Photo: John Gagliano If you’re in New York City this week, the Big Social Holiday Market by the Hester Street Fair , is not to be missed. Last-minute holiday shoppers can choose from a bevy of local vendors showcasing handmade and vintage gifts , open today through Thursday, December 23, from 11am-8pm, at Open House Gallery (201 Mulberry Street). TreeHugger stopped by this past… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Image via ImagineH2O The Imagine H2O contest has announced finalists for this year’s competition. These ten start-ups are competing for a $100,000 prize plus business and legal support to help get their idea off the ground and into the marketplace. The finalists focus on everything from water purification to generating energy from water. But the issues these start-ups focus on –often overlooked in other cleantech competitions — shine a light on the future of water. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …enlarge Credit: AP Blue America PAC, the group I’m involved with, never supported Jon Tester when he ran for Congress because he wasn’t a progressive, but at the time I didn’t want him to lose either. He seemed to have some common sense and decency, but in the end he turned out to be a Pat Buchanan wannabe when it came to helping kids with the DREAM Act. I wrote about him last week as I tried to persuade him to do the right thing: Sen.Tester, the DREAM Act is not Amnesty. He was clearly trying to score points with the nativists and that’s so sad because he’s hurting real children and kids. Markos writes: There are Democrats I expect to be assholes. I never thought Jon Tester would be among them. Anybody who votes to punish innocent kids is an asshole. Plain and simple. And while I expect it from Democrats like Ben Nelson and C-Street denizen Mark Pryor, I honestly thought Jon Tester was different. I was wrong. I am now embarrassed that I worked so hard to help get him elected in 2006. I feel personally betrayed. Not only will I do absolutely nothing to help his reelection bid, but I will take every opportunity I get to remind people that he is so morally bankrupt that he’ll try to score political points off the backs of innocent kids who want to go to college or serve their country in the military. To me, he is the Blanche Lincoln of 2012 — the Democrat I will most be happy to see go down in defeat. And he will. Nothing guarantees a Republican victory more than trying to pretend to be one of them. David Cantanese reports: “I think he’s alienated his base in the progressive Democrat circles and he’s going to definitely have a lot of explaining to do,” said Montana Democratic National Committeewoman Jean Lemire Dahlman, who dubbed his vote against DREAM “a grave mistake.” “I was surprised. It didn’t seem to jive with what I expect of him.” Dahlman, who doubted Tester would face any serious primary challenge from the left, conceded the vote “can’t hurt him with conservatives.” “What I want to do is talk to Tester or one of his representatives. I guess he, like all of us, is capable of miscalculating and making a mistake,” she said. Sometimes politicians have to vote with their heads and hearts and not with what polls say in their home states and obviously Tester did this to not lose any votes. When will Democrats understand that it doesn’t matter how they vote. The GOPoPaths will try to destroy you no-matter-what so do what’s morally correct when it comes down to a human rights issue. The PCCC sent out an email to its Montana supporters asking for their thoughts on Tester’s betrayal. Here are some of the responses I received from Adam Green: Ann Karp, from Missoula, Montana grocery store manager and PCCC member “This saddens me to no end. I have a young friend, whom I was tutoring in English at my local church, whose parents came illegally to the US when he was only a baby. His home is the United States; he does not remember Mexico. His younger siblings are citizens, but he is not. He is enthusiastic, hopeful, hard-working, kind, and ambitious. He would like to be a hospital administrator one day, but doesn’t know how to proceed. He strongly desires to attend college in the US but is grasping at straws to find a way. He is not able to work legally, but back in Mexico, he knows no one and would be alone, separated from his family here. I pray that a way opens for him and for all the hard-working, ambitious young people like him who have the potential to make such a difference in the world.” Petrus C, Martens, from Bozeman, University professor, has lived in Montana for 10 years, PCCC member “I am nauseated by this basically racist stand. I am an immigrant myself. One of my children is adopted from Russia.” Will Kipling, from Great Falls, 20 year old computer worker, PCCC member “Senator Tester’s vote against the DREAM Act is the ugliest kind of politics. He will go down in history as having been on the wrong side of this. I’ve lived in Montana my whole life, and to the best of my knowledge my family has been around here since before it was even a state. I do know many immigrants, some legal and some illegal. The one thing they all have in common is that they love this country as much as any who was born here does.” Jeff Smith, from Missoula, Development Director for a nonprofit organization, lived in Montana for 34 years, PCCC member “The guy is a former teacher! How does he sleep at night? We need educated people and this would have given immigrant children a way to get an education. It’s shameful he voted against it.” Roger Sherman, from Whitefish, 13-year Montana resident with Masters Degree in education, PCCC member “I have been a contributor and supporter of Mr. Tester and I can’t imagine he would vote this way. These people are here and have proven themselves. They are college grads and military…they want a better a life and have the HUNGER to achieve it. I have lived in Montana for 13 years. I have a Masters Degree in education with 35 years of experience. I have four friends who have immigrated here and have college graduate degrees. They have contributed to our state immensely.” You can survey Jon Tester here. I’m still always shocked when I here any Democratic politician make racist and factually wrong statements about minorities and women. I know, I know, I shouldn’t be, but I still expect certain things if someone doesn’t want to be part of the GOP. I don’t care if they are Blue Dog assholes in the House or ConservaDems in the Senate.
