have been not shy about saying that we don’t support legislation that is currently on the Hill. We think that it would be bad for the economy, and that it wouldn’t — ultimately, it wouldn’t address the problem. And so while there’s nothing on the schedule this week yet for the President to actually make a speech, we do have Jim Connaughton and Dan Price of the National — CEQ and the National Security Council, respectively, who are headed to Paris later in the week, to be there Thursday and Friday, and they’ll be representing the United States as we work towards the G8 time frame, which is in July, which will be held in Japan, in which these countries would lay out their national goals.

So we are having these discussions and we are moving forward and talking about how to deal with it.

Q The U.S. national goal, is that what you’re saying?

MS. PERINO: They’re working towards what we would establish as our national goal.

Q So it would have to pass Congress then, right?

MS. PERINO: We believe that the regulatory path that we are on right now is not sustainable; it will not solve the problems —

Q It’s a legislative proposal?

MS. PERINO: There are legislative proposals up there as well. We haven’t come forward yet and said definitively where we are, and that’s because we’re having a very robust discussion. And I think that it’s fair to say that in this administration there is — we have had more discussion about climate change in a thoughtful, deliberative way, a way that thinks about all the different aspects of it, from the way it would affect different regions of the country. And one of our big concerns is that developing nations in the Kyoto Protocol weren’t included.

So what happens in that regard is you have major economies like the United States who under the agreement would have had to ratchet down their emissions. So if we ratcheted down the emissions, that’s important, that would be a good thing. But if you ratchet down too far and too fast and the technologies can’t keep up, and you force businesses in America to find another place to manufacture, they’re likely going to go to a place that doesn’t have those emission limits or doesn’t have any sort of environmental control. And those jobs that we’ve seen over the past have moved to countries like China and India.

But the problem when you deal with a global problem though, is if you have emissions that are going up — if all you’ve done is move the emissions from here over to Asia, then you’ve not addressed the global warming problem, and that’s what we’re trying to do.

Q I don’t want to dominate here, but I just want to know what you’re mulling. Are you mulling a legislative proposal? Are you mulling executive action of some sort?

MS. PERINO: There’s a — well, there’s a basket of things that we are dealing with. And we are considering whether or not — we are considering how to move forward on the regulatory path that we have. We are considering how to respond to legislative proposals that are in front of Congress right now. It’s not as clear cut as I think you’re asking me to make it. There’s a range of issues that we have to work on.

Q How much urgency is there? I mean, you’re inside seven months to Election Day. How much urgency?

MS. PERINO: Well, we have a couple of different things. One, if you look to, like, the 20-in-10 program that we passed last year, we are in the middle of implementing that law and that is not easy. One of the things that was a part of that law was mandating 35 billion gallons of alternative or renewable fuels to replace traditional fuel use. Those regulations have to be implemented and that has to take place across the board.

But at the same time, while those things are ongoing, you have a legislative debate that you’re going to have in June. And we think that the reasonable and responsible thing to do is to have a conversation that takes into consideration all of the different issues and figures out what is the right way to do something and what is the wrong way to do it.

Categories: AGW, bush, China, climate Tags:

Reducing CO2 vs. expanding energy needs

December 15th, 2007 2 comments

Ron Bailey of Reason, reporting from Bali, has an interesting post up summarizing the discussion by James Connaughton, director of President Bush’s Council on Environmental Quality, on one small aspect of the climate conundrum, namely, what would be actually involved in meeting the energy shortfall implict in targets to reduce CO2 emissions by half by mid-century.


 The crux?



Connaughton offered an interesting thought experiment. The major economies emit 22 gigatons (1 billion tons) of CO2 annually. In one reference case, those emissions would rise to 37 gigatons by 2050. So, Connaughton says, assume that we need to reduce current emissions by half from current emission—by 11 gigatons—to stabilize CO2 atmospheric concentrations. That means that the world would have to find the equivalent energy that producing 25 gigatons of emissions would have produced in 2050.


To get a handle on what this might mean, Connaughton asked, “How big is a gigaton?” One gigaton is equivalent to 273 coal-fired electric generation plants with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). Of course, there are only a few demonstration plants now, and 273 plants represent 7 percent of the world’s current coal-fired generation capacity. Estimates of how much CCS might cost range between $150 to $250 per ton of carbon (or $50 to $80 per ton of CO2). By one estimate CCS would raise the cost of electricity to 25 to 40 percent; others suggest that the increase could be as much as 85 percent.


Connaughton also pointed out that avoiding the emission of a gigaton of CO2 implies building 135 new nuclear power plants. The world has 400 now. In addition, a gigaton is equivalent to 270,000 windmills which is 4-times more than are currently operating. Growing enough biofuels to reduce a gigaton of emissions would take an area twice the size of the United Kingdom. Of course, such projections rely on the deployment of near-term technologies. It’s impossible to tell what new technologies a higher price on carbon fuels might call forth from the world’s laboratories.


http://www.reason.com/news/show/123945.html

Categories: AGW, bali, bush, climate, CO2, Ron Bailey, targets Tags:

Francis Fukuyama hates America,

October 28th, 2007 No comments

and is now fervently praying that the Lilliputians tie down Gulliver, NOW.

His latest post concludes:

“America’s founding fathers were motivated by a similar belief that unchecked power, even when democratically legitimated, could be dangerous, which is why they created a constitutional system of internally separated powers to limit the executive.

Such a system does not exist on a global scale today, which may explain how America got into such trouble. A smoother international distribution of power, even in a global system that is less than fully democratic, would pose fewer temptations to abandon the prudent exercise of power.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C10%5C25%5Cstory_25-10-2007_pg3_5

Categories: bush, fukuyama, state Tags: