Automaker Bailout? Although Congressional Democrats and the White House reached an agreement on the $15 billion government bailout for the automakers industry, the bill faces challenges from House Republicans. The GOP has created their own plan that would help the car companies without the American taxpayers financing it. “Republicans will not allow taxpayers to subsidize failure,” Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican minority leader, said on Wednesday to the New York Times. Other GOP senators said they would use procedural methods to delay the bailout vote.

Will the bailout = no more Saturns? With the automaker deal pending, Saturn fans are concerned that GM will discontinue their line after the company performs a bailout reorganization. Although General Motors hasn’t officially announced the end of Saturn, GM said it would focus its resources on four core brands — Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick and GMC in the plan submitted to Congress. This leaves Saab, Pontiac, Hummer and Saturn hanging on a limb. Saturnfans.com features owners who are speaking out to save their cars. Who knew Saturn had so many loyal fans?

Feeling a little fat during the holiday season? Well, you are not alone. Even the Queen of Daytime Television, Oprah Winfrey, feels like a “fat cow.” Oprah reveals her weight struggles after the scales topped 200 pounds reports CNN. Check out the video.

What does the President-elect say about Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich arrest? According to Barack Obama’s spokesperson, Obama thinks the Governor should resign from office.  “The President-elect agrees with Lt. Governor Quinn and many others that under the current circumstances it is difficult for the Governor to effectively do his job and serve the people of Illinois,” spokesman Robert Gibbs said.  Will Blagojevich please step down?

On Monday’s The Daily Show, Jon Stewart asks the question: “Can’t we just have the guy on the left already?” in the “Clusterf#@k to the Poor House – Goofus and Gallant” skit. The guy who he is referring to is President Gallant (a.k.a. Obama) instead of who is currently in charge, President Goofus (a.k.a. Bush).  With the economy in shambles, Obama is working on creating stimulus packages while Bush is literally “hanging himself.” After examining the efforts of both presidents, Stewart pleads..”Do we really have to wait until January 20th?”

Unlike President Bush whose approval ratings are dismal, President-elect Barack Obama has received high approval for how well he is transitioning to the White House. A recent USA Today/Gallop poll shows that 78% approve of his transition work. And Obama is picking up favor among Democrats, Republicans and Independents for his Secretary of State choice, Hillary Clinton (69% approval rate) and his decision to keep Robert Gates as the Secretary of Defense (whopping 80% approval rate). Let’s see if these approvals maintain while the folks are in office.

And can you believe that a small county in Alabama created a Barack Obama holiday? Yes, it’s true. Alabama’s Perry County will observe the second Monday in November as “The Barack Obama Day.” The county’s offices will close and its 40 employees will have a paid holiday. “The sponsoring commissioner, Albert Turner Jr., said the holiday is meant to highlight the Democratic president-elect’s victory as a way to give people faith that difficult goals can be achieved.”

And more bad news for automakers… According to the Associated Press, General Motors’ sales dropped 41 percent in November and Ford’s sales also fell 31 percent last month. It appears that the U.S. automakers may need that bailout after all. GM, Ford and Chrysler pleaded for more than $38 billion dollars of government assistance including loans Tuesday. The companies are now asking for more than the $25 billion they requested two weeks ago and state they don’t have a Plan B. An intervention of some sort is predicted based on House Speaker Pelosi recent remarks.

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Free veggies anyone? More than 40,000 people showed up to pick free vegetables left over from the harvest at a Colorado farm about 37 miles north of Denver. The farm owners expected about 5,000 to 10,000 people to pick a few carrots and potatoes last Saturday. Instead, more than 11,000 cars showed up and the people picked the fields clean. Owner, Ms. Miller, told the Denver Post, “Overwhelmed is putting it mildly. People obviously need food.”

And in Los Angeles recently, Mayor Villaraigosa revealed his long-range plan to generate “enough solar power to meet one-tenth of the city’s energy needs by 2020.” His goal could be achieved if solar panels are installed on public and private energy generating facilities as well as on residents’ homes. This initiative will also help the city’s Department of Water and Power reduce its use of fossil fuels, like natural gas and coal, and benefit global warming reduction efforts. If the Mayor’s plan were successful, Los Angeles would become the “hub of the solar-energy industry.”

The White House may become a “green” house. In the recent Barbara Walters interview with President-elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, Obama said that he wants to make the White House green. He plans to work with the chief usher for house and evaluate his new home’s energy efficiency. When asked why the focus on greening the house, Obama said, “Part of what I want to do is to show the American people that it’s not that hard.”

Global warming is a global concern. Although the global economy is in the pits right now, HSBC bank’s second annual global poll found that 43 percent think climate change is a bigger problem than the financial crisis. And 78 percent of those polled want their countries to do their “fair share” of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Although the global citizens polled want their governments to fight global warming, invest in renewable energy (55 percent), and participate in climate talks (27 percent), as individuals, these people are less willing to change their own lifestyle than last year (47 percent in 2008 vs. 58 percent in 2007). Have they ever heard the expression that change begins with YOU?

