Need to know????

[Michael Larson]

Sure to warm Brian's heart.

London, Ont., to ban bottled water on city premises

ORONTO (CBC) - City councillors in London, Ont., have voted to ban the sale of bottled water on city premises despite protests from the beverage industry.

The 15-3 vote late Monday came after heated debate in the municipality on the role of bottled water at city facilities such as city-owned buildings, arenas and community centres. Municipal officials have maintained that tap water costs about an eighth of a cent per litre while bottled water can range anywhere from 30 cents to $4 a bottle.


Environmentalists have said they are concerned by the amount of energy it takes to transport the bottles, as well as the waste produced by them, particularly when most areas of Canada have safe water supplies.
The Canadian Bottled Water Association, which represents about 100 bottlers across the country, said Tuesday it was disappointed with London's decision.


One of the city's primary goals is to reduce the amount of plastic that goes into landfills, said association spokeswoman Elizabeth Griswold, adding "I don't think that'll be the result of the vote."


Two surveys have indicated that if bottled water is not made available to people, they will choose to buy other bottled beverages over tap water, she said.


"So they'll have the same amount of plastic to recycle," Griswold said.
-----------------------------------------

Socialist's convinced they know what's right for everyone else.

I guess all they will be able to say is "At least we tried"

[Michael Larson]

Category: Environuts gone Wild



Windmills On City Bridges & Skyscrapers; Turbines On Rivers' Shores; Solar Panels On Buildings
Reporting
Magee Hickey

NEW YORK (CBS) ― Mayor Bloomberg is proposing a "green" plan that has the potential to drastically change the New York City skyline and shores. It's part of his effort to make New York the most energy efficient city in the nation.

The mayor's "windmill power plan" is the boldest environmental proposal yet from the billionaire independent, who has been trying to make energy efficiency a legacy of his administration.

Speaking at a major conference on alternative energy Tuesday night in Las Vegas, Bloomberg proposed putting windmills on top of city bridges, and skyscrapers, and turbines in the Hudson and East Rivers.

In terms of offshore locations, aides to the mayor told CBS 2's Magee Hickey, the city is looking at the generally windy coast off of Queens, Brooklyn and Long Island for the turbines, which could provide 10 percent of the city's electricity in just 10 years.

The plan also includes the use of solar panels, possibly on the roofs of public and private buildings:

"When it takes to producing clean power, we're determined to make New York the number one city in the nation," said Bloomberg.

To show how serious he is, the mayor had lunch with T. Boone Pickens - the oil baron trying to build the world's largest wind farm in Texas - to talk about possibilities for such technology in New York City. Bloomberg gave companies until September 19 to submit innovative proposals to make the city "greener" by 2030:

"It would be a thing of beauty if when "Lady Liberty" looks out on the horizon, she not only welcomes new immigrants to our shores but lights their way with a torch powered by an ocean wind farm," the mayor said.

[Michael Larson]

Category: Nervous envirowackos

Sarah Palin: Making John McCain Look Like Al Gore?

Published by Caroline Howe, August 30th, 2008 global warming

In stark contrast with Senator Barack Obama’s energy policy, which he described last night calling for millions of new green jobs, improved national security, and reduced global warming pollution, John McCain today announced that his running mate, Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, doesn’t believe in anthropogenic climate change or evolution.



Combine all of this with the fact that Ms. Palin’s husband works for British Petroleum drilling in North Alaska, that she doesn’t believe that climate change science is clear or that the changes are caused by mankind’s greenhouse gas emissions and the fact that she wants to drill in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge to guarantee our energy security rather than pursuing renewable energies, and you’ve got one of the worst climate candidates yet! Even John McCain has spoken vocally to protect ANWR, so his selection of one of the nation’s biggest supporters for drilling there has been a major blow,


She actively campaigned against the petition to get the polar bear included on the Endangered Species List, and sued the Secretary of the Interior when that decision was made, saying that the climate change models cited by scientists and environmentalists that predict melting of Arctic ice due to climate change are “unreliable.”



When asked in a Newsmax interview, what was her take on global warming and how it is affecting the United States, Sarah Palin said, “A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I’m not one though who would attribute it to being man-made.” What? Where has she been!?!


“Ms. Palin has made it clear through her actions that she is unwilling to do even as much as the Bush administration to address the impacts of global warming,” said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund.



Now that’s saying something if she isn’t even willing to do as much as Bush!


Meanwhile, League of Conservation Voters President, Gene Karpinski, has said, “Unfortunately, with her support for drilling in the Arctic Refuge and off our coasts, Governor Palin will simply continue the failed policies of the Bush-Cheney administration and their Big Oil friends - policies that could make us even more dependent on foreign oil.”

[relliott]

Originally Posted by mlarson

Category: Nervous envirowackos

Sarah Palin: Making John McCain Look Like Al Gore?

Published by Caroline Howe, August 30th, 2008 global warming

In stark contrast with Senator Barack Obama’s energy policy, which he described last night calling for millions of new green jobs, improved national security, and reduced global warming pollution, John McCain today announced that his running mate, Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, doesn’t believe in anthropogenic climate change or evolution.



Combine all of this with the fact that Ms. Palin’s husband works for British Petroleum drilling in North Alaska, that she doesn’t believe that climate change science is clear or that the changes are caused by mankind’s greenhouse gas emissions and the fact that she wants to drill in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge to guarantee our energy security rather than pursuing renewable energies, and you’ve got one of the worst climate candidates yet! Even John McCain has spoken vocally to protect ANWR, so his selection of one of the nation’s biggest supporters for drilling there has been a major blow,


She actively campaigned against the petition to get the polar bear included on the Endangered Species List, and sued the Secretary of the Interior when that decision was made, saying that the climate change models cited by scientists and environmentalists that predict melting of Arctic ice due to climate change are “unreliable.”



