tagged w/ President Obama
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Published on Thursday, February 9, 2012 by Common Dreams
30,000 Domestic Drones to Fill the Sky, Civil Liberties at Risk
FAA Act would raise 'very serious privacy issues'
- Common Dreams staff
A bill has passed in the House and Senate this week that would increase the presence of drones in U.S. civilian airspace. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act requires the FAA to alleviate many current rules on domestic drone authorization. Drones would now be able to fly in the same airspace as commercial airliners, private planes, and cargo jets. Up to 30,000 drones could be allowed in U.S. airspace by the end of the decade.
The Senate passed the bill on Monday, 75-20 and allots $63.4 billion to the FAA. Obama is expected to sign it into law.
ACLU, among other civil liberties groups, is expressing grave concern for civilian privacy, as the legislation does not restrict drone surveillance activities by police and federal government agencies.
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ACLU states:
As we explained in our recent report, drone technology is advancing by leaps and bounds, and there is a lot of pent-up demand for them within the law enforcement community. But, domestic deployment of unmanned aircraft for surveillance purposes has largely been blocked so far by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is rightly concerned about the safety effects of filling our skies with flying robots (which crash significantly more often than manned aircraft).[...]
Unfortunately, nothing in the bill would address the very serious privacy issues raised by drone aircraft. This bill would push the nation willy-nilly toward an era of aerial surveillance without any steps to protect the traditional privacy that Americans have always enjoyed and expected.[...]
We don’t want to wonder, every time we step out our front door, whether some eye in the sky is watching our every move. [...]
Here are details on what the bill would do in terms of drones:
Require the FAA to simplify and speed up the process by which it issues permission to government agencies to operate drones. It must do this within 90 days. The FAA has already been working on a set of proposed regulations to loosen the rules around drones, reportedly set for release in the spring of 2012.
Require the FAA to allow “a government public safety agency” to operate any drone weighing 4.4 pounds or less as long as certain conditions are met (within line of sight, during the day, below 400 feet in altitude, and only in safe categories of airspace).Nano Hummingbird Surveillance Drone
Require the FAA to establish a pilot project within six months to create six test zones for integrating drones “into the national airspace system.”
Require the FAA to create a comprehensive plan “to safely accelerate the integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system.” “Civil” drones means those operated by the private sector; currently it is all but impossible for any non-government entity, except for hobbyists, to get permission to fly drones (for-profit use of drones is banned). Industry groups and their congressional supporters see this as a potential area for growth. Congress specifies that the plan must provide for the integration of drones into the national airspace system “as soon as practicable, but not later than September 30, 2015.” The FAA has nine months to create the plan. The FAA is also required to create a “5-year roadmap for the introduction” of civil drones into the national airspace.
Unfortunately, nothing in the bill would address the very serious privacy issues raised by drone aircraft. This bill would push the nation willy-nilly toward an era of aerial surveillance without any steps to protect the traditional privacy that Americans have always enjoyed and expected.
Require the FAA to publish a final rule within 18 months after the comprehensive plan is submitted, “that will allow” civil operation of small (under 55 pounds) drones in the national airspace, and a proposed rule for carrying out the comprehensive plan.
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TPM reports:
The federal government is also facing a lawsuit from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a watchdog group that is asking for the FAA to release records on the almost-300 agencies that have authorization to operate drones domestically. Jennifer Lynch, an attorney with the EFF who brought the case, told TPM that this bill makes their suit even more important. “I think the fact that Congress is pressuring the FAA to expand its UAS program through the FAA Reauthorization Act only reinforces the need for these records,” Lynch said. “It’s important that we learn more about how the federal government and state and local law enforcement agencies are already using UASs before we expand their use further. The privacy concerns posed by the use of drones for domestic surveillance are too great to excuse the FAA’s lack of transparency on this issue.”
