President Obama Indicates Plans to Drill Along SE Atlantic Coast are Off

                                                                      photo: Doug Mills, New York Times

what eye thynk:  President Obama delivers a Master Class in the Art of Listening to the American People.  (Republican politicians, please take note.  This is how it's done.  This is what it means to say "the people have spoken.")

EYE RECOMMEND:

OBAMA REVERSES COURSE ON DRILLING OFF SOUTHEAST COAST, by Coral Davenport

The Obama administration is expected to withdraw its plan to permit oil and gas drilling off the southeast Atlantic coast, yielding to an outpouring of opposition from coastal communities from Virginia to Georgia but dashing the hopes and expectations of many of those states' top leaders...

...The decision represents a reversal of President' Obama's previous offshore drilling plans, and comes as he is trying to build an ambitious environmental legacy.  It could also inject the issue into the 2016 presidential campaigns, as Republican candidates vow to expand drilling.

We have a glut of unused oil and some big oil companies began shutting down rigs last year and the trend continues today; but, hey, "Drill, baby, drill" looks so good on a poster!

In January 2015, Mr. Obama drew the wrath of environmentalists and high praise from the oil industry and Southeastern governors after the Interior Department put forth a proposal that would have opened much of the southeastern Atlantic coast to offshore drilling for the first time.

Four of the five governors in the proposed drilling area are Republicans, and virtually all the region's state legislatures are Republican dominated, so excitement at the prospect of oil rigs on their coastline was not surprising.

But the offshore drilling proposal, which was still in draft form and was not to be finalized until later this year, provoked a backlash from coastal communities including Norfolk, Va., which supports the world's largest naval base; Charleston, S.C.; and tiny tourist towns around Myrtle Beach, S.C., and on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  Over 106 of those coastal cities and towns signed resolutions asking Mr. Obama to shut down plans for new drilling. 

In addition, more than 80 East Coast state legislators (I have no evidence, but would not be surprised if these legislators were members of the area's Democratic minority) and the owners of about 1,000 coastal businessess have signed letters to Mr. Obama opposing the drilling... 

Rachel Richardson, program director for the drilling program at Environment America (said), "This moment has come because Atlantic coast communities, businesses, and citizens have all spoken up to protect their beaches, treasured marine life, and President Obama listened."... 

..."If the Atlantic is taken out, that means there's less of an opportunity to invest in the U.S., and those dollars will flow overseas, and we'll hear more and more of that in the presidential election," said Randall Luthi, president of the National Ocean Industries Association.

Spoken like a true member of the right.  It's money over environment every time; and the people's voices--and by "people" I mean the real people, citizens who actually live in and own small businesses in the area, not big money politicians who have their hands deep in big oil's cookie jar-- be damned. 

Thank you, President Obama, for listening.

You can read Ms. Davenport's complete article here.

Obama Stops Sale of Sacred Native American Land to Foreign Mining Company

It's like President Obama can't go a day without infuriating the Right over something stupid... Republican Congressman Paul Gosar is furious that President Obama thwarted his effort to sell an Apache holy site to foreign business interests.

Joining with Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick--a Democrat who bears equal shame in this horrific endeavor to place greed over decency--attempted to have an area known as Oak Flat, or Chi'chil Bildagoteel, sold to British-Australian owned Resolution Copper in what would have marked the first time in history that Native American land would be handed over to foreign interests by Congress.

To protest the attempt to sell holy land, 300 Apaches marched 44 miles to occupy the ancient sacred ground where the New York Times reports coming-of-age ceremonies, especially for girls, have been performed "for many generations"...  The area has been closed to mining since 1955 when then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower recognized the importance of protecting the land.  The ban was reinforced in 1971 by the Nixon administration.  Though the land is protected, Kirkpatrick and Gosar managed to slide a provision that would hand the land over to the mining company into the National Defense Authorization Act...

