Good morning, Christy.

I’m just putting everything on my VISA and then applying for a federal bailout.

Good Morning, Christy
With one more mouth to feed in this house, a bottom less pit aged one, I’m having to stretch the budget and what I’m making. I’m jokingly calling dinner the depression special. Ya know, leftovers with fresh vegies on top of rice. I told the kids that as time goes on, there’s going to be less meat/chicken/fish and more rice and potatoes….
I really worried about a coming depression and let’s not forget what got us out of the last one. The same thing that is pushing us into the current nightmare. Yikes.

As a Texas legislator so famously said a few years back during budget debate about cutting aid to the poor, “They’ll just have a little bit less to leave to their children.”

And the news just keeps gettting better:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..eheadlines

Good morning, Christy. This morning Lieberman was on Morning Joe, talking about our strong exports and what a positive sign this was. I very loudly yelled that of course exports are high because our dollar is in the tank. Not sure if he heard me or not but I’m sure the neighbors did.

Good morning, CHS. Great post, & the accompanying vid gave me the perfect link for all friends bemoaning the economy on my email addy list.

Thanks for the spew alert, BTW.

From a post by Eli this past weekend, and in response to the eternal question, What are we going to do?
get your household in order. Get a garden. Make sure your neighbours love you. Diversify your money a bit (it won’t help much, but better than not doing it.) Work with your community to build up community networks. Get to know your local reps if you can, so that when push comes to shove you can show them the suffering they can help and so they trust you. Push behind real progressive candidates when you can, when you can’t, go for the person who seems to be genuinely compassionate — they’re the ones who will at least break and give relief.
Very good advice which I am sharing with everyone I know.

I thought this video got the point across rather snarkily. Knew folks would get a kick out of it…

From the Department of People Who Don’t Have A Clue…

You don’t UNDERSTAND, my friends! If we WIN the WAR in Iraq, we can go on from there to Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran! And after our victorious flower-strewn parade through Teheran, rivalling the one in Baghdad, we will deploy our troops to free Czechoslovakia from Soviet rule, crush the Nazi’s in Berlin, and rout that lousy Czar!

Our military will turn back the British in Bunker Hill, support our Roman allies, and thwart the advances of that Mongol terrorist, Khan! Then only Alexander himself will stand between America and its complete hegemony over the entire world!

Well, and those Xia Dynasty bastards, but we’ll get to them, my friends!

boy this poster at Raw Story …got into 1 paragraph

July 16th, 2008 at 00:14:02 From: kasinca
Thugs and Crime Family

The thugs of the Bush Crime Family deregulate to allow the robber barons to run the companies into the ground and then they bail them out and pass the losses to the American tax payer while the thugs who are CEO can still get their golden parachutes from the failed company. Sure they believe in lower taxes but they could give a damn about passing the losses of the mortgage banks to us and the price of oil (due to speculation) at the pump. The GOP is a group of thugs no different that any mob. They are corrupt to the core and anyone who supports them should be locked up

and good morning all….. going to get my stitches out

Good Morning Christy and Firedogs -

goodness I love Robert Greenwald -

in 10 minutes of ‘news’ the other night there were 4 different states and innumberable school districts contemplating 4 day weeks

they are straight up holding this nation hostage

looking for some google time to go through some of Ida Tarbell’s work from a hundred years ago when she wrote of the extortion practiced by the extractionists -

Buy Our Crap or The Nation Gets It !

NW Natural Gas (Portland OR)is raising the price of gas up to 40% this winter!

Say, who actually owns the gas? Last time I looked, there was no Scrooge at the gas vents.

Oh, yes! It’s the people at the vents!

yea,and if some starve or eat shiiite,and get diabetes …so be it…1/4 OF OUR POPULATION NOW HAS THE DREADED DISEASE,i think from corn syrup added to EVERYTHING

Eat corn syrup, which is also up in price, pay the gas man!

