John McCain Straight-Talk or Double-Talk on The Environment? (see YouTube video)

Would John McCain Be Good For The Environment? — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at The Care2 Election Blog)

Does John McCain really care about the environment? Or, is it more McCain double-talk, masquerading as McCain straight-talk?

See FULL POST and YouTube video of McCain on the Environment HERE.

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Another Refinery Down…and Gas Prices Continue To Go Up. Coincidence or Conspiracy? (with YouTube Video…Beyond Big Oil)

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Democrats Slam Big Oil — read full article

Gasoline prices have topped $3 a gallon at service stations across the country because several oil refineries are off-line due to maintenance or accidents, reducing gasoline production and making fuel supplies tight.

“It’s outrageous …Isn’t it interesting every year about this time, a refinery goes down for repairs,” said Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

“Is that coincidental? Or is it part of a plan that these multinational, huge companies who are making obscene profits in the tens of billions of dollars — is this part of their game to keep the profits going?” Reid said. — see full article

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The new Link TV original program “Outside the Box: Beyond Big Oil” challenges the way traditional media has framed the debate about oil and explores some alternative fuel sources.

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ALSO SEE: Gas Prices Going Up and Up

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Global Warming - What Is The Future Of Earth….a time line.

Our planet’s prospects for environmental stability are bleaker than ever with the approach of this year’s Earth Day, April 22. Global warming is widely accepted as a reality by scientists and even by previously doubtful government and industrial leaders. And according to a recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), there is a 90 percent likelihood that humans are contributing to the change.

The international panel of scientists predicts the global average temperature could increase by 2 to 11 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100 and that sea levels could rise by up to 2 feet.

Scientists have even speculated that a slight increase in Earth’s rotation rate could result, along with other changes. Glaciers, already receding, will disappear. Epic floods will hit some areas while intense drought will strike others. Humans will face widespread water shortages. Famine and disease will increase. Earth’s landscape will transform radically, with a quarter of plants and animals at risk of extinction.

. . . . . . . . . 2008 - Global oil production peaks sometime between 2008 and 2018, according to a model by one Swedish physicist. Others say this turning point, known as “Hubbert’s Peak,” won’t occur until after 2020. Once Hubbert’s Peak is reached, global oil production will begin an irreversible decline, possibly triggering a global recession, food shortages and conflict between nations over dwindling oil supplies.

. . . . . . . . . see what happens between 2008 and 2050

. . . . . . . . . 2050 - Small alpine glaciers will very likely disappear completely, and large glaciers will shrink by 30 to 70 percent. Austrian scientist Roland Psenner of the University of Innsbruck says this is a conservative estimate, and the small alpine glaciers could be gone as soon as 2037.

. . . . . . . . . see what hapens between 2050 and 2200

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ALSO SEE: THE STOP GLOBAL WARMING VIRTUAL MARCH

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CLICK HERE TO SEE AN INTERESTING INTERACTIVE LINK ON GLOBAL WARMING

CLICK HERE TO SEE A SPECIAL INTERACTIVE REPORT ON THE ICE SHEETS ON EARTH

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ALSO SEE MY PREVIOUS POST THAT HAS OVER TWENTY-FIVE LINKS ON GLOBAL WARMING.

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Gas Prices Going Up and Up — Who Really Cares? What Price Does Gas Have To Be To Get YOU To Stop Driving?

WHAT PRICE DOES GAS HAVE TO BE TO GET YOU TO STOP DRIVING? — by Catherine Morgan

I keep hearing about how consumers are not that concerned about the price of gas, as indicated by no visible drop in sales. This has got to be the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. I mean really, 90% of the driving I do in a week, is not something I can just decide I won’t do. Even if gas is $5.00 a gallon, can any of us just stop driving? Maybe if you live in the city, and you can walk or take public transportation to many places.

“I don’t think about gas prices at all,” said Michael Machat, 48, a lawyer in West Los Angeles, where gasoline prices are among the highest in the country. As he filled up his BMW with super unleaded at $3.39 this week, he added, “I guess maybe if it was $10 a gallon, I’d think about it.” — READ FULL ARTICLE

If I need something from my shed, I can walk to it, but other than that I need to drive. The higher gas prices get, the less groceries I will be able to buy for my family, the less prescriptions I will be able to refill, and the more in debt I will become. But, I will have no choice but to continue to buy very much the same amount of gas as I am currently buying.

