Wall Street Whistleblower: The Vindication of Brooksley Born

There is no shortage of challenges facing Washington these days, so don’t be surprised if we have a series of high profile partisan battles raging on Capitol Hill similar in scope to that of the recently passed knock down drag our fight over health care reform. Queue the bell for round two – financial reform.

Reforming Wall Street is going to be just as intense as health care. Both have an army of lobbyists that will swoop into Washington to vigorously defend the financial interest of its shareholders. Both have CEO’s who are a washed in money, and like the health care system, a lack of regulation in the financial institutions leave the American economy (and to a greater extent with Wall Street – the global economy) vulnerable to its malfeasance.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd is introducing a financial regulatory bill this week. With that you are going to hear a lot of fancy exotic financial jargon flooding the airwaves and the Senate floor like commodities, credit default swaps, derivatives, etc. You’re going to hear a lot about past legislations like The Glass Steagle Act of 1933 , The Gramm Leach Bliley Act of 2000, etc. You’re also going to hear the names of regulatory agencies like Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Federal Reserves, etc. And when it comes to actors, you’re going to hear names like Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, Former Texas Senator Phil Gramm, former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, etc.

However if you don’t care to remember a single name out of all of this, remember the one: Brooksley Born. She is the former chairperson of the CFTC who in vain tried to regulate the multi-trillion dollar derivatives market. She was a whistleblower who tried to warn of the pending financial doom that was sure to come by not regulating this illusive and complex financial instrument. And like all Washington whistleblowers before her and ever since, she only gained some notoriety after her warnings were not heeded and her “I told you so” moment resulted in the greatest financial train wreck since the Great Depression.

If Alan Greenspan is Goliath, Brooksley Born is David, except in this epic battle Goliath won. Like most prophets screaming in the desert whose apocalyptic visions are ignored until it is too late, Brooksley Born is one name you can be sure opponents of financial reform, including the 1500 Wall Street lobbyists coming to Washington this week to block reform, will use all in their power to send back into obscurity so that greedy Wall Street executives and nefarious politicians can get back to their shenanigans of reaping short term gains to the peril of the American tax payers’ long term financial security. But as Congress takes up financial reform, proposing to regulate the derivatives market, many in an effort to cover their tracks pretending they had no clue that calamity would come our way as a result of leaving this part of the market unregulated, we would be remissed not to remind them of the warnings of Brooksley Born. She was muffled and pushed out of Washington because she was a Debbie Downer on Alan Greenspan and Wall Street’s free market party, and to allow any mention of over the counter derivative reform without crediting her for trying to do something about it even before the collapse will only be adding insult to both hers and the American tax payers’ injuries.

Watch the full PBS documentary online The Warning:

Is Michele Bachmann a Lightning Rod?

On Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallas had the following exchange with Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN):

WALLACE: We’ve got about a minute left. Why do you think you’re such a lightning rod both for your supporters, especially in the Tea Party movement, and for your many critics?

BACHMANN: Well, I think part of that may be because when I talk about what is happening in Washington, D.C., I use the actual statements or comments or the data that Nancy Pelosi or President Obama or Harry Reid refer to. I use their own statements on them. And usually they don’t like that very much. They don’t like to be quoted back with what they’ve said.

For the sake of argument let’s pretend she didn’t even make that really lame response to the question, and that her being reviled by the left has nothing to do with all the bizarre claims and statements she has made in the last year or so and get on to answering the question of whether or not she is a lightning rod.

For clarity the definition of a lightning rod according to Free Online Dictionary is “one that attracts and absorbs powerful, typically negative feelings and reactions, thereby diverting interest from other issues”. Think of a lightning rod as something you want to stay away from out of fear of getting yourself zapped.

I can think of a few people who are lightning rods, deservingly or not. For example, on the left Michael Moore was made out to be a lightning rod by the right in order to marginalize the effects of his wildly successful anti-Bush documentary Fareignheit 9/11. In the book “Top 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America”, a simple picture of Moore was placed as number one. As ridiculous as this right wing smear campaign against him may be, the effects of turning him into a lightning rod was very effective, forcing politicians to distance themselves from him. In an effort to paint then presidential nominee John Kerry as an over the top liberal, Bill O’Reilly even asked Kerry to justify why he had Moore in his skybox at the Democratic National Convention, as if he was hiding a wanted fugitive.

Other examples of lightning rods on the left are Bill Clinton during the 2000 presidential election. With the Monica Lewinsky scandal clearly in his rear view mirror, Al Gore was baited into distancing himself from the embattled president and in the process the accomplishments of the Clinton/Gore administration. Currently Rep. Charlie Rangal (D-NY) is a lightning rod. While the attention of the Democrats were on passing a major health care reform bill, Rangal, the chairman of the powerful tax law writing Ways and Means Committee was mired in a tax evasion scandal. As a result, he was pressured from the Democrats both on Capitol Hill and the liberal base to step down as chairman of the committee which he eventually did. And most notably on the right the most famous lightning rod was George W. Bush. Political campaigns were won or lost based on how far politicians could separate themselves from the legacy of the woefully unpopular president.

Bachmann is a favorite of the Tea Party movement, and they are being courted by the Republicans like the prettiest girl at the prom. Whenever there is a rally she’s given preferential treatment as a keynote speaker. She and Sarah Palin shared a stage at her Tea Party rally in Minneapolis. Because she is so admired by the right, it is impossible for the left to user her as a liability to turn off her base in order to gain political advantage.

So is Michele Bachmann a lightning rod? The answer is no. Polarizing maybe, but not a lightning rod.

We had eight years of Bush and Cheney. Now you get mad!?