What an excellent opportunity we have today. Yuppies, Muppies and Generation X can now face the same challenges the Greatest Generation faced, only in reverse. Fighting a two front war, yet not having to participate, and able to foist off the cost on multiple future generations. Learning how to explain to the world that we are not lawbreakers and war criminals but the Greatest Nation on Earth! Exciting chance to go from riches to rags, learning how ride bikes, walk, live in your car, to beg on street corners and grow a victory garden. Cheney/Bush; the gift that keeps on giving!

and OUR KIDS are getting the major RAYGUN SHAFT

http://www.boston.com/news/edu….._programs/

It’s all psychological, don’t ya know? Bush and McCain say so.

amazing in 7 short years…..OMG mission accoplished

Since we are a nation of whiners (which is just a winner with an H), we are not alone. On this matter, at least, the CEOs of the many corporations agree that the economy is in the shitter.

BTW, is anyone else sick of hearing on the news, NPR and other sources that gas costs $10/gallon in Europe? Actually, if the dollar had not fallen by 55% against the Euro during Bush’s riegn of terror, those same gas prices would cost Americans about $4.50 or $5/gallon, if we were paying with non-deflated war dollars.

DONT WHINE FOR ME Argentina

June 19, 2008, 4:04 pm
Superyacht Market Stays Strong
A new Superyachting Index shows that the top end of the yachting market is still holding firm – at least for now.

The index, which is compiled by The Luxury Institute and Camper & Nicholsons International – the yacht broker and charter company – found that new orders for yachts over 130 feet are up 18% in 2008. There were 254 new orders for yachts longer than 130-feet last year, up from 134 in 2005.

A superyacht in Doha, Qatar. (Getty Images)
The report also puts into perspective the astounding growth rate over the past decade for jumbo yachts. In 1997, there were just 241 yachts of 80-feet or more under construction around the world. Last year, there were 916 such boats being built.

The average price for motoryachts longer than 100 feet was $10.3 million in 2007. The average price for sailing yachts of the same length was $9 million (although, to the dismay of traditionalists, sailing yachts now make up a tiny fraction of the large yacht market).

Ironically, the biggest constraint to the industry’s growth isn’t the economy — it’s staffing. The report says that about 25,000 crewmembers are necessary for today’s fleet of superyachts, but only about 15,000 currently work aboard yachts. Shortages of captains and engineers, it notes, are especially acute.

plus they have MORE efficent cars,and great rail system

And they have a great rail system in part because part of the price of that gas goes to pay for it.

Clusterfuck and McBush have apparently decided to head off the poor economy as a political issue by DENYING THAT THERE IS A PROBLEM.

This, of course, is stupid policy and even dumber politics..

Obama is lucky to be running against bozos.

And if fewer people are driving less, of course the price of gas would be higher.

jeepers it’s as if there’s been a rapture already and the majority of us have been Left Behind . . .

I can remember when they tore up the trolley tracks in my home town to make way for progress and the “motorbus”. This happened in the fifties.

Meanwhile, in a europe that had been bled dry in the war, the trolleys were still in use. The same trolleys are STILL being used and in old cities that are well suited to walking and mass transit…

Years of high gas prices have forced those who drive to select cars with better fuel economy…

$10 per gallon gasoline will force americans to make similar adjustments.

Our biggest problem in imitating Europe is that we have developed neighborhoods and commutng patterns that depend on the car. We don’t all get up in the morning and go “downtown” to work. We go all over the place- which makes public transportation difficult if not impossible for many.

Eventually many will have to move or get jobs closer to home.

The trolleys ran on electricity from overhead wires and ON tracks in the roadway

We now call this “light rail” and act as if someone had just invented something slick. We had these contraptions soon after the turn of the last century.

When much of the electorate has demonstrated a willingness to follow bozos, it may be an advantage to be a bozo.

