Leaked document: UN, developed countries have no clothes

It’s all a lie, and they know it’s all a lie.

A leaked analysis of the promises of the developed countries assumes that those promises are acted on – unlikely enough in itself – and concludes that

. . . . global emissions will peak later than 2020 and remain on an unsustainable pathway that could lead to concentrations equal or above 550 ppm with the related temperature raise around 3^° . . . .

More at 350

More at DeSmogBlog

Obama needs to be called on this bullshit, and on his phony 17% cut (actually 4%, he is at this point just betting on the stupidity of the American public) and on the $100 billion that includes how much from the US again? Clinton is getting away with headlines about $100 billion, when she has actually promised exactly zero from the US. And, and, and . . . .

And more good news for Big Pharma-1 in four US soldiers admit abusing prescription drugs!

Man, are we not only setting record suicides in the military and a preponderance of PTSD, but we are breeding Rx addicts.

Yeah and thank goddess for the AfPak surge, and the military contractor surge.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/afghanistan_contractors_new_congressional_study.php

Because if we withdrew from war and war machinery, there wouldn’t be a job for these soldiers to come home to.

To paraphrase Gil-Scott Heron:

And we really lost Detroit, this time:

Door, US delegation office at COP15

This message would be equally apropos in DC. As Senator McCaskill candidly observed, congress can only do one thing a year for its salary, in her case $174,00. I wonder what the one thing will be in 2010 – and could someone please remind me what it was this year?

Vandana Shiva in Copenhagen

Thank god for Amy Goodman. While the networks and everyone else, including the darling msnbc, continue with the dull as dishwater Tiger saga for hour after hour, day after day, breaking only to inform us of Sarah Palin’s latest antics, she is busy interviewing the likes of Kumi Naidoo or chasing Desmond Tutu through the streets of Copenhagen.

Up first today, 12/15: Bill McKibben.

We [have[n't]] a[n][re] [agreement][chance][fucked]

Such is the news from Brackethagen.

We are told that the delegates’ spirits have been raised by the Chair’s proposed draft, especially the money shot below.

Can’t lives on Won’t Street

One of the more interesting items on the COP15 webcast page is Yes, he can! How Obama can deliver stronger emissions reductions. The legal argument is presented by Kassie Siegel of the Climate Law Institute, beginning at about 21:40.

The case is made at greater length in Yes, He Can: President Obama’s Power to Make an International Climate Commitment Without Waiting for Congress, a 22-page pdf available through the Center for Biological Diversity, which launched the CLI earlier this year with the express purpose of all out war on global warming.

“We have joined God”

Life is not just violence and money. I wish there were more coverage of this antispeech from the anti-Nobels:

David Suzuki’s Right Livelihood Award Acceptance Speech, December 4, 2009

I’d like to begin by thanking the Right Livelihood Foundation for the great honour you have bestowed on me. Thanks too, to Stephen Lewis who put the effort into nominating me.

I would not have been able to do what I have in my life without the efforts of my wife, the brains and the looks beside me, Dr. Tara Cullis.

A lot of people at The Nature of Things and the David Suzuki Foundation, have worked very hard on programs and projects, yet people give me a lot of the credit for their efforts. And the Canadian public by watching my programs in substantial numbers, kept me on air as host of The Nature of Things for thirty years. So I accept this award with gratitude on behalf of all the people who have made me look good.

In a few days, delegates will gather in Copenhagen to try to come to some kind of agreement on how to tackle the challenge of human-induced climate change. Vested interest groups – the fossil fuel and auto industries – and a few dissident petro-states like Canada, will attempt to water down any hard targets and I fear we will not be able to respond adequately to the urgent threats from human activity.

Congratulations WildlifeDirect

(Christmas card, part of a set available from the Lion Guardians)

Mongabay has awarded its Innovation in Conservation Award for 2009 to WildlifeDirect.

Copenhagen viewed from BC

Pitiful as the American approach to Copenhagen is, it is far from the lamest, even among the English speaking countries. British Columbian environmental activist Tzeporah Berman talks about Copenhagen, the Harper government, and the curse of the tar sands with the Real News.

Cindy Sheehan vs. Sarah Palin

How soon we forget.

Cindy Sheehan was the first person who galvanized opposition to the war in Iraq.

I had my problems with Cindy, who was, in my words “lionized” on spaces like dailykos.

Open Letter to George Bush