The Cost of Fossil Fuels

Dear Friends,

The coal mining disaster followed by the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster should help us focus on the true costs of fossil fuels.  There is no such thing as clean coal.  It is dangerous to miners to extract it, it produces huge amounts of hazardous waste from processing, and it has terrible environmental impacts when it is burned.  Getting coal out of the ground and burning it for energy kills people, makes people sick and destroys the environment.  Many of the same things can be said about oil, although it is not as bad as coal.  Extraction causes environmental harm and produces hazardous waste and burning it does the same.

The Obama Administration's proposed budget for FY2011 for Department of Energy for energy efficiency related programs is $2.35 billion.  Environmentalist are applauding the Obama Administration for increasing that budget. (here).  That number includes the budget for renewable energy sources. (here).

By comparison, news reports indicate that it will cost BP $6.0 million per day for this oil spill and that really doesn't cover all the collateral damage caused by the spill. (here)  The cost to the insurance industry is currently estimated to be at least $1.5 billion which again will not cover the true cost of the impact. (here)  None of these cost estimates include the environmental damage done by the oil to the ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico and its shores or the damage done by the chemicals used to disburse the oil or damage to human health from those chemicals and the smoke and debris from burning the oil slick.

The direct costs of one oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will be almost 2/3rds of the total amount that the United States government is proposing to spend in its FY2011 budget for alternative energy sources and energy efficiency programs.  We have the money to become energy efficient using sustainable and environmentally safe sources, but we chose to let big energy companies stop us from doing so.

Remembering Patti Smith's quote from yesterday's post:

What I would have more of a problem with is, if I had to look back on my life and say, ‘Yeah I compromised here’ and ‘yeah I did this so I could get that’–once you start doing that it’s like a house of cards, it all falls apart.

We have compromised ourselves, and the house of cards is falling down. 

Where is President Obama? He is ordering a review of the rigs and complaining about BP and saying we won't drill until we find out what happened that caused this disaster.   We rely on big energy companies to operate safely.  We know that we cannot count on that, but even if we could disasters will happen.  We should be focused on safe sustainable energy sources - wind, solar and geothermal.  They all have their problems but they are much better than fossil fuels.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal

Patti Smith Godmother of Punk

Dear Friends,

Today on Democracy Now, Amy Goodman had an extensive interview with Patti Smith, often referred to as the Godmother of Punk.  She is my age.  She is a poet, songwriter and performer.  She is also an activist.  Here is the summary:

We bring you a Democracy Now special with the singer-songwriter, poet, artist, and punk rock legend, Patti Smith, on her life, her art and her singing and speaking out. “I do things that make people upset. My political views or my humanist views have caused me a lot of censorship, but I don’t have a problem with that,” Smith says. “What I would have more of a problem with is, if I had to look back on my life and say, ‘Yeah I compromised here’ and ‘yeah I did this so I could get that’–once you start doing that it’s like a house of cards, it all falls apart.”

In addition to the quote above she voices a number of other great thoughts, including one that says if you are not doing something joyfully, then you shouldn't be doing it.  She also wrote a great protest song entitled "The People have the Power".

We need people like to Patti to make sure we don't forget that people do have the power and that we can and should live uncompromising and joyous lives.

Here is the segment from today's show:
Punk Rock Legend Patti Smith on her Life, Her Art, Her Singing and Speaking Out

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal 

Gulf of Meexico Oil Leak

Dear Friends,

It is now being reported that the leak from the oil well in the Gulf of Mexico is spewing 5,000 barrels a day not the 1,000 barrels a day previously reported into the Gulf of Mexico.  (here) 

They have been unable to stop the leak, and it is leaking five times more than previously reported.  They have been using chemicals to try to disburse the oil and that has not stopped the spread of the spill.  The chemicals used to try to disburse the oil are an environmental disaster in and of themselves though perhaps (but not for sure) less of one than the oil itself.

Now they are trying to burn the oil off.  (here)  The burning will produce yet another kind of environmental disaster though again perhaps (but not for sure) less of one than the oil itself.

The size of the slick is now about 150 miles by 30 miles or 4,500 square miles.  That is just a little smaller than Connecticut.

NOAA is now predicting that the slick will hit its first shoreline this weekend.

