Taylor Marsh has been writing on line since 1996, with the archives provided here a representation of that work.

Archive | August, 2006

Thinking Globally, Acting Locally

By Taylor Marsh on 31 August 2006

Thinking Globally, Acting Locally

By Fini Finito

$\"\"$
image courtesy of earthtimes.org

You\’ve heard that phrase a few thousand times by now, but what exactly have you noticed at a local level that has had an impact on our global environment? Sure, the curbside recycling in many cities could ease the burden on our landfills by 15 to 25% according to some experts. Maybe the new wastewater treatment plants might conserve much needed water resources. What else can we do while waiting for the Feds to get their act together?

With much fanfare yesterday, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled an initiative to cap greenhouse gas emissions in California that would cut these gases by 25% before 2020. This plan is being touted as a potential national model for other states to follow in lieu of any action by our leaders in Washington DC to take the issue of global warming seriously and attempt to do anything about it.

The plan is centered on free market emissions credits that companies would buy and sell to help cut emissions. These credits will be overseen by the California Air Quality Board which has been tasked with identifying “market based compliance mechanisms” for enforcing emissions standards set by the plan.

It\’s not just California getting in on the act either. More than 300 cities across America have signed onto the Climate Protection Agreement which pledges that these cities will voluntarily submit to the Kyoto Protocol timetables regardless of Bush Administration policy.

This sort of local leadership is exactly the sort of elixir that heals what ails our abused environment. With resistance to action from our federal officials, it is good to see state and local officials coming forward to provide the leadership that is required to deal with the situation at hand.

Even celebrities are stepping up their involvement in green initiatives. The actor Brad Pitt has underwritten a contest to design an environmentally sound, economically viable green housing design to be used to help rebuild the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans . Private initiatives such as this will also be necessary if we are going to have a multifaceted approach to handling the crisis upon us.

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Headlines for 8.31.06

By Taylor Marsh on 31 August 2006

Headlines for 8.31.2006

By Fini Finito

$\"\"$

image courtesy of Malaysia Star

Iran is expected to miss today\’s “deadline” set by the UN Security Council for the cessation of uranium enrichment activity which the US alleges is in pursuit of a nuclear weapons program, but which the Iranians insist is for a peaceful civilian nuclear program. From Laura Rozen\’s War and Piece blog we learn more about some of the behind the scenes activity taking place courtesy of the Chris Nelson Report.

Juan Cole is reporting the Diwaniyah cease fire is in doubt as 50 more casualities were reported from one of several Iraqi hot spots. Dan Murphy of the CSM writes about the increasing fragmentation of Iraqi politics and militias at the local level. He argues that Muqtada al-Sadr and even the powerful Kurdish warlords are losing control to local militant groups that take the law in their own hands. His comparison of the PKK (Kurdish Workers\’ Party) in Kurdistan, which blows up things in Turkey , to the extremist Sadrists in Diwaniyah and Karbala who are beyond Muqtada al-Sadr\’s control strikes me as extremely perceptive.

Abu Aardvark weighs in on the subject of withdrawal from Iraq as being the best of bad options.

Keith Olbermann channeled Edward R Murrow last night on his show on MSNBC. Of course, Crooks and Liars has the video , per usual. KO knocks Donald Rumsfeld out of the ring with a 1-2 combo that bloodies his nose but good.

Digby has a wonderful post up about some of the good â€˜ol boys George Felix Allen has been known to hang out with over the years. I expect the stories yet to come out about George Allen are just getting started.

And finally, Nomentum Joe Lieberman\’s hapless campaign cannot seem to catch a break anywhere. The latest campaign ad is garnering attention , but as has been repeatedly the case with the No Joemorrow campaign, it\’s not the favorable kind of attention.

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Dark Anniversaries Serve As Election Year Reminders

By Taylor Marsh on 30 August 2006

Dark Anniversaries Serve As Election Year Reminders

By Fini Finito

$\"\"$ Election years are always an emotional time with tempers flaring on both sides of the aisle, and this season is no exception. With the first anniversary of the Hurrican Katrina fiasco freshly passed, we now turn our attention to the 5 year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center , Pentagon and Central PA.

The 9/11 attacks have been discussed extensively but no one has lived it like the widows and widowers of 9/11. Kristin Breitweiser is among one of the most vocal critics of the Cheney Administration who lost her husband in the attacks that took place.

