Democratic Senators Barbara Boxer, Sheldon Whitehouse, Amy Klobuchar, and Frank Lautenberg today called for the resignation of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson and asked the Attorney General to open a perjury investigation of him.
It looks like Johnson may have lied to Congress in his sworn testimony. He claimed that the decision to deny California's waiver request from the Clean Air Act to set tough standards on global warming pollution from motor vehicles was "mine and mine alone." Recent testimony, however, shows that Bush ordered it and Johnson may not have told the truth under oath. The Senators asked Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey to investigate "apparent contradictions" between his sworn testimony and the testimony of other sworn witnesses.
I just got an email from Al Gore's WE campaign. They are placing an ad in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the Washington Post about the campaign to get us off carbon based fuels.
Keep Climate Change on Congress' Mind
We've created a hard-hitting ad to make sure that members of Congress don't forget to keep climate change at the top of their priorities over the August recess.
We need to raise $200,000 by July 30th to get our ad in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the Washington Post!
Whoops. Someone accidently told the truth. Think Progress is reporting that McCain economics advisor Steve Forbes admitted that McCain's so called "green" tint is just camouflage.
I think cap and trade is going to go the way of some other things, as you may remember, when he came into office, Bill Clinton had a proposal of tax carbons and stuff like that. I don’t think those things are going to get very far as people start to examine the details of them.
I've written in the past about the preventable death of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez and her unborn child. California's Occupational Safety and Health Agency recently issued a $262,700 fine against the Central Valley farm labor contracting company that employed Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, the 17-year old farm worker who died of heat stroke because of the company's negligence in following the law. That's not enough. United Farm Workers President, Arturo S. Rodriguez, thinks criminal prosecution is the only way to deter companies so that no more will die:
"This is a case of manslaughter - there is no difference between a driver killing someone while breaking our traffic laws and a labor contractor breaking the law and killing this beautiful young woman. Anything less than criminal prosecution is a desecration of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez' death."
Great news for all of us who seek a Blue/Green Alliance! The Teamsters today left the ANWR coalition, a group in favor of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Jim Hoffa has just announced that the Teamsters are pulling out of the coalition supporting drilling in ANWR and are shifting their support to efforts to build coalitions with green groups to create a sustainable energy economy around sources like solar, wind and geothermal.
"We are not going to drill our way out of the energy problems we are facing—not here and not in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge," Hoffa told labor and environmental activists at an Oakland, Calif., summit on good jobs and clean air. "We must find a long-term approach that breaks our dependence on foreign oil by investing in the development of alternate energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal power."
The McCain campaign has been attacking Senator Obama's patriotism in various ways. Here's a new ad from the Republican National Committee attacking Barack Obama for voting against funding the troops in May 2007.
"There are few votes as important as funding our men and women in uniform. But when our military needed necessary resources, Barack Obama failed to stand up."
Sen. Barack Obama said he found "a strong, emerging consensus" for the redeployment of U.S. combat forces from Iraq, with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki telling Obama he hoped American combat troops will be gone in two years.
snip
"America has a strategic opportunity to build a new kind of partnership with Iraq," Obama and his colleagues said, "and to refocus our foreign policy on the many other pressing challenges around the world -- starting with the resurgence of al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan."
He's not a Democrat and it's time for Senate Democrats to recognize it!
-- Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama is choosing to lose the Iraq war by planning to withdraw American combat troops, a high-profile supporter of Republican candidate Sen. John McCain said Sunday.
snip
"John McCain had the guts to argue against public opinion, to put his whole campaign on the line, because, as he says, he'd rather lose an election than lose in a war that he thinks is this important to the United States," Lieberman said on "Fox News Sunday."
"If Barack Obama's policy in Iraq had been implemented, he couldn't be in Iraq today," Lieberman said, adding that Obama "was prepared to accept retreat and defeat."
In the area of security cooperation, the President and the Prime Minister agreed that improving conditions should allow for the agreements now under negotiation to include a general time horizon for meeting aspirational goals -- such as the resumption of Iraqi security control in their cities and provinces and the further reduction of U.S. combat forces from Iraq.
"The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk," Gore said.
(Update: I have the whole speech text in Update IV)
[Obama Comments in Update V)
Al Gore is challenging the nation to produce every kilowatt of electricity through wind, sun and other Earth-friendly energy sources within 10 years, an audacious goal he hopes the next president will embrace.
I think I've heard everything sometimes, but this is something new.
