Bush's last try to sacrifice environment for business

Looking for another reason to elect and support Democrats? They generally preserve, not destroy the environment, while passing laws that propel the economy forward to sustainability. Not so for conservatives--who, oddly enough, rarely support conservation.

A new report in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's blog suggests that the Bush Administration is pushing through even more business-friendly laws that reduce the effectiveness of environmental agencies and even endanger the environment and human health.
NPR's All Things Considered also reported December 11 on Bush's "midnight legislation" that lame duck administrations often ram through to reduce the next president's effectiveness. These rules were cunningly crafted to be hard to undo.

We don't have to stand for this nonsense that endangers our health and sustainability. Contact your Congressperson, Senator, the Administration and other elected officials now to tell them to say "No way!" to Bush and Cheney's dangerous new administrative rules.

Obama's election is not about "winning demographics"

Barack Obama is now the President-elect, and it's not about how he and the Democrats captured certain demographic groups, as the Detroit News editor Nolan Finley has said on WDET's Detroit Today show. It's truly about human values.

Conservatism is a bankrupt system that has benefitted the rich to an astounding degree, especially since Reagan won the presidency in 1980. Conservatism has sucked wealth from the middle class and poor by allowing the rich to set the tone for the way society should operate. Some call this the "corporate orientation"--a way of valuing corporate and business values at the expense of human values.

For too long, conservative policies, conservative politicians and their deregulation have been undermining the working class, middle class and even many whose incomes are over $100,000 per year.

As Naomi Klein has noted in her seminal book, The Shock Doctrine, the incomes of CEOs are now on average 411 times that of workers. This figure has ballooned from an average of 42 times the wages of workers in the 1970s.

This is a stunning figure, a sign of a virtual theft that has vacuumed wealth from the middle class to the rich.

Conservatives criticize Obama's talk of wealth redistribution. But where is the outrage about the redistribution of wealth to the rich that has happened, supposedly because of their hard work, since the '70s?

This redistribution has helped destroy our manufacturing base and eroded our economy to the point where so many are losing homes, have to work two jobs, and can't stay at home to watch our children when they get out of school each day because they have to work so hard. It's not just the rich getting richer that's a large part of it, as is Bush/Cheney's legacy of deregulation and lack of necessary regulation that led to the home mortgage and credit crisis.

It only makes sense: You can't have a viable economy without a large base of people with decent incomes to prop it up. People can't buy what manufacturers make without an income that fulfills their needs.

Well, electing Obama is one expression of the outrage about wealth flowing largely to the rich. And it's a pretty darn constructive way to start to remedy the decimation of our society that has resulted from dumb, self-centered and mean-spirited rule by conservative Republicans who are too rich or too dumb to comprehend how badly hurt working people have been by their policies.

It's not a "new age of liberalism," as Paul Krugman has asserted and Nolan Finley parroted. It is, instead, the tip of an iceberg that is pro-humanity. Obama, at first blush, seems to embrace people, not policies and parties.

Barack Obama reflects, to an astounding degree, the aspirations and needs of working people as well as wealthier Americans: compassion, unity, progress, uplifting the poor, and other values, including some that many reserve as strongholds of only those who call themselves "conservative."

Obama, above all, is a uniter, not a divider. He's a listener, the least self-focused of any politician I've seen. And he continues to uphold traditional "family" values that social conservatives applaud, such as support of family, freedom of worship, and a strong work ethic.

The road to the solutions to our problems is not as clear as the needs of American people and our economy. It's going to require consensus, hard work and a careful examination of what went wrong since 1980 and even before. Solutions will require bold plans to redress wrongs against people, and turn from the dangerous directions our policies have taken us.

Obama's path will be hard. He appears to have the intelligence, compassion and organizing skills to pull people from both conservative and liberal stances to work together and drag America out of the economic and human rights gutter it has fallen into at the hands of Bush, Cheney and others.

Keep at your Congressperson and Senator by email to resolve these and other social problems in the coming days. Click here to find out how to write your Senator.

Obama elected 44th US President as McCain concedes!

