New Jersey Going Green

New Jersey hosting one of the Live Earth concerts at the Meadowlands today to bring attention to the problem of climate change. The mood must be festive out there already, because Governor Corzine was in an extremely green mood yesterday when he enacted laws to curb greenhouse gas emissions. New Jersey is only the second state in the nation behind California to take such monumental action. Al Gore couldn't have been happier.

From WCBS-TV:

"From now on when I give my slideshow around the world I'm gonna include New Jersey," Gore said. Under the law, the state will have until 2020 to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent, and until 2050 to cut emissions by 80 percent. Power plants will have to become more efficient and cars will have to spew less carbon dioxide into the air. "It is the strongest global warming cap in the country," said Suzanne Leta Liou of Environment New Jersey.

No one has really said how New Jersey will do this exactly, but at least there is groundwork to build on. Perhaps Corzine can take some pointers from New York City's PlaNYC that has dozens of climate-saving ideas. Not only should Jersey being getting pointers, they should be a part of a growing chorus that demands the federal government do something about climate change. Too bad the current resident at the White House isn't bothering to listen.

Impeach Cheney

We all know this needs to be done, there is even a majority of people polled that want him to be expelled from office. There is a bill in the House (Res. 333) that can begin to make this possible, but only with more support from the Congress. The more people see this clip below from Robert Greenwald, the better chance we have for citizens to demand action from their Congress member.

From Brave New Films:

Petition: http://impeachcheney.org/ Watch Dick Cheney's impeachable crimes, then sign the petition demanding Congress begin impeachment hearings. 14 Representatives currently support H. Res 333, 3 articles of impeachment outlining Vice President Dick Cheney's crimes.

Coulter And Tweety: Living Under A Random House

Media Bloodhound happened upon an interesting piece of synergy last week about Ann Coulter and Chris Matthews. The Edwards/Coulter story lasted so long because Coulter was there to take the call, being on Chris' show for an entire hour. What reasonable and/or newsworthy relevance is there to an hour of the pathetic piece of crap that Ann is? Could it be because both Chris and Ann share the same publisher for their books?

From Media Bloodhound:

Ann Coulter’s Godless is published by Crown Forum, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, which is part of Random House. Who is Chris Matthews’ publisher for his upcoming book Life’s a Campaign: What Politics Has Taught Me About Friendship, Rivalry, Reputation, and Success? You guessed it - Random House.

But wait, there’s more.

Coulter showed up on Hardball this past Tuesday to promote the new paperback edition of Godless, which just happened to be released on the same day of her appearance. (Matthews also fails to point this out to his viewers.) And while this hour-long Coulterfest was nothing more than a deftly marketed, nationally televised promo book party posing as news, it only begins to touch on the disturbing synergy between the two. A little more digging reveals that Coulter's forthcoming book If Democrats Had Any Brains, They’d Be Republicans: Ann Coulter at Her Best, Funniest, and Most Outrageous, published by the same Random House company, is scheduled for an October 2, 2007 release. And the release date for Matthews’ Random House publication Life’s a Campaign (his first, incidentally, with Random House)? Whaddya know: October 2, 2007.

The article goes into much more detail and is a very interesting read. If it seems odd to you that there are so many coincidences going on here, they probably aren't coincidences. Media giants like Random House love synergy of their products wherever they can get it. Having two authors on Hardball creating controversy doesn't get much better for book sales.

This is just another piece of evidence that Tweety is nothing more than a hack for whoever his employers are. He lives off of an impression that he is a credible journalist and media entity. The more he does this, the smaller Matthews will get over time.

Blogger Gets Fred's Free ABC Airtime Yanked

Cheers to Cliff Schecter on his successful push to stop Fred Thompson's deal to get free time on ABC. It had violated campaign fairness laws and with a little blogosphere push, ABC got rid of Fred. Like Cliff said, all it takes is a little shouting until you get stuff like this taken care of.

From Cliff Schecter:

I started a relatively lonely campaign about 2-3 weeks ago to get Fred Thompson--all but declared presidential candidate who admitted he was benefitting from free ABC airtime--off the radio there. And off their Intertube site.

