Bill McKibben, Citizen of Eaarth, was released from jail in DC today and greeted by our own Jane Hamsher and Lt Dan Choi. Bill had this statement upon his release…

John Chandley, Dan Choi and Bill McKibben are spending tonight in jail again so that the government can send a message to you on behalf of the oil companies. They don’t want you to come to Washington for the next two weeks and overburden the DC jail system by throwing your body upon the gears, to quote Mario Savio. They hope you will look at what is happening to John and Dan and Bill and be intimidated and discouraged.

There were 45 more people today who refused to be discouraged. They watched what happened to Dan and John and Bill and were willing to get arrested anyway, in the hope of “lighting a fire” under the world.

Are you discouraged?

Sign up to join Tar Sands Action – and Jane and Scarecrow – stand against the Keystone XL Pipeline and for the planet.

This list of recent protests at the White House and the way law enforcement and courts have handled them shows the US Park Police are interested in preventing the Tar Sands Action from building momentum. They are willing to teach those a lesson in a society where people who are responsible for oil spills rarely, if ever, face punishment for their negligent acts.

The President promised in 2008 that when he was elected the earth would begin to heal. Instead, he allowed 65 environmentalists to be arrested and held for two days on a charge that’s equivalent to a traffic ticket, in order to deter others from following our example.

I hope that people across the country will see through their ploy and be inspired by how many of us have backed up our beliefs with our bodies. People from all over the United States and Canada are on their way here right now to join us. Take a stand for what you believe in! Come join the Tar Sands Action!

Dan Choi, Bill McKibben and I are continuing our Powershift panel, “What Do You Do When the President is Just Not Into You.” (Felipe Matos, who took Bill’s place when we recreated the panel at Netroots Nation, scored quite the victory in the same vein with Roberto Lovato and everyone else at Presente this week.) Scarecrow is here with us in DC and we’re all going to take part in the first day of the 10 day tar sands sit-in. You can read Bill’s OpEd in the Washington Post today: Watershed Moment for Obama on Climate Change.

Krugman and the Firebaggers: Will they be asked to play the White House?

So, I guess it has been a rather eventful week in the world economy and the lives of the Beltway Village Idiots Politicians, Pundits, and Courtiers. I’ll let Paul Krugman and Jane Hamsher do the honors of eviscerating the Standard & Poor downgrade of the US credit rating but do want to add my 2¢ in agreement that supposed neutral arbiters who sold their souls and “independent analysis” for the banksters crappy mortgage based securities should be well advised to STFU rather than interject themselves politically.

The saddest part of Jane Hamsher’s interview on Ed’s show last night was listening to Ed groan in the background as Ms. Hamsher calmly explained that it was his supposedly Democratic President who was insisting on putting Social Security and Medicare at risk as a condition for avoiding a default on the national debt. How could this be?

Jane talked to Congressman Barney Frank, a crusader for cost-of-living increase, who said he will NOT vote for The Gang of Six deal (which includes a calculation that would decrease cost-of-living adjustments). She reported on the 2000 people saying no to cuts to Social Security or Medicare benefits… who visited over 40 Congressional offices to let them know if they vote for cuts they won’t get support in the next election. Now, she’ll talk to us about what comes next.