Nancy Pelosi Is Serious About Partisan Minority Leader Role (2012 Disaster?)

Pelosi Will Seek To Stay As House Minority Dem Leader


Nancy Pelosi, the nation's first female House speaker, said Friday she will try to keep her spot as leader of the House Democrats despite huge election losses that cost her party the majority.

Pelosi, a California liberal, rejected pressure from moderate House Democrats — and even some liberal allies — who said the widespread defeat cried out for new party leadership. Allies said they doubted Pelosi would make the bid unless she felt certain she had the votes from her colleagues, who are proportionately more liberal after many conservative and moderate Democrats lost on Tuesday.

Her decision set off a likely battle for the No. 2 Democratic leadership job, now held by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland. The party's third-ranking leader, House Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, said he will try to keep the job, which will become the second in command when Democrats become the minority.

If Clyburn — the highest-ranking African American in the House — prevails, Hoyer would be forced out of the leadership ranks for the first time in many years. Democratic aides said Hoyer will take a few days to decide whether to compete with Clyburn for the job.

Hoyer said he would make a decision after consulting with lawmakers, adding, "I have received an outpouring of support from Democratic colleagues who have told me that I should remain in our party's leadership."

Hoyer is more centrist than Pelosi, and the two have long had a cordial but somewhat wary relationship.

Pelosi, 70, will seek her colleagues' support to become House minority leader when the new Congress convenes in January. That would keep her atop the Democratic House caucus, which will number about 190 people next year. But it would mark a big drop from being speaker, which carries tremendous power to influence legislation and is second only to the vice president in the line of presidential succession.

House members elect their respective party leaders, although the entire House elects the speaker. That post is almost certain to go Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, the current minority leader.

"Our work is far from finished," Pelosi said in a letter to colleagues. "As a result of Tuesday's election, the role of Democrats in the 112th Congress will change, but our commitment to serving the American people will not. We have no intention of allowing our great achievements to be rolled back."

Pelosi said many colleagues "have called with their recommendations on how to continue our fight for the middle class, and have encouraged me to run for House Democratic Leader." Her office released letters of support from various members.

"We're in a political storm, but we don't need to adopt an 'any leader in a storm' mentality," said Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Ill., in announcing his support for Pelosi.

Opposition from GOP, some Dems

Dozens of Republican House candidates attacked their Democratic opponents by tying them to Pelosi and suggesting they would do whatever the San Francisco liberal asked.

Several Democratic lawmakers in conservative districts vowed to oppose Pelosi as speaker, but some of them lost all the same.

One who did survive, Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina, had said he might challenge Pelosi because the party needs a more moderate leader. Shuler noted that he lost his job as Washington Redskins quarterback in 1997 after the team performed poorly.

As the magnitude of Tuesday's election losses sunk in, even some longtime supporters of Pelosi said she needed to step aside as the party leader.

"I voted for everything she asked me to vote for," said Rep. Albio Sires, D-N.J. "You know, sometimes in this business it's difficult to know when to move on."

"With all the losses that we had with governors and all the redistricting that's going to be done, we don't need the target," Sires said, referring to the once-a-decade House redistricting process about to begin nationwide.

Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., told WHAS-TV in Louisville: "As good a leader as she has been, I don't think she's the right leader to take us forward." He said Hoyer, who lost two leadership races to Pelosi over the years, would be "a perfect spokesman for the Democratic Party in the House."

Among other moderate Democrats, Rep. Joe Donnelly, an Indiana lawmaker who survived Tuesday's Republican rout, said he was "disappointed that Speaker Pelosi is going to seek the position of Minority Leader." North Carolina Rep. Larry Kissell's office said he hopes Pelosi "will change her mind and step aside."

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele expressed delight when told of Pelosi's decision. In a meeting with reporters, Steele put his hands over his head and applauded.

"My breath is taken away by that announcement," he said, grinning.

If Pelosi remains as the Democrats' House leader, it's possible the party will absorb historic election losses without making significant leadership changes. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., will keep his post.


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Sources: MSNBC, Google Maps

Worried Dem Lawmakers Beg Obama To Drop Cap-and-Trade Bill

Senate Democrats To W.H.: "Drop Cap-and-Trade"



Bruised by the health care debate and worried about what 2010 will bring, moderate Senate Democrats are urging the White House to give up now on any effort to pass a cap-and-trade bill next year.

“I am communicating that in every way I know how,” says Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), one of at least half a dozen Democrats who've told the White House or their own leaders that it's time to jettison the centerpiece of their party's plan to curb global warming.

The creation of an economy-wide market for greenhouse gas emissions is as the heart of the climate bill that cleared the House earlier this year. But with the health care fight still raging and the economy still hurting, moderate Democrats have little appetite for another sweeping initiative — especially another one likely to pass with little or no Republican support.

“We need to deal with the phenomena of global warming, but I think it’s very difficult in the kind of economic circumstances we have right now,” said Indiana Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh, who called passage of any economy-wide cap and trade “unlikely.”

At a meeting about health care last month, moderates pushed to table climate legislation in favor of a jobs bill that would be an easier sell during the 2010 elections, according to Senate Democratic aides.

“I’d just as soon see that set aside until we work through the economy,” said Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.). ?“What we don’t want to do is have anything get in the way of working to resolve the problems with the economy.”

“Climate change in an election year has very poor prospects,” added Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.). “I’ve told that to the leadership.”

At least some in the Democratic leadership appear to be listening.

