Our World and Everything in It

It’s really weird how getting sick can break a person’s momentum. I was used to writing about 5 blogs per week, writing an essay or two along with that, and working on a book of all things. I get sick and bam, I’m perfectly contented to lay around in my jammies and watch reruns of “Cheers, Frazier, Just Shoot Me, Three’s Company, Reba…” and makeover programs for houses and people. I can see how America slips right into a comfort zone by not listening to one iota of news, not turning on any intelligent programs, not picking up Time Magazine, U.S. News and World Report, or Rolling Stone, or any of the myriad of environmental stuff like I get daily in the mail. It’s really pretty easy to be blind and numb to the world. But I did check my e-mail and that served as a pretty big tell all. I saw that the wolves were de-listed from the protected list. I immediately read about the backlash from doing that. Anywhere from 5,000 to 20,000 phone calls lit up the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and big organizations like Earthjustice have already moved to take that decision to court. Gotta love all those organizations I’ve listed as links. They are on it immediately. I got e-mails that said “the fight has just begun!” I hope Earthjustic ties that decision up until Bush/Cheney are out of office.  

I got an e-mail back from Representative Dingell about the wolves too. Both he and Carl Levin don’t just e-mail back, they usually e-mail back some pretty good information about new bills that just hit the house or senate floor that pertain to whatever subject I’ve written about. For instance: Representative Dingell is one of the authors of the Endangered Species Act, and he’s very concerned over the decision to de-list wolves. He went on to say that on March 9, 2007, Rep. Tom Udall (D-NM) introduced H.R. 1464, the Great Cats and Rare Canids Act of 2007, which would assist in the conservation of rare felids and rare canids, including gray wolves, by supporting and providing financial resources for conservation programs. H.R. 1464 has been referred to the House Natural Resources Committee. He assured me that while he did not sit on this Committee, he would take my comments into consideration should the bill come before him. Boy it takes a long time for a bill to move.  

As I went on through my e-mail I found that Senator Debbie Stabenow is one of a handful of legislators that is working out the details of our new Farm Bill. Defenders of Wildlife wanted their members to call her about protecting habitat for the Swift Fox and other endangered species with the Farm Bill. Well since she’s a Michigan Senator and I found out she’s on the Farm Bill committee, sick or not, I called Lansing. This Farm Bill is so important to finally put a moratorium on those stinking CAFO’s, diversify our crops more, to quit putting high fructose corn syrup in all of our food, to reward farmers for good stewardship of their land like crop rotation, organic farming, and give subsidies to farmer’s to use part of their land for wind or solar energy so that if their crops suffer due to poor weather they still have income from alternative energy sources. Yep I spouted off all of it. Hey they want to hear from us. Well maybe not Bush/Cheney, or Kempthorne, Secy. of the Interior because so far they’ve paid little to no attention to petitions or phone calls about the wolves or aerial hunting. Some of the petitions I signed were for over 25,000 signatures, yet they turned a blind eye and ear to us anyway. Figures.  

All in all I got quite a lot of news just reading my e-mail. I see that Arctic drilling is still threatening the polar bear habitat and that conservation groups are arming for that battle while Bush continues to stall on whether or not to list the polar bear as an endangered species. Like I said before oil vs. polar bear, guess who’s going to die, unless we can keep the oil men at bay until they’re out of office. It’s going to be quite a year of fighting for the environment since the last leg of this administration is still 10 months long. 

The last e-mail I read today got me off my duff to start blogging again. I was reading Motley Fool about investments and there is a new kind of nuclear plant that is being built. I’ve never heard much about this type of plant and it peaked my interest. It seems there are plans for over 20 of these across the country. I’m going to read up on it and blog about it tomorrow. “They,” whoever they are, claim that these plants don’t use as much uranium fuel and there is less spent fuel in the end. My husband said that he read “they,” whoever they are, are digging out areas in the Nevada desert to dump the spent fuel from nuclear reactors “they” plan on building. Just something else I’ve got to know about, along with that deep well “they” are digging somewhere in Michigan to inject CO2 into. You know, I’m starting to feel better already.  There is a bunch of new stuff happening I just have to know about. A little vacation from the news is kind of nice, but I guess I’m just too curious, and a whole lot mistrustful of things that happen when I’m not paying attention to ever give up my interest in our world and just about everything in it.

