Free Republic

A scramble by Democrats on Capitol Hill to prevent a particular vote on a particular bill highlights for us two of the most pernicious threats to our liberties. Here’s the story. In 2009 the Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency classified carbon dioxide gas—what you exhale from your lungs and what all plants breathe in—as a dangerous pollutant that the federal government can regulate. This means the EPA can regulate automobiles, manufacturing facilities, and pretty much every activity necessary for the support of human life. But under the Congressional Review Act, passed as part of the Republicans’ Contract for America in...

Snorkeling along a coral reef near Veracruz, Mexico, in 2002, Texas biologist Wes Tunnell spotted what looked like a ledge of rock covered in sand, shells, algae and hermit crabs. He knew, from years of research at the reef, that it probably wasn't a rock at all. He stabbed it with his diving knife. His blade pulled up gunk. "Sure enough, it was tar from the Ixtoc spill," Tunnell said. Twenty-three years earlier, in 1979, an oil well named Ixtoc I had a blowout in 150 feet of water in the southern Gulf of Mexico. The Mexican national oil company...

As you visit us today for the third time since the Deepwater Horizon started gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the people of Louisiana have questions that must be answered. We're already reeling from the loss of thousands of fishing industry jobs. We now could see an estimated 20,000 oil-services jobs vanish due to your six-month federal moratorium on deepwater exploratory drilling. That could do even greater damage to the economy than the well-chronicled fishing industry losses. Louisianians understand the imperative for improved safety on drilling rigs. The carelessness that caused the disaster, the fumbling response by industry...

STENNIS SPACE CENTER — It could take years — and millions of dollars — before the full impact of the BP oil spill on the Gulf Coast is uncovered, a Hancock County scientist said. Michael Carron, director of the Northern Gulf Institute at Stennis Space Center, met Wednesday with representatives from Mississippi and Florida institutions of higher learning for a one-day briefing with the House and Senate in Washington. They discussed the oil spill and what resources and funding Gulf states universities will need to research its economic, social and environmental impact.

Last week an agitated Chris Matthews tried to hold Dick Cheney accountable for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and this week Matthews is demanding action from President Obama, as the Hardball host pushed the President to nationalize the oil industry to solve the problem. On Monday's Hardball a visibly angry Matthews demanded Obama go after BP: "Why doesn't the President go in there, nationalize an industry and get the job done for the people?" and pointed out that in China they would have a much harsher response to BP: "They execute people for this. Major industrial leaders...

ON THE GULF OF MEXICO — The deadly blowout of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico was triggered by a bubble of methane gas that escaped from the well and shot up the drill column . . .

He may be young but Colin Carlson said he is no stranger to discrimination. Carlson, a gifted child, was at age 12 turned away from his dream school, Connecticut College, amid concerns that he was too young for a dormitory, even though he agreed to live off campus with his mother. Now, more than a year later, 13-year-old Carlson said he has faced trouble again at the University of Connecticut, where he maintains a 3.9 GPA as a double-degree candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology, and in environmental studies. The university barred his entry into an African field ecology class...

What would life in an American city look like if it required its residents go green to combat climate change? Would it be all trees and gardens and bicycles, or would it look more like oppression under Big Brother's green thumb? Cambridge, Mass., home of Harvard University, may be giving the country a glimpse of the answer. Last May, the city officially adopted an order recognizing that there is a climate emergency; but after nearly a year, officials discovered the city's carbon footprint was nonetheless growing worse. Cambridge Mayor Denise Simmons, therefore, brought together nearly 100 activists and concerned citizens...

The futuristic 3-D adventure, directed by James Cameron, has received scathing reviews from Vatican Radio as well as the Holy See's official newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano.The epic movie, which will be released in Italy this week, has received generally favourable reviews in the United States and Britain, amazing critics and cinemagoers with its technical mastery and blend of real-life actors and animation. It takes place in 2154 on the planet Pandora, light years away from Earth, where humans have established an environmentally-destructive mining colony.But the record budget had failed to impress the Catholic Church hierarchy in Rome."It has a great deal...

This isn't an idle exercise. Bioethics matters. The field exerts tremendous influence over the most important questions of public policy and moral values: How should we treat the most vulnerable and dependent among us? What makes us human? Indeed, is it even morally relevant that one is human? Trends in bioethics, thus, illuminate where we are as a society and the nature of the culture we are creating for our progeny. 10: The ascendance of an anti-human environmentalism.Deep ecology, the most radical expression of environmentalism, maintains that human beings are the world's enemy -- the AIDS of the Earth, as...