Asked about cap-and-trade last week, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said: “At this point I’d like to see a complete bill but we have to be realistic."

Moderate House Democrats who voted in favor of the cap-and-trade bill just before the July 4th recess came under fire back home, and Republicans have vowed to make the issue a key line of attack during next year’s elections.

Some Democrats would prefer to deny them that target.

“I’d prefer to do energy, because I think you could get a really broad consensus on a lot of energy legislation,” said Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) ?

But supporters of the climate bill say that cap-and-trade is an inextricable part of any energy package for next year.

“We’ve got to keep them together because they go together,” said Connecticut Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman, who infuriated liberals with his opposition to the public option in the health care bill but who's trying to keep cap-and-trade alive in a bipartisan climate bill he's drafting with Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

The White House remains firmly behind an economy-wide cap-and-trade system, which would curb greenhouse gas emissions and create a market for polluters to buy and sell carbon allowances.

“We think that a cap-and-trade mechanism is the best way to achieve the most cost-effective reductions," a senior administration official told reporters last week.

But Kerry raised eyebrows last week when he seemed to hint at some flexibility over the issue.

"I can't tell you the method or the means or amount by which we might price carbon," he told reporters in Copenhagen. "We haven't resolved that issue yet.”

A move away from cap-and-trade would bitterly disappoint the environmental community and many powerful utility companies, who’ve lobbied hard for the system.

Many utilities, investors, and even some consumer companies like Starbucks and Nike believe cap-and-trade will unleash a flood of investments in energy efficiency and renewable fuels like wind, solar, and nuclear power But passage will be a heavy lift -- with few signs of Republican support and mounting concern from the moderate Democrats.

Earlier this month, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) introduced a bill that would replace cap and trade with a system that would set a price on carbon dioxide emissions and return all the revenue to consumers, instead of industry.

And Republican Sens. George Voinovich of Ohio and Richard Lugar of Indiana are examining proposals to cap greenhouse gas emissions only on power plants, coupled with energy efficiency programs for buildings and transportation.

After the tough health care fight, Democratic leadership believes a climate bill must pass with significant bipartisan support or risk leaving the party open to attack during the midterm elections.

“Any bill dealing with energy and climate change will have to be bipartisan to pass,” said Durbin. “Sen. Kerry assures me that there are other (Republicans) that he may have.”

But even among Republicans who believe global warming is a problem, few -- if any -- other than Graham support an economy-wide cap and trade system.



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Sources: Politico, Google Maps

Climate Change Deal Sets No Emission Reduction Targets...Its Useless!

Shown on the first video below Speaker Pelosi defends yesterday's agreed upon weak COP 15 Climate Change deal which sets NO Emission Reduction Targets, doesn't reduce Greenhouse Gases and will probably create additional Taxes thus causing our Energy bills to increase, by saying "2010 for Democrats will be all about JOBS, JOBS, JOBS and JOBS".

JOBS should have been what Democrats needed to focus on in 2009, then tackled Health Care Reform but that's another story.

Do I believe that Climate Change is real? Yes!

Am I against global efforts to stop or slow down Climate Change? No however....

Since this so-called new Climate Change Deal is Legally Non-Binding and doesn't actually reduce Emissions or Greenhouse Gases what good is it?

President Obama didn't even sign this weak agreement.

Why?

He knows its NOT sufficient!

President Obama has also heard about possible "Cap & Trade" Fraud stemming from this agreement.

As I mentioned above just more Political posturing to save Democrat seats in 2010.

Is Political Posturing the "CHANGE" Americans voted for back in 2008?

And...

Since Charlotte's New Mayor Anthony Foxx recently signed the U.S. Mayors' Climate Change Agreement, this further proves most Black Politicians will do ANYTHING if they think it will procure more Federal Dollars (Stimulus Funds) of which often is wasted on junk versus anything truly effective for local Constituents.

For example Newark, NJ Mayor Corey Booker used some of his Stimulus Funds to Launch a "Green Collar" Jobs Training program.

Booker's well thought out venture is the equivalent of a Blue Collar Jobs training program which not only offers Low Income and Underemployed citizens an opportunity to learn more marketable skills to support their families but it also lowers Newark's Unemployment rate.

I applaud Mayor Booker for instead of spitting out empty "Green Jobs" rhetoric or choosing to focus ONLY on his region's Wealthy Voters (like Charlotte Politicians do), he is using Federal dollars to invest in the lives of more Needy Constituents by creating real JOBS.

After all isn't that what Pres. Obama's Stimulus Package was really supposed to do?

Democrats get a clue and take a hint from Mayor Corey Booker!

Stop all the FAKE Political Posturing, be Creative, be Bold, use Federal dollars Responsibly and Help make America a better place for ALL people, NOT just Wealthy citizens.

Kudos to you Mayor Booker and God Bless!


NOTE:

To further substantiate my commentary check out the articles below.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Copenhagen Deadlock Wrapped Up As Emissions Deal


The United Nations Climate Change Summit ended last night without setting any emission reduction targets.

President Obama forged a non-binding agreement with his counterparts in China, India, Brazil and South Africa but it was unclear whether all 192 countries would accept the compromise text.

Mr. Obama said that a “fundamental deadlock in perspectives” had overshadowed the negotiations. He described the deal as “meaningful” but admitted that it would not be enough to prevent global warming. “We have much further to go,” he said.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Despite two years of negotiations, the key sticking points — Emissions cuts, monitoring of emissions and the legal nature of the deal — all re-emerged in the final hours

The agreement merely repeated an aspiration to keep the global temperature increase to 2C without explaining how that would be achieved. The final text also failed to mention any deadline for turning it into a binding treaty.

