crossposted at five before chaos.

Julie’s excellent post on upcoming bad energy policies really piqued my interest this morning so I dug in and did some research in the hopes of giving you even more information regrading these horrible proposals. It’s a bit extensive, but this is important stuff, folks.

First off, there’s a proposal to increase subsidies for coal liquification. Yes, you heard right, one of the dirtiest fuel sources on earth. There’s an extensive post over at MyDD that details the many ways that this is a bad, bad idea. Increased emissions, according to the EPA. More moutaintops destroyed and rivers clogged (have you seen how this has devastated West Virginia?), as well as the devastating poverty and health problems that are part and parcel of working in the coal industry.

Now here’s the clinker – there are quite a few Democrats sponsoring both the Senate and House versions of these bills. And lo and behold, one of the sponsors of these bills is none other than Sen. Brack Obama, who apparently can do no wrong to his starry-eyed supporters. Well, there’s something for you, then. This bill is bad news.

As far as I can tell, none of the VT delegation has signed on to this, but we need to let them know it’s bad, nevertheless. After you read up on it, you Vermonters should all call Congressman Welch at 888-605-7270 and let him know your opposition to  H.R.370 — the title: To promote coal-to-liquid fuel activities, and call Sen. Sanders at 802-862-0697 and Sen. Leahy at 802-863-2525 and voice your opposition to S.154 — the title: A bill to promote coal-to-liquid fuel activities. If you’re from another state, you can call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and they should be able to direct you to your delegation if you’re not sure who they are. We need to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels. Now. Not later.

But the madness continues so unabated, you’d almost think the Repubs were still in charge. There’s another bill Julie pointed out that tries to pass itself off as being a progressive energy policy, but in reality is anything but. As the Rutland Herald is reporting:

A dozen states, including Vermont and Massachusetts, would be blocked from imposing new requirements on automakers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under a draft energy bill being prepared for a vote later this month.

The “discussion draft” would prohibit the head of the Environmental Protection Agency from issuing a waiver needed for a state to impose auto pollution standards if the new requirements are “designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” …
It calls for expansion of the production of ethanol and other alternative motor fuels – including liquefied coal – to 35 billion gallons a year by 2025…

“The intent is to tie EPA’s hands when it comes to establishing greenhouse gas standards,” said Frank O’Donnell of Clean Air Watch, an environmental advocacy group.

Apparently liquefied coal is all the rage now. There’s the whole joke known as ethanol (which I’ll get to in a minute). And it does indeed try to tie the hands of states such as Vermont and California, who are trying to impose higher mileage requirements on its automobiles. Oh, and did I mention that the chairman of that committee is John Dingell, of Michigan? You know, home of the perpetually sputtering U.S. automotive industry that still behaves like it’s 1972?

This one’s not an actual bill yet, it just consists of a discussion draft memorandum (full memo here) that will, if it goes through, be incorporated into some larger energy proposal in the next session.

Now let’s talk about ethanol, a gasoline substitute that is a type of alcohol that in the United States, comes primarily from corn. You hear Bush talk about it a lot, so that alone should give you pause. But you also hear a lot of other politicians talk about ethanol. Why? Because the government subsidizes the hell out of it, that’s why. Now, I don’t agree with a lot that comes out of the libertarian Cato Institute, especially in regards to the fabled “free market”, but consider this:

Ethanol is a corn-based gasoline substitute. Gasoline is a creation of the marketplace, but ethanol is a creation of Washington, D.C. The ethanol program originated in the late 1970s during the energy crisis. A quarter-century later, there is no energy crisis and virtually every independent assessment –by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the General Accounting Office, the Congressional Budget Office, NBC News and several academic journals — has concluded that ethanol subsidies have been a costly boondoggle with almost no public benefit.

Yet even after ethanol has siphoned $7 billion from the federal treasury, the mighty ethanol subsidies still flow. Why? Ethanol’s survival has nothing to do with economics or the environment and everything to do with political muscle. Almost 70 percent of ethanol is produced by America’s premier agri-giant, Archer Daniels Midland. ADM, the self-proclaimed “supermarket to the world,” has spent a small fortune on farming Capitol Hill over the past 20 years. Through programs like ethanol and sugar price supports, it has reaped a profitable harvest from taxpayers. In fact, an estimated 40 percent of ADM’s profits come from government-subsidized products…

On the alleged environmental benefits from ethanol, the GAO says, “Available evidence suggests that the ethanol program has little effect on the environment.” Getting rid of ethanol subsidies would “slightly increase carbon monoxide emissions… but slightly reduce emissions of ozone precursors.”

