Free Republic

The budget stalemate between the right and the left comes down to a basic difference in economic views, the left feels that we need to tax more in order to consume more money, and the right believes that we need to consume less money in order to tax less. Whichever side of the argument you come down on, it's not hard to see which of these positions is fundamentally unsustainable. And it is amazing that the same people who can and do lecture for hours on environmental sustainability, seem to have no grasp of economic sustainability. If you tell them...

Radical environmental groups have a power over President Obama and his administration that is truly astonishing. At a time when the economy is struggling and low and middle income earners - both in the United States and overseas -- are worried about their economic prospects, the administration continues to pursue policies that will unambiguously harm them. Consider the domestic front first, and the administration's energy policies. Since coming to office, Obama and his green allies have pursued a deeply unpopular cap-and-trade program. The program would raise energy costs, particularly burdening low-income Americans for whom energy costs constitute a sizable portion...

(Dagbladet): One and a half years after the newspaper Dagbladet revealed major problems with the Armed Forces' new environmental ammunition, considering the military to stop the use of lead-free ammunition and reintroduce traditional lead balls. Defence Management admits that they now have a significant challenge in dealing with problems with the new ammunition, and that the extent of physical health problems among soldiers who use it only on the increase. Doctors in the Armed Forces are more and more reports of soldiers who are sick for days after the shooting with lead-free ammunition

MR. BLUMENFELD: So today we recognize this person for an extraordinary vision and leadership as an early, ardent and articulate champion in the defense of our planet against global climate change. This person had a great team. I want to recognize Terry Tamminen and Linda Adams, who are both here, who really -- you can't do this stuff alone when you're sitting -- (Applause) And the job at the top is lonely and so when you surround yourselves by people you want to have people that free you up to take action and those are the type of people that...

The plan articulates that environmentally literate students, upon graduation, will demonstrate proficiency in each of the following areas: * Understand the physical and biological world and our interdependent relationship with it * Understand and apply systems thinking concepts and tools * Understand one’s relationship to the local, regional, national and global community * Investigate options for, plan and create a sustainable future * Understand and achieve personal and civic responsibility Oregon’s Environmental Literacy Plan will be submitted to the Oregon legislature and considered for full adoption by the State Board of Education later this year. To implement the plan, Oregon...

WASHINGTON, DC, Sept. 28 -- Reviews of the coastal plain and two other study areas within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for possible federal wilderness designation will begin now that initial public comments have been gathered for updating ANWR’s 1988 comprehensive conservation plan, the US Fish and Wildlife Service said on Sept. 27. The three areas comprise almost all of ANWR’s acreage that is not already wilderness, according to FWS’s Region 7 office in Anchorage. The coastal plain is believed to have substantial petroleum resources but is presently off-limits for leasing, development, or any other oil and gas activity. FWS...

Environmental activist Wendy Van Asselt was at the World Resources Institute in 2003 when officials from the Wilderness Society made her an offer she couldn’t refuse. They wanted her to lead a huge project to remove 26 million acres of federal land in the National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) from oil and gas production, grazing, timber harvesting, mining for strategic minerals, off-road recreation, and providing rural jobs.

U.S. Education Secretary Vows to Make American Children 'Good Environmental Citizens' "Today, I promise you that under my leadership, the Department of Education will be a committed partner in the national effort to build a more environmentally literate and responsible society," said Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Thursday, September 23, 2010 By Nicholas Ballasy Education Secretary Arne Duncan looks on as President Barack Obama talks to students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va., Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (CNSNews.com) - U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan vowed on Tuesday that his department would work to make American children into...

Several Cabinet officials gathered today to restart the federal government's effort to stop environmental discrimination. The interagency working group on environmental justice, which had not met for a decade, came together at the White House on Wednesday morning to discuss ways to insure that low-income and minority communities don't unfairly bear the brunt of environmental pollution.

BOISE, Idaho — Forty environmental groups told Northwest lawmakers they want a "full project assessment" of oil equipment transports through Idaho and Montana to tar sands in Alberta, Canada. Exxon Mobil has proposed more than 200 oversized shipments weighing up to 300 tons starting this winter from the inland port city of Lewiston along a narrow mountain highway on their way to the Kearl Oil Sands.

The Largest Selection of Liberal-baiting Merchandise on the Net! ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Print Email AmSpecBlog "My tax dollars are being used to crush me" By Chris Horner on 9.7.10 @ 2:15PM No, the Gulf Coast does not have a monopoly on green policies being used to steal your freedom and bankrupt you -- to coin a phrase -- but is only (for now) the latest example. Watch this. As gut-wrenching as this is it is actually a very common tale, or at least the elements are present in every hare-brained consequence I have encountered in two decades of the vague, sweeping...

