"Vagina" goes viral

This has been a very busy week here in Michigan, and especially in Metro Detroit. In addition to the recall of Troy Mayor Janice Daniels, the agreement to build a new Detroit-Windsor bridge, and rising local gas prices, all of which I've blogged about, the following sustainability-related stories all made the news this week:

• Detroit's suit against the state of Michigan was dismissed
• The repeal of the Emergency Manager Law will reman on the November ballot
• The petitions for the measure protecting union rights were submitted.
• The state legislature refused to help Detroit with its streetlights, a topic I blogged about in Detroit's problems as tragedy and farce.
• Detroit's fireworks and parade may be cancelled after this year without outside help.
• Wayne County's air quality improved.
• Cougar populations are recovering and the big cats are returning to their former range in the Midwest.

The big story this week from Michigan, the one that sucked all the oxygen out of the room as it went viral on social media and the national and international press, was the silencing of State Representatives Lisa Brown and Barb Byrum in the Michigan State House, ostensibly for saying "vagina" and "vasectomy" respectively. Join me over the jump for a sampling of the reaction so far, along with an overview of what was being debated when the incident happened.

Remember Ted Cruz?

If you don't, maybe this will refresh your memory.

Paul Krugman made a point about how crazy he thought the Right had become in First, they came for the golf courses. There, he linked to the Think Progress article TX Sen Candidate Ted Cruz Spouts Paranoid Fantasy About United Nations/George Soros Conspiracy To Eliminate Golf. Yes, really.

As soon as I read the combination of George Soros, the United Nations, and eliminating golf courses, I knew I was dealing with someone who had bought into the paranoia about Agenda 21. I was right. The Think Progress article quoted a page from Ted Cruz's own website railing against Agenda 21, one with a title so precious that I have to reproduce it here: Stop Agenda 21: The Constitution should be our only "Agenda." I have to hand it to Cruz; that's the perfect framing for someone who wants to run with an anti-Agenda 21 plank.

As for what Cruz wrote about Agenda 21 eliminating golf, here's the section that Think Progress quoted (bolding theirs).

In 1992, the United Nations adopted Agenda 21 to "achieve a more efficient and equitable world economy," outlining a process to eliminate environmental decay and social injustice through micromanaging industries, communities, and culture. They will meet again next year to discuss its "progress" in over 100 nations.

The originator of this grand scheme is George Soros, who candidly supports socialism and believes that global development must progress through eliminating national sovereignty and private property. He has given millions to this project. But he is not the only one promoting this plan; in fact, the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) now consists of over 600 cities in the United States.

Agenda 21 attempts to abolish "unsustainable" environments, including golf courses, grazing pastures, and paved roads. It hopes to leave mother earth's surface unscratched by mankind. . . . Agenda 21 subverts liberty, our property rights, and our sovereignty.

In other words, Cruz is one of the maniacs promising people can keep their cars, McMansions, and commutes this year.

With the Texas Republican Primary yesterday, Cruz is back in the news.

Paul Krugman has discovered Agenda 21 paranoia

Paul Krugman made a point about how crazy he thought the Right had become in First, they came for the golf courses. There, he linked to the Think Progress article TX Sen Candidate Ted Cruz Spouts Paranoid Fantasy About United Nations/George Soros Conspiracy To Eliminate Golf. Yes, really.

As soon as I read the combination of George Soros, the United Nations, and eliminating golf courses, I knew I was dealing with someone who had bought into the paranoia about Agenda 21. I was right. The Think Progress article quoted a page from Ted Cruz's own website railing against Agenda 21, one with a title so precious that I have to reproduce it here: Stop Agenda 21: The Constitution should be our only “Agenda.” I have to hand it to Cruz; that's the perfect framing for someone who wants to run with an anti-Agenda 21 plank.

As for what Cruz wrote about Agenda 21 eliminating golf, here's the section that Think Progress quoted (bolding theirs).

