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Before George Will was against high-speed rail, he was for it
Flip flop much?Photo: lincolnbluesRemember how we told you the other day that Newsweek columnist George Will thinks high-speed rail is a sinister progressive plot to undermine American individualism? Well, big thanks to reader Ed D’Amato, who tipped us off to something very interesting from Mr. Will’s archives. Because apparently, that wasn’t always his opinion. In […]
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Fred Upton’s bizarre war on 24 million Americans with asthma
Cross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) is teaming up with House Energy and Commerce Chair Fred Upton (R-Mich.) to introduce a bill to allow America’s biggest polluters to continue dumping unlimited amounts of carbon emissions into the air. It’s not that surprising that Inhofe is pushing this in the Senate. […]
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The continuing threat of the continuing resolution
No riders, please.Cross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council. The House yesterday passed a bill to keep the government open for an additional two weeks on a bipartisan basis. The most striking feature of that bill was what it was missing — the Republican leadership dropped all of the anti-environmental exemptions from current law (and […]
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All I need to know about Congress’ phony deficit reduction debate I learned from this comment
House speaker John Boehner telling the press he plans to cut $100 billion in discretionary spending from the Federal budgetPhoto: Speaker John Boehner The spending bill wending its way through congress would gut the Environmental Protection Agency, and also cuts a whole bunch of other things you might be a fan of. (The efforts of […]
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Why enviros should care about unions and collective bargaining
Photo: Andrew ButittaIn the past few weeks, we’ve seen the fiercest attacks in recent history on collective bargaining. We’ve also seen the dramatic responses of people taking to the Wisconsin statehouse and the streets to stand together for their rights. Why are some environmentalists among them, and why should all environmentalists join the fight? On […]
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House Republicans will now toast their victories over decency using non-biodegradable cups
Source photos: Republican Conference and Bill V.Finally, our long national nightmare is over: Styrofoam cups and plastic cutlery are back in the Congressional cafeterias. Yes, the Republicans’ campaign to save America by needlessly trashing it continues apace, and on Monday John Boehner announced a hard-won victory over even the most trivial and symbolic environmental concessions. […]
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Watch Annie Leonard’s new ‘Story of Citizens’ video
Annie Leonard unveiled a new film in the “Story of Stuff” series this morning. Her latest offering, The Story of Citizens United v. FEC, is “an exploration of the crisis of corporate influence in American democracy.” Leonard digs into the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision to allow corporations to contribute without limits to political campaigns. In […]
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Secretary Clinton stresses importance of international climate investments
Secretary Clinton made a compelling case for why pollution-reducing investments are in the U.S. interest.In testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made it clear that U.S. investments in global efforts to reduce carbon pollution are strongly in the U.S. interest. She also made the case for why these investments […]
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Current Arkansas earthquakes weak sauce compared to potential fracking-caused ‘Big One’
Photo: Martin LuffI don’t mean to alarm you, but the 4.7 magnitude temblors felt last Sunday in Arkansas, part of a recent “swarm” of earthquakes in the area, could be just a prelude to something much more devastating. The threat would be lessened if oil and gas companies are barred from injecting post-fracking wastewater into […]
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Upcoming congressional hearings at which a fetus should testify
Source photo: Lunar CausticThe Ohio state legislature is preparing to hear testimony from a 9-week-old fetus, which I assume will actually be a lawyer making a squeaky voice from behind a picture of an ultrasound. The fetus is testifying about whether it should be able to freeload off a woman’s organs while it’s waiting to […]