(Published on Thursday, February 9, 2012 by Common Dreams
30,000 Domestic Drones to... more
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In front of the White House a man is sitting on a park bench in the throes of depression. He is surrounded by all 43 presidents. In the forefront, purposefully ignoring the depressed man is President Obama, whose right foot is stepping on the Constitution. James Madison is next to Obama, pleading with him to stop.
http://www.occupythegame.com/tag/jon-naughton/In front of the White House a man is sitting on a park bench in the throes of... more
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By Tom Carter
9 February 2012
Once again, the Obama administration is demonstrating its lack of commitment to core democratic principles on the critical issue of separation of church and state.
On January 20, the White House announced that it planned to implement federal rules that would require employer health insurance plans, including those of church-affiliated institutions such as Catholic universities, hospitals and charities, to provide access to birth control and contraceptives free of charge. These rules would come into effect in 2013 as part of the Obama administration’s overhaul of the health care system.
The Republican Party and the Catholic Church have responded to this announcement with an escalating offensive in the media, accusing the Obama administration of attacking the “religious freedom” of employers. The various Republican presidential candidates have raced to grandstand in front of the cameras, denouncing Obama as “anti-religious.”
In the face of this attack, the White House is desperately seeking to conciliate with the religious right and the Church. “We will continue to work closely with religious groups during this transitional period to discuss their concerns,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The administration is open to “compromise” on the issue, Obama adviser David Axelrod announced on MSNBC cable TV Tuesday morning.
“We certainly don't want to abridge anyone's religious freedoms, so we're going to look for a way to move forward that both provides women with the preventative care that they need and respects the prerogatives of religious institutions,” Axelrod explained.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney confirmed that “the president is very interested in finding the appropriate balance between religious beliefs and convictions.”
The rules announced by Obama already exempt churches themselves, a major concession to the Catholic Church and the religious right.
This cowering before those who seek to use religion to limit workers’ access to birth control is one more demonstration that the liberal establishment is neither able nor willing to take a principled stand in defense of democratic rights. The only basis for opposing universal access to contraceptives, which are entirely legal, is religious doctrine. But the First Amendment to the US Constitution has historically been understood to bar the government from making religion the basis of law or social policy.
The impact of any compromise on this issue would fall most heavily on the working class. Under conditions of mass unemployment, cuts in social programs and a corporate assault on wages, the cost of contraceptives for millions of families would be prohibitive. On the other hand, unwanted pregnancies threaten economic disaster for families already struggling to make ends meet.
For the wealthy, the impact would be negligible. They have the means to access birth control in all of its forms.
The New York Times on Wednesday published an account of the internal debate within the Obama administration on the contraceptive rule which makes clear that the move was driven entirely by considerations of electoral expediency rather than political principle. Sebelius, Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett and Deputy Chief of Staff Nancy-Ann DeParle argued in favour of the rule as a vote-getter among women in the November election, while Vice President Joseph Biden and other top advisers warned that antagonizing the Catholic Church would harm Obama’s re-election chances.
As always, the response of the Democrats to the latest right-wing attack is to cringe in fear of alienating the most reactionary sections of the political and media establishment. The Times, citing unnamed administration officials, wrote: “One possible compromise might be to emulate Hawaii, where the rule is in effect, but where employers at religious institutions that do not offer free contraception can get birth control through side benefits, which the employees nominally pay for but which often end up being free.”
The leading figures of the American Revolution of 1776 had nothing but contempt for the entanglement of religion and politics, which they identified with the Dark Ages. In discussions over the First Amendment, Thomas Jefferson called for a “wall of separation” between church and state. James Madison declared that “there is not a shadow of right in the general government to intermeddle with religion.” Madison famously opposed allowing “three pence” of public funds to be spent on religion.
Nearly two and a half centuries later, these sentiments and principles have disappeared from the American political establishment.
Twenty eight states already require all employers, including “faith-based” ones, to provide access to contraceptives through their employee health plans. Moreover, there is overwhelming support in the population, including a majority of Catholics, for providing such contraceptives free of cost.