In 1992, the United Nations adopted Agenda 21 to “achieve a more efficient and equitable world economy,” outlining a process to eliminate environmental decay and social injustice through micromanaging industries, communities, and culture. They will meet again next year to discuss its “progress” in over 100 nations.

The originator of this grand scheme is George Soros, who candidly supports socialism and believes that global development must progress through eliminating national sovereignty and private property. He has given millions to this project. But he is not the only one promoting this plan; in fact, the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) now consists of over 600 cities in the United States.

Agenda 21 attempts to abolish “unsustainable” environments, including golf courses, grazing pastures, and paved roads. It hopes to leave mother earth’s surface unscratched by mankind. . . . Agenda 21 subverts liberty, our property rights, and our sovereignty.

First, Ooga booga! George Soros! Yeah, scare your base while saying "Pay no attention to the Koch Brothers behind the curtain!" Second, golf courses? I have no problem with golf courses here in Michigan. I live within a few blocks of one. It adds to the green space around me and helps keep this neighborhood quiet, along with the two cemetaries and the city park on the other three sides of my house. Golf courses in California are another matter, but that's a small matter compared to all the other extravagant uses of water there. Third, it's not cow pastures that are the problem, it's CAFOs. I rather doubt anyone is going after Joel Salatin for the pastures on Polyface Farm. Finally, the man is projecting about paved roads. After all, he belongs to the party that is underfunding state and local government, which means roads don't get paved.

I didn't post any of the above in response to either article. Instead, I compiled some of my greatest hits on Agenda 21 paranoia and posted the result as comments to both the Krugman post and the Think Progress article. Here it is.

Ted Cruz isn't the only Republican candidate who is using Agenda 21 to rally his party's paranoid base. Newt Gingrich has been explicitly campaigning against Agenda 21 since last November, vowing that he'll reverse all the sustainable development initiatives during the past 3 years that he claims are evidence of Obama implementing Agenda 21. It's a major part of the reason why he's been hating on New Yorkers and residents of D.C. who live in high rises and take the subway, saying that one can't put a gun rack on a Volt, and promoting his candidacy with a vaporware program to reduce gas to $2.50/ gallon. Newt is even putting the $2.50 gas logo on his campaign signs. He thinks this is a winner.

The paranoia extends beyond Newt Gingrich. In January, the Republican National Committee passed a resolution against what it called “the destructive and insidious nature” of Agenda 21. It declared, “The United Nations Agenda 21 plan of radical so-called ‘sustainable development’ views the American way of life of private property ownership, single family homes, private car ownership and individual travel choices, and privately owned farms; all as destructive to the environment.” So this isn't just an isolated incident. The belief that Agenda 21 is the new black helicopter goes all the way to the top of the GOP.

And to think this all started last summer as Tea Partiers vs. manatees in Florida.

It turns out that Krugman would have found out about the RNC resolution if he had clicked through to Cruz's website. The very first paragraph mentions it.

The Republican National Committee recently took a stand in voting unanimously to oppose Agenda 21, a dangerous United Nations plan that takes aim at the American economy – and American freedom – in the name of environmental reform.

Look for more Republicans playing the roles of maniacs promising people can keep their cars, McMansions, and commutes this year.

Gingrich pledges $2.50 gas; President Obama hits back

As I should have expected, rising gas prices have become a hot campaign issue again. Yes, Michele Bachmann promised $2 gas last summer, which was roundly criticized, but the issue didn't go away when she dropped out. Newt Gingrich, who has been demagoguing against Agenda 21 and beating up on sustainable living practices for months, has now taken up the mantle of the fossil fool candidate from the departed Bachmann.

From the Associated Press on YouTube:







Gingrich is playing fast and loose with his statistics, as he failed to mention that gasoline went well over $4/gallon during the summer of 2008 during the term of George W. Bush. Tsk, tsk, but I don't expect any better from Newt. I do expect better from our journalists, I found it. The hard-headed money people at the Wall Street Journal point out how patently ridiculous Gingrich's stance is.







