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Re: Hurricane Sarah

Janet Reno — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:59:18 -0000

Obama's efforts to connect to the Republican Party, specifically Bush, and Dick Cheney, of the Halliburton Company, dates back to the Presidents Grandfather, Prescott Bush, and indeed Cheney was once an executive officer of Halliburton.

The American military pounds Iraq with Artillary, bombs, and the like, destroying large sections of cities, and infra-structures, then Halliburton comes in to rebuild. Halliburton and Halliburton associated companies have raked in ten’s of billions.

Obama is just like the BIG HALIBURTAN. Haliburton has contracted to build detention centers in the U.S. similiar to the one in Quantanammo Bay, Cuba. Halliburton does nothing to earn the Two Dollars for each meal an American Serviceman in Iraq eats.

http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/

Halliburton was scheduled to take control of the Dubai Ports in The United Arab Emiirate. The deal was canceled when Bush was unable to affect the transfer of the American Ports.

Now we see what some might suspect as similiar financial escapading from the Democrats.

Two years ago, Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity gave a $50 million contract to a start-up security company - Companion- owned by now-convicted businessman (TONY REZKO) Tony Rezko and a onetime Chicago cop, Daniel T. Frawley, to train Iraqi power-plant guards in the United States. An Iraqi leadership change left the deal in limbo. Now the company, Companion Security, is working to revive its contract.
Involved along with Antoin “Tony” Rezco, long time friend and neighbor of Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama, and former cop Daniel T. Frawley, is Aiham Alsammarae. Alsammarae was accused of financial corruption by Iraqi authorities and jailed in Iraq last year before escaping and returning here.

LIKE FATHER LIKE SON --
Recently, Obama's campaign staff have been vetted by the IRS to disclose his connection to the criminal money generating underworld. Besides his connections to the REZCO MAFIA types, his up-coming Tax Fraud charges — Obama needs to disclose why he is a MUSLIM "PATWANG-FWEEE" and disclose Obama's MUSLIM Farrakhan eat-with-the-Mafia mob connection to Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. Its minister, and Obama's spiritual adviser, is the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. In 1982, the church launched Trumpet Newsmagazine; Wright's daughters serve as publisher and executive editor. Every year, the magazine makes awards in various categories. Last year, it gave the Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Trumpeter Award to a man it said "truly epitomized greatness." That man is Louis Farrakhan. Farrakhan and Chicago's Trinity United Church are trumpeting Barack Obama AKA Barack Hussein Obama as the second coming of the messiah. Oddly enough, Barack Obama, and his mentor Rev. Wright, failed to mention Planned Parenthood, an organization established by eugenicist Margaret Sanger expressly for the purpose of black genocide. The Obelus -- Kiss-A-Cuss and "GLORK" black demagoguery of Obama's Stump Lines Echo Malcolm X; foreshadows X - PATRIOT Obama (the nuclear AGA KHAN) and Umkhonto we Sizwe or 'Spear of the Nation' -- as the bringer of a “new politics” rising above the old Washington ways of expediency. It's hard to think of an act more blatantly expedient than renouncing Wright when his show, once done from the press club instead of the pulpit, could no longer be "contextualized" as something whites could not understand and only Obama could explain in all its complexity. Pope Benedict XVI quoted Alexis de Tocqueville and Franklin Roosevelt on the positive role of faith in society, used the term “E Pluribus Unum” (Latin for "Out of Many, One."), and extrapolated America’s long history of interfaith cooperation efforts in his speech to America. Obama should stop suppoting our intervention in IRAQ. It’s time to introduce this false, fake Xerox - X box Obama and invite the self-indicting thief plagiarizing pipsqueke "GLORK" Xerox - X box to meet the Buffalo "GAZOWNT-GAZIKKA" Police Department Buffalo Creek. He is MAD!!! --

OBAM YOU'RE NO JFK --

"GLORK" Obama looks like Alfred E. Newman: "Tales Calculated To Drive You." He is a MUSLIM "Glork" He's MAD!!! Alfred E. Neuman is the fictional mascot of Mad. The face had drifted through American pictography for decades before being claimed by Mad editor Harvey Kurtzman after he spotted it on the bulletin board in the office of Ballantine Books editor Bernard Shir-Cliff, later a contributor to various magazines created by Kurtzman.
Obama needs to disclose why he is a MUSLIM "PATWANG-FWEEE" and stop suppoting our intervention in IRAQ. It’s time to introduce this false, fake "GLORK" Xerox - X box Obama and invite the self-indicting thief plagiarizing pipsqueke Xerox - X box to meet the Buffalo "GAZOWNT-GAZIKKA" Police Department Buffalo Creek.

Michelle Obama should be ashamed.

"GLORK" Michelle Obama should be ashamed of her separatist-racist connection to Farrakhan and Chicago's Trinity United Church trumpeting Barack Obama AKA Barack Hussein Obama as the second coming of the messiah. Beneath that Darth-Vader-Mace-Windu-Jedi-Me ssiah Helmet Hairdo of Michelle Obama lurks a Wildabeast. If Michelle Obama new what her husband -- the Hope-A-Dope, Fonster Monster -- Barack Obama AKA Barack Hussein Obama did in Harlem, she would wash her wide-open, Hus-suey loving MUSILM mouth out, with twenty-four (24) mule-team double-cross X-boX-BorraX. The Lexis-Nexis-Albatross-Abacus-Complex of Barack and Michelle's relationship with MUSLIM "PATWANG-FWEEE" Rev. Wright, Louis Farrakhan, and black demagoguery of Obama's Stump Lines Echo Malcolm X; is about as much of a Hoax as Oxfam volunteers believe in HIV-- AIDS Witch Doctors in Africa they feed.
"God damn America" - eXiled Jeremiah Wright and Barack Obama.
"God bless America" - Pope Benedict XVI and Hillary Clinton --
Michelle Obama AKA Wildabeast -- failed the Illinois Bar Exam. If Barack Obama had married Shaniqua instead of the leftist-separatist-racist-beast-'ist Michelle, his jackanapes' excitedly-fixed-elitism, Nemet-Oure-Saxas Our Father Our King -- black rage, and "GLORK" black demagoguery of Obama's Stump Lines Echo Malcolm X; would be taken a lot more expeditiously. Its expected that Obam will manage his explosive MUSLIM JIHADI -- FATIMA EXTREMISM obsession bitter. He is a MUSLIM "Glork" It’s time to introduce this false, fake "GLORK" Xerox - X box Obama and invite the self-indicting thief plagiarizing pipsqueke Xerox - X box to meet the Buffalo "GAZOWNT-GAZIKKA" Police Department Buffalo Creek. He's MAD!!!

http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/

THE SPEECH --

The Apologia has arrived and once again the self-indicting, separatist-racist Barack Obama AKA Barack Hussein Obama, promises to heal the wounds of the world. The speech is the rude awakening of mass messianism of his campaign. Apologetically, Obama the MUSLIM double-cross X-boX-BorraX has an astonishingly empty two-prawn echelon explanation of his misjudgment.
In the first prawn: with regard to his connection to separatist-racist Rev. Wright; Obama summons voodoo and juju to express slavery as beginning and ending with the Rev. Wright.
In the second prawn: Obama's speech takes credit for Ashley's dream. A dream of unity Martin Luther King, Jr. borrowed from Ashley for his historic "I Have A Dream" speech. In Obama's speech, the connective bond Ashley, the elderly black man and Obama's grandmother share; represents Obama's self-indicting rise to the Harvard Yard. For Obama, the grand flag of language is the semi-fore of words, bestowed upon our nation by the messiah-alumni from Harvard. Obama's Swoon-Song Apologia to the nation represents a failed hymn -- a hymn that fails to heal the nation, repair the world, or make this time different than all the rest. Obama's speech is a brilliant failure.

http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/

MUSLIM LIES --

The ILLIGITIAMTE MUSLIM MESSIA has blundered yet again!!! The self-indicting, separatist-racist Barack Obama AKA Barack Hussein Obama, lied about the politics of his campaign. The danger involved with this self-aggrandizing, -a-hoop, Hope-A-Dope, Fonster Monster -- Barack Obama AKA Barack Hussein Obama is that -- "Like Father Like Son" X - PATRIOT Obama (the nuclear AGA KHAN), is constantly wanting to impress America with "...his incapacity for sound judgment." Michelle Obama did not suppot anti-miscegenation laws that banned interracial marriages. Michelle Obama did not suppot anti-miscegenation laws that banned interracial marriages. In 2005, Sen. Obama voted for the Dick Cheney energy bill, which Cheney wrote in secret with the Exxon Mobil oil industry. Hillary Clinton opposed Cheney's energy bill, has a plan to eliminate oil industry tax breaks, and would require oil companies to contribute to a $50 billion strategic energy fund to jump-start research and investment in clean energy technologies. On top of the horrible crime Obama eXecuted in Harlem, the fact is, we have to hear it from extra "BRAIN" Karl Rove about Obama's latest Campaign Crisis.

"GLORK" Top Ten Obama Lies:

1. Obam said his parents met at the Selma march -- Reality: He was born 4 years before that.

2. Obam said he was a constitutional law professor -- Reality: . . . Obama Made This False Claim In His 2004 Senate Race. “Several direct-mail pieces issued for Obama's primary [Senate] campaign said he was a law professor at the University of Chicago. He is not. He is a senior lecturer (now on leave) at the school..

3. Obam said he spoke fluent Indonesian as a child -- Reality: . . . Obama has claimed on numerous occasions to have become fluent in Indonesian in six months. Yet another Phi Beta Krakatau lie from Obama. Those who knew him disputed that during recent interviews. Israel la Pareira Darmawan, Obama's 1st-grade teacher, said she attempted to help him learn the Indonesian language by going over pronunciation and vowel sounds. Truth-be-told: Obama's Indonesian teachers say Kaku-Pooh.

4. Obam said he was involved in community asbestos and housing project for the poor -- Reality: . . . Didn't happen. This was the basis for Barack and Michelle's claim, that he was a community activist on the South and East Side of Chicago. Usher United Arab Emirates (UAE) A+ lie both he and his twenty-four (24) mule-team, Hus-suey loving wife Michelle Obama have been claiming in the campaign -- Reality: The Chicago Newspaper's Obelus -- Kiss-A-Cuss:...NO-MAMA.

