Whether discussing his voting record on renewable energy, his relationship with lobbyists, or three wise men he would consult with, John McCain speaks simply, directly, deceitfully.

On issue after issue, coming to the fore is that John Maverick McCain has a problem with speaking truth.

Al

The VP rumors are running hot and heavy.  Kaine? Bayh? Sibelius? Clark? Clinton? Biden? Every direction one looks, a different name.

Al

This choice will say something serious about Barack Obama's commitment to taking action on the greatest challenge that this nation, that humanity might ever have faced.  

Al

This choice matters.  And you have a chance to affect this choice.

John McCain spent part of this last Friday at the Aspen Institute speaking about energy issues, including a meeting with T. Boone Pickens.  From an interview there

McCAIN: I have a long record of that support of alternate energy. ... I’ve always been for all of those and I have not missed any crucial vote. But my citizens in Arizona know that when I’m running for the President of the United States I have to be out campaigning.

Simply put, Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!!!!!!!!!

John McCain has missed vote, after vote, after vote in the US Senate.

John McCain has been Absent WithOut Leave (AWOL) for critical vote after critical vote on energy issues.

John McCain: Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!

A critical Republican campaign strategy is working when it comes to framing for the November election. Despite actual facts, media reporting increasingly reports that there is no difference of import between John McSame McCain and Barack Obama when it comes to the arenas of energy and Global Warming. Take David Kesterbaum's NPR report yesterday.

If you are trying to figure out whom to vote for in the upcoming presidential race, the issue of climate change may not be much help. This is one area where both leading candidates for president do not have a lot to disagree about.

Shallow, misinformed, and misleading reporting is about the most polite way to describe Kestenbaum's report which focuses solely on selected sound-bytes rather than the substance of the two candidates' positions.

There are fundamental differences between McSame's and Obama's positions and fundamental differences about the prospects for the future between President McSame and President Obama.  Differences that Kesterbaum reporting will leave you ignorant about.

Before entering the ballot box, you deserve to know. You have the right to know. Actually, you have the responsibility to know candidates' positions on the critical issues before us and before the US. And, a new tool has emerged for doing so on critical energy and environmental issues.

Candid Answers provides a path for voters (for citizens) to query quickly candidates on five critical issues: Global Warming; Renewable Energy; Nuclear Power; Public Transportation; and Automobile Fuel Efficiency.  And, these queries, if they are made, will lead to a public record for candidates across the nation.

Meteor Blades has sought to foster and recognize Daily Kos discussions related to environmental issues with Eco-Diary Rescue (the Green version of Diary Rescue?).  To do these, which he has done often in a spectacular manner, takes an extraordinary amount of time and significant commitment.  We all owe a thank to MB.  The effort to keep this up seems to have faltered, as the last Eco-Diary Rescue came on 31 May.

I have recently spent a period with limited internet access and, with the help of Daily Kos Environmentalists efforts and Diary Rescue have been making my way through environmental and energy discussions since Netroots Nation.  Join me, after the fold, for links and brief introductions to 10s of items in this 'user's Eco-Diary Rescue'.

For both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions (DNC/RNC), a bike sharing program will be made available to delegates, media and representatives.  Humana is providing 1000 bikes in partnership with Bikes Belong, a biking advocacy coalition.  While, sadly, the bikes will be available only from 7 am to 7 pm (perhaps to reduce drunken bike riding?), this will be an opportunity for politicians, staff, and others to learn about the value and strength of urban bike programs to provide (essentially) free bicycles for use within their urban area.  These are having great success in Europe (such as in Paris.

For the conventions, pre-registration is recommended, but not required.

The New York Times published a strong editorial,  Energy Fictions, that borders on fantasy itself.  Reading (and rereading it) makes one wonder whether the NYTimes editorial board simply need new glasses as they seem not to understand some basic facts.

What are we do when the nation's great "paper of record" misrepresents and misleads in its editorials as what is expected, day in and day out, from the Wall Street Journal and Washington Times?

Republicans are lying to support drilling and too many in the right-wing sound machine are all too willing to act as an off-key chorus singing the praises of this Drillusion.  Sadly, this outright deception is being met by confusion and, sadly, polling suggests that the Democratic Party's seeming confusion is not convincing the public that the Republican drilling lies will not solve problems for anyone other than oil executives and Republican Party contribution coffers.  

It is time for an answer, a serious answer, to be embraced by the Democratic Party as an entirety and the nation.

It is time to move from Drillusion to real solutions.

When someone says 'energy', most people think about a fuel or an energy delivery -- oil, electricity, coal and even renewables (like wind and solar).

We have an 'energy' problem, need to produce more or produce differently.

Energy independence, open up offshore areas for drilling and burn coal.

