September 2007 archive

Somehow, the Pony Party I’d posted got nuked.  It’s not showing up, so I’m recreating it, under my own account ’cause I’m in a hurry.  Hopefully it wasn’t nuked ’cause our leader really hated it or somethin’.  But it has a real pony!

This is an OPEN THREAD. Here are four stories in the news at 4 o’clock to get you started.

1. There is an uptick in news about global warming today. The Independent brings news from Washington D.C. as Bush prepares for ‘greenwashing’ climate summit. “For the first time in 16 years, a major environmental conference opens in Washington, hosted by the Bush administration. But no concrete results are expected, and that… is the point of this high-level meeting. ¶ Far from representing a Damascene conversion on climate change by… George Bush, the two-day gathering of the world’s biggest polluting nations is aimed at undermining the UN’s efforts to tackle global warming, say European sources. ‘The conference was called at very short notice,’ said one participant. ‘It’s a cynical exercise in destabilising the UN process.'” The Guardian also confirms that diplomats are accusing Bush of attempting to derail UN climate conference. “One European diplomat described the US meeting as a spoiler for a UN conference planned for Bali in December. Another… claimed that the US conference was merely a way of deflecting pressure from other world leaders who had asked at the G8 summit this year for the US to make concessions on global warming. ¶ They predicted that Mr Bush, who is to address the meeting tomorrow, will stress the need to make technological advances that can help combat climate change but will reject mandatory caps on emissions… ¶ One of those attending said the conference reflected ‘political hardball’ on the part of the Bush administration, aimed at undermining the UN, for which it holds long-term suspicion. Another said the conference was aimed at domestic politics, with Mr Bush seeking headlines and television coverage implying that he was doing something about climate change while, in fact, doing almost nothing.

   The Bush administration is doing nothing and taking credit for the work of others. The Washington Post reports the White House is taking unearned credit for emissions cuts. “Seeking to counter international pressure to adopt binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions, the Bush administration has been touting the success of three mandatory programs to curb U.S. energy consumption: gas mileage standards for vehicles, efficiency standards for home appliances and state laws requiring utilities to increase their use of renewable energy sources. ¶ But for most of the Bush presidency, the White House has either done little to promote these measures or, in some cases, has actively fought against them. Moreover, the fuel economy and appliance initiatives were first taken years ago to slash energy consumption, long before climate change became a pressing issue. ¶ The administration initially delayed plans to set improved energy-efficiency standards for 22 appliances, which led to a court battle with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group. Under a 2006 legal settlement, the Energy Department is now working to finish the rules. The White House also tried to reverse strict efficiency standards for central air conditioners upon Bush’s taking office in 2001, a move the NRDC had reversed in a separate lawsuit.

2. Spiegel brings news of the ever-increasing evidence that biofuels ’emit more greenhouse gases than fossil fuels’. “A team of researchers led by Nobel-prize winning chemist Paul Crutzen has found that growing and using biofuels emits up to 70 percent more greenhouse gases than fossil fuels. They are warning that the cure could end up being worse than the disease.”

   Biofuels, once championed as the great hope for fighting climate change, could end up being more damaging to the environment than oil or gasoline. A new study has found that the growth and use of crops to make biofuels produces more damaging greenhouse gases than previously thought.

   German^* Nobel-prize winning chemist Paul Crutzen and his team of researchers have calculated the emissions released by the growth and burning of crops such as maize, rapeseed and cane sugar to produce biofuels. The team of American, British and German scientists has found that the process releases twice as much nitrous oxide (N2O) as previously thought. They estimate that 3 to 5 percent of nitrogen in fertilizer is converted and emitted, as opposed to the 2 percent used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its calculations.

   Crutzen is widely respected in the field of climate research, having received the Nobel Prize in 1995 for his research into the ozone layer. The study, published in the scientific journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, finds that the growth and use of biofuels produced from rapeseed and maize can produce 70 percent and 50 percent more greenhouse gases respectively than fossil fuels.

   * Crutzen is actually Dutch according to his Wikipedia entry.

