http://www.climatedepot.com/a/8595/Gore-leaves-car-idling-for-one-hour-during-speech-Opts-for-Swedish-government-jet-over-public-transportation
Gore leaves car idling for one hour during speech; Opts for Swedish government jet over public transportation
'Local legislation prohibits any car engine running for more than 60 seconds' -- But Gore Not Fined
Thursday, October 28, 2010By Marc Morano – Climate Depot
Reprinted from CFACT.EU
Frankly Sir, You Are an Embarrassment
Posted: 27 Oct 2010 10:35 AM PDT
By Einar Du Rietz
Al Gore -- He did it again.
Recently, Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore toured again. Or maybe he does that all the time. This time, he turned up in Gothenburg (Sweden) for the usual alarmist talk. In advance, all distinguished guests were politely advised to – if possible – use any form of public transportation to go to the event, in order to minimize CO2 emissions.
Intriguingly, the Master of World Climate himself arrived in a rental car (with or without driver is unclear), from the airport, and subsequently left the engine running for the entire lecture. That is to say, about one hour. Incidentally, local legislation prohibits – for very good environmental reasons, i e pollution – any car engine running on empty for more than 60 seconds. Fines are severe. As far as I know, he was not fined.
It starts to form a pattern.
After the ceremony in the Norwegian capital Oslo, it is customary that the laureate is invited to the Swedish capital Stockholm, for a cordial visit. The train ride, supposedly the environmental choice according to Mr. Gore, is approximately four hours. However, he opted for the cosier ride with one of the Swedish government aircrafts. As these can, according to the rules, only be used when a cabinet member is on board – and as the Swedish government after a short ceremonial visit – offered to fly him to Frankfurt (Germany) for his flight to the US, you can calculate both the manpower and the fuel used for this grand tour against man's destruction of the planet.
Stupidity and hypocracy – as well as vanity – are, like it or not common human traits. I admit to some of them occasionally, but I don't demand taxpayers to finance my stupid talks at dinner (yes, I love doing that). Here's the deal Mr Gore: get out of my way, and I will keep out of yours.
[About the Author: Einar Du Rietz is a journalist and communications consultant based in Europe. He has authored several environmental reports for the Electrolux Group and loads of blogs for the Center for the New Europe at CNE Environment.]
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Friday, October 29, 2010
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Avoiding Climate Message May Be Working in Kansas.
SustainableBusiness.com News
The non-profit Climate and Energy Projectbelieves it may have found the recipe to motivate conservative Americans in the heartland of the country to take beneficial steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to a New York Times story.
The key is to avoid talking about climate change and don't mention Al Gore. "People out here just hate him," Project chairwoman Nancy Jackson said.
Instead the Project has experimented with shifting the message to focus on thrift, patriotism, spiritual conviction and economic prosperity.
So far, the experiment seems to be a success. Energy use has declined by as much as 5% in the towns involved.
Read the full story at the link below.
Website: www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/science/earth/19fossil.html?_r=3&hpw
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
GM has also faced criticism over the Volt's claimed battery range and fuel economy figures. GM originally claimed the Volt would have an electric-onl
Redrant: The ludicrous 230 MPG claim for the Volt is a way for GM to get more low MPG vehicles under the CAFE. I suspect that someone will challenge the 230 MPG Volt claim in court. They should win. If you want a true electric primary with engine backup get a Ford Ranger electric conversion with deep cycle lead acid batteries and add a generator in the cargo box. The generator is, well, a generator/arc welder if you want and it can recharge the batteries and get you home (or cross country).
The basic economics of the battery only part of the volt is highly questionable. I did the math a while back on the 40/20 range figuring a once a day (night) recharge. It was around 14,000/7,000 miles per year driving on electricity. That is tapping it out 365 days per year. If you compare that to the gas engine Volt equivalent that is not a lot of gasoline used even if we calculate at $3 per gallon.
A big question is why this hybrid and electric technology is introduced using the "idiot light" consumer public market? Why not commercial first? Greg Lang
GM originally claimed the Volt would have an electric-only range of 40 miles (65 kilometres) which has now been revised to "between 25 and 50 miles". Several real world tests by industry website Popular Mechanics have resulted in an average of just 33 miles.