Journalists aren't the only ones to point out the silliness of Gingrich's pledge. Our politicians are as well, and the best response comes from the very top, as shown in these two videos from Brad "climatebrad" Johnson of Think Progress.









Reuters has more on this speech.

President Barack Obama hit back on Thursday at election-year Republican criticism of his energy policies, offering a staunch defense of his attempts to wean Americans off foreign oil and saying there is no "silver bullet" for high gasoline prices.

Obama sought to deflect growing Republican attacks over rising prices at the pump, blaming recent increases on a mix of factors beyond his control, including tensions with Iran, hot demand from China, India and other emerging economies, and Wall Street speculators taking advantage of the uncertainty.
...
"It's the easiest thing in the world (to) make phony election-year promises about lower gas prices," Obama said, offering his most comprehensive rebuttal yet of the intensifying Republican criticism.

"What's harder is to make a serious, sustained commitment to tackle a problem that may not be solved in one year or one term or even one decade," he said.
...
"You can bet that since it's an election year, they're already dusting off their three-point plans for $2 gas," Obama said. "I'll save you the suspense: Step one is drill, step two is drill and step three is keep drilling."

As President Obama said, what the Republicans are promising is not a strategy, it's a bumper sticker. Bumper sticker slogans aren't enough to solve our problems.

Finally, here's the embed of the complete speech from the White House's YouTube channel. It's about more than just energy, but also about manufacturing and STEM education, two other priorities of the Obama Adminstration.







I love a president who really likes the idea of sustainable development packaged as making America competitive!

Finally, if the full 23 minutes of the University of Miami address is too long, the President's weekly address has all the highlights boiled down to under five minutes.







Above crossposted to Daily Kos.

Herman Cain on Occupy Wall Street

I have a bunch of tabs open with stories about Occupy Wall Street, so it's time to blog about them and move on to new stories. First, a video from Think Progress on YouTube in which Herman Cain, who is currently third in the polls among GOP candidates for President, says that he thinks that Occupy Wall Street was "orchestrated...to distract from the failed policies of the Obama Administration," although he acknowledges he has no facts to back up that belief.




My comment at Political Carnival, where this was also posted:

Normally, I'd tell Mr. "Plan 9-9-9 from Outer Space" that Occupy Wall Street will point out at least one failed policy of the Obama Administration, that of not prosecuting the bankers and others on Wall Street who contributed to the Great Recessioin, but I don't think that will make it through the Reynolds Wrap beanie he probably wears off camera. Even if it did, it would be inconvenient to his narrative.

Speaking of "Plan 9-9-9 from Outer Space," it's time to be an environmentalist and recycle.




Original at The Cain Scrutiny on Hysterical Raisins.

One of the worst economic plans ever deserves a poster from one of the worst movies ever.

Tell me now, which deity do the Dominionists really worship?

In the middle of this week's missive of doom, Kunstler inserted this passage about being in Mexico City and visiting the Pyramid of the Sun in the old Aztec city. It made quite an impression on him.

I was in Mexico City mid-week and sojourned behind the Zocolo at the ruins of the Templo Mayor, headquarters of the New World's champion people-eater, Huitzilopochtli, a bad-ass muthafucka of a god if ever there was one. The Aztecs had everything going for them except their reality, at the center of which was this bloodthirsty hallucinated monster demanding fresh beating hearts by the hundred-weight. And so, consumed by this insane myth, a half a million of them allowed themselves to be destroyed by three hundred adventurers from Spain.

Strange to relate, the environs of the ruined pyramid was the most tranquil spot in the entire super-gigantic permanent catastrophe of Mexico City. Old Huitzee would like these times, I thought: a bad moon rising and plenty of fresh meat everywhere. The way the stars were lining up, a pitiless deity could really get his mojo on. It made my skin crawl, I hardly know where to start this week.

I decided to tie his insight with what he wrote about Perry the week before, dropping one of the freakier ideas about who Dominionists really worship in my response for good measure.