Obama supporters rejoiced across the US, as well as overseas, as Illinois Senator Barack Obama was declared the President-elect of the United
States at about 11 pm, November 4, 2008 on major television
networks, including ABC and msnbc.com.

I feel like it's Christmas for grown-ups--and maybe for many kids, too! McCain/Palin supporters will doubtless disagree, although even John McCain blessed Obama in his concession speech. Quoting from the ABC News report, McCain noted the historic importance of electing a black man to the White House:

Acknowledging the momentous moment of a black man winning the White House, McCain said, "We've come a long way from the old injustices that once stained our nation's reputation."

The joy and hope that surges through me fuels courage to move ahead with personal goals and other initiatives in support of Democrats and progressive causes. The fact that a man who listens to others--even those with radically different views--and tries to absorb and understand their opinions, is a huge reversal from the insular and imperialistic Bush/Cheney administration.

What will Obama's impact as President be?
What does Barack Obama's election mean for politics and society in general? Even McCain's supporters must eventually accept the fact that Obama's election spells a sea change in American politics, and maybe our society as a whole.

Does Obama's election spell the beginning of the end of the conservative era in American politics? Indeed, is it the beginning of the end of conservativism?

Conservatism, as few in the media have noted, is about valuing money over people, business over relationships and greed over fairness, according to Philip E. Agre, associate professor of information studies at UCLA, in the most incisive expose of the true conservative agenda I've yet read. It is a philosophy that unites the rich and those who oppose progress in general over social issues. (Or, perhaps, it is the rich, aristocratic string-pullers who used social conservatives for their own ultimately socially destructive causes.)

Could Obama symbolically represent the tip of an iceberg of new hope for humanity? Could Obama, who speaks of fairness, inclusion and reason over self-centered emotion, spearhead a new wave of civility and compassion in the American populace?

"Tsunami" drowns conservative politics in Democrats
It's clear now that the progressive, liberal movement that put Democrats in a majority in the Congress and Senate in 2006 has mushroomed into a "tsunami," as one middle-of-the-road Republican Senator has said.

It's also clear that, as many more African-Americans than even a few months ago now believe, "anyone can be President" of the United States. But Barack Obama is not just "anyone." The promise of American ideals that Obama represents crosses the lines of party, religious, race and others that have unnecessarily, traditionally and pathetically, divided America and Americans.

Obama offers hope for unity, compassion and democratic ideals
Obama represents unity, compassion and a high road as represented by his campaign as no candidate before him. It's now his job, and that of his staff to turn his idealistic speechmaking into mandates for the nation and crystalize plans into actions that turn our economy around and make life easier and more prosperous for everyday Americans--and, I hope, every American.

The races and backgrounds of the advisors and strategists Obama has hired proves that he doesn't care about race as a cardinal factor in working with staff and others. This should assuage the fears of many Republicans and conservatives, who have feared that an Obama presidency would favor blacks and minorities, and hurt whites.

I'd love to read your thoughts on the import and possibilities of an Obama presidency!

Oil company coverups make Obama the best candidate in 2008

ExxonMobil claims on its website that that "Fuel prices are impacted by a number of factors, including changes in the price of crude oil, supply and demand, fuel specifications, government regulations, taxes, and transportation costs."

On the face of it, this is probably true. But it's so vague as to be noninformative.

What they do not tell you is the whole story. On the other hand, there is a good, well-researched resource for facts that the oil industry would like to hide from you. These facts affect your finances, America's addiction to foreign oil and the ecology of the entire earth.

Here are some shocking facts, many from Antonia Juhasz' new book, The Tyranny of Oil:

• "Drill, baby, drill, and drill now." This 2008 Republican National Convention mantra drives and/or reflects the lie that many believe: that drilling now will save us economically. But oil companies are already drilling in the US and off our shores. And they are increasing their already large stockpiles of oil.
• Debate has raged recently about how much the US Department of Energy's rising stockpile raised gas and oil prices in Fall, 2007.
• More drilling now will not affect oil prices for 10 years or more.
• Oil companies simply don't sell to Americans much of the oil they've found here. As a typical corporation, they sell it to the highest bidder. There is no requirement to sell fuel found on our territories to us--so they don't do it.
• Oil companies choose not to refine the oil they've stock piled, in order to drive prices higher. They are largely responsible for fuel prices in areas they can control--like the amount to refine.