Further testing by Popular Mechanics has also seen GM's claim of "230 miles per gallon" (1 litre per 100 kilometres) quashed, with both city and highway testing of the Volt seeing an average consumption six times higher than GM's claim - 6.2 litres per 100km. (SMH)
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
'One Nation' (Rally last Saturday) ... Under Socialism
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/549346/201010041903/One-Nation-Under-Socialism.htm
'One Nation' ... Under Socialism
Election '10: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but in the case of the "One Nation" rally it was also the sincerest form of futility. Despite the usual media puffery, this cycle's enthusiasm gap was clearly visible.
Saturday's gathering in Washington was so sparse, according to Gateway Pundit, that C-SPAN's Web site felt it necessary to use a crowd shot from Glenn Beck's Oct. 28 "Restoring Honor" rally. The Gadsden "Don't Tread on Me" flags in the picture were a dead giveaway.
The "astroturf" slur used by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2009 to disparage the rise of the Tea Party movement clearly applied to "One Nation." Organizers included groups such as Code Pink, La Raza, the Communist Party USA, Democratic Socialists of America and the International Socialist Organization.
The main drivers were the NAACP and labor unions from the Communication Workers of America to the American Federation of Teachers to the SEIU. They provided buses for members to get to the event, as well as free lunches, free T-shirts and free Metro fare cards. It was an offer many decided to refuse.
The AFL-CIO Now blog noted: "One month before the elections, thousands of union members are joining with community activists, students, entertainers, civil and human rights leaders and progressive politicians to march for jobs, justice and education for all Americans. Unions are sponsoring some 1,400 buses from around the country to come to the march."
Even in this case there was no such a thing as a free lunch. It was all paid for by dues from unions hoping to save a Democratic Congress that would pass card check and end a worker's right to a secret ballot in union elections. A rally for democracy this was not.
"We're here to show the rest of the country that there are people who support the progressive agenda," said Ken Bork, who came from Camas, Wash. "There may be an enthusiasm gap, but we're not going to know until we have an election." Hope and change spring eternal.
While the Beck rally stretched well down the National Mall, Saturday's event shaped up to be far smaller, with sparse groups lingering around the reflecting pool and other monuments. Judging from the trash left behind, the janitors' union didn't show up. The problem is that what One Nation was selling, America isn't buying.
Self-proclaimed communist and former Obama green jobs czar Van Jones was there to inspire the crowd with tales of income redistribution and environmental justice. He apologized for the crowd size, saying more people would have attended but times are tough even after a trillion-dollar stimulus. "The earth is overheating, the earth is heating up," he eloquently proclaimed.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who, like other union bosses, has taken no vow of poverty, was there to rail against "the voices of fear and hatred that have risen to dominate our national conversation and the forces of greed, the moneyed powers that put us in the economic mess we're in today."
What do Trumka and the rally attendees offer but unbridled socialism of which ObamaCare and government takeovers of the auto and banking industries are but a first step?
"We need to fundamentally restructure our economy and re-establish popular control over the private corporations which have distorted our economy and hijacked our government," Trumka said recently.
Judging from the crowds on the National Mall as well as poll results to date, socialism is not and will not be America's cup of tea..
Saturday, October 2, 2010
America on the brink of a Second Revolution
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/america-on-the-brink-of-a-second-revolution-2010-09-28
America on the brink of a Second Revolution
Commentary: 2010 elections guarantee gridlock, anti-capitalist class war
By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch
ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- “What’s distinctive about the Tea Party is its anarchist streak -- its antagonism toward any authority, its belligerent self-expression, and its lack of any coherent program or alternative to the policies it condemns,” warns Jacob Weisberg in Newsweek. But why not three cheers for the Tea Party Express?
Admit it, something historic is brewing. And yes, it’s good for America, even the anarchy. Revolution is renewal. Tea-baggers want to take on both parties, “restore honor” and “take back the country.” Bring it on, the feeling’s mutual.
