Kirsten Gillibrand

One of the stupidest schemes on the planet has just hit a snag.
The plan is for natural-gas giant, Spectra Energy, to construct a new high-pressure, 42-inch gas pipeline in the immediate vicinity of the Indian Point nuclear power plants. The pipeline would carry fracked-gas from Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale wells up into New England and then to LNG terminals in Canada. From there the gas would be exported to India, Japan and elsewhere around the planet.
The proposed new pipeline has been bitterly opposed for over two years.

This week the DCCC is having a series of meetings to introduce their favored candidates to incumbents, lobbyists and other DCCC supporters. Tonight they're throwing a big dinner at an event space for lobbyists and both political parties, the Oracle Townhouse on D Street.

In 2006, Blue America backed Kirsten Gillibrand for Congress when she ran against corrupt, drunken wife-beater John Sweeney. We helped her raise consciousness about what a crook Sweeney was and we helped her raise money and we even got the Squirrel Nut Zippers and Rickie Lee Jones to do a song for her campaign which got a ton of airplay on the local radio stations.

In 2006, Blue America worked with a group of various artists to promote several dozen little known challengers to Republican House incumbents. The video above, which we did for Kirsten Gillibrand in her first run for Congress against powerful, entrenched incumbent John Sweeney, may have helped her win her 53.1- 46.9% victory. She's now a U.S. Senator and someone on the list of future potential national leaders.

"At a time when the political news is dominated by a debate between do-little conservatism and do-nothing conservatism -- which is to say, between a right-tilting Republican establishment and the radical tea party -- [Senator] Gillibrand's package includes building blocks for a broader counter-vision inspired by the idea of an Empowering Government."-- E. J.

In the video above, from Tuesday evening, Rachel discusses Republican Party self-interest. She's a smart gal but she can't get her head around how exactly it is self-interest-- considering so many women vote nowadays-- for the Republican Party, as a party, to go so conspicuously out of its way to alienate and further alienate women as a class of people. If you ever had any doubt that the Republicans are waging a war against women-- dictated by their crazy conservative and misogynistic patriarchal base-- just watch the clip.