From Matier & Ross. Forgive me if this has already made the rounds- I don't hang out here as much as I'd like...

as the group moved together for the perfunctory photo, Rachel Binah, a former Richardson delegate who now supports Hillary Clinton, told Bill how "sorry" she was to have heard former Clinton campaign manager James Carville call Richardson a "Judas" for backing Obama.

It was as if someone pulled the pin from a grenade.

"Five times to my face (Richardson) said that he would never do that," a red-faced, finger-pointing Clinton erupted.

-more below the fold-

WE NEED TO GET BEYOND 2 POLITICAL PARTIES
WE NEED TO GET BEYOND 2 POLITICAL PARTIES
WE NEED TO GET BEYOND 2 POLITICAL PARTIES
WE NEED TO GET BEYOND 2 POLITICAL PARTIES
WE NEED TO GET BEYOND 2 POLITICAL PARTIES
WE NEED TO GET BEYOND 2 POLITICAL PARTIES
WE NEED TO GET BEYOND 2 POLITICAL PARTIES
WE NEED TO GET BEYOND 2 POLITICAL PARTIES
WE NEED TO GET BEYOND 2 POLITICAL PARTIES
WE NEED TO GET BEYOND 2 POLITICAL PARTIES
WE NEED TO GET BEYOND 2 POLITICAL PARTIES
WE NEED TO GET BEYOND 2 POLITICAL PARTIES
WE NEED TO GET BEYOND 2 POLITICAL PARTIES
WE NEED TO GET BEYOND 2 POLITICAL PARTIES
WE NEED TO GET BEYOND 2 POLITICAL PARTIES
WE NEED TO GET BEYOND 2 POLITICAL PARTIES

Oh, and another thing...

WE NEED TO GET BEYOND 2 POLITICAL PARTIES

There's a thread over at one of my favorite biodiesel forums, Biodiesel Infopop, about a 35 MPG diesel hybrid SUV developed by students who transformed a Chevy Equinox, using off-the-shelf parts. As a biodiesel industry guy, I see stuff like this all the time- you may want to check out Challenge X, to learn more about these kinds of things. They illustrate what is possible, and indeed, not that difficult, considering who's doing it with what parts.

(stroll with me below the fold...)

Considering the unfolding melamine-laced-grain drama, most recently represented in a fine diary by Richard Cranium, I'd like to draw Kossack attention to a great book by Michael Pollan (clickable image):

This book tells us a lot more than we want to know about the absolutely asinine grain industry in the U.S., and how it is leaving its ugly mark on animal health and human health. Make no mistake, Pollan's barbs are directed at government policy makers as much as farmers, who are largely victims of this foolish behavior.

Partial summary of the book, from Pollan's website, below the fold...

I was recently interviewed by Suemedha Sood, of the Center for American Progress. They are featuring a transcript of the interview here, where, if audio is more your style, you can also listen to the whole thing. The context is a discourse on the American Farm Bill.

Below the fold is a snippet that kind of gets at my main issues.

This diary is my addendum to meowmissy's 5 reasons to Support John Edwards. The two things I would like to see the Edwards campaign commit to:

1. Al Gore as Secretary of Energy. To me, this is a no-brainer, and the best possible thing short of an Al Gore presidential candidacy- probably better than an Al Gore presidential candidacy, in a lot of ways. I think Al would accept this position, because it would allow him to take his current campaign much further.

2. The creation of a Department of Peace. I realize that this has been discussed in Congress before, and I imagine Edwards supports such a thing, but it would be a huge issue (and yes, a potentially divisive one, if not carefully orchestrated). NPR recently did an interesting story about this- the crux of the story was that there is a segment of American society, today, that still connects the peace sign to evil pinko commies. Perhaps the peace symbol has outlived its usefulness in some ways, at least P.R.-wise, but the need for a societal focus on peace will never, ever go away.

