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Fuels America Launches Major National TV and Digital Ad Campaign, Website on Earth Day

by Posted on April 22, 2014

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Fuels America Launches Major National TV and Digital Ad Campaign, Website on Earth Day

Posted 22 April 2014 in

National

Fuels America coalition members today announced the launch of the “Oil Rigged” television and digital ad campaign and OilRigged.com to expose the many ways the oil industry is rigging the system to protect their profits and block the transition to clean, American renewable fuels.

The campaign begins today with the launch of OilRigged.com, at least two weeks of ads on cable stations nationwide, as well as extensive digital advertising that will include an Earth Day takeover of Politico.com.

The campaign shows the benefits of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which gives consumers access to innovative American renewable fuels — which are “cleaner, less expensive, and better for engines” — and warns not to let the oil industry muddy the renewable fuels debate and “rig the system” against competition. The television advertisement notes that the oil industry reaped profits of “$177,000 per minute” last year at consumers’ and taxpayers’ expense.

Oil companies have made the RFS the focus of hundreds of millions of dollars in distorted attacks, simply because the RFS is the most important policy moving America away from reliance on foreign oil and toward a healthier economy and environment.

Embraced by both Democrats and Republicans and signed into law by President Bush, the RFS calls for the use of American-grown renewable fuels in our transportation fuel supply to benefit our economy and environment. Innovative renewable fuels have saved the U.S. as much as $50 billion in a single year and support over 400,000 jobs across the country.

Fuels America stands with the thousands of farm families, workers, small business owners, environmental advocates, military families and veterans who submitted comments to the EPA in support of renewable fuels and a strong RFS. With the resources on OilRigged.com, consumers and decision-makers can avoid getting “oil rigged.”

Fuels America News & Stories

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Fuels America Launches Major National TV and Digital Ad Campaign, Website on Earth Day

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In America, Spending Cuts Are Driven by the Rich

by AntoniettaRyrie Posted on April 21, 2014

Mother Jones

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Over at the Monkey Cage, Larry Bartels presents the remarkable chart on the right. Its message is simple: In most affluent countries, there’s net support for government spending cuts, but it doesn’t depend much on income. Not only is the level of support modest, but it’s the same among rich and poor.

But not in America. Here, demand for spending cuts is driven almost entirely by the well-off:

What accounts for the remarkable enthusiasm for government budget-cutting among affluent Americans? Presumably not the sheer magnitude of redistribution in the United States, which is modest by world standards. And presumably not a traditional aversion to government in American political culture, since less affluent Americans are exposed to the same political culture as those who are more prosperous. A more likely suspect is the entanglement of class and race in America, which magnifies aversion to redistribution among many affluent white Americans.

….The U.S. tax system is also quite different from most affluent countries’ in its heavy reliance on progressive income taxes. The political implications of this difference are magnified by the remarkable salience of income taxes in Americans’ thinking about taxes and government….Income taxes seem to dominate public discussion of taxes and tax policy. For example, years of dramatic political confrontation culminated in a grudging agreement to shave a few percentage points off the Bush tax cuts for incomes over $400,000 per year; meanwhile, a major reduction in the payroll taxes paid by millions of ordinary working Americans expired with barely a whimper.

It’s no surprise that spending cuts are popular in other countries: most of them spend a lot of money, and they fund it with high tax rates on just about everyone. But that’s decidedly not the case in the United States. Our government spending is relatively low and so are our tax rates. But none of that matters. Rich Americans don’t like paying taxes, and as we know from multiple lines of research—in addition to plain old common sense—the opinions of the rich are what drive public policy in America. Add in longstanding grievances against providing benefits to people with darker skins, and you’ve got a big chunk of the middle class on your side too. This works great for the rich. For the rest of us, not so much.

