Tax History 101

There's been some whining from the political right about Obama's tax policy changes. Pundits call him a socialist and declare his policies will kill the motivation of successful hard working Americans. Here's a great little chart of taxes on the wealthiest Americans that helps put it in historical perspective.



thanks to Sansing "Momma Mac" McPherson

Monkey Wrench Update

Recently appointed secretary of the interior, Ken Salazar, has canceled the sale of drilling rights on 77 parcels of land in Utah. The 130,000 acres had been haphazardly auctioned off in December and monkey-wrenched by activist Tim DeChristopher (see previous post).

NPR Article

The Monkey Wrench

On Dec. 19, 2008 Tim DeChristopher bid on several oil and gas leases during a Bureau of Land Management auction in Salt Lake City. DeChristopher disrupted the auction of drilling leases by bidding up parcels of land by hundreds of thousands of dollars without any intention of paying for them.
Telluride News Article

DeChristopher, an economics student and environmental activist, had protested, written letters and spoken to his congressman about the lease of the land near several national parks. His new organization, bidder70.org, has raised over $45,000 to cover the first payment on the 22,500 acres.
bidder70.org

DeChristopher's lawyer, Patrick Shea, who was the head of the BLM under President Clinton, said it is not clear if the government will accept the payment since he has no plans to drill. Shea is working for free partly because he’s appalled at how the Bush Administration has run the BLM.


BLM map of oil and gas property in the west

thanks to trip "metrohunk" huxley

Tennessee Coal Disaster

On Dec. 22nd a landslide of 5.3 million cubic yards of coal ash, a waste product of coal burning power plants, contaminated the Tennessee River near Kingston, TN. The river is a source of drinking water for millions of people. To put the size of the spill in perspective, this equals over 1 billion gallons, or 100 times the size of the Exxon Valdez spill.

Coal Ash contains heavy metals including mercury, arsenic and lead, and according to a Dec 13, 2007 article in Scientific American, is more radioactive than nuclear waste.

First Hand Account of the Coal Ash Disaster


On my way up to Ohio at Christmas, we drove through the beautiful mountains of West Virginia and saw several billboards reading "Clean, Carbon Neutral Coal". The true weight of the irony was lost on me, as I was not yet aware of the coal ash landslide.


Website with Facts on Coal Power

Sorry to end the year on a bummer, but with all the political rhetoric over "clean coal" I felt this event was too important. Here's to 2009 being about change and progress.

The 2030 Stimulus Plan

Ed Mazria of Architecture 2030 has put together an economic stimulus proposal that could be a win, win, win solution for housing, job creation and the environment. The proposal is a mortgage buy-down program to help the housing and commercial building markets while creating green jobs through energy efficiency upgrades of existing buildings, and reducing carbon and environmental impacts of the Building Sector.

Learn more about the proposal here:
2030 Stimulus Plan

Vote for the proposal at Ideas for Change in America, an organization that identifies and creates momentum around the best ideas for our government to turn the desire for change into specific policies:
Vote for 2030 Challenge Stimulus Plan Here

Green Dream Team?

Obama's appointments for his top energy and environmental posts are receiving acclaim from environmental groups including the League of Conservation Voters. While the challenges ahead are daunting to say the least, Obama’s advisers "seem united in their concern for the threats facing the planet and unafraid to use the pricing power of the market or the financial power of government to address them."

- Steven Chu, physicist and Nobel prize winner, will run the Energy Department
- Lisa Jackson, NJ enviro-chief, will run the EPA
- Carol Browner, past EPA chief under Clinton, will be the senior White House adviser
- Nancy Sutley, LA's enviro-chief, will lead the White House Council on Environmental Policy

NY Times Editorial

League of Conservation Voters Article

Mountaintop Removal Good News Bad News

The Natural Resources Defense Council has persuaded Bank of America to stop providing financing to companies that mine coal through mountaintop removal. The statement came after NRDC took several BofA executives to visit coal sites in Appalachia to witness first hand the destruction the mining practice incurs.
NY Times Article

While the private sector makes progress, our government seems to be moving backwards. The EPA approved a last-minute rule change by the Bush administration that will allow coal companies to bury streams under the rocks leftover from mining. The change would eliminate a tool that citizens groups have used in lawsuits to keep mining waste out of streams.

A 1983 rule prohibited dumping the fill from mountaintop removal mining within 100 feet of streams. In practice, however, the government hadn't been enforcing the rule. 535 miles of streams were buried or diverted from 2001 to 2005 in America. Along with the loss of the streams has been an increase of erosion and flooding.
McClatchy Article

A Moment to Remember

The significance of Tuesday's election is still sinking in for me. I have gone through waves of emotion as I hear and read various stories about the moment in history we just witnessed. Judith Warner says it well in her NY Times article below.

