Free California

EPA Administrator Refuses Global Greenhouse Gas Waiver

The State of California took the leadership in the 1970's to reduce air pollutants and emissions from automobiles because the population was highly concentrated in urban areas. These areas, including San Diego, the Bay Area and Los Angeles were trapping smog. People couldn't breathe, or needed to wear aspirators and masks. These centers have geographic features which contribute to the problem and cause difficulties for smog because they are either built in basins and surrounded by mountains or they are trapped between the westerly winds of the ocean and mountains to the east. They couldn't wait for the federal government to take action.

I still have a dream and Hillary ain’t in it.

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing



click to enlarge
Many in the blogosphere just simply do not believe someone would say...

I can’t believe we have to vote for Hillary to keep the nigger out of the White House.

But that is the reality of racism in America. Yes, we have made great strides and the younger generation cares less about race than the older generations. But this divide I think is being overlooked from a demographic and message standpoint.

Whether you believe Hillary cried or became teary on the campaign trail, whether you believe it was staged or legitimate, it was a risky campaign move. Remember back in March of 2007 when Hillary crashed Obama's campaign in Selma? It was not looked warmly upon by the Black community in general, she looked like an opportunist. Then during a speech, she adopted a fake accent and tried to recite Rev. James Cleveland's hymn "I do not feel noways tired." When I heard that I half way expected the next thing to come out of her mouth to be "don't trust whitey."

The general population seems to believe Hillary cried to win New Hampshire. If you are Black, you may see it differently - you may see that she cried to beat a Black man.

MLK took a lot of abuse and ultimately died so people like Barack Obama could have equal rights and hold public office. The Black experience in America is paved with real tears, pain, abuse and murder. The younger you are, the less you care about color and that is Obama's key demographic. Hillary's is the older generation and they care a lot more about race than the youth do. But the older Black generation remembers Selma.

They remember the tear gas.

PROOF: George W Bush Is An Anti-Semite!

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing



click to enlarge
Before you get too wound up and think this is some Zionist rant, it is not. Keep reading...

While we were watching the "crying card" being played out in New Hampshire, while we were listening to pundits who were out to lunch on "election polling," while we were watching the election results, George Bush was up to something... something HE HAS NEVER DONE IN THE SEVEN YEARS HE WAS IN THE WHITE HOUSE!!!. George W. Bush flew to Israel. Yep, Bush has gone this long without ever visiting Israel.

How did they get so lucky?

We have suffered under Bush for seven long, agonizing years. Bush illustrates for us DAILY how much he hates us. After Katrina, he flew to New Orleans to lie to us and show us how much disdain, disrespect and hatred he has for Americans.

Bush's visit to Israel is under the guise of Middle East peace. You gotta be kidding me! Bush is THE MASTER ARCHITECT of Middle East war, not peace. Maybe this "Middle East peace" thing he keeps talking about is something he wants to get rid of. Maybe...

I am here to talk about Middle East peace. You got too much of it, we gotta get rid of it. There is not profit in it for the United States. This peace business has got to go. Ask Dick if it is time to release the fake Iranian gunboat footage...

Yep. THAT sounds more like Bush's Middle East peace plan - kill it off entirely.

Bush didn't go to Israel because he likes Israelis or like Jews, nope, he went there because he hates them. He went there to spread his message of doom, war, pain and death.

If he liked Jews, he wouldn't have gone to THEIR HOMELAND and threaten Iran - a Muslim country.

The only bright side in all of this was Bush is OUT of our country... at least for a little while.

A very little while.

Black Blogger Reaction To Hillary Win

The Newspapers read Clinton Defies Polls, Edges Obama in N.H.

African American Political Pundit says: I had planned to write an analysis of yesterday's primary and the Clinton family win in New Hampshire, but I decided not to do one because fellow Afrospear blogger, Villager, at Electronic Village has completed a great analysis that is in keeping with what I was going to post. His post, Hillary Clinton Wins in New Hampshire ... What Next for Barack Obama? is a must read.

