Oh Beautiful...but only on my TV

If you as a reader were to spend time with me offline you would learn in a matter of seconds, I am a tree hugging liberal. This week to hear that President Obama negated the EPA's attempt to provide clean air for future generations hurt. It was a kick in the stomach. It was the quintessential WTF move for a president elected on change. I am sure several other "where's the change" moments can be noted but for now I focus on the EPA ruling.

I could almost see the head of the EPA, Lisa Jackson, throwing her hands up in the air and asking WRF?!?! She has spent over 18 months working hard to promote an understanding of the Clean Air Act only to be toppled by the unfounded notion that the act would derail jobs.

How, I would like to know would jobs be killed by regulation? Regulation of industry in America would create jobs. Corporations would be forced to hire or to train workers to implement the changes required by the legislation. Training people for new technology equates to jobs for those training. The advent of the automobile was the herald of the end of the horse and buggy. Many people in the horse and buggy industry lost their jobs. I now ask, who amongst us is lamenting the end of the horse and buggy? And why? The end of the horse and buggy created not only direct jobs in the auto manufacturing but also indirect jobs in highway construction, glass manufacturing, law enforcement, etc...

I am a tree hugging liberal and not ashamed of hugging trees or of being a liberal. My goal is to leave this planet better than what I found it. My 14 year old turn to me,yesterday, and said, "I am tired of all of this severe weather." I could not assure him that things would get better. I could only explain to him the importance of his generation being better stewards of the land than mine. I went on to let him know that if we do not do something now we are not guaranteed a future 10 years from now without devastating monthly weather events.

While many pro-industry scientist like to point out how climate change has always occurred on the planet, they fail to mention how humans have been able to adapt to such changes. What we are seeing now is climate change on crack. We are the crack dealers and need to accept responsibility for the crack head monster we have created. Yes, we have always had climate change on this planet, yet we have been able to have the time to evolve with the climate change. Our misuse of the environment has increased the speed of the climate change without allowing time for us to adjust to the climate changes we are seeing. We are killing ourselves just to make a dollar.

Please become aware of how we are impacting our planet. Insist that instead of supporting corporations that are killing our planet our government(s) invest in technology that will allow us to have comfort while living in peace with nature. Example: Instead of funding a war filled with contractors in the Near East, we need to fully fund NASA's space exploration. Maybe we will find a planet of water/ice before we run out of potable water on this planet (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9796321). Support those protesting the tarsands. They are being arrested daily. Send bail money. We must take care of our nation. If we do not we will find ourselves with as much potable water as India or China.

Links:
http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/7309/chemical_industry_regulation_would_create_not_kill_jobs/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/21/regulations-and-growth-linked_n_930653.html

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/cantor-jobs-memo-calls-for-repeal-of-health-enviro-labor-rules----and-tax-cuts.php

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/aug/28/climatechange.emissionstrading

http://www.gits4u.com/envo/envo4.htm

http://www.econ.yale.edu/~srinivas/C&I%20Economic%20Performance%20Update.pdf

http://bit.ly/pXNtz0
http://www.tarsandsaction.org/

Take me over the cliff - again

I expect many Americans in my fiscal position are fed up with the GOPs continued fight for the rights of the wealthy to pay less in taxes. I say take me over the cliff. I recently found a Twitter account regarding the $250K threshold. Many of the tweets\RTs where describing the hardships of $250K living. It is time for a reality check across the board in America. If the grown-ups were honest about this fiscal mess, they would admit the tax cuts must end for all. The ending should be in stages to reduce the likelihood of the need for public assistance for working\working-poor families. Although $250K is different for different parts of the U.S.A it does mean you are not in the ghetto. There is no $250K/individual ghetto in America. If you are reading this posting and you know of such a ghetto, please let me know for I need to move to that state. If taxes go up for individuals making $250K and above they will not face a n...

Y'all should eat my grits no cheese

It is two days after the GOP primary in Mississippi. We are still laughing at Mitt's attempt to cuddle up to us with cheesy grits and a few y'alls thrown in. In my area of Mississippi it is yaw'all(10 second word). Had he come here expecting us to be able to count to 20 without removing our shoes, he may have been taken a little bit more seriously. I am not sure if Mitt's grits ranks with Bush's "this part of the world" statement after Katrina but it ranks. Truthfully, I enjoy cheese in my grits along with garlic and red pepper. However, I do not think my love of grits, a bowl every morning, makes me Southern. Although I was born in Southern California and partially reared in Southern Wisconsin, I consider myself a full blown Mississippian. Along with keeping my grits to myself, I also speak without care of accent. The fact that I can tell you how to get from Memphis to the Coast without using the interstate or Google says I am from Mississippi. ...

We can not afford tax cuts

After the Senate failed twice to make any headway on tax cuts and UI benefits, I took a little timeout from shouting to be silent. I spent 2 hours and 20 minutes being quiet with my son as we watched Harry Potter. Today, I awaken early to get to the store to buy food to aid in my son’s combat of the season’s first cold. During the shopping and the quiet time, I continued to wonder if maybe I am the one missing something. I do not have the alphabet soup behind my name or statistical knowledge, as do those in the Senate. I may be alone in seeing a crisis where there is none. However, just as I thought to put away the shingle of my blog in favor of teaching public school, I got a retweet of a NY Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/us/politics/05states.html?_r=1&src=twt&twt=nytimespolitics). Reading the article I was reminded how, my close to retirement age mother, who has advanced degrees, was laid-off as a teacher under the guise of budget cuts from the state....

A Liberal In The Midst

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