BushCo says F**k no to CA emission standards

BushCo said it actually to 17 states in all. This little Caesar wants all the control, all of the time it seems. Excuse me whilst I toss my cookies over this latest, fresh hell perpetrated by the Bush Cartel. From the NYT article:

The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday denied California and 16 other states the right to set their own standards for carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles.

The E.P.A. administrator, Stephen L. Johnson, said the proposed California rules were pre-empted by federal authority and made moot by the energy bill signed into law by President Bush on Wednesday. Mr. Johnson said California had failed to make a compelling case that it needed authority to write its own standards for greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks to help curb global warming.

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“The biggest evironmental crime in history”

That, my dear reader, is the title of the Independent article I read last Sunday evening in my inbox. Somehow, I wasn’t surprised to see that it was about British Petroleum..aka BP. It’s the description of a Canadian drilling project which environmentalists and people with a modicum of common sense brand BP’s method of ‘extraction’. From the Indy article:

BP, the British oil giant that pledged to move “Beyond Petroleum” by finding cleaner ways to produce fossil fuels, is being accused of abandoning its “green sheen” by investing nearly £1.5bn to extract oil from the Canadian wilderness using methods which environmentalists say are part of the “biggest global warming crime” in history.

The multinational oil and gas producer, which last year made a profit of £11bn, is facing a head-on confrontation with the green lobby in the pristine forests of North America after Greenpeace pledged a direct action campaign against BP following its decision to reverse a long-standing policy and invest heavily in extracting so-called “oil sands” that lie beneath the Canadian province of Alberta and form the world’s second-largest proven oil reserves after Saudi Arabia.

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How to kill off a species in five easy steps..

Tigers, the next vanishing species..

It was with a heavy heart I read the Independent article this past weekend about the probability of Tigers vanishing from the earth. These magnificent creatures are at the top of the food chain, and yet nothing concrete has been done to save them from the abyss of extinction. A quote to ponder from the write-up:

“The new figures and facts came as no surprise to conservationists, although the government is still recovering from the shock,” said Belinda Wright, executive director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India, which has several tiger programmes. “In Madhya Pradesh - which is known as the Tiger State - the study has shown a loss of 61 per cent on the figures of the previous tiger census. The state of Maharashtra has shown a loss of 57 per cent. “In the past census… many tigers were found outside the tiger reserves. The new study shows virtually no tigers outside the tiger reserves.”(emphasis mine)

Seems agriculture and energy needs along with land for humans to live on is more important. Also, the tiger has suffered from a loss of its natural habitat because of large-scale mining and hydropower dam projects. I comprehend this, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it or agree with it. India has come into this millennium with a bang, a population topping 1.1 billion currently. The recently passed legislation in India that mandates the right of forest dwellers to remain in the forests is called the Forest Dwellers Rights Act and will most likely do more harm to the attempts by conservationists trying to keep the tiger population from becoming extinct. But human encroachment on the tiger’s living space isn’t the only reason that the tiger will probably vanish from face of the earth in my lifetime, save for zoo exhibits and captive breeding facilities.

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school’s in- but it doesn’t feel like fall

well, it’s october here in the empire state, and it sure doesn’t feel like it. we have been in the 80’s and 90’s fairly consistently since july. yes, there have been brief respites of cooler weather, but the reality is- we are running about 20 degrees hotter than we should be for the second week of october. the cats don’t know whether to shed or grow hair- and now, they have fleas. we have been plagued with little fruit flies or gnats or something taking up residence- and don’t get me started on the spiders. i have lost at least 5 plants this summer because of the stress of the weather and my green beans died of blight.

and even the bushling reluctantly admits to there being something wrong with the climate. here are some basic tips you can do at home and in your daily life to reduce your own personal contribution to global warming- and a call to start thinking differently on long term goals.

go vegetarian, or vegan- most of the meat is tainted at any given time anyway, and livestock is a huge producer of pollution

cut back or cut out bottled water- making plastic is a huge polluter- and using up water resources for cosmetic reasons is irresponsible these days. bottle your own water from home.

 

consume less and with more thought. take a peek at where your goods are manufactured and ask if you need it more than the folks who made it need clean water and food. watch what you buy- what does the packaging look like? cut back on plastic purchases- many detergent manufacturers are making concentrated liquids now in small packaging. it is going to take all of us pushing for reform and changing our lifestyles to change the tide- and the truth is- we are running out of time.

tags: environment

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By request - A new book…another cure?

