Politics Blog

In the Name of Patriotism (Who are the Patriots?)

HON. RON PAUL OF TEXAS
Before the U.S. House of Representatives 

In the Name of Patriotism (Who are the Patriots?)

For some, patriotism is “the last refuge of a scoundrel.”  For others, it means dissent against a government’s abuse of the people’s rights.

I have never met a politician in Washington, or any American for that matter, who chose to be called “unpatriotic.”  Nor have I met anyone who did not believe he wholeheartedly supported our troops wherever they may be.

What I have heard all too frequently from various individuals is sharp accusations that because their political opponents disagree with them on the need for foreign military entanglements, they were “unpatriotic, un-American, evil doers deserving contempt.”

read the rest of the transcript

view the speech

Dick Cheney - House Doesn’t Support Troops

“They’re not supporting the troops. They’re undermining them” Vice President Dick Cheney alledged against the Democrat led House.  Cheney went on to call it a myth that “one can support the troops without giving them the tools and reinforcements they need to carry out their mission.”

Enough with the rhetoric already.  It long ago passed the point of sad and pathetic.   Of course the Dems love and support our troops.  It’s you, Mr. Cheney, that the Dems don’t support.  It’s been 4 years of bad intel, bad strategies, lies, cover-ups, and if all else fails, over-the-top partisan rhetoric. 

Mr. Vice President, if you love this country, pack your bags and go home.  You are causing more harm than good to our troops, our country, and our world.

Al Gore’s Post Congress Follow-Up Email

Dear Andrew,
 
Thank you!

By 10:00 AM yesterday, as I took my seat in the hearing room, an incredible 519,414 people had signed our message to Congress demanding immediate action to solve the climate crisis.

All of those boxes chock full of your messages, sitting right next to me as I testified, were a fantastic show of support and one that is already having an impact as our Representatives and Senators begin to debate solutions to the climate crisis. In fact, so many people signed our message in the 24 hours before the hearing, we are still working on printing them. But don’t worry, Congress now knows that you have spoken, and I will personally make sure every last message is delivered.

I also wanted to make sure that you had the chance to see the hearing for yourself, so I’ve posted video highlights on AlGore.com:

http://blog.algore.com

After witnessing your incredible show of activism and enthusiasm, I wanted to give something back to you. As many of you know, Live Earth will take place on July 7. The 24-hour concert marks the beginning of a multi-year campaign to raise awareness about our climate crisis. It will feature more than 100 acts, including the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Snoop Dogg, Foo Fighters and Faith Hill.

Tickets are going to sell out fast, and I wanted to make sure that you have the chance to see the show. That’s why we will set aside a special block of tickets and let AlGore.com members purchase the first ones sold. I will let you know more details before these tickets go on sale.

If you would like to learn more about the Live Earth concerts you can visit:

http://liveearth.org

In a few short weeks we have grown into a movement of more than 500,000 strong. To ultimately win, we are going to need to grow bigger - but for now we are off to a great start.

Thank you again for what you made possible today,

 
Al Gore

Watch a highlight from yesterday’s hearing.

Watch Al Gore’s entire opening statement.

Al Gore Takes On Congress Over Climate Change

Al Gore, the former Vice President and Oscar Award winner got into an exchange that turned heated with leading Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committe, Joe Barton.  Said Barton, “You’re not just off a little, you’re totally wrong”.  As Gore responded, Barton grew testy and demanded Gore get to the point while Gore countered that he would like time to answer without being interrupted.

Barton went on to say, “Global warming science is uneven and evolving”.

Gore shot back, “The planet has a fever.  If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don’t say, `Well, I read a science fiction novel that told me it’s not a problem.’ If the crib’s on fire, you don’t speculate that the baby is flame retardant. You take action.”

Al Gore won an Oscar for An Inconvient Truth, you can read the transcript of that documentary here.  http://forumpolitics.com/blogs/2007/03/17/an-inconvient-truth-transcript/

Email From Al Gore

Dear Andrew,

When I emailed you last Friday, 294,374 people had signed our message to Congress demanding immediate action to solve the climate crisis. In that email, I asked you to help meet the goal of delivering 350,000 messages when I testify at Congressional hearings on Wednesday.

Your response was amazing. By Saturday morning - because of you - we exceeded our goal! In fact, as I write this email, our total has risen to 405,758. Thank you!

What that means is that we are now within striking distance of collecting over 500,000 messages - and have less than 48 hours to get it done in time for the Congressional hearings.

Now is the time to reach out to as many people as possible. Ask any friend who wants to end the climate crisis to sign our message to Congress now by visiting:

http://www.algore.com/cards.html

By the way, maybe this goes without saying, but please reach out to Republican and Independent, as well as Democratic friends. One of our goals must be to make this issue one that transcends partisanship. While many of the solutions to the climate crisis will be found within the political system, there should be bipartisan and transpartisan agreement on the basic nature of the crisis and the sense of urgency that is appropriate for us to solve it.

That point was brought home to me again last week when I visited London and met with the leaders of the Labour Party and the Conservative Party. In the UK, both major political parties are completely committed to taking real action to solve the climate crisis. They openly acknowledge this is an unprecedented moral issue and are competing vigorously to see who can propose the most creative and effective solutions to solve this crisis.

Here at home, our objective must be to create a similar sense of urgency in both political parties. That is why your activism leading up to these hearings is so important. We are so close to our new goal of 500,000 messages to Congress. You can help put us over the top.

So please reach out to everyone you know and ask them to sign our message to Congress today - or at least within the next 48 hours by visiting:

http://www.algore.com/cards.html

Thank you,

P.S. On Wednesday both the House and Senate will webcast the hearings live.

My testimony in the House of Representatives begins at 9:30 AM and you can watch the webcast by visiting:

http://www.house.gov/science

My testimony in the Senate begins at 2:30 PM and you can watch the webcast by visiting:

http://epw.senate.gov