 (The photos are from Defenders of Wildlife, defenders.org.)

Todays Detroit Free Press had a huge article about global warming wreaking havoc on thousands of animals. It said 3000 flying foxes dropped dead falling out of trees in Australia, butterflies that lived in high altitudes of our continent have vanished, and many more species will disappear in our lifetimes due to global warming. Knowing I’m part of the human population that has created this makes me ashamed. Yet we have state’s governors working themselves into a frenzy to obliterate every last wolf if they have their way.

There has been a campaign for quite some time to stop the aerial killing of wolves. It started and continues in Alaska. Many Alaskans want it stopped, and people all over the country have petitioned Alaska to stop it. Alaska has a new governor and it’s become even worse for wolves there. The issue has finally made it to Alaska’s ballot to stop aerial hunting once and for all.

Defenders of Wildlife disclosed that Alaskan officials earmarked $400,000 in public, or taxpayers dollars, to launch a campaign of lies trying to defend its aerial hunting policy. It’s the wilderness for God’s sake. Where are these animals supposed to live? They serve a purpose, a very important purpose.

The Discovery Channel aired a special from Yellowstone Park. A ranger took the TV cameras to watch wolves. The park is thriving due to their return. The ranger showed rows of different types of brush and trees that were being eaten down by animals the wolves feed on. He pointed out how the wolves helped balance the park in many ways. They are a good thing and welcome there.

As far as livestock, there was a special on the National Geographic channel not long ago that chronicled researcher, Shaun Ellis, who has literally given his life to the study of wolves. He has proven that wolves are family oriented, stick together, and have their own territory. Wolves that might attack rancher’s cattle were deterred by simply broadcasting the howl of another family of wolves. The new invading wolves stayed away for good not wanting to disrupt the territory claimed by the other wolves. I think human beings could benefit greatly from studying wolves. They “RESPECT” one another, yet we shoot them from planes and helicopters.

There is another serious viewpoint to the politics of these wolf hunts. This inhumane hunting practice undermines the efforts of others. Our own Senator Carl Levin created a bill to stop the clubbing of baby seals in Arctic Canada. Why would Canada listen to us about seals when like barbarians, we hunt wolves this way? It isn’t about the hunters or hunting. It’s about the politics of being a horrible example to the rest of the world, and where our credibility takes another bite. America does this all the time. We point out wrongdoing elsewhere and have garbage in our own back yard to clean up, including wars, and threats of wars.  Who will listen to a people who allow these things to happen? All we’ve done to exact change in this country in the past 7 years is to vote. When we do see demonstrations against politicians anymore, we are looking at other countries, not America.

This wolf witch hunt hit me and hopefully many others at a time when I am just fed up with killing. I’m already disheartened that so many animals we grew up with, that have been around for our lifetimes may just disappear. As humans we have done enough damage to the earth and everything in it. Yet we pursue more killing and once again it’s coming again from our leadership.  It’s a leadership that is so out of touch with citizens that it pays no attention to petitions and outcries from the public. Isn’t this thirst for blood getting a little stale? In retrospect, the wolf commercials from the last election certainly depicted the wrong villains.

And there are worse than Sarah Palin, Gov. of Alaska, Idaho’s Gov. Butch Otter has worked his gun toting constituency into a frenzy against wolves. That state launched a ballot initiative to remove ALL wolves. What type of intelligence is this? And it comes from a governor of a state? It’s a lynch mob who uses technology to try to wipe out an entire species of animal. They obviously haven’t bothered to learn about or care enough to explore all venues for control, if control is even needed. It looks like sport hunting to me. Wyoming wants to follow this mob. The Bush/Cheney administration is pushing to hunt them in our, “OUR” national parks too.

It’s easy to see our states are no longer united. When federal legislation that was put in place by us and preceding presidents for protection of these animals is repealed by this determined, uncaring machine of a government, then the states will each have their way. This is just an example of how divided our states are already and will become even more so in the future if we keep dismantling the federal government like extreme right wing ideologists would like and have pretty much done.