I would like to thank everyone who voted, called, knocked on doors and donated their time and money towards a new era in American politics. Most importantly, I thank everyone that paid attention to the issues and choices we had and educated themselves on the problems that face us in the future. Now the real work begins, and as Obama has said, this isn't about him, it is about us.

We as a country must work to overcome the challenges that will define our moment in history. We can not rely on our government to create the change we want, we must do it ourselves in our homes, offices and in our neighborhoods. We have just proven that we can come together to overcome incredible odds - yes we did. Now it's time to prove we can work together to make our country a better place for our future generations.

Judith Warner NYT Article

Universal Voter Registration

During the primaries, American's turned out in record numbers to vote, and the Democratic turn out doubled from the last election cycle. But unfortunately today, some 50 million eligible American citizens are not on the rolls. The US is one of the few industrialized democracies that erects barriers to registration, making individuals sign themselves up and bear the burden of keeping their registration up to date. Not surprisingly it also has one of the lowest voter turnout rates. A universal voter registration could make it easier for all citizens to vote and engage more people in the process. Michael Waldman explores this and other ideas for taking advantage of the recent surge in Americans participating in our democratic process.
Waldman Newsweek Article

Today's Story

I was sitting in my front yard this evening planting petunias. A group of african american kids were walking down the street and saw my Obama yard sign. A 4 or 5 year old started singing "Obama, O-B-A-M-A, you know who that is? That's our next President! Obama, O-B-A-M-A..." I smiled and waved. About 10 minutes later, an older guy with a wooden cane was walking down the street. We nodded at each other as he passed, and when he came to my yard sign he stopped, turned around and walked up to me. He said as he reached for my hand, "Hey, my name is Chris, and I just wanted to tell you that I stole a flower from your yard the other day. I picked it for my sick mother. And I also wanted to let you know that I voted for Obama yesterday too." And he shook my hand again.

These were small moments that symbolize something significant. America really is changing. People are coming together, and people have real hope for the first time in a long time. Stories like this are not unique to me, or North Carolina, or even Obama. But something important is happening right now in America. So please my friends, reach out to fellow man and woman, stop them on the street, and shake their hand. It made my day.

Race and America

Barack Obama gave a historic speech on race and America in Philadelphia today. He addressed the recent issue of some inflammatory remarks made in the past by his pastor Reverend Wright, and used the reverend's story as an example of what is good and bad about the reality of black and white America. Obama pulled several issues out of the shadows that we have been reluctant to ask ourselves regarding race. The speech is about 35 minutes long, and is worth watching regardless of the color of your skin or who you plan to vote for.

Obama Speech Video

PS - sorry for the long silence - the prog posse is in full affect once again.

Furnace Efficiency Gets Meager Increase

The Bush Administration released new efficiency standards for home furnaces and boilers. After 6 years of development on the new national standard, the Department of Energy will increase furnace efficiency from 78% to 80%. In addition, this modest increase will not take effect for another 8 years, in 2015.
CS Monitor Article

Obama in the International Context

Here's an Op-Ed piece from the New York Times that looks at Obama's presidency in the greater context of the international world and America's changing role in it. It also references The Atlantic article from the previous post. The author, Roger Cohen, has a long career in international journalism dating back to the 1970's and has also co-written a biography of General Norman Schwartzkopf.
New York Times Op-Ed

The Bridge

Tonight is the eve of many elections across America. It also signals that 1 year from right now, we will be electing our next president. America continues to be polarized and divided on many issues, and the issues at stake are coming to a critical mass of dangerous proportions. The specifics of these issues and nuances of the candidate's policies can really become irrelevant to the larger picture of what is going on. This article from The Atlantic provides a step back from the divisive politics of today and looks at America in the context of what has truly defined it for the past 40 years: the baby boomer generation. The divisions of today's America are rooted in the 1960's, and the events that divided that generation have defined modern culture and politics today. The need for a bridge over these divisions cries out for a voice that simply can not come from the entrenched values and symbols of the baby boomers. The voice needs to come from someone who transcends the two sides that have been created and does not represent a continuation of the internal struggle America has faced the past 40 years.
This voice could be Barack Obama.

This is a long article, but is an extremely compelling take on where our country is right now. I encourage you to read all of it. Maybe not today, but someday... soon...

The Atlantic Article

thanks to brandon "the screen" pass

Left, Right and Center

I received some good feedback on the MoveOn post. The Petraeus ad and recent Rush Limbaugh verbal diarrhea about "fake soldiers" brings up an interesting question: what is the role of our current political extremes? Some say that we must have one extreme to balance out the other. The self righteous liberal activist yelling on a sidewalk is a counter weight to the self righteous conservative talk show host. If you lose one, the whole scale becomes tilted. Some feel the scale is already severely tilted (from both sides of course).