Obama: GOP pledge a disastrous plan
President Barack Obama used his weekly radio address Saturday to accuse Republicans of overlooking the middle class by creating policies that would benefit only the rich while making a pledge of his own to continue supporting the national economy.
OK, maybe most Americans just silently mimic the words, “we’re mad as hell, won’t take it any more.” But watch out: After November the campaign’s shrill rhetoric explodes into action.
Tea-baggers are kicking the revolution into high gear. Debt is sinking America. Both parties are to blame. So vote out incumbents. Spare no one. We need new leadership, another Reagan or Truman. Congress better get the message: Cut that budget, or they’ll dump the rest of you in the coming Great Purge of 2012.
Unfortunately they’re tone deaf. Congress cannot see past the election. All that changes in November.
So thanks Tea Party, Vegas odds must favor a Second American Revolution. Actually, the revolution is already roaring, hot, it’s about time. The GOP and the Dems had more than a decade. But America’s worse off. We need a real revolution to restore sanity … or we can kiss democracy and capitalism good-bye, permanently.
Warning: Another revolution will cost investors 20% more losses
Yes, big warning, the Second American Revolution will extract painful austerity, not the “happy days are here again” future touted by tea-baggers. For years it’ll be impossible for most of America’s 95 million investors to develop a successful investment or logical retirement strategy.
Why? Political chaos will translate into extreme volatility and a highly unpredictable stock market. Result: Wall Street will lose another 20% of the value of your retirement portfolio in the next decade, just as Wall Street did the last decade. So if you think you’re “mad as hell” now, “you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet!”
Here’s the timeline:
Stage 1: The Dems just put the nail in their coffin by confirming they are wimps, refusing to force the GOP to filibuster the Bush tax cuts for America’s richest.
Stage 2: The GOP takes over the House, expanding its war to destroy Obama with its new policy of “complete gridlock,” even “shutting down government.”
Stage 3: Obama goes lame-duck.
Stage 4: The GOP wins back the White House and Senate in 2012. Health care returns to insurers. Free market financial deregulation returns.
Stage 5: Under the new president, Wall Street’s insatiable greed triggers the catastrophic third meltdown of the 21st century Shiller predicted, with defaults on dollar-denominated debt.
Stage 6: The Second American Revolution explodes into a brutal full-scale class war rebelling against the out-of-touch, out-of-control greedy conspiracy-of-the-rich now running America.
Stage 7: Domestic class warfare is compounded by Pentagon’s prediction that by 2020 “an ancient pattern of desperate, all-out wars over food, water, and energy supplies would emerge” worldwide and “warfare is defining human life.”
What’s behind our 2010-2020 countdown? It became obvious after reading the brilliant but bleak “Decadence of Election 2010” report by Prof. Peter Morici, former chief economist at the International Trade Commission. He sees no hope from America’s political parties, just a dark scenario ahead.
Here are the 10 points we see in his message:
1. Expect nothing positive from Dems, the GOP or Tea Party
Yes, we’re all “justifiably ticked off.” But “Democrats, Republicans, and yes the Tea Party offer little that is encouraging.” Earlier Morici warned: “Democratic capitalism is in eclipse. … Politicians have deceived voters,” and are “suffering from delusions of grandeur, self deception and good old-fashioned abuse.”
2. Democracy has become too-big-to-govern … by anyone
“The current economic quagmire is a bipartisan creation.” Bush failures led to a “Great Recession … reckless Wall Street pay and fraud, a breakdown in sound lending standards by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac … Countrywide, and a huge trade deficit with China and on oil” leaving “Beijing and Middle East royals with trillions of U.S. dollars that they invested foolishly” in bonds “financing the housing and commercial real estate bubbles.”
3. Clinton, Bush, Obama policies all feeding revolutionary flames
Even before Bush, “all was set in motion by bank deregulation engineered by Clinton … Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers … Clinton’s deal to admit China into the World Trade Organization” handed “China free access to U.S. markets” while blocking exports. Earlier Dems blocked “domestic oil and gas development” and froze “auto mileage standards.” Obama “finally imposed higher mileage requirements,” but after pushing offshore drilling, he “punished the entire petroleum industry” for the BP disaster.
Will Pelosi allow tax vote?
