ProgressOhio

"Get a job!" shouted a man in an SUV as he drove past demonstrators at a McCain event in Columbus this morning.

Butch Deems, a retired USW member now working on the political staff for the Steelworkers, shouted back, enfuriated. He blames free trade deals promoted by John McCain and others for the crushing job loss in Ohio. Butch says he was "fortunate enough to work until I retired," but he's seen countless of his brothers and sisters in the Steelworkers laid off as companies have moved offshore.

An AFL staffer noted, "It's not a real demonstration until someone tells you to get a job."

The demonstrators at this morning's event, many if not all of whom are employed, represented the AFL-CIO, Working America, Progress Ohio, America Votes, the Alliance for Retired Americans, the Steelworkers, and other organizations.  Reporters from The Canton Repository, Columbus Dispatch, Toledo Blade and The Wall Street Journal all interviewed members.  

Meanwhile, inside the Convention Center, John McCain said he thought Iraq would be "a functioning democracy" and that most U.S. troops would be home by 2013. As The New York Times notes, this surreal suggestion is "a striking departure from his refusal so far to set a date for U.S. withdrawal" -- what some might call a "flip-flop."

Outside the Convention Center, folks were more focused on McCain's other weaknesses -- like his poor record on the environment, and particularly his disastrous plan for health care, which would quite possibly lead to the end of employer-provided health coverage.

Photos from this event are available on our flickr page, http://www.flickr.com/photos/TakeBackOhio.

There he goes fracturing his base again.

Michelle Malkin

McCain’s “climate change” tour bypasses cooler heads

A rational, free-market-based approach to environmentalism requires a commitment to scientific truth, accuracy, and honest cost-benefit analyses.

For the last several years, McCain has been committed to none of those.

Climatologist Patrick Michaels had McCain pegged four years ago, when The Maaaveerrick convened ridiculously, eco-Chicken Little-stacked hearings

Larry Kudlow

McCain, the Cap-and-Trader

As good as John McCain’s pro-growth, supply-side tax plan is, his cap-and-trade strategy unveiled this morning is very hard for conservatives to swallow. The whole cap-and-trade experience in Europe and elsewhere reveals that this is a huge government command-and-control operation that taxes, spends, and regulates on a grand scale. The “cap” part rolls back production to an extent that undermines economic growth. The European cap-and-trade plans are prohibitively expensive, and are themselves hostile to economic growth. 

Roy Spencer

McCain’s Assault on Reason Another Al Gore for president.

Along with Clinton and Obama, McCain’s proposal to attack global warming now gives voters three choices for a car color — as long as it is black. Like Clinton and Obama, McCain’s proposal involves a “cap and trade” mechanism to legislatively limit CO2 emissions in the coming years, with the free market minimizing the economic damage by allowing a trading of emission credits between companies. He also includes an allowance for carbon offsets, although everyone (except Al Gore) believes this to be more smoke-and-mirrors than a real-world strategy for reducing carbon emissions.

Hot Air

New McCain ad: Let’s fight global warming, but in a good way

Maverick’s “third way” battle plan towards a greener planet sounds suspiciously like the Democrats’ own, which may be due to the fact that he’s never had a consistent comprehensive approach to environmentalism — a worrisome sign given that he’d be dealing as president with a deep blue Congress. How likely is it that he’d veto an emissions bill heavy on regulation and light on the sort of free-market solutions he claims to be such a fan of?

McCain's New Ad

Watch it:

"I will not shirk the mantle of leadership that the United States bears," he said. "I will not permit eight long years to pass without serious action on serious challenges. I will not accept the same dead-end of failed diplomacy that claimed Kyoto."

What he should have added is, "I will not vote on crucial environmental legislation" . . .

McCain skipped every one of the 15 votes that the League of Conservation Voters deemed critical measures for the environment, including votes where the Arizona Senator’s yea would have meant passage by a single-vote margin.

McCain has won support from many environmentalists … but his absenteeism on important votes this session calls into question his reputation as a maverick who might buck the party line on some energy and environmental issues.

“Out of 535 Members of Congress, John McCain is the only one who chose to miss every single key environmental vote scored by the League of Conservation Voters last year. When it came time to stand up and vote for the environment, John McCain was nowhere to be found,” said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. “Every other Member who received a zero from LCV last year at least had the temerity to show up and vote against the environment and clean energy time after time. And unlike John McCain, I doubt any of them would claim to be environmental leaders or champions on global warming.”

