Berengaria

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Posts by Berengaria

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  369

  So are Republicans now openly terrorists?

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  they seem determined to undermine the us democracy and shut the government down hurting employees and veterans.. what a despicable bunch, hope they get their asses kicked for what they are doing..

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  Berengaria

  Thank goodness you're finally opening your eyes Min
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  369

  So are Republicans now openly terrorists?

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  they seem determined to undermine the us democracy and shut the government down hurting employees and veterans.. what a despicable bunch, hope they get their asses kicked for what they are doing..

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  Berengaria

  As to what the electorate voted for: The current makeup of the House of Representatives also represents the electorate, just at the local level rather than the entire country. There is considerable opposition to the ACA in various parts of the country.

  I agree with tootired, just let the dems own it. If its the mess the Republicans think its going to be, the Democrats can clean it up.

  As for the House, Democrats actually recieved more votes, but through gerrymandered districts the GOP took seats.

  People seem to prefer the Affordable Care Act over Obamacare, imagine that. If they are questioned on the individual components, they have an even higher approval. There has been so much disinformation spewed by the Republicans and their various talking heads, people have no idea what to think, other than to be afraid.

  If the Republicans really thought it was going to be so bad, they wouldn't be trying to stop it. Even Ted Cruz called it "sugar" and pointed out that if they don't stop it now (before it goes into effect), they won't have another chance because people will like it.
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  369

  So are Republicans now openly terrorists?

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  they seem determined to undermine the us democracy and shut the government down hurting employees and veterans.. what a despicable bunch, hope they get their asses kicked for what they are doing..

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  Berengaria

  It wouldn't be Obamas job, it would be the Speaker of the House John Boehner.
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  369

  So are Republicans now openly terrorists?

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  they seem determined to undermine the us democracy and shut the government down hurting employees and veterans.. what a despicable bunch, hope they get their asses kicked for what they are doing..

  1. 
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  Berengaria

  But the republican party don't respect the electorate - they want to enforce their outdated minority views on others. This is why they are becoming less and less electable - they gave in to the quick-and-easy votes by selling their soul to the Tea Party, just as they did with the religious right before that.

  They like to boast about how wonderful the peaceful transference of power is, and yet they refuse to accept it. They claim to love America, and yet they seem to hate everything that America stands for.
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  369

  So are Republicans now openly terrorists?

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  they seem determined to undermine the us democracy and shut the government down hurting employees and veterans.. what a despicable bunch, hope they get their asses kicked for what they are doing..

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  Berengaria

  The couldn't have the White House

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayswz6cAAgM
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  153

  IPCC Climate Change Report........

  by cantleave in

  1. social
  2. current

  .....states that there is 95% certainty climate change is man made.

  people are still saying we don't need to do anything about it.. if you were told there is a 95% risk of you dying if you don't change your diet, wouldn't you change your diet?.

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  Berengaria

  So, what's your point?

  Mine is unchanged. The EPA has been forced to admit that they were talking through their ass about methane emissions.

  Huffington Post has an article on the same EPA retreat.

  PS This has been a broadly released news item. Several sources have covered it. But you ask me for a link?

  Maybe less time playing Grand Theft Auto and more time reading the net and newspapers, big mouth.

  Hey, just because you have comprehension issues is no reason for insults.
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  153

  IPCC Climate Change Report........

  by cantleave in

  1. social
  2. current

  .....states that there is 95% certainty climate change is man made.

  people are still saying we don't need to do anything about it.. if you were told there is a 95% risk of you dying if you don't change your diet, wouldn't you change your diet?.

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  Berengaria

  Yep, already read that. Here's the whole article.

  PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency has dramatically lowered its estimate of how much of a potent heat-trapping gas leaks during natural gas production, in a shift with major implications for a debate that has divided environmentalists: Does the recent boom in fracking help or hurt the fight against climate change?

  Oil and gas drilling companies had pushed for the change, but there have been differing scientific estimates of the amount of methane that leaks from wells, pipelines and other facilities during production and delivery. Methane is the main component of natural gas.

  The new EPA data is "kind of an earthquake" in the debate over drilling, said Michael Shellenberger, the president of the Breakthrough Institute, an environmental group based in Oakland, Calif. "This is great news for anybody concerned about the climate and strong proof that existing technologies can be deployed to reduce methane leaks."

  The scope of the EPA's revision was vast. In a mid-April report on greenhouse emissions, the agency now says that tighter pollution controls instituted by the industry resulted in an average annual decrease of 41.6 million metric tons of methane emissions from 1990 through 2010, or more than 850 million metric tons overall. That's about a 20 percent reduction from previous estimates. The agency converts the methane emissions into their equivalent in carbon dioxide, following standard scientific practice.

