Department of Interior video warns public that cuts to national parks, campgrounds, and jobs will harm local economies for years to come.
Posts tagged fail.
The US Navy Spends $4 Billion on Fuel Every Year ›
Happy sequester day!
I thought “House of Cards” was really, really bad. I pushed myself through 5 episodes of Netflix’s $100 million(!) gamble and had to stop. Each of Kevin Spacey’s camera narratives were, to me, cheap gimmicks that evoked cringes rather than knowing-nods. I think it was a nice try, but I dunno, it just felt forced. Anyone else feel the same?
It’s like 2002 around tumblr these days… <blocked, reported as spam, and eff u>
Let me fix that headline for you: “Americans uniformed by news media”
Nearly two-thirds of Americans can’t name a single Supreme Court justice; can you?
(Photo: Larry Downing / Reuters file)
The Supreme Court has been making big headlines this summer, both with its split decision to upheld one part of a tough Arizona immigration law while striking down three other parts, and its decision to upheld the 2010 health care law, thus preserving President Obama’s landmark legislative achievement.
(via nbcnews)
Solyndra Flap Finally Claims a Politician ›
Solyndra was a solar panel company that went out of business. It got a huge loan from a program supported by the Obama administration (and originally quite a few republicans). Republicans tried to turn Solyndra’s failure into a scandal - that the Obama administration was playing favorites and gave tax payer money to a private company. Republicans couldn’t pull it off (because they got caught in a lie), and now it seems that a guy who lead the push lost his job. But, it’s not all that rosy, have a read. He’s been replaced with an even more right-leaning white guy:
It’s an article of faith among Republicans that the failed solar company Solyndra, recipient of a Department of Energy loan guarantee, is a leading example of Obama administration perfidy and a big reason why voters should toss the president out of office. Back in May, Mitt Romney tried to whip up a frenzy by making an unannounced visit to Solyndra’s Fremont (Calif.) headquarters (despite having supported a solar-power company as governor of Massachusetts that also went bust). For more than a year the Republican-led House’s oversight subcommittee, under the leadership of its chairman, Representative Cliff Stearns (Fla.), has been holding a series of investigative hearings into the company’s failure.
Never mind that Solyndra’s bankruptcy isn’t actually a scandal—plummeting silicon prices killed its business model. Or that House Republicans admit they haven’t found evidence of criminal activity. Last night the Solyndra flap finally claimed its first politician. Only it wasn’t Barack Obama. It was Cliff Stearns.
To the shock of political experts, Stearns, a 12-term veteran of Congress, lost the Republican primary to a “large-animal veterinarian” and political neophyte named Ted Yoho. Although Solyndra wasn’t the only issue in the race, Stearns had become more closely identified with Solyndra than with anything else. Florida Republicans obviously had had enough.
The vote in the House was 223 to 197, with 35 mostly farm-state Democrats joining Republicans in support. Most Democrats held out for the broader bill.
“This House should not go home while literally hanging our ranchers out to dry without a safety net to get through this drought,” said freshman Rep. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.), who is from a ranching family.
Congress and senate punt on providing relief to drought stricken farms across America. After rejecting the relief package, they went on a 5-week vacation. Expect food and fuel prices to go up this fall. Via LA Times stark and brilliant drought series.
As drought worsens, congress and senate fail to agree on farm relief ›
Food and fuel prices too high? Blame Obama. His senate voted down farmer/drought relief bill then go on 5-week vacation. This time you can blame the Obama administration for not getting their shit together.
The rival parties fail to pass even a scaled-down stopgap measure before the August recess.
Even as the drought worsened in the Midwest and Great Plains, Congress proved unable to provide relief for farmers and ranchers before leaving for a month of campaigning.
The House on Thursday approved a scaled-down $383-million package primarily to help ranchers whose livestock losses and feed costs are mounting as arid conditions make land unusable for grazing. But the Senate declined to consider the bill before recessing, preferring a broader bipartisan measure that it passed overwhelmingly last month.
The vote in the House was 223 to 197, with 35 mostly farm-state Democrats joining Republicans in support. Most Democrats held out for the broader bill.
“This House should not go home while literally hanging our ranchers out to dry without a safety net to get through this drought,” said freshman Rep. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.), who is from a ranching family.