...Unfortunately for the duo, the Obama Administration swooped in to save the day.  The Park Service and Forest Service listed the land as a historic location, thus preventing the sale--and Gosar is furious.  In a press release, the Congressman melted down over the bad (for him) news:

"Shame on the Park Service and Forest Service for ramming a bogus historic place listing down the throats of Arizonans.  Clearly, the Obama Administration cares more about pandering to extremist environmental groups and a D.C. lobbyist from the Clinton Administration than following the law and listening to the American people."

eye'm thynkin':  Translation:  We tried to ram the sale of Native American sacred land through Congress by hiding it in a defense bill that nobody in Congress actually read, and we're really p*ssed that Obama caught it, so we're going to blame it on Clinton and lobbyists because our lobbyist didn't pay us enough, and the British/Australian company that wants this land speaks English so they're kinda like American people too and that's why we listened to them.  And anyway, this site is used for girls, and everybody knows girls aren't that important, and they're Native American girls so they're probably not even Christian!  

Read more at Addicting Info

Oregon Votes to Go 100 Percent Clean Energy

Republicans in Congress may be refusing to adhere to the Paris climate agreement, but Oregon Democrats are rolling ahead with legislation that would make the state the first in the nation to rely 100 percent on clean energy for all of their electricity needs.

In fact, both the state house and the state senate passed the Clean Energy and Coal Transition Plan despite Republican cries that going full renewable energy will make energy costs skyrocket, which isn't true.  As it turns out, clean energy sources are poised to become less expensive than energy generated by coal and gas, both of which are finite resources.

When Governor Kate Brown signs this bill into law, Oregonians will get to work enacting it to get the state completely off the coal grid by 2035.  In a statement, Brown praised the legislation, saying it "equips Oregon with a bold and progressive path towards the energy resource mix of the future."

Oregon already draws 43 percent of their electricity generation from hydropower... According to Oregon utility company Pacific Power, the new measure would reduce carbon pollution the equivalent of taking over six million cars off the road.

m'eye thoughts:  More of this, please.

Read more at Addicting Info

The Koch-Bundy Club, Dedicated to Taking Yours

(Any underlines are mine.)

Conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch signaled last week that they will be enhancing their financial and organizational support for a vast coalition of right-wing activists and militia groups that are seeking to seize and sell public lands in the West, including national forests and national parks. Among the groups receiving increased backing from the Kochs is the Bundy terrorist network...

...While the Koch's have been using their dark money to provide support to the anti-government land seizure movement for some time, recent changes in the organizational structure of the movement have led the Kochs to play a much more direct role in financing extremists.  The revelations came as Utah Representative Ken Ivory, who has become a ringleader of the land seizure movement, stepped down as president of the American Lands Council (ALC) to join a Koch-created South Carolina group called Federalism in Action (FIA).

According to private emails sent to FIA members, the new group was created largely to increase the Koch's control over the movement, and money is now flowing directly from the Kochs' coffers to Ivory himself...

...Ivory has been at the center of this web of dark money as president of the American Lands Council, where he has amassed a shocking resume of scandal and conflicts of interest, from violating lobbying laws to using taxpayer money to fund the land seizure campaigns...

...For evidence that the cause has gone mainstream, look no further than Presidential candidate Ted Cruz, who recently promised to be "vigorously committed to transferring as much federal land as humanly possible back to the states."  

eye'm thynkin':  All this so the Kochs and people like them can make more money off land that belongs to the people.  And once they've ruined our parks and polluted our waterways, what then?  

