Category Archives: Politics

Obama’s Inheritance.

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Republican teabaggers are having a great deal of fun pointing fingers at President Obama for our current situation. They fumed over President Obama’s contribution to the national debt while ignoring Bush’s contributions. They proclaimed health care reform “Obama’s Waterloo.” And they have now labeled BP’s oil gusher as “Obama’s Katrina.”

Never in my lifetime have I seen people so anxious to see a President fail.

But before everyone joins in by jumping on the nincompoop wagon, let’s consider the situation President Obama inherited:

The worst economic meltdown in nearly 80 years. The collapse of the housing industry that has long fueled our economy, the collapse of our financial industry due to deregulation, and the worst job losses in nearly 80 years. Historic levels of national debt created by the banks and Bush’s unfunded wars, Bush’s unfunded Medicare expansion, and Bush’s unfunded tax cuts. The collapse of the auto industry due to imports, high oil prices and the financial meltdown. Two on-going wars (one which went neglected for 7-1/2 years) and an over-stretched military. The worst environmental disaster in history. Growing tensions in Israel and Gaza, Korea and oil-rich Iran complicated by nuclear weapons. A national infrastructure that has been decaying for decades. States and industries crippled by the sky-rocketing cost of health care and pharmaceuticals. A middle class that has been stressed by years of dwindling jobs and salaries. Millions of Americans who were (until the passage of health care reform) unable to afford access to health care. An illegal immigration problem that has been kicked down the road for decades. Social Security and Medicare trust funds that have long been raided by Congress, putting them on the edge of bankruptcy. And the most toxic political environment of my lifetime, fueled by right-wing political hacks posing as talk radio hosts and news commentators.

That’s an overwhelming array of crises, and I’ve probably even forgotten to list a few.

Never in our history has a new President been handed such a mess. Sure, Abraham Lincoln was handed a growing state’s rights crisis that led to the Civil War. And FDR was handed the Great Depression along with a growing conflict that became WWII.

But this?!!!

President Obama must feel like a Marine surrounded by ticking IEDs and wondering which one to disarm first. And these crises are made to seem all the worse by an impatient populace and media that have amazingly short attention spans.

© LaMaster Propaganda – All rights reserved.

Connecting the oil dots…er…globs.

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I’ve written before about Bush and Cheney’s influence on our energy policy. The Bush family has deep ties to the Saudis and Kuwaitis. After WWII, the Bush family jumped at the opportunity to rebuild the Balkans oil fields. And Bush worked in the oil industry before running for public office.

In addition, Cheney was the CEO of Halliburton prior to gaining the office of Vice-President. Cheney received a $34 million bonus from Halliburton when he left for Washington. And Cheney held secret meetings on energy policy in the very first month of the Bush administration.

All of that raises some very troubling questions. For example, what role did Cheney’s relationship to Halliburton play in the company receiving billions of no-bid government contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan? What role did Bush’s desire to build a pipeline across Afghanistan play in the events of 9/11 and the ensuing war in Afghanistan? What role did oil play in the unprecedented pre-emptive invasion of Iraq?

While those issues are in question, there are many Bush/Cheney impacts on U.S. energy policy that are not. It was the deregulation of commodities that led to speculation, skyrocketing oil prices and record oil company profits during the Bush/Cheney administration. It was the Bush/Cheney administration that increased subsidies to oil companies, in spite of their obscene profits, and cut subsidies for alternative energy sources.

It was the Bush/Cheney appointees at the Minerals Management Service who were literally in bed with oil company executives. The Bush/Cheney administration gave oil companies the right to drill in national parks and other wildernesses. Despite evidence to the contrary, Bush/Cheney decided it was safe to expand off-shore drilling and to drill in ANWR (the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge). And it was the Bush/Cheney administration that allowed BP and other oil companies to drill a mile under the Gulf’s surface without a serious back-up safety plan. (Indeed, the BP safety plan for the Gulf addressed the impact on walruses!)

It’s time for an in-depth Congressional investigation of the oil industry and all those who have helped oil companies keep a grip on our energy policy while, at the same time, making them the most profitable corporations in the history of the planet.