5. Obam said in his book that he received his racial awakening at age nine reading a Life/Ebony Magazine story about a black man who was scarred trying to dye his skin white -- Reality: . . . Didn't happen. Both Magazines (Life and Ebony), and the Rev. Wright and Farrakhan MUSLIM Trumpet Newsmagazine say, just didn't happen.

6. Obam’s Campaign Didn’t Have The “Technical Capacity” To Produce The “1984” Ad:

Obama: “But it's not something that we had anything to do with or were aware of and that frankly, given what it looks like, we don't have the technical capacity to create something like that.” (CNN’s “Larry King Live,” 3/24/07) -- Reality:...The Creator Admitted All It Took Was A “Sunday Afternoon” On His Mac. Phillip de Vellis: “I made the ad on a Sunday afternoon in my apartment using my personal equipment (a Mac and some software), uploaded it to YouTube, and sent links around to blogs.”

7. Obam’s Campaign Claimed His High School Friend Tried To Extort Money From Them:

“According To The Obama Campaign, [Obama’s Punahou Classmate Keith] Kakugawa Explicitly Raised The Possibility That He Could Make Up False Stories About Obama, Implying He Would Do So If The Campaign Did Not Give Him Money.” (Maurice Possley, Kirsten Scharnberg and Ray Gibson, -- Reality: “...An Old Friend's Troublesome Return,” Chicago Tribune, 3/25/07).

8. Obam voted to bring low-cost foreign labor into New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina -- Reality: . . . This was a slap in the face against the African-Americans who were displaced in that city. Obama also voted to place Michael Chertoff, the man responsible for the Katrina catastrophe, in charge of Homeland Security. Obama voted for Senate-Bills that gave Blackwater the funding they needed to shoot the folks of New Orleans who were only trying to save their own lives. Inextricably, the towel head voted to allow Michael Chertoff to waive all applicable laws, including murder, torture, kidnaping, and he suppoted water-boarding.

9. Obam voted more than five times for USA-PATRIOT ACT renewal -- Reality: . . . This is a Senate-Bill patently offensive to most Americans. City after city has passed resolutions condemning USA-PATRIOT ACT. Passively or reflexively, Obama chose to side with tyranny over freedom and Bush over the folks on this issue. The Real ID Act, which would allow Michael Chertoff to declare martial law and imprison Americans, was supported by ex-patriot Obama, as noted above.

10. Obam is not a MAD MAN. Sen. Obama has not exaggerated the disconnection with . . ."The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth" --Ex. xxxiv. 6; or extolled his venomous-vexatious-Vesuvius MUSLIM madrassahs' - faux-pas on us. Sen. Obama Is not involved along with political fixer Antoin “Tony” Rezco, long time friend and neighbor, now-convicted businessman (TONY REZKO); or Tony Rezko and a onetime Chicago cop, Daniel T. Frawley. Sen. Obama's ex-boss 'Allison Davis' is not a Rezko partner (at 61st and Drexel). Sen. Obama is not involved with- nor has Sen. Obama exhibited any nuclear security, extortion, bribery, money payoffs, or cronyism in the state of Illinois; or criminal activities related to the BIG HALIBURTAN and V.P. Cheney's Halliburton bribery case; or any political misjudgment in his escalating Campaign Crisis. Sen. Obama does not take money from people who hire lobbyists, partners of lobbyists, spouses of lobbyists, former lobbyists or state lobbyists. "GLORK" Sen. Obama Is not involved with any Hoax or Oxfam volunteers and HIV-- AIDS Witch Doctors in Africa they feed. Sen. Obama is not associated with Exiled "God damn America" SOULJAH JIHAD -- Rev. Jeremiah Wright, MUSLIM EXTREMIST (Malcolm X KillA) -- Louis Farrakhan and black-rage demagoguery; or Obama's Mea Culpa-Apologia; or Stump Lines Echo Malcolm X; Sen. Obama has not exulted the virtue of being an aggrieved black man. Sen. Obama does not accept political contributions from terrorists. Sen. Obama has not expressed the troublesome sub-text of the October Surprise: "X-Files" -- The 1980 election scandal exposed... the extraneous-demon-us-venomous anger driven association between Obama and aging [VX] Vietnam-era Weather Underground Radical Terrorist William Ayers. Sen. Obama has not expressed the troublesome sub-text of the November Surprise: "X-X-Files" -- The 2008 election scandal exposed... the extraneous-demon-us-venomous anger driven association between Obama and 501-(C)-Shaddy-Sharpton Semilunar-Crescent of Allah Islam and Solar-Solecism Sista-Soljah Souljah-Jihad -- AXIS OF EVIL Rev. Sharpton, Rev. Wright and MUSLIM EXTREMIST (Malcolm X KillA) -- Louis Farrakhan, and Malcolm X Mosque No. 7 - JIHADI — FATIMA EXTREMIST underground-money connection to Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. Sen. Obama is not a separatist-racist. Michelle Obama AKA Wildabeast is not a liberal-leftist-sexist-racist. Michelle Obama AKA Wildabeast -- did not fail the Illinois Bar Exam and trot out her Marxist leftist-separatist-racist Socialist X box - Soapbox; X - PATRIOT Obama Is not the nuclear AGA KHAN. Obama Is not the (Umkhonto we Sizwe - "Spear of the Nation"). EX-communicated Rev. Jeremiah Wright has not influenced Obama's eXtremist liberal-elitist-separatist-racist Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad -- eXterminate Israel world-view. Michelle Obama did not suppot anti-miscegenation laws that banned interracial marriages. Sen. Obama did not run un-opposed in an early election after having his people review the papers of his opponents; having them all disqualified on technicalities. Sen. Obama did not fail to register for selective service as required by Law. Sen. Obama is not a self-indicting thief plagiarizing pipsqueke Xerox - X box. "GLORK" Obama executed no crime in Harlem. Obama is Not America's Poison — Reality: . . . He's Radio-Active.

http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/

NUCLEAR SOULJAH JIHAD -- OBAMA CAMPAIGN CRISIS

The Republicans' disengagement (media bias), if not disillusionment, with the economic campaign issues is borne out by the fact that many more Republicans are able to explain, extinguish, and excoriate the name Barrack Obama with the term (JIHAD), than can name Bush/Dick Cheney and McCain -- as the Big Oil -- BIG HALLIBURTAN politicians expanding GOP IRAQI WAR ideology, and Republican White House Party Elders' GI Bill of Rights for the 21st century IRAQ WAR ECONOMY. Even among Tupac Shakur, Bob Marley, Muhammad Ali, Ben Holt, Cotton-Club to Lenox Club- a.k.a. "The Breakfast Club," Staples Singers In Ghana 1971: "When Will We Get Paid," Paul Robeson, DMX or Jay-Z . . . excerpts from the infamous Malcolm X speech “The Ballot or the Bullet” inexperienced Obama and conservative Republicans: Clinton is much more visible than GOP presumptive candidate John McCain towards affecting positively the important economic issues facing America's middle class economy. Next, Speaking at an awards banquet for the Society of Professional Journalists on April 4, "Phoenix New Times" and Village Voice Media Inc. Executive Editor Michael Lacey used the "N-word" to refer to a former colleague who voted for the godless, money-laundering, call-girl-reach-around loving Yankee liberal non-orthodox Christian acolyte McCain, who collaborated with the Viet Cong, hides a Rx- cyanide pill in his check, and secretly fathered a Pickaninny black child with a Unicorn Crêpe Suzette look-alike, who turned out to become -- you guessed it -- Barack Obama?

When asked who they would vote for in the general election for president of the United States, the natural pendulum swing in America is approximately 79% of Republicans named Hillary Clinton as their choice. Reasons for Obama's Crucifix-ed Campaign Crisis "GLORK" Campaign Crisis include:

No excuses. Sen. Obama accepted more money from oil company executives last month than any other candidate, while he ran an ad saying he didn't take money from oil companies. Context of ad extends that oil money taken by IL Sen. Barrack Obama from BIG HALIBURTAN spells bad MO-JO for Obama Campaign Crisis and RX for U.S. Stock X-change = VX for U.S. economy. Sen. Obama's giveaways to the oil industry are not limited to tax breaks. They also include provisions like royalty relief that are worth billions. And many of the tax "increases" are simply extensions of existing taxes that do not impose any additional burden on oil companies. Exactly half of giveaways were not tax provisions. For instance, the oil companies exercised billions in royalty waivers. Obama voted for Big Oil -- BIG HALLIBURTAN Dick Cheney's 2005 energy bill containing "billions in dollars in excessive giveaways to the oil companies." [ Ludacris ]

Big Oil -- BIG HALLIBURTAN -- OBAM 50 Cent LIES --
EXAMPLE:

Sections 344-345
Waives royalty payments for drilling for some natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico.

Section 346
Waives royalty payments for drilling in offshore Alaska.

Sections 353-4
Waives royalty payments for gas hydrate extraction on the Outer Continental Shelf and public land in Alaska.

Section 383
Allows oil companies drilling in federal land off the coast of a particular state to pay the state 44 cents of every dollar it would have paid to the federal government for the privilege of drilling on federal land.

"Sen. Barack Obama continued accepting donations from oil company executives and employees last month even as he aired ads in which he stated he took no oil company money, his campaign finance reports show. Obama has taken at least $263,000 from oil company executives, family members and employees since entering the presidential race last year, including $46,000 last month. At least $140,000 has come in chunks of between $1,000 and $2,300, the maximum permitted under federal law." [LA Times, 4/24/08]

"Obam has more holes in him than Swiss-Cheese." [CNN's "Politics.com," 4/01/08]

Obam presidential campaign has received $2,812,336 from firms that employ registered federal lobbyists. [fec.gov]

Obam has taken $405,747 from the Pharmaceutical industry. [opensecrets.org]

Obam has received $1,185,937 from the Commercial Banking industry. [opensecrets.org]

Obam has received over six million dollars from the Securities & Investment industry. [opensecrets.org]

Obam extracted $666,357 from Exxon-Mobil. [factcheck.org]

Obam extorted $213,000 from Exelon- a nuclear plant operator in Illinois. [truthdig.com]

Obam has taken $608,822 from the Insurance industry. [opensecrets.org]

Obam has taken $168,584 from the Mortgage Banking industry. [opensecrets.org]

NUCLEAR "GLORK" SOULJAH JIHAD -- CAMPAIGN CRISIS
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3369102...

