Comments edarnold41 has made

Obama's nightmare

The President's problem right now is not the Republican minority, but his own party playing politics as usual. Nancy Pelosi left the House Republicans out of the drafting process, slashed the tax-cuts that the President had asked for and larded the bill with all the handouts for special interests that she thought would buy votes. Then when the Senate (Democrats as well as Republicans) had the temerity to object to this abomination, they were labelled 'obstructionist'.
It's hard to carry through a non-partisan agenda, when your own party is playing partisan politics to the hilt. This does not bode well for the future...On Announcing energy efficiency order, Obama goes on stimulus attack posted 9 months, 3 weeks ago 10 Responses

About Organic products

Since the most common source of mercury in the environment is coal-burning, and such powerplants are common throughout the US, it would interesting to find just how much mercury contamination there is in organically grown produce, free of HFCS.
Has anyone commissioned a study to see how safe this preferred foodsource really is?On The FDA sat on evidence of mercury-tainted high-fructose corn syrup posted 10 months, 1 week ago 13 Responses

President's job description

Last I heard, Barack Obama was elected to be President of the 'entire' United States: not just the 'Blue' states, not just for the self-styled Progressives, not just the Democratic Party, but to be the Executive in Chief for all the citizens of this nation. As such, he will no doubt disappoint many who thought that he was on-board with their agenda for changing the world. Gathering support from lots of special interest niche groups is how politicians get themselves elected.On What happened to the big win for progressives, the environment, and organic food? posted 10 months, 3 weeks ago 5 Responses

G.W. Bush and China's pollution

This one is just too ridiculous to pass up! According to Mr. Romm, 8 years of the Bush administration is why China is planning to blanket the world with it's coal soot, smog, and GHG. If memory serves, the Kyoto Treaty that GW didn't sign specifically allowed poor little third-world China to just exactly that, no? So if Al Gore had been president for eight years, the outcome would have been exactly the same, yes?
The assumption that 'moral pressure' will cause the Chinese government to do the right thing seems to me incredibly naive. These are the people who schedule the execution of criminals so as to get the best market for their harvested organs. The Chinese government will do exactly what it sees as being in it's best interests, and that obviously means gaming the Western fools with noble-sounding official pronouncements, while going full-steam ahead with economic expansion.
Maybe Mr. Hansen has the right idea with his tariff proposal, but it will never happen: too many U.S. businesses will lose too many of their products.
Basically, just another last-chance for Romm to engage in Bush-bashing.On China to increase coal production 30 percent by 2015 posted 10 months, 3 weeks ago 28 Responses

Hybrid sales plunge

Lesson in basic economics: when the economy is in dire straits, and people are worried about their finances, luxury items tend to be first to be cut. Among those with the means to purchase a new automobile, over-priced hybrids are viewed as a luxury.On Sales of popular hybrid vehicles plunged in November posted 12 months ago 6 Responses

The Poor take a serious hit

At my local Dominicks supermart, the difference between the mass-produced eggs and the product from a local, cage-free operation is $1.25 a dozen, a long way from 'a penny an egg.' No big deal for affluent me, potentially a big deal for people trying to feed a big family on minimum wage.
And, of course, if U.S. production of eggs gets outsourced to Mexico, guess whose jobs disappear? The poor (read Undocumented) people who work on those factory farms.
Of course President Obama can always fix this by spreading more wealth around...On California's Prop. 2 spurs big-bucks battle over farm-animal treatment posted 1 year, 1 month ago 9 Responses

Dissing your potential allies...

because they don't share your goofy utopian politics? In case you hadn't noticed, Senator Obama is running largely on his ability to create coalitions, 'reaching across the aisle' to get things done. Hanging on to your irrational hatred of a strong, competent woman who 'makes you feel threatened' is no way to get constructive action on environmental problems.On Pickens suckered by Palin: 'She gets this energy situation' posted 1 year, 1 month ago 2 Responses

Bushmeat and the U.N.

So glad to see that we can trust the United Nations to preserve the biological diversity of the planet.

'Oil for Food' - big win for the starving Iraqis

'Bushmeat for Aphodisiacs' - big win for wealthy Chinese who think body parts of rhinos, tigers and apes will renew their flagging vitality.On Snippets from the news posted 1 year, 2 months ago 2 Responses

Don't need TiO2

There are a number of other pigments, including aluminum flake, that do a great job of reflecting infrared. When I had a new (flat) roof put on several years ago, the roofer suggested a reflective topcoat to reduce the heating of the house by sunlight, and thus the air-conditioning bill. Works like a charm, and I'm glad to learn that I'm helping in my own small way to Save the Planet.

