Free Republic

PARIS (AFP) — Wall Street's sickness and its contagiousness for the world economy are bad news for the already faltering effort to craft a new pact to tackle climate change. Tighter budgets, shrinking corporate profits and worries about jobs could crimp manoeuvering room at upcoming UN talks on toughening curbs on greenhouse-gas emissions, sources say. But -- so far, at least -- the crisis does not appear to be having an impact on investment in clean technology, say these sources. Indeed, some are confident that spending on wind, solar and other renewables may even rise.

Glenn Beck: Crazy town Express Audio Available: June 25, 2008 - 12:47 ET Drill Alaska! Why should the "pretty" states get a free-pass when it comes to drilling for oil? Just because you have snow capped mountains and exotic wildlife doesn't mean you can't play host to a few drilling fields. Buy Now! GLENN: The people who are running this country, they're on a train to crazy town. Let me give you the example. This is from the front page of today's Wall Street Journal. As the mile-high city gears up to host Democratic bash for 50,000 organizers, they are...

In the community of Shady Grove Woods, trees are becoming more and more scarce. Residents and other anti-Intercounty Connector activists marched through the neighborhood on Saturday, pointing out the trees that were cut down to make way for the six-lane highway. ‘‘It’s just that we didn’t have a say in it in so many ways and we’re not talking about a two-lane road, we’re talking about a major highway running through here,” resident Sam Chim said of the ICC. ‘‘We have a lot of nice, private woods back here and now we’re going to have a highway running through instead....

Does anyone have a link, example or opinion about the "eco costs" associated with eating off of paper plates versus porcelain ones in the work place? Pretty fine-tuned debate, I know, but a co-worker was making a big point today of not eating lunch at work off the provided paper plates. I mentioned that it might actually be less "damaging" to the environment not to have everyone standing in line at the sink with the hot water running washing their plates after lunch. She was not buying it, but hell, I don't know if I was either. Your thoughts?

WASHINGTON - Ralph Nader could be poised for another third party presidential campaign. The consumer advocate will appear on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. Nader launched his 2004 presidential run on the show. A spokesman for Nader did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Kevin Zeese, who was Nader's spokesman during the 2004 presidential race, but is no longer working for him, said Friday that Nader has been actively talking to "lots of people on all sorts of levels" about the possibility of making another run. Zeese said he could only guess what Nader might do, but added:...

WASHINGTON — Four years after he announced a presidential run on NBC's "Meet the Press," Ralph Nader is poised to do it again. He's scheduled to appear on the program Sunday, and longtime associates say they think the consumer advocate will announce his candidacy. Having abandoned the Green Party after being its nominee in 2000, he's more likely to run as an independent again, those familiar with his thinking said. Kevin Zeese, Nader's 2004 campaign spokesman, who isn't involved in the 2008 exploratory efforts, said he thought that Nader was going to throw his hat in the ring again. "If...

Open borders + campaign finance hypocrisy + eco-radicalism = McCain’s billionaire national finance co-chair Jerry Perenchio By Michelle Malkin • January 28, 2008 09:50 AM Scroll down for updates…meanwhile: “Romney, McCain call each other ‘liberal’… 1peren003.jpg Meet Jerry Perenchio. He’s a National Finance Co-Chair of the McCain 2008 campaign and the billionaire founder of Spanish-language media conglomerate, Univision. He also heads up a charitable foundation that has showered gobs of money on extremist green lobbying groups. Take open-borders zeal, add campaign finance hypocrisy, mix with eco-radicalism, and presto: The perfect, multiculti-profiteering McCain money buddy. Here’s his official bio on the...

MIDI SITE for LISTEN PEOPLE Little people, do as we say Not as we do...we are here to show you the way So, little people, know your place and take advice that we are giving We know things that you have got to do Listen to us about how you should be living And you'll find the planet saved for you We're elitists, the authority Follow orders...what a nice place this world will be So, little people, know your place and take advice that we are giving We know what you have got to do Listen to us about...

I have long been perplexed by the greenies who refuse to eat meat because they believe they would be murdering the animal. This same group of people has lobbied for decades to prove that plants are living creatures. They then eat the plants, which they say are alive, while refusing to eat meat because the animal is alive. Hypocrisy, I know. Furthermore, I remember hearing these people talk about how you are "hurting" or "torturing" trees and plants if you pull off a branch or leaf. They often equate it with pulling off one of your fingers, or limbs. With...