Kristin has written her account of how she learned to cope with the loss of her husband by writing a tough, no holds barred assessment of the available evidence gathered by the families of victims and survivors from the New York event. She calls Administration members to task for what she perceives as short sightedness and grandstanding for political favor when they should be tracking down her husband\’s actual killers.

At the end of her new book, Breitweiser takes on Ann Coulter\’s foolish attack against her and the other 9/11 widows with whom she has teamed up to keep attention focused on the victims of this enormous tragedy. Nicole Belle posts at Crooks & Liars about the new book and excerpts from the 5 page letter Breitweiser wrote to Coulter.

As we dig ourselves deeper and deeper into Iraq, suffer at the hands of tragedies like Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, watch our infrastructure and economy crumble before our eyes and lament the conditions of our schools, the dark anniversaries remind us that even with all the tragedies we have endured our leadership is essentially unchanged. I hope that the wake up call delivered by Kristin Breitweiser will filter through to the American people who will use it to call for better leadership in the years ahead.

(Author\’s note: I apologize to the readers of TaylorMarsh.com for not posting this column for the last few evenings as I had planned to. Moving plans and logistics conspired to deprive me of access to the Internet for a few days which was not planned for. I am back now and will resume my late night and early morning posting schedule while Taylor is on vacation. Thank you for your understanding and patience. – Fini Finito)

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Moral Confusion

By Taylor Marsh on 30 August 2006

Moral Confusion
guest post by Mash

"Force always attracts men of low morality, and I believe it to be an invariable rule that tyrants of genius are succeeded by scoundrels." – Albert Einstein

In Salt Lake City yesterday, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld warned against moral confusion in George Bush\’s crusade against reason. Mr. Rumsfeld asked his fellow citizens to avoid confusion:

Every war involves mistakes, setbacks and casualties, Rumsfeld acknowledged, and every army has members who do not live up to high standards. However, those negative factors cannot overshadow the hundreds of thousands of honorable men and women who serve with humanity and decency in the face of constant provocation, he said.
“That is important in any long struggle or any kind of long war, where any kind of moral and intellectual confusion about who and what is right or wrong can severely weaken the ability of free societies to persevere,” he said.

The Secretary went on to counsel resolve in combating what he called "a new type of fascism." This new "fascism", or "Islamofascism" as the Bush Administration likes to call it, is apparently similar to the old fascism of quainter times (as Alberto Gonzales likes to refer to most of human history). Mr. Rumsfeld urged all of us to keep our inner Neville Chamberlains in check in these trying times:

Drawing parallels to efforts by some nations to appease Adolf Hitler before World War II, Rumsfeld said it would be "folly" for the United States to ignore the rising dangers posed by a new enemy that he called "serious, lethal and relentless."

I completely agree with Donald Rumsfeld. We should not ignore dangers posed by new enemies, nor should we be morally or intellectually confused about the rightness of our cause. Because I agree with Mr. Rumsfeld, I urge Mr. Rumsfeld and his boss, George W Bush, to abide by this advice or step aside and let those who can meet these challenges carry the burden.

Mr. Rumsfeld and Mr. Bush have ignored the real enemy in this war, a certain bearded man named bin Laden, in favor of pursuing their neo-con fantasy of making the Middle East safe for oil exploitation. While we wallow in the quagmire of Iraq, Osama bin Laden and his cohorts enjoy the benefits of a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan. By any standard, allowing the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks to roam free 5 years after that horrible day is a dereliction of duty on the part of our leaders. It is also a symptom of intellectual confusion, if not intellectual dishonesty, that in response to the 9/11 attacks the Bush Administration attacked a country, which by Mr. Bush\’s own admission, had nothing to do with those attacks:

Q What did Iraq have to do with that?
THE PRESIDENT: What did Iraq have to do with what?
Q The attack on the World Trade Center?
THE PRESIDENT: Nothing, except for it\’s part of — and nobody has ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack. Iraq was a — the lesson of September the 11th is, take threats before they fully materialize, Ken. Nobody has ever suggested that the attacks of September the 11th were ordered by Iraq. I have suggested, however, that resentment and the lack of hope create the breeding grounds for terrorists who are willing to use suiciders to kill to achieve an objective. I have made that case.

There you have it: al Qaeda attacks us and we attack Saddam Hussein. It is the superpower equivalent of a toddler\’s temper tantrum.

