Politics
On March 9, 2011 the Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence asked that two prominent Arizona politicians to step down from public office. Senator Bundgaard Representative Patterson have both received public attention for domestic violence situations involving law enforcement.
The dirty fingers of the billionaire Koch brothers seem to be leaving their grubby money-stained prints all over the news lately. ThinkProgress has just released a very telling video of Republican Senator Scott Brown enthusiastically sucking up to David Koch last week in Massachusetts. In the video, Koch repeatedly licks his lips, perhaps in eager anticipation of all the money that he will make with Brown’s compliant assistance. The weird tongue gesture is actually rather creepy and reptilian.
The divisive governor of the state of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, has inadvertently revealed his true motivations behind trying to kill the collective bargaining rights of some of the state’s unions. He thought was talking on the phone to right wing zillionaire David H. Koch, but the clueless governor was actually speaking to a New York blogger from the Buffalo Beast. During the recorded conversation Walker joked about bringing a baseball bat to a meeting with Democratic leaders, and said that…
As if it wasn’t already completely self-evident, WikiLeaks has released a number of cables showing that Saudi Arabia is probably going to run out of oil a lot sooner than they’ve been claiming, and that, of course, their ability to keep oil prices down at a “reasonable level” isn’t going to last much longer. (Why didn’t we listen to those crackpot hippies who were talking about peak oil back in the ’90s?…) “The cables, released by WikiLeaks, urge Washington to take…
West Virginia coal miners have always taken pride in supplying energy to the world. Although their work hours are long and the hazards of the job are many. They reluctantly dig coal to support their families, because there are no other opportunities for these hard working individuals. In a state that is politically controlled by the coal industry, politicians are bought and paid for every election. The campaign funds provided insure that clean energy will not find its way into…
Statement by American Public Transportation Association President William Millar “The proposal by the House Republican Study Committee for deep cuts to public transportation programs is ill conceived and short sighted. The ‘Spending Reduction Act of 2011’ will put jobs at risk, increase traffic congestion, and negatively impact the lives of millions of Americans who use public transportation. The proposed cuts to the New Starts program, grants for Intercity and High-Speed Rail and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority do not…
Republicans, many of them, would have public transportation funding cut despite the clear economic, financial (for citizens), quality of life, and environmental benefits. Why? Yonah Freemark of the Transport Politic finds some answers and shares them in Understanding the Republican Party’s Reluctance to Invest in Transit Infrastructure. Here’s a key piece of that article: As shown in the chart above (in Log scale), there was a relatively strong positive correlation between density of congressional districts and the vote share…
Obama’s 2011 State of the Union address (full text) is important to us all because it is not only a critical reflection on where we stand today, but also on where we’re going, where we need to go, and how we can succeed as a nation (all according to our President and his team, the people with the most power concerning this matter… or who should have the most power concerning this matter). Here are my reflections (and the…
This week, the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives adopted a new set of rules for the way the House runs – rules which threaten to undermine funding for our nation’s critical infrastructure needs. Under these rules, the new Republican majority will enact a draconian budget without a single hearing, without any input from the Budget Committee, without any outreach to Congressional Democrats, and without a direct vote by the House of Representatives. Merely by entering a…
New Transit Projects for 2011 A comprehensive list of transit projects scheduled to start construction or open in 2011. “Streetcar lines dominate the nation’s new transit construction landscape, but this year only light and commuter rail lines will open for service.” NYC Tries ‘Rapid’ Buses in Bid to Cut Transit Costs The city’s much-maligned bus system is getting a face-lift. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) surprised commuters on Manhattan’s East Side last fall by launching shiny stretch coaches…
Brazil’s Minister of Environment, Izabella Teixeira, delivered a statement to the COP10 Convention on Biological Diversity yesterday, highlighting Brazil’s positions and priorities for the remainder of the negotiations in Nagoya, Japan. Minister Teixeira’s statement came on the first day of the High-Level Ministerial Segment of COP10. The statement is a powerful one and something I thought was worth sharing on Ecolocalizer, so I’m including it in full here. Tenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity…
So the scenario I imagined yesterday did not come to pass. No debate. Certainly no muffins. Who would have thought that Charles Koch, CEO of Koch Industries, would ignore Joel Francis’ challenge to debate him on Prop 23 or skip the opportunity to explain why his company is meddling in California’s clean energy future? Joel Francis, California State University, Los Angeles senior, former Marine and debate team veteran, traveled from California to the Koch offices in Wichita, KS yesterday to…
With just over two weeks left until election day, more and more Californians are pledging to vote no on Prop 23, the deceptive dirty energy prop funded by out-of-state Texas oil companies and the billionaire tea-party funding Koch brothers. Several awesome videos have come out recently–some serious, some funny–but all getting the message out about the importance of defeating Prop 23 if we want to move towards a clean energy future. The song “Valero Oil of Texas” was first performed…
California’s Green Party candidate Laura Wells was arrested by San Rafael police after trying to attend the gubernatorial debates Tuesday night. It was the last big debate between Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican Meg Whitman. While the event was broadcast live from Dominican College in San Rafael, with Tom Brokaw moderating, it is not likely that very many people knew what was happening just outside the hall. According to spokesperson Marnie Glickman, Wells had tickets to the event and was…