Meanwhile, John McCain seems to be talking about green living and sustainability to the press, but to his Republican base he talks mostly about nuclear power and drilling for more oil. Who is the real McCain here? Is he simply pandering to Republican and/or conservative voters, who largely don't care about, and don't understand the environment and it's relationship to our lives?

An Obama presidency would likely be more sustainable, based on Biden's record, examined by Living on Earth, NPR's environmental news program recently.

Actions you can take for change:

• Contact your Congressperson. This site makes clear just how big a supporter of Big Oil your Congressperson is. It shows the percentage of votes that support the oil industry, and how much Big Oil paid to support your rep: http://oilmoney.priceofoil.org/
• Support Obama/Biden in 2008 for a greener, safer, cleaner and less addicted America.

Resources:
Factors in Fuel Prices - ExxonMobil website:
http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/energy_issues_gasprices.aspx

Oil Change International: http://priceofoil.org/

Living on Earth: Sound Journalism for the Planet: http://www.loe.org/index.htm

Is Sarah Palin Smart? (More Reasons Not to Vote for McCain)

John McCain's running mate, Governor Sarah Palin, goofed big time. Again.

Associated Press reports that Palin just misinformed a group of third graders, saying "that the vice president is the president's 'team mate' but also 'runs the Senate' and 'can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes.'"

The AP report clarifies that her description oversimplifies the VP's role, and that it does not "match the office's traditional role in Senate activities."

In other words, Governor Sarah Palin is exaggerating and getting it plain wrong about the office she's running for.

She can't name any renowned newspapers or national magazines on policy and politics for CBS news reporter Katie Couric. Palin also thinks being the executive of a state next to Russia gives her deep foreign policy credentials. Now this.

Is this the mentality of a person who must be capable of replacing the President and running the nation in case of a tragedy?

An analogy on the foreign policy expertise: I live in the Detroit, Michigan area--right across the river from Canada. Since I have visited a couple of bars in Windsor, Canada, carry Canadian quarters in my spare change and camped overnight in Ontario twice--I must be an expert in foreign relations! I love my new-found expertise! Yippee McCain, hire me for VP! (For one thing, I'm smarter than Palin--and so are you.)

We don't need a Caribou Barbie making mistakes all over America in the Veep's office. Wouldn't this just be Bush all over again?

We don't need doddering old McCain trying to remember the name of--gee, who's running Russia today?--and failing to exercise diplomacy by refusing to meet with foreign leaders in the office of President of the United States of America.

Elect Obama/Biden in 2008 for a safer, smarter America.

McCain says he's honest, and many who have worked with him agree--but his campaign ads often tell lies about Obama and Biden. (Even Saturday Night Live skewered his campaign's lies in a recent episode.) Click here to fight smears and lies by the Karl Rove acolytes poisoning McCain's campaign.

Exposed: the true, destructive goals of conservatives

Conservatives have deceived and led America down a path of destruction, greed and pain since Nixon first took office in 1968. They have used underhanded techniques to undermine democracy and aggregate power in the hands of a very few ever since.

Conservatives have even used the FBI, under the sick leadership of J. Edgar Hoover, to protect the power of the few at the expense of the many--and the economy. These trends continue today.

Led by corporate, Christian, conservative economic terrorists, the government, under Republicans George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, has spent more than any Democratic administration in history--even as they hyocritically criticize Democrats for taxing and spending.

How do you battle this tide of fear, pain and greed? Here are three helpful suggestions:

1. Elect a Democrat
2. Blog and contact friends and family to spread the progressive politics of compassion, humanity and ecology
3. Understand the conservative agenda and argue to win against conservatives

After all, most conservatives don't even know that they support a regime that works toward them getting a lower and lower wage. They support a bankrupt system--the free market--that virtually guarantees that the rich get richer and that often the economy, ecology and human rights get trampled. Many who don't benefit from conservative ideology are hoodwinked by distraction toward social issues, like stem cells and abortion.