Sorry Wolverine, maybe you should check your facts before you disparage.

PS: no, I'm not a rocket-scientist, just a paint chemist for 18 years.On White roofs could help keep climate change at bay posted 1 year, 2 months ago 6 Responses

E. Coli also comes from people...

The increase in E. Coli outbreaks seems to track rather well with the increased  use of undocumented labor for food production, harvesting, handling, and service. If the people contacting your food at every step of the way are from poor rural areas where hygiene is not as ingrained as in the US, the chance of contamination increases at every step of the way. It is the responsibility of the employers to make sure that correct hygiene practices are followed; unfortunately, since they are usually hiring the undocumented to get cheap labor, that's just another corner that gets cut.On Starting today the FDA will allow producers to use irradiation on lettuce and spinach posted 1 year, 3 months ago 8 Responses

Childish Pique

So the horrid Republicans, enemies of all things good, are taking the beloved Democrats, friends of all things warm and fuzzy, to task for blocking consideration of needed legislation, because the vote might make Nancy Pelosi fly into a rage and disappear in a cloud of sulphurous smoke. Or, cynics might note, no solutions to the nations' energy problems may be considered that do not belong entirely to the Great Messiah Barack and His Party.

The Democrats are playing the very worst kind of partisan politics, and Mr. Roberts can only attack the Republicans for having the temerity of calling them on it.On How much does it take to buy a protest on the floor of the House? posted 1 year, 3 months ago 3 Responses

Nukes vs 'Renewables'

Our friend amazingdrx, amazingly asserts:
"Wind allows other activities, like farming or conservation wildlife areas to go forward unhindered in the same location." I'd refer him/her to the recent report on the Altamont wind-farms, where a measly 100 towers have been slaughtering a couple of thousand birds each year, and where attempts to decrease the wildlife loss over the last two years have apparently been futile. Now multiply by the tens of thousands of whirly-blades needed to acheive the wind-power Utopia, and you can pretty much kiss your feathered friends goodbye.

As far as the knee-jerk assertion that nuclear power means all your children will come out eight-pound hair-covered eyeballs ("Astronomical cost!  Waste storage for 10,000 years!  genetic diseases multiplying!"), might I gently remind the learned amazing that the largest source of radiation in our environment is the wind-borne flyash from burning coal, which is just laced with radioactive Thorium. Of course, you can spend bunches of money to remove the flyash and reuse it for something, as the TVA tried to do back in the 1970's: the stuff works very nicely as a component in cinder-block, and was so used for several years, until they found this unfortunate tendency for Geiger-counters to go nuts inside of buildings made from the stuff. Wait, I know, we can take the thousands of tons of flyash generated every year and bury it someplace... Yucca Mountain, perhaps? Or, we could pull our heads out of the fantasy-world orfice and admit that in a less than perfect world, nuclear power has worked, still works, will continue to work well into the future, and is the best bet until we come up with something better than bird-Cuisnarts, or destroying the American West by covering it with solar-panel farms linked with thousands of miles of roads and transmission towers (oh, you didn't notice those in the artist's conception drawings?)

TANSTAAFL   (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch)On French independent nuclear commission reports four malfunctions in four plants in 15 days posted 1 year, 4 months ago 43 Responses

Renewable Resource newsflash!

New data show bird kills up in Altamont
By Chris Metinko
Oakland Tribune
Article Launched: 07/23/2008 10:05:27 PM PDT

Click photo to enlargeA raptor spreads its wings and glides effortlessly between two... (Bay Area News Group file photo)«123»The Altamont Pass windmills are killing more hunting birds than ever after two years of trying to cut the deaths by half.

From October 2005 to October 2007, the deaths among four raptors studied -- golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, American kestrels and burrowing owls -- increased 27 percent overall, according to a review committee following the project to protect the birds.

Only the golden eagles as a group showed fewer deaths, a decline of 21 percent.

The panel estimated a total of 2,236 raptors were killed annually during the study period. The two-year increase was measured against a baseline study of the kills from 1998 to 2003.
On The media's central arguments for and against Gore's challenge to the nation posted 1 year, 4 months ago 18 Responses

Parks and Guns

GoodCheer says:
'I agree with this dude whole-heartedly.  I am concerned about my (sic)safty in national parks.  That's why I don't want people to have concealed guns.  Seems pretty logical to me...'

Uh, have you done a check recently with your local drug-dealer's association? People who are into breaking the law, thus those who would be a threat to your safety, DON'T OBEY LAWS. That's why we call them criminals.

