The fight over the environment continues. Round 1: Palin vs. Judd. In one corner we have the beautiful actress Ashley Judd and in the other one there’s Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. These ladies are not sparring off on presidential politics. No, this time it’s all about wolves and bears - or rather, killing them from airplanes. Judd is the new spokesperson for Defenders of Wildlife. She’s in a video (see below) where she goes off on Palin and Alaska’s predator control program.

Obama is making more moves on the energy front. This week, President Obama ordered the Energy Department to revise the energy standards of nine appliances: ovens (including microwave ones), lamps, beverage vending machines, residential dishwashers, commercial boilers and commercial air conditioners. These changes will make the appliances more energy efficient and reduce global warming emissions for the planet. And the Prez is thinking about consumers’ pockets too.

“This will save consumers money, this will spur innovation and this will conserve tremendous amounts of energy,” Obama said in remarks at the Energy Department, where he briefed staff on his plan for a new energy economy.

Way to go President O on the energy front.

Extinct. Resurrected. Extinct Again. That’s the story of the Spainish Ibex, a member of the mountain goat species. The Ibex was declared extinct back in 2000 after the last one was found dead in Spain. However, before it’s death, scientist preserved some of its DNA (yes..a bit weird). The scientists then used domestic goat genes in eggs to clone a female Pyrenean ibex (or bucardo). Tah dah! Dead extinct animal cloned..well not quite. Sadly, the baby ibex kid died shortly after birth. A little spooky but this experiment gives hope to scientists that want to clone animals on the brink of extinction.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving around the corner, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin pardoned a turkey. However, during her turkey-themed interview, the cameraman catches a poor turkey being slaughtered in the background (which Palin appears not to notice) in the now-infamous video. Well, funny man David Letterman’s “Top Ten” list Monday gave Palin’s excuses for the turkey kill, which poked fun at her foreign policy (in)experience and earlier Katie Couric interview among other campaign blunders.

Many of us saw and held our breath as Republican vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, conducted one of her first on-camera interviews following her nomination with Katie Couric a couple of months ago. There were several moments during the questioning that Palin was stumped and had a difficult time answering the questions. Couric talks for the first time about the interview on “The Dave Letterman Show” recently. Check out the clip from the interview.

No words needed.

Early Wednesday morning a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck southwestern Pakistan, killing at least 170 people and leaving an estimated 15,000 people homeless. Rescuers are currently digging and searching for survivors in the a remote valley in Baluchistan, a province bordering Afghanistan. The worst hit was a British hilltop village of Ziarat and eight surrounding villages. “There is great destruction,” said Ziarat Mayor Dilawar Kakar to Associated Press. “Not a single house is intact.”

With less than a week until the presidential election, many people have decided to vote early. And in key swing states like North Carolina, Nevada and Colorado, the number of Democrats early ballots outweigh Republicans ballots nearly 2 to 1.

So, does the electoral math add up to an Obama landslide? According to the most recent Associated Press-GfK poll, Barack Obama is leading or tied with John McCain in eight key states: Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. This poll also showed Obama winning in states among early voters. Furthermore, “the polling shows Obama holding solid leads in Ohio (seven percentage points), Nevada (12 points), Colorado (9) and Virginia (seven), all red states won by Bush that collectively offer 47 electoral votes.” Based on these results, if Obama wins these four states or a magical combination of two or three of them with significant amount of electoral votes, he would almost certainly become president.

Last Friday, the League of Conservation Voters released their 2008 annual environmental scorecard, which shows how Congressional members voted on key energy and environmental issues. Presidential candidates, Obama and McCain, both scored low ratings on this report.

Politico reported that Sen. Barack Obama only voted pro-environment 18 percent of the time in 2008. Sen. John McCain scored a dismal zero because he missed every environmental vote (note: no vote = negative vote). Obama’s voting record dropped considerably from its 67% percent rating last year. No surprise to many greenies, this is Mac’s second year with the league’s lowest ratings.

Both Senators missed a lot of votes because of time spent campaigning for president. McCain didn’t vote at all and Obama only voted twice this year. The League reported that Obama’s votes for offshore drilling and environmental funding were in favor of the environment.

League president Gene Karpinski told Politico:

“Even under the tremendous pressure of a national campaign, Senator Obama returned to Washington to support the environment in a dozen key votes in the last two years. Sen. McCain … skipped every major environmental vote of the 110th Congress, including a bill to repeal billions in taxpayer handouts to Big Oil and to invest in clean, renewable energy. That measure failed by one vote: John McCain’s.”

(more…)

A husband and wife team, known as M.C. Howie and Julie K, have paired up to create videos disparaging Republican Vice-President candidate, Sarah Palin. Their latest video is in response to “Soccer mom” Palin getting boo’d at a hockey game. It’s called “Her Stupidity Flows.“  And according to them, “It starts in her toes, and goes up to her nose. Her stupidity flows, yes it really shows….” The couple claims they are moving to Canada if she become VP. Whether you agree with Palin for vice-president or not, it is still pretty funny. Check out the video.

The Caramel Bella

From the looks of a YouTube video that surfaced online Wednesday, Republican veep candidate, Sarah Palin, may have her own Reverend Wright challenges.

The Associated Press reported that the 2005 video shows the pre-governor, Sarah Palin, being blessed in her hometown Wasilla Assembly of God church. Thomas Muthee, a Kenyan Pastor who AP said has been linked to her church, is shown praying for her protection against “witchcraft” before she starts her campaign for governor of Alaska.

In addition to warding off spells, Muthee also calls on God’s help for Palin’s campaign finances. He said, “Make her way my God. Bring finances her way even for the campaign in the name of Jesus. … Use her to turn this nation the other way around.”

A few months after this blessing, Palin filed campaign paperwork and was elected governor in October 2005.

According to AP, a person from the Wasilla church has confirmed the video but declined to comment. And the McCain team has also declined to comment at this time.

Pop and Politics’s own Tara Graham offers additional insights into Palin’s Pentecostal, evangelical roots, which may or may not help to understand her 2005 witchcraft protection blessing.

Back in July, McCain accused Obama of pulling the race card after Obama told supporters in Missouri that he didn’t look like the other presidents on the dollar bill. Well now, someone “loosely” associated with the McCain & Palin duo is truly showcasing the race issue. However, in this particular case, I’m not sure it’s believable.

According to a video circulating around YouTube, an African American guy named Kevin is claiming to be the father of Bristol Palin’s baby. He says that Bristol was sexually intimate with him “outside of her relationship” with Levi Johnston, the reported father. He even asks Bristol to call him, and he would take the video off YouTube.

Kevin actually blames race as the reason the truth about the child’s paternity is being kept a secret. In the video, he said:

I didn’t want to pull the race card but feel like Ms. Palin (he mispronounced as PAL-in, not PAY-lin) is keeping me away from my child to keep her political career in good standing. She understands that an African American male being the father of her child wouldn’t be best for her career.

The kicker to this paternity video is that old Kevin doesn’t agree with Gov. Palin’s politics, and is voting for Obama. And it probably comes as no surprise; Kevin is a “musician working on his urban rap career in LA.”

smooches,

The Caramel Bella