[Rachel Maddow, The Nation and Daily Kos won the AlterNet vote on who are the most influential media progressives. Thanks to all who voted for us. You can read about how others did in the poll in Don Hazen's story here.]
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At AlterNet, Tara Lohan writes 5 Reasons to Be Hopeful We Haven't Totally Screwed Ourselves and the Planet ... Yet
And so here we are, another Earth Day older and I can't help but wonder if we've irreparably screwed ourselves (and the near-term survival prospects of much of life on this planet). We're headed toward a collision of crises -- water, food, energy, soil, climate. The world's scientists warn that we need substantial change: We need to drastically alter our appetite for consumer goods, the structure of our food system, the way we produce energy and how much we consume. But we're inching forward when we need to be leaping. We're buying green cleaning products, stuffing our reusable shopping bags with local food, and voting the lesser of the evils into public office.
But it needs to be bigger and better. We need to be bigger and better. Most of the politicians suck on environmental issues, frankly. But to quote a once-popular phrase from political eras past, "If you think the politicians are bad, you should meet their constituents." That's us. We voted the politicians in there and we either have to get them out or make them step it up. We need people with vision beyond the next election cycle. We need people not beholden to corporate polluters. And equally, we much change our own lifestyles to incorporate environmental sensibilities.
It's not enough to just to care anymore, we have to care enough to do everything we possibly can. That is going to mean changing the way we live our lives and not thinking of the Earth as something that is here for us to use up and throw away like so much of our disposable culture.
And while there are no shortage of headlines about the environmental catastrophes knocking on our door or the political ineptitude in Washington or the sell-out businesses or NGOs, there are at least five inspiring reasons to believe that it is not too late and it's possible to save our civilization and rescue the planet from meltdown.
These five reasons are what get me up in the morning and help me believe our cup is indeed half full. These are the folks making waves, rocking the boat of complacency, and they need our help:
Creating a Movement ...
Frack off ...
Ending Corporate Rule ...
No More Coal ...
We Are What We Eat ...
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At Daily Kos on this date in 2003:
With all of Iraq under US control, it's noteworthy that still no "weapons of mass destruction" have been found. It's even more noteworthy that Bush administration officials are losing hope any will be found.
With little to show after 30 days, the Bush administration is losing confidence in its prewar belief that it had strong clues pointing to the whereabouts of weapons of mass destruction concealed in Iraq, according to planners and participants in the hunt.
After testing some -- though by no means all -- of their best leads, analysts here and in Washington are increasingly doubtful that they will find what they are looking for in the places described on a five-tiered target list drawn up before fighting began.
So how do you start spinning this massive failure? Indeed, thousands died in order to secure the world from this so-called threat. So what if there was no threat to begin with?