++I missed Vishnu Jindal showing up for the Governors' Conference and protesting outside the White House, saying that President Obama wasn't qualified to be Commander-In-Chief. Gee, I wish he told us six years ago.
++CPAC just opened up today and the Donald has really hired bona fide political consultants for a 2016 run for the GOP presidential nomination. Lots of Koch Brothers connected figures.
++Rand Paul is being hit because the GOP has gone militaristic. I'm sorry Andrew Sullivan isn't around to comment on the dwindling fortunes of one candidate he thought would appeal to millenials.
++PEW Research has come out with a poll that shows the GOP has ended its temporary isolationism. 67% want American ground troops in both Syria and Iraq. 71% of all primary voters want the same. And a stunning 74% say that only military options should be used to fight terrorism.
++The great Bill O seems to keep making things up. Now he saw nuns executed in El Salvador. Previously he had been the intrepid reporter in the Malvinas Islands. What next? He killed Patton himself?
++Yossi Cohen, Bibi's National Security Adviser, is still not a happy lad with Bibi's planned speech.
++Senator Menendez told John Kerry that the rumored Iran nuclear agreement will not work in "this universe", meaning the US Senate. So what are they going to do? It's not a bilateral agreement so what say does the Senate actually have?
++The Republicans in Idaho want the state to be declared a Christian state. Besides violating the constitution, wouldn't this offend Mormons whose God is on Kolob.
++The Georgia school system wants to screen D'Nesh D'Souza's film against Barack Obama.
++Hillary better clean up her donor picture before she announces. Too many foreign governments have given to the Clinton Foundation, when she was Secretary of State.
++The Big O gave a town hall meeting today and rocked the audience. You will be sorry when he's gone.
++When the Senate stops napping, Mitch McConnell will re-introduce the Keystone Pipeline bill because President Obama, in John Boehner's words, is too beholding to the extreme environmentalists. The Nebraska farmers were called anarchists by the GOP. Watch for the "terrorism" designation next. Bill McGibben watch out.
++I can't see how Boehner can get out of the Homeland Security problem. Maybe he is a genius we never recognized. Could we change the name of the awful Department! Homeland, Fatherland, Seig Heil. Let's get rid of it as Nick Gillespie argued in the Daily Beast.
++Chicago is getting ready to announce the site of the Barack Obama Presidential Library.
++Is we learning yet? Scott Walker has gutted the funding for the University of Wisconsin,following the trend of Republicans everywhere. Brownback in Kansas,Kasich in Ohio, Scott in Florida,and the list goes on.
++President Obama pulled a cute one today as he told a Latino audience that Jeb Bush should mediate between Mitch McConnell and John Boehner to get an immigration bill passed. Nice way to throw a bomb.
++I forgot John Matlock, Reagan's former ambassador to the Soviet Union, gave a speech which was covered by the Nation where he warned that Russia can't be considered a regional power because it has thousands of nuclear armed missiles. And we should take that into consideration even if John McCain is ashamed because of our response in the Ukraine.
++Times of Israel changed the header to a story where John Kerry roasted Bibi for his enthusiastic support of the Iraq War. Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo chronicled how Bibi, while out of government, campaigned across America for the war. Josh ruled it a clean hit while the Israeli papers tried to mute it later in the day.
++Scott Walker has moved into 25% according to various polls measuring the GOP field. Ben Carson is second. Iowa will look funky, especially now that the Donald has Santorum's Iowa field coordinator.
++Hillary leads every single GOP candidate by a significant margin.
Showing posts with label Keystone XL Pipeline. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Keystone XL Pipeline. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Coming Up
++Dianne Feinstein promises the Torture Report will be released after the Thanksgiving Break. Holding it up is a tussle between the Senate Committee and the White House over one last redaction.
++Does anyone think we will see NSA reform anytime soon. The filibuster worked against Pat Leahy's Reform Bill, which may not have been great but would have been an improvement over the status quo.
++President Obama's immigration executive orders may be overshadowed by the release of the Grand Jury findings in Ferguson, Missouri. Governor Nixon has already declare a state of emergency because the authorities expect no charges but rioting.
++Ready for Hillary! Sometime during the Holidays. it is expected that Hillary Clinton will announce her candidacy for President in 2016. It would be a boost or a distraction for Democrats who must ponder an incoming Congress dominated by the GOP.
++The GOP leadership is now struggling with the incoming crowd over the promise by Mitch McConnell not to shutdown the government. Already Senator Cruz and other GOP congressmen want to shutdown the government over President Obama's immigration orders. As a stop-gap measure, Cruz wants to hold up all Obama nominations--which includes about 25% of all embassy openings.
++Mitch McConnell promises the Keystone XL Pipeline will be one of the first things he will raise in the new Congress. If he wanted a job-creator, he could have passed President Obama's Jobs Bill, which would have created 1 million jobs, compared to 50 permanent jobs.
++Does anyone think we will see NSA reform anytime soon. The filibuster worked against Pat Leahy's Reform Bill, which may not have been great but would have been an improvement over the status quo.
