Secretary Salazar: Stop Bush’s Midnight Massacre

Ask Interior Secretary Salazar to Stop Bush’s Midnight Massacre

Dear Guardian,

We have less than 23 days to convince Interior Secretary Ken
Salazar to protect critically endangered plants and animals,
from polar bears and gray wolves to silvery minnows and
salamanders:
http://ga4.org/ct/u7LBzBY1NYaB/

Just before the clock struck midnight, the Bush Administration
finalized a series of industry-friendly regulations that strip
away protection for endangered species. Now you can help turn
back the clock and undo them:
http://ga4.org/ct/u7LBzBY1NYaB/

On March 11, President Barack Obama signed a law that gives the
Interior Secretary authority to overturn two of the worst Bush
administration rules that weakened the Endangered Species Act
and put our nation’s imperiled wildlife at greater risk of
extinction.

One regulation cuts expert wildlife agencies, including the Fish
and Wildlife Service, out of their oversight role to protect
endangered species. Another exempts greenhouse gases from being
considered as a threat to the polar bear, which is suffering
from the climate crisis.

With this opportunity, Secretary Salazar could reinstate the
Fish and Wildlife Service’s ability to check the actions of
other federal agencies to protect endangered species, and
provide full protection for the polar bear – but he only has
until May 9, 2009.

Don’t let the Bush Administration’s midnight massacre be the
last word for endangered plants and animals.

Join us in calling for Secretary Salazar to use every tool in
the toolbox – including the Endangered Species Act – to address
the climate crisis:
http://ga4.org/ct/u7LBzBY1NYaB  

Imperiled mammals, fish, butterflies, frogs, wildflowers, and
many other species need and deserve every chance at survival.

For the Wild,
Nicole Rosmarino
Wildlife Program Director
WildEarth Guardians
nrosmarino@wildearthguardians.org

* P.S. Be sure to vote everyday for WildEarth Guardians in the
Redwood Creek Greater Outdoors Project. With your votes, we can
win $50,000 for river restoration. Remember, you can vote more
than once!
http://ga4.org/ct/upLBzBY1NYaX/

Obama Reverses Anti-Enviromental Policy

“Obama has swiftly delivered on his campaign promise to reverse Bush’s anti-endangered species regulations,” Kieran Suckling, director of the Center for Biological Diversity, told msnbc.com. “He has restored independent, scientific oversight to the heart of the Endangered Species Act.”

Sources said that today Barack Obama would eliminate one of Bush’s science-hating, typical Republican laws that reduced the protection for threatened and endangered species.

In December of 2008, as one of the Republican party’s last parting shots at the environment, the Bush administration decided to allow local agencies to determine on their own if their construction projects might harm animals and plants listed under the Endangered Species Act.

“The Bush-era rule reduces the mandatory, independent reviews government scientists have performed for 35 years. It also prohibits federal agencies from assessing a project’s contribution to global warming when they evaluate its effect on species.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29490531

Prohibiting the government from attempting to minimize or reduce global warming…Thank Republicans!  No one else but you would make it illegal to try to care for our own home. 

Sarah – It’s Pronounced Noo-clee-er

Sarah Palin, I would like to help: when in doubt…sound it out!  It’s nuclear, not nukular.  

This type of thing doesn’t do anything to help you look knowledgeable or prepared (or differentiate you from “dubya”).  We know from your Couric intervew that you don’t read national/world events (and can’t even rattle off the name of a news magazine)…so it’s importnat that you at least try to talk like the smart people, OK? 

Between the McSame policies, and you talking like a redneck…y’all two seem to be just exactly the same as we done-did got!  (hey, I’m not running for the 2nd highest office). 

The same holds true for leaving the ‘g’ off of ‘ing’, like: runnin’, thinkin’, sharin’.  Also the same for ‘ya’ instead of ‘you’.  True - many of us talk like that in casual conversation.  But during job interviews it is appropriate to address your interviewer (in your case, American voters) with ‘Yes’ and not ‘yup’ or ‘ya’. 

You see, you have a reputation as someone who came out of the backwoods and using slang/broken English doesn’t help fight that image. 

Also, next time you’re in a debate – get your hair cut so it’s not in your eyes.  And if you plan to be smilin’ and gigglin’ and shakin’ your head, then you don’t want to wear danglin’ earrings.  That brings a bimbo appearance.  Smiling ear-to-ear while talking about economic disasters and wars is not a good choice becuase you look like a talking head news reporter.  It’s like there is a disconnect when you use the “smiley-happy” voice when you should be using the “somber-sad” voice. 

You attended five schools to get one bachelor’s degree in journalism and McCain finished 894 out of 899. It’s tough for you two go-getters to compete against Obama and Biden…it’s like Beavis and Butthead versus Holmes and Watson. 

We’re more than a little concerned about your ability to run the nation, if needed.  So please try to cut down on the redneck bimbo weather-girl appearance.

VP Debate

If you saw tonight’s debate, you saw Governor Sarah Palin give a spirited defense of the same disastrous policies that have failed us for the past eight years.

She couldn’t identify a single area where she or John McCain would change George W. Bush’s economic or foreign policy positions.

If you want something different, Barack and I need your help.
Make a donation of $5 or more right now to bring about the change we need.

The change we need is fixing this broken economy from the bottom up — not tax breaks for the wealthy and huge corporations that ship U.S. jobs overseas. We need to focus on defeating al Qaeda and the Taliban and restoring America’s standing in the world — not an unending commitment in Iraq.