President Obama is sticking with his decision to open up more areas to offshore drilling.  Perhaps he should head to the Gulf of Mexico and see the environmental destruction that he is ensuring will occur if we drill offshore.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal

They Made Them Actually Filibuster

Dear Friends,

The Republicans have finally agreed to permit debate on the floor of the Senate on Wall Street reform.  You may recall that on Monday I wrote a post that was entitled "Make Them Actually Filibuster" in which I argued that the Democrats should actually make the Republicans keep going all day and night to keep the debate from happening.  Well Senator Harry Reid finally took my advice.  After three regular working hours attempts to open debate all of which were blocked by the Republicans.  Senator Reid decided to keep the Senate in session all night tonight with vote after vote to try to get the Republicans to agree to permit the debate to begin.  Well that was all it took.  Earlier this evening the Senate agreed, by unanimous consent, to begin debating the Wall Street reform bill known as the Dodd bill.

The Republicans are trying to put a spin on this turn of events by saying that they had achieved a lot in private negotiations and now it was time to begin open debate.  I never ceased to be amazed at what lies they will tell.  Here are two postings from The Hill.  Read them in chronological order to see that the facts speak for themselves.  The 12:51 pm  today the post indicated that Senator Reid planned to keep the Senate in session all night to put pressure on the Republicans.  The 6:46 pm today the post indicates that the Republicans have agreed to start the debate on the Senate floor. 

Rachel Maddow had a great segment on how the Republicans don't like to work late and went back through all the times lately that they agreed to proceed with something after Senator Reid had threatened to keep the Senate in session all night.  I cannot link to it because it has not been posted on line yet, but it will be later.  Here is the link to the show's website.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal

President Obama, Military Commissions and Torture

Dear Friends,

We do not read much in the mainstream media about the Military Commissions that are going on.  I came across a horrifying story today about Omar Khadr.  Mr. Khadr is a Canadian citizen who was 15 years old when he was arrested.  There are significant and substantive allegations that Mr. Khadr was tortured and that he was not a combatant but the victim of a U.S. air strike.  The defense attorneys have been denied access to most of the interrogators.  The information that was obtained in the first interrogations of Mr. Khadr turned out to be completely false. 

What are we doing?  What is being done in our names?  A child is being denied any semblance of a fair hearing and President Obama is in charge not President George W. Bush.

Here is a link to an update on the hearing as to the suppression of the evidence obtained through torture from Daphne Eviatar at the Huffington Post.  Here is a summary from Amy Goodman's show today on Democracy Now.  Here is the link to her show.

Gitmo Hearing Weighs Alleged Torture-Induced Confession

At Guantanamo Bay, a hearing has begun on whether the U.S. military elicited a false confession through the torture of a then-teenaged prisoner accused of killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan. Canadian citizen Omar Khadr was fifteen years old when US troops imprisoned him in Afghanistan in 2002. He says U.S. military guards beat him and threatened him with rape after he arrived at Guantanamo that same year. Deputy Chief Defense Counsel Michael Berrigan said Khadr’s statements at the time should be ruled inadmissible.

Michael Berrigan: “The defense hopes that the statements that Omar Khadr has made that the government wants to admit as evidence against him will be suppressed and that means that they will not be allowed to be admitted in evidence against him at his commissions trial, which is currently scheduled for this summer.”

Kadhr is set to be tried later this year in the first military tribunal of the Obama White House. Alex Neve of Amnesty International Canada criticized Obama for continuing Bush-era policies.

Alex Neve: “I think we were expecting a lot more of the Obama administration. Obviously in January 2009 there was great hope and tremendous expectation that this whole sorry exercise in injustice here at Guantanamo Bay was going to come to a close and certainly by April 2010, we wouldn’t be facing any military commission hearings, let alone a hearing involving someone who was 15 years old at the time of the alleged offenses, someone who alleges a harrowing litany of torture and ill-treatment. That is astounding.”

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal

Update on the Media

Dear Friends,

After my rebuke of the media yesterday about not keeping the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in the news, imagine my surprise this morning when I saw a front page article about the spill in The New York Times and a caption on the front page of the Minneapolis StarTribune about a big article on page 3 on the oil spill.  The online version of The New York Times article is here.

