Best List

I've seen so far is Andrew Golis's list of top progressive intellectuals under 40. I actually know who some of them are, but had never heard of this guy, who's great.

Well, Sometimes There Are Exceptions

to this "vacation" that demand response.
Such as Wired Magazine's top ten animal videos, some of which made it to Contrarienne earlier in the year.
Transformer Owl highly recommended.

Intentional Hiatus

Hmm. I haven't been posting. It's not that I'm not reading, or finding things you might like, but the follow-through energy seems to be lacking. And I notice that Andrew Sullivan and his trusty blog support person has decided to take the tween holidays week off.
So I guess I will, too.
See you next Monday, Jan. 5. Fresh and bushy-tailed, I hope. Maybe even inspired.

Introducing the Inimitable

Shorty McCormick, the dog of queens, or at least one queen. Elizabeth has 18 corgis.
This one was born in Mt. Vernon about eight weeks ago and delivered by the Puppy Santa yesterday. She is sort of paper trained, sometimes remembers to ask to go out, all of which I think is pretty good for a baby.

Quote O' Teh (Last) Century

In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican." - H. L. Mencken

SNOW!

Almost as good as BACON!


h/t Andrew Sullivan

Frivolity

Nothing plays as well as style and wit, hence the Sartorialist and other eye candy.
THE STREET: Seeking men and women fully dressed? The joyful street-style blogs are for the traveler who likes the sit-in-a-cafe-and-observe part and can be brought around — in the recession, anyhow — to the from-the-comfort-of-your-home part. My favorites are the pristine ones that don’t have muddy, trashy party pictures that really belong on MySpace. I like a point of view, lucid pictures, some analysis and lots of air in the design. That means: Face Hunter (London and beyond), The Sartorialist (New York and beyond), Garance Doré (Paris), Copenhagen Street Style, Stockholm Street Style, Altamira NYC, Stil in Berlin, The Style Scout (London), Style-Arena (Tokyo by neighborhood; see especially Harajuku, which first defined street style), The Streetswalker (Tel Aviv), Toronto Street Fashion, Styleclicker (Munich), On the Corner (Buenos Aires), Austin Style Watch, 2 Threads (Australia), The MidWasteland (Chicago), Miss at the Playa (miscellaneous), Hel-Looks (Helsinki), Look at Me (Moscow), Shanghai Viva, Glam Canyon (London), ReykjavikLooks

I may start shooting street style in Port Townsed someday, the youngsters here are really good at it, not to mention the olders, artists all.

NORAD Tracks Santa

Last time I checked, he had just arrived in Mumbai via Sri Lanka.

The Shibas Will Grow Up Someday

and while everyone's owner has been offered a live cam, and there may be more litters, you can't count on anything.
But thanks to Andrew Sullivan, there is always cutethingsfallingasleep.org.
http://www.cutethingsfallingasleep.org/

Happy New Year

Cory Doctorow is younger than I am, but just as aware of how dire things are in this world. I am grateful for his optimism.
.

Crappy economies are often the home of wonderful Bohemias. Two recessions ago, I dropped out of school to become a computer programmer. In the last one, I quit the company I'd co-founded and went to work for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Now that I'm a parent -- and now that I'm a little older -- I feel the risk a lot more keenly than I did then. But I just keep on remembering that we live in the best time in the history of the world to have a worst time: the time when collective action is cheaper and easier than ever, the time when more information and better access to tools, ideas and communities are at our fingertips than they've ever been.

This is an experiment to see if I can actually continue on a separate page with a post, adding things that do not appear on the main page. Shit, guess not. Still, I shall persist. I think it's possible.

He Doesn't Know

pickle juice from pimple pus and other instant, creative cliches are now available here. Endless hours of mindless fun with words.

Let's Try Cheney

who this week proudly, defiantly acknowledged his role in torture.
Followed closely by John Dean's call for prosecution, and FBI Mueller's reluctant admission that none of it was productive.

this exchange with FBI director Robert Mueller:

I ask Mueller: So far as he is aware, have any attacks on America been
disrupted thanks to intelligence obtained through what the administration still calls “enhanced techniques”?
“I’m really reluctant to answer that,” Mueller says. He pauses, looks at an aide, and then says quietly, declining to elaborate: “I don’t believe that has been the case.”

Mueller is “reluctant to answer” because he knows that Cheney and other administration spokespersons have repeatedly made that claim. And he knows that it is a lie which has been advanced for a specific reason: to cloak their criminal conduct.

Weather Ahead: Jeebus

The storm expected tomorrow includes extremely high winds, which means power loss in the middle of the deep freeze. I have access to wood-fired heat at two other residences, but can we get there in the middle of a storm?

The region — expected to stay below freezing in the meantime — will again be hit not only by snow and ice pellets Saturday night into Sunday morning, but by winds that could reach 50 to 70 mph, with peak gusts of 90, in the foothills.

"This next system could actually be worse than what we just had," said Jeff Michalski, meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

It Was Al All The Time

From TPM:

A series of recent developments, notably the poor quality of Norm Coleman's ballot challenges, have helped Al Franken close the gap to just 5 votes in the near-interminable Minnesota recount, after he entered the process down by 215. Counting resumes Friday, but the race is now Franken's to lose.

Do The Right Thing

Taplin comments on the auto industry planned, managed bankruptcies:

This is the smartest move to come out of the White House in 7 years.

Sometimes I Just Don't Know

how I find things on the Net. One minute I was reviewing Myrvald's treatise on Peking duck and other wonders Chinese and the next thing I know I'm reading Calvin Trillin's delightful profile of Kenny Shropsin and his Greenwich Village restaurant. I'd like to try the Sister's Blisters, but hell, he's got 900 items on the menu.

“If somebody
comes in here and is flabbergasted by the number of things on
the menu and tells me, ‘How can I choose?’ “ he has said, “I
realize that they’re essentially in the wrong restaurant.”

It's a pdf and will download once you click on it from the Amazon link I'm giving you.

Without The Internet

I would never have heard of this. I'm not saying I understand anything, but at least I can recognize the reference if I ever see it again.