Backlash over China curb on metal exports China's draconian export curbs on rare earth minerals needed by the rest of the world for frontier technologies is escalating into a serious diplomatic and trade clash with the United States and other leading powers. By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor Japan's foreign minister Katsuya Okada issued what amounted to a formal protest at top-level meeting with Chinese officials in Beijing over the weekend, saying the sudden cut-off was "affecting the global production chain". It is the latest sign of rising pressure after angry complaints by companies outside China that rely on this...

The prospect of even a small exploration drilling program near the site of one of the worst U.S. natural disasters in modern memory has environmentalists blowing their tops. As Ascot Resources announced they have begun exploration drilling on the Mt. Margaret property , a former Duval Corp. property located in the St. Helens Mining District of Skamania County in Washington State, Oregon-based environmentalists say even Ascot's small drilling program has no business disturbing the Mount St. Helens National Monument.

Environmental Militant Killed by Police After Discovery Channel SiegeSuspect James Lee Rails in Manifesto Against 'Filthy Human Babies' Associated Press 6:46 PM EDT, September 1, 2010 **SNIP** A lengthy posting which could be seen Wednesday on a website registered to Lee expressed anger against the Discovery Channel and said it promoted overpopulation. He said it and its affiliates should stop "encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants." Instead, he said, the network should air "programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility." "NO MORE BABIES! Population growth is a real crisis," he wrote. He also railed against "programs promoting War"...

Regulators on Friday shut down a big community bank based in Chicago that has been known for its social activism but racked by financial troubles in recent months. It was the 114th U.S. bank to fail this year. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over ShoreBank, with $2.16 billion in assets and $1.54 billion in deposits. Urban Partnership Bank, a new institution comprised of several big Wall Street banks and a private foundation, agreed to assume ShoreBank's deposits and nearly all its assets... In an unusual move, the FDIC allowed some of ShoreBank's executives to continue running the restructured bank......

Thanks to the oil spill, BP (BP) is No. 1 on most green groups’ bad guys list. Most have also tried to tie the oil giant to the right, using Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, and his apology to BP last week as only the most obvious link. But that only tells part of the story. Critics may have called BP’s use of the slogan “Beyond Petroleum” corporate “greenwashing,” but for years BP walked the walk by supporting groups like the U.S. Climate Action Partnership and donating millions to environmental groups. And they never seemed to have a problem

I was walking back to the office one day, not long after The Atlas Society moved to Washington, when a young woman accosted me on a street corner. “Got a minute for the environment?” she asked, thrusting a leaflet in my direction. Welcome to Washington, I thought. In New York, where I used to live, people passing bills on the street were usually selling one of two things: men’s suits or sex. But Washington is a political town. Here we sell causes. I didn’t stop. I didn’t have a minute for her, or for much of anything except getting back...

A fudgelike goo coating Louisiana’s marshes. A thick oil slick stretching across the Gulf of Mexico. A plume of oil miles below the ocean surface. A tragic loss of life. Reverberating economic consequences. Throw in a poll that shows that 53 percent of Americans rate President Barack Obama “poor” or “very poor” in his handling of the Gulf oil spill, and it’s no wonder the President yesterday broke his 308-day self-imposed press conference moratorium in hopes of conveying some semblance of leadership amid an environmental, economic and human catastrophe that has spiraled out of his control.

Political content in this weekend’s new movies at the theater: A Nightmare On Elm Street//Furry Vengeance [leftist greenie alert]//Harry Brown [conservative Dirty Harry alert]//Please Give [leftist anti-consumerism alert]//The Human Centipede [icky horror movie alert] plus some old dvds: Face/Off//The Forgotten//Fast Times at Ridgemont High//Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her//Saved! [anti-Fundamentalist Christian alert]

Tyler James Johnson, a Caltech graduate student who fled the U.S. after authorities identified him as an alleged conspirator in a case involving arson attacks at several San Gabriel Valley car dealerships six years ago, has died. He was 30. According to an obituary posted on the website of the Michigan-based Staffan-Mitchell Funeral Home, Johnson was “killed from a fall due to an avalanche” on Dec. 26 during a solo expedition in the Corsican mountains of France. Johnson became a fugitive after being named as a co-conspirator in the August 2003 firebombing of eight sport-utility vehicles at a West Covina...