Patriotism that loves our country, our land, and our planet
The longest-serving member of Congress in US History, Sen Robert Byrd (D-WV), is dead at 92. He was first elected to the Senate in 1958, 52 years ago.
Byrd will be remembered for taking courageous stands against the Gulf War (at a time when most other Democrats were jumping on the Bush bandwagon), and more recently for going against the power structure of his state of West Virginia by saying “Coal Must Embrace The Future”.
Just last week, it looked like the climate bill was as dead in the water as a gulf-coast sea turtle. But as of today, it looks like Senate Democrats are going to start acting like a majority party, and pass one of the central pieces of legislation that they ran on. Politico is calling it “Harry Reid’s High-Stakes Climate Gamble.”
Reid’s strategy? Finally doing some of the “horse-trading” that successful majority leaders (like Lydon Johnson) do. Instead of a stand-alone climate bill that Republicans (and some Democratic faint-hearts) are happy to take pot-shots at, he’s going to put forward an omnibus bill that includes energy policy, climate change, and reforms to deepwater drilling.
Just as deregulation of the oil industry was a key factor leading to the BP oil spill, energy experts are warning that we may be setting ourselves up for a disaster in the nuclear energy field by deregulating it.
“Even as tens of thousands of gallons of oil continue to erupt each day from BP’s botched oil well, federal lawmakers are weighing legislation that includes BP-style deregulation of new nuclear reactors, which are the only energy source where the damage from a major accident would dwarf the harm done by a ruptured offshore oil well,” experts from The Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) Safe Energy program wrote yesterday.
At last year’s G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, the world leaders committed to “phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies and increase energy market transparency” and their Energy and Finance Ministers are to “report on their implementation strategies and timelines at the next meeting of the G-20,” which begins in a couple of days.
So will the world leaders stay true to their commitments? Apparently, some countries may be waffling…
Should we be taking a serious second look at Nuclear Energy? With climate change the biggest potential disaster facing humanity, there are even environmentalists who now think nuclear power is actually a lower risk.
Take a look at this talk from TED, in which Stewart Brand and Mark Z. Jacobson go at it.
After hearing President Obama’s speech Tuesday night I was going to see if I could find videos of all the Presidents from Nixon on to Bush II promising how they were going to achieve energy independence and free us from foreign fuels, and splice them all together into a witty yet informative commentary about the futility of American Politics that has barely managed to move us forward in 30 years. But fortunately, Jon Stewart did it for me.
The US Senate, the world’s greatest high school debate squad, continues to fiddle on the climate and energy bills. And while oil gushes into the Gulf, and we enjoy the warmest spring in recorded history, and prepare for a heavy hurricane season, our esteemed Senators are concerned that we’re moving… too fast. Jay Rockefeller (D-Coal Country), actually wants to roll back what little HAS been done.
The pressure is on to deal with the problems associated with the biggest US oil spill in history. While President Obama pressures BP and dispatches the National Guard, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) has been pushing – hard – for a plan to construct 45 miles of sand berms off the coast to block oil from hitting his shores. The plan was finally approved May 27, but scientists are questioning whether it’s going to work.
How’d he do? As always, the answer seems to depend on where you’re sitting. Environmentalists were disappointed, centrists were pleased but skeptical, conservatives in the business sphere just want the problems solved so we can get back to business, and the political right appeared to be responding to a completely different speech (in an alternate universe in which Obama caused the oil leak and is now using that as an excuse to RAISE YOUR TAXES!)
President Obama made his first Oval Office address to the nation tonight, an 18-minute talk aimed at addressing critics and moving the country forward in the wake of the Gulf Oil Disaster.
This speech laid out President Obama’s battle plan to clean up the mess, help those affected, and make sure it will never happen again.
Here’s a quick outline of the rest of what he said…
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