On reducing alleged global warming, the GAO says that the “change in greenhouse gas emissions that would occur if ethanol fuel were not subsidized is likely to be minimal.”

On reducing petroleum imports, the GAO concludes, “Ethanol tax incentives have not significantly enhanced U.S. energy security.” Ethanol reduces U.S. gasoline consumption by “less than one percent.”

Now, be aware that the Cato author is an old righty Club-for-Growther, but the facts that he presents are easily verifiable elsewhere. Is this ridiculous, or what? And by making it from corn, it uses more energy to produce ethanol than the energy it provides. It’s made much more efficiently and cheaply elsewhere, but we don’t import it, thanks to a 54 cent per gallon tarriff (that ADM successfully lobbied for heavily about ten years ago). Have a gander at this “Ethanol Primer” from Taxpayers for Common Sense (and no, it’s not a front group). You can see how mad this really is. And when ethanol subsidies increase, the price of food goes up, because there is less corn for food sources.

So, if you’d made it this far, my point is the problem isn’t just “Big Oil”. They’re definitely a big part of the problem, but the bigger picture is twofold. Both parties are continuing to drink from the corporate trough at the expense of the public interest. And more importantly, as a nation, many of us are still stuck in an early-20th century mindset in regards to energy production and consumption. We need to use less, and we need to get it from renewable and efficient sources. There’s no way around that fact.

Hilarious Bush on global warming by Will Ferrell. Scary how accurate he is. Enjoy and have a good weekend!

As our thoughts turn not only to to those soldiers who have died but to those now alive that sadly, will have to be remembered next and subsequent Memorial Days thanks to Bush’s war of choice, it is important that even as we pay respects, we need to keep the truth at the forefront of out hearts and minds. I read this op-ed in the Chattanoogan today, and it said something that needs to be screamed from the rooftops, as it should have been a few years ago when the propaganda was in full swing (emphasis mine):

The only way to truly honor our war dead and those that have fought in our wars would be to tell the truth about why they died and why they fought and why there must come a day – in honor of them – when we must put a stop to needless war and the killing and maiming, the ruining of lives and the heartbreak and suffering that comes from it.

The last time an American soldier died or fought for our freedom was World War II. That is the plain fact and the plain truth. To say that any soldier since World War II fought or gave up his life in order that we might enjoy our freedom is a horrible mistake in reasoning.

It is a horrible mistake because it is not just a mistake but a mistake that perpetuates and promotes our insatiable appetite for needless war and needless death and suffering under the guise that it was all for the cause of freedom.

No, it wasn’t. Every soldier that has died or fought under the American flag since World War II has done it because of the immoral and wrong-headed policies of our presidents and government leaders, backed by the ignorant and phony patriotism of the masses…those same masses that still believe even to this day that each one of our war dead gave up their lives for our freedom.

Other than reiterating how important and obvious the above statement should be to anyone with half a brain stem, there’s nothing else to say except as you remember those who have died, remember that many of them didn’t have to, and we should be never be afraid of reminding those who feel otherwise about that fact.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. CNN is now reporting:

Congressional Democrats plan to send to President Bush a war-spending bill without a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, two Democratic leadership aides tell CNN…

The bill is expected to include benchmarks that the Iraqi government would have to achieve. The bill is also expected to require the president to provide numerous reports to Congress before August 2007 on the Iraqi government’s progress, the aides said.

If the Iraqi government fails to meet the benchmarks, the aides said, reconstruction funds could be cut. The bill may also allow the president to waive the penalties for failing to meet the benchmarks if he feels they are necessary.

So Bush gets the money, and he can ignore the benchmarks. Perhaps they can add an amendment that lets him use Pelosi as a footstool, too. Pelosi has said she will not support the supplemental bill.  Mr. 28% looked at them and they’ve apparently blinked.

