Climate change roundup: failure to price pollution costs everyone else

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Sunday September 28, 2014 · 4:41 PM PDT

2014/09/28 · 16:41

I'm trying something new: a weekly roundup of interesting progressive policies, insights and ideas. This inaugural post is about climate change.

400,000 people marched in New York today before the United Nations Climate Summit last Tuesday, urging governments to shift from coal, oil and natural gas to renewable energy like solar and wind.

Pollution is priced too low (usually free), since few governments put a fee on pollution to cover the costs of the global warming (like Hurricane Sandy that shut down Manhattan, more droughts that raise food prices, etc) that pollution causes. The big battle is pricing pollution correctly so there will be less of it and thus a chance to slow down global warming. A new report shows emissions increased by 2.3 percent last year when we need emissions to reduce, not increase. What can we do? Check it out after the jump.

djwinfo

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Monday September 17, 2012 · 3:26 PM PDT

2012/09/17 · 15:26

There's a federal law that requires every college (public and private) that isn't in a same-day registration state to make a good-faith effort to distribute voter registration forms to all students. Colleges can comply by emailing all students information on how to register to vote with a link to where they can either register online or download the form.

Has your college sent you an email with information on how to register to vote? Could you post the email in comments? And if not, could you post that in comments and ask your Dean of Students if they are going to do so?

The law is the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 1998 (as amended in 2010) and the citation is 20 U.S.C § 1094(a)(23)(A). Also check out everybodyregistered.org for more info and please post any info in comments so we can get more people registered to vote (by getting colleges to do their job!). Thanks (n/t below fold)

Amtrak got < fed $ in its history than highways get every year

djwinfo

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Friday May 27, 2011 · 9:42 AM PDT

2011/05/27 · 09:42

Yesterday's hearing before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee was interesting and insightful. Chairman Mica and Subcommittee Chairman Shuster are pushing for much better passenger rail service on the Northeast Corridor (true high speed rail between NYC and Washington -- a two hour trip) by bidding out the Amtrak-owned asset and bringing other private operators into the mix. I find it refreshing to see some GOP Members of Congress calling for better passenger train service, when so many of them have a voting record of absolute hostility to trains.

Senator Frank Lautenberg appeared before the House Committee (which is kind of cool) in opposition to the GOP proposal to privatize the Northeast Corridor. His main argument is also true which is that Amtrak has been absolutely under-funded relative to the economic benefits the transportation mode provides. His one lines (which I sent out a tweet from the @HSRail twitter account for the Midwest High Speed Rail Association and got RT'd 72 times!) is the title of this diary:

"Amtrak has received less federal money in its history than highways get in one year." said Senator Lautenberg (@FrankLautenberg) Compelling! So what comes next? Besides the policy debate over how to get true high speed rail (Amtrak-owned infrastructure, role for private capital, relationships with states and freight railroads), the FY2012 budget is coming, and we need to push to include investment in rail, because things are not looking great on that front. (More after the jump)

djwinfo

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Tuesday April 05, 2011 · 7:48 AM PDT

2011/04/05 · 07:48

"We're not allowed to talk about money in our society. You can't ask someone how much they make. That's considered impolite. It's taboo. But who does that benefit? The rich people. They don't want us talking to each other about money. Because if we do, we're going to want to do something about how much we're all struggling and how much money they make."

That blew me away about a decade ago at a fundraising workship put on by Kim Klein. The topic was how to fundraise for a non-profit organization (key point: ask someone for money), but I learned then that talking about money is the key to progressive politics.

Politics is basically about money. The rich want to keep it. The rest of us want to take that money and spend it to make our lives better off. That's the bottom line.

djwinfo

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Tuesday June 29, 2010 · 6:57 AM PDT

2010/06/29 · 06:57

Our major political challenge in November will be convincing the Obama surge voters to come out again in an election that feels a bit more like a chore than making history. Most of these first-time voters are younger and tend to be more connected to Barack personally than the Democratic Party. Since Barack is not on the ballot, how do we start to engender a sense of personal responsibility to vote for other Democratic candidates?

