February 15th, 2009
Aren’t any environmentalists even slightly disturbed by the excessive traveling Obama has done during his short tenure in office? It seems the left loved to bash Bush for being on vacation all the time, but wants to give Obama a pass on his constant use of jet fuel. Is there any carbon-offsetting done for Air Force One? I doubt it.
The latest – Obama will be flying off to Denver on Tuesday to sign the stimulus package in a ridiculous canned photo op, a stimulus package that doesn’t do enough for alternative energy and is likely to put this country into a debt hole we’ll never get out of.
Starry-eyed Obama supporters are gushing at how this shows he’s a man of the people – c’mon people, a real man of the people doesn’t have a private jet to fly around in at the snap of his fingers. Now if he drove across country in a beat up station wagon ala “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” then we’d be on to something!
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January 23rd, 2009
Wonkette has some telling photos of the inauguration aftermath. Tons and tons of trash that got left behind:
The trash amount to at least 90 tons, if not 130 tons or more, according to this report. Many of it was Obama merchandise such as hats and bags left over by vendors.
Gobs and gobs of plastic bottles, and nary a recycling bin in sight. For shame.
At least the Republicans don’t claim to own environmental issues and then act completely differently.
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January 22nd, 2009
The presidential inauguration was portrayed on the news around the world with much fanfare. Behind the scenes was a different story, sadly. As I mentioned in my post-inauguration update to my article on the inaugural environmental nightmare, almost 1,000 people ended up in medical tents at the event, mostly for hypothermia. Luckily, no-one died.
Now, controversy brews as thousands of ticket holders, many of whom campaigned tirelessly for Obama, tell harrowing tales of standing in lines for hours in the frigid air, only to miss the inauguration. Some were stuffed into the 3rd street tunnel, where it was reported on an online petition that “older people were fainting and people were urinating in the tunnel.” (more…)
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January 20th, 2009
Now that the collective Obamorgasm is over and he is finally inaugurated (can we bring this man down to earth now, pleeease???), will Obama be good on his environmental promises? Or were they just “heated campaign rhetoric” that can be forgotten now (as he so deftly says when he wants to flip-flop on campaign promise)?
Obama’s true environmental commitment, in my mind, is not really that deep. The evidence I have for this is his choice of house. The “mansion” that he chose to purchase in Chicago (shown above) is obviously not green or energy efficient…do you see any solar panels on the roof? I don’t. This is a large expensive house he was only able to afford through a shady deal with the skeezy felon Tony Rezko.
So here we have a guy who bought an extremely large house beyond his means for the purposes of…what? Showing the world how to live more simply? Looks pretty opulent to me for a city dwelling. Where is the voluntary simplicity in Obama’s choice of personal residence?
Now that Obama is in the White House, will he be using any part of his $100,000 redecorating allowance to put in solar panels? Apparently not.
Funny. The well-connected, successful environmentalists I know in Los Angeles actually put their money where their mouth is and green up their homes with solar panels and energy efficient washing machines. It’s really not that difficult if you have the money. So if someone with money doesn’t do that on their own, I have to think it’s not a huge priority for them.
Let’s hope that Obama’s public commitment is greater than his private one, and that he will be pushing through an environmental energy plan that will get us off of foreign oil. I would like to see green jobs in America.
But it’d be nice if Obama could go a bit further and practice what he preaches. In the midst of all the cheesy Obama propaganda videos being passed around with celebrities pledging to flush their toilets less, I’d like to see Obama himself showing us by his own example, in his own personal life. Let’s put solar panels on the White House. Let’s find alternative fuel for Air Force One. And how about an electric presidential limosine, not just one that can handle a flamethrower or a bomb thrown at it?
Time to show us what you’re really made of, Mr. Obama. Enough with the promises and the hype – it’s time to get down to business.
