Go Utah! A state-endorsed Earth Day poster contest rewards students for singing the praises of mined resources, sparking criticisms from parents and an administrator who see a disconnect between the event and the conservation values associated with the annual observance.
"Where Would WE Be Without Oil, Gas, & Mining?" is the theme of this and last year's contests, inviting all Utah elementary schools and their students to craft 11-by-17-inch posters describing the benefits of coal, oil and natural gas, but not the impacts associated with burning them.
Fucktards.
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According to the Los Angeles Times, a study released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics yesterday showed that green jobs grew far faster than every other sector of employment in 2011, including healthcare.
The nation had about 3.4 million green energy jobs in 2011, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday in its second annual and final look at this emerging category of employment. (More on why it's the last report later.)
In all, so-called green jobs accounted for just 2.6% of all employment that year, but a comparison with 2010 data shows that these jobs grew at four times the rate of all the others combined. Green employment jumped 4.9% in 2011 from the prior year. That compares with a gain of 1.2% for all jobs and 2.7% for restaurants, 1.7% for manufacturing and 1.8% for healthcare, which is often seen as the fastest-growing sector.
But there's an obvious caveat.
With the arrival of sequestration, the future of jobs in green energy is uncertain, and we're quite literally at the mercy of private enterprise to make up for the difference. And even if it does, we may not know about it because the Bureau of Labor Statistics will no longer have the ability to study it.
Tuesday's report was only the second one of its kind, but the BLS said earlier that it would be the last, a casualty of the federal budget cuts under the so-called sequestration that took effect March 1.
The importance of retaking the House of Representatives cannot be stressed enough.
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via Tim Murphy
As the new chairman of a key House subcommittee on the environment, Rep.Chris Stewart (R-Utah) will be one of the GOP's leading actors when it comes to the Environmental Protection Agency and the growing threats from climate change. So with his first hearing as chairman on tap for Wednesday, what does the freshman Republican—and end times novelist—think about anthropogenic global warming?
He's not sure.
The chairman of the House subcommittee on the environment is "not as convinced" as others that humans have anything to do with climate change. And not only that. He also believes there's "no better example of the overreach of government" than the Environmental Protection Agency and it's draconian laws that say you can't kill endangered species on a whim.
Evidently, the House subcommittee on the environment will focus less on how to protect it and more on how to destroy it more efficiently. And I keep asking myself if our congress is really just an elaborate sketch comedy.
We're all fucked.
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The NRA keeps on winning, and the Democrats keep on letting them.
Left unsaid on Tuesday was that another major element of the president's gun policy proposal could be joining the assault weapons ban in the scrap heap.
Legislation to limit the size of ammunition feeders was part of Feinstein's bill as well. And as of now, lawmakers are expected to separate that measure from the assault weapons ban so that it can be considered individually.
But that hardly ensures that a ban on high-capacity magazines will make it through the Senate. One top Democratic aide said leadership was leaning against putting the magazine ban in the baseline bill, while another said that they would consider it as an amendment instead.
So whatever we get out of Congress will have background checks. I suppose we need 91 percent support for a gun control measure before Congress will allow it, because the majority support for extended magazine bans and assault weapons bans just isn't good enough.
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Reader RT sends this new poll showing the unhappiest places in the US by some measure or other.West Virginia is the unhappiest:
West Virginia residents' well-being was the worst of all states. It scored last in three of the six categories: life evaluation, emotional health and physical health. The answers of West Virginians to questions in the physical health category were particularly alarming. It was the only state where more than 30% of residents were told that they had high cholesterol. In addition, nearly 40% of respondents were told they have high blood pressure, also the highest of all states. Some 31.4% of respondents indicated that they smoked, the highest percentage of all states. The state had the second-lowest median income in the U.S., and a very high proportion reported not being able to afford food or medicine. West Virginians had the second-worst life expectancy at birth in the country
I'll be the first to note that these "bestest/worstest by some measurement" stories are generally bullshit, but if you buy this one, most of the states on this list are red states.
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This isn't the first time I've heard this suggested, but I'm tickled pink that people have actually created a White House petition. Whose colors would your senator wear?
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Massachusetts Senate Candidate Stands By Sheriff Who Joked About Killing Obama
Sorry, Eric Cantor, but it looks like you will never get reelected now, because it turns out you are an anti-Semite what hates Israel, and also probably the Jews. What a shanda!
Top House Republicans were invited to Israel with President Barack Obama, but did not attend because of the congressional schedule, sources on Capitol Hill and at the White House say.
Most notably, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) declined an invitation to attend a Jerusalem state dinner in honor of Obama because Congress is voting on government funding and the 2014 budget this week, several sources said. The White House invited Cantor to Obama's speech in Jerusalem.
Why does Barack Nobumer invite Eric Cantor to Israel, when he knows Eric Cantor can't attend a dinner in Obama's honor miss important budget votes? That is like inviting him for a yummy lobster salad summit when you know lobster isn't kosher! READ MORE »
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