Morning. Watching the Jane Mayer C-span interview on youtube. She describes Cheney and Chimpy holing themselves up like to ghouls with raw intelligence scaring the crap out of themselves, and Comey says it was like being in a room with “Led Zeppelin(?)” I think Comey means Hannibal Lector.

U.S. Dept of Energy released a new report showing that U.S. supplies of crude oil jumped “unexpectedly” last week. Result -> oil prices drop to about $132/bbl and the stock market rises.

Do we really *have* that extra oil? I doubt it. But maybe this administration’s utter inability to tell the truth has finally redounded to our benefit.

Hey, lying about oil reserves beats the heck outta printing more money, right?

The Great American Streetcar Scandal[1] was the acquisition of streetcar systems throughout the United States, dismantling, and replacement with buses in the mid 20th century by the National City Lines (NCL) holding company, formed by General Motors, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California and Phillips Petroleum. It is alleged that NCL’s companies had an ulterior motive in their purchase of streetcar systems of forcing mass use of the automobile among the U.S. population.

Convicted of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act, GM was fined $5,000 and each executive was ordered to pay a fine of $1 for a conspiracy to force the streetcar systems to buy GM buses instead of other buses (but not for dismantling the streetcar systems, which were also being dismantled by non-NCL owned systems).

wiki

I stole this from yesterday’s Fromkin who borrowed it from Jay Leno. Her ya go:

Jay Leno via U.S. News: “Today, President Bush lifted the presidential ban on offshore drilling that was imposed by his father, the first President Bush, 18 years ago. But hey, remember Bush’s dad also said invading Iraq would be a huge disaster, and cutting taxes would ruin the economy. So what the hell did he know?”

Of course. Everybody know Bush loves “Black Dog.” Cheney, on the other hand, is partial to “Gallows Pole.”

McDaddy and McMommy? I think McSame might try to run like an Eisenhauer (one who loves the military industry though).

jeepers it’s as if there’s been a rapture already and the majority of us have been Left Behind . . .

Nah – I haven’t notice any new shortage of self-important tight-assess around here, anyway.

Let the drilling begin in a certain area off of the coast of Maine.

we must have plenty of oil .. we’re EXPORTING 1.6 millon bbls. a day of “refined products” to other countries ..

Yep! Daddy Warbucks, my hero!

am off to start my mcdouble – have a good day everyone – catch y’all later :D

Uh huh. And which one of us “Little Orphan Annies” would be willing to sit on his lap? Any takers?

But think of it, the Entire Texas Republican Party would disappear. On the second thought, the majority of wouldn’t, would they?

For all those thinking about sitting home on election this November because they’re mad at Obama for tacking right, please be aware Sen. Obama is the only hope for this economy.

What is going to bring this economy out of the toilet and back to the boom times of the 90s is ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY. Just like the digital revolution got the ball rolling under the Clinton administration, as soon as the U.S. government gets behind saving the planet, there will be all kinds of new industry popping up to employ people and buoy the failing economy.

Ain’t gonna happen under a McCain administration. He and his friends in the oil industry will keep us stuck for another four years (at least).

Only Obama (and his environmental advisors) understand this and can make this happen.

well, Tom Delay is still around and showing up on Hardballs occasionally….

If the Rapture were to happen, I think that, in Texas, Republicans would still be in the majority, both in number of politicians and voters….

Ooh Jane Mayer says James Comey and Goldsmith spoke in codes and felt in physical danger from(?) Cheney(?) Addington(?). They felt imperiled for trying to withdraw the torture memos. I always thought there was something Hannibal Lectorish about Cheney, now I think Addington is one too.

Convicted of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act, GM was fined $5,000 and each executive was ordered to pay a fine of $1 for a conspiracy to force the streetcar systems to buy GM buses instead of other buses (but not for dismantling the streetcar systems, which were also being dismantled by non-NCL owned systems).

Thanks. I knew the overall story, but not those details.