I posted on it, and it was picked up by Kos, C&L, I cross-posted at Huff Post and then did some radio on it (The Young Turks, etc.). We ended up getting some print coverage and it blew up into a mini-brouhaha.

Well lo and behold, ABC is now talking about Fred in the past tense. I am not bragging here. Obviously what they were doing was so beyond the pale, that anyone who brought it up would have been able to put pressure on them. But I guess that is the point. Stand up and make yourself heard, and who knows what happens.

There is no reason for front-runner Fred to be getting free time from a network that does the same for all of the candidates. ABC should have known better. Then again, it is ABC.

Obama Girl Gets Copied For Hillary And Giuliani

The success of Obama girl on the web has prompted other fan sites to duplicate the method for their man...or woman.





Definitely not original and not even close to the hilarity of Obama Girl. Nice try guys, I can't wait for Fred Thompson fans to come out with their own. Will the model be Droopy Dog?

Bring On The Live Earth!

I know there are plenty of detractors out there who are calling this event inconsequential or even counter-productive for the environment. Despite their claims, the producers of the event are going to extraordinary lengths to make it a green event and raise awareness of the peril of our climate, all while having eight nine amazing concerts all in one day across the world. The surprise ninth event is going to be held on the National Mall down in Washington. Even if you don't have tickets, check it out free on the internet.

I am happy to say have already said that I'll be at the one outside NYC tomorrow. I was one of the lucky ones to volunteer in the morning so I can see the show in the afternoon. I'll be working the credentials area, so all of you media people be nice to the kid with the cane (still recovering from knee surgery unfortunately). If you are among the thousands headed out to Giants Stadium tomorrow, check out this handy Survival Guide from The North Jersey Record.

It is going to be a great time, but remember the mission. We all need to live on the planet in a more globally-conscious way. Make sure you take mass-transit to the event, stop using plastic bags at the market and think about eliminating your carbon footprint altogether.

You Know Its Over For McCain When....

Ron Paul has more cash on hand than the one-time front-runner John McCain. Paul may be a hero to Libertarians and some Democrats, but he is scorned by regular Republican voters. Considered a fringe candidate with internet appeal, the anti-war Paul stands no chance to win the party nomination. The fact that even Ron has more money than McCain is a terrible revelation for the Arizona Senator.

From USAToday:

Republican Ron Paul says he has $2.4 million in cash on hand "after raising an equal amount during the second quarter," our friends at ABC's Political Radar blog write this afternoon. As they say, that puts the presidential candidate "ahead of one-time Republican frontrunner John McCain, who reported this week he has only $2 million in the bank."

Political Radar adds that:

In an exclusive interview taped Friday and airing Sunday on This Week, Paul said his campaign is on a better trajectory than McCain's.

"I think some of the candidates are on the down-slope, and we're on the up-slope," said Paul.

Paul's cash on hand puts him in third place in the Republican field in that important metric, although he is well behind leader Rudy Giuliani, who has $18 million in the bank, and Mitt Romney, with $12 million.

Ooooooh. Double ouch. Not only does the money issue hurt, so does Paul rubbing it in on the upcoming Sunday TV talk show circuit. McCain may have the edge over Paul in the polls, but with so much time for shifts in the public sentiment, the time is now for crucial fundraising efforts. With McCain's campaign mishaps and his "I am Bush's lapdog" approach on the war, Paul is right, John is on the down-slope.

Olbermann Slams Boortz For Comparing Libby To Bill Clinton

Ah, speaking of idiotic conservative talkers from the last post, we have the ignorant Neil Boortz. Olbermann called him out as the Worst Person in the World for claiming that Clinton was convicted of the same crime as Scooter Libby. What a jackass!

D.C. Radio Cans The Falafel Factor

Oh boo hoo for Bill O. Except for Rush, O'Reilly is the latest failed conservative talker in the Washington, D.C. market. Despite the want of the corporate radio world to have conservative talk dominance everywhere they go, the generally liberal area of metro Washington shuns conservative talkers and radio in general. I'm sure we'll hear a hissy fit from Bill over this one. Not being on the radios of Congressmen going to work will be a tough one to handle for his massive ego.

