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Democracy for America personal blog for Kevin Lynn
Climate Change Legislation and The Selling of Indulgences
Linked to groups: DFA Pasadena, Democracy For Downtown, California for Democracy, PA for Democracy
Dear All,
In the grand tradition of the savings and loan debacle of the 80's, the mortgaged backed securities meltdown that currently threatens to undermine our financial markets, NAFTA, GATT, and the invasion & occupation of Iraq, our leaders in the Senate are once again preparing to hoist upon an unsuspecting public another catastrophe in the making. I am referring to Senate Bill 2191, America's Climate Security Act. This insidious piece of legislation crafted by Senators Lieberman and Warner and lined with ways for the most clever and unscrupulous among us to make "big bucks" includes the:
Establishment of a greenhouse gas (GHG) registry and a GHG emission allowance transfer system for covered facilities, including specified facilities within the electric power and industrial sectors and facilities that produce or entities that import petroleum- or coal- based transportation fuel or chemicals. Sets forth emission allowances for 2012-2050, with a declining cap on GHGs;
Selling, exchanging, transferring, submitting, retiring, or borrowing of emission allowances;
Distribution of emission allowances;
Establishment of the Climate Change Credit Corporation to auction emission allowances;
Establishment of an international reserve allowance program;
Requirement for the proceeds from sales of such allowances to be used to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on other countries' disadvantaged communities;
Requirement to study the feasibility of the construction of: pipelines for the transportation of carbon dioxide for sequestration or enhanced oil recovery, and geological carbon dioxide sequestration facilities.
So what is wrong with the above you say? Aren't "Cap-and-Trade" schemes designed to force polluters to reduce GHGs a good idea? In a word - "NO!"
I believe Frank O'Donnell, President of the Not-for-Profit Clean Air Watch phrased it best when he said, "It's a lot like the medieval practice of buying papal indulgences. If sinners throw a few bucks into the pot, they can go back to sinning." This way companies that still belch GHGs can appear green by purchasing offsets such as carbon financial instruments and Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs).
Look folks, I am a true believer in global warming and believe the window to do something about it is very narrow and we have to kick into high gear NOW. But this legislation will ultimately do nothing to get us to where we need to be by 2050. In a way, it's like invading Iraq on the premise of fighting the global war on terrorism. (How stupid and misguided was that!)
Currently, it is estimated that the market created by trading and swapping credits and RECs to be around $200 million. If Lieberman, Warner and their cronies get their way it could reach $4 billion. Wow, that's a pie you want to get a slice of isn't it!
In a very simple scenario ABC Company decides to reforest some area of the world in order to appear "green." ABC Company claims the planting of the trees, will help to lower carbon dioxide and offset the GHGs they emit into the atmosphere. So essentially what is going on is we are "securitizing" trees. (Sound familiar, after all we securitized home loans and see where that got us.) The question I have is what is the value of a tree? If it is now a security, how long can it be held? What is the life of a tree? When does the value a tree begin to decline? How will that look on a balance sheet?
I can see it now. Initially there will be a high demand for these credits and that demand will drive up the price of trees, swamps, tulips or whatever is being securitized. Then the inevitable fall will come. The value of the securities will crater and corporations will be writing down the losses and trying to explain to their shareholders why they were stupid enough to by a 20 acre forest in Tanzania that was also purchased by another company at the same time.
Moreover, companies that demonstrate they have lowered their emissions can then sell those credits in this market to the folks who are still polluting. It reminds me of the story of the Potemkin villages. These were fake settlements erected at the direction of Russian minister Grigori Potemkin to fool Empress Catherine II during her visit to Crimea in 1787. According to this story, Potemkin, who led the Crimean military campaign, had hollow facades of villages constructed along the desolate banks of the Dnieper River in order to impress the monarch and her travel party with the value of her new conquests, thus enhancing his standing in the empress's eyes.
