Green Options

The dust has barely settled from Tuesday’s election and the rumor mill is already up and running for potential White House staff. President-elect Obama faces a tough four years (if not eight), and will need all the help he can get. Undoubtedly, the job of Secretary of Energy is going to be a tricky one. So the question is, who is going to be up for the job?

Being a member of the President’s White House staff is no easy task.  President Andrew Jackson actually had two cabinets to hold the union together.  One was the formal cabinet which met in the White House and the other was known as his “Kitchen Cabinet” which met after hours across the street.

The Secretary of Energy will not be an easy role to assume.  The price of gas may have fallen recently, but that does not make us immune to future shortages and overseas skirmishes over resources.  President-elect Obama has been a symbol of American progress.  I sincerely hope his choice for the head of the DOE will share his vision and make sure we are on the right path to energy independence.

NOTE: The views express here are strictly those of Green Diva Meg and not necessarily held or supported by GreenOptions Media or RedGreenandBlue.com.

If you haven’t seen the powerhouse Op-Ed by Gloria Steinem about Sarah Palin that was published in the Los Angeles Times last month, I highly recommend taking a few minutes to familiarize yourself with Ms. Steinem’s POV. She passionately articulates what so many of us have wanted to say. Thank you Gloria!

If you are a woman or love one (or several, whatever), I hope you will consider carefully how damaging the gun-toting Gov. and her ‘maverick’ boss could be to women’s rights and reproductive rights among other vital issues of course.

The next president will likely have to make a Supreme Court appointment.

And why should we care?
The next president will likely have the opportunity to appoint one possibly two Supreme Court justices. More than once in the last 8 years, the conservative right has attempted to stack the highest court with ‘pro life’ judges. If even one of the more left-leaning judges that is getting ready to retire is replaced by a conservative right-leaning judge who is inclined to overturn Roe v. Wade, there are many States waiting in the wings with ‘trigger’ laws just waiting to make abortion illegal. This is only one aspect of why the next president and their potential to appoint a Supreme Court justice is critical.

Organizers of the Democratic National Convention now in full swing in Denver have taken a lot of steps to reduce both the event’s carbon footprint and its overall impact on the environment. In fact, they say their mission is to produce "the most environmentally sustainable political convention in modern American history."

Among the green innovations presumptive presidential nominee Barack Obama, Democratic leaders and and delegates are encountering:

Oh, I admit it; I’ve fallen hard for Obama. Perhaps it is his handsome face or eloquent manner of speech, or perhaps it is because he is the first viable candidate (sorry Kucinich and Nader) to speak the truth. First, Obama opposed the gas tax holiday, designed to distract Americans from the bigger picture of our energy usage. Now, he is blaming the Iraq war for America’s utter failure as a climate leader.

Shortly after last week’s primaries, Obama stated:

I think the way we have run this war in Iraq has lessened our ability to move our allies. It has led us to ignore the critical needs for us to focus on a sound energy policy in this country. It has left us unable to lead on critical global issues like global warming. And it has led us to neglect what ultimately is the most important thing to keeping America safe, and that is having an economy that is the envy of the world and that gives us the resources and the power to project ourselves around the world.