I'm amazed at returning to find Political Cortex now a screamer site! No comment, it seems, is based on a sober appreciation of the failure of the voters to install honest legislators and executives. All the blame, it seems, must go to the prostitutes and not the johns.

We specialized humans have decided to buy our governance from the lowest bidder for our nodding assent to promises snicker-inducing in any reality but that of election campaigns.

But we're not evolved to handle the reflexiveness of the niche we've built. Darwin hasn't been around long enough, and we don't like him anyway, for pointing out we're not the crown of creation, but merely an over-adaptable self-obsessed twig on the evolutionary bush.

And bush was devolution, not easily overcome.

Now Political Cortex has been invaded by the noise machines, especially Skip MacLiar (whatever...)

Borrrrrrrrrring!

I'm amazed at returning to find Political Cortex now a screamer site! No comment, it seems, it based on a sober appreciate of the failure of the voters to install honest legislators and executives. All the blame, it seems, must go to the prostitutes and not the johns.

We specialized humans have decided to buy our governance from the lowest bidder for our nodding assent to promises snicker-inducing in any reality but that of election campaigns.

But we're not evolved to handle the reflexiveness of the niche we've built. Darwin hasn't been around long enough, and we don't like him anyway, for pointing out we're not the crown of creation, but merely an over-adaptable self-obsessed twig on the evolutionary bush.

And bush was devolution, not easily overcome.

Now Political Cortex has been invaded by the noise machines, especially Skip the Liar (whatever...)

Borrrrrrrrrring!

Clean Energy Jobs Go Swimming: $300 million per year for 10,000 jobs

This is part of a series of brief posts on 'clean energy jobs' opportunities for sparking meaningful employment, quickly, in the United States.

Legislation is, they say, analogous to making sausage. Sometimes, in the mixing and mashing, seemingly well-intentioned and sensible options can create counter-productive situations and leave many valued goods on the table. One small example of this could open the door to creating employment, lowering costs for state & local governments (including educational institutions), improving 'customer' satisfaction, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

When it came to the stimulus package earlier this year, "swimming pools" were explicitly excluded from ARRA funding mechanisms.  While, amid serious economic stress and government investment to keep the economic from continuing in freefall, it might have seemed morally appropriate to do this, this restriction simply flies in the face of reality and good sense.

Last week was the 5th Annniversary of Bush's idiotic "Mission Accomplished" moment. And John McCain tried defending Bush, blaming it on the Navy. This led to a considerable amount of attention on John McCain's own suggestion that we should stay in the Iraq Quagmire for 100 years. Howard Dean in particular slammed McCain for his willingness to sacrifice American soldiers for oil profits for 100 years. Poor John McCain didn't like having people pick on him, so John "wimp" McCain began whining and complaining about it. Well, Mr. McCain, if you can't take criticism of a stupid policy, how the hell are you going to stand up to al-Qaeda? Oh, yeah...just like Bush you plan on wasting time, money, and lives in Iraq for 100 years rather than actually fighting al-Qaeda, the people who attacked us.

Last week I discussed the economic mess we are in. Someone commented that I am making things up and that job growth has been fine under Bush. She claimed I gave no evidence that job growth has been nearly flat during the Bush administration. Well, let me quote Paul Krugman, with an illustration:

Mammon in a New Suit

No one can serve two masters.  He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon.  Matthew 6:24

Compassion and Capitalism don't mix.

Justin Soutar

(NOTE: This article currently appears as the cover story in the inaugural issue of U. S. Politics [April 2008].)

Based on falling congressional approval ratings, Republicans have been publicly implying that Americans don't like Congress since the Democrats gained control in January. In fact, congressional Republicans have far lower approval ratings than Democrats.

Given the recent polling data, Republicans should stop speciously pointing fingers and start asking: 1) why do most Americans view us negatively, and 2) what can we actually do to change that?

Last week's Gallup poll found that more American's trusted Democrats over Republicans to do a better overall job and to handle national security and prosperity. The new Washington Post/ABC poll results contain similarly bad news for Republicans.

"The economy is good -- if you're rich. For the rest of us, there's not much to write home about."~~Richard Walrath

Sometimes I'm amazed at how much I know about the financial markets and the economy. I don't understand any of it, but I know a lot of stuff, thanks to my friend and mentor, Richard Walrath, who's been to the market more than once. He says when George Bush brags that the economy is booming, he's probably right. The economy is exploding with a big boom, and Walrath says now we are engaged in a great battle to see how long this country can endure.

The Fed just poured a bunch of money into the market, which was news to me, but Walrath said the Fed has been manipulating the market for years, especially during the Bush years.

The Senate is considering, amid all the energy legislation, instituting a nation-wide renewable power standard (RPS).  

Oh ... boring ... the snores have begun ...

No

Actually

CRITICAL to moving toward a prosperous and sustainable energy future.  

Take two minutes ... just 2 minutes ... to write your Senators to urge them to support a minimum of a 15 percent RPS by 2020 ...

Confused, follow over the fold to learn more about RPS and why they matter.

   

No wonder new home sales were up – there’s a fire sale going on. Again, according to Reuters, “[the record price drop] showed home builders taking extraordinary steps to move houses”.
 
 

Global Warming skeptics often focus on the messenger, Al Gore, rather than listening to the message. We should hope -- although perhaps could expect -- that the same thing will not occur with the  Clinton Global Initiative's (CGI) Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program.

As per Energize America's Energy Smart Communities concept (but, to be honest, $billions ahead of EA2020), this initiative will make real progress in terms of reducing energy use while, at the same time, creating a greater capacity for energy efficiency in the private sector around the globe. Notably, the CGI claims that this program will double the annual investment in building energy efficiency globally.

As most who open this diary are already aware, my passion is clear ... helping my/your family, my/your community, my/your nation, my/our world find a path toward a prosperous and sustainable energy future. A path that will help us (US) navigate the dangerous seas of the Perfect Storm combination of Peak Oil and Global Warming.

What follows is part of the concepts that the next President should embrace ...

President Bush likes to claim that the economy is doing really well, citing record highs in the stock market and relatively low unemployment as proof. Things are going so well that this year the Forbes 400 richest people are all BILLIONAIRES. But the reality for the working class in America is much different and the canary in the coal mine may just have fallen over.

One of the most eye-popping parts of Al Gore's inconvenient truth was when he boarded a crane to illustrate the unprecedented rise in carbon dioxide levels. The inconvenient truth of our economy could be equally well illustrated as the fabulously rich have gotten fabulously richer, while the working class has gotten (to name another pop culture hit) "Left Behind."