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In America, Spending Cuts Are Driven by the Rich

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Quote of the Day: Will Obamacare Deliver More Votes Than Medicare?

by MiquelCuriel Posted on April 21, 2014

Mother Jones

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From Jonathan Bernstein, questioning whether Obamacare will ever be a vote winner for Democrats:

After Medicare passed in 1965, voters “rewarded” Democrats for Medicare with big midterm losses in 1966 and then by putting Republicans in the White House in five of the next six presidential elections.

Actually, that’s….true, isn’t it? Even granting that there was a lot of other stuff going on in 1966, let’s hope that history doesn’t repeat itself.

See original article here – 

Quote of the Day: Will Obamacare Deliver More Votes Than Medicare?

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Paul Ryan Goes Small on Medicare Reform

by AlyciaHeck Posted on April 21, 2014

Mother Jones

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If you have a good memory, you may recall that a couple of years ago I had an unexpectedly positive reaction to Paul Ryan’s latest Medicare reform plan. His 2013 edition was still based on premium support (i.e., vouchers), but he’d made some changes. Instead of simply capping the vouchers at the rate of overall inflation, which wouldn’t come close to keeping up with medical costs, Ryan proposed that insurers would bid for Medicare business. Vouchers would be set at the cost of the second-lowest bid, and seniors could use their vouchers to buy into traditional Medicare if they preferred.

Not bad. In fact, it was basically Obamacare with a public option. But there were still problems. Ryan kept his inflation-based cap, which suggested he didn’t really believe in the power of competition after all, and seniors would still end up paying more under his plan than they do now.

But over at TPM, Sahil Kapur points out something I missed: Ryan’s 2014 Medicare plan is different still. The voucher is now based on the average bid, not the second-lowest bid, and the inflation cap is gone. The market will either produce savings or it won’t.

That’s good news. But it also goes to show the difficulty of truly reforming Medicare, especially if you don’t tackle the broader problems of health care costs at the same time. The CBO has analyzed the effect of Ryan’s 2014 changes, and they conclude that by 2020 the Ryan plan would save a grand total of $15 billion per year. That’s 2 percent of net Medicare spending.

Now, this is nothing to sneeze at. Savings are savings. However, like the cost containment proposals that are part of Obamacare, this represents a highly speculative estimate. We might get the 2 percent, we might get nothing.

The bottom line is this: Without root-and-branch changes to our health care system, you’re simply not going to get big cost savings. If you make radical changes, as Ryan originally tried to do, it comes out of the pockets of seniors. If you keep seniors whole, you’re going to get small savings at best. Ryan’s 2014 plan might be a good one, but is it worth the experiment for such a small and questionable payback? Hard to say.

Excerpt from – 

Paul Ryan Goes Small on Medicare Reform

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Housekeeping Notes

by SteviePillinger Posted on April 19, 2014

Mother Jones

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These are real housekeeping notes. That is, notes about stuff around my house. First topic: LED light bulbs.

I’ve purchased several LED floods that are can-mounted in my ceiling. They’re great. The quality of the light is good; they turn on instantly; they don’t flicker; and they use hardly any electricity. There’s only one problem: they seem to last less than a year. The LEDs themselves last for decades, of course, but the circuitry that drives the bulb doesn’t. As near as I can tell, there’s eventually enough heat buildup in the can to burn out the chip that controls the whole thing, and when the chip burns out, no more bulb.

I’m just guessing here, but this has now happened three times out of five bulbs I’ve purchased, and in all three cases the case of the bulb was hot to the touch when I unscrewed it from the base. So here’s my question: Does anyone know for sure what’s going on here? Is my guess that a chip is burning out probably correct? Am I just buying cheap bulbs? Can anyone recommend a can-mounted flood that’s reliable and will actually last for the 25 years that manufacturers so cheerfully promise?

Second: a cell phone update. In last weekend’s thread, the Google Nexus 5 got a lot of love, but so did the Motorola Moto X. I had actually made up my mind on the Nexus 5, but the T-Mobile store only sold it in a 16GB version, so I decided to go home and buy one online. But then I started dithering because of all the nice things people had said about the Moto X. Eventually, after far more dithering than makes sense for someone who doesn’t use a cell phone much, I decided the slightly smaller Moto X was the better choice. So: thanks, folks! I don’t think this would have come across my radar otherwise.