The Act also sets yet to be determined allowances for emissions starting in year 2012. Businesses will be required to reduce their emissions a certain percentage from the previous year. My question is how is that baseline year established?
In addition, the proceeds from SB 2192 will be used to fund "low carbon" energy technologies such as "advanced coal and sequestration technologies programs." This is a significant windfall for coal plant operators. Although I and most Americans won't see any benefit from this Act, the owners of coal plants sure will. Although, come think of it, it might be a smart move to buy some old abandoned mine shafts and lease them as places to sequester carbon dioxide. . . . that's the ticket!
In closing, there is so much we could be and should be doing to lessen the impact we are having on the environment and making America energy independent. But SB 2192 is not going to help accomplish any of that. I believe Caltech professor Nathan Lewis said it best, "the stone age did not end because we ran out of stones, and fossil-energy age is not going to end any time soon because we've run out of cheap fossil fuel. Don't wait for that to happen." We must foster markets wherein renewable energy sources such as wind and solar thermal can come to scale and compete. This will not happen with SB 2192.
Best regards,
Kevin Lynn
Delegate and Member Executive Board,
California Democratic Party
P Please consider the environment before printing this email
If you check the sidebar, you'll see an index of recent BFA threads, as well as some that need recommending or not. You can click on the top one to get the most current and go back and forth easily without having to make a link on the old thread. I only mention that because it took me a while to notice.
Rahm Emmanuel has endorsed Obama. Better get on the bandwagon putz.
Your days are numbered.
- Again, good information. One of the best aspects of this blog.
By Pat in Colorado on Jun 4, 2008 12:21 PM EDTHoward Dean is of course first, always, but today he shares it with Barack Obama
- Pat, I'm still tingling from Obama's speech last night!
By * cChalfonte* on Jun 4, 2008 12:24 PM EDTSerious goose-bumps:)
How great is this, Barack is starting his day in Bristol, Va on the Tennessee, Va border and heading east. Jim Webb country!! Anything to read in that??
That is red territory and he is starting there. Will go to a few towns and then on to the Nissan Pavilion in Prince William County, another purple part of the state.
How smart is this??
Very smart! Virginia could turn completely blue this year.
Jim Webb was asked several weeks ago about the VP slot, which he said he had no interest in. Who knows, if asked, he should serve. Just MHO, that's his decision.
I do hope BO does not pick your Gov. Kaine, based upon what you have written about him setting up the Obama delegate slates. That doesn't sit well with me since it is deceptive at best.
.. made some bad choices lately and the fact they took a letter meant for all the delegates running in all the states - then put their chosen ones on the top of the letter was outrageous.
And this done by tim kaine's pac in Richmond. Thanks Tim. Can't wait to talk to you in Hampton at the state convention.
Obama: First Stop, Virginia Coal Country; Second Stop, "Classic Applebee's America" (+)by: LowellWed Jun 04, 2008 at 6:17:31 AM EDT[subscribe] |
 Patrick Ottenhoff's Electoral Map reports:
Barack Obama will campaign through the same Appalachian hamlets, hills and hollows on Thursday that thoroughly rejected him in his primary bid against Hillary Clinton. |
Somebody should hire linda b to be in charge of public relations for Virginia.
It's a state I've always been ambivalent about ever since I has to trundle my mom around to find something stronger than a champaign cocktail and then she broke her foot/leg in some back-water burb where there were no people on the street. As a New Yorker, not seeing any people on the street always gave me a turn. I'm unclear about whether it was a foot or leg or arm she broke because I lost count of the number of times I had to take her to the hospital to be put in a cast.
they fixed her up good in Virginia, but that sort of wrote finis to our "vacation" after my college graduation.