© LaMaster Propaganda – All rights reserved.

Teabaggers Aren’t As Crazy As You May Think.

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They’re worse!

Rand Paul, the teabagging Republican candidate to replace Kentucky Senator and Major League doofus, Jim Bunning, has famously stated that he wouldn’t have voted for the 1964 Civil Rights Bill in its current form. He believes that individuals and privately-owned businesses should be free to discriminate in whatever way they want against whomever they want.

Sharron Angle, the Nevada teabagger who hopes to unseat Senator Harry Reid, is running on a platform to abolish Social Security, Federal income taxes and the Department of Education. And her former primary opponent, Sue Lowden, suggested that health care access could be solved by returning to a barter system in which patients paid their doctors with chickens.

In Arizona, ex-Maverick, noted mud-slinger and teabagger wannabe, John McCain, is searching for ways to seem even crazier than his primary challenger, J.D. Hayworth. Despite the fact that illegal immigration and crime have dropped dramatically in Arizona, he now proposes that the border be turned into a heavily fortified militarized zone. Indeed, McCain almost makes his former running mate, Sarah Palin, look like a liberal.

Locally, a teabagger candidate for the AZ lege told me, “Those damn Mexicans who come across the border are only here to steal our jobs and live off our taxpayers. They don’t pay taxes or contribute in any way. They aren’t interested in our culture, our language or in becoming citizens. They only want to take advantage of us.” When I replied that his statement was one of the most racist things I’d ever heard, he came completely unglued and began screaming “I am not a racist!” as I left the room.

Wherever you look across the political landscape you’ll see candidates crawling out from under the woodwork with hopes of rewinding the way-back clock a century or more. You know, back to the good ol’ days when rich people could own their workers and when poor people had no rights and no security net in addition to having no money.

But the teabaggers do offer one positive.  They actually make the incumbents (even mainstream Republicans) seem more attractive.

Would you like your oceans premium or regular?

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Personally, I prefer the low octane grade. You know, sea water without the petrochemical additives.

The man-made geyser in the Gulf hasn’t even been stopped yet and already conservatives are demanding that President Obama drop the moratorium on off-shore drilling.  Seriously. 

Of course, it’s not surprising that the half-witted half-governor, Sarah Palin, is all in for more drilling.  She of “Drill, baby, drill” fame no doubt sees an opportunity to make more money from big oil and to fill her campaign coffers for a presidential campaign should enough wingnuts encourage her to run.  Senators Murkowski and Coburn have blocked Senate resolutions for eliminating the cap on damages for oil companies like BP.  But somewhat surprisingly, Louisiana conservatives Vitter and Jindal have called for an end to the moratorium because it could cost jobs.  Are you kidding me?  It was off-shore drilling that shut down fishing and tourism in the state and they want to resume drilling without knowing the actual cause of this current catastrophe?

That seems a classic case of Republican logic – “The hell with the environment, we must protect big business!”

Of course, if you listen to Alaska Congressman Don Young, the BP gusher is just nature taking its course.  “After all, oil seeps through the ocean floor all the time.  It’s natural.”  But he fails to recognize the difference between natural seepage and the man-made gusher that, by even the most conservative estimates, has pumped millions of barrels of crude into the Gulf.

But as revolting as these Republicans are, perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this catastrophe is that it didn’t have to happen. It’s not only a product of lax government oversight and corporate greed. It’s a product of individual choices.

Most people chose to ignore Jimmy Carter’s warnings in the late 70s and continued to increase their oil consumption.  So our cities continued to sprawl and large SUVs and Hummers replaced econoboxes. More and more people moved to the suburbs far away from jobs and commuted 10, 20, 30 miles or more each day.

Corporations began “outsourcing” manufacturing jobs overseas and started shipping products halfway around the world to cut costs by a few dollars or even pennies. More and more people built showy McMansions thousands of square feet larger than they need. The list goes on and on.

The fact is, we’re addicted to fossil fuels. And now that addiction is turning much of our world’s oceans into dead zones where nothing can survive.