The message to get this person to vote becomes personal. It's a favor. Do it for Barack. Vote for the Democrats - not necessarily a particular candidate, since we need the vote for all our Dems - and do it for Barack.

How do we transmit that message to as many young potential voters as cheaply as possible? T-shirts. T-shirts with a message (when worn!) are one of the best and cheapest ways to get a message out to a target audience of peers, because the message is verified by the authenticity of the wearer. During these beautiful summer months, we want as many young Barack voters wearing a T-shirt that says "I'm voting for Democrats this November" (and on the back "Because I've got Barack's back") as we can, especially in swing districts or states. GetBaracksBack.com is an at-cost site for these shirts, but feel free to make your own.

djwinfo

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Sunday November 23, 2008 · 6:38 PM PST

2008/11/23 · 18:38

I know this is a bit off-topic, but for the Kossacks who like the ethos of community-generated content unfiltered by corporate gatekeepers, I'd like to draw your attention to LittleShoot.

Developed by Adam Fisk, one of the co-founders of LimeWire, LittleShoot is a next-generate peer-to-peer file sharing service. So if you'd like to upload some video of your local candidate or elected official but prefer not to give your intellectual property to Google, just put it on the LittleShoot network by downloading the application and let the community (growing every day -- actually one new user every second in a 24 hour period this week) access it from your hard drive.

The political implications of next-generation file sharing are to be figured out and I'd imagine Kossacks and the rest of the netroots will be leading that charge. LittleShoot will likely play an important role in the infrastructure of the progressive netroots. LittleShoot

Help eliminate voter registration deadlines

djwinfo

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Saturday October 04, 2008 · 5:58 PM PDT

2008/10/04 · 17:58

This is the week where citizens are excluded.

This is the week where the American electorate begins to shrink.

This is the week where deadlines to register to vote start to kick in. And these deadlines that lock citizens out of elections for the administrative convenience of government bureaucrats have got to go.

djwinfo

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Wednesday September 24, 2008 · 7:12 AM PDT

2008/09/24 · 07:12

If the problem that Congress is trying to solve with the biggest economic stimulus package the nation has ever seen is that regular homeowners and business won't have access to capital, then why don't we fund the credit unions and local banks that are currently making mortgages and business loans to regular homeowners and businesses?

Instead of subsidizing the bondholders who are supposed to cover the bad loans of the massive banks/insurance companies/investment banks when they make stupid decisions, why don't we directly solve the problem which is a potential lack of capital to regular Americans.

I don't care if the big banks fail, so long as everyone else still has access to capital. Their stupid decisions to buy ridiculously bad loans is not my fault and I'm not at all interested in paying for their mistakes. So let's target any solution to the problem we are about -- access to capital for the little guys -- and avoid those toxic mega-banks altogether. Let them take the hit and have the other mega-rich players who have profited immensely over their stupid decisions to buy bad loans sort it out. And let's wait until President Obama runs things before we spend the money.

djwinfo

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Wednesday June 04, 2008 · 12:01 AM PDT

2008/06/04 · 00:01

I'm lucky to be a somewhat-regular guest on a synidcated radio talk show called Beyond the Beltway. The host, Bruce DuMont, makes a concerted effort to generate a diverse set of guests, so lately as the unofficial Obama guest (since I'm an Obama supporter), I get the chance to talk with a Clinton supporter on the air.

The latest logic from Clinton supporters goes something like this: Senator Clinton came in a very close second in the nominating process, so therefore she deserves and is entitled to an offer to serve as Obama's Vice-President. She earned it, you see.

I find the logic bizarre. The whole point of a vice-presidential candidate is to make the presidential candidate stronger. And so the only calculation for Democrats in advocating for a particular vice-presidential candidate should be who is able to strengthen the ticket. The notion of earning a place on the ticket ought to be rejected out of hand. But that's what is motivating many Clinton supporters -- out of a sense of duty or respect, Senator Clinton is *owed* an offer. At least, that's what I'm hearing.

djwinfo

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Thursday April 24, 2008 · 4:44 PM PDT

2008/04/24 · 16:44

It's like baseball.

