Want true energy security? We need to focus on more than just oil imports.

Last week, while speaking at Georgetown University, President Obama made a bold claim that the United States will cut oil imports in ten years by one-third. In his speech, he offered solutions by calling for increased vehicle efficiency requirements and investing in biofuels as an alternative energy source. It is an admirable and welcomed goal, but President Obama’s plan still defines energy security in the narrow scope of being “independent from foreign oil.”

Unfortunately, this has the unintended consequence of focusing the nation’s energy policy debate down the path of finding an “all of the above” energy solution, which heavily depends on domestic oil, natural gas, and increased coal production. Substantial reliance on fossil fuels only benefits the scarcity model where a small fraction of American society profits, rather than celebrating the abundance model of renewable energy where we can all participate. The current policy frame just delays the inevitability of energy insecurity for the rest of us. We need to expand the debate of energy security to a renewable energy policy that welcomes the participation of all communities, especially in communities of color where the energy burden remains heaviest.

Energy security is more than oil imports. Energy security means that energy costs will not force families to choose between food or clothing; it means that residents can breath clean air and drink clean water without fear of pollutants and contamination from our energy sources; and it means that communities are building economic opportunity by investing in clean energy jobs.

Sarah Palin just doesn't get it

Sarah Palin’s video message denying any connection between the hateful rhetoric she’s helped to popularize and Saturday’s horrific attack in Tucson, AZ is disingenuous and disturbing. But not surprising.

Palin follows a simple formula that she and others have used over and over again to deny the existence of serious problems while at the same time capitalizing on them.

In her video (after the jump), she denies what many Americans know to be true: that there is something deeply wrong with our current political dialogue. She labels those who question the tenor of the debate “intolerant” and accuses them of “mindless finger-pointing”—all the while directing blame everywhere except her own doorstep. She also insists that violent rhetoric is not dangerous... unless that rhetoric is directed towards her.

In Arizona, "Pro-Life" means "Let's kick poor people off organ transplant waiting lists"

Well Arizona is at it again. The state is continually attempting to be the first in the nation to proactively fight the browning of America. First, it was a racist and xenophobic bill aimed at keeping people of color out of the state. Now they are trying a new method: letting people of color (and poor whites too) die. Okay, so that claim may be extreme, but it’s not far off. The state is cutting funding by taking 98 organ transplant-eligible patients off the waiting list.

Arizona decided to slash its 1.5 billion dollar deficit with a gigantic, err well measly 4.5 million annually, a whopping three-hundredths of one percent. Indeed a penny saved is a penny earned. Instead of responsive governing that protects the dignity and life of its people, Arizona Republicans who run on “pro-life” principles are willing to let people die for the sale-price of a bag of Hershey kisses-$1.97 per household.

What does this have to do with Arizona attacking communities of color?

Why militarizing our border is a bad idea

The following is a guest post from Christina Baal, LMSW, Director of Cabrini Immigrant Services (CIS), a faith based organization in New York City that helps unite immigrants and their families by providing free immigration legal services.

This past Tuesday, the Obama administration announced they will be sending 1200 troops to the southwest border in an attempt to keep out the drug cartels that have been wreaking havoc in border communities. Additional border security funds were also requested. This move is bad news for anyone on either side of the literal and figurative fence.

David Brooks: Moron or Liar?

David Brooks's op-ed this past Tuesday brought me to the edge of my seat (which is a cube skeleton made solely of edges). It's the latest installment in his long-running performance art piece, David Brooks: Moron or Liar? David's columns rivals the Cremaster cycle for beautiful incomprehensibility; he keeps threatening to prove something, only to whirl away from logic at the last instant like a toreador. "The Limits of Policy" dares to ask why brown people are poor. Dare we answer? Oh wait, David Brooks has the answer. They did it to themselves!

The High Environmental and Human Costs of Oil Exploitation

As the world watches the scramble to save the shoreline and wildlife trapped in the path of the Beyond Petroleum (BP) oil spill in the Mexican Gulf, many unanswered questions resurface. Notably: what are the true costs of oil exploitation? And do the benefits really outweigh the costs?

In Honor of Earth Day: Burn for Alternative Clean Energy

(Image via Haiku Pundit)

It is time for the Obama Administration to take active steps to preserve the environment.

First, the Administration can start by ratifying the Kyoto protocol and by entering it into force. The Kyoto Protocol came about from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Protocol is an agreement that commits industrialized countries and the European community to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The protocol recognizes that, due to a larger period of industrial activity, developed nations bear the brunt of the responsibility for the emissions. The Protocol advocates a reduction rate of an average of five per cent against 1990 levels over the five-year period of 2008-2012. Although the United States is a 1998 signatory to the protocol, the Bush administration declined to ratify the protocol. Until the protocol is ratified, it has no binding legal force in the United States.

“Food Deserts”: Fertile Ground for Socially-minded Entrepreneurs

This piece by Ifeoma Ajunwa was originally posted on Right Respect on April 14th, 2010.

Recently, First Lady Michelle Obama penned a cover story for Newsweek magazine in which she detailed her fight against the growing rates of obesity in school age American children. Obesity brings with it a host of health problems such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Further, high obesity rates negatively impact the economy, as millions of tax payer dollars are spent each year in treating the chronic diseases that stem from it. Since, as the First Lady noted, a third of American children are either overweight or obese, the fight against obesity is a matter of national concern.