Hopes of passing climate change legislation before the climate summit in Copenhagen are quickly dissipating, as Rachel Morris reports in Mother Jones. It seems unlikely that any major action will be taken before the December meeting. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev) originally expected all six Senate committees to allocate cap-and-trade pollution permits by September 10, and later extended the deadline to September 28. But on Wednesday, Reid signaled that the legislation might be delayed until next year. Why is climate change taking the backseat? Simply, passing a health care bill and wrestling the economy back into shape have sapped lawmakers' energy for climate change.
"Everything has got to come in; that is one of the things we will be insisting on strongly." -- John Holmes, UN humanitarian chief
The way to de facto peace between Israel and Hamas is obvious: end Israel's blockade on civilian goods and people going into and out of Gaza. Anyone who cares about peace, the security of Israel, and the security and welfare of Gaza should be pushing Israel - or the U.S., Israel's main and essential supporter - to lift its siege. Pushing hard, like the UN, CARE, and Save the Children did today and yesterday.
AFP: The United Nations urged Israel on Thursday to reopen Gaza crossings as senior officials assessed war damage . . .
"If you want to have reconstruction, you have to have cement and construction materials and pipes and spare parts," said UN humanitarian chief John Holmes at a UN-run school hit by an Israeli missile in the northern town of Beit Lahiya.
"Everything has got to come in; that is one of the things we will be insisting on strongly" in discussions with Israel, said Holmes who was touring Gaza along with UN Middle East envoy Robert Serry.
Gaza's 1.5 million residents are struggling to cope without electricity and other basic necessities on the fourth day of an Israeli blockade. Hospitals have begun to run short of fuel for generators, and sewage has spilled out onto the streets. Jacky Rowland reports.
Here's the background to Israel's deadly siege. . .
Two from the awesome Scott Harper Horton, First, his interview with the fired (for not abusing his office) former Federal Prosecutor David Iglesias, and Second a good rundown of AG Mukasey's latest evasions on the new revelations about the persecution of Governor Siegelman.
Oliver Willis writes of conservative bloggers trying to attack the Coburn-is-a-jerk omnibus Bill by comparing some money for the DC Subway in it to the Ted Stevens Bridge To Nowhere. The little chart explains the matter quite well.
Even better than e. coli conservativism, now confirmation of collapsing mine conservativism. I wonder if Bob Murray is friends with Phil Gramm?
DDay at Digby's runs down the really insipid notion conservatives are working on as their only defence against a Democratic nominee that can draw crowds in the hundreds of thousands: Popularity = fascism.
New UN Human Rights Chief appointed. A female judge from South Africa. She has big shoes to fill left by Canadian Louise Arbour who is a personal hero of mine.
More UN News, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon mildly criticizes moves by the Israeli defence ministry to resume settlement activities. Considering Moon was the Bush Admin's pick for SG, I'm mildly encouraged by the small shows of independence by him.
Keith Ellison (D-MN) vs Hans Von Spakovsky:
ELLISON: Why don't you want nuns to vote, Mr. von Spakovsky?
Like I've already said, more about Scottie McClellan later on. But first, a tiny little nugget on the whole subject of how the so-called-liberal-media was just doing their job. Like when they swallowed this whopper from Colin Powell, the UN speech that BushCo taking points compared to Adlai Stevenson's speech during the Cuban Missle Crisis, when we had actual photos of actual Soviet missiles.
Folks who knew about the intertubes at the time had ready access to a devastating evisceration of Powell's presentation within less than 24 hours from British researcher Dr Glen Rangwala.
But, really, as marvelous as Rangwala's research doubtlessly was, all you really needed to see through Colin Powell was a pair of eyeballs. Of course, it didn't hurt if you'd seen some classic episodes of Saturday Night Live, since it seemed like Powell had just stepped out of one of their absurdist scripts, particularly when he tried--with a straight face--to push the argument that a satellite photo of a truck proved the existence of chemical weapons inside the building where the truck was parked.
What? Think I'm exaggerating? Think I'm pulling your leg? Well, here's the link to his speech again, and just over the jump is the exact passage of the speech, complete with the slides he used.
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