White House Conspicuously Absent From Blair, Schwarzenegger Energy Meetings
White House Conspicuously Absent From Blair, Schwarzenegger Energy Meetings
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are convening a series of high-profile meetings this week to discuss solutions to global climate change. Twenty-five chief executive officers of major corporations around the world will be in attendance, including the heads of BP, DuPont Co., and Goldman Sachs Group.
But there is one group that will be notably absent: the White House. Greenwire reports (sub. req’d):
The Bush administration’s top environmental adviser received an informal invitation to attend the California-UK event, but White House Council on Environmental Quality Chairman Jim Connaughton’s spokeswoman said he could not participate because of a scheduling conflict.
Connaughton’s spokeswoman, Kristen Hellmer, said the deal did not upset the Bush administration.
“This is just a wonderful amplification of the work that President Bush and Prime Minister Blair agreed to at the G8 last year,” she said. “This wasn’t a surprise.”
The meeting may not be a suprise, but it is an embarrassment for the administration. The agenda will focus on items that Bush pledged he would act on but hasn’t: 1) regulating carbon dioxide and 2) encouraging new, greener technologies.
Barry Rabe, a University of Michigan professor and an expert on U.S. climate policy at the state level, said the administration’s failure to attend sends the wrong message. “It suggests certainly in this instance the federal government is really conspicuous by its absence,” he said.
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US and Australia are the only ones NOT to sign the Kyoto Treaty
July 31st, 2006 at 3:34 pmSecessions in the air … la … la … la … la … la .. la …. revolution everywhere la .. la .. la …… Sung to the tune of “Love is in the air”.
July 31st, 2006 at 3:36 pmSomeone has to wear a t-shirt there that says “Dude, where’s my president?”
July 31st, 2006 at 3:37 pmI heard Arnold and Blair were naked together at the Bohemian Grove event in California?!
July 31st, 2006 at 3:39 pmOn thread: As I have stated before - I FAVOUR switching to bio-fuels as soon as we can - I would like to use not one barrel of foreign oil. Please let us know how proposed changes in human behaviour will allow us to forego the global warming phenomenon and merely stay on tract with normal climate swings and shifts (like the myriad the world has experienced for eons).
July 31st, 2006 at 3:52 pmthe president could not make it today; he was in the oval office, with his pants around his ankles, looking at videos…
July 31st, 2006 at 3:56 pmThe Terminator knows when the actual world civilization will die to PNAC’s glory. He has come back from the future to save John Connor, so he is acting now like a good robo-governor to save him from his fate in a post-nuclear future where neocons have won…
July 31st, 2006 at 3:56 pmMA > were you at the Bohemian Grove with Blair and Arnold? You must have been one of the paid male hookers we hear so much about being hired to service the Grove patrons > lol.
July 31st, 2006 at 3:59 pm[…] Update: Not surprising, but the White House will have no official representative today at the meeting between the UK and California. Apparently there was a “scheduling conflict.” […]
July 31st, 2006 at 4:01 pmPlease let us know how proposed changes in human behaviour will allow us to forego the global warming phenomenon and merely stay on tract with normal climate swings and shifts (like the myriad the world has experienced for eons).
Comment by mighty aphrodite — July 31, 2006 @ 3:52 pm
With pleasure:-)
Europeans are already a decade or so ahead of the US, plus they use 50% less energy per capita. This readily serves to illustrate how quickly the US could make gains. Simply having the same per capita energy consumption as the EU, would solve the US’s oil dependency a single stroke.
Aggressive expansion of wind, wave and solar, through tax incentives, would provide a hugh boost to developed world manufacturing and some of it would even occur in the US!!
And lets not forget the billions given to the energy lobby. If this was instead given back to home owners, and small businesses in the form of tax breaks for distributed power solutions, this would benefit the renewables market to such an enormous degree, that they would quickly be able to compete on an even playing field with fossil fuels. Wind is already there.
If every middle class home and small business produced even 20% of it’s own energy needs, that, plus the elimination of transmission loss would be an enormous leap forward.
None of this requires new technology you understand, just an aggressive tax incentivised promotion of existing ones.
