Free Republic

AMID THE animated rodents, smushed test-babies, snack-food perversions, and crude humor of Sunday’s Super Bowl ads was a powerful, two-minute homage to Detroit, America’s most abject city. Over a pulsating soundtrack of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,’’ viewers were treated to panning shots of some of Detroit’s lovingly restored landmarks from the days when the auto industry made it the richest city in the United States. Today it is the poorest, with a 36 percent poverty rate. Far from avoiding its grim, rust belt image, the ad — ostensibly to introduce a new Chrysler luxury sedan — celebrated the city’s guts-and-grit industrial...

Susan Rice, President Barack Obama’s ambassador to the United Nations, will argue in a major address Friday evening that the U.S. should “strengthen” — not “starve” — the world body. The address is the first in a series of speeches — to continue this spring – making the case to the American people about why the U.N. matters to national security, and how it is being improved. House Republicans failed this week in trying to get $180 million in overpaid dues back from the United Nations. The effort was widely panned by New Yorkers in Congress as damaging to security....

In March 2010, Nor-Cal Produce, a family-owned produce business in West Sacramento, was fined $32,500 by the California Air Resources Board (ARB, or CARB). The company was not charged with, or even accused of, illegal emissions; like many other businesses, it had merely failed to notice a new regulation posted by CARB requiring all semi-trailers, shipping containers, vans, and rail cars with diesel-powered refrigerators to file a report with the agency. “We had no knowledge of the law,” Nor-Cal’s Chief Financial Officer Todd Achando told CalWatchDog, a news blog that monitors California government. “My operations manager happened to see it...

"It may sound strange to speak of Revolution, but that is what we need at this time. We need a Revolution; revolutionary thinking, revolutionary action. It is easy to mouth the words "sustainable development", but to make it happen, we have to be prepared to make major changes." Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations Davos World Economic Forum 2011

In his state of the union address, President Obama called for 80 percent of Americans to have access to high-speed rail by 2025. An ambitous goal, but perhaps more achievable given Vice President Biden and U.S. Transportation Secretary LaHood just announced the administration was going to invest more than $53 billion in high-speed rail, adding to the $10.5 billion spent so far. According to The Washington Post, the U.S. High Speed Rail Association (USHSR) says Obama’s plans would cost $600 billion over twenty years. The bulk of those funds will need to be from the private sector, given the dire...

$660 Million in Green Development Activity, Over 4,000 Union Construction Jobs WASHINGTON, Feb. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT) is helping to finance a number of energy-efficient development projects that have received or are on track to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for their sustainable energy and construction strategies as well as innovative green design. "The HIT is proud of its long history of socially responsible investing," said HIT Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer Stephanie Wiggins. "Investing in LEED-certified projects that help conserve natural resources while providing healthier places to...

ICLEI USA issues the following statement from Mayor Patrick Hays, City of North Little Rock, AR, Corporate President and Chair of Board of Directors Jan 26, 2011 Washington, D.C.- President Obama made some significant announcements during his State of the Union Address to the nation, chief among them; 80 percent of America’s electricity should come from clean energy by 2035; America should have one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015; and 80% of Americans should have access to high-speed rail within 25 years. “President Obama called on the nation to drastically curb its dependence on energy from fossil...

Last night in his State of the Union address, President Obama urged Americans and Congress to embrace this generation's "Sputnik" moment and spend more on technology and innovation to spur economic growth. America is losing its edge to nations like China, Mr. Obama suggested, because we have failed to commit to a long-term vision to be competitive in this digital age. "China is building faster trains and newer airports," the president said. "Meanwhile, when our own engineers graded our nation's infrastructure, they gave us a 'D.'" "Within 25 years, our goal is to give 80% of Americans access to high-speed...

The Carroll County Board of Commissioners has made it clear it believes there is a distinction between "sustainability" and "environmentalism." On Jan. 12, the new, five-member board unanimously voted to terminate its membership with the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, an organization that provides technical consulting, training and information services to support local government in the implementation of sustainable development at the local level. Board President Doug Howard, R-District 5, said the definition of sustainability has changed over time to no longer just focus on protecting and preserving the environment, which is now environmentalism. Sustainability, Howard said, now includes...

Urbanists have won an important victory in their campaign to reverse Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s bias against mixed-use development, enlisting the National Association of Home Builders to help push for a critical reform to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s lending standards. The mortgage giants currently require that projects they finance be no more than 25 percent commercial (20 percent for Fannie and for multifamily HUD projects.) The Congress for the New Urbanism has waged a battle against these mandates. “Every Main Street in America violates Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s rigid standards,” CNU President John Norquist has said. According...

