Semi Truths

Although we’ve known for some time that it might come to this, it is only now starting to settle on me that the next Democratic candidate for President will be either a woman or an African-American. It is a stunning turn of events. As I have watched the process these past few months, and sensed which way the wind was blowing, I have said to all who care to listen that this is a good field of Democratic candidates, that any one of them would make a fine President, and that I will be happy to support whoever is chosen by the national party.

Not that I haven’t had my favorites. I’ve admired John Edwards for the past four years and enjoyed watching him evolve into a populist candidate as he refined his message about the two Americas. Dennis Kucinich is (was) the only candidate this year that I had the honor to meet in person, and although we all knew he would not be the final nominee, he was my heart’s choice. (Actually, I did meet one other candidate before: twenty years ago, when I was living in New York, Rudy Guliani dashed across the street to shake my hand. He was running for State Attorney General and I didn’t like him then, either.)

After seven years of unbelievably inept “governing”, I have found myself nostalgic for the simple scandals of the Clinton years, not to mention the reassuring financial scene of the 1990s. And I have always liked Hillary Clinton the person, so I find her candidacy exciting on many levels.

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Four years ago, the American Geophysical Union released a statement about human impact on the global environment. The 744 word document began with the sentence “Human activities are increasingly altering the Earth’s climate.”

In a revised position statement issued today, the society offered additional evidence that recent changes in climate are attributable to human activity. The terse 482 word document begins with much stronger statement “The Earth’s climate is now clearly out of balance and is warming.”

The 50,000-member strong organization posits that we will need to cut emissions of greenhouse gases globally by more than 50 percent to avoid warming the planet by 2 degrees Celsius. Much of the statement matches conclusions drawn by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which released its multivolume report last year and later shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore. In fact, the society notes that many of its members helped write the panel’s report.
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Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Presidential candidate for the Democratic nomination, is coming to Charlottesville on Friday, December 7th. As reported in the Daily Progress “Kucinich is the only Democratic presidential candidate who currently favors impeachment of both Vice President Dick Cheney and President Bush”. Kucinich will be speaking that Friday evening at the Albemarle County Office Building. More information can be found at David Swanson’s site AfterDowningStreet.org.

Several outlets are buzzing with the news about Stephen Colbert’s Presidential bid. It’s all a big joke, of course, and many are drawing comparisons to Pat Paulsen’s continuing runs for President (in a box somewhere, I’m sure I must still have some “Pat Paulsen for President” pins). Neither, however, were the first comedian to run for U.S. President. In addition to satirical campaigns by Eddie Cantor and Will Rogers, Gracie Allen (of the comic duo Burns and Allen) made quite a splash with her own wildly popular run in 1940, even forming her own “Surprise Party”. A well-written overview can be found here.