I live in Ohio, not exactly a wide open ranching state, but Ohio is cursed with Governor John Kasich, now a Republican presidential candidate.  Mr. Kasich loves fracking and he loves the people who pay him to love it.  My husband and I, after much scrimping and saving, own a fixer-upper houseboat that sits on what was a beautiful and peaceful reservoir in Southwestern Ohio.  Two years ago, Governor Kasich and his oil industry besotted legislature issued permits for fracking near the shore of this pristine lake.  What was once a quiet, two-lane, country road to the lake is now clogged with oil trucks and heavy machinery.  Part of the beautiful, inky, star-filled sky is now lit up like a football stadium all night long.  Listen carefully and you won't hear the sounds of water birds or buoys or waves lapping the land, you'll hear the thud of giant machines beating the earth into submission--all for more profit for the big guys.  So far, the reservoir itself has remained clean, but we all wait, knowing that an accidental spill is inevitable.

The rest of the world is moving on to renewable energy sources, and eventually (the time can't come soon enough for me) people like the Koch's are going to find their big holes in the ground are worthless.  What they will leave behind is a diminished America the Beautiful.

Read more at Occupy Democrats

An afterthought:  Cliven Bundy now wants taxpayers to pay for his defense.  Maybe the judge could ask the Kochs to pony up for a lawyer instead.  Whadaya think?

February 11 - More Stories I Originally Posted at Political Pollution

--1--

m'eye thoughts:  Who needs clean state parks or fresh water when you can have guns instead?!

As governor of Florida, Jeb Bush signed a law that prohibited state agencies from suing private gun clubs.  The law came from a deal with one particular shooting club that promised to clean up lead bullets a Florida water agency said were polluting Sawgrass Lake Park.  Under the 2004 deal, the gun club was supposed to clean up the lead on their own grounds and build a barrier to keep further pollution from the state park.  Now, 12 yeas later, none of the gun club's promises have been kept.

Florida's water agency is trying to sue the gun club, basically for breach of contract.  NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer is demanding that Governor Rick Scott abolish the Southwest Florida Water Management District once and for all.

Anything to protect gun owners--even if it harms everyone else.  That's the NRA.

Read more at Sunshine State News

These next three stories, read in reverse order, trace the end of the Malheur Wildlife Reserve occupation.

--2--

Update Feb 11, 2016  12:51 PM

Almost two hours after the expected surrender, just one militant is left in the refuge.  Jeff Banta and Sean and Sandy Anderson have surrendered, but David Fry is refusing to come out, saying he feels "suicidal."

David Fry isn't even a rancher!  He's an anti-Semitic, homophobic, pro-Nazi, pro-ISIS idiot from a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio who drove to Oregon to join them because...?  Mr. Fry is the guy who created the occupation's website and set up their live feeds.

Read more at Think Progress

--3--

I got my wish!  Cliven Bundy was arrested at the Portland Airport on his way to join the protest.  I wonder if federal jails offer a family plan?

FBI agents are now within 50 yards of where the last four occupiers are holed up, and have "moved to contain the remaining occupiers by placing agents at barricades both immediately ahead of and behind" their encampment, the FBI said.

Sandy Anderson, one of the last four inside the Malheur Wildlfe Refuge said, "If they tear gas us, it's the same as firing on us... We're not leaving without our weapons."

Looks like that rumored Thursday surrender is off the table.

Read more at Huffington Post

--4--

The FBI is telling people to stay in their homes as they close in on the four remaining occupiers at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge who say they will surrender on Thursday morning.

Cliven Bundy took to Facebook in an attempt to escalate the situation.  It would not make me unhappy if he were to get there only to end up behind bars with his charming offspring.

Oregon Public Broadcasting has been live streaming.

February 10 - Two More Stories That Got My Attention Today - Originally Posted at Political Pollution

--1--

m'eye thoughts: Conservatives are making a very good run at seeing that the U.S. becomes a second-class power in the 21st Century.  While other leading nations move forward with vision to solve the world's problems, our right-wing idiots are busy worshipping big oil, coal, and a century 16 years in the past.

Read more at MSNBC

--2--

One would-be-voter's tale of Voter ID Hell in North Carolina.