Don't forget to read Jack and Jill Politics' Reaction to NH Primary. Hey, and While your at it Read Black Agenda Reports' article on Barack, Hillary and the Sinister Nothingness of “Change”

Citizen Journalist, Faye Anderson of Anderson@Large is also covering the election. She notes, while black men got the right to vote before black women (at least on paper), sisters will determine whether Clinton or Obama leaves the Palmetto State with a pep in their step as they march on to Super Duper Tuesday. While in the Field, The Field Negro notes how the Clinton's have called out their big guns-- such as Steinem --to make the case for gender over race, read more in his post a funny thing happened on the way to Pennsylvania Avenue. I guess as the blog Skeptical Brotha points out, negroes have come back to earth.
Lets hope issues of trusting Obama don't become the issue in South Carolina, but wait a minute, Francis L. Holland new post, I Think I Know Why Hillary Won New Hampshire makes some good points too. Maybe its just time to compare notes from a Barack volunteer in New Hampshire. It's also time to see if Barack got game.


More on the Hillary win later on African American Political Pundit

The Daily Pulse- Foreign Edition

The Daily Pulse is a regular survey of editorial content you might not usually see. We don't look at the New York Times or the Washington Post. You already have those saved in your Bookmarks. Instead, we look at The Bolivar Commercial or The New Haven Ledger. Why? Because those editorials, local columns, and letters to the editor tell you what real people are thinking about and talking about. And sometimes, we wander past our borders to see what OTHER people are thinking about and talking about. Today, The Daily Pulse goes north and south of the border, looking at (English language) editorial pages.

We are also looking for contributors. I would give a minor body part for somebody willing to do a weekly survey of American Spanish-language papers, interpreting the highlights with some commentary. Also, a European survey, an Asian survey, perhaps alternative papers (GLBT, African American, Jewish, Lithuanian, etc.). Let me know if you're interested. And, without further ado, the Pulse across our borders.

To see the rest, go to The Daily Pulse (too long for a front page).

Hillary vs Obama: What’s Christian Fascist To Do?

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing



click to enlargeSometimes when I walk down to the local redneck corner store, some of the things I hear from the patrons make me cringe. (I really need to STOP supporting the local economy if this is what I have to suffer through) Today was no different. Here is the money quote:

I can't believe we have to vote for Hillary to keep the nigger out of the White House.

This comes from the same redneck patron I blogged about last year who believes all Arabs need to be killed "Auschwitz style."

There was some discussion by the punditry last night wondering since the vote in Iowa was public and New Hampshire was private - is a Hillary win in NH evidence of racism? Well, in some corners of the country that is a true statement.

If there is anything we have learned from Bill Clinton's administration, it is that the Religious Right hates Hillary with a blind vengeance. So much for peace and love. I don't think that hatred has disappeared at all. But I am a believer of karma and you know, this election must be killing the hate-mongers. On one hand you have a candidate who is black and the other candidate is Hillary. When both candidates are objects of your hatred, scorn and ridicule, what do you do? How do you decide? Who do you hate most?

Say what you will about Hillary and here "emotional episode" I think that strategy worked (and of course, the media rode it like a mule). However, Hillary can't do that again. You can only use the "crying card" once. After that, it gets real old, real quick.

In the delegate count (the thing that really matters in the primaries) Obama is still in the lead and Hillary is in a very close second, but Edwards is still in there with a SOLID third place with just 7 delegates away from overcoming Obama. During the live threads on Daily Kos, I saw calls from the Obama supporters demanding Edwards quit NOW. You must be kidding? Why on Earth would Edwards quit now? He may be a king (or queen) maker and he may still win. This election is shaping up to be different. It just might be that all the states will finally have a voice in the election. With the season front-loaded with a lot of primaries and Tsunami Tuesday just weeks away, who knows what will happen. One thing I do know, the pundits are clueless. I do not believe they (cough, Russert, cough) are used to critical thinking.

