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8 of the Most Absurd Reactions to Obamas’s New Climate Change Rules

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The say anything, deny everything, anti-science, right-wing crazies are at it again.

By Janet Allon / AlterNet

As everyone knows by now, the Obama Administration unveiled its ambitious new plan to reduce greenhouse emissions from coal-fired plants on Monday. Much needed and way overdue, this attempt to head off increasingly inevitable climate catastrophe immediately drew the scorn of coal lovers and climate change deniers everywhere. Especially, but certainly not limited to Congress.

Here’s a quick round up of some of the more absurd reactions:   [Read more…]

From Unist’ot’en Camp: Responsibility, Not Rights

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Not all worldviews are created equal

By Will Falk May 19, 2014

I thought this as I sat listening to Mel, a Wet’suwet’en man, explain the ideas behind the establishment of the Unist’ot’en Camp. It was lunch on my first day of the camp. The sun was strong and the few dozen visitors to the camp gathered in a clearing surrounded by tall pines. The quick-flowing clear-voiced Morice River flowed next to our gathering place, ice cold from its glacial source not far away.

My first encounter with Mel was on the bridge into Unist’ot’en Camp. Before visitors are admitted, they must satisfactorily complete the Free, Prior and Informed Consent Protocol – a series of questions that camp elders ask. Mel was quick with a smile, quicker with a hug or handshake, and quickest with a joke. He was the first to clap me on my nervous back after I satisfactorily answered my hosts’ questions in the Protocol. So it was natural I made my way to the small gathering of people listening to Mel at lunch.

“This is about responsibility, not rights” Mel said looking around the sky and gesturing towards the river. He explained the way the land taught his people that they had a responsibility to protect the health of the land. Displaying a mastery of political theory coupled with the traditional wisdom of his people, he weaved a powerful analysis to show how important it is that the pipelines be stopped at the Unist’ot’en Camp.   [Read more…]

Extreme Weather Watch: May 2014 – Fires Explode in San Diego, Floods Inundate Balkans

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By John Lawrence

More than eight major fires and several smaller brush fires were burning from May 14 to May 17 in San Diego County during an unseasonal heat wave fueled by high Santa Ana winds.

Temperature records were set –  highs of 97 in San Diego and 104 in both Escondido and El Cajon on May 15. More than a dozen southern California cities broke or tied high temperatures Wednesday, May 14.

The high temperature reached 99 in downtown Los Angeles, breaking the old record of 96 set 124 years ago. Airports in Long Beach and Camarillo topped 100 degrees – the warmest since 1981. Wind gusts in hilly areas of San Diego County reached over 100 miles per hour.   [Read more…]

New EPA Power Plant Rules: Here Comes the GOP’s Climate Change Denial Onslaught

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By Doug Porter

Climate change was a major issue in the 2008 elections. Both the Republicans and Democrats made proposals aimed at reducing carbon based emissions.

Here we are six years later and, after watching Congress dither around the topic, President Obama has issued an executive order to significantly cut carbon pollution from power plants. The goals proposed are modest compared to those supported by Presidential candidate John McCain and included in the 2008 GOP platform.

CNN was the only cable network of the big 3 covering the EPA announcement this morning. (Fox News was covering…Benghazi!)   [Read more…]

The Bahati Mamas : Seeds for Change

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Chasing Freedom and Opportunity

By Binti Musa / AjA Blog

The Bahati Mamas are a group of five Somali Bantu women living in City Heights who started their own farming business. The women are Somali Bantu Refugees who were forced to leave their home in 2004 to seek refuge in the United States because of the civil war in Somalia.

The Somali Bantu refugees had to leave everything they knew. As part of their resettlement, the International Recuse Committee (IRC) helped the refugee families find jobs, learn English and help their children get an education. The refugees faced many challenges while learning American customs; one of these challenges was finding good, quality, organic produce for the families in their community. This served as an impetus for people of the Somali Bantu community to begin efforts to farm like they did in their old home.

  [Read more…]

CA Fracking Moratorium Bill Defeated by Oil Industry Lobby

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By Dan Bacher / Indybay.org

The California State Senate failed to pass SB 1132, legislation authored by Senators Holly Mitchell and Mark Leno that would have stopped hydraulic fracturing and other dangerous well stimulation methods while the state studied their risks.

The defeat of the legislation was undoubtedly due to the huge amounts of money dumped into lobbying the Legislature by the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), the largest and most powerful corporate lobbying group in Sacramento, and oil companies.
  [Read more…]

“Yes” on B & C is the Way to Support the Barrio Logan Community

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By Ernie McCray

Here we go. Same old same old politics in San Diego. The “Big Boys” have to get their way. They want us to vote “No” in opposition to a plan that was created to make a community healthy and safe. And mayor, Kevin Faulconer, who has billed himself as an “independent” leader, has, as such, been going around talking about how when Propositions B & C are voted down, “it will be our opportunity to pass a plan that works to protect our families, to protect our economy.”

