President-elect Barack Obama announced yesterday he was restoring the post of UN Ambassador to a cabinet level position in his administration. The move is yet another sign of the new era in international relations coming to United States foreign policy following the disastrous Bush Administration.

Obama also announced his appointment of Susan Rice, a longtime advisor on foreign policy and fierce opponent of the Iraq War, to be his Ambassador to the United Nations. Rice’s appointment sends a strong signal to diplomats throughout both the UN and around the world that America is back on track in terms of a deliberative, multilateral approach regarding foreign affairs.

Obama was quoted as saying about the appointment and new approach to the UN, “Susan knows the global challenges we face demand global institutions that work. She shares my belief that the U.N. is an indispensable and imperfect forum.” In order to gain a little perspective on how far that thinking is from that of the Bush Administration, get a load of this quote from one of Bush’s, non-Cabinet level, UN Ambassadors, John Bolton, “There is no such thing as the United Nations. There is only the international community, which can only be led by the only remaining superpower, which is the United States.”

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Melting polar ice caps, extinction of endangered species, worsening air pollution, wildfires, droughts, spread of diseases.  These are all frightening effects of global warming that make me want to takepart to further reduce my personal contribution.  What do they mean to you?

Well, you could be part of the 1/5 of the general US public that doesn’t believe global warming is happening. Yes, it’s not just Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney who are the naysayers but a whopping 60 million Americans. I think part of the problem is the phrase “global warming.” An increase of one or two degrees on the planet will have drastic effects on its delicate ecological balance but people might be able to ignore (to some degree) how it affects their daily lives. And, some people might think that having Miami Beach weather in Seattle might be a good thing (though I don’t know if culturally people in Seattle would be happy about that).  However, global warming doesn’t mean warmer temperatures everywhere. It means chaos on the planet with warming in some places, colder temperatures in others and a complete churning of the intricate, delicate balance of nature.

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Now that the presidential race is over, and we can go back to talking about Alaska without mentioning Wasilla or anyone that comes from there, I can instead tell you that today an appellate judge ruled that federal regulators improperly granted Shell Oil permission for offshore drilling, and ordered that the project be halted. Says the Associated Press (via MSNBC):

‘This decision confirms that the Bush administration rushed to approve Shell’s drilling program in the Arctic Ocean without a full review of impacts to whales and the subsistence way of life for people in the region,’ said Eric Jorgensen, an attorney for EarthJustice, which represented some clients in the case.

The Minerals Management Service, which grants such permission, now has to reconsider its decision, and is pretty unhappy about doing so. They tend to think the $300 million they’ve spent on environmental studies in the past 30 years should cover it.

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Although it’s twilight for the Bush Administration, the president and his cronies aren’t savoring their final hours by propping up their cowboy boots tipping back their gallon hats while they toast each other to all of the havoc their policies have wreaked on the world. No, they’re still busy and there’s a lot of dirty, ugly stuff the Bush Administration is ramming through in its final days. We can’t lose our focus on stopping some of their final nasty 11^th hour regulations and rollbacks that will be a final Bush imprint on our air, water, public lands, wildlife and consumer policies. The Administration is being extra clever by trying to get these regulations in place by November 22^nd, which would make it even more difficult for the Obama Administration to undo them. I’ve already written about a couple of these lovely proposals, but there are 90 total, so here are some highlights along with organizations fighting these new regulations. Takepart today with the organizations listed with each item to stop Bush’s final onslaught.

1. Grand Canyon. Yes, one of our nation’s treasured goals is under assault as the current Administration has allowed uranium mining within three miles of the park. Takepart with Environmental Working Group
2. Mountaintop Mining Removal. If mining wasn’t already a highly polluting exercise to retrieve an energy source, the Bush Administration seems to want to up the ante to make it an even greater source of pollution by giving waivers to mining companies to directly dump their mountaintop waste directly into nearby rivers and streams. Takepart with the Sierra Club.
3. Power plants. Again, the Bush Administration seems to just love these pollution emitters and wants energy companies to dictate our air standards. Their proposals would allow for plants to be built near national parks and wilderness areas. And, they would like to establish a loophole so that older plants will not be required to add pollution-control technology if they increase their emissions (as currently required under the Clean Air Act). Takepart with NRDC.
4. Logging. As I already wrote, Bush and his cronies want to open up protected areas in western Oregon to logging. Takepart with the Wilderness Society.
5. Endangered Species Act. The Administration would remove the required approval by scientists about the impact of a policy or law on an endangered species. Takepart today with the National Wildlife Federation.
6. Truck Drivers. A dangerous new regulation would allow them to drive 10% more without a break, placing themselves and other vehicles on the road at increased risk. Takepart with OMB Watch.
7. Endangered Species Act. This historic Act could be weakened if the Administration allows for changes to the normal approval process by not requiring the executive branch to consult with an independent agency to determine whether a project could endanger a species. Takepart today with the National Wildlife Federation.
8. Individuals with Disabilities. Bush is proposing to water down the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act by weakening accessibility standards and reducing access enforcement. This would amount to discrimination against individuals with disabilities. Takepart with United Cerebal Palsy.
9. Medicaid benefits to be reduced. The amount of out-patient hospital services provided to low-income people through Medicaid’s would be cut. Takepart with OMB Watch.
10. Family Planning. The Administration is threatening to cut funding to health facilities and organizations that refuse to hire people who refuse to provide birth control. The proposal could define some types of birth control as abortion. takepart with the National Women’s Law Center.