It seems as though that spine transplant that some thought the Dems had gotten turned out to be just a few vertebrae. Doctors now report that those few vertebrae actually have several herniated disks.

So, what now? You can start by calling Peter Welch’s office at (888) 605-7270 (in VT) or (202)225-4115 (in DC) and letting him know what you think. If Welch is serious about ending the war (and let’s not turn this into yet another impeachment thread, please), this is most definitely a make-or-break moment. Make sure he knows that.

Welcome to Pottersville has a great Frank Rich piece today about the symbolic importance of Jerry Falwell’s death:

Though Mr. Falwell had long been an embarrassment and laughingstock to many, including a new generation of Christian leaders typified by Mr. Kuo, the timing of his death could not have had grander symbolic import. It happened at the precise moment that the Falwell-Robertson brand of religious politics is being given its walking papers by a large chunk of the political party the Christian right once helped to grow. Hours after Mr. Falwell died, Rudy Giuliani, a candidate he explicitly rejected, won the Republican debate by acclamation. When the marginal candidate Ron Paul handed “America’s mayor” an opening to wrap himself grandiloquently in 9/11 once more, not even the most conservative of Deep South audiences could resist cheering him. If Rudy can dress up as Jack Bauer, who cares about his penchant for drag?

Wasn’t the MSM coverage of Falwell’s passing kind of funny? Aside from from the obvious nutjobs, people were struggling to say something, anything nice about the departed Christofascist gasbag.

This weekend I was thinking about the impact of Giuliani not giving in on his pro-choice stance. Although I am quite certain he will not win the nomination (nor will the GOP win the presidency), I can’t help but wonder if it will have a larger ripple effect in terms of bringing those who would like to vote GOP but are nauseated by the theocrats back into the fold. Now, aside from the fact that he seems to be a major sleazebag, there’s still no getting past the simple fact that Giuliani’s worst thing is his unapologetic warmongering and his continual sodomizing of the corpse of 9-11. And although that kind of thing still impresses the 25% still supportive of Bush (whom I suspect would also be impressed and enthralled by waving a piece of string with a feather on it in front of them), I don’t think that’s going to play well with people who don’t buy into that kind of b.s. anymore.

I’m thrilled to death about the fact that the GOP is so utterly, unbelievably screwed on so many levels. It’s sickening (and revealing) that the main reservation about the war expressed to the Prez in that GOP meeting a week or two ago was how the war is hurting GOP chances in the next election. Wow, they’ve finally found a good reason to be against the war – self-preservation. How noble. Sit back and grab the popcorn, this is going to be an interesting show.

crossposted at Five Before Chaos

You may remember a few weeks ago, I wrote about the new farm bill, more specifically how the subsidies for Big Corn and Soy make it so the least healthiest foods are the cheapest, and how this ties into our nation’s poorest people having problems with obesity and other diet-related problems. In keeping with that theme, have a look over at this piece at Tom Paine, where it talks about how four members of Congress tried to live on $21 of food per week, the average weekly food stamp allotment. It’s not pretty, and once again, it puts the problems of the nutritional challenges that the poor in this nation have to face:

“No organic foods, no fresh vegetables, we were looking for the cheapest of everything,” McGovern said in an interview with The Washington Post at a Washington supermarket. “We got spaghetti and hamburger meat that was high in fat-the fattiest meat on the shelf. I have high cholesterol and always try to get the leanest, but it’s expensive. It’s almost impossible to make healthy choices on a food stamp diet.”

It does not help that some of the cost estimates of the USDA recommended meals seem out of date. A chili recipe that calls for three-quarters of a pound of ground beef, beans, celery, onions and seasonings is priced at $3.87 for four servings. But the lowest-priced ground beef, with 20 percent fat, was selling this week for between $2.99 and $3.59 a pound at two major Washington supermarkets.

After about three days on their food stamp diet, Lisa McGovern wrote, “We’ve been eating so minimally-concerned that we won’t have enough food to carry us through to Tuesday. I can see an impact on our energy levels, even in just these few days. When Jim got home around 10 last night, he just seemed a little `flat.’ He’s usually very animated when recapping his work day, whether it was good or bad. But the lack of fuel seemed to drain that from him a bit.”

