PEBO's Weekly Web/Radio Address

Only 45 days until PEBO becomes PBO. Bush will stop pretending to be a rancher and move in to his new mansion with wet bar. I hope the wet bar is supplied with plenty of pretzels.

The Real John McCain Opposes Clean Energy

Video from the League of Conservation Voters, contrasting McCain's sudden embrace of clean energy to his 20+ year record opposing clean energy.



LCV2008:

The John McCain we know has repeatedly voted against national clean energy goals, against clean and efficient cars, and has accepted nearly $2 million from oil and gas interests.

I Read The News Today, Oh Boy: October 10, 2008

Hang your head, Herbert Hoover

The man who prosecuted William Ayers 40 years ago writes to the New York Times decrying any effort to link Ayers to Obama, and pointing out that the case against Ayers was dismissed because Nixon's Attorney General John Mitchell broke the law investigating the case.

Who's the real radical extremist? Sarah Palin and her whackadoodle Alaskan Independence Party pals. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. calls AIP "The Last Refuge of a Scoundrel." And she's an ignoramous who doesn't know anything about anything, even energy; yesterday she couldn't answer a basic question about Alaskan oil.. And doesn't that make John McCain look even more out-of-touch and foolish for saying she's the nation's top energy expert? Maybe if she were competing against kindergartners.

From the hubris file: McCain/Palin campaign issue a report declaring that Sarah Palin is innocent of the Troopergate charges. Well, all righty then!

Washington Post documents more angry crowd behavior at McCain/Palin events.

Freaking out about the economy? My third favorite economist (sorry Bonddad, Atrios and Krugman have you beat) sez We WILL GET THROUGH This Financial Crisis. If we have the right leadership (cough, Obama, cough). George W. Bush's economic policies have led to the worst year in the stock market since 1932. Heckuva job, Buckfush!

Our next President bought 30 minutes of prime time for Wednesday, October 29, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. Major economic address, I'd imagine.

New Obama Ad: A Stronger Economy

Good, not great, but solid. I like the serious tone, and the lack of cutesy music. I wish it was lit a little better.

Pipeline to Nowhere?

Palin's big achievement, the oil pipeline, may never be built as Canadian indian tribes who own the land through which it will pass oppose it.

Plus, she's been lying about it, as work on the pipeline has not begun:

"I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history," Palin said in her speech at the Republican National Convention on Sept. 3, 2008, and in a radio address three days later.

"We began a nearly $40-billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence."

[]

TransCanada has begun planning the pipeline, but it has not started construction, and it will not do so any time soon, if ever.

Heckuva job Sarah!

Newsweek: Palin's Pipeline to Nowhere

Politifact.com: Palin's pipeline - less than meets the eye

Babbling/Blather '08

Sarah Palin, who John McSame says knows more about energy than anyone in the country, answering a question on energy today:

"Oil and coal? Of course, it's a fungible commodity and they don't flag, you know, the molecules, where it's going and where it's not. But in the sense of the Congress today, they know that there are very, very hungry domestic markets that need that oil first," Palin said. "So, I believe that what Congress is going to do, also, is not to allow the export bans to such a degree that it's Americans that get stuck to holding the bag without the energy source that is produced here, pumped here. It's got to flow into our domestic markets first."

Fucking genius, there.

We Tried Offshore Drilling, and Oil Prices Doubled

wikipedia: Oil Platform
A typical offshore Oil/Gas platform.

HuffPo: We Tried Offshore Drilling and Oil Prices Doubled

At the end of 2006, the Republican Congress and the president enacted "The Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act," which opened for drilling 8 million acres of the Outer Continental shelf estimated to contain more than 40 billion barrels of oil. Oil prices were only $60 a barrel then. In the two years since, prices have more than have doubled.

Doesn't that prove that legislation to permit offshore drilling increases oil prices? That seems to be the "logic" of John McCain and the Republicans. Late last month, "Republican John McCain on Wednesday credited the recent $10-a-barrel drop in the price of oil to President Bush's lifting of a presidential ban on offshore drilling."

That's right, the man who wants to be the next President of the United States believes that doing absolutely nothing -- which is what Bush did when he reversed his father's ban, since the congressional ban is still in place -- dropped oil prices $10.