That may come as a relief to the gas and oil companies, and of course their shareholders, but it is a devastating reality to me and many other people. As a single mother, on a fixed income, and already struggling to pay the bills, I find the lack of concern about the price of gas by our government appalling. It is just another example of the declining middle class, and rich getting richer, while the poor become poorer. I’ve resolved the fact that I am poor, and I don’t really mind it, I don’t have any desire to have any more money than what I need to live…..But, I do think we all should have the right to be able to feed and cloth our children.

This country is spending millions on elections, and billions on war….but nobody can figure out how to keep gas prices low enough so a single mother can still afford to feed her kids. Something is really wrong with that.

How many people would still buy gas if the price was $5.00 a gallon? What about $6.00? $7.00? $8.00? Do we really have a choice?

If the price of milk went up to $10.00 a gallon, we would still have a choice to buy or not buy, there are still many other ways to get our calcium and quench our thirst. When the price of houses goes up or mortgage rates are too high, we can choose to stay where we are instead of moving. If the price of clothing went through the roof, the people that couldn’t afford new clothes could just continue to wear what they have, or go to second hand shops, or swap with friends and family. There are many options for people that don’t have a lot of money to manage when inflation hits. The one thing that can not be altered, is how much gas a person needs in a week or month.

So, all the talk in the media about consumer reaction to gas prices…..is only relevant to people that aren’t living pay check to pay check. The people who are being hurt by these increases in gas prices are the people that are not reflected in the consumer statistics. The people who are being hurt, are the people who are invisible, and don’t really matter, because they aren’t buying new cars, and boats. But, who really cares about those people anyway? Not you.

Two Steps Consumers Can Take To Lower Gas Prices

Can We Ever Kick The Oil habit? Gas Prices, Global Warming, War…..How do you contribute? — See this very interesting and informative YouTube video:

ALSO SEE: Is Global Warming Really That Big Of A Problem?

An Open Letter to the Presidential Candidates

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Scientists Say Global Warming Will End Some Species

Reuters Photo: A polar bear sow and two cubs are seen on the Beaufort Sea coast within the 1002 Area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in this undated handout photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Alaska Image Library.

Scientists Say Global Warming Will End Some Species

From the micro to the macro, from plankton in the oceans to polar bears in the far north and seals in the far south, global warming has begun changing life on Earth, international scientists will report next Friday.

“Changes in climate are now affecting physical and biological systems on every continent,” says a draft obtained by The Associated Press of a report on warming’s impacts, to be issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the authoritative U.N. network of 2,000 scientists and more than 100 governments.

In February the panel declared it “very likely” most global warming has been caused by man made emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Animal and plant life in the Arctic and Antarctic is undergoing substantial change, scientists say. Rising sea levels elsewhere are damaging coastal wetlands. Warmer waters are bleaching and killing coral reefs, pushing marine species toward the poles, reducing fish populations in African lakes, research finds.

“Hundreds of species have already changed their ranges, and ecosystems are being disrupted,” said University of Michigan ecologist Rosina Bierbaum, former head of the U.S. IPCC delegation. “It is clear that a number of species are going to be lost.”

The IPCC draft estimates that if temperatures rise approximately 2 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit more, one-third of species will be lost from their current range, either moved elsewhere or vanished.

From Associated Press bureaus around the world, here are snapshots of animals and plants the IPCC will identify as already affected by climate change…..READ COMPLETE ARTICLE

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ALSO SEE: MORE INFORMATION AND LINKS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING

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THE AGE OF WARMING

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Emissions Already Affecting Climate, New York Times

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You Can Help Al Gore Get His Message Out About Global Warming. Here Is A Link So You Can Easily Send An Email To Congress.

 

Al Gore will deliver a message with your name to Congress.

Help Al Gore to send a message to Congress:

CLICK HERE TO SEND AN E-MAIL TO YOUR CONGRESS PERSON. It’s a very easy thing to do.

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ALSO SEE: Is Global Warming Really That Big Of A Problem? Post included many links and comments.

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The Convenient Smear — Separating Spin From The Facts

Al Gore’s home in Nashville’s exclusive Belle Meade district, Tennessee. Photograph: Rusty Russell/Getty Images

The Convenient $mear — Separating Spin From The Facts

After getting an interesting comment last night about this whole Al Gore Smear, I decided to try to find the facts, and write a post on what I found. The only problem was, as usual, the same incomplete and inaccurate “talking points” where flooding the Internet. So, I decided to sleep on it, and pick up the search in the morning. Like I said, I started my quest after getting a comment on another post — a comment with a twist — the twist being; spinning the “Al Gore Smear” with “How to get out of Iraq”. I have to give “kudos” to this spin…..at least he wasn’t just repeating the same old “talking points”, even though I don’t agree with it…..I think you should check it out, since it was the inspiration for my wanting to get to the actual facts. So, thanks Errant Mind, you are a very interesting fella, and I do appreciate your point of view, I just don’t agree with it.