It is by no means clear whether the Obama administration will reverse itself, or whether it will adopt a sordid compromise along the lines suggested by the New York Times. The internal differences in the administration are evidence that bourgeois electoral considerations militate in both directions.
Any backtracking by the Obama administration, however, would cast a shadow over the existing state laws that require religious employers to provide access to contraception in their employee health plans.By Tom Carter
9 February 2012
Once again, the Obama administration is... more
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President Obama has found someone new to blame for his failures: the Founding Fathers - those brave men who fought a war to free America from Great Britain, and establish a republic based on a constitution that is still the envy of the world.
In a video posted Monday at Townhall, Obama told Matt Lauer that people are frustrated because he has not been able to "force Congress to implement every aspect of" his radical agenda.
"Our Founders designed a system that makes it more difficult to bring about change than I would like sometimes,” he said.
But he promised to keep "plodding away, very persistent."
"And, you know what? One of the things about being President is you get better as time goes on," he added.
A post at Freedom's Lighthouse notes:
Uh, that’s because the Founders were trying to prevent exactly what you are trying to do, Mr. President. They did not want the Federal Government to dominate the life of every citizen from cradle to grave. They wanted people to be free – to earn their own keep and keep what they earn. What a concept.
"All hail the king--in his own mind," wrote Greg Hengler of Townhall.
So far, President Obama has blamed George Bush, the Internet, ATM machines and a "messy democracy", among others, for his total failure to lead.
Now, it's all the fault of those pesky Founders who designed a system to ensure America never has a dictatorial chief executive. But not to worry. If he gets re-elected, he'll work on that as well.
https://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-spokane/obama-blames-founding-fathers-for-not-being-able-to-dictate-changePresident Obama has found someone new to blame for his failures: the Founding Fathers... more
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Undaunted by the monumental failure of Personhood USA’s push to declare fertilized human eggs exactly the same as grown ass adults in Mississippi, conservatives in Oklahoma have pushed forward with their own Personhood Bill. But one Democratic smartass isn’t having it, and she finds the whole thing so absurd that she tacked on an amendment of her own that would outlaw the spilling of semen in any location other than a woman’s vagina.Undaunted by the monumental failure of Personhood USA’s push to declare... more
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…Hola, Hippies! Paz en el Barrio! Every oncet in a wahl, Ah’ll git inta a sorta PEN-sive mood, if’n ya no wadda mane, an Ah’ll let m’mahnd to wowwnder, ‘n sumtahms sumpin’ll pop up lahk ‘iss-year:
If I were the president, and instead of cautiously ducking and covering and hiding from the furious, flashing panties on Fox, I wanted to demand the Nation confront the overwhelming necessity of taking SERIOUSLY the challenges of impending, likely catastrophic climate change–which arguably is the most potentially devastating evolutionary challenge of the last 100-200 THOUSAND years (outside even nuclear devastation, possibly)……Hola, Hippies! Paz en el Barrio! Every oncet in a wahl, Ah’ll git inta a... more
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"Exactly. So now a relative handful of super-rich Democrats want [to] fight a relative handful of super-rich Republicans. And we call that a democracy.""Exactly. So now a relative handful of super-rich Democrats want [to] fight a... more
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Hey hippies…Paz en el Barrio…Wanna try some MORE “positivity, a la Woody?”
Well, here ya go!
Confused about for whom to “vote” in this year’s quadrennial power-grab and leadership sweepstakes, in which you had no say as to the selections which were forced upon you by the whims and caprices of the Oners?Hey hippies…Paz en el Barrio…Wanna try some MORE “positivity, a la... more
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Billionaire investor and speculator, George Soros, explains why there wouldn’t be much difference for Wall Street between President Obama and Mitt Romney. He also tells Chrystia Freeland why his billionaire constituents see him as a traitor to his class.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyftC27vNp0&feature=player_embeddedBillionaire investor and speculator, George Soros, explains why there wouldn’t... more
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After two days, approximately 2.7 million people have seen The Woman in Black. Approximately 37.8 million people saw The State of the Union Address. So far, the President still has more pull than Dan Radcliffe. But this is too close for my comfort.After two days, approximately 2.7 million people have seen The Woman in Black.... more
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Allen West tells liberals and President Obama to, “get the hell out of the United States of America.”