Democrats, who control the Senate, prefer the broader farm bill, which would provide more robust drought relief to other agricultural sectors. Democrats also object to the GOP’s plan to offset the costs by cutting conservation funds.
“It’s deeply troubling that the House would leave farmers and small businesses in the lurch,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “House leadership is doing what Congress always does — kicking the can down the road instead of coming together to solve problems.”
The National Drought Mitigation Center said Thursday that arid conditions continued to intensify in Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced new aid for farmers and ranchers earlier this week. More than half the nation’s counties have federal disaster designations, largely because of drought.
“It’s hard to believe that it’s getting worse, but it is, even with some rain in the region,” said Brian Fuchs, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Now reading. Just in time as India recovers from a electricity blackout that left 670 million people with out power. The cause was first blamed on a shortage of coal, but now it is clear that incompetence, and perhaps corruption, caused the blackout.
Power is restored in India after a massive blackout left 670 million people in the dark.
Want to know how something like that could have happened? Our current issue features this essay on India and its “centralized, secretive, and arbitrary political culture” that is holding the country back.New Delhi has gone out of its way to make life better for big businesses, granting them access to easy credit, dedicated power plants, and protection against currency fluctuations. That is a problem because India’s big-business sectors, such as mining, land development, and infrastructure, are its most corrupt.
The full article is available free to non-subscribers for a limited time only.
The reasoning for adaptation is getting clearer, to some.
Global greenhouse emissions continue to rise
2011’s increase to 37.5 billion tons of CO2 was driven by China and India, which saw their carbon dioxide emissions jump by 9 and 6 percent, respectively.
I follow this batshiat-crazy tumblr called “Republican National Committee Research.” I have an interest in cities, architecture, and infrastructure and can’t help but notice how hilarioterrible this ad is. I should say first that, in my observations, RNC Research:
- Does not actually produce research. Nor do they produce information about the Republican party, and
- They primarily exist to create high-school level Obama attack ads.
This particular ad caught my eye. It shows Obama laughing, a quote “you didn’t build that” above him, and the 1929 Empire State Building in the background.
Everyone can agree, Obama did not build the Empire State Building - foreign trained architects designed it and (mostly) illegal immigrants built it. So, what’s the deal with this ad?
- Built in Manhattan, New York in 1929 the Empire State Building was co-designed with a Canadian and a New Yorker who studied in France
- Contracted to a Chicago construction firm, Starrett Brothers & Eken, Inc. (now NYC based)
- And most workers were undocumented illegal immigrants
- Interestingly, this included non-U.S. citizen Mohawk Indian ironworkers. The Mohawks were openly and legally discriminated against, were actively denied U.S. citizenship by the 71st Republican run Congress and Senate, were screwed over many times as Republican run congress and senate violated Indian treaties and federal acts (the UN scolded the US for continued violations as recently as 2006, also under a Republican administration), and were continuously denied human rights, which were collectively known back then as ‘freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’
Great “research” guys…
Update: A few have pointed out that the quote, “you didn’t build that” is in reference to a speech Obama gave this week at Historic Fire Station No. 1, in Roanoke Virginia. He basically stated that no business could exist with out the help of family, friends, government, and other community support. The right scraped the above quote, called it a gaff, and turned it into a meme. Ironically, the subject matter used in the memes only prove Obama’s point - that nothing gets built without other people (sometimes legitimately, other times shadily) - as I showed above.
Hipsters do not know what the Higgs Boson is, and I don’t want to live on this planet anymore…
~:(
In 2011, Republicans voted 77 times to undermine Clean Air Act protections, including votes to repeal the health-based standards that are the heart of the Clean Air Act and to block EPA regulation of toxic mercury and other harmful emissions from power plants, incinerators, industrial boilers, cement plants, and mining operations.
U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, report, “The Anti-Environment Record of the U.S. House of Representatives 112th Congress.”Climate Adaptation
by Michael Cote
I want to punch climate change in the face.
A blog about the interactions between the built environment, people, and nature.
I'm a climate change consultant specializing in climate adaptation, environmental law, and urban planning based in the U.S. In addition to traveling and hiking, I research, publish, and lecture on how cities can adapt to climate change.
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