Colorado Oil Shaleland

So, it comes as no surprise that President Obama is reversing more of former President George W. Bush’s policies on oil shale. In fact, his Administration recently removed the leases for another round of oil-shale development projects on federal lands in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Ken Salazar, Obama’s Interior Secretary, withdrew a proposal for additional research and oil shale leases due to economic and environmental concerns. He thought the previous proposal in January for research and development on 1.9 million acres was flawed. Salazar told MSNBC that new proposals will “help answer critical questions about oil shale, including about the viability of emerging technologies on a commercial scale, how much water and power would be required, and what impact commercial development would have on land, water, wildlife, and communities.” Now, that’s environmentally responsible leadership.

And President Obama has plans to put his money where his mouth is. His proposed budget, released by the White House recently, would call for $15 billion a year to develop clean-energy technologies, which include solar and wind power. The funding to fight climate change and the country’s dependence on foreign oil would come from auctioning off carbon pollution permits, starting in 2012 (more on this below). Obama’s commitment to tackling climate change is fantastic but Congress is ultimately in charge of the budgeting. And the House and Senate haven’t written a bill yet that regulates greenhouse gases and collects money to do so. Let’s see what Congress and the President can devise to stop global warming.

Environmental change calls for big bucks and a new funding system. To pay for his environmental budget to fight global warming, Obama proposes a “cap and trade” system. Basically, the federal government would require companies like power plants and industrial facilities that emit greenhouse gases linked to global warming to purchase permits. It’s like a costly swap-a-roo. If a company exceeds their greenhouse gases limit (read: cap), then they must buy credits from those that are emitting less.

This new revenue stream could bring in $78.6 billion to the Treasury by 2012. And the auctioning of emission allowances as outlined by the Obama plan is predicted to usher in a whopping $645.7 billion between 2012 and 2019. This is no small change and no small difference. The plan would “cut total emissions 14 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent below 2005 levels by 2050.”

And Obama’s thinking of the little guy too. His proposed plan would take 80 percent of the anticipated revenue (or $526 billion) and subsidize the higher energy costs of low- and middle-income folks through tax credits. And the rest of the dough would go towards alternative, clean energy initiatives. Good thinking Prez!

If Only we Could Chalk it up to Anarchy in the UK (and not Human Nature) British court sentenced 16-year-old Andrew Smith to life in prison. The teenager and his 18-year-old friend, Jason Bolton, kicked Asaf Mahmood Ahmed so hard and so many times that the 28-year-old father of three had an asthma attack while lying in a pool of his own blood. Smith left the scene but came back to find Ahmed was reaching for his inhaler while still on the ground. Noticing the movement, Smith shoved the inhaler out of Ahmed’s hands. The boys’ unprovoked brutalization of Ahmed led to the man’s death and a complete lack of remorse on the part of Smith, who used his camera phone to film himself saying he had “the eyes of a killer.” Bolton will, as of now, be spending the next 17 years behind bars. Taking a look at Smith’s “inhuman” footage, the court promised him life in a cell.

Pirates Demand Steep Ransom The Somali pirates who hijacked “Saudi-owned supertanker” the Sirius Star have given Saudis 10 days to comply with their $25 million ransom demand. One of the pirates, Mohamed Said, has hinted that should the ship owners refuse to pay up, the captors “will take action that could be disastrous.”

Obama to Work for Peace in the Middle East The President-Elect called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to let the latter know once in office, he would commence work on smoothing through a two-state solution peace process that would, hopefully, mitigate some of the perennial tension found in the region…

Hezbollah’s Burgeoning Army The “militant Shiite movement” has a new set of young and enthusiastic, if stern-faced, recruits: the Mahdi Scouts. The 17- and 18-year-olds dress in boy scoutesque attire and train on Lebanese fields, as they answer to a podium-using leader and the yellow Hezbollah flag while keeping Ayatollah Khomeini’s picture close to their hearts, literally. Many of them will enter the “party’s bureaucracy,” and others will take to the hills like their older cohorts, the guerilla army, all in order to fight Israel from the south of Lebanon. Meaning the “party of God” in Arabic, popular “military, political and social force” and Hamas-inspiration Hezbollah is intent on attracting as many as possible to its Israel-attacking cause.

Dear American Voter,

Have you ever wondered what the rest of the world is saying about you?

Here’s an idea:

“America is not the savior of the world, nor its hope. It is up to you Americans to make sure that you are loved more than you are hated.”

“Anyone who is American, who thrives on the remains of Red Indians, is a rapist. Rapists don’t give rights to anyone. They do not know about the suffering of the people. The suffering of Iraqis, Palestinians or Muslims in general. The thing Americans know best is how to take oil.”

“American leaders should behave like world leaders. They should spread love, not hatred. Vote for a candidate who wants peace, not just in America, but in the whole world.”

Link TV has been collecting videos from around the world, asking international non-voters to speak directly to Americans and tell them what they think their priorities should be during voting season. The result is a candid array of foreign perspectives, ranging from the moving to the disturbing, and an insight into the global awareness of America’s big decision.

So far, the project has accumulated more than 90 videos from 22 countries.

