The Liberal Gun Club Forum

As the administration and the other 199 countries have reach a voluntary accord on trying to limit climate change, our dearly misguided GOP Congress Critters have vowed to shred it.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Obama is "making promises he can't keep" and should remember that the agreement "is subject to being shredded in 13 months." McConnell noted that the presidential election is next year and the agreement could be reversed if the GOP wins the White House.
And Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma said that Americans can expect the administration to cite the agreement as an excuse for establishing emission targets for every sector of the U.S. economy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rep ... 92150e2feb

When the climate goes to hell the Turtle will just suck back into his shell and blame Obama for it.

I'm not real happy with the accord, but it is a start.

That an accord was achieved with so many signatories and with substantive goals is news. The GOP continues to be the dinosaur in the age of asteroids. Time is not on their side with this and so many of their positions. The liberal institution of the US Department of Defense would disagree with the GOP with regards to climate change:

http://www.defense.gov/News-Article-View/Article/612710

On a personal note, I believe in individual, as well as collective, action on this. To that end, I'm working on being clean and green... last month's energy usage for our family o' three:

Electricity: 187 KwH
Natural Gas: 6 therms

We're working on improving that. Next year we're getting solar panels which should meet our net electricity use, and then some.

The biggest problem I have with it is it's voluntary and some large countries have been given special consideration. Just propaganda I've heard. I'll have to read it when I find the time. Sounds like an agreement that there is a problem and "something" needs to be done. Sound familiar?

That's true, and I've got earnest money on many - if not most - countries massaging their numbers as time goes on. In the cat-herding context of international diplomacy, it's still significant.

It'll be interesting who actually is honest.

sikacz wrote:It'll be interesting who actually is honest.

I wonder if Germany is going to let Volkswagen do the testing and enforcement.

TrueTexan wrote: When the climate goes to hell the Turtle will just suck back into his shell and blame Obama for it.

No, he'll be dead, 'cause he's old. Ditto the Koch Bros.

What they're betting is that their wealth will allow their descendants to move to the areas that remain most habitable and have enough distance and/or armed security to protect the rich enclaves. (I'm betting Montana and Alberta will be prime territory.) Other people's grandkids can die in resource wars/riots, famines or storm flooding, but the people who matter will be OK.

TrueTexan wrote:
I wonder if Germany is going to let Volkswagen do the testing and enforcement.

Why wouldn't all developing nations sign onto this since it promises a mass wealth transfer to them?

BTW: This is a bunch of voluntary promises that hinge on the nations economy and India will still double it's coal power plant production while China and Japan build new coal power plants in their own countries and developing countries while other developed nations hamper their own economies by making energy more expensive.

One thing I have to give to Texas is that they do their energy suppliers. They have an exchange where you can select your energy provider and they list how much each company sources from renewables. I selected 100% renewable source and it wasn't the most or least expensive solution....

Neil deGrasse-Tyson made a funny on today's StarTalk. They were talking about some guys plan to colonize Mars and Tyson was talking about the similarities between Earth and Mars. Tyson points out that Mars has polar ice caps, as does Earth -- at least as of today. Eugene Mirman, Tyson's court jester on StarTalk, immediately tells Tyson to leave his Communist propaganda outside and everyone busts out laughing.

This just makes me sad -- existentially sad, you know? There's just no accord to be found, apparently.

Looking at the accord and then the acts of congress as they try for another spending bill. Seems the GOP and some Dems. Want business as usual.

A major priority for the GOP and some Democrats was lifting the 40-year-old bar against exporting U.S. crude oil, an upshot of the 1970’s oil shortages that industry supporters consider unneeded with today’s explosion of domestic oil extraction. Critics say ending the prohibition would be a windfall to big oil companies that would damage the environment by encouraging more drilling.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/node/58353

My question is why lift the ban? Benchmark crude oil is at a 30 year low as of yesterday and seems to be still falling. This is due to a glut of oil on the world market. So the big oil and mainly the GOP wants us to allow the export of our crude oil to add to the glut. There seems to be a problem with that idea. By exporting oil we're not going to raise prices on the world market, especially if OPEC raises production to counter the export to maintain control of the market. Is the strategy of big oil is to ship it out and create a shortage here to raise prices? Maybe to get themselves in a situation where they have the government give them more tax breaks and incentives to bail them out. Also most of the oil drilling is in the fracking shale oil strata and cost more per barrel to drill than what the price is today. The old saying is "When you in a hole you stop digging." Fits well to this problem.

