Comrade Newsom slices and dices - SFBG Politics Blog

After watching Mayor Gavin Newsom’s virtual State of the City speeches (delivered on You Tube rather than the traditional venue of City Hall) – and reading the criticism of them today in both the Chronicle and the Examiner, even from Newsom’s two BFF columnists – I’m torn between two metaphors.

In the first few minutes, Newsom seemed like a salesman in a late night infomercial, telling me how I could get a complete set of Ginsu knives for just $19.99. “But wait, there’s more,” Newsom seems to say, if I order now then he’ll throw in a comprehensive climate change plan, absolutely free, the first city in the country to make an offer like this. Operators are standing by.

But then it just went on and on and on (there are almost eight hours of this stuff being rolled out this week) until Newsom seemed to morph into Fidel Castro or some other Soviet Bloc dictator, just droning on endlessly about the glories of the State (or in this case, The City) with the self-assuredness and lack of self-censorship that flow from feeling omnipotent and beloved by subservient subjects.

Climate Progress » Blog Archive » Everybody Knows a Teacher! Help Engage the Nation on February 5th

A guest post by Eban Goodstein, Professor of Economics at Lewis & Clark College and Project Director of the National Teach-in on Global Warming Solutions.

One thing you can do to stop global warming right now is tell a teacher–a friend, your kid’s teacher, a cousin, or a colleague–about The National Teach-In on Global Warming Solutions, set for Thursday, February 5th.

With the election over, it is tempting to assume that the hard work is done. But the same coalition that has stifled progress to date–the fossil fuel industry, along with “government is the problem” politicians–are still in Washington, still fighting to preserve the “business as usual” that unchecked, is on track to destroy half the life on the planet. The only thing powerful enough to overcome DC gridlock is a mobilized American public–so get moving, and tell a teacher (or a leader at your church, synagogue or mosque) to join the Teach-In!