The World Bank has launched a €68m (£57m) pot of funding aimed at enabling carbon-cutting projects to keep selling UN-backed offsets after the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. A statement published by the bank yesterday said the second tranche of funding under its Umbrella Carbon Facility (UCFT2) was now operational, with Deutsche Bank, GDF SUEZ and the Swedish Energy Agency providing much of the money. The facility is already considering supporting 17 projects with the potential to reduce 26 megatons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from 2013 to 2018, and has also invited other...

The next time you happen to be in Arizona drinking a cool beer with some time on your hands, ask the person along the bar to describe for you the Glock 19. Likelihood is he will know what you're talking about, as gun ownership rates in Arizona are among the highest in the world. Heck, he might even be packing himself, as it's legal in the state to carry concealed weapons into bars. He might begin by telling you that the 9mm Glock 19 is the workhorse of US law enforcement. Produced outside Vienna, it is the gun of choice...

CONCORD, N.C. -- Cabarrus County and the Town of Harrisburg will start 2011 with a new inter-local agreement and land-use plan that takes into consideration both incorporated and unincorporated areas of the town and delays the extension of utilities to certain growth areas near Harrisburg. Cabarrus County commissioners approved the agreement at their last meeting on Dec. 20. Harrisburg Town Council approved it in November. The agreement becomes effective Friday, Dec. 31. The purpose of the agreement to delay the extension of utilities is to foster “fiscally responsible growth management, rural preservation, protection of farmland, preservation of natural areas, conservation,...

Watching the National Leadership Conference for the "No Labels" movement at Columbia University. And gagging. These idiots just said they were going to rally under Ben Franklins "Join or Die" flag. Apparently this is video from 12/13.

Not only is the Food Safety Modernization Act in the Omnibus Bill (pg. 1685), it also authorizes MILLIONS in spending on sustainable agriculture and sustainable development. Following is the most blatant example: Pg. 1589 Of the amounts made available under this heading, 9 $150,000,000 shall be made available for a Sustainable Communities Initiative to improve regional planning ef forts that integrate housing and transportation decisions, and increase the capacity to improve land use and zoning: Provided, That grants under such Initiative may only be made to metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), rural planning organizations, States or other units of general local...

Rockland — The Rockland City Council gave its unanimous backing to an agreement with other Route 1 communities to coordinate land-use and transportation planning. The vote came despite criticism from a Rockland couple that the inter-local agreement was a step in taking away private property rights and was part of an international movement to do just that. The council voted 5-0 at its Monday night, Dec. 13 meeting to approve the Gateway 1 inter-local agreement. Councilor Elizabeth Dickerson said that such arguments are false and that there is no effort to move people from their homes into urban compact areas...

9 December 2010 | CANCUN | “China Blossoming” was the title of one side event benchmarking China’s carbon market position at the UNFCCC’s 16th Conference of Parties (COP16). It’s an accurate description of Cancun’s Chinese delegation, which arrived bearing news of significant progress on domestic voluntary mechanisms and provincial programs – including a pilot project and sectoral specifications under the Panda Standard for voluntary carbon offsets. While some described China’s Copenhagen delegation as “cagey” and “uncompromising,” the new face of China is markedly more open and willing to talk shop in order to glean lessons from other nations’ market experiences....

MEXICO CITY, Nov. 21, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Mayors from around the world today signed an agreement to address climate change at the World Mayors Summit on Climate, hosted by the Government of Mexico City and Marcelo Ebrard, mayor of Mexico City and chair of the World Mayors Council on Climate. During the summit, representatives from 135 global cities signed the Mexico City Pact, which establishes a monitoring and verification mechanism for cities to address climate change. The Mexico City Pact will be presented to the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) when it meets later this month in...

The following fifty one securities will be added to the Index: Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO), Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT), Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT), General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), Nike, Inc. (NYSE:NKE), Pepsico, Inc. (NYSE:PEP), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM), Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE:KMB), Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE:MDT), Koninklijke Philips Electronics, N.V. (NYSE:PHG), Royal Bank Of Canada (NYSE:RY), Portugal Telecom SGPS, S.A. (NYSE:PT), STMicroelectronics NV (NYSE:STM), General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS), Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold, Inc. (NYSE:FCX), Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX), Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE:PFE), France Telecom S.A. (NYSE:FTE), Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (NYSE:PCG), Royal Dutch Shell PLC (NYSE:RDS-A), Rockwell Automation Inc (NYSE:ROK), EMC Corp. (NYSE:EMC),...

The dust did not have a chance to settle after the November 2nd election before the papers were printing articles about the missed opportunity that Hillsborough County had for a light rail system. The counties immediately began working on an alternate strategy. The residents of Hillsborough County overwhelmingly voted AGAINST the referendum that proposed an increase of the sales tax from 7% to 8%, the majority of which was to go towards funding the light rail project. On November 10th in an article in the St. Petersburg Times, Pasco County Commissioner Ann Hildebrand suggested a tri-county tax referendum in the...