From ThinkProgress:

Washington DC FM talk radio station 106.7 WJFK yesterday announced it was dropping Bill O’Reilly’s nationally syndicated show, and replacing it with a sports-talk program. The Washington Post reports today that O’Reilly’s cancellation is a “case in point” of how poorly conservative radio programs have fared in DC:

With the exception of Rush Limbaugh, conservative talk-radio hosts have struggled for years to find a wide audience on the local dial. While Limbaugh’s afternoon program remains popular on WMAL (630 AM), not many other conservatives’ programs have.

Yet despite their underwhelming performance, numerous right-wing radio hosts have been given repeated opportunities to succeed in DC. “Such radio stars of the right as Laura Ingraham, Glenn Beck and Michael Savage at times have literally had no ratings in Washington, as measured by Arbitron.”

The article also highlights the Center for American Progress' report on the corporate media world, showing how media consolidation has hurt the diversity of the airwaves. So take heart Bill, it isn't all your fault. Some of the blame can be laid at the feet of the people that hired you to blather incessantly on the radio.

Fighting Counter-Attack, Moore Challenges HMOs To A Debate

The Health Care industry is justifiably afraid of the impact that SiCKO can have on the American public. The multi-millionaire CEOs know that their policies kill thousands of people every year. Being the greedy bastards that they are, there is an effort to circumvent Moore by counter-attacking his assertions in the movie. However, Michael seemed to get his hands on a document that outlines the beginnings of a strategy.

From RawStory:

Oscar winning documentary filmmaker Michael Moore has published a memo written by a health insurance company executive on how to respond to his new film, 'Sicko,' which criticizes shortcomings in America's current system of private medical insurance.

"[T]he impact on small business decision makers, our members, the community, and our employees could be significant," wrote Barclay Fitzpatrick, Vice President of Corporate Communications at Capital Blue Cross. "Ignoring its impact might be a successful strategy only if it flops, but that has not been the history of Moore's films ... If popular, the movie will have a negative impact on our image in this community."

(snip)

"As a health care industry educated viewer it is easy to pick out where Moore is cultivating misperceptions to further a political agenda, but you will also recognize that 80%+ of the audience will have their perceptions substantially affected," he wrote.

Fitzpatrick ends his memo by including a set of talking points written by the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Association to rebut key claims in Sicko. He was particularly concerned with the lumping of the not-for-profit Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurers in with for profit providers like Kaiser Permanente and Humana.

Moore has other ideas though. He called on Fitzpatrick to bring out his CEO to debate him in public on the facts. If they feel so strongly that Moore is misleading the public, then it should be a no-brainer to come out and assert their truth. Of course back in the land of reality, I doubt that day of debate will ever come.

This Message Approved By Rudy Giuliani?

If this is official, Rudy truly has some brass balls. The website at the end is his official site but I'm gonna guess this is comes from a mind that identifies with Stephen Colbert. Regardless, it is sick, sad and funny all at once.

"Independent" Bloomberg Supports NY GOP

Mayor Bloomberg's recent switch in party status may have created big headlines about his Presidential aspirations, but he is still in bed with the corrupt New York Republican apparatus up in Albany. He threw his support behind Joe Bruno and his quest to keep their two seat majority in the State Senate today.

From The New York Times:

On June 19, shortly before Mr. Bloomberg announced that he was leaving the Republican Party, he telephoned the state’s most powerful Republican, Joseph L. Bruno, the Senate majority leader.

The mayor wanted Mr. Bruno to know the announcement was coming. But Mr. Bloomberg, a major contributor to New York Republicans, also sought to reassure the majority leader that despite the change, he would still back Mr. Bruno and his Republican colleagues in the Senate.

“He will support us now, and as we go forward,” Mr. Bruno said, describing the conversation. “His support is his support.”

The call to Mr. Bruno was one of several conversations Mr. Bloomberg has had with Republicans in New York in recent weeks pledging his political support.

So while he promotes a new national image, he continues doing business as usual with Republicans at home. The support isn't just vocal, being a billionaire he is able and willing to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to state Republicans, especially for funds dedicated to holding crucial state Senate seats.

Eliminating that majority is essential to making progress up in Albany. As Majority Leader, Joe Bruno has held up many pieces of legislation that can move New York forward both economically and progressively. With Bloomberg's continued support, we can count him as being part of the problem, despite his positive environmental stance.