(photo by Storm Crypt)

Let’s say you’re the outgoing administration, and you’re pretty sure that the new guys coming in are going to try and undo everything you’ve done on environmental policy, in part by replacing the people that made these policies.  What do you do to try to cement your policy, keep these people in jobs, and make it slightly harder for the next administration to do their thing?  The Washington Post has one idea, and it’s called burrowing:

Just weeks before leaving office, the Interior Department’s top lawyer has shifted half a dozen key deputies — including two former political appointees who have been involved in controversial environmental decisions — into senior civil service posts.

This means that some key jobs which were Bush appointments now are civil service jobs, which obviously do not roll over every new president.  Now, to be fair, this is certainly not new.  The Post states that, “In its last 12 months, the Clinton administration approved 47 such moves, including seven at the senior executive level.”

It’s interesting that so many of these shifts, though, are happening where environmental policy are made.  It seems that the Bush people think they’ve hit on some pretty good rules concerning taking care of nature.

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OpalMirror

As I’ve already written several times, the Bush Administration is trying to ram through as many final new “regulations” and roll-backs of existing environmental, health and consumer protections. While we are all weary from eight years of assaults by Bush and his cronies, we must put up a final fight in his remaining days to stop these dangerous policies that are the President’s final gifts to his friends in mining, timber, oil and gas industries.

The Wilderness Society needs your help now to stop the Administration’s new proposal to open up thousands of acres of ancient forests in western Oregon to logging. This is yet another gift to the timber industry, which has already handsomely benefited by this Administration’s policies. Logging in this area threatens endangered species, biodiversity and is slap in the face to the American public that demonstrated their support for protection of wilderness areas in the election last week.

Takepart today to say no to the Bush Administration’s proposed logging by signing the Wilderness Society’s petition today.

The Bush Administration is pushing through their final, 11th hour regulations that are the icing on the cake after eight painful years of their attacks on many health, environmental and civil protections that were legislated at the state and federal level in the past century. Of their 90 proposed changes, the majority will weaken standards designed to protect consumers, the environment and wolves. Yes, wolves. It’s not just Sarah Palin and her cronies who like to attack wolves but also the Bush Administration (of no surprise).

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Administration’s new plan could kill up to 1,000 gray wolves in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho in one year!  The organization says this dangerous proposal could “unleash state-sponsored massacres that could push gray wolves back to the brink of extinction.”

Takepart today to protect our nation’s gray wolves by sending a letter to Interior Secretary, Dirk Kempthorne.

*photo from dobak’s flickr stream (creative commons)

Even if it’s just the beginning of the end of Guantanamo, what good news! It’s nice to know that even though Obama is focusing on the economy he’s still paying attention to the war and all things related.

From the Huffington Post:

“President-elect Obama’s advisers are quietly crafting a proposal to ship dozens, if not hundreds, of imprisoned terrorism suspects to the United States to face criminal trials, a plan that would make good on his promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison but could require creation of a controversial new system of justice.”

The article goes on to to classify how all levels of prisoners would be dealt with, with some prisoners needing a new court system that could deal with their entanglement with highly classified issues.

I have to say that this makes me super excited. Even thought it might be slightly controversial and something new, it is something that takes into account people’s rights (something the current administration didn’t seem to care very much about).

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Adding to the list of irreparable damages left for a legacy, President Bush and his cronies are now set to open 10,000 acres of public land in eastern Utah, to allow for drilling of natural gas and oil.  The Bureau of Land Management plans to auction off the tracts of land, which border three national parks, conveniently one month before Bush leaves office, making it difficult for the next administration to reverse the plan.  According to the New York Times:

National Park Service officials say that the decision to open lands close to Arches National Park and Dinosaur National Monument and within eyeshot of Canyonlands National Park was made without the kind of consultation that had previously been routine.

This is a lasting impression we can’t afford to let Bush leave behind.

takepart by supporting the National Parks Conservation Association and help protect these natural treasures.

Related:  Inconvenient Truth of the Day

Photo: Arches National Park, NYTimes

A few months back, I wrote about the unexpectedly welcome news that President Bush asked his cabinet for a plan to protect the waters around some of the most remote islands in the Pacific Ocean, including the Mariana Trench, the deepest spot on earth.  We read that, and we thought, “Huh.  That’s pretty awesome.  We’ll put this one in the win column for this administration.”

Aaaaaannnnnd…not so fast.  There are objections to the plan.  And, not from the most helpful of places.  Richard Dreyfuss The Penguin Vice President Dick Cheney is not onboard with this idea, at all.  The Washington Post reports (and, yes, sorry about the cheap dig at the Vice President…they’re not even original jokes, and all joking aside, I have heard he’s a nice man, in person):

Vice President Cheney and some officials in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands have argued that the plan could hurt the region’s economy by barring fishing and energy exploration.

Ah, yes.  Money.  It always comes down to money.

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