There are two inspirations for the design of the Water Cube. The exterior surface is a bubble-like skin of translucent plastic, arrayed as Voronoi polygons drawn from seemingly random points. Gregory Voronoi was a 19th-century Ukrainian mathematician who studied what we now call computational geometry. Voronoi studied what happens when you throw points at a plane and then break the plane into regions where each region is the area that is closest to its point. This creates a natural polygonal division of the plane. You see this pattern very clearly in the polygonal patterns of light, known technically as caustics, that play across the bottom of a well-lit pool or pond. Voronoi polygon patterns are also found on giraffes and in the veins in leaves. I made a recursive Voronoi fractal for one of the staircases in my house.

First Snow of Season 2008

My Liberty apple tree.

Slate, Cont'd.

I ended up over at their Web site because of Hitchens who, despite my link below, is not worth reading after all.
Note to self: Always read the entire piece before linking.
Anyway, I liked this review of robotic toys better and especially this video.
Spoiler: You get what you pay for. In this case, $370.

Have A Laff

I really hate Christopher Hitchens for any number of very good reasons (he's a fascist, maybe, he keeps defending Iraq, he thinks he knows about things he doesn't know about) but he made me laugh out loud or, rather, his account of Phyllis Diller's Xmas card did, so I refer you to the entire piece on Christmas aversion, which I share.

I had never before been a special fan of that great comedian Phyllis Diller, but she utterly won my heart this week by sending me an envelope that, when opened, contained a torn-off square of brown-bag paper of the kind suitable for latrine duty in an ill-run correctional facility. Duly unfurled, it carried a handwritten salutation reading as follows:

Money's scarce
Times are hard
Here's your f******
Xmas card

Who Is Hyman Minsky

and what does he have to do with all this economic meltdown stuff?
Lawyers always say you should never ask a question that you don't already know the answer to.
(Inelegant writing, I know, I should go back to bed.)
I don't know who Hyman Minsky is, but this guy does.
For those of you able to bear it, there's an enlightening and probably useful discussion going on over at TPM Cafe focused on the reissue of Krugman's book on the Depression (Great Depression? were there minor depressions? then what's a recession? Hyman Minsky? Huh?)

Some have called this current crisis the "Minsky Moment", but actually it is more accurate to recognize this as the culmination of the "Minsky Half-Century".

Minsky, schminsky, I just always loved the name Hyman. If I were to have a son, I would surely name him Hyman.

I'm Tellin' Mom!

I witnessed a bit of history just minutes ago. The famous Shiba Inus of San Francisco were busy being mischivous while, er, Home Alone, when one of them, the boy most likely, kept attacking the camera behind the fence that looks out on them.
Suddenly, after much biting and pawing, the view is of the ceiling.
I know, I know, I'm obsessed.

Torture

It is too disturbing to write about even though with a new Senate report just out, Andrew Sullivan, Glenn Greenwald and Scott Horton are all keeping on it, especially Sullivan.
I know just enough to decide not to read any more.
Like this:

It seems likely that Mr. Kenami died of positional asphyxia because of how he was restrained, hooded, and positioned. Positional asphyxia looks just like death by a natural heart attack except for those telltale conjunctival hemorrhages in his eyes.

Corrections And Other Fact-Based Journalism

It's Regret the Error's annual round-up, with this year's "correction of the year" award going to Dave Barry for this explanation:

In yesterday’s column about badminton, I misspelled the name of Guatemalan player Kevin Cordon. I apologize. In my defense, I want to note that in the same column I correctly spelled Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarak, Poompat Sapkulchananart and Porntip Buranapraseatsuk. So by the time I got to Kevin Cordon, my fingers were exhausted.

The operator of this site also has named an annual prize after the long-time author of the British The Guardian's corrections, since he sets the standard:

Deep depression: Our economics editor has officially gone from recession to depression. By mangling the names of two of history’s most highly decorated economists, John Maynard Keynes and Milton Friedman, we not only created an economy of truth but blamed poor Milton Keynes for having “crazy” ideas (We can all learn from Depression, Opinion, page 21, September 29). Milton Keynes is an English town famous not only for its grid system of roads and its herd of concrete cows but because in 1998 it was deemed so boring that even chartered accountants refused to move there. The “crazy” ideas comment was intended for John Maynard Keynes, who was voted one of Time Magazine’s most important people of the 20th century - and who was not boring.

Altogether, the entire piece qualifies as the best read I've had in a long time.

Frost/Nixon

a dissenting view. I was a young adult during this period. I don't remember if I watched the interviews. I'm not even sure I ever paid enough attention (through my full, liberal contempt for the man) to understand it as Elizabeth Drew does.
That's why it's important to know that what's being presented is seen by many experts as an unacceptably distorted version of the truth.

The film's plot is a contrivance; its telling is so riddled with departures from what actually happened as to be fundamentally dishonest; and its climactic moment is purely and simply a lie. Literary license in the name of drama or entertainment is one thing; the issue comes down to what one is taking license with, and the degree of license being taken.

Food Blogs: The List

http://www.bonappetit.com/tipstools/blog_envy

Puppies, Cont'd.

Ignore, but I got the new embed code and wanted to mention that the live SFShiba cam has been on several top video lists this year and mentioned on network TV. Brian Williams, that tool, seems to think all the puppies do is sleep. Obviously he's relying on second-hand reports.
The owners have been keeping viewers updated on a blog if you're interested. Okay, I know, I know, I'm obsessed.

Free TV : Ustream

Headline O' Teh Day

US anti-kidnapping expert kidnapped in Mexico

The Purpose Of Life

Our “purpose,” so to speak, is to redistribute energy on the Earth, which is in between a huge potential energy difference caused by the hot Sun and cold space.

h/t Andrew Sullivan, or one of his fans actually

Caroline!

She's as pure as the driven snow. B-bu-but she's a Kennedy. Well, one of the three possible alternatives is Cuomo's son. The other two are, while possibly talented, clearly political hacks.
So, I like her as the next senator from New York.

Puppies!

Reprise, the Shiba Inus of San Fran, because I'm not a techie and am usure of what I've done.
Free video streaming by Ustream

Three Still Left

The Shiba Inus of San Fran have been my obsession the last couple of weeks. Of the original six, three remain since Monday. And when they go off the air, I get all teary, thinking I will never see them again. Pretty soon, that will be true.
Live Broadcasting by Ustream

Is It Right to Mock Blind People?

