apple juice

Easily the most wonky, policy oriented blog post you’ll read this week. If you want to understand the budgets proposed by Ryan and Obama, it’s important to read.

And I’m not saying that spending shouldn’t be reduced…

The Ryan Sinkhole – NYTimes.com: 

“Function 920 represents a category called ‘allowances’ that captures the budgetary effects of cross-cutting proposals or contingencies that impact multiple functions rather than one specific area of the budget. It also represents a place-holder category for any budgetary impacts that the Congressional Budget Office has yet to assign to a specific budget function. C.B.O. typically reassigns the budgetary effects of any legislation enacted within Function 920 once a new baseline update is released.”

So I’m blogging again…

The Battle Over Climate Science | Popular Science

“In the late 1990s, Mann developed a graph that demonstrated a recent and dramatic uptick in global mean surface temperatures. The hockey-stick-shaped curve has become emblematic to both sides of the climate debate. To the vast majority of climate scientists, it represents evidence, corroborated by decades of peer-reviewed research, of global warming. To climate-change skeptics, the hockey stick is the most grievous of many illusions fabricated by thousands of conspiring scientists to support an iniquitous political agenda.”

If you “believe” in global warming, this article will just be mind-boggling to you. It is funny to even have to say “believe”. We can’t even talk about solutions in this country – we’re still debating whether we “believe” the overwhelming evidence of climate change.

Had a good discussion with Doug the other day about climate change and factors contributing to it. I was discussing my goal to cut back on driving and he pointed out (correctly) that personal transportation is not the majority of the problem. (Though it is about 30% of it)

Luckily, it seems, that presented will silly hot temperatures and brain-eating amoebas, wild fires, droughts, public opinion is shifting on the issue.

So why has it not been made an issue in the presidential campaign? (Rhetorical question) Obama should seize on this and let Romney and Ryan writhe around in denial, trying to speak to their base. As governor, Romney was pretty moderate, but as a republican presidential candidate you have to worry about things, like appeasing the oil and gas industry.

Mitt Romney’s shifting views on climate change

The longer he runs for president, the more doubts Republican front-runner Mitt Romney seems to have about the science behind global climate change.

Hmm…

man, I don’t know, but this photo brings tears to my eyes:

November 4th, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC

(borrowed / stolen from kotte.org… he is a great source of all things internetty)

i think this is a great article on Obama, before he was on the national scene.

Jan Schakowsky told me about a recent visit she had made to the White House with a congressional delegation. On her way out, she said, President Bush noticed her “obama” button. “He jumped back, almost literally,” she said. “And I knew what he was thinking. So I reassured him it was Obama, with a ‘b.’ And I explained who he was. The President said, ‘Well, I don’t know him.’ So I just said, ‘You will.’ ”

(emphasis mine)

The Candidate

here’s a little background on McCain’s campaign manager. This link, circa 2006, comes to us from the always excellent talking points memo.

John McCain has signed up GOP operative Terry Nelson as his campaign manager — yep, that would be the same Terry Nelson who produced the infamous, racially-charged “bimbo” ad attacking Dem Tennessee Senate candidate Harold Ford, Jr.

that ad makes me vomit a bit in the back of my throat every time I see it.

read more: McCain Hires Strategist Behind Harold Ford “Bimbo” Ad As Campaign Manager

this heads up from TPM comes as they recount the last week of gutterball from McCain

Just one more link about the gas tax, and then I’ll stop. I promise. This comes from Robert Reich:

Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Listen to Economists

When asked this morning by ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos if she could name a single economist who backs her call for a gas tax holiday this summer, HRC said “I’m not going to put my lot in with economists.”

I know several of the economists who have been advising Senator Clinton, so I phoned them right after I heard this. I reached two of them. One hadn’t heard her remark and said he couldn’t believe she’d say it. The other had heard it and shrugged it off as “politics as usual.”

I think the important take-away is that this is “politics as usual”. Hillary is running an ad about how this will save you (well, not you, but the royal you) $9 billion dollars. “Barack Obama says this is pennies.” Sorry, Hillary, but split that out to all the people who buy fuel in this country, it’ll save you (the actual you, not the royal you) about $30.

I think bridges that function, upgrading transit, and smooth roads and highways are more important than $30 in my pocket.

you have to click through to this article, just for the picture if nothing else: Gas-Tax Holiday = Cheap Votes

a gas-tax holiday is the worst idea i have ever heard. it will save you $30. it will create more profits for oil companies (as they raise prices to fill the gap), it will set back important transportation projects across the country, and it will encourage people to drive more, not less, creating more pollution and pumping more CO2 into the atmosphere.

bad bad stupid stupid. we should do the exact opposite. raise the gas tax. raise it by a dollar and dedicate it to transit projects.

encourage people to drive less.

encourage people to drive smaller cars.

encourage people to take transit.

one more reason to not vote for the old politics of John McCain and Hillary Clinton. time for a change. don’t believe me?

It is great to see that we finally have some national unity on energy policy. Unfortunately, the unifying idea is so ridiculous, so unworthy of the people aspiring to lead our nation, it takes your breath away

thomas friedman – “dumb as we wanna be“