Read more at Political Pollution

Heartless Republicans Block Aid for Flint, Democrats Respond by Blocking GOP Energy Bill

Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Ok) who thought
any assistance for Flint should be
balanced by spending reductions elsewhere

(Republican Senators) didn't want to send emergency aid to Flint to alleviate their dire water crisis, and our side stiffened their spines and said "No!"  They blocked the Republican's energy bill.  My God, how in the hell can Republicans justify withholding help?...

...Harry Reid, D-Nev., Senate Minority Leader, dressed down the party of the rich for their hypocrisy:

"Last year Texas was devastated with historic flooding, it was the federal government that stepped in to provide disaster relief for the people of Texas... That's why I was disappointed to see the senior Senator from Texas say: 'While we all have sympathy for what's happened in Flint, this is primarily a local and state responsibility'...  Last year as Florida was hit with extreme flooding, the Senator who finished third...in the Iowa caucuses called for federal disaster assistance.  But when it comes to the children and families of Flint, that Senator instead cautions against our action."...

...Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters of Michigan promised they would block the energy bill, and hold it hostage until the Senate agreed to an amendment of aid for Flint.

So, what did the Republican senators do? They slimed, trying to steal funding from (another) Michigan program to pay for Flint's crisis.  Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla. proclaimed that money for Flint should come out of the vehicle manufacturing loan program.  Excuse me?  Is he joking?

eye'm thinkin':  Unfortunately, no, Mr. Inhofe is not joking.  Faced with an entire city being poisoned by its own water thanks to the actions of its Republican governor and his hand-picked Republican manager, GOP senators decided that, before they would grant relief to these people, they would have to reduce spending elsewhere.

Maybe they're just thinking ahead.  I mean, with all those children whose brain development could quite possibly be damaged from drinking and bathing in the poisoned water, perhaps the Republican Party just saw potential for the creation of more right-wing voters in the next few decades.  Keep 'em stupid, keep 'em red!

And as an after thought, considering his record, I'm surprised Marco Rubio, "the Senator who finished third in Iowa," was even present to voice his opinion.

Read more at Bipatisan Report

Republicans Say the Darndest Things - Cruz on Flint & New Orleans -- 'The Democrats Did It'

Texas Senator and

Presidential Candidate

Ted Cruz (R)

Ted Cruz took his campaign to New Hampshire this week where he told one audience:

"You know, you look at what's happening in Flint.  Flint is an absolute outrage.  You've got your own government poisoning the citizens.  You look at the basic responsibilities of government, making sure our water's clean is really near the top.   I mean, we're not talking talking rocket science here...  This is, 'Don't have the water coming out of my sink poison me.' ...You know, there's an interesting parallel between Flint and New Orleans.  Both cities have been governed with one-party government control of far-left Democrats for decades."

what eye thynk:  This is one of those statements that the unthinking swallow whole without realizing they have just kicked themselves in the head.

First, why bring New Orleans into the argument?  The problems in New Orleans today are not unlike those of any large city in the U.S.  If he is trying to refer to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, that had nothing to do with the city's Democratic leadership and everything to do with W's mishandling of the catastrophe. ("You're doing a heck of a job, Brownie!")  Does Mr. Cruz really need to be reminded that George W was a Republican? 

Secondly, Flint's water crisis came about while the city was operating under a state appointed manager (a Republican) who had been put in place by Michigan's governor, (another Republican).  The crisis continued despite warnings by environmentalists, by a University of Virginia study, and by local physicians while the state (Republican) administration claimed everything was fine, nothing to worry about, the water is perfectly safe.  When the Democratic-led city council voted to reconnect to Detroit's water system in light of the obvious (to everyone but the Republicans in charge) problems, Republican leadership vetoed that decision.

Blaming the Flint crisis on Democratic leadership may sound great in a campaign stump speech, but it has no basis in fact.  Voters who believe this garbage are looking for someone to blame and they don't care who, as long as it's not them.

And finally, if "one-party government control" is so evil, why would the American people want to turn the entire federal government over to Republican-one-party rule?  The GOP hasn't exactly shown any gift for responsible governing since they gained control of both houses of Congress.