TPM reports that McCain's campaign is comparing Obama to Bush!
"I think the American people have had enough of inflexibility and stubbornness in national security policy," Scheunemann said. When asked later by the Huffington Post's Sam Stein whether the campaign was disparaging President Bush, Scheunemann dug in: "We cannot afford to replace one administration that refused for too long to acknowledge failure in Iraq with a candidate that refuses to acknowledge success in Iraq."
I gave Barack Obama $25 today. Why does that matter? Because I maxed out for Edwards and had not contributed to Obama yet.
Why did I do it?
I'm still pissed about his move to the right the last few weeks. I'm not happy with his FISA vote. I'm not disillusioned, because I never was illusioned. During the primary I saw him as slightly left of center. I still do, and "slightly left" seemed to be overstating it lately.
I am a progressive populist and clearly to the left of Obama. Many of us here are. And he needs to know there is a left in this nation. We matter, because we often are right, morally and pragmatically.
McCain always has been worse, but that's not why I gave. It's because of something positive Obama did. Today, I saw the 2002 Obama whom I liked when I first heard about him in his Illinois race for the senate. The one who understands there are limits to the American Empire, the one who may not be fully comfortable with Empire. That's real hope.
He was right on many things today in his speech. Come around, after the fold, and I'll explain why I gave and what I like.
I just got back from vacation and saw an email from the United Farm Workers, part of which I quote below:
Ramiro Carillo was the fourth farm worker in the last two weeks to die of heat stroke and the second this week alone!
Ramiro Carrillo Rodriguez, 48, father of two, died in Selma, CA on Thursday afternoon after working all day for Sun Valley Packing in Reedley thru a farm labor contractor.
snip
42 year-old farm worker Abdon Felix Garcia, father of three, died on Wednesday after spending the morning and early afternoon working for Sunview Vineyards in Arvin. The coroner says Felix's body core temperature was measured at 108 degrees just 13 minutes before his death.
64 year-old Jose Macarena Hernandez died during a record-breaking heat wave on June 20 while harvesting butternut squash in Santa Maria on land owned by Sunrise Growers.
People keep dying and few give a shit. I'm pissed off and you should be also.
Russ Feingold and DFA have a petition we should all sign. DFA will deliver the petitions to every Senator on Tuesday morning, right before the expected vote.
I stand united with Senator Feingold and opposed to the so-called FISA compromise bill. Any bill that untimately grants retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that helped President Bush spy on Americans must not pass. Vote No. Support a filibuster. I am depending on you to stop this bill.
I see that a celebrity from cable TV is leading the Rec List today with an attack on Glenn Greenwald. In the interest of discourse and pluralism, I include part of Mr. Greenwald's response to Mr. Olbermann, and a link to his full response in this diary.
I have no doubt that some will attack me for presenting a view contrary to the views presented by the cable TV celebrity. But the FISA bill matters. The Constitution matters. My own self respect and nearly 40 years of fighting for progressive change require me to provide this to those who wish to hear.
I understand Olbermann says: "I don't know much about Mr. Greenwald and I didn't read his full piece." Yes, Keith Olbermann is quite a celebrity. So fucking what that he does not know Greenwald!
Many here, including Markos, consider Greenwald an excellent progressive. I first saw Greenwald's work being quoted by Markos here. Now Markos may [or may not] disagree with Greenwald on this issue, and either position's fine.
I'm about principles, not persons. I don't even have cable TV and rarely see Mr. Olbermann. Please forgive me if I fail to genuflect to him and his ideas, just because they are from him and he is a celebrity.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced this evening that he will vote against the compromise FISA legislation and work with likeminded colleagues to strip immunity for telecom firms from that bill.
It is a position that puts the Democratic Senate leader at odds with his own party's presumptive presidential nominee, Barack Obama, who also has pledged to fight for the removal of immunity but will vote yes on the final package.
Today, the New York Times reports that the military exercise Israel performed a few weeks ago looks like a "rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities."
More tidings of possible war, and why Obama, while perhaps not perfect, is far better than McCain on this, after the fold.
For those of you who do not know what Juneteenth is, I'll have a little history for you after the fold.
As of June 2008, 29 states and the District of Columbia have recognized Juneteenth as either a state holiday or state holiday observance; these include Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming
In the year in which an African American candidate was nominated by the Democratic Party, which prior to the Civil War was a party complicit with slavery, the Juneteenth celebration this year is particularly special.