When I heard and saw this on the Martin Bashir show… Let me tell you, even in these times of pure hateful INSANITY, I was taken aback. Now the sorry-ass Tea Party legislators have gone too far.
It’s one thing for Gov. Jan Brewer to shake her long boney finger in President Obama's face but to actually verbalize the Tea Party hatred by telling our President and all us Liberals to GET THE HELL OUT OF AMERICA is so far over the top, it's in outer-space right near Newt Gingrich's Moon Colony.
Hey HITLER (Allen West), in case you weren’t aware… It’s not just your America, IT ALSO BELONGS TO THE SANE PEOPLE WHO LIVE HERE ALSO! President Obama is the leader of the free world; he deserves our respect but you are too FREAKEN despicable and beyond contempt to ever get that straight in your teeny tiny little brain.
BTHOM that these very UGLY AMERICANS are in lead positions, it’s not the meek who will inherent the earth anymore… More like; THE STUPID WILL INHERENT THE EARTH. Not just mind-blowing but also very, very horrifying. Please watch the video of this moron, Allen West telling, we who think, to get the hell out of America. thinkingblue
PS: Jim Moran (D-VA) may conjure up benign reasons why the Tea Party Leaders act like hateful bastards but we all know or should know that they are the Shills for Corporate America. I hope someday they will all get voted out of office. They do not belong in leadership roles. They can't lead; they can only incite and try to dismantle the middle class. And their attempts at character assassination should be against the law.
Wise Old Saying: "What goes around, comes around."
"What you do or say today will come back to you in the future."
Let us all hope this will become a reality for these selfish hateful people who care only for themselves. They really should be pitied.Allen West tells liberals and President Obama to, “get the hell out of the... more
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A Black Agenda Radio commentary by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon
What’s three years of crusading against public schools and their teachers, three years of anti-democratic corporate school reform compared to a couple paragraphs in a presidential State of the Union address? It’s base and blatant hypocrisy. If corporate media still practiced actual journalism, this might be an instructive comparison to lay before their readers. Should the Obama administration should follow its own advice about not demonizing teachers, and not relying on high-stakes testing? Or should we continue with the failed experiment of corporate school reform?A Black Agenda Radio commentary by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon
What’s... more
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The one man who may be responsible for more food related illnesses and deaths than anyone in history, Michael R. Taylor, has just been promoted from US Food Safety Czar to Senior Advisor to the Commissioner of the FDA, a position which would enable the giant biotech company Monsanto to silently and legally feed cancer causing vegetables to every living person who is not 100% strictly organic.
President Obama has appointed the former Monsanto Vice President and lobbyist Michael R. Taylor to the throne. This is the same man who was Food Safety Czar for the FDA when Genetically Modified Organisms were allowed into the US food supply without undergoing a single test to determine their safety or risks. This is like putting a terrorist in charge of the world's food supply. What will the cancer numbers look like in 2016?
The GMO nightmare all started with the Dan Quayle led FDA/GMO marriage. Under George Bush Senior's Administration from 1989 to 1993, Dan Quayle single-handedly catapulted GMO's into existence through FDA's anti-consumer right-to-know policy, which stated that GMO foods did not have to be labeled or safety tested. Yes, you read that correctly: There is no safety testing required whatsoever to take some Agent Orange pesticide and genetically mutate the seeds of vegetables in a chemical laboratory so that nothing on planet earth will eat the plant that grows from the ground except for all the humans who have no idea what happened.
Michael Taylor is part of a revolving door at the FDA, where Monsanto Execs just come and go as they please. First, Michael R. Taylor was an assistant to the FDA commissioner. Then he left to work for a law firm in the 1980's to help gain FDA approval of Monsanto's artificial growth hormone (rGBH), which is directly linked to cancer. Then he became deputy commissioner of the FDA in 1991, and was later re-appointed to the FDA in 2009 by Obama. He is the food villain who tried his best to keep this "malignant milk of the turn of the century" from being labeled.