It was a humiliation for Gordon Brown, who has spent longer working on it than any other world leader. He admitted the conference had only taken the first step towards tackling climate change and said that he hoped that progress would be made at a conference in Germany next summer or one in Mexico at the end of the year.

The one positive outcome for developing countries was a commitment by rich countries to provide $30 billion of climate aid over the next three years and $100 billion a year from 2020.

The US announced by far the lowest pledge. It will contribute $3.6 billion between 2010 and 2012, while Japan will give $11 billion and the European Union $10.6 billion.

A deadline of February 1 is expected to be set for all countries to publish emissions targets, although there was no sign last night that any country would move beyond existing offers.

In a statement, released at 10.30pm, the White House described the agreement as meaningful.

“No country is entirely satisfied with each element but this is a meaningful and historic step forward and a foundation from which to make further progress,” it said.

It had been a day of tension, elation and snubs. US negotiators were taken aback that the Chinese leader sent his deputy to the main negotiations. Wen Jiabao, the Prime Minister, was said to have taken offence at President Obama’s speech to delegates not to agree on “empty words on a page”. World leaders began leaving the summit before anything was signed.

The Kenyan delegation expressed horror that President Chávez of Venezuela had been given the opportunity to grandstand from the podium denouncing “the Yankee empire”.

Drafts of the “Copenhagen accord” were leaked every couple of hours, each one sacrificing another commitment in the desperate scramble to achieve a compromise. And despite two years of negotiations, the key sticking points — emissions cuts, monitoring of emissions and the legal nature of the deal — all re-emerged in the final hours.

Commenting on the draft Copenhagen Accord, the Greenpeace climate campaigner Joss Garman said tonight: "This latest draft is so weak as to be meaningless. It’s more like a G8 communiqué than the legally binding agreement we need.

"It doesn’t even include a timeline to give it legal standing or an explicit temperature target. It’s hard to imagine our leaders will try to present this document to the world and keep a straight face."





Anthony Foxx Signs Mayors' Climate Agreement



New Mayor Anthony Foxx has added Charlotte to a long list of U.S. cities committed to taking action on climate change.

Foxx on Thursday signed a U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement that his predecessor, Pat McCrory, helped draft in 2005 but himself refused to endorse.

McCrory led the mayors' committee that drafted the agreement, but faulted it for not including nuclear power among possible solutions.

Charlotte City Council instead approved an alternative climate resolution in 2007.

Foxx noted that signing the Mayors' Agreement now is largely symbolic since Charlotte is already doing much of what the document requires.

But, he added, “we cannot afford to sit on the sidelines.”

The Sierra Club's Cool Cities Campaign has pushed Charlotte to join the 48 N.C. communities that have already signed the agreement. Josh Thomas, chair of the Central Piedmont group, called Foxx's signing a “strong statement” to protect the city and its resources.

The agreement, already adopted by more than 1,000 U.S. cities and towns, commits Charlotte to curbing emissions of greenhouse gases. The overarching goal is a 7 percent reduction from 1990 levels by 2012.

Charlotte's recently-completed inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, its light rail system and new sustainable-facility policy are steps in that direction, said local Sierra Club members.

Charlotte is also applying for $6.5 million in Federal Stimulus grants to pay for 18 energy-saving projects. Among them are retrofits of low-income housing and commercial buildings, the purchase of several electric vehicles for city staff and bicycle-safety improvements.



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Sources: Timesonline.co.uk, NJ.com, MSNBC, Politico, Fox News, Charlotte Biz Journals, Sierra Club, McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, City of Newark, Charmeck.org, Whitehouse.gov, Recovery.gov, Google Maps

Obama Seals $30 Bil COP 15 Climate Deal

"Meaningful" Climate deal reached


The United States, China, India and South Africa have reached a "meaningful" climate change deal that sets a cap on worldwide temperature increases at no more than 2 degrees, contains no binding emissions standards — and a deal one senior administration admitted "is not sufficient" to combat long-term global warming.

The deal was struck after a day of frantic talks — and following a hastily organized multilateral meeting between President Obama, Premier Wen, Indian Prime Minister Singh and President Zuma.

"[A] meaningful agreement was reached," the official said. "It's not sufficient to combat the threat of climate change but it's an important first step... No country is entirely satisfied with each element, but this is a meaningful and historic step forward and a foundation from which to make further progress."

The official added: "We entered this negotiation at a time when there were significant differences between countries. Developed and developing countries have now agreed to listing their national actions and commitments, a finance mechanism, to set a mitigation target of 2 degrees Celsius and to provide information on the implementation of their actions through national communications, with provisions for international consultations and analysis under clearly defined guidelines."

It's not clear how many nations — particularly poorer nations who felt shut out of the process — were included in the final deal or how they will react to the announcement.

Earlier Friday, a visibly angry Barack Obama threw down the gauntlet at China and other developing nations Friday, declaring that the time has come "not to talk but to act" on climate change.

Obama’s public ultimatum kicked off a furious round of bilateral negotiations between the world’s two largest pollution emitters as the conference entered its final hours, with Obama plunging into a pair of bargaining sessions involving Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who had earlier boycotted a larger, multi-nation meeting with Obama.

As night fell in the Danish capital, the talks dragged on, with Obama extending his visit to complete a deal even as a big snowstorm closed in on Washington, D.C.