When asked in a Newsmax interview, what was her take on global warming and how it is affecting the United States, Sarah Palin said, “A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I’m not one though who would attribute it to being man-made.” What? Where has she been!?!


“Ms. Palin has made it clear through her actions that she is unwilling to do even as much as the Bush administration to address the impacts of global warming,” said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund.



Now that’s saying something if she isn’t even willing to do as much as Bush!


Meanwhile, League of Conservation Voters President, Gene Karpinski, has said, “Unfortunately, with her support for drilling in the Arctic Refuge and off our coasts, Governor Palin will simply continue the failed policies of the Bush-Cheney administration and their Big Oil friends - policies that could make us even more dependent on foreign oil.”

She may be right,as the month of August was the first time in one hundred years of tracking that no sun spots were ever reported.

[Michael Larson]

Coming to a country near you.

Watch what government has in store for you when control is given the government.

Video:

Low(1Mb)

High(2Mb)

[Mark Jones]

Well if Rodger Schlickeisen said it, that changes everthing.

[Vern Mitchinson]

How does it feel to have a right wing government moving into the houseing business?
This whole mess could have been prevented if there was some regulation in the morgage lending business that would have insured that anyone getting a morgage has the ability to pay it back.

[Michael Larson]

Originally Posted by vmitchinson

How does it feel to have a right wing government moving into the houseing business?
This whole mess could have been prevented if there was some regulation in the morgage lending business that would have insured that anyone getting a morgage has the ability to pay it back.

Unbelievably maddening!

What most people miss is that the left wing has used Fannie mae and Freddie Mac as toys for their largess and too many on the right failed to understand the enormity of the problem that was being created even when warnings were issued in the 80s and 90s.

This is failure of government much more than a failure of capitalism.

Rational lenders were turned into risk takers because the U.S. Treasury became the guarantor.

The left widely used these quasi government companies ad social engineering tools.

[George A. H. Luck]

You forgot one thing Michael; George Bush has been warning about these developments since 2002 and has been thwarted at every turn by these same democrats.

What price freedom? Now you know.

[Brian A. MacNeish]

Originally Posted by vmitchinson

How does it feel to have a right wing government moving into the houseing business?
This whole mess could have been prevented if there was some regulation in the morgage lending business that would have insured that anyone getting a morgage has the ability to pay it back.

Who's gonna regulate it.......Government??

Bigger and better government......doesn't that sound a bit like socialism. Oh no!!! They are becoming more like us!!!

[Brian E. Kelly]

Originally Posted by vmitchinson

How does it feel to have a right wing government moving into the houseing business?
This whole mess could have been prevented if there was some regulation in the morgage lending business that would have insured that anyone getting a morgage has the ability to pay it back.

It is quite a conundrum Vern. The Free Marketeers are now clamoring for regulation and claiming they were for regulation long before they were against it.

Odd that the current administration and party that promises less government has created more government since the New Deal.
We will see if the American public is paying attention.

[Vern Mitchinson]

In this country the banks would not write home mortgages so the government set up Canada Mortgage and Housing (CMHC) to guarantee the mortgage.
CMHC set the conditions to get a mortgage to a minimum of 25% down, later reduced to 0% and recently raised to 5% and a stable income. To qualify your payments could not exceed a set percentage of your income. (do not remember what the % is)
Is this government interference? I do not think it is.
The government is not making or administering the mortgage. They are simply setting the minimum standards for a guarantee. If the bank wants to do mortgages without the CMHC guarantee they are free to do so. They choose not to and want the government guarantee so have to meet the CMHC standards. If I make a guarantee I have the right to set the standard for making that guarantee. Why would CMHC or anyone else give up that right.

[Michael Larson]

What your missing is that the mortgage lenders in the U.S. where pushed hard to lend to those who wouldn't qualify under more "normal" business conditions that assess risks.

Everyone looked the other way as home values grew at astounding rates in many markets.

There was also wide spread use of stated income loans where all one had to do was state their income when applying for a mortgage often without verification.

This has been going on for over 2 decades and it''s time to pay the piper.

The lenders where insured from all the risk because the paper was resold to Fannie mae and Freddie mac which are quasi government companies that are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Treasury.

[Vern Mitchinson]

Originally Posted by mlarson

What your missing is that the mortgage lenders in the U.S. where pushed hard to lend to those who wouldn't qualify under more "normal" business conditions that assess risks.
Who did the pushing? Realtors come to mind.
Everyone looked the other way as home values grew at astounding rates in many markets.
They assumed that house prices would never come down! "Take the U out etc."
There was also wide spread use of stated income loans where all one had to do was state their income when applying for a mortgage often without verification.
Who's fault was that. The lender or broker.
This has been going on for over 2 decades and it''s time to pay the piper.
My sources say it started in 2002.
The lenders where insured from all the risk because the paper was resold to Fannie mae and Freddie mac which are quasi government companies that are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Treasury.

Why did not These two check the security and viability of of the mortgagees?
If these two companies were government why did they spend over 2 billion a year to lbby the febs and contribute to election campains? Government departments do not provide funding to canditates during elections.

I do not see the government in any of these senerios. Looks more like greed and stupidity to me.
One report from a mortgage broker stated that the realtors were yeling at him if he did not approve the margage even thought the buyer did not have a hope in hell of repaying the loan.
PS pardon my typos there is not spell check on here. Where the hell did that go?

[Michael Larson]

Vern.

Watch these two videos.

BTW-Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are GSEs

One

Two