I don’t like the face of this so-called moral, but militant, hostile America. I like the old vision of open plains, majestic mountains, clean water and air, animals in their natural habitat and citizens that actually act like moral beings. The message that we, “will know them by their deeds” has been neglected for far too long. The proposed deeds of this handful of governors without conscience and the Bush administration says much about their inability to have empathy, or concern for living in harmony with nature, a basic sin for this country from the beginning.

Representative George Miller of California has introduced the PROTECT AMERICA’S WILDLIFE bill, (PAW) Act HR 3663. Write, e-mail, or call your reps and tell them you want this bill supported. It will ban the use of airplanes and helicopters to kill wolves nationwide.

http://www.rallycongress.com/letter2congress/698/?gclid=CNmHspeIlJACFQdfgQodXEeO5w.

http://www.yellowstone-natl-park.com/wolf.htm

www.defenders.org/

http://www.blogsmonroe.com/world/?p=52

The Free Press had an article about Representative Dingell wanting constructive input from citizens about his proposal to issue a carbon emissions tax to polluters. I already put my 2 cents in. Join me if you have some good ideas at: http://www.house.gov/dingell/contact.htm.

I wrote that I don’t want to see just a carbon emissions tax. We need to start cleaning up our mess. Everyone should be included in a tax on air, water, and land pollution. I know that scares some people because of the threats by companies like Holcim lately that are bullying us with demands to either let them pollute or they will close their doors. But, think about it if we put aside any and all fines to be used as incentives to invite new green industry here?

Holcim paid over $550,000 in fines for polluting at that small, 350 employee Dundee plant. They’ve got thousands of dollars in fines across the states, and the world. Scotland called them “planet trashers.” The head of Holcim, Schmidheiny, formed a council, The Business Council for Sustainable Development that pushes the idea of self-regulation, citing that governmental agencies often fall short. Companies would do a much better job of policing themselves. If you saw the trail of violations and pollution Holcim leaves behind, then his statement is literally about the fox watching the henhouse.

Add to that millions in lobby money thrown at Washington by Holcim every year to keep polluting, and you know where Holcim is coming from. Our federal EPA, which is smaller all the time, issued them a violation at the Dundee plant last year. They don’t just pollute. They polluted 7.5 times over allowable levels there.

My suggestions consider that companies like these bullies can pay fine after fine and still afford lobby money. So why not create a fund with that fine money to use as incentives for new green industry in Michigan. It will create the competition needed to set the bullies packing or complying. Think about Holcim who threatens 350 jobs who wouldn’t be so smug doing so if their violation money had enticed a brand new ethanol  or bio-diesel plant into their location, something that offers a future for generations of workers to come with good wages, decent benefits, and job security for even more than 350 people.

If we continue to support polluters, we’re going to miss out on that green industry for Michigan and succumb to more demands with threats to leave. Case in point, Indiana may loose BP energy because BP decided to scuttle their special permit to pollute Lake Michigan more. So 2300 jobs may be lost. Bad for Indiana, yeah but, Indiana has landed the countries largest bio diesel plant with two more on the way, along with 6 new ethanol plants. That more than makes up for BP. Add the Cummins, Honda, and Toyota plants and Indiana hedges that threat by BP to leave. Michigan needs to start thinking about the future and quit paying the past to stay.

Connect the dots. The Bush Administration was caught altering reports about global warming. I watched an investigation that showed the altered reports on a Canadian news channel. And many scientists have come forward to speak out about censorship. I just received a new petition in the mail to urge the latest EPA official to use science not politics in its reporting about the environment. So they did it. It needs no explaining. They are oilmen.  

U.S. automakers followed the government’s lead, and produced and kept selling gas-guzzlers. They sidestepped what should have been their business savvy and figured surely the Bush Administration would come through. All the while, Time Magazine and many other publications were reporting about Toyota’s push to be number one. Toyota is now way beyond introducing a hybrid. They are working on perfecting it. I wrote a blog about this because I thought is was in the poorest business sense for the Big 3 to overlook the competition. We can do just as well, but needed to get going on it yesterday.   