Mr. Rumsfeld and Mr. Bush led us into the war in Iraq with images of mushroom clouds in our cities and flowers at our soldiers\’ feet as they liberate Iraq. Either they were intellectually and morally confused when they sold us this quagmire or they were lying. Since the invasion, the Administration\’s moral confusion has grown by leaps and bounds. After their initial casus belli of WMD fell apart, the Administration trotted out the "freedom is on the march" argument. To this day they claim that invading Iraq was the right thing to do even when the very rationale for the invasion has been so thoroughly discredited.

Mr. Rumsfeld has been morally deficient in his handling of the Iraq invasion. He was morally obtuse when looting broke out after the invasion due to lack of security (a fundamental moral and legal duty of the occupier); he was morally obtuse when the abuses took place in Abu Ghraib; he has been morally obtuse as Iraqi civilians are being butchered at alarming rates; he has been morally obtuse while massacres like Haditha and rapes of little girls occur on his watch; and, he has been morally obtuse as he signed death letters of fallen American GIs using an autopen. Mr. Rumsfeld and the boss who continues to employ him have demonstrated ample moral confusion in the past 5 years.

We as citizens have a right, and indeed an obligation, to question our leaders\’ actions when they do not appear to serve the interest of the people. If we abdicate our duty as citizens to hold our leaders accountable, even in a time of war, especially in a time of war, we will have aided in the descent of our society into fascism. When our leaders have marched us into a quagmire as a result of a war of choice, we are entitled to moral and intellectual clarity from those very leaders. We must demand of our leaders the truth at all times – "trust me" does not work in a democracy. A demand by a leader of blind loyalty from the citizenry is the primary ingredient in the soup of fascism.

Now is the time for a leader and statesman to lead us out of the dangers of our time and into a more peaceful world. Now is the time for intellectual and moral honesty. Now is the time for great ideals buttressed by sound execution. A generation ago, John F. Kennedy called upon the world to shoulder the burden of his time:

Now the trumpet summons us again — not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need — not as a call to battle, though embattled we are — but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation," a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.
Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility — I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it. And the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

His call to America and to the world remains as urgent today as it was in his time. This country and this world is yearning for a leader of vision and intellect who can rise above the talking points and the politics of division to lead us out of the moral confusion that this Administration has thrust us into. Sadly, George W Bush is not that leader.

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Bolton’s Idea of Diplomacy

By Taylor Marsh on 30 August 2006

Bolton's Idea of Diplomacy

Bolton's favorite blogger is berzerk.

I came all the way to New York City, but all I got when I turned on my lap
top was the picture above from Pam's latest berzerk blog post. On holiday, but couldn't resist sharing it with you all.

So, John's idea of the perfect interviewer is this broad?

John, you just don't know what you're missing, big guy.

Bwak-bwak-bwak. I guess progressive women are just too much for you Bush boys to handle. Your loss, though some of us out here would sure like to know what's the plan? So far, I'm not too impressed. Are you?

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Meet Coleen Rowley, Another Strong National Security Democrat

By Taylor Marsh on 30 August 2006

Meet Coleen Rowley – A Genuine Agent For Change and Another Strong National Security Democrat
by Howie Klein

Coleen Rowley
on TIME Mgazine cover

Does that cover of TIME Magazine ring a bell? It should; just like Coleen Rowley did for our intelligence establishment. TIME didn't put her on their cover as Person of the Year because they liked her legs. She's the former FBI agent who blew the whistle on the FBI's lack of response to evidence of terrorist activities just before 9/11. The FBI's Minneapolis office had the goods on Zacarias Moussaoui, passed it to DC and DC… ignored it, probably missing an opportunity to derail 9/11. TIME edited down the 13-page memo here. It starts with a gut punch to FBI Director Robert Mueller and the other political appointees Bush had in charge of national security:

The issues are fundamentally ones of INTEGRITY and go to the heart of the FBI's law enforcement mission and mandate. Moreover, at this critical juncture in fashioning future policy to promote the most effective handling of ongoing and future threats to United States citizens' security, it is of absolute importance that an unbiased, completely accurate picture emerge of the FBI's current investigative and management strengths and failures.
To get to the point, I have deep concerns that a delicate and subtle shading/skewing of facts by you and others at the highest levels of FBI management has occurred and is occurring. The term “cover up” would be too strong a characterization which is why I am attempting to carefully (and perhaps over laboriously) choose my words here. I base my concerns on my relatively small, peripheral but unique role in the Moussaoui investigation in the Minneapolis Division prior to, during and after September 11th and my analysis of the comments I have heard both inside the FBI (originating, I believe, from you and other high levels of management) as well as your Congressional testimony and public comments.