Worried about Global Warming, solar electricity or wind or ...

And, so on.

For far too many, talking 'energy' means talking power sources.

And ... this is wrong, wrong-headed.

At times, we might forget that there are a good number of very bright, extremely dedicated, and fundamental people working in Congress. Elected officials and staff. Our funding system that seems to drive member after member to be begging, tin in cup, for funds can make the entire process look open to purchase.  The traditional media mania for ever lower quality reporting magnifies this, making foolish shallowness the norm.  Reality is far from this and it is worthwhile at times to take a moment to consider that reality.

An e-mail came into me today that reminded me of this, a letter with perhaps the best single word I've seen to summarize Republican truthiness when it comes to energy issues but a letter with substance.

Drillusion

Thank you Representative Earl Blumenauer.

Amid skyrocketing oil, gasoline, coal, and electricity (coming to a neighborhood near you) prices, 2008 offers Americans quite serious and stark choices between knowledgeable, impassioned, and thoughtful candidates when it comes to finding paths toward a prosperous 21st century economy, on the one side, and Fossil-Fool candidates focused on tightening our shackles to the ever-more costly (pollution, financial, otherwise) and archaic oil-coal based energy system.

Possum was an easy, albeit sentimental, choice for membership in the ranks of the Energy Smart Act Blue page.  A fellow blogger, concerned about energy and environmental issues, who has dedicated himself to Crashing the Gate to bring more sensible policy-making, including on energy and global warming, to Washington, DC.

Join me after the fold for some indications as to why.

Amid skyrocketing oil, gasoline, coal, and electricity (coming to a neighborhood near you) prices, 2008 offers Americans quite serious and stark choices between knowledgeable, impassioned, and thoughtful candidates when it comes to finding paths toward a prosperous 21st century economy, on the one side, and Fossil-Fool candidates focused on tightening our shackles to the ever-more costly (pollution, financial, otherwise) and archaic oil-coal based energy system.

One of these stark choices comes in Nebraska , where Scott Kleeb is facing down with Mike Johanns.

Scott was an easy choice for membership in the ranks of the Energy Smart Act Blue page. Join me after the fold for some indications as to why.

Every day it seems gas prices are edging higher. For almost a year, oil prices have increased by one percent per week.  A year ago, $100 barrel seemed a nightmare fantasy to many.  Today, oil at that price is viewed almost nostalgically — as the good old days. In the face of growing price pressures during an election year, the Democratic and Republican parties have radically different answers, radically different approaches to the challenge. At the end of the day, neither is dealing with the fundamental challenges facing humanity with full honesty. One party seems caught in confusion and disarray, the other is providing direct answers to the challenge based on fundamental dishonesty — answers that will aggravate, rather than solve, our problems.

Sometimes those of who focus on energy and global warming issues seem to screaming into the wind, with little attention from others in the community.  Netroots Nation's announcement for the 2009 put those emotions to the side. The Netroots Nation staff worked hard to find a site and location that meets the types of standards that are hoped to from us.

To be held at the nation's leading edge LEED Green convention center,

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is close to major US cities, with a good rail network providing options to get there from New York, Washington, DC, and Chicago.

Al Gore has set a challenge: 100% clean electricity, 100%!

Get us (the US, and eventually, all the globe) off coal.

And, determine to do this within a decade.

People are going to scream that this is impossible. They will be wrong.  This is possible, difficult to do in the timeline perhaps, but absolutely possible.  They are wrong.

Before, after, but preferably not during  the Netroots Nation panel Energizing America:  Setting an Agenda for Progress, take the time to visit and explore a truly Energy COOL visitor.  

The Austin Independent School District will bring their Plug-In Hybrid Electric School bus (PHESB), one of very few in the nation, to outside the Convention Center and have people their to explain the bus, its successes, and the systems.  

NOTE: Coding problems kept me from post the full discussion at Daily Kos.  For a robust discussion of school buses see the full post at EENR and Docudharma.

Americans United for Change has launched a campaign to Free Our Oil! While an interesting response to the Republican focus on lying to support drilling, I challenged this campaign, stating that this effort supports a quite dangerous framing of the problems and solutions.

If we make this just about gas prices, we are caught into a very dangerous framing. "Lowering" gas prices gets people thinking back to cheaper energy unit costs days. We need people, the nation thinking about enery as a system, as a "cost to own" rather than "cost to buy". We (the nation) should foster upfront investment (help it) that will lower total "cost to own" by reducing wasteful use of polluting energy. While difficult in a robocall, every single message (I would argue) should avoid getting captured in messaging that fosters thinking that we can go back to days of cheaper gasoline. Over the long term (and likely short term), it isn't going to happen.

In response, I was asked a very good question for which I had a very ? answer.  Follow after the fold for that conversation.