Ethanol and biodiesel hold the promise of reinvigorating both US and EU agriculture, as does the growing of elephant grass and other high energy crops to burn for energy generation. This has the added benefit of sequestering the CO2 it absorbs during the growing cycle. The more crops we have the better the impact. Plus we can dispense with all those costly farm subsidies the developing world is keen to see us phase out. Win-Win-Win.
Not a word of original thought, although I did dredge it up from memory:-) Sweden is already half the way there : http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/3212/a/51058
All it requires is political will. Something utterly absent in the republican party:-( They really have to go.
July 31st, 2006 at 4:02 pmSo Arnold is making nice with the constituents in his state and doing something they want him to do. Amazing. I wonder if he will drive his hummer to the meeting. I love the Bush administration excuse that Connaughton won’t be able to make it ’cause of scheduling conflicts. Some of the oil guys are there so who could he be meeting with…..oh probably Exxon.
July 31st, 2006 at 4:04 pmthe president would like to respond to the questions about the bohemian grove by saying a) he is afraid of bohemians; and b) he does not know what a grove is.
and to you, mr randal, i believe you can see the mighty hermaphrodite in this photo, third from the right.
next question… david?
July 31st, 2006 at 4:07 pm#8 - JayKKKK - Some of your friends asked me to pass along a fashion tip just for YOU!
“Dear Wizard JayKKKK - Normally, we recommend wearing underwear under the robes and hoods…. Your pals, The Aryan Brotherhood”
Isn’t it funny - - I knew you’d be incapable of answering the “on thread” question.
July 31st, 2006 at 4:08 pmThe political will to change our energy habits, won’t be there until the huge amounts of money “donated” to political campaigns is eliminated.
July 31st, 2006 at 4:08 pmPost 13 MA > NO need to answer your non-question > I am NOT KKK, but you seem to have a fetish about the white sheet thing > lol.
July 31st, 2006 at 4:12 pmright now I’m more concerned about bush’s roadmaped to Iran.bush doesn’t give a damn about anything but power and the world just goes right along enabling the jerk.
July 31st, 2006 at 4:13 pmPost 12 Tony > thanks for link to Grove pic goofballs!
July 31st, 2006 at 4:13 pmPlease let us know how proposed changes in human behaviour will allow us to forego the global warming phenomenon and merely stay on tract with normal climate swings and shifts (like the myriad the world has experienced for eons).
Comment by mighty aphrodite — July 31, 2006 @ 3:52 pm
An example: make mandatory (yes, mandatory!) to build the new buildings with solar panels that co-generate electricity, and sell it the remaining to the public grid. Make mandatory too a good isolation of the building. Give tax breaks to the real staters that build/refit houses with such installations. It will save bilions to the country in a few years. It will encourage the solar panel bussiness and the construction one. It will save thousands of lives of people who can’t stand the contamination (elder, athsmatic, children).
July 31st, 2006 at 4:15 pmBush’s 10,000 sg ft. ranch house, at his Texas ranch, has solar panels on the roof and lots of other environmental friendly devices, but he does NOT want other Americans to have it, so he would therefore NOT join Blair and Arnold naked at the Bohemian Grove!
July 31st, 2006 at 4:20 pmBrian - What if we convert our energy consumption so as to negate fossil fuel. We run turbines, power plants, home heating - in short everything, with bio fuel. (With a family of Aphrodites, I’d hate to be stuck with one of those tiny Euro refrigerators….)
I LOVE the idea of tax incentives - but with progs, I’ll believe tax incentives when I see them….
July 31st, 2006 at 4:22 pmyou are most welcome, mr randal. we at YOUR white house are always so happy to answer the questions of the american people…i think i found another photograph with the mighty hermaphrodite holding a rope on the left side of the image.
…helen?
July 31st, 2006 at 4:25 pmThe White House can’t be there because their religion doesn’t believe in science. They believe in torture, flat earth, conquests, spoils of war and all those other dark ages things.
July 31st, 2006 at 4:26 pmDo you know where James Connaughton was instead of that meeting?
July 31st, 2006 at 4:29 pm#20 With a family of Aphrodites, I’d hate to be stuck with one of those tiny Euro refrigerators…
Comment by mighty aphrodite — July 31, 2006 @ 4:22 pm
Anyhow, Aphrodite needed to make a derogatory comment, in this case about the Europeans because the caption of the thread has “anything” ado with Europe… Maybe we don’t need giantic refrigerators b/c we walk to the market daily to buy groceries. If you’re lazy, it’s your problem, not ours… I guess your rear is widescreen adapted…
July 31st, 2006 at 4:29 pmmr willy, that is certainly not true. we also believe in arms-trading…
last question….les?