It was only a matter of time before the irony of the overheated rhetoric of the Tea Party protestors and the anti-Obama crowd was finally called out for its blatant hypocrisy. Originally put together by the user Walldude on Democratic Underground, we finally have a bullet point list to reference as we scratch our heads wondering if the Tea Party protestors were living in a void during the Bush administration. While not completely comprehensive, it is a great starting point for showing the severe double standard of conservatives complaining passionately about acts of the Obama White House and the Democratic control of the 111th Congress, specifically while passing health care reform, that comes nowhere near bad as those committed by team Bush/Cheney. And now without further ado:

We had eight years of Bush and Cheney. Now you get mad!?

You didn’t get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and
appointed a President.

You didn’t get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate
energy policy.

You didn’t get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.

You didn’t get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.
You didn’t get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.

You didn’t get mad when we spent over 600 billion (and counting) on said illegal war.

You didn’t get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq.

You didn’t get mad when you found out we were torturing people.

You didn’t get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.

You didn’t get mad when we didn’t catch Bin Laden.

You didn’t get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.

You didn’t get mad when we let a major US city, New Orleans, drown.
You didn’t get mad when we gave a 900 billion tax break to the rich.

You didn’t get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark.

You finally got mad when the government decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all okay with you, but helping other Americans…oh hell no.

I have to admit after eight years of Bush and Cheney regardless of whichever Democratic candidate for the presidency was elected I didn’t think conservatives would be so outspoken so soon. Apparently, selective amnesia of the eight years when Republicans controlled the White House is a preexisting condition that severely affects most of those on the right.

Earth Hour 2010: Is it Easy Being Green?

This past Saturday March 27th at 8:30PM the five year old and I joined millions of others in turning off the lights for an hour. With the wife being at work two years ago and this year she was a judge at a beauty pageant, it has become a father son tradition (last year it slipped up on me and I was aware of it only when the moment had passed).

I learned of Earth Hour 2008 when the Google site was completely black to bring awareness to the event. The then three year old and I had a blast. He had no objections whatsoever, and he thoroughly enjoyed playing with flashlights. This year we also played with flashlights, had wood in the fireplace, and played with his multiple lightsabers.

This time though at age five he had questions.

“Why are we turning off the lights?”
“Uhmm…to save the planet,” I said.

“OK buddy ole pal let’s leave the lights off and play with our flashlights”.
“Uhmm maybe tomorrow.” he said.

Eventually, with a little finagling and an occasional playing of the “Just obey Daddy” card, I did manage to keep his attention and we did have a great time playing Hungry Hungry Hippo in the dark. But my ultimate goal of course will be that as he gets older, and the novelty of playing with lightsabers and flashlights wears thin, that just knowing that he is participating in a massive movement in which his contribution along with many others collectively makes a world of difference in saving the planet and making it healthier for generations to come will be more than enough to help him focus on greener habits. We’ll see next year.

The Hutaree militia and the rising risk of far-right violence

by Eugene Robinson

It is dishonest for right-wing commentators to insist on an equivalence that does not exist. The danger of political violence in this country comes overwhelmingly from one direction — the right, not the left. The vitriolic, anti-government hate speech that is spewed on talk radio every day — and, quite regularly, at Tea Party rallies — is calibrated not to inform but to incite. (Read Full Article)

MARCH 23, 2010: HEALTH CARE REFORM IS OFFICIALLY THE LAW OF THE LAND

Today President Barack Obama officially signed into law the historic health care reform legislation passed by Congress on Sunday, March 21:

Today, I’m signing this reform bill into law on behalf of my mother, who argued with insurance companies even as she battled cancer in her final days.

I’m signing it for Ryan Smith, who’s here today. He runs a small business with five employees. He’s trying to do the right thing, paying half the cost of coverage for his workers. This bill will help him afford that coverage.

I’m signing it for 11-year-old Marcelas Owens, who’s also here. (Applause.) Marcelas lost his mom to an illness. And she didn’t have insurance and couldn’t afford the care that she needed. So in her memory he has told her story across America so that no other children have to go through what his family has experienced. (Applause.)

WATCH THE FULL SPEECH AND THE SIGNING CEREMONY

EXPOSED: The Racism and Homophobia of the Tea Party Protestors

Yesterday on Capitol Hill, on the eve of passage of a historic health care reform bill, Tea Party Movement presented the world with evidence of what we had been suspecting all along. This movement has at its core a racist element that motivates its members to take to the streets to protest against the federal government:

Civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis was taunted by tea partiers who chanted “nigger” at least 15 times, according to the Associated Press (we are not cleaning up language and using “the N-word” here because it’s really important to understand what was said.) First reported on The Hill blog (no hotbed of left-wing fervor), the stories of Lewis being called “nigger” were confirmed by Lewis spokeswoman Brenda Jones and Democratic Rep. Andre Carson, who was walking with Lewis. “It was like going into the time machine with John Lewis,” said Carson, a former police officer. “He said it reminded him of another time.”

Another Congressional Black Caucus leader, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, was spat upon by protesters. The culprit was arrested, but Cleaver declined to press charges.

House Majority Whip James Clybourn told reporters: “I heard people saying things today that I have not heard since March 15, 1960, when I was marching to try to get off the back of the bus.”

There were many reports that Rep. Barney Frank was called a “faggot” by protesters, but the one I saw personally was by CNN’s Dana Bash, who seemed rattled by the tea party fury. Frank told AP: “It’s a mob mentality that doesn’t work politically.”

