George Bush got sorrowful news today, learning that the United States can no longer be called the top fighter against the environmental enemy. He had been so helpful to oil producers, carbon-based power plant facilities and the mining industry. Every piece of legislation he helped push through was meant to keep the pace of pollution up, but alas China has passed us by anyways. "Our best forecast has Chinas CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions correctly surpassing the United States in 2006 rather than 2020 as previously anticipated," said the study by researchers at the University of California. The report, written by economic professors Maximilian Aufhammer of UC Berkeley and Richard Carson of UC San Diego, is to be published next month in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. Researchers compiled information about the use of fossil fuels in various Chinese provinces and forecast an 11 percent annual growth of carbon emissions from 2004 to 2010.
From RawStory:
The problem for Bush was that although he was helping polluters here at home, he was also screwing the American economy by borrowing so much money from China to pay for his other destructive projects (see: Iraq War). Other ill-advised moves include allowing the mortgage industry to rape and pillage those that bought houses with sub-prime loans, deregulating vast swaths of the economy that caused a massive imbalance that increased the income gap and many, many, many other mistakes. So even though George tried to bring environmental destruction to us all as quick as he could, like everything else in life, he failed at that too.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
No Longer Can George Bush Claim To Be The World's Top Polluter
Colbert Likens Michelle Obama To "Jackie O"
Colbert's long trip down south to Philadelphia (approx. 100 miles from his studio on W. 53rd St.) has gotten a lot of press, earning him a spot on Larry King Live and now a visit from Michelle Obama. Her performance was spot on and Colbert was quite nice with her as well.
Steve Harrison Showed Up In Manhattan Last Night
At a smoky (for at least a few minutes, quick someone call 311!) bar on Franklin Street last night, DfNYC, Stonewall Democrats, Three Parks Democratic Club and Village Reform Democrats came together to hear from the challengers to incumbent Vito Fossella (R - Staten Island). One candidate by the name of Steve Harrison showed up to talk about his passion to represent Staten Island as a liberal and he took question from the audience even if he disagreed with the locals (such as on congestion pricing). He also talked about ending the war and that much of the Responsible Plan being floated around in 2008 was very similar to what he was saying two years ago.
The other man in the race the seemingly reclusive Councilman Dominic Recchia didn't bother to show up despite having the event rescheduled for him to make it easier. Oh and by the way, the place is about a ten minute walk from City Hall, so it isn't like Recchia couldn't have come over for an hour to talk about issues that concern not only Staten Island, but New York City and the nation as a whole.
It was a shame that Recchia wouldn't even bother to make an appearance, but it is starting to show through that there is only one candidate in this race willing to make an effort to talk to voters and people all over the city in order to make Staten Island and that slice of Brooklyn that is the 13th Congressional District of New York blue again. Steve Harrison proved last time around in 2006 that he had the guts and determination to do whatever it took to reach out to the voters in what was thought to be the last Republican stronghold in New York City. Despite being outspent nearly 10 to 1 by Vito Fossella, he still got 43.2% of the vote. With the help of activists that came out to see the candidates last night, this time we can cross that fifty percent threshold and send Vito packing.
The Boss Endorses Obama
If you listen to rock music or are a fan of American pop culture, you know who I am talking to. Perhaps New Jersey's greatest talent (sorry Bon Jovi fans, it isn't even close), Bruce Springsteen came out to endorse Barack Obama over Senator Clinton. While it may be a little too late for his native New Jersey to heed the call, the state of Pennsylvania is just across the western border called the Delaware. Bruce carries powerful messages about society in his music, and this endorsement is of the same caliber.
From Bruce Springsteen:
Dear Friends and Fans:
LIke most of you, I've been following the campaign and I have now seen and heard enough to know where I stand. Senator Obama, in my view, is head and shoulders above the rest.
He has the depth, the reflectiveness, and the resilience to be our next President. He speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems, a country that's interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit. A place where "...nobody crowds you, and nobody goes it alone."
