OP-ED by AL Gore

Al Gore wrote an op-ed for the NY Times, today, about his favorite subject, Global Warming.

Lets take a look:

Moving Beyond Kyoto
By AL GORE
Nashville

WE — the human species — have arrived at a moment of decision. It is nprecedented and even laughable for us to imagine that we could actually make a conscious choice as a species, but that is nevertheless the challenge that is before us.

Our home — Earth — is in danger. What is at risk of being destroyed is not the planet itself, but the conditions that have made it hospitable for human beings.

Without realizing the consequences of our actions, we have begun to put so much carbon dioxide into the thin shell of air surrounding our world that we have literally changed the heat balance between Earth and the Sun. If we don’t stop doing this pretty quickly, the average temperature will increase to levels humans have never known and put an end to the favorable climate balance on which our civilization depends.

In the last 150 years, in an accelerating frenzy, we have been removing increasing quantities of carbon from the ground — mainly in the form of coal and oil — and burning it in ways that dump 70 million tons of CO2 every 24 hours into the Earth’s atmosphere.

The concentrations of CO2 — having never risen above 300 parts per million for at least a million years — have been driven from 280 parts per million at the beginning of the coal boom to 383 parts per million this year.

As a direct result, many scientists are now warning that we are moving closer to several “tipping points” that could — within 10 years — make it impossible for us to avoid irretrievable damage to the planet’s habitability for human civilization.

Just in the last few months, new studies have shown that the north polar ice cap — which helps the planet cool itself — is melting nearly three times faster than the most pessimistic computer models predicted. Unless we take action, summer ice could be completely gone in as little as 35 years. Similarly, at the other end of the planet, near the South Pole, scientists have found new evidence of snow melting in West Antarctica across an area as large as California.

This is not a political issue. This is a moral issue, one that affects the survival of human civilization. It is not a question of left versus right; it is a question of right versus wrong. Put simply, it is wrong to destroy the habitability of our planet and ruin the prospects of every generation that follows ours. More here>>

And yet people still don't believe this earth is warming here in the good ole U.S. Listening to the people that called in, this morning, on C-SPAN'S Washington Journal, this unfortunately runs along party lines. What the Radio Talk Show hosts and Fox News tells these people to say, they say! Taking this a gospel and not even doing any research of their own. Sad that we have that many people who can't think for themselves.

News Tidbits

Mr. Bush Gets Another Look Into Mr. Putin’s Eyes
By CARLA ANNE ROBBINS
The Russian president arrives Sunday at the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport — the only foreign leader to get such an invitation from this President Bush.


Needlenose on Powell:
One gem which the audience enjoyed was the retelling of Powell and President Bush’s first encounters with Russian President Vladimir Putin. As Powell recalled it after the meeting he and Bush were reviewing events and comparing notes and seemingly they disagreed. At one point Bush looked at his Secretary of State and said (with a suitable Texas twang) “Powell, I looked into Putin’s eyes and I saw his soul” to which Powell replied: “Mr. President, I looked into President Putin’s eyes and I saw the KGB”.

The Break-In That History Forgot
By EGIL KROGH
I finally realized that what had gone wrong in the Nixon White House was a meltdown in personal integrity.

Smuggling Tunnel Is Found on Arizona-Mexico Border
By GREG CLARK
A smuggling tunnel freshly excavated under the border with Mexico was sealed Friday after a joint raid by United States and Mexican authorities.

U.S. tightens security at some airports 1 hour, 21 minutes ago
KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine - U.S. airports and mass transit systems will tighten security in response to apparent terrorist incidents in Britain, the Bush administration said Saturday.

Two civilians among seven killed in Israeli Gaza air strikes 1 hour, 39 minutes ago
GAZA CITY (AFP) - Two civilians were among seven Palestinians killed in two Israeli air strikes in Gaza on Saturday, as Hamas vowed to resist any international peacekeeping force in the embattled territory.

President Bush speaks on Fourth Anniversary of Iraq war.

Bush Speaks. He said nothing new. Nothing we haven't heard before. "The new strategy needs time". He asks us to be patient. Patient? I have no patience for this war and his incompetence in waging it. He's asking for another chance to make things right.