July 31st, 2006 at 4:30 pmPost 24 > the family MA refers too are big fat pet rats > lol.
July 31st, 2006 at 4:32 pmMr. Connaughton is an avid vocal harmony singer, sailor, scuba diver, and beachcomber.
where was he today? combing the beaches of palm beach, looking for lost treasures….
…thank you. i have to get on airforce one for a card-game….
July 31st, 2006 at 4:34 pmWe had better do something about renewables and new energy sources, while we in the States argue over the details, the rest of the world is passing us up due to the fact that they’re not going to let politics stand in the way of pioneering the future of energy independence.
July 31st, 2006 at 4:34 pmDear Evil Spaniard - A friend of mine in Geneva tells me the same thing - “shop daily!” I agree, vegiies would be fresher. etc. As it is, I shop twice a week. But with four hungry kids and Mr. Aphrodite, I couldn’t carry that much home….I forgot, though, the Euro birthrate IS declining….Sorry!
July 31st, 2006 at 4:38 pmMake sure Blair stays in America he’s NOT welcome in the UK anymore
July 31st, 2006 at 4:40 pmI forgot, though, the Euro birthrate IS declining….Sorry!
Comment by mighty aphrodite
And that is caused by shopping daily? Anyway what is wrong with a declining birthrate? Are you one of those that believe humans have to cover every square inch of the world?
July 31st, 2006 at 4:42 pmmany people know you are a “white sheet†horder.
Comment by mighty aphrodite — July 31, 2006 @ 3:52 pm
I would expect a lawyer to know how to spell hoarder.
July 31st, 2006 at 4:42 pm“No one should be subjected to such foul insults on or off the football pitch and I don’t care if it was a World Cup Final. I have nothing but contempt for Materazzi and, if what he said is true, then I want his balls on a platter.”
go mom!
July 31st, 2006 at 4:43 pm28 . your correct 35 million European homes are fueled by enviromentally friendly electricity
compared to 1 million in the US
Collectively you have to all switch suppliers to enviromentally friendly sources as I did 3 years ago http://www.good-energy.co.uk
Electricity generated from coal fired power stations will have generated 910 grammes of CO2 to produce 1kWh of electricity and natural gas will have produced 360 grammes of CO2 for each kWh.
It is stated that nuclear power produces zero grammes of CO2 but it will have produced 0.012 grammes of high-level radio active waste per kWh.
Look at the emmisions releases
A kettle uses 2 KW
A water heater uses 5 KW
Imagine even to have a bath = water heater on 1 hour = 4500 grams CO2
disgusting figures really ……………just change and feel better
July 31st, 2006 at 4:46 pmThe future of energy independence is HEMP. Well…it could be.. if America didn’t have a baseball bat-sized-stick in its butt.
Hemp biofuels, Hemp plastics, hemp paper, hemp rope, hemp clothes, hemp-ahol, hemp ..just about anything..
A plant that grows incredibly fast and can grow just about everywhere, and it’s potential is being stifled because of backwards ass laws that treat hemp as a controlled substance.
July 31st, 2006 at 4:59 pm#31 - ” Anyway what is wrong with a declining birthrate? Are you one of those that believe humans have to cover every square inch of the world?” Comment by dlet —
*****I could care less if impotent Euros replenish their numbers or not - but a few of their governments ARE concerned as the number of little “future taxpayers” is declining….No, Diet, I don’t believe humans need to cover every inch…but leave it to a prog to make the most STUPID ASSumptions….
For Truth - Thank you for correcting my flying fingertips! (It’s a GOOD thing I have a fabulous secretary!!!!) A tiny suggestion for you - say something that holds our interest for more than……. zzzzz….
July 31st, 2006 at 5:08 pmWould someone please explain to Mr. Blair that illegal/unjustified oil wars are very bad for the environment?
July 31st, 2006 at 5:56 pmMighty,
As your secretary, I am reminding you that you have a meeting in Alaska to attend, I will mail you your tickets to return home.
