Kyoto News Blog @newzblogz.com

Blessed are the politicians who mean what they say and say what they mean.

Former President Jimmy Carter said of President George W. Bush that he was "the worst president in American history," or was it "among the worst president ever," or was it "the worst American president, ever, in the field of world affairs?" Regardless of his precise words, Carter did not spew out lukewarm or hard-to-understand words. I'm confident he said what he meant and he meant what he said. (And of course he was right when he said it).

And when Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., compared the treatment of detainees at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Nazis, Soviet gulags and Cambodia's Pol Pot, he meant what he said and said what he meant. And I understood him despite his later recantation.

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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger received a standing ovation Saturday at a national meeting of mayors in Century City when he encouraged local governments to take the lead in combating climate change.

"I was so happy and so delighted when I found out that you've made climate change No. 1 on your 10-point plan to strengthen the nation," he told the crowd in the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza ballroom.

The governor, who wore a light-green tie as if to emphasize his environmental message, praised Mayor Michael Bloomberg's initiative to replace New York's fleet of gasoline-powered taxicabs with hybrids and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's bid to reduce the Department of Water and Power's reliance on coal-burning power plants for energy.

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Someone once said that we are entitled to our own opinions, but not our own facts. So, please bear with me while I use a little of both to try to answer a recent letter writer's questions ("President's actions fall short on many accounts," The Reporter, June 15).

First question: Why hasn't President Bush signed onto the Kyoto Protocol? Maybe because it would cost the United States $160 billion for very little measurable benefit (Copenhagen Consensus). Maybe he recalled that in 1997, under Clinton/Gore, the Senate passed a resolution (Byrd-Hagel), 95-0, rejecting approval of the Kyoto Treaty, objecting mainly to the lack of any "specific scheduled commitments" on the part of China and India, the second- and fourth-most-powerful economies in the world. As ...

Second question: Are gas prices holding steady or dropping because Advertisementthe oil industry is pumping millions of dollars into political favors? It may be true in part, but I have read that there is an abundance of crude oil and not enough refining capabilities. Even Saudi Arabia outsources its refining processes. The United States hasn't built a refinery in 30 years, and those that we do have are shut down periodically for repairs, which may affect the supply. And then there are always th...

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SINGAPORE --Asian economies may have overcome the 1997-98 financial crisis but now face new threats such as income disparity, climate change and a possible global economic meltdown, government and business leaders said Sunday.

"A shock will come at some point," Singapore Second Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam warned attendees at the World Economic Forum on East Asia.

"I think emerging markets have to brace themselves to put into place shock absorbers to deal with this sort of event ... it requires astute management," he said.

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Paradise. That?s what we people in southwest Florida keep saying as we enjoy the sunny days, the warm winters and the Gulf waters. We may keep referring to Paradise, but that just isn?t the way it is anymore. If silence is golden then you?ll find very little gold here. For there?s no quiet and gentle spot to be found on any certain day except perhaps, Sunday, where you get a chance to hear the birds singing and the waves gently lapping against the shore.

When my husband and I came here many years ago we certainly thought we had found Paradise. But that was before the advent of perfect lawns and landscaping everywhere. The changes came slowly at first, then at breakneck speed. Now Paradise is an earsplitting place to live in. Every morning I go for my walk and wonder at all the machinery buzzing, screeching and sawing. There?s not a day that goes by without these ugly sounds drowning out my thoughts and agitating me. As far as I?m concerned, I would do away with anything that has a motor attached and go back to the good old days.

Since that?s impossible, then I vote to outlaw, at the very least, the leaf blower. This is a machine that pollutes the air and is totally useless and silly. Who hasn?t seen somebody blowing the dust and dirt to one side of the street only to watch the wind come along and blow it right back? What a waste of energy. Blowers disturb the bugs, making them angry and inclined to bite any human part they can reach. It?s irritating to the psyche and not at all good for the ear. Anyone with allergies can be affected by the particles it blows into the air.

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