The outlines of a relatively vague “political” agreement seemed to be taking shape, according to three drafts of possible statements leaked to the press Friday. The latest draft contained a goal of capping global temperature increases to 1.5 percent — a tougher standard than the previous 2 percent threshold in earlier drafts.

Still, there was no hint of the emissions caps that were thought to be critical before the conference began two weeks ago.

On Friday morning, Obama warned delegates that U.S. offers of funding for poor nations would remain on the table “if and only if” developing nations, including China, agreed to international monitoring of their greenhouse gas emissions.

"I have to be honest, as the world watches us ... I think our ability to take collective action is in doubt and it hangs in the balance,” Obama told the COP-15 plenary session, as hope faded for anything more than a vague political agreement.

“The time for talk is over, this is the bottom line: We can embrace this accord, take a substantial step forward. We can do that, and everyone who is in this room will be part of an historic endeavor, or we can choose delay,” he said.

He added, “The question is whether we will move forward together, or split apart. … We know the fault lines because we’ve been imprisoned by them for years.”

Back home, senators critical to getting a climate bill through Congress have stressed that developing nations must submit to international monitoring — particularly if they want the U.S. to pay hundreds of billions to help combat the destructive impact of climate change.

"The only way we'll be successful in America is for countries like China and India to make an equivalent commitment," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is crafting a bipartisan climate bill. "We're not going to unilaterally disarm."

While Obama emphasized the U.S. commitment to taking action on climate change, he did not set a deadline for specific Senate action on the climate bill.

Former Vice President Al Gore and other environmental activists have pushed the Senate to pass legislation by April 22, the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, in hope of providing momentum to international talks next year.

The lack of specific domestic and international commitments in Obama's address indicated that an international agreement still hung in the balance — even as the talks moved into the final weekend.

Overnight reports that world leaders had agreed to a tentative final climate change deal in Copenhagen were greatly exaggerated — and the outcome of the COP-15 conference was still very much up in the air when Air Force One touched down at 9:01 a.m. local time.

“What’s on the table still has large gaps and unanswered questions," said David Waskow, climate change program director at Oxfam America. "The United States must get more specific to make a real deal possible.”

After addressing the delegates, Obama met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao for close to an hour to discuss emissions goals, verification mechanisms and climate financing. The lack of agreement between China and the U.S. — the world's two largest greenhouse gas emitters — has been a major stumbling block in the talks.

A White House official described the discussion as “constructive” and said that the two leaders asked their negotiators to get together one on one after the meeting.

Obama had been expected to meet one on one with Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen immediately after landing in Copenhagen Friday morning, followed by an 11 a.m. speech to the conference's plenary session. But recognizing the urgency of the situation, he quickly canceled those plans to sit in on a much larger session with Rasmussen, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, a Chinese representative, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and others.

"There are big problems, it is moving very slowly, and China and India are blocking," Sarkozy told the Danish daily Politiken after leaving the meeting, which broke up at 11:30 a.m.

Weary and frustrated negotiators described a process that still involved the nibbling of policy appetizers at a time when prior conferences were already on to the coffee and dessert of their valedictory speeches.

They warned that none of the several drafts circulating in Copenhagen represented even the bones of a final deal, with many key issues still in flux and time running out. Moreover, U.S. predictions that roadblocks could be thrown up by smaller countries seemed to be coming true, with last-minute objections voiced by Venezuela, Bolivia, Sudan and Saudi Arabia, according to people familiar with talks.

"There are deep differences in opinion and views on how we should solve this. We'll try our best, until the last minutes of this conference," Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt told reporters as overnight talks ended.

Negotiators from nearly 200 nations, working around the clock, did agree to a broad mandate to cap the global temperature increase from pre-industrial levels at 2 degrees Celsius. But there was no deal on emissions caps or specific carbon cuts, according to officials briefed on the talks.

One key sticking point: a demand by industrialized nations that the document produced here be legally binding, the so-called operational agreement Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke about yesterday.

Developing countries, led by China, India and the African Union, still seemed unwilling to sign off on a final document, despite a new deal sweetener that could add as much as $30 billion to the $100 billion annual international fund for poor nations by 2020 outlined by Clinton on Thursday.

An official with a developing nation told Reuters that rich nations were offering to cut their carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050, a proposal that had been rejected by developing nations. Developing nations have always insisted on the need for midterm targets.

"The situation is desperate," a top Indian negotiator told the wire service. "There is no agreement on even what to call the text — a declaration, a statement or whatever. They (rich nations) want to make it a politically binding document, which we oppose."

And the U.S. was still wrestling with China and India over international monitoring of their emissions cuts, a sticking point that ground the entire conference to a halt early Thursday.

Danes monitored the progress of Obama's arrival obsessively, with cabbies craning at dashboard TV sets to monitor the approach of Air Force One from distant dot to Obama's arrival. He was accompanied by environment czar Carol Browner, aide Valerie Jarrett, press secretary Robert Gibbs and National Security Adviser Jim Jones.



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Sources: Politico, The Daily Beast, Google Maps

Global Warming A Conspiracy For Global Cap & Trade Tax?? UN Investigates

Recently Hackers have tried to prove global warming researchers are massaging the figures - after stealing sensitive emails from one of the UK's leading climate research centres. The documents were then made available to the public from a Russian server.





MSNBC's Pat Buchanan calls the Climate Change Agenda a big Hoax.