PEARL HARBOR (NNS) -- The Navy is disappointed with EarthJustice’s decision to pursue litigation against critical training activities in Hawaiian waters, the deputy commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet said. “These fleet training activities are essential to the Navy’s ability to ensure our nation’s armed forces are fully combat ready and adequately trained according to established, time-tested standards,” said Rear Adm. John M. Bird. The suit, filed May 16 by EarthJustice on behalf of five non-government organizations, asks the court to prohibit naval sonar exercises near Hawaii, saying that sonar can have a negative impact on marine mammals. But such...

Calculate your carbon footprint. Click on the link. Is your carbon footprint (boy am I glad I hit preview and was able to edit my original text here) bigger than mine? The average is 10.73 metric tons of CO2 per year

OVERSEEING GRAZING SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - A U.S. government agency is considering using unmanned surveillance planes, or drones, to help oversee remote areas of eastern Idaho, raising concerns in a region deeply wary of outside interference. Officials the Bureau of Land Management office responsible for most of eastern Idaho may initially buy one hand-launched drone for an estimated $15,000 to help keep track of the vast, thinly populated area. They said the unpiloted aircraft, with a wingspan of about 4 feet, would monitor vegetation and streams in areas used largely for grazing and recreation and there were no immediate plans...

An Arizona appeals court on Wednesday upheld a jury’s $600,000 judgment in favor of a rancher in a defamation lawsuit, rejecting an environmental group’s argument that documents it posted on the Internet were shielded by the First Amendment. The Court of Appeals upheld a Pima County Superior Court jury’s award of compensatory and punitive damages to Jim Chilton in his lawsuit against the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit with offices in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington, D.C. A lawyer for the rancher said the appellate court had stood up for a person wrongly defamed, while an attorney...

Contrary to common belief, forests in many nations are expanding not shrinking, say researchers. They say that while the majority of the world's most forested countries are still losing trees, the number that are gaining forests is rising. However, much of the new forest is cultivated, not natural, leading some experts to caution that planted forests do not support the same level of biodiversity. The new work assessed the 50 most-forested countries around the world from 1990 to 2005. It reveals that forest area increased in 18 of the 50 nations, while total biomass increased in 22 countries. “There is...

Two environmental groups say they will sue to stop construction of the intercounty connector, arguing that building the highway would violate sections of the federal Clean Air Act. Environmental Defense and the Maryland chapter of the Sierra Club said the Washington region already fails to meet certain clean-air standards and that building the six-lane, 18-mile highway would increase pollution. The $2.4 billion intercounty connector would link Interstate 270 in Montgomery County with Interstate 95 in Prince George's County. "There are elementary schools and nursing centers close to the ICC, and people who live and work within several hundred yards of...

SALINA, Kan. -- There's been a lot of talk about the promise of biofuels -- liquid fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, made from plants -- to reduce our dependence on oil. Even President Bush beat the biofuel drum in his State of the Union speech. Fuel from plants? Sounds pretty good. But before you rush out to buy an E-85 pickup, consider: The U.S. annually consumes more fossil and nuclear energy than all the energy produced in a year by the country's plant life, including forests and plants used for food and fiber, according to the U.S. Department of...

The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, has angered Australian Muslims with his description of their holy book as an incitement to violence. In a speech delivered to a group of Catholic business leaders at the Legatus summit in the United States, the Archbishop also took aim at what he claimed were hysterical and extreme claims about global warming. Dr Pell's central argument is that an understanding of Islam is vital for the future of western democracies. September 11, according to the Cardinal, was a wake-up call that prompted him to dust off a copy of the Koran. "I...

A new theory to explain global warming was revealed at a meeting at the University of Leicester (UK) and is being considered for publication in the journal "Science First Hand". The controversial theory has nothing to do with burning fossil fuels and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. According to Vladimir Shaidurov of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the apparent rise in average global temperature recorded by scientists over the last hundred years or so could be due to atmospheric changes that are not connected to human emissions of carbon dioxide from the burning of natural gas and oil. Shaidurov explained how...

There may be a new reason for Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to exercise his second veto of the year - this one on the newly passed Legacy Parkway backlash bill. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency raised its "potential concern" Friday about HB100. In a letter to the governor, the EPA Denver regional director suggested Utah may not be able to properly do its job carrying out federal environmental laws that have been delegated to the state, such as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and Superfund cleanups. "[T]his pending legislation raises concerns about whether important parts of the...

In our urgency to deal with really urgent stuff over the past few weeks, we have been piling up news articles regarding what some regard as a universal urgency. That would be global warming or Global Warming or GLOBAL WARMING, depending on one's perspective, provided that one has a perspective. Bill Clinton, speaking last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that mother of all junkets for rich folks who take themselves very seriously, said that GLOBAL WARMING bothered him a bunch. "It's the only thing that I believe has the power to fundamentally end the march of...

