Clinton Calls out Bush on Kyoto

President Clinton called out the false assertions by Bush & Co. saying, "the Bush administration is "flat wrong" in claiming that reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to fight global warming would damage the U.S. economy." Speaking at the UN Climate Conference, Clinton urged that creating energy saving technology would in fact strengthen the economy.

"There's no longer any serious doubt that climate change is real, accelerating and caused by human activities," said Clinton, whose address was interrupted repeatedly by enthusiastic applause. "We are uncertain about how deep and the time of arrival of the consequences, but we are quite clear they will not be good."

It's hard to believe that Bush can get away with saying that reducing emissions will harm our economy but creating new treaties like CAFTA, that will only encourage companies to take production (and jobs) outside the US where they can pay people less, will create new jobs and improve the economy? Sure, it'll create new jobs--in Guatemala. What Bush really means is that it'll lower the profits of his oil company friends, record profits. Instead of aiding conservation and reducing emissions, we're subsidizing energy company's drilling, and if Bush gets his way, we'll soon be subsidizing their quest to make more oil refineries. All this to companies who are making record profits while price gouging the American public.

Not unsurprisingly, the Bush administration attempts to throw the environment a bone by pointing out that the government is spending a whopping $3 billion a year on "research and development of energy-saving technologies as a demonstration of U.S. efforts to combat climate change." Woo-who - $3 billion a year. We are spending $6 billion a month in Iraq. The 2006 military spending request is $441.6 Billion, with an additional $49.1 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. And where in the world is all of this funding for our military going anyway when many reservists and active duty soldiers alike still don't have body armor? It certainly is not going to veteran's services to take care of the over 10,000 soldiers that were wounded in Iraq & Afghanistan. As a matter of fact that funding is being cut. Maybe we should stop subsidizing the oil companies and use that money to support our veterans in the way they were promised when they signed up to begin with.

I'm starting to feel more and more that the Onion's humorous piece on the vanishing middle class is perhaps more prophetic than satirical:

National Museum Of The Middle Class Opens In Schaumburg, IL
SCHAUMBURG, IL—The Museum of the Middle Class, featuring historical and anthropological exhibits addressing the socioeconomic category that once existed between the upper and lower classes, opened to the public Monday.

...
Others among the 99 percent of U.S. citizens who make less than $28,000 per year shared Chavez's sense of disbelief.

"Frankly, I think they're selling us a load of baloney," said laid-off textile worker Elsie Johnson, who visited the museum Tuesday with her five asthmatic children. "They expect us to believe the government used to help pay for college? Come on. The funniest exhibit I saw was 'Visiting The Family Doctor.' Imagine being able to choose your own doctor and see him without a four-hour wait in the emergency room. Gimme a friggin' break!"

posted by Sarai @ 2:47 PM