Let the R’s identify with denialism and they will be cut off at the knees. Of course, many of the Dem’s are no better!

I sense some discomfort from the well informed Republicans… they know that the more they are cemented as AGW denialists, the harder it will be for them in the future. Especially in the long, hot summer months – times of fires, drought and heatwaves – this coming summer and the summer of 2012… which will be worse, and will be just before the elections.

Time to set the dye in the fabric of the Republican flag.

The dogma that private industry is a more efficient creator of wealth than co-operative or national ownership is what needs to die in order to, and as a result of, the march towards carbon neutrality.

- The United States, sticking to President Obama’s previously stated goal, pledged 17 percent reductions below 2005 levels by 2020 (4 percent below 1990 levels). And even this totally inadequate target assumes that the climate bill actually clears the Senate. More details here.
- The E.U., which had promised to cut emissions by 30 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 if other countries stepped up, stuck with its insufficent 20 percent target.
- Canada, channeling America’s lack of ambition, also picked 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 (which is actually a 2.5 percent increase over the country’s 1990 levels). These pitiful targets are weaker than those Canada adopted two years ago, likely because the country sees green in its environmentally catastrophic oil exploration in the tar sands.
- Japan went whole-hog, with 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. Japan and Brazil, are the only country doing what experts say is necessary.
- China is still suicidally refusing a cap on emissions. Instead, it is committing to slicing its carbon “intensity” (or carbon to GDP ratio) to 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. This sounds impressive, but given China’s explosive growth, this would only slow the growth of its emissions. They wouldn’t peak until around 2030, which is a decade too late.
- India is marching in lockstep with China against caps. And, as with China, its promise to curb carbon intensity by 20 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 just doesn’t cut it. This is unlikely to change until developed countries do the just and necessary thing: funnel mitigation funding to the developing world.
- Brazil is breaking with the India and China’s intransigence with an ambitious target of 39 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. To reach it, they must halt deforestation in the Amazon, which will require massive first-world funding.
- Australia is hedging its bets: It pledged as little 3 percent and as much as 23 percent percent below 1990 levels, depending on what everyone else does.
- South Africa and Indonesia will probably throw their hats into the ring soon.

The NSA-Google partnership is a natural one. Google is the world’s largest search engine and the largest information aggregate. Conversely, the NSA is the world’s largest electronic data analysis organization. Together they boast an enormous capacity to monitor and influence the Internet. In the face of cyber threats, Google stands to benefit a great deal from the NSA’s capacity to process information. The NSA can help Google analyze enormous amounts of data to diagnose security breaches and head off future assaults.

The partnership is equally important for the United States. Cyberspace joins with sea and space in what has now been collectively termed the “global commons.” But cyberspace presents new challenges for ensuring the same sort of freedom of action the United States has come to enjoy on the high seas. In a world where information technology drives business and facilitates trade, a stable, functional and reliable cyberspace is a critical national security issue.

For countries around the world, this possible partnership will be seen as both a blessing and a concern. The United States has the most technological and financial resources to dedicate to the stability of Internet communication. And the Internet is as critical to most countries — particularly developed countries — as it is for the United States.

The converse, of course, is that countries such as China will worry about the security implications of such a powerful partnership between Google and the U.S. intelligence community. And while many have decried the possibility that the NSA would gain unprecedented access to information on domestic users, the NSA is specifically designed to target international data — making this agreement much more important for foreign governments than for domestic actors.”

The dazzling Misssy M seems to inspire a lot of blog posts for me. I don’t know why that should be so – I’ve never inspired any for her. But anyway, last week she posted a panicky little treatise on being forty and all the ways she reckons she should be different at such an advanced age.

The thing that particularly sparked my interest and concern, was her worry that neither she, nor her husband had much of a pension. How you’re going to survive in your old age is something that most young people don’t seem to give much thought to. It’s not until you start heading into your 40s that you suddenly begin to realize that you might just live another 40 years. Then you realize that you won’t want to keep working for another 40 years even if you could. Then you realize that if you’re not working you won’t have any money and that without money you won’t be able to do stuff like eat, pay your mortgage or sail around the world.