Remember last week's comment about Ponzi Perry's being a Dominionist? A friend of mine has a wild hair of an idea that ties that idea together with your comments about Huitzilopochtli. My buddy thinks that while the Dominionists think they're worshiping Yahweh, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, they've been hoodwinked, and Huitzilopochtli and a couple of his buddies from the Aztec pantheon are receiving the Dominionists' devotion instead. That could explain why the biggest applause line of the night during last week's Republican debate was when Ponzi Perry mentioned executing more prisoners than any other sitting governor. It was the kind of sacrifice the deity they really worship would approve of. Jesus, not so much.

That's a very strange idea, but one that received another example in support of it last night.

Silly Sustainability Saturday for 9-10-11

Time for another tour through the lighter side of sustainability this week, with sustainability news that is funny, silly (including just plain stupid), fun, or simply positive. This week's news features Next Media Animation, the Rachel Maddow Show, Think Progress Green, and Girst; it begins over the jump.

Silly Sustainability Saturday for Labor Day weekend 2011

Time for another tour through the lighter side of sustainability this week, with sustainability news that is funny, silly, fun, or simply positive. After a week like this, people who care about the environment could use some.

This week's news over the jump.

Silly Sustainability Saturday for August 27, 2011

It's common for Silly Sustainability Saturday to spawn follow-ups, such as Why do Tea Partiers hate high-speed rail?, a post inspired by a reaction to a story covered in Silly Sustainability Saturday: Carmageddon, Tea Partiers against manatees, and Butterbeer. In fact, that happened this week with Narb's comment to Silly Sustainability Saturday for August 20, 2011 inspiring For Narb: Paul Krugman and fake alien invasions. Tonight, inspiration comes full circle, as Dr. Krugman takes his turn in the spotlight for Silly Sustainability Saturday because of something he didn't say.

Well, this is interesting. I hear that the not-so-good people at National Review are attacking me over something I said on my Google+ page. Except, I don’t have a Google+ page.

Dave Weigel at Slate has the faux Krugman quote.

Yesterday, a Google+ account belonging to "Paul Krugman" posted this thought experiment about the earthquake.

People on twitter might be joking, but in all seriousness, we would see a bigger boost in spending and hence economic growth if the earthquake had done more damage.

The reactions were swift after Tim Carney -- who'd just joked that Krugman might think this -- spread the message around on Twitter.

Weigel has more reactions from conservatives who bit on the troll's hook. He also found the hoaxer.

The Google+ account was a hoax created by 2010 college grad Carlos Graterol, to make fun of the "many misguided beliefs that Paul Krugman holds, defends, and espouses on a daily basis."

Both Weigel and the snarky Dan Amira at N.Y. Magazine's Daily Intel Blog repeated Professor Krugman's reaction.

This is really cute, not. Apparently some people can’t find enough things to attack in what I actually say, so they’re busy creating fake quotes. And I have enough on my plate without trying to chase all this stuff down.

So if you see me quoted as saying something really stupid or outrageous, and it didn’t come from the Times or some other verifiable site, you should probably assume it was a fake.

Krugman became even more annoyed in his next post.

Actually, this thing ties in with what I just wrote about anti-Keynesian switcheroos: the hoaxer was trying to make my (correct) assertions in the past that even useless spending can be expansionary sound as if I revel in disaster. Those who can’t argue rationally, resort to fakery.

Also, the gullibility on display was impressive. All these right-wing hacks knew it must be a genuine quote, because they all knew that I’m a terrible person — based on past distortions!

And I’d be willing to bet that this fake quote will continue to pop up on right-wing blogs and talk radio for years to come.

Yes, Dr. Krugman, I'm sure it will. There is a reason why the opposition to the policies of the current incarnation of the Republican Party is called "the reality-based community," to which the Republican Party as a whole no longer belongs.

Silly Sustainability Saturday for August 20, 2011

Another brief tour through the lighter side of sustainability this week. Some of the links will be funny, others will be just fun, or at least positive.