“Essentially, we are asking the American people what issues are important to them, as well as trying to get a global audience to respond to the question, ‘What would you want Americans to think about in the upcoming elections?’” said Sadaf Siddique, project manager for Dear American Voter.

Here is a sampling of some of the most popular international voices:

The world does not perceive you as strong, but arrogant; not powerful, but as a bully. People love America, and we want to love it even more. America’s strength must come from its confidence, not its aggression. We were united with you after 9/11, but your leaders destroyed that good will soon after. America is not the savior of the world, nor its hope. America is as loved as much as it is hated. It is up to you Americans to make sure that you are loved more than you are hated. (South Africa)

I would like them to withdraw all American troops out of Iraq to leave us in peace in the Arab world. (Jordan)

Is the government helping Main St., or are they helping Wall St.? Are they helping the citizens by saving the system or are they helping the suits and ties? I didn’t ask them to use my money to save them. But now that I am an official owner of these companies, I’m entitled to ask. Are they helping me, or are they just helping the companies? (U.S.A.)

Never did an elected president give rights to Iraqis, Arabs, Muslims or Palestinians. I cross out 99 percent of Americans. One percent of them are honorable, but they are from the people, not the government. Anyone who is American, who thrives on the remains of Red Indians, is a rapist. Rapists don’t give rights to anyone. They do not know about the suffering of the people. The suffering of Iraqis, Palestinians or Muslims in general. The thing Americans know best is how to take oil. (Iraqi refugee living in Syria)

American leaders should behave like world leaders. They should spread love, not hatred. Vote for a candidate who wants peace, not just in America, but in the whole world. (Pakistan)

The project is calling for submissions from Americans as well as internationals, and the site has a vibrant commenting community. Much of it might be pretty hard to swallow, but seeing the world gather in an international forum is amazing. Above all, it serves as a colorful reminder that this election is as important to the rest of the world as it is to most Americans. We’re all going to be affected. But Americans are the only ones with the ballot power.

That’s a lot of pressure to RSVP.

Saddam Hussein and two of his aides were executed by the Iraqi government within weeks of being sentenced to death for the killing of 148 civilians in the Iraqi city Dujail. Saddam was hanged a mere 56 days after his sentencing — so quick, in fact, that it necessitated the dropping of a separate case charging Hussein with the murders of some 100,000 Kurds.

The average length of stay on U.S. death row is up to 12.86 years for current inmates (as of Oct, 2006). Capital punishment is officially sanctioned in 38 of the 50 states, although court appointed doctors are consistently questioning the ethics.

Last month in Florida, it took Angel Diaz 34 minutes to die in a botched execution that left him talking and gasping for air for a good 11 minutes. The last execution in California was that of 76-year-old Clarence Ray Allen, a blind, wheelchair-bound man who spent 26 years on death row.

So what’s this about “dignity” Ms. Rice?

Wire reports fail to adequately reflect Rice’s halting and uncomfortable statement to Middle East diplomats in Egypt. So I’ve…um… posted…the…uh… audio… below.

photo of Condi shirt in China from J-Hob’s flickr.

The U.S.-based suit alleges that Mohammed and his brother were part of a conspiracy “to buy boys in the slave trade and hold them in bondage in brutal camps in the Dubai desert.” The lawsuit reportedly detailed information involving thousands of boys as young as four years old who were prized because they weighed less than 44 pounds. Sheikh Mohammed’s personal 747 aircraft was parked at Bluegrass Airport this week in Lexington [...] AP has not reported whether evidence exists regarding young boys being trafficked out of Lexington. The sheikh was reportedly there purchasing thoroughbred yearlings.

Time raves that although Sheik Mo’s “family-run city-state is no democracy [...] it has become a model of business-style governance.” Ah yes of course, how we love business-style governance, where mere enslavement is no barrier to achieving the dream-life of wealth and success!

But Sheik Mo– in addition to being a world-shaping titan and an alleged slaver– is a poet. And in an online offering called “The Ferocity of the Lions,” he may be hinting at his true feelings on the matter of the enslaved boy jockeys:

Oh the hope of my life!
Oh the peak of my desire!
Tell me how to get rid of the manacles.

The rest of his verse is less clear but equally evocative… that is to say, a complete mystery of sillines. I have no idea what any of it is about. My guess, though, is that if Saddam Hussein, another of the region’s ruler-poets, had embraced “business-style governance” when he had the chance, he’d likely be at the races today, scribbling his verse in the open air instead of in a tiny jail cell and making plans to buy buildings in Manhattan and horses in Kentucky.

Last week, Charles Johnson from the Little Green Footballs blog site, exposed a Reuters photo depicting clouds of smoke over buildings in Beirut as being altered. The photo, taken by photographer Adnan Hajj, who worked for Reuters since the early 90s, used the Photoshop clone tool to reproduce smoke, making the image seem more intense than it was in an attempt to influence public opinion. Reuters pulled the photos and fired Hajj.

Somehow, the image managed to pass through the hands of photo editors, yet was called into question by a one-man blogging operation. And the mainstream media look down on bloggers? Funny how bloggers are the ones revealing the real truth.

Bloggers have also called into question photos of the Qana attack with inconsistent time stamps from different photographers. Click for the full story.