Continue reading …Members of the House and Senate may be in for a longer week than they’d hoped for if they don’t get some serious legislating done—and fast. The height of the holiday season may be at hand, but it’s also the lame-duck season, which could lead to last-ditch-effort time.
Continue reading …It’s oftentimes hard to gauge the proliferation of electronic devices into everyday life while looking at them from our little bubble of early adopter enthusiasm. A much better vantage point for these things can be provided from the arms of government , among the most change-resistant places on any planet, and American legislators are letting us know that tablets, not the children, are our future. Texas Representative Henry Cuellar recently took the House of Representatives floor with an iPad in tow, which broke with the chamber’s etiquette if not its rules. He’s not alone, however, in hoping that the House dispenses with its Omega Man -style prejudice against electronics and permits their widespread use by Representatives. If nothing else, distributing bills of law electronically should make a nice dent in the “multimillion” dollar budget currently set aside annually for printing. Let’s make it happen, guys. iPad comes knocking on House of Representatives’ door originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Dec 2010 07:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Click here to view this media Fox News is reporting that the Senate has voted to approve the House bill repealing the military’s ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ policy banning gay servicemembers. From MSNBC : WASHINGTON — In a landmark for gay rights, the Senate on Saturday voted to let gays serve openly in the military, giving President Barack Obama the chance to fulfill a campaign promise and repeal the 17-year policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Obama was expected to sign it next week, although the change wouldn’t take immediate effect. The legislation says the president and his top military advisers must certify that lifting the ban won’t hurt troops’ fighting ability. After that, there’s a 60-day waiting period for the military. “It is time to close this chapter in our history,” Obama said in a statement after a test vote cleared the way for final action. “It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor and integrity are no more defined by sexual orientation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed.” The Senate vote was 65-31. The House had passed an identical version of the bill, 250-175, on Wednesday. Here’s Politico on the six Republican senators who voted to end this misbegotten policy: Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, George Voinovich of Ohio, Mark Kirk of Illinois, plus Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe voted to end debate on the bill that would repeal the policy that bans openly gays service members.
Continue reading …Click here to view this media While it appears DADT is going to finally be repealed, that didn’t stop John McCain from doing plenty of grumbling just before the filibuster was finally broken in the Senate. ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Repeal Faces Senate Vote Today : Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the Senate will take a final vote Saturday afternoon on legislation that would overturn the military ban on openly gay troops. The vote on ending the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is set for 3 p.m. before senators turn to a nuclear arms treaty with Russia. Passage would send the military measure to the White House. Senators cleared the way for final action with a 63-33 vote earlier Saturday to move the bill ahead. The House passed an identical version of the bill this week. Repeal would mean that, for the first time in American history, gays would be openly accepted by the military and could acknowledge their sexual orientation without fear of being kicked out. The 63-33 test vote all but guarantees the legislation will pass the Senate, possibly by day’s end, and reach the president’s desk before the new year. Sen. John McCain, Obama’s GOP rival in 2008, led the opposition. Speaking on the Senate floor minutes before the vote, the Arizona Republican acknowledged he didn’t have the votes to stop the bill. He blamed elite liberals with no military experience for pushing their social agenda on troops during wartime. “They will do what is asked of them,” McCain said of service members. “But don’t think there won’t be a great cost.”