Day after day in New York City, a small and strange procession can be seen moving along the pavement. While taxicabs whiz by and passersby move out of the way on Big Apple sidewalks, a handful of acolytes transport a large, hand painted box crafted from the wood of a sycamore tree. Make that "a sustainably harvested in Germany" sycamore tree. Dressed not in long flowing robes, but in average business apparel, the acolytes are garden-variety United Nations employees. There’s no need to hire Brink’s for protection and nothing but propaganda and hype worth robbing. The precious cargo of the...

Did you know that the National Audubon Society has earned more than $25 million in royalties by allowing oil and natural gas production in Louisiana's Rainey Wildlife Refuge and Michigan's Baker Sanctuary? In fact, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey commissioned by U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., in 2001 reported that 77 of 567 wildlife refuges in 22 states had oil and gas activities on their land in 2000, according to Arctic Power, the Alaskan group pushing for ANWR oil exploration. Ironically, the Rainey refuge is the winter habitat for snow geese migrating from Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge...

Greenhouse gasbags gather in Montreal Posted: December 3, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Henry Lamb © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Once again, the global warming industry is holding its annual party, this time in Montreal. Nearly 10,000 celebrants have gathered to eat, drink and be merry – and to bash the U.S. for withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol. Less than half the crowd are official delegates from 180 nations; the rest are advocates representing hundreds of non-government organizations. The stated purpose of the meeting is to construct the regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in phase two of the Kyoto Protocol –...

I know that this may be a long read, there's a lot of content here, but I think that many FReepers will find the information here interesting and disturbing. I will appreciate any help I can get with this situation. My wife and I have been homeschooling our children since they started schooling. We have 5th, 6th, and 8th graders. Recently, we made the tough decision to enroll them in a local Charter School. In Arizona, a Charter School is a privately run, smaller, more focused public school. It provides parents with school choice and some competition between the schools....

Albert Pujols, the Lou Gehrig of our times, picked up his first Most Valuable Player Award the other day. But if baseball had begun testing for drugs when other sports did, it might well have been Pujols' third MVP -- in just five major league seasons. And then we'd be saying, rightly, "This guy might be the best player to come along in 50 years." Pujols had the misfortune of breaking in around the time Barry Bonds developed a taste for "flaxseed oil." Thus, he finished second to Bonds in the '02 and '03 National League voting instead of, perhaps,...

WASHINGTON – British Petroleum could cut production at its Cherry Point refinery near Bellingham by 10 percent if a 28-year-old federal law restricting tanker traffic in Puget Sound isn’t repealed, the company’s top executive threatened Wednesday. BP America’s chief executive, Ross Pillari, made the comment less than a day after Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) quietly introduced legislation that would strike the provision in the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Washington’s lawmakers have said additional tanker traffic could increase the threat of oil spills in Puget Sound, and they have warned that without the restriction the state could become the center of...

Story can't be posted here due to copyright complaint, but it's interesting reading, so click this link to go directly to it. And by the way, 'unexpected' downside? Who couldn't predict that a rapidly-spinning blade in the sky would put the smackdown on birds?

If You Think Life Without Cars Is Easy, Remember the Big Easy News Release by Jody Clarke September 22, 2005 Washington, DC, September 22, 2005 -- Organizers of today's 'World Car-Free Day' are promoting supposedly more sustainable transportation systems. But according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, lack of access to cars can be deadly -- as demonstrated by the experience of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, where cars, rather than mass transit, were the key to evacuating hundreds of thousands of people. "It was a lack of access to cars that led tens of thousands of people to remain in...

A lizard known for its dinosaur-like features is back in line for endangered species protection, according to backers of the tiny, desert reptile. A federal judge in Arizona on Tuesday ruled the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service erred when it dropped the Flat-tail Horned Lizard from consideration as a "threatened" species eligible for special legal protection. In a 15-page ruling, District Court Judge Neil Wake said the government "violated the Endangered Species Act" by failing to evaluate the impact of habitat loss on the species when it withdrew a proposal to list it as threatened. The ruling, according to environmentalists...

ARIVACA, Ariz. -- Jim Chilton is one of hundreds of ranchers targeted by environmental groups for allegedly allowing cattle to despoil the West's backcountry. Now Mr. Chilton is showing ranchers how to turn the tables on the green groups by using their own playbook. The Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson is known for its lawsuits against ranching practices -- and for its methods of posting photos on the Internet that it says depict land destruction. So when the Center came after Mr. Chilton, he struck back with a defamation suit in Arizona Superior Court in Tucson last year....

