Daily Briefing - 4/13/07: Army Corps, Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Onion, and Global Warming

Mind your luck today.

MW

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Daily Briefing – 4/13/07
570 days until the NEXT election… and global warming is an integral part of our nation’s agenda!

Key Issues in the News
Global Warming
- Army Corps has to face global warming
- US faces change
- Canadian Environment Minister comes to US seeking a global effort
- Lloyd’s of London: Prepare for serious climate change
- Fight global warming, use a clothesline
- Australian PM Howard refuses climate change plan
- The Economist on cutting down trees
- Virginia leads DC metro region in growth of greenhouse gas emissions. Local officials say that the removal of George Allen from the public sector should show an immediate decrease…
o U.S. PIRG drops state by state report
- Florida lawmakers move expansive energy plan forward
- Warming is serious, say Californians
o Arnold: From Governor to green giant though some question his credentials
- Holmen Courier: Action Needed
- Mayor Menino (D-Boston) proposes cut in greenhouse gas emissions
- Snow won’t dampen Step It Up rallies in Michigan
- NWF’s Melinda Hughes goes to Clarion
Washington/Legislation/Politics/People/etc.
- Things are getting a bit mysterious with all this email deleting
- Saying no to Fox News
- Gov. Corzine (D-NJ) in critical/stable condition after car crash
- Umm, Senator Byrd may have lost it
Potential ‘08ers…
- Romney (showing signs of life in SC), Giuliani (big apple baggage?), McCain (jeez, he can’t be happy about that title), Gilmore (GOP needs a true conservative), Clinton (proposes rebuilding government), Giuliani again (says he can take Hillary), Romney again (plays down role in health law), Huckabee (goes to Utah), Kucinich (yes, he’s still around), Obama (building the money machine), Edwards (McCain is dead wrong), Giuliani again again (scrutiny finds him), Obama again (backed by Rep. Adam Smith),
- Politico’s campaign notebook
- Dems urge Shaheen to challenge Sununu
Other News from the Media
- 16 ideas for the planet, including this one from the venerable Jerome Ringo
- FEMA at it again
- A plan to curb watershed pollution of the Chesapeake Bay
…and the Blogosphere
- The Fix’s Friday Senate Line
- Grist:
o An interview with Jay Inslee
o US consumerism through China and Brazil
o US soccer team goes carbon neutral
Miscellaneous… or just plain weird
- Farewell, Kurt Vonnegut
- THE ONION comes to DC
- With regard to the Imus debacle, Jason Whitlock throws it down
- A small gesture grows into a movement to pay respect to Jackie Robinson
- OK so let me get this straight… humans came from monkeys and chickens came from dinosaurs??? I think these scientists are messing with us.
- Senator George Allen, can you explain this for us?
Quotes O’ the Day
"Climate change, other than the war in Iraq ... is the most important thing we can work on," ~ Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Daily Briefing - 4/11/07: Debate!, USCAP, Richard Louv, Johnny Cash and Global Warming

Kerry v. Gingrich... Lincoln v. Douglass? Ehhh, probably not, but hey... at least Newt isn't a flat-earther.

MW

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Daily Briefing – 4/11/07
572 days until the NEXT election… and global warming is an integral part of our nation’s agenda!