Excerpt from:

Housekeeping Notes

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Watch Hillary Clinton Tell an Undocumented 19-Year-Old Why She Supports Immigration Reform

by LauraFore Posted on April 17, 2014

Mother Jones

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A 19-year-old undocumented immigrant confronted Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and not-quite-presidential candidate, about immigration reform at an event hosted by the Clinton Foundation Thursday.

An hour into the panel discussion, which featured Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, the moderator, actress America Ferrera, called on a young woman at the front of the room to ask a question. “I have a very different glass ceiling than some of the girls here,” the 19-year-old woman explained, fighting back tears. “For the first time publicly I want to say that I am an undocumented immigrant.” She went on to explain that her family had illegally brought her to the US from Croatia when she was five-years-old. “It’s been very hard,” she continued, “because I don’t have the documentation to get a job, to vote—which is essential obviously to women representation—to buy an apartment, to take out a loan to go to college, so I couldn’t even go to my dream college because of that, to get no financial aid.”

Clinton immediately sympathized. “I believe strongly that we are missing a great opportunity by not welcoming people like you,” she said, “and 11 million others who have made contributions to our country, into a legal status.”

You can watch the exchange here, beginning at the hour and 20-minute mark.

Clinton continued, saying that she favors “immigration reform and a path to citizenship.” The former secretary of state shied away from offering an opinion on how exactly she thinks the government should offer citizenship to those residing in the country without documents, but she endorsed the reform bill that the Senate passed last year. Without naming the party, she called out the Republican leaders of the House of Representatives and said that they should allow a vote on the bill. “I think that’s a big missed opportunity for our country,” Clinton said, “because part of the reason we’re going to do really well in the 21st century is because we are a nation of immigrants. We keep attracting people like you and your family who want to make a contribution. It’s not only because we want to make life better for people like yourselves who is already here, it’s good for us.”

The Clintons were speaking at an event for the family foundation’s No Ceilings: The Full Participation Project, which focuses on advancing women’s rights worldwide. The younger Clinton made news herself at the event by announcing that she is pregnant.

Clinton supported the failed bipartisan efforts to reform the immigration system during George W Bush’s second term. The Senate’s latest stab at fixing the system is more modest than the Bush-era proposal.

Continued here:  

Watch Hillary Clinton Tell an Undocumented 19-Year-Old Why She Supports Immigration Reform

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Invading Crimea May Have Cost Russia $200 Billion So Far

by BrandyCremor Posted on April 17, 2014

Mother Jones

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Russia’s military actions are costing it dearly:

Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region last month and the instability it created in Russian financial markets were cited by government officials for record capital flight and sharply downgraded growth forecasts for the country. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that instead of projected 2.5% growth this year, Russia’s economy might show no growth at all.

….U.S. and European sanctions to punish Russia for occupying and annexing Crimea have so far targeted only a few dozen officials and businessmen. But the prospect of broader penalties, such as a Western boycott of Russian oil and gas, have scared investors into cashing out their ruble-denominated assets for hard currency and taking their money abroad. Russia’s foreign exchange reserves were drained of a record $63 billion in the first quarter of the year, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said Wednesday in an address to the lower house of the parliament.

….Russian stocks fell 10% last month, wiping out further billions in capital. The ruble has lost 9% of its value since the start of the year, boosting prices for the imported food and manufactured goods on which the Russian consumer market is heavily dependent. “The acute international situation of the past two months” was the cause, Ulyukayev said, referring to the Ukraine unrest.

That’s a helluva big drop in economic growth. Just by itself, it represents a cost of $50 billion. Add in the flight of cash and the stock market decline, and you’re somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 billion.

Is that enough to make Russia blink? Maybe not. But it hurts, and the prospect of losing even more has got be enough to give even Vladimir Putin a few second thoughts.