A big part of becoming an adult is learning to take responsibility for your own actions.  Ted Cruz still has a lot of growing up to do.

January 25 - Two More Stories I Found

1 - Bundyland Security Chief Ryan Payne: It's Legal to Kill a Cop who's 'Unlawfully Trying to Arrest You'

m'eye thoughts: He also claims to believe that slavery never really existed in the United States and that African Americans in the antebellum South 'didn't view themselves as slaves."   A fine example of a Bundy "patriot."

2 - Rick Snyder Hires Out-of-State Public Relations Firm with Secret Money

"The Governor was advised today to immediately bring in outside health experts to assist the people of Flint.  Instead, he brought in a new public relations team to assist himself."

Jeb Praises Snyder, Says Flint Crisis Not His Fault

"GOP presidential hopeful and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush defended Gov. Rick Snyder (R-MI) against criticism over his handling of the Flint water crisis on Sunday, arguing instead that the blame should go to the fact that regulations are too complex...

...Bush has previously endorsed a massive rollback of environmental regulations--a 'regulatory spring cleaning' that would require Congress to individually approve rules and requiring all new regulatory costs be offset by regulatory savings."

eye'm thynkin': So let me get this straight, all the information now being made public makes it clear that Mr. Snyder and his personally appointed city-manager, Gerald Ambrose, were aware that Flint's water was tainted for at least a year, yet they continued to tell the people of Flint that the water was safe.  In  March 2015, Flint's City Council voiced concerns about elevated levels of lead in the murky water and advised reconnecting to Detroit's water system, but Mr. Ambrose denied their advise saying 'Water from Detroit is no safer than water from Flint.' 

In short, Mr. Snyder and Mr. Ambrose were ignoring warnings from physicians, safe water experts, members of the E.P.A. and Virginia Tech researchers while out and out lying to the people of Flint--and that's the fault of regulations being "too complex?"  Are the words too big?

Read more at Think Progress

You'll also find an excellent what-they-knew and when-they-knew-it article in today's The New York Times

January 22 - A Few More Stories I Found

1 - Militants Bulldoze Through Native American Archaeological Site, Share Video Rifling Through Artifacts

m'eye thoughts: "The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed Thursday that not only is the road built last week by the occupiers new, but it is also within an archaeological site important to the Burns Paiute Tribe."

Stop pussyfooting around these disrespectful, it's-all-about-me idiots.  Get them out NOW!  They are the ISIS heritage destroyers of the American West.

2 -  New House Bill Gives Away Public Lands, Creates Pseudo-Wilderness Areas

"Under the guise of collaboration and the creation of new public lands, Rep. Bishop has crafted a bill complete with loopholes, land seizures, and favors for his financial supporters in the fossil fuel sector."

January 20 - A Few More Stories I Found and Want to Share

1 - President Obama's Veto Pen Just Killed the GOP's Effort to Gut the Clean Water Act

m'eye thoughts:  Just days after the Flint crisis became widely known, the GOP-led Congress voted to gut the Clean Water Act.  Clueless? Heartless? Stupid? Delusional? Paid off by polluting business owners?  Take your pick

2 - GOP Lead-Poisoning Truthers Say Flint Water Crisis 'Vastly Overstated' -- and Might Even Be a 'Hoax' 

"This has been a vastly overblown crisis, perpetuated by a lot of politicians with an ax to grind and, for that matter, the news media, and some national figures, some political, some entertainers who don't know what they're talking about."

Typical head-in-the-sand Republicans.  If the truth is uncomfortable, it must not be true!  Good grief.

3 - We Watched Sarah Palin's Trump Endorsement Speech So You Don't Have To (video)

"Right-wingin', bitter clingin' proud clingers of our guins, our God, our religion, and our Constitution." (Yeehaw!)

