Friday, May 30

Obama On Coal To Gas Synfuel - WRONG!

Since Republicans don't believe in Science, global warming doesn't faze them. They love Synfuels. But Obama?

Its bad enough, where gas is taking us:

NASA Says US Temperatures To Rise 10 Degrees By 2080

This maps per decade temperature rise:
1 degree Centigrade = nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit EVERY DECADE!
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For instance my state, California = + .04 C therefor it will be 9 degrees hotter by 2100

A President could reverse this! NOT take us twice as fast to Armagedden.
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What will a few degrees do to us?


Mark Lynas:

Six Degrees: our future on a hotter planet


The planet has been here before. Geologists have discovered that at the end of the Permian period, 251 million years ago, the world warmed rapidly by six degrees. It was the worst crisis ever endured by life on earth, "the closest this planet has come to losing its wonderful living biosphere entirely and ending up a dead and desolate rock in space". The earth was racked by "hypercanes" - hurricanes so strong they even left their mark on the ocean floor. Oxygen levels in the atmosphere plunged to 15 per cent - low enough to leave any fast-moving animal gasping for breath.



Think your kids will survive a toasty planet?

The only survivors were a few shelled creatures in the oceans, and a pig-like creature that had the land to itself for millions of years. (Whoever thought geological findings could give you nightmares?)


At a hearing recently Barbara Boxer repeatedly berated -the Bushappointed crony- Ann Klee from the EPA for "assigning a zero value to CO2!" March 6 Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing on CAFE standards. You can listen to the hearing here Her discussion about carbon dioxide is at 1:25:40. 1:26:15 "Why on earth would you have assigned a zero benefit for reduction of carbon dioxide? I don't understand it."

Boxer has finally shamed the EPA into humoring her with this graphing of relative CO2 outputs for us -silly treehuggers- Democrats who care about scientific warnings. The Republicans don't think CO2 matters.

This is the real reason that Bush administrations EPA has been assigning a zero value to the evaluating the cost of emitting CO2. If you line up the pros and cons of making synfuel, and simply leave out the minor disadvantage of adding more greenhouse gases, then it might not seem so dumb. It meets the only requirement Republicans seem to have, that it gets us off foreign oil.

Republicans care about their kids safety, just like we do, yet they drive SUVs. They want their kids to be safe from other SUVs so they buy bigger heavier SUVs, ensuring that other drivers will have to do the same. They don't accept climate science so they just don't believe that their kids will have to deal with this dangerous climate as a result of their driving choice.

So I don't blame them as much for wanting Synfuels. They have been propogandised into ignorance. But Obama is a member of our evidence-based community. He should know better.

I do think he can be persuaded to know what's the right thing to do, because of two changes he has made:

1. He recently changed his support for the nuke friendly Lieberman/MCain climate change bill to the real deal: the Boxer Bill, that will reduce CO2 80% below 1990 levels by 2050, in a steady consistent 1% per year.

2. He supports The CLEAR ACT to subsidise electric vehicles which is still under consideration, not a bill yet...so thank him for this!

It is wrong for Obama (who has little kids) to be as dumb as a Republican in support of Synfuels. Please, all you Obama supporters: please contact him and beg him to change his support to one befitting a thinking being who wants our species to survive.

Six Degrees will make some readers want to sink into survivalism, but Lynas wisely warns: "Getting depressed about the situation now is like sitting inert in your living room and watching the kitchen catch fire, and then getting more and more miserable as the fire spreads throughout the house - rather than grabbing an extinguisher and dousing the flames."


Calling the congress switchboard is the easiest way to put you through to any of them. Tell them that Coal to Liquid Synfuels makes CO2 worse! (202) 224 3121
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Dinosaurs survived a long time on this planet. At this point in history, certain legislation in this country will actually make or break our own species chances of survival. It really is worth a call.
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UPDATE JUNE !13TH
Obama switches his vote to side with us human beings against extinction and abandons Senator Inohofe's coal to lquids bill:

THANK YOU OBAMA! I like a candidate who listens to reason!


Heres the squeals of horror from Inohofe at the traitors!