WASHINGTON -- Obama's support among Democrats nationally has softened.

"GLORK" Sen. Barack Obama’s support among Democrats nationally has softened over the last month, particularly among men and upper-income voters, as voters have taken a slightly less positive view of him than they did after his burst of victories in February, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

The survey suggests that Mr. Obama's proximity to Chicago, Democrat of Illinois, may have been at something of a peak in February, propelled by a string of primary and caucus victories over Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, and that perceptions of him are dramatically trending downward.

Mr. Obama’s favorability rating among Democratic primary voters has dropped seventeen percentage points, to 42 percent, since the last Times/CBS News survey, in late February. While that figure is steadily declining, this dramatic decline came in a month during which he endured withering attacks from Mrs. Clinton, and responded to reports that his exiled former pastor had made politically inflammatory statements from his church’s pulpit in Chicago, and swirling questions about Harlem, and the criminal money generating eat-with-the-Mafia mob connection of 501-(C)-Shaddy-Sharpton Semilunar-Crescent of Allah Islam Mosque No. 7; and what Barack Obama did in Harlem -- from which he cannot extricate himself.

The events of the last month (with the possible eXception of Muslim Jihad), appear to have fundamentally altered the race for the party’s nomination and provided Mrs. Clinton’s campaign extensive evidence of a collapse in Mr. Obama’s standing or an overwhelming preference voiced for Mrs. Clinton by Democratic and Republican voters in polls: -- perplexing developments in Obama's ongoing Campaign Crisis, that could be used to persuade uncommitted super-delegates to sign on with Hillary Clinton.

Twenty-six percent of the general electorate voters who heard of the Apologia speech that Mr. Obama the self-indicting, separatist-racist Barack Obama AKA Barack Hussein Obama gave to try to deal with the controversy over Obama's (eXcessively-militant) separatist-racist connection to Farrakhan and Chicago's Trinity United Church trumpeting Barack Obama AKA Barack Hussein Obama as the second coming of the messiah, said it made them dislike him. And 74 percent of Democrats and Republicans said Mr. Obama's Campaign Crisis "GLORK" Campaign Crisis "God damn America" - eXcommunicated Jeremiah Wright and Barack Obama . . . stems from the fact that he shows continued misjudgment for even the most challenging problems. Next, the overall opinion of people in the news this year is that Mr. Obama lacks the decisive capability to lead, willingness to listen, conviction and courage. Mr. Obama is no Alexander Manly when it comes to sexist-racist issues, and he uses false charges and exaggerated hate-the Saxon-race claims to play politics with national security.

The junior senator from Illinois has been doing a lot of explaining about the inexcusable company he has kept for the last 17 years or so. The complexity of Obama's extremism is that it is all about him. He's the change... as in La change, c'est moi! ("I am the State") Exactly. Barack Obama the MUSLIM double-cross X-boX-BorraX, and his wife Michelle Obama AKA Wildabeast -- the Marxist Leninist Separatist-Racist Socialist X box - SoapboX come across as condescending Ivy League black rage liberationists. A politician can not chose the family he has, However; he can chose the pastor he keeps. Exiled X-pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright has influenced or coaxed Obama's EXtremist liberal-elitist-separatist-racist Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad -- exterminate Israel world-view. This flare-up may have exacerbated what happened to Obama over the years, as his MUSLIM radicalism and demonize the White-Saxon-race, may expel the same eXiled Rev. Wright belief — that America and its US allies brought on 9/11. In a sincere re-examination of his world-view, Obama's Mea Culpa-Apologia says this guy is like an uncle to him. To Obama the excursus of AXIS OF EVIL Rev. Sharpton, Rev. Wright and MUSLIM EXTREMIST (Malcolm X KillA) -- Louis Farrakhan's black rage, is grounded in eXtremist-racist exterminate Israel world-view, and extols Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s praise of Barack; while white resentment of Obama's black-rage demagoguery is exaggerated and exploited. But shouldn’t his long term relationship with these despicable characters call into question at the very least Obama’s judgment? From Waxahache, TX.-- to Axis-of-Evil, Mr. Obama lied about the politics of his campaign, and knew about Ex-Pastor Rev. Wright's MUSLIM Militant Farrakhan Malcolm X Mosque No. 7 - JIHADI -- FATIMA EXTREMIST mob connection to Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ.

http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/

Colfax: Sen. Obama on Lobbyists --

“Considering that Sen. Obama voted to suspend the gas tax three times when gas cost less than $2 a gallon and has an energy lobbyist chairing his Indiana campaign, it's hard to take his latest criticisms very seriously. Senator Obama wants Americans to pay the gas tax but Senator Clinton thinks the big oil companies should pay it this summer.” - Clinton spokesperson Phil Singer

Colfax: Sen. Obama voted three times for a gas tax holiday in 2000 when gas prices were less than $2 a gallon. Next, Kip Tew, the top advisor to Obama's Indiana campaign is an energy lobbyist. Tew said recently, "I'm not running away from the fact that I'm a lobbyist. I have a healthy client list, and I'm proud of it."

May 3, 2008--APEX-- 2:11:35 PM #

The choice is simple: Senator Obama wants the American people to pay the gas tax this summer but Senator Clinton thinks Big Oil should.

The Clinton gas tax holiday is financed exclusively through a tax on windfall profits from oil companies and keeps the Highway Transportation Trust fund intact. Hillary opposed a plan in 2000 for a gas tax holiday because it was financed with transportation funds.

Sen. Obama voted three times for a gas tax holiday in 2000 when gas prices were less than $2 a gallon.

MAY 2, 2008--APEX-- 11:54:21 AM #

"When it comes to lobbyists, Senator Obama’s words might sound nice but voters need to make sure they read the fine print. Despite trying to give the impression that he has no relationship with lobbyists or special interests, the reality is that Senator Obama takes money from people who hire lobbyists, partners of lobbyists, spouses of lobbyists, former lobbyists and state lobbyists."
Statement from Clinton Deputy Communications Director, Phil Singer
Sen. Obama Has Ties to Lobbyists in His Presidential Bid.

Public Citizen: 10 of Sen. Obama's bundlers have been federal lobbyists. The Public Citizen report listed the following ten bundlers for Sen. Obama who have registered as federal lobbyists: Frank Clark, Commonwealth Edison; Scott Harris, Harris Wiltshire and Grannis; Allan J. Katz, Akerman Senterfitt; Robert S. Litt, Arnold & Porter; Thomas J. Perrelli, Jenner and Block; Thomas A. Reed, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP; Paul N. Roth, Schulte Roth & Zabel; Miriam Sapiro, Summit Strategies; Alan Solomont, Solomont Bailis Ventures; and Tom E. Wheeler, Core Capital Partners. [Public Citizen, 1/29/08]

Sen. Obama and his thugs extort money from employees of firms that lobby and has lobbyists as advisers. "But those who lobby for a living say it's not that simple, and even Obama's stance shows some flexibility. He won't take money from federal lobbyists but accepts money from employees of firms and corporations that lobby, and he uses lobbyists and other government relations professionals as advisers... Obama has also used major fundraisers who are registered lobbyists on the state level. And he uses registered federal lobbyists such as Broderick Johnson, who lobbies for AT&T and Shell Oil, among others, as a campaign adviser. Because Johnson isn't giving money to Obama, his name won't show up in Federal Election Commission records." [Chicago Tribune, 2/10/08]

Bloomberg: Five of [Obama’s] ten biggest sources of funds are groups of employees at law firms that lobby in Washington. "While Obama doesn't accept money from registered federal lobbyists, five of his 10 biggest sources of funds are groups of employees at law firms that lobby in Washington…Among Obama's top donors were employees of the Chicago-based law firm of Sidley Austin LLP, who gave $105,750 in the first quarter. The firm was paid $4.5 million last year" for lobbying the federal government. [Bloomberg, 6/7/07]

Obam presidential campaign has received $2,812,336 from firms that employ registered federal lobbyists. [fec.gov]

Obam has taken $405,747 from the Pharmaceutical industry. [opensecrets.org]

Obam has received $1,185,937 from the Commercial Banking industry. [opensecrets.org]

Obam has received over six million dollars from the Securities & Investment industry. [opensecrets.org]

Obam has taken $608,822 from the Insurance industry. [opensecrets.org]

Obam has taken $168,584 from the Mortgage Banking industry. [opensecrets.org]

Obam extracted $666,357 from Exxon-Mobil. [factcheck.org]

Obam extorted $213,000 from Exelon- a nuclear plant operator in Illinois. [truthdig.com]

Obam voted for the Big Oil -- BIG HALLIBURTAN Dick Cheney's 2005 Energy Bill, Hillary opposed. [H.R. 6, Vote #213, 07/29/05]

Prior to His Presidential Campaign, Sen. Obama extorted Money from Lobbyists and PACs

Obam's Leadership PAC includes John Gorman of Texas-based Tejas Securities, a major supporter of Senate Democrats as well as the Bush presidential campaigns. [truthdig.com]

1996-2004: $296,000 of the $461,000 Sen. Obama raised as a state senator came from PACs, corporate contributions or unions. "But behind Obama's campaign rhetoric about taking on special interests lies a more complicated truth. A Globe review of Obama's campaign finance records shows that he collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from lobbyists and PACs as a state legislator in Illinois, a US senator, and a presidential aspirant. In Obama's eight years in the Illinois Senate, from 1996 to 2004, almost two-thirds of the money he raised for his campaigns -- $296,000 of $461,000 -- came from PACs, corporate contributions, or unions, according to Illinois Board of Elections records. He tapped financial services firms, real estate developers, healthcare providers, oil companies, and many other corporate interests, the records show." [Boston Globe, 8/9/07]

In his 2004 U.S. Senate race, Sen. Obama raised $128,000 from lobbyists and $1.3 million from PACs. "Obama's US Senate campaign committee, starting with his successful run in 2004, has collected $128,000 from lobbyists and $1.3 million from PACs, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit organization that tracks money in politics. His $1.3 million from PACs represents 8 percent of what he has raised overall." [Boston Globe, 8/9/07]

"Obi's calls for change are thrilling, even though it's never exactly clear what the changes will be. The French Revolution also promised change. The fear--as the French put it, at least those who hadn't lost their heads--always is "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose." ("The more things change, the more they stay the same")." [Marvin Kitman, huffingtonpost.com]

According to the article cited below, Philip J. Berg, a prominent lawyer and Hillary supporter who is the former Chairman of the Montgomery County (PA) Democratic Party, a former gubernatorial and senatorial candidate, former member of the Democratic State Committee and former Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania, citing testimony by several of Obama’s relatives that Obama was born in Kenya, not Hawaii and several document expert’s conclusions that Obama’s Hawaiian birth certificate is a forgery, as well as Indonesian documents exist indicating Obama’s name change to Barry Soetoro, indicating adoption by his step-father Lolo Soetoro and, thus, his possible Indonesian citizenship, today filed (Case number 08-CV-4083) in U.S. District Court for the District of Eastern PA suing Obama, the DNC and the FEC and asking the court for declaratory relief, to declare that Obama is not a “natural born citizen” as required by Article II, section I of the U.S. Constitution and as further defined by the U.S. Code, and is, therefore, not eligible to be a candidate for
President (see http://www.americasright.com/2008/08/obama-sued...).

