Growing Pains

In light of the success of progressive ideas and candidates in Tuesday's elections - and the utter embarrassment that seems to be the current 2012 Republican presidential field - we decided we'd look at a subject we'd noted a couple of weeks ago, but hadn't fully addressed - the announcement of the world's seven-billionth person.

According to the United Nations Population Fund report released recently, the world's seven billionth human inhabitant is likely somewhere on the planet right now. While we didn't get to this point overnight, the last three billion people were all born within the lifespan of the youngest two members of our staff - about thirty-five years or so.

There's no legitimate way to determine who the planet's seven billionth individual is, or where he or she was born. The mere existence of that many people on our little island in space brings to light a few very important questions, that - frankly - humans should have had answered long ago.

Everyone needs adequate food, water, and shelter - and far too many of them don't have anything close to that. Those people, in one way or another, will also need energy; to power their cars or motorbikes, their lights, and all the other modern conveniences that much of the world either wants or already has.

After the announcement Wednesday by the International Energy Agency, now more than ever we're concerned about how we're going to obtain and distribute the resources we all want and need.

The agency's report made it clear: "On planned [energy] policies, rising fossil energy use will lead to irreversible and potentially catastrophic climate change... we are on an even more dangerous track to an increase of 6°C [11°F]….  Delaying action is a false economy: for every $1 of investment in cleaner technology that is avoided in the power sector before 2020, an additional $4.30 would need to be spent after 2020 to compensate for the increased emissions.”

In short, we humans need to get our collective butts in gear - or we'll bake our planet into a place where humans can no longer survive. We could get to the point of no return within the next five years.

Already, because the energy sources humans have been using over the last two centuries have been so wasteful and filthy, we've increased the type and severity of weather worldwide. The winter monster storm that is literally half the size of the lower 48 states, that's now slamming Alaska isn't just a rare event. It's an event climate scientists have rarely seen the likes of before.

Sadly, one of the biggest issues being ignored with some of the discussions about the Keystone pipeline has to do not with leaking oil, or how many jobs a pipeline project like Keystone would actually generate. It's the fact that the type of oil energy that would be pumping through the pipeline would be some of the highest polluting materials in the world - at a time when the world can least afford it.

Meanwhile, the executives of companies in the solar power business are having some of the fastest growth of any industry in the U.S. Their industry is experiencing growth that's ten times faster than the national economy as a whole over the last 12 months, in the middle of the worst economy since the Great Depression. Another study, released in February 2011, pointed out that the world as a whole doubled its output of solar energy last year - and future forecasts look, well... bright.

As Tuesday's elections proved, with landslide wins for progressive policies in traditionally conservative places like Mississippi, even those people who've been traditionally against change seem to be understanding: we can't just continue doing things the way we always have.

We can find solutions together, that will help divide our resources in a more just manner, and still give people plenty of opportunities to make money in a capitalist way.  But not if we just keep pushing the same old, hairy, ugly model of politics and business we've been using for far too long.

Decisions, Decisions...

As we mentioned yesterday, elections of many kinds were held all over the country Tuesday.

Some elections, like the defeat of the anti-union measure in Ohio, the defeat of the voter suppression law in Maine, or the defeat of the 'personhood' amendment in Mississippi were fantastic examples of the power of the people, saying "Enough!" to the power of big money and special interests.

Other elections in the country – like many races in Virginia – were further pitiful examples of how money plays far too big a part in our political system.

While we always try to link to the best stories about any topic, when we combed through all the election stories out there, far too often,  a large number of our media colleagues appeared to be pumping the election results they were assigned to focus on through a stereotypical filter of good versus bad.

With the Keystone pipeline controversy, a topic we've been focusing on a great deal lately, the appearance that dispute is headed to a stalemate is another example of lazy storytelling, one that major media organizations, including the L.A. Times, seem to have latched onto.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

It's been obvious that many of President Obama's political advisors have been getting more and more nervous as the deadline for the President to make a decision on the pipeline has moved ever closer. As we've pointed out previously, many politicians in both major political parties, including Gov. Heineman, would be fine with the Keystone pipeline being completed through Nebraska, if the route was moved away from the Ogallala Aquifer.