Coleen is an extraordinary person, a professional and as far from a political hack as you will ever find running for political office. I've written about her before and in the interests of not wasting space, I'd like to ask you to read my take on Coleen from a political point of view at Down With Tyranny. Even forgetting that she's running against one of the most extremist right wing loons in the Congress who thinks exercising congressional oversight means rubber stamping everything Bush and Big Business want (in return for massive “donations” from those same Big Businesses), Coleen is exactly the kind of woman America needs in public ofice.

She is outspoken, honest and her integrity is beyond question– unless you're Karl Rove or one of his minions, in which case… she actually is one of Osama bin Laden's wives. And Coleen doesn't have a lot of nice things to say about the partisans on the extreme far right like Rove. She's a no-nonsense professional and doesn't think Rove's, Cheney's and Bush's partisan game-playing with our national security is tolerable.

Republican officials, as well as unofficial Republicans like Joe Lieberman, are cravenly exploiting the recent terrorist takedown and the all-powerful fear factor to manipulate public opinion for political advantage. But their “reminders,” as they refer to them, are not necessary. There is no question about the magnitude of the threat but that threat is most effectively minimized by smart, solid investigative work, not fear-mongering, “security theater,” or projection of toughness.
As a recent [Minneapolis] Star Tribune editorial pointed out, it was “good police work that foiled the terror threat.” Conversely, Bush's rush to the ill-conceived and unjustified war in Iraq has, irony of all ironies, greatly increased the terrorist threat. According to a recent State Department report, the number of terrorist incidents worldwide increased nearly fourfold in 2005.
George Bush, John Kline and the other public officials responsible for miring America in this costly and counterproductive conflict can't say they weren't warned. A small but vocal group of intelligence experts warned before we ever went into Iraq that a spike in terrorist recruitment would result, including Brent Snowcroft, National Security Adviser under George H. W. Bush.
Weeks before the 9/11 attacks, I saw bureaucratic incompetence hinder an investigation which might have stopped the attacks from happening. So in February 2003, even though I still worked for the government, I spoke upin an effort to head off the even graver mistake of invading Iraq:
At this critical point in our country's history I have decided to try once again, on an issue of even more consequence for the internal security posture of our country. That posture has been weakened by the diversion of attention from al-Qaeda to our government's plan to invade Iraq, a step that will, in all likelihood, bring an exponential increase in the terrorist threat to the U.S., both at home and abroad.
That these predictions have proven accurate means nothing to the GOP leadership in Washington. They believe any admission of error indicates weakness, so they continue their destructive, misguided path regardless of consequences. This is what I meant when I talked about “squaring the error” in my announcement speech in July 2005. The post 9-11 round-up of innocents, indiscriminate and politicized orange alerts, failure to follow tried and true investigative formulas, alienating allies, launching an ill-conceived war, use of torture, illegal wiretapping and over-collection of private data that does nothing but clutter intelligence databases are among the series of errors propelled by a combination of fear, lack of judiciousness and reliance upon neo-con cronies instead of non-partisan experts.
As Edmund Burke, the great British statesman of the 18th century so wisely stated, “nothing so effectively robs the mind of its ability to act or to reason as fear.” And fear is not only the force that's been used to get the public to go along with this squaring of the error, but it's what the terrorists want since provoking fear is their prime tool.
It's difficult to imagine a worse response to 9/11 than the invasion of Iraq, which at the time had no meaningful connection to Al Qaeda, and was serving as a buffer zone in the Mid-east. The invasion not only boosted Al Qaeda recruitment and gave them a training ground, but it diverted resources away from Homeland Security, federal, state and local law enforcement and first responders. Bush and his cronies have received “D's” and “F's” from the nonpartisan 9-11 Commission for failing to implement homeland security safeguards including important port, airport, chemical/nuclear plant and transit system security initiatives. The Bush approach to fighting terror is like playing a soccer game without providing water to your defenders and sending all of your strikers to a bar fight in the next state.
Stellar law enforcement and cooperation between allies– all accomplished within statutory surveillance guidelines, it should be mentioned– are the reasons the London terrorists were stopped. But thanks to the massive distraction in Iraq, the terrorists might succeed in penetrating our defense next time. It's time to push fear and politics aside and start playing a much smarter game. We need to get our troops out of Iraq and focus law enforcement and intelligence gathering in a much more surgical, precise way upon true Al Qaeda terrorist threats and better homeland security.