At the moment, critics have tried to diminish Senator Obama through the exaggeration of certain of his comments and relationships. While these matters are worthy of some discussion, they have been ripped out of the context and fabric of the man's life and vision, so well described in his excellent book, Dreams of My Father, often in order to distract us from discussing the real issues: war and peace, the fight for economic and racial justice, reaffirming our Constitution, and the protection and enhancement of our environment.
After the terrible damage done over the past eight years, a great American reclamation project needs to be undertaken. I believe that Senator Obama is the best candidate to lead that project and to lead us into the 21st Century with a renewed sense of moral purpose and of ourselves as Americans.
Over here on E Street, we're proud to support Obama for President.
Bruce Springsteen
Now with that said, musicians and celebrities in general are not given much weight when it comes to their endorsement of one candidate or another. Everyone thought that the mega-star Oprah Winfrey would boost Barack's campaign and all it did was make a story or two (or several thousand) for the media to scrutinize and yell at each other over. With that said though, some musicians are "tougher than the rest" when it comes to being active not only in politics, but advocating for social change. With all of the artists out there, Bruce Springsteen is definitely on that short list of extraordinary talent.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
How To Learn About Washington Lobbyists
It is rather complicated when looking at all the nooks and crannies around K Street, but thankfully the Obama campaign helps us out:
Oh and one more thing, when Clinton answered that question at YearlyKos was it just me that noticed that defensive/aggressive tone in her voice?
There Is A Better Way To Do Health Care in America
Health care in the United States is a crisis of epic proportion. Every day, premiums and prescription costs go up. Employers have to pay more to cover their workers and people are being priced out of having health care or those that can afford it aren't given much with the way deductibles force people to pay for treatment anyway. Michael Moore's SiCKO helped shine the light on this problem, but unfortunately in our society something in the public eye today can vanish tomorrow even if the problem persists. That is what politicians who are in bed with the health care industry count on. They detest stories like these and as you can see, the media is right there with them. They do not want you to see that there is a better way (though worse for their profits) to provide health care and tonight, PBS is going to show you how several other industrialized countries help their citizens.
From PBS's Frontline:
Four in five Americans say the U.S. health care system needs “fundamental” change. Can the U.S. learn anything from the rest of the world about how to run a health care system, or are these nations so culturally different from us that their solutions would simply not be acceptable to Americans? FRONTLINE correspondent T.R. Reid examines first-hand the health care systems of other advanced capitalist democracies--UK, Germany, Switzerland, Japan and Taiwan--to see what tried and tested ideas might help us reform our broken health care system.[...]
FRONTLINE teams up with T.R. Reid, a veteran foreign correspondent for The Washington Post, to find out how five other capitalist democracies--United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Taiwan and Switzerland--deliver health care and what the United States might learn from their successes and their failures. In Sick Around the World, airing Tuesday, April 15, 2008, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings), Reid turns up remarkable differences in how these countries handle health care--from Japan, where a night in a hospital can cost as little as $10, to Switzerland, where the president of the country tells Reid it would be a "huge scandal" if someone were to go bankrupt from medical bills.
There are faults to these systems, but in our media those are amplified in order to scare people away from different ideas than a strictly for-profit health care industry. Watch Frontline tonight and see for yourself that we can treat Americans who are sick in a different way and that as countries adopt national health care, the partisanship of the issue fades away. We deserve that here and we need to let our elected officials know that...and if they don't hear us, elect new ones that will.
Small Town PA Throws Its Financial Weight Behind Obama
Hillary Clinton, John McCain and the media is trying to make as much as they can about the nonsense surrounding Barack Obama. For some reason, bowling and speaking about the truth when it comes to working-class apathy and bitterness about a political system that has failed them is a way to charge him with elitism. It is another way his opposition has tried to bring him down. Now even though the election is still a week away, we can see who these rural Pennsylvanians are supporting with their wallets. Many do not have the $2,300 or $4,600 to max out on which is the type of donor McCain and especially Clinton have relied on. So when you look at the contributions from the area between Philly and Pittsburgh, you can see that these people want change.