The only people affected by laws banning the possesion of firearms, under whatever the circumstances, are the law-abiding. If you wish to be a disarmed, helpless victim of crime, that's your right in a free society. Taking away the option of self-defense is not your right.On DOI takes public comment on allowing loaded guns in national parks posted 1 year, 7 months ago 12 Responses

Oh, Good Grief!

Before venting on the terrible hunters, has anyone ever seen a polar bear close up? 500+ pounds of carnivore, with paws the size of dinner plates and the ability to run way faster than most humans. Y'know, like that little thing of breaking the neck of a 200 pound seal with one slap of a paw?
Given that, if any armed human being encounters one face-to-face and with signs of bad intentions on the part of the bear, it's bye-bye bear. If your personal morality includes letting yourself be killed and eaten, may Buddah bless you...On Polar bear ventures far inland, shot to death posted 1 year, 8 months ago 10 Responses

?Wolverine?

May I respectfully suggest that our friend Wolverine lay off the pipe before publishing opinions such as the previous. Trashing the Bill of Rights because you don't approve of Big Business Propaganda (as opposed to the Propaganda that you agree with) is uncalled for: when everyone seems to be suffering from the fear that Government is taking away our rights, getting rid of any part of the protection that does exist against governmental intrusion seems, well,....mental.

Just my humble opinion. On Misleading cotton ads banned in U.K. posted 1 year, 8 months ago 3 Responses

Guns in National Parks

The issue of carrying firearms for personal defense has been raised in this discussion; however, the references have been to the wrong species of predator. National Parks and Forests have become infested with 'commercial' growers of marijuana, who consider their plots to be their property, to be defended to your death. If my memory does not deceive, I have also seen reports indicating that attacks by human predators on National Park visitors has risen by several hundred percent in the last couple of decades, ranging from robbery through rape, abduction and killing just for the fun of it. In an ideal world the parks would be one place we could get away from the crime and violence of the urban jungle; sadly, that is not the case in the real world we live in. I'm not arguing for everybody to be packing heat; those who have the training and judgement to use lethal force to defend themselve from attack should not be prevented from doing so by well-meaning but ill-conceved laws.
<soapbox mode off>On Ban on loaded firearms in national parks may be lifted posted 1 year, 9 months ago 20 Responses

Green Party and Cynthia McKinney

If Ms. Mckinney is their leading candidate, I predict a dismal result for their party.

Rep. McKinney thought that Robert Mugabe was a cool guy, stated publically that the Bush administration flew those planes into the Twin Towers to help their corporate friends reap the benefits of increased defense spending, and messed up Katrina relief only because the suffering residents were black. Her dad told a reporter, when asked why she lost her bid for re-election, that the election had been bought out by:" the Jews...J-E-W-S".

I think we can safely say that Cynthia does not represent the majority of anybody not certifiably certifiable.On U.S. Green Party holds its first presidential debate of the season posted 1 year, 10 months ago 20 Responses

Resuming Whale Hunting

The economics are the thing: whale factory ships are VERY single purpose, and would be so much scrap metal if whaling were totally banned.

So the answer is no ships, no new ships would be built, and the slaughter ends.

Anybody have a source for some Mark-48 homing torpedos? Just as a philosophical question, you understand...On Japanese whaling fleet to hunt up to 1,035 whales, including 50 humpbacks posted 2 years ago 4 Responses

Which party spends the most?

The one that has control of the pursestrings, of course. Or, using Illinois as the example, "When we're in office we're in, and we're out of office... we're also in." There is one trough, and the line form on both the Left and the Right.On Big Auto unveils efficient cars, continues to fight against strict efficiency standards posted 2 years ago 7 Responses

Re: Free money

" The idea that India and China (or any developing nation) just go ahead and spend money they don't have (hint, part of the definition of "developing"), then simply raise the prices of their goods to get the money back is, well, pretty laughable."
Pardon me? Since when is a country that has been razing and rebuilding all of it's major cities, has some of the biggest (and most destructive) public works projects ever seen on the planet ongoing, and has mega-billions of American dollars pouring in to its banks every year from trade in danger of having to "spend money they don't have"? Patrick, you may be living in one of the Beijing neighborhoods that haven't been bulldozed yet to create more business campuses , but if you get downtown you will see every indication that the government of the PRC is LOADED with cash. They just aren't going to spend any of it on the environment unless they have to, and the Kyoto accord says they don't have to.On Two analysts argue for ditching Kyoto and finding something better posted 2 years, 1 month ago 5 Responses

re:Sprawling homes susceptible to flames

Just like the developers who have been building homes in floodplains in the Midwest, the Western crowd who created tinderboxes like Rancho Bernardo need to be reined in. After decades of paying people along the Missisippi River to rebuild their homes every few years when the latest flood wiped them out, the insurance companies finally balked and refused to extend coverage to disaster-certain areas. Same policy should apply to the folks who build a frame house with a cedar-shake roof in a canyon covered in underbrush. Maybe upping the annual fire insurance premium to 20% of assessed value will put a damper on sales?On Sprawling homes susceptible to flames in California posted 2 years, 1 month ago 3 Responses

