Before there was global warming and conservatives started to deny the validity of science, a global consensus developed in 1987 that continuing the production of CFC (chlorofluorocarbon) gases, which destroy the ozone layer, which is turn protects living things on earth from bad emissions from the sun, was undesirable. So, CFC production was rapidly downsized and all production ended globally in 2010.
Now scientists are finding that there are 4 variations of CFC now appearing in the atmosphere and they are not sure about the sources. But they are suspicious of certain insecticides and a few other things where manipulation of molecules by the chemical industry might as a sight effect create CFC emissions.
Scientists are working as fast as possible to see if they can determine where these new CFC's are coming from as CFC's take a long time to degrade and recreating ozone takes a long time and no one knows how life on earth would cope with no ozone. It might be too dangerous to be outside doing any of the fun things we all like to do.
So one would think there would be consensus that this is a worthwhile thing for the EPA to working on. However, I have little doubt that the Koch Brothers will fight this tooth and nail like they do all other EPA activities. Koch Industries produces agricultural chemicals. And if a Republican is the next President, they are likely to follow the Bush II attitude of the EPA serves no necessary purpose.
Woe to the rest of us if that should happen and we lose the consensus that CFC's are bad. I enjoy my outdoor activities and I want future generations to be able to enjoy being outdoors as well. After all, all of human kind has lived outdoors forever and our animals and plants need a healthy environment to thrive and support our nutrition. That would be Motherhood and Apple Pie if the GOP didn't have so many sciences deniers in their ranks.
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Friday, March 7, 2014
# Quotes Show GOP more interested in bashing Obama than
contributing to meaningful foreign policy debate.
All these quotes are copied from the Washington Post Wonk Blog. Not sure if the copied links will take you there.
KISSINGER: How the Ukraine crisis ends. "Public discussion on Ukraine is all about confrontation. But do we know where we are going? In my life, I have seen four wars begun with great enthusiasm and public support, all of which we did not know how to end and from three of which we withdrew unilaterally. The test of policy is how it ends, not how it begins. Far too often the Ukrainian issue is posed as a showdown: whether Ukraine joins the East or the West. But if Ukraine is to survive and thrive, it must not be either side's outpost against the other -- it should function as a bridge between them." Henry Kissinger in The Washington Post.
KRAUTHAMMER: Obama, Russia and the wages of weakness. Vladimir Putin is a lucky man. And he's got three more years of luck to come. He takes Crimea, and President Obama says it's not in Russia's interest, not even strategically clever. Indeed, it's a sign of weakness. Really? Crimea belonged to Moscow for 200 years. Russia conquered it 20 years before the U.S. acquired Louisiana. Lost it in the humiliation of the 1990s. Putin got it back in about three days without firing a shot."Charles Krauthammer in The Washington Post.
VINIK: Republicans are playing politics while Ukraine faces default. "Republicans are tripping over themselves to propose ideas to hit Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. But at the same time, they are limiting Ukraine's ability to borrow money from the International Monetary Fund. That makes it more likely Ukraine will default on its debt, which could destabilize the country and invite exactly what the Republicans want to prevent: further Russian aggression." Danny Vinik in The New Republic.
All these quotes are copied from the Washington Post Wonk Blog. Not sure if the copied links will take you there.
KISSINGER: How the Ukraine crisis ends. "Public discussion on Ukraine is all about confrontation. But do we know where we are going? In my life, I have seen four wars begun with great enthusiasm and public support, all of which we did not know how to end and from three of which we withdrew unilaterally. The test of policy is how it ends, not how it begins. Far too often the Ukrainian issue is posed as a showdown: whether Ukraine joins the East or the West. But if Ukraine is to survive and thrive, it must not be either side's outpost against the other -- it should function as a bridge between them." Henry Kissinger in The Washington Post.
KRAUTHAMMER: Obama, Russia and the wages of weakness. Vladimir Putin is a lucky man. And he's got three more years of luck to come. He takes Crimea, and President Obama says it's not in Russia's interest, not even strategically clever. Indeed, it's a sign of weakness. Really? Crimea belonged to Moscow for 200 years. Russia conquered it 20 years before the U.S. acquired Louisiana. Lost it in the humiliation of the 1990s. Putin got it back in about three days without firing a shot."Charles Krauthammer in The Washington Post.
VINIK: Republicans are playing politics while Ukraine faces default. "Republicans are tripping over themselves to propose ideas to hit Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. But at the same time, they are limiting Ukraine's ability to borrow money from the International Monetary Fund. That makes it more likely Ukraine will default on its debt, which could destabilize the country and invite exactly what the Republicans want to prevent: further Russian aggression." Danny Vinik in The New Republic.
Raise the Minimum Wage
I may have already written on this, but just in case, I want to be perfectly clear about the basis of my belief.
I am sitting here this a.m. finishing my tea, having read my newspapers, and finally waking up my brain playing number teasers on-line, when a train goes by. I live 3 blocks from the train station and love it because it takes me back to the small town I grew up in where I listened to the trains passing through town at night and dreamed of going wherever that engineer was going.
