Posted on 05/05/2007 12:49:01 PM PDT by calcowgirl
VICTORIA will join one of the world's largest economies to tackle global warming.
Victorian Premier Steve Bracks and Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a historic climate change agreement on Friday.
The two state governments agreed to work together to develop emissions trading schemes, clean energy technology and conduct economic assessments of climate change.
The leaders, from different sides of the political divide, signed a memorandum of understanding for the two governments after a meeting in Los Angeles.
Mr Bracks said state governments were now leaders in driving climate change solutions.
"Governor Schwarzenegger has been a leader in the United States in addressing global warming, taking such initiatives as the global warming law, which imposes the country's first mandatory statewide cap on greenhouse gas emissions," Mr Bracks said.
He said the agreement would enable Victoria and California to share expertise, and maybe pave the way for a wider agreement.
After their meeting in Los Angeles, Mr Schwarzenegger dubbed Mr Bracks "a great environmentalist".
"We have to take care of our world," he said.
He also said Victoria and California faced similar climate change threats.
Mr Schwarzenegger and Mr Bracks spoke of the threat of droughts and bushfires. "I think there's a lot of common things that we share," Mr Schwarzenegger said. "You see right now the lack of water, the snow melting much faster."
The agreement between the two states, Mr Bracks said, showed governments could tackle climate change while still fostering economic growth.
"California is one of the world's major economic powerhouses and, like Victoria, understands that it's not a matter of choosing between climate change and economic development," he said.
The Australian director of the Climate Group, Rupert Posner, said it was important that governments worked together on climate change.
Mr Bracks' visit to California was the first leg of a trip that will take in a medical conference in Boston and meetings in New York.
Deputy Opposition Leader Louise Asher said the Premier should be focused on dealing with Victoria's water problems.
"What the Premier needs to be doing is dealing with Victoria's water crisis and not cavorting around with the stars," she said.
No one is ever motivated to do anything until they become concerned about something and realize it has something to do with their own self interest!!!
Some times when they realize how easy it is, they get all carried away with it like in the French revolution with the guillotine!!!
Sounds like maybe, speaking of France, that they may be having another little revolution over there today by not electing the feminist/socialist and electing an America friendly center-right CONservative dude!!!
So when did this dictator assume the powers of the US presidency and decide to sign treaties with foreign governments?
A California citizen needs to take this Austrian moron to federal court and challenge this action.
I don’t think people who haven’t lived in Cali understand the desperation expressed in the above 3-4 posts. We’re still a republic, but in terms of direct democracy — by the demographics, we’re lost. To answer hedgetrimmer’s question: I think it’s best to help middle class Americans understand how close we’ve come to losing it all since Reagan has been out of office. If you can get them to stop watching their HDTVs, and texting their children, and disconnect from their PlayStation3’s long enough to think about it... Once the voting middle class understands what has happened, they may look past a Hillary Clinton, a Giuliani, or a Thompson and consider a Hunter or Tancredo.
It seems to me that he is treading right on the edge to avoid these arrangements being seen as a “treaty” or “pact” or “alliance” (etc.), meanwhile creating foreign entanglements that take us down the same darn path. There is no reporter, and no group, that seem to have this on the radar. In fact, in the case of this new agreement, there isn’t a single U.S. media source that made a mention of it, only Australian newspapers. Had there not been an (R) by his name, I believe some Republican groups would step forward. —sigh.
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&q=schwarzenegger+bracks&scoring=n
A good anecdotal argument against repealing the Constitutional prohibition on the foreign-born becoming President. And where’s the Congressional approval for Schwarzenegger’s pan-Pacific scheme?
Yes, there’s a bright side to this story. Patriots will always remember the Terminator and what he did to Cali when it most needed an American to lead it out of darkness.
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