American Issues Project Launches Ad
August 21, 2008

The American Issues Project...announced the debut of a new television advertising campaign examining the relationship between Sen. Barack Obama and unrepentant 1960's domestic terrorist, [VX] William Ayers. The ad -- entitled "Know Enough?" -- begins with a simple, yet pointed question: "Beyond the speeches, how much do you really know about Barack Obama?"

Supported by over one hundred pages of back-up documentation and historical accounts, the American Issues Project is using this ad to shed light on Obama's friendship with Ayers, the former leader of an American terrorist group known as Weather Underground. [americanissuesproject.org/]

FITNA: Nostradamus often used anagrams: barack hUSsein oBAMa. The capitalized letters spell MABUS--Nostradamus name for the antichrist.
Remember--God is good, and is in time, on time--every time.

According to The Book of Revelations the anti-Christ is: The anti-Christ will be a man, in his 40's, of MUSLIM descent, who will deceive the nations with persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal.... the prophecy says that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope and world peace, and when he is in power, will destroy everything.

Is it OBAM ??
I STRONGLY URGE each one of you to repost this article in its entirety as many times as you can! Each opportunity that you have to send it to a friend or media outlet...do it!

http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/

Re: Turning Off the Lights

Phyllis — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:10:43 -0000

1. The Real McCain 2: Watch as McCain's YouTube problem became his nightmare in the video that received over 4 million views.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c

2. Less Jobs. More Wars: What is this 'Iraq war' charge on my bill?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh-T2iGkLJY

3. John McCain vs. John McCain: Tell McCain to get off the Double Talk Express.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioy90nF2anI

4. McCain's Spiritual Guide: The video that caused McCain to renounce Rev. Rod Parsley's bigoted endorsement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXZbIGJrDkg

5. Why Won't McCain Sign the GI Bill? Presenting the most blatant hypocrisy of the McCain campaign.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK_9sI7hzAc

Re: Anne Kilkenny

Phyllis — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:16:53 -0000

USA - ELECTIONS
See other USA - ELECTIONS Articles

Title: Sarah Palin: “So Sambo Beat The Bitch!”
Source: LA PROGRESSIVE
URL Source: http://www.laprogressive.com/2008/0 ... -vindictive-and-mean%E2%80%9D/
Published: Sep 5, 2008
Author: Charley James –
Post Date: 2008-09-05 19:45:09 by Brian S
Keywords: None
Views: 787
Comments: 1

Alaskans Speak (In A Frightened Whisper): Palin Is “Racist, Sexist, Vindictive, And Mean”

September 5, 2008

“So Sambo beat the bitch!”

This is how Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin described Barack Obama’s win over Hillary Clinton to political colleagues in a restaurant a few days after Obama locked up the Democratic Party presidential nomination.

According to Lucille, the waitress serving her table at the time and who asked that her last name not be used, Gov. Palin was eating lunch with five or six people when the subject of the Democrat’s primary battle came up. The governor, seemingly not caring that people at nearby tables would likely hear her, uttered the slur and then laughed loudly as her meal mates joined in appreciatively.

“It was kind of disgusting,” Lucille, who is part Aboriginal, said in a phone interview after admitting that she is frightened of being discovered telling folks in the “lower 48” about life near the North Pole.

Then, almost with a sigh, she added, “But that’s just Alaska.”

Racial and ethnic slurs may be “just Alaska” and, clearly, they are common, everyday chatter for Palin.

Besides insulting Obama with a Step-N’-Fetch-It, “darkie musical” swipe, people who know her say she refers regularly to Alaska’s Aboriginal people as “Arctic Arabs” – how efficient, lumping two apparently undesirable groups into one ugly description – as well as the more colourful “mukluks” along with the totally unimaginative “f**king Eskimo’s,” according to a number of Alaskans and Wasillians interviewed for this article.

But being openly racist is only the tip of the Palin iceberg. According to Alaskans interviewed for this article, she is also vindictive and mean. We’re talking Rove mean and Nixon vindictive.

No wonder the vast sea of white, cheering faces at the Republican Convention went wild for Sarah: They adore the type, it’s in their genetic code. So much for McCain’s pledge of a “high road” campaign; Palin is incapable of being part of one.

Tough Getting People Who Know Her to Talk
It’s not easy getting people in the 49th state to speak critically about Palin – especially people in Wasilla, where she was mayor. For one thing, with every journalist in the world calling, phone lines into Alaska have been mostly jammed since Friday; as often as not, a recording told me that “all circuits are busy” or numbers just wouldn’t ring. I should think a state that’s been made richer than God by oil could afford telephone lines and cell towers for everyone.

On a more practical level, many people in Alaska, and particularly Wasilla, are reluctant to speak or be quoted by name because they’re afraid of her as well as the state Republican Party machine. Apparently, the power elite are as mean as the winters.

“The GOP is kind of like organized crime up here,” an insurance agent in Anchorage who knows the Palin family, explained. “It’s corrupt and arrogant. They’re all rich because they do private sweetheart deals with the oil companies, and they can destroy anyone. And they will, if they have to.”

“Once Palin became mayor,” he continued, “She became part of that inner circle.”

Like most other people interviewed, he didn’t want his name used out of fear of retribution. Maybe it’s the long winter nights where you don’t see the sun for months that makes people feel as if they’re under constant danger from “the authorities.” As I interviewed residents it began sounding as if living in Alaska controlled by the state Republican Party is like living in the old Soviet Union: See nothing that’s happening, say nothing offensive, and the political commissars leave you alone. But speak out and you get disappeared into a gulag north of the Arctic Circle for who-knows-how-long.

Alright, that’s an exaggeration brought on by my getting too little sleep and building too much anger as I worked this article. But there’s ample evidence of Palin’s vindictive willingness to destroy people she sees as opponents. Just ask the Wasilla town administrator she hired before firing him because he rebelled against the way Palin demanded he do his job, or the town librarian who refused to hold the book burning Walpurgisnach Mayor Palin demanded.

Ironically, Palin was pushed into hiring the administrator by the party poobahs who helped get her elected after she got herself into trouble over a number of precipitous firings which gave rise to a recall campaign.

“People who fought her attempt to oust the librarian are on her enemies list to this day,” states Anne Kilkenny, a Wasilla resident and one of the few Alaskans willing to speak on-the-record, for attribution, about Palin. In fact, Kilkenny actually circulated an e-mail letter about Palin that was verified and printed by The Nation.

For good measure, Palin booted the Wasilla police chief from office because, she told a local newspaper, he “intimidated” her.

Running on Extreme Fringe Evangelical Views

Sarah Palin drew early attention from state GOP apparatchiks when, during her first mayoral campaign, she ran on an anti-abortion platform. Normally, political parties do not get involved in Alaskan municipal elections because they are nonpartisan. But once word of her extreme fringe evangelical views made its way to Juneau, the state capitol, state Republicans tossed some money behind her campaign.

Once in office, Palin set out to build a machine that chewed up anyone who got in her way. The good, Godly Christian turns out to be anything but.

“She’s doesn’t like different opinions and she refuses to compromise,” Kilkenny notes. “When she was mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t hers. Worse, ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits but on the basis of who proposed them.”

Sound familiar? Palin may well be Dick Cheney’s reincarnate.

Something else has a familiar Republican ring to it: Her tax policies, and a “refund surpluses but borrow for the future” attitude.

According to Kilkenny and others in Wasilla as well as Juneau, Palin reduced progressive property taxes for businesses while mayor and increased a regressive sales tax which even hits necessities such as food. The tax cuts she promoted in her St. Paul speech actually benefited large corporate property owners far more than they benefited residents. Indeed, Kilkenny insists that many Wasilla home owners actually saw their tax bill skyrocket to make up for the shortfall. Two other Wasillian’s with whom I spoke said property taxes on their modest, three bedroom homes rose during the Palin regime.

To an outsider, it would seem hard to do, but an oil-rich town with zero debt on the day she was inaugurated mayor was left saddled with $22 million of debt by the time she moved away to become governor – especially since nothing was spent on things such as improving the city’s infrastructure or building a much-needed sewage treatment plant. So what did Mayor Palin spend the taxpayer’s money on, if not fixing streets and scrubbing sewage?

For starters, she remodelled her office. Several times over, as a matter of fact.

Then Palin spent $1 million on an unnecessary, new park that no one other than the contractors and Palin seemed to want. Next, Sarah doled out more than $15 million of taxpayer money for a sports complex that she shoved through even though the city did not own clear title to the land; now, seven years later, the matter is still in litigation and lawyer fees are said to be close to at least half of the original estimated price of the facility.