You mean McSame/McDaddy aren’t going to bring back those cocktail drenched “Happy Days?”Darn. /snark

Shouldn’t Tom Delay be in jail by now? I keep asking that question, year after year. *sigh*

That presupposes that all those so-called Christians in the Republican Party would in fact be taken away as they believe. Assumes facts not in evidence at this time.

Shouldn’t Tom Delay be in jail by now?

Well – yes, imo.

Boy, The Department of Injustice has just been all over the juicy info that Abramoff has been dishing out daily for a couple of years now, haven’t they? If a Democratic administration is not in place in 2009, poor ole Jack might die, un-noticed, of writer’s cramp, with the public at large none the wiser, and all of the miscreants still drinkin’ champagne and eatin’ cocktail weenies…

Nope.

The main problem with the U.S. economy is there’s been almost no new industry developed since the mid-90s. We spend all our time complaining (some would say whining) about jobs going overseas, when we should be spending our time moving new industry into place to create NEW jobs.

The rust belt needs to be turned into the “green” belt. Wind, solar, etc. is in “start up” status right now in the U.S. They need leadership to give them the push they need.

Hey pups come on and digg
Christy’s Post!!

WARNING: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, WITH CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL, the National Security Agency may have read this email without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse nor protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President, 69 members of the Senate and 293 members of the House of Representatives.

4th Amendment Hit Squad from http://www.bluetidalwave.com/2…..-list.html

On Wednesday July 9, 2008 our U.S. Constitution, specifically the 4th amendment was officially torched by the U.S. government. The Democratic leadership in control of the 110th Congress lighted the definitive match to burn up every citizen’s civil liberties while a giddy unpopular President George Bush and his highly voter despised rubber stamp Republican caucus held the gas can in bravado glee.

The world would be a better place if Bush was as an effective leader of the globe as he is at whipping the Congressional Democrats in legislative battles.

Twenty One Senate Democrats voted to give final approval today to broadening the government’s spy powers and providing legal immunity for the phone companies that took part in the illegal Bush wiretapping program.

OT: In today’s NYT, Thomas “Suck on This” Friedman expresses condescending disgust that the world sees U.S. jingoism as more problematic than say the behavior of Robert Mugabe. Glenzilla has posted a worthy response that concludes:

To blithely justify unprovoked wars and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people, as Tom Friedman did and does, is bad enough. To dismiss matters such as government-sponsored torture and lawless detention camps with nothing more than an acknowledgment in passing that perhaps they deserve a “thumbs-down” is almost as bad. That the same people who do that are then surprised and even offended that the rest of the world finds them repellent and dangerous — that they actually expect that the world should view them as honorable moral arbiters — is probably the most revealing aspect of all. The casual embrace of widespread, unparalleled aggression and violence by the Tom Friedmans of the world is exceeded only by their complete inability to see themselves for what they are. How should a country be perceived in the world when it honors the likes of Tom Friedman as a revered Foreign Policy guru, or when it strongly considers electing a brand new, reckless war-lover as President even after the last seven years?

FWIW, Delay has not been indicted by the US DoJ. He has been under indictment by the Travis County, Texas (Austin) DA for sometime but has not gone to trail as yet. I have no idea why there is a Delay delay.

Yes, that is a problem. How is US “production” counted these days anyway? Does it include outsourced products?
At any rate I have this feeling that McDadddy McSame is going to try to run a retro campaign, with Lieberman whispering at his ear. One nation under Big Brother, playing duck and cover with duct tape singing Happy Days tunes.

FWIW, Delay has not been indicted by the US DoJ.

Yeah, I know. And the Statutes of Limitation roll on and on…

I have no idea why there is a Delay delay.

Nice line – heh-heh.

I just read the Chris Hitchens “waterboarding” article, like with one eye closed. It seemed like a disgusting “I’ve been there and done it” rationale for torture (last two paragraphs.) He’s taking his cue from Rumsflleld, “why I stand all day.”