Well, I guess it's starting to become my role- that whenever a diary appears in the recommended list that generalizes about biofuels based on corn, palm, and soy, I need to ride in and show off my Atrios-derived bumper sticker...

No, wait a minute. That ill-conceived image will only further alienate my cause. How many people here even watch(ed) Dave Chappelle? I have a better idea. Continue after the fold to hear version something.0 of my well-reasoned argument.

Put another way, I believe that this whole thing (by the way, read MediaFreeze's excellent diary, which helped me have my lightbulb moment) in a way proves that the Repugs did in fact engage in voter fraud- that they knew they were going to lose on that issue, and that this was the fight they HAD to win. In typical Rove fashion, they had to strike first.

That is why Bush is so scared. That is why they all are. This is the beginning of what we've all wanted to see. The unraveling of the crimes that were the last two presidential elections.

This is from an LA Times article my dad sent me:

Our carbon tax proposal is based on the principle that every consumer of fossil-fuel energy should have to pay the price of getting rid of the carbon generated by burning it. So the owner of a gasoline-powered Hummer who drives it 10,000 miles a year would pay $200 a year, and a Prius driver would pay $50.

The carbon tax also would be imposed on gas or oil used to heat homes. But energy sources that don't generate carbon (such as wind, solar and other renewable resources) would not be taxed; instead, producers could sell emissions credits to carbon polluters.

Voters on the American political left might be content to stop there and let the federal government spend the tax proceeds to fight global warming as it sees fit.

But the authors don't stop there and I like what they come  up with next.

(continued below the fold)

Hello after a long absence from diary-writing. I just read Jerome a Paris' piece about beer and biofuels, and I just wanted to get an idea out there: we need to start separating the concept of "biofuels" from the concept of individual "feedstocks" (sources) such as corn (ethanol) and soy (biodiesel).
---

UPDATE: Thanks to all the people who have taken the poll (if you haven't, please do so), the results of which beg the question- how many of you have made your feelings known to your congresspeople? We clearly don't like having our options limited to corn and soy. Let's make it known!

--a bit more beyond the fold--

Via CNN article:

Democrats' promise of a quick increase in the minimum wage ran aground Wednesday in the Senate, where lawmakers are insisting it include new tax breaks for restaurants and other businesses that rely on low-pay workers.

On a 54-43 vote, proponents lost an effort to advance a House-passed bill that would lift the pay floor from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour without any accompanying tax cut. Opponents of the tax cut needed 60 votes to prevail.

continued...

Anyone call BS on this yet?

In a letter to Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales wrote that a judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has agreed to authorize the program and preserve "the speed and agility necessary" to battle terrorism.

Hadn't seen anything about it here.

My thoughts: Nice, they find a token judge, and get him to "oversee" the program by authorizing it and preserving it. Not exactly what the law requires, but hopefully Leahy knows that already.

Please take the poll...

On May 26th, 2005, I wrote a journal entry entitled, "The National Biodiesel Board is WRONG." It was a response to the federal biodiesel tax incentives that were put into place and then extended, as a result of NBB lobbying. In it, I expressed a number of concerns I had about the way that the tax incentives were structured, and predicted that they would be 1) bad for small businesses, 2) bad for the concept of 100% biodiesel as fuel, 2) bad for the segment of the industry that is based around recycled oil sources, 3) insignificant at lowering prices (the incentives were heavily marketed as price reducers), and 4) perhaps most importantly, bad for the quality of biodiesel in this country.

cont'd after the fold...

Stare at that image, because it is laughing at you.

Let it burn into your brain.

Then consider this one:

It is also laughing at you, as is the man, 3 years ago promised that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."

Do not forget this.

Do not forget the meaning of the word "Rest".

Do not forget the meaning of the word, "Unrest".

Do not forget this picture:

This election day, do not let yourself, nor those you love, forget that you are citizens, in a democracy, with the right and responsibility to vote, and to have your vote count.

It is your duty.

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