Although McCain likes to play up his environmental record in a positive light, and the media often plays along, the facts don’t always back it up, 

“McCain’s LCV score exposes the real record behind the rhetoric: a lifetime pattern of voting with polluters and special interests instead of consumers and the planet when it comes time to stand up and be counted. Or perhaps worse yet: a consistent refusal to stand up and be counted at all.” 

Isn't it time we stop praising people who insist on overstepping their bounds reproductively?

Consider the Duggar family of Tonitown, Arkansas.  The subject of a TV reality show and an AP feature story published in The Dispatch today, the Duggars have 17 children and another one on the way.  All of the kids, whose names start with J, are home schooled. (My heart goes out to Jedidiah, #11.)

We're supposed to find this kind of non-stop breeding admirable? If everyone behaved this way, the earth's population would be at an unsustainable 60 billion or so, and we'd all be eating Soylent Green.  Add to that the crushing effects of CO2 emissions generated by each of us Americans, and you have a global pollution crisis caused by inconsiderate parents.

Uterus-with-a-head moms (as comic Carlos Mencia would describe them) like Mrs. Duggar don't deserve our respect.  According to the AP article, she said "she and her husband will continue to have children as long as God wills it."  Given this logic, infertile couples need not seek treatment. Extra-blessed couples like the Duggars will supply more than enough humans to populate the earth.

Belief in large families (except in areas where family farm laborers are truly necessary to sustain the group) is almost always fueled by religion. So it is with the Duggars. "Jim Bob Duggar, a former member of the Arkansas Legislature and an unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidate, has not been specific when asked how he supports such a big family. But he said he was guided by a seminar about 20 years ago that blends finance and religion."  No surprise that Jim Bob is vague about how he supports 17 kids.

Religious arrogance -- and especially the belief that one's DNA is superior -- does not excuse any of us from practicing responsible breeding and parenting.

I know from experience: motherhood is great. I'm just saying, don't wear it out.

Mercy For Animals' latest video investigation is really heating up after being featured in the LA Times and all over Columbus TV. 

Things are getting even hotter for those directly responsible for this shocking cruelty; at today's press conference Mercy For Animals will unveil a formal complaint filed with the DA's office seeking prosecution. 

What can you do to turn up the heat? We are delivering a petition to Governor Strickland calling for a stop to new factory farms in Ohio. In the first 24 hours we have hundreds of people sign up, it only takes a second so do it! 

The other way you can help is to reduce your consumption of meat and animal products. Momentarily putting aside the substantial health and cruelty issues, beef requires up to 16 times more fossil fuels than eating the equivalent amount of rice and vegetables. Check out ChooseVeg.com for some ideas on how you can save the environment, prevent cruelty to animals and live a healthier life, just by reducing your reliance on animals.

It is no secret that Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich don't always see eye to eye, but they do agree that on the issue of climate change, we must take action now.

Click here to forward this video to a friend or click here to learn more about the We Campaign. You can also read more about Newt Gingrich and climate change here.

Gov. Ted Strickland signed into law a comprehensive energy bill today, providing a long-term framework that ensures all Ohioans have access to reliable and affordable electricity.

"Ohio has set the standard for other states to follow as they work to protect their citizens and their business climate from devastating rate increases,'' said Robert J. Lapp, Vice President-Government Affairs for The Timken Company and co-chair of the Ohio Coalition for Affordable Power. "The Governor and legislative leaders demonstrated courage and wisdom in addressing this complex issue.''

Alan H. McCoy, Vice President, Government and Public Relations, for AK Steel Corporation in West Chester, echoed Lapp's sentiments.

 "This new law sends a clear message across the country that Ohio is a good place in which to work and live,'' said McCoy, who also co-chaired the Coalition. "Ohio has taken the all-important first step in averting electrical rate increases that would have driven businesses to flee and caused their employees and families to suffer.''

Senate Bill 221 takes effect in 90 days.

Both Lapp and McCoy stressed that many critical decisions remain in order to fully implement the new law, and they pledged to continue to work on behalf of all consumers as the implementation phase begins.

