Juan Enriquez (2008) Pop!Tech Pop!Cast from PopTech on Vimeo

Best-selling author and debt crisis expert Juan Enriquez catalyzed a vigorous debate on the impetuses of the current American economic meltdown – and the immediate actions the country and next U.S. President will have to take to address the situation.  Combining information and ideas from many sources, Juan enumerated an urgent, non-partisan10 point plan, to be implemented during the next administration’s first 60 days.  Enriquez posited that failure to act – or, in his view, further misguided efforts – run the risk of triggering an irreversible economic collapse that could plague the American economy for decades.   (via PopTech)

Last night McCain gave his snoozefest of a speech at the end of the Republican National Convention, many convention goers were confused by the mansion that appeared behind him as he walked out to the podium. Turns out that mansion is actually Walter Reed Middle School located in North Hollywood, California.

It’s become clear to many that what the McCain camp was probably trying to showcase was actually the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and not Walter Reed Middle School.

Uncle Sam says WTF McCain?

This epic fail says a great deal about the callous treatment of returning troops. John McCain is stumping to be commander in chief but he doesn’t even know what the Walter Reed Army Medical Center looks like. WTF?

Update: Check out this fantastic video created by Americans United for Change

Hoffmania!: How I Found Out About McCain’s Pick

Although Bill Clinton’s speech was absolutely phenomenal, I have to agree with Josh, John Kerry’s speech may well have been the best of the convention. He delivered it with such heart. And he really layed into McCain, in a way that the other keynote speakers have failed to do. Most tragically, if this Kerry had run in 2004, instead of the tepid candidate we actually had - he’d probably be president now. A lesson to Obama, but will he heed it? I guess tonight’s speech will be a big clue.

If you haven’t seen it in full, I highly recommend viewing it.

Update: Here’s a transcript of one of the highlights from Kerry’s speech:

To those who still believe in the myth of a maverick instead of the reality of a politician, I say, let’s compare Senator McCain to candidate McCain.

Candidate McCain now supports the wartime tax cuts that Senator McCain once denounced as immoral. Candidate McCain criticizes Senator McCain’s own climate change bill. Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote. Are you kidding? Talk about being for it before you’re against it.

Let me tell you, before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself. And what’s more, Senator McCain, who once railed against the smears of Karl Rove when he was the target, has morphed into candidate McCain who is using the same “Rove” tactics and the same “Rove” staff to repeat the same old politics of fear and smear. Well, not this year, not this time. The Rove-McCain tactics are old and outworn, and America will reject them in 2008.

The Times has an interesting take on the new media’s infiltration of the DNC:

The Democratic National Convention is the first in which people are passing on enormous amounts of information to friends, who are in turn passing it to more friends, mostly by way of YouTube, the superhighway’s video conveyer belt, which didn’t exist during the 2004 convention.

Although, unlike Nicole, I did not attend the DNC this year, the omnipresence of people I know and sources I trust - from DailyKos to my Twitter friends, to the Netroots Nation crowd, and dozens of other grassroots media sources - has given me a refreshingly unflitered lense to appreciate the street-level activity and millieu that surrounds the tradmed coverage of keynote speeches and pundit pontification. Not quite like being there, but far superior to the Village filter we’ve suffered through up until now.

Twitter, facebook, youtube, and of course the scores of bloggers on the ground present the new media which lets regular people - even those of us not in Denver - to grasp the full story behind the convention, free of the five-headed-filter (ABCSNBCox).

The organizational and technological smarts of the Obama and Dean crowd are essential - see the reference to Studio ‘08 in the Times piece - but the brilliance of the Big Tent is where we really see the emergence and importance of new media. Markos’ Day 2 observations offers some keen observations on the rising influence of new media and the convergence of print and broadcast.

Most importantly, aside from coverage of the speeches, nomination logistics, and such, it has triggered great coverage from some alternative media as well. I highly recommend checking out Democracy Now’s podcasts as a starting point for alternative takes on the corporatized vision of the convention.

Well, two more nights to go! I’m really looking forward to Bill Clinton’s speech tongiht. Mostly I hope that he lays into McCain with a vengeance. If we don’t nail him to the wall tonight, he will basically come away from this convention unscathed, and that, my friends, would be a crime.

Sen. John McCain said in an interview Wednesday with the Politico that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own. “I think - I’ll have my staff get to you.” Stunning.

While our nation is currently confronting a housing crisis that has weakened our economy, disrupted local communities and imperiled the American Dream of home ownership for many, Senator McCain running for President of our nation, doesn’t even know how many homes he owns.  Across the state of California, tens of thousands Americans have lost their homes as the number of foreclosures has quadrupled this year compared to last.