Candidate McCain: A Risky Choice
Rodrigue Tremblay
Global Research
June 4, 2008
"I believe that the Iraqi people will greet us as liberators." Sen. John McCain, (March 20, 2003)
"As you know, there are al Qaeda operatives that are taken back into Iran, given training as leaders, and they’re moving back into Iraq." Sen. John McCain, 2008 presumptive Republican presidential nominee, (In Amman, Jordan, March 18, 2008)
“Iran obviously is on the path toward acquiring nuclear weapons." …“At the end of the day we cannot allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon."Sen. John McCain
“Anyone who worries about how long we [the United States]’re in Iraq does not understand the military.” Sen. John McCain
"John McCain will make [Dick] Cheney look like Gandhi." Pat Buchanan.
"McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit. What happened when they [the missiles] get to the ground? He doesn’t know. You have to care about the lives of people. McCain never gets into those issues." Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.)
Jay Rockefeller had to appologize for the missile quip because the laser guided ones weren't put into service until after he'd wrecked his fifth plane and was captured. Since he's still alive, he obviously didn't take that suicide pill and surrendered. Which may be why he now says "I'll never surrender in Iraq."
I'd have a little more respect for Jay Rockefeller, if he'd released the various intelligence reports after he got to be chairman and if he called for a halt to the continuous bombardment of Iraq that's been going on for five years.
Jay Rockefeller needs to be retired.
that selling pollution credits is a bad idea. The EPA already tried that with effluents on land and into water bodies and it did nothing to clean up our waters or keep from killing fish.
I'm reminded of a neighbor in New York who called me in to see that she'd washed down her whole kitchen. But, instead of grime on door knobs and drawer pulls and counter-tops, having spread the dirt around, she ended up with a grey and sticky film over everything.
really 3 states in one.
Northern Va, a burb of DC. Well educated, upper class environment. Where all the young ens go to start a career.
Hampton Roads area, military all over the place, lots of rethugs spouting their hypocrisy. pat robertson, regent university. turning more blue as we try to push out the crazies.
Southwest Va. Now this is one scary place. Uneducated, overweight, stupid, fox news watching, patriotic if they don't have to join the military.
that is where Barack is starting his campaign. Good luck on that Obama. Good luck.
Hi Monica,
I have a couple of relatives who have had so many illnesses, operations, hospitalizations that I think they are probably immortal. No one could have so many accidents and medical problems and survive unless they had bodies impervious to mortality. What a burden both for the person suffering, but at least as much for the people who take care of them.
I've come to see that the desire for attention is so strong, the narcissism so dominant, that sickness and accidents, usually assuring constant attention, are what happens.
The problem with mental illness, and it's probably true to say, everyone has quirks and tendencies, is there are no rules, no real communication and amelioration. The mentally ill person sets the agenda and everyone else is taken in.
Bless the psychologists and psychiatrists, the nurses, the care givers who can deal with that. I don't have the strength. You have my sympathy. It must have been very difficult, but there was probably absolutely nothing you could do about it.
The only thing I can do now it alert people to the possibility that things are not what they seem when you listen to how some people talk. My mother was 50 when her doctor told me to take special care of her because she was so fragile. She lived another 48 years, through countless fractures, two hip replacements and all kinds of dietary quirks (she couldn't eat olive oil) which I eventually learned to ignore.
always good to check for a match between expectation and experience LOL
If you're able to note the difference. I'm not sure that narcisists do. It may be that expectation is all.
http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/2008/01/superdelegate-list.html
...
Latest Endorsements
Note: movement of names from Uncommitted page to this page will be slow today.
6-4-08 - Added Rep. Chris Van Hollen (MD) for Obama
- Switched VP Walter Mondale (MN) from Clinton to Obama
- Added Sen. Frank Lautenberg (NJ) for Obama
- Added Gov. Phil Bredesen (TN) for Obama
- Added DNC Gray Sasser (TN) for Obama
- Added DNC Inez Crutchfield (TN) for Obama
- Added Rep. Mike Doyle (PA) for Obama
- Added Sen. Ken Salazar (CO) for Obama
- Added Sen. Tom Harkin (IA) for Obama
- Added Rep. Tom Udall (NM) for Obama
- Added Sen. Ben Cardin (MD) for Obama
- Added Sen. Herb Kohl (WI) for Obama
- Switched DNC Karen Hale (UT) from Clinton to Obama
...
why no endorsement yet? Maybe tomorrow in Virginia.