Then earlier this year, we watched as the Big 3 scrambled to Washington, only to be snubbed by the president. I thought the scramble was curious. What would prompt the automakers to do that? And why the sudden snub by an oilman president who should love these guys? 

Lately one of our own federal governmental agencies, Health and Human Services, suggested its employees should buy hybrid. They suggested the whole federal fleet should go hybrid. This suggestion was via e-mail to 67,000 employees! A spokesman for Health and Human Services said no malice was intended. Like a lawyer asking to strike a comment, it’s too late. Secy. of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Mike Leavitt, took office Jan. 26, 2005. Prior to this he was head of the U.S. EPA. Does this strike anyone else as odd? The EPA has been full of scandal. Reports of global warming must have been altered when Mike was there. And now what the heck, let’s go green and buy foreign comes from his agency?

What??? This is clearly an effort to hurt the U.S. automakers and not because they haven’t produced hybrids, since it was fine with this administration just last year. The only other reason to hurt a U.S. industry this quickly would be to break the unions. Excuse me, but I missed something if there is another reason. Leavitt isn’t part of the new congress that is pro environmental. He’s been buried in the Bush administration all along when it went from pro-polluter to environmentally friendly??? 

I might not have the dots connected perfectly but there are far too many questions with this whole scenario. It looks like the environment is suddenly the order of the day when it comes to vehicles, something that is a real stretch to believe of the Bush Oil Administration.

What is really becoming clear is that the environment is being used as a pawn lately for all types of spin, pitting the environment against jobs here in Michigan. Now it’s being used to work against U.S. automakers by the feds. Rep. Dingell said it right when he said, if we go green, everyone goes green. The auto industry should not be singled out. It looks to me like that’s exactly what is happening.                              

I received this from Defenders of Wildlife and know how important it is after getting another report ready about the amount of ice that has melted at the North Pole—close to a half a million square miles of ice has disappeared in the last two years. Defenders is urging us “to ensure that this national treasure is permanently protected to the full extent of the law by supporting the Udall-Eisenhower Arctic Wilderness Act (H.R. 39).”

It went on to say: “The bill, sponsored by Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-MN), would designate the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a wilderness area with permanent protections.

These permanent protections are especially important for America’s remaining polar bears. According to a U.S. Geological Survey report, polar bears will likely be extinct in Alaska in as little as 50 years due to rapidly melting sea ice. The Arctic Refuge is one of the most important onshore denning habitats for these magnificent creatures — and permanent protections will give them a fighting chance at survival.

This special place has long been protected from harmful new drilling operations. But year after year, big oil companies and their allies continue lobbying to open up the Refuge to new drilling.

This can only have devastating consequences for our imperiled wildlife.

Drilling and the transportation and infrastructure needed to support it could wreak havoc on the Arctic Refuge and the animals like caribou, our last remaining polar bears and the millions of migratory birds that depend on this vital habitat.

With around 400 crude oil and toxic spills each year and just 30 miles west of the Refuge, the Prudhoe oil field is testament to the destruction that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would face if Big Oil were allowed in.

In light of these facts, I strongly urge you to support H.R. 39 and permanent protection for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Only this type of “wilderness” designation will stop the ceaseless efforts to drill in this special place — and give America’s struggling polar bears a chance at survival.

To contact John Dingell goto: http://www.house.gov/writerep/.

Please do so. This is every bit as important as the permanent ban on dove hunting in Michigan. This bill will be permanent and we won’t have issue about Arctic Drilling again!

After all the problems we’ve had with tainted imports from China, the FDA planned to outsource some 322 jobs and shut down 7 of 13 field labs. What is wrong with this picture? This administration’s rush to privatize just about everything in the country is becoming more blatant.

If it weren’t for the National Treasury Employee’s Union that covers the FDA employees, the labs would be shut down right now, at a time when we should have more field labs to ensure imports are safe. That’s what Reps. Dingell and Stupak think also. They sent a letter to the FDA Friday questioning the outsourcing of so many jobs. Both Dingell and Stupak are quoted as saying, ” “It is truly incomprehensible why the agency would again consider reducing the expertise and institutional knowledge of the FDA at a time when FDA’s credibility with the American people is at an all-time low.” Evidently, the FDA doesn’t care what we think.

