City Council Tosses Bottled Water

The City has talked a good game about recycling and cutting out waste, but city agencies have been slow to act. Finally after months of telling New Yorkers to stop using plastic water bottles, the City Council is falling in line and ridding itself of using plastic water bottles in the building and for functions.

From The NY Times:

Last week, the speaker’s office announced that it would stop buying bottled water for the Council’s downtown offices, which went through at least 6,000 single-serving bottles last year. As a result, bottled water will no longer be available at City Council events or official functions.

“We are obviously going to make paper cups available,” said Christine C. Quinn, the Council speaker. “We are going to urge people to bring in their own reusable water bottles.”

In addition, the city has started a pilot program with water coolers that use filtered tap water. Nine of the coolers have been installed in the last six months at City Hall and in the Municipal Building.

“It is a bit hypocritical for the city to be buying bottled water for city buildings while it is encouraging New Yorkers to drink city tap water,” said Simcha Felder, a Brooklyn councilman who pressed the cooler issue at budget hearings.

Just a lil' bit Mr. Felder, just a lil' bit. Good job on getting the Council to conserve plastic. It may be a small part of the waste New Yorkers make, but a step in the right direction is still movement. Now if only they could cut down on all those useless bills Council Members like to propose so their constituents think they're busy. Then we'd really be making a difference.

A TPM "Sunday Talk" Tribute To Tim Russert

A great tribute for an incredible man, Tim you will be missed:

Councilman McMahon Won't Answer Iraq War Questions

The last month or so has been quite unsettling since Vito Fossella announced his intentions to not run for re-election. For some reason, establishment Democrats took this to mean that only now is there ample opportunity to pick up the last Republican-held Congressional seat in New York City. That false alarm (because the district was ripe to turn before Vito's DWI/love child story came out) has produced an establishment candidate in the form of Staten Island Councilman Michael McMahon.

Now, progressive/liberal Democrats have already had a candidate that supports their issues by and large in Steve Harrison. He is adamantly against the war and all things George Bush. So why the establishment (NY's Congressional delegation, Staten Island's Dem County Cmte, etc) would pick McMahon without investigating issues and allowing for a primary is ridiculous. What is more ridiculous is that McMahon seems to agree with Bush on a few things, like Iraq.

From The Daily Gotham:

To focus then on some of the issues which are crucial, in my view, I asked Council Member McMahon some questions He replied in part and you can (and should) judge those answers for yourself.

Below, however, are three questions which Council Member McMahon didn't answer. Because I respect the abilities of those who prepared the answers, I am persuaded that the omissions are deliberate. Those omitted answers concern issues which members of the next Congress will actually face.

More war? Mr. McMahon did not state whether, were he a member of Congress, he would favor or oppose further Iraq war funding. Billions of dollars, needed at home, are funneled into Iraq-war-profiteers and into an immoral and evil war. Check it out in more detail here . If we're to believe Nobel-prize economist Joseph Stiglitz, the total tab will come to three trillion . Can Mr. McMahon say no to such squandering? He doesn't say.

Permanent bases? Mr. McMahon is silent on the issue of long-term Iraq occupation. Mr. McCain proposes that US troops remain for 100 years. Long term basing is crucial now as Mr. Bush & Mr. Cheney seek to force a Status of Forces Agreement" (SOFA) on the Iraqis and us. (For more on SOFA problems read smintheus's Kos post ) Would Mr. McMahon, were he in Congress oppose long-term basing of US forces in Iraq?

Detainee rights? Under the misleadership of John McCain, Congress tried to bar detainees labeled as "enemy combatants" by Mr. Bush from seeking court review of the lawfulness of their detention. By 5-4 the Supreme Court barred this end run around the Constitution. Mr. McCain proposes yet one more try to keep people from having their day in court. Will Mr. McMahon support justice or kangaroo courts? He doesn't say.