Indeed.
the incredible shrinking uncomitted SD pool:
http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/2008/01/superdelegates-who-havent-endorsed.html
Thursday, March 20, 2008
|
Representatives |
Senators Joe Biden (DE) Tom Carper (DE) Mary Landrieu (LA) Carl Levin (MI)* Harry Reid (NV) Sherrod Brown (OH) Jack Reed (RI) Jim Webb (VA) Governors Steve Beshear (KY) John Lynch (NH) Joe Manchin (WV) Add-Ons Terry Goddard (AZ)# Alex Sink (FL)#* Steve Geller (FL)#* Rusty McAllister (NV)# Jerry Lee (TN)# 31 Unnamed Add-Ons |
DNC Members |
...
Hillary Clinton is well within the normal range of mental health, and better than most ....now George on the other hand ......
What metrics define the "normal range"?
both she and Bubba seem more than a little off-center to me
I agree. And Hillary does not have the capacity to do the job of president or vice president at this crisis time of our country.
I'm getting disgusted with the talking heads pushing HC for VP. It should tell us all more than we need to know that the talking heads are there as employees of the corporations who own the media to promote McSame and the Bush policies they have enjoyed for too long.
No to Hillary!
- short super delegate list really is of no consequence now
By Phil Specht on Jun 4, 2008 1:20 PM EDT
- the at large delegate elected at our State Convention is a "join the party" spot now not "join the Party"
By Phil Specht on Jun 4, 2008 1:22 PM EDThttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/beverly-davis/hillary-it-aint-over-yet_b_105065.html
In a defiant speech ignoring Barack Obama's historic win as the first African-American to become a presidential nominee -- a giant step toward righting our horrific racist past, precisely 200 years since the slave trade was abolished in 1808 -- Hillary Clinton delivered a Valedictory speech initiating a 'write in' campaign to force Obama into offering her the Veep spot or to redeem her and her husband's legacy.
Another email rushed into CNN. "She deserves to be treated with respect."
Why doesn't she respect the party rules and the delegates -- elected and superdelegates -- that have put Obama over the top to make him the presumptive nominee? Why can't she respect Barack Obama and leave center stage? Obama needs to focus on McCain and not on Hillary's shenanigans and dark-hearted strategies to create a co-presidency with Obama. The time for redeeming her and her husband's legacy has long past.
The Obama campaign has to be displeased as Hillary was introduced as the "Next president of the United States" before she took the stage in New York and delivered one of the least gracious speeches on record, completely ignoring the historicism of the moment when the first black man becomes his party's nominee.
It's doubtful this tough and unreasonable position will yield the results Mrs. Clinton desires
I have to strongly disagree only with this part of Beveral Davis' statement:
a giant step toward righting our horrific racist past, precisely 200 years since the slave trade was abolished in 1808
Obama won because he has the best campaign and offers the best strategies for dealing with the country's huge problems.
Perhaps Davis did not intend to but to make such a statement is actually a backdoor racist remark in my opinion.
A self centered candidate who bears no connection to reality with with a dwindling band of crank followers.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-clinch_charticlejun04,0,522435.story
1. He owned the word "change" when voters were fed up with the status quo. In a field of older, better-known candidates, he represented "the new."
2. He opposed the Iraq War when others were equivocal. The issue was a clear winner against Clinton, who had voted in 2002 to authorize the invasion.
3. His oratory was electrifying. While his early debate performances seemed halting and uncomfortable, he steadily improved. His stump speeches were assured, and he drew crowds as large as 75,000.
4. His campaign was better strategically and operationally, particularly in taking the long view and focusing on caucus states and primaries beyond Super Tuesday.5. He won the Internet, notably in raising record amounts of money and building networks of supporters through non-traditional methods.