First, Huffington Post has cribbed a list from the Sierra Club: The Greenest Colleges: Sierra Magazine List. The Sierra Club's Top Ten are here. California schools compose half the list. Two colleges each from Washington and Vermont and one from North Carolina fill out the rest. No surprise, the North Carolina school is in Asheville, and it isn't Western Carolina University--it's Warren Wilson College. The complete rankings are here.

Huffington Post has two other stories in this week's edition, both of which reflect HuffPo's politics as entertainment focus, thus qualifying as silly. PETA Plans A Porn Site--yes, you read that correctly. If nothing else, PETA knows how to get attention, even if it isn't always constructive. This is nothing new for the organization.

PETA has done ad campaigns with adult film stars Sasha Grey, Ron Jeremy and Jenna Jameson. In 2008, the organization's YouTube account was temporarily shut down after posting racy videos of celebrities and others posing nude.

In Fighting Global Warming Could Stave Off Alien Invasion: Report, HuffPo links to an article in The Guardian. The gist of the article was "Rising greenhouse emissions could tip off aliens that we are a rapidly expanding threat." Well, that certainly fits the sustainablity with a science fiction slant of this blog!

Speaking of alien invasions, climate change, and science fiction, Think Progress has the following gem describing the response of Fox News and its viewers to the study quoted by The Guardian: Fox Viewers Overwhelmingly Think We Should Prepare For Alien Invasion Before Fighting Climate Change. Watch the video.



Yes, the majority of people responding to the poll said scientists should focus their efforts on increasing jobs (never mind that green technology will increase jobs) but more than six times as many viewers said that scientists should work on weapons to kill aliens than should work on climate change. I don't think there are that many people with the kind of sense of humor that would think that was funny watching Fox; I'm afraid they were serious. Not everything that is silly is really funny.

Finally, Grist is featuring a game from UbiSoft in Cool new game is like SimCity for the whole environment. Here's the video.

Master new technologies and build your empire in Anno 2070. Check out this new trailer for the futuristic strategy game coming to PC.

That looks like educational fun, and I might just buy it.

That's it for Silly Sustainabilty Saturday!

Silly Sustainability Saturday: Another just links edition

Repeating the format of last week's Silly Sustainability Saturday--pretty much a quick collection of links about the lighter side of sustainablity.

From WXYZ on YouTube:





The Dream Cruise is by no means a sustainable event, but I'm all in favor of GM's Chevrolet division using it to highlight the Volt, with a squadron of 50 of them driving down Woodward.

From Think Progress Green:

Colbert Mocks Right-Wing ‘Heatsteria’

Go, Colbert!

Fox News Responds To Record Heat Waves By Predicting Global Cooling

This would be a lot funnier if people didn't take it seriously.

Santorum Blames Caribou For Nation’s Health Insurance Failures

This would be a lot funnier if Santorum hadn't come in fourth in the Iowa Straw Poll. For an antidote, just Google Santorum.

Doonesbury Gets Cool Roofs Wrong





Garry Trudeau should know better.

From Grist:

The EV-hater’s guide to hating electric cars

A handy debunking guide.

Are these eco-friendly sandals worth $18,000?

As sandals, no. My wife said she'd pay $20 for them. As a fundraiser for a good cause? We'll see.

Add this foldable canoe to your climate change survival plan

When it becomes available, it will probably be a better value than the sandals.

How to tell if your city is going places

Cool infographic, reproduced below.





And that's it for the lighter side of sustainability this week.

Silly Sustainability Saturday: Just Links edition

No commentary tonight, just links.

From Think Progress Green.

Donald Trump Opposes Offshore Wind Farm, Says It Will Ruin View From His Golf Course

BBC’s ‘Top Gear’ Ran Down Electric Car To Push Right-Wing Agenda

#KeystoneXL #Astroturf: Tar Sands Supporters Now Polluting Twitter

I've seen this before. From Gawker: Most of Newt Gingrich’s Twitter Followers Are Fake

Fox And Friends: Spongebob Squarepants Is ‘Pushing A Global Warming Agenda’




Chesapeake Charlie, The Fracking Beagle

From Grist.

