quotables

On God and gas

“God is the only one we can turn to at this point. Our leaders don’t seem to be able to do anything about it.” — Rocky Twyman, who is organizing “pray-ins” at San Francisco gas stations, asking God to lower gas prices (via Streetsblog)

Shorter ‘stache

Shorter Tom Friedman: "Tax the things we don't want, don't tax the things we do want, and don't be so freakin' stupid."

Amen to that, though his fantasy solution of George Bush being the one to "get all the adults together in a room and work out a compromise" is a bit odd. Those waiting for that to happen might find this illuminating.

I suggest that Tom atone by joining this very excellent organization.

Notable quotable

“So I hope that this film will help others to connect the dots the way it helped Tipper and me to connect the dots on the relationship between mountaintop removal — which is a crime and ought to be treated as a crime — and the results of burning it without regard to the future, […]

Food vs. fuel edition

“To say that biofuels are the culprit [for food-price hikes] clearly underestimates the demand [for food] and really shows a gross misunderstanding of the world food situation.” — Bill Doyle, CEO Potash Corp, the world’s largest fertilizer company, which has seen its share price rise 600 percent in the past two years, quoted April 24 […]

Notable quotable

“I don’t intend to be a part of any administration. I’ve been Vice President, I ran for President twice, so I don’t have any interest in being a cabinet member. I think my best use is in building grassroots support. I will, of course, give advice to whoever asks me for advice on this and […]

Notable quotable

“I think some people have overlooked the major news that the President made yesterday, which was committing a national economy-wide goal to halt carbon emissions.” — White House spokesflack Tony Fratto, confusing a policy that would allow unrestrained growth of carbon emissions for the next 17 years for one that would “halt” carbon emissions

Notable quotable

"It's a crime against humanity that food should be diverted to biofuels."

-- Palaniappan Chidambaram, India's finance minister

(via)

Notable quotable

“Emissions are growing much faster than we’d thought, the absorptive capacity of the planet is less than we’d thought, the risks of greenhouse gases are potentially bigger than more cautious estimates, and the speed of climate change seems to be faster.” — Nicholas Stern, author of the seminal Stern Review on the Economics of Climate […]

Notable quotable

“So what can one conclude from environmentalists’ insistence that coal be removed from the country’s energy portfolio? That their focus has moved from reducing pollution to abolishing human development and prosperity.” — the Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial board, exposing the conspiracy once and for all