++President Obama's immigration executive orders may be overshadowed by the release of the Grand Jury findings in Ferguson, Missouri. Governor Nixon has already declare a state of emergency because the authorities expect no charges but rioting.
++Ready for Hillary! Sometime during the Holidays. it is expected that Hillary Clinton will announce her candidacy for President in 2016. It would be a boost or a distraction for Democrats who must ponder an incoming Congress dominated by the GOP.
++The GOP leadership is now struggling with the incoming crowd over the promise by Mitch McConnell not to shutdown the government. Already Senator Cruz and other GOP congressmen want to shutdown the government over President Obama's immigration orders. As a stop-gap measure, Cruz wants to hold up all Obama nominations--which includes about 25% of all embassy openings.
++Mitch McConnell promises the Keystone XL Pipeline will be one of the first things he will raise in the new Congress. If he wanted a job-creator, he could have passed President Obama's Jobs Bill, which would have created 1 million jobs, compared to 50 permanent jobs.
Friday, August 15, 2014
The Dog Days of Summer
++A new report finds that the Keystone XL pipeline emits 4x the carbon emissions than the State Department claims. The GOP is trying to become the "yes" party for 2014. So naturally,they have proclaimed that one of the first things they will do if they take control of the Senate is to pass the Keystone XL Pipeline.
++Rachel Maddow raised an indelicate question about our Iraq activities. The 60 day period for Congress to vote on authorizing these actions has expired. So our airstrikes and escalation of American forces to 1,000 has no authorization.
++Yes, Hillary Clinton is a hawk but her dispute with President Obama of arming the Syrian "moderates" is based on a fantasy as Fareed Sakaria writes in today's Washington Post.
++The Imperial Post laments that President Obama doesn't have a clear strategy for crushing ISIS. Eli Lake claims that one of the problems is that the CIA and NSA have no clear understanding of how large ISIS really is and who really is in the leadership. Best bit on ISIS is that it is really led by a Jewish character actor. Read a thought piece on antiwar.com that speculated that President Obama didn't act sooner because he allowed ISIS to basically destabilize the region so that he could engineer a regime change in Iraq because Maliki had gotten too close to Iran.
++The last of the "W" characters in Iraq, Maliki finally did resign because Ayatollah Sistani sent a letter with his notarized signature to parliament that he had to go. General Sulieman of the Qods forces fighting both in Iraq and Syria for Iran called Maliki a "moron".
++Bibi and Barack are on the outs because the White House claims that President Obama did not authorize the transfer of weapons during the Gaza fighting and that he refuses to send Israel Hellfire Missiles.
++Louie Gohmert said that "undocumented Democrats" were entering the country and spreading Ebola.
++Rick Perry in his new quest for the presidency claims he is sending the National Guard to the Mexican border for national security not politics. The Border Patrol claim that the Guard makes things worse.
++The President is expected to take a break from his Martha Vineyard's vacation to appear in Washington to announce far-ranging moves on immigration.
++Rachel Maddow raised an indelicate question about our Iraq activities. The 60 day period for Congress to vote on authorizing these actions has expired. So our airstrikes and escalation of American forces to 1,000 has no authorization.
++Yes, Hillary Clinton is a hawk but her dispute with President Obama of arming the Syrian "moderates" is based on a fantasy as Fareed Sakaria writes in today's Washington Post.
++The Imperial Post laments that President Obama doesn't have a clear strategy for crushing ISIS. Eli Lake claims that one of the problems is that the CIA and NSA have no clear understanding of how large ISIS really is and who really is in the leadership. Best bit on ISIS is that it is really led by a Jewish character actor. Read a thought piece on antiwar.com that speculated that President Obama didn't act sooner because he allowed ISIS to basically destabilize the region so that he could engineer a regime change in Iraq because Maliki had gotten too close to Iran.
++The last of the "W" characters in Iraq, Maliki finally did resign because Ayatollah Sistani sent a letter with his notarized signature to parliament that he had to go. General Sulieman of the Qods forces fighting both in Iraq and Syria for Iran called Maliki a "moron".
++Bibi and Barack are on the outs because the White House claims that President Obama did not authorize the transfer of weapons during the Gaza fighting and that he refuses to send Israel Hellfire Missiles.
++Louie Gohmert said that "undocumented Democrats" were entering the country and spreading Ebola.
++Rick Perry in his new quest for the presidency claims he is sending the National Guard to the Mexican border for national security not politics. The Border Patrol claim that the Guard makes things worse.
++The President is expected to take a break from his Martha Vineyard's vacation to appear in Washington to announce far-ranging moves on immigration.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Maybe It Will Work
++In my freelance days at Omni magazine, I did a piece on the fusion projects of GE. At that time they were working on fusion reactors that could fit into a garage. The promise of fusion energy has been the fool's gold for decades.
++Today, Lockheed Martin's "Skunk Works" announced its would have a working reactor by the year 2017, which would go commercial in 2020 and then could produce all the world's energy needs by 2050. In light of the recent reports on Global Climate Change, I really hope this could be true and that the fossil fuel industry doesn't kill it.
