May 10, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
THE REAL REAGAN ADMINISTRATION
The current crop of Republican presidential candidates try not to mention George W. Bush and instead invoke the memory of Ronald Reagan. If you listen to the mythology about Reagan, you would think he stood up like David against the Goliath of the Soviet Union all by himself and sent the Communists packing. You will also hear tall tales about the great economy under Reagan. Job growth was worse during his administration than during the Carter administration. Until the current administration Reagan probably had the most corrupt administration in our history. This article by Joe Conason takes a look at the real Reagan administration. The article is at www.commondreams.org:
The tough gunslinger described by the Republican candidates resembles the real Reagan about as accurately as his movie roles resembled his real life. It was strange to hear him mentioned in the context of Iran, the scene of the worst foreign-policy fiasco of his administration—and the topic that most clearly demonstrates the distance between right-wing fantasy and historical reality.
And it was especially strange to hear those words uttered by Giuliani, who wants everyone to remember that he once served as a top official in the Reagan Justice Department, yet seems to have forgotten the criminal case and constitutional crisis known as the Iran-contra affair. But let’s begin at the beginning.
Available evidence strongly indicates that when the Iranian regime released American hostages in January 1981, within hours of the first Reagan inauguration, that decision had nothing to do with fear of the new president and everything to do with a pre-arranged deal. While no proof of that plot has ever emerged, the covert sequel that commenced three years later certainly arouses suspicion.
Between 1984 and 1986, the Reagan administration tried to free American hostages in Lebanon from their Shiite captors, not by confronting the terrorists militarily but by negotiating with their presumed Iranian sponsors. By then, Reagan had already retreated from Lebanon, withdrawing the Marines after the terrorist bombing of their Beirut barracks had claimed 241 American lives.
BEWARE OF BIOFUELS
George W. Bush has advocated using fuel derived from corn as an alternative to oil. Sounds good, right? It's not so good at all. According to a new study, using food crops for energy may lead to severe food shortages and deforestation. We definitely need to move away from oil, but we should look at something other than biofuels. This article by John Vidal is at www.commondreams.org:
The global rush to switch from oil to energy derived from plants will drive deforestation, push small farmers off the land and lead to serious food shortages and increased poverty unless carefully managed, says the most comprehensive survey yet completed of energy crops.
The United Nations report, compiled by all 30 of the world organization’s agencies, points to crops like palm oil, maize, sugar cane, soya and jatropha. Rich countries want to see these extensively grown for fuel as a way to reduce their own climate changing emissions. Their production could help stabilize the price of oil, open up new markets and lead to higher commodity prices for the poor.
But the UN urges governments to beware their human and environmental impacts, some of which could have irreversible consequences.
The report, which predicts winners and losers, will be studied carefully by the emerging multi-billion dollar a year biofuel industry which wants to provide as much as 25% of the world’s energy within 20 years.
Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts
Sunday, March 04, 2007
March 04, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
HONEY BEES DISAPPEARING
Some of the scariest movies ever made deal with nature gone awry. You think of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, for example. Now we have a real life natural disaster occurring in the insect world. Honey bees are mysteriously disappearing. It's a major issue because honey bees pollinate plants and pollination is integral to the life cycle. This story is also interesting because The New York Times published a story about a farmer in Visalia, California, right here in the Central Valley. This commentary by Stephen Fleischman is at www.smirkingchimp.com:
It may not be a nuclear war or global warming that brings us down, but the mysterious disappearance of the honey bee. We've been messing with nature since Adam plucked the first piece of fruit off the apple tree.
The New York Times, on Feb 23rd, reported on a beekeeper named David Bradshaw in Visalia, California who got the shock of his life when he opened his boxes one morning and found half of his 100 million bees missing. His bees had been pollinating the almond crop in the Central Valley, the world's largest almond producing area.
The honey bee, apis mellifera, is the most commonly domesticated species in the United States and is used not only for producing honey, but more importantly for pollinating crops. Hence, the consternation when it was discovered recently that bees in 24 states across the country were mysteriously disappearing. The bees leave their hives to seek pollen and nectar and in the process pollinate the blossoms of the crop. But these bees never return to the hive and the colony becomes defunct. The phenomenon has been given the name, "Colony Collapse Disorder". The scientists are scratching their heads. They don't understand what's happening here. At least, not yet.
CHANTING LA-LA-LA
Today's Fresno Bee had another letter from a right-winger who just doesn't believe global climate change is real. We've had cycles of warming and ice ages in the past, he says. His big point was the alleged hypocrisy of people at the Academy Awards last week. Even if Hollywood stars are not perfectly "green," how is that relevant to the issue of global climate change?
People who bring up the point about cycles of heating and warming in the past don't seem to realize that scientists are perfectly aware of those cycles. And it is scientists who are saying that the evidence is indisputable that human activity is warming the planet. If we build a dam, aren't we altering the environment? If we strip mine a mountain, aren't we altering the environment? Those events are small scale in comparison to sending tons and tons of hydrocarbons into the atmosphere every day. As Newton's Law about the conservation of energy established, there is no free lunch. What we do has an effect on the planet. But it's easier for global climate change deniers to stick their fingers in their ears and chant la-la-la very loudly.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
HONEY BEES DISAPPEARING
Some of the scariest movies ever made deal with nature gone awry. You think of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, for example. Now we have a real life natural disaster occurring in the insect world. Honey bees are mysteriously disappearing. It's a major issue because honey bees pollinate plants and pollination is integral to the life cycle. This story is also interesting because The New York Times published a story about a farmer in Visalia, California, right here in the Central Valley. This commentary by Stephen Fleischman is at www.smirkingchimp.com:
It may not be a nuclear war or global warming that brings us down, but the mysterious disappearance of the honey bee. We've been messing with nature since Adam plucked the first piece of fruit off the apple tree.
The New York Times, on Feb 23rd, reported on a beekeeper named David Bradshaw in Visalia, California who got the shock of his life when he opened his boxes one morning and found half of his 100 million bees missing. His bees had been pollinating the almond crop in the Central Valley, the world's largest almond producing area.
The honey bee, apis mellifera, is the most commonly domesticated species in the United States and is used not only for producing honey, but more importantly for pollinating crops. Hence, the consternation when it was discovered recently that bees in 24 states across the country were mysteriously disappearing. The bees leave their hives to seek pollen and nectar and in the process pollinate the blossoms of the crop. But these bees never return to the hive and the colony becomes defunct. The phenomenon has been given the name, "Colony Collapse Disorder". The scientists are scratching their heads. They don't understand what's happening here. At least, not yet.
CHANTING LA-LA-LA
Today's Fresno Bee had another letter from a right-winger who just doesn't believe global climate change is real. We've had cycles of warming and ice ages in the past, he says. His big point was the alleged hypocrisy of people at the Academy Awards last week. Even if Hollywood stars are not perfectly "green," how is that relevant to the issue of global climate change?
People who bring up the point about cycles of heating and warming in the past don't seem to realize that scientists are perfectly aware of those cycles. And it is scientists who are saying that the evidence is indisputable that human activity is warming the planet. If we build a dam, aren't we altering the environment? If we strip mine a mountain, aren't we altering the environment? Those events are small scale in comparison to sending tons and tons of hydrocarbons into the atmosphere every day. As Newton's Law about the conservation of energy established, there is no free lunch. What we do has an effect on the planet. But it's easier for global climate change deniers to stick their fingers in their ears and chant la-la-la very loudly.
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