An even bigger question might be, where is the center? With all the polarizing issues out there like abortion, immigration, war and civil liberties, it becomes difficult to see much common ground sometimes. Can we resolve these issues through compromise from the center or would the center only provide watered down ineffectual policy, and still not represent the majority of Americans? Here's a centrist blog from last year that discusses the need for a central party to emerge:

View From The Center Blog

A 3rd party would most likely form from the center, thereby pushing both current major parties to the extremes. Are the Democrats too progressive or are they already too big of a compromise? The dems could move closer to the center and make room for a legit green or progressive party, but that could push the government farther right altogether.

So where does that leave us, the general citizens and semi-conscious voters? Are the extremists on both sides hurting the political process or are their voices necessary to avoid ineffective politicians? How does the media's spin affect our perception of our values compared to our actual beliefs and is our perception of our values really accurate? (remember the political compass)

Should we all move to the center?

MoveOn Backlash

When General Petraeus gave his Iraq report, MoveOn ran a full page ad in the New York Times questioning the bizarre calculations of violence and calling him "General Betray Us". Since then, Republicans and Fox News have blasted MoveOn as anti-American for questioning the accuracy of his report. Senator McCain said the organization "ought to be thrown out of this country."

A few days later, Republicans blocked a bill giving soldiers more leave time between tours and instead decided it needed to react to a newspaper ad and passed a resolution condemning personal attacks on General Petraeus by a vote of 72 to 25. While I do not always agree with MoveOn's statements, I certainly believe they have the right to condemn or question anyone they want to. If you agree, please add your name to a statement from MoveOn:
Sign the MoveOn Statement

The most interesting part of this story is the solidarity the 3 million MoveOn members have formed since the congressional resolution. Within 1 day, MoveOn exceeded their goal of $500,000 in donations for their next ad campaign, more than any day this year. A few days later, the goal of $1 million was exceeded, and now a few days later, the amount is at a staggering $1.7 million. The ad is highlighting the Republican leaders that blocked the bipartisan bill to give troops more leave time, but it represents something much greater. It's an opportunity to show congress we will not quietly sit back any longer, nor will we let them stifle the voice of questioning and dissent. I try to avoid asking folks for donations, but consider joining me in making a donation to MoveOn's next ad campaign:
Donate to Ad Campaign

The Petraeus Report on Iraq

General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker testified before a joint hearing of the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees. The general stated major progress was being made, that the surge has worked and we need to stay the course. According to several news reports, Petraeus and the Pentagon are using a bizarre formula for measuring violence and therefore progress in the country.

- The Los Angeles Times reports that people killed in car bombings don't count.
- The Washington Post reports that victims shot in the face don't count.
- The Center for Strategic and International Studies reports that Shi'a vs. Shi'a and Sunni vs. Sunni violence doesn't count
Petraeus Numbers:

Associated Press:

In addition, a comprehensive Government Accountability Office report ordered by Congress found that the "average number of daily attacks against civilians have remained unchanged from February to July 2007." In August, civilian casualties actually increased according to the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times. More U.S. troops died every month this year compared to the same month last year.

Unfortunately, it appears that some of the main stream media has missed these facts. On CBS, Katie Couric echoes the White House almost verbatim:
YouTube Video from MoveOn
And for you locals, WNC's Representative Heath Shuler has given a formal response to the Petraeus report:
Citizen-Times Article

Mountaintop Removal Aerial Photos

To follow up the mountaintop removal article, here are some photos of such a technique for a coal mine outside of Grundy, Virginia.

Mt Grundy Flickr Photos

The photos are courtesy of South Wings, a non-profit conservation organization that provides skilled pilots and aerial education to enhance conservation efforts across the Southeast.

South Wings

thanks to robin "the rabbit" raines

Mountain Top Coal Mining to Expand

The Bush administration is set to issue a regulation on Friday that would enshrine the coal mining practice of mountaintop removal. The technique involves blasting off the tops of mountains and dumping the rubble into valleys and streams.

All mining generates huge volumes of waste, known as excess spoil or overburden, and it has to go somewhere. For years, it has been trucked away and dumped in remote hollows of Appalachia. The regulation would explicitly state that the stream buffer zone rule does not apply for hundreds of miles of streams and valleys.

From 1985 to 2001, 724 miles of streams were buried under mining waste, according to the environmental impact statement accompanying the new rule. If current practices continue, another 724 river miles will be buried by 2018.

New York Times Article

AT&T Censors Pearl Jam

When Pearl Jam was performing the song "Daughter" during the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, the band broke into a version of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall." Reworking the lyrics of the classic rock song, Vedder sang, "George Bush, leave this world alone" and "George Bush, find yourself another home."

The lyrics that criticized Bush were muted in the webcast. AT&T admits that the censorship occurred and describes the muting as "a mistake by a webcast vendor."

Madison.com Article