Another wonderful and moving post from the Angry Black Bitch. How I love to read her words, they give me hope-Dusty

My older brother Bill is autistic and tomorrow morning my sister and this bitch (co-guardians) will attend his annual plan meeting.

Imagine Snakes on a Plane in a conference room with bad coffee and no pastries.

Anyhoo, some of y’all are kind enough to send me articles and news items about autism like a certain reader who was kind enough to forward an article on Jenny McCarthy’s new book about a cure she found for her son’s autism.

Blink.

Now, a bitch couldn’t pick Jenny McCarthy out of a line up if I had to. I’ve got no ill will towards her or that book. And as much as I agree that autism is a spectrum disorder I also agree that some of that shit can be treated. So, I hope she did find some sort of cure or treatment for her son.

Having said that, this bitch has been down the “this will work…oh no, my bad - it won’t” road and it can be an emotional monster.

Catch that knee…I said catch it!

Shit.

My brother is 37 years old. That’s right…God willing, autistic kids grow up into autistic adults. That’s nothing to sob about…each year is a blessing not a failure of research. As the youngest child of three I grew up witnessing my mother trying to cure Bill while never coming to terms with her son and who he is…that’s the emotional monster I’m talking about.

There was the oh yea of little faith stage.

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midnight musings

i have been trying to wrap my mind around many things lately- why some football teams are way better than others; why cats are so ridiculously needy and stalkish sometimes, and how people can think so regressively. it struck me as i read about pakistan the other day- and the one line in the article stuck out- that these power hungry people using religion as a weapon want to take the middle east BACK to the 7th century. there are plenty of regressive jewish folk who want to go back to a time when there wasn’t muslim folks. and of course we are aware of the christian fundies in this country who want to take us ‘back to the future’ to the demise of humankind in the form of the rapture. my friend and i were talking about pz myers of pharyngula fame- and how he really considers himself a hard left liberal. his way of thinking is the same as pat robertson. it just completely boggles my mind. what the hell can we do to save the planet? what can we do to save this country? what can we do if we can’t even agree to disagree? i have no ideas at this point.

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it’s easy being green

i hear from people that it’s the industries that are the big polluters. there isn’t much the average person can do aside from recycle and change their light bulbs. well, that’s a bunch of organic matter from a horse’s behind. change takes time. but evaluating what is important to you takes moments. something simple like simply buying less and buying it in less packaging is a start. eating less meat is also a step in the right direction- and buying local foods is another. shipping products is one of the largest polluters as are the corporate meat farms and crop fields. using reusable bags at the grocery store when possible cuts down on the amount of trees cut down to make paper bags- and the amount of those plastic bags that seem to multiply like rabbits. we as consumers are a powerful lobby group in our own right. we can demand services and products that are better for the environment. having restaurants use napkins made out of recycled paper, or not eating out at the chains at all. little things in the hands of many add up. so- here are a couple of links i think are interesting. national geographic is doing a series on global climate change and this month they look at biofuels and rate them on different criteria. it isn’t one magic solution to slow this down- it is all of us working together to change the way we live. the hard reality is- if we aren’t unselfish to change our lifestyles- our children and grandchildren are going to have to change theirs- and it won’t be easy or pretty. our lifestyle is not sustainable.

 

national geographic- biofuels

cool graphic

carbon conscious consumer- big changes start with small steps

how to make dairy free ice cream- just for fun

 

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Keeping it all in perspective..

This is Death Valley in CA. The star formation is the Milky Way, the photo information and a wonderful panorama suitable for your computer wallpaper is here. Friggin awesome isn’t it? I have seen sights like this when I used to camp in the SoCal deserts during the winter months as a young hippie girl. The city lights don’t fuck up the view. Now, I am too old to camp..oh hell yeah..much too old and besides..I don’t have time to look at these natural wonders anymore…too busy ranting and raving about how fucked up everything is.

Like the fact that Walter Reed Army Hospital is still a quagmire for the injured soldiers returning home. Oh, and like the fact that Mike McConnell lied his ass off to Congress about the Revised Patriot Act and what it’s accomplished.

But the saddest thing of all is, as Robert Fisk calls it; The Death of History. The cradle of civilization has and is being destroyed, one artifact at a time according the the IHT article on Iraq. From the article:

Evidence amassed by archaeologists shows that even those Iraqis who trained as archaeological workers in Saddam Hussein’s regime are now using their knowledge to join the looters in digging through the ancient cities, destroying thousands of priceless jars, bottles and other artifacts in their search for gold and other treasures.