Hopefully by now you've heard the little song embedded in the nice banner Taylor made for this series (above; just click the banner). A grassroots supporter of Coleen's in Minnesota took the song and made a cool little film which I hope you will take a moment to view. If it inspires you, or if the idea of replacing a rubber stamp political hack with a clear-eyed level-headed, no-nonsense professional inspires you, please take a little trip to Taylor's ActBlue page and make a contribution to Coleen's campaign. Bush and his corrupt rubber stamp are not going to go away of their own accord. And we won't be safe until they do. No one's going to do this for you. Do you believe in America? The real America, not the BushCheneyRove bizarro version? Is it worth fighting for? If you think so, helping to elect Coleen Rowley is a way to affect change.

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Wednesday’s Rise & Shine Headlines

By Taylor Marsh on 30 August 2006

Wednesday\’s Rise & Shine Headlines

Guest Post by Matt Browner-Hamlin

My hopes for a sunny and beautiful New York morning appear to have been dashed. Despite the drab weather, I remain very proud of myself for making some damned fine chicken last night (I\’m not much of a cook). Eat this chicken and forget about the bad weather!

Richard Armitage has admitted to being Bob Novak\’s original source in the leak of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame\’s name. Armitage now advises John McCain\’s 2008 presidential campaign (TimesSelect link). I would say that McCain loses credibility on national security issues when he takes counsel from someone who has twice admitted to leaking national security secrets (the other being Iran-Contra).

George Allen & racist friends

Max Blumenthal of The Nation has found a photo that George Allen doesn\’t want America to see: Allen with the leadership of the Council of Conservative Citizens. The CCC is a white supremacist hate group according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The picture of Allen with their leadership ran in a CCC newsletter and Blumenthal brings out Allen\’s many close ties to the CCC. The question now: will traditional media outlets run this photo in connection with stories about Allen\’s \”macaca\” slur?

Marc Lynch explains why the argument – advanced by Dick Cheney – to stay in Iraq in order to prevent Al Qaeda from winning is fails on multiple levels. Lynch thinks those in support of withdrawal are close to making their case, though he is only a reluctant backer or withdrawal.

On the other hand, Sean-Paul Kelley reports that Al Qaeda is looking to expand its operations beyond Iraq into neighboring Arab nations. This would confirm that the \”we\’re fighting them over there so we don\’t have to fight them over here\” line has completely failed; Al Qaeda, which wasn\’t in Iraq when we invaded, has now moved there and is expanding. What\’s the opposite of containment?

The New York TImes reports that the number of female clerks for the Supreme Court has dropped precipitously despite rising numbers of women graduating from law school. It\’s not surprising that there aren\’t many women who want to work for justices like Scalia, Alito, or Roberts who want to take away their reproductive freedoms. Unfortunately the massive under-representation of women clerks is not limited to conservative justices; Justice Souter has no women clerking for him this year. Jill of Feministe takes a hard look at the underlying causes that stack the deck against female applicants.

Bush is in New Orleans for the anniversary of Katrina (not the federal government\’s response to Katrina, which will not hit its one year anniversary for another day). The President said, “I take full responsibility for the federal government’s response, and a year ago I made a pledge that we will learn the lessons of Katrina and that we will do what it takes to help you recover. I’ve come back to New Orleans to tell you the words that I spoke on Jackson Square are just as true today as they were then.” To which Whatever It Is, I\’m Against It replies: \”Yes, that’s exactly the problem.\”

Lastly, on the heels of gaining the endorsement of former Republican vice-presidential candidate Jack Kemp, Joe Lieberman (Lieberman-CT) has lost the endorsement of Democratic Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawai\’i. Inouye was under pressure by local Democratic groups in Hawai\’i to support Ned Lamont, the Democratic nominee for Senate. So a big mahalo goes out to Hawai\’i\’s Democratic Party for standing by their rules and making their Senator respect the wishes of Democratic voters in Connecticut.

Have a glorious day folks!

Matt Browner-Hamlin

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A Black Governor for Massachusetts?

By Taylor Marsh on 27 August 2006

A Black Governor for Massachusetts?
cross-post by Michael Fauntroy, Ph.D.

