Northwest Airlines serves Minneapolis-St Paul in a big way.  It's no wonder they tout themselves as "The Official Airline of the Republican National Convention," and they're concerned about the comfort of Republicans.  That's why NWA fired off a demand to Clear Channel Communications that the mega-media company take down a billboard they thought carried a "strong anti-McCain message" that was in the Minneapolis-St Paul airport.

Northwest worried that the thousands of Republican delegates, officials, and members of the media would find the ad "offensive" and "scary" and insisted that it come down immediately.

Clear Channel agreed.

Liza's recent Culture Kitchen article on a humorous side to Republican Joe Barton's (TX-6) opposition to healthcare for Amreica's children rang a bell for me. I remember this Joe Barton. His current crusade is denying Amrerica's children healthcare, but in the past he has been cold-hearted in a different way. He was one of the Katrina 11, the 11 Republicans who voted "No" on the bill that Congress approved and Bush signed to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. These are the cold-hearted bastards who would willingly see Americans die for the sake of more tax cuts for the wealthy and for Halliburton profits.

I have a long memory, even for fast moving politics. I have yet to forgive the Katrina 11 (really the Katrina 10 since we defeated one of them in 2006...maybe even the Katrina 9 if we count one who moved from Congress to Governor). I plan on making the Katrina 11 the focus of my 2008 efforts. Sounds like Joe Barton is the one to start with.

Witold Rybczynski, who has been part of the history of green architecture for the last thirty or so years, has a good slide show on the subject at:
http://www.slate.com/...

Sydney, Australia residents were urged by their government to pack a "go bag" or survival kit, just in case of emergency
http://news.bbc.co.uk/...

GM-owned Saab is committed to building flex-fuel [ethanol, diesel, gasoline, electric] vehicles and a closed cycle for transportation [and heating?] fuels, but only in Sweden.  [So far.]
http://www.boston.com/...

"Science Idol: the Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest" is the Union of Concerned Scientists' fun awareness campaign on the problem of political interference with science.  The contest leads to the creation of a calendar featuring 12 editorial cartoons lampooning the ways that politicians interfere with science.  

Recent investigations and surveys show that the censorship, manipulation, and suppression of federal government science has become pervasive in recent years. Political interference in science has hurt our air quality, allowed FDA approval of harmful drugs, and prevented the public from hearing the truth about global warming.

This spring, creative minds throughout America took the opportunity to show off their artistic and comedic talents in support of independent science by entering the 2nd annual Science Idol: the Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest. We received hundreds of compelling cartoons and our panel of celebrity judges helped narrow those entries to 12 great finalists.

And now you get to vote for the one you like the best.

Voting closes July 23 (that's Monday), so now is your chance to have a say.

Fresh from the Washington Post's website,

Study: Inaction on Warming Will Be Costly-Scientists Say Current Pattern Could Overwhelmingly Transform Northeast.

People in Philadelphia would swelter through as many as 30 days over 100 degrees each summer. The entire Northeast ski industry except western Maine would likely go out of business. And spruce and hemlock forests -- as well as song birds such as the Baltimore oriole -- would all but disappear from New Jersey to the Canada border.

These are some of the conclusions of a two-year study by the public interest group Union of Concerned Scientists of the effects of global warming in the Northeast if current greenhouse gas emission patterns around the world continue unabated. Winters will be on average 8 to 12 degrees warmer by the end of the century, and summers 6 to 14 degrees hotter.

Preview of coming attractions?

The Union of Concerned Scientists: Automaker Rankings 2007.  Ouch!! This is gonna hurt alot at GM, Ford & Chrysler. :)

The Bush administration Interior Department has long been waging a war against the Endangered Species Act. The high cost of implementing the ESA by designating critical habitats, they claim, gets in the way protecting newly endangered species. It turns out that it gets in the way of business, too, which has been of critical concern to Bush's appointees in Interior.

Unable to dismantle the ESA, and forced by persistent lawsuits to implement it, Interior Dept. officials have been busy trying to hollow out the enforcement mechanisms by which it can be obliged to designate new species and new habitats for protection.

