Politics Plus

My favorite beverage is about to get mo expensive…

Coffee producers say they are getting hammered by global warming, with higher temperatures forcing growers to move to prized higher ground, putting the cash crop at risk.

"There is already evidence of important changes" said Nestor Osorio, head of the International Coffee Organization (ICO), which represents 77 countries that export or import the beans.

"In the last 25 years the temperature has risen half a degree in coffee producing countries, five times more than in the 25 years before," he said.

Sipped by hundreds of millions of people worldwide, coffee is one of the globe’s most important commodities, and a major mainstay of exports for countries from Brazil to Indonesia.

But producers meeting in Guatemala this week are in a state of panic over the impact of warming on their livelihoods.

While boutique roasters often seek out highland-grown cherries for their subtle tastes, the cooler terroir comes at a premium.

And the new race to the top comes amid already increasing demands for resources between farmers and energy firms.

"Land and water are being fought over by food and energy producers," said Osorio, "we need to make an assessment to guarantee the sustainability of and demand for coffee production."… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Common Dreams>

This is one aspect of global climate change that hits home for me.  I love coffee.  Switching to tea would be thoroughly dissatisfying, and even worse, it could convert me to tea buggery. 😉

It’s bad enough that out coastal cities could become swamps, but we have to save my coffee!

Of course, the opposition to environmental sanity comes from the Republican party.  For, example:

If nothing else, this proves that Republicans do not love coffee as I do.  Their drink of choice is Kool Aid.

I’ve read several rants blaming Democrats for letting Bunning get away with this, but that’s not fair.  The Republican and Democratic leadership had agrees to pass this measure by unanimous consent, and most of the Senators left for the weekend.  The Democratic leadership had no idea that Bunning planned this, and when he dropped the bomb, there were no longer sixty Senator’s left to override his filibuster.  The net effect is that the GOP derailed several important programs in addition to cutting off unemployment benefits for thousands of workers, displaced by the GOP’s No Millionaire Left Behind program.  They can now lie and say they did not know either, blaming it all on Bunning, who is not seeking reelection.

In the midst of the worst economy in decades, Republican U.S. Senator Jim Bunning last night again took to the floor of the United States Senate to block passage of legislation that would extend unemployment benefits to out-of-work Americans — and his party is doing nothing to stop him.

It’s worth watching his mean-spirited obstructionism — and Harry Reid’s and Dick Durbin’s attempts to cajole him into supporting the legislation — to get a sense of just how committed some Republicans are to doing the wrong thing for America:

Bunning is the poster-child of the most callous, heartless political party in modern American history, and they are proud of it. If they get their way, this coming Sunday, unemployment benefits will expire for countless out-of-work Americans because a handful of extremist ideologues decided to tie the U.S. Senate up in knots… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

Only a true GOP Sweetheart could be so heartless and so devious.

When I’m wrong, I say so.  Now I’m a staunch Democrat, but that would not excuse blindness.  When my party is wrong, it’s my duty as a patriot to say so.  My party could not be more wrong on this one.

In the wake of congressional Democrats’ reauthorization and extension of the USA Patriot Act, few elected Democrats have been as vocal about the post-9/11 security measures as they were during the Bush administration.

Leave it to stalwart House progressive Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) to raise a rallying cry against what he called America’s love of its fears.

“This legislation extends three problematic provisions of the PATRIOT Act and, at the same time, leaves some of the most egregious provisions in place, absent any meaningful reform and debate," he declared in a media advisory.

The specific provisions he cited are the Patriot Act’s powers to conduct roving wiretaps, conduct surveillance of people not thought to have any association with terrorism and tap into your personal records, such as library accounts.

The extensions were approved by Congress and sent to President Obama on Thursday, several days before the Patriot Act’s most nefarious portions were set to expire. President Obama had yet to sign the bill at time of this writing.

The Associated Press called the votes a "political victory for Republicans."

Some Senate Democrats did attempt to propose some modifications to the legislation that would have allowed for greater oversight, but they were ignored. Democratic leadership bowed to the wishes of Republicans and conducted a voice vote on Wednesday, upon which the one-year extension was passed. The House voted 315-97 in favor on Thursday.

"Thrown away were restrictions and greater scrutiny on the government’s authority to spy on Americans and seize their records," AP added.

"While I strongly support using the most robust tools possible to go after terrorists, Congress must revise and narrow — not extend — Bush era policies," said Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-CA), according to Reuters.

Kucinich’s scorn for the legislation was even more pronounced.

"Despite years of documentation evidencing abuse of these provisions during the Bush Administration, the Department of Justice has failed to hold Bush Administration officials accountable for illegal domestic spying by barring any lawsuits to be brought against those officials," he said. "Months into this Administration, The New York Times reported that the National Security Agency had ‘intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits,’ and that the practice was ‘significant and systematic.’ Passage of this legislation today continues to make Congress complicit in these violations of our basic constitutional rights."

The title of his press release pleaded for congress to "repeal" the Patriot Act and "restore Constitutional rights to Americans."

"As Members of Congress sworn to protect the rights and civil liberties afforded to us by the Constitution, we have a responsibility to exercise our oversight powers fully, and significantly reform the PATRIOT Act, ensuring that the privacy and civil liberties of all Americans are fully protected," he said. "More than eight years after the passage of the PATRIOT Act, we have failed to do so. As National Journal correspondent Shane Harris recently put it, we have witnessed the rise of an ‘American Surveillance State.’ We have come to love our fears more than we love our freedoms."

The USA Patriot Act was passed by Congress in the weeks proceeding the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Many Democrats criticized its passage as too hasty, with some even claiming they did not have a chance to read the hefty legislation before the vote. At the time, the Republican majority did not question it, falling in line to support the legislation seemingly regardless of what the Bush administration put in it… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Raw Story>

I think that Democrats feared giving national security ammunition to the GOP.  I think their rationale is that Obama id far less likely to abuse the power than a GOP President.  I think they are right.  However, if America should ever be cursed with another Republican President, this power will be turned against us with a vengeance.  Given the current makeup of the Extreme Court, the Patriot Act’s unconstitutional provisions would be ignored.  For the Democrats not to repeal those provisions was an act of cowardice.