Govt to Borrow More Money, Buy More Bombs

Congress votes to end shutdown, raise debt ceiling

U.S. Congress has approved a bill to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling until February 7, 2013, and Mr Obama has promised to sign the legislation immediately…

The Senate voted 81 to 18 to send the 35-page bill to the House of Representatives, where it was approved 285-144 about two hours later. All 198 Democrats present in the House and 87 Republicans voted for the bill; 144 Republicans voted against.

$1 Trillion On Defense

U.S. will have spent an astonishing $931 billion on DEFENSE in 2013, and that’s a conservative figure, according to The American Conservative .

“And this will turn out to be a conservative figure. We won’t spend less than that, but among other things, it doesn’t include the interest we’re paying on money we borrowed to fund past military operations; nor does it include portions of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration that are dedicated to national security. And we don’t know if this number captures the entire intelligence budget or not, because parts of intelligence funding are classified.”

U.S. Debt clock screen dump at 04:00UTC on October 17, 2013. Source: http://www.usdebtclock.org/

The following are Key Points from National Priorities Military Spending Fact Sheet

• Total Security Spending: The U.S. has spent more than $8 trillion on national security since Sept. 11, 2001. That includes funding for the Department of Defense, the U.S. nuclear weapon stockpile, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and homeland security.

• War Costs: President Obama proposes spending $79.4 billion in fiscal 2014 to fund war operations in Afghanistan and Iraq; by way of comparison, the president’s 2014 budget allocates a total of $65 billion for all federal education programs. Through fiscal 2013, an inflation-adjusted $1.65 trillion has been spent on the two wars.

• U.S. and the World: In 2012, the U.S. accounted for 39 percent [the figure was closer to 43 percent according to FIRE-EARTH estimates] of global military spending, while Iran, North Korea and Syria accounted for less than 1 percent, according to SIPRI, a Swedish research institute that tracks global military spending.

• What’s Happening Now: Committees in both the House and Senate voted to increase military funding in fiscal 2014, a move that could necessitate additional cuts to domestic programs in order to keep overall spending within mandated spending caps. The House proposed offsetting a 5 percent increase in military spending with an 18.6 percent cut to Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.

Here’s U.S. Budget Breakdown for 2014, according to War Resisters League

Military Spending in the 2014 Budget

• Total Outlays (Federal Funds) $2,890 BILLION
• Military: 47% and $1,334 Billion

Source: War Resisters League

Related Links

• U.S. Government Shuts Down  October 1, 2013
• U.S. Public Debt Defies Gravity for 68 Days July 26, 2013
• Global Disasters/ Significant Events – September 19, 2013 September 19, 2013
• Most Unethical Nations in 2011 [and Probably 2012] December 31, 2011

People Need Help, Not the Banks!

Image of the Day: The US Senate’s Deepening Loss of Touch with Reality

A demonstrator stands outside the New York Stock Exchange in New York, September 29, 2008. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton. Image may be subject to copyright.

Related Links:

• In the Public Interest
• House Nixes Bailout Plan [for now!]
• More Quotes on Financial Markets Meltdown
• Who Needs Corporations?

• Run on the bank: A Hanging Offense
• Ensuring National Security

NO More Coal-fired Power Plants Here!

Submitted by a CASF Member:

Too Little, Too Late?

Longleaf Energy Resources Leaves Court with a Red-Coal Face

A Georgia state court invalidated a permit to build a 1,200-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Early county, citing the developers’ failure to limit emissions of carbon dioxide. A Fulton County Superior Court Judge, Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore [kudos to judge Moore], reversed a right to pollute permit [aka, air permit] issued earlier this year by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to Longleaf Energy Resources.

Southern Company’s Plant Bowen in Cartersville, Georgia is seen in this aerial photograph in Cartersville in this file photo taken September 4, 2007. One of the biggest coal-fired plants in the country, it generates about 3,300 megawatts of electricity from four coal-fired boilers. (Chris Baltimore/Reuters; caption: abc News. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

The judge citied a 2007 U.S. Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore decision in which carbon dioxide was ruled to be a pollutant under the existing Clean Air Act and that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions.

Anthracite Coal. Credit USGS

How much coal would it take to light a 100W light bulb for one year?

A 100-Watt light bulb consumes about 876 kWh of electricity in one year (100 W × 24 h/day × 365 days = 876,000 Wh = 876 kWh).

Energy density

The energy density of coal, expressed in kilowatt-hours per kilogram, is about 6.67 kWh/kg. The typical thermodynamic efficiency of coal power plants is about 30%. That means only 30% of the coal burned up turns into electricity, with the rest normally wasted as heat. Coal power plants generate approximately 2.0 kWh per 1kg of burned coal.

876 kWh ÷ 2kWh/kg = 438 kg of coal

However, the above amount does not take into account a further 5–10% transmission and distribution losses caused by resistance and heating in the power lines AND the initial energy used to mine the coal and ship it to the power plant, which could be equivalent to 10-15% of the total coal consumed.

438 kg ÷ 80% = 547.5 kg of coal {Total amount of coal consumed to light a 100W bulb for one full year!}

How Much Carbon Dioxide?

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) forms during coal combustion when one atom of carbon (C) combines with two atoms of oxygen (O2). Carbon has an atomic weight of is 12, and oxygen 16, making the atomic weight of carbon dioxide 44. A kg of coal with a carbon content of 78 percent and a heating value of 32 MJ/kg emits about 2.86 kg of carbon dioxide. (Source: Carbon Dioxide Emission Factors for Coal)

547.5 kg of coal x 2.86 = 1,566 kg of CO2 {The total amount of CO2 produced.}

[Note: other nasty byproducts include sulfur, which reacts with oxygen to produce SO2, which then combines with moisture in the air to produce acid rain, nitrogen oxides, NOx, and mercury, all of which are extremely harmful to air, water, soil, trees, marine animals and humans.]

Meanwhile, back in Crawford ranch …

White House officials, congressional staff revealed, refused to open e-mail from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, that said climate-warming greenhouse emissions threaten public health and welfare!

The EPA has also told members of Congress that the Defense Department is defying orders over cleaning up toxic pollution at three military bases at Fort Meade in Maryland, McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey and Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida.

Related Links:

• Georgia court cites carbon in coal-plant ruling