July 31st, 2006 at 6:01 pm(It’s a GOOD thing I have a fabulous secretary!!!!)
Comment by mighty aphrodite — July 31, 2006 @ 5:08 pm
And how is mr. aphrodite doing? let him know that aprons are in this year.
July 31st, 2006 at 6:07 pmThe Austrian strongman DID NOT WIN A LEGAL ELECTION IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA.
He is a fraud.
So it makes sense for him to meet the Tony Bliar, and pretend to be concerned about the earth, just as Bliar pretends to be concerned about peace.
Maybe they can drive around in his fifteen Hummers, and then take naps on the $80 million in special interest money the Gropinator has taken in.
Then, for fun, they could play around with the Diebold Vote-fraud System, and print out certificates electing their favorite cartoon characters king of the universe. Oh wait — the Gropinator IS a cartoon character. Well that makes sense. A joke meeting with a joke and voting for a joke in a joke election. Perfect.
July 31st, 2006 at 7:47 pmBrian - What if we convert our energy consumption so as to negate fossil fuel. We run turbines, power plants, home heating - in short everything, with bio fuel. (With a family of Aphrodites, I’d hate to be stuck with one of those tiny Euro refrigerators….)
Comment by mighty aphrodite — July 31, 2006 @ 4:22 pm
It’s not a terrible idea, but it has one major flaw. If we tried to grow that much bio fuel we’d cover every square inch of the planet, and have no room to grow food. Same with Ethanol.
Whatever we come up with will have to be a mixed solution, although never say never, massivley improved fuel efficiency might make this particular objection moot.
August 1st, 2006 at 1:24 am#29 The anglo one too, Aphrodite, you pagan worshipper. Thank the illegal mexicans who raise the rate.
August 1st, 2006 at 7:26 amThe Bush administration’s top environmental adviser received an informal invitation to attend the California-UK event, but White House Council on Environmental Quality Chairman Jim Connaughton’s spokeswoman said he could not participate because of a scheduling conflict.
If anyone actually wanted The White House in attendance, you’d think they’d care enough to send a formal invitation. Extend a last minute informal invitation, then bitch whin no one shows up—real nice.
August 1st, 2006 at 10:03 am#43 If anyone actually wanted The White House in attendance, you’d think they’d care enough to send a formal invitation. Extend a last minute informal invitation, then bitch whin no one shows up—real nice.
Comment by Antagonist — August 1, 2006 @ 10:03 am
Yes, we know that receiving the American Idol singers is far more important… for the Bush’s PR campaing. November is close…
August 1st, 2006 at 1:05 pm#44
I’ve read in past comments that you are a foreigner—living in another country. Is this true? If so, why do you care who is invited to the White House, and why do you care about the outcome of OURNovember elections?
August 1st, 2006 at 1:29 pmAHNOLD IS JUST PANDERING FOR RE-ELECTION!
August 1st, 2006 at 2:11 pmAHNOLD IS JUST PANDERING FOR RE-ELECTION!
August 1st, 2006 at 2:11 pmif you’re a CA voter don’t take Arnold’s sudden interest in un-Bush policies. He’ll be back on the Republican money teat once November passes. Unless we replace him with Angelides.
VOTE ANGELIDES!!!
August 1st, 2006 at 2:13 pm#45
I’ve read in past comments that you are a foreigner—living in another country. Is this true? If so, why do you care who is invited to the White House, and why do you care about the outcome of OURNovember elections?
Comment by Antagonist — August 1, 2006 @ 1:29 pm
You’re a genious. How you guessed that I’m foreigner?
/Sarcasm (!) off
And, you don’t know why I’m interested in the results of your elections?
I’ll explain it, slowly, for you: the USA elections influence in my country in, say, some minor policies, like wars, and terrorism coming our way, etc. it’s a very important one. You know?
And, having an outright idiot as is Bush II in the White House only harm the whole world.
August 1st, 2006 at 3:14 pm#45
I’ve read in past comments that you are a foreigner—living in another country. Is this true? If so, why do you care who is invited to the White House, and why do you care about the outcome of OURNovember elections?
Comment by Antagonist — August 1, 2006 @ 1:29 pm
BTW, I see a chauvinistic attack coming my way. How predictable.
August 1st, 2006 at 3:39 pm#50
It was an innocent question out of simple curiosity.
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