3. Emily Wax reports for the Washington Post that boats are seen as the future in flood-prone Bangladesh. “Melting glaciers in the Himalayas are already causing sea levels to rise here, and scientists say Bangladesh may lose up to 20 percent of its land by 2030 as a result of flooding. That Bangladesh is among the most vulnerable countries on the planet to climate change is a tragedy for its 150 million people, most of whom are destitute… ¶ ‘For Bangladesh, boats are the future,’ said Abul Hasanat Mohammed Rezwan, an architect who started the boats project here and who now oversees it as executive director of the nonprofit Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha, a name that means self-reliance. ‘As Bangladeshi citizens, it’s our responsibility to find solutions because the potential for human disaster is so huge. We have to be bold. Everyone loves land. But the question is: Will there be enough? Millions of people will have nowhere to go.’ … ¶ Scientists in Dhaka, the capital, predict that as many as 20 million people in Bangladesh will become ‘climate refugees’ by 2030, unable to farm or survive on their flooded land. The migration has already started. In 1995, half of Bhola Island, Bangladesh’s biggest island, was swallowed by rising sea levels, leaving 500,000 people homeless.”

4. Finally, a double shot of Blackwater news today.

   • The New York Times reports that shootings by Blackwater exceed those of all other firms in Iraq. “Blackwater USA has been involved in a far higher rate of shootings while guarding American diplomats in Iraq than other security firms providing similar services to the State Department, according to Bush administration officials and industry officials… ¶ The State Department keeps reports on each case in which weapons were fired by security personnel guarding American diplomats in Iraq… ¶ The officials said that Blackwater’s incident rate was at least twice that recorded by employees of DynCorp International and Triple Canopy, the two other United States-based security firms that have been contracted by the State Department to provide security for diplomats and other senior civilians in Iraq… Last year, the State Department gave Blackwater the lead role in diplomatic security in Iraq, reducing the roles of DynCorp and Triple Canopy. ¶ The company employs about 850 workers in Iraq under its diplomatic security contract, about three-quarters of them Americans, according to the State Department and the Congressional Research Service. DynCorp has 157 security guards in Iraq; Triple Canopy has about 250.” So, to eliminate private security contractors from Iraq, it would take reassignment of 1257 military personnel?

   • The Los Angeles Times reports that Defense War Secretary Robert Gates has moved to rein in contractors in Iraq. “Gates has ordered U.S. military commanders in Iraq to crack down on any abuses they uncover by private security contractors in the aftermath of a deadly shooting involving American guards that infuriated Iraqis… ¶ In a three-page directive sent Tuesday night to the Pentagon’s most senior officers, Gates’ top deputy ordered them to review rules governing contractors’ use of arms and to begin legal proceedings against any that have violated military law. ¶ Gates’ order contrasts with the reaction of State Department officials, who have been slow to acknowledge any potential failings in their oversight of Blackwater USA… The Pentagon directive does not affect private security guards under contract to other agencies, including the State Department, which is investigating the Blackwater shooting.” According to the Washington Post, Gates declined to describe the contractors as mercenaries. ” Asked by a senator whether he considered the contractors ‘mercenaries,’ Gates replied that many of the security contractors in Iraq are former members of the U.S. military and do not see themselves in that light.” McClatchy newspapers reports some in the Pentagon prefer soldiers over contractors. “Within the military, there’s disagreement about the role of contractors. During his confirmation hearing earlier this year, Petraeus said that he couldn’t effectively wage a counterinsurgency war without contactors, who do everything from security to food preparation. ¶ But… Navy Adm. William Fallon, the commander of the U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, said he didn’t want contractors seen as a ‘surrogate army.’ ‘My instinct is that it’s easier and better if they were in uniform and were working for me,’ Fallon said. ‘There’s a rule set out there, and these guys should adhere to it as far as action, training and accountability.'”

Of course, there is one more story below the fold…

Thought that title would get your attention.  It’s easy to see the cruelty and injustice of American power, at home and abroad, to feel the country is in the hands of…er…let’s not go there.  This is about what’s right with America!  What’s beautiful and laudable and grand. 

Please don’t rec the pony parties!  Another one will be along soon…

  Believed to be born on September 26, 1722 (though other sources use Sept 16th), Samuel Adams lived his entire life in Boston, Massachusetts.  He died on October 2, 1803, in a state and a country which he helped to create.

Samuel Adams is one of your ‘Founding Fathers’.  Leader, activist, brewer. 

“Without the character of Samuel Adams, the true history of the American Revolution can never be written. For fifty years his pen, his tongue, his activity, were constantly exerted for his country without fee or reward.”~ John Adams