There are two ways to look at this turnaround in coverage.  One way is that I jumped the gun in criticizing the media.  The other is that my blog caused the editors to get on the stick and cover this environmental disaster.  I, of course, prefer the later approach.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal

Update on Oil Spill

Dear Friends,

I just googled "gulf of mexico oil leak".  Of the first ten responses, there were none from a major US media outlet and only about half were dated today.  I guess the American media is done with the story.

Here is a link to an update.  You may recall that yesterday I reported that the oil slick was 400 square miles in size.  Well the report today is that the oil slick is 48 miles by 39 miles which is 1,872 square miles.  That is more than four times as large as the day before. 

I am afraid that we will not see much more media coverage of this disaster unless and until it hits the shore.  This slick may not hit the shore, but you can rest assured that if we drill offshore, there will be large spills that hit the shores.  The fact that the disaster occurs will not be a surprise.  It is only a question of when.


Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal

Make Them Actually Filibuster

Dear Friends,

Today the Republicans in the Senate with the help of Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska who for some reason still calls himself a Democrat prevented the Wall Street reform bill from even being debated on the Senate floor.  Here is The New York Times article about it.

There are a couple of amazing things about this story.  The first is to listen to the Republicans.  Senator McConnell in his speech on the floor of the Senate claims that if debate of the bill is permitted on the Senate floor it will stop the Senators from listening to the American people, and it will prevent a bipartisan bill from emerging.  His logic is beyond incomprehensible.  I am in awe of the ability of a person who must be intelligent to say this stuff with a straight face. 

Let there be no doubt.  The Republicans do not want any Wall Street reform bill that actually contains reform, and they certainly do not want to have the American public listen to and see the amendments that they would like to propose to kill even the modest reform in the Dodd bill that is pending in the Senate.

As usual the "Daily Kos" put it very succinctly (here):

As further proof, here's Mitch McConnell actually saying that allowing the debate to go forward on the Senate floors means an end to public debate on the issue. Literally. "A vote for cloture is a vote that says we’re done listening to the American people on this issue." Open debate, live on C-SPAN in front of God and everybody, means the end to the debate on Wall Street reform. They don't want to offer their amendments in public, because they don't want the American people to see their work on behalf of Wall Street.

You can follow the Mitch McConnell link above for a great story, but if you do not have time, here is a part of Senator McConnell's speech as well as part of Senator Reid's speech.



The second thing that I find fascinating about what happened today is that there does not appear to be any discussion among Democrats or the pundits about actually making the Republicans filibuster.  Yes that is right, I mean actually getting up on the floor of the Senate and talking hour after hour in order to prevent the Senate from doing anything. 

If the Republicans are going to threaten to filibuster every major piece of legislation which they have been doing lately, then the Democrats should make them actually filibuster.  With almost two-thirds of American voters in favor of Wall Street reform what could be better for the Democrats than having the news every night showing the Republicans filibustering so that Wall Street reform cannot even be debated.  I think that would be good for the country and good politics for the Democrats, but they never ask me.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal

Offshore Drilling will Result in Large Oil Spills

Dear Friends,

On March 31, I published a post entitled "President Obama is like President Bush to Big Oil".  In that post, I lamented the fact that President Obama plans to open vast offshore areas to oil drilling.  Then an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded killing many people and sending oil into the Gulf.  At first, it appeared that the well was not leaking and that major environmental damage to the shoreline of the Gulf would be avoided.  Now it appears that the well is leaking about 1,000 barrels of oil a day, and nobody knows what the ultimate result of this accident will be.  Here is an updated report by Reuters.

In The New York Times today, there was an article about the leak that had developed, but it was on page 15 and was less than a full column.  Here is the online version of the article.  Since the 400 square mile oil slick has not hit a shore anywhere, the media and the American people seem to have forgotten about the whole problem.  While the timing of this environmental problem is not related to President Obama's decision to open more offshore areas to drilling, this disaster should serve as a reminder that if you drill offshore, you will have environmental disasters.  History is proof of that fact. 

Unfortunately, according to this report from Reuters, President Obama is not taking this opportunity to reconsider his decision to open more offshore areas to drilling.   Perhaps President Obama already understands that there will be environmental disasters as a result of his decision, and he is willing to accept the environmental damage in exchange for nothing.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal