Earth Day 2001 - A 32 Year Perspective

(4/22/01)  I was a senior in high school when the first Earth Day rolled around.  So where are we now compared to 1970?

I'm afraid we're not doing very well in many ways.  The US is still belching out 25% of the world's greenhouse gases with 4% of the population.  Urban sprawl has usurped much of our animal habitat and forced people into long, energy-wasting daily commutes to work.  Our dependence on fossil fuels (and thus imports from the oil cartels) has not decreased; in fact, despite the conservation efforts championed by Jimmy Carter, we seem to have forgotten about our strategic vulnerability and the finite nature of these fuels.  The most popular car sales are SUVs that get 12 mpg and speed limits have been raised back to gas-guzzling speeds.

Some progress has been made, however.  Many communities are recycling to cut pressure on landfills.  The EPA has strict rules in place regulating industrial effluent and chemical dumping.  Newer homes are built to be more efficient and appliances, air conditioners, and furnaces have followed suit.

In my mind, the biggest threat to our environment today is leadership that owes fealty to big business.  George Dubya Bush is certainly one of those leaders and his actions since Inauguration Day have proven this out.  From rejection of the Kyoto treaty to proposing oil drilling in nature reserves to cutting budgets from environmentally-oriented government agencies, Dubya is showing his true priorities.  These are the same priorities he practiced as Texas Governor that let Texas industry set its own pollution guidelines and penalties and turned Houston into the most polluted city in the US.  His policies will negatively effect our environment for many, many years to come.

Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows... Or So It Seems

(4/21/01)  It seems odd that Barry W. Lynn, Executive Director for Americans United for Separation of Church and State could end up on the same side of Dubya's Faith Based Initiative issue with Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell.  In this month's Church and State magazine Mr. Lynn explains just how different his position is from these icons of the Religious Right.

I became curious about the news reports saying that the Religious Right were opposing Dubya's Faith-Based plan. This didn't make sense to me because I've felt all along that Dubya cooked up this scheme to to appease and consolidate support from the most conservative wingnuts in the GOP.  Well, Barry Lynn clairified the mystery quite well.  Mr. Lynn wants to dump the whole plan on its lack of basis in the US Constitution and the fact that it is a half-baked bad idea.  That's where Lynn, Falwell, and Robertson part ways.  The two reverends are really in favor of the plan as long as the details can be worked in their favor.

Falwell is on record as saying that any group should be available for funds as long as they don't preach hate.  In an interview on Beliefnet.com, Jerry proved his own hatred and intolerance by stating "I think the Moslem faith teaches hate".  Mr. Lynn's article points out that to many moderate persons of all faiths, Falwell's comments about gays or Robertson calling Hindus "devil worshippers" could be rightfully considered to be preaching hate.

Robertson is in favor of a matching tax credit for contirbutions to certain charities on a government-approved list. John J. DiIulio, Dubya's ramrod for this harebrained program, recently stated that an "indivisibly conversion-centered program that cannot separate out and privately fund its inherently religious activity" should be eligible for funding through "individual vouchers".  Please read that last sentence again carefully.  This is nothing less than piping Federal money into churches; the money they receive from the government will free up their other funds for buildings, salaries, and yes, making converts.

Meanwhile, the Dubya Conflagration is cutting money from worthy programs and contending that these funds will be made up for with Faith-based funds.  Mr. Lynn raises an example of a 50% cut ($150 million) in the program for housing project security and then asks "Does this mean prayer groups will pray that drug dealers move to other locations?"

Mr. Lynn concludes the article by saying he's not a bedfellow of Falwell or Robertson at all.  "At most, they have inadvertently blundered into the same hotel where I've been residing for some time, and - at leaset for a while - we're all on the non-smoking floor."

To visit the website of Americans United for Separtion of Church and State, please click HERE.