Al Gore testifies before Congress.
Congressional Members question Gore about the possibility of the U.S. potentially earning Billions from an Energy Tax if a Climate Change Agreement is reached at Copenhagen. Congress calls it a scheme for more Tax Revenue.





30,000 Scientists want to sue Al Gore for lying about Climate Change and Global Warming in his Oscar nominated movie "An Inconvenient Truth".








Now UN global warming panel launches probe into "Climategate" scandal



The UN panel on Climate Change is to investigate claims that UK scientists manipulated global warming data to support a theory that it is man-made.

The controversy, dubbed "Climategate", was sparked by the internet posting of hacked emails written by members of the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU).

The row comes ahead of next week's UN-sponsored conference on tackling climate change in Copenhagen.

One of the leaked emails suggested CRU head Dr. Phil Jones wanted certain papers excluded from the UN's next major assessment of climate science.

The professor denies that was his intention and says other emails have been taken out of context.

Dr. Jones has stepped down from his university work while an independent investigation is carried out.

He also claimed suggestions of a conspiracy to boost the evidence for man-made global warming were 'complete rubbish'.

The UN's Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading body for assessing climate change science.

Norfolk police are investigating whether computers were hacked. Issues to be probed include data security and whether the university responded to Freedom of Information requests.

IPCC chairman Dr. Rajendra Pachauri told the BBC the claims were serious and he wanted them investigated.

'We will certainly go into the whole lot and then we will take a position on it,' he said.

'We certainly don't want to brush anything under the carpet. This is a serious issue and we will look into it in detail.'

The university has already appointed former civil servant Sir Muir Russell to head an inquiry into allegations of misconduct by its scientists.

Eduardo Zorita, an expert in European climate trends, said that future reports from the IPCC would lack credibility if Professor Jones was involved in their compilation.

Dr Zorita also said that the content of thousands of emails and documents stolen from the University of East Anglia's computer system and published on the internet confirmed that some global warming research was riddled with 'machination, conspiracies and collusion'.

The scientist, of the Institute for Coastal Research in Geesthacht in northern Germany, is an expert in climate change over the past 1,000 years and contributed to the most recent IPCC report.

He and colleague Hans von Storch were mentioned in more than 30 documents, with one email referring to Professor von Storch as 'frankly an odd individual'.

Other emails have been seized on by climate change sceptics as evidence that researchers have been manipulating raw data and discussing ways of evading Freedom on Information requests.

In one of the most damaging emails, Professor Jones seems to suggest using a 'trick' to massage years of temperature data to 'hide the decline'.

In another, he appears to respond to news of the death of climate sceptic John Daly with the words 'in an odd way this is cheering news!'

Others show British researchers apparently dismissing the work of scientists challenging the global warming orthodoxy as 'c***' and a top American climatologist admitting it was a 'travesty' that scientists could not account for the lack of global warming in recent years.

In a separate development, Prime Minister Gordon Brown will insist today that a deal to avert catastrophic climate change is 'achievable' at next week's UN-sponsored conference in Copenhagen.

Speaking three days ahead of the opening of the crucial two-week gathering, Mr Brown will say the world is already half-way to reaching the changes needed to limit average global warming to 2C.

Action taken unilaterally by countries around the globe is already projected to take five billion tonnes of greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere by 2020, he will say.

The task at Copenhagen is to close the 'five billion tonne gap' between this figure and the 10 billion tonnes which climate change expert Lord Stern believes is necessary.

Mr. Brown will make his comments as he answers questions from young people at a pre-Copenhagen event hosted by the Department for Energy and Climate Change in London.

In his opening remarks, the Prime Minister will say: 'We are half-way to a Climate deal for the world. We must close the "five billion ton gap" in Copenhagen.

'A deal at Copenhagen which averts catastrophic climate change is our aim, and it is achievable. To keep global warming to a maximum of 2C, global greenhouse gas emissions need to fall from their present level of around 47 billion tonnes to below 20 billion tonnes in 2050.'

Mr Brown will cite the influential 2006 report by Lord Stern on the economics of climate change, which argued that to reach the 2050 target, the world would have to cut emissions to 35 billion tonnes by 2030 and around 44 billion tonnes by 2020.

'We could be a couple of billion tonnes above this; that would require faster but not impossible cuts after 2020,' Mr Brown will say.

'So this is the territory a 2C deal must land on: in the region of 44 billion tonnes in 2020.

'Today the world is on a path to emissions of 54 billion tonnes by 2020. So we need to take out 10 billion tonnes through this agreement.

'So far, unilateral action by countries around the world to reduce their emissions is already projected to take five billion tonnes out of the atmosphere. So we are half way there. Now at Copenhagen we must achieve the other half.

'We will do this if all countries come to Copenhagen with ambition. The EU has put forward an ambitious offer. We need everybody else to be ambitious too. That will seal the deal.'



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Sources: Daily Mail, BBC, UN, The Daily Beast, Media Matters, Buchanan.org, Fox News, Youtube, Google Maps

John McCain Offers No Support For Obama's Climate Change Bill..."Cap & Tax"

John McCain slams "horrendous" Climate bill


Sens. Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman have been working overtime to craft a climate bill that can attract significant GOP support. But they aren’t exactly scoring points with their mutual best friend in the Senate, John McCain.

“Their start has been horrendous,” McCain said Thursday. “Obviously, they’re going nowhere.”

McCain has emerged as a vocal opponent of the climate bill — a major reversal for the self-proclaimed maverick who once made defying his party on global warming a signature issue of his career.