For nearly a year, the co-chairs managed the activities of the Coalition, a diverse and ever-expanding group that formed to address concerns that Ohio residents and businesses would see sudden and severe increases in their electric bills when rate caps are lifted next year.

 Ohio was among 17 states that opted for electricity deregulation, hoping it would do to the power industry what it did for the telecommunication and airline industries: Bring consumers lower prices through increased competition. Instead, the competition never arrived and utility bills skyrocketed in other states that failed to address the problem in a timely fashion.

In Maryland, some electrical rates jumped 71 percent overnight. In Illinois, they rose 55 percent. The price hikes were devastating for electricity-intensive manufacturers such as steel and aluminum companies and their employees.

Although it began as a manufacturers' group, the Coalition, and ultimately Senate Bill 221, won the endorsement of 129 large and small businesses, interest groups, trade associations, hospitals  and labor organizations.

The new law protects consumers by giving state regulators the power to cut rates if utilities are earning excessive profits, and it requires state regulators to conduct a prudency review to ensure that utilities are only passing on appropriate costs to the ratepayers. It promotes accountability and transparency by requiring all side deals to be open to the public.

Utilities benefit by getting guaranteed cost recovery if they build expensive new power plants, upgrade existing plants or must comply with new environmental regulations.

National Wildlife Federation Urges Ohio Senator to Back Climate Security Act

WASHINGTON, DC (May 1, 2008) - Jeremy Symons, executive director of the National Wildlife Federation's global warming campaign, said today:

"Sen. George Voinovich's draft legislation is quite simply the bill to nowhere. It won't get the job done to responsibly address climate change and fully recharge our economy with clean energy technologies. In fact, the bill's most significant impact would be to block serious action at both the federal and state levels for the next 20 years, taking vital options off the table for Ohio and other states in the Midwestern Regional Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord.

"The National Wildlife Federation appreciates Sen. Voinovich's leadership on a comprehensive plan to restore the Great Lakes and we urge him to adopt an equally comprehensive approach to climate action in the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act."

The National Wildlife Federation is America's conservation organization inspiring Americans to protect wildlife for our children's future.

In a major victory against Bush’s failure to admit the threat of climate change, a “federal judge has found the Bush administration guilty of violating the Endangered Species Act and ordered the administration to issue a final listing decision for the polar bear by May 15, 2008.” The district court ruling against Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne found:

Defendants have been in violation of the law requiring them to publish the listing determination for nearly 120 days. Other than the general complexity of finalizing the rule, Defendants offer no specific facts that would justify the existing delay, much less further delay. To allow Defendants more time would violate the mandated listing deadlines under the ESA and congressional intent that time is of the essence in listing threatened species.

Cross Posted From:

Original Content: Think Progress

"Earth Day 2008: Now Get Busy!" will enable 2,500 volunteers to make a difference this Saturday. Will you be one of them?

Green Columbus and partnering organizations have put together an action-packed day throughout central Ohio. From cleaning up rivers, to planting trees, to removing non-native plant species from our parks, we hope you'll join us and "Get Busy" this Saturday.

The morning work activities will be followed by a celebration at Goodale Park that features a free lunch for morning volunteers, booths for environmental organizations, live music, and speakers.

Click here to find out more or to sign up for a worksite

Now Get Busy Sponsors: Whole Foods Market, The Columbus Foundation, WWHOTV.com, Brighter Minds Media, Comfest, the Grossman Group, Columbus Recreation and Parks, Corna Kokosing, Great Lakes Brewing Company, Earth Share of Ohio, CD101, COTA, WCBE, MORPC, Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, and Weisenbach

Click here for a map of worksite locations

David Robinson, 12th Congressional District Candidate, will be attending a Dublin house party at the home of Lucy and Al Gabel, located at 7190 Coffman Road on April 29, 2008 and beginning at 7:00 PM.

This event is open to all that wish to attend.

Suggested Donations: Sponsors-$200, Guests-$50

Please RSVP, by e-mail to agabel7190@aol.com or call 614-889-8282. Please include your name and telephone number with your RSVP.

Directions: Exit at 17A from 270, Rt. 33, 161. Go East to the first light. Turn left onto Post Rd. You will go going West over 270. At the first light, turn right onto Coffman Rd. Proceed North to 7190 Coffman Rd.

