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First big night of speeches eerily sedate

I just got inside the the Xcel Center for tonight’s events, where Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), Rep. John Boehner, and Laura Bush are slated to speak. President George Bush is going to address the crowd via satellite as well. Some early observations: The tone here is definitely reserved. There are quite […]

Grist talks to Sen. George Voinovich about oil shale, energy, and climate legislation

Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) stopped by an event Monday sponsored by PIRG and the Young Republicans to talk about energy policy, among other things. In his speech, he was bullish on the prospects for oil production in the United States. “If we can get every drop … we’ve got more oil in the U.S. than […]

The Bush administration falters in a geopolitical chess match

This is a guest essay from energy analyst Michael T. Klare. It was originally run on TomDispatch; it is reprinted here with Tom’s kind permission. —– Many Western analysts have chosen to interpret the recent fighting in the Caucasus as the onset of a new Cold War, with a small pro-Western democracy bravely resisting a […]

Republican platform acknowledges climate change but spurns ‘no-growth’ radicalism

The Republican Party approved its 2008 platform yesterday, which it hailed in a press release as containing “the most aggressive and innovative energy policy in Republican Party history.” But the approved version differs significantly from earlier drafts in the climate and energy realm. This line, which appeared in an earlier draft, was dropped: “Increased atmospheric […]

Snippets from the news

• Efforts to clean up Naples trash blocked by the mob. • Amazon deforestation jumped 69 percent in last year. • Melting of Greenland ice sheet could lead to accelerated sea-level rise. • Are fireflies endangered? • Climate change could mean less plague. • Rajendra Pachauri reelected as head of IPCC.

RNC: Spotted in downtown St. Paul

A T-shirt: “The Bible talks all about St. Paul. It doesn’t mention Minneapolis.” Civic pride!

Deniers’ talking points spread via the same process as that of all urban legends

John McGrath, a contributor to Grist, made an important comparison between how the internet contributes to making urban legends look legitimate and how it is used in spreading climate chaos denialism: It highlights the odd dynamic of the Internet: tiny, vocal, crazy-ass minorities can nevertheless be numerous enough on the Internet to appear more impressive […]

Wis. utilities want customers to cover all fuel volatility

Wisconsin’s five regulated electric utilities have asked to have fuel increases in gas and coal costs automatically passed along to their customers rather than wait until they can file a formal rate case. Their regulator said no. In a bizarre bit of doublespeak, the utilities argued that passing 100 percent of fuel volatility risk along […]

Conclusions of ‘hockey stick’ graph stand up to further scrutiny

The infamous “hockey stick” graph, which shows the northern hemisphere beginning to rapidly warm around the industrial age, has been backed up by new research. Michael Mann, who helped develop the 1998 graph that climate skeptics love to hate, is the lead author of the new study to be published in the Proceedings of the […]

Palin asked folks to pray for natural-gas pipeline

The Huffington Post did some digging on the church that Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin spent most of her life attending. Apparently the church films and posts all of its services. In June, Palin gave a speech to the graduating class of commission students at her former church, Wasilla Assembly of God. In the video, […]