From The Huffington Post:
Indeed, through the end of February 2008, Obama received nearly $250,000 in contributions from Pennsylvanians residing in zip codes with populations under 30,000 people. That total, which does not include Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and both city's suburbs, was roughly $30,000 more than the amount raised by Clinton: $220,000.
When the population size is made even smaller, Obama continues to best his Democratic rival. Among those non-urban Pennsylvania zip codes with populations under 20,000, the Illinois Democrat has brought in just over $200,000. Clinton has raised slightly more than $170,000.
(Obama's advantage may in fact be even stronger than these numbers show, since campaigns do not provide information on donors who gave under $200, a subset where Obama has excelled. See the complete data here.)
Of course when it comes to fundraising nationwide, no one comes close to the financial prowess of the Obama campaign. Whether it is in Pennsylvania, Kansas or Wyoming, Obama is on top for people giving small contributions to his campaign. It is a truly people-powered event when you get $5 or $50 from someone living paycheck to paycheck than the $2,300 a corporate executive can afford. There are only so many executives, there are many more of us.
Chris Matthews Talks To Colbert About....Running For Senate???
I didn't think there could be anything worse about Chris Matthews than his one hour (or more) a day punditry on MSNBC. Unfortunately being a Senator would make his gasbag idiocy transcend the tube and go to the floor of the Senate. Now that is truly scary.
Come Help Make NYC's Congressional Caucus Completely Blue
Did you know that in the heavily Democratic metropolis that is New York City there is still one Republican in Congress from the five boroughs. If you know anything about NYC, the first guess on where that red district is on Staten Island (and a little slice of Brooklyn too). Well Vito Fossella has been going to Washington for his own interests and those that fed his campaign coffers for too long. Now we have a serious shot at getting him out and putting a true progressive in the 13th district of New York. And tonight, you can meet that man thanks to Democracy for New York City.
From DfNYC:
Tuesday, April 15, 2008 6:30pm
Lafayette Grill and Bar
54 Franklin Street
(N,R,Q,6, C and A trains to Canal Street; 1 train to Franklin Street)Because of the interest in the progressive community Democracy For New York City has organized a forum to discuss issues of importance to the people of the 13th CD as well as the rest of the city. This forum is at the beginning of a campaign that can likely unseat the last remaining Republican in the NY City Congressional Delegation.
Vito Fosella has been a backer of the Bush-Cheney policy. We can defeat him!!
Steven Harrison and Domenic Recchia have both filed to run for this congressional seat. Both have been invited to attend. Steven Harrison has confirmed his appearance.
Hosted by Three Parks Democratic Club, Stonewall Democratic Club, Village Reform Democrats and Democracy for NYC
Staten Island can do better and with everyone's help, defeat Vito Fossella and elect a Democrat this fall. Come out tonight and ask Steve Harrison (and possibly Dominic Recchia) questions to see which one you want to win the primary and face Vito in November.
Finally, Something To Counter The Vaunted AIPAC
The American Israeli Political Action Committee, known more succinctly as AIPAC has long been the dominant force in Washington concerning American policy towards Israel. It has thousands upon thousands of members and ridiculous sums of money to keep it active in political circles and thereby influential with the President, Congress and its staff. It has done many good things for the small state of Israel that sits among many autocratic governments in the Middle East, but it has also taken a fundamentalist, hard-right veer in its policy goals recently. Many Jewish liberals have been disappointed in them recently, and now there is going to be an alternative.
From The Washington Post:
The lobbying group will be known as J Street and the political action group as JStreetPAC. The executive director for both will be Jeremy Ben-Ami, a former domestic policy adviser in the Clinton White House.
"The definition of what it means to be pro-Israel has come to diverge from pursuing a peace settlement," said Alan Solomont, a prominent Democratic Party fundraiser involved in the initiative. In recent years, he said, "We have heard the voices of neocons, and right-of-center Jewish leaders and Christian evangelicals, and the mainstream views of the American Jewish community have not been heard."