The Bush Administration helped create the mortgage lending and housing crises by advancing misplaced priorities and advocating misguided policies. Hardworking Americans should expect that their choice for President will understand what most Americans are facing and work to confront these complex problems and deliver comprehensive solutions. They shouldn’t be living the lifestyle of the Rich & Out of Touch.

The rapid increase in the cost of oil - and the attendant rise in gas prices - has been a shock to our economy. So much so that the topic has lately dominated the Presidential election. But even at about $4, the price Americans pay per gallon is about half of what Europeans pay. In the Netherlands, prices approach $10 per. Why so expensive? Because they tax the hell out of gas.

In the US, rather than taxing gasoline, we, in effect been subsidize it. The Interstate Highways system, cheap land, and a massive aversion to government funding of building a public transit infrastructure.

Still, the question I keep asking myself is - Why is expensive gas so bad? Pricey petrol discourages waste; it reduces output of greenhouse gases; it promotes use of renewable fuels; it induces increased use of mass transit and even - gasp - walking and cycling. I’d say each of these consequences are GOOD for people.

The downsides are constantly covered on TV and NPR of course: higher costs for food, consumer products, and raw materials. I realize this creates hardships for poor people. But for my fellow Americans who are barely making their $500 payment on their 2005 Tahoe, I have no sympathy.

Why? Because gas hogs of the world have been foisting indirect costs of burning fossil fuel off on the rest of us for a long time. Joel Stein puts it this way:

Yes, it’s easy for me to revel in $4 gas because I’m rich. [...]

Cheap gas is unfair. Driving creates huge social costs in the form of traffic, health-damaging pollution and global warming that aren’t suffered solely by the person buying the gasoline. Governments usually set up idiotic systems to offset such social costs (…) instead of forcing individuals to pay for their own mess by adding a tax to remedy the imbalance.

Simple: use a gas tax to help pay for the social costs of burning fossil fuel, and to help fund development of mass transit & a renewable energy infrastructure.

I happen to love cars, and don’t frown upon the idea of a gas guzzling car. I just think those who use such machines ought to pay a fair price for the benefit. And a hefty gas tax is a step in the right direction.

In a hilarious send up of McSame’s “celebrity” ad, Paris Hilton slays McSame or in Paris’s words, the “wrinkly white-haired guy”. Not only is Paris pretty funny but she also manages to showcase her teleprompter reading skills. I’m glad to see Paris give it back to McCain ten fold because really who is he kidding trying to push a meme about celebrity politicians…*cough Reagan, Schwarzenegger cough*.

Grand Oil Party bumper sticker courtesy of MoveOn

In light of Friday’s Republican shenanigans of staying on the House floor to whine to themselves about drilling after the House was adjourned, I thought I’d throw out some facts about their call for an “Energy Plan”.

In 2001, the Cheney Energy Task Force relied for outside advice primarily on “petroleum, coal, nuclear, natural gas, electricity industry representatives and lobbyists,” as they secretly developed their energy plan, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Of the 40 Task Force meetings, the vast majority were filled with the oil and energy industry, such as executives from Exxon-Mobil, Conoco and Royal Dutch Shell.  Some of the 65 provisions of President Bush’s final energy plan benefited campaign donors who met in secret with the White House energy task force. These provisions included: opening public lands to oil and gas drilling, providing royalty relief for offshore drilling on public lands and relaxing Clean Air regulations.

In 2005, Energy Secretary Bodman said that 95% of the recommendations of the Bush-Cheney Energy policy had been implemented. Even as they take in record profits, Big Oil is set to receive $27 Billion in taxpayer subsidies from 2006-2010 including royalty relief, expensing of intangible drilling costs and accelerated amortization of geological and geophysical expenses. [Taxpayers for Common Sense, 6/23/08]

Republicans can talk a good game, but actions speak louder than words. Republicans have voted against renewable energy and conservation, responsible domestic oil production, short-term measures to bring down prices now such as releasing oil from the government’s stockpile (known as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve or SPR), punishing those who are manipulating the oil market and new requirements that oil companies pay their fair share.

In reality 8 years of Bush divided by 2 oil men in the White House = $4 a gallon of gas

FREE OUR OIL

DRILL ACT

USE IT OR LOSE IT

PRICE GOUGING

RENEWABLE ENERGY

NOPEC PRICE FIXING

PUBLIC TRANSIT

ENERGY SECURITY

SPECULATION BILL