VOTE AGAINST COAL-TO-LIQUIDS EXPOSES SENATOR’S TRUE POSITION
June 13, 2007


WASHINGTON, DC – Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, today blasted Senators who have previously claimed their support for coal-to-liquids, who today voted against an amendment that sought to improve the permitting process for the construction of coal-to-liquids facilities.

Those Senators include:
A big dailykos thankyou to our prodigal sons and daughter!


Obama (D-IL); Baucus (D-MT); Tester (D-MT); Landrieu (D-LA); Salazar (D-CO); Conrad (D-ND); Dorgan (D-ND); Byrd (D-WV); Rockefeller (D-WV).


KUDOS TO EVERYONE WHO VOTED RIGHT!
Akaka (D-HI), Nay
Alexander (R-TN), Yea
Allard (R-CO), Yea
Baucus (D-MT), Nay
Bayh (D-IN), Nay
Bennett (R-UT), Yea
Biden (D-DE), Nay
Bingaman (D-NM), Nay
Bond (R-MO), Yea
Boxer (D-CA), Nay
Brown (D-OH), Nay
Brownback (R-KS), Yea
Bunning (R-KY), Yea
Burr (R-NC), Yea
Byrd (D-WV), Nay
Cantwell (D-WA), Nay
Cardin (D-MD), Nay
Carper (D-DE), Nay
Casey (D-PA), Nay
Chambliss (R-GA), Yea
Clinton (D-NY), Nay
Coburn (R-OK), Not Voting
Cochran (R-MS), Yea
Coleman (R-MN), Yea
Collins (R-ME), Nay
Conrad (D-ND), Nay
Corker (R-TN), Yea
Cornyn (R-TX), Yea
Craig (R-ID), Yea
Crapo (R-ID), Yea
DeMint (R-SC), Yea
Dodd (D-CT), Nay
Dole (R-NC), Yea
Domenici (R-NM), Yea
Dorgan (D-ND), Nay
Durbin (D-IL), Nay
Ensign (R-NV), Yea
Enzi (R-WY), Yea
Feingold (D-WI), Nay
Feinstein (D-CA), Nay
Graham (R-SC), Yea
Grassley (R-IA), Yea
Gregg (R-NH), Yea
Hagel (R-NE), Not Voting
Harkin (D-IA), Nay
Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Hutchison (R-TX), Yea
Inhofe (R-OK), Yea
Inouye (D-HI), Nay
Isakson (R-GA), Yea
Johnson (D-SD), Not Voting
Kennedy (D-MA), Nay
Kerry (D-MA), Nay
Klobuchar (D-MN), Nay
Kohl (D-WI), Nay
Kyl (R-AZ), Yea
Landrieu (D-LA), Nay
Lautenberg (D-NJ), Nay
Leahy (D-VT), Nay
Levin (D-MI), Nay
Lieberman (ID-CT), Nay
Lincoln (D-AR), Nay
Lott (R-MS), Yea
Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Martinez (R-FL), Yea
McCain (R-AZ), Not Voting
McCaskill (D-MO), Nay
McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Menendez (D-NJ), Nay
Mikulski (D-MD), Nay
Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
Murray (D-WA), Nay
Nelson (D-FL), Nay
Nelson (D-NE), Nay
Obama (D-IL), Nay
Pryor (D-AR), Nay
Reed (D-RI), Nay
Reid (D-NV), Nay
Roberts (R-KS), Yea
Rockefeller (D-WV), Nay
Salazar (D-CO), Nay
Sanders (I-VT), Nay
Schumer (D-NY), Nay
Sessions (R-AL), Yea
Shelby (R-AL), Yea
Smith (R-OR), Yea
Snowe (R-ME), Nay
Specter (R-PA), Yea
Stabenow (D-MI), Nay
Stevens (R-AK), Yea
Sununu (R-NH), Yea
Tester (D-MT), Nay
Thune (R-SD), Yea
Vitter (R-LA), Yea
Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Warner (R-VA), Yea
Webb (D-VA), Nay
Whitehouse (D-RI), Nay
Wyden (D-OR), Nay

Crossposted from dailykos May 2007