I expect non-answers from moderate Republicans running for this seat, not a Democratic politician and certainly not in this climate and this year. McMahon is more of a DLC product than anything resembling the man at the top of the ticket. The Democratic leadership supporting him is "playing it safe" and for the most part, that attitude has made us lose elections, not win them.

More Violent, Now Murderous Rhetoric From The Right

No one sums it up the hateful language from the right like Jeffrey Feldman does in his new book Outright Barbarous. If only he published it a few weeks later, he could have included the scumbag Michael Reagan (son of the Gipper) and his criminal rhetoric displayed last week. Reagan called for the murder of Mark Dice, simply because his views are not the same as Reagan's. Now he's under investigation by the FBI.

From RawStory:

On the June 10th edition of his nationally syndicated Radio America show, Reagan called Dice and others in the “9/11 Truth” movement “traitors” after learning that they were sending letters, declassified documents and DVDs to troops in Iraq that they say point to government involvement in the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001.

The effort is part of The Resistance’s “Operation Inform the Soldiers.”

“I don’t want the soldiers who are risking their lives in Iraq to be used as pawns in the creation of the New World Order,” Dice said in a recent press release. “I personally know U.S. Marines who believe 9/11 was an inside job, and they tell me that many Marines suspect that this is the case but are afraid to speak up out of fear of punishment.”

“We ought to find the people who are doing this,” Reagan said, “take ‘em out, and shoot ‘em. Really. Just find the people who are sending those letters…to demoralize our troops…they are traitors to this country…and shoot them. You have a problem with that? Deal with it. But anybody who would do that doesn’t deserve to live. You call them traitors–that’s what they are–and you shoot ‘em dead. I’ll pay for the bullet.”

“How about you take Mark Dice out,” Reagan continued, “and put him in the middle of the firing range? Tie him to a post, don’t blindfold him, and let it rip and have some fun with Mark Dice.”

Now Reagan has apologized for what he said, but still, something like that is hard to take back and it is especially hard to tamper the level of hate in the rhetoric of people like Reagan. Who knows how many crazy lunatics tuned in last week to hear Reagan order Dice's death but not today's upcoming apology. Even if they did hear the apology, they might still be tempted to do a despicable act and having someone on the air to say things like Reagan did is completely unacceptable. I'm all for the first amendment and someone's right to free speech, but when it impugns on another citizen's right to life and liberty, then justifiable action must be taken, either by the radio station or the FCC.

McCain Dodges Question About Clayton Williams Fundraiser

Watch the "Maverick" duck and weave right past this question regarding the money that has been raised and will be raised by Clayton Williams:

A Book Club For Progressives, Liberals And All Those On The Left

A bright and progressive idea is hitting the market today and you can sign on by simply clicking a button (and filling some stuff out as well). The Progressive Book Club is launching now to get the progressive community and those linked to it to read books with a social conscience and a message that most liberals can agree with. The conservatives have had tools like this in their arsenal for decades, now its time that we had it too.

From The NY Times:

Starting on Monday, the new Progressive Book Club is inviting readers to join and buy three books at $1 apiece in exchange for the obligation to buy four books over the next two years.

The brainchild of Elizabeth Wagley, a former fund-raiser and communications adviser for nonprofit groups including Doctors of the World, the Progressive Book Club is trying to update the paradigm of such familiar institutions as the Book-of-the-Month Club, as well as the 44-year-old Conservative Book Club.

Ms. Wagley said that she believed the new book club would fill a void for progressively minded readers. “The right has always understood the power of ideas, the power of books as legitimizers of ideas,” she said. “I see the opportunity with the book-club structure to create a powerful tool to showcase the ideas of the left.”

As with a classic book club, members of the new club will be offered a slate of books each month, reviewed and chosen by a panel that includes the novelists Michael Chabon, Erica Jong and Barbara Kingsolver; John Podesta, president of the Center for American Progress; Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation magazine; and Todd Gitlin, the author and a journalism and sociology professor at Columbia University.