Hey, dude, we already have a plan to keep toxics, pollutants, carcinogens and flammable chemicals, a safe distance away from Barrio Logan schools, playgrounds, and homes. So what does your plan look like? Oh, you don’t have one? And a new plan can’t happen for at least a year?

The Barrio Logan community worked diligently for years to bring about reasonable land use and zoning changes and it happened. It’s on the books right now. There’s a five-block buffer zone that bans new residential and industrial suppliers, while allowing such existing uses to remain in place and expand by no more than 20 percent.   [Read more…]

Why Is CA Senator Ben Hueso Abstaining on Fracking Moratorium Bill?

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SB1132 still short of passage

By Anna Daniels

California is indisputably faced with extreme drought conditions throughout the state. It is a manifestation of the effects of climate change. If there is a time when our elected representatives are needed to be thoughtful stewards of our water, land and air, it is now. That stewardship is reflected in policies and legislation which will have impacts far beyond the short shelf life of any given politician.

California Senator Ben Hueso, who represents San Diegans in the 40th District, has decided to abstain on voting for Senate Bill 1132 which would impose a moratorium on extreme oil extraction methods in California. This includes hydrofracturing, or fracking, and acid well stimulation. That abstention puts him at odds with a recent poll that reveals that a majority of California voters oppose fracking.
  [Read more…]

How Many Votes Will Two Million Dollars Buy in California? GOP Gubernatorial Candidates to Find Out Tuesday

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By Doug Porter

Republican Neel Kashari is about to find out whether or not two million dollars of his personal fortune is enough to win a spot in the November 2014 California gubernatorial contest.

The latest set of polls, via Stanford University’s Hoover Institute and San Francisco’s Public Policy Institute, point to a June 3rd victory by Tea Party favorite Tim Donnelly. Despite endorsements from GOP luminaries like Condoleezza Rice, Mitt Romney and ex-Gov. Pete Wilson, TV ads and huge financial advantage, Kashkari’s only hope at this point seems to lie in winning over undecided voters in the primary.

Donnelly is counting on grass roots support, saying the election is about a “divide between the common man and political elite.”  His campaign claims the unanimous endorsement of California GOP county parties and points to their 4,100 donations compared Kashkari’s slightly more than two hundred donations as proof of this point.   [Read more…]

Reclaiming Public Spaces: The Art of the Alley in Logan Heights and North Park

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By Avital Aboody

Last weekend, hundreds of San Diego residents picked up shovels and paint brushes to successfully beautify and activate four alleyways in North Park and Logan Heights. The Media Arts Center on El Cajon Boulevard started the “Take Back the Alley” initiative three years ago by converting their parking lot into a beautiful outdoor events area. But this is the first time that the initiative has actually expanded into the alley (spanning the two blocks between Kansas and Ohio Street), as well as three parallel projects in Logan Heights! For more about how this project got started, read my previous article: Take Back the Alley!   [Read more…]

Stanford University Divests From Fossil Fuel Stocks

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By John Lawrence

Stanford University has decided to divest its $18.7 billion endowment from coal stocks in response to a student led movement – Fossil Free Stanford. This is part of a larger movement among students to get their colleges and universities to get rid of fossil fuel stocks. Fossil Free Stanford petitioned the university last year to divest from 200 fossil-fuel extraction companies as part of a national divestment campaign.

In their wisdom the Stanford Trustees limited their divestment activities to 100 fossil fuel corporations. Evidently, divesting of stocks in 200 companies was considered to be a little bit too extreme.

Surprisingly, Stanford, home to the right wing Hoover Institute, acceded to most of the students’ demands. The Hoover Institute is a think tank closely associated with Republican politicians and Presidents who have derived many of their policies from Hoover fellows including Condoleeza Rice who gave some intellectual credibility to George W Bush’s lies which enabled him to invade Iraq.

  [Read more…]

Man Can’t Live on Cabbage Alone

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Americans need credible nutrition advice they can trust, not a choice between quacks and “experts” sold out to junk food companies.

By Jill Richardson / OtherWords

I ran into an acquaintance recently and he told me he’d started seeing a new nutrition expert. “You know what?” he said, “It turns out I’m gluten intolerant.”

OK. Him and everyone else. I told him I was glad he found an expert who could help him.

A week later I saw him again. “I went back to the nutritionist,” he said. “I can’t have nightshades either.” That means no more potatoes, tomatoes, chili peppers, or eggplant.
  [Read more…]

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