Vegas and How the Country Needs to Change

America needs to regroup and rethink how we do things. David Sirota thinks so too.

We don’t stop driving Hummers around a warming planet just like we don’t stop building population centers in deserts, just like we don’t stop gambling when wages drop, just like we don’t stop wasting energy on casino signs. Why? Because it’s fun to drive tanks, live in desert climates, double-down on 11 and gape at bright lights in the big city. And during the years of cheap energy, income growth and seemingly endless water supplies, fun always trumped pragmatism.

That period, of course, has been supplanted by the Age of the Finite. And to its (few) sober visitors, Vegas implicitly asks whether our whole society is genuinely ready for that new reality.

Whether hanging Christmas lights in Toledo, buying SUVs in Boulder, taking long showers in Atlanta, residing in sprawly suburbs near Chicago, or overspending anywhere, we are all Las Vegans now. And because we have become so environmentally and economically interconnected, what happens in our own Vegas no longer stays in our own Vegas — it affects everyone.

Knowing that, are we ready to turn off some lights in our homes? Is it possible for Americans to forfeit McMansion dreams, drive smaller cars, take public transit, embrace water restrictions, or live in more sustainable geographies? Can we resist materialism, halt the bone-crushing stampedes to Wal-Mart, and stop needlessly spending beyond our means?

We all live in Las Vegas now | Salon

HRC to Press Obama: Good Idea? Bad Idea?

I still feel like we got Don’t Ask Don’t Tell partially because the Press and the LGBT community pressed Clinton to act on it too quickly on Gays in the Military upon entering office. This allowed the opposition to distract the media and the new administration, and we ended up with DADT.

HRC has come up with a list of policy goals it wants to immediately see from a new Obama administration. Is pressing Obama to act on LGBT issues quickly a good plan when he already has some of the biggest problems this country has ever faced waiting for him when he assumes office? Is coming up with a plan to eliminate DADT within the first 100 days really a priority we can honestly expect Obama to take up? And will we then turn our backs on him when we don’t?

The LGBT community is pissed and wants action. But it also needs to work for the common good. Are these demands too self-centered, or are they reasonable actions that we should expect from a new administration?

Human Rights Campaign

Note HRC asking that Obama “Support only a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act” following HRC’s previous support of a non-exclusive bill. Hyporcitical? Or just practical?

A gay-rights group has launched a petition drive to urge President-elect Barack Obama to commit to a slate of its policy goals to make up for his decision to invite conservative evangelical Rick Warren to pray at next month’s inauguration.

The Human Rights Campaign petition is raising support for its “Blueprint for Positive Change,” aimed at fostering equality for gays and lesbians.

HRC’s Blueprint for Positive Change calls on President-elect Obama to:

• Issue an Executive Order within the first 100 days that reaffirms protections for federal workers based on sexual orientation and expands them to also include gender identity;
• Work with Congress to sign Hate Crimes legislation into law within 6 months;
• Support only a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act ENDA;
• In the first 100 days develop a plan to begin the process of eliminating the failed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy; and
• Work with Congress to end unequal tax treatment of domestic partnerships benefits.

PageOneQ | Human Rights Campaign works to help Obama ‘turn the corner’ on Warren controversy