You know the ones I'm talking about -- the commercials from the Orwellian-named "Americans for Balanced Energy Choices" that tell you 'not to worry, coal is the answer to our energy problems' (while conveniently leaving out the part about how coal is one of the largest toxic polluters on the planet and the leading cause of global warming).  The coal industry even went so far as to sponsor the Presidential debates -- and what do you know, CNN suddenly stopped asking any questions about global warming and energy policy.

To have one of the biggest toxic polluters in the country sponsoring a Presidential debate just struck me as wrong.  

So I decided to do something about it.  I took the commercial from the coal lobby and remade it -- stripping out their lies and replacing them with facts about the dangers of coal and the benefits of solar, wind, and geothermal power. I think you'll get a laugh out of it (or at least a big smile). You can check out my video here:

(Some of you may remember the 1969 movie, bob & carol & ted & alice? I thought it was a fitting image to capture John McCain's fondness for surrounding himself with Washington lobbyists.)

John McCain sure does love him some lobbyists.

Here's what we know:

John McCain's describes himself as a "reformer."

His record shows that he is in bed with Washington lobbyists.

(more details after the jump...)

cross posted from RFK Action Front, Daily Kos, and The Agonist.

For a while now, I've been interested in the role of the those who rationalize empire.  While soldiers are often sent in to seize the land -- I'm fascinated by the role of the white collar professionals who follow: the priests (who say it is God's will), the lawyers (who say the soldiers' actions were justified and set up rules to exploit the conquered people), and the economists (who say the exploited people are really better off now anyway).  While the soldiers' actions are often the focus on the peace movement -- in many ways, I think the actions of the bureaucrats are often more insidious. The soldiers can kill you, but the bureaucrats are the ones who erase a people's history, colonize one's mind, and perpetuate injustice long after the soldiers have gone.

With that in mind I give you, "What to Expect When You're Free Trading" published on Wednesday in the NY Times.  The article purports to be a a defense of free trade.  But it's so much creepier than that.  From the piece:

"All economists know that when American jobs are outsourced, Americans as a group are net winners. What we lose through lower wages is more than offset by what we gain through lower prices."

This week, I've been reading The Wisdom of Crowds by New Yorker business columnist James Surowiecki and it's absolutely brilliant.

The thesis of the book, is both stunning and exhilarating:

If you put together a big enough and diverse enough group of people and ask them to make decisions affecting matters of general interest, that group's decisions will, over time, be intellectually superior to the isolated individual, no matter how smart or well-informed he is. (The Wisdom of Crowds, p. XVII)

The classic example is to ask a crowd of people (say, at a state fair) to judge how many jelly beans are in a jar, or how much a cow weighs.  The average of all of the guesses from the crowd will tend to be more accurate than the guesses of even the best experts.

The Wisdom of Crowds doesn't just apply to guessing the number of jelly beans in a jar.  It also applies to things like stock markets, war planning, and public policy.  Over time, the collective judgment of large, diverse, independent, and decentralized groups will be wiser and more accurate than the opinions of experts.

The Wisdom of Crowds has a number of important ramifications for the blogosphere (namely it explains why the blogosphere is often smarter than the MSM).  

But today I want to focus on what The Wisdom of Crowds teaches us about the sorry state of the Republican Party.  

(more after the jump)

This week I stumbled upon a study by the Democratic polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research that looked at the marriage gap in American politics.  Their findings are stunning:

2006 saw a 9 point gender gap with Democratic congressional candidates winning among both men and women; it also saw a 32 point marriage gap overall and a 35 point marriage gap among women.

Looking at the national exit poll in the 2006 congressional elections (Edison/Mitolsky/CNN Network exit poll) shows that married people tended to vote Republican and unmarried people overwhelmingly voted Democratic:

Married Men voted Democratic 47%; Republican 51%
Married Women voted Democratic 48%; Republican 50%
Unmarried Men voted Democratic 62%; Republican 36%
Unmarried Women voted Democratic 66%; Republican 32%

Right now marital status trumps gender, age, education, and income in explaining how someone is likely to vote.  

Greenberg Quinlan Rosner conclude by saying:

"If unmarried women participated in elections in greater numbers, they would change the course of our country's politics.

True!  But that seems like only part of the issue! We also need to get more single men to vote and we need to erode the enormous marriage gap in the first place.  

(cross posted from RFK Action Front)  

Over the past several years, I've read several stories about politically motivated burglaries.  But I've never seen anyone put them all together in one place.  The strange thing about burglaries at political offices is that they are often reported as local news, even when they potentially impact national political races.

So over the last few weeks, I've tracked down as many of the stories as I could remember:

December 31st, 2000, burglars broke into the Embassy of Niger in Italy.  They stole letterhead and the official stamp bearing the seal of the Republic of Niger.  These stolen materials were later used to forge documents claiming that Iraq acquired uranium from Niger--which became the cornerstone for the Bush administration's justification for invading Iraq.  Remember this is one month after the U.S. Supreme Court appointed Bush President and nine months before the attacks on the World Trade Center.

October 11, 2004, The Lucas County, Ohio Democratic Headquarters was burglarized and three computers, including the party's main system, were stolen.  The burglary occurred 3 weeks before the Presidential election in the swing state that decided the outcome of the national election.

(3 more burglaries after the jump...)

I like Senator Obama's post-partisan, 'can't we all just get along,' 'bringing America together again' themes as much as the next guy.  But my question to Senator Obama is, what are you gonna do when they come for you?

Because the one thing we know from past presidential campaigns is that if you get the nomination, they (Republican media operatives) are definitely gonna come for you.  They're gonna run some sort of Willie Horton, Swift Boat, call me, Playboy! ad against you.  That sort of hit piece is GUARANTEED to appear in the campaign--so don't act like you didn't see it coming.

And when they come for you, are you gonna sit around with your thumb up your ass like Michael Dukakis, John Kerry, and Harold Ford, saying, 'aw shucks they shouldn't have done that, it's racist' and meekly ask your opponent to pull the ad, or are you gonna go nuclear and take the mutherf*ckers out?

Because that's really the question facing every Democratic candidate--not are you competent, can you govern, do you understand policy--every single Democratic candidate can do all of those things.  The question that needs to be answered is, do you have that killer instinct, can you finish, if they come for your family will you do WHATEVER you have to do to save them?  Will you order Sherman's March to the Sea in order to win the civil war or do you not have the stomach to do what it takes to actually govern and win?

As long as we're talking, I've got a question for Terry McAuliffe and Howard Dean--yeah you guys know how to raise lots of money but HOW COME IT'S ALWAYS REPUBLICANS GOING ON OFFENSE in the presidential election?  How come I can name an infamous Republican hit piece from every single freakin election and I CAN'T NAME A SINGLE DEMOCRATIC HIT PIECE!!!!!!???????

Truth is, the Republican field is pretty weak right now and I think we need to remind people of that every chance we get.  I've got a new video that highlights the particular character flaw of each of the Republican frontrunners (and it ain't pretty).  Feel free to pass it on to friends and neighbors.  Here's the link:

http://one.revver.com/watch/304208/flv/affiliate/95500