Patton Oswalt Revisits the "Famous Bowl"

As discussed here Patton Oswalt has given the folks at KFC a run for their money with his searing take on their "Famous Bowl." In his AV Club blog, Patton explains his fascination with the product.

Would that I could forget that fateful evening in the autumn of 2006 when I first heard the shrieking, beckoning clarion call of Kentucky Fried Chicken's Famous Bowl. I was fast-forwarding through the commercials of a Tivo'd episode of The Venture Brothers. The commercial for the Famous Bowl came on. I thought it was a Tim & Eric sketch.

It wasn't. Kentucky Fried Chicken had filled a bowl with gravy, mashed potatoes, corn, breaded chicken, and finally, cheese. Shut-ins, people afflicted with Prader-Willi Syndrome, and manic-depressives also do this. If you're trying to make a fortune in the food and beverage industry, those are the three demographics to shoot for—the Famous Bowl is one of the bestselling items on the KFC menu.

KFC calls it their version of the shepherd's pie. Shepherds in Kentucky must be full of rage and slathered in confusion. They must hang their fat, skin, and muscles from bones carved with runes of surrender.

I must've watched the commercial a dozen times. It looked like a self-shot (but well-cut and -lit) video that someone would make as they prepared to commit suicide. I couldn't take my eyes off it. I didn't think the implosion of society would be so funny.

As stated previously, I firmly believe that Oswalt's uproariously funny stand-up bit forced KFC to backpedal furiously on their marketing strategy. Subsequently, they reintroduced the quaint, old-fashioned notion of cutlery. Perhaps in some vain attempt to co-opt their fiercest critic, they have honored him with a bobble-head doll. But the AV Club went a step further and convinced Oswalt to actually taste test the product he has so famously skewered. It did not go well.

The Famous Bowl hit my mouth like warm soda, slouched down my throat, and splayed itself across my stomach like a sun-stroked wino. It was that precise combination of things, and so many other sensations that did not go together. At all.

The gravy, which I remembered as being tangy and delicious in my youth, tasted like the idea of blandness, but burned and then salted to cover the horrid taste. The mashed potatoes defiantly stood their ground against the gravy, as if they'd read The Artist's Way and said, "I'm going to be boring and forgetful in my own potato-y way!" The corn tasted like it had been dunked in fake-corn-flavored ointment, and the popcorn chicken, breaded to the point of parody, was like chewing a cotton sleeve that someone had used to wipe chicken grease off their chin.

The cheese had congealed. Even in the heat and steam of the covered Famous Bowl, it had congealed. I stabbed it with the tines of my spork and it all came up in one piece. I nibbled an edge, had a vision of a crying Dutch farmer, and put it down.

I managed three or four more spoonfuls, trying to be fair. I am not the healthiest eater, but this was a level of crap I hadn't earned a belt in yet.

Perhaps some obscure, meritorious rank for eating dare-devilry will be the chotchky KFC attempts to ply him with next.

The Daily Pulse- Letters Tuesday Editor

Once a week The Daily Pulse puts together "Letters Tuesday Editor," a collection of the best, and worst, letters to the editor from local papers around the country. The thought behind The Daily Pulse is simple- we will know more about what real people think if we look at local editorial pages, columnists, and letters, than if we just look at the Beltway and the national press.

Can you contribute to The Daily Pulse? We are looking for somebody to do weekly and monthly columns, for letters, local columnists, foreign papers, alternative papers, etc. Let me know if you're interested.

Click for the rest of today's The Daily Pulse. These are too long, and I can't figure out how to bifurcate them here at the Alliance.

Weeping Hillary and the Progress of a Nation

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing



click to enlarge
Was it the stress? Was it the impending doom? Was it a product of all those acting lessons? Regardless of the primary reason, Hillary got teary-eyed about America and what America has given her.

