Free Republic

Following through on Al Gore's green authoritarianism to a level of oppression that Joseph Stalin never thought of brings us to the realm of Bolivia's socialist strongman Evo Morales, a colleague of Hugo Chavez and the Castro Bros. Thanks to the pernicious, insidious, and likeminded United Nations, his flaky pre-Columbian brand of eco-totalitarianism may be going global: Bolivia will this month [present] a draft United Nations treaty giving "Mother Earth" the same rights as humans — having just passed a domestic law that does the same for bugs, trees and all other natural things in the South American country.

Bolivia will this month table a draft United Nations treaty giving "Mother Earth" the same rights as humans — having just passed a domestic law that does the same for bugs, trees and all other natural things in the South American country. The bid aims to have the UN recognize the Earth as a living entity that humans have sought to "dominate and exploit" — to the point that the "well-being and existence of many beings" is now threatened. The wording may yet evolve, but the general structure is meant to mirror Bolivia's Law of the Rights of Mother Earth,...

The Obama administration revoked a permit on Thursday for Arch Coal Inc's (ACI.N) proposed Spruce 1 mountaintop coal mine in West Virginia, effectively shutting one of the biggest in the United States. "The proposed Spruce No. 1 Mine would use destructive and unsustainable mining practices that jeopardize the health of Appalachian communities and clean water on which they depend," said Peter Silvan, an assistant administrator for water, at the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA's final ruling under the Clean Water Act came after a scientific study, a public hearing, and a review of more than 50,000 public comments, the agency...

The UK’s leading scientific body has been forced to rewrite its guide on climate change and admit that it is not known how much warmer the Earth will become. The Royal Society has updated its guide after 43 of its members complained that the previous version failed to take into account the opinion of climate change sceptics. Now the new guide, called ‘Climate change: a summary of the science’, admits that there are some ‘uncertainties’ regarding the science behind climate change. And it says that it impossible to know for sure how the Earth's climate will change in the future...

General Stanley McChrystal’s interview in Rolling Stone Magazine will do a lot to damage further President Obama’s standing among liberals and Democrats and will undermine his chances of keeping control of Congress in 2010. To conservative voters and commentators, his comments underscore doubts about Obama’s competence. To the Administration’s spokespeople, the interview shows a lack of proper subordination in the chain of command. But to the voters of the left, the key import of his comments is that the general in charge of the war in Afghanistan basically said the war is not being won, and perhaps cannot be won....

To the left, the oil spill is not an index of presidential competence or an issue in the political sphere. It is a daily gushing of poison into the Earth’s waters as a direct result of the president’s failure to stop it. They blame BP. But they already hate oil companies. And they blame Obama, too. And they are coming to dislike him. When Obama attempts to recoup this damage to his political base by pushing new legislation on the environment or by resurrecting his cap and trade legislation or by bringing criminal charges against BP or by setting up...

Two UW-Madison students woke up with a maple tree in their living room Saturday morning, then spent part of the day replanting it because they were the ones who had dragged it there in the first place. Thomas Schroeder, 21, of Menomonee Falls, and Brenton Neuharth, 21, from Eureka, S.D., were issued citations for damage to property for taking a newly planted tree out of the ground on a terrace between West Main and South Broom streets. Madison police were alerted to it by Keith and Karen Weiss, who were returning from the Dane County Farmers’ Market and noticed an...

This is awful. Nuns gone wild. The AP reports: Catholic nuns are urging Congress to pass President Barack Obama's health care plan, in an unusual public break with bishops who say it would subsidize abortion. Some 60 leaders of religious orders representing 59,000 Catholic nuns Wednesday sent lawmakers a letter urging them to pass the Senate health care bill. It contains restrictions on abortion funding that the bishops say don't go far enough. The letter says that "despite false claims to the contrary, the Senate bill will not provide taxpayer funding for elective abortions." The letter says the legislation also...

Just watch. You won't be disappointed.

When wolves were reintroduced into Idaho, Montana and Wyoming the agreement with the states, sportsmen, the Federal Government and the tree huggers was simple. 300 wolves. The prowolf people asked for 450 wolves with at least 150 and 15 breeding pairs in each state. This 50%margin, they reasoned was needed so the number wouldn’t fall below 300. It would take YEARS they argued, probably DECADES with a slow 5% population growth rate. The 450 would represent wolf repopulation recovery and then management would be returned to the states.2010 NumbersIdaho-850 + wolvesMontana-600 + wolvesWyoming-300 + wolvesWe are at 1200 wolves...

