Record-breaking heat in Baltimore, Washington and Philly. No apologies seem to be forthcoming from Faux News and Reactionary pundits who mocked Al Gore during last winter’s snowstorms. Blinded by ideology? Cherry picking the facts? Or just stupid? You decide.
Remember the climate-change deniers mocking Al Gore last winter during the unusually heavy snowfall? Funny that they’re keeping their traps shut in the face of record-breaking June heat wave - the Earth Fuckers really owe Mr. Gore an apology.
And right after apologizing to Mr. Gore, the Earth Fuckers should apologize to the scientists of the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit for stealing their emails and smearing them mercilessly over the last year – an independent panel of researchers has upheld their research results and professional integrity.
Don’t hold your breath, though – Uber-Earth Fucker Apologist Benny Feiser doesn’t put much faith in either solid science nor an unbiased review process:
But Benny Feiser, who runs the skeptic-leaning Global Warming Policy Foundation, said there was strong evidence that legitimate requests for information had been repeatedly stifled.
“I don’t think the university can just claim that this is a vindication,” he said. He promised his own inquiry into the matter, to publish its report in August.
This is the real difference between real scandals and reactionary-inspired scandals – just like Whitewater, Climate Gate has turned out to be nothing more than a Reactionary smear campaign of dirty ad-hominem attacks designed to muddy the waters of public discourse and keep it off the course from the discussion that really matters.
Peter Daou was watching Al Gore among the dignitaries at the memorial service for Ted Kennedy… and noted that when Dubya walked in, Al took a sudden interest in what was going on across the room — turning completely around so he wouldn’t come face to face with the Shrub.
Seems like everybody is coming out of the woodwork nowadays with a plan for U.S. energy independence ‘within 10 years’ based on renewable energy.
Oilman & corporate raider T. Boone Pickens has spent a bundle recently on TV & news ads pushing his Pickens Plan. I haven’t had a chance to go through it yet, but I’m going to guess that it involves all the ‘usual corporate suspects’ still sending us monthly bills for power.
Former VP and failed Dem Prez candidate Al Gore is announcing his own 10-year renewable energy plan today. Hopefully I’ll get some time this weekend to pore through the wonkery.
Kinda reminds me of that other crazy Texan, Ross Perot, during one of the Prez debates back in the day: “Lot of plans out there…just gotta pick one!” That’s the key ingredient missing – serious Federal leadership on the matter. Currently both Dem & Repug ‘Congressionals’ seem obsessed with the long established energy policy: giving rim jobs to Big Oil in exchange for campaign contributions.
Heading home for the holidays? Dreading the inevitable collision with that Libertarian uncle or redneck cousin where you both unavoidably launch into a heated, and family-alienating political discussion after he/she taunts you with Bush? Well, this year stay cool and stay on-message with these handy talking points on so-called conservative issues:
Fiscal responsibility:
* $1/2 trillion-dollar budget deficit and climbing, of which:
* $300 billion is pure government welfare pork
* $100-200 billion additional pork pending in the Energy and Prescription Drug bills
- Remind him/her that Clinton balanced the budget
Small government
* 12.5% growth in Federal Government last year
- Remind him/her that Gore, working for Clinton, trimmed 300K federal jobs and reduced Federal spending 3% (as share of GDP)
Fighting Terrorism
* Where’s Osama?
* Why are the Taliban operating out of Pakistan with impunity?
* Why weren’t the CIA/FBI heads and their staffs sacked?
* What happened to the 9/11 investigation?
* Why does Bush withhold information about possible Saudi complicity in 9/11
* Why is Al Qaeda still blowing things up around the world?