I don't know about you, but the deal sounds almost too good to be true, but I'll take it anyway. Reading seven books within two years doesn't sound too challenging, especially for the voracious literary appetites of liberals across the country. I couldn't imagine signing up for something similar on the other side and reading the likes of Glenn Beck and Ann Coulter, but you can hand me works by Rachel Carson and Matt Taibbi any day.

John McCain Holds On To Clayton "Rape-Jokester" Williams

John McCain, as everyone is starting to find out, is a real piece of work. Far from a straight-talking maverick, the guy will do and say anything to curry favor in his quest for the Presidency. He has flip-flopped on almost every issue under the sun and embraced some controversial figures to win constituency groups. So that makes me wonder if the cross-section of people that find rape funny is a key to his electoral success?

From TPM:

John McCain's campaign has arrived at a new solution in canceling their planned fundraiser with controversial Texas oilman Clayton Williams -- a compromise that allows them to both distance themselves from a man who would seriously complicate their efforts at outreach to women voters, while also getting access to the money he's helped bring in.

The original fundraiser, planned for Monday, was cancelled after Democrats publicized a statement about rape that Williams had made during his 1990 campaign for governor, and which had arguably cost him the race.

The fundraiser will now be rescheduled for later this summer at a new venue. All the people on the guest list that Williams had organized will be invited -- just not Williams himself.

Does the McCain camp seriously think that if Clayton doesn't show up at his fundraiser that everyone will think that is a-ok? McCain probably doesn't find rape funny, even though he does have problems respecting women and their issues. The real motivation for holding on to Williams is that he knows a lot of people with a lot of cash that can be stuffed in McCain's pockets. That is really what this comes down to but of course it speaks to your character on how you go about obtaining that money.

Just How Stupid Are We?

A successful democracy requires a citizenry that is informed so that it can hold it's government accountable. Author Rick Shenkman goes on CNN to explain how we as a country do not know the basics of our government and the details of what is going on in this nation and the world to make good decisions when it is time to go in the voting booth. I'll be checking out his book and I hope all of you do as well.



Disclaimer: It isn't that we are personally stupid, it is that American politics is stupid and that we need to help change it.

The Case Of Mohammad Ahktiar And The Failure Of Our Gov't

Before McClatchy Newspapers investigated the case of Mohammad Ahktiar, barely anyone knew his name in the American or even international public. Ahktiar has been imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay for years now and for no good reason other than that terrorist groups passed false information to the United States. He has been attacked in prison for helping the Afghan government, not fighting it, U.S. forces or anyone of the kind.

From McClatchy:

GARDEZ, Afghanistan — The militants crept up behind Mohammed Akhtiar as he squatted at the spigot to wash his hands before evening prayers at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

They shouted "Allahu Akbar" — God is great — as one of them hefted a metal mop squeezer into the air, slammed it into Akhtiar's head and sent thick streams of blood running down his face.

Akhtiar was among the more than 770 terrorism suspects imprisoned at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. They are the men the Bush administration described as "the worst of the worst."

But Akhtiar was no terrorist. American troops had dragged him out of his Afghanistan home in 2003 and held him in Guantanamo for three years in the belief that he was an insurgent involved in rocket attacks on U.S. forces. The Islamic radicals in Guantanamo's Camp Four who hissed "infidel" and spat at Akhtiar, however, knew something his captors didn't: The U.S. government had the wrong guy.

The worst thing is that they knew Ahktiar and many others were wrongly imprisoned and did nothing to help them with their situation. On top of that troops beat the prisoners often and without regard for presumed guilt or innocence. The Bush Administration helped to form this culture of snatching up people who were completely innocent or had little intelligence value. Instead of trying to make things right and send the wrongly accused back home to their families, secrets and lies were added to the mix from the lowly prison guards all the way on up to the President himself.

The whole article is a damning account of what has and does go on at Guantanamo Bay. McClatchy has been investigating the prison for months and has interviewed dozens. Check their site for continuing stories on Guantanamo throughout the week.