Key Issues in the News
Global Warming
- ConocoPhillips joins U.S. Climate Action Partnership, the first major US oil company to do so
- Kerry and Gingrich debate... and guess what, they only disagree on solutions
o Video analysis from the dorky Dana Milbank
- Cap and trade may become (nuclear) energy’s stock in trade
- Little time to avert big temperature rise
- China and Japan go green together
- IPCC report dire for North America
- Friedman: Upsetting the balance in Kenya
- Sea rise in India buries islands and way of life
- Israel’s green mission
- Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon tasks nations on alleviation
- John Edwards will attend Step It Up global warming rally in Florida on Saturday
- Hey, it looks like Canadians can be in denial just like Americans!
- Coffee drinkers beware
- Washington too hot for Live Earth… grrrrrr, it would have been free!!!!!!
Washington/Legislation/Politics/People/etc.
- Bush criticizes Democrats for delay in Iraq spending bill
- US sending another warning on Darfur… no action yet, though
o Google Earth documents the tragedy
- European growth will outpace US this year
- Liberals worry Pelosi is favoring moderates
- Colleagues helping Sen. Johnson
- Duncan Hunter Jr. to run for Congress… while in Iraq
Potential ‘08ers…
- Thompson, Fred (reveals he has cancer), McCain (strongly backs Iraq war in speech, calls Dems reckless), Edwards (works day shift at nursing home), Giuliani (fails the supermarket test), McCain again (pounded by the press), Edwards again (isn’t afraid to dis Fox news), Giuliani again (pleased to oblige), Romney (wants to expand armed forces by 100,000), Romney again (major ad spending), Giuliani again again (four pillars of American prosperity), Edwards again again (touts gay supporters), Clinton supporting Rutgers basketball team), Obama (tees off on McCain), Obama again (seeing some backlash for slow response on Imus),
- Some in GOP express worry over ‘08
Other News from the Media
- Richard Louv in Orion Magazine: Leave No Child Inside
o Here’s Mr. Louv’s great website, Children and Nature Network
- Unlike the Terps of the University of Maryland, these terrapins survive
- Great Judicial Smackdown 2007 continues (ß headline stolen from Grist), appeals court rebukes Administration over salmon
- Oy vey, way to kill worker morale. Note to self, don’t buy stock in Circuit City
…and the Blogosphere
- The Fix: The democrats’ generic edge
- Open Congress: Are republicans starting to crack on Iraq?
- National Review: Forget Kyoto
- Grist:
o On population
o Climate solutions for the rich and powerful
o Vanity Fair’s “green issue” redux
Miscellaneous… or just plain weird
- Tell that smarmy Steve Jobs to top this!
- Barry Gibb burns down Johnny Cash’s house!!! (Not really, but one must question..)
- Well, now we’ve got somewhere to go once we dilly-dally on global warming for too long
- Known for its conservative tilt, BYU protests planned commencement speech by VP
Quotes O’ the Day
“The first question I ask myself when something doesn't seem to be beautiful is why do I think it's not beautiful. And very shortly you discover that there is no reason.” ~ John Cage … I’m listening to his seminal work, 4”33, right now. (A prize to anyone – without the aid of the internet! – who can describe this phenomenal piece of work.)

Daily Briefing - 4/10/07: Trees, Anxiety, Dieting, and Global Warming

In today's briefing... dieting makes you fat and trees cause global warming.

I'm not kidding.

MW

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Daily Briefing – 4/10/07
573 days until the NEXT election… and global warming is an integral part of our nation’s agenda!

Key Issues in the News
Global Warming
- Newsweek: Making sense of melting ice
- Challenge to emissions rule is set to start
- Hunger in Asia and Africa a concern amid climate change
o In Africa, climate change will also impede development
- Will hit Europe’s Mediterranean region hard... get to Nice and Barcelona while you can!
- More rainforests might slow global warming
o But planting trees in higher latitudes could exacerbate the problem
o And of course folks in Moron-ville are spinning this one
- EPA ruling paves the way for wider action
- Insurance companies commit to climate change disclosure
- Tying climate to national security
- All eyes on Vermont as court case proceeds
- The Robin Hood approach to global warming
o With reaction from Grist
- Live Earth set for July 7th, headliners announced
- Second Life takes on global warming
- I’ve posted it before but here is the Washington Post’s section on global warming
Washington/Legislation/Politics/People/etc.
- Bush would veto stem cell bill
- Senators press for more files on Attorney removals
- Waxman looking to get Rice to testify before committee
Potential ‘08ers…
- McCain (the tragedy), Clinton (and the military), Clinton and Giuliani (NYers like ‘em), Obama (no second place for him), Obama and Clinton (snub Fox), Obama again (barnstorming NYC), Thompson, Fred (if you get an endorsement and aren’t actually running, does it count?), Richardson (content to start slow), Romney (among many to spot at Bush library), Giuliani (legal past hints at future), Obama again again (gains in SC),
- Polling early… and often
Other News from the Media
- US toughens its positions on China trade
o China ain’t too happy
- Scientists project how dust affects Martian climate
- Fish protection lags, court agrees
- California sinks LNG pipeline plans
- Eco-anxiety … and the people from grist making fun of it
…and the Blogosphere
- The Fix: Keeping an eye on Clyburn
- MYDD has their April straw poll
- Grist:
o On home water conservation
o Growing a green economy
Miscellaneous… or just plain weird
- No smoking and higher wages for Maryland
- Haha.
- I hope this isn’t too taboo for the briefing
- … And in medical news: Chocolate is better than tea, diets make you fat, and coffee lowers the risk of Parkinson’s
o Somebody get me a mocha!
Quotes O’ the Day
“A State without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.” ~ Edmund Burke