She also worked hard to get voters approval of a $5.5 million bond proposal for roads that could have been built without borrowing. Anchorage may not be the center of the financial universe but, like good Republicans everywhere, Sarah Palin knows how to please Alaskan bankers and bond dealers.

For good measure, she turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots.

Sarah Barracuda
En route to the governor’s igloo, Palin managed to land what Anne Kilkenny says is the plumb political appointment in the state: Chair of Alaska’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (OGCC), a $122,400 per year patronage slot with no real authority to do anything other than hold meetings. She took the job despite having no background in energy issues and, as it turned out, not liking the work.

“She hated the job,” an OGCC staff member who is not authorized to speak with the news media told me. “She hated the hours and she hated what little work there was to do. But she couldn’t figure out a way to get out of the thing without offending Gov. Murkowski” and the state Republican Party regulars, some of whom were pissed off they didn’t get appointed.

But ever the opportunist, Palin quickly concocted a way. First, she waged a campaign with the local news media claiming that the position was overpaid and should be abolished – despite the fact that she lobbied Murkowski hard to get it. Then, mounting what she saw as a white horse, Palin raised a cloud of dust by resigning from the OGCC and riding away with an undeserved reputation as a “reformer.”

But when a local reporter dared to suggest that the reformer Empress has no clothes, Palin tried to get her fired.

“She came at me like I was trying to steal her kids,” said the targeted reporter, who now works for an oil company in Anchorage. “I heard she had a wild temper and vicious mean streak but it’s nothing like you can imagine until she turns it on you.”

Not surprising since some of her high school classmates still openly call her “Sarah Barracuda,” Kilkenny insists.

Still, as a Republican Party hack Palin managed to get herself elected running under the false flag of a “reformer.”

And what did she bring to the job? No legislative experience other than a city council of a village of 5,000 people, which is smaller than some high schools in Chicago. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; after all, she needed to hire a city administrator to run Wasilla. No executive experience, except for almost being recalled as mayor. A philosophy of setting public policy based on one word: No.

And what has she done since winning the job?

According to Kilkenny, nothing. Well, nothing other than suggesting the state’s multi-multi-million dollar, oil-generated surplus be distributed to residents and finance future state needs by borrowing money. Gee, doesn’t that sound precisely what George Bush did with the surplus he inherited from Bill Clinton in 2001 and we all know in what great shape Bush’s economic policies left the nation.

It may explain why, when asked by reporters, including me, what she thought about Palin being picked to be McCain’s running mate, her mother-in-law replied with a sardonic, “What has Sarah done to qualify her to be vice president?” Of course, when the woman – said by many I spoke with to be well-respected in Wasilla – was running to succeed Palin as mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her, so that may explain the family tension.

As Governor, Palin gave the legislature no direction and budget guidelines, according to the chair of a legislative committee. But then she staged a huge grandstand play of line-item vetoing countless projects, calling them pork. “They were restored because of public outcry and legislative action,” the aide said. “She vetoed them mostly because she had no idea what they were or why they were important.”

But it was enough to get the McCain, who is mostly unobservant of the world around him anyway, to think Palin has a reputation as being “anti-pork”.

In fact, Juneau observers note that Palin kept her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork ladled out by indicted Sen. Ted Stevens. She only opposed the “bridge to nowhere” after it became clear that it would be politically unwise to keep supporting it, these same insiders assert. Then, Palin fell back on her old habits and publicly humiliated him for pork-barrel politics.

As for being “ready on day one” to be commander in chief, despite the repeated public claims she’s made, the Alaska National Guard commander said that, “she has made no command decisions, other than sending some troops to help fight a few brush fires and march in parades at county fairs.”

“Sambo Beat the Bitch”
“Palin is a conniving, manipulative, a**hole,” someone who thinks these are positive traits in a governor told me, summing up Palin’s tenure in Alaska state and local politics.

“She’s a bigot, a racist, and a liar,” is the more blunt assessment of Arnold Gerstheimer who lived in Alaska until two years ago and is now a businessman in Idaho.

Juneau is a small town; everybody knows everyone else,” he adds. “These stories about what she calls blacks and Eskimos, well, anyone not white and good looking actually, were around long before she became a glint in John McCain’s rheumy eyes. Why do I know they’re true? Because everyone who isn’t aboriginal or Indian in Alaska talks that way.”

“Sambo beat the bitch” may be everyday language up in the bush. Whether it – and the outlook, politics and worldview Palin reflects when she says such things in public – should be part of a presidential campaign is another thing altogether. The comment says as much about McCain as it does about Palin, and it says a lot of things about Americans who overlook such statements (as well as her record) and vote anyway for McCain.

Re: Hurricane Sarah

Alexia Parks — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:20:14 -0000

OK. I was fooled. According to today's Huffington Post - the photo has been photo shopped and is a fake. Palins head replaced the original owner. However, it symbolizes so well what she stands for that I'm posting this note and letting it stand corrected as a fake ... for now.

Re: votelink.tumblr - In One Day....

Charlie — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 16:51:53 -0000

Hello,
I'm outraged about DDT use by our neighbors to the south and its detrimental effect on not only songbirds, but also farm workers in those countries. But I think the core of this concern should be focused on forcing countries to stop using DDT. Indeed, it is the US's demand for fruit that drives the use of DDT, but such chemicals would be widely used in those countries whether we are eating fruit there or not. The core of the problem isn't exactly our need for fruit, but a country allowing the use of DDT.
The US is a mass of wealth in the Americas, for better or for worse, and for our country to purchase fruit from outside our borders is a transfer of some of this wealth to places that needs it.
Indeed, reducing consumption of such fruit could send a message about DDT, if such a reduction is possible. But doesn't it also cripple an economy where fruit is one of the few viable exports of developing Central American countries? This would really only hurt the people of this country working on the farms.
Furthermore, if we actually had a leader in this country who cared about such cross-border agricultural issues -- which DDT is only one of many -- the US's demand for the products would be the leverage point to force such a change.
Ideally, the system should be set up that DDT-free fruit is grown in these countries and then transported to the U.S. by the greenest means possible to reduce agricultures carbon footprint. The scenario is completely possible, I believe.

D.

Re: votelink.tumblr - The Hungry Dog Index

Susan Peterson — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:39:26 -0000

REGARDING FIDEL CASTRO & CUBA!
(Reposted here. This is being widely distributed on the Internet)
>
> Message from the Commander in Chief
>
> Dear compatriots:
>
> Last Friday, February 15, I promised you that in my next reflection I would deal with an issue of interest to many compatriots. Thus, this now is rather a message.
>
> The moment has come to nominate and elect the State Council, its President, its Vice-Presidents and Secretary.
>
> For many years I have occupied the honorable position of President. On February 15, 1976 the Socialist Constitution was approved with the free, direct and secret vote of over 95% of the people with the right to cast a vote. The first National Assembly was established on December 2nd that same year; this elected the State Council and its presidency. Before that, I had been a Prime Minister for almost 18 years. I always had the necessary prerogatives to carry forward the revolutionary work with the support of the overwhelming majority of the people.
>
> There were those overseas who, aware of my critical health condition, thought that my provisional resignation, on July 31, 2006, to the position of President of the State Council, which I left to First Vice-President Raul Castro Ruz, was final. But Raul, who is also minister of the Armed Forces on account of his own personal merits, and the other comrades of the Party and State leadership were unwilling to consider me out of public life despite my unstable health condition.
>
> It was an uncomfortable situation for me vis-à-vis an adversary which had done everything possible to get rid of me, and I felt reluctant to comply.
>
> Later, in my necessary retreat, I was able to recover the full command of my mind as well as the possibility for much reading and meditation. I had enough physical strength to write for many hours, which I shared with the corresponding rehabilitation and recovery programs. Basic common sense indicated that such activity was within my reach. On the other hand, when referring to my health I was extremely careful to avoid raising expectations since I felt that an adverse ending would bring traumatic news to our people in the midst of the battle. Thus, my first duty was to prepare our people both politically and psychologically for my absence after so many years of struggle. I kept saying that my recovery "was not without risks."
>
> My wishes have always been to discharge my duties to my last breath. That’s all I can offer.
>
> To my dearest compatriots, who have recently honored me so much by electing me a member of the Parliament where so many agreements should be adopted of utmost importance to the destiny of our Revolution, I am saying that I will neither aspire to nor accept, I repeat, I will neither aspire to nor accept the positions of President of the State Council and Commander in Chief.
>
> In short letters addressed to Randy Alonso, Director of the Round Table National TV Program, --letters which at my request were made public-- I discreetly introduced elements of this message I am writing today, when not even the addressee of such letters was aware of my intention. I trusted Randy, whom I knew very well from his days as a student of Journalism. In those days I met almost on a weekly basis with the main representatives of the University students from the provinces at the library of the large house in Kohly where they lived. Today, the entire country is an immense University.
>
> Following are some paragraphs chosen from the letter addressed to Randy on December 17, 2007:
>
> "I strongly believe that the answers to the current problems facing Cuban society, which has, as an average, a twelfth grade of education, almost a million university graduates, and a real possibility for all its citizens to become educated without their being in any way discriminated against, require more variables for each concrete problem than those contained in a chess game. We cannot ignore one single detail; this is not an easy path to take, if the intelligence of a human being in a revolutionary society is to prevail over instinct.
>
> "My elemental duty is not to cling to positions, much less to stand in the way of younger persons, but rather to contribute my own experience and ideas whose modest value comes from the exceptional era that I had the privilege of living in.
>
> "Like Niemeyer, I believe that one has to be consistent right up to the end."
>
> Letter from January 8, 2008:
>
> "…I am a firm supporter of the united vote (a principle that preserves the unknown merits), which allowed us to avoid the tendency to copy what came to us from countries of the former socialist bloc, including the portrait of the one candidate, as singular as his solidarity towards Cuba. I deeply respect that first attempt at building socialism, thanks to which we were able to continue along the path we had chosen."
>
> And I reiterated in that letter that "…I never forget that ‘all of the world’s glory fits in a kernel of corn."
>
> Therefore, it would be a betrayal to my conscience to accept a responsibility requiring more mobility and dedication than I am physically able to offer. This I say devoid of all drama.
>
> Fortunately, our Revolution can still count on cadres from the old guard and others who were very young in the early stages of the process. Some were very young, almost children, when they joined the fight on the mountains and later they have given glory to the country with their heroic performance and their internationalist missions. They have the authority and the experience to guarantee the replacement. There is also the intermediate generation which learned together with us the basics of the complex and almost unattainable art of organizing and leading a revolution.
>
> The path will always be difficult and require from everyone’s intelligent effort. I distrust the seemingly easy path of apologetics or its antithesis the self-flagellation. We should always be prepared for the worst variable. The principle of being as prudent in success as steady in adversity cannot be forgotten. The adversary to be defeated is extremely strong; however, we have been able to keep it at bay for half a century.
>
> This is not my farewell to you. My only wish is to fight as a soldier in the battle of ideas. I shall continue to write under the heading of ‘Reflections by comrade Fidel.’ It will be just another weapon you can count on. Perhaps my voice will be heard. I shall be careful.
>
> Thanks.
>
> [http://www.granma.cu/fotos1/febrero08/firma.jpg]
>
> Fidel Castro Ruz
>
> February 18, 2008
>
> 5:30 p.m.