The good news is that there are many viable alternatives to oil. We can do as President Obama proposes and redirect the oil subsidies to the wind and solar industries. We can subsidize and encourage other sources of renewable energy such as native grasses that can be used for ethanol. We can replace long-haul trucks with an efficient rail system. We can convert short-haul trucks to natural gas which doesn’t require off-shore drilling. We can replace many domestic flights with high-speed rail. We can replace freeway traffic with light rail systems. 

And we can shout down the dimwits who continue to chant “Drill, baby, drill.”

A Brief Summary of Republican Teabagger Values.

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In the past few weeks, we’re getting a really good picture of what the Republican teabaggers have in store for America.

First, a Kansas-based wingnut wrote a racist immigration law which he peddled to the Arizona legislature. Of course, they were all too happy to embrace it. Now he’s peddling the same bill to other states. So far, at least 12 states are considering it.

Second, the NRA and its Republican enablers have succeeded in pushing through new conceal and carry laws throughout the country. It is now legal to carry a gun in any national park. In Arizona, you may now carry a concealed weapon without a permit. And thanks to a new law in Louisiana, you may even carry your gun to church – because we all know that to truly worship Jesus, you have to be ready to nail a few Muslims.

Third, the Grand Obstructionist Party threatened, for weeks, to filibuster financial reform. They actually chose to defend Wall Street against Main Street! Who cares if abuses by Wall Street collapsed our economy and cost taxpayers trillions of dollars?

Fourth, BP Oil and its partners blew up 11 employees and unleashed an oil gusher a mile deep in the Gulf. Now, considering the Republican-loaded Supreme Court recently declared that corporations have all the rights of individuals, you might expect that the BP CEO and a few other corporate officers would be facing charges of manslaughter and more (What is the penalty for killing an entire ocean?). But of course, the Supreme Court only awarded corporations individual rights. No doubt, they never intended to hold corporations to the same standards as individuals when it comes to responsibilities.

Fifth, Senate Democrats asked for unanimous consent for a bill that would greatly expand BP Oil’s liability for the Gulf tragedy. The bill was first blocked by an objection from Senator Lisa Murkowski. It seems she was more impressed by the nearly $300,000 in campaign contributions from oil companies than the plight of Gulf Coast fishermen.  Ensuing attempts have been blocked by Tom Coburn, another Senator who relies on contributions from big oil.

Sixth, Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that he refuses to raise taxes in order to balance California’s budget. So, instead, he is cutting welfare benefits for more than one million of California’s unemployed. Of course, California is not alone. Similar measures have been instituted in Arizona and several other states. Indeed, Arizona’s legislature cut funding for health care for poor kids until they found out that the state would lose more in federal funding than it would save. Meanwhile, the Arizona dimwits continue to cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy.

Finally, teabagger darling, Rand Paul, displayed his true colors on The Rachel Maddow Show when he refused to say he would have voted for the 1960s Civil Rights Bill. What he did say is that he thinks private businesses should be able to do what they want, even if that means refusing to serve non-whites.

This is just a brief recap of wingnut values. One can’t help but conclude that if the Republican teabaggers have their way, America’s coasts will be covered in oil, the public schools will be closed, and the streets will be filled with angry, homeless, poor people who are armed to the teeth.

A Proposal For Real Immigration Reform.

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Since the Kansas-based group known as F.A.I.R. (there’s some irony for you) convinced the simpletons in the Arizona legislature to pass its immigration law, it has begun peddling it to other states. As of this writing, 12 more states are now considering it.

It’s as if our state legislatures have been taken over by Forrest Gump and Gomer Pyle.

The only good to come out of this mess is that it may force Congress into passing real immigration reform. But it’s not enough for people like me to complain about the Arizona law. We should contribute ideas to real, long-term reform. Here are mine:

Let’s start by recognizing that we can’t (nor should we want to) round up all 12-15 million undocumented immigrants and send them back to their countries of origin. Many of these people have been in the U.S. for decades. They have families here who are legal citizens and they’ve spent more time here than in their countries of origin. Let’s also recognize that, for someone to endure days in the desert or to resort to working with human smugglers, they must be in desperate straits and may need some help. And let’s not lump together hard-working individuals who seek a better life for their families with those involved with drug cartels and other criminal activity.