For more information about David Robinson and his campaign platform, please visit http://www,robinson2008.com

Join the Robinson for Congress Grassroots Team

With less than 200 days to go until Election Day, now is the time to start telling voters about David Robinson and why he is the best choice to represent the 12th District in the U.S. Congress.

Over the next several weeks, the Robinson Campaign will be pulling together a Grassroots Team – a group of committed and energetic Robinson supporters who are willing to spend a few hours on the weekend, or a few hours during the week, reaching out to voters at the door or on the phone.

No Experience Required! "If you can walk, you can canvass. If you can talk, you can phone bank." Training will be provided.

We are going to win in November with good, old-fashioned hard work; and the Grassroots Team will be a critical part of our success.

If you would like to be part of the Team, RSVP to Jed Thorp, Grassroots Coordinator at jedthorp@hotmail.com or 617-553-0541.

For more information on David Robinson and his campaign platform, please visit www.robinson2008.com

Happy Earth Day!

This is our planet. It's gorgeous.

What's so hard about picking up some trash and taking a shorter shower?

This alone won't save the world, but that's not the point.

The point is you can do something.

And in that spirit, take a moment to look at Earth as Art, a treasury of satellite images selected by NASA and the United States Geological Survey "for their aesthetic beauty, rather than for scientific value."

More Images here.

This is our planet. It's gorgeous.

Advocates for employers and residential customers praised House-passed changes to the comprehensive energy bill Tuesday, saying they are designed to provide the safeguards needed to protect residential customers and businesses from the rate shock seen in other states where a dysfunctional market set the price of electricity.

Eric Burkland, president of the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association, said the changes would enhance Ohio’s business climate by bringing affordable and reliable power to one of America’s leading manufacturing states.

“These changes will improve Ohio’s ability to attract and retain good-paying jobs, while still allowing utilities to earn a reasonable profit,’’ Burkland said. “This is fair to all parties.’’

David Rinebolt, executive director of Ohio Partners for Affordable Energy, an advocacy group representing low-income residential customers, said the bill provides needed protections for residential rate-payers.

“The compromise is better for consumers than current law, and the efficiency and renewable provisions will benefit customers in the short and long term,’’ Rinebolt said.

Burkland’s OMA and Rinebolt’s OPAE are part of the Ohio Coalition for Affordable Power, a diverse group that formed last summer to work for passage of legislation designed to spare Ohio from unfair and unnecessary rate hikes when rate caps are scheduled to begin expiring next year.

The pro-customer provisions in the House-passed bill call for::

• Giving state regulators the power to cut rates if utilities are earning excessive profits. The authority applies if the utility chooses either to remain regulated under an Electric Security Plan (ESP) or chooses the Market Rate Option (MRO);
• Requiring the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to conduct a prudency review to ensure that utilities are only passing on appropriate costs to their customers;
• Giving the PUCO the authority to intervene to prevent “abrupt or substantial’’ rate increases for a utility that chose the MRO;
• Promoting accountability and transparency by requiring all side deals to be open to the public;
• Preventing utilities from immediately charging high market rates by requiring PUCO approval for a utility to sell its generation assets;
• Ending regulatory transition charges, commonly known as stranded costs;
• Removing language that could have increased generation costs for customers of AEP subsidiary Ohio Power by 80 to 90 percent;
• Preserving the right of customers to shop for electricity if market prices ever become competitive with Ohio’s regulated rates;
• Promoting improved reliability by allowing the commission to provide financial incentives to utilities that provide high-quality service.

 See Also: Husted Blinks: Agrees to Governors Electric Reregulation Language

What is this gadget?
It's a Google Desktop gadget for Windows XP and Vista that helps you save energy by minimizing your PC's power consumption when it's not actively in use. It does this by enabling and optimizing your Windows power settings to EPA recommended standards.

What else does it do?
The gadget also shows you how much energy you've saved, and also shows you how much energy everyone who's using the gadget has saved collectively.

It will show you different comparisons of how much energy this equals in real world terms, e.g. showing that 0.18 kWhs is enough energy to power a CFL for 10 hours.

It also provides a "Pause" button so you could keep your computer from turning off when you want to watch a movie, listen to music, or give a presentation.

How do I get started?
You need Google Desktop installed. If you don't already have it, you can find it at http://desktop.google.com.

Install the Energy Saver gadget by going to http://desktop.google.com/plugins/i/energysaver.html.