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Invading Crimea May Have Cost Russia $200 Billion So Far

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Recyclebank Rewards Schools for Innovative Green Initiatives

by AbdulEncarnacio Posted on April 10, 2014

Photo: Recyclebank

Recyclebank‘s eighth annual Green Schools Program is moving along at full force.

In case you aren’t familiar with the program, it awards grant money to schools for unique projects that will green their classroom and community.

Since 2007, the Green Schools program has granted close to $450,000 that helped more than 150 schools across the country bring their sustainable ideas to life.

From now until March 16, Recyclebank members are encouraged to donate points to schools of their choice participating in the program to help them reach their target funding goals.

Members can learn about the schools’ project ideas, donate their points and track each school’s progress online. For every 250 member points donated, Recyclebank awards schools $1 that can be used toward their green project.

Twenty-nine schools are participating in the program this year, with projects ranging from school gardens and recycling programs to upcycled art projects. Each school can request up to $2,500 in grant money for their project.

“The whole reason we feel so strongly about the Green Schools Program is that we want to empower youth to be thinking about the environment, thinking about what they can do–in their school, in their community, in their home–to make an impact,” Karen Bray, vice president of marketing at Recyclebank, told Earth911.

In addition to member donations, Domtar Corp. is supporting the Green Schools Program for the second year in a row and will contribute additional donation dollars as well as a year’s supply of its EarthChoice Office Paper to the school with the most innovative project.

So far, Burton Elementary School in Huntington Woods, Mich. has already achieved its $2,500 goal to fund a lunchroom waste reduction program. Keith Elementary in Cypress, Texas also met its $850 target to construct an on-site greenhouse for environmental education, while Central High School in Philadelphia crossed the finish line for its $2,000 goal to restore patio boxes for urban gardening.

Two other Philadelphia schools, Springside Chestnut Hill Academy and Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School, are also tantalizingly close their funding goals to construct birdhouses and launch a recycling program. Other leading projects so far include a horticultural project and a school-wide art installation.

For Recyclebank, these projects represent small changes that carry potentially big impacts for the future of our planet.

“A lot of the conversations around being a little greener center around the next generation,” Bray noted “So what better way to start to build that awareness and that passion than going directly to the students and giving back a little bit?”

To view a full list of participating schools, donate to your favorite and track their progress, visit the Green Schools Program online.

earth911

Source: 

Recyclebank Rewards Schools for Innovative Green Initiatives

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Pennsylvania officials have no idea how to assess health threats of fracking

by LeviCfiasgh Posted on April 3, 2014

Pennsylvania officials have no idea how to assess health threats of fracking

By

WCN 24/7

Could it be that frackers are die-hard Ravens fans? That might explain their cavalier attitude about the health of citizens in Steeler Country.

Kidding! Money is the motive, yinz – and if Pennsylvanians are exposed to dangerous levels of toxic chemicals in the making of it, who cares?

An alarming new study by the Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project, published in the journal Reviews on Environmental Health, finds that current methods and tools used to measure harmful emissions from fracking wells don’t accurately assess health threats – not even close, in fact.

Federal and state officials tend to measure and report emissions in big-picture terms – tons of methane released per year, for example. Another method is to track hourly emissions over a given day or week. These might not capture rapid and brief increases in chemical exposure, which can cause real harm to bodily systems. SPEHP reports that emissions near drilling sites can fluctuate wildly, and toxic chemical particles can reach high levels of concentration in the air in a very short period of time – as little as a minute or two – and then drop back down. This can occur repeatedly throughout drilling, but might not be captured by the tools or methods customarily used to measure emissions.

SPEHP researchers collected data on levels of four toxic chemicals in 14 households near fracking sites in southwestern Pennsylvania, and found that contamination was concentrated at peak levels – three times the median level of concentration – about 30 percent of the time, but in spurts. These short blasts of contamination can go undetected by tools customarily used to measure emissions.

Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene are all toxic substances released into the air from shale drilling. So, what can go wrong if one is exposed to peak levels of these chemicals? Glad you asked! The health effects can include “respiratory, neurologic, and dermal responses as well as vascular bleeding, abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting.”

If that weren’t bad enough, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has a flawed system for responding to citizen complaints about emissions, as ProPublica reports:

[T]he agency’s own manual for dealing with complaints is explicit about what to do if someone reports concerns about a noxious odor, but is not at that very moment experiencing the smell: “DO NOT REGISTER THE COMPLAINT.”

When a resident does report a real-time alarm about the air quality in or around their home, the agency typically has two weeks to conduct an investigation. If no odor is detected when investigators arrive on the scene, the case is closed.

In light of the SPEHP findings, this response falls very much short of what would be needed to accurately determine whether there’s a health threat, as it not only fails to address the issue immediately, but also doesn’t account for the intermittency of spikes in exposure.

ProPublica reports that the DEP has been criticized for bowing to energy company interests rather than serving Pennsylvania citizens.

Activists and environmental groups have accused the agency of being overly deferential to the gas industry, and defensive and slow moving in its dealings with the public.

“It was very top down, very secretive and paranoid about who the enemies were,” said [George] Jugovic, [a] former agency official, who left the department when Corbett succeeded Rendell as governor. “The control on information was significant.”

Gov. Tom Corbett (R) has an impressive history of wooing gas companies to Pennsylvania. Now, these companies have made themselves at home enough to dump all their shit in the air without so much as a “whoops!”, and sure enough, it’s making some of those unlucky enough to live near fracking sites sick. Maybe in between bouts of vomiting, Pennsylvanians can try to enjoy some complimentary pizza.


Source
In Fracking Fight, a Worry About How Best to Measure Health Threats, ProPublica

Eve Andrews is a Grist fellow and new Seattle transplant via the mean streets of Chicago, Poughkeepsie, and Pittsburgh, respectively and in order of meanness. Follow her on Twitter.

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Pennsylvania officials have no idea how to assess health threats of fracking

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Washington NFL Team’s New Native American Foundation Is Already Off to a Great Start

by CarriNDQ Posted on March 28, 2014

Mother Jones

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The CEO of the Washington football team’s recently unveiled Original Americans Foundation also runs an organization that was criticized in a federal investigation for wasting nearly $1 million and providing “no benefit” after receiving a Bureau of Indian Affairs contract.

Gary Edwards, who was announced as head of the team’s foundation this week, is CEO of the National Native American Law Enforcement Association. In 2009, the NNALEA won a contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to “recruit for and hire critically needed law enforcement officers (police, corrections, and criminal investigator positions) to work in Indian Country.” According to a 2012 investigation into the contract, first reported by USA Today, NNALEA produced 748 applicants for law enforcement positions—only about 4 percent of which were Native American. Even worse, not a single applicant was qualified, meaning the $967,100 in funds amounted to absolutely nothing.

The investigation mostly comes down hard on Bureau of Indian Affairs officials for allowing Edwards to negotiate the terms of the contract into something essentially useless. While the contract’s original language called for “500 qualified Native American law enforcement applicants,” according to the investigation, it was later modified to “500 pre-screened potential applicants,” effectively removing the requirements that the NNALEA provide applicants who are Native American and qualified for law enforcement jobs. In its invoices to the Bureau, NNALEA reported holding a recruiting event at the 2009 Crow Fair Celebration and placing ads in South Dakota’s Aberdeen News, though according to the investigation an official who attended the fair saw no recruiting booth or NNALEA representatives, and the Aberdeen News had no record of NNALEA ever ordering the ads.

“The NNALEA believes it met and exceeded all of its obligations under the contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services, and subsequently was paid after the contract was completed,” Edwards said in a statement released Thursday night.

See the full investigation below:

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NNALEA contract investigation (PDF)

NNALEA contract investigation (Text)

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Washington NFL Team’s New Native American Foundation Is Already Off to a Great Start

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