… and they want to talk to YOU about climate change.

Let’s give them an ear full.

Join us and the U.S. EPA in Portland on Thursday, May 17 to show that Maine people support climate change action now!

What: Maine Leaders Roundtable on Climate Change
featuring EPA Regional Administrator Curt Spalding
When: Thursday, May 17, 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Where: Cumberland County Civic Center, Main Lobby Meeting Room

Please RSVP by Thursday, May 10, online or to emmie@nrcm.org.

The U.S. EPA wants to hear from you! We all know there are increasing signs of how vulnerable our health, environment, and economy are to climate change, and Maine is especially at risk because of our coastlines and natural resource-based economy. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed new standards to limit carbon pollution from new power plants. These standards are critical to addressing climate change, reducing air pollution, and providing a path toward cleaner energy