With all the attention given to the gubernatorial bids of prominent African
American Republicans Ken Blackwell and Lynn Swann in Ohio and Pennsylvania,
respectively, you would think they were the only Black major party nominees
for state chief executive positions but they aren’t. Massachusetts
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Deval Patrick, who has been lost
in much of the national attention on Black candidates for statewide office around
the country, may well be more likely to win his state’s top position than
either Blackwell or Swann.

Patrick, a former
assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Clinton administration, won
his party’s convention endorsement last month and leads in the race to
win the September primary. He also looks strong for the general election, as
he leads Lt. Governor Kerry Healey by 20 percentage points in the most recent
Rasmussen poll. Healey, running with the endorsement of outgoing Governor Mitt
Romney, is struggling as a Republican in a Democratic state and with the national
mood toward Republicans; President Bush stands at 32 percent approval in the
Bay State. The political tide is turning in favor of Democrats around the nation
and Patrick is poised to ride the wave to the governorship.

The race could be a dream matchup for political junkies: an African American
man versus a Republican woman. It could be a contest that confounds prognosticators
and pollsters alike. Could Democratic women be attracted by the notion of electing
the first woman as governor of Massachusetts? Could Republican men be turned
off by the possibility of a woman as governor and instead vote for a Democratic
man who is also Black?

Massachusetts, particularly its capital city of Boston, has at times had a
complicated racial history so a Patrick victory in November would represent
a tremendous milestone in American politics. In the mid-1970s, Boston was the
epicenter of White riots and violence following a federal court ruling mandating
busing as a means of desegregating the city’s public schools. Many remember
the famous photograph of a Black man in a three-piece suit being held by one
White rioter as another White rioter jammed an American-flag draped flagpole
in the Black man’s chest. The image came to characterize racial animosities
in Boston and led many to conclude that the city and, by extension the state,
could not reconcile itself with the changing winds of race relations. Now, this
same state may elect an African American to its highest office. That would be
progress, indeed.

Republicans, in their public courtship of Black voters, recently have lobbed
the charge that the Democrats take African Americans for granted. The charge
is designed to divert attention from the Grand Old Party’s abysmal record
with African Americans and its inability to attract voters with its own program.
So, in addition to being history making, a Patrick victory would go a long way
toward helping Democrats rebut their Republican critics. The Democrats’
response would be all the sweeter if favored Black Republican statewide candidates
such as Blackwell and Swann, and Maryland Senate candidate Michael Steele all
lose.

Support
Deval Patrick

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Rise and Shine Headlines

By Taylor Marsh on 26 August 2006

Rise and Shine Headlines

By Fini Finito

Good morning everybody, Taylor is on vacation and has asked me to keep you all updated with the morning roundup of headlines from the various toobz that make up the Internets. I jumped in my truck earlier this morning and backed it up to some of the toobz and managed to get a few Internets delivered to me ahead of schedule so I could put this together for you all. Let's not let our friend Senator Ted Stevens in on this though.

Courtesy of our friends at Raw Story , the New York Times is reporting on its front page today that nearly one year after the Hurricane Katrina fiasco, the federal government still is not fully prepared for a large scale emergency such as what occurred in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast after the flooding from the levees being breached occurred and the damage from the Category 5 hurricane force winds ravaged the area. While improvements have been made, officials are dragging their feet on several issues that have plagued relief efforts in the region. Private and governmental experts have all agreed these issues need immediate attention before a repeat of the sclerotic federal response to the worst natural disaster in American history occurs during the next emergency.

Raw Story is also reporting on the deal Venezuela and China made yesterday that will supply China with a million barrels of oil per day for its energy hungry economy that has already destabilized world energy markets. According to a story from the Guardian Unlimited UK, China has agreed to back Venezuela's bid to become a member of the UN Security Council which has met with stiff resistance from US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton.

The House Intelligence Committee report released this week continues to churn new analysis from around the toobz. Patrick Lang from Sic Semper Tyrannus weighs in on the latest news about Pete Hoekstra and a new Snow Job . Laura Rozen adds more information to the controversy as well via a reader who is a Capitol Hill veteran with weapons proliferation experience emailing her with an interesting fact that the author of the report was John Bolton's former top aide . Larry Johnson also has a wonderful analysis as well that is a must read.

Sean-Paul Kelley of The Agonist has a sobering set of thoughts for any homeowner worried about the housing bubble that has apparently begun to burst. The most recent housing starts estimates have shown more of a decline and economists are worried about a new challenge in the near future for the US economy. Heckuva job, Bushie!