House to Attempt Sneak Attack on Reproductive Choice

(4/20/01) ***** THIS JUST IN FROM THE ACLU *****

TO: ACLU Action Network FR: Jared Feuer, Internet Organizer DT: April 18, 2001 Next week, the House is scheduled to hold its first anti-choice vote of the year. Trying to slip its anti-choice leanings under the radar, the House will be considering a covert assault on reproductive rights called the "Unborn Victims of Violence Act" (H.R. 503). Written with the assistance of the National Right to Life Committee, this bill would be the first federal law to recognize a fetus at any stage of development, from conception forward, as an independent "victim" of a crime with legal rights distinct from the woman who has been harmed by a violent criminal act.

Proponents of this legislation do not aim to protect women. In fact, they have consistently rejected proposals that would appropriately punish violence against women by enhancing the penalty when a criminal act results in harm to a pregnant woman. Enhanced penalties would put the focus of the law where it should be: on the potentially devastating loss or injury to the woman that occurs when her pregnancy is compromised. Unfortunately, the House has moved ahead with this anti-choice legislation in an attempt to erode the very foundation of the right to choose by elevating the status of a fetus in the eyes of the law. Take Action! This legislation is likely to receive a floor vote in the House next week! You can read more about the bill and send a FREE FAX to your Representative from our action alert at:

http://www.aclu.org/action/antichoice107.html

Dubya Then and Now

(4/19/01) 1993:  George W. Bush, a born-again Christian, told a reporter that "heaven is open only to those who accept Jesus Christ."  (Answering the reporter's question as to whether or not Jews can get to heaven).

April 19, 2001:   "Tyrants and dictators will accept no other gods before them," Bush said. "They seek absolute control and are threatened by faith in God. They fear only the power they cannot possess - the power of truth. So they resent the living example of the devout, especially the devotion of a unique people chosen by God."  (Speaking to 200 lawmakers, guests and onlookers in tribute of Holocaust Memorial Day, an event on the Jewish calendar that commemorates the 6 million people killed in Nazi death camps.)

Dubya Doublespeak Clouds Arsenic Issue

(4/19/01)  Dubya's March 20th decision to rescind the Clinton initiative to lower arsenic levels in public drinking water from 50 to 10 parts per million raised a chorus of protests from environmentalists and politicians.  Christine Todd Whitman, who personally supports the change, was ordered by Dubya to put on her EPA hat and tow the official line.  (That's how it works in Dubya's My-Way-Or-The-Highway administration.)

The furor over the apparent callousness of Dubya's environmental policy came to a head around Earth Day, resulting in an apparent shift of policy.  Whitman issued the following statement:  “The Bush administration is committed to protecting the environment and the health of all Americans.”  The statement promises a final regulation within nine months. She said the decision to seek a report from the National Academy of Sciences would “ensure that a standard will be put in place in a timely manner that provides clean, safe and affordable drinking water for the nation and is based on the best science.”

The review by the National Academy is considered by many to be a stall tactic to let the publicity die down a bit.  Who knows what the issues of the day will be in nine months? 

The bottom line is that Dubya can claim to be environmentally responsible without actually doing anything environmentally responsible.  His claims certainly don't hold much water after his budget gutting the funding for transportation and renewable alternate energy sources.  Then there's that Alaska/Rocky mountain drilling problem... oh, and let's not forget the Kyoto treaty.

Environmental President my rear end.

Spy Plane Incident and International Law

(4/17/01)  An article published in Business Daily Update explains the spy plane incident from the standpoint of international law.  This should put to rest any doubts as to whether the US should be flying military reconnisance flights (spying) during peacetime  in  a foreign country's airspace. Click on "Spy Plane" link on the left.

From Humble Pie to Tough Guys - Dubya & Powell Deny Apologizing

(4/14/01)  After writing an apology letter to the Chinese to obtain the release of the American spy plane hostages, the Commander-in-Thief and Secretary in a State are slicing and dicing words like Veg-O-Matics as they attempt to do an end run around the common sense of America.  (See "apology" definition below; the New World Dictionary certainly thinks Dubya apologized).  With the crew members in U.S. hands, Shrub withdrew the hang-dog rhertoric U.S. officials had used in negotiating the crew's release, and instead said "The United States aircraft was operating in international airspace,and did nothing to cause the crash."  Colin Powell said U.S. expressions of sorrow for the loss of the Chinese pilot and for making an emergency landing on Hainan island without permission "did not constitute an apology."   US officials are demanding the return of the airplane and saying that compensation for the Chinese pilot's death is about as likely as Dubya scoring over his shoe size on an IQ test.