4 - Novelist Obliterates the Bundy Militia--and Oregon's Largest Newspaper--in 194 Words

"Ammon Bundy and his bullyboys aren't trying to free federal lands, but to hold them hostage.  I can't go to the Malheur refuge now, though as a citizen of the United States, I own it and have the freedom of it."

Quote for Monday, December 14

In honor of the Paris Climate Agreement...

I'd say this is a legacy of which he can be proud.

monday quote:

"...If I'm lucky and I have enough years left--and I'm in no rush on this, but 20 years from now, let's say, and I'm still around, I've got some grandkids--I want to be able to take my little grandson or granddaughter on a walk to the park and know that the planet is in pretty good shape.  And I want to feel like I contributed to that.  And when I'm holding that little hand or pushing that kid on a swing and I look up at the sky and I know that it's okay--that little kid may not know that there was an alternative future there that could have been grim... And that's fine with me.  If he or she are able to enjoy the sunny day and feel good about it, and breathe clean air, and go swimming in an ocean, and I can watch them play--that will be a pretty good legacy.  I'll feel pretty good about that."

(Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, 1961-     )

December 13 - More Stories You'll Find at Political Pollution

1 - Joshua Dubois:  What the President Secretly Did at Sandy Hook Elementary School

m'eye thoughts:  This is what compassion looks like.

2 - Town Refuses Solar Panels Because They Will 'Suck Up All the Energy From the Sun' and 'Cause Cancer'

Unfortunately, no, this is not satire.

Go to Political Pollution 

December 10 - More Stories You'll Find at Political Pollution

1 - TIME Names Angela Merkel Person of the Year. Trump Mad. Trump Always Mad

m'eye thoughts:  Mr. Combover can't bring himself to congratulate anyone else's success.  Instead he brags that he was the real"big favorite."  If ego was a disease, he'd be terminal.   

2 - Even ExxonMobil Says Climate Change Is Real.  So Why Won't the GOP?

"No one would confuse the oil and gas giant with the Sierra Club.  But if you visit Exxon's website, you will find that the company believes climate change is real, that governments should take action to combat it..."

Since money is the only language the GOP understands, maybe the answer is to start withholding some of that big oil money until the right-wing takes its collective head out of the sand and admits the rest of the world has been right all along. 

Go to Political Pollution

Coal: GOP Says "War", Democrats Say "Myopia"

Sen. Mitch McConnell says the
President is waging a "War on Coal"

1 - It's a War
 "The Senate voted on Tuesday to block President Obama's tough new climate change regulations, hoping to undermine his negotiating authority before a major international climate summit meeting in Paris this month...

...Proponents believe their defiance will have diplomatic repercussions...The strength of the American position at the talks lies in the enactment of the emission-curbing E.P.A. rule--the first major climate change policy put forth by the United States...

...(Senate Majority Leader) McConnell has urged states not to comply with the rules."

eye'm thynkin':  Because nothing says "Patriot" like stabbing your democratically elected leader--the man the people chose to lead the country--in the back.  But, please, you go right ahead and put your own ideology first because the people don't count when there is Koch brothers' money to be had.

Read more at The New York Times


2 - It's Myopia

Eye Recommend:

THE G.O.P.'S MYOPIA ON COAL, by Raul Grijalva (D-Arizona), ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee

(Any underlines are mine.)

It's no secret that American coal companies are facing tough times... 

...Republicans in Congress like to blame what they call President Obama's "war on coal."  In particular, they single out for scorn the president's Clean Power Plan, which will set first-time emissions standards for carbon dioxide on coal-fired power plants by 2022... 

...The industry's self described defenders seem to assume that without these rules, American coal would be financially sound into the foreseeable future...If a hypothetical Republican president forgoes carbon regulations, they believe, the industry's problems will be solved and we can get back to business as usual.

