“Good evening. I’m Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana.
Tonight, we witnessed a great moment in the history of our Republic. In the very chamber where Congress once voted to abolish slavery, our first African-American President stepped forward to address the state of our union. With his speech tonight, the President completed a redemptive journey that took our nation from Independence Hall … to Gettysburg … to the lunch counter … and now, finally, the Oval Office.
Regardless of party, all Americans are moved by the President’s personal story - the son of an American mother and a Kenyan father, who grew up to become leader of the free world. Like the President’s father, my parents came to this country from a distant land. When they arrived in Baton Rouge, my mother was already 4 ½ months pregnant. I was what folks in the insurance industry now call a ‘pre-existing condition.’ To find work, my dad picked up the yellow pages and started calling local businesses. Even after landing a job, he could still not afford to pay for my delivery - so he worked out an installment plan with the doctor. Fortunately for me, he never missed a payment.
As I grew up, my mom and dad taught me the values that attracted them to this country - and they instilled in me an immigrant’s wonder at the greatness of America. As a child, I remember going to the grocery store with my dad. Growing up in India, he had seen extreme poverty. And as we walked through the aisles, looking at the endless variety on the shelves, he would tell me: ‘Bobby, Americans can do anything.’ I still believe that to this day. Americans can do anything. When we pull together, there is no challenge we cannot overcome.
In the latest edition of “Clusterf*#%k to the Poorhouse,” the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart pokes a little fun at a coalition of Republican governors who deplore the money they are getting from the economic stimulus bill so much so, that they are taking just about every penny of it.
“You know, money from Democrats can still be exchanged for goods and services, you know that right?”
Anyone who was impeded before by the cost of adding solar panels to their homes can now rest a little easier: The economic stimulus plan includes a federal tax credit worth 30 percent of the cost of a new solar system for a house. The cost, of course, is still high, but hey, more people will probably buy into it, won’t they?
But what if there are no more solar companies left? Publicly-traded green technology companies, like those that research and manufacture those costly panels, are being hit hard in the stock market and some are facing bankruptcy; it may take more than homeowner incentive to lift them up again. Because while homeowners may buy the systems now at the new prices, the question is: Will they buy enough to keep the companies afloat?
I took a look at a few of the public solar companies to see which, if any, have survived the recent stock market crash. The news doesn’t look too good. Read the rest of this entry »
There are a few different ways to get the much sought after Stephen “Colbert Bump,” from one of which is naming an animal after the faux-right wing kingmaker. And that is exactly what the City of San José has done by naming a male peregrine falcon recently San José City Hall, “Esteban Colbert”.
As it became apparent that the resident female’s mate from last year would not return for a second season in downtown San Jose, fans of the city’s Falcon Cam, installed on the roof of city hall a few years back, also noticed frequent visits from a new male suitor.
“I’m delighted that Esteban Colbert appeared at City Hall this week, and that he and Clara are hitting it off,” said San José Mayor Chuck Reed in a statement. Reed is reportedly an avid fan of Stephen Colbert’s Colbert Report. “Like the City Hall falcons, the original Colbert has proven that with primitive instincts and sharp talons, anyone can survive in modern society,” said Reed. Read the rest of this entry »
According to Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali Naimi, renewable energy sources are not fully equipped to meet the world’s energy demands and that governments should avoid making huge investments in developing clean energy systems.
At a conference in Houston, Mr. Naimi argued that recent injection of billions of dollars by governments to develop renewable energy systems could lead to the collapse of the oil industry. He said that such steps would drive away investors which would hurt the oil producing nations as demand and prices of oil products has been falling sharply. His remarks were clearly aimed at the Obama administration which is reversing President Bush’s policies by openly encouraging massive investments in the renewable energy sector.
United States has been a ‘close friend’ and seeing President Obama acting on his promise of energy independence seemed to have alarmed the Saudis. Bills approving of oil exploration along the US coasts, massive subsidies for renewable energy projects and Obama administration’s intent to reduce carbon emissions means a medium to long-term decline in oil imports and which have left the Saudis (and OPEC) concerned. Read the rest of this entry »
Fox News blow hard Glenn Beck likens the youth climate movement of today to the Hitler Youth of, well, Nazi Germany. And who is responsible for this brainwashing and indoctrination? Al Gore, of course. Watch it:
As we previously reported, Czech President Václav Klaus used his bully pulpit while speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to peddle his anti-global warming rhetoric and apparently hawk some books in the process. Now you can watch it for yourself:
Klaus, who currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, has taken aim at global warming before, previously criticizing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as a group of one-sided, politicized scientists. He also concluded in his 2007 book, Blue Planet in Green Shackles, that global warming was a “valueless theory.”
Jackie Mason talks with a young man about the presidency of Barack Obama, the past eight years of Bush-era energy policy, and the environmental impacts of drilling for oil in Alaska. Mason’s take on the land use changes from oil development sounded a lot like the line of argument we heard from Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and the rest of the ‘drill here, drill now,’ drill-baby-drill crowd throughout 2008.
Dennis Miller on the O’Reilly Factor pulls out the rather tired ‘Al Gore’s thermostat is the problem’ argument and dismisses Gore by wondering if the former Vice President has ever thought he is wrong about global warming. Then he goes on to say all politicians are like Blagojevich, they just don’t get caught. And I say, what if he isn’t wrong, Dennis?
Some UK charities and vision experts are calling into question the European Union decision to phase out traditional incandescent light bulbs in favour of Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs). The EU requires traditional filament bulbs to be phased out by 2016, and 100W bulbs will become unavailable later in the year - from September they will no longer be sold in the UK. Already 100W traditional bulbs are becoming hard to buy and there are rumours of people hoarding them.
Concerns now being expressed do not relate to the issue of the tiny quantities of mercury in the bulbs that was raised a year or two ago (largely misguidedly - while in environmental terms far more mercury is released into the environment by the manufacture of traditional bulbs). Instead they focus on potential difficulties for partially-sighted people. Read the rest of this entry »
Red, Green and Blue brings together voices from across the political and ideological spectrums to discuss and debate critical environmental issues and current events.