Let’s be clear: Governor Palin and Senator McCain are offering nothing but more of the same failed Bush policies at home and abroad, trying to disguise them in the rhetoric of change.

Hundreds of Billions – Again

President George W. Bush, flanked by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, acknowledged that the [bail-out] program will put a “significant amount of taxpayers’ money on the line.”

[Treasury Secretary] Paulson was asked the approximate dollar size of the government intervention. “We’re talking hundreds of billions,” he said.

Oh – but we already spent hundreds of billions rebuilding Iraq.  All the while Bush’s Republicans were nation-building – America’s economy was heading into the crapper.  

So who will be paying interest on this loan to?  Communist China again…  We already buy everything from China and we finance everything through China.  Does the Bush Administration want us to be Communist?  To destroy America like this, Bush must really hate us.  Who the hell votes for more Republican leadership?  Everything (everything) is such a mess.  Unless you make 1/4 million per year and you’re afraid you’ll go hungry after a tax hike, I just don’t see how informed, intelligent people could support this leadership. 

On the SEC Chairman:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/26787948#26782378

 

 

Obama – Right Again

GOP agrees with Obama’s goals, flip flops on time tables. 

“Setting a deadline for withdrawal is setting a date for failure”
   — George Bush, May 2007

August 2008…not so much.  Bush & Rice are meeting to set up (wait for it…)  a time table for withdrawal. Hmm.  I’ve heard that idea before from one of the parties.  And I’ve heard it criticized by another party.  Flip Flop Flip Flop.  And McCain?  During most of his campaign, Mr. McCain opposed timetables and fervently criticized Obama for his Iraq plan, painting Barack as un-American. 

John McCain: flip-flopper extrordinaire. 

Today, Bush is making plans for a June 30, 2009 withdrawal.  A date previously ridiculed by the GOP. 
Looks like Barack’s message is reaching the Republicans.   
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26324599

Why do Republicans hate the Earth?

GOP doesn’t consider scientific opinions…again:

Bush to relax protected species rules

Plan takes scientists out of decision making on species status

Bald eagles are among the wildlife protected by the Endangered Species Act over the years. The Interior Department announced plans to streamline the act, a move criticized by environmentalists. The proposal would reduce the mandatory, independent reviews that government scientists have been performing for 35 years.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26143098

This is the same guy that brought this fine example of leadership on the world stage at G8: http://goearth.wordpress.com/2008/07/18/jackass/

Banning Toxins in Toys – Slam Dunk

Does it get any easier than this: Lawmakers agree to ban toxins in kids’ items

“Concerns over lead and other toxins in toys have prompted lawmakers to call for a ban on a class of chemicals used in many children’s products.

Congressional negotiators agreed Monday to a ban on a family of toxins found in children’s products, handing a major victory to parents and health experts who have been clamoring for the government to remove harmful chemicals from toys.”

Slam Dunk.  What’s easier than banning harmful chemicals in the toys of children?  It’s ‘done’, right?  Well… not so fast.

George W. Bush’s White House opposes the bill and according to White House spokesman Tony Fratto “it is too early to say whether he will veto the measure”.  

Ahh, yes… Bush.  Cheney. The Rebulican adminitration.  (Cue the Darth Vader music).   The GOP is throwing around the “veto” on a bill to keep toxins out of toys. 

And don’t count out the special interests - the role that big business plays in writing American law.  The chemical industry launched a big campaign against the Toxins-in-Toys ban in the House.

“The campaign was led by Exxon Mobil, which manufacturers diisononyl phthalate, or DINP, the phthalate most frequently found in children’s toys. The company spent a chunk of its $22 million lobbying budget in the past 18 months to try to prevent any ban.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25893316

Another example of Democrats speaking for citizens and Republicans speaking for industry. 

 

Score 2 More for Obama

Obama vs McCain – he shoots, he scores!

On Friday Mr. McCain went so far as to say that the idea of a 16-month withdrawal, which Mr. Obama supports, was “a pretty good timetable,”

Obama vs Bush - High-level talks…now where I have heard that before?  Gooooaaaaal! 

Republicans also say the administration’s decision to authorize high-level talks with Iran and North Korea has undercut Mr. McCain’s skepticism about engagement with those countries.

I wonder else he’s right about? 

 

 

 

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25856677/
New York Times
Elisabeth Bumiller
07/25/08

Jackass

It was his final summit with the Group of 8, the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia as well as the United States. President Bush, the most senior member of the group, was attending his eighth summit, and for years he withstood pressure to take a firmer stand against global warming.

His final words to the likes of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy: “Goodbye from the world’s biggest polluter.”
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/presidentbush/2008/07/it-was-his-fina.html

While many have dismissed this comment as a poorly conceived joke, I can’t think of a more frank, emblematic statement from a president who still refuses to acknowledge the severity of global climate change.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeremy-jacquot/bush-on-the-environment-w_b_112576.html

Respected World Leaders (and George W. Bush)

The American leader, who has been condemned throughout his presidency for failing to tackle climate change, ended a private meeting with the words: “Goodbye from the world’s biggest polluter.”

Mr Bush, whose second and final term as President ends at the end of the year, then left the meeting at the Windsor Hotel in Hokkaido where the leaders of the world’s richest nations had been discussing new targets to cut carbon emissions.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/2277298/President-George-Bush-%27Goodbye-from-the-world%27s-biggest-polluter%27.html

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/environment/archives/143206.asp