Indiana Republican Congressman Mike Pence and Stephen Moore discuss taxes.
4. Bush’s biggest mistake: Goldman CEO Hank Paulson
Morici admits: If Bush is “culpable for anything, it was to not see the gathering storm on Wall Street.” Worse, his Treasury picks were disasters: [John] Snow was clueless, Paulson devious. He conned a clueless Congress into bailout trillions, “believing banks could borrow at 3% and lend at 5 and pay MBAs three years out of school five-million-dollar bonuses to create mortgage backed securities.” Greed drove the Bush Treasury.
5. All partisan political leaders are destined to sabotage America
One thing is clear to Morici: Not only were America’s leaders a “bunch of second-rate incompetents” on both the Clinton and Bush teams, “Obama’s ratcheting up government spending and taxes won’t fix what’s broke, and neither will the GOP prescription of tax cuts and deregulation.” Get it? Democracy is in a classic double-bind, no-win scenario.
6. America’s democratic capitalism trapped in systemic failure
Morici simply dismisses “Obama’s two signature initiatives -- health-care reform and financial services reregulation.” They “simply don’t work.” Why? Politicians “failed to address the root problem, Americans pay 50% more for doctors, hospitals and drugs, than subscribers to national health plans in Germany, France and other decadent socialist European countries.” Yet, insurers hate reform, will self-destruct America first.
7. Wall Street’s insatiable greed is a virus that never sleeps
Wall Street banks are “back to their old tricks,” warns Morici, “hustling municipal governments into the kind of quick-fix budget schemes, like selling parking meters and airport fees.” Why? Wall Street’s “hustling shoddy corporate bonds that lack adequate collateral and may never be repaid” to justify their absurd mega-bonuses. And they’ll keep doing it till the revolution creates a new non-capitalist banking system.
8. New political leaders offer no hope -- Wall Street rules America
GOP’s next leaders will fail: “Cutting taxes and mindless deregulation are not the answer.” We need the revenue. They have no real plan to trim “$1 trillion from federal spending … few believe deregulation will fix health care or Wall Street.” The GOP has no “effective government solutions to health care, Wall Street, fixing trade with China, and dependence on foreign oil.” And the Tea Party “only offers a purer form of failed Republicanism. Tax and spend less, and turn the country over to the robber barons.”
9. Praying for a messiah, we’re sleepwalking till the revolution
Morici’s solution: America “needs a prophet, another Harry Truman or Ronald Reagan.” But we’ll never get one, until a catastrophe hits. Wall Street’s so greedy, so corrupt, so untouchable, so much in control, they will bankroll and control all future “prophets.”
10. The Second American Revolution coming
Yes, extreme austerity: “Americans must accept fewer government-paid benefits -- for the rich, the poor and those in between -- and must acknowledge the market works best most of the time, but it is not working in health care, banking, China, and oil.” Huh? Sounds like classic economist’s double-speak: “The market works most of the time” … except the market doesn’t work at all in the four biggest economic sectors? Fuzzy thinking?
Morici warns, we need “new approaches to regulating, yes regulating, what the medical industry charges, bankers pay themselves, what Americans tolerate and buy” and “guiding big oil and car companies to sustainable solutions.”
Holy cow, he suddenly sounds more like a liberal politician than conservative economist. Yes, he’s reflecting the total chaos coming on the short road to the Second American Revolution.
In the end, however, you have to admit the good professor does make a lot of sense: “Sounds radical but running the world has never been a choice between statism and anarchy,” says Morici.
Choice? Unfortunately, he offers a false choice: Running America effectively means accepting “that the private sector is not the enemy and government is not evil, but neither can serve the other, and us, if value is not seen in each.”
Laudable, but impossible because once the GOP Tea Party of No-No is back in power, compromising is not on their agenda, “gridlock” is. So anarchy is the only choice -- they will never, never work with Democrats … until forced by the Second America Revolution when the middle class finally rises up and overthrows the greedy wealth conspiracy of Wall Street, Washington, CEOs and the Forbes 400.
Till then, anarchy rules as the conspiracy keeps looting Treasury, stealing from taxpayers, conning us all.
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