Obama Thoughts

Should Obama be less technocrat and more populist? Obviously, I agree (and there is some evidence he is starting to do so); it may be the only way for him to broaden his appeal to working-class whites. Meanwhile, the Georgia Crisis may not be the incredible boost to McCain the MSM seems to think. And, of course, Dubya the Lame Duck continues to screw the environment. And adopt Barack Obama's plan for Iraq. Some legacy.

What Is It About the Federal Government...

...and slaughtering buffalo?

Southern Baptist Convention Discovers the Enivronment!

A spokesman for Hell refused to confirm or deny reports of plunging temperatures in the Infernal Realm.

Imperial Presidency Theatre Presents...

...you are not entitled to know why the President of the United States does not want your children to be able to breath. Now, disperse peasants, lest I release the hounds!

One of These Things is Not Like the Other...

Compare and contrast: New Orleans, 2005 and San Diego, 2007. Obviously, clearly, the incompetence of Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco (besides Brownie's "heckuva job") had a part to play, but still...this is squirm-inducing.

UPDATE: TBogg sees it different and makes a valid point.

Jerry Patterson: Putting the "Nut" in "Gun Nut"

I am a hunter. I support the Second Amendment. Hell, I even got a "B" rating from the NRA when I ran for State Representative (it may have been a "C"; the point is, damn near everyone else either got an "A+" or an "F"). So I can definitively say that refusing to sell the Christmas Mountains to the National Park Service because they won't allow hunting, and instead selling the plot to private investors who have already said they won't let the general public in at all, is moronic. If Jerry Patterson wants to continue his crusade for Second Amendment absolutism, he needs to go back to the State Senate. If he is going to be Land Commissioner, he should put the public first. Protecting the environment somewhere in there would be nice, too.

More Native Protests in Canada

Members of the The Pimicikamak Cree First Nation have occupied a hydroelectric generating plant in northern Manitoba Province to call attention to the government's failure to offer adequate compensation for flooding tribal land. You can read an interview with the band's chief, John Miswagon, which goes into more detail at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Acimowin, a blog for news about the Pimicikamak Cree Nation, can be found here.

No, This Is Not An April Fools' Joke

The US Supreme Court has ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency must actually, you know, protect the environment. Which includes doing something about global warming. I think the significance of this decision is that it paves the way for other states besides Massachusetts to sue the Federal government to force action on pressing environmental issues. Don't hold your breath waiting for Texas, however.

GORE PWNS BARTON

Film at Eleven! Cong. Joe Barton continues to solidify his position as the single biggest wanker in the entire Texas Delegation. A rare combination of nerdy, ignorant, petty and self-important, Smokey Joe has gotten so silly and shrill that he is rapidly descending into self-parody. He is, in fact, the William Shatner of Congress, only less funny. I wish I had a link to Gore's testimony in the Senate, when Senator Barbara Boxer shot down Senator James Inhofe when he tried to take control of the hearing with the devastating line, "Elections have consequences."



UPDATE: Blognonymous has the video of Barbara Boxer smacking down James Inhofe.

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

A thousand Texans of all persuasions (supported, bizarrely enough, by Bob "Swiftboat" Perry and the Baptist General Convention of Texas) rally against TXU's bold Nineteenth Century solution to our energy needs. These Texans are not to be confused with the "astro-turf" anti-coal lobbying by the gas industry that hates competition.

Greg Abbott Full of Hot (Polluted) Air

Without bothering to check with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Attorney General has filed a brief SUPPORTING the Bush Administration's decision to do nothing to control the emission of greenhouse gases. Had he bothered to check with the TCEQ, they could've patiently explained to him that global warming is, in fact, a bad thing. Particularly if you live in Houston and have grown fond of breathing. Hat tip to Norbizness.

Corporations Seeking to Screw Indians...Again

Yes, yes, I know; terribly shocking. Evidently, the mining companies are in a snit because the Navajo won't authorize any new uranium mining until the contamination from all the previous mining is cleaned up. How unreasonable!

