June 27, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
BUSH'S OILY HANDS
When the history of the Bush administration is written Bush and Cheney's connection to the oil industry should figure prominently. The Iraq war was mostly about oil. Domestic policy has been driven by policies to favor the oil and gas industry, even at the expense of the environment. The resistance to doing something about global climate change is also connected to the oil and gas industry. This article by Bob Burtman is at www.motherjones.com:
Four months after former oil executives George W. Bush and Dick Cheney took office, the administration issued an executive order calling on all federal agencies to "expedite energy-related projects." Since then, officials have been speeding approval of oil and gas wells throughout the Rocky Mountain states. In Colorado, the BLM is revising land-use plans on 77,000 undeveloped acres in Vermillion Basin, the first step before drilling can be approved on land the agency previously recommended for wilderness status. In New Mexico, similar revisions could open up 160,000 acres of grasslands in the Otero Mesa region, threatening the habitat of pronghorn antelope, falcons, hawks, and bobcats. And in Wyoming and Montana, the administration supports plans to develop 51,000 wells to extract methane gas from shallow coal beds in the Powder River Basin -- a process that even the BLM's own studies conclude could poison wildlife, kill vegetation, and crisscross the area with 20,000 miles of pipeline, 5,300 miles of power lines, and 17,000 miles of roads.
"The president, vice president, and their corporate friends are trying to drill into everything," says Ken Sleight, a longtime environmental activist who runs a guest ranch in the foothills of the snow-capped La Sal Mountains outside Moab. "They don't care about the value of wildlands. Bush has zeroed in on southern Utah, but he has no idea what he will destroy."
Showing posts with label oil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oil. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
May 01, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
ANOTHER REASON TO END OIL DEPENDENCY
There is real irony here. The war in Iraq was launched in large part to get control of the oil reserves there. A new Pentagon study shows the military's reliance on oil puts our military security at risk. Oil is a finite resource likely to disappear in the next few decades. Its scarcity and the skyrocketing prices dictate an all out effort to find alternative energy sources. This article by Bryan Bender is at www.boston.com:
A new study ordered by the Pentagon warns that the rising cost and dwindling supply of oil -- the lifeblood of fighter jets, warships, and tanks -- will make the US military's ability to respond to hot spots around the world "unsustainable in the long term."
The study, produced by a defense consulting firm, concludes that all four branches of the military must "fundamentally transform" their assumptions about energy, including taking immediate steps toward fielding weapons systems and aircraft that run on alternative and renewable fuels. It is "imperative" that the Department of Defense "apply new energy technologies that address alternative supply sources and efficient consumption across all aspects of military operations," according to the report, which was provided to the Globe.
DEBUNKING RIGHT WING GLOBAL WARMING MYTH
Years ago the tobacco lobby and its apologists did not want to admit that cigarette smoking caused cancer. No way, no how, they claimed. We know those people were wrong. How many people rejected the evidence and died horrible deaths from cancer as a result? These days right-wingers just don't want to believe in global warming. It's a result of cyclical changes in the earth's climate, they claim. Or they claim that the sun is hotter now and, ergo, the earth is warmer. Even Mars is warmer, so it must be the sun, you see, and nothing humans are doing. This astronomer rebuts that claim. This commentary is at www.huffingtonpost.com:
The usual crowd, along with many others, are taking this idea and running with it, saying that if other planets are warming up, obviously the warming on Earth is not man-made. But there's a small problem with this: it's wrong (for a more detailed analysis of this, see my blog post at Bad Astronomy).
The idea is that evidence shows that Mars, Jupiter, Neptune's moon Triton, and even tiny, distant Pluto are warming up. The only thing these objects have in common is the Sun-- so therefore the Sun must be the culprit, and we -- the polluting, self-absorbed humans -- are off the hook.
