GreenerPolitics

By Tom Engelhardt, tomdispatch.com

Can there be any question that, since the invasion of 2003, Iraq has been unraveling? And here’s the curious thing: Despite a lack of decent information and analysis on crucial aspects of the Iraqi catastrophe, despite the way much of the Iraq story fell off newspaper front pages and out of the TV news in the last year, despite so many reports on the “success” of the President’s surge strategy, Americans sense this perfectly well. In the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, 56% of Americans “say the United States should withdraw its military forces to avoid further casualties” and this has, as the Post notes, been a majority position since January 2007, the month that the surge was first announced. Imagine what might happen if the American public knew more about the actual state of affairs in Iraq — and of thinking in Washington. So, here, in an attempt to unravel the situation in ever-unraveling Iraq are twelve answers to questions which should be asked far more often in this country:

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by Clayton B. Cornell, Gas 2.0

This could be it: the Th!nk City electric car, a four-seater with 110 mile range and top speed of 65 mph, priced under $25,000, made from 95% recyclable materials, and available in the U.S. in 2009.

The Th!nk City electric car is the product of Norwegian firm Th!nk Global, an auto manufacturer backed by Silicon Valley funding who has plans to assemble the cars in Southern California. In contrast to Tesla’s limited release of 300 cars per year, the Th!nk City is designed for mass production to the tune of 30-50,000 units within a few years. Th!nk already produces about 10,000 of these cars in Europe annually.

As an interesting aside, Ford Motor Company originally developed the vehicle, but (in a move they may soon regret), sold it to Norwegian investors in 2003. Why is it so cool? Because most of us don’t drive more than 40 miles in a day, and small electric cars are optimally suited for congested city driving. The benefits are pretty obvious, but if you’re worried about getting out for the weekend with the Th!nk City, don’t. Use it for city driving and keep that gas-guzzling SUV for forays into the mountains. You’ll still come out ahead.

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This video, I think, really lays it on the line about what the underlying theme of the democratic leadership race is all about. Still, as political satires go, this is pretty funny.

by Mark MacGillivray

 In a move that mirrors the exclusion of the Green Party from Leadership Debates in Canada, MSNBC in the United States made a last-minute change in its Las Vegas Democrat Debate format to exclude candidate Dennis Kucinich, noted for his opposition to nuclear power and the War in Iraq.

 Initially, MSNBC had planned on holding the debate with the top four Democratic candidates, but when candidate Bill Richardson dropped out of the race, they changed their format to include only 3 top candidates.

The Kucinich campaign took MSNBC to court, arguing, “The exclusion of Kucinich undermines the purposes of the Federal Communications Act and is a blatant violation of the Act because of the media’s obligation to operate in the public interest… NBC revised its criteria to specifically exclude the diverse and anti-war voice of Kucinich and his grass-roots supporters.” The lawsuit went on to say, “The debate is not a true presidential primary debate without including all credible candidates, but instead is effectively an endorsement of the candidates selected by NBC.”

NBC, who incidentally is owned by General Electric, claimed: “Mr. Kucinich’s claim is nothing more than an illegitimate private cause of action designed to impose an equal access requirement that entirely undermines the wide journalistic freedoms enjoyed by news organizations under the First Amendment.” Attorneys for NBC also argued, “A television station does not have to grant unlimited access to a candidate debate. If anyone’s First Amendment rights are being infringed, they are MSNBC’s.”

But, thanks to the internet and the efforts of Democracy Now!, we can get a measure of the man who was excluded.

Listen here!

The most serious allegation Kucinich makes is …

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By Forbes Bagatelle-Black, EV World

We live in a polarized nation.

Millions of people passionately believe that our current military action in Iraq is absolutely necessary to preserve our national security. Millions of other people believe, with equal passion, that the situation in Iraq threatens not only our national security but the political stability of the entire globe.

Many feel that the money we are spending on our current military actions is a small amount compared to what we would be spending if we allowed the situation to go out of control. Others feel that the hundreds of billions of dollars we are spending are only making the situation worse by allowing us to remain entrenched in a conflict we cannot win.

But there is one idea that is garnering increasing support from hawks and doves alike; our nation will be safer when everyone starts driving electric vehicles. EVs will increase our self-sufficiency by allowing us to use domestically-produced energy to fuel our automobiles. A dramatic decrease in our demand for foreign oil would cut off the cash flow to terrorist organizations bent on the destruction of our society. Since EVs can run on renewable power sources, widespread use of them could eliminate the threat of global warming, which would eliminate the associated threats of natural disasters and the political upheaval such disasters would create.

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