Toward understanding and winning arguments with conservatives, Phillip Agre clearly exposes the destructive goals of the conservative (aristrocratic, power-amassing) agenda in his essay, What Is Conservatism and What Is Wrong with It?:

Liberals in the United States have been losing political debates to conservatives for a quarter century. In order to start winning again, liberals must answer two simple questions: what is conservatism, and what is wrong with it? As it happens, the answers to these questions are also simple:

Q: What is conservatism?

A: Conservatism is the domination of society by an aristocracy.

Q: What is wrong with conservatism?

A: Conservatism is incompatible with democracy, prosperity, and civilization in general. It is a destructive system of inequality and prejudice that is founded on deception and has no place in the modern world.

These ideas are not new. Indeed they were common sense until recently. Nowadays, though, most of the people who call themselves "conservatives" have little notion of what conservatism even is. They have been deceived by one of the great public relations campaigns of human history. Only by analyzing this deception will it become possible to revive democracy in the United States...

Agre offers much more on the site. It's a virtual blueprint for winning back the government to serve the people, not just Wall Street and Big Oil.

It's clear that the conswervative agenda has made the lives of most Americans worse. Incomes have fallen for workers, many jobs have moved overseas and corporate executives have increased their bonuses from an average of 42 times a worker's salary in the 1970s to over 411 times a worker's salary today. They rob our economy to serve themselves --possibly fueling the current financial meltdown--while paying workers everywhere lower and lower wages.

And it's not just the US economy. It's worldwide.

This means you're losing while they rake in millions, even billions of dollars. If you elect a Republican, you're feeding the sharks that feed on you to survive.

Elect a Democrat today. Elect Obama/Biden and all other Democrats running in your state and locality. Tell your Congressional representative that you won't stand for losing your home and job while corporate executives gain huge bonuses. Get email updates on Congressional votes and more here.

Al Franken needs your support in Minnesota

Al Franken, a Democrat, progressive talk radio host and former Saturday Night Live comedian, is running for a US Senate seat in Minnesota.
You can help by calling a friend or neighbor to encourage them to vote Democratic.

Franken writes:

Dear Friend,

Three recent polls have me leading Norm Coleman -- but it is close. And we have three weeks (and a day!) until Election Day.

We can win this thing -- but I need your help today.

Our work isn't done -- in fact, as we head into the home stretch, we need to keep expanding our campaign for change to every corner of Minnesota to pull this thing off.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO HELP US KEEP OUR MOMENTUM GOING STRONG!

Right now, we're getting ready to deploy the biggest, most powerful Get-Out-The-Vote operation in Minnesota history. And we're going to finish this race the same way we started it: with a grassroots, people-powered movement for change.

But we cannot afford to let up now that we've pulled ahead. Our staff is working longer hours than ever, Franni and I are campaigning harder than ever, and now is when we need you more than ever.

Your contribution of $10, $25, $50, or whatever you can afford will go directly towards building our organization for the critical final days of the campaign. This race is going to come down to the wire -- and we're not taking anything for granted.

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A CONTRIBUTION TODAY!
Franni and I are so grateful for all you've done to get us this far. But we need your contributions and support from here on out to help us finish strong. And, with your help, we're going to win this thing and I'll be able to join Barack Obama in Washington to change the direction of our country.

Thank you for everything,

Al Franken

Al Franken is one of the leaders of a new movement, along with Obama and Biden, a movement that represents the vast majority of Americans and focuses on meeting our needs for a strong, secure, prosperous and kinder America than Bush and Cheney's ever growing list of misdeeds and scandals have given us. This progressive movement is sweeping aside the aristocratic politics of conservatism that have led to the subprime mortgage crisis, rampant unemployment and other economic woes that keep hitting the poor and middle classes harder and harder.

Support Al in his Senate bid with your blog entry and/or a donation. Help bring humanity, compassion and the middle class back to America.