YES!
Is it fair? Come on, it's art, it's anarchy. If it isn't anarchy, it isn't art.
This made me laugh until it hurt last night. (Yes, I stayed up for Hugh Laurie because I loved, not House, but Bertie Wooster.) So, before posting I just had to see if it checked out the next day. It hurts, it hurts!
The Brits have a word for this. Brilliant.


Oops, wrong embed. Children, always check your work. Exception: Blogging.

Who's A Dick?

I knew there was something called Dickipedia, but until a friend of mine today complained about David Gregory having Carly Fiorina on Meet the Press, of which he is the new official host, I hadn't really thought about it.

David Gregory (born August 24, 1970 in Los Angeles, CA) is the moderator of "Meet the Press," NBC News Chief White House Correspondent, and a dick. In Canada and the United Kingdom, his profession would more accurately be called a "news reader," as most of what he does is read copy that is researched and written for him by others. But these other people can be very annoying with their "knowledge of the world" and their "advanced degrees," so it's only fitting that David take the credit. And the money.

He is married to Beth Wilkinson. Though you may not know her, you paid her for years, while she was executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary for Fannie Mae. She held this position until September of 2008, when she resigned after the troubled giant was taken over by the government, giving her more time to spend with her troubled giant at home.

Until this time, I'd thought of David Gregory as that asshole TV reporter who participated in that critically unfunny anti-rapping pseudo rapping spoof with K-K-Karl Rove at the Washington correspondents hoopla a couple years ago (last year? 2006? recent anyway).
I don't watch the Sunday morning talking heads because Jason Linkins does it for me, and I am eternally grateful for that.
I told my friend to quit watching that crap and be very critical of what she reads, too.
But I am going one step further. Alway, always check out Dickipedia.
I don't really like Arianna, find her accent irritating, but she hires good people who hire good people. Check out Dickipedia regularly. Rinse. Repeat.

Never Look At The Internet

Or, Quote O' Teh Day.
There are days when I read so much really good writing, often about really good writing, that I just want to  quit using words altogether because of my own inadequacy.
This NYT piece on Clint clinched it for me this morning. (Yes, clinched just rolled out after Clint, and it is, as a friend of mine said years ago, "all chemistry.")

Despite what you might have read on Wikipedia, Mr. Eastwood is not a vegan, and he looked slightly aghast when told exactly what a vegan is. “I never look at the Internet for just that reason,” he said.

Most Outrageous Book

or book idea — because I refuse to figure out whether it's for real — of the year.
Natural Harvest —A Collection of Semen-Based Recipes.

Dogs, Bread, Grapes, Monkeys

and the Big Three bailout bill. Gail Collins makes me laugh, or at least snicker, and that's worth a lot these days.

.

.. If Senator DeMint’s constituents are going to riot over a bailout for the auto industry, they’ll wind up being met by tool-and-die makers waving torches and yelling about soybean subsidies. If the lawmakers from Alabama say their constituents do not want their tax money going to bail out Michigan, the people in Michigan are going to say that they never really enjoyed paying more taxes to the federal government than their state received in aid, while Alabama got a return of $1.61 on the dollar. And anytime a representative from the Great Plains opens his mouth, the people from New York are going to point out that while every state gets the same number of senators, there are more people waiting for a subway in Brooklyn in rush hour than inhabit all of Wyoming.

Those Overpaid Auto Workers

Can't remember if I posted this, so here goes:

So here’s a little experiment. Imagine that a Congressional bailout effectively pays for $10 an hour of the retiree benefits. That’s roughly the gap between the Big Three’s retiree costs and those of the Japanese-owned plants in this country. Imagine, also, that the U.A.W. agrees to reduce pay and benefits for current workers to $45 an hour — the same as at Honda and Toyota.

Do you know how much that would reduce the cost of producing a Big Three vehicle? Only about $800.

That’s because labor costs, for all the attention they have been receiving, make up only about 10 percent of the cost of making a vehicle. An extra $800 per vehicle would certainly help Detroit, but the Big Three already often sell their cars for about $2,500 less than equivalent cars from Japanese companies, analysts at the International Motor Vehicle Program say. Even so, many Americans no longer want to own the cars being made by General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.

Go Ahead, Have A Laff

Glass Ceiling Cont'd.

And in a craft in which small errors are commonplace and bigger mistakes a regular occupational hazard, Ms. Toner devised a meticulous personal method for checking and re-checking names, dates, facts and figures in her own raw copy, a step few reporters take. As a result: only half a dozen published corrections over the years, on more than 1,900 articles with her byline.

Not your daddy's Judith Miller.

Socialism

 I tells ya. Yeah, that's it. And, of course, ACTING!

Some of the largest companies in the US, including General Electric, Wal-Mart and PepsiCo, will today launch a drive to improve ethical standards in business in an attempt to stem the decline in corporate America's public standing.
The move by 17 companies, with nearly $1,000bn in sales, to commit to key principles of good business conduct comes as the financial crisis and recession are fuelling a political and public backlash against the corporate world.

Oh, Jeez

I honestly can't remember what I planned to tag this, but here it is.
 Puppies, right?

Comment O' Teh Day:

Some ideas are truly golden. Simultaneously punch-drunk stupid and as perfect as a geodesic sphere.

Okay, I hadn't actually gone through the whole comment thread when I posted this. Now I have gone through all some of it, and I can honestly say it made me laugh more than anything I have seen this year.

If monkey's could choose what they did with their vast amounts of free time, I reckon this wouldn't be too far off the mark.
Perhaps without the silks. "Nude monkeys riding dogs"...
Ok. Maybe not.

Golden Contrarienne!

War On Christmas

Hilarious. Only in America.

Responding a scandal in NC where a Jewish mother's complaint about the Christ-like overtones of "Rudolf The Red-Nose Reindeer" got the song pulled from the kindergarten show, our resident Talmudic scholar reveals:

Of course, the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was written by a Jewish-American songwriter, Johnny Marks. He also wrote "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." Also written by Jews: "I'll be Home for Christmas," "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)," and of course, the mother of all Jewish-written Christmas songs, "White Christmas," by Irving Berlin.  Why, you could almost say there's a conspiracy by Jews to dominate the Christmas-jingle-writing industry!