Michael Taylor is the epitome of everything Monsanto represents. Taylor is like a vehicle for Monsanto's patenting of seeds and global domination of farming. He implements the government's "favorable" agricultural biotech policies because it's much more of a financially sure shot to use RoundUp in food than to farm organically and ethically. If the investments aren't paying enough at the corporation, Execs just switch over to Federal Regulations and write some new Legislation based on "tainted research", which allows them to pile more toxins on the American public and bankroll off it when they flip back to the corporate side.
Michael Taylor is the epitome of everything Monsanto represents. Taylor is like a vehicle for Monsanto's patenting of seeds and global domination of farming. He implements the government's "favorable" agricultural biotech policies because it's much more of a financially sure shot to use RoundUp in food than to farm organically and ethically. If the investments aren't paying enough at the corporation, Execs just switch over to Federal Regulations and write some new Legislation based on "tainted research", which allows them to pile more toxins on the American public and bankroll off it when they flip back to the corporate side.
The 4-headed Administration of thieves
This marks the pinnacle so far of a long ascent of evil profiteering and corporate executives making it to the top. It's like one big 4-headed company of thieves: The FDA, EPA, Supreme Court, and Monsanto's Board of Executives, and these organization hoppers include Clarence Thomas, Michael R. Taylor, Ann Veneman, and Linda Fisher, who conveniently bounce back and forth between positions at Monsanto and the EPA.
Here are just a few examples in case you didn't know: Prior to being the Supreme Court Judge who put G.W. Bush in office, Clarence Thomas was Monsanto's lawyer. The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Anne Veneman, was on the Board of Directors of Monsanto's Calgene Corporation. The U.S. Secretary of Health, Tommy Thompson, received $50,000 in donations from Monsanto during his winning campaign for Wisconsin's governor. The two congressmen receiving the most donations from Monsanto during the last election were Larry Combest, Chairman of the House Agricultural Committee, and Attorney General John Ashcroft. The prior Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, was on the Board of Directors of Monsanto's Searle Pharmaceuticals.
Monsanto has the money to win in court and/or settle with anyone who opposes them. Monsanto has been sued and has settled multiple times for damaging the health of its employees and residents near its Superfund sites through pollution and poisoning. A report released in June 2011 linked glyphosate (RoundUp) to birth defects in frog and chicken embryos at dilutions much lower than those used in typical agricultural spraying (including home gardens). (http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_22625.cfm)
Silent Anti-Nutritional Terrorism
FDA scientists once contended that genetic modification of the food supply is the "single most radical and potentially dangerous threat to public health." In addition to producing GMO foods, Monsanto pushes dozens of other toxic products such as aspartame, bovine growth hormone, Agent Orange, Dioxin, DDT, and Roundup - all of which cause birth defects and deformities.
Constitutional checks and balances are gone for the most part in the United States, especially when it comes to writing ethical policies regarding the environment, food, medicine and drinking water. The FDA and Corporations should not bleed over into one another, and the whole concept of lobbying is just a glorified form of "legal bribery."
Monsanto conveniently tramples on antitrust violations, which the Justice Department has supposedly been investigating for years. The Supreme Court of France found Monsanto guilty of falsely advertising Roundup as "biodegradable" and "environmentally friendly." The New York State Attorney General sued Monsanto and won in 1997 for claiming RoundUp was, "safer than table salt and "practically non-toxic" to mammals, birds, and fish. More than enough scientific research reveals glyphosate, the active ingredient in RoundUp, is "acutely toxic to fish and birds and can kill beneficial insects and soil organisms that maintain ecological balance."
On two other occasions, the EPA has caught scientists deliberately falsifying test results at research laboratories hired by Monsanto to study glyphosate.
