[lbo-talk] Obama defines himself

[Shane Mage]

>
> Energy: a nuclear whore.  Agriculture: an ethanol huckster.   
> Interior: an "energy independence" driller.
>
> With every appointment Obama completes the picture sketched in by  
> the Oblabla campaign--a complete opportunist in thrall to big  
> capital.  There is absolutely no reason to think that McCain would  
> have been any worse.  The "Left"--that preponderant part of it which  
> defaced itself with scoffing and slander against Ralph Nader in  
> order to eat the donkey shit falling from the Dumbocratic parade-- 
> can pride itself on one more, brand new, rack of horns.
>
>
>
> (NYTIMES, 17/12)
>
> "As Mr. Obama introduced Mr. Salazar andTom Vilsack, the former Iowa  
> governor tapped to be secretary of agriculture, at a press  
> conference Wednesday in Chicago, he said their responsibility would  
> be to balance the protection of farms and public lands against the  
> need to find new sources of energy.
>
> “It’s time for a new kind of leadership in Washington that’s  
> committed to using our lands in a responsible way to benefit all our  
> families,” Mr. Obama said. “That means ensuring that even as we are  
> promoting development where it makes sense, we are also fulfilling  
> our obligation to protect our national treasures.”
>
> Mr. Salazar, wearing his customary ten-gallon hat and string tie,  
> said that his job entails helping the nation address climate  
> changethrough a “moon shot” on energy independence. But that would  
> include not just the development of “green” energy sources like wind  
> power, but also the continued domestic development of coal, oil and  
> natural gas, fossil fuels that generate greenhouse gases when they  
> are burned.
>
> Environmental advocates offered mixed reviews of Mr. Salazar, 53, a  
> first-term Democratic senator who served as head of Colorado’s  
> natural resources department and as the state’s attorney general.  
> Mr. Salazar was not the first choice of environmentalists, who  
> openly pushed the appointment of Representative Raul Grijalva,  
> Democrat of Arizona, who has a strong record as a conservationist.
>
> Oil and mining interests praised Mr. Salazar’s performance as a  
> state official and as a senator, saying that he was not doctrinaire  
> about the use of public lands. “Nothing in his record suggests he’s  
> an ideologue,” said Luke Popovich, spokesman for the National Mining  
> Association. “Here’s a man who understands the issues, is open- 
> minded and can see at least two sides of an issue.”
>
> Mr. Popovich noted approvingly that Mr. Salazar had tried to  
> engineer a deal in the Senate allowing mining companies and others  
> to reclaim abandoned mines without fear of lawsuits. (The  
> legislation is pending.) He has also supported robust research on  
> technology to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal-burning  
> power plants, something the coal industry favors.
>
> He also backed a compromise that would let oil companies drill for  
> natural gas in limited parts of the Roan Plateau in northwestern  
> Colorado, a plan that most environmental advocates opposed...
>
> ...Marc Smith, executive director of the Independent Petroleum  
> Association of Mountain States, said in a statement that Mr. Salazar  
> understood that energy security can be achieved only by making use  
> of all domestic energy sources, including those found on and under  
> public lands..."
>
>
>
> Shane Mage
>
>> This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it
>> always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire,
>> kindling in measures and going out in measures."
>>
>> Herakleitos of Ephesos
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