COMMENTS: 16
Top 5 Reasons Steven Chu is a Great Energy Pick
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Obama will formally name Steven Chu his nominee for energy secretary at a press conference this afternoon. Here's the top 5 reasons he is one of the best cabinet picks in recent memory:
5. His "views on climate change would be among the most forceful ever held by a cabinet member." He said last year, scientists had come to "realize that the climate is much more sensitive than we thought" [see Scientists are Underestimating Climate Change, Part I]. He said people who said they were uncertain whether climate change is being caused by humans were "reminiscent of the dialogue in the 1950s and '60s on tobacco." In a speech earlier this year, he said that climate change of the scale we face "will cause enormous resource wars, over water, arable land, and massive population displacements…. We're talking about hundreds of millions to billions of people being flooded out, permanently.
4. As a Chinese American and Nobel Prize winner, he will be uniquely poised to help enable the crucial energy and climate negotiations the Obama team must undertake immediately with the world's other big emitter (see What will make Obama a great president, Part 2: A climate deal with China). The AP reports from China:
China's media are cheering President-elect Barack Obama's pick of Chinese-American Steven Chu for the post of U.S. energy secretary, saying it bodes well for future cooperation between the two countries.
Photographs of Chu, who was born in St. Louis to Chinese parents, were printed on the front pages of major newspapers Friday, illustrating the pride China takes in the achievements of the vast Chinese diaspora.
The state-owned China Daily cited Chinese academics as saying Chu's ethnic background would ease cooperation between China and the U.S.
"Chu's presence will make the cooperation smoother," it cited Tsinghua University scholar Zhou Shijian as saying.
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Comments are closed-
Posted by: Beck on Dec 16, 2008 6:48 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Michigan's fight against coal is about to rev up. Nice to have more expert opinion on coal from a fresh voice.
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Posted by: Bliss Doubt
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Posted by: veggiegrrrl on Dec 16, 2008 7:18 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
if mccain wouldda been elected, we'd likely have a very scary big oil crony in the job.
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» RE: hallefrickenlujah!
Posted by: DaBear
Comments are closed-
Posted by: socialpsych on Dec 16, 2008 7:25 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
What a totally refreshing change from the Bush administration's backward flat-worlder dismissal of science!
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» RE: more positive signs
Posted by: DaBear
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Posted by: maxpayne on Dec 16, 2008 7:45 AM
Current rating: 1 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Posted by: BreeMass on Dec 16, 2008 9:33 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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» RE: more kool aid?
Posted by: DaBear
Comments are closed-
Posted by: Bliss Doubt on Dec 16, 2008 9:47 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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Posted by: DaBear on Dec 16, 2008 10:15 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The problem with this singular good decision in a sea of horrible counterproductive and downright stoopid ones is that like any owning-classer with his head up his ass these days, Obama is setting himself up for the compartmentalization craptasm. The economy is NOT separable from the environment. Foreign policy is NOT separable from the environment (Billary-the-neohawk is a shitty choice for SOS). One guy, Chu, doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell in a crowd of owning-class neo-lib shitheads. He needs some real allies.
But owning classers and middling serfs don't get that concept because they've never suffered the tyranny of their majority of stoopids.
I'll feel warm and fuzzy about Obama when he fires his initial picks and his economic team-o-idiots and tags Van Jones, Ralph Nader and some actual Green economists... where's the late Peter Camejo when we desperately need him *sigh*.
As Obama is an owning class neolib (and NOT a progressive--language counts, people! same as actions) I'm not holding my breath. In the meantime, I'm cheering Chu on like William Wallace: Bring on the Chu!
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» Apples and Oranges
Posted by: lynned2002
Comments are closed-
Posted by: PaulC on Dec 16, 2008 8:15 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Chu's selection is confirmation that Obama sees the green revolution as the win-win-win-win-win situation it is, giving us:
1. a new industrial base complete with millions of US jobs
2. freedom from oil and its $700 billion per year price tag
3. breaks our bondage to rogue oil states and makes us more secure
4. cleans the air and water, saving billions on health care costs
5. begins to save the world from global warming and the global instability it will bring
I don't know anything about Chu, I hope his being from Lawrence Livermore does not mean he is big on nukes - anyone have info on this?
peace,
Paul
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» RE: I knew Obama was serious when Waxman was given Energy and Commerce
Posted by: lynned2002
» Chu on nuclear energy
Posted by: Bliss Doubt
» Good news, thank you! n/m
Posted by: PaulC
Comments are closed-
Posted by: Beck on Dec 16, 2008 6:48 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Michigan's fight against coal is about to rev up. Nice to have more expert opinion on coal from a fresh voice.
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
» no other comments yet
Posted by: Bliss Doubt
Comments are closed-
Posted by: veggiegrrrl on Dec 16, 2008 7:18 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
if mccain wouldda been elected, we'd likely have a very scary big oil crony in the job.
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
» RE: hallefrickenlujah!
Posted by: DaBear
Comments are closed-
Posted by: socialpsych on Dec 16, 2008 7:25 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
What a totally refreshing change from the Bush administration's backward flat-worlder dismissal of science!
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
» RE: more positive signs
Posted by: DaBear
Comments are closed-
Posted by: maxpayne on Dec 16, 2008 7:45 AM
Current rating: 1 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
Comments are closed-
Posted by: BreeMass on Dec 16, 2008 9:33 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
» RE: more kool aid?
Posted by: DaBear
Comments are closed-
Posted by: Bliss Doubt on Dec 16, 2008 9:47 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
Comments are closed-
Posted by: DaBear on Dec 16, 2008 10:15 AM
Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The problem with this singular good decision in a sea of horrible counterproductive and downright stoopid ones is that like any owning-classer with his head up his ass these days, Obama is setting himself up for the compartmentalization craptasm. The economy is NOT separable from the environment. Foreign policy is NOT separable from the environment (Billary-the-neohawk is a shitty choice for SOS). One guy, Chu, doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell in a crowd of owning-class neo-lib shitheads. He needs some real allies.
But owning classers and middling serfs don't get that concept because they've never suffered the tyranny of their majority of stoopids.
I'll feel warm and fuzzy about Obama when he fires his initial picks and his economic team-o-idiots and tags Van Jones, Ralph Nader and some actual Green economists... where's the late Peter Camejo when we desperately need him *sigh*.
As Obama is an owning class neolib (and NOT a progressive--language counts, people! same as actions) I'm not holding my breath. In the meantime, I'm cheering Chu on like William Wallace: Bring on the Chu!
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
» Apples and Oranges
Posted by: lynned2002
Comments are closed-
Posted by: PaulC on Dec 16, 2008 8:15 PM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Chu's selection is confirmation that Obama sees the green revolution as the win-win-win-win-win situation it is, giving us:
1. a new industrial base complete with millions of US jobs
2. freedom from oil and its $700 billion per year price tag
3. breaks our bondage to rogue oil states and makes us more secure
4. cleans the air and water, saving billions on health care costs
5. begins to save the world from global warming and the global instability it will bring
I don't know anything about Chu, I hope his being from Lawrence Livermore does not mean he is big on nukes - anyone have info on this?
peace,
Paul
[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]
» RE: I knew Obama was serious when Waxman was given Energy and Commerce
Posted by: lynned2002
» Chu on nuclear energy
Posted by: Bliss Doubt
» Good news, thank you! n/m
Posted by: PaulC
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