Re: votelink.tumblr - Benson, Oil and Big Bucks

Alexia Parks — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 19:45:01 -0000

The reason why the nuclear option is a dead-end road is because it's fuel: uranium, is expected to peak by 2050 ... just about the time these multi-billion dollar tombstones to the fossil fuel era will complete construction. Sure there will continue to be supplies of oil, gas and uranium long after they have peaked ... however the high price for their use will reflect their limited availability.

Why change to solar and other renewable alternatives? Because it's a shift from centralized power sources to local, and home-based sources of energy, along with a shift from consumption to conservation of resources.

Re: votelink.tumblr - Benson, Oil and Big Bucks

Alexia Parks — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 19:39:45 -0000

Here's the BIG problem with BIO-fuels:

WHY ETHANOL PRODUCTION WILL DRIVE WORLD FOOD PRICES EVEN HIGHER IN 2008

http://www.earthpolicy.org/Updates/2008/Update6...

Lester R. Brown

We are witnessing the beginning of one of the great tragedies of history. The United States, in a misguided effort to reduce its oil insecurity by converting grain into fuel for cars, is generating global food insecurity on a scale never seen before.

The world is facing the most severe food price inflation in history as grain and soybean prices climb to all-time highs. Wheat trading on the Chicago Board of Trade on December 17th breached the $10 per bushel level for the first time ever. In mid-January, corn was trading over $5 per bushel, close to its historic high. And on January 11th, soybeans traded at $13.42 per bushel, the highest price ever recorded. All these prices are double those of a year or two ago.

As a result, prices of food products made directly from these commodities such as bread, pasta, and tortillas, and those made indirectly, such as pork, poultry, beef, milk, and eggs, are everywhere on the rise. In Mexico, corn meal prices are up 60 percent. In Pakistan, flour prices have doubled. China is facing rampant food price inflation, some of the worst in decades.

In industrial countries, the higher processing and marketing share of food costs has softened the blow, but even so, prices of food staples are climbing. By late 2007, the U.S. price of a loaf of whole wheat bread was 12 percent higher than a year earlier, milk was up 29 percent, and eggs were up 36 percent. In Italy, pasta prices were up 20 percent.

World grain prices have increased dramatically on three occasions since World War II, each time as a result of weather-reduced harvests. But now it is a matter of demand simply outpacing supply. In seven of the last eight years world grain production has fallen short of consumption. These annual shortfalls have been covered by drawing down grain stocks, but the carryover stocks -- the amount in the bin when the new harvest begins -- have now dropped to 54 days of world consumption, the lowest on record.(See data at http://www.earthpolicy.org/Updates/2008/Update6....)

From 1990 to 2005, world grain consumption, driven largely by population growth and rising consumption of grain-based animal products, climbed by an average of 21 million tons per year. Then came the explosion in demand for grain used in U.S. ethanol distilleries, which jumped from 54 million tons in 2006 to 81 million tons in 2007. This 27 million ton jump more than doubled the annual growth in world demand for grain. If 80 percent of the 62 distilleries now under construction are completed by late 2008, grain used to produce fuel for cars will climb to 114 million tons, or 28 percent of the projected 2008 U.S. grain harvest.

Historically the food and energy economies have been largely separate, but now with the construction of so many fuel ethanol distilleries, they are merging. If the food value of grain is less than its fuel value, the market will move the grain into the energy economy. Thus as the price of oil rises, the price of grain follows it upward.

A University of Illinois economics team calculates that with oil at $50 a barrel, it is profitable -- with the ethanol subsidy of 51¢ a gallon (equal to $1.43 per bushel of corn) -- to convert corn into ethanol as long as the price is below $4 a bushel. But with oil at $100 a barrel, distillers can pay more than $7 a bushel for corn and still break even. If oil climbs to $140, distillers can pay $10 a bushel for corn -- double the early 2008 price of $5 per bushel.

The World Bank reports that for each 1 percent rise in food prices, caloric intake among the poor drops 0.5 percent. Millions of those living on the lower rungs of the global economic ladder, people who are barely hanging on, will lose their grip and begin to fall off.

Projections by Professors C. Ford Runge and Benjamin Senauer of the University of Minnesota four years ago showed the number of hungry and malnourished people decreasing from over 800 million to 625 million by 2025. But in early 2007 their update of these projections, taking into account the biofuel effect on world food prices, showed the number of hungry people climbing to 1.2 billion by 2025. That climb is already under way.

Since the budgets of international food aid agencies are set well in advance, a rise in food prices shrinks food assistance. The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP), which is now supplying emergency food aid to 37 countries, is cutting shipments as prices soar. The WFP reports that 18,000 children are dying each day from hunger and related illnesses.

As grain prices climb, a politics of food scarcity is emerging as exporting countries restrict exports to limit the rise in domestic food prices. At the end of January, Russia -- one of the top five wheat exporters -- will impose a 40-percent export tax on wheat, effectively banning exports. Argentina, another leading wheat exporter, closed export registrations for wheat indefinitely in early December until it could assess the condition of the new crop. And Viet Nam, the number two rice exporter after Thailand, has banned rice exports for several months and will likely not lift this ban until the new crop comes to market.

Rising food prices are translating into social unrest. It began in early 2007 with tortilla demonstrations in Mexico. Then came pasta protests in Italy. More recently, rising bread prices in Pakistan have become a source of unrest. In Jakarta, 10,000 Indonesians gathered in front of the presidential palace on January 14th this year to protest the doubling of soybean prices that has raised the price of tempeh, the national soy-based protein staple. When a supermarket in Chongqing, China, where cooking oil prices have soared, offered this oil at a reduced price, the resulting stampede when doors opened killed three people and injured 31.

As economic stresses translate into political stresses, the number of failing states, such as Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Haiti, which was already increasing before the rise in food prices began, could increase even faster.

There is much to be concerned about on the food front. We enter this new crop year with the lowest grain stocks on record, the highest grain prices ever, the prospect of a smaller U.S. grain harvest as several million acres of land that shifted from soybeans to corn last year go back to soybeans, the need to feed an additional 70 million people, and U.S. distillers wanting 33 million more tons of grain to supply the new ethanol distilleries coming online this year. Corn futures prices for December 2008 delivery are higher than those for March, suggesting that market analysts see even tighter supplies after the next harvest.

Whereas previous dramatic rises in world grain prices were weather-induced, this one is policy-induced and can be dealt with by policy adjustments. The crop fuels program that currently satisfies scarcely 3 percent of U.S. gasoline needs is simply not worth the human suffering and political chaos it is causing. If the entire U.S. grain harvest were converted into ethanol, it would satisfy scarcely 18 percent of our automotive fuel needs.

The irony is that U.S. taxpayers, by subsidizing the conversion of grain into ethanol, are in effect financing a rise in their own food prices. It is time to end the subsidy for converting food into fuel and to do it quickly before the deteriorating world food situation spirals out of control.

# # #

Lester R. Brown is President of the Earth Policy Institute and author of Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization.

For a more detailed discussion of this issue, see Chapter 2 in Plan B 3.0, available for free downloading at www.earthpolicy.org.

Data and additional resources at www.earthpolicy.org.

For information contact:

Media Contact:
Reah Janise Kauffman
Tel: (202) 496-9290 x 12
E-mail: rjk (at) earthpolicy.org

Research Contact:
Janet Larsen
Tel: (202) 496-9290 x 14
E-mail: jlarsen (at) earthpolicy.org

Earth Policy Institute
1350 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 403
Washington, DC 20036
Web: www.earthpolicy.org
WHY ETHANOL PRODUCTION WILL DRIVE WORLD FOOD PRICES EVEN HIGHER IN 2008

http://www.earthpolicy.org/Updates/2008/Update6...

Lester R. Brown

We are witnessing the beginning of one of the great tragedies of history. The United States, in a misguided effort to reduce its oil insecurity by converting grain into fuel for cars, is generating global food insecurity on a scale never seen before.

The world is facing the most severe food price inflation in history as grain and soybean prices climb to all-time highs. Wheat trading on the Chicago Board of Trade on December 17th breached the $10 per bushel level for the first time ever. In mid-January, corn was trading over $5 per bushel, close to its historic high. And on January 11th, soybeans traded at $13.42 per bushel, the highest price ever recorded. All these prices are double those of a year or two ago.

As a result, prices of food products made directly from these commodities such as bread, pasta, and tortillas, and those made indirectly, such as pork, poultry, beef, milk, and eggs, are everywhere on the rise. In Mexico, corn meal prices are up 60 percent. In Pakistan, flour prices have doubled. China is facing rampant food price inflation, some of the worst in decades.

In industrial countries, the higher processing and marketing share of food costs has softened the blow, but even so, prices of food staples are climbing. By late 2007, the U.S. price of a loaf of whole wheat bread was 12 percent higher than a year earlier, milk was up 29 percent, and eggs were up 36 percent. In Italy, pasta prices were up 20 percent.