Meanwhile, a brick came through the window at Rep. Louise Slaughter’s Niagara Falls office on Saturday (the day she argued for her “Slaughter solution” to pass health care reform, though it was rejected by other Democrats on the House Rules Committee). (Read Full Article at Salon.com)

The incident was spoken of on the House floor by Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) who called on Republican lawmakers to condemn the Teabaggers for their overt racism:

Calling an individual or an organization’s motives racist is as taboo as being racist itself. You just don’t go there without proof of such claims. Keith Olbermann was one of the first to call out the Tea Party about their racial overtone, and his statements were met with a lot of push back and denial from the organization and the right in general. They rejected his claims that the Tea Party movement has very few if any non-White members, and the right wing bloggers cried foul for even suggesting that Tea Party protestors are racist. Now given the events of yesterday, Keith Olbermann’s words this past President’s Day have been vindicated:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

DENNIS KUCINICH WILL VOTE FOR THE HEALTH CARE BILL

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) who pledged to vote against the current health care bill because, just like the House bill he voted against it did not contain an all inclusive public option, has had a change of heart and decided to vote for the health care bill. A stalwart proponent of a single payer health care plan system which would exclude insurance companies altogether, Rep. Kucinich saw a robust public option as a viable alternative to provide competition to the health insurance industry.

A year in the making, the health care legislation is at a critical juncture where every vote counts. With Kucinich being a consistent hold out, firm in his commitment to vote no on any bill that did not include the public option that anyone can participate in, this was a major victory by President Obama who made a campaign style stump speech in Cleveland, OH to rally support for the health care bill. He even pleaded with the people of Cleveland to lean on their representative to support the bill.

Finally, with mounting pressure from his constituents, his Democratic colleagues, and the White House, along with the realization that the final bill will not have the provisions he deemed essential to win his support, Dennis Kucinich conceded. He pledged to vote for the bill, not as a compromise to his principles but as a means to an end – a single payer system:

I want to thank those who support those who supported me personally and politically as I’ve struggled with this decision. And I ask for your continued support in our ongoing efforts to bring about meaningful change. As this bill passes I will renew my efforts to help those state organizations which are aimed at stirring a single payer movement which eliminates the predatory roll of private insurers who make money not providing health care. I’ve taken a detour through supporting this bill. But I know the destination I will continue to lead for as long as it takes for whatever it takes to an America where healthcare will be firmly established as a civil right.

WATCH THE PRESS CONFERENCE:

The Politics of Daylight Savings Time

Here’s an energy policy trivia question for you. What do you get when you have a Republican control Congress with Texas Republican Tom Delay as House Majority Leader along with two oil men, President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in charge of the executive branch? Give up? Here’s a hint. This morning it cost you and most notably your kids an extra hour of sleep a few weeks earlier than normal.

The Energy Policy Act in 2005 extended daylight saving time by four weeks starting in 2007 from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November. The objective, or the hope, was to save 10,000 barrels of oil each day through reduced use of power by businesses during daylight hours.

But what if the amount of energy saved during daylight hours is offset by the increase in usage in the morning hours when depending on where you live it may still be dark outside when the alarm clock goes off? And what about reducing energy cost? The law of supply and demand dictates that reducing oil consumption should reduce oil prices. However, prices can be fixed to remain stable or even increase by OPEC who can simply reduce production in order to artificially increase prices, manipulating the laws of supply and demand to its advantage.

The results of the effectiveness of daylight savings in energy conservation is all over the place. Therefore it is uncertain as to whether or not daylight saving time conserves energy. However what is absolutely certain is the conservation of profits of the big oil industry. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 gave huge tax breaks to American energy companies and corporate polluters, allowed for drilling both off shore and in the Alaskan Wild Life Refuge, and even shielded manufacturers of motor fuels and other persons from liability for claims based on defective product relating to motor vehicle fuel.

Watch as Rep. Fortney Stark (D-CA) voices his opposition to this bill:

Extending daylight savings time was a fuzzy attempt to disguise a deficit spending $14.5 billion tax break to the energy companies while pretending to exact real reform. And with subsequence summers of over $3 a gallon gas prices of 2007 and $4 a gallon gas prices in 2008, daylight savings time wasn’t the only thing making Americans lose sleep during the past few years.

Question of the Day: Will the US Sustain Its Condemnation of Israel for Settlement Expansion?

When you hear the words “condemn” and “Israel” in the same sentence usually they are preceded by words like “World” as in “World condemns Israel offensive in Gaza“, or the “UN (United Nations)” as in “UN [Human] Rights Council Condemns Israel“, or “Amnesty” as in “Amnesty [International] report on Gaza condemn Israel and Hamas war crimes“. But rarely do you see the words “United States” or the names of any of its senior officials in the same context of condemning Israel, except to stand in Israel’s defense as in “US vetoes UN resolution condemning Israel on Gaza“.

This is why the news out of the Middle East was especially interesting. Not only did Vice President Biden condemn the announcement by Israel that it will build 1600 additional houses in the contentious area of East Jerusalem, but it was also followed up with a rejection by Secretary of State Clinton, who characterized the timing of the announcement as “insulting”.

This is not the first time the US has pleaded with Israel to halt activities that are antithetical to the peace process. For example in 2005 George W. Bush warned Israel against building 3500 extra homes in a West Bank settlement. And just like in 2005, the criticisms by Secretary Clinton were followed up by reaffirmation of the United States’ strong alliance with Israel. However this is one of those rare moments when the US uses the word “condemn” when speaking of Israel, a word reserved only for her most outspoken critics. Yet given the pattern of objecting without following through with meaningful enforcement, will the US sustain its condemnation of Israel’s expansion of the settlement in East Jerusalem?

VP Joe Biden’s Interview on Al-Jazeera:

Latest Health Care Insurance Woes

by Diane Mayer Christiansen
UPDATE:

March 15, 2010 2:00pm

Shot down by the insurance company again! Yes, today I received a letter in the mail from my husbands company, telling me that my son’s therapies for autism are not covered by our policy. Shocker! Here’s what bothers me the most:

The insurance company contests that my son is receiving Sensory Integration Therapy and since that type of therapy is considered “experimental” they can not cover it.
Okay…first of all J is not receiving therapies for Sensory Integration. I’ve explained this time and time again. I’ve sent letters from doctors and therapists telling them this time and time again. Every time someone tells them the therapies are Speech and Feeding, they somehow magically turn that into Sensory Integration.