In my mind, the whole issue boils down to the New World Order, jingoist, paternalistic, racist thinking of Dubya's administration.  They seem to think that the US can dictate to sovereign nations what constitutes their restricted airspace.  How absolutely wrong and small we must appear to the rest of the world.  Our Executive Branch has been hijacked by  Ugly Americans.

Toddlers to be Frisked at White House Egg Rolling Race

(4/14/01)  In a story that reads like a glimpse into an Orwellian hell, The London Times is reporting that the Secret Service will be frisking toddlers for “guns / ammunition, knives with blades over 3in, mace or electric stun guns”.  Balloons are also prohibited since the popping noise they make could be mistaken for gunfire.  Read the story at http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,3-114235,00.html 

I find it somewhat ironic that the same man who signed legislation in Texas making it legal to pack heat in just about anywhere in Texas including churches would make these toddlers check in their self-protection at the gate.  What are these children supposed to do if confronted by an egg-smashing bully?  Duke it out?

The NRA is expected to mount a full-scale protest against this clear 2nd Amendment violation.  Charleton Heston never passes an opportunity to get egg on his face.  Over 30,000 Americans are shot to death every year.

Dubya's Oil Machine Takes Aim At the Rocky Mountains

(4/12/01)  With environmentalists' anger coalescing over Dubya's anti-environment pro-oil business policies, his minions are hatching a new plan certain to make John Denver flip over in his grave.  According to The Times (London), Cheney's task force is planning to offer up the Rocky Mountains for oil exploration, including Montana's Lewis and Clark National Forest and Jack Morrow Hills of Wyoming.  This would require the approval of Gale Ann Norton, Secretary of the Interior, but that seems to be a non-issue in Dubya's My-Way-Or-The-Highway administration.

This new plan surfaced after it became clear that the North Slope drilling suggestion was going no where in Congress.  Other recent environmental travesties committed by Shrub include rejection of the Kyoto treaty, refusal to raise water standards concerning arsenic, and cutting budgets of government agencies dealing with alternate renewable energy, energy conservation, and transportation.

In short, you can be assured that every environmental policy coming from the collective piehole of the Dubya administration will be good for his energy industry cronies and bad for the long-term future of this nation and the world.

A tip of the editor's hat to Dr. Harpeau Crapaud for sending me the Times story.  Be sure to visit Dr. Crapaud's Dubuseum for a fine collection of Dubya art.

a-pol-o-gize (-jiz) vi. -gized', -giz'ing  1.  to make an apology; acknowledge, and express regret for, a fault, wrong, etc.

(4/11/01) Does anyone else find it absolutely hilarious that Dubya is trying to claim victory by saying he didn't apologize to the Chinese for the spy plane incident?  I'm sorry, but even in friggin' TEXAS if you tell someone you "deeply regret" something you've done, like violate a country's airspace and cause a fatal air crash, it counts as an apology.

The good news in all of this is that despite Dubya's many attempts to turn this into an international fiasco, our people are coming home.  I think you can just about write off the plane and it's load of state-of -the-art snooping equipment.   Say... the Chinese are so great at copying, maybe we can buy that stuff from them as soon as they figure out how to build it.   I'll bet it would be a damn sight cheaper than what we pay our defense contractors for it!

Dubya calls Chinese hostage situation "stalemate"

(4/11/01) Demonstrating an incredible paucity of leadership, our Commander-in-Thief has allowed this incident to get completely out of control while his cold-warrior in-the-box thinkers are wringing their hands and saying "We think we've done all we can do."

What a complete load of horse-hockey.  The US was conducting a spying mission 15 miles off the Chinese coast, well within their airspace.  The US was clearly wrong and no amount of hedging, blustering, "America first", or anything else is going to change that basic fact.