"We could worry ourselves to death that one additional cancer in a million will be caused," [Juan] Velasquez [mining company vice president] said. "It sounds stereotypical, but these Indians jump in their car and drive 90 miles per hour down the road. But they won't take the risk on uranium."

Stereotypical? No! Surely not! Incidentally, there, Velasquez, when's the uranium mine going up in YOUR backyard? When was the last time 93 MILLION gallons of radioactively contaminated water was dumped in YOUR water supply? That's what happened in ONE day, July 16, 1979, on the Navajo Reservation.

God May Be Green...

...but the increasingly irrelevent Christian Coalition most certainly is not. What on earth was Joel Hunter thinking? That the tele-Pharisees would actually be interested in poverty, much less the environment? Another sad indication of the depravity of the corrupt, blasphemous regime that has hijacked evangelical protestantism in America. Rev. Hunter, and those like him, will ultimately, hopefully, be proved right in the end. They are "the good and faithful servants."

God is STILL Green

More on the slow but steady rise of evangelical environmentalism.

Conservative Hypocrisy Watch

I could probably do an entire separate blog on this topic alone. In our latest installment, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, an odious little man previously known for fighting tooth-and-nail against anything even remotely resembling campaign finance reform, has now apparently learned how to stop worrying and love the filibuster. Same goes for James Inhofe, a right-wing troglodyte from Oklahoma, who now threatens to deploy the F-Bomb against any efforts to reduce global warming. Inhofe previously was known for trying to gut Indian sovereignty in order to prevent tribes from protecting the environment.

UPDATE: Senator John Warner of Virginia, whose thinking has actually left the Middle Ages, leapt the Renaissance and reached the Enlightenment, will challenge crackpot James Inhofe for the post of Ranking Member on the Environment and Public Works Committee. Good on him.

Is God Green?

Excellent, excellent Bill Moyers special on PBS the other night about the rise of evangelical ecologists. It was very uplifting spiritually to see other people of faith who recognize that to pollute the environment is to literally spit on God's benevolence and generosity in providing humanity what is (for all we know) the only habitable planet anywhere in the Universe. Likewise, it was disheartening to see the power of the False Profits (particularly Dobson the Apostate) to cow and bully Christians who fail to kowtow to his immoral, anti-Christian and un-American Social Darwinist agenda. Make no mistake, however; these eco-Christians have not been suddenly transformed into tree-hugging liberals. They are still opposed to abortion and still oppposed to gay marriage. But, as with hunters (another powerful and potentially pro-environmental constituency) environmentalists should not be so blinded by single issues (the same sin they accuse the Right of) that they fail to embrace allies where they find them.

Your Tax Dollars (Not) At Work

The country is at war (it must be; the President says so on a daily basis and Cassius is an honorable man), we face record deficits (mostly due to ill-considered tax cuts for the mega-wealthy, but put that aside for now) and it turns out that oil companies owe billions of dollars for drilling on public (i.e., our) land. And what is the Interior Department's response? Eh, blow it off. Not surprisingly, this seems to have been the result of political pressure from the White House. Even House Republicans (a normally complacent lot of presidential sock puppets) are having a hard time swallowing the logic here.

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Rick Perry is evidently trying to outdo Joe Barton by having the most abominable environmental record of any Texas politician. His latest plan in a state with some of the worst air in the nation? Burn coal. More coal. Lots and lots of coal. And make sure it's the dirty kind, too. And all those kids who suffer and die from asthma? Their tough shit.
Best quote in the entire story:

give him (Perry) enough money and he'll do most anything apparently.

Truer words were never spoken.

Pombo Smackdown

Cong. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.), one of the most corrupt and virulently anti-environment and anti-Indian members of Congress, suffered a big defeat today as his bill to restrict tribal gaming went down in flames, hoist by the petard of typical Republican parliamentary tactics to eliminate amendments or debate. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Rub some salt in the wound and support his opponent, Jerry McNerney.

Bush vs. the Environment Update

From the lovely and talented Blognonymous, the Bush Administration moves to cut off public access to environmental records. Purely as a cost-saving measure, I'm sure.