Wait, Who Are The Elitists Again?

The Green Miles is in Providence for the Fourth of July. I just heard Dick Armey's FreedomWorks organization is holding another round of teabagging this weekend.

The closest event? Nantucket. Nothing in Rhode Island or southeastern Massachusetts at all. To see the protest, I'd have to take a ferry to some of the most exclusive vacation property in the United States.

If there's a teabagging event near you, I definitely encourage you to make a "climate action now" sign and stage your own counter-protest. If you do, email me pictures!

New EDF Ad: "Thank You, Tom Perriello"

From the Environmental Defense Fund:



And as Blue Virginia reports, a Roanoke television station has refused to air a false National Republican Campaign Committee attack ad on Perriello.

The GOP's Selective Scientific Outrage

Let's review.

When former oil industry lobbyists in George W. Bush's White House rewrote scientific reports to downplay concerns about global warming and manufacture false doubts and controversy, Republicans stayed absolutely silent.

Now that the EPA is "ignoring a scientific study by a non-scientist that it never commissioned and which hasn't been published in any scientific journal," Republicans are claiming it's one of the biggest political scandals in American history.

You know, it's too bad Republicans have stood up against science on evolution, stem cells, Terri Schiavo, and climate change (just to name a few). Otherwise, their outrage might carry a shred of credibility.

But who needs credibility? That doesn't matter to the mainstream media. They have no choice but to uncritically report everything Republicans say. I mean, that's what journalism is all about, right?

Quick Cute Clip to Brighten Your Thursday

To pay the bills between blog posts, The Green Miles works at the National Wildlife Federation. NWF's Reston office sits next to Lake Fairfax Park, so we get everything from deer to groundhogs to snakes in our backyard. During these hot summer months, every once in a while an all-staff email will go out saying, "There are turtles keeping cool in the shade under cars in the parking lot, check under your car before you go home!"

Here's the latest wildlife sighting -- a family of raccoons living in a dead tree out back:

Rep. Perriello Evokes Dr. King

"Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' But conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one's conscience tells one it is right."
-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

That was today's quote in my Living Green Page-a-Day calendar. Funny coincidence since it reminded me of something I'd just read this morning. It was Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA) talking about his vote in favor of the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act:

“If I have to choose between national security and reelection, for me that’s easy. It’s national security,” he told POLITICO. “I can deal with losing reelection. I can’t deal with being a coward.”

So if Virginia Congressmen like Glenn Nye, Rob Wittman and Frank Wolf weren't voting conscience when they voted against ACES, you have to ask -- were they voting cowardice or expediency?

Note to Self: Do Not Offer Finger to Bird of Prey

I was hanging out in the Red Loft before Tuesday's Nationals-Red Sox game when a friend arrived and said, "Did you see the owl???" At first I thought, "Oh, silly city dweller. So easily amazed by a non-sparrow." Then I looked around the corner and realized it wasn't some little stuffed bird to show off to the tourists.

No, thanks to the Earth Conservation Corps, this was a live Great Horned Owl. A real bad-ass one, too. I was about to do the Colbert with the owl for our picture, then looked down and it was giving my finger the "hold still for just one sec" look. Held my ground just long enough to get a picture in.

Make Sure to Rinse Out the Fake Blood First

From The Green Girfriend:

In the season premiere of HBO's True Blood, Bill has a new vampire that is staying with him and he tells her his rules for his house which include recycling. The pic below is a screencap of the show where he explains that bottles of "true blood" go in the blue bin and paper goes in the white bin. Woohoo!

The Green Miles with a Shade of Blue

I've joined the blogging team over at Blue Virginia! My posts there will still generally have an environmental focus, but I'll stray more into strictly political topics as well.

Here are my first posts:

Critical Climate Moment: Will Wittman & Wolf Step Up?

Nixon Crony Endorses McDonnell

Disgraceful: Wash. Post Dumps "White House Watch" Columnist

McDonnell's "All of the Above" is Really More of the Same

Scene from the Sidewalk: Cute Buns

Outside of Upton Hill Regional Park, I'd never seen a rabbit in Arlington. Until I started my canvassing for House of Delegates. At which time I realized we're in the middle of an silent, adorable invasion.

Seriously, north of Wilson Boulevard and west of Glebe Road, they're all over the place. And they could not care less about people (except for our gardens, which they do enjoy). They'd go hopping right by like I wasn't even there. At first I started to try to sneak up on this one to take a picture ... then I realized he didn't care I was there and walked right up to it:


And I, for one, welcome our new bunny overlords.