Solomont is a top fundraiser for the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), but the organizers include supporters and fundraisers for both Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). Many prominent figures in the American Jewish left, former lawmakers and U.S. government officials, and several prominent Israeli figures, as well as activists who have raised money for the Democracy Alliance and MoveOn.org, are also involved.
Too often, American Jews are grouped together as having one voice concerning Israel. Like Israel, there are many diverging views on what to do about Gaza, the West Bank and Arab-Israeli relations and specifically how America should be involved with those geopolitical affairs. For too long AIPAC has been the only "voice" in Washington and the Christian Right's influence on it has not been good for the multitude of political views concerning America and Israel. Although J Street PAC is dwarfed by AIPAC now, it is only their first year, so in time, this group can lead the way in letting every viewpoint be heard on the Hill.
Obama Will Punish George Bush....And His Friends
Maybe it is because I have been supporting Obama for the last couple months, but it seems that almost every day there is another reason to choose him over Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. The recent back and forth over the so-called elitist comments that really spoke to the heart of how many voters in rural Pennsylvania (and all over America feel) that politicians mainly make promises and then break them. That is what leads people to become cynical and apathetic about politics in our country.
Another thing that is making progressives apathetic has been the refusal of the Democratic leadership to push for justice and accountability for the White House and those that work inside of it. We know as informed citizens that George Bush and his Administration have committed various offenses against our Constitution and our country in these last seven years. Unfortunately no one has done much about it. That might be changing come January when the Obama Administration begins.
From The Philly Daily News:
Tonight I had an opportunity to ask Barack Obama a question that is on the minds of many Americans, yet rarely rises to the surface in the great ruckus of the 2008 presidential race -- and that is whether an Obama administration would seek to prosecute officials of a former Bush administration on the revelations that they greenlighted torture, or for other potential crimes that took place in the White House.[...]Here's his answer, in its entirety:
What I would want to do is to have my Justice Department and my Attorney General immediately review the information that's already there and to find out are there inquiries that need to be pursued. I can't prejudge that because we don't have access to all the material right now. I think that you are right, if crimes have been committed, they should be investigated. You're also right that I would not want my first term consumed by what was perceived on the part of Republicans as a partisan witch hunt because I think we've got too many problems we've got to solve.
So this is an area where I would want to exercise judgment -- I would want to find out directly from my Attorney General -- having pursued, having looked at what's out there right now -- are there possibilities of genuine crimes as opposed to really bad policies. And I think it's important-- one of the things we've got to figure out in our political culture generally is distinguishing betyween really dumb policies and policies that rise to the level of criminal activity. You know, I often get questions about impeachment at town hall meetings and I've said that is not something I think would be fruitful to pursue because I think that impeachment is something that should be reserved for exceptional circumstances. Now, if I found out that there were high officials who knowingly, consciously broke existing laws, engaged in coverups of those crimes with knowledge forefront, then I think a basic principle of our Constitution is nobody above the law -- and I think that's roughly how I would look at it.
The bottom line is that: Obama sent a clear signal that -- unlike impeachment, which he's ruled out and which now seems a practical impossibility -- he is at the least open to the possibility of investigating potential high crimes in the Bush White House. To many, the information that waterboarding -- which the United States has considered torture and a violation of law in the past -- was openly planned out in the seat of American government is evidence enough to at least start asking some tough questions in January 2009.
Impeachment would have been nice at the beginning of last year when Pelosi and Reid had a hot iron to strike. Those two failed, whether it was out of fear or Washingtonian politics they did not do their job to hold the President accountable for his impeachable actions. Impeachment kicks the President to the curb, but he'll be out anyway in nine months from now. What he needs, what our country needs is for their to be justice. We haven't heard anything from Hillary on this and with the way she lies and exaggerates, who knows if she'll do what she says anyways. Obama's response to Will Bunch last night spoke volumes....and it should send shivers down George Bush's spine.