World grain prices have increased dramatically on three occasions since World War II, each time as a result of weather-reduced harvests. But now it is a matter of demand simply outpacing supply. In seven of the last eight years world grain production has fallen short of consumption. These annual shortfalls have been covered by drawing down grain stocks, but the carryover stocks -- the amount in the bin when the new harvest begins -- have now dropped to 54 days of world consumption, the lowest on record.(See data at http://www.earthpolicy.org/Updates/2008/Update6....)

From 1990 to 2005, world grain consumption, driven largely by population growth and rising consumption of grain-based animal products, climbed by an average of 21 million tons per year. Then came the explosion in demand for grain used in U.S. ethanol distilleries, which jumped from 54 million tons in 2006 to 81 million tons in 2007. This 27 million ton jump more than doubled the annual growth in world demand for grain. If 80 percent of the 62 distilleries now under construction are completed by late 2008, grain used to produce fuel for cars will climb to 114 million tons, or 28 percent of the projected 2008 U.S. grain harvest.

Historically the food and energy economies have been largely separate, but now with the construction of so many fuel ethanol distilleries, they are merging. If the food value of grain is less than its fuel value, the market will move the grain into the energy economy. Thus as the price of oil rises, the price of grain follows it upward.

A University of Illinois economics team calculates that with oil at $50 a barrel, it is profitable -- with the ethanol subsidy of 51¢ a gallon (equal to $1.43 per bushel of corn) -- to convert corn into ethanol as long as the price is below $4 a bushel. But with oil at $100 a barrel, distillers can pay more than $7 a bushel for corn and still break even. If oil climbs to $140, distillers can pay $10 a bushel for corn -- double the early 2008 price of $5 per bushel.

The World Bank reports that for each 1 percent rise in food prices, caloric intake among the poor drops 0.5 percent. Millions of those living on the lower rungs of the global economic ladder, people who are barely hanging on, will lose their grip and begin to fall off.

Projections by Professors C. Ford Runge and Benjamin Senauer of the University of Minnesota four years ago showed the number of hungry and malnourished people decreasing from over 800 million to 625 million by 2025. But in early 2007 their update of these projections, taking into account the biofuel effect on world food prices, showed the number of hungry people climbing to 1.2 billion by 2025. That climb is already under way.

Since the budgets of international food aid agencies are set well in advance, a rise in food prices shrinks food assistance. The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP), which is now supplying emergency food aid to 37 countries, is cutting shipments as prices soar. The WFP reports that 18,000 children are dying each day from hunger and related illnesses.

As grain prices climb, a politics of food scarcity is emerging as exporting countries restrict exports to limit the rise in domestic food prices. At the end of January, Russia -- one of the top five wheat exporters -- will impose a 40-percent export tax on wheat, effectively banning exports. Argentina, another leading wheat exporter, closed export registrations for wheat indefinitely in early December until it could assess the condition of the new crop. And Viet Nam, the number two rice exporter after Thailand, has banned rice exports for several months and will likely not lift this ban until the new crop comes to market.

Rising food prices are translating into social unrest. It began in early 2007 with tortilla demonstrations in Mexico. Then came pasta protests in Italy. More recently, rising bread prices in Pakistan have become a source of unrest. In Jakarta, 10,000 Indonesians gathered in front of the presidential palace on January 14th this year to protest the doubling of soybean prices that has raised the price of tempeh, the national soy-based protein staple. When a supermarket in Chongqing, China, where cooking oil prices have soared, offered this oil at a reduced price, the resulting stampede when doors opened killed three people and injured 31.

As economic stresses translate into political stresses, the number of failing states, such as Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Haiti, which was already increasing before the rise in food prices began, could increase even faster.

There is much to be concerned about on the food front. We enter this new crop year with the lowest grain stocks on record, the highest grain prices ever, the prospect of a smaller U.S. grain harvest as several million acres of land that shifted from soybeans to corn last year go back to soybeans, the need to feed an additional 70 million people, and U.S. distillers wanting 33 million more tons of grain to supply the new ethanol distilleries coming online this year. Corn futures prices for December 2008 delivery are higher than those for March, suggesting that market analysts see even tighter supplies after the next harvest.

Whereas previous dramatic rises in world grain prices were weather-induced, this one is policy-induced and can be dealt with by policy adjustments. The crop fuels program that currently satisfies scarcely 3 percent of U.S. gasoline needs is simply not worth the human suffering and political chaos it is causing. If the entire U.S. grain harvest were converted into ethanol, it would satisfy scarcely 18 percent of our automotive fuel needs.

The irony is that U.S. taxpayers, by subsidizing the conversion of grain into ethanol, are in effect financing a rise in their own food prices. It is time to end the subsidy for converting food into fuel and to do it quickly before the deteriorating world food situation spirals out of control.

# # #

Lester R. Brown is President of the Earth Policy Institute and author of Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization.

For a more detailed discussion of this issue, see Chapter 2 in Plan B 3.0, available for free downloading at www.earthpolicy.org.

Data and additional resources at www.earthpolicy.org.

For information contact:

Media Contact:
Reah Janise Kauffman
Tel: (202) 496-9290 x 12
E-mail: rjk (at) earthpolicy.org

Research Contact:
Janet Larsen
Tel: (202) 496-9290 x 14
E-mail: jlarsen (at) earthpolicy.org

Earth Policy Institute
1350 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 403
Washington, DC 20036
Web: www.earthpolicy.org

Re: votelink.tumblr - Benson, Oil and Big Bucks

Alexia Parks — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 18:46:57 -0000

Why wait until 2009 ... Here's what's happening now and underscores the problem of running a University as a fund-raising operation instead of an academic campus.

Energy Department pulling plug on FutureGen
WASHINGTON (Crain’s) — The Energy Department is pulling the plug on the FutureGen project, an experimental, $1.75-billion, super-clean coal-fired power plant slated for Downstate Mattoon. The stunning decision, announced by Energy Secretary Sam Bodman in a rancorous meeting with Illinois lawmakers Tuesday morning, comes little more than a month after Illinois won a heated national competition to host the project and one day after President George W. Bush mentioned the technology in his State of the Union speech.

“After our meeting today, it is clear that Secretary of Energy Sam Bodman has misled the people of Illinois, creating false hope in a FutureGen project which he has no intention of funding or supporting,” Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said in a statement. “In 25 years on Capitol Hill, I have never witnessed such a cruel deception.”

The secretary personally presented his decision behind closed doors to state officials and the Illinois congressional delegation, which had called the meeting to find out why DOE was dragging its feet on the project's environmental impact statement.

Three years after he became secretary of Energy, Mr. Bodman told the lawmakers that "he didn't believe in the project," according to a Capitol Hill source familiar with the discussion. "It's something I inherited but not something I believe in," the source said, paraphrasing what the secretary said at the meeting.
"We are committed to advancing FutureGen's important objectives and are ensuring the appropriate due diligence in pursuing a restructured approach that maximizes technological advances over the past five years and harnesses private sector innovation, facilitates the most productive public-private partnership, and prevents further cost escalation," an Energy Department spokeswoman says in a statement. "We plan to announce details in the coming days." She declined to comment on what Mr. Bodman told the delegation.

FutureGen is designed to use coal gasification, a technology that burns cleanly but still produces carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Its critical technology would capture the carbon dioxide and pump it deep into the ground, trapping it in layers of sandstone.
Doubts about the project cropped up in December, soon after the industry consortium backing the project decided on Mattoon, beating out another Downstate site and two in Texas.

Energy Department officials refused to issue a final environmental clearance report, citing the project’s escalating costs. Under their agreement, industrial partners were expected to put up about $400 million, with the federal government picking up the rest.

“Today’s meeting was a disappointment but not a surprise,” says Frederick Palmer, a lobbyist for St. Louis-based Peabody Energy Co., one of the industry partners in the FutureGen Alliance. “It’s clear to us that DOE wanting to renegotiate was not true — they wanted a path out of the project.”
After Energy Department officials raised concerns about the costs, the FutureGen Alliance made a counteroffer to go forward with the project, but DOE never responded to that, according to Mr. Palmer, who thinks the project can still go forward if it is directly approved and funded by Congress.
“The Illinois Congressional delegation is going to make the case for FutureGen directly to the president,” Sen. Durbin said in his statement. “We will not go down without a fight.” Gov. Rod Blagojevich said in a statement, "The U.S. Secretary of Energy's proposal to dismantle FutureGen is an example of politics at its worst. Secretary Samuel Bodman is not only jeopardizing the benefits FutureGen promises to deliver, but he deceived the people of East Central Illinois who spent time and resources competing for the project. We're not giving up the fight to make FutureGen a reality in Illinois.”

Re: votelink.tumblr - The Wrecking Crew at Work

Roy C. Ward — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 04:59:35 -0000

Is there anyone in the Wrecking Crew, American or other, who will point out that stopping global warming by reducing the rate at which we put greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is extremely expensive and is grossly inferior to the sensible way - putting sunlight-blocking material in the stratosphere?

A very respected American climate scientist, T.M.L.Wigley, wrote in Science 314, 452, 20 October 2006 that putting 5 million tons of sulfur in the stratosphere every year could safely STOP global warming for many decades. That could be done for $10 billion per year by using high-altitude airplanes. The IPCC refuses to listen to Dr. Wigley.

IPCC scientists have done excellent work in studying global warming, but those in the IPCC responsible for telling us what we should do about the warming have failed miserably, and we should stop llstening to them.

Re: votelink.tumblr - A Global TAX on Emissions?

Roy C. Ward — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 19:28:46 -0000

This comment adds information to that presented in my comment # 1 and attempts to rebut the criticism by OzDoc (comment #2)

First, I would like to express my respect for the many capable, conscientious climate scientists who have been warning us for decades that the earth may suffer severe, irreversible damage if we fail to stop the warming SOON. I would also like to thank blogger Alexia Parks and blogger Andrew C. Revkin of the New York Times for giving people without climate change credentials a chance to express opinions on global warming. I happen to have some technical training (Ph.D. in electrical engineering, Ohio State, 1957), but it is admittedly almost irrelevant in the present debate.