However, as an astronomer and a skeptic, I did something most ditto-heads don't do: I actually did some research. What I found is that first of all, the evidence that Mars is warming up is tentative; basically, the southern ice cap appears to be shrinking, and along with other evidence this indicates that there is some sort of climate change going on. However, the change may very well be local, confined to the southern region. Plus, we already know that other factors, like the shape of the orbit of Mars, contribute to climate change there. Looking to the Sun as the source of this is unwarranted.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
ANOTHER REASON TO END OIL DEPENDENCY
There is real irony here. The war in Iraq was launched in large part to get control of the oil reserves there. A new Pentagon study shows the military's reliance on oil puts our military security at risk. Oil is a finite resource likely to disappear in the next few decades. Its scarcity and the skyrocketing prices dictate an all out effort to find alternative energy sources. This article by Bryan Bender is at www.boston.com:
A new study ordered by the Pentagon warns that the rising cost and dwindling supply of oil -- the lifeblood of fighter jets, warships, and tanks -- will make the US military's ability to respond to hot spots around the world "unsustainable in the long term."
The study, produced by a defense consulting firm, concludes that all four branches of the military must "fundamentally transform" their assumptions about energy, including taking immediate steps toward fielding weapons systems and aircraft that run on alternative and renewable fuels. It is "imperative" that the Department of Defense "apply new energy technologies that address alternative supply sources and efficient consumption across all aspects of military operations," according to the report, which was provided to the Globe.
DEBUNKING RIGHT WING GLOBAL WARMING MYTH
Years ago the tobacco lobby and its apologists did not want to admit that cigarette smoking caused cancer. No way, no how, they claimed. We know those people were wrong. How many people rejected the evidence and died horrible deaths from cancer as a result? These days right-wingers just don't want to believe in global warming. It's a result of cyclical changes in the earth's climate, they claim. Or they claim that the sun is hotter now and, ergo, the earth is warmer. Even Mars is warmer, so it must be the sun, you see, and nothing humans are doing. This astronomer rebuts that claim. This commentary is at www.huffingtonpost.com:
The usual crowd, along with many others, are taking this idea and running with it, saying that if other planets are warming up, obviously the warming on Earth is not man-made. But there's a small problem with this: it's wrong (for a more detailed analysis of this, see my blog post at Bad Astronomy).
The idea is that evidence shows that Mars, Jupiter, Neptune's moon Triton, and even tiny, distant Pluto are warming up. The only thing these objects have in common is the Sun-- so therefore the Sun must be the culprit, and we -- the polluting, self-absorbed humans -- are off the hook.
However, as an astronomer and a skeptic, I did something most ditto-heads don't do: I actually did some research. What I found is that first of all, the evidence that Mars is warming up is tentative; basically, the southern ice cap appears to be shrinking, and along with other evidence this indicates that there is some sort of climate change going on. However, the change may very well be local, confined to the southern region. Plus, we already know that other factors, like the shape of the orbit of Mars, contribute to climate change there. Looking to the Sun as the source of this is unwarranted.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
February 15, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
WINGNUTS ON PARADE
Today's Fresno Bee had the predictable right-wing meme attacking Speaker Nancy Pelosi for wanting a big airplane, even though the story has already been debunked. I'm surprised these people can even write a letter (maybe it's in crayon) because they don't inform themselves before they shoot their mouths off. They listen to Limbaugh or Hannity and take that for gospel.
We've also had some defenders of Exxon-Mobil and other oil giants responding to the oil companies' obscene profits. One guy ranted that the government "steals" our money. Never mind all the services the government provides like roads, police, fire protection, clean water, safe drugs, and on and on. Another guy said that Exxon-Mobil was a well-managed company with high productivity. Exxon-Mobil is a huge beneficiary of government. Who is it who supplies the military to procure or protect those far-flung oil fields? Right-wingers don't care about the poor or working people, but they work themselves into hysterics to defend big business.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
WINGNUTS ON PARADE
Today's Fresno Bee had the predictable right-wing meme attacking Speaker Nancy Pelosi for wanting a big airplane, even though the story has already been debunked. I'm surprised these people can even write a letter (maybe it's in crayon) because they don't inform themselves before they shoot their mouths off. They listen to Limbaugh or Hannity and take that for gospel.
We've also had some defenders of Exxon-Mobil and other oil giants responding to the oil companies' obscene profits. One guy ranted that the government "steals" our money. Never mind all the services the government provides like roads, police, fire protection, clean water, safe drugs, and on and on. Another guy said that Exxon-Mobil was a well-managed company with high productivity. Exxon-Mobil is a huge beneficiary of government. Who is it who supplies the military to procure or protect those far-flung oil fields? Right-wingers don't care about the poor or working people, but they work themselves into hysterics to defend big business.
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