So this morning's train made me think of that engineer. And I thought about how a society functions with people doing all kinds of jobs to make that society work. Each of those people have a need to live by earning a livable wage. And I thought how each of us has an obligation to society to pay enough for whatever we buy so that each person in that supply chain earns a livable wage.
No one should have to work 80 hours a week and have a barely livable income. And if we can't pay a teenager $10.00 an hour to staff a pizza joint or man a checkout counter in a bodega or country market, then raise the prices by a penny or two or even 10 cents, and pay them $3.00 more an hour.
Some cynics might say all that would be doing is putting more drug money in their pockets, but maybe a little more income for honest work might keep urban teenagers out of gangs and reduce the student loans that college students have to take out.
My work in college paid my rent, utilities, and food with 25 hours a week. $25*$7*4= $700 a month before taxes. I don't think that would pay rent, utilities, and food anymore. Inflation hurts low income people much more then it hurts higher income people.
Raise the minimum wage.
I am sitting here this a.m. finishing my tea, having read my newspapers, and finally waking up my brain playing number teasers on-line, when a train goes by. I live 3 blocks from the train station and love it because it takes me back to the small town I grew up in where I listened to the trains passing through town at night and dreamed of going wherever that engineer was going.
So this morning's train made me think of that engineer. And I thought about how a society functions with people doing all kinds of jobs to make that society work. Each of those people have a need to live by earning a livable wage. And I thought how each of us has an obligation to society to pay enough for whatever we buy so that each person in that supply chain earns a livable wage.
No one should have to work 80 hours a week and have a barely livable income. And if we can't pay a teenager $10.00 an hour to staff a pizza joint or man a checkout counter in a bodega or country market, then raise the prices by a penny or two or even 10 cents, and pay them $3.00 more an hour.
Some cynics might say all that would be doing is putting more drug money in their pockets, but maybe a little more income for honest work might keep urban teenagers out of gangs and reduce the student loans that college students have to take out.
My work in college paid my rent, utilities, and food with 25 hours a week. $25*$7*4= $700 a month before taxes. I don't think that would pay rent, utilities, and food anymore. Inflation hurts low income people much more then it hurts higher income people.
Raise the minimum wage.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Rob Astorino
The GOP Westchester County Executive wants to run for Governor of NY State. It will be interesting to see how his strategy of getting lots of votes upstate works. He is pro-fracking. I happen to be also, but will not vote for him because I cannot vote for any Republican until they become more balanced in their approach to just about everything.
The problem with his strategy is many of the rural Republican voters are NIMBY's. They don't want a gas pipeline built along Interstate 88 and they don't want fracking. You can frack all you want, but you need a pipeline to take the gas away to the market where it will be used.
So Mr. Astorino will have to be both pro-Constellation pipeline and pro-fracking. Again, I support both of these activities, but I don't believe the upstate NIMBY voters will. So I think Mr. Astorino is doomed to remain Westchester County Executive.
The problem with his strategy is many of the rural Republican voters are NIMBY's. They don't want a gas pipeline built along Interstate 88 and they don't want fracking. You can frack all you want, but you need a pipeline to take the gas away to the market where it will be used.
So Mr. Astorino will have to be both pro-Constellation pipeline and pro-fracking. Again, I support both of these activities, but I don't believe the upstate NIMBY voters will. So I think Mr. Astorino is doomed to remain Westchester County Executive.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
This is the Result of 24 Hour News/Talk Media
Face it, I am a normal person, very attuned to the issues of the world, and I can only find stuff to write/talk about for 30 minutes a few days a month. What in the world can you do to fill up 24 hours day after day?
It appears that I missed the sensitivity of Russia to Nato's expansion east. Of course, I knew that they were unhappy whenever this started 8 or 10 or ? years ago. But I didn't know that this was a reason for the quick war in Georgia (the country not the state) in 2008. So you would have thought the EU would have shown a little bit of sensitivty when trying to rescue the Ukraine financially. Of course, the reason I didn't short the Ukraine was the fact that I thought they would agree to an IMF program and conduct sensible economic policies that would have stabilized the economy. Instead, Yanakovich (sp?) was so corrupt and crooked that he turned that down in favor of a Russia financial rescue that allowed the unstable policy mix to continue. And we see where that got him? A dacha near Moscow supported with money in Cyprus no doubt. And it got the Ukraine and the world in the current situation.
But I really wanted to reference Thomas Friedman's column this morning. He deserves the big bucks for being able to write coherent insightful columns like this on a regular basis.
Link to Friedman's column
And I love his 1st paragraph because it inspired by title and introductory paragraph so I copy it below.
"Just as we’ve turned the coverage of politics into sports, we’re doing the same with geopolitics. There is much nonsense being written about how Vladimir Putin showed how he is “tougher” than Barack Obama and how Obama now needs to demonstrate his manhood. This is how great powers get drawn into the politics of small tribes and end up in great wars that end badly for everyone. We vastly exaggerate Putin’s strength — so does he — and we vastly underestimate our own strength, and ability to weaken him through nonmilitary means."