This spring, Swedish high street chain H&M will be delivering an eco-friendly collection full of flirty dresses, skirts and colorful tops – all in romantic floral patterns. All the pieces in the collection are made from organic and recycled materials, which means while buying from the collection, you’ll be helping to save the environment.

Pope Benedict XVI Rome, Italy, Dec 16, 2009 / 02:18 pm (CNA).- “The Pope denounces the ecological crisis but does not belong to the church of Al Gore," wrote Giuliano Ferrara, director of Italian daily Il Foglio, in his editorial column after reading Benedict XVI's message for the World Day of Peace.  Ferrara described the papal message as being "of great culture" in its reminder that man must be valued above all other living things.The Pontiff's message underscores the threats to the environment and the necessity of taking decisive action to find long-term, inter-generational solutions to the crises of today. ...

People who use bottled water as a fashion or life-style statement, or who think bottled water is better or safer than tap water, should take a look at this.

ELCA Council Approves Charter, Hears Secretary's Report, Elects Leaders 09-263-JB CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) approved a charter for a comprehensive study of the ELCA and its future mission. A task force will conduct the study with the goal of bringing a report with recommendations to the 2011 ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Orlando. The council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies. It met here Nov. 13-15. The project, "Living into the Future Together: Renewing the Ecology of the Evangelical...

Freaked Out Over SuperFreakonomics Global warming might be solved with a helium balloon and a few miles of garden hose. By BRET STEPHENS Suppose for a minute—which is about 59 seconds too long, but that's for another column—that global warming poses an imminent threat to the survival of our species. Suppose, too, that the best solution involves a helium balloon, several miles of garden hose and a harmless stream of sulfur dioxide being pumped into the upper atmosphere, all at a cost of a single F-22 fighter jet. Good news, right? Maybe, but not if you're Al Gore or one...

OCEAN SPRINGS — Little is known about whale sharks or why they come to the northern part of the Gulf by the hundreds in June and July, within 30 miles of the Coast. But they do. And biologists from USM’s Gulf Coast Research Lab took what they do know about the giant, docile animals from the data they have collected and went whale shark hunting last week. They were successful beyond their wildest expectations, placing satellite tags on three and measuring and documenting several more. Shark biologist Eric Hoffmayer and research assistant Jennifer McKinney, along with a German videographer...

Deep ecology is the modern way of life, based on the shifting away from the reality exclusively in terms of human values and experiences established by environmental and green groups and movements. This way of life is noticeable by a new explanation of "self" which minimizes the importance of the reliance on reason as the best guide for beliefs and actions together between human organism and its environment. It then allows importance to be placed upon the basic values of other species, systems, and processes of nature. Deep ecology is often stated as "deep" because it poses the deeper questions...

London, UK (BANG) - Britain's Prince Charles wants grey squirrels exterminated. The future king - a keen environmentalist - has claimed it is essential to eliminate the animal, introduced from North America in the 19th century, because of the threat they pose to native red squirrels. In a letter to the Country Land and Business Association, Charles - patron of the Red Squirrel Survival Trust said: "In order to be able to save the red squirrels and ensure their future in this country, it is absolutely crucial to eliminate the greys which, as you know, are an alien species to...

Willy was never really free. The killer whale star of the Hollywood movie Free Willy had to be cared for by humans even after he was released and he never successfully integrated with his wild kin. Researchers now say attempts to return him to the wild were misguided. We believe the best option for [Willy] was the open pen he had in Norway, with care from his trainers," says Malene Simon of the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, who participated in efforts to reintegrate the cetacean in the wild and is lead author of the study. "He could swim as...

The Washington Federal Appeals Court ruled that the Bush administration did not properly study the environmental impact of expanding oil and gas drilling off the Alaska coast and canceled the program aimed at finding new reserves. “The Bush Administration’s contention that the needs of humans outweigh the needs of aquatic life off the Alaskan coast is unsubstantiated,” wrote Judge Terra Greene for the court. “Up to this point, humans have thrived without accessing these oil resources. This presents a prima facie case that they will continue to do so without extracting the oil.” The court instructed the Interior Department to...