As President-elect Obama considers the nature of the next stimulus package, many ideas are being floated around. While an infrastructure spending spree (like the first New Deal) has some merits, we'd see a much better long-term return from a green stimulus package that emphasized green schools and green jobs for a sustainable future. The best outline I've seen for such a package was released by the Campaign for Environmental Literacy (.pdf) and deserves broad attention during this debate.
-Dr. DRL
17 December 2008
15 December 2008
Harry Reid Must Go!
Now that we're looking forward to "change" one that's near the top of my list is the Senate Majority Leader. We've seen almost nothing of substance from Harry Reid over the past several years, which has included a record of almost total capitulation to the Republican minority this year and a complete failure to substantively challenge the most unpopular president in historic memory on almost anything.
Reid must go. He may in fact lose his seat in 2010, but I'd rather see him step down as majority leader long before that. The folks over at Daily Kos have taken up the torch, or at least are complaining about him more than they used to.
Good luck progressives! Let's start mailing old boots to Reid, so he'll at least know how we feel.
Reid must go. He may in fact lose his seat in 2010, but I'd rather see him step down as majority leader long before that. The folks over at Daily Kos have taken up the torch, or at least are complaining about him more than they used to.
Good luck progressives! Let's start mailing old boots to Reid, so he'll at least know how we feel.
Interior Update: Looks Like Salazar
Good news from the Obama transition team Official Leak Channel: it looks like Colorado Senator Ken Salazar will be moving on to the Interior Department. Salazar is a much better pick than many of the others rumored to be on the list, and one that proponents of stewardship on western public lands can work with. Despite a history that includes being on the wrong side of some key environmental decisions, Salazar scored 100% on the League of Conservation Voters scorecard for the 110th Congress and was endorsed as an "environmental hero" by the LCV in 2005.
Though a moderate (and social conservative) Democrat, Salazar is the kind of guy who should be able to work with both sides on critical issues such as water, grazing, timber, mining, and recreational access on the public lands without being beholden to single industry's like some other names that have been bandied about.
As I noted earlier, we desperately need a Stuart Udall or Cecil Andrus at Interior, not only to promote sensible policies but to revive the hopes of the many Interior employees who have been fighting against a rigged, politicized system for the past eight years in vain hope of protecting some part of our natural legacy. Salazar isn't Udall, but he's much closer than I'd feared. We'll have to reach out to him quickly and hold his (and his boss's) feet to the fire to make sure he listens to voices outside the boardrooms and faux-ranches that have dominated the public land debates in the West for far too long.
Though a moderate (and social conservative) Democrat, Salazar is the kind of guy who should be able to work with both sides on critical issues such as water, grazing, timber, mining, and recreational access on the public lands without being beholden to single industry's like some other names that have been bandied about.
As I noted earlier, we desperately need a Stuart Udall or Cecil Andrus at Interior, not only to promote sensible policies but to revive the hopes of the many Interior employees who have been fighting against a rigged, politicized system for the past eight years in vain hope of protecting some part of our natural legacy. Salazar isn't Udall, but he's much closer than I'd feared. We'll have to reach out to him quickly and hold his (and his boss's) feet to the fire to make sure he listens to voices outside the boardrooms and faux-ranches that have dominated the public land debates in the West for far too long.
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