“True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.”
— Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
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“True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.”
— Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
A reanalysis of nicotine yield from major brand name cigarettes sold in Massachusetts from 1997 to 2005 has confirmed that manufacturers have steadily increased the levels of this agent in cigarettes – by 11% over a seven-year period. The announcement led to renewed calls for greater federal oversight of the industry.
Ten major companies have banded together with leading environmental groups to call for a firm nationwide limit on carbon dioxide emissions that would lead to reductions of 10 to 30 percent over the next 15 years. The companies include General Electric, DuPont, and Alcoa.
Seed investors are financing, or considering financing, start-ups in China that are developing equipment for wind and solar power, clean water and food alternatives and technology to promote energy efficiency. China has voracious energy needs and “the most serious environmental problem in the world,” said Jerry Li, a consultant in Beijing who matches venture capitalists with entrepreneurs. “There is a huge demand for investment” in alternative solutions, he said.
Your tax dollars at work: Oak Ridge National Laboratories has developed an integrated heat pump, which combines water heating with heating and cooling, dehumidification, and ventilation functions. The unit uses 50 percent less energy than standard heat pumps and water heaters. [Can I get one? I’m close enough that delivery would be local, LOL!]
Of the various bills in the senate on climate change, this is by far the best: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has introduced legislation that would cut U.S. emissions 80% from 1990 levels by 2050 through a combination of mandatory emissions cuts and subsidies to clean energy. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is co-sponsoring and calls it the “gold standard.” (Retired Sen. James Jeffords (I-Vt.) introduced it last session.)
Following Clean Air Act requirements to control the releases of dioxins and PCBs from industrial sites, scientists predicted that levels of these contaminants would drop significantly. Indeed, after controls were installed, those levels decreased. But by 1998, the contaminants leveled out in the atmosphere, according to measurements taken by the National Dioxin Air Monitoring Network (NDAMN). In the following years, until 2002, NDAMN recorded minimal changes in those levels. The remaining sources are the politically tough ones, like rural burning of plastics in household trash.
Suppose you’re the government official responsible for destroying old chemical weapons. Budgets are tight, and your funding is looking shaky. How to secure some funding (since logic alone won’t work)? Just what you’d expect: A senior Pentagon official has certified that disposal of the chemical weapons stored at Pueblo, Colo., and Blue Grass, Ky., is “essential to national security” because as long as the stockpiles exist, they’re potential terrorist “target threats.”
I agree, I laughed when I first read it but then got to thinking about people I knew in school and yeah it is rather scary isn’t it.
Two articles worth noting KP, going green is good politics.
The giant supermarket Tesco invests £500m ($$1 billion) to create ‘green consumer revolution’[.] over the next five years into turning the fringe green lobby into a mass consumer movement in the biggest attempt yet by any British business to combat climate change. Tesco intends to devise a “carbon calorie counter” that will allow shoppers to opt for a low-carbon lifestyle.
Writing on the Wall,
Hurricane force winds up to 100 mph claims 42 lives across Europe including the UK
What’s going On? Are we reduced to silencing the Comedians? Via Attytood
Rich Little, who has been chosen for the White House Correspondence dinner this year, has an understanding, he may not bash Bush or mention the word Iraq!!
Maliki’s government is on borrowed time.
Shorter Bush: Maliki is hard to support.
Shorter Maliki: The Bush administration is the one living on borrowed time, after the November elections. And, if there is no security it is because Bush would not give Iraq troops sufficient arms and armored vehicles.
And Cheney? Yes, says Prof. Cole, For the love of God Impeach this man. In 2003 he blew off Iran
Presidential hopefuls: He’s fitted with the wrong skis. Senator McCain.
“In New England. McCain seems to be on the slopes – not the ski hills – he has collapsed, tanking says ARG:
“John McCain is tanking,” says ARG president Dick Bennett. “That’s the big thing [we’re finding]. In New Hampshire a year ago he got 49 percent among independent voters. That number’s way down, to 29 percent now.”
Bennett says ARG is finding a similar trend in other states polled, including early primary battlegrounds like Iowa and Nevada. “We’re finding this everywhere,”
Senator Chuck Hagel is reported on the verge of making an announcement – will he run for president or not run again to keep his seat?
I recall that at some big hairy Republican function or other a few years ago, Rich Little was performing a stand up routine. Imitating Reagan, he said something like: “In the war against poverty, we’ve won… the poor have lost.” …for which he received thunderous applause. Rich Little is a creep. He wouldn’t have made fun of Bush in any case.
The White House Correspondence Dinner can censor anyone they want… we all know that White House Correspondents are a compliant bunch who will obediently write and say what they are told by the administration. Abhorrent as it is for a press function to be censored, it’s not unexpected or particularly surprising.
Breaking 2 major items:
FOX NEWS POLL: finds Americans dislike Bush more than Cheney
(via Huffpost in pdf.) Go read with your own eyes.
and Bob Ney has been sentenced to 30 months– longest sentence in Abramoff probe.
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DeLay :: Gotcha – Fingerprints et al! ¶ Abramoff & Bob Ney ◊ by Oui
Fri Oct 21st, 2005 at 03:30:40 AM PST
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Taken from the “Alive in Baghdad” Blog:
The links have the full story… Which is fucked up if it is true. I got the link from Josh Marshall’s Talking Points Memo…