Bringing It All Back Home

Warming: "People in Latin America were most worried while U.S. citizens were least concerned"

And our thoughtful neighbors in the North Country?
Turns out they feel more reasonable than Americans, too.

An avalanche of evidence greeted with a smug shrug.
What the hell gives?!?!?

More Hogwash from a group calling themselves Environmental Defense

• Rank of 2006 as hottest year on record in the continental United States.

• Rank of America as top global warming polluter, emitting almost as much as the European Union, Russia and Japan combined.

• Percent increase of America's carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels since 1990.

• Percent increase of America's carbon dioxide emissions forecasted by 2020 if we do not cap pollution.

• Percent decrease in America's global warming pollution required by 2050 to prevent the worst consequences of global warming.

• Number of days by which the U.S. fire season has increased over the past 20 years - tied closely to increased temperatures and earlier snowmelt.

• Number of people who could be displaced globally by extreme droughts, sea level rise and flooding by 2080.

• Number of U.S. mayors (representing 55 million Americans) who have signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement pledging to meet or beat Kyoto goals in their communities.

• Number of federal bills passed by Congress to set a mandatory, economy-wide cap on America's global warming pollution.

• Number of times President Bush has mentioned "global warming" or "climate change" in his previous State of the Union speeches.

Hearts and Minds

“Suddenly we forgot that he was a dictator and that he killed thousands of people,” said Roula Haddad, 33, a Lebanese Christian. “All our hatred for him suddenly turned into sympathy, sympathy with someone who was treated unjustly by an occupation force and its collaborators.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/06/world/middleeast/06arabs.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

from Alternet

Conspiracy Fact: lowest gas prices of 2006 during election week …
January 5, 2007.
Joshua Holland: Just following up.

Now that we have the average gas prices for the final week of 2006 it's official: the lowest prices of the year came during the week of the midterms.
More specifically, in the thirteen short weeks between the year's high of $3.083 per gallon -- during the week of August 8 -- and Election Day, average gas prices dropped by almost 80 cents per gallon -- 26 percent -- and then they did a one-eighty the very next week and crept back up in all but one of the six weeks that followed that. Altogether they rose 14.1 cents, or a bit more than 6 percent, after the election.

Letter to America

-in the Washington Post:

America's Red Ink
Sunday, December 24, 2006; Page B06
The largest employer in the world announced on Dec. 15 that it lost about $450 billion in fiscal 2006. Its auditor found that its financial statements were unreliable and that its controls were inadequate for the 10th straight year. On top of that, the entity's total liabilities and unfunded commitments rose to about $50 trillion, up from $20 trillion in just six years.
If this announcement related to a private company, the news would have been on the front page of major newspapers. Unfortunately, such was not the case -- even though the entity is the U.S. government.
To put the figures in perspective, $50 trillion is $440,000 per American household and is more than nine times as much as the median household income.
The only way elected officials will be able to make the tough choices necessary to put our nation on a more prudent and sustainable long-term fiscal path is if opinion leaders state the facts and speak the truth to the American people.
The Government Accountability Office is working with the Concord Coalition, the Brookings Institution, the Heritage Foundation and others to help educate the public about the facts in a professional, nonpartisan way. We hope the media and other opinion leaders do their part to save the future for our children and grandchildren.
DAVID M. WALKER
Comptroller General of the United States
Government Accountability Office