Saving the Planet: NIMBY

I looked up Hinckley: about 100 mile NE of Los Angeles, in the middle of noplace. It's most attractive feature is the railroad line running through it, pretty much necessary to move 8,000,000,000 pounds a year of treated bio-waste from the cities to the composting plant. One assumes that after processing, the railroad will be delivering some tens of thousands of tons of natural fertilizer to restore farmland near and far.
Unless I missed something, the alternatives to processing all this poo into fertilizer is to burn it (yummy warmer weather anyone?), bury it (there goes the groundwater), or dump it in the ocean (probably where it's going right now).
The obstacle to building and operating this plant is its proximity to the unfortunate citizens of (already polluted) Hinckley.
Here's a thought: insteading of David Geffen pimping campaign funds for the Clintons and Obama among the fabulously wealthy in Hollywood, he passes the hat on behalf of some people who actually need a hand, and uses the proceeds to buy them out and move them someplace that isn't polluted. They get to have a better place to live (call it New Hinckley?), California gets to do something productive and environmentally beneficial with some of its waste, and the fabulously wealthy get to feel good about saving the planet.
And the only losers are those who reflexively oppose anything proposed by Big Business, because it must be evil...On Don't Make Her Bust Out That Bustier posted 2 years, 9 months ago 4 Responses

Ozone Bald Spot

So, just like the Kyoto protocol gives freebies to pollute for China and India, some whizz-kids also decided that letting the "developing world" have a pass on using fluorocarbon refrigerants for the next forty years would be OK. After all, only the bad ole' USA pollutes the environment, those poor people in Asia all ride bicycles and wear Birkenstocks and love Mother Earth.

Is it fair to say that an overwhelming concern for "Social Justice" should automatically disqualify anyone from being involved in negotiating environmental agreements? Just asking, you understand...On Now That's a Bald Spot posted 2 years, 9 months ago 1 Response

Rotten to the Corps

Sorry, but Mr. Grunwald has it wrong: like the rest of the Armed Forces, the Corp of Engineers takes its orders from the Executive branch and the Legislative branch of the Federal Government. While they may propose projects that enhance their funding (like any other agency), the resposibility goes directly to those folks in Congress who treat the Federal budget as their private play-money. I find it strange that in his article, Grunwald repeatedly fingers the Louisiana politicians as the source of the bad decisions and worse allocation of funds, then turns around and acts as if the Corps had any choice except to do what they were told?
An article written by someone who has never worked inside a bureaucracy.On The Army Corps of Engineers is the real culprit behind New Orleans' devastation posted 3 years, 3 months ago 9 Responses

Eco-terrorism lives!

The logic-chopping that justifies destruction of property because: "there must be a human component" for it to rank as terrorism is so incredibly twisted as to defy belief. If I blow up the Federal building in Oklahoma City, that's not terrorism because my intention was to make my point by destroying inanimate property? Too bad about the 'collateral damage'...

Trying to justify the terrorist actions of groups like ELF and ALF by comparing them to the patriots of the American Revolution totally misses the point. Yes, of course the Boston Tea Party and other actions by the Sons of Liberty, including burning the homes of Loyalists, were terrorist activities in the eyes of the established government. The resolution of these actions, and the revolution that ensued, was the establishment of a truly new form of representative government. How can you see a resolution to the activities of groups like ALF or ELF, or for that matter Al Quaeda? The only thing that will satisfy them is for the rest of us to get off their planet. Nothing will ever satisfy people who are into destruction for it's own sake, which is the motivation for most terrorists today, despite all the rationalizing attempts to justify their anarchism.

As long as the environmental movement tolerates, or even attempts to justify, terrorist activities, no matter what their stated motivation, they will be viewed by mainstream America not just as funny tree-huggers, but as dangerous accomplices to violence against society. It's not the evil right-wing cabal's 'hype' that you need be afraid of, but societies rejection of your wrong-headed self-righteousness.On is an industry effort to shut down threats to their bottom line posted 4 years, 1 month ago 10 Responses