<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for The new Senate global warming deniers]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by Gar Lipow http://www.grist.org/article/the-new-senate-global-warming-deniers/ Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:49:53 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/the-new-senate-global-warming-deniers/1 I've been pointing this out from the beginning. No Democrat and few environmental groups have been willing to say "This bill is so bad I can't support it." Nor have many said, "this is so bad I can barely support it as is, but not if it gets any worse".  No amount of criticism or "pointing out that it is already a compromise" will keep the bill from getting worse in the Senate, as long as the environmental community makes it clear they will swallow anything. There is no countervailing pressure from the left to push back against pressure from the right. Congratulations to mainstream environmentalists who have show their usual sound strategtic and tactical sense.

]]> I've been pointing this out from the beginning. No Democrat and few environmental groups have been willing to say "This bill is so bad I can't support it." Nor have many said, "this is so bad I can barely support it as is, but not if it gets any worse".  No amount of criticism or "pointing out that it is already a compromise" will keep the bill from getting worse in the Senate, as long as the environmental community makes it clear they will swallow anything. There is no countervailing pressure from the left to push back against pressure from the right. Congratulations to mainstream environmentalists who have show their usual sound strategtic and tactical sense.

]]> Comment #2 by Tyler Durden http://www.grist.org/article/the-new-senate-global-warming-deniers/ Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:18:59 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/the-new-senate-global-warming-deniers/2 What Gar said.  This is another reason that we should all follow the old Earth First! mantra, "No compromise in defense of Mother Earth!"  Compromise is a very slippery slope and easily leads to a long downward spiral, in this case ending with a bill that in its present form will probably cause more harm than good.  While some compromise is often required in politics, it needs to be kept to a bare minimum if the resulting bill is going to be anything worth supporting.

In this case, it's clear that real climate change legislation is not possible in the right wing, business-first U.S.  Considering that this bill will do more harm than good, that it's better to do nothing than to create the illusion of doing something, and that the Clean Air Act could be used to achieve the purported goals of this bill, the compromises here went way too far.

]]> What Gar said.  This is another reason that we should all follow the old Earth First! mantra, "No compromise in defense of Mother Earth!"  Compromise is a very slippery slope and easily leads to a long downward spiral, in this case ending with a bill that in its present form will probably cause more harm than good.  While some compromise is often required in politics, it needs to be kept to a bare minimum if the resulting bill is going to be anything worth supporting.

In this case, it's clear that real climate change legislation is not possible in the right wing, business-first U.S.  Considering that this bill will do more harm than good, that it's better to do nothing than to create the illusion of doing something, and that the Clean Air Act could be used to achieve the purported goals of this bill, the compromises here went way too far.

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