What Did You Think

it was about. Oil maybe?

“From the moment the first American tanks crossed the Kuwait border, America was in a proxy war with Iran,” Ware says. “The Iranians knew it, but it took the U.S. four years to figure it out. Now the Iraqi government is comprised almost entirely of factions created in Iran, supported by Iran, or with ties to the Iranian government — as many as 23 members of the Iraqi parliament are former members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.”

Women And Booze

I have skin in this game, so I'm just going to give the link and you can folo wherever it takes you.

P.S. Women Worth Noting: Kerry Howley

Viral

is what they call videos that gather millions of views. Inexplicably.
Like "Hamster On A Piano Eating Popcorn." 1:18 min.

Get Your Pointing Fingers Out

Stiglitz calls them capitalist fools.

The whole scheme was kick-started under Ronald Reagan. Between his tax cuts for the rich and the Greenspan Commission’s orchestrated Social Security heist, working Americans lost out in a generational wealth transfer shift now exceeding $1 trillion annually from 90 million working class households to for-profit corporations and the richest 1% of the population. It created an unprecedented wealth disparity that continues to grow, shames the nation and is destroying the bedrock middle class without which democracy can’t survive.

Greenspan helped orchestrate it with economist Ravi Batra calling his economics "Greenomics" in his 2005 book "Greenspan’s Fraud." It "turns out to be Greedomics" advocating anti-trust laws, regulations and social services be ended so "nothing....interfere(s) with business greed and the pursuit of profits."

Who Needs Puppies

when there are bears?

This Guy, This Guy!

From Huffpo:

Democratic officials close to the transition team say that Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize winning physicist, appears to be increasingly on track to become energy secretary.

A Chinese-American, Chu is a professor of physics and molecular and cell biology at the University of California-Berkeley and has been the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory since 2004, where he has pushed aggressively for research into alternative energy as a way to combat global warming.

It is the oldest of the Energy Department's national laboratories, but does only unclassified work and in recent years under Chu has been at the center of research into biofuels and solar technologies. Chu has been a strong advocate for the need to engage scientists in the search for ways to combat global warming by replacing fossil fuels with other energy sources such as biofuels and the sun.

MSNBC reports that Chu will be named Energy Secretary, but that it will not be announced this week.

The Marble Ceiling

TPM calls them the Green Team.

WSJ pointing to Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm as Secretary of Energy, former EPA chief Carol Browner as a "special energy czar," and Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Nancy Sutley as chair of the President's Council on Environmental Quality in the new Obama Administration.

I have a weakness for the current gov. of my birth state. Did I tell you she, also, such, you betcha is a former beauty queen. And, um, Harvard Law grad.

Quote O' Teh Day

From a review of what may be a movie so perfect I may not be able to bear it.

“Wendy and Lucy” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It has some swearing, a little drug use and a brief implication of violence, but no nudity, sex or murder. The rating seems to reflect, above all, an impulse to protect children from learning that people are lonely and that life can be hard.

Smart Pills

I know, I know, it's cheating. But hell, sign me up.

Human ingenuity has given us means of enhancing our brains through inventions such as written language, printing and the Internet. Most authors of this Commentary are teachers and strive to enhance the minds of their students, both by adding substantive information and by showing them new and better ways to process that information. And we are all aware of the abilities to enhance our brains with adequate exercise, nutrition and sleep. The drugs just reviewed, along with newer technologies such as brain stimulation and prosthetic brain chips, should be viewed in the same general category as education, good health habits, and information technology — ways that our uniquely innovative species tries to improve itself.

I Have No Idea

how good journalism ranks among contrariennes or anyone else, but it's kind of a hobby of mine to keep in touch with my former profession, maybe in the hope that things will get better at some point.
This story today gives me more hope than anything I've read recently, because the idea of information as a public service may be the beginning of a new way of thinking about it. And a new way of doing it.

“Information is now a public service as much as it’s a commodity,” Woolley said. “It should be thought of the same way as education, health care. It’s one of the things you need to operate a civil society and the market isn’t doing it very well.”

Animals In Sports

Soccer horses, surfing dogs, monkey basketball.

Recycling Business

is tanking right along with everything else.

Who Knew?

More signs.
Australia has roaming kangaroos, wombats and...wait for it..camels.

Not Just The Supremes

The Washington Post reports that Barack Obama and the big Democratic majority in the Senate now have the opportunity to flip the ideological balance in many lower federal courts -- the places where most case law is truly handed down. "The change will be most striking on the Richmond-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, long a conservative bastion and an influential voice on national security cases, where four vacancies will lead to a clear Democratic majority," the Post says.

Two Puppies Down

Four to go. Sniff.
UPDATE: Three now. 12-8-08 10:13 am
Live Broadcasting by Ustream

My Book Group

has been together for more than 25 years. I shall not out the GD's on the internet, but I frankly don't relate to anything in this NYT story. Still, you might. Let me know.
C'mon, you can do comments. NSA is not interested in comments at Contrarienne dot com.

Kewl

You Did Not Know

there was an actual movie called Santa Claus Conquers The Martians. Or did you?

Maybe You Haven't Heard This

Because it's Saturday and I haven't heard it on the news once.

Obama to tap Shinseki as VA Secretary.
Shinseki, remember, was the Army Chief of Staff forced into early retirement by Bush and Rumsfeld for not lying to Congress about how many troops it would take to win the peace in Iraq.

Puppies Renewed

I think there's a way to code a post so it stays at the top of the main page until you take it down. But I haven't figured it out yet.
So here are the Shiba Inus of San Francisco again.
Live Broadcasting by Ustream

Forget Broadcast Journalists

an oxymoron of gigantic proportions. Forget most of what's in print, too. But when they get Joe Stiglitz to tell you something you probably don't want to hear, pay attention.

The New Reality

The pain is being felt on St. Barth’s and at Sotheby’s, on benefit-gala committees and at the East Hampton Airport, as the world of the Big Rich collapses, its culture in shock and its values in question.

Heh.

Barbies To Grow On Trees

This is serious environmental stuff.

Helene Cooper

has written a much heralded book about growing up privileged in Liberia. She is now the NYT White House correspondent.

Krugman Is Scared

This is actually an improvement, because in the past he has used the term "terrified."