Republican Presidential wannabe Senator John McCain pulls out his dancing shoes as he auditions for Dancing With The Stars with this latest number in which he asserts Support for the Iraq Mission after lambasting the Cheney Administration for misleading Americans into the Iraq quagmire by insinuating the mission would be like “some kind of day at the beach” earlier this week.

And finally, here's a bit of news to wake you up nice and quickly; especially if you live in hurricane prone areas. Tropical Storm Ernesto has now entered the Caribbean and is headed towards the Gulf of Mexico on the same track taken by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year. Wakey wakey, eggs and bac-y! Have a nice day folks.

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Holiday and Introducing Howie Klein

By Taylor Marsh on 25 August 2006

New York City bound…

It's time for me to take a long planned and much needed holiday, though there
will be some biz mixed in. Here that John? I'll be in New York if
you change your mind.

I'm once again visiting where I lived and worked for several years, a town I truly love, New York City. I'll have a post when I come back on
Ground Zero. It will be that time of year again when I return, after Labor Day.
We'll be seeing lots of shows, as well as having a sibling reunion. It will
be a blast. My husband has never seen the Big Apple. I'm excited to show him
around.

As for the second half of the title, one out of two isn't bad. Like Howie
Klein needs an introduction.
There's lots more about him if
you need it. Also, it's time everyone knew that no one is doing more in the
2006 election season to get progressive Democrats known and elected than Howie Klein.
If you haven't seen his Saturday candidate profiles on firedoglake you're missing a lot.

That's
why I thought it would be a great idea to invite Howie to do guest posts next
week while I'm away. He's doing the toughest job around: herding politicians.
But he's not having the candidates he's invited to post here doing just any ordinary posts.

The topic next week is outlined in the banner at the top of my blog: Howie
Klein's National Security Campaign Week. (Oh, and make sure you
click on the banner!) Each day, Howie will introduce a candidate who will do
a post covering national security (there may be two candidates on a couple of
days). It's a great opportunity to meet a few candidates and discuss the most
important issue facing us all today. Democrats are all over the issue of national
security, so don't believe anything the wingnuts say.

In addition to Howie, I have Joh, Mash and Ed chipping in too, going beyond
their weekend post appearances. Mash will do several national security posts
in the late afternoon/early evening, depending on your time zone. Ed stays at
late night, with Joh doing a "night owl" edition, as well as early
morning headlines. Lots of posts planned, so you won't be bored, that's for
sure.

Howie Klein will be along soon to introduce what he's got planned for next week, which
starts on Monday. I hope you will welcome Howie, but also my regular guest posters Joh, Mash and Ed while I'm
gone. I'm so grateful to them all. See you after Labor Day, when my radio show debuts right here on my blog. Looking forward…

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Distorting the Inconvenient Truth

By Taylor Marsh on 23 August 2006

Distorting the Inconvenient Truth
by guest blogger Joh Padgett aka Fini Finito

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image courtesy of www.climatecrisis.net

Peter Schweizer wrote a piece on August 10th in USA Today full of inaccuracies, innuendo, half truths and exaggerations in his effort to paint Al Gore not quite as green as he's led the world to believe . Schweitzer's attack is the latest in a series of op-ed hit pieces and columns from persons affiliated with a network of think tanks (such as Schweitzer's employer Hoover Institution) funded by ExxonMobil. The Hoover Institution has received $295,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998 according to Exxon Secrets .

The fact that Al Gore has struck a nerve with the oil barons is an open secret. The pushback by guys like Schweizer against the former Vice President and once and possibly future contender for the Oval Office was inevitable and includes the sort of “gotcha” rhetoric we've come to expect from the Republican Mighty Wurlitzer noise machine. There is even a weird subculture in wingnuttopia that create their own anti-Gore movies.

In his USA Today piece, Schweizer claims that Gore receives royalties from a zinc mine on his property. This charge is false.Â Gore receives no royalties from the mine, which shut down in 2003.Â Like many owners of small farms in Smith County , Tennessee , the Gores received royalties on their mineral rights when the mine operated.Â A correction ran in USA Today on page 10A, as did a letter to the editor from Gore's Communication Director.

