News You Can Misuse - December 4, 2008

Gays have lost their ways. John Aravosis:

Yeah, the Mormons have only been dropping cash into gay state initiatives for, oh, 15 years now? No one could have predicted that they'd have jumped in again. And the notion of religious conservative use gays to get out the vote in a critical presidential election year, I mean, who's ever hard of that?

Absolutely pathetic. And now we're having "the day without a gay" and postcard campaigns to Obama (yeah, that'll get his attention) because we are a movement of aimless and energized followers with no real leaders. I don't fault the followers for coming up with very sweet but useless ideas. I fault the leaders, in California and in Washington, for permitting this void in smart political leadership to continue year after year.

John and his team at AMERICAblog have been all over the Prop 8 story, from links to the Sundance Film Festival to the "unintended consequences" of donations to the Yes on 8 side to coprorations we should consider avoiding. But today he hits the nail true. Who are our leaders?

Most of us (politically active, bloggers, blog readers) would have no problem naming leaders of the African American equal rights movement - Jesse Jackson, John Lewis, Martin Luther King. What about the women's equal rights movement? Susan B. Anthony, Gloria Steinem, Billie Jean King. Atheists equal rights movement? Madalyn Murray O'Hair.

So who are the leaders of the gay equal rights movement? Can you name anyone? The reason you cannot is because gays and lesbians are not a cohesive group. African Americans, Hispanics, women - they all share certain cultural touchstones that have the potential to strongly unify them in the face of adversity and discrimination. Gays and lesbians share only one thing - one thing that is actually very different for men and for women - and are terribly diverse in every other way. We are every race, religion, party affiliation, and so on. We cannot progress because we cannot unify. Even in the face of a defeat like California, we lack cohesion and rely on temperamental boycotts and stunts like "Day without a Gay". What we need is Obama-style netroots activism. And we need homegrown leaders.

That's why all the folks on Rocky Top get their coal from a jar. Natural Resources Defense Council:

Today, BofA released its revised coal policy, which will have the immediate effect of curtailing commercial lending to companies that mine coal by blowing off the top of mountains. The policy states, in part:

Bank of America is particularly concerned about surface mining conducted through mountain top removal in locations such as central Appalachia. We therefore will phase out financing of companies whose predominant method of extracting coal is through mountain top removal. While we acknowledge that surface mining is economically efficient and creates jobs, it can be conducted in a way that minimizes environmental impacts in certain geographies.

Bank of America has been my least favorite back for years, dating back to experiences in College Station, Texas when I was in graduate school. They charge for everything - they even have accounts that charge you for making a deposit with a teller - and I never feel like I can completely trust them.

Through mergers and acquisitions, BoA has become the largest bank by assets in the United States, and a major financial services company with the purchases of Merrill Lynch and Countrywide Financial. And, for the sake of convenience, I have a local account with them now, too. The branch manager at my local office, a bundle of energy named Greg, is a polite and helpful man, and his effervescence rubs off on everyone else there. It has made me reassess BoA, though I still don't completely trust them. This news, however, is good news.

In 2006, BoA provided nearly 100 times as much financing for heavily polluting energy projects as it did for cleaner alternatives. With the Obama administration hinting at the possibility of a "Green Deal" set of public works projects, BoA and the other major banks should get on board. Government should go further, however, requiring that banks follow a Community Reinvestment Act approach to funding cleaner energy. It would be a good start for the government to provide billions in funding for cleaner energy. It would be great if the private sector would see the benefits of doing the same thing.

(And if you want an idea of what we clean energy proponents are up against, check out the story of how Don Blankenship of Massey Energy tried to buy the West Virginia Supreme Court and legislature, and succeeded in one case.)

There goes the neighborhood. New York Times The Caucus:

As hard as it may be to leave 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush have settled on a new home.

The White House announced today that after the president leaves office next month, the first couple will be moving to the upscale Preston Hollow neighborhood of Dallas....

According to property records on file with the Dallas Central Appraisal District, the home at 10141 Daria Place has a market value of over $2 million. The 8,501 square foot, four-bedroom residence, which includes a cabana and servant’s quarters, was built in 1959 and sits on 1.13 acres.

President and Mrs. George H. W. Bush retired to Houston. He planted his library at Texas A&M University. And now, after convincing Southern Methodist to find some shelf space for his coloring books, George and Laura confirm that they are moving to a wealthy north Dallas neighborhood. From the looks of it, there will be plenty of brush to clear. And, it's less than ten miles to the President George Bush Turnpike:


View Larger Map

These boots were made for charging. Engadget:

Charging your laptop could start to feel a lot more like work in the near future, if the folks at Easy Energy have it their way. They've just completed a protoype for the Yogen Max laptop charger, and though details are particularly spartan about the actual workings of the device, as you can see from the mock-up, it's going to involve a human foot pumping juice directly into your laptop.

Check out the flash. It is as direct as can be. And that energetic woman in the background just compels me to buy...

And finally. North Carolina Department of Agriculture, via Greensboro News-Record:

North Carolina produced nearly 4.8 million poinsettias in 2007 and generated cash receipts of $15.2 million," said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. "Overall floriculture production contributes more than $194 million to North Carolina’s economy, and poinsettias are a very important part of that.

Just don't let my cats near them.