This is something I would expect from Kucinich but not Hillary. I think Ultra K is in touch with his feelings and is secure enough to weep for the nation. Hillary is another matter. The Hillary Machine is a plotting, calculating apparatus and one just can't escape that this may have been an act. I can understand the beatdown she received in Iowa can produce this kind of reaction, but after years and years of seeing Hillary adjust her nuance, I just can't take her or her actions at face value. If the early precinct results from Dixville Notch, NH are any indication, Hillary may have a lot more crying ahead.

On dialog, debate, and change

I was thinking recently of something I remember Bishop Gene Robinson discussing at a talk he gave on working for the "common good". He was explaining the distinction between debate and dialog, saying that in our society at this point in time, we seem much more likely to engage in debate than in true dialog...

When I listen to you, all I'm listening for are your weak points--so that I can come back at your weak points and win this discussion we're having. I'm not listening for your strongest points. I'm not trying to understand where you are, what your experience has been, what makes you think the way you do. I'm just looking for the place that I can pick you apart. So I'm listening for the worst in what you have to say. Wheras in dialog, it seems to me that I'm listening for the best that you have to say, and looking for some kind of common ground that would permit us to move forward together.

Along with Gene's remarks, my mind keeps returning to the following piece from a sermon my rector gave a couple weeks ago.

I find myself wanting less to call someone a racist or a homophobe or a religious zealout or a suburban escapist than to invite them into a conversation with those who are different from them. If there is hope in our world of endless wars, of school shootings and mall shootings, of crushing debt and poverty, of bigotry and prejudice, then I ma not sure even the most killing of statements from me to those on the other side will effect change. And change is what I want to see and experience.

I've been trying, unsuccessfully, to write a post encompassing these two quotes, as well as adding my own reflections, but for one reason or another that hasn't happened yet. But I decided to go ahead and post this anyway, as food for thought.

The Daily Pulse

What are people thinking about and writing about beyond the Beltway and the national press? That is the question we try to answer here at The Daily Pulse. We do random surveys of editorial pages for political content, with the idea we learn more about what America and Americans are thinking for themselves, instead of what classed punditry is thinking for them.

Would you like to be a part? Can you contribute a weekly, or monthly, Daily Pulse? Are you interested in foreign papers, alternatives (GLBT, African American, religious, ethnic community), or can you translate (I would kill for somebody to do a weekly Spanish editorial pages)? Let me know, and join one of the tubes' longest-running features.Tuscaloosa News

In my opinion, this editorial hits all the high points of Iowa- the strong Democratic turnout, answers to the question "is a black man viable," and what a disaster Huckabee would be for the Republicans.

Winds of change blow through Iowa results

The surprising results of the Iowa caucuses may set the tone for the election season or they may be just a bump on the road to politics as usual.

However, contrary to the spin of a Republican spokesperson who claimed the results signal continued GOP occupancy of the White House and gains by the party in Congress, it's hard to see the result of the caucuses as anything but a victory for Democrats.

...

But Obama's win in a heavily majority-white state shows that a black man can be a viable candidate for president. His electability, along with his lack of experience, has been one of the main questions surrounding his candidacy, which trailed Clinton's by 30 points in some polls only last summer.

...

There's also the fact that 220,500 Democrats participated in the Iowa caucuses, while about 114,000 Republicans took part. In 2004, Bush took the state by a narrow margin.

...

If [Huckabee's] juggernaut continues and he finds himself nominated, however, the Republicans could be in deep trouble.

Democrats won't have to try hard to paint him as what Rolling Stone magazine termed "full-blown nuts, a Christian goofball of the highest order."

Connecticut Post

States' rights? What States' rights? We didn't mean that. At least, not unless it was about them black folk. You see, when it comes to ACTUAL States' rights, like the right to keep air breathable, corporate donors come first.

Emissions change must be allowed

Following California's lead, Connecticut has joined a lawsuit against the federal Environmental Protection Agency over its failure to approve strict vehicle emissions standards. It's a good move, and one that has the backing of dozens of other states where people are concerned that the federal government is not going far enough in terms of environmental standards.

...