Critical Areas Ordinance foes register name, taking it from less vocal property rights group Just who is the ``real'' Rural Majority?Ron Ewart of Fall City and Preston Drew of Carnation think it's rural folks like them. Foes of government, they oppose any regulation they figure tramples on their property rights. On their side are roughly 18,000 residents who signed petitions to do away with the county's controversial Critical Areas Ordinance and two other pieces of environmental regulation.What they didn't have was a catchy name that, as a bonus, carried great symbolic weight.They've got one now -- at the expense of...

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for shooting whales. Get a bunch of tourists, put them on boat, send it out to the North Pacific and let them fire off some rounds for an hour or two. Of course the ammunition used would be Kodak and Fuji stock, but it's a lot more humane than blowing them up. And it doesn't make the water go all red. With the exception of some Japanese and Scandinavian fisherman, a few Japanese scientists and the Japanese government, in the minds of most people -- whale hunting ranks up there with clubbing baby seals...

Hiking along a ridge trail at Point Reyes National Seashore, Peter Douglas can see the shadow of his past and a glint of the future. The deep-green landscape of conifer trees and chaparral is where he built his first home, raised two sons and spread his grandmother's ashes. He helped establish this place as a national park and a personal reminder of why he perseveres as a leading advocate for California's 1,100-mile coastline. A political Houdini, Douglas has spent a lifetime sparring with developers, local government and even fellow environmentalists over his vision of coastal protection. This year marks his...

San Francisco plays host this week to mayors from around the globe who will be attending a United Nations conference dedicated to adopting sound environmental practices for urban centers -- where the majority of the world's population lives. The U.N. conference -- an annual event in its third decade, but the first in the United States -- comes 60 years after the city served as the setting for the signing of the charter that created the international body. This time, the issues at hand are quite different. The theme of the conference is "green cities,'' and the mayors will hammer...

(This is part of the transcript of Mark Steyn interviewed by Hugh Hewitt talking about seal hunts and environmentalism in Canada and the upcoming British general election. The complete version includes Hillary Clinton and US senate judicial confirmations as well and could be found at the link provided above) It's the middle of the week, and so with great anticipation, Mark Steyn begins the Hugh Hewitt Show. Last week, I posted the transcript, and was overwhelmed with the response. So without further adieu, here's Hugh Hewitt and Mark Steyn: HH: I want to start with a Candian story. Up in...

WASHINGTON – The Secret Service, which has the job of guarding the president and other dignitaries, now has a new temporary duty – protecting a mother duck and her nine eggs. The duck, a brown mallard with white markings, has had several names suggested by Treasury Department people, including "Quacks Reform," "T-Bill," and "Duck Cheney." It has built a nest in a mulch pile right at the main entrance to the Treasury Department on Pennsylvania Avenue. The Secret Service's uniformed division, which provides protection for the White House and Treasury building, has set up metal guard rails to protect the...

Greenpeace has discovered that invading the workplace can be as hazardous as finding toxins there. Growing ever more corporate as the world’s largest environmental lobby group, Greenpeace was spoon-fed workplace invasion 101 from the oil industry, and for safety’s sake may be forced to rethink its strategy. With the practice of popping up wherever called, Greenpeacers are at the ready to move out with their props of banners and placards in tow. Thirty-five Greenpeace protesters decided to storm the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) in London, last Wednesday. According to the Times of London, they slipped into a closing door and...

Australia's energy-efficient exporting industries would be penalised under the Kyoto Protocol, Environment Minister Ian Campbell says. He said it was counter-productive to the cause of curtailing man-made climate change to prevent Australia exporting its high-quality energy products and low-emissions technology. Australia and the United States are the only major industrialised countries to have resisted signing the Kyoto Protocol, which comes into force on Wednesday. The protocol aims to limit greenhouse emissions and introduce an international carbon trading scheme, but the government believes it will be ineffective. Labor is introducing a private member's bill requiring Australia to ratify the protocol. The...

  Washington, D.C. (Jan. 26, 2005) – A Pima County jury has awarded Arizona rancher Jim Chilton $600,000 in a libel suit against the Tucson-based environmental group, Center for Biological Diversity.  On Jan. 21, jurors in Pima County Superior Court voted 9-1 that the Center made “false, unfair, libelous and defamatory statements” regarding Chilton's management of his Forest Service grazing allotment.   Chilton, a fifth generation producer and member of the Public Lands Council (PLC) and National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA), claimed the Center made false statements about him in a news advisory, and that the Center posted defaming photographs of his operation on its web site.  The photos of Chilton’s...

