Lieberman Must Go
It boggles the mind to think this man ran on the ticket with Al Gore. It’s time for him to make his transition to the GOP complete.
His warmongering will be welcome there.
Sphere: Related ContentEnergy as a Climate Changer?
The only climate change the GOP expects from the energy issue is a political climate change, which if I have any say in the matter, won’t happen. From SFGate.com:
“Energy is actually a huge opportunity for Republicans,” said Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who chairs the Senate Republicans’ re-election campaign. “Energy has the opportunity to change the climate if it’s done right.”
A recent Gallup Poll found that 57 percent of Americans would support drilling in offshore or wilderness areas that are currently off-limits to drilling, while 41 percent oppose the idea. Frank Newport, the poll’s editor in chief, contends that Republicans’ push for more drilling is now “generally in sync with majority American public opinion.”
Hey, 57% supporting drilling, why not get a clue now about what you support. I have to believe you’re just ignorant and not stupid. You REALLY support increased domestic production, which can be accomplished RIGHT. NOW. You just think the protected areas have to be opened to increase production, but they don’t.
Here’s an area that would be forever marred by offshore drilling.
So to the 57% of you out there who think this is somehow something that will help, let me reiterate:
- Offshore drilling will not help you offset the gas prices you’re seeing right now.
- Offshore drilling will not change the need to shift to alternative forms of energy.
- Offshore drilling would require more refineries to be built. Are you willing to have a refinery in your backyard?
- Offshore drilling would cause many coastal areas to be hard-hit economically as a result of tourism loss, effectively destroying the coastal economy.
- We have a DUTY to preserve these areas and find alternative ways to supply and conserve energy./li>
Got it? Good. Now go spread the news to the other bunch of you who are not stupid, but must definitely be ignorant.
Sphere: Related ContentWTF Items for the Day
- Appeals Court Invalidates Detainee’s ‘Enemy’ Status
A federal appeals court in Washington has invalidated the Bush administration’s finding that a detainee held for more than six years in the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba is an “enemy combatant,” and has ordered the government to release him, transfer him or offer him a new hearing.
Oh, and the White House pooh-poohed legal advice saying he risked judicial scrutiny of detention policies.
- Report Says Partisanship Reigned in Justice Department Hiring Program
High-ranking political appointees at the Justice Department labored to stock a prestigious hiring program with young conservatives in a five-year-long attempt to reshape the department’s ranks, according to an inspector general’s report to be released today.
Wow, there’s a surprise. After firing US Attorneys that didn’t toe the Bushies’ line, who’s surprised by this?
- McCain: No Habeas for Bin Laden, Right to the Gallows John McCain says:
…After enthusiastically embracing the Supreme Court decision granting habeas in U.S. civilian courts to dangerous terrorist detainees, he is now running away from the consequences of that decision and what it would mean if Osama bin Laden were captured. Senator Obama refuses to clarify whether he believes habeas should be granted to Osama bin Laden, and instead cites the precedent of the Nuremburg [sic] war trials…There was no habeas at Nuremburg [sic] and there should be no habeas for Osama bin Laden.
..Let me be clear, under my administration Osama bin Laden will either be killed on the battlefield or executed.
Just to be clear here, does anyone seriously believe bin Laden would set foot on American soil. Pulease! Meanwhile, Al Qaeda grows more vocal online.
- The new FISA bill now in the Senate gives “wholesale approval for NSAt o conduct bulk monitoring of electronic communications.
- Bush Administration shoots down plan to overhaul army contract oversight. After all, why be accountable for nearly 5 billion charged in fraud or another 5 billion spent without documentation?
- Wexler points out how the McClellan testimony points to the Bush Administration crimes, and calls for accountability
This is really why the American electorate should not be so dumb about their constitutional rights. I have just listed six separate stories published in one day, all pointing to the utter disregard this administration has for basic civil rights guaranteed by our Constitution.
While the mainstream media stokes the fear that Iran will attack, participating once again in the administration’s plan to keep us in line by keeping us afraid, no one is paying attention to the true goal of Bush and the neocons: To erode civil rights and the constitution so deeply that Americans will not understand what they have surrendered through ignorance, nor what they have lost.
