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RNC chooses as new leader the author of 'drill, baby, drill'
After a contentious and somewhat clownish leadership battle, the Republican National Committee has finally (after six ballots) chosen its next leader: Former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele.
Which gives me an excuse to share a little-known factoid: it was actually Steele -- not Sarah Palin, not Newt Gingrich, not Rudy Giuliani -- who coined the slogan "drill, baby, drill," which is likely to go down in history as the apotheosis of Republican intellectual achievement in the early 21st century.
I was there -- it was the third day of the RNC in St. Paul; Steele was one of the introductory speakers. Prior to this the slogan was "drill here, drill now, pay less," which works for a bumper sticker but is too long and complex for the right's base. It was Steele who freestyled the somewhat more digestible and catchy version.
It obviously caught Palin's ear, because she repeated it in her speech, and then it took off.
Congratulations, GOP. You've chosen well. Or at least appropriately.
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Washington governor unveils green jobs legislation
Last night, NBC Nightly News aired a short segment on how hard the recession is hitting Seattle. It's quite depressing, especially amid the ever-gray skies ...
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) is not unaware of this fact and, as I've mentioned previously, is trying to boost the state's economy by putting monies toward major building projects and other job-creating ventures.
Yesterday, she announced a legislation package that focuses more concretely on the creation of "green jobs" -- as well as lowering the state's carbon footprint.
The legislation contains House Bill 1819 and its equivalent Senate Bill 5735. Both bills would implement a cap and trade system in partnership with six states and four Canadian provinces, which are part of a coalition called the Western Climate Initiative.
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In addition to the cap and trade bill, a proposed $455 million will be invested for projects that emphasize energy efficiency and clean-energy technology. These investments would help support 2,900 jobs for the next two years, according to the Office of Financial Management.There will be public hearings on both bills next Tuesday, and if passed, the cap-and trade-program would go into effect in 2012.
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Kingston, coal ash, and the coal lobby’s grip on the EPA
The American News Project files a report on "The EPA and the Curse of Coal Ash." Fantastic, affecting stuff, as always from ANP. Watch:
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Seattle man invents rooftop wind turbine
Seattle inventor Chad Maglaque has a dream. A dream that he will one day be able to walk into a big-box store and purchase a rooftop wind turbine along with his giant jar of mayonnaise.And surprisingly, his dream may not be so far off. Maglaque has actually put together just such a wind turbine, which he's named The Jellyfish, and he could soon be cashing a $10 million check to make many, many more. How? Maglaque submitted the design to Google's "Project 10 to the 100th" contest, which honors the company's 10th birthday by offering five innovators $10 million for simple ideas that could change the world. The categories for the contest range from energy and environment to health and education, and even a catch-all category for "everything else."
Of course, hundreds of thousands of other ideas have also been submitted, and Google folks are still narrowing down the top picks. But starting March 17, the public will be able to vote for their favorite idea out of the 20 semi-finalists. You can even ask Google to remind you to vote.
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Did NBC squash PETA corn-porn?
This bit of "news" may or may not be another brilliant PETA stunt (damn, they're good) -- but supposedly NBC nixed a luscious Super Bowl ad claiming that "vegetarians have better sex." I was going to write another poem, but then I came across PETA's list of NBC's purported editing requests -- pure poetry of its own:
- licking pumpkin
- touching her breast with her hand while eating broccoli
- pumpkin from behind between legs
- rubbing pelvic region with pumpkin
- screwing herself with broccoli (fuzzy)
- asparagus on her lap appearing as if it is ready to be inserted into vagina
- licking eggplant
- rubbing asparagus on breast.
Keats couldn't have said it better. Yeah, go ahead, watch it:
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FOX News continues quest to endumben viewers
If crime rates are rising, how come I didn't get mugged today?
P.S. from Grist's Russ Walker: Given the example above, it's not hard to see why so many Americans don't believe human activities are causing global warming. Some grim polling data here from Rasmussen (though the survey questions aren't exactly written in such a way to reflect the true complexity of the issue...)
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Sierra Club delivers 'Coal is not the answer' slogans to ACCCE
Is clean coal as oxymoronic (and just plain moronic) as healthy cigarettes? Natalie of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network thinks so. She and others irked by the ubiquitous misinformation of the clean-coal lobby joined the Sierra Club to deliver more than 5,000 anti-coal slogans to the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. The Sierra Club's contest for catchy coal smack-downs resulted in the top 10 slogans, including "Coal: Party like it's 1899!" and "Coal: It will take your breath away." The slogans are being featured on a digital billboard-on-wheels, alongside pictures from the Tennessee coal ash spill.
Watch the Sierra Club delivering all the slogans to the ACCCE:
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