Secondly, he did have Sensory Integration therapy several years ago, that I paid for. Unbeknown to the Insurance company, I am well versed in their lingo, after all, I’ve been battling the beast for seven years. I feel like I’m in this battle of good verses evil and the monster is barring his sharp teeth daring me to flee…but I can’t…it’s my son we’re fighting for.

The truth is, I just don’t understand why we’re fighting at all. Isn’t insurance about us paying our monthly fees and them taking care of our medical needs? I don’t care if any of my son’s therapies are “experimental”. They’re helping him. Looks like the insurance company is still just waiting until he ends up in the hospital due to malnutrition (have fun with that big bill). I think that in no time in the history of America, have so many people felt so completely misunderstood by medical insurance companies than today. Count me in!

Oh, and by the way…if you’re reading this Insurance Company…Not everyone is trying to take advantage of you. We’re just trying to help our kids.

March 11, 2010

Okay…the latest insurance issue: At the beginning of the new year, we were asked by the insurance company to prove that I was indeed married to my husband and that our son was really our son. I sent in my marriage license among other things as well as my son’s social security card and birth certificate. Apparently this wasn’t enough and they are questioning weather J is really my son.

OMG…really? Will they sink to any means to NOT pay. Let’s see, I distinctly remember going to the hospital for my scheduled inducement of labor. I remember vividly, how my unborn child’s heart rate became too low and how I was rushed into emergency surgery for a cesarean. I also remember thinking a was going to die as the anesthesiologist hummed the theme song from Star Wars and the many doctors crowded around me getting my son to breathe. Oh, yeah, I also vaguely remember how the insurance wouldn’t cover the cost of a Billy Blanket at home when my son was jaundice, causing me to have to stay in the hospital an extra couple of days so he could receive treatment (does this make sense?).Funny thing…I did bring a child home from the hospital seven days later.

Could it be that I imagined all of this and forged a birth certificate out of pure longing for a child? Hmmm, better not let the insurance company hear me say that.

(Read more from Diane Christiansen at www.imautisticnotartistic.com)

Why We Need An Independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency Now

With financial regulatory reform pending, Congress has the opportunity to rebuild the structures that will prevent another crisis and ensure broad-based economic growth.
March 1, 2010
By Tamara Draut & Heather C. McGhee

The time has come for the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. For thirty years, Washington has been captive to a governing philosophy that eschewed regulation in almost any form, arguing that the hand of government was best kept behind its back. But the era of deregulated finance has shown that without public structures to ensure accountability and fairness, the system can not sustain itself. The result of this failed experiment in deregulation has been a crisis costing Americans $11 trillion in family wealth, $14 trillion in taxpayer bailouts and over 8 million jobs.

What a Consumer Financial Protection Agency Will-and Won’t-Do

Q: How would a new “independent” agency work?
Q: Doesn’t the CFPA add to the regulatory burden facing banks?
Q: Doesn’t the CFPA create a new bureaucracy in an already crowded financial oversight field?
Q: Shouldn’t the CFPA’s rules preempt state consumer protection laws?
Q: Won’t the CFPA stifle innovation and consumer choice?
Q: Shouldn’t the CFPA be an office within a bank regulator or a council of existing regulators?

Read the full article for the answers to these common criticisms against creating a consumer financial protection agency.

Poll Position: The Deceptive Misinterpretation of Opinion Polls

The opponents of health care reform have been making their case by quoting the number 73, as in the percentage of Americans who are “opposed to the health care reform bill and want it scrapped altogether”. So there you have it folks. To paraphrase the conservative talk shows and Fox News, the American people have spoken; an overwhelming majority wants to see this bill killed. Time to move on to other pressing issues.

But wait. Not so fast! Shouldn’t we be a wee bit curious about this number “73%”? How could these robust debates over the past year survived such a huge opposition? If like me you think something’s just not adding up, well you are right to be suspicious. Here’s where that number comes from:

The number 73% comes from adding the 48% of those polled who want Congress to create a new bill and the 25% who say scrap the bill altogether and stick with the health care system we currently have. The deception lies in lumping nearly half of the population who want to see a new bill with the far lesser group who wants no changes at all. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart calls out Fox News for using polls to manipulate the results:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
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www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

This is not the first time Fox News has deliberately misrepresented polling results to push a political adgenda. For example, before the invasion of Iraq a poll was released saying that 67% (with a margin of error of plus or minus 3) of Americans support going to war against Iraq only with the support of the UN or international community. The emphasis of the poll was “NO PREEMPTIVE GO AT IT ALONE WAR”. Fox News, however, added the plus three part, shaved off the international support condition part, then every 5-10 minutes on its ticker fed its audience:

70% of Americans support going to war against Iraq

73% of Americans wanting to do away with this health care reform bill disguises the fact that a major part of that number is made up of liberals who want to scrap the bill and start over, not from scratch, but to include a public option. But to leave out that pesky detail only lends credence to the crowd who do not want to see reform if for no other reason but to simply deal President Obama a political defeat. Ironically, adding the 48% to the 25% who wants a similar bill that has already made its way through Congress passed actually means an overwhelming majority of Americans want the health care system reformed, to the tune of 73%!

