United States News
The latest news from and about U.S. issues.Friday, November 07, 2008
Obama’s Energy Department.
Washington Post, November 6, 2008 - “Let the speculating begin. Not oil speculation, but job speculation for the new Obama administration. Here’s what I’m hearing, and thinking. First, the Energy Department is an odd beast. Thirty six percent of its $25 billion budget is related to national security, dealing with nuclear materials from things like decommissioned nuclear weapons and naval reactors.” Read More.
Mexico-US: Reaching Out to Obama.
IPS, November 6, 2008 - “Following President-elect Barack Obama’s triumph in the U.S. elections, the Mexican government hopes to enter a new stage in the country’s relations with its northern neighbour. But it will be no easy task, especially considering that Obama has said he is interested in renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which links the United States, Canada and Mexico, in order to improve its labour and environmental standards. He also voted for the 2006 Secure Fence Act, which authorised the construction of 700 additional miles (1,100 kilometres) of walls and fences along the lengthy U.S.-Mexican border, although since then he has softened his support for the barrier.” Read more.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Water Innovations Alliance Launches to Support the Development of New Technologies.
MarketWatch, October 21, 2008 - “A leading group of entrepreneurs, investors and policy experts today announced the launch of the Water Innovations Alliance—an international trade association for emerging watertechnology companies and the organizations and communities they support—during the fourth annual Lux Executive Summit. The Washington, D.C.-based Alliance will work to expand markets, increase research funding, strengthen research and development, create a collaboratory environment, and improve education and outreach for water industry professionals. A huge gap currently exists between global water needs and global water solutions.” Read more.
China report warns of greenhouse gas leap.
Reuters, October 22, 2008 - “China’s greenhouse gas pollution could double or more in two decades says a new Chinese state think-tank study that casts stark light on the industrial giant’s role in stoking global warming. Beijing has not released recent official data on greenhouse gas from the nation’s fast-growing use of coal, oil and gas. Researchers abroad estimate China’s carbon dioxide emissions now easily outstrip that of the United States, long the biggest emitter.” Read more.
OPEC Struggles to Respond to Slumping Demand for Oil.
NY Times, October 22, 2008 - “At the beginning of the year, OPEC producers felt confident that strong economic growth and tight supplies would keep oil prices high. When oil crossed the $100-a-barrel threshold in February, the cartel’s president blamed speculators and said there was not much OPEC could do. But now, panic is gripping producers as prices drop. They are down by half since July, and the speed of the decline has stunned oil-rich governments that have become dependent on high prices.” Read more.
Reconsidering a long tradition.
Houston Chronicle, October 22, 2008 - “The worldwide economic slump is causing more Mexicans to consider allowing private investment in Mexico’s state-owned oil company, Arturo Sarukhan, Mexico’s ambassador to the U.S., said Tuesday. ‘I think that we do see the beginnings of a thaw in the way Mexicans of different political persuasions understand how reforming the energy sector in Mexico is going to be critical, not only in terms of what has happened these past two months in the world economy, but our ability to continue growing,’ said Sarukhan, during a visit with the Houston Chronicle’s editorial board. ‘I think that the global slowdown has forced many in Congress of different political persuasions that the status quo of Pemex cannot stand and that something has to be done.’” Read more.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
New Union With Canada And Mexico: Open Borders For US.
Amero Weblog, October 18, 2008 - “The Security and Prosperity Partnership between Canada, Mexico and the U.S. is underway at this moment. Why such a massive international cooperative trade program has not been promoted by our government, may seem a mystery. It is touted as an arrangement to ‘increase security and enhance prosperity’ through ‘greater cooperation and information sharing.’ Why so little fanfare if it’s such a great thing?” Read more.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Immigrants follow U.S.-borns’ path — often to Sun Belt.
USA Today, September 22, 2008 - “Foreign-born Americans are moving from place to place in patterns similar to those of the U.S.-born, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Census data out today offering the first detailed look at migration since the beginning of the decade. The foreign-born, who in the 1990s concentrated in enclaves in large metropolitan areas, are increasingly following the same trajectory as natives. They’re often leaving congested, expensive coastal cities for smaller, middle-class metro areas where schools are better and housing is cheaper.” Read more.
Hot, flat and crowded.
Christian Science Monitor, September 22, 2008 - “In Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need A Green Revolution – And How It Can Renew America, Friedman brings it all together, adding in the inexorable growth in world population and consumption because much of the rest of the world is becoming more like the US in levels of wealth and therefore has the ability to buy stuff that depletes natural resources, creates greenhouse gases, and ends up in landfills. Although he seems always hopeful, Friedman’s message is sobering.” Read more.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Blocking the Sky to Save the Earth.
NY Times Opinion, September 19, 2008 - “TO the relief of climate scientists around the world, it appears that the polar ice cap hasn’t shrunk as much this summer as it did last summer. The ice cap usually reaches its smallest extent around now, and although the total area of ice in September fluctuates from year to year, in the last two decades it has generally declined, probably because of carbon-driven global warming. Last year, the ice cap shrank at a record-breaking pace; at its minimum it was almost 39 percent smaller than the average from 1979 to 2000. This year it’s down about 33 percent. A couple of years’ rapid melting may be a random event. But the ice loss of recent years puts the Arctic melt decades ahead of model predictions, raising concern that climate change is proving worse than expected.” Read more.
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