Happy Days.

I am not a lawyer but doesn’t the SoL problem end when there’s an indictment? Which covers the Texas problem (I believe the indictments here are based on improper campaign contributions/financing).

But yeah, you’re correct on the federal level that it looks like the Bush DoJ is trying to run out the clock on this. Why am I not surprised that Delay might skate?

I’d say that you’re correct on all counts.

I think he’d turn foreign policy entirely over to Lieberman. You could pretty much count on a war with Iran.

Breaking News from MSNBC…

Bush asserting Executive Privilege in order to block the testimony of Michael Mukasey in the CIA Leak case.

Fuck – there’s no end to this guy’s arrogance and criminality. Let’s refer this matter immediately to DOJ for….

oh.

It’s a government transparency day at the lake, what with Senator Toobz and all. /snark.

Marcy’s on it here: Bush Invokes Executive Privilege to Shield Cheney’s Role in Outing Valerie Plame

AP here: Bush claims executive privilege on CIA leak material, Waxman delays contempt vote

I think Lieberman must drool over “24.”

start the nDAMN IMPEACHMENT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!

It’s an executive privelege day.

For all those thinking about sitting home on election this November because they’re mad at Obama for tacking right, please be aware Sen. Obama is the only hope for this economy.

No offense but aren’t you just reading in your hope that Obama will not be as bad as McCain? That’s quite a bit different from being an assertive, affirmative force for good.

I learned in 2000 that the lesser of two evils is light years better than the greater of two evils.

McCain wants to drill. Obama wants green – and he understands green’s connection to the economy.

very interesting interview (yesterday on democracy now!) with naomi klein on obama’s economic policies:

AMY GOODMAN: Naomi Klein, Obama’s Chicago Boys, who are they?

NAOMI KLEIN: Well, one of them is Obama. Obama spent ten years teaching at the University of Chicago Law School, which is a very conservative law school. You know, I wrote a column recently talking about how conservative Obama’s economic roots are, with his ties to the University of Chicago.
His first response to the mortgage crisis, let’s remember, was he was worried about the government taking action to keep people from being evicted from their homes, because that would create moral hazard. And he was not talking about the big companies, the big mortgage lenders; he was talking about individual low-income people being thrown out of their homes. He was worried about moral hazard. That’s a very University of Chicago take on the situation.
And yeah, one of his—his chief economic adviser was Austin Goolsbee, this University of Chicago economist. And, you know, now his chief economic adviser is Jason Furman, who is not a University of Chicago-affiliated economist, but is certainly on the right of the economic—Democratic economic spectrum, has defended Wal-Mart, has attacked critics of Wal-Mart, saying that they’re doing more harm than good, that actually Wal-Mart is a progressive institution that is helping low-income people with their low prices, and that living wage campaigns, for instance, are actually hurting low-income people. So these are pretty conservative ideas, and I think it is important for people to understand that this is who Obama has chosen to take his advice from.

AMY GOODMAN: This is very interesting, because, of course, he really slammed Hillary Clinton when it came to her tenure on the board of Wal-Mart.

NAOMI KLEIN: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: And he said he wouldn’t shop there.

NAOMI KLEIN: It’s true. He said both of those things, and it is a political campaign, and we’re seeing a lot of double talk on these issues. Austin Goolsbee, for instance, got himself into some trouble after he met with Canadian consulate officials. And they left that meeting with the distinct impression that he had told them that they shouldn’t listen to what Obama’s saying about NAFTA and renegotiating NAFTA for labor and environmental standards, because it’s just an election campaign. So it would seem that perhaps we should take Obama’s Wal-Mart comments in the same spirit. But, you know, my message on—

AMY GOODMAN: And yet, you have him speaking—Obama himself being quoted in Fortune magazine, after he had said that that whole—well, what became a sort of little scandal there, with Goolsbee going to the Canadian consulate—

NAOMI KLEIN: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: —at the time when he was going through the states where labor was stronger, where he was really slamming NAFTA, saying this wasn’t true, that he was telling them, “Don’t worry. It’s just overheated rhetoric.” And then he said that precise thing, Senator Obama himself, in Fortune.