82nd Annual Academy Awards

Award Show: THE 82nd ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS
Airs On: ABC
Air Date & Time: March 7, 2010 8:00PM Eastern, 5:00PM Pacific

2010 NOMINEES (*Winners)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Matt Damon in “Invictus” (Warner Bros.)
Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger” (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones” (DreamWorks in association with Film4, Distributed by Paramount)
Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company)*

Best animated feature film of the year
“Coraline” (Focus Features) Henry Selick
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” (20th Century Fox) Wes Anderson
“The Princess and the Frog” (Walt Disney) John Musker and Ron Clements
“The Secret of Kells” (GKIDS) Tomm Moore
“Up” (Walt Disney) Pete Docter *

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” (Walt Disney) Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

“Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” (Walt Disney) Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

“Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36″ (Sony Pictures Classics) Music by Reinhardt Wagner
Lyric by Frank Thomas

“Take It All” from “Nine” (The Weinstein Company) Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston

“The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight) Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett *

Original screenplay
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) Written by Mark Boal *

“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) Written by Quentin Tarantino

“The Messenger” (Oscilloscope Laboratories) Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman

“A Serious Man” (Focus Features) Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

“Up” (Walt Disney) Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter
Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

Best animated short film
“French Roast”
A Pumpkin Factory/Bibo Films Production Fabrice O. Joubert

“Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” (Brown Bag Films)
A Brown Bag Films Production Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell

“The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)”
A Kandor Graphics and Green Moon Production Javier Recio Gracia

“Logorama” (Autour de Minuit)
An Autour de Minuit Production Nicolas Schmerkin *

“A Matter of Loaf and Death” (Aardman Animations)
An Aardman Animations Production Nick Park

Best documentary short subject
“China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province”
A Downtown Community Television Center Production Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill

“The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner”
A Just Media Production Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher

“The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant”
A Community Media Production Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert

“Music by Prudence”
An iThemba Production Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
An MS Films Production Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra*

Best live action short film
“The Door” (Network Ireland Television)
An Octagon Films Production Juanita Wilson and James Flynn

“Instead of Abracadabra” (The Swedish Film Institute)
A Directörn & Fabrikörn Production Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström

“Kavi”
A Gregg Helvey Production Gregg Helvey

“Miracle Fish” (Premium Films)
A Druid Films Production Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey

“The New Tenants”
A Park Pictures and M & M Production Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson *

Achievement in makeup
“Il Divo” (MPI Media Group through Music Box) Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano

“Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment) Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow *

“The Young Victoria” (Apparition) Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Adapted screenplay
“District 9″ (Sony Pictures Releasing) Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell

“An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics) Screenplay by Nick Hornby

“In the Loop” (IFC Films) Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche

“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate) Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher

“Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Penélope Cruz in “Nine” (The Weinstein Company)
Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight)
Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate) *

Achievement in art direction
“Avatar” (20th Century Fox) Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg
Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair *

“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” (Sony Pictures Classics) Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro
Set Decoration: Caroline Smith

“Nine” (The Weinstein Company) Art Direction: John Myhre
Set Decoration: Gordon Sim

“Sherlock Holmes” (Warner Bros.) Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood
Set Decoration: Katie Spencer

“The Young Victoria” (Apparition) Art Direction: Patrice Vermette
Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Achievement in costume design
“Bright Star” (Apparition) Janet Patterson

“Coco before Chanel” (Sony Pictures Classics) Catherine Leterrier

“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” (Sony Pictures Classics) Monique Prudhomme

“Nine” (The Weinstein Company) Colleen Atwood

“The Young Victoria” (Apparition) Sandy Powell *

Achievement in sound editing
“Avatar” (20th Century Fox) Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle

“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) Paul N.J. Ottosson *

“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) Wylie Stateman

“Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment) Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin

“Up” (Walt Disney) Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Achievement in sound mixing
“Avatar” (20th Century Fox) Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson

“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett *

“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano

“Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment) Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin

“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro, Distributed by Paramount) Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Achievement in cinematography
“Avatar” (20th Century Fox) Mauro Fiore *

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” (Warner Bros.) Bruno Delbonnel

“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) Barry Ackroyd

“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) Robert Richardson

“The White Ribbon” (Sony Pictures Classics) Christian Berger

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
“Avatar” (20th Century Fox) James Horner

“Fantastic Mr. Fox” (20th Century Fox) Alexandre Desplat

“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders

“Sherlock Holmes” (Warner Bros.) Hans Zimmer

“Up” (Walt Disney) Michael Giacchino *

Achievement in visual effects
“Avatar” (20th Century Fox) Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones *

“District 9″ (Sony Pictures Releasing) Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken

“Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment) Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Best documentary feature
“Burma VJ” (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
A Magic Hour Films Production Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller

“The Cove” (Roadside Attractions)
An Oceanic Preservation Society Production Nominees to be determined *

“Food, Inc.” (Magnolia Pictures)
A Robert Kenner Films Production Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein

“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers”
A Kovno Communications Production Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith

“Which Way Home”
A Mr. Mudd Production Rebecca Cammisa

Achievement in film editing
“Avatar” (20th Century Fox) Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron

“District 9″ (Sony Pictures Releasing) Julian Clarke

“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) Bob Murawski and Chris Innis *

“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) Sally Menke

“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate) Joe Klotz

Best foreign language film of the year
“Ajami”(Kino International)
An Inosan Production Israel

“El Secreto de Sus Ojos” (Sony Pictures Classics)
A Haddock Films Production Argentina *

“The Milk of Sorrow”
A Wanda Visión/Oberon Cinematogràfica/Vela Production Peru

“Un Prophète” (Sony Pictures Classics)
A Why Not/Page 114/Chic Films Production France

“The White Ribbon” (Sony Pictures Classics)
An X Filme Creative Pool/Wega Film/Les Films du Losange/Lucky Red Production Germany

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight) *
George Clooney in “Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
Colin Firth in “A Single Man” (The Weinstein Company)
Morgan Freeman in “Invictus” (Warner Bros.)
Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment)