Daily Briefing - 4/9/07: $100 million, Fighting Scientists, Virtuoso Violinists, and Global Warming

Happy Monday.

MW

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Daily Briefing – 4/9/07
574 days until the NEXT election… and global warming is an integral part of our nation’s agenda!

Key Issues in the News
Global Warming
- Next Task: Repairing the climate
- Learning from Europe
- Christine Todd Whitman: SSC ruling is a welcome first step
o For the Chief Justice, a dissent and a line in the sand
- Doris Duke Foundation to offer $100 million to deal with global warming
- Detroit decides to help shape, not resist, regulation of emissions
- UN sounds the alarm
o Scientists v. diplomats
o Scientists see report as too soft, blame China, Saudi Arabia for watering it down
- Washington Post: A Consensus on Crisis
o Climate wars loom as the future looks bleak
- Mountaineers: The eyewitnesses to climate change
- The 3 step climate action plan
- Newsweek: The War of the Words
- China to participate in post-Kyoto talks
- Worried about high gas prices
Washington/Legislation/Politics/People/etc.
- President renewing efforts on immigration
- Democrats’ cause is tempered by reality
o But they seek to lead the way in tax overhaul
- Another layer of scandal
Potential ‘08ers…
- Romney (he’s rising), Obama (all sizzle and no steak?), Clinton and McCain (lose frontrunner status), Gingrich (taking on AG Gonzalez), Obama again (boosted by Clinton defectors), Romney again (initial public offering), Thompson, Tommy (record isn’t enough), Clinton (the end of inevitability), Clinton again (will not be crowned), Edwards (getting help in SC), Giuliani (blasted by firefighters), McCain (the meltdown), Huckabee (slaps down Romney for hunting gaffe), Richardson (arrives in North Korea),
- “Why do US candidates need so much money?” This is America buddy, why does ANYBODY need so much money?
- Candidates should look beyond Iraq
- Democrats may now top GOP in donor efforts… now both parties can be bought with equally massive sums of money!
Other News from the Media
- Iran goes nuclear… somebody tell them they’re not allowed to use Yucca Mountain
- Slate: Green is in
- Even the President is intrigued by plug-in hybrids (Even if he doesn’t know how to use a socket)
o The folks at Grist sure enjoyed this
- Ranchers and army at odds in the old west
- Plastic wrapper today could be fuel tomorrow
- Can man improve on nature’s fishbowl?
…and the Blogosphere
- The Fix: Romney’s inner circle
- Raw Fisher: McCain’s new money man
- RCP’s Politics and Elections page
- Grist:
o A unique insight into the IPCC process
o Texas solar opportunity
Miscellaneous… or just plain weird
- This. Is. Un-believable
- Apple ships 100 millionth iPod
- Will this fad ever get old?
- Imus: “I’m not a racist”
- Flight cancelled over rude language
Quotes O’ the Day
“Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.” ~ Aldous Huxley