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America Is Not Yet Lost
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/opinion/08krugman.html?em=&pagewanted=print
By PAUL KRUGMAN | February 8, 2010 | Op-Ed Columnist

We’ve always known that America’s reign as the world’s greatest nation would eventually end. But most of us imagined that our downfall, when it came, would be something grand and tragic.

What we’re getting instead is less a tragedy than a deadly farce. Instead of fraying under the strain of imperial overstretch, we’re paralyzed by procedure. Instead of re-enacting the decline and fall of Rome, we’re re-enacting the dissolution of 18th-century Poland.

A brief history lesson: In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Polish legislature, the Sejm, operated on the unanimity principle: any member could nullify legislation by shouting “I do not allow!” This made the nation largely ungovernable, and neighboring regimes began hacking off pieces of its territory. By 1795 Poland had disappeared, not to re-emerge for more than a century.

Today, the U.S. Senate seems determined to make the Sejm look good by comparison.

Last week, after nine months, the Senate finally approved Martha Johnson to head the General Services Administration, which runs government buildings and purchases supplies. It’s an essentially nonpolitical position, and nobody questioned Ms. Johnson’s qualifications: she was approved by a vote of 94 to 2. But Senator Christopher Bond, Republican of Missouri, had put a “hold” on her appointment to pressure the government into approving a building project in Kansas City.

This dubious achievement may have inspired Senator Richard Shelby, Republican of Alabama. In any case, Mr. Shelby has now placed a hold on all outstanding Obama administration nominations - about 70 high-level government positions - until his state gets a tanker contract and a counter terrorism center. What gives individual senators this kind of power? Much of the Senate’s business relies on unanimous consent: it’s difficult to get anything done unless everyone agrees on procedure. And a tradition has grown up under which senators, in return for not gumming up everything, get the right to block nominees they don’t like. In the past, holds were used sparingly. That’s because, as a Congressional Research Service report on the practice says, the Senate used to be ruled by “traditions of comity, courtesy, reciprocity, and accommodation.” But that was then. Rules that used to be workable have become crippling now that one of the nation’s major political parties has descended into nihilism, seeing no harm - in fact, political dividends - in making the nation ungovernable.

How bad is it? It’s so bad that I miss Newt Gingrich.

Readers may recall that in 1995 Mr. Gingrich, then speaker of the House, cut off the federal government’s funding and forced a temporary government shutdown. It was ugly and extreme, but at least Mr. Gingrich had specific demands: he wanted Bill Clinton to agree to sharp cuts in Medicare.

Today, by contrast, the Republican leaders refuse to offer any specific proposals. They inveigh against the deficit - and last month their senators voted in lockstep against any increase in the federal debt limit, a move that would have precipitated another government shutdown if Democrats hadn’t had 60 votes. But they also denounce anything that might actually reduce the deficit, including, ironically, any effort to spend Medicare funds more wisely.

And with the national G.O.P. having abdicated any responsibility for making things work, it’s only natural that individual senators should feel free to take the nation hostage until they get their pet projects funded. The truth is that given the state of American politics, the way the Senate works is no longer consistent with a functioning government. Senators themselves should recognize this fact and push through changes in those rules, including eliminating or at least limiting the filibuster. This is something they could and should do, by majority vote, on the first day of the next Senate session.

Don’t hold your breath. As it is, Democrats don’t even seem able to score political points by highlighting their opponents’ obstructionism.

It should be a simple message (and it should have been the central message in Massachusetts): a vote for a Republican, no matter what you think of him as a person, is a vote for paralysis. But by now, we know how the Obama administration deals with those who would destroy it: it goes straight for the capillaries. Sure enough, Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, accused Mr. Shelby of “silliness.” Yep, that will really resonate with voters. After the dissolution of Poland, a Polish officer serving under Napoleon penned a song that eventually - after the country’s post-World War I resurrection — became the country’s national anthem. It begins, “Poland is not yet lost.” Well, America is not yet lost. But the Senate is working on it.

Do we need to say our prayers?
VIEWPOINT Greig Whitehead
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8434059.stm

For millions of people in Africa, climate change is a reality, says Greig Whitehead. However, as he explains in this week's Green Room, in religious nations such as Kenya, many believe that tackling global warming is beyond their control.

“ Even with trust in the power of God, Kenya is a country on the brink of disaster ”

Kenya is a deeply religious country.

Christians, Muslims and Hindus alike assemble for regular and often lengthy worship; prayers are offered up before and after every public meeting, and even before starting a cross-country "safari", the god of one's faith is called on to bless the journey.

So it comes as no surprise to hear a female pastoralist from the arid lands of North-East Kenya decrying the combined wisdom of the world's scientists, after being told that climate change is man-made. "How can man change the climate and make it stop raining: it is God's will that has brought the drought," she utters.

But even with trust in the power of God, Kenya is a country on the brink of disaster. As news reports show, the country's rivers are drying, its more remote areas are turning to desert, and the food chain - from land, to animals, to humans - is breaking down.

The ramifications of the rural drought now stretch to the streets of Nairobi, where five million people face daily power rationing, severe water shortages and higher food prices. In battle terms, Kenya is on the frontline; it is staring climate change in the face.

Climate for change

But to deal with the global phenomenon, Kenya's "wananchi" (citizens) need to understand the complex of challenges they are up against, including a range of home-grown factors.

A growing population, coupled with insufficient investment in rural infrastructure and land management, makes it even more difficult to adapt to climate change and stave off the impending disasters brought by human induced global warming.

For the future of Kenya, it is vital that practical solutions are found to meet people's concerns and help build sustainable systems that are less vulnerable to increasingly unpredictable weather patterns.

Most importantly, it is up to the youth of Kenya to take up the fight on climate change; to succeed where their elders are failing and to inspire a new generation to change their thinking and adapt their ways.

There are more than 4,000 secondary schools across Kenya, and apart from their purely academic function, most of them play a key role as a focal point for the surrounding community.

Secondary schools are well place to act as catalysts for community action. The 12% of youth fortunate to attend these schools - the country's future leaders - have the knowledge and abilities to become "change-agents", able to motivate people to develop a better understanding of the causes and impacts of environmental degradation.

This then provides a foundation on which to discuss and take action.

'Here and now'

Climate change is about the here and now in Kenya, already seriously affecting the wellbeing of millions of people.

It is a salutary warning for the more affluent countries in the North that a problem which - in essence - they have created, through industrialisation and development, will in time rebound to affect their own livelihoods.

Climate change is a global issue transcending national boundaries, but impacting first on those who can least afford to cope with the consequences.

The "God not man" cry from the lady in Kenya's northern reaches illustrates a common problem relating to understanding the underlying causes, and underscores the incapability of people in such situations to deal with the crisis that has impacted so severely on their communities.

As Wangari Maathai, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, notes: "Climate change will bring massive ecological and economic challenges… therefore, alleviating dehumanising poverty will become even more difficult."

One of the keys to enable understanding and adaptation is to harness the power and ingenuity of youth. As Kefa Kones Kibet, a 17-year-old from Nakuru High School in Kenya's Rift Valley, remarks: "Climate change causes suffering for people. Many people in Africa walk for miles in search of water.

"Women are the ones who suffer most because they are the ones who look out for the family. People should be educated on how to plant trees and how best to use the little water available.

"The only way to curb climate change is through action now for a better tomorrow."

Greig Whitehead is programme manager for the International Climate Challenge, Kenya The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website

A weekly series of thought-provoking opinion pieces on environmental topics
Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/8434059.stm

Published: 2010/01/05 10:51:19 GMT | © BBC MMX