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side” (Warner Bros.) *
Helen Mirren in “The Last Station” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Carey Mulligan in “An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate)
Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia” (Sony Pictures Releasing)

Achievement in directing
“Avatar” (20th Century Fox) James Cameron

“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) Kathryn Bigelow *

“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) Quentin Tarantino

“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate) Lee Daniels

“Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) Jason Reitman

Best motion picture of the year
“Avatar” (20th Century Fox)
A Lightstorm Entertainment Production James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers

“The Blind Side” (Warner Bros.)
An Alcon Entertainment Production Nominees to be determined

“District 9″ (Sony Pictures Releasing)
A Block/Hanson Production Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers

“An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics)
A Finola Dwyer/Wildgaze Films Production Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers

“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment)
A Voltage Pictures Production Nominees to be determined *

“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company)
A Weinstein Company/Universal Pictures/A Band Apart/Zehnte Babelsberg Production Lawrence Bender, Producer

“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate)
A Lee Daniels Entertainment/Smokewood Entertainment Production Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers

“A Serious Man” (Focus Features)
A Working Title Films Production Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers

“Up” (Walt Disney)
A Pixar Production Jonas Rivera, Producer

“Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
A Montecito Picture Company Production Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

Global Warming: The Miseducation of South Dakotans

The greatness of a nation is measured by the education of its youth. Two primary subject matter by which they are sized up against the rest of the world are math and science. In the past eight years, science has often taken a back seat to the predisposition of the fossil fuel lobbyists, one of the loyal base of the previous Bush administration, in order to minimize the effects of human behavior on climate change. It had gotten so onerous that President Obama saw fit to reinstate science back into its prominent place of greatness and prestige in his inauguration speech:

We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its costs. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.

Apparently South Dakota did not get the memo that the United States is no longer in the business of sullying the waters of the sound science of hypothesis testing and data analysis with the junk science of political ideology and basic instincts. That is because thanks to a resolution passed by the South Dakota House of Representative, students can now be taught a “balanced teaching on climate change”. Specifically, students can now be taught that global warming can also be caused by “astrological, thermological…dynamics”. Dr. Pat Zimmerman, former Chair of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Atmospheric Science Department, says the legislation brings shame on state of South Dakota:

“These misguided grandstanding efforts exposes the level of ignorance of South Dakota to the rest of the world and it’s an embarrassment,”

Read the entire South Dakota House Resolution (only one page long).

Here is Rachal Maddow’s take on the new legislation:

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Health Care Summit 2010: Republicans You’re Excused!

Have you ever had a presentation to make in front of a crowd and were not prepared? Oh how you wished the meeting was cancelled. Remember how relieved you felt when you heard the buzz that the teacher was out and how jubilant you felt when you poked your head in the classroom to find a substitute sitting at the teacher’s desk? You felt like you dodged a bullet and did not have to make a fool of yourself in front of the entire class, exposing how unprepared you were! OK maybe it was just me.

With Anthem Blue Cross of California aiming to increase its rates by as much as thirty-nine percent despite record profits serving as a back drop, President Obama’s weekly address (see video below) makes the case for why the need for health care reform is all the more important. He therefore calls for bipartisan participation in the health care summit schedule for Thursday, February 25th, 2010, even releasing in advance the proposals for health care reform.

But House Republican Leader John Boehner, visibly not prepared to make his presentation in front of the entire country, has presented everything except a doctor’s note as an excuse not to attend the summit.

VAN SUSTEREN: The president said, you know, he was going to put everything on C-Span, so we can’t criticize him now for when he finally does put it on C-Span.

BOEHNER: Well, that’s fine, but I want to make sure that we’re going to have an honest conversation, you know, an honest, bipartisan conversation about how we can approach this. I don’t want to walk into some set-up. I don’t know who’s going to be there. I don’t know how big the room’s going to be. I don’t know — what the set-up is going to be.

Regarding the president’s proposal and transparency of a televised summit:

“The President has crippled the credibility of this week’s summit by proposing the same massive government takeover of health care based on a partisan bill the American people have already rejected,” Boehner said. “…This week’s summit clearly has all the makings of a Democratic infomercial for continuing on a partisan course that relies on more backroom deals and parliamentary tricks to circumvent the will of the American people and jam through a massive government takeover of health care.”

If the president’s proposals are that bad, would it not behoove the Minority Leader to attend the summit to make a case for reform? His complaint that the Democratic plans are not GOP enough is a very juvenile argument to make. Does he want the Democrats to do his homework for him? Is that not the Republican’s job, to present their own plan in front of the American people, making a stronger case as to why their ideas are superior? Or could it be, as I suspect, that Republicans really do not have a plan to present? Misleading health insurance lobbyists’ talking points and saying “No” to a Democratic proposal does not a health care plan make.

Perhaps Boehner is afraid that he and his party will yet again have another painfully embarrassing showing as was the case during debate with President Obama during the House Republican Retreat. Whatever the true reasons behind his trying to get out of attending the summit, they only amount to excuses. Excuses only satisfy those who make them. Therefore if Boehner wants to worm his way out of debating an important issue of our time because he has nothing to offer, excuse him and get on with passing a reform bill with or without Republican support. If there is one group of people who are not satisfied by all of his excuses, it’s the 50 million people in America who are uninsured or under insured.

How My Autistic Son is Like the Incredible Hulk

“Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.” If you were a fan of the hit television series “The Incredible Hulk” that aired from 1977-1982 those immortal words will forever be linked to memories of a sad tormented soul that was trying to find his way in a world that did not understand the demons he was fighting within. He was the mild mannered scientist David Banner who tried to maintain his composure at every turn because not doing so resulted in dire consequences. When everyone else gets angry we have a management system that we can rely on that is therapeutic to our psyche, helping us to cope in a complicated world around us. However when he gets angry, even hurt or injured, he swells up with this rage so intense that to those in his path, especially to those who do not know him and made him angry, he becomes a monster. That’s when things get broken smashed and pulverized until the gentle man hidden within can find a way to overtake his out of control alter ego.