(allot more @ link)
Here's the petetion link:
(http://signon.org)
http://www.naturalnews.com/034847_Michael_Taylor_Monsanto_FDA.html#ixzz1lEk1xhjZThe one man who may be responsible for more food related illnesses and deaths than... more
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U.S. President Barack Obama made a rare admission on January 30 when he acknowledged that the United States’ has used unmanned aircraft — known as “drones” — to attack high-value terrorist targets on Pakistan’s territory.U.S. President Barack Obama made a rare admission on January 30 when he acknowledged... more
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,Worldwidehippies - It's funny how what look like choices often aren't, innit?
You go to make groceries and you find shelf upon shelf upon shelf full of 'different' products which, after you remove the packaging, are functionally indistinguishable from one another. It's a problem in our politics, too.,Worldwidehippies - It's funny how what look like choices often aren't,... more
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- I watched the SOTU speech- BRAVO! The President’s speech was masterful. He turned every bogus Republican talking point around and took them away from them. Pretty smart!
So, today, what were they left with? We hate rich people. Nope we don’t. People just want fairness.- I watched the SOTU speech- BRAVO! The President’s speech was masterful. He... more
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Las Vegas, NV. January 26, 2012- President Barack Obama spoke this morning from a UPS terminal in Las Vegas to emphasize the use of liquid natural gas (LGN) which is used by UPS in 2000 of their semi-trucks across the nation with 59 of those trucks used at the Las Vegas facility.
The President said that the United States needs an “all in, all out, all of the above strategy”, which includes not only oil and natural gas, but also nuclear energy, geothermal energy, solar energy, wind energy and bio-fuels.
http://www.examiner.com/democrat-in-las-vegas/obama-pushes-energy-plan-at-ups-facility-las-vegasLas Vegas, NV. January 26, 2012- President Barack Obama spoke this morning from a UPS... more
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So what do you all think about this so called "Free Collage" that was talked about during the Presidential Address yesterday/So what do you all think about this so called "Free Collage" that was talked... more
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President Barack Obama delivered a State of the Union address that aggressively defended his successful work to save the American auto industry, the centerpoint of American manufacturing, and directly addressed the unfairness of our economic system that has led to rapidly growing economic inequality. However, the president avoided a direct admission of the greatest threat to the future of the American economy: rapidly increasing climate change from unlimited fossil fuel pollution. Instead, Obama promoted an “all-of-the-above” energy future:
“This country needs an all-out, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy – a strategy that’s cleaner, cheaper, and full of new jobs.”
Praising the boom in domestic oil and gas drilling, Obama announced that he is “directing my Administration to open more than 75 percent of our potential offshore oil and gas resources.” He called for “every possible action” to develop “a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly one hundred years.”
The “one hundred years” supply of gas is questionable. More importantly, burning that supply would emit about 100 billion tons of carbon dioxide.
Unlike the tepid applause he received when he called for an expansion of offshore drilling, Obama received roars of applause when he said:
“We have subsidized oil companies for a century. That’s long enough. It’s time to end the taxpayer giveaways to an industry that’s rarely been more profitable, and double-down on a clean energy industry that’s never been more promising. Pass clean energy tax credits and create these jobs.”
Obama flubbed his only mention of the fundamental threat of climate change, saying:
“The differences in this chamber may be too deep right now to pass a comprehensive plan to flight, uh, climate change.”
The President of the United States is supposed to address the state of the union in his annual address — but Obama sadly ignored the costliest year of climate disasters in American history, with over a dozen billion-dollar-disasters caused by our poisoned weather and our nation’s lack of preparedness. His work to build a clean energy future deserves the standing ovation it received in the Capitol tonight, but that future will be smashed by the destructive power of a polluted climate if much greater effort is not made.
Read the president’s remarks on energy, the environment, and his single mention of the existence of climate change:
“Nowhere is the promise of innovation greater than in American-made energy. Over the last three years, we’ve opened millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration, and tonight, I’m directing my Administration to open more than 75 percent of our potential offshore oil and gas resources. Right now, American oil production is the highest that it’s been in eight years. That’s right – eight years. Not only that – last year, we relied less on foreign oil than in any of the past sixteen years.
