John McCain is proposing a prize of $300 million to show he cares about the environment, too, durnit!

The Arizona senator proposed a $300 million prize for whoever can develop a better automobile battery, and $5,000 tax credits for consumers who buy new zero-emission vehicles. The latest proposal is in addition to his support for overturning the federal ban on offshore oil drilling.

How much better? Eh, he didn’t say.

Is there a end date, a realistic goal? Eh, he didn’t say.

Does McCain have any practical knowledge of how batteries work that would lead him to believe - aside from tapping his fairy wand - that this is a tangible goal? Eh, he didn’t say. And if he did, he’d probably cite Moore’s Law and then call anyone who corrected him an intellectual elitist.

This is the most half-assed political posturing I’ve seen in a while.

But please, do more than wear a button today.

Do something to reduce your carbon footprint.

The Washington Times is reporting today that “President Bush is poised to change course and announce as early as this week that he wants Congress to pass a bill to combat global warming.”

This, of course, can mean only one thing: Global warming is a junk science lie.

Seriously, though, how can one man who has focused his entire presidency on protecting corporations and precariously balancing at 180° away from the American Public’s opinion and accepted science and reality suddenly decide he’s going to do something good for the world?

During this critical political season, separating fact from fiction has never been more important. When a story breaks, you want to know the facts right away and spread them to your networks before the conservatives spin it all wrong. So, our partners at Think Progress launched the Wonk Room, the first public policy rapid response blog, to do just that; to give you the facts and arguments you need to be the most effective activist in town on key issues facing our nation, including climate, the economy, health care, and national security.

If you haven’t already read it, I highly recommend Ralph’s list of questions he’d like to see addressed at round two of the Iowa debates: the Dems in the last debate of 2007. [How do I nominate Ralph to be the next moderator?]

I’m listening to the debate now though it caught me by surprise. CNN kept saying the debate was Thursday night but at 2 PM ET, they fed us some of the worst audio possible (sounds like it was recorded in my washing machine). However, what I noted FIRST were these points:

– CNN made a big and rather demeaning deal of the Dem senator candidates who took private jets to rush to Iowa after voting on the energy bill today as in “oh, really, they couldn’t save energy going together by plane?” - I don’t mind the question but why the hell is this standard NEVER, EVER applied to the Bushies or the Republicans in general? We ALL need to be smarter about energy use; if only Democrats do it, it won’t work.

– Why were Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich kept OUT of the Dem debate today (which CNN applauded as a smart move) yet Alan Keyes (who? well, we last saw him mosh pitting in the 96 Republican presidential race), who not even Republicans seemed to know was running until last night, allowed to debate in the GOP version?

– If CNN thinks it’s “helping America” with its “approval meter” showing where viewers like and dislike debate points by candidate, they’re screwier than their Kyra Philips is dumb as denuded dirt.

– Moving up the caucuses and primaries is a massive mistake; we’ll eliminate good candidates way too early which, sadly, may be the point.

My partner saw 1 Sky listed on a lawn sign at a neighbor’s house today and I like what I see. Global warming/climate change/”the greenhouse effect” is not just a serious risk and challenge to us all, but also an incredible opportunity to recognize and reach out as global neighbors all under that…. 1 sky.

Check it out. Embrace the challenge.

Only deadenders can refute it.

No, not his ass. Not literally, anyway. From the wholesome folks at WaPo:

President Bush suffered the first veto override of his seven-year-old presidency Thursday as the Senate enacted a $23 billion water resources bill despite his protest that it was filled with unnecessary projects.

The 79-14 vote included 34 Republicans who defied the president. Enactment was a foregone conclusion, but it still marked a milestone for a president who spent his first six years with a much friendlier Congress controlled by his Republican Party.
…
The bill funds hundreds of Army Corps of Engineers projects, such as dams, sewage plants and beach restoration, that are important to local communities and their representatives. It also includes money for the hurricane-hit Gulf Coast and for Florida Everglades restoration efforts.

Mmmm…delicious. Now, if someone could just get O.J. Simpson off the damned television, this just might turn out to be a phenomenal day.

Live Earth is a 24-hour, 7-continent concert series taking place today that will bring together more than 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis.

Live Earth marks the beginning of a multi-year campaign led by the Alliance for Climate Protection, The Climate Group and other international organizations to drive individuals, corporations and governments to take action to solve global warming. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is the Chair of the Alliance and Partner of Live Earth.

Ongoing coverage on Bravo network and live video streaming online by MSN. Watch, learn, become part of the solution.

Nevermind that pictures from NASA equipment have helped scientists document the great changes Earth undergoes and which other scientists can track as part of the climate change phenomenon. Nope; when Bush wants someone else to mock global warming, he just picks up the phone and calls a top NASA official to tell us that climate change is just a theory and how wonderful it will be when the polar icecaps melt.