So it is with my five year old autistic son. Make him angry and he takes a path completely different than his non-autistic counterparts. With a daze in his eyes and a split second pause, you know what’s coming, a screech, a passionate scream that if not brought under control will surely escalate to something even worse-throwing things and slamming doors. If he accidentally hurts himself, he compounds the situation by intentionally hurting himself even more, except this time with slaps to his own face and head, clawing his arm or whatever part of his body he accidentally injured.

Nothing short of an extremely patient parent can help him wrestle through the struggles of the moment. The second we see an episode about to erupt we get down to his level, look him in the eyes, hold his hands and say “Use your words. Say ‘Daddy I’m angry’” or ‘Mommy I hurt myself’”. We offer him alternatives. “You may squeeze your hands or talk about it with Mommy but you may not hurt my little boy”. This seemed like a futile exercise in the beginning until we started seeing less acting out in furor, but on the other hand as he uses his words more it does offer some hopeful yet sad insights into his feelings. “I want to hurt myself” he’ll say. Once when deciding to talk about his anger at my denying him something he shockingly told me “I want to put fire in my face”. He has no fire fetish whatsoever so I can only conclude that fire metaphorically describes how intense the battle raging within is. Thankfully he is talking more and the acting outs while still there are less frequent and acute.

David Banner was a very misunderstood person, and the Incredible Hulk is not a monster. While to the characters in his path the Hulk looked strange and his behavior was socially extreme, those of us who knew the sad man within felt a deep sense of compassion and empathy for him. Even as a ten year old child I remember like it was yesterday how sorry I felt for him. Honestly, I would get a lump in my throat at the end of every episode as he would walk down a barren desert road hitchhiking to “The Lonely Man Song”, the most brilliant piano piece put to a television series since A Charlie Brown Christmas. As he went from place to place, seeking to understand how to cure himself of his strange affliction, he’d change his name at each new location to hide his true identity so as not to be judged harshly for the wreckage he left behind. We are trying our best to make sure our son does not share in his lonely fate.

Bill Maher to Evan Bayh: Good Riddance!

Every now and then, just when I’m looking for the right words to express my discontent and frustration with the political establishment, Bill Maher comes along and steals the words right from my mouth! Bill Maher spoke to CNN’s Larry King on various topics including the resignation of Evan Bayh, the Tea Party movement, health care reform, and President Obama’s first year in office.

Evan Bayh? Good Riddance? My sentiments exactly! “Democratic” Senator Evan Bayh sucker punched his party with a deliberate last minute resignation, denying more progressive Democratic candidates the opportunity to run to replace him in a primary election, and therefore increasing the chance that a Republican can take the Indiana Senate seat. Bill Maher not only calls out Bayh on the hypocrisy of his disingenuous holier than thou resignation speech, but he also sites who he really represents – the corporations.

With the Tea Party Convention just behind us and the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) just under way, the silly season of the Tea Party crowd is in full effect. Pointing out their inconsistencies and hypocrisies is difficult not because of challenges with fact checking but because of shear volume. With so many twisted logics to contend with where do you begin? Well Bill Maher found a good starting point, and that’s in their so called movement for controlling the deficit and the insatiable demands for tax cuts.

Last but definitely not least, President Barack Obama had it coming also. A stalwart supporter of candidate Obama, Maher speaks candidly about the president’s short comings his first year in office to seize the opportunity to pass meaningful health care reform. His main complaint is how he gives up too much ground on his important agendas because of his futile obsession with bipartisanship. I have already made my case against bipartisanship , and if this interview is any indication I believe Bill Maher would agree with me.

Haiti: A Creditor, Not a Debtor

By Naomi Klein, The Nation, February 11, 2010

If we are to believe the G-7 finance ministers, Haiti is on its way to getting something it has deserved for a very long time: full “forgiveness” of its foreign debt. In Port-au-Prince, Haitian economist Camille Chalmers has been watching these developments with cautious optimism. Debt cancellation is a good start, he told Al Jazeera English, but “It’s time to go much further. We have to talk about reparations and restitution for the devastating consequences of debt.” In this telling, the whole idea that Haiti is a debtor needs to be abandoned. Haiti, he argues, is a creditor—and it is we, in the West, who are deeply in arrears.
Our debt to Haiti stems from four main sources: slavery, the US occupation, dictatorship and climate change. These claims are not fantastical, nor are they merely rhetorical. They rest on multiple violations of legal norms and agreements. Here, far too briefly, are highlights of the Haiti case.

§?The Slavery Debt. When Haitians won their independence from France in 1804, they would have had every right to claim reparations from the powers that had profited from three centuries of stolen labor. France, however, was convinced that it was Haitians who had stolen the property of slave owners by refusing to work for free. So in 1825, with a flotilla of war ships stationed off the Haitian coast threatening to re-enslave the former colony, King Charles X came to collect: 90 million gold francs–ten times Haiti’s annual revenue at the time. With no way to refuse, and no way to pay, the young nation was shackled to a debt that would take 122 years to pay off.

In 2003, Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, facing a crippling economic embargo, announced that Haiti would sue the French government over that long-ago heist. “Our argument,” Aristide’s former lawyer Ira Kurzban told me, “was that the contract was an invalid agreement because it was based on the threat of re-enslavement at a time when the international community regarded slavery as an evil.” The French government was sufficiently concerned that it sent a mediator to Port-au-Prince to keep the case out of court. In the end, however, its problem was eliminated: while trial preparations were under way, Aristide was toppled from power. The lawsuit disappeared, but for many Haitians the reparations claim lives on.