So if you are a big greenie, where can you meet like-minded individuals? Funny you should ask. There is a new social networking site called Greenwala. The site is designed to help people learn more about being green, brag about their green works with family and friends.

After much back and forth, examining of Bill Clinton’s financial records, it appears that President-elect Obama is going to offer Hillary Clinton the Secretary of State position in his cabinet. And although Clinton has not formally accepted the position, the Los Angeles Times reports “she is ready to give up her Senate seat.” It looks like it’s going to be a Obama-Clinton team after all. For more, check out the news clip above.

Smooches,

The Caramel Bella

Our western forests are under attack. All across the west, a bark beetle, which is the size of a piece of rice, is turning grown trees into red dust. The New York Times reported recently that “Montana has lost a million acres of trees to the beetles, and in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming the situation is worse.” Forest consultants are worried that the beetle, whose Latin name means “tree killer”, could end up in the Great Lakes. Several landowners are actually cutting down trees to prevent the infestation.

Obama means business with global warming initiatives. During a climate change conference in California on Tuesday, President-elect Obama (via video) “repeated his campaign vow to reduce climate-altering carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent by 2050, and invest $150 billion in new energy-saving technologies.” And it appears Congress is listening….

Global warming bills on the horizon. Democratic Senators are already planning to introduce global warming legislation at the beginning of the year. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who is the chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works committee, is planning to create legislation that will directly address Obama’s promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Speaking of emissions. And the 2009 Green Car award goes to the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI. The announcement was made Thursday at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Although there has been a lot talk about hybrids and plug-in vehicles, the 2009 Jetta TDI is “clean diesel” powered. The Green Journal wrote: “The 2009 Jetta TDI breaks new ground in the field of clean diesels, achieving emissions certification in all 50 states without the use of special additives or extraordinary measures.” And for those of us that are fuel conscious, the Jetta gets an amazing 41-mpg on the highway!

Don’t forget to recycle and buy recycled products. Saturday, Nov. 15 is America Recycles Day created by the National Recycling Coalition. The “Recycling” holiday (as I like to call it) is designed to promote the social, environmental and economic benefits of recycling. The National Recycling Coalition is seeking to encourage more people to join the recycling movement to create a better environment. Some of the ways people can get involved by (1) recycling, (2) taking a national pledge and encouraging others to do so, (3) finding out about local events, and (4) learning more about recycling and caring for the environment. Surely, we can all do our part on Saturday and the rest of the days of the year.

Al Gore as Obama’s Climate Czar? Hmmm.. Although it would be a great job if President-elect Obama and his team actually created one (rumor is they are toying around with the idea), Former Vice President Al Gore said he isn’t interested. That’s surprising considering all of his work on global warming such as The Inconvenient Truth movie and the Nobel Peace prize. And who doesn’t think he would be the perfect person to fill that position?

Will it be the power of positive thinking? President-elect Barack Obama has called for the review of the Bush administration’s executive orders, but has not decided to reverse the ones related to stem cell research or environmental issues like offshore oil drilling. However, U.S. conservation groups on Thursday already see victory for reversals on Bush Administration decisions that they say did a lot of damage to the nation’s environmental protections in the past eight years.

Obama’s environmental efforts as president may be slow. Despite President-elect’s statement that he will move quickly to address global warming, the chairman of the Senate Energy Committee predicted Wednesday no Congressional action on a climate change bill until 2010. “Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said that while every effort should be made to cap greenhouse gases, the economic crisis, the transition to a new administration and the complexity of setting up a nationwide market for carbon pollution permits preclude acting in 2009.”

Score: Navy 1, Whales & Environment 0. Well, no one is exactly keeping score but the Supreme Court definitely sided with the U.S. Navy in its case against the National Resources Defense Council (check out Navy v. Whales post for more info). The environmental group had successfully gotten the California Supreme Court to place judicial restrictions on submarine training exercises off the coast of Southern California because of potential harm to marine animals like whales and dolphins. According to the environmentalists, the submarines give off harmful sonar waves that could change marine animals breeding and migration patterns or cause them physical trauma. The possible lesson learned here is potential animal harm doesn’t quite measure up to possible human harm through jeopardizing national security.

Does smog kill? Yes. According to a recent study, Southern California and San Joaquin Valley’s air causes more deaths than all of the fatal car crashes in the last year. Whoa! And the study shows the region could save more than “$28 billion annually in health care costs, school absences, missed work and lost income potential from premature deaths.” California State University – Fullerton researchers were trying to figure out the potential economic benefits of reducing air pollution to federal standard levels. California needs to clean up its act, I mean air, literally!