When I was a kid my family recycled. We were very unusual in doing this and had to go to great lengths to get our recyclables to a place we could drop them off. By the time I was in grad school, it was much more common to recycle and even some Republican-leaning friends of mine were recycling.

Then city after city started making separation of recyclables mandatory. Los Angeles, Santa Cruz and NYC are the last three American cities I lived in and all three have laws requiring recycling. This is real progress that is often overlooked. But there is another and probably even more important side to the equation: a market for recycled products. If there is no market, then recycling does little good.

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) reported earlier today that Exxon-Mobil paid a total of $16 million to 43 front groups so that they would cause the public to ignore the scientific consensus behind global climate change.

Here is a link to the press release, which I quote and discuss below.

The Union of Concerned Scientists today released a statement that was signed by some 10,000 US researchers.

BBC

The statement, which includes the backing of 52 Nobel Laureates, demands a restoration of scientific integrity in government policy.

According to the American Union of Concerned Scientists, data is being misrepresented for political reasons.

It claims scientists working for federal agencies have been asked to change data to fit policy initiatives.

There are too many examples to list of how science is being manipulated for politilcal purposes. The biggest one is global warming.

This last week, a discussion with someone who grew up in Iowa, this month's issue of Catalyst, the newsletter of the Union of Concerned Scientists, and a press release from Nancy Pelosi all synergized to remind me that Democrats have been pushing for a real, American, practical energy policy since the Carter administration and all the Republicans advocate for are oil, oil, oil.

Sometimes I sign them, but more often I don't bother, because really, what's the point?  Ok, so maybe MoveOn can collect a million leftie signatures on a petition to dump on the doorstep of some bought-and-paid-for congressperson, who we all know could give less than a crap about what we think anyway.  What does it accomplish except to waste a lot of people's time and several dozen reams of printer paper?

Except today, I got a petition e-mail that was so good I had to sign it.  MoveOn et. al. could learn a thing or two about petitions from these guys.  The right way to write a petition, after the flip...

With control over all branches of government, this wealthy elite is succeeding in ruthlessly wiping out 40 years of work done by progressive interest groups.

When I've asked fellow environmentalists and fellow animal rights activists about joining forces, the answer I usually get is that they do not want to lose focus and dilute their message. And so each battle is fought on its own against a powerful enemy that has control of all the levers of power.

Can progressive groups overcome this myopia, in order to work together to achieve one big common goal -- namely, a system of rules and laws and policies that are fair-minded, serve the general welfare and live up to our highest ideals?

--his Forwarded message ------>>

> Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 22:51:48 -0400
> From: DC Statehood Green Party <dcsgp5@hotmail.com>
> To: dcsgpnews@yahoo.com

> Subject:  Greens seek delay of Catawba (SC) nuclear plant restart following shutdown

The Union of Concerned Scientists has just issued this petition/action alert to prevent Wehrum's appointment to head EPA's top air quality agency.  Please participate and notify your legislator of your opposition to his nomination to the EPA's Air Quality Office by the Bush Administration.

So, why am I here? Because I'm disgustingly dedicated to taking action...even in my moments of gaping despair. So, please take action below and let's all feel better together because at least we're doing something to try and hold our Country up while it comes crashing down around us.

I won't keep you with fluff up here...but we've got LOTS of important items today...we've got action items on Voting Issues, Health Care, the Media (those bastards!), Torture (those bastards!), Civil Rights (NSA illegal spying), Equal Rights (that damn Federal Marriage Protection Amendment), and lots of other stuff! You don't have to take action all at once by the way, but it would be helpful of you to recommend so that many people have the opportunity to read this. For those of you short on time, or who would like to take just a few actions each day, you can find any comment by me on this site and the link in my sig will bring you to my latest and most fabulous action diary!

So, without further ado, happy action!!

Wildlife and Environmental protections are seriously under attack these days. PLEASE take action to help save the ESA and NEPA (details below).

Also, we should be sending letters, faxes and calling about the PATRIOT Act now! We should learn our lesson from the Alito disaster and call early and often!!

Anyway, please do your part. This doesn't take a long time, and we have NO right to complain if we don't do everything possible to prevent these things from happening!!

Thanks to everyone to Recommends and takes action!!