It goes without saying that it’s sickening that we have billions of dollars for unnecessary wars and tax breaks for polluters, when there are people struggling to put food in their mouths. I guess it just says a lot about our priorities as a nation. You can also read one of the congresspeople’s blog about the experience here.

crossposted at five before chaos.

… although I’d really like to, using a dull X-Acto knife. I’d probably find a tumor that looked like Joe Lieberman. Now, yes, Emanuel does deserve a bit of credit for helping to win back the House, but dammit, now he’s adding ammunition to that argument about there being no differences between the parties/business as usual. David Sirota is reporting about a secret trade deal with Peru and Panama that has been going on behind closed doors, a lobbyist-written one that’s plain awful, even moreso because one of the Dems’ pledges was the end of such trade deals. If I’m understanding this correctly, the labor and environmental protections are not in the main text, rather “side agreements” which are basically unenforceable. And that’s making the White House happy…

Meanwhile, White House and GOP participants in the deal are now signaling that the deal’s much-touted labor and environmental provisions are designed to be kept out of the core text of trade agreements and thus potentially rendered utterly unenforceable. To date, the specific legislative language of the secret deal has been kept concealed from the public.

[This] move may explain why the Bush-connected head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has told reporters he has received “assurances that the labor provisions [in the deal] cannot be read to require compliance.” It may also explain why the dealmakers have yet to release the legislative language of the trade deal texts in question. If they are planning to not actually change the texts of the deals and pass them as is, there may not actually be any new language, meaning there would likely not be any substantive change to U.S. trade policy, despite the flood of press releases.

So where does Rahm fit into this? Well, rank-and-file Dems caught wind of this and wanted to have an open debate on the matter at the Democratic Caucus Meeting (which I believe was yesterday). Emmanuel initially agreed, then removed the debate from the agenda at the last minute. It’s quite obvious whose interests he’s looking out for, and it’s certainly not labor and the environment. Seems like he’s perfectly happy with yet another trade agreement with no enforceable protections. Don’t forget, he was one of the principle architects of NAFTA, which kick-started the whole race to the bottom that American industry continues to suffer from today, and it’s not getting any better. This morning, House Dems who aren’t too happy about this are having a meeting with Pelosi about it, so hopefully something good will come of it. Who knows?

I’ve said it before:  these people need to be marginalized. Rahm’s work in winning back the House shouldn’t get him off of the hook on this. And he continues to add to the cynicism that people such as myself who are not in the party have about “them all being corrupt”. It needs to end. Now. Bush is only part of the problem (and a major one at that). The enablers need to be held accountable as well.

Bush’s lapdog is at it again. The self-proclaimed “independent Democrat” just helped out at a fund raiser for Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, as the WaPo reports:

Not only has Lieberman endorsed Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine.) — one of Democrats’ biggest targets in the 2008 cycle — but he’s planning to co-host a fundraiser for her on June 21 in Washington, D.C.

The event, which will be held in a Capitol Hill location still to be determined, will feature Lieberman and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) — a very rare bipartisan fundraiser. Attendees are being asked to raise $3,000; $2,000 would come in the form of a political action committee donation while the other $1,000 would be a personal contribution, according to an electronic invite for the fundraiser obtained today by The Fix.

Now can someone explain to me how a fundraiser for a Republican senator is a “bipartisan” fundraiser? Is Jack McMullen or Rich Tarrant going to have one for Pat Leahy next time around?

More than ever, aside from his love of all things Iraq in which he continually undermines the efforts to end the war, Lieberman needs to be neutralized. It’s time to strip him of his seniority and committee assignments as soon as posssible. It’s quite clear whose side he’s on now, and it’s not ours.

crossposted at five before chaos.

Now, I know I continually state that it’s just too damn early to be talking about Election ’08. But every now and then something pops up that needs mentioning. If you paid attention to the MSM after the first Dem debate a few weeks ago, one of the frames was about crazy Senator Mike Gravel, who had the audacity to point out that the fact that none of the top tier candidates had strongly denounced the idea of using nukes against Iran, even asking Obama who he’d “want to nuke”. Yeah, that’s reeeeaaal crazy, right? At the DNC winter meeting he had the temerity to claim that  “because of the extreme importance of any decision to go to war,” anybody who voted for it is not qualified to hold the office of President.” Oh, the insanity, please lock this man up!