Let us also admit that, in some ways, illegal immigration has financial consequences for U.S. taxpayers. Undocumented workers not only take jobs from American citizens. Since they are willing to work for less, and without benefits, they force the salary scale downward. In addition, they mostly have no health care insurance. So when they need care, they visit our Emergency Rooms (the most expensive access point to health professionals) and the rest of us pick up the tab.

On the other hand, many illegals work for corporations thereby contributing to lower costs of goods and services.  They pay sales taxes and property taxes.  They also pay income taxes, Social Security taxes and Medicare taxes under someone else’s name.  The government is aware of this, but looks the other way because the unclaimed funds help prop up the trust funds that have been repeatedly raided by Congress over many years.

With agreement on most of these issues, we can begin to look for solutions that just may benefit everyone.

First, let’s encourage illegal aliens who have been in the U.S. for longer than 5 years with no criminal history to come forward for residency permits. Let’s provide them with U.S. identification and give them a short period of time (let’s say 2 years) to apply for U.S. citizenship. If they can’t meet that deadline, they should either provide a good reason why they have failed to become citizens or be deported.

For those who wish to come to the U.S., let’s institute a foreign worker program. Our infrastructure is crumbling and these people need jobs. See the connection? Instead of spending billions on more border guards and a fence that is destined to fail, let’s provide these people with foreign worker permits and use the money to put them to work in a way that will benefit our nation. At the same time, let’s institute meaningful punishments for businesses and their owners who hire undocumented workers. If the businesses can prove (and let’s be tough with this) that they can’t operate without foreign workers, they can apply for foreign worker permits that must be renewed annually. Next, let’s create free or low-cost health clinics and other low-cost services. It’s a lot less expensive than paying for ER visits.

Let’s also work with the illegals’ nations of origin and incentify them to engage in helping curtail the problem. It’s not enough to have a border patrol on only one side of the border.

Finally, let’s recognize that the ultimate solution to the problem is to equalize the economies and opportunities in the U.S. and the nations of origin. And, no, I don’t mean bringing our economy down to their level, but to lift all nations and people. But that’s just me. I’d rather pay to help people than pay to punish them.

© LaMaster Propaganda – All rights reserved.

Corporate “Citizens”

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Anyone who has ever founded a corporation knows that the entity exists only on paper. It’s a legal agreement between the shareholders and the government. Incorporation is designed to encourage the creation of jobs by offering legal protection to the shareholders in the event the corporation defaults on its financial liabilities. That’s it. It’s a legal “veil” of financial protection. Yet the current Supreme Court has disregarded long-established legal precedents to give corporations the same rights as individuals with regard to freedom of speech.

For the Court to make this ruling, it had to re-write the Consitution in two regards. One is that, according to the Court, money is now the equivalent of free speech. Two is that corporations are equal to individual citizens. If protecting a woman’s right to make decisions with respect to her own body is evidence of “activist” justices, what do these rulings represent? Super activism?

But now that conservatives on the Court have created this quagmire, I suggest they take it a step farther.

Why not rule that corporate “citizens” are subject to the same criminal codes as individuals? After all, aren’t conservatives always reminding us that rights must be accompanied by responsibilities?

So if a young male is sentenced to 5-10 years for robbing a convenience store, why shouldn’t the CEO of a corporate giant get at least that many years if that corporation defrauds millions from customers? If an undocumented immigrant is jailed and deported when found working in a meat-packing house, doesn’t it stand to reason that the corporation’s CEO be subject to penalties, including jail time, for hiring that immigrant? If a teenager is imprisoned for vandalizing public property, why shouldn’t BP executives get a prison sentence for causing the Gulf catastrophe?

Wouldn’t it be satisfying to see BP executives (and their government regulators) handcuffed and forced to do a perp walk in front of the national media? And once they’ve been imprisoned, maybe we should put them on a diet of water and seafood from the Gulf.

The Republican Playbook.

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If you’ve ever been directly involved with a state or national political campaign, you may know that the people operating the campaigns are generally law school and political science graduates who view political campaigns in the same way most people view sports. It’s all about winning – often at any cost. That stated, it seems that Republicans take this philosophy to a completely different level.