“But with only 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves, oil isn’t enough. This country needs an all-out, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy – a strategy that’s cleaner, cheaper, and full of new jobs.
We have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly one hundred years, and my Administration will take every possible action to safely develop this energy. Experts believe this will support more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade. And I’m requiring all companies that drill for gas on public lands to disclose the chemicals they use. America will develop this resource without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk.
“The development of natural gas will create jobs and power trucks and factories that are cleaner and cheaper, proving that we don’t have to choose between our environment and our economy. And by the way, it was public research dollars, over the course of thirty years, that helped develop the technologies to extract all this natural gas out of shale rock – reminding us that Government support is critical in helping businesses get new energy ideas off the ground.
“What’s true for natural gas is true for clean energy. In three years, our partnership with the private sector has already positioned America to be the world’s leading manufacturer of high-tech batteries. Because of federal investments, renewable energy use has nearly doubled. And thousands of Americans have jobs because of it.
“When Bryan Ritterby was laid off from his job making furniture, he said he worried that at 55, no one would give him a second chance. But he found work at Energetx, a wind turbine manufacturer in Michigan. Before the recession, the factory only made luxury yachts. Today, it’s hiring workers like Bryan, who said, ‘I’m proud to be working in the industry of the future.’
“Our experience with shale gas shows us that the payoffs on these public investments don’t always come right away. Some technologies don’t pan out; some companies fail. But I will not walk away from the promise of clean energy. I will not walk away from workers like Bryan. I will not cede the wind or solar or battery industry to China or Germany because we refuse to make the same commitment here. We have subsidized oil companies for a century. That’s long enough. It’s time to end the taxpayer giveaways to an industry that’s rarely been more profitable, and double-down on a clean energy industry that’s never been more promising. Pass clean energy tax credits and create these jobs.
“We can also spur energy innovation with new incentives. The differences in this chamber may be too deep right now to pass a comprehensive plan to fight climate change. But there’s no reason why Congress shouldn’t at least set a clean energy standard that creates a market for innovation. So far, you haven’t acted. Well tonight, I will. I’m directing my Administration to allow the development of clean energy on enough public land to power three million homes. And I’m proud to announce that the Department of Defense, the world’s largest consumer of energy, will make one of the largest commitments to clean energy in history – with the Navy purchasing enough capacity to power a quarter of a million homes a year.
"Of course, the easiest way to save money is to waste less energy. So here’s another proposal: Help manufacturers eliminate energy waste in their factories and give businesses incentives to upgrade their buildings. Their energy bills will be $100 billion lower over the next decade, and America will have less pollution, more manufacturing, and more jobs for construction workers who need them. Send me a bill that creates these jobs.
…
“I’m confident a farmer can contain a milk spill without a federal agency looking over his shoulder. But I will not back down from making sure an oil company can contain the kind of oil spill we saw in the Gulf two years ago. I will not back down from protecting our kids from mercury pollution, or making sure that our food is safe and our water is clean.”
By Brad Johnson on Jan 24, 2012 at 9:50 pmPresident Barack Obama delivered a State of the Union address that aggressively... more
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This video, “Change Happened,” is about to go viral, and it’s being highlighted by everyone from Dan Savage to Andrew Sullivan. It’s amazing, inspirational, and true.
Frankly, there’s so much more that could have been put into it, but I commend video’s creator, “Digitocalypse.”
Dan Savage says it “serves as a good antidote to the lazy Democratic claim that President Obama has done nothing to help the country since he was elected,” while Andrew Sullivan merely commented that it’s, “[k]ind of like my Newsweek piece, but gayer and as a video.”
Please, won’t you share this around, too?
http://tinyurl.com/7drwbj7This video, “Change Happened,” is about to go viral, and it’s being... more
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