NAOMI KLEIN: That it was overheated rhetoric. Yeah, exactly.

AMY GOODMAN: That he supports NAFTA and free trade.

NAOMI KLEIN: And it’s—you know, it’s shades of Bill Clinton’s first campaign, where he also campaigned very actively about labor and environmental standards and NAFTA. NAFTA had already been signed, but it hadn’t come into law. And then there was a turnaround, and there was a turnaround in the transition period, after the election but before he took office, where there was a sort of fateful meeting.
And I think the fear is that some of the same people, like Rubin, responsible for, you know, Rubinomics, which turned into Clintonomics, which was, you know, the Democratic full-scale embrace of the ideology of privatization and so-called free trade, that this same sort of group of people are following—are now surrounding Obama. And Jason Furman is a Rubin protégé and worked with him at the Hamilton Project, which is a sort of sub-think tank of the Brookings Institution, which emerged a few years ago to prevent the Democratic Party from embracing what they saw as populist economic policies, the centerpiece of which would have been a reexamine of the ideology of free trade, which is being discredited around the world.

AMY GOODMAN: So, you have Obama on NAFTA, people perceiving that he’s changing his position. And then you have the major issue of FISA, where even on his own website—and many say—

NAOMI KLEIN: Well, just to be clear on economics, I mean, I think what we actually saw with Obama is that he started pretty much at a conservative point on economic policy, and Clinton—and the campaign with Clinton, because she was moving so far to a populist position, he then moved. And as soon as she dropped out of the race, he moved back. So I think there are some real points of disagreement, and I think that there are some places to point to much more progressive outlook in Obama’s roots, particularly on foreign policy, but I don’t think economic policy is one of them.

AMY GOODMAN: He had called the free trade agreement, in the debates with Hillary Clinton and with John Edwards, “a mistake.” He called it “an enormous problem,” but now, with Fortune, said, “Sometimes during campaigns rhetoric gets overheated and amplified. My core position has never changed. I’ve always been a proponent of free trade,” which you say actually is true.

NAOMI KLEIN: And he appointed Jason Furman the day after Hillary dropped out of the race. Yeah. So, it was—as I said, I really think he’s moving back to actually where he started, with his first reaction, as I said, to the subprime mortgage crisis being, well, we can’t keep low-income people from being evicted, because we have the moral hazard of encouraging them to make bad loans, essentially blaming them for having been—having accepted these mortgages in the first place.

When Obama talks “overheated campaign rhetoric” on NAFTA and I get overheated myself.

yea. and the bit about “we can’t keep low-income people from being evicted, because we have the moral hazard of encouraging them to make bad loans” was pretty bad.

wishing doesn’t make it real. :(

Well Obama is a *cough* politician.
But the light years part I sort of agree with. In fact I am trying to make Greenwald’s Chomsky quote my mantra for this season:

Those differences matter, as no less an establishment critic than Noam Chomsky — no Democratic Party booster he — frequently points out:
In an interview published in The Guardian last weekend, Noam Chomsky added his voice to those advocating that Senator John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) defeat Bush.

Noting that Kerry and Bush share much in common in representing two factions of the business party, Chomsky said that differences do exist: “And in this system of immense power, small differences can translate into large outcomes.”

NAFTA, sub prime mortgages, etc. is all about fixing the current debacle.

I’m talking about the future. Fixing is one thing. LEADING us into the future is the only thing that will make good econ. times return.

