CEI Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. ENVIRONMENT
A United Nations report warns of increasing acid levels in the world’s oceans realted to global warming.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on claims that global warming is killing off coral reefs:
“The deteriorating condition of coral reefs predates by decades any significant warming from greenhouse gases. Pandolfi et al., a team of a dozen biologists who surveyed 14 of the earth’s major reef systems, found that ‘most…were substantially degraded before 1900,’ and that ‘all of the reefs in our survey were substantially degraded long before the first observations of mass mortality resulting from bleaching and outbreaks of disease.’ Corals could probably survive and even thrive in a warming world if they were not weakened and traumatized by pollution, sediment loading, and a host of other local insults.”
2. CONGRESS
Lawmakers continue to wrangle over provisions of the 2007 Farm Bill.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Scholar Fran Smith sizes up the bill’s prospects:
“The Senate’s consideration of a new farm bill is splitting along party lines. The Democratic majority wanted to limit amendments to those that were relevant, with the Republicans saying that only amendments acceptable to the majority were being considered ‘relevant.’ President Bush has threatened to veto the bill because of its failure to address real reform and the reluctance of both the House and the Senate to put income limits on farmers’ ability to receive subsidies. The $286 billion farm bill also puts a greater burden on taxpayers.”
3. LEGAL
California state education officials hold a summit to address racial disparities in academic performance.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Special Projects Counsel Hans Bader on the questionable advice school administrators have been taking:
“Glenn Singleton of Pacific Educational Group has become a rich man by preaching racism, hate, and scapegoating. School systems hire him for hundreds of thousands of dollars to insult and scapegoat teachers and students based on their race under the guise of ‘diversity training.’ That embarrasses the school systems that hire him in high-profile legal cases. Yet foolish school superintendents continue to hire him at exorbitant rates.”
Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.
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