DALLAS -- Global warming is hot! -- pun fully intended. Within the space of a year, a blockbuster action movie and now a sure-to-be best-selling novel have both focused on the perils and political intrigues surrounding the question of whether, or to what extent, humans are causing the planet to overheat with all manner of apocalyptic results. Though the Fox Studio disaster flick "The Day After Tomorrow" was panned by scientists who pointed out its portrayal of climate science was wildly inaccurate, it won praise from environmentalists and some politicos for "focusing attention on the important topic of human-caused global...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- A federal judge on Friday struck down a ban on snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, calling it a "prejudged, political" move that sought to exclude the vehicles from all national parks. U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer ruled that the Clinton-era ban was invalid because it did not involve adequate public participation and failed to follow federal law. His decision could clear the way for new rules that allow the machines. The rule was "the product of a prejudged, political decision to ban snowmobiles from all the national parks," Brimmer wrote. The National Park...

Every year, at about this time, I make my personal protest against environmentalism by going out and enjoying nature. How, you might ask, can enjoying nature be considered an act of defiance against environmentalism? Consider how -- and why -- I enjoy it. I do not enjoy nature in some vague, general way. I enjoy my own particular patch of it -- the few acres where my wife and I live in a wooded, rural area. And the most precious part of our property, to me, is my orchard. What makes it so precious is that these dozen or so...

GERMAINE Greer this week went on BBC television and appealed for help. "It's about time, I reckon, we resuscitated the Communist Party." No one on the panel with her blinked at this evil idea -- although whether because they agreed with it or thought Greer was crazy and best ignored, I can't tell. I'd understand if some thought the latter. On the same show, Greer, famed for leading the feminist revolution with her The Female Eunuch, offered a nutty excuse for Saudi Arabia's ban on women driving cars. "I get a bit worried about certain heavily veiled ladies driving because...

"It is mind boggling, the billions of dollars that are squandered annually in the name of "protecting the environment". Nor are these millions, and billions, devoted to just the U.S. environment. They are just as often given away to foreign nations, many of which have a track record of corruption. I was thinking about this as I read a speech given in Stockholm, Sweden, on March 2, by John F. Turner, an Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environment and Scientific Affairs. If Turner were any more Green, he'd glow in the dark. He represents a vast Fifth Column of...

TUCSON, Ariz. - Scientists, including acclaimed wildlife biologist Jane Goodall, joined environmental groups Tuesday in petitioning the government to add 225 plants and animals to the endangered species list. The species are not new to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; four-fifths have been on the agency's waiting list for a decade. Some have been waiting since 1975. The average is 17 years. Goodall, known for her pioneering research on chimpanzees, signed the petitions, joined by other prominent scientists including biologists E.O. Wilson of Harvard University and Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University. "Wildlife is facing serious threats almost everywhere," Goodall...

Hundreds of millions of hatcherybred salmon will soon be counted as equals to their wild cousins, according to a Bush administration decision. The new salmon accounting system could boost numbers enough to spellthe end of Endangered Species Act protection for some Northwest salmon runs. The effort has been one of the nation's most complicated, costly and controversial wildlife recovery programs. The change is expected to ease regulations on the region's agriculture, building, hydropower and timber industries. The groups have sued the government, arguing that salmon recovery plans have illegally restricted use of their land and water. ‘‘The sledgehammer of the...

In the spirit of Earth Day, please post what you will do to save the planet from evil resource depleting human behavior.

Utah's Sundance Kid has joined more than 100 notable Americans in a campaign to celebrate the nation's wild treasures. Robert Redford on Wednesday helped launch "Americans for Wilderness," a group commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Preservation Act. The Oscar-winning director and actor said the act -- which President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law Sept. 3, 1964 -- was a bipartisan effort to recognize that some places "are so powerful we use them to identify the best of ourselves." To date, more than 105 million acres of public lands, mostly within national forests, have been set aside as...

WASHINGTON - Ralph Nader (news - web sites), the third-party candidate viewed by many Democrats as the spoiler of the 2000 election for taking votes away from Al Gore (news - web sites), has decided not to run on the Green Party ticket next year, a party spokesman said Tuesday. Nader, who garnered nearly 3 percent of the national vote in the last presidential election, has not ruled out running for president as an independent and plans to make a decision by January. "I think we're all a little bit disappointed," said Scott McLarty, a Green Party spokesman. "I suspect...

<p>LOS ANGELES — City officials in San Bernardino, Calif., say the U.S. Fish and Wildlife agency's concerns about endangered species delayed a federally funded fire prevention program for seven years and led directly to the disastrous fires there in October.</p>