Wednesday, December 1, 2010

A bit of perspective on President Obama (well, mine).

by erratic

A lot of people here are really pissed with President Obama right now. I certainly sympathize. He's made a number of decisions as President that don't make sense to me, decisions that I wouldn't have expected him to make. And he's failed to do things that I thought he would, or in the way I thought he would. I'm upset about Guantanamo, about his choices for the Fed, about his failure to play hardball with the republicans.

But from my perspective, I still have full respect for President Obama. I honestly still love just writing that. I respect his intelligence and experience, his tactical awareness, his decision-making skills. I believe he's doing the best he can, that he's committed to so doing, and there's still no one I'd rather have for president. But this isn't a diary about praise, it's a dairy about perspective.

And the perspective that I remember best is on election night, sitting at a crowded bar, waiting for the Pennsylvania returns...



continued at Daily Kos....

eKos Earthship Wednesday, Snow-pocalypse edition

by eKos

PhotobucketWelcome to the eKos Earthship, your one-stop-shop for green diaries and series.

Beneath the fold you will find news and notes, community announcements, and our eco-diary roundup.

Peruse the eKos Library to find previously listed diaries. You can also follow eKos on Twitter.

Tonight's editor: LokiMom



continued at Daily Kos....

a blessing for cancun

by boatsie

Black Zanate birds flock in the colorful framboyan trees above Plaza de la Forma as the citizens of Cancun convene to welcome and bless COP16 with a celebration of prayers, songs and short impassioned speeches.

"We need an answer," says Rodolfo Urapilleta, one of the few volunteers on hand who speaks English. "Tonight we are getting together to pray. I don’t know how but maybe the Lord can do something."



continued at Daily Kos....

DailyCancun: A Mayor Breakthrough!

by citisven

This week in Cancun, governments and NGOs from around the world are taking another shot at solving the climate crisis after last year's highly anticipated VIP-laden COP 15 conference in Copenhagen that created a big bubbly buzz and ended in a long contemplative sigh of nothingness.

While much of the approach to the Big Kahuna in Cancuna is still centered around cryptic diplomat speak that tries to accommodate everybody and pleases nobody, the one question that the indefatigable ecocity advocate Richard Register has been asking for over 35 years — Why on earth aren't they talking about cities???

seems to finally have been heard:

After cities were shut out at COP15, Marcelo Ebrard, Mayor of Mexico City and Chair of the World Mayors Council on Climate Change, has been invited to speak at a high level panel at COP16.

HALLELUJAH!



continued at Daily Kos....

COURT: Pull out the Monsanto Sugar Beets!

by greendem

Today Federal District Judge Jeffrey S. White issued a preliminary injunction ordering the immediate destruction of hundreds of acres of genetically engineered (GE) sugar beet seedlings planted in September after finding the seedlings had been planted in violation of federal law. The ruling comes in a lawsuit filed by Earthjustice and The Center for Food Safety on behalf of a coalition of farmers and conservation groups. The lawsuit was filed on September 9, shortly after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) revealed it had allowed the seedlings to be planted.



continued at Daily Kos....

"Weak" Obama Admin: Wind, not Oil!

by Lawrence

The current, popular narrative here at DailyKos seems to be that President Obama is weak and "capitulates" to Republicans more often than any of us can say capitulate between breakfast and lunch.



continued at Daily Kos....

Gulf Watchers Wednesday - 1990 Act of Congress Should Have Prevented Spill - BP Catastrophe AUV #434

by Yasuragi

You are in the current Gulf Watchers BP Catastrophe - AUV #434. ROV #433 is here.

Bookmark this link to find the latest Gulf Watchers diaries.

Please RECOMMEND THIS DIARY, the motherships have been discontinued.

Gulf Watchers Diary Schedule
Monday - evening drive time
Wednesday - morning
Friday - morning
Friday Block Party - evening
Sunday - morning

Part one of the digest of diaries is here and part two is here.

Please be kind to kossacks with bandwidth issues. Please do not post images or videos. Again, many thanks for this.



continued at Daily Kos....

At COP16, UNFCCC and USA Look for Agreement to Agree

by greenmedia

Cross-posted to Green Media News.

Christiana Figueres

In her opening remarks at COP16 yesterday, United Nations Climate Chief Christiana Figueres called for a "solid response to climate change, using both reason and creativity."

Meanwhile, one delegate on the ground reported feeling a strange mix of hope and frustration in the air as the negotiations were about to begin.

Figueres concentrated her remarks on the three issues she sees as the most important reasons why a global climate action deal needs to be reached and why the UNFCCC is the right body to be driving the process:



continued at Daily Kos....