As you can read in this piece in The Progressive, Gravel has a history of going out on a limb and saying and doing the right thing. He was at the forefront of trying to cut off funding to end the Vietnam War. He’s not afraid to hold his own party responsible for the Iraq mess. And sadly, he’ll never be president. His honesty is truly a liability, and easy to paint in the MSM as unhinged madness. Could you imagine how the MSM would spin this? –

“Our leaders are promoting delusional thinking when boasting that the United States and Americans are superior to the rest of the human race. We are no better and no worse,” he says, in a highly unusual pitch for a candidate.

Gravel says “we’re number one” is a hollow slogan when the United States is actually number thirty-seven in health care and when 30 percent of students fail to graduate high school.

On the other hand, the United States is number one, he points out, in the production of weapons, consumer spending, government, commercial, and personal debt, the number of prisoners, energy consumption, and environmental pollution.

He also favors carbon taxes to fund alternative energy initiatives, gay marriage, and the legalization of marijuana. Sounds like he could come to Vermont and beat the pants off of Douglas in a heartbeat. But sadly, we still have places like the Bible Belt to contend with in this country, whose unhinged whackos will undoubtedly think Gravel is an unhinged whacko.

He’s 76, and is the longest of long-shots. But I hope to hell he stays visible in this race until the very end, because his message is a refreshingly honest alternative to Obama’s calculated “inspirational” rhetoric and Clinton’s consultant-written drivel. And it gives the leftier of us an alternative to Kucinich’s hokey New Agey claptrap, which is extremely unsettling to those of us who have our feet on terra firma. Let’s hope he sticks it out. You can visit his site at http://www.gravel2008.us/.

Someone at the Agency of Natural Resources seem to have their undies on a bit too tight lately. On Wednesday, this editorial appeared in the Rutland Herald entitled “Douglas’ Sterling Environmental Record” under the byline of George Crombie, the new ANR chief:

Now I know that there are those who are disappointed that the governor doesn’t sign every pledge or agree to support all pieces of proposed legislation that come across his desk. But as I saw in February when Gov. Douglas urged his New England colleagues and the premiers of Canada’s eastern provinces to take a regional approach to climate change, auto emissions and energy production, he takes bold action on initiatives that will have long-term benefits for Vermont’s – and the country’s – natural resources.

Methinks he doth protest too much? As anybody in the environmental comunity will attest, Douglas is always doing with environmental issues what Douglas does best; being a roadblock and an impediment to any meaningful action, but then taking full personal credit for any tiny bit of positive policy change that manages to squeeze through (even if he was against it from the beginning).Ol’ Jimbo has mastered the art of political theater in making the smallest ventures seem like the most grandiose accomplishments, and unfortunately the public falls for it, more often than not.  Nothing to be surprised about, but this seems like an unusually direct response to what has been a growing chorus of criticism (in pieces such as this one). In fact, I’d even say the writing looks, somehow familiar.

Maybe this?…

“You may have noticed Darren Allen’s absence from the Halls over the last couple of days, and we want to explain, the editors noted. ” Allen, who started this blog two legislative sessions ago as this paper’s first venture into the blogosphere, has decided to leave his post as chief of the Vermont Press Bureau to become the communications director for the Agency of Natural Resources.”

Allen will join two former colleagues in the Douglas administration – David Mace, who is the spokesman for the Agency of Commerce and Community Affairs, and John Zicconi, the spokesman for the Agency of Transportation. Mace and Zicconi have been in their posts for some time.

Now, a few people on the inside that I talk to occasionally think this is the work of the former reporter who is now part of the army of highly paid spinmeisters in the service of the Governor.

So whose nerve was rubbed here? Was it Douglas? Crombie? Or maybe just Allen, who has certainly demonstrated at this very site that he is exceptionally prickly and hates to leave things he doesn’t like just hanging out there.

It’ll be interesting to see if we hear more from “Crombie” on the matter, and if Crombie’s voice continues to sound eerily… familar.