Day: March 23, 2009

2009 Anal-Ocity

The Pope has been known to say stuff without much thought, he has pissed off a whole religion in the past, he wears Prada shoes and blesses Ferraris, but other than that everything is pretty much the same within the confines of the Vatican walls.

A great anal statement comes from many places–even the Pope can spout crap.  This statement came while the Pope was speaking during his tour of Africa:

“placing a bible over an erect penis before intercourse is the only guaranteed way to prevent the spread of Aids.”

He may be right in his assumption but I do believe he could have worded it a little bit better.

China’s New Carbon Proposal

I have been writing for many years and this is one of the best stories I have ever seen.

China has proposed that importers of Chinese-made goods should be responsible for the carbon dioxide emitted during their manufacture.

China’s top climate change negotiator, Li Gao, said his country should not pay for cutting emissions caused by the high demands of other countries.

China’s latest suggestion would see its own huge export sector be exempted from any new treaty.

Beijing argues that rich nations buying Chinese goods bear responsibility for the estimated 15-25% of China’s carbon emissions that are created by its production of exports.

“It is a very important item to make a fair agreement,” Mr Li said in Washington.

He argued that it was unfair to put the highest burden on China.

“We produce products and these products are consumed by other countries, especially the developed countries. This share of emissions should be taken by the consumers but not the producers,” he said.

Mr Li also criticized proposals by the US to place carbon tariffs on goods imported from countries that do not limit those gases blamed for a rises in global temperatures.

Mr Li also criticised proposals by the US to place carbon tariffs on goods imported from countries that do not limit those gases blamed for a rises in global temperatures.

Working out quite how to put Mr Li’s suggestion into practice would be a logistical nightmare, other delegates in Washington said, even if the idea was ever agreed in principle.

Asking importers to handle emissions “would mean that we would also like them to have jurisdiction and legislative powers in order to control and limit those,” top EU climate negotiator Artur Runge-Metzger said.

I am still trying to digest the idea….what would be next…..China could not be held responsible for faulty or dangerous products?  This seems a bit silly….but if they get their way then I will look a bit silly, huh?

Angry About AIG?

Is there something you can do?  Yes there is.

Original source: unionreview.com
By now you heard that AIG is handing out massive bonus checks to some of its employees, the same ones that brought the company to the point of needing a bailout in the first place. Clearly you know that all this money — the bailout flow — is coming from us, taxpayer dollars. With that amount of money mismanaged over and over again, folks are outraged. What do they think, money grows on trees?

I went over to Change to Win’s website to see how they were handling the story. What I liked about their post on this was not only how they framed the issues but also offered an action that folks can do this week. I thought it was appropriate to share with you here at UnionReview.com, it is below.

Over the weekend, the news broke that bailed-out insurance company AIG was becoming the latest in a parade of financial-services firms to enrich its failed executives on the taxpayers’ dime.

The New York Times reports that AIG, recipient of more than $180 billion in bailout money, plans to give $165 million in bonuses to the very executives whose reckless behavior brought the company to ruin — and nearly took the entire global economy with it:

The payments to A.I.G.’s financial products unit are in addition to $121 million in previously scheduled bonuses for the company’s senior executives and 6,400 employees across the sprawling corporation. [Treasury Secretary] Geithner last week pressured A.I.G. to cut the $9.6 million going to the top 50 executives in half and tie the rest to performance…

Of all the financial institutions that have been propped up by taxpayer dollars, none has received more money than A.I.G. and none has infuriated lawmakers more with practices that policy makers have called reckless.

The bonuses will be paid to executives at A.I.G.’s financial products division, the unit that wrote trillions of dollars’ worth of credit-default swaps that protected investors from defaults on bonds backed in many cases by subprime mortgages.
The bonus plan covers 400 employees, and the bonuses range from as little as $1,000 to as much as $6.5 million. Seven executives at the financial products unit were entitled to receive more than $3 million in bonuses.

President Obama calls AIG’s behavior an “outrage”. But this is not the first outrage the nation has suffered at the hands of the very executives who happily used public funds to save their companies from the consequences of their “leadership”. (Read through our archives, you’ll find plenty of others.)

But What Can I Do About It?
Lots of folks are angry this morning. But anger, by itself, doesn’t change anything. It’s when we channel anger into action that it can make a difference.

So, if you’re angry, here’s something you can do about it join the March 19 Day of Action Against Corporate Excess.
This Thursday, thousands of people will be rallying together in cities across the country to demand that bailed-out corporations be held to account, and that government make the real changes we need to have an economy that works for everyone, not just the top 1% — including passing the Employee Free Choice Act..
A complete list of cities and events can be found on the Day of Action’s Web site, TakeBackTheEconomy.org.
Don’t see your city on there yet? Sign up to organize your own Take Back the Economy rally — all the materials you need are available through the site.
This week, don’t just be angry — join the movement for a sustainable economy that works for everyone and help get this country back on the right track again.