§?The Dictatorship Debt. From 1957 to 1986, Haiti was ruled by the defiantly kleptocratic Duvalier regime. Unlike the French debt, the case against the Duvaliers made it into several courts, which traced Haitian funds to an elaborate network of Swiss bank accounts and lavish properties. In 1988 Kurzban won a landmark suit against Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier when a US District Court in Miami found that the deposed ruler had “misappropriated more than $504,000,000 from public monies.”

Haitians, of course, are still waiting for their payback–but that was only the beginning of their losses. For more than two decades, the country’s creditors insisted that Haitians honor the huge debts incurred by the Duvaliers, estimated at $844 million, much of it owed to institutions like the IMF and the World Bank. In debt service alone, Haitians have paid out tens of millions every year.

Was it legal for foreign lenders to collect on the Duvalier debts when so much of it was never spent in Haiti? Very likely not. As Cephas Lumina, the United Nations Independent Expert on foreign debt, put it to me, “the case of Haiti is one of the best examples of odious debt in the world. On that basis alone the debt should be unconditionally canceled.” But even if Haiti does see full debt cancellation (a big if), that does not extinguish its right to be compensated for illegal debts already collected.

§?The Climate Debt. Championed by several developing countries at the climate summit in Copenhagen, the case for climate debt is straightforward. Wealthy countries that have so spectacularly failed to address the climate crisis they caused owe a debt to the developing countries that have done little to cause the crisis but are disproportionately facing its effects. In short: the polluter pays. Haiti has a particularly compelling claim. Its contribution to climate change has been negligible; Haiti’s per capita CO2 emissions are just 1 percent of US emissions. Yet Haiti is among the hardest hit countries—according to one index, only Somalia is more vulnerable to climate change.

Haiti’s vulnerability to climate change is not only—or even mostly—because of geography. Yes, it faces increasingly heavy storms. But it is Haiti’s weak infrastructure that turns challenges into disasters and disasters into full-fledged catastrophes. The earthquake, though not linked to climate change, is a prime example. And this is where all those illegal debt payments may yet extract their most devastating cost. Each payment to a foreign creditor was money not spent on a road, a school, an electrical line. And that same illegitimate debt empowered the IMF and World Bank to attach onerous conditions to each new loan, requiring Haiti to deregulate its economy and slash its public sector still further. Failure to comply was met with a punishing aid embargo from 2001 to ‘04, the death knell to Haiti’s public sphere.

This history needs to be confronted now, because it threatens to repeat itself. Haiti’s creditors are already using the desperate need for earthquake aid to push for a fivefold increase in garment-sector production, some of the most exploitative jobs in the country. Haitians have no status in these talks, because they are regarded as passive recipients of aid, not full and dignified participants in a process of redress and restitution.

A reckoning with the debts the world owes to Haiti would radically change this poisonous dynamic. This is where the real road to repair begins: by recognizing the right of Haitians to reparations.

Climate Change: The Gotcha Politics of Global Warming

http://www.demochron.com/images/featimg/WhiteHouse_GW.jpg

The record breaking snow fall and cold temperatures in Washington DC and much of the east coast has left a warm and fuzzy feeling inside of the global warming skeptics. In fact we’ve been getting an ear full from this band of conservatives the past few months. In December, at the eve of the climate change conference in Copenhagen, we had Climate Gate where hackers broke into the emails of scientists and claimed to have found proof that data was manipulated to intentionally produce the results that the climate change phenomenon is real. In January we had conservatives up in a frenzy over the supposedly tree hugging propaganda in the epic movie Avatar. And now February has given global warming deniers yet another ah-ha moment – the blizzard of 2010.

The fact that people are confusing today’s weather with long term weather patterns (or climate) would be comical if the consequences were not so serious. Not only is this right wing campaign to minimize the effects of pollution on our planet relieving individuals of the responsibility to reduce their carbon footprints, but it also weakens any chance of getting meaningful legislation passed through Congress to reign in corporate polluters. Watch as Keith Olbermann explains how even Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources committee, although he has a solid environmental friendly record, is buckling under the weight of the cold weather means global warming is a hoax hype and as a result is grounding an important climate change bill:

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To be fair the framers and supporters of the green movement helped in creating an environment where sound science of global warming was casted into the world of doubt and debate. They did this by claiming that record high temperatures or strong frequent huricanes were proof that the earth was overheating. Therefore weather should never have been brought into the discussion of global warming because naturally the flip side to that coin can be exploited by the nay sayers. For example Dr. Robert Book of The Heritage Foundation stated:

So it is with global warming. If there is lower-than-average snow it’s due to global warming (“too warm for snow to form”) and if there is higher-than-average snow it’s due to global warming (“more moisture there, more snow here”), and if snowfall is average, the two cancel out. If northern Europe as a less severe winter, it’s due to global warming making winters less cold; if northern Europe as a more severe winter, it’s due to global warming interfering with the Gulf Stream.

As loathsome and disagreeable as it is, I can see how corporate polluters can decide to hire researchers and think tanks to question the existence of global warming. It is usually in their financial best interest to do so. But what is it with this love affair of rank and file conservatives with cutting off their noses to spite their faces? All of last year they were easily lead to the alter to sacrifice their own self interest by vehemently opposing health care reform so long as it meant running a political hit job on President Obama. They were promised that its failure would be his Waterloo. And now here we go again, sacrificing the health of the planet in exchange for political one-upmanship, this time with Al Gore and the green energy movement in their cross hairs. A divided nation is fertile ground for gotcha politics, logic or reason or sound science be damned. If people are willing to forego their own financial and physical health to score political points, how much more will they be willing to sabotage the environment.

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