In other words, the Bush Administration will do everything in its incompetent and massively corrupt power to not just wage a war on science but to nuke any scientist with decent information.

Today I flew into a panic about the 2008 election.  I was catching up on my blog reading and stumbled across this post over at Scotusblog.

For those of you not inclined to plumb the depths of Supreme Court analysis, a brief summary:

1-The next President will select two or three new Supreme Court justices in his or her first term.

2-All three will come from the Court’s liberal wing. (more…)

While the story about oil worth many billions of dollars going “missing” in Iraq (along with billions of dollars and billions of dollars in “lost” U.S. weapons) got relatively little play over the weekend, I found it rather ironic to hear the mainstream media “hot” on the story today that the Bush Administration is stepping up its energy plan for the U.S.

Bush has “stepped up” the energy plan before. Invariably, his plan involves announcing government support for energy alternatives like hydrogen and wind power only to (in the same breath) slash such funding OR talking about more mega-corporate welfare where American taxpayers pay to build refineries for energy giants already earning record billions of profits each and every financial quarter.

In the meantime, Bush’s claim high oil prices aren’t here to stay seems less than prescient when the national gas price average is now over $3/gallon and $4 seems right around the proverbial corner. Meanwhile, the Bushies keep talking up warnings for Iran, as if the Bush-friendly folks just can’t wait to get in to plunder Iran’s oil reserves as it has plundered Iraq’s.

Filled up my gas tank this weekend. $2.93/gal here in Winston Salem, NC.

It reminded me of a time, not long ago, when we flirted with $3/gal. Everyone cried holy hell and the stock photos of exasperated people fueling cars and pump handles and fill totals were on the front page of every news website. For a little while. Today I can’t find anything on increasing gas prices. And folks hardly flinched at Exxon Mobil’s announcement of record profits.

The Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights, however, is not lying down. They’ve recently announced the launch of a much-needed site: Oil Watchdog. It is a great resource for information on all the big players, their crimes and misdemeanors. Perhaps something to read for enjoyment as you’re converting your car’s engine to run on vegetable oil.

[Hint: when Bush says, as he does continually, “We work hard”, he does NOT mean hard work; he means that what little time he spends working, he does so to create as much destruction of the American ideal as humanly possible.]

Listening to the president now talking in the Rose Garden with European leaders feels a little like “alternative consciousness” because everything he says is the opposite of what he DOES. Examples:

• Resist isolationism when Bush has spearheaded this “My way or the highway” campaign
• Bush says he is of “like mind” with the Europeans on climate change, when Europe is far, far, FAR ahead of us in this area; for example, champagne producers are already looking at relocating vineyards from France because global warming is hurting their crops while Bush pays countless “experts” to insist climate change is a myth

My advice? Check out what foreign papers are saying about the Europeans’ take on Bush’s happy horseshit.

As if Karl Rove wasn’t dismissive enough of science and the reality of global warming at the White House Correspondents Dinner in his “engagement” with Sheryl Crow and Laurie “Inconvenient Truth” David, Senator and 2008 GOP Presidential hopeful John McCain wants to do one better by hiring an uber-Global-Warming denier for his team (can’t wait for the Rapture-As-A-Solution To Global Over Population mandate).

From Think Progress:

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) delivered a major policy speech today focusing attention on the threat posed by global climate change. McCain said, “The world is already feeling the powerful effects of global warming, and far more dire consequences are predicted if we let the growing deluge of greenhouse gas emissions continue, and wreak havoc with Gods creation.”

Also today, McCain released a statement proudly announcing that former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger has “endorsed John McCain for President and will advise his campaign on energy and national security issues.”

The man who McCain tagged to advise him on reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a prominent global warming denier.

All too often, fat men are portrayed as thick-skinned AND jolly. Apparently neither is the case with Bush’s (none too brilliant) “brain”, Karl Rove.

Read this at Huffington Post about how songstress Sheryl Crowe and “Inconvenient Truth” producer Laurie David (wife of Seinfeld co-creator, Larry David) approached Karl Rove at the White House Correspondents Dinner Saturday night only to have Rove freak because they - oh my! - touched his arm, suggested he’s supposed to work (since he’s paid from our tax dollars) for the American people, and that he needs to take a much smarter look at the issue of global warming.

Hey, maybe Global Warming will be good to Karl: let him sweat off the 100 or so extra pounds and three additional chins he currently sports.

We’re in mighty big trouble. Yes, even bigger trouble than George W. Bush as president (although his positions have only exacerbated the danger with sick initiatives like “clear skies” which just means to tell factories to “think nice thoughts” rather than manage emissions). You don’t have to be one of the scientists the Bushies tell you to ignore to realize Global Warming is reality.

Go here and find out how you can join in an action this Saturday to step up, speak out, and make a commitment to slow the damage we’re doing to our planet.