Following is the Republican checklist for getting candidates elected:

1 – Create a variety of “think tanks” to “study” political issues. These groups are generally labeled with patriotic sounding names. A few examples are American Enterprise Institute, Cato Institute, Center for Individual Freedom, Center for the Study of Popular Culture, Coalitions for America, F.A.I.R., FreedomWorks, Heritage Foundation, Leadership Institute, National Taxpayers Union, Club for Growth, Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, American Center for Law and Justice, Family Research Council, Catholics United for the Faith, National Right to Life Committee, Center for Military Readiness, United Seniors Association, United States Border Control, American Civil Rights Institute, Media Research Center, Students for Academic Freedom… (Are you ready to salute, yet?).

The organizations bill themselves as independent and they generate lots of studies that are used to attack Democratic values. They also generate many of the Republican-sponsored bills that are introduced in Congress or in state legislatures. For example, the NRA wrote the liberal “Conceal and Carry” laws that have been passed in many states. And Kansas-based F.A.I.R. wrote the ill-conceived immigration bill recently passed in Arizona.

2 – Control the discussion. Ever wonder why Republican pundits on news programs never shut up? By controlling the discussion, they hope to control the agenda. They want the public to view each issue through a Republican lens. If Democrats bring up an issue first, Republicans do everything possible to re-frame the issue in a way that benefits them.  So Democrat-sponsored financial reform becomes a “government takeover” of banks.

3 – The big lie. The bigger the lie, the better. For example, a provision in the health reform bill designed to help people create living wills, became “death panels to pull the plug on Granny.” T.A.R.P., which was passed by the Bush administration to avoid worldwide financial collapse, is suddenly an example of Obama-inspired “Socialism”. And gays are an abomination under God, except for the ones Republicans sleep with.

4 – Names that disguise the reality of legislation. Bush’s “Clear Skies Initiative” was designed to weaken environmental protections. And “No Child Left Behind” was designed, not to improve education, but to punish impoverished schools with the most problematic enrollments.

5 – Wealth redistribution. You know how Republicans are always talking about Democrats wanting to redistribute wealth from the top down? (See #3) For 40 years, Republicans have been redistributing wealth upward.

6 – Small government. By repeating this mantra, Republicans have succeeded tapping into people’s dislike and distrust of bureaucracy. But it’s really just a cover for deregulation of stock markets, commodities, pharmaceutical companies, oil companies, etc. Republicans abhor anything that stands in the way of corporate profits, even if it prevents calamities such the BP oil geyser in the Gulf. Funny how Republicans never seem to mind big military and big Homeland Security.

7 – Fear. The Bogeyman is going to get you unless you vote Republican. Only Republicans can save you from terrorists, communists, socialists, fascists, secularists, gay marriages, gays in the military, immigrants, drug lords, etc., etc.

8 – Unity and payback. You’re either with us or “agin” us. Compromise is a dirty word. So is bipartisanship.

9 – Activist judges. You’ve heard all about the evils of activist judges who rule on behalf of civil rights and the woman’s right to choose. But have you heard about the activist judges who decide the outcomes of elections and give corporations the rights of individuals, including the right to donate millions to Republican candidates?

10 – Media whores. Namely Fox News Channel and Rush Limbaugh who can be counted on to repeat Republican talking points without question.

11 – Obstruct Democrats in every way possible, then blame Democrats for the delays.  Just look at the current situation in Washington.  Republicans have invoked the filibuster rule more times this session than any other time in history to “stop Obama’s socialist agenda.”

12 – Repetition, repetition, repetition. This goes hand in hand with the big lie.  If they keep repeating a lie long enough, people begin to think it must be true.

What Republicans Really Stand For:

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Since Republicans like to attack any (make that every) Democrat idea, I thought it might be useful to look at what Republicans want.

1. Guns for everybody, no training required, the more the better.

2. Elimination of income taxes. Replace them with sales taxes, so the rich are taxed disproportionately less.

3. Elimination of labor unions. Who needs collective bargaining when corporations are so caring and generous to their employees?