Schweizer and others over the years have made the false assertion that Gore controls stock in Occidental Petroleum. This claim is also false.Â Gore has never owned stock in Occidental.Â His late father, Albert Gore Sr., did work for a number of years at Occidental.Â At the time of his death, he owned stock in the company, all of which was sold almost six years ago.Â The former Vice President's mother had a small number of shares in her own name at the time of her death; that stock was also disposed of by the trustee of her estate.Â Mr. Gore is not the trustee.

Schweizer attacks Gore for not using green energy alternatives at his home.Â Gore recently added solar panels to his home before this childish attack.Â The Gores have shown tremendous personal leadership on this issue and have taken the steps all reasonable families can take to leave as small of an ecological footprint as possible and more, including signing up for every green alternative available to them from their utilities providers.

Schweizer asserts that Gore does not offset his carbon emissions because Paramount Classics pays for the offsets. The Gore's personal carbon offsets are achieved independently of and in addition to the carbon-neutral leadership shown by Paramount Classics, Participant Productions and Rodale.Â

An Inconvenient Truth: Â “An Inconvenient Truth” is the first carbon neutral documentary ever .Â Paramount Classics and Participant Productions have worked with Native Energy to offset 100 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions from air and ground transportation and hotels for production and promotional activities associated with the documentary. Â In addition, with the book “An Inconvenient Truth,” Rodale became the first publisher to produce a carbon-neutral book.Â The offsets for “An Inconvenient Truth” will support New Native American and Alaskan Native wind turbines and new family dairy farm methane energy projects will deliver clean, renewable energy to the power grid and displacing power that would otherwise come from burning fossil fuels.

Generation Investment Management: Â In addition, Gore co-founded Generation Investment Management, which invests in companies that are part of the climate solution.Â Not only does Generation offset the carbon emissions of its London and DC offices and business travel through purchases on the Chicago Climate Exchange to permanently retire carbon credits, it also offsets the personal home and travel emissions of all its employees through the CarbonNeutral Company.Â These offsets support two projects: 1) a dam-less, “run-of-river” hydro power project in Bulgaria forecast to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 10,000 â€“ 13,000 tons per year, and 2) a rural solar electrification project in India and Sri Lanka to replace the use of dangerous kerosene lamps that produce high levels of CO2 emissions to light homes with solar powered lighting systems that produce no CO2.

Current TV : Current TV ( www.current.tv ), an independent media company co-founded by Gore that features viewer created content, approved going carbon neutral at the beginning of 2006, while still in its first year of operation, and will have completed the process by the end of the fiscal year.Â

Reducing CO2 Emissions: Â Recognizing that we all inevitably emit CO2, Gore sees offsets as one way to keep total global CO2 emissions in check and to support alternative “green power” programs in the process.Â That said, he believes that the first line of defense is to reduce carbon emissions as much as possible.Â Gore works to reduce his overall energy use by: switching to compact florescent light bulbs, driving a hybrid vehicle, using green power, adjusting the thermostat a few degrees, using clock thermostats to make sure no portions of the house are kept warmer or cooler than needed throughout the day, installing sensors to ensure that no lights are inadvertently left on in rooms that are not in use, making a point of flying commercially whenever possible, and telecommuting when he can.

Al Gore has worked for 30 years to raise awareness about global warming and to advocate for meaningful solutions.Â In addition to the very important role that government (at all levels) and companies must take to cut emissions of pollution that cause global warming, he urges each of us to take individual responsibility for our carbon dioxide emissions.Â However, he has not asked more from the public than he is willing to do himself.

Al and Tipper Gore are donating 100-percent of the profits from both the “An Inconvenient Truth” book and movie to fight against global warming pollution. Would Peter Schweizer donate the profits from his book project to fight global warming? Would any of Al Gore's critics?

In an era of out of control gas prices, exorbitant salaries and bonuses paid to oil company chief executives and global warming affecting radical changes on our environment, wouldn't it be more productive to criticize the Federal government for its inadequate leadership on the subject than to try to denigrate one of the few people willing to put their reputation on the line to discuss the issues that serve as pink elephants in the living room of public discussion? I suppose we will not be seeing any such opinions held by the likes of Schweizer and his friends.

As part of that leadership Al Gore and others have formed the Climate Crisis Coalition to better educate and inform how everyday people like us can contribute to the fight against global warming. For more information about the Climate Crisis Coalition please visit their website at http://www.climatecrisiscoalition.org/. For more information about An Inconvenient Truth please visit the movie's website at http://www.climatecrisis.net/ where you can check showtimes in your city and learn more.

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