I’ve been ruminating over economic prospects for next year, and I’m getting scared.

Top Ten Books

from NYT. I'd like to read them all, but I probably couldn't bear it.

Prof. Taplin

explains it all. 46 minutes.

Nap Time!

From NYT:

Those who had caffeine had worse motor skills than those who napped or had a placebo. In the perceptual task, the nappers did significantly better than either the caffeine or placebo group. On the verbal test, nappers were best by a wide margin, and the caffeine consumers did no better than those given a placebo. Despite their mediocre performance, caffeine takers consistently reported less sleepiness than the others.

Wow

From Huffpo:

For the rainbow cabinet of the nation's first African American president, Mary Beth Maxwell is the perfect labor secretary you've probably never heard of: a gay woman, community organizer and labor leader with an adopted African American son. And this founding executive director of American Rights at Work is about to get the full-court press.

Maxwell already had the strong backing of former Rep. David Bonior, who despite repeated attempts to get his name removed from consideration continues to be on the short list of potential labor secretaries. Bonior, 63 years old, says it is time for his generation to turn over power to a new generation, and Maxwell, whose labor-backed organization pushes for expanded collective bargaining rights, is his pick.

One comment seems especially appealing:

She's perfect. And it's a good sign if Obama picks her, too. It means he's focused on putting America back to work. Really, all of our domestic agenda is helped by creating jobs. If we nationalized health care, the auto companies could compete. If the auto companies build hybrids, people will invest in green technology. If enough money gets in the hands of the middle class, sales go up, recession is held at bay.

I'm thinking Obama is getting ready to make lemonade with the current financial crisis. And when you think about it, could we have ever gotten any of this done without it? As always, necessity is the mother of invention, and adversity is the friend of progress.

GObama!

They Did It All On Purpose

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

Jon Taplin has the smartest, most well-informed commentors I've seen.

This is a must read. No more puppies.

22 Bricks

Andrew Sullivan says it reminds him of how hard Obama's job is.
Oh, Bangladesh.

Okay, What?

I mean, WTF? Financial meltdown? Whaa?

In New York

no one, I mean no one, goes out unprepared. Presentation is everything. But even here in little Pt. Townsend, WA, the idea is catching on. It's tribal really. I plan to document it someday.

Odetta Is Gone

NYT obit.

Dear Megan Carpentier

I'm sorry I lost track of you when you left Wonkette and went to Glamocracy for about a minute. You're one of my dailies now, even though you were wrong about this:

Then let's take a deeper breath and think about the fact that of the first 2 people in line for succession to the Presidency, two of them are women

Being a blogger DOES NOT mean never having to look it up.

Those Cheating Dems

So, uh,Washington state Contrarienne fans may well feel like they fell down the rabbit hole here, but:

This is huge. It's now official that Al Franken netted 37 votes from those newly-discovered 171 ballots in the St. Paul suburb of Maplewood, a potentially seismic shift that could throw the recount to Franken if these numbers withstand any potential legal challenges.

Puts Gregoire in 04 to shame, only 13 votes between Al and Coleman.

Of course, R's would never steal an election, would they? James Baker, I'm looking at you.

Not Into Puppies?

I'm not into Leonard Cohen music either, but this is damned good.
Gotta copy and paste because for some reason, embed is "disabled by request."
Copyright?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2NEU6Xf7lM

Oh, wait. The guy with the gap? Kurt Nilsen, World Idol. Didn't know there was such a thing.

Quote O' Teh Day

It's like the Grateful Dead, only more spaced out.

Oh, right, context. Coming right up.

Nostalgia Trip

Oops

How long have we known there is a financial crisis, six months, 10? Anyway, that's about how long I've not been surprised to find myself reading up on the Chinese economy.
May you live in interesting times.. Yeah, well, thanks a bunch.
Guess I'll go check out the puppies now.

Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- House prices in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou are plunging, and the global economy may grind almost to a halt next year because of it.

"P"

I Was In Venice Once

It was otherworldly. I'm sorry you missed it. Too late now.
UPDATE: Only temporary. Damn! I thought the world was ending. Oh, wait.

Hillary!

Hillary Clinton is going to add yet another chapter to her incredibly fascinating life -- lawyer, feminist, first lady, healthcare diva, U.S. senator, and now secretary of state at a time when America's foreign policy and national security positions are dramatically eroded.

I think the Clinton we saw during the campaign will give herself, her views and approach to complex national security challenges a "makeover." She's going to push women's rights, democracy, human rights, poverty reduction and the like -- but I think she is going to be party to a realist-tilting, crafty Obama-led, Bob Gates-designed, Clinton-out-front process to get a strategic shift in U.S. foreign policy. We applaud that.

James Glassman, her undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, has some ideas on how to move her agenda forward -- and she should consider using a lot of the tools that Glassman and his team are developing.

-- Steve Clemons

This Is All You Need To Know Today

except that the DOW fell something like 700. Have you checked the puppies?

The Shiba Inus of West Chester

b. 11-28-08. because the shibas of san fran will soon be off to new homes.
Free kibbles for shelter dogs.

Live Video streaming by Ustream

Another Book List

This one from Boing Boing and, so, unexpected and tech oriented, although there are a few cool kids books. Haven't looked at the fiction.
Update: I am reading one of the few non-sf choices, The Yiddish Policeman's Union

No Girly Dogs Need Apply

A shiba inu, perhaps?

Puppy Cam!

Shiba Inus.
Live Broadcasting by Ustream

More Best Books Lists

These from NPR.

Tap Goddess of Lower E. Side

joins Lian Hansen at NPR. Gotta love the intertubes.

Reading List

NYT's 100 notable books of the year.

Remember Rubik's Cube?

A woman devised a famous solution method, Virginia Heffernan tells us.

These days Jessica Fridrich teaches electrical and computer engineering at the State University of New York at Binghamton, where she specializes in digital forensics. But she’s best known for having discovered the popular Fridrich method of cube-solving in the early ’80s. And the knack has stayed with her: she’s still among the fastest cubers in the world. See the Fridrich spread here: www.ws.binghamton.edu/fridrich/cube.html

Health Care Input

Obama wants yours.

Best Obama Album

Josh Marshall says it's Boston Globe's and I take his word for it.