Obama Getting His Message Out

Takes this conservative radio host to school:


His new ad attacking McCain the "Maverick":


Republicans take pride in being ignorant:


Unfortunately for the tire-gauge-waving Karl Rove operatives, yesterday McCain agreed with Obama on the tire gauge issue:

"And could I mention that Senator Obama a couple of days ago said that we ought to all inflate our tires, and I don’t disagree with that. The American Automobile Association strongly recommends it."

Bonus video: John McCain, May 8, 2008:


John McCain: Four More Years of Bushit.

John McCain (R-Hess Oil)

John McCain's Bushit Express continues, lubricated by Big Oil money.

After he reversed his position on offshore oil drilling, "executives" at Hess Oil gave him $285,000 in contributions.

I say "executives" in quotes, because one of the contributors was a Hess Oil office manager and her husband, am Amtrak worker. Both gave $28,500 to the RNC's committee to elect McCain President. Two people who have never given to a political campaign before this year give McCain $57,000! The couple rent their home in Flushing Queens, and the median annual income in their neighborhood is basically what they gave John McCain, so I doubt they're flush with cash.

The LA Times is now reporting that the massive fundraiser took place just before McCain flipped in Big Oil's favor, but it doesn't really matter. He's in the tank of Big Oil.

Obama, on the other hand, released his energy plan yesterday, and among many proposals, it contains this laudable goal: 1,000,000 plug-in hybrid cars -- 150 miles per gallon -- on the road by 2015.

The choice is clear. Vote for McCain, vote for Big Oil and Global Warming. Vote for Obama, vote to decrease energy use and save the planet.

John McCain's Daily Gaffe(s)

Yesterday was a highlight reel of McCain gaffes. Let's go to the tape.

1) Admits oil executives are directing his energy policy:

My friends, we have to drill off shore. We have to do it. It's out there and we can do it. And we can do that. The oil executives say within a couple of years we could be seeing results from it. So why not do it?

A Republican president advised by oil executives tripled gas prices in the last 7 1/2 years. A McCain presidency advised by the same self-interested group could lead to $12/gallon gas. Whee-hoo!

2) Misstates the history of "The Surge"

Watch the entire interview here. [question starts at 3:00 in]

Katie Couric: Senator McCain, Senator Obama says, while the increased number of US troops contributed to increased security in Iraq, he also credits the Sunni awakening and the Shiite government going after militias. And says that there might have been improved security even without the surge. What's your response to that?

McCain: I don't know how you respond to something that is as-- such a false depiction of what actually happened. Colonel MacFarland was contacted by one of the major Sunni sheiks. Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others. And it began the Anbar awakening. I mean, that's just a matter of history.

In fact, as Spencer Ackerman and Ilan Goldenberg have reported, the record firmly establishes the opposite: instead of being caused by the surge, the key signs of the Anbar Awakening occurred not only before that strategy was implemented, but before it was ever conceived.

As a subplot, Katie Couric's pathetic CBS Evening News that conducted the interview, didn't run McCain's actual answer during its broadcast. They edited their piece so McCain's lie was cut out of the answer. (Journalism is dead. Long live the deceitful corporate media.) Here's the CBS edited answer contrasted with the actual answer:



3) McCain accuses Obama of losing the war to win the election. Despicable. Even Joke Line at Time magazine is disgusted with this one.

I had the courage and the judgment to say that I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. It seems to me that Sen. Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.

Waste Not, Want Not

Library of Congress:
Farm Security Administration, Office of War Information Collection
Display of home-canned food
[between 1941 and 1945]
With the economy imploding (thanks a lot, George & Dick) everyone is looking to save money.

Britain's government is encouraging a return to Victory Gardens.

Towns in Massachusetts are doing all kinds of things to save money, including saving energy by installing solar roofs, closing buildings, and using more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Grocery shopping tips abound: here, here, here, here, here. I learned to grocery shop in Mrs. K's health class so I'm all set! Shop the exterior of the store for veggies, meat & dairy; the more processed & hence more expensive products are in the middle. Make a list using the store circular. Plan menus for the week. Stock up when pantry foods you eat often are on sale. Done!

The Boston Globe has an article today on recycling the ultimate waste: human. Ewwww.