While there is still some minor disagreement, it's been determined and generally accepted that Nebraska's own legislature and governor have the legal authority to move the pipeline. Actions being considered in the special session of the legislature also look to follow that determination with action. Some of the other measures before the Nebraska Unicameral in the current special session also follow the same action that President Obama and the State Department are now pushing for on the pipeline, looking towards added safety measures.

The decision that faces the President on the Keystone pipeline isn't strictly a binary one, of either allowing the project to begin immediately, or of denying it definitively. The President, through the State Department, may also call for more proof that safety standards will be adhered to as part of the permitting process. He may also call for more conditions to be met by TransCanada.

Finally, the State Department is looking at the option of whether they can re-route the pipeline, regardless of what Nebraska's state government says or does.

If it seems like this decision is complicated, that's because it is.

We won't deny that there are factions of both labor and environmental groups that desperately wish this was a simple black and white issue for the President to decide.

As we've said many times over the years about many decisions President Obama and his predecessors have made, this is not a simple decision.

If it were, it never would have reached the President's desk.

Dance With The One That Brung Ya

In many locations across the country, today is Election Day. Naturally, our entire staff is registered, and we'll vote where elections are being held. We even have family going to the work at the polling places, one of whom will be an Officer of Elections for his district in Virginia. His job is simple, but not easy. It'll take endurance, too: he must show up before the first voter, and stay until the polls close, making sure all proper legal procedures are followed, and that everyone who wishes to vote - and is legally authorized to do so - has the ability to have their voice heard.

Over the last few years, many in the GOP hierarchy have attempted to use this ridiculous fear - that the vote of someone not legally registered would be counted and then tip the scales against the favored candidate of the GOP - to enact draconian rules that effectively drive down several types of voters, especially minorities. In light of the copious recall and recount laws that exist these days, we're not only offended at this tactic - we also think it only serves to make Republicans look foolish and drive away voters they might otherwise convince to vote with them.

By the actions they've taken over the last decade, the modern Republican party appears to have some really strange ideas on how to convince minorities and women to vote for their chosen candidates.

In 2008, according to multiple sources, the primary reason those advising John McCain chose Sarah Palin to be his V.P. pick was that she was a woman. After all, they thought - that was why some centrist and independent women liked Hillary Clinton, right?

This time around, some of those same advisors pushed Herman Cain to run for President - and after the last week of announcements about Mr. Cain's alleged conduct, and revelations of sexual misconduct and assault, we can't understand why any Republican political operative worth his paycheck didn't find out about all of these incidents long ago.

Being accused of sexual harassment once may be an accident. Repeating that conduct four times - that we know of  - shows a serious lack of judgement.

It's not just the lack of judgement on the part of Mr. Cain that angers us, though.

According to multiple polls of Republican voters and Republican-leaning independents, even after these recent announcements, they STILL prefer Mr. Cain to most of the other choices for President they're being offered right now. It's not that Republicans think Mr. Cain's accusers are lying - a majority think the allegations against him are true.

It's that Republicans and conservatives don't seem to think it matters that one of their leading candidates for President is possibly a serial sexual abuser, someone who appears to have a problem abusing his position of power to try and force women to do things against their will.

While that attitude, by itself, is sick, the more depraved attitude is the racial mirror to the GOP's 2008 Palin tactic; more and more, it appears Republican leaders and backers chose Herman Cain to attempt a run for President because he's an African-American.

For a party that continually attempts to claim they represent a new brand of modern conservatism, all we see in their current attempts to court women and minorities are the same old clueless, chauvinist and racist attitudes, done up in a fancy new dress.

If this is your political party of choice, we hope you realize how you appear to the rest of the world.