++Speaking of which, John Cushman in a piece "Keystone and Beyond" argues that the Keystone XL Pipeline is already obsolete. He writes that its was based on the Bush policy to rapidly approve all pipelines so the United States would not import oil from unstable places. With the U.S.' own oil and gas production,the issue is rapidly becoming moot.
++Geological studies are now finding that the pathway for the pipeline is prone to earthquakes.
++Marco Rubio said today that he doesn't believe humans are the cause of climate change, even as Florida faces threats from rising tides earlier than has been expected.
++The Koch-funded ALEC has waged war against alternative energy sources in state capitals. Their latest stunt is in Koch Industries' home state of Kansas, where they are trying to destroy the state's wind turbine industry. The gay Koch Brother has been fighting wind turbines off his vacation home in Massachusetts for years. This is likely to be a personal pique, not solely an ideological one.
++President Obama, our Stealth President, launched a $ 2 billion solar energy initiative this week. I guess he's hoping no one will notice. Some of his best alternative energy initiatives were hidden deep in the stimulus bill.
++Today, Lockheed Martin's "Skunk Works" announced its would have a working reactor by the year 2017, which would go commercial in 2020 and then could produce all the world's energy needs by 2050. In light of the recent reports on Global Climate Change, I really hope this could be true and that the fossil fuel industry doesn't kill it.
++Speaking of which, John Cushman in a piece "Keystone and Beyond" argues that the Keystone XL Pipeline is already obsolete. He writes that its was based on the Bush policy to rapidly approve all pipelines so the United States would not import oil from unstable places. With the U.S.' own oil and gas production,the issue is rapidly becoming moot.
++Geological studies are now finding that the pathway for the pipeline is prone to earthquakes.
++Marco Rubio said today that he doesn't believe humans are the cause of climate change, even as Florida faces threats from rising tides earlier than has been expected.
++The Koch-funded ALEC has waged war against alternative energy sources in state capitals. Their latest stunt is in Koch Industries' home state of Kansas, where they are trying to destroy the state's wind turbine industry. The gay Koch Brother has been fighting wind turbines off his vacation home in Massachusetts for years. This is likely to be a personal pique, not solely an ideological one.
++President Obama, our Stealth President, launched a $ 2 billion solar energy initiative this week. I guess he's hoping no one will notice. Some of his best alternative energy initiatives were hidden deep in the stimulus bill.
Monday, April 21, 2014
Keystone XL Delayed
++Friday, the State Department announced that it was delaying the decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline until the fall.
++While Washington believed it was solely political,there are some practical reasons for this. The Nebraska Supreme Court is not expected to hear an appeal on a ruling against the Pipeline until September or October. Which means--one part of the pipeline's route doesn't exist right now.
++While Washington believed it was solely political,there are some practical reasons for this. The Nebraska Supreme Court is not expected to hear an appeal on a ruling against the Pipeline until September or October. Which means--one part of the pipeline's route doesn't exist right now.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Obama on Keystone Pipeline
++For reasons that escape me, climate scientists have been engaging in a huge amount of data dumping the last few weeks. We have had the NASA climate change scenarios until the year 2100, where we all get fried. Climate scientists have released data that we should say adios to Portland, Maine, Boston, New York,and Miami with sea rises. We are already into an era of species extinction. I would just urge climate scientists to get a better bed side manner. Speaking as articulate scientists with measured tones,you get a sense of the direction of the disease but not its fatality.
++The New York Times just printed an interview with President Obama on his views on the Keystone XL Pipeline. He rebuked Republicans saying the pipeline is a "jobs generator". He claimed there would be 2,000 jobs for the first year or two of its construction, then there would be 50-100 jobs afterwards. It was a "blip relative to need". He also disputed the idea it would lower gas prices. Instead, it would allow the Midwest to export its oil to the global market and would actually lead to an increase in gas prices. He said he would judge the pipeline on the issue of generating carbon pollution and if Canada would take measures to reduce carbon outputs. Meanwhile the Alberta tar sands are leaking thousands of gallons per day onto forest lands.
++If President Obama doesn't approve the Keystone XL Pipeline, it would be the first project in the world that would be cancelled because of carbon emissions. That would be a big thing.
++The New York Times just printed an interview with President Obama on his views on the Keystone XL Pipeline. He rebuked Republicans saying the pipeline is a "jobs generator". He claimed there would be 2,000 jobs for the first year or two of its construction, then there would be 50-100 jobs afterwards. It was a "blip relative to need". He also disputed the idea it would lower gas prices. Instead, it would allow the Midwest to export its oil to the global market and would actually lead to an increase in gas prices. He said he would judge the pipeline on the issue of generating carbon pollution and if Canada would take measures to reduce carbon outputs. Meanwhile the Alberta tar sands are leaking thousands of gallons per day onto forest lands.
++If President Obama doesn't approve the Keystone XL Pipeline, it would be the first project in the world that would be cancelled because of carbon emissions. That would be a big thing.
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