Near the end of the season, teams that are going to make the playoffs have a magic number of wins (or their rivals' losses) to clinch their spot. We also have a magic number: the number of delegates to pick up in order to clinch the nomination. And our goal is to get that magic number by July 1 when every superdelegate (according to the Chairman of the Party) should make their opinion known.

Our magic number is 291 (according to this Sun-Times report quoting the Obama campaign). Barack Obama needs 291 more delegates to earn the 2024 to win the nomination. And our job is to help secure 291 more delegates for the Obama campaign over the next eight weeks.

djwinfo

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Saturday March 29, 2008 · 5:59 AM PDT

2008/03/29 · 05:59

The source of frustration for an over-extended primary campaign season should not be Senator Clinton. Every candidate has every right to run and it is expecting far too much of a campaign to pack it up when victory is still possible -- particularly when she lost so narrowly.

But there is no excuse for superdelegates to remain neutral. In fact, there is no such thing. At some point, every superdelegate must choose, transforming the neutral superdelegate into every other kind of delegate: lined up with one of the candidates. By the time of the actual vote on the floor of the convention in Denver, there will be no neutral superdelegates. They will either be voting for Senator Obama or Senator Clinton. The fiction of the neutral superdelegate is the raison d'etre of the Clinton campaign. If there are neutral superdelegates, then Hillary can convince them to vote for her up until the very last moment. If there are not any neutral delegates to win over, however, then there is no longer any reason to campaign as the contest has been lost.

Thus, calling on Senator Clinton to quit misses the point. Howard Dean got it right, as did Tennessee Governor Phil Bredsen: superdelegates must choose, sooner rather than later, and in June at the latest. As P. Diddy might say, Choose or Lose.

djwinfo

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Thursday January 24, 2008 · 7:11 AM PST

2008/01/24 · 07:11

In almost every one of the 22 states holding a primary election or caucus on February 5, democracy's door has already swung shut. With the most exciting presidential primary of the last two decades less than two weeks away, the new voters, the unregistered, those just now getting inspired and engaged in democracy's greatest opportunity and those who have moved since they last voted are now officially locked out of the primaries and caucuses.

What a shame.

It's illegal to register to vote for the primary at this point. It's illegal to register at your new address. This is a problem that should be at the top of our agenda to fix in the 43 states legislatures that do not extend same-day voter registration rights to their citizens. Can the netroots rise to fix this problem?

Poll

30 votes Show Results

Are you willing to help implement same-day voter registration?

30 votes Vote Now!

Are you willing to help implement same-day voter registration?

Yes, I will call and write my state legislators today.

2 votes

Yes, if you send me an email with a click-through, I'll send an email.

6 votes

Yes, if you set up a website so I can email my legislators with a pre-written message, I'll go.

5 votes

Yes, I will get to my state legislators in person, either in the capital of in my neighborhood, and ask them to sponsor a bill.

1 vote

Yes, I'll take a day trip to my state capital and ask my legislators to file a bill.

1 vote

No, I'm just not that into the issue.

6 votes

No, I'm one of those "shake-my-fist" readers, not so much a "take-action" person.

2 votes

No, I like it when people can't vote. It makes me smile.

5 votes

No, I don't think anyone in power would ever listen to little old me.

2 votes

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Climate change roundup: failure to price pollution costs everyone else

Has your college emailed voter reg info?

Amtrak got < fed $ in its history than highways get every year

Talk about money for better politics

Younger Dem GOTV: T-shirts of "Get Barack's Back"

Progressive file sharing with P2P 2.0: LittleShoot launched

Help eliminate voter registration deadlines

Fund credit unions or local banks, not huge ones (and wait for Obama)

Odd logic: she has earned a VP spot. What happened to winning?

Obama's magic number is 291. Help him clinch.

Pressure supers to pick, not Hillary to quit

New voter? Take a hike. It's now illegal to register. Netroots challenge: fix it!