The Nation: The Big Green Buy

How the Obama administration can Go Green and make it easier for the rest of us to Go Green as well.

The Big Green Buy | The Nation

WikiLeaks and classified information

In the aftermath of Wikileaks' release of some 90,000 classified documents pertaining to the war in Afghanistan (2004-2010) many have condemned the site for endangering our troops. Since its launch in 2007, WikiLeaks has been responsible for bringing us video of a helicopter attack on civilians and journalists, corporate documents relating to toxic dumping, and even a DOD intelligence report on WikiLeaks itself.

The notion that the site, which posts documents and information that is anonymously submitted, has been accused of endangering coalition troops in Aghanistan with this most recent release. I would ask those that are making this claim to explain how they believe the soldiers are being put at risk. Do they believe that an incident report from 2004 exposes any information that is still relevant to where the troops are today? Do they believe that there is strategic data in those reports that can be mined by Al Qaeda to target coalition forces? Or is it the even more ridiculous argument that the information in those reports is proof of civilian deaths at the hands of coalition forces and that somehow the publication will enrage the local population?

I deem the last argument to be the most ridiculous because if you had traveled through Afghanistan a month ago, long before these documents surfaced, the local people in the combat areas already knew of the civilian deaths accumulating under the occupation. These revelations are only revelations to the American people and are not new information to the Afghans. To believe that they are somehow ignorant to their neighbors deaths from coalition air strikes and firefights is so absurd that it borders on the delusional. The only people surprised by the information in the leaked documents are the American people and it's about time they knew the truth of the occupation of Afghanistan.

What we should take away from this document leak is that there are far too many items that are classified for no good reason. Hiding documents by classifying them as state secrets is a convenient means for the government to hide the truth from the voters, thus preventing them having the information necessary to be an informed citizenry. If the abuse of that authority were curtailed, then more weight might be given to documents deemed "classified," but so long as every slightly embarrassing document is deemed a state secret vital to national defense...well, we know what happens when you cry wolf.

Newsroom - Video/Audio: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont)

Bernie Sanders takes on the Republican goal to eliminate the estate tax and give the Waltons a $33 billion tax break while denying unemployment benefits to out of work Americans.

Newsroom - Video/Audio: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont)

The real problems with Teach for America

Just came across this great post on Teach for America's failings. A great read for anyone concerned with the state of our public education.

Tenured Radical: Is Teach For America A Program For The Poor Or For The Rich?

Companion Guide to WHPB

For those of you who watch Robert Gibbs' ever entertaining White House Press Briefings and don't always know who the questions are coming from, here's a list of the reporters in the room and what networks/newpapers they are affiliated with.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/administration/whbriefing/correspondents.html

BOOSH!!!

Another one bites the dust...so much for the moral majority.

C-SPAN Video Player - Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) Resignation Announcement

Obama's Katrina

The conservative establishment hacks have been eager to label the oil spill caused by BP's deepwater drilling operation "Obama's Katrina." Ignoring the fact that conservatives have been fanatically chanting "Drill, baby, drill!" since the summer of 2008, and ignoring as well the claims that they want smaller government with less interference and regulation, many are shouting now that the federal response was inadequate or not fast enough. They have attempted to draw parallels between President Bush's delayed efforts to get to New Orleans and President Obama's initially hands-off approach while BP said they had the spill under control.

While one might expect conservatives to support Obama's efforts to allow the private sector to remedy the situation they created, they have instead called for a "big government" response to the oil spill. Personally, I am in favor a massive federal cleanup effort with all costs being billed to BP down the road, but had the President taken such action initially, I can only imagine the outcry and screams of government takeover that would be going on right now at FoxNews by Hannity, Rove, Palin and company.

In a desperate effort to further connect the dots between the BP spill and Hurricane Katrina, the ever repulsive Neil Cavuto had former FEMA director Michael "Brownie" Brown on to share his thoughts on the drilling rig explosion and subsequent oil spill into the Gulf.

And here is Robert Gibbs' reaction to the Cavuto interview after FoxNews White House correspondent Wendel Goler asks about the spill being Obama's Katrina. Well done Mr. Gibbs.