Now the Arizona Republican is more likely to repeat GOP talking points on cap and trade than to help usher the bill through the thorny politics of the Senate.

McCain refers to the bill as “cap and tax,” calls the climate legislation that passed the House in June “a 1,400-page monstrosity” and dismisses a cap-and-trade proposal included in the White House budget as “a government slush fund.”

Former aides are mystified by what they see as a retreat on the issue, given McCain’s long history of leadership on climate legislation. McCain and Lieberman authored their first climate bill in 2003 and reintroduced the legislation in 2005 and 2007. “The only reason we are debating climate legislation in the Senate right now is because of the leadership he showed three Congresses ago,” said Tim Profeta, a former staffer for the Connecticut independent on climate issues who is now a professor at Duke University.

“I wouldn’t be here on this issue without him,” said Graham, a South Carolina Republican who spent much of last fall campaigning for McCain. “He’s the guy that introduced me to the climate problem.”

McCain first began moving away from his support for cap and trade during his 2008 presidential campaign, when he insisted that reporters not describe the program as a “mandatory” cap on greenhouse gas emissions. He also infuriated the environmental community by picking Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate and standing by as she questioned global warming science.

Lobbyists who’ve met with McCain say he feels that the White House has failed to pour enough political capital into the issue for him to feel comfortable breaking with his party.

“This really hasn’t been done in a bipartisan fashion,” said McCain spokesman Brooke Buchanan.

Current and former aides suggest that staff changes since the campaign could also have something to do with the change in tone. Several of McCain’s longtime staffers, including top aide Mark Salter, left the office after the campaign. And Floyd DesChamps, a Commerce Committee aide who worked closely on the McCain-Lieberman climate bill, left Capitol Hill after McCain gave up his longtime seat on the committee last January.

The staff that remains, say former aides, lacks the institutional history on the issue and the ability to steer McCain toward productive solutions.

McCain aides dismissed the idea that those changes have had an effect on his position, saying that the senator — not the staff — drives policy positions.

Arizona politics could be another factor. Republicans hope to use the cap-and-trade bill to attack Democrats on economic issues by saying it will raise electricity costs for businesses and spike electric bills. Those attacks could resonate in Arizona, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.

“His view is probably [that], in the middle of a recession, when we have 10 percent unemployment, [it] is not the time to be putting a huge new energy tax on our economy,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who opposes an economy-wide cap-and-trade bill.

McCain says he is discussing the climate issue with Lieberman but does not see Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who introduced a climate bill earlier this fall, or the Obama administration as willing to negotiate with him.

“What they’ve done so far is not only a nonstarter, but it’s a contradiction to everything I’ve tried to do on cap and trade,” he said. “I see no support for what they are trying to do.”

McCain has laid out a series of proposals that could help win his vote — but most likely at the cost of Democratic votes.

An ardent believer in free trade, McCain would like to strip a provision out of the legislation that would levy a border tax on imports from China, India and other developing countries if they do not sign on to an international climate treaty.

“That’s blatant protectionism; that’s insulting to everything I believe in,” he said.

But dropping the border tax would lose votes from Rust Belt Democrats, who fear the legislation will hurt the manufacturing industry.

And he’d like to open Nevada’s Yucca Mountain as a repository for nuclear waste — a highly controversial issue that would inflame the climate debate. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has spent decades lobbying against the project. Earlier this year, the Obama administration stripped funding for the facility in its 2010 budget.

“They’re shutting down Yucca Mountain because of the power and influence of Sen. Reid,” McCain said. “They can do that, but that doesn’t mean that somehow they get me to agree to it.”


Sources: Politico, DC Street Blogs, Reuters

Pacific Rim Free-Trade Pact (APEC Summit)..."An Era Of Cooperation"

"Nations need not fear the success of another". President Obama stresses a desire to strengthen alliances with countries in the Pacific Rim.

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Chinese on Obama. How do the Chinese feel about President Obama? NBC's Adrienne Mong reports.

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On Pacific trip, Pres. Obama warns North Korea

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Pres. Obama hints at Pacific Rim Free-Trade Pact


President Barack Obama raised hopes for creating an Asia-Pacific free-trade region by announcing Saturday that the U.S. would seek to join a smaller group seen as a precursor to a broader Pacific Rim agreement.

News that the U.S. would participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership — joining Chile, New Zealand, Singapore and Brunei — was announced in Tokyo and Singapore, drawing applause at the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

"Significant steps like the TPP are important to help keep up the momentum in our efforts to realize the ... vision" to create a region-wide free trade area, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told other leaders at their weekend summit here.

There have been concerns that the U.S., the world's biggest economy, and other nations might turn inward as they grapple with the worst global financial crisis in decades.

Obama's move reinforced calls for expanding free trade rather than resorting to protectionist measures to cope with the recession. He pushed for progress on talks to liberalize world trade.

"In this new era, opening other markets around the globe will be critical not just to America's prosperity, but to the world's," Obama said in Tokyo before departing for the APEC forum.

APEC, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, was created to promote greater trade and integration among Pacific Rim nations from Chile to China. Its scope since has expanded to encompass a wide range of issues, including climate change, energy and food security, and politics.

The anniversary comes amid the biggest global financial crisis since the 1930s. While the worst appears over, the recovery remains fragile, leaders said.

Signs of Protectionism

Trade has significantly contributed to growth in the Asia-Pacific region, but there are creeping signs of protectionism with the economic downturn, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak told his APEC partners.