I put a picture of Al Gore’s home at the top of this post,in order to show that not only is it much larger than the “average” home, but it is also being used for several offices, and employing many people. So, to compare what the energy bill of Al Gore’s home/office is, to an “average” home in America….Well, you might as well be comparing the apple to the tree.

Al Gore is trying to do a good thing, and it is clear that the “right” is trying to discredit him as much as possible, because of their fear he may run for President. They don’t want there to be a “Giuliani Effect” within the Democratic Party and Al Gore…..Their fear is driving them to smear. So, it should be obvious why they are doing it, but why shouldn’t we (democrat & republican) buy into it? Because, whether or not people believe in the Global Warming issue, we do need to start using alternative fuels in order to minimize our dependence on foreign governments and foreign oil. As we continue to consume and buy oil from these foreign governments, we are also funding terrorism that is targeting us, (America, both democrat & republican).

Here are some interesting articles, that address both the reasons behind the smear, as well as the facts relating to the smear. I hope you find it helpful, in separating the facts from the fiction.

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A Far Too Convenient $mear — see full article at THE HUFFINGTON POST

This afternoon, a group calling itself “The Tennessee Center For Policy Research” sent out a press release denouncing Vice President Gore for the size of his household electrical bills.

Let’s start right there. How did they get the utility bills? They also didn’t have the courtesy to ask Vice President Gore about them (despite their hollow claim of being non-partisan.) And why would a “think tank” possibly care about what Al Gore spends on gas?

Actually, let’s start with a more basic question. Who are these people? Well , a quick check of Alexa reveals their web site gets no traffic. Are they legitimate? Well, again, they claim to be non-partisan but only link to far-right and conservative groups so regardless of what their status is with the IRS, this is a conservative, strongly-leaning Republican organization.

This group drops the pebble in the lake and now the machine really goes to work.

Front page of Drudge Report at 5:16 reports this press release from a group no one has ever heard of, who may or may not have stolen Al Gore’s utility bills. Now, the lie has legs.

In the last twenty minutes, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has updated its website TWICE - both with radio interviews. The damage is being done as we watch.

The echo chamber is engaging. Instapundit, Hot Air, Free Republic, WorldNetDaily, TownHall and several others are echoing and amplifying the $mear. RedState, Captain’s Quarters. More here and here, here, here, here, here, here, here. Wizbang.

OK, now of course ABC News is picking it up.

A comment at DailyKos: “Hannity got the memo as well and he and Annthrax Coulter are hammering Gore for the same thing tonight.”

Tennessee Center’s President Drew Johnson comes straight out of the right’s network, coming from Exxon-funded American Enterprise Institute and the right-wing-funded National Taxpayers Foundation.

They are part of the right’s State Policy Network. According to PFAW,

“SPN is a national network of state-based right-wing organizations in 37 states as well as prominent nationwide right-wing organizations. Through its network SPN advances the public policy ideas of the expansive right-wing political movement on the state and local level.”

As of Feb. 16, the Tennessee tax dept. considers them “not a legitimate organization” because of their misrepresenting themselves involving questions about the group’s opposition to a state crackdown on drug dealers.

See more on the above article at THE HUFFINGTON POST

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How Green is Gore?

Gore purchased 108 blocks of “green power” for each of the past three months, according to a summary of the bills.

That’s a total of $432 a month Gore paid extra for solar or other renewable energy sources.

The green power Gore purchased is equivalent to recycling 2.48 million aluminum cans or 286,092 pounds of newspaper, according to comparison figures on NES’s Web site…….

The Green Power Switch program isn’t all that Gore and his wife, Tipper, are doing, said Kalee Krider, a spokeswoman for Gore.

They use compact fluorescent lightbulbs and are in the midst of a renovation project that includes having solar panels installed on their home to reduce fossil fuel consumption, she said…………Their car? A Lexis hybrid SUV. — read full article How Green is Gore

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Al Gore’s Bloated Gas And Electricity Bills

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ALSO SEE: My previous post on Global Warming with many links that cover both the facts and the criticism.

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