By drilling more we use up our reserves of oil leaving us to the mercy of the other countries. We also create more pollution from the fracking used to get the oil. My solution keep the oil here and in the ground till we really need it.

TrueTexan wrote:Looking at the accord and then the acts of congress as they try for another spending bill. Seems the GOP and some Dems. Want business as usual.

A major priority for the GOP and some Democrats was lifting the 40-year-old bar against exporting U.S. crude oil, an upshot of the 1970’s oil shortages that industry supporters consider unneeded with today’s explosion of domestic oil extraction. Critics say ending the prohibition would be a windfall to big oil companies that would damage the environment by encouraging more drilling.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/node/58353

My question is why lift the ban? Benchmark crude oil is at a 30 year low as of yesterday and seems to be still falling. This is due to a glut of oil on the world market. So the big oil and mainly the GOP wants us to allow the export of our crude oil to add to the glut. There seems to be a problem with that idea. By exporting oil we're not going to raise prices on the world market, especially if OPEC raises production to counter the export to maintain control of the market. Is the strategy of big oil is to ship it out and create a shortage here to raise prices? Maybe to get themselves in a situation where they have the government give them more tax breaks and incentives to bail them out. Also most of the oil drilling is in the fracking shale oil strata and cost more per barrel to drill than what the price is today. The old saying is "When you in a hole you stop digging." Fits well to this problem.

By drilling more we use up our reserves of oil leaving us to the mercy of the other countries. We also create more pollution from the fracking used to get the oil. My solution keep the oil here and in the ground till we really need it.

So you were against the Keystone Pipeline as well huh?

Merkwuerdigliebe wrote:

TrueTexan wrote:Looking at the accord and then the acts of congress as they try for another spending bill. Seems the GOP and some Dems. Want business as usual.

A major priority for the GOP and some Democrats was lifting the 40-year-old bar against exporting U.S. crude oil, an upshot of the 1970’s oil shortages that industry supporters consider unneeded with today’s explosion of domestic oil extraction. Critics say ending the prohibition would be a windfall to big oil companies that would damage the environment by encouraging more drilling.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/node/58353

My question is why lift the ban? Benchmark crude oil is at a 30 year low as of yesterday and seems to be still falling. This is due to a glut of oil on the world market. So the big oil and mainly the GOP wants us to allow the export of our crude oil to add to the glut. There seems to be a problem with that idea. By exporting oil we're not going to raise prices on the world market, especially if OPEC raises production to counter the export to maintain control of the market. Is the strategy of big oil is to ship it out and create a shortage here to raise prices? Maybe to get themselves in a situation where they have the government give them more tax breaks and incentives to bail them out. Also most of the oil drilling is in the fracking shale oil strata and cost more per barrel to drill than what the price is today. The old saying is "When you in a hole you stop digging." Fits well to this problem.

By drilling more we use up our reserves of oil leaving us to the mercy of the other countries. We also create more pollution from the fracking used to get the oil. My solution keep the oil here and in the ground till we really need it.

So you were against the Keystone Pipeline as well huh?

Yep.

COP-21 is just another example of political masturbation. If anything, they added substantially to CO2. It has no teeth, it will do nothing substantial. Even if every country said it would do what was talked about before the meeting, the alleged reduction in temperatures is in the tenths of a degree. What this does do is transfer money from developed nations to undeveloped nation governments (China is considered an undeveloped nation in this meeting) and if you think it will be used logically, don't fool yourself.

Kyoto accord.

On so many fronts, the US of A is the bad guys. In Star Trek terms, the US is a mix of the Ferengi and the Romulans yet we think of ourselves as the Federation.

It's all about the gold pressed latinum and naked women. To hell with climate change.

Actually, based on our current Byzantine foreign policy, I think it's worse than that. I'm afraid we're the Cardassians...