Public Healthcare Superior

to private. I know you know that, but here's a source to buoy the argument mitt links.
Tidbit:

...public health care systems are more efficient and result in healthier nations, while market based systems are inherently inefficient due to market failures and reduce a nation's health.

Righteous Mothers

have immediate need for old, fat, naked women.


(h/t Mardie)

Well. Well. Well.

I was afraid I'd have to clench my teeth and hold my nose just like when Obama voted for the FISA bill. But it turns out torture supporter Brennan has taken himself out of the running for CIA boss. He credts liberal critics, mostly bloggers, for his decision. Damn straight.

Question O' Teh Day

Why was Palin at the turkey farm, anyway? She was there to pardon one, then quickly moved on.

One Man's Family

gets The Memo.

In the Travel and Entertainment category, you will find that fewer requests to eat in restaurants will be approved, and requests for desserts in restaurants, particularly, will not be approved (unless they are included in the cost of a kid’s meal). In the case of Cabot’s or The Cheesecake Factory, where ice cream or cheesecake, respectively, is kind of the point, sharing is strongly encouraged. An additional benefit of this will be improved health. Netflix has been put on hold for 90 days, and we will reconsider that offering then; unopened red envelopes left on top of the TV indicate a lack of demand at present. Newspaper and magazine subscriptions are subject to elimination as well. Executives, including myself, are being asked to purchase regular coffee in place of more expensive coffee drinks while traveling, and to utilize meals from our on-site food service provider whenever possible.

Obama's Other Woman

Valerie Jarrett profiled today in the NYT.
Tidbit:

“What Valerie developed is the art of telling people to go to hell and making them look forward to the trip,” said Mr. Jordan, who advised his wife’s cousin throughout the campaign.

Okay, So...

Omigod, So I Missed All This

and there's no time to catch up. Well, maybe you've got the time. I'm planning on tuning in to HBO's last vampire program segment. 'Nite.

Cut down the last redwood for chopsticks, harpoon the last blue whale for sushi, and the additional mouths fed will nourish additional human brains, which will soon invent ways to replace blubber with Olestra and pine with plastic. Humanity can survive just fine in a planet- covering crypt of concrete and computers.

Oh, Jeez

just let up a day or two and all hell breaks loose. Thanks, Tapelin, who never seems to take a day off.

The transition from wood to coal helped trigger industrialization. In this case, a transition—particularly an abrupt one—out of fossil fuels would have major repercussions for energy producers in the Middle East and Eurasia, potentially causing permanent decline of some states as global and regional powers.

Look, I post this kind of stuff because we all know it's important we have some context. Do I always find the right context? Highly unlikely. Don't ever trust me.

Edith Wharton, Anyone?

Okay, the Gilded Age is not everyone's cup of tea, but I loved it. Even more now that we're back in the GA again. Sounds like a song title. Back in the saddle again. Back when a friend was a friend. Tra-la.

The tributes to Sanford I. Weill line the walls of the carpeted hallway that leads to his skyscraper office, with its panoramic view of Central Park. A dozen framed magazine covers, their colors as vivid as an Andy Warhol painting, are the most arresting. Each heralds Mr. Weill’s genius in assembling Citigroup into the most powerful financial institution since the House of Morgan a century ago.

Uh, all of this because you're going to be paying the way, of course. Otherwise, just gossip.

For Econ Wonks

Comment O' Teh Day:'

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A03E6DF143DF930A25752C1A96F958260

The New York Times, November 13, 1999:

President Clinton signed into law today a sweeping overhaul of Depression-era banking laws. The measure lifts barriers in the industry and allows banks, securities firms and insurance companies to merge and to sell each other's products.

''This legislation is truly historic,'' President Clinton told a packed audience of lawmakers and top financial regulators. ''We have done right by the American people.''

The bill repeals parts of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act and the 1956 Bank Holding Company Act...

''The world changes, and Congress and the laws have to change with it,'' said Senator Phil Gramm...

''With this bill,'' Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers said, ''the American financial system takes a major step forward toward the 21st Century -- one that will benefit American consumers, business and the national economy.''

Meanwhile, recognizing the arson:

http://www.thenation.com/archive/detail/14239331

The Nation Magazine / Nov 15, 1999 edition:

For their money, the finance industry bought not only the end of the Glass-Steagall Act but also the partial repeal of the Bank Holding Company Act. These landmark pieces of legislation, recognizing the inherent dangers of too great a concentration of financial power, barred common ownership of banks, insurance companies, and securities firms... the misnamed Financial Services Modernization Act will usher in another round of record breaking mergers... PAVING THE WAY FOR FUTURE TAXPAYER BAILOUTS OF TOO-BIG-TO-FAIL FINANCIAL CORPORATIONS.

How do we score that?
The Nation 1, Establishment 0.

Where were you the day they sold us down the toilet? I was probably working.

Related.

Bring On Them Libruls, Wahoo!

Ellen Moran, executive director of EMILY’s List, was named White House communications director by President-elect Obama on Saturday.

Moran, a well-known grassroots organizer, has also managed statewide Democratic campaigns and managed the Wal-Mart corporate accountability campaign for the AFL-CIO.

EMILY's List, one of the most important Democratic constituency groups, says it is "dedicated to building a progressive America by electing Democratic pro-choice women to office."

As expected, the White House press secretary will be Robert Gibbs, a top strategist on Obama's campaign who helped chart his leap from the U.S. Senate to the presidency.

Dan Pfeiffer, the campaign communications director, will be deputy director of communications.

There are days when I think "wasn't this on West Wing?" Mary Louise Parker, where are you when we need you? Oh, yeah, Weeds, much more lucrative.

More here.

But He's Our Big Dawg

But He's Our Asshole!

Rahm didn't air. I thought it was fine.

Arianna on SNL

Contrarienne apologizes for blog unreliability of late. Post-election was just too dull to repeat for a few days, and over the weekend she was on a much-needed hiatus. But, "they're ba-a-ack!" with promises of Obama's announcement of his full economic team tomorrow. If I wake up in time.

Slots Are Reportedly Filling Up Fast

Obama campaign political director Mark Gaspard will reportedly be his White House political director.
Here's a quote I like:

Of his job interview with the Illinois Senator, Gaspard recalled Obama saying: "I think that I'm a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I'll tell you right now that I'm gonna think I'm a better political director than my political director."