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January 18th, 2009
I’m one of those people where the more something gets hyped up, the more turned off I am by it, and Barack Obama is one of those fads that I’m already damn sick and tired of. I am continually amazed at how supposedly smart progressives can’t see through this guy. Hello – he got more Wall Street money than anybody in the primaries, he lied about FISA and public campaign financing, he kept Bush’s defense secretary, and is opposed to gay marriage. He got into the White House thanks to caucus fraud, a fixed DNC nomination, rampant sexism, campaign contribution fraud, and a suspiciously complicit, fawning media (a media that is owned and run by big corporations, may I remind you).
So it’s no surprise to me, that in a time of deep recession, Obama is blowing over $150 million for an over-the-top inaugural party to coddle his big ego has he steps in to become the first biracial president. (Paid for, in part, by more Wall Street money.) What the left has been strangely quiet on is the cost of this inaugural shindig, both in dollar signs and in its environmental impact. It has sadly taken right wing, anti-environmental groups to crunch the numbers on this in an effort to showcase the hypocrisy of it all. The Institute for Liberty has put out a report on the projected CO2 emissions from the inauguration, and they may exceed 500 million pounds! Here are the obscene numbers:
* Celebrities, politicians, and bigwigs using 600 private jets will produce 25,320,000 POUNDS of CO2
* Personal vehicles could account for 262,483,200 POUNDS of CO2
* In the parade, horses alone will produce more than 400 POUNDS of CO2
* The total carbon footprint for the Inauguration will likely exceed 575 million POUNDS of CO2
* It would take the average U.S. household 57,598 years to produce a carbon footprint equal to that of the new president’s housewarming party
This report does not include the costs to DC in terms of trash, damage to city parks, and toxic human waste from legions of porta-potties. (And it takes a right wing blog, Flopping Aces, to point out the potty-hypocrisy.)
Never mind the potential for chaos in such an environment. A million people, stuck in the frigid cold, with porta-potties as their bathrooms, and no place to take shelter? I wouldn’t be surprised if some people end up dying at the event from exposure.
In the midst of this orgasmic excess, if you are in the DC area for the inauguration, you could choose to attend the Green Inaugural Ball, and assuage your guilt with a little bit of carbon-offsetting. But really, is this going to make up for turning the entire District of Columbia into some sort of muddy, filthy Obamastock celebration?
How many huge events for Obama will be enough? We had his DNC coronation at a huge stadium instead of a regular convention hall (and it took Republicans to point out the hypocrisy of the environmental litter of the thrown out American flags after the convention). We had his presidential acceptance speech in a huge outdoor event in Chicago, which was probably also another environmental clusterfuck. And am I the only progressive who looks at these huge, massive rallies and sees shades of Hitler in them? We should never worship our leaders in this manner – it’s not healthy for democracy.
Meanwhile, as the snarky right is all too eager to remind us, Obama is constantly admonishing us to tighten our belts environmentally, while he engages in the most excessive, orgiastic rituals as a means of marketing himself.
This is change we can believe in?
So my question is this: When will my friends on the left hold Obama as accountable as they have done everyone else? Hillary Clinton got blasted for her Iraq War vote. John McCain was excoriated as “McBush,” even though he was the first Republican presidential nominee who actually had environmental issues as part of his platform. And of course, Sarah Palin gets crap for simply breathing. But Obama, who as of yet has only shown he’s good at pageantry and excess, is the second coming of Christ, even though he has yet to show any true environmental commitment with his actions.
When I see a president practicing real environmental living – for example, eschewing the large mansion for a modest home heated by solar power – then I’ll believe real change is coming. Until then, to me it’s all walk and no talk.
Update: January 21, 2009. The New York Times has a story covering some of the chaos and confusion at the inauguration. Almost 1,000 people ended up getting treated in the medical tents (957 in a few tallies I found), and at least 63 people were taken to the hospital, mostly for hypothermia. This first-hand report showcases how chaotic the event was. At least, with around 2 million people there, nothing worse happened.
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