Sphere: Related ContentIf You’re John McCain, Cheating the System is Okay
For all the public posturing that’s gone on over the past few days over Barack Obama’s wise decision to forego public financing by the McCain campaign and enabled by the press, John McCain has been given a virtual pass on his own cheating of the public financing system.
For starters, he opted into public financing for the primary when his campaign faced an early demise. From MediaMatters.org:
McCain signed a loan agreement that could have forced him to remain in the race — even if he had no chance of winning — in order to be eligible for public matching funds to repay the loan. The New York Times has described the loan as being “secured in part by the promise of federal matching money for the primaries.” Nor did these reports point out that Federal Election Commission (FEC) chairman David Mason has taken the position that McCain cannot legally opt out of public financing for the primary without FEC approval and that in the same letter, Mason asked the McCain campaign to expand upon its assertion that it had not “pledged the certification of Matching Payment funds as security for private financing.” If McCain’s campaign is not allowed to withdraw from the public financing system and if it is found to have raised and spent money beyond public financing limits, its actions “could put McCain at risk of stiff fines and up to five years in prison,” according to The Washington Post.
When you see Lindsey Graham and John McCain crying crocodile tears on MTP for the purpose of exaggerating Obama’s choice to opt out of public financing, remember this quote:
“This is serious,” agreed Republican election lawyer Jan Baran. Ignoring the matter on the grounds that the FEC lacks a quorum, Baran said, “is like saying you’re going to break into houses because the sheriff is out of town.”
Yet, what you heard from the media last week was that Barack Obama had gone back on his word. Arianna Huffington has some choice quotes from major media outlets here. I agree with her conclusion, too:
Sphere: Related ContentSo while Obama’s decision is a subject open to debate, the mainstream media should not be allowed to get away with their continued refusal to accurately report on the fall of John McCain.
This is the very big deal.
Take the MOMocrats $27 Challenge
MOMocrat PunditMom put out a challenge awhile back, and now the MOMocrats are throwing it down to the rest of us.
Here it is, in a nutshell:
Several months ago, I read Melinda Henneberger’s book, If They Only Listened to Us: What Women Voters Want Men to Hear. As she was promoting her book, Henneberger quoted a statistic in one article that if every woman who voted in the 2006 national elections had contributed just $27 to any presidential candidate or party, we would pour $1.3 billion dollars into the political system.
I
I’m asking each of you to think about cutting back on the Starbucks just a little bit and contribute $27 to the candidate or political party of your choice. It doesn’t have to be John McCain or Barack Obama. It doesn’t even have to be a presidential candidate — there are plenty of candidates running for national and local offices who could use a little extra cash to get out their messages. If we pool our money, so much the better. But imagine what our $1.3 billion dollars would do, even as individual contributions, to increase the volume of our political voices. Even John McCain would have to sit up and take notice of the issues we think are important.
If you take the $27 challenge and decide to contribute to Obama, would you also consider doing it via my fundraising page? No obligation here, I’m with PunditMom, in that I’d really just like to see every person who votes scrape together $27 and give it to the campaign of their choice.
Imagine the power of $27, multiplied by every voter in this country. Isn’t that public financing at its finest?
Sphere: Related ContentMcCain’s Coastal Flip-Flop = Global Disaster
Senator Barbara Boxer and Representative Lois Capps held a conference call today to discuss the Bush/McCain response to $140/barrel oil. Before I share the high points of the call, I want to offer some pictorial perspective on why I and most other Californians, Republican and Democrat, are so vehemently against what is clearly an election-year gimmick with no short-term benefits and many long-term consequences. This isn’t political, or economic. It’s personal.
I took this picture in 2006 at Port Hueneme Beach, just before sunset. What you don’t see in this photo is as significant as what you do see. While I obviously chose the photo of the flip-flop to make a statement about McCain, what isn’t in the photo is polluted water, patches of oil in the sand, or washed up sea life that has died as the result of offshore drilling.
I live in Camarillo, California, one of the jewels of California’s central coast. Camarillo is not on the coast; we’re inland about 8 miles but it’s an easy bike ride to get there, and we’re close to some of the most beautiful coastline in California. Here, let me pull back and show you a bigger picture.
This is our California coastline in all its glory. Unmarred by oil derricks, graced by the presence of the now-repopulated brown pelicans (once endangered by DDT poisoning), red-tailed hawks and the seasonal migration of gray whales. Sometimes on an especially hot day, we’ll load everyone in the car, get dinner, and head down to Point Mugu to watch sea lions, dolphins, pelicans and assorted gulls enjoy the sunset and the plentiful fish just off the shoreline.