Barbie Dream House has solar panels, low-flow toilets, four stories, giraffe

Michele Bachmann seriously believes in a lightbulb conspiracy

Let them eat dandelions

Happy reading!

Now S&P thinks it's a Satan Sandwich

Earlier today, I abstracted the last three Satan Sandwich entries and posted the result as It's been a wild couple of days on the_recession on LiveJournal. It looks like I spoke too soon when I wrote that headline.

Reuters: United States loses AAA credit rating from S&P
By Walter Brandimarte
NEW YORK | Fri Aug 5, 2011 9:53pm EDT

The United States lost its top-notch AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's on Friday in an unprecedented reversal of fortune for the world's largest economy.

S&P cut the long-term U.S. credit rating by one notch to AA-plus on concerns about the government's budget deficits and rising debt burden. The move is likely to raise borrowing costs eventually for the American government, companies and consumers.

"The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government's medium-term debt dynamics," S&P said in a statement.

The decision follows a fierce political battle in Congress over cutting spending and raising taxes to reduce the government's debt burden and allow its statutory borrowing limit to be raised.

The odd thing about this downgrade is that the markets weren't calling for it.

Silly Sustainability Saturday: The Onion, more manatees, heat wave denial, and a poem

Yet another week of sustainablity news worth laughing at.

First, The Onion, courtesy of Think Progress.





Nation's Climatologists Exhibiting Strange Behavior (Season 1: Ep 5 on IFC)
For some reason, climatologists have been running around in an agitated state, waving their little arms and squawking about "global warming."

It was only a matter of time until The Onion showed up in this series.

Do you remember Tea Party Patriots vs. manatees from the first Silly Sustainability Saturday? The Tea Party Patriots, tinfoil-lined tricorn hats and all, managed to get their local U.S. Representative to listen to them.






Think Progress: Nugent Amendment Pushes Tea Party Attack On Manatees

Florida Tea Party members believe that federal efforts to protect manatees from extinction are part of a United Nations conspiracy to place manatee over man. Freshman Rep. Rich Nugent (R-FL) is now standing up for the Tea Partiers against the feared manatee overlords, offering an amendment to the FY 2012 Interior and Environment appropriations bill (HR 2584) that would block the creation of a manatee refuge in Citrus County:

When I read "Nugent" in relation to an anti-wildlife political decision, I did a double-take. Michigan has its own Nugent who "is also noted for his conservative political views and his ardent defense of hunting and gun ownership rights."

More from the Citrus County Chronicle: Nugent aims to put brakes on manatee rule
Congressman pushes to strip funding to enforce rule
By Mike Wright
Wednesday, July 27, 2011 at 10:26 pm

U.S. Rep. Rich Nugent is asking Congress to withhold funding for a proposed manatee-protection rule involving Crystal River and King’s Bay, effectively stopping the rule before it starts.

Nugent, R-Brooksville, filed an amendment to the Department of the Interior’s appropriations that says “none of the funds” from the department’s budget may be used to implement the proposed manatee refuge rule.

Nugent said Wednesday the amendment is aimed at giving local residents and officials more time to meet with federal officials before the rule takes place.
...
“What I’m hearing is people want to be heard on it,” he said. “The federal government seems to work that way: We’ll let you have input after we design the rule. In the sense of fairness, I don’t see that as the way to do it. You have the discussions, and then make a decision.”

I'm glad he listens to his constituents, even ones as silly as the ones claiming that the manatee refuge is an expression of U.N. Programme 21. However, he doesn't have that same regard for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

He said he did not consult with federal wildlife officials before offering the no-funding amendment, other than to tell them it was coming.

“They didn’t talk to me and ask me about it,” Nugent said, referring to the manatee rule. “They wouldn’t even tell me about it until after it dropped.”

That's not all for the silly anti-sustainability amendments proposed for the Interior Department appropriations. The Democrats on the national resources committee have an entire list.