In the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War, armies of looters moved in on the desert cities of southern Iraq and at least 13 Iraqi museums were plundered. Today, almost every archaeological site in southern Iraq is under the control of looters.

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why we need to wake up- and think

“Global climate change presents a serious national security threat which could impact Americans at home, impact US military operations, and heighten global tensions, according to a new study released by a blue-ribbon panel of retired admirals and generals from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines.”

full report here

tags: global terrorism, environment crisis, activism

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this explains everything

 

my first thought was- they need to throw this out immediately. the test was inherently flawed- and here’s why:

“Participants were college students whose politics ranged from “very liberal” to “very conservative.” They were instructed to tap a keyboard when an M appeared on a computer monitor and to refrain from tapping when they saw a W.

M appeared four times more frequently than W, conditioning participants to press a key in knee-jerk fashion whenever they saw a letter.”

but then they wrapped up with this:

“Based on the results, he said, liberals could be expected to more readily accept new social, scientific or religious ideas.”

tags: science

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‘god is not great’

so i have started reading christopher hitchen’s book- and it isn’t what you think. i mean, i suppose it is to some degree, but it is not a ‘bash religion and god’ kind of book. i have actually been quite delighted to actually read something that 1) hasn’t been dumbed down; 2) isn’t rolling all over itself being apologetic and 3) gives decent reasons, sound logic and spot on explanations of the arguments presented. in short- an intellectual endeavor. methinks i should read different books in general

now, granted, i am only half way through, but i heartily recommend reading it whether you are a believer in organized religion or athiest- or somewhere in between. he does not say that there isn’t a god, per se. he argues that organized religions of any stripe poison everything that they touch- and that they are man made. a good open, intellectual discussion of religion is what it looks like he is attempting- and if nothing else- his command of the English language is like fine wine. i will finish the book whether i continue to agree with him or not- simply because he is a superb writer. pick up a copy- and let’s get a discussion going!!! it is a good excuse to do so. i promise to leave the snark on the couch

tags:organized religion, book review

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Tower Tremors: Wireless Communication Towers

Cellular towers are becoming a part of our modern landscape equivalent to when billboards began to multiply a few decades ago. And like billboards, they are a mixed blessing at best and an environmental blight to many people. Each year in North America an estimated 4-5 million birds per year are killed in collisions with communication towers, typically towers that are 200 feet or taller. Migratory birds receive the most damage, especially some 350 species of night-migrating birds, which violates the spirit and the intent of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Code of Federal Regulations at Part 50 designed to implement the MBTA (2000 figures from Fish and Wildlife Service). Bird loss caused from towers was a fact generally unknown by federal agencies or the public until the 1990’s. “People who man towers kept quiet about these bird deaths. They didn’t want to alarm the public on the extent of this problem.” Said bird expert Sam Robbins, quoted in the February 2000 issue of Wisconsin Natural Resources.

Why so many new communication towers? Many more of us are using cellular phones and the communications industry has been expanding. Like billboards, the towers are indicative of economic growth, yet are encroaching upon the environment and visually impacting the areas in which they are constructed. Environmentalists are trying to block new wireless towers; the Forest Conservation Council and Friends of the Earth petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deny 29 applications for towers until further environmental studies have been done. An FCC Memorandum Opinion and Order on the matter was released on January 4, 2002. The 29 Objections/Petitions to Deny, jointly filed by the Friends of Earth and the Forest Conservation Council against 29 Applications for Antenna Structure Registrations, were dismissed. The FCC gave the reasoning that “We find that the Petitioners have not demonstrated standing to file their Petitions because the Petitions are speculative and do not show how the construction of these towers would affect the interests of any identified person.” John Talberth of the Forest Conservation Council says that inadequate research has been done on wireless towers “They cause significant adverse impact to wildlife, scenery, wetlands.”

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Depleted Uranium- The gift that keeps on giving.

There are some bloggers who walk the walk. They are on the road much of the year speaking about the horrors and dangers of War. Charlie, Tammara and REB 84 are three who I have the pleasure of knowing, if only on the ‘internets’ through emails and their blogs. These are individuals that spend the majority of their life educating the public and our elected officials about the human cost of the wars our country wages. Tony Snow might call dead soldiers ‘just a number’ and to some they very well may be just that, but I choose to believe that people inherently care about the human cost of war. I might be deluded and god knows that is entirely possible..but I just couldn’t go through life thinking people are cold, calculating, unfeeling individuals by nature.