Taplin's Most Recent Big Idea

Here’s how the Democrats get everyone hopeful over Christmas (enough to spend a little money at the mall). Barack and Joe should hold a press conference on Tuesday of next week, just before folks get on an airplane for Thanksgiving. With Pelosi and Reed at their side, they should announce with that they will convene the new session of Congress on January 3, 2009 to begin debating the Rebuild America Act of 2009. The bill will allow the government to invest $500 Billion in 2009 into infrastructure projects which would be funded half as block grants to the states on a per capita basis and half to large federal projects like rebuilding the high voltage electricity grid. Obama and the Congressional leaders would commit to have the bill passed by Inauguration Day and that Barack would sign it as he walks into the Oval Office for the first time as President, on the afternoon of January 20th. Republicans who oppose it over Christmas, would do so at their own peril.

The Top 25

unanswered science questions.

People Really Do Live Like This

(It's John Paulson, not Hank, although they could be related. Brothers? Cousins?)
Paulson & Co. can surely afford the luxury. The $36.1 billion hedge fund famously racked up billions of dollars in profit by betting against subprime mortgages. And a thick handout to investors at the dinner detailed just how well the firm has been doing. While the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index plunged nearly 17 percent in October, the Paulson Advantage fund gained nearly 3.5 percent.

And always will.

Test Yourself

You think you're so smart, take the civic literacy test and find out that you know more than average Americans, elected officials, college seniors and their instructors. Or not.
Or maybe you're just really good at multiple choice tests.
Yes, I got 94 percent right.

One More Sarah

from Carol J.
Subject: Stunning Break with Last Eight Years


November 17, 2008
Stunning Break with Last Eight Years.

In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.

Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama's appearance on CBS' "Sixty Minutes" on Sunday witnessed the president-elect's unorthodox verbal tick, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.

But Mr. Obama's decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.

According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it "alienating" to have a President who speaks English as if it were his first language.

"Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement," says Mr. Logsdon.  "If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist."

The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, "Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate - we get it, stop showing off."

The President-elect's stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.

"Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can't really do there, I think needing to do that isn't tapping into what Americans are needing also," she said.

ACTION ALERT: You Knew It Wasn't Over, Right?

Because that's what he's been saying since he first announced. It isn't about him, it's about us.
There is going to be an ongoing effort from the White House to keep the more than 3 million who donated to him and/or signed on at his Web site, involved as each change is approached and Rahm told us earlier what they are: health care, energy, education, financial stability and war on terror or whatever we'll be calling.
And there's probably a meeting somewhere near you. Look here and just plug in your zip and click search.

Things You May Not Know About The Web

and may not want to know, for that matter. Hot Chicks With Douchebags, for instance.

Um, About All These New Rules

coming out in the final days of this administration.
Apparently it's going to be pretty hard to change them after Jan. 20.

Whether it’s relaxing pollution control standards for power plants or allowing loaded weapons into national parks, the Bush Administration is scrambling to approve or change as many federal rules as it can before it hands off power to President-elect Barack Obama. This surge of “midnight regulations” presents a thorny question for the next administration: What can it do to void rules it thinks should be undone?

An Obama spokesman told ProPublica that the transition team can’t comment on the new administration’s strategy yet. However, John Podesta, a leading member of the transition team, has said Obama will use his “executive authority without waiting for congressional action” to reverse many of Bush’s policies.

But that authority has its limits.

And yeah, Clinton did it, too.
The whole read is fairly short, and very wonkish.

My Man Crush

is and always has been...Rahm!
Especially when he's promising things I want.

Priceless

Our New Attorney General

had this to say in a speech last Friday:

Eric H. Holder Jr., Deputy Attorney General during the Clinton administration, asserted in a speech to the American Constitution Society (ACS) that the United States must reverse “the disastrous course” set by the Bush administration in the struggle against terrorism by closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, declaring without qualification that the U.S. does not torture people, ending the practice of transferring individuals involuntarily to countries that engage in torture and ceasing warrantless domestic surveillance.

“Our needlessly abusive and unlawful practices in the ‘War on Terror' have diminished our standing in the world community and made us less, rather than more, safe,” Holder told a packed room at the ACS 2008 Convention on Friday evening. “For the sake of our safety and security, and because it is the right thing to do, the next president must move immediately to reclaim America's standing in the world as a nation that cherishes and protects individual freedom and basic human rights.”

Today's Obama Impression

Everybody Loves Lists

My favorite, so far, at this site is 25 Pieces of Free and Open Software for Macs.
And the subhed is "all your list are belong to us." If you don't know lolcat, you need to go back to intertubes school.

Body Builders: Female

 

There's a book and a video. 

Best Commercial Evah?

get John West Salmon in HD on sph3re.tv"

Well, Consider This

Obama is a genius, everyone knows this by now. His inner circle have proven authority of their particular job skills. He'll always keep them close and they won't have to be reminded what loyalty looks like. They already are. His appointments are real, except for the fact that his sensory interests are as keen as an eagle. Don't misundersstand Obama, he knows exactly what he has to do and it will get done. We should all know by now, how he moves. Everytime time we think you've figured him out, he steps over your whole plan. Yes, we need a president who has proven and gathered the group that can continue to prove his worth. The Obama Persidency will be the most exciting in years, we'll all learn from this. Obama has taken on the biggest task in this world at the time and he took it on after he took it from everyone else. He was the underdog, not taken seriously and ignored by the big names as a waste of their time. Go look to them now.

Saturday Sartorialist

Because sometimes you just need eye candy.

The Brothas, On the Street, NYC. Click to enlarge.

Consumer Spending

What did you buy in October. I think I filled the gas tank once. I didn't buy a vehicle. Food. That's it.

For me at least, October was a month when the world sort of stood still. I didn't buy much of anything but food. It's the November-December-January numbers that are going to tell us whether we're facing a consumer spending decline or a consumer spending collapse.

Watchdog Woman

Apparently the appointment of Elizabeth Warren to the bailout oversight committee is a very big deal. At least Krugman thinks so.

Stock Stock Market Shots

Brokers with hands on their faces. Yes, someone created a blog for this.
I find them so you don't have to.