5 Reasons Clinton lost
1. Her campaign was too corporate and hierarchical. It spent too much on staff, was too slow in decision-making and had too little independent thinking.
2. She didn't recognize the threat Obama posed early enough, and went straight from "inevitable" to in trouble.
3. She invested heavily in Iowa, then lost to Obama there. Her deputy campaign manager had urged her to skip the opening caucuses, which her husband, Bill, had bypassed in 1992.
4. She had no coherent post-Super Tuesday plan. While she held her own in the Feb. 5 primaries, including a big victory in California, she lost the next 11 contests.
5. She failed to connect with African-American voters, a demographic that had always been in her corner. Early in the race, poorly timed comments by Bill Clinton hurt her among blacks.
5 major differences between Obama and McCain
1. McCain supports the Iraq War; Obama opposes it.
2. McCain opposes abortion; Obama favors abortion rights.
3. Obama favors talking with hostile regimes; McCain does not.
4. McCain would make the Bush tax cuts permanent; Obama would not.
5. Obama favors more restrictions on gun ownership than McCain.
- Hillary Rosen from the Huffington Post, "I am not a bragaining chip. I am a Democrat."
By Pat in Colorado on Jun 4, 2008 1:50 PM EDTAn excerpt from her editorial today.
"
So, I am also so very disappointed at how she has handled this last week. I know she is exhausted and she had pledged to finish the primaries and let every state vote before any final action. But by the time she got on that podium last night, she knew it was over and that she had lost. I am sure I was not alone in privately urging the campaign over the last two weeks to use the moment to take her due, pass the torch and cement her grace. She had an opportunity to soar and unite. She had a chance to surprise her party and the nation after the day-long denials about expecting any concession and send Obama off on the campaign trail of the general election with the best possible platform. I wrote before how she had a chance for her "Al Gore moment." And if she had done so, the whole country ALL would be talking today about how great she is and give her her due.
Instead she left her supporters empty, Obama's angry, and party leaders trashing her. She said she was stepping back to think about her options. She is waiting to figure out how she would "use" her 18 million voters.
But not my vote. I will enthusiastically support Barack Obama's campaign. Because I am not a bargaining chip. I am a Democrat."
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how sickening. even woopie goldberg on the "view" this a.m. said her speech made her "woopie" sick.
Wow Bristol Va, that bastion of racist, white people want to see Obama.
Got to the local website and they are calling him a "moslem" , what is that?
Barack, you have your work cut out for you.
(from a Democracy for Flagstaff member)
I saw this request live and went to her website immediately. The only opportunity I could find to provide feedback was prefaced by a standard clause that said "I'm with you Hillary, and I'm proud of everything we are fighting for.".Seems to me she doesn't want any opposing opinions and I just couldn't sign my name under that, even if there was a blank space for comments below.
You can get around this chicanery by going to the "contact us" button.
I sent her a blast--get behind Obama or go home (and take Bubba with you).
Supplication for a toolbar.
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell – one of Hillary Clinton’s strongest supporters – today warned her: “There’s no bargaining. You don’t bargain with the Presidential nominee. Even if you’re Hillary Clinton and you have 18 million votes, you don’t bargain.”
In an exclusive interview with NY1 Political Anchor Dominic Carter, Rendell added that Obama would have to be an “enormously big person” to pick Clinton as his running mate and that Clinton sometimes “couldn’t help but upstage” Obama on a joint ticket.
Rendell also said former President Bill Clinton could greatly complicate things if his wife was the Vice Presidential nominee.
- "Democrats must now turn our full attention to the general election. "
By * cChalfonte* on Jun 4, 2008 12:16 PM EDT" To that end, we are urging all remaining uncommitted super delegates to make their decisions known by Friday of this week so that our party can stand united and begin our march toward reversing the eight years of failed Bush/McCain policies that have weakened our country."
-- A statement from DNC Chairman Howard Dean, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, head of the Democratic Governors Association.