pollution

This just makes me mad... if you were trying to damage the great barrier reef it'd be hard to do better than these asses, and it all happened out of stupidity, laziness, and greed.  "You want me to take my tanker full of coal and oil AROUND your nature preserve?  Screw that, hippy!  That's expensive and slow, I'm just gonna go right through!"  I'm suprised they don't have GPS tags on all ships like that by now, and just automatically track them, and fine them to oblivion if they go off course.

"Chinese authorities have defended the six-month detention of lead poisoning victims who were seeking medical care, saying the punishment was necessary for "public education".

Police in Jiahe, Hunan province, blocked a bus carrying 53 villagers who were on their way to get health checks last September, according to Chinese media.

"Air pollution at or near record levels in Hong Kong on Monday was caused by a sandstorm from northern China, environmental officials said.

"The Environmental Protection Department urged people, especially those with breathing or heart problems, to stay indoors and limit physical exertion."

Obama reverses the Bush policy of only allowing national emissions standards.  The reason for wanting to keep it national is so that the auto industry isn't forced to tweak cars for particular states, which would raise costs.  The reasons to allow state control are that individual states know their people and local environment better and can make more informed decisions (e.g.