When did the Grimm brothers take over the U.S. Congress?  We need intelligent leaders, not believers in fairy tales, no matter how self-serving. Even if you were a coal miner, would you want to wake up and find out you'd been kissed by Mitch McConnell? (Okay, I admit, that last was a cheap shot...but ewwwwww!)

It's not that simple, and my colleagues help no one by pretending otherwise. Coal companies are struggling largely because domestic coal is not economically competitive with the country's cheap and abundant natural gas.  That would be true no matter who was president or what climate quality standards we had in place... 

...Coal's would be friends in Washington have decided to bash the administration and defend the status quo rather than offer a way forward.  They've also largely ignored legislative attempts to help the industry comply with incoming climate standards... 

...For all their sound and fury on the importance of American coal mining, some of my colleagues have boxed themselves in so tightly by denying the science of climate change that any solution is impossible for them to support... 

...Endorsing federal funding for pilot projects for carbon capture, which the industry wants...would qualify as caving in to the environmental lobby... (This) has become the biggest obstacle to the industry's getting what it wants most: assistance in meeting the new standards... 

...By adopting a post-Obama political vision of lax federal regulation and a return to pre-Obama profit margins, some of my colleagues have made themselves irrelevant to serious discussions about the coal industry's future.  Those of us who want to see coal company employees successfully navigate the rough waters ahead are more interested in providing economic opportunities than in posturing.  But we can't have that discussion as long as climate change is treated as a hoax.

It's time for the Republican Party to man-up and admit that climate change exists.  

The GOP can either go home and admit they've been lying to their constituents (yeah, that will pretty much suck, but they made their choice and now it's time to pay for it), or they can continue on the same Koch-paved road while the world sails on leaving the U.S. alone at the dock and the American coal worker floundering in the undertow.

You can read Mr. Grijalva's entire article here

Inhofe Threatens to Send Staff to Interrupt Paris Climate Talks

Yesterday, President Obama rejected TransCanada's permit to build the 1,100 mile Keystone XL Pipeline through America's heartland.  It was a good day for environmentalists.

The story reminded me of this recent report from The Hill regarding how the Republican Party will do everything in its power to undermine the President's environmental policies, the U.S. reputation for leadership be damned. 

"U.S... negotiators are working on an international climate agreement in advance of a global gathering in Paris in December...

...Lawmakers including Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and House Energy and Commerce Committee energy and power subpanel chairman Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) are considering going to Paris or sending staff to try to influence the talks.

'I don't know if I'll repeat what I've done several times before, which is to go over and be the bad guy, the one-man truth squad, and tell the truth, that they're going to be lied to by the Obama administration,' Inhofe said,..

...When American officials deliberately tell the world not to trust the United States, it's not politics as usual.  It's vastly worse...

...(Earlier this year) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also warned U.S. negotiating partners around the world to 'proceed with caution; in climate talks, because the White House may not be able to deliver on its commitments if Republicans curtail environmental protections and safeguards.

What Inhofe is describing, however, is far less subtle.  McConnell's letter was vague, but the right-wing Oklahoman is talking about crashing international talks in person and sabotaging the United States' attempts at leadership."

eye'm thynkin':  When you let your hatred toward one man--Barack Obama--so blind you to the world-wide consensus on climate change that bragging of your willingness to weaken your nation's standing as a global leader seems like a good idea, you're not a patriot.  You're sick.

Read more at MSNBC

November 3 - More Stories You'll Find at Political Pollution

1 - TransCanada Suspends Request for Permit to Build Keystone Pipeline

m'eye thoughts: "It was not immediately clear whether the administration would grant the request, which was swiftly denounced by environmental activists as a bid to dodge a near-certain rejection of the pipeline.  Allowing the delay would push off a decision until after the 2016 presidential election."

2 - If You Miss the Way It Used to Be--Then Tax a Millionaire, Support a Union, and Buy American (graphic)

And VOTE!

