ENVIRONMENT
Bush's Bake Sale
Dozens of world leaders are currently assembled at the United Nations
to create a "road map" for reducing greenhouse gas emissions once the
Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. Yesterday, President Bush skipped the
meetings, but managed
to show up in time for a dinner hosted by U.N. Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon. Even though a new poll finds that 90 percent of people
worldwide believe action is necessary on climate change, Bush
continues to undermine global progress on emission reductions. On
Thursday, he will host a meeting of the world's major emitters of
greenhouse gases where he will push them to accept his misguided
framework of "voluntary" reductions. Embracing
the rhetoric of global warming isn't enough. Scientists estimate
that the world needs to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions by 50-80 percent by 2050 to avoid the worst
impacts of global warming. "Today, the
time for doubt has passed," Ban told the General Assembly.
"Inaction now will prove the costliest action of all in the long term."
BUSH'S ALTERNATE, 'ASPIRATIONAL'
UNIVERSE: Thursday's White House-sponsored meeting will include
the 15
major emitters of greenhouse gases, in addition to the United
Nations and the European Union. Most of these countries are signatories
to the Kyoto Protocol, with the exception of the United States and
Australia, which remain
the only major industrialized nations to stay out of the
international agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions. As Center for
American Progress Senior Fellows Joseph Romm and Daniel J. Weiss note,
Bush's meeting will end up starting "another process outside the United
Nations and post-Kyoto talks -- a process consisting of multiple
meetings that don't finish their work until the very end of his
presidency." The Bush administration has made clear that it wants each
country to adopt voluntary "aspirational"
goals to reduce emissions. By convening this separate meeting, Bush is
essentially undermining
the mandatory caps on emissions that the United Nations is
attempting to negotiate.
VOLUNTEERISM IS FOR BAKE SALES, NOT
GLOBAL WARMING: Bush announced his idea for this major emitters
meeting just five days before the G-8
summit in June. He said that he wanted the United States to be
involved in post-Kyoto talks on greenhouse gas emissions, but that the
focus should be on a "long-term
global goal for reducing greenhouse gases." The Bush administration
hailed the major emitters meeting as a "new"
policy on climate change. Yet pushing for toothless, watered-down
climate policies is nothing new for this administration. At the G-8
summit,
German Chancellor Angela Merkel proposed that countries adopt a
50 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, "but had
to settle for compromise language after President Bush made it clear
the United States would not agree to it." Earlier this month, Bush also
convinced leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation agree to a "long-term
aspirational goal" to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, instead of
binding targets. Yesterday, Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) told The Progress
Report that Bush's focus on voluntary reductions is misguided and
destructive. "We simply know that volunteerism is great for PTA bake
sales, but they will not reorder the economic system of the world, and
move to a clean energy technology," said Inslee.
HIDING BEHIND AMERICA'S SKIRTS: Bush's refusal to join the international community in battling climate
change is more than just a nuisance. The United States is "responsible
for roughly one-quarter
of the world's carbon dioxide" and other greenhouse gases. While
many nations have already agreed to adopt significant greenhouse gas
reductions,
U.S. action on the issue would make it more
likely that countries such as China, India, and Brazil would do so
as well. "The leadership role of the United States is absolutely
essential," said former senator Timothy E. Wirth, who is now president
of the United Nations Foundation. "Unless the United States decides
that it wants to be a major and committed leadership player in this and
make very specific commitments, much of the rest of the world is
effectively going to hide
behind the skirts of the United States and not do anything."
PUSHING FORWARD ON MANDATORY CAPS: Yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid (D-NV) wrote to Bush and urged him to support "mandatory national and
international limits," as well as Congress's energy bill that is
currently being held up by Sen.
Pete Domenici (R-NM) and other conservatives. The American Council for an
Energy Efficient Economy estimates that the strongest provisions of
the House and Senate legislation -- including increasing fuel economy
to 35 mpg and establishing a 15 percent renewable electricity standard
-- could cut greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 20 percent by 2030,
compared to business as usual. This bill would be an essential
contribution to meeting long-term global warming pollution reduction
goals. Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and John Warner
(R-VA) are putting together a bill with a market-based approach that
could reduce
emissions by 70 percent by 2050. The bill, likely to be introduced
in October, has "already
garnered tentative support from members who have previously been
opposed to measures mandating carbon limits." Center for American
Progress Senior Fellow Todd Stern and Brookings Institution
scholar William Antholis have also put together a plan for an E-8
summit that would "consist of four developed and four developing
countries (or entities) focused on global ecological and resource
problems." "While an E-8 would be small enough to facilitate productive
dialogue," they write, "it would have such a formidable footprint that
its actions would be consequential in their own right and could set the
terms of the policy debate more broadly."
HEALTH CARE -- BUSH SET TO VETO HEALTH INSURANCE FOR 10 MILLION
CHILDREN: Today, the House will vote to extend the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which
provides grants to states to fund health care for uninsured children
and is set to expire on Sept. 30. The House and Senate
leadership have agreed on a version of the bill that would cover 10
million children and be paid for by an increase in taxes on tobacco.
Despite broad
bipartisan support in Congress and the states,
President Bush
has threatened to veto the bill, claiming that it is too expensive and would
cover too many children. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) notes that the
cost of fully funding SCHIP is equivalent to that of only 41 days
of fighting in Iraq.
The Senate is likely to garner enough votes to override
Bush's veto,
though it is less clear whether a veto-proof majority exists in the
House. Asked if he would support a veto override, Sen. Orrin
Hatch (R-UT) responded, "You
bet your sweet bippy I will." The Center for American Progress
debunks many of the administration's myths about SCHIP here.