"It is important that we leaders bear the firm belief that free trade is the way to contribute to national development, and we should prevent protectionism and spread free trade," he said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called trade a powerful economic stimulus. "We have to do everything in our power to refrain from protectionism," he said.

Leaders said nations must time the withdrawal of stimulus packages carefully, and put better regulatory measures in place to avoid the financial collapse of the past year. They will also push for faster action on trade liberation talks and seek global agreement on climate change, according to a draft statement obtained Saturday by The Associated Press.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk urged APEC members to work together to stimulate recovery in a "balanced" way, a comment that hints at concerns over China's export-reliant growth.

"A rising tide lifts all boats," he said. "If we work together to rise above this downturn, we can lift up all our economies and all our peoples."

Washington sees free-trade areas as a way to create jobs in the U.S., said Kirk, standing in for Obama, who arrived in Singapore later Saturday.

Singapore welcomed the U.S. announcement and said the TPP, which went into force in 2006, now has the potential to expand to an eight-member group, with Australia, Peru and Vietnam also expressing interest.

Simon Tay of the Singapore Institute for International Affairs also praised the move.

"Americans have to get beyond this idea that free trade with Asia destroys their jobs. Both sides can benefit," he said.

The longer-term goal is to expand the TPP to an agreement encompassing all 21 APEC members, dubbed the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, but Tay called it "early days" for progress on the broader pact.

Congressional Reluctance

Despite the commitment to free trade, the U.S. Congress has balked at passing agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama negotiated under the previous presidency.

"There are some substantive issues that must be resolved with each of the trade agreements before they can be teed up," U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke told the AP.

Obama, who visits Seoul in the coming days, has expressed concern that under the proposed pact, U.S. manufacturers won't have enough access to South Korea's auto market.

A call for concrete goals on greenhouse gas emissions, meanwhile, appeared watered down in the leaders' draft statement. A previous draft pledged a 50 percent reduction from 1990 levels by 2050; the latest draft committed to working toward "a good agreement" at climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, next month to "limit" emissions.

APEC leaders also stressed the need to invest in social safety nets such as education, health care and employment training to ensure stability in the long term.

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama brought up the sensitive issue of suicides in his country, which has the second-highest rate of suicide in the 30-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. He called for nurturing economies that value its workers as human beings.

"When you have as many as 30,000 people who kill themselves (a year), that is abnormal," he said Friday. "We should not turn into a country where people take their own lives if they can't find a place in society."

Later Saturday, leaders carried out an APEC tradition by donning the cultural attire of the host nation for dinner. The hand-embroidered linen tunics reflect Singapore's mix of Chinese, Malay and Indian cultures, designer Wykidd Song said.



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Sources: MSNBC, Google Maps

Senate Trio Attempts To Rescue Troubled Climate Change Legislation

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Three senators join forces to revive climate bill


A Senate Democrat, Republican and independent on Wednesday announced a rescue effort for troubled climate legislation and quickly got some backing from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as well as at least one environmental group.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., together with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., met with Obama administration officials and later announced that they would work to patch together a bill that could pass the Senate.

An earlier bill introduced by Kerry and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., that would impose mandatory limits on heat-trapping gases for the first time is stalled in committee because of a Republican boycott.

The senators said that they were not usurping that effort, but would take the best pieces of the Kerry-Boxer bill and try to broaden support by adding more incentives for nuclear power and offshore drilling. They also said they had the blessing of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

"Our effort is to try to reach out; to broaden the base of support" for a bill, said Kerry.

More for nuclear, offshore drilling

Besides looking at creating a market for companies to trade an ever-decreasing number of carbon pollution permits, the senators are working with the White House on ways to expand the nuclear power industry through government incentives.

They are also discussing allowing more offshore oil and natural gas exploration and boosting research into how to cleanly burn abundant U.S. supplies of coal.

"Part of this initiative is to create a vision for energy independence and marry it up with responsible ... carbon pollution controls," Graham told reporters.

Tony Kreindler, a spokesman for the Environmental Defense Fund, said the three senators "have given a new life to a bipartisan process."

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, for its part, issued a statement calling a recent op-ed piece by Kerry and Graham "a solid, workable, commonsense foundation on which to craft a bill."

The chamber had earlier seen some high profile members leave in opposition to what they saw as a group refusing to take climate action.

Done by Denmark?

Left unanswered was how long the new process would take. Kerry said he would not be bound by a specific timeframe. But with a month left until 192 nations gather in Copenhagen, Denmark, to hammer out a new international treaty to slow global warming, the Obama administration and Democrats are under pressure to show movement on a climate bill.

The three senators met individually Wednesday with Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Carol Browner, the president's assistant for energy and climate change.

Graham, who has come under fire in his home state for his support of action on climate change, said working on legislation was a "once in a lifetime opportunity" to solve two problems: heat-trapping carbon dioxide pollution and the country's dependence on foreign sources of fuel.
If environmental policy is not good business policy, you will not get 60 votes," Graham warned. "The green economy is coming. We can either follow or lead."

The announcement came as the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee for a second straight day delayed voting on any changes to the Kerry-Boxer bill because no Republicans showed up.

Republican lawmakers are demanding a more thorough economic analysis of the measure, which would reduce heat-trapping gases by 83 percent by 2050, saying it will raise energy prices and cause job losses.

But the bill, which would set up a market for pollution permits, has also raised concerns among moderate Democrats, including Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.

The House passed its version of the bill in June.

"This is the year that we've got to reach out to each other and get the 60 votes to get something done," said Lieberman.

