ontd_political | Entries tagged with environment

Here's a story I've been following on my blog since July 30th, when I posted Oak Park Woman plants vegetable garden; city objects. In it, I summarized the situation.

the Bass family of Oak Park lost their lawn when the sewer line running under their front yard was replaced. Instead of replacing it with a lawn, they replaced it with a vegetable garden. Their neighbors complained to the city and the city has cited them with a criminal violation of city ordinances. The Basses and the city have a court date on July 26th.
...
Mrs. Bass posted a more complete summary after I wrote (and she read) the above. Please read it.

( As someone familiar with the area, I'm not surprised this is happening in Oak Park. )

Beginning Friday, July 8th, the number of hits on that post began climbing dramatically. When I investigated how that happened, I found out that Drudge happened.

A couple of days ago, Matt Drudge placed a link to The Agitator's post on his front page with the headline "Woman faces 93 days in jail for planting garden in front yard..." Since then, the story has spread like wildfire. ( Here is a list of the media sources I've found covering this story with links to their articles )

As for how Drudge was indirectly responsible, he drove traffic to The Agitator, which drove traffic Julie Bass's blog OakParkHateVeggies, where she has a link to my post. Even from three steps away, Drudge increased my readership. Behold the power of Drudge.

In case you're wondering what you can do about it, there is a petition. 4,400 people signed it by Friday, less than a week after it was put up.

Current Mood: irate
Current Location: Detroit where the weak are killed and eaten
Current Music: Cafe World theme

mistersandman

WASHINGTON — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is criticizing President Barack Obama's policies as a "war on American energy."

Gingrich, who is weighing a bid to challenge Obama in 2012, used an appearance Thursday at a conservative meeting to pitch his own energy alternative. Gingrich says a revised energy policy could help create jobs and increase national security.

He told the Conservative Political Action Conference, the unofficial start to the 2012 White House campaign, that he would scrap the Environmental Protection Agency and its regulations and replace it with an Environmental Solutions Agency that rewards innovation.

Gingrich warned that hundreds of thousands of jobs are in danger if Obama is allowed to continue his environmental policies.

Source

mistersandman

( Read more... )

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So many valuable lessons learned. First: never use the New York Times because they will make articles inaccessible halfway through your post. Second: Oil tycoons become really concerned with the environment when faced with the possibility that someone other than they will get to take advantage of it. Third: We demand that President Obama be tough on socialists at home and abroad, some of the time.

This is a major turning point. I hope Raul "We have to erase forever the notion that Cuba is the only country in the world where one can live without working" Castro uses this opportunity to get some payback for the last century of US-Cuban relations, which has consisted largely of America being a huge condescending asshole. They can sell their oil to China and it would be the sweetest Fuck You in the history of international relations.

Alternatively, Obama might follow in the footsteps of his esteemed predecessors McKinley, Roosevelt, Roosevelt, and Eisenhower and once more "liberate" Cuba of its sovereignty. It would be the first time "environmental issues" were the stated reason for US imperialist-style intervention.

mistersandman

TINKER with the genetics of salmon and maybe you create a revolutionary new food source that could help the environment and feed the hungry.

Or maybe you're creating what some say is an untested "frankenfish" that could cause unknown allergic reactions and the eventual decimation of the wild salmon population.

The US Food and Drug Administration hears both arguments this week when it begins a two-day meeting on whether to approve the marketing of the genetically engineered fish, which would be the first such animal approved for human consumption.

The agency has already said the salmon, which grows twice as fast as conventional salmon, is as safe to eat as the traditional variety.

Approval of the salmon would open the door for a variety of other genetically engineered animals, including an environmentally friendly pig that is being developed in Canada or cattle that are resistant to mad cow disease.

( Read more... )

Source

Traditionally speaking, Europeans have much more difficulty accepting GE products-specifically vegetables-than Americans. We could be mere decades away from Jurassic Park, and after that, Pokemon. I leave it to the ontd_political community at large to decide if that is a good thing or not.

mistersandman

Little more than a decade ago, few imagined that the oil industry would be drilling a mile below the ocean floor in the Gulf of Mexico. The vast technical challenges, the risks and the mind-boggling cost of the necessary offshore operations all appeared insurmountable. Yet what drove major companies like BP on to try and harvest these and other "difficult" new reserves was simple economics. It was the relentless rise in demand for crude oil. This demand pushed up the global oil price to levels where there was every incentive to overcome the obstacles and bring the oil ashore. ( Click for the full article )

Source
As my conservative father astutely said a month ago, "This oil spill has made environmentalists out of us all." Will we see a greater public push for renewable energy sources in the following months? Now is certainly the time. Or wil lwe allow all further spill-related news to be relegated below the Next Great Tragedy on the evening news?

ONTD: Politics

Entries tagged with environment

Drudge makes Oak Park's "War on Veggies" go viral

Newt Gingrich: EPA Should Be Scrapped

Drilling Plans Off Cuba Stir Fears of Impact on Gulf, American Profits

We can build whatever animal you want to eat, say scientists

No Country For New Energy

VITAL INFORMATION

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