ETHICS -- TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT
IMPROPERLY LOBBIED
LAWMAKERS: House
Oversight Committee Chairman
Henry Waxman (D-CA) has uncovered an unethical and potentially
illegal Department of Transportation campaign to lobby Congress
regarding California's efforts to regulate greenhouse gas
emissions. Waxman discovered that "five department staffers contacted
between 20 and 25 members of Congress" and that Transportation Secretary Mary Peters "personally
called two to four governors" in an attempt to sway their
vote against the emission regulations. For example, an aide at the
Department left a voicemail message for a member of Congress and
lobbied the lawmaker
to take a stand on tougher state emission standards because "this
would greatly impact the auto facilities' in the member's
district." In a letter to
Peters, Waxman writes that "it is not an appropriate use of
federal resources to lobby members of
Congress to oppose state efforts to protect the environment. ... At the
very least, [the] call suggests the presence of an improper hidden agenda."
IRAN -- PODHORETZ GRANTED SECRET
ACCESS TO LOBBY BUSH ON 'THE CASE FOR BOMBING IRAN': The
Politico reported yesterday that President
Bush has been "diligently" listening to the agenda of Norman Podhoretz -- the "patriarch
of neoconservatism" who has repeatedly called for war
against Iran -- and recently enlisted Podhoretz to discuss
his views on Iran. In a meeting that "was not on the president's public
schedule," Bush and Karl Rove "sat listening to Norman Podhoretz for roughly
45 minutes at the White House." Bush has loyally
supported Podhoretz's agenda in the past. In 2004, he bestowed the Presidential
Medal of Freedom on Podhoretz, calling him a "fierce
intellectual man" with "fine writing" and a "great love for our
country." Today, Podhoretz's calls for bombing Iran are being echoed in
the
administration. Vice President Cheney reportedly considered
a plan to allow Israel to conduct missile strikes against Iran "in an
effort to draw a military response from Iran, which could in turn
spark a U.S. offensive against targets in the Islamic Republic."
Podhoretz has argued that "if we were to bomb the Iranians as I hope and pray we will,
we'll
unleash a wave of anti-Americanism all over the world that will make
the anti-Americanism we've experienced so far look like a lovefest." By
enlisting Podhoretz's advice, Bush is demonstrating that
there isn't any idea too radical for him to consider.
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Violent crime rose nearly two percent last year, slightly
more
than expected, the FBI reported on Monday. "The number of big-city
murders also increased, by 1.8 percent, the same rate as homicides
nationwide."
In a victory for the Bush administration, a special military appeals
court ruling "removed
a legal hurdle that has derailed"
trials for detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The ruling allows
prosecutors
to introduce new evidence that defendants labeled "enemy combatants"
are actually "alien unlawful enemy combatants," as the law
requires for them to be tried in military tribunals.
Following large protests last week supporting six African-American
teenagers in Jena, LA, white supremacists have begun calling for
retaliatory violence. The threats include the posting on a neo-Nazi
website of the names,
addresses and phone numbers of some of the six teenagers and their families. In an interview, the
Mayor of Jena, Murphy McMillin, "praised efforts by pro-white groups to
organize counter-demonstrations."
At a gala in Little Rock last night, former President Bill Clinton
and other dignitaries honored
the nine black students who integrated Little Rock Central High school fifty years ago while stressing "the country's continuing
need for better race relations."
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said of the autoworkers strike:
"Job
security is one of our primary concerns.
... We're talking about investment and we're talking about job
creation" and preserving benefits, he said. Negotiators were to return
Tuesday morning for their 22nd straight day of bargaining.
"The world's top leaders should meet
every three months, starting next year, until a plan is drawn
up to reduce emissions blamed for global warming, former U.S. Vice
President Al Gore said on Monday."
A suicide bomber in Iraq blew himself up on Monday "at a
banquet intended to be a
reconciliation feast between provincial officials and former Sunni
insurgents in Diyala Province, killing 16 people and wounding at least
28."
And finally: Fly Swatter-in-Chief. Former Press Secretary
Tony Snow reports that
President Bush chases "flies around the Oval Office. It drives him
crazy when
flies get in." Bush is so well known as a fly hunter among his White
House staff, says Snow, that somebody "made
him White House fly swatters."
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"Democratic leaders and labor officials are expected to reveal
new legislation today aimed at giving
workers more protection during corporate bankruptcies, as part of
an increasing effort to bring labor issues to the fore."
UTAH:
"Utah is considering a greater role in regulating its 13 coal mines
after 30 years of deferring to the federal government."
NEW
JERSEY: Judge rejects "an effort by right-to-life groups to
derail November's vote on a $450 million stem cell research program."
WISCONSIN:
An overhaul of the computer system that runs the state's health
insurance program for the poor sees rising costs and more delays.
THINK
PROGRESS: President Bush: we can't spend $22 billion on America
because we need $200 billion for Iraq war.
CLIMATE
PROGRESS: The Arctic has lost an area of ice "approximately equal
to the size of Alaska and Texas combined."
UNCLAIMED
TERRITORY: New York lawmakers threaten to punish Columbia
University over Ahmadinejad speech.
AFL-CIO
BLOG: The cost of one day of war in Iraq equals 246,000 kids
who could be covered by the State Children's Health Insurance
Program that President Bush is threatening to veto.
Condoleezza Rice: "The Most Powerful Person in Washington."
-- GQ, 9/07
VERSUS
"[T]wo programs took the unusual step of turning her down. Executives
at CBS and NBC say Rice no longer seems to be a key player on the war."
--Washington Post's Howard Kurtz, 9/24/07
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