Those are learned emotions and responses. Unless of course your Dick Cheney, but I digress.

Tammara and the two gents I named have raised my awareness of DU-Depleted Uranium. It’s something that is a necessary evil, if you listen to the military…and just outright fucking evil if you listen to scientists and folks like my three friends. Our government sent Dr. Doug Rokke to the Middle East during and after the first Gulf War. He was sent to investigate the effects and amounts of DU left there by our military. He came back sick and affected by the very substance he was sent to investigate. He was put on 40% disability due to his service, for which our government keeps putting him back into action..ironic no? He now lectures on the subject of DU and its effects, one of which is available here as a podcast to download. The podcast is a lecture from last year. His lecture is very blunt he doesn’t mince words. He says that war’s objective is to kill, and that DU weapons are the cream of the ever-lovin crop…he doesn’t deny that fact. What he tells us is..DU is the “gift that keeps on giving”….years and decades after the War is won or lost, casualties continue to mount up long after the tanks have left and the soldiers are back home…safe in their own beds.

The only way to remove the hazards of DU is to totally encase the ‘thing’ blown up and the surrounding topsoil. To wrap it up like a ‘huge hersheys kiss’. Then you dig down 6 inches at least and remove the topsoil for roughly 1000 feet around. It’s a process the military isn’t willing to do. Seriously, they removed 25 blown up vehicles from the Gulf War I..shipped them back to the states…and it took them 3 years to figure out how to totally destroy the vehicles and remove all trace of DU.

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The realness cloud…

I am pleased to announce that the Angry Black Bitch has allowed us to post one of her fine musings. Please take a moment to check out her blog..she is a creative genius that uses her words very wisely.

A certain Marva, who is a self proclaimed black Republican, wrote this bitch an e-mail.

Blink.

After reading several posts, Marva was moved to “urge me to come down off of my fantasy cloud and face the reality that liberal politics hurt black people”.

Ahhh, this bitch hasn’t heard the fervent plea of a black conservatism in a month of Sundays.

Welcome, Marva!

Shall we?

A bitch has been floating on a cloud of realness, honey…for years…and I’m sure as shit not coming down anytime soon.

You know and I know that you know and I know that this country hasn’t seen real liberal policies in forever and a day, so let’s stop bullshitting and get down to business.

A system of public education that equally distributes funding, provides oversight as well as assistance when that oversight finds flaws and that values teaching our youth rather than dismantling public education through passive aggressive policy-based terrorism will be good for America.

Tax reform that closes loop holes and taxes rich motherfuckers too instead of handing them a pass…that eases the burden on the middle class and single parents and young people and the working poor…that actually takes in money from corporations instead of granting them a fabillion trillion ways to get over…cough…that kind of reform will be good for the majority of Americans and last time I checked black people are in that number.

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One Billon bucks later, the levees are still F***ked up

I sort of paraphrased the title of this article in the NYT this morning. I have family of a sort that lives there, my son’s best friend Fernie and his wife and young baby. Their house survived the floods and for over a year was used as a Urgent Care Facility of sorts by the local hospital. He is a fine young man who started his own business which is thriving. I love him for what he did for the residents of NOLA. But, there comes a time when the people should be able to depend on the city, state and federal governments my dear reader. This is such a time. It’s been two years now since Katrina hit and the levees broke.

“Six Inches”, the first line in the NYT article screams. That number represents the water level reduction another flood of the city would produce since the Army Corp of Engineers spent a billion dollars on the levee rebuild. Let me be more specific..thats the number MOST of the city would see in flood protection. The rich part of town would see 5 and a half FEET of difference.

Funny how that worked out isn’t it? Not ha-ha funny..sick ironic funny to me. The following is a part of the beginning of the 2-page writeup:

New Orleans was swamped by Hurricane Katrina; now it is awash in data, studied obsessively in homes all over town. And the simple message conveyed by that data is that while parts of the city are substantially safer, others have changed little. New Orleans remains a very risky place to live.

The entire flood system still provides much less protection than New Orleans needs, and the pre-Katrina patchwork of levees, floodwalls and gates that a Corps of Engineers investigation called “a system in name only” is still just that.

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