Continue reading …Soon-to-be House Speaker John Boehner said Friday that he voted for the recently approved tax compromise because his first goal was to make sure taxes did not go up on January 1st. (Dec. 17)
Continue reading …Jon Stewart plays it straight last night to lay out the absolute hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy of this situation, both by the politicians and those in the media who fail to do their job and call them out on this. 9/11 first responders watch as Mitch McConnell cries over a friend’s retirement, and Jon Kyl explains why the Senate can’t work the week after Christmas. Partial transcript from an earlier segment: Before we go, I want to talk one last time about something called the Zadroga bill, who was an NYPD detective who died in 2006 from respiratory illness thought to be caused by the dust he inhaled while working at Ground Zero after 2001. This bill would provide $7 billion in medical and financial benefits for Ground Zero workers who get sick, and they’re going to pay for it by closing a corporate tax loophole. It’s a win-win-win-win, just fucking do it!! The House passed it. The House of Representatives passed it, and it would pass in the Senate, if it came to an up-or-down vote. They have more than the 50 votes they need. But the Senate Republicans have filibustered it, won’t allow the bill to come up for a vote. Luckily, yesterday there was some good news from the Senate, the logjam broke. DIANE SAWYER (12/15/2010): Today the Senate passed that bill to extend tax cuts to all Americans, including the wealthiest, by an overwhelming 81-19 vote. Meanwhile, one Republican Senator saw fit to call the cops on some 9/11 First Responders yesterday when they visited her office. Congratulations, Susan Collins of Maine.
Continue reading …From The Senate Democrats, Republicans are finally taking a little bit of heat in the press for their hypocrisy on earmarks. Republicans Say One Thing In Washington And Something Else At Home : Senate Republicans took a lot of heat yesterday for stuffing a bill with millions of their own earmarks, then trying to claim they oppose earmarks. but Republicans’ earmark hypocrisy is even starker when you compare what they are saying in Washington, DC to what they are saying to their constituents back home. In D.C., DeMint Decries Earmarks: “Americans want Congress to shut down the earmark favor factory, and next week I believe House and Senate Republicans will unite to stop pork barrel spending…Instead of spending time chasing money for pet projects, lawmakers will be able to focus on balancing the budget, reforming the tax code and repealing the costly health care takeover.” [The Hill, 11/9/10] …But In South Carolina, DeMint Defends Earmarks: “U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint said fellow senators are ‘playing politics’ in blocking his colleague’s efforts to secure a $400,000 earmark to study deepening Charleston Harbor.” [Herald Online, 9/11/10 ] In D.C. , Cornyn Poses As An Anti-Earmark Champion: “I believe the public discontent can be accurately sourced, and Congressional earmarking process has become a symbol for wasteful and undisciplined federal spending. Earlier this month, I joined a bipartisan group calling for a one year moratorium on all earmarks. That effort failed. We missed a major opportunity to show we are serious about tightening our Congressional belts during a difficult economic period.” [Everyone Loses in the Earmark Game, 3/31/08 ] … But In Texas, Cornyn Downplays Significance Of His Earmark Opposition, Emphasizes That It’s Only Temporary: Cornyn told the Dallas Morning News that the earmark ban, “’basically is a timeout while we reassess this whole earmarking process, which has been in some instances abused,’ said Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the GOP leadership… Cornyn, like some other moratorium supporters, said the policy should not and won’t last indefinitely but agreed that for now, ‘it will have an impact on Texas, just as it will have an impact on the rest of the country.’” [Dallas Morning News, 11/26/10 ]? … And Requests Millions In Earmarks For FY2011. [ Senator Cornyn FY2011 Appropriations Requests ] In D.C., Thune Lambasts Earmarks: “The bill is loaded up with pork projects, and it shouldn’t get a vote. The bill was crafted behind closed doors, and it hasn’t gone through the proper oversight or the proper channels.” [Press Conference, 12/15/10] In South Dakota, Thune Defends Pet Projects: “He has backed similar moratoriums in the past but the proposed 2011 spending bills Congress will consider in the coming weeks include almost 30 Thune-requested projects, such as money for highway projects, water systems and safety programs on Indian reservations… ‘If you include [South Dakota] projects like Lewis & Clark, you end up costing taxpayers much more in inflation and lost economic opportunities,’ Larson said Monday. ‘We applaud responsible efforts to rein in earmark spending, but if that effort wrongly includes authorized projects like Lewis & Clark, it’s counterproductive.’ Thune agrees. ‘There are ways that you can do this that really legitimize Congress spending money, and one is authorized projects that went through the normal process and passed the House and the Senate,’ he said last week. ‘To me, that’s a very different thing than an earmark that gets dropped into an appropriations bill in a conference committee that hasn’t passed the House and the Senate.’” [Argus Leader, 11/16/10]
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