Bugs That Eat Garbage Make Oil

Science fiction is a wonderful space in the world of literature, making it's readers dream about things that are out of this world or in a time-period far into the future. Yet when tall tales become reality, people really take notice. LS9 might just be that latest dream-come-true. Imagine engineered bacteria that can eat garbage and secrete oil. Not only is it oil, but oil that does not harm the environment. The only thing I ask is that they make it and make a lot of it soon, because our world needs a miracle.

From The UK Times:

LS9 has already convinced one oil industry veteran of its plan: Bob Walsh, 50, who now serves as the firm’s president after a 26-year career at Shell, most recently running European supply operations in London. “How many times in your life do you get the opportunity to grow a multi-billion-dollar company?” he asks. It is a bold statement from a man who works in a glorified cubicle in a San Francisco industrial estate for a company that describes itself as being “prerevenue”.

Inside LS9’s cluttered laboratory – funded by $20 million of start-up capital from investors including Vinod Khosla, the Indian-American entrepreneur who co-founded Sun Micro-systems – Mr Pal explains that LS9’s bugs are single-cell organisms, each a fraction of a billionth the size of an ant. They start out as industrial yeast or nonpathogenic strains of E. coli, but LS9 modifies them by custom-de-signing their DNA. “Five to seven years ago, that process would have taken months and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he says. “Now it can take weeks and cost maybe $20,000.”

Because crude oil (which can be refined into other products, such as petroleum or jet fuel) is only a few molecular stages removed from the fatty acids normally excreted by yeast or E. coli during fermentation, it does not take much fiddling to get the desired result.

For fermentation to take place you need raw material, or feedstock, as it is known in the biofuels industry. Anything will do as long as it can be broken down into sugars, with the byproduct ideally burnt to produce electricity to run the plant.

This is the type of innovation that our country and our world needs. If only our government had helped, we could have been farther along down this path. Our current government would rather stick to oil in the way that oil sticks nearly anything it touches. In a few short months we will have a new Administration that can not only help bring out products like LS9, but wind, water and solar energy as well. The more options we have out on the table, the better. For now we'll watch these little bugs and hope for the best.

Obama's Father's Day Speech

Barack Obama honored fathers who take care of their children....and speaks truth about those who don't:

Rudy Wants To Cash In On Fundraisers

For all intensive purposes, Rudy Giuliani is a star in his Grand Old Party. Despite losing in flame-out fashion this past winter, he is still Mr. 9/11 to Republicans, the "Mayor that tamed big, bad liberal New York" or something like that. Due to that name recognition and notoriety, he has been sought after as a keynote speaker for fundraisers to help out incumbents and would-be Congress-critters desperate for cash when all the conservative money is going primarily to the RNC and McCain campaign. The thing is, with Rudy there's a catch to hear him utter "9/11, 9/11 and 9/11."

From The NY Times:

Mr. Giuliani’s aides have told the National Republican Congressional Committee and Congressional candidates that if he makes an appearance, he wants the candidates to help him get rid of his presidential campaign debt.

The unusual request underscores the financial predicament Mr. Giuliani finds himself in, after he ended his presidential bid this year with roughly $3.6 million in campaign debt. Traditionally, prominent party figures help lower-tier candidates by headlining fund-raising events in return for good will and future political alliances, but do not receive funds themselves.

Mr. Giuliani’s debt includes a $500,000 personal loan that he made to the campaign, according to his latest campaign finance report.

Mr. Giuliani’s move has irritated some of his Republican colleagues, who say that the arrangement would put an additional strain on candidates who in many cases are struggling to raise money. Some say rather than making a generous gesture, the former mayor is seeking to tap local candidates’ donors.

When it comes to Rudy G., Rudy is always Rudy's number 1, no doubt about it. If he wants to suck cash from GOP candidates, more power to him, it beats the people he previously used and abused.