MoveOn wants Tiahrt to go oil free

Dear MoveOn members,

Last month, 3 million MoveOn members came together and said, "Enough. We want clean, renewable energy, and we want it now!"

That's why today, we're launching one of our biggest campaigns in the last year—-a campaign for an "Oil-free Congress" to demand that Congress end America's oil addiction and move us toward a cleaner future. We'll pressure members of Congress to make a real difference—-and if they don't listen, we'll hold them accountable in November.

To start, we need to ask every member of Congress, including yours, to go "Oil-Free" and sign a pledge not to take any money from the oil industry. Can you sign this letter telling Rep. Todd Tiahrt to take the pledge?

http://political.moveon.org/oilfree/?id=8072-3189845-eE3xxufEOwkA7kuq9.JNwQ&t=3

We're working with a bunch of groups, like Oil Change International and the Center for American Progress in the Separation of Oil and State coalition to get every representative to sign the pledge not to take any more oil money. Together, we sent official pledge cards to all of Congress last week. But this call will be much more powerful if Rep. Tiahrt hears from thousands of his constituents about it, too.

We're aiming to send at least 500 messages in support of the pledge to Rep. Tiahrt. If we can make that, we'll personally deliver your comments to accompany the letters we delivered last week.

With gas prices off the charts, an unstable situation in the Middle East and scientists warning that global warming is at a tipping point, it's fair to wonder, why aren't our representatives doing something about our dependence on oil? The answer is that politicians get a lot of money from oil companies not to.

Since 1990, Big Oil has given more than $190 million to members of Congress and 75% ($142,635,314!) of those donations have gone to Republicans.¹ Those donations guarantee an energy policy that serves the oil industry over the public interest. Until our representatives stop taking oil money, it's going to be hard to make progress on global warming and clean energy alternatives.

Renewable and alternative energy sources, like biofuels, hybrids, solar and wind power are ready today, but Congress's addiction to oil money is holding us back. The best way to move towards energy independence is to end oil corruption in Washington.

Clean energy experts and advocates agree, the obstacles to energy independence are mostly political. And as Al Gore says in An Inconvenient Truth, "political will is a renewable resource."

Can you tell your representative that you're ready to end your addiction to oil, if he is ready to kick his addiction to oil money?

http://political.moveon.org/oilfree/?id=8072-3189845-eE3xxufEOwkA7kuq9.JNwQ&t=4

Thanks for all you do,

–Nita Chaudhary and Eli Pariser
Monday, June 19th, 2006

Once again, Tiahrt promotes Republican icons

Just as Kim Il Sung constantly erected monuments to himself in North Korea, to remind his people who important he was to them, Rep. Todd Tiahrt has once again designate a building, the community center at McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas, known as Emerald City, as the Robert J. Dole Community Center in honor of World War II veteran and former United States Representative and Senator Robert J. Dole.
Any one who has seen the Robert Dole center at Kansas University realizes this is much more about immortalizing Dole than honoring World War II vets. There’s one wall with pictures of WWII vets and an entire room full of Dole’s pictures and items from his past, including clothing he wore to college. It really does look like a hero’s museum, such as those in North Korea and Dole isn’t even dead yet.
Tiahrt has been trying to rename buildings all over Kansas and other places after Republicans. Few politicians have tried to re-write their states history as Tiahrt has. I have commented on several of his schemes in the past. This is one I just found out about.

Tiahrt is a friend of business and business only

Rep. Todd Tiahrt is a friend of business. He’s not much of a friend to the workers and consumers. But apparently businesses are his top priority. That’s probably because they are his main supplier of campaign funds.
Consider what he has said in the US House debate over Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 2007, May 24 of this year:
"Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, my amendment is very simple. It just says we will not promulgate any regulations without considering the effect such regulations have on the competitiveness of American businesses.”
And for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2007, May 23:
"Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, my amendment is very simple. It just says that none of the funds made available in this act will be used to promulgate regulations without consideration of the effect that such regulations would have on the competitiveness of American businesses.”
Sound like a broken record? Of course it does. This is a businessman’s representative. The people don’t count and never have.
Tiahrt did vote for the marriage amendment to keep his Christian right constituents happy. They may overlook his looting of his office over his so called “moral votes.”