[courtesy of Blog for America]

For those of you who don't know me: I don't have a PhD in climate sciences, in geography, in oceanography, biology; basically any area that may have some important information on global warming.

Now I have noticed a lot of people who have a passionate belief that global warming is a hoax. And they get really really deep in technical details about things that I have no fucking clue about and like to challenge me on it. None of these people have phd's. They don't actually have very in-depth intellectual competency in...well anything really. (whats the connection between believing in supply-side economics and not believing in global warming?--there is one, if you haven't noticed)

But my question is... why do all the PhD's not seemed to be bothered by all this gobbly-goop? I don't know nothing bout nothing when it comes to science. I put more trust in a phd than a guy who believes in the Fair Tax; thats just me.

Why would I trust a talk-show host over a guy who has spent years studying science? I mean seriously... I'm just askin'...

these things are mysteries to me.

Crossposted: http://politicalautomaton.blogspot.com/2008/05/i-have-question.html

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Mary Lyon

The woman stammered. She obviously knew she was still on the air and had to maintain her composure. But it was clear to anyone's ear that she was having a difficult time. Her voice clouded with emotion as she struggled to tell the talk show host and his audience of her story, as a mom whose son was in Afghanistan near the Pakistani border. She hadn't heard from him in weeks. She had just written him an email - "Son, I haven't heard from you in a long time. Are you okay?" And amazingly, she was able to get through that recounting without crying.

I had a harder time. And hey, I have no horse in this race. I AM a mom, however, so in one respect, I have thousands of horses and other beloveds in it. Almost four thousand of them returning to me in long neatly-wrapped, patriotically-covered boxes (because, as we all know but still aren't allowed to see) the wrapping paper on these boxes is always an American flag. We do know that the wrapping paper eventually gets folded up in the finest military precision and handed to the grieving survivor - usually a widow or a mother - as a consolation prize. A party favor to take away from the big event. A lovely parting gift. I'm sure the frantic mom on the radio was terrified at the prospect of being one of those graveside mourners. My heart could only sob for her in her nightmarish uncertainty.

by Stephen Crockett [courtesy of Blog for America]

Amazingly, we are going to have a 24 hour progressive/Democratic/labor friendly radio station on the air in Jacksonville, Florida for the rest of 2008! It will be run by a great Democratic talk show host and my friend Andy Johnson.

For those of you who followed the 2000 Florida Election mess, Jacksonville was key! Republicans pulled every dirty trick in the book there and invented some new ones. With a fair, honest vote in Jacksonville, our entire nation would have been spared the Bush-Cheney disaster of the past 8 years.

I urge everyone to listen by streaming the station on the Internet. Buy ads if you can and urge others to do so.

If you have a website, you might want to buy a 30 second ad for $25 to promote it. If you belong to a union, please consider asking your union at every level to buy some ads..... especially issue ads promoting fair trade, the Employee Free Choice Act, healthcare reform, higher minimum wages and general union ideas like "Unions- the folks who brought you the weekend" or "unionize to preserve the American middle class." All Democratic clubs and progressive organizations everywhere can help Democrats carry Florida by financially supporting the station and get national exposure for their club in the process.

(Click Read More for the rest of this post)

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Sharon Kyle and Dick Price

The presidential primaries for both parties could be all over but the shouting come February 5th. By then, voters in 32 states—including big hitters like New York, Florida, Michigan, and our own California—will have selected their party’s nominee. With roughly 6% of California’s voting population, Black voters could have a decisive voice here in California as in other key primary states, such as South Carolina, Florida, and New York.

Will Black voters line up lockstep behind the potential first-ever Black major-party presidential candidate Barack Obama as they did for Jesse Jackson in the 80s? Will the Black vote instead fracture along gender lines, with Black women lining up to support Hillary Clinton as the first-ever woman presidential candidate? Or will North Carolina Senator John Edwards’ increasingly hard-edged populist message capture Black voters in significant numbers?

To discuss this and other topics related to the upcoming presidential election, television talk show host, radio personality, and author Tavis Smiley addressed a group of Black and Brown community leaders and political activists at the Urban Issues Forum in Los Angeles in late December.

Growing political sophistication