Bush and McCain want everyone to believe the answer to the high price of oil is opening up the moratorium on offshore drilling. I’m old enough to remember back to 1976 just like Senator Boxer is, and I remember the protracted battle that we fought and won back then. It’s pretty amazing to me that the Bush/McCain contingent is relying on voters not having enough of a memory to go back 30 years to oppose this, but let me give you some facts.
- In the Bush years, applications for permits to drill on public lands have increased by 361%. In that same eight-year span, oil prices have risen by nearly 1200%. Obviously, there is no correlation between lower gas prices and granting rights for oil exploration and drilling.
- Despite the issuance of permits for drilling and exploration, only 23% of the existing public lands and waters are being drilled. The oil companies have the leases but aren’t using the ones they already have.
- If existing leases were drilled and were producing, US oil production would double and imports would be cut by over one third.
Bush and McCain’s position on offshore drilling is nothing more than a gimmick. It doesn’t represent any kind of immediate relief to consumers who are struggling to fill their tanks, pay for groceries and their bills. Does this sound like a campaign ad? Well, maybe it’s because I am one thousand percent in support of those who oppose this wrong-headed destructive proposal and think it’s the worst kind of campaign lie I’ve ever heard.
Representative Lois Capps represents the Santa Barbara area, where the economy depends heavily on tourism. Here’s a photo I took up in her district. Imagine this beautiful great white egret poking its beak into oil residue washed up on the shore by the offshore derricks. The Channel Islands lie just off the Santa Barbara coast, housing one of the few refuges for the Bald Eagle, our national symbol of freedom, strength, and independence.
When Senator Boxer and Representative Capps raise their voices and grow passionate about this, it’s not simply because they’re politicians with an agenda. They live in these areas, they know what drilling costs communities, people, and wildlife.
So why is this such a big deal to Bush and McCain? Well, first of all, it makes it sound like they’re doing something that would actually impact oil prices. It’s all sound and heat, with no light, but it makes for great soundbites if you take the assertion that the problem is all about supply and demand, instead of other issues that make them look like the shysters they are for trying to sell this to voters.
It’s a distraction, just like the ridiculous idea to suspend the gas tax. It’s a way to make people THINK they’re sensitive to their pain while doing nothing other than throwing a gold mine the way of the oil companies. Reality is another thing entirely. Reality is wholesale destruction of our environment without any appreciable gain until 2030, earliest. Reality is that even with increased drilling, refineries aren’t going to increase output unless we build more, which opens another environmental and national security Pandora’s box. Reality is that if we can’t get our elected representatives to let go of oil as the sole answer to energy needs, we are going to have a disaster of global proportions on our hands that will be irreversible. Reality lies the way of alternative sources for energy, not more drilling, especially when drilling has decreased since 2006, despite marked increases in the number of drilling permits issued.
If you’re reading this and you support the Bush/McCain proposals, I have some questions for you:
- Why has John McCain consistently voted against alternative energy and conservation proposals like the Clean Car tax credit?
- Why is he supporting an initiative that will not give us any price relief at all and won’t even show a difference for 22 or so years?
- Why is Phil Gramm, author of the Enron Loophole, a key player on McCain’s team?
- When does Senator McCain expect to introduce or co-sponsor legislation closing the Enron loophole, which would stop the ridiculous price inflation on oil prices and drop them to a much more reasonable level?
- Does Senator McCain support Senator Obama’s 2007 legislation authorizing the FTC to investigate and pursue price manipulation in the oil markets?
If you still think it makes sense to drill in the Arctic Circle or off the magnificent shorelines of California, Florida, and other shoreline states, think again. It’s a gimmicky distraction from the true corruption taking place at the highest levels of our government, and the presumptive nominee of the Republican party.
This is not a partisan issue. Many, many Republicans oppose the Bush/McCain plan as much as I do. Here’s one last photo of our coastline to leave you with a true understanding of why we have a duty to prevent such abuse of our natural resources from happening.
Statistical source: House Committee on Natural Resources Report, June 2008 (PDF)
Click on images for larger sizes. All images are available under a Creative Commons license for non-profit use.
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