Invest in a Clean Energy Future:
Invest $150 Billion over 10 Years in Clean Energy: Obama will invest $150 billion over 10 years to advance the next generation of biofuels and fuel infrastructure, accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of commercial-scale renewable energy, invest in low-emissions coal plants, and begin the transition to a new digital electricity grid. A principal focus of this fund will be devoted to ensuring that technologies that are developed in the U.S. are rapidly commercialized in the U.S. and deployed around the globe.
Double Energy Research and Development Funding: Obama will double science and research funding for clean energy projects including those that make use of our biomass, solar and wind resources.
Invest in a Skilled Clean Technologies Workforce: Obama will use proceeds from the cap-and-trade auction program to invest in job training and transition programs to help workers and industries adapt to clean technology development and production. Obama will also create an energy-focused Green Jobs Corps to connect disconnected and disadvantaged youth with job skills for a high-growth industry.
Convert our Manufacturing Centers into Clean Technology Leaders: Obama will establish a federal investment program to help manufacturing centers modernize and Americans learn the new skills they need to produce green products.
Clean Technologies Deployment Venture Capital Fund: Obama will create a Clean Technologies Venture Capital Fund to fill a critical gap in U.S. technology development. Obama will invest $10 billion per year into this fund for five years. The fund will partner with existing investment funds and our National Laboratories to ensure that promising technologies move beyond the lab and are commercialized in the U.S
Require 25 Percent of Renewable Electricity by 2025: Obama will establish a 25 percent federal Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to require that 25 percent of electricity consumed in the U.S. is derived from clean, sustainable energy sources, like solar, wind and geothermal by 2025.
Develop and Deploy Clean Coal Technology: Obama will significantly increase the resources devoted to the commercialization and deployment of low-carbon coal technologies. Obama will consider whatever policy tools are necessary, including standards that ban new traditional coal facilities, to ensure that we move quickly to commercialize and deploy low carbon coal technology.
Support Next Generation Biofuels
Deploy Cellulosic Ethanol: Obama will invest federal resources, including tax incentives, cash prizes and government contracts into developing the most promising technologies with the goal of getting the first two billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol into the system by 2013.
Expand Locally-Owned Biofuel Refineries: Less than 10 percent of new ethanol production today is from farmer-owned refineries. New ethanol refineries help jumpstart rural economies. Obama will create a number of incentives for local communities to invest in their biofuels refineries.
Establish a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard: Barack Obama will establish a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard to speed the introduction of low-carbon non-petroleum fuels. The standard requires fuels suppliers to reduce the carbon their fuel emits by ten percent by 2020.
Increase Renewable Fuel Standard: Obama will require 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels to be included in the fuel supply by 2022 and will increase that to at least 60 billion gallons of advanced biofuels like cellulosic ethanol by 2030.

As I said, McCain wants to drill.

He *did* talk of “personal responsibility” a lot during the primary. Progressives were forewarned. Ex: during a debate. Obama is asked about education as are all the other candidates. Dodd has some good ideas, Clinton has some good ideas. Obama throws out some of the same sounding rehashed, and then changes course and talks where he seems comfortable: “there’s a problem with parental absenteeism, fathers, particularly black fathers should take more responsibility.” (?!?)
In my view parental absenteeism is directly linked to things like working 3 jobs, or no jobs, etc.

it all goes back to the economy, n’est pas?

Do we want a McCain economy or an Obama economy?
Do we want a Lieberman foreign policy?

LOL – that chomsky quote was my mantra in 2004.

Ian’s a couple of flights up with some not so bi-partisan advice on partisans

OK to critique. The elephant in the room that Obama doesn’t mention is corn based ethanol. He also talks about low emissions coal plants. That is still unproven technology. He talks about vastly increasing biofuels but again what is the trade off in their production, their competition with food crops, and their effect on global warming?

As for $15 billion a year, that is about one month of our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And is his venture capital plan part of this or on top of this? And is the idea that we foot the bill for research and development and venture capitalists get to make a bundle taking it and selling it back to us?

good point.