4. Elimination of welfare, unemployment benefits, Social Security and Medicare. Only the wealthy deserve entitlements.

5. Elimination of public schools. After all, who wants children learning about such controversial issues as evolution anyway?

6. The criminalization of abortion, birth control and sex education. You can never have enough unwanted, uneducated children, right?

7. Repeal of health care reform – if you can’t afford health care on your own, you deserve to die.

8. Unlimited campaign contributions from corporations, but only for Republicans.

9. Deregulation of Wall Street, Big Oil, mining, Big Pharma, military contractors, commodities and any other campaign contributors.

10. Elimination of community organizers – you know, anyone who will fight for the underpriviledged and, most importantly, anyone who will register poor people to vote.

11. Elimination of mandatory minimum wages. It’s a drag on business to have to pay employees a living wage.

12. Downsizing of government, except for Homeland Security, I.C.E., border patrols, and any agency that looks out for wealthy Americans.

13. Privatization of the military, the Post Office, National Parks, and almost every other branch of government. There’s no profit for shareholders if the government does it.

14. Elimination of the Environmental Protection Agency. Climate change is just a myth perpetuated by Al Gore and those tree-hugging liberals. Besides, what good are natural resources if corporations can’t exploit them? Right?

15. Recognition of Christianity as the state religion. God bless America.

If you think I’m exaggerating, you just haven’t been paying attention.

The Oil Boys’ Legacy.

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In the first 90 days of the George W. Bush administration, Richard the Dick Cheney held a series of secret meetings on the subject of energy policy.  Famously (or should I say infamously), the Dick refused to list those who were present and what was discussed, but it’s well-known that the meetings included more than 100 oil industry officials who drafted a wish list of demands.  In all likelihood, those meetings led to almost every single negative event over the past 10 years.

Think I exaggerate?  Consider this:

Over that 10 years, our nation has suffered through skyrocketing gas and oil prices.  We have engaged in two wars, which interestingly enough have involved two nations considered critical to the oil industry.  (It’s well-known that Iraq has large oil deposits, and Afghanistan is necessary for the construction of a pipeline to get oil from the Balkans to world markets.)  We have seen pressure from the Bush administration to drill for oil in the Atlantic National Wildlife Refuge.  We have seen a Republican-led campaign to expand off-shore drilling.  And we have seen the oil giant, Halliburton, awarded enormous no-bid government contracts in Afghanistan and Iraq by its former CEO, Richard the Dick Cheney.  (Of course, it’s only coincidence that Halliburton paid the Dick $34 million after he was elected Vice-President.)

There’s another troubling legacy of the Dick’s meetings.

An internal investigation of the Minerals Management Service in 2008 described a “culture of substance abuse and promiscuity” by workers at the agency which regulates the oil industry. The investigation by Inspector General Earl E. Devaney found “a culture of ethical failure” at the MMS royalty collection office in Denver.  The report pointed to parties for MMS personnel and energy company representatives.  Indeed, the report stated that MMS personnel and oil companies were literally in bed with one another.  In addition to the sex, the Inspector General also reported that MMS employees accepted drugs, illegal contracts and gifts, such as ski trips and golf outings from oil representatives. 

Even more troubling, the Inspector General reported that the Bush/Cheney gang at MMS “showed no remorse” when confronted with the accusations.  And though they were disciplined, most of those people are still employed by MMS as regulators of energy.

It doesn’t take much imagination to see that the current oil gusher and environmental disaster in the Gulf is the direct result of Bush/Cheney policies and appointees.   Indeed, just this week, a whistleblower came forward with information detailing a pattern of negligence and falsified tests by BP and other oil giants along with lax oversight by government “regulators.”

So what are the solutions to this mess?  (Of course, there is no solution to the ecological disaster taking place in the Gulf.  It will be decades, if not centuries, for the environment to recover.)  BP, Halliburton and Transocean should be held accountable for the environmental and economic disaster taking place in the Gulf.   Congressional Republicans should immediately release their holds on dozens of Obama appointees.  Congress should subpeona Cheney to testify under oath about his energy meetings. 

Most important, we all should push our representatives to vote for non-carbon renewable energy.