The War in Iraq
* War crimes (on the basis of Geneva Conventions) due to U.S. criminal negligence:
# 1,500 civilians killed in uncontrolled looting following the fall of Baghdad; insufficient forces on the ground
# 12,000 unique, priceless artifacts looted from the Iraqi Art Museum
# 1 million unique, priceless historical documents burned in the Iraqi National Library
# 8kg of uranium missing from looted Tuwaitha reactor; enough for several ‘dirty bombs’
# Thousands of Arabs ‘ethnically cleansed’ from Kurdistan
# Dozens killed in ‘reprisal’ slayings and ethnic civil war
# Destruction of houses, farms and other personal property in punative raids
# Hundreds of Iraqis being held without trial or tribunal
# Occupational Authority making significant changes to Iraqi legal system
# Occupational Authority making long term committments of Iraqi resources
*War botched:
# Where’s Hussein?
# Where are the WMD?
# 294 casualties since war ‘ended’
# Soldiers suffering dozens of daily guerilla attacks, the pace is increasing
# Guerillas have easy access to Hussein’s old arsenal
# Large political bloc militias still run free and armed
# No credible Coalition Government has been set up
# Strong-arm tactics appear to be further alienating the civilians
- Remind him/her that Clinton won the war against Serbia without a single U.S. soldier lost
Civil Liberties
* Patriot Act ‘sneak and peak’ provisions clearly unconstitutional
* DeLay used Homeland Security to spy on the movements Texas state legislators
* Why do Bush and war opponents end up on ‘no-fly’ lists?
* The FBI is spying on anti-war protestors
*The Secret Service is selectively enforcing ‘free speech areas’ – America is a free speech area!
I’m under no illusion that I can convince any of my reactionary relations to budge from their simplistic world-view, and I won’t try to persuade you that you will have any better luck. We can, however, potentially discourage them from contributing to Bush Co., and maybe, if they are lazy as well as misguided, discourage them from casting a vote next year. BTW, South Knox Bubba has a more comprehensive list of more general Bush failings that might be useful in political discussions with your non-rabid relations.
English professor and liberal gadfly Jack Gillis emailed this to me (and several others) the morning after the State of the Union address:
——————————————————–
Quote from Bush’s speech:
“A simple chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen generates energy, which can be used to power a car producing only water, not exhaust fumes. With a new national commitment, our scientists and engineers will overcome obstacles to taking these cars from laboratory to showroom so that the first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen, and pollution-free.”
Let’s do some math. In 1992, Al Gore published a book in which he predicted the replacement of the internal combustion engine in 25 years (probably by a hydrogen engine), for which comment he was cruelly, deceptively and dishonestly excoriated by the GOP. 1992 + 25 = 2017.
Last night, Bush said substantially the same thing except he said “the first car driven by a child born today.” If Learner’s Permits are granted at 15 1/2 (as in most states, I think), 2003 + 15 = 2018.
So, according to the GOP logic, calling for hydrogen cars by the year 2017 is “Banning cars!” “Destroying freedom!” “Absolutely flaky!” but calling for hydrogen cars by 2018 is “Visionary!” “Brilliant!” “Bold!”
“They’ve tried to suppress black voting, they’ve ran on the Confederate flag in Georgia and South Carolina. And from top to bottom, the Republicans supported it. So I don’t see what they’re jumping on Trent Lott about… that’s the Republican policy. How do they think they got a majority in the South anyway?”
(Full text of Clinton’s comments here)
Everyone’s asking about who this helps in terms of winning the nomination.
My question is whether Gore plans to use his non-candidate status to help win the election. Since he’s not running, he can attack Bush bluntly and loudly without being accused of just wanting George Jr.’s job. He becomes a de facto “elder statesman,” able to say things that actual candidates wouldn’t for fear of repercussions.
He’s got a limited window of opportunity, since as a non-candidate he’ll soon be ignored by the mass media as irrelevant (i.e., there’s no “news hook” to attach to his comments). But he’s got a chance to do the country some good by telling the truth that needs to be told, and his party some good by making it publicly acceptable to criticize Big Brother. So he needs to start taking Bush to the woodshed in public, the sooner the better.
(Incidentally, Joshua Micah Marshall of Talking Points Memo wrote Gore’s obituary three weeks ago.)