There is an Import Safety Working Group in place as of last month. Dingell and Stupak called the FDA’s move to outsource the FDA jobs without recommendations from the Import Safety Group, “hasty and injudicious.” That’s being kind. There doesn’t seem to be any sort of connection left between the American public and many of our Federal bureaus. They simply do not care what we think in lieu of privatization everywhere. Privatization is a nice word for the wealthy taking over. Somewhere in my earlier blogs, I said the wealthy have already done that. They just aren’t wearing their gold crowns yet. I plan to blog on the state of this move to privatize everything in the country soon. There is a huge article in Rolling Stone about it, I haven’t read yet and will certainly pass along.

Meanwhile, it is good that union forces that are supposedly breaking America, saw to it that the labs didn’t close. And Reps. Dingell and Stupak are a good pair for being quick with the questions and investigations. This is just another in a string of federal agencies that appear to be inept and out of touch with middle class America. The EPA is a joke with over 400 environmental laws loosened or lost altogether during the past 7 years.  FEMA is questionable, and now the FDA tried to pull a fast one in light of all the bad imports. It looks to me like we need a whole lot more whistleblowers among government workers. We think China is awful and untrustworthy, but it looks like we can no longer have faith in the U.S. agencies that exist for our well-being.

Want to be a real patriot on the 4th of July? As independent citizens we celebrate our right to decide the direction of our country through elected representatives. So one of the most patriotic acts any American citizen can perform, outside of being a soldier, is to let our reps know what we think about anything and everything relative to the environment and “going green.” Take the time to e-mail them that we want to proceed with “going green” in Michigan by creating a brand new economy that is bursting-at-the-seams to happen. Our reps need a push, as there are many bills before them in our state’s congress. The number one bill HB 4667 and SB 444 to impose a moratorium on new and expanding animal factories or CAFO’s needs to pass!

I know I repeat, but for a state with the largest freshwater supply, with so many inland lakes that feed into that water, people looking to move up north in Michigan to enjoy the nature and peace, Michiganders cannot afford to let our natural resources take a back seat to pollution. The economy and moving ahead to “going green” go hand in hand. Advance one advance the other. Mother Nature counts and outside of ending the war, preventing terrorism, the environment should be at the top of our list.  A little reminder, as proof nature counts, and to coincide with this 4th of July celebration, 2007, here is  the opening paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, 1776:

“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

This beginning to a powerful document that is the essence of this country clearly states “the powers of the earth … the Laws of Nature … of Nature’s God.” There is no denying the respect for nature here, and as being one with God. As patriots we need to see that this respect for nature continues and direct our reps to follow our wishes. The beginning paragraph to the Declaration also addresses “the opinions of mankind” and that mankind “should declare the causes which impel them.” Pollution is a cause which should impel all of us to protect and respect nature always.
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If we can put the flags and banners up, and shoot off fireworks, fireworks, and more fireworks to celebrate what this country is all about, freedom to speak, to affect change, to have a part in the decisions of our country, than we can surely drop our reps a single e-mail. There are all types of issues both federal and state that are important to the environment that are being cut beyond reason. The war funds are coming from somewhere, and all of the loans are not from China so cuts are deep.

The League of Conservation Voters newsletter said that special interests in Washington—Big Coal, Big Auto, Big Oil—have pushed for new provisions to be included in the most recent House Energy legislation that takes back the Supreme Court’s ruling that the EPA has the authority to regulate global warming pollution. It will block 12 states or more from adopting clean car standards. It also lowers the auto mileage standards that Bush proposes. The Supreme Court ruled on this already. It was a victory for the environment.  But already the opposition has plans to repeal it. It looks to me more like the federal government seeks to take power away from the states.

In our state of Michigan there is a partisan stranglehold about policy to make up for the huge deficit. In the course of cutting back spending, “funding for natural resource protection has already been cut to the bone, which means a severe decrease in environmental law enforcement” as the Sierra Club reports. After reading the opening paragraph to our Declaration of Independence and comparing it to what is happening in our own state, makes me wonder what country we’re in?