It appears that I missed the sensitivity of Russia to Nato's expansion east. Of course, I knew that they were unhappy whenever this started 8 or 10 or ? years ago. But I didn't know that this was a reason for the quick war in Georgia (the country not the state) in 2008. So you would have thought the EU would have shown a little bit of sensitivty when trying to rescue the Ukraine financially. Of course, the reason I didn't short the Ukraine was the fact that I thought they would agree to an IMF program and conduct sensible economic policies that would have stabilized the economy. Instead, Yanakovich (sp?) was so corrupt and crooked that he turned that down in favor of a Russia financial rescue that allowed the unstable policy mix to continue. And we see where that got him? A dacha near Moscow supported with money in Cyprus no doubt. And it got the Ukraine and the world in the current situation.
But I really wanted to reference Thomas Friedman's column this morning. He deserves the big bucks for being able to write coherent insightful columns like this on a regular basis.
Link to Friedman's column
And I love his 1st paragraph because it inspired by title and introductory paragraph so I copy it below.
"Just as we’ve turned the coverage of politics into sports, we’re doing the same with geopolitics. There is much nonsense being written about how Vladimir Putin showed how he is “tougher” than Barack Obama and how Obama now needs to demonstrate his manhood. This is how great powers get drawn into the politics of small tribes and end up in great wars that end badly for everyone. We vastly exaggerate Putin’s strength — so does he — and we vastly underestimate our own strength, and ability to weaken him through nonmilitary means."
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Republican Criticism of President Obama Has No Consistency
in its substantive basis. They just simply hate him for reasons they cannot articulate. I think it is desperation at the potential for him to nominate a majority liberal leaning number to the Supreme Court, but that is certainly nothing the President controls and will be what will be.
Dana Milbank nails a discussion of whether President Obama is a tyrant or without any power as the Republicans describe him. Basically, he shows all the GOP comments are just simply hot air venting. We have about as much possibility of controlling events in Crimea as the Russians do of controlling events in Guantanamo Bay.
Link to Dana Milbank Column
Dana Milbank nails a discussion of whether President Obama is a tyrant or without any power as the Republicans describe him. Basically, he shows all the GOP comments are just simply hot air venting. We have about as much possibility of controlling events in Crimea as the Russians do of controlling events in Guantanamo Bay.
Link to Dana Milbank Column
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Wow, I had no idea that the GOP was trying to change the Constitution!
Like many, I was somewhat relieved that Arizona government decided to let some things just be between individuals and not necessarily be hard coded into legislation. If someone didn't want to take my wedding pictures, I would just hire someone else. I must admit I was married at the Chicago City Hall by a judge who believed in ghosts, but that is whole other story.
Tom Egan this morning lays out the basic tenant of the constitution that the Republican party is working to overturn. Never in the history of this country has religion been allowed to dictate government law. The constitution protects freedom of religion as defined by freedom of worship limited by adherence to law.
So Mormon's cannot have 10 wives, legally. Religion cannot sanction keeping women or men prisoners who want to leave the sect. That is kidnapping.
But that is what is happening in this never ending war on ObamaCare. Government passed a law saying insurance had to provided certain things. Now, elements of the GOP are saying this violates Freedom of Religion. In essence, Religion will trump government legislation. This has never been what the Constitution meant by Freedom of Religion. Worship was constrained to houses of worship and private homes; not including places of work.
Link to Tom Egan article that opened my eyes to this
If the Supreme Court upholds this, it will be opening up a can of worms similar to what "Stand Your Ground" has done. All you have to do is believe something and you can violate a law. I shudder at what "Stand Your Ground" has done. It means any gang banger can shoot another gang banger because he fears for his life. The only way to convict him is to hope he shoots an innocent victim.
I will not travel to Florida or any other state with a "Stand Your Ground" law. Innocent people are too at risk of being shot by an individual who is naturally fearful, which is every human being in existence.
Tom Egan this morning lays out the basic tenant of the constitution that the Republican party is working to overturn. Never in the history of this country has religion been allowed to dictate government law. The constitution protects freedom of religion as defined by freedom of worship limited by adherence to law.
So Mormon's cannot have 10 wives, legally. Religion cannot sanction keeping women or men prisoners who want to leave the sect. That is kidnapping.
But that is what is happening in this never ending war on ObamaCare. Government passed a law saying insurance had to provided certain things. Now, elements of the GOP are saying this violates Freedom of Religion. In essence, Religion will trump government legislation. This has never been what the Constitution meant by Freedom of Religion. Worship was constrained to houses of worship and private homes; not including places of work.
Link to Tom Egan article that opened my eyes to this
If the Supreme Court upholds this, it will be opening up a can of worms similar to what "Stand Your Ground" has done. All you have to do is believe something and you can violate a law. I shudder at what "Stand Your Ground" has done. It means any gang banger can shoot another gang banger because he fears for his life. The only way to convict him is to hope he shoots an innocent victim.
I will not travel to Florida or any other state with a "Stand Your Ground" law. Innocent people are too at risk of being shot by an individual who is naturally fearful, which is every human being in existence.
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