  The EPA revisions came even though natural gas production has grown by nearly 40 percent since 1990. The industry has boomed in recent years, thanks to a stunning expansion of drilling in previously untapped areas because of the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which injects sand, water and chemicals to break apart rock and free the gas inside.

  Experts on both sides of the debate say the leaks can be controlled by fixes such as better gaskets, maintenance and monitoring. Such fixes are also thought to be cost-effective, since the industry ends up with more product to sell.

  "That is money going up into the air," said Roger Pielke Jr., a professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado, adding he isn't surprised the EPA's new data show more widespread use of pollution control equipment. Pielke noted that the success of the pollution controls also means that the industry "probably can go further" in reducing leaks.

  Representatives of the oil and gas industry said the EPA revisions show emissions from the fracking boom can be managed.

  "The methane 'leak' claim just got a lot more difficult for opponents" of natural gas, noted Steve Everley, with Energy In Depth, an industry-funded group.

  In a separate blog post, Everley predicted future reductions, too.

  "As technologies continue to improve, it's hard to imagine those methane numbers going anywhere but down as we eagerly await the next installment of this EPA report," Everley wrote.

  One leading environmentalist argued the EPA revisions don't change the bigger picture.

  "We need a dramatic shift off carbon-based fuel: coal, oil and also gas," Bill McKibbern, the founder of 350.org, wrote in an email to The Associated Press. "Natural gas provides at best a kind of fad diet, where a dangerously overweight patient loses a few pounds and then their weight stabilizes; instead, we need at this point a crash diet, difficult to do" but needed to limit the damage from climate change.

  The EPA said it made the changes based on expert reviews and new data from several sources, including a report funded by the oil and gas industry. But the estimates aren't based on independent field tests of actual emissions, and some scientists said that's a problem.

  Robert Howarth, a Cornell University professor of ecology who led a 2011 methane leak study that is widely cited by critics of fracking, wrote in an email that "time will tell where the truth lies in all this, but I think EPA is wrong."

  Howarth said other federal climate scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have published recent studies documenting massive methane leaks from natural gas operations in Colorado and other Western states.

  Howarth wrote that the EPA seems "to be ignoring the published NOAA data in their latest efforts, and the bias on industry only pushing estimates downward — never up — is quite real. EPA badly needs a counter-acting force, such as outside independent review of their process."

  The issue of methane leaks has caused a major split between environmental groups.

  Since power plants that burn natural gas emit about half the amount of the greenhouse gases as coal-fired power, some say that the gas drilling boom has helped the U.S. become the only major industrialized country to significantly reduce greenhouse emissions. But others believe the methane leaks negate any benefits over coal, since methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas.

  The new EPA figures still show natural gas operations as the leading source of methane emissions in the U.S., at about 145 million metric tons in 2011. The next biggest source was enteric fermentation, scientific jargon for belches from cows and other animals, at 137 million metric tons. Landfills were the third-biggest source, at 103 million metric tons.

  But the EPA estimates that all the sources of methane combined still account for only 9 percent of greenhouse gases, even taking into account methane's more potent heat-trapping.

  The EPA said it is still seeking more data and feedback on the issue of methane leaks, so the report may change again in the future.

  The EPA revisions have international implications, too. The agency says the new report, Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks, was submitted to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change by an April 15 deadline.
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  153

  IPCC Climate Change Report........

  by cantleave in

  1. social
  2. current

  .....states that there is 95% certainty climate change is man made.

  people are still saying we don't need to do anything about it.. if you were told there is a 95% risk of you dying if you don't change your diet, wouldn't you change your diet?.

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  Berengaria

  The EPA has recently had to back off a totally false claim that fraking caused a huge release of methane. They only exaggerated by 3000%.

  Link?
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  153

  IPCC Climate Change Report........

  by cantleave in

  1. social
  2. current

  .....states that there is 95% certainty climate change is man made.

  people are still saying we don't need to do anything about it.. if you were told there is a 95% risk of you dying if you don't change your diet, wouldn't you change your diet?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  Berengaria

  Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what those folks in Arkansas were thinking when their neighborhood turned into an oil slick, "just like mother's milk".

  So why is developing our own abundant resources in North America such a problem because of government obstacles?

  It isn't, we export more than we import.
• 
  153

  IPCC Climate Change Report........

  by cantleave in

  1. social
  2. current

  .....states that there is 95% certainty climate change is man made.

  people are still saying we don't need to do anything about it.. if you were told there is a 95% risk of you dying if you don't change your diet, wouldn't you change your diet?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Berengaria