Environmental activists have blasted Harrison Ford for making "unnecessary" trips by air, following revelations he once made a jet journey to buy a cheeseburger.

Global warming's snowball fight By Dana Milbank Sunday, February 14, 2010 (For your convenience, op-ed is posted below to Body of Comment)

A new Movie is being displayed in Public schools (communist indoctrination centers.) And your children have no choice but to sit down and watch it whether you or they want to or not. Paid for by taxpayers. The new movie is called the story of stuff. It is an environmentalist and Marxist propaganda film being shown in schools all over the country. The premise: Your cell phone, Lego's, Ipod, computer, car, Styrofoam ETC is toxic and harmful and is killing you and the planet and its all being sold to you thanks to slaves in the third world! My how...

Freaked Out Over SuperFreakonomics Global warming might be solved with a helium balloon and a few miles of garden hose. By BRET STEPHENS Suppose for a minute—which is about 59 seconds too long, but that's for another column—that global warming poses an imminent threat to the survival of our species. Suppose, too, that the best solution involves a helium balloon, several miles of garden hose and a harmless stream of sulfur dioxide being pumped into the upper atmosphere, all at a cost of a single F-22 fighter jet. Good news, right? Maybe, but not if you're Al Gore or one...

The Herald newspaper says the graffiti sprayed on buildings associated with the Skotdal family is visible from Highway 522. The message appears to be a followup to last month’s sabotage at the KRKO (1380) transmitter site that toppled a whole tower. It says, in part: “MBA KRKO/Snotdol [sic] Empire. If you continue to risk killing children, mother earth and her creations, all your holdings are targets.“ This extra-long graffiti message ends this way: "Authentic ELF [Earth Liberation Front]? Ask ATF/FBI about restricted water mains. Little water, better burn. ELF.” KRKO recently turned on its new 50-kw daytime facility, a move...

Here is a video report from Poland on an Oak Tree planted in honor of Adolf Hitler that some people want to see cut down, and others want to remain as a reminder of the past. The tree controversy gives some insight into the Nazis' apparent fascination with trees, perhaps because of the ancient rituals of teutonic tree worship. It is estimated that six million Poles died at the hands of the Nazis, with three million of them being Jews. . . . . (Watch Video)

Life's not easy if you're an organic-eating, tree-hugging, SUV-eschewing, carbon-footprintless, gender-identity-indifferent, diversity-celebrating, nonjudgmental (well, except for those damn U.S. flag pins) vegan pacifist. Just ask Gerald and Helen Goode, the First Couple of PC America. They forget to check a box when adopting an African baby, and when little Ubuntu arrives, he's a white South African. They cart home free elephant dung from Barnum & Bailey for their organic garden, then remember that the circus exploits animals. They've raised their dog Che to be a vegan, but the neighborhood sure has a lot of missing squirrels. Welcome to The Goode...

WHAT is your carbon legacy - not the emissions you are personally liable for, but those of your descendants? Ask Paul Murtaugh, a statistician at Oregon State University in Corvallis.If you have a child, he says, you and you partner are each responsible for half its emissions. If that child has kids, one-quarter of their emissions are down to you, and so on. How it adds up depends on population trends and emission changes in the future.Murtaugh used UN population projections, which say that after 2050, birth rates in all countries will be 1.85 children per woman, on average....

Jack Bauer Now Uses Recycled Weapons Fox will announce today that thriller "24" is going green. Whether Kiefer Sutherland, who plays agent Jack Bauer, will start slamming terrorist suspects' heads into tables made from salvaged pine beams, or making close call getaways in helicopters fueled by leftover french fry oil, is unclear. But according to a New York Times article yesterday, the network has stepped things up to become the first "carbon neutral show." Fox has "hired consultants to measure the carbon-dioxide output from the production, started using 20 percent biodiesel fuel in trucks and generators, installed motion monitors in...

HOULTON, Maine — James Hogan was a logger at Louisiana Pacific Corp. for 21 years when he was first laid off in 2004. He spent four years scrounging odd jobs and selling personal property to keep solvent before getting hired as a woodloader at Treeline Inc. of Lincoln in July 2008. The 46-year-old town man had almost recovered from that financial disaster, clearing $600 for a 55-hour workweek, when Treeline laid him off on Jan. 28. Since then, Hogan has searched for logging work from Fort Fairfield to Bangor without success.