Clean Energy Bill Petition

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This is an issue that is close to my heart, climate change and the environment. Clean energy, clean energy, I know we hear about it a lot but it is about to go away. The way we have been living on non renewable resources is nearing an end. The inevitable is coming and we need to prepare. Its worth doing it right the first time instead of pouring into money into a clean energy bill that will not work. Read below and please sign the petition to tell Congress to go back to the drawing board and create a clean energy bill that will work!
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It's 2009. Democrats have ample majorities in both houses of Congress. President Obama campaigned on the promise to tackle climate change and boost our economy by investing in clean energy.

So why on earth is Congress considering an energy bill that:


Would weaken current law, repealing President Obama's authority to crack down on dirty power plants,1 and
Doesn't actually require the creation of new solar or wind power? (The Union of Concerned Scientists has concluded that the clean energy standards won't make power companies produce more clean energy than is already in the works.)2
Why? Because Big Oil and Coal have teamed up with conservatives in both parties, and they've been successful in weakening the bill.

These are major flaws, but the bill has a lot of really good provisions, too. The key thing is that Congress can still strengthen it—if there's a public outcry. But we don't have much time: Congress is expected to vote on this bill in less than three weeks.

Can you sign this petition to Representative Howard Berman today? Eighty thousand MoveOn members have already signed. We need to double the number of signatures by Wednesday—that means we need 36 more signatures in Sherman Oaks. MoveOn members will personally deliver this petition to many congressional offices the next day. Click here to add your name:

http://pol.moveon.org/cleanenergy/o.pl?id=16315-5815024-oSLMb8x&t=4
The petition says: "We need a stronger energy bill to fulfill Obama's vision of a clean energy economy. Congress should strengthen the clean energy standards and restore Obama's authority to crack down on dirty coal plants."

Congress must change the energy bill to require power companies to produce more clean energy for America. Wind and solar create more than twice as many jobs as coal and oil.3 And Congress needs to hold polluters accountable by restoring President Obama's current authority through the EPA to crack down on global warming pollution from power plants.

The Union of Concerned Scientists analysis finds that the current version of the clean energy standard "won't require utilities to use any more renewable electricity than...would be generated as a result of state renewable electricity standards already in place and the recently enacted stimulus package."4


If we just sit back, we'll miss our chance to go big with wind and solar—and we'll lose the jobs those industries would create. Big Oil and Coal will keep getting billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies. And President Obama will be powerless to stop more than 100 new dirty coal plants, which will crowd out the clean energy growth we need to boost our economy.5

There are some good parts of the bill, but these are significant problems. As the Sierra Club's Carl Pope writes, the bill establishes strong long-term goals for cutting carbon pollution and very strong energy-efficiency investments, "but in its present form, it won't do all that's needed. The oil, coal, and dirty-utility interests...were able to prevent enactment of President Obama's much bolder vision...Yes, they will try to kill the green-jobs recovery in its cradle, and yes, they will try to block our clean-energy future."6

Please urge Rep. Berman to fight for a stronger energy bill. Clicking here will add your name to the petition:

http://pol.moveon.org/cleanenergy/o.pl?id=16315-5815024-oSLMb8x&t=5

Thanks for all you do.

–Anna, Michael, Joan, Noah and the rest of the team

What is causing our recession?

A lot of things have led up to our current recession. A huge impact has been our ongoing war for the last 8 years in Iraq. We are borrowing money every day to fund our ongoing war. Each day we are getting more and more into debt. The American dollar has also hit an all time low. States have had to draw back on state and federal services because of the crunch and this results in more poverty, homelessness, and more people being without adequate medical care. Where I live in California we are spending over $3 at the pump. Buying gas on my student budget has become more and more difficult. I wonder about people that are having a worse time. How can they even afford gas to go to work. This is not a healthy economy! It is darkely amusing that Republicans blame Democrats for increased taxes and debt but it has been both Bush's who have done us the worst harm.

I just sent off a letter to the L.A. Times through Moveon.org. It is a great site if you are not subscribed to it. It makes being politically active much more easy.

This is the letter I'm sending:

We don't need to find people in need across the world. The poor, the disenfranchised, the sick, and starvation are here in the US! Do you think anyone will come running to our aid after the foreign policy that we have created in the world? Other countries will enjoy seeing us weakened and no longer considered the most powerful country in the world. I know it is hard to admit we were wrong but how much will our pride cost?

We need to leave Iraq now before it’s too late. Take care of the people at home.

Dream achieved?

Clinton's interview with Major Garrett brought some racial issues to the table. There has been some sparring back and forth between Clinton and Obama regarding this issue. In the interview Clinton stated that she believes that Mr. King's dream has been achieved.

In retrospect we can review our history and see how far we have come but it is dangerous and detrimental to our further actions to abolish racial hate to think that we can smack our hands together and say we've done a good job and move on. There is still so much that is unconscious on many levels. It is sublimated and in someways that is more dangerous because it doesn't give us a platform in which to speak about the issue.

It is an ugly thing to admit that racism still permeates almost all areas of our life. Discrimination for jobs, protions, politics, renting, etc. I have a friend that is in a biracial relationship and she continues to feel that she has to constantly defend her relationship to the rest of the world. Does this sound like we are living in a world where race is not longer an issue?

Get on the soapbox with me, what do you think?