Robert Stavins: “That means what is most important is the 2050 target of 80 percent below 2005 levels. That's the key one. For 2050, this legislation is very aggressive. It's more aggressive than anything the European Union has committed to.

I think that it's a very ambitious piece of legislation.”

We need to stop measuring ourselves by what the European Union, China or anyone else does. We are the largest contributor (per capita) to this global problem and we have to take bold leadership to reverse it. 80% by 2050 may look “ambitious” on paper but it is too little too late. The ambitious targets we should be setting are for 2020—and the ones we have in place now are pathetic.

Another problem I see here is that Stavins is using the same old tired tools of neo-classical economics when what we need to solve this problem is a new set of metrics that does full-cost accounting. This means accounting for the real cost of energy and pollution and taking social equity issues into account as well.

The panjandrums at Harvard just aren’t ready or equipped to do that. If you want real answers to economic tools that will address these issues, look to Herman Daly, not Robert Stavins.

I'm with fightthetheocracy on this. Stop giving this non-entity so much press. I subscribe to Salon to get away from this kind of shit.

Framing space exploration and saving the planet as an ‘either/or’ proposition is silly and disingenuous, especially when the U.S. currently accounts for 48% of all global military expenditures. Right now we are spending the same amount on our military as the next twelve highest spending countries in the world put together. We can go to Mars--it just means redirecting funds away from other less productive enterprises to do it.

I use Beck as a litmus test for abject stupidity. Anyone who seriously quotes him is automaticaly put in my 'has an I.Q. ten points lower than a Limbaugh listener' file.

What a sad, ignorant little man!

I would like to see Salon become a 'Glenn Beckless site'. That's right, never give him any press for any reason. This is not a serious person and knowbody should show the least amount of concern for anything he says.

Here is a list of Beck's sponsors that I got from crooksand liars.com.

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Walgreens Media Relations

Mary Shultz, Walgreens Manager, Broadcast Media: 847-914-2961

200 Wilmot Road

Deerfield, IL 60015

(847) 914-2500

—————————————————————-

Lexmark x2 859-232-2221

Director of Corporate Communications – Lexmark

Tim Fitzpatrick

tfitzpat@lexmark.com

—————————————————————-

Liberty Mutual 617-357-9500

John Cusolito, Vice President, Corporate Communications – Liberty Mutual

Phone: 617-574-5512

Email: john.cusolito@libertymutual.com

—————————————————————-

Yellowbook 1-800-YB-YELLOW

http://www.yellowbook.com/contactus…

—————————————————————-

Lazyboy

http://www.la-z-boy.com/contactus/

—————————————————————-

Lending Tree 800-555-8733

Allison Vail - Manager of Corporate Communications – Lending Tree

704-943-8339

allison.vail@lendingtree.com

—————————————————————-

Edward Jones 314-515-3269

John Boul, Manager of Global Media Relations of Edward Jones

(314) 515-3265

E-mail: john.boul@edwardjones.com

—————————————————————-

Hyundai 800-633-5151

—————————————————————-

Direct Buy 800-988-6049

—————————————————————-

AARP 800-852-0879

—————————————————————-

Schwab Bank 866-855-9102

415-636-5454 Speak to Glen Mathison or Greg Gable

—————————————————————-

Legalzoom 323-962-8600 or 800-773-0888

—————————————————————-

Joesph A Bank Clothiers (JoB Clothiers) x2 1-800-999-7472

—————————————————————-

American Express x3 877-890-2639

212-640-5951 Speak to Mike O’Neal

—————————————————————-

Cialis (Lilly Corp) x2 1-877-242-5471

317-276-2000

—————————————————————-

Honda 800-999-1009, 310-783-2000

Ann Hartl, person in charge of advertising

“she wants to hear from us”

E-mail: ann_hartl@ahm.honda.com

—————————————————————-

Volvo

Marriot

U.S. Trust (part of Bank of America)

Verizon

Geico

Lunesta

Garmin

Bayer

LL Bean

TD Ameritrade

Progressive

Americaspower.org (some Coal lobbyist group)

Lincoln

Farmer’s

Glass Doctor

http://www.lilly.com

http://www.ustrust.com

http://newscenter.verizon.com

http://www.geico.com

http://automobiles.honda.com

http://www.lunesta.com

http://www.garmin.com

http://www.schwabbank.com

http://www.josbank.com

https://secure.bayer.com

http://www10.americanexpress.com

http://www.llbean.com

http://www.tdameritrade.com

https://www.progressive.com

http://www.americaspower.org

http://www.lincoln.com

http://www.farmers.com

http://www.glassdoctor.com

http://www.walgreens.com

The best thing that Obama could do is to turn it down! I say this an an Obama supporter. By turning it down he he would make himself look much more noble, the Repubs would have zero ammunition against him and he would have much more credibility all around.

Besides, he would just get it again two or three years down the road when his peace credentials were a little more solid anyway.

I know I just said that he should turn it down (and I still think that) but I also have to say that it's a stunning feat of influence work on the part of the Nobel Committee. By giving Obama the peace price they have made their own preemptive strike. They have effectively forced Obama's hand to act like a peace prize laureate.

It may turn out to bed a brilliant move to ‘nudge' the US into a peaceful solution to Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran.

I'm not usually one to advocate violence but in this case I think it would be fine to line up these parents and have them all shot.