Dubya NEEDS to APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCIDENT AND PLEDGE TO KEEP OUR SPYING MISSIONS OUT OF CHINESE AIRSPACE.      

Bush Budget Plan:  An Oilman's Crackpipe Dream

(4/9/01) Despite the fact that the US is facing immanent electricity shortages and is vulnerable to the whims of a few Arab leaders, Dubya's new budget  cuts funding from transportation and energy research.  The Transportation department is taking a $2.1 Billion hit in its budget.  Solar/renewable energy research loses $186 million, while efficiency research gets a $61 million cut.

Folks, considering the situation that the GOPER deregulators have put us in, does this stink?  Damn right it does.

Dubya is also claiming to spend 11.7% more on Education; this has already been debunked as a lie.  He is actually only spending 4% in new money for Education becuase the rest of what he's claiming was already earmarked in the Clinton budget.

What a bozo.

Bush Administration looks like Keystone Cops doing Chinese Fire Drill

(4/8/01) What nobody wants to talk about... the facts.  The US spy plane was on a military mission.  (I'm going to assume for the moment that you'll agree that a planeload of US servicemen and women gathering intelligence qualifies as a military mission).  The first reports about the location of the collision had it 15 to 50 miles from the coast of mainland China.  (The news reports now just keep saying that Dubya's people are insisting that the plane was in "international airspace").  So what is "international airspace"?  The US defines it as 15 miles from the coast for civilian flights and 200 miles for foreign military flights.  That, by the way, is the same distance the Chinese are claiming for military flights... 200 miles.

Now the Bush Administration, full of hawkish Cold Warriors, is playing the carrot/stick game of threatening ambiguous negative outcomes if the Chinese don't kow-tow to US demands.  What the hell kind of "normalized relations" is it when you'll trade with a country but have to spy on it? 

The Bush Administration should apologize for the incident and order further military flights to stay 200 miles off the coast.

Brand NEW!  Full transcripts of the so-called "debates"

And that should be heavy on the quotation marks.  The transcripts show how many promises can be broken in the first 100 days if you really put your hare-brain to the task.  These should also disgust the many visitors who used to think that Jim Lehrer was a source of unbiased news and commentary.  PBS TV doesn't get MY bucks any more!   Click the "Debates" link to the left to read the transcripts.

Liars, and Dragons, and Bears - Oh MY!

Dubya heads for a meltdown as the world he never understood crumbles in on him.

(4/4/01) The Senate today handed Dubya his lying head on a platter by voting to cut $450 billion out of his phoney baloney tax cut plan.  This is a 1/3 cut and I really doubt it will get through the Senate without further cuts.

Meanwhile, Dubya's lies during his campaign about the environment are coming home to roost as he reneges on his pledge to curb CO2 emissions and gets caught up in a lie trying to defend his Alaskan drilling spree.

The Chinese dragon is getting ready to blow some fire up Dubya's tailpipe as he bumbles his way through the spy plane incident.  This should come as no surprise since the Bush Administration has made a big show of "new world order" thinking by pissing off the Chinese, Russians, Western Europeans, Israelis, Arabs, and just about everyone else.  About the only people he hasn't really ticked off yet are the Canadians; of course, he's not allowed to drive there because of his past drunken driving convictions.

The bear market seems to be tanking worse and worse each day, thanks to the lack of confidence people have in Dubya's ability to successfully do anything besides pick his nose and other orifices.  Also, the Russian bear is getting increasingly grumpy; Putin gave the Russian equivalent of a State of the Union speech and snubbed the US as an economic partner in favor of the Europeans.  I heard on NPR this morning that the number of arrests of illegals trying to cross the Mexican border into the US is drastically down.  Even the mujados know when they're better off.

A LETTER TO PRESIDENT BUSH

Editor's note:  the following letter is the last page in this week's Time magazine.

Dear Mr. President,

     No challenge we face is more momentous than the threat of global climate change.  The current provisions of the Kyoto Protocol are a matter of legitmate debate.  But the situation is becoming urgent, and it is time for consensus and action.  There are many strategies for curbing greenhouse-gas emissions without slowing economic growth.  In fact, the spread of advanced, cleaner technology is more of an economic opportunity than a peril.  We urge you to develop a plan to reduce U.S. production of greenhouse gases.  The future of our children- and their children- depends on the resolve that you and other world leaders show.