Second, I challenge anyone, scientist or not, to find a significant error in any of the following:
1. Wigley, T.M.L., A combined mitigation/geoengineering approach to climate stabilization, Science 314, 452-454, 2006.
2. McCormick, M.P. et al., Atmospheric effects of the Mount Pinatubo eruption, Nature 373, 399-404, 1995.
3. Budyko, M.I., The Earth's Climate: Past and Future, Academic Press, New York, 265-267, 1982.
4. http://home.comcast.net/~RoyCWard/GlobalWarming....
5. My comment (# 15) on Andrew C. Revkin's 11 November 2007 blog entitled "More Heat on Ways to Lower the Thermostat."

Third, I want to make the following points concerning what OzDoc says in his comment.
1. The suggestion that 5 million tons of sulfur be put in the stratosphere per year "has largely been rejected, ostensibly because of environmental impacts, as well as other problematic issues of which you are aware of." What issues and impacts? Even the IPCC agrees that acid rain is no problem. Wigley and McCormick say that depletion of the stratosphere's ozone layer is only a small problem. Wigley says that if we put up about as much sulfur as Pinatubo did, there is little chance that the climate system will be shocked significantly if we suddenly stop loading the stratosphere. It is worth noting that the 1815 eruption of the Tamboro volcano, at least three times as powerful as that of Pinatubo, evidently had no lasting effect on the earth's climate.
2. "Aerosols in the atmosphere and there [sic] effects are well known. What are you talking about, and how is it relevant to geoenineering?
3. "The IPCC does not refuse to consider geo-engineering in tackling climate change." The IPCC' s 4 May 2007 report on mitigation of global warming dismissed geoengineering contemptuously (p.21), and its 17 November report did not even mention it. If that isn't refusal, what is it?
4. "Your site contains material that is somewhat dated." So what; facts are facts. See my 11 November 2007 blog comment for my current thoughts.
5. It may be of interest that there are other critics of the IPCC. In the 2 August issue of the Financial Times, columnist Clive Crook, for several years the deputy editor of The Economist, said that the IPCC is a seriously flawed enterprise and not worthy of the slavish respect accorded it by most governments and the media."

Finally, I would like to make three other points.
1. Scientists and others predict, probably correctly, that geoengineering cooling would help some nations considerably more than others, and some people worry that selfish government leaders would block efforts to help other nations. Here I am an optimist. I think that rich nations have enough decency and common sense to take this opportunity to help developing nations, which are expected to suffer the most from global warming.
2. Keeping the earth cool inexpensively by the proposed stratospheric shield would do nothing directly to develop alternative energy sources or to alleviate the misery in the developing world by filthy air and water. But if we go this route instead of pouring trillions of dollars into an effor to meet the target of an ambitious successor to the Kyoto protocol, we will be much better able to afford these and other worthy efforts.
3. Climate scientists cannot prove that we are headed for catastrophe if we let the earth heat appreciably more, but doesn' t it make sense to use a cheap "insurance policy" to avert that possibility?

Re: votelink.tumblr - A Global TAX on Emissions?

OzDoc — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 01:01:30 -0000

Roy, there are many geo-engineering proposals that are discussed in engineering and scientific fora and “putting 5 million tons of sunlight-blocking sulfur in the stratosphere every year” has been mooted, as you say.

But this suggestion has largely been rejected, ostensibly because of environmental impacts, as well as other problematic issues of which you are aware of.

Aerosols in the atmosphere and there effects are well known, people may have heard the term “Global Dimming”, they should look it up.

Of course there will be many opportunities for businesses in the coming decades, but replacing one problem with another needs to be properly thought out.

The IPCC does not refuse to consider geo-engineering in tackling climate change and some would find it quite offensive that you would suggest that.

Your site contains material that is somewhat dated. I would encourage you to re-visit the latest AR4 report, and if still willing to contribute, make overtures to some of those referenced in the technical papers.

Re: votelink.tumblr - A Global TAX on Emissions?

Roy C. Ward — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 00:02:51 -0000

A few minutes ago I posted a comment including my web page. All of it except its last few letters fit on one line. The last few letters do not appear. The end of the web page should read /GlobalWarming.html.

Re: votelink.tumblr - A Global TAX on Emissions?

Roy C. Ward — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 23:47:10 -0000

This comment pertains to the conference as a whole, not just to a global tax. I have yet to hear about any discussion of "geoengineering" proposals for cooling the earth. If we can believe Dr.T.M.L. Wigley, a senior member of the NCAR staff in Boulder, we could keep the earth cool safely for many decades by putting 5 million tons of sunlight-blocking sulfur in the stratosphere every year. Moreover, an equally respected climatiologist, M.I.Budyko, said that it would cost very little to do so if we used high-altitude airplanes to deliver the material. A fleet of 100 modified Concorde airplanes could do so for less than $10 billion per year. For details please see http://home.comcast.net/~RoyCWard/GlobalWarming.... The IPCC refuses to consider geoengineering. Can you find anyone in Bali willing to consider that the IPCC may have made a serious mistake?

Re: votelink.tumblr - China Tops the U.S.

Olai Polloi — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:20:24 -0000

Small Islands at the end of the day have the most to lose in this process, and from a small island perspective, there should be less talk and more action. GHG emissions need to be kept below 550 ppm and the global temperature needs to be kept below 2 degrees. "Let there be no island left behind".

Re: votelink.tumblr - China Tops the U.S.

Luisa borges — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:12:24 -0000

The reason why it is important to keep moving forward with the Kyoto Protocol is because we cannot stop all the work that has been done up until now. Other conversations can begin for future programs but the work that is already in place needs to continue. Here in Cape Verde, we think that we can continue the protocol. Our goal here is to get money dedicated to implementation of adaptation and mitigation of our national program.

Re: votelink.tumblr - Anti-US sentiment Linked to Lack of Leadership

Alexia Parks — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 04:19:25 -0000

Hi Joel ... I would be happy to do a telephone interview with you. I think by Tuesday or Wednesday, you mean next Tuesday, 12/11 or Wednesday 12/12. I will email you the telephone number to call. Probably 8:30 am Wednesay morning is best. - Alexia

Re: votelink.tumblr - Anti-US sentiment Linked to Lack of Leadership

drawohara — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 00:14:09 -0000

Hope you can do this Alexia - would this on on the radio Joel?

Re: votelink.tumblr - UN Bloggers

Jarra — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 23:20:47 -0000

"Like my approval process, I’ve discovered that much of the work of negotiations – for example, an agreement by 180 delegates on specific climate change actions within an agreed upon timetable - lies in reaching agreement on the interpretation of a single word."

Hi Alexia,

I've just been reading your awesome blog in reverse! Arriving at the beginning, ending on this great post, with this great message, has got me very psyched!

APPROVED!

Congratulations and good on you!

Jarra

Re: votelink.tumblr - “Last Chance” Conference

Chuck — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 21:11:58 -0000

Re: Alan's comments. It's doubtful that the world needs an invention at this point, some magic pill. It's a matter of recognizing a worldwide problem related to consumption patterns that exceed our planet's ability to absorb. Solutions will have to multi-faceted: political, economic, scientific, sociological. Frankly, I doubt that the big consumer nations (present and future) that Alexia mentions (US, China, India, Brazil) will do anything that threatens their economies. It's only when it makes economic sense to do so, will these nations make the hard decisions ... probably too late.

Re: votelink.tumblr - Anti-US sentiment Linked to Lack of Leadership

JoelE — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 20:09:24 -0000

Hi Alexia,
Would you have about 8 minutes for a telephone interview between the hours of 8:30-10:30pm on Tuesday night your time (5:30-7:30am Mountain Time); or between 8:30 and 9:00am Wednesday morning your time (5:30-6:00pm Tuesday night Mountain Time). If so, please let me the telephone number where I can reach you.
Thanks and best wishes,
Joel Edelstein

Re: votelink.tumblr - Anti-US sentiment Linked to Lack of Leadership

w3sustainable — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:21:27 -0000

Thanks for all of your hard work Alexia! Great to see the news from a first person perspective at such an important event. Very clear, and yes, I personally want to see the US take a much stronger leadership role. I can't believe that our leadership has been sitting on it's hands for so long. Especially when the heart of the nation does care, and does want to see change.

Re: votelink.tumblr - Waiting on the U.S.? Why Wait?

OzDoc — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 13:31:00 -0000

Many of my friends and colleagues here in Australia and in the US are bemused and saddened by America’s (a.k.a. Bush) response to global warming, and its stance so far at the UNFCCC in Bali.

We foolishly expected the US to lead the way, how wrong we were.

Climate change is not a conspiracy theory concocted by,

• all the countries and big cities of the world, from differing ideologies, and now meeting in Indonesia,
• big business, including energy suppliers, energy users and insurance companies,
• religious bodies with differing philosophies, from Islam to Catholicism, Buddhism to 1st Nation spiritualism, etc,
• international academies of science, economics and research institutes,
• military generals of the "super-powers", including the US of A,
• 1000’s of scientists world-wide from varying disciplines and areas of expertise.

Personally, I don’t think that all the above are a bunch of loonies hoodwinked by and of themselves or conspiring together to play a big con on us plebs for their own ends. However, some people obviously do (or bury their heads in the sand).

I think all of the above take their respective roles and vocations in life seriously. If they are worried about the causes and consequences of global warming, so am I.

I therefore expect our leaders (religious, state, business, military, science, etc) to take the necessary steps to adapt and to mitigate – to really lead in the face of the “scary stuff”. Otherwise, we will have anarchy.

We are told it can be done, and we have a certain amount of time to do it – so why not?

Here’s a tip for the US delegation: It's not good enough for the US to take the ball home if they don't like how the rest of the team plays - they did it with the war in Iraq, it seems they want to do it with climate change as well.

Best wishes to you Alexia

Re: votelink.tumblr - Anti-US sentiment Linked to Lack of Leadership

Richard Schuh — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 09:12:24 -0000

Great article Alexia....

Re: votelink.tumblr - Bali: A New Road Map

Alexia Parks — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 06:52:59 -0000

One thing that has helped was that I was able to borrow "noise cancelling headphones" from a friend before traveling to Bali. I'm told that one of the major fatigue factors is that the brain is continuously processing engine noise from the airplane. When this is eliminated, the brain ... and the traveler (me) gets a deeper rest. So I arrived more energized than expected, and give the headphones full credit here.