Lieberman co-authored a global warming bill last year along with former Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia and Boxer. The measure failed to get enough votes to advance on the Senate floor.



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Sources: MSNBC, Morning Joe Show, Google Maps

Climate Bill Faces Major Hurdles...Possibly No Hope For Passage

Climate bill faces hurdles in Senate


The climate-change bill that has been moving slowly through the Senate will face a stark political reality when it emerges for committee debate on Tuesday: With Democrats deeply divided on the issue, unless some Republican lawmakers risk the backlash for signing on to the legislation, there is almost no hope for passage.

Like the measure adopted by the House, the legislation favors a cap-and-trade system that would issue permits for greenhouse gas emissions, gradually lower the amount of emissions allowed, and let companies buy and sell permits to meet their needs -- all without adding to the federal deficit, according to projections. But key Republicans are making their opposition clear, even as Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) has enlisted Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) as his most visible GOP ally in gathering support for the bill.

Sen. George V. Voinovich (Ohio), a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee who was initially seen as one of the few Republicans who might consider backing the majority, is helping lead the opposition.

"Why are we trying to jam down this legislation now?" he asked during a hearing last week. "Wouldn't it be smarter to take our time and do it right?"

He wrote Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson twice this summer to ask for a more detailed economic analysis of the House-passed climate legislation, and he has joined the other six Republicans on the committee in boycotting the climate bill's markup, scheduled for Tuesday.

The measure has deeply divided Democrats. With states in the Midwest, South and Rocky Mountain West dependent on fossil fuels for energy, many senators are worried about the legislation's impact on industry and consumers.

"I think at the end of the day, the people who turn the switch on at home will be disadvantaged," Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) told CNBC on Friday, explaining why he did not think the bill Kerry had sponsored along with Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) could pass.

So Democratic leaders, with the support of the Obama administration, are trying to sway at least half a dozen Republicans by offering amendments to speed along their top priority: building nuclear power plants.

Graham has suggested provisions on nuclear power and offshore oil drilling that could win his support for a cap-and-trade climate bill. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) has established a bipartisan working group of 17 Senate offices that is close to producing a detailed amendment aimed at hurrying the construction of U.S. nuclear reactors.

But it remains unclear whether that approach will hold currency in the current era of political polarization. One of the top Republicans whom Democrats hope to recruit in this effort -- Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), whom Graham and Kerry recently buttonholed on the Senate floor -- has voiced skepticism about the legislation.

"A tepid nuclear title isn't enough to get her to support a bad climate bill," said Robert Dillon, a spokesman for Murkowski.

Graham and Kerry are set to meet Wednesday with Energy Secretary Steven Chu, as well as with Obama's top climate adviser, Carol M. Browner, and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to discuss a possible compromise. They are also setting up meetings with colleagues on the issue.

"I think at the end of the day, the people who turn the switch on at home will be disadvantaged," Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) told CNBC on Friday, explaining why he did not think the bill Kerry had sponsored along with Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) could pass.

So Democratic leaders, with the support of the Obama administration, are trying to sway at least half a dozen Republicans by offering amendments to speed along their top priority: building nuclear power plants.

Graham has suggested provisions on nuclear power and offshore oil drilling that could win his support for a cap-and-trade climate bill. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) has established a bipartisan working group of 17 Senate offices that is close to producing a detailed amendment aimed at hurrying the construction of U.S. nuclear reactors.

But it remains unclear whether that approach will hold currency in the current era of political polarization. One of the top Republicans whom Democrats hope to recruit in this effort -- Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), whom Graham and Kerry recently buttonholed on the Senate floor -- has voiced skepticism about the legislation.

"A tepid nuclear title isn't enough to get her to support a bad climate bill," said Robert Dillon, a spokesman for Murkowski.

Graham and Kerry are set to meet Wednesday with Energy Secretary Steven Chu, as well as with Obama's top climate adviser, Carol M. Browner, and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to discuss a possible compromise. They are also setting up meetings with colleagues on the issue.

It is what Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope calls "the old formula for bipartisanship."

"They would agree on a goal, they would not agree exactly on the means to a goal, and they'd come up with a legislative solution that takes elements from both sides," he said.

And Graham, for his part, has become a lightning rod for controversy back home. On Oct. 22, the American Energy Alliance, an advocacy group funded in part by energy companies, launched a radio, TV and online advertising campaign in South Carolina that has cost "close to $300,000" so far, according to the group's spokesman, Patrick Creighton.

Featuring a Halloween theme, the TV commercial warns of "some scary stories coming out of Washington" and says, "The latest is Senator Lindsey Graham's support for a national energy tax called cap-and-trade."

Creighton said the group questions why Graham says a deal will help offshore drilling, which Congress has already allowed.

Groups backing the climate bill came to Graham's defense last week. They aired radio and television ads that featured state Sen. John Courson, a conservative Republican who became concerned about global warming after witnessing the decline of polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba.

"Out-of-state interests are attacking our Senator Lindsey Graham," Courson says in an ad underwritten by Republicans for Environmental Protection, "because he's backing an energy plan that produces more power in America."

Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said he is optimistic that the parties can reach an accord because Americans are not divided along party lines on global warming. "Is there bipartisanship in the country? I think clearly there is," he said.

State lawmakers who came to advise the White House last week on climate saw a different picture. "We looked for any Republican, in any state legislature in the country, who supported a bill," recalled Minnesota state Rep. Jeremy Kalin. "We found not a one."


Sources: Washington Post, MSNBC