Lest We Forget

Maureen Dowd and Dick Cavett have each chosen the following as respresentative of, as Cavett puts it, someone who seems to have no first language:

My concern has been the atrocities there in Darfur and the relevance to me with that issue as we spoke about Africa and some of the countries there that were kind of the people succumbing to the dictators and the corruption of some collapsed governments on the continent, the relevance was Alaska’s investment in Darfur with some of our permanent fund dollars.

Oh, Hell, Nothing's Going On That Any Outsider Knows About

As you know, today is Friday, and Hillary Clinton's been to Chicago, and Barack Obama's transition team is in Chicago, and so everyone who's got an ankle or an elbow in the newshole is straight up speculatin' that Hillary's poised to be named as the next Secretary of State. This gives everyone a chance to drop the name of Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team Of Rivals like they were the first to think of it, then immediately pivot and fret over the possibility of Clinton being nothing but a dollop of underminer sauce on the promised Hope and Change Hoagie.
It's all frightfully interesting for a few minutes, but if there's any news organization that's just caught the gollydarned vapors over it, it's ABC News' The Note, who do what they do best: take the day's conventional wisdom and dress it up with fluttery melodrama and overheated pretentiousness.

Hillary for Secretary of State

It's more than just speculation, it's an official leak rumor.

ACTION ALERT: Dump Joe

Democrats in the Senate are still milling around, not really deciding what to do about Joe Lieberman's vile involvement with the McCain campaign, his threat to go all GOP on their asses, and whether to leave him in charge of the Homeland Security Committee.
Some of us out in the 'sphere have no doubt. Dump him. Sign petition here to send your senators a message.

Glass Ceiling Cont'd

WASHINGTON— Call it breaking the brass ceiling. Ann E. Dunwoody, after 33 years in the Army, ascended Friday to a peak never before reached by a woman in the U.S. military: four-star general. At an emotional promotion ceremony, Dunwoody looked back on her years in uniform and said it was a credit to the Army _ and a great surprise to her _ that she would make history in a male-dominated military.

Need A Job?

I'd like to be a telecommuter processing media inquiries and job applications.
To apply, go here.

First Prize: Shiniest Object On The Web

All the criminals, every one of them. Or mostly, anyway. It's not like I fact check or anything.

More Stimulus, More, More

Okay, so today the Kennedy staffers on health care and others had a big meeting with labor and lobby groups ("advocates"). And because they unaccountably find it hard to spend all $300 billion of the proposed stimulus package, they're open to the idea of plugging in $150 billion worth of health care reform, which a lot of economists (okay, some) have advocated along with infrastructure spending and unemployment increases.
This is possibly a good idea, twice the bang for the buck, I guess. Be ready for email campaigns.

Damn That No Drama!

Nothing happening this week unless you find the national Republican Governors' Conference compelling. Or maybe the fact that Joe and Jill had lunch with Dick and Lynn and apparently escaped alive. Word is Darth prefers the tender flesh of infants.
Damn you, No Drama. Am I going to have to go scrounging up shiny objects that are non-political?

Supplements The Experts Take

A multi, of course, and D, and, and...what, no flax? Should I throw it away?

Coal Plants So-o-o Last Millennium

In a move that signals the start of the our clean energy future, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) ruled today EPA had no valid reason for refusing to limit from new coal-fired power plants the carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming. The decision means that all new and proposed coal plants nationwide must go back and address their carbon dioxide emissions.

“Today’s decision opens the way for meaningful action to fight global warming and is a major step in bringing about a clean energy economy,” said Joanne Spalding, Sierra Club Senior Attorney who argued the case. “This is one more sign that we must begin repowering, refueling and rebuilding America.”

“The EAB rejected every Bush Administration excuse for failing to regulate the largest source of greenhouse gases in the United States. This decision gives the Obama Administration a clean slate to begin building our clean energy economy for the 21st century,” continued Spalding

The decision follows a 2007 Supreme Court ruling recognizing carbon dioxide, the principle source of global warming, is a pollutant under the federal Clean Air Act.

“Coal plants emit 30% of our nation’s global warming pollution. Building new coal plants without controlling their carbon emissions could wipe out all of the other efforts being undertaken by cities, states and communities across the country,” said Bruce Nilles, Director of the Sierra Club’s National Coal Campaign. “Everyone has a role to play and it’s time that the coal industry did its part and started living up to its clean coal rhetoric.”

The Sierra Club went before the Environmental Appeals Board in May of 2008 to request that the air permit for Deseret Power Electric Cooperative’s proposed waste coal-fired power plant be overturned because it failed to require any controls on carbon dioxide pollution. Deseret Power’s 110 MW Bonanza plant would have emitted 3.37 million tons of carbon dioxide each year.

“Instead of pouring good money after bad trying to fix old coal technology, investors should be looking to wind, solar and energy efficiency technologies that are going to power the economy, create jobs, and help the climate recover,” said Nilles.

To get background information and see how the case unfolded visit www.sierraclub.org/coal/plantlist.asp

A copy of the decision can be found here: http://yosemite.epa.gov/...

ACTION ALERT: Global Warming

Tell your rep to support Rep. Waxman's challenge of the "Congressman from General Motors" and former global warming denier Rep. Dingell as chairman of the relevant House Committee.

Credo sent me this and I'm passing it along to you.
Dear Friend,

Global climate change is perhaps the greatest challenge of our generation. What we do (or don't do) affects not only our nation, but the world. You might thank that, with a new president poised to take office, we're in a great position to take serious action to address climate change. Unfortunately, a grizzled legislator named John Dingell, known as the "Congressman from General Motors," is standing in our way.

The most important pieces of legislation addressing climate change must pass through the House Energy and Commerce Committee. As chair of that committee, Congressman Dingell has exerted his power time and again to kill bills that could roll back global warming. Dingell has lined his campaign war chest with millions of dollars of contributions from electric, oil and coal companies. His wife (and potential successor to his Congressional seat) is a senior executive at General Motors. What's more, until recently, he wouldn't even admit that climate change was a real threat.

I just signed a petition calling on my member of Congress to vote for Congressman Henry Waxman (a staunch environmentalist) to replace Dingell as the Energy and Commerce Chair -- I hope you will too.

Please have a look and take action.



Thanks!