The New Manhattan Project

By Jennifer J. Foster

Also during the Green Room chit-chat, Donaldson says this country needs a new “Manhattan Project” to wean America off of oil—foreign and domestic—altogether. This is interesting in that he doesn’t appear to know about (or, at least, he didn’t mention) the New Manhattan Project: a bill by U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes to make the United States energy independent within 20 years.

It’s actually an interesting proposal. According to Forbes’ press release, “the New Manhattan Project will bring together the scientists and researchers in the U.S. in a competitive format to reach one of seven energy goals. The project will award significant prizes to the first group, school, team, or company that reaches each goal as determined by a New Manhattan Project commission of scientists.“ The goals include:

Doubling CAFE standards to 70 MPG while keeping vehicles affordable;

Cutting home and business energy usage in half;

Making solar power work at the same cost as coal;

Making the production of biofuels cost-competitive with gasoline;

Safely and cheaply storing carbon emissions from coal-powered plants;

Safely storing or neutralizing nuclear waste; and

Producing usable electricity from a nuclear fusion reaction.

See Forbes’ CNN interview about the proposal, H.R. 6260, here (sorry, it’s a partisan web site, but I couldn’t find the interview on CNN’s site), and read more about it here.

(Incidentally, the carrot approach is catching on. CNN reports today that GOP nominee-in-waiting John McCain wants to offer a “$300 million prize for whoever can develop an automobile battery that “has the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars.“ Read about it here.)

ABC’s goofy Green Room

By Jennifer J. Foster

Matt Drudge linked to this clip from ABC’s Green Room yesterday, noting that Democratic strategist and commentator Donna Brazile is heard saying about fellow Democratic strategist James Carville, “We gotta shut him up” as the four are discussing Carville’s comment earlier last week that Barack Obama should consider Al Gore for vice president.

It’s notable because Brazile worked closely with Carville while the two managed the 1992 Clinton-Gore presidential campaign.

But as usual, Brazile was the only one bringing any sense to the discussion about oil drilling. She reminded viewers about the logistics that would follow any decision to expand drilling: The rigs must be assembled and placed, they must be secured, they have to be prepared for the work, they have to be staffed with trained workers, etc.—and this is why just saying, “Let’s drill off of Florida” won’t bring prices at the pump down anytime soon.

Matthew Dowd expounds on his assumption that Americans want their government to “Do something, do anything” to make gas prices come down, apparently ignoring all the free-market capitalists in the country—among them, a lot of Libertarians who are finding new political strength.

Sam Donaldson demonstrates his memorization skills by parroting the Democratic Party playbook on the drilling issue: We can’t “drill our way out of this.“

And then there’s Cokie Roberts, who apparently believes that American voters are too dense to understand how Chinese demand and government price controls influence the world oil market: “Try explaining that to American voters.“

Brazile is a welcome breath of reason among this group. She is, in my opinion, one of the best pundits out there right now. It’s no wonder she’s fighting the urge to roll her eyes while the other three blabber on. Watch her body language during the clip. It’s kind of funny, actually.

Hillary keeps her pledge

By Jennifer J. Foster

Everyone’s been wondering where Hillary Clinton has been since dropping out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination a couple of weeks back. She has only been sighted a couple of times since, preferring to lie low and rest up from the grueling 17-month campaign.

Well, she surfaced yesterday, and it was for something pretty cool. From the CNN Political Ticker:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton fulfilled a pledge to a young supporter by speaking at the teenager’s high school graduation on Sunday.

The girl, Aleatha Williams, a campaign volunteer and the daughter of a supporter, introduced the senator to fellow graduates from Pelham Preparatory Academy in the Bronx as “my aunt.“

Clinton said she had known Aleatha “and her wonderful mother, Patricia,“ since the girl was 2 and had promised her when she graduated from eighth grade that she would attend her high school
graduation.

No matter what you think about Clinton, that’s cool. Good for her.

Read the rest here.

As an aside, you might want to check out some of the comments below the post. Granted, it’s early. But how do you think the reconciliation is going among Democrats?

Little post

By Jennifer J. Foster

If you’re here looking for the analysis of Ted Little’s columns, you’re in the right place ... they’ll be along soon.

Zimbabwe upheaval

By Jennifer J. Foster

From CNN:

Robert Mugabe apparently retained his presidential post Sunday after the opposition candidate dropped out of this week’s runoff because, he said, asking Zimbabweans to vote was asking them to risk their lives.

“The courageous people of Zimbabwe, of this country, and the people of the MDC have done everything humanly and democratically possible to deliver a new Zimbabwe and new government,“ candidate Morgan Tsvangirai said after a closed-door meeting of his Movement for Democratic Change.

A government official, however, said Tsvangirai dropped out only because he fears being handed a “humiliating defeat” in the runoff.

Um, right. I’m sure it has nothing to do with this:

Zimbabwe’s opposition party said four of its activists and the wife of Harare’s mayor—an opposition member—have been killed by supporters of President Robert Mugabe, just days ahead of next week’s presidential runoff.

Thursday’s report came as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Mugabe of sponsoring efforts to starve, beat and kill supporters of his opponent Morgan Tzvangirai so he can win the election ...

A spokesman for the MDC blamed Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party for the five most recent deaths, saying they brought to 70 the number of MDC party members killed since a bitterly contested election three months ago.

The body of the mayor’s wife, 27-year-old Abigail Chiroto, was found in a mortuary close to the couple’s house north of Harare. She had been beaten so severely with rocks and iron bars that her face was almost unrecognizable, MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

Chiroto was kidnapped, along with her 4-year-old son, on Tuesday. Some of her kidnappers wore military uniforms, Chamisa said. Chiroto’s son was released unharmed.

Her husband, Emmanuel Chiroto, is an MDC member who was recently elected mayor of Harare. He was not home at the time of the kidnapping.

Also Thursday, the MDC said that four other activists were found dead in Chitungwiza. The victims’ bodies showed evidence that “they were heavily tortured until they died,“ an MDC statement said.

“It’s unbelievable the way people are being killed or murdered,“ Chiroto said. “It’s almost mass butchering.“

From the Associated Press:

On Monday night, Abigail Chiroto, the wife of opposition mayor elect of Harare, and her four-year-old son, Ashley, were seized from their house in the suburb of Hatcliffe, family friends said Thursday. The friends, who did not want to be identified for fear of repercussions, said the two were taken to a nearby farming area where Chiroto’s body was found Tuesday.

The boy, who was left at a nearby police station, told family members that he saw his mother being blindfolded and taken off into the bush. When Chiroto’s body was found, she was still wearing a blindfold. Her body was identified Wednesday by her husband Emmanuel Chiroto who was out of town at the time.

What is worse: Your last memory of your mother being blindfolded and dragged into the bushes, where she was beaten to death and beyond recognition? Or not remembering your mother at all?

Americans forget how good we have it. We whine about the tone of the primaries—Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton “attacking” each other, for example—while forgetting that there are plenty of places around the globe where candidates and their supporters really do attack each other, in the organic sense of the word ... and there are places where, because of violence and intimidation, there are no elections at all.

The American campaign finance system may be in shambles. But thank God that atrocities like this—political atrocities like this—are unheard of in the United States.

Don’t take your vote for granted this year. Remember what goes on beyond our borders, and don’t take your vote for granted. Ever.