VOTE

Hooray for Hartmann!

On Friday evening I attended a speaking engagement with author/humanitarian/historian/entrepreneur/educator/economist/radio host Thom Hartmann at the San Fernando Valley Democratic Headquarters in Van Nuys, CA.

If you don't know Thom, you need to. Thom is, to me at least, a modern-day version of another significant Thomas – Jefferson – in that he's worldly and erudite yet an everyman. He is a true believer in a "we society" as opposed to a "me society", and yet he has the capacity to be the one to speak out for "we."

On Friday night he waxed philosophical on a number of topics – from Hobbsian vs. Lockean views (he sides more with Locke) on society to a particularly formative night he spent making peace with members of a tribe inside an Iroquois teepee.

He mentioned being especially impressed with the way Barack Obama handled himself during the last debate – how he refused to take the bait McCain put out for him. In spite of the fact that even the cool and collected Hartmann found himself creaming at the TV for Barack to retaliate to the lies, he did in the end see the greater wisdom of Obama's strategy. It is a more peaceful, controlled, self-assured leader we Americans are seeking today. The more McCain played the role of bully, and the more Barack responded with calm rather than anger, the greater his approval rose. In the end, most polls had Obama winning the debate by a huge margin, despite the initial concerns of some, like Hartmann and myself.

Thom admitted to not agreeing 100% with Barack on all the issues, but that the important thing right now is to get him into office, at which time our real work will begin – to push him to become a great reformer in the mold of Lincoln and FDR. He pointed out that neither man started their political careers with great change in mind. Lincoln only decided to give slaves freedom when he saw the divided nation before him. FDR's first act as President was to cut welfare to widows and orphans of WWI soldiers. It was when the People expressed their displeasure, and then their needs, that he began to change into the FDR we appreciate today.

Thom also addressed the (gulp) possibility that the Conservatives steal the election. While he isn't in favor of a Bolshevik-style revolution, he would become actively involved in a nationwide sit-in, a la Gandhi. Let's hope he never has to dirty up his trousers.

I encourage everyone reading this to get to know Thom. He's really a remarkable, inspiring man, and best of all, he can be heard every morning from 9-12 on Air America Radio. Also, check out his site here, where you can buy his many books and even catch podcasts of his show.

Friday marked my third time seeing Thom Hartmann speak live. I look forward to many more.

MC Yogi raps about Barack

This is really great – great song, great message:

Obama '08 - Vote For Hope from MC Yogi on Vimeo.

Do They Make Cow Mints?

Here's a "Why didn't I think of that?" story: Researchers in the Netherlands have begun feeding garlic to cows as a means of reducing global carbon emissions. 

Cows produce some 17% of the world's carbon output, by way of... um... flatulence, and this neat trick has been shown to reduce their gaseous effluence by 15%. I don't really want to know how the researchers measured the stuff, but there you have it. 

Now, to figure a way to get garlic into the diets of a couple of guys at the gym...

Get Positive

We've written a petition hosted on the Care2 Petition site requesting of Senator John McCain that he stop the negative campaigning . It sets a bad tone and creates a dangerous environment, one that's destructive to the democratic process.

Please sign the petition within the next week and we'll send it off to the McCain campaign. We'll let you know if we get a response.

Petition powered by ThePetitionSite.com

Oops...

So, just four days into my month of buying only American-made goods I did a little shopping at Trader Joes, a place where I figured I could let my domestic product radar down. My bad. When I got home I came to find that I purchased a little plastic container of cherry tomatoes picked in Mexico.

Damn.

Now, I'm not nearly as upset as I would be if they had been grown in China or Taiwan or a place where we have a massive import to export disparity (in favor of import). In fact, Mexico is an amicable trade partner (except for the drug thing, which is a whole other story) and I suppose in a way, by supporting Mexican farm workers we lower their desire to come here illegally, where they take jobs from American (taxpaying) workers and get abused by a system hostile toward illegals.

Anyway, I'll be more careful from now on. Tasty tomatoes though!

Buy American... Like Me

I made a decision today, a decision that, if everyone in this country also made, would go a long way towards solving our current financial dilemma. I decided, for the next 30 days, to buy only American-made products. No Sony or Sanyo, no GAP or Nike, no off brands imported from China or Pakistan. If it doesn't say "Made in USA" I ain't buying it.

Unless it's second hand. I decided that I will check out thrift stores as I'm stocking my new apartment because buying second hand means not pulling something new from the production chain, whether it's a foreign or domestic one.

You see, part of the problem that resulted in our economic meltdown – a big part – is the fact that whereas up until the mid-70's we had a trade surplus, the largest in history. Simply put, we produced and sol more than we bought.

But all of that began to shift in the late-70's. We flipped over from having a surplus to a deficit, and we've never looked back. Today it's nearly $800 billion, or 7% of our GDP. That's a lot of buying and very little selling internationally. For a nice fable on the mechanics of how this all came to be check out this Warren Buffet-penned article from 2003: America's Growing Trade Deficit...

The point of this is twofold: For one, by buying foreign we are sinking our own ship. As our deficit grows out of control the dollar is increasingly devalued, inflation rises, people can't afford to pay for the things we import cheaply but sell high.

The second half of this equation is that by buying American we protect the atmosphere on a global scale. When products are produced here they don't have to be shipped halfway around the world, saving tons of carbon (literally) from entering the atmosphere. We are essentially shopping locally, with the whole of the United States counting for "local."

So, I am pledging here and now to buy only U.S. produced goods for the next 30 days, longer if possible. It won't be easy – lots of label reading required – and probably more expensive too. But the goal is a worthy one. If I can ween myself off foreign-made goods maybe others will be inspired to as well, and with an increased demand for Made in the USA stuff local production will increase, jobs created and the environment protected.

Hey, it's worth a shot...


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Some links to help you shop American-made:
http://www.madeinusa.org/
http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/
http://www.madeinusa.com/

http://www.buyamericanmart.com/

Windy State

We'd like to give props to the entire state of New Jersey today for agreeing to build a huge offshore wind farm in the southern part of the state to Garden State Offshore Energy, a joint venture that includes P.S.E.G. Renewable Generation, a subsidiary of P.S.E.G. Global, a sister company of the state’s largest utility.

The decision, which includes access of up to $19 million in state grants, is part of New Jersey’s Energy Master Plan, which calls for 20 percent of the state’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2020.

The proposal by Garden State Offshore Energy includes installing 96 turbines to produce as much as 346 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about ten thousand houses. The turbines would be arranged in a rectangle about a half-mile long by one-third of a mile wide. The project, which would cost more than $1 billion, would not start producing electricity until 2013.

The turbines would be between 16 and 20 miles off the coast of New Jersey’s Atlantic and Ocean counties, and thus in much deeper water than other proposed projects. Deepwater Wind, which will work with P.S.E.G to build the wind farm, said it can affordably build turbines in 100 feet of water with the same technology used to build oil and gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and other locations.

This plan follows ones already approved in Delaware and Rhode Island  and hopes are high that New York will soon follow suit. Can Florida be far behind?

For more on this story check out the NY Times article that broke it: Huge Offshore Wind Farm Wins Approval