The dismissal by the EPA of the proposed changes is nothing but a slap in the face to the supposed "states' rights" crowd. It turns out federalism is only preferred when it's OK with big campaign donors. The courts must rule against the EPA, allow the state regulations to be passed and stand in the way of an administration with no respect for the demands of its citizens.

The Pueblo Chieftain

How many people reading today remember whether they had an odd or even license plate number in the 70s? How many even know the relevance of the question. Ladies and gentlemen, oil prices and the economy are going to only get bigger as issues between now and November.

The really fun part, though, of this editorial is the blame on "radical environmentalists. ANWAR would not have been on line for years even if it was passed the first time around. The blame isn't "radical environmentalists." The "blame" (corporate donors call it "credit") goes the the buffoon in the White House.

Some perspective

LAST WEEK oil traded briefly at about $100 a barrel, 10 times the price a decade ago. Still, analysts don’t expect record-high prices by themselves to send the economy into recession, simply because expensive as oil is, energy doesn’t consume as big a chunk of Americans’ budgets as it did a few decades ago.

...

It would not have had to come to this, though. Oil industry experts say there are huge reserves beneath the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and off our shores below the seas.

That oil is staying put, for the time being, at least, thanks to radical environmentalists. As far as ANWR is concerned, measures to open up that rich energy trove have died in the Senate, most recently in 2005 and 2006.

...

Drilling would not harm ANWR. But drilling there has been precluded time and again by a Big Lie.

Remember that the next time you fill up at the pump.

San Bernardino County Sun

Yes, we need a new surveillance law. No, we don't need retroactive immunity. Not much here to disagree with.

Don't give up freedoms to fears

After spending the holidays on hold, the controversy about government wiretapping practices is about to pick up volume this month.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) expires on Feb. 1, and Congress needs to revamp it to limit the government's warrantless surveillance powers.

...

In no way is corporate immunity more important than the tried and true American system of checks and balances inherent in requiring judicial approval of the executive branch's use of wiretaps to track private conversations.

...

In the "long war" against terrorism, intelligence is a powerful weapon. But as we defend ourselves from enemies, we must not sacrifice our freedoms to our fears.

Herald Tribune (SW Florida)

Conservation is not a virtue- it is a duty we owe to each other. Would you call the police if you saw a man breaking into your neighbor's home? Every day we steal our children's birthright with every mile we drive.

Energy and the economy

...

When the price of crude oil reached $100 a barrel last week -- hitting a mark 44 percent higher than in August -- economists offered up a timely history lesson.

A few decades ago, they pointed out, a spike like this would have had a much greater impact on the U.S. economy.

...

The change in the share of GDP is little comfort, of course, to low-income Americans struggling to pay for gas for their automobiles or heating oil for their homes. Energy prices play an oversized role in their personal finances.

...

The gains in efficiency should embolden U.S. policymakers to continue to push for more improvements in the years ahead. And those gains should encourage all Americans to make conservation a routine part of their lives.

...

The effect on the economy may not be as severe as it might have been a few decades ago, once inflation and efficiencies are factored in.

But the impact will be felt --and it will be felt more deeply by more Americans if efficiency and conservation don't become a greater part of everyone's life.

Clinton: Spiraling Downward

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing



click to enlargeWhat a mess for the Clinton campaign. Iowa was a total disaster for Hillary and she didn't need to expose herself in that way.

A friend of mine over at If This Be Treason laid it out like this: Hillary had nothing to gain but everything to lose in Iowa. If she didn't campaign there and Obama or Edwards won, it could be said that it wasn't a real win since Hillary didn't participate. If she participated and won, it could be said she was the presumptive front-runner and it was no big deal. But if she lost, questions would arise and power would be handed to the winner. If she lost BIG TIME, the exclamation points would add up - the questions would be more painful.

And she lost BIG TIME in Iowa. Obama has the momentum, and Edwards also, going into the New Hampshire primary. Hillary does not. You do not receive upward momentum by being a political loser.