Respectfully,  (signed)

Jimmy Carter                          Mikhail Gorbachev

John Glenn                             Walter Cronkite

George Soros                         J. Craig Venter

Jane Goodall                          Edward O. Wilson

Harrison Ford                        Stephen Hawking

New Feature... Guest Columns. 

The first one is in; click on the link (at left) to read it.  If you have something to contribute, please consider emailing it to me at Editor@StopDubya.com .

Dubya Torpedoes Kyoto Emissions Treaty As Rest of World Reacts With Shock and Anger

(4/2/2001) Dubya unilaterally rejected a treaty to limit greenhouse gases negotiated by more than 100 countries and was years in the making.  The US produces about 25% of world greenhouse gases due to the fact that our country is an amazing energy hog that depends on fossil fuels.  On the average, an American citizen uses twice as much energy as their European counterpart.

Reaction from European leaders and press was swift and to the point.  "...scrapping Kyoto ... simply reflects a lack of understanding of political realities", said European commissioner for environmental affairs Margot Wallstrom.  French minister of the environment Dominique Voynet called Dubya's decision "completely provocative and irresponsible".  Gerd Billen, leader of Germany's Naturschutzbund Deutchland, their biggest environmental group, said "it is a catastrophe". Newspapers were highly critical as well.  Le Monde referred to the Dubya decision as "a brutal form of unilateralism".  The London Independent said "history will not judge George Bush kindly".

European environmentalists are organizing boycotts against American businesses in Europe, particularly oil companies.  This would add to European perceptions that Dubya is leading the US into isolation.  The French Green party leader Noel Mamer stated "We are back to Ronald Reagan and America First.  I think the decision is completely mad, and it is a reason for more isolation for America".

I'm continually amazed that Dubya can screw up as many things as he can when he only works 6 hour days.  I guess we should be thankful he has such a lousy work ethic.

Bizarre Story of Federal Mapmaker Firing- Gale Ann Norton:  "Don't confuse me with the facts."

Ian Thomas, a contract employee of Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, thought he was doing everybody a favor by publishing a map showing the caribou calving area on the North Slope.  After all, this is smack dab in the middle of the wildlife refuge that Dubya wants to open up for oil drilling.  (This area contains about a 6 month supply of oil for the US at the current consumption rate and this will take 10 years to deliver.  Go figure.)

Instead, Thomas was fired when he showed up to work the following Monday.  There is a controversy over whether the map he put up on the Internet is accurate; however, Thomas says he copied the basic cover for his map from an existing map and if his map is inaccurate then so is the one he copied from.  It may be a moot point, because all the maps have been taken from public view by the closing of his Internet site.

Folks, these are the same people who want you to cough up multi-billions on a "Star Wars" boondoggle because they claim they can shoot down missiles travelling at thousands of miles per hour in outer space.  Certainly they ought to be able to figure out if there are caribou living somewhere or not.

There's only three words that accurately describe what's going on here... another stinking coverup.  We are headed back to the bad old days of the Nixon years, where the government will repress relevent information and make up its own to justify it's immoral and idiotic decisions.

Here are two links to the story:  http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/20010315/t000022700.html  - this is the Los Angeles Times story; you have to sign in to read it but it's painless and only takes a couple of minutes.  The other link I have is http://www.kuro5hin.org/?op=displaystory;sid=2001/3/17/202127/270 - this is a link to a public email sent out by Ian Thomas explaining his side of the story.

Thanks to "Bear" for bringing this story to my attention.  Keep up the good work, man!

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This might be a good time to contact your elected officials and tell them you want a full investigation into the habitat and wildlife on the North Slope before any oil drilling begins.  You can get contact information on my Senators and Representatives pages.

In addition, let Gale Ann Norton know that her job as Secretary of the Interior is to be an environmental advocate, not a whore for big business.

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