Go to Political Pollution

October 29 - More Stories You'll Find at Political Pollution

1 - GOP-Led Science Committee Subpoenas Climate Researchers

m'eye thoughts: Scientists being interrogated by non-scientists because the scientists won't write reports that support what the non-scientists' corporate handlers tell them to believe.  Your tax dollars at work.

Go to Political Pollution

Eye Recommend --- Enemies of the Sun

ENEMIES OF THE SUN, by Paul Krugman -- 
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/05/opinion/paul-krugman-enemies-of-the-sun.html?_r=0

what eye thynk:  Republicans are all about jobs--unless the jobs are in an industry they are being paid to denigrate; and Republican presidential candidates are all about the energy revolution--as long as it revolves back to coal and keeps that Koch money flowing their way. 

(Any underlines are mine.)

"Does anyone remember the Cheney energy task force?  Early in the George W. Bush administration, Vice President Dick Cheney released a report that was widely derided as a document written by and for Big Energy--because it was.  The administration fought tooth and nail to keep the process by which the report was produced secret, but the list of people the task force met was eventually leaked, and it was exactly what you'd expect: a who's who of energy industry executives."

The GOP loved the idea of talking primarily to fossil fuel corporations back in the W years; but, boy, they hated it when President Obama and the EPA turned the tables on them and spoke to environmentalists before issuing the latest regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.

"But here's the thing: by the standards of today's Republican Party, the Cheney report was enlightened, even left-leaning.  One whole chapter was devoted to conservation, another to renewable energy.  By contrast, recent speeches by Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio...barely address either topic.  When it comes to energy policy, the G.O.P. has become fossilized.  That is, it's fossil fuels, and only fossil fuels all the way...

...Why has the right become so hostile to technologies that look more and more like the wave of the future?"

My opinion: #1 Koch money.  #2 Barack Obama.  When you have pledged, as a party, to oppose everything the President of the United States advocates and you have Koch coal money funding your obstinance, well...

"The cost of wind power has dropped sharply--30 percent in just the past five years, according to the International Energy Agency.

And solar panels are becoming cheaper and more efficient at a startling rate, reminiscent of the progress in microchips that underlies the information technology revolution.  As a result, renewables account for essentially all recent growth in electricity generation capacity in advanced countries,

Furthermore, renewables have become major industries in their own right, employing several hundred thousand people in the United States.  Employment in the solar industry alone now exceeds the number of coal miners, and solar is adding jobs even as coal declines."

The Republican call for job creation is on a regularly scheduled audio loop; but they seem to hit their mute button when anyone mentions the number of jobs being created in industries that fight climate change. (Those Koch coal dollars really make great sound baffles.)

"So you might expect people like Mr. Rubio, who says he wants to 'unleash our energy potential,' and Mr. Bush who says he wants to 'unleash the Energy Revolution.' to embrace wind and solar as engines of jobs and growth.  But they don't.  Indeed, they're less open-minded than Dick Cheney, which is quite an accomplishment.  Why?

Part of the answer is surely that promotion of renewable energy is linked in many people's minds with attempts to limit climate change--and climate denial has become a key part of conservative identity...

...Beyond that, you need to follow the money... In the 2014 election cycle the oil and gas industry gave 87 percent of its political contributions to Republicans; for coal mining the figure was 96, that's right, 96 percent.  Meanwhile, alternative energy went 56 percent for Democrats.

And (the gas and oil industry) is engaged in a systematic effort to blacken the image of renewable energy... Earlier this year Newsweek published an op-ed article purporting to show that the true cost of wind power was much higher than it seems.  But it turned out that the article contained major factual errors, and its author had failed to disclose that he was the Charles W. Koch professor at Utah State, and a fellow of a Koch-and ExxonMobil-backed think tank."

When you're rich enough, you can guy your own professor! Who knew?! 

"While politicians on the right may talk about encouraging innovation and promoting an energy revolution, they're actually defenders of the energy status quo, part of a movement trying to block anything that might disrupt the reign of fossil fuels."

And the flow of all that beautiful Koch money.