But the sad fact is Bush, his admin, and the generals he's chosen, none of them know what to do now. To be honest, he's made such a mess of it that nobody knows how to fix it at this point. So the talking points from the right have been, You, Dems, what would you do? Well first of all, if the Dems were in charge, this war would not have happened in the first place. So what would we do now that your president and his admin screwed up so badly? Well I would not send more troops to die there.

How about diplomacy Mr Bush! How about getting your fading coalition and the nations surrounding Iraq together and put a plan together that doesn't require bombing the hell out of a nation and causing more upheavel! You make speeches all the time, Mr Bush. I see your face on my TV screen daily, Mr. Bush. Why don't you try talking to people other than us that could help make a difference in Iraq?

Are you biding your time til someone else can take over your war, Mr. Bush? If that is the case, Mr. Bush, do us the favor and resign now and take Cheney with you, and let people take over that might be able to fix your mistake. Just like those past endeavors in your life!

Cheney Day in the News

C-Span's question of the day call-in: What are your thoughts about Cheney.
As you would imagine, the majority of the calls fall on party lines. The Rupublicans love him and the Democrats hate him. One caller said she thinks he's great and wished he could get a heart transplant so that he could run for President.

From Reuters:

Cheney says U.S. wants to leave Iraq "with honor"
Wed Feb 21, 2007 12:51 AM ET
By Caren Bohan

TOKYO (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney said on Wednesday the United States wants to finish its mission in Iraq and "return with honor", despite the war's growing unpopularity at home and doubts among U.S. allies.

Cheney's visit to Tokyo comes just weeks after Japan's defense minister said starting the Iraq war was a mistake and its foreign minister called the U.S. occupation strategy "immature".

The remarks forced Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whom Cheney meets later in Wednesday, to scurry to reassure Washington that Tokyo's backing for U.S. policy in Iraq was unchanged.

But a survey released on Tuesday showed most Japanese voters agreed with Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma when he said President Bush was wrong to start the war.

In a speech delivered aboard the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier at Yokosuka Navy Base near Tokyo, Cheney said: "We know that terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength, they are invited by the perception of weakness."

"We know that if we leave Iraq before the mission is completed, the enemy is going to come after us. And I want you to know that the American people will not support a policy of retreat," he added.

"We want to complete the mission, we want to get it done right, and we want to return with honor," said Cheney, who heads on Thursday for Australia to meet Prime Minister John Howard, another staunch supporter of Bush's Iraq policy.

Strong words for someone who received several deferrals to avoid going to Viet Nam. And do these words sound familiar? Didn't Nixon say the same thing?

Speaking of Nixon here's some excerpts from his speech on Viet Nam in 1969:

Before any American troops were committed to Vietnam, a leader of another Asian country expressed this opinion to me when I was traveling in Asia as a private citizen. He said: "When you are trying to assist another nation defend its freedom, U.S. policy should be to help them fight the war but not to fight the war for them." ...

My fellow Americans, I am sure you can recognize from what I have said that we really only have two choices open to us if we want to end this war. -I can order an immediate, precipitate withdrawal of all Americans from Vietnam without regard to the effects of that action.
-Or we can persist in our search for a just peace through a negotiated settlement if possible, or through continued implementation of our plan for Vietnamization if necessary a plan in which we will withdraw all our forces from Vietnam on a schedule in accordance with our program, as the South Vietnamese become strong enough to defend their own freedom.
I have chosen this second course.

-The South Vietnamese have continued to gain in strength. As a result they have been able to take over combat responsibilities from our American troops.

Let me now turn to our program for the future.
We have adopted a plan which we have worked out in cooperation with the South Vietnamese for the complete withdrawal of all U.S. combat ground forces, and their replacement by South Vietnamese forces on an orderly scheduled timetable. This withdrawal will be made from strength and not from weakness. As South Vietnamese forces become stronger, the rate of American withdrawal can become greater.
I have not and do not intend to announce the timetable for our program. And there are obvious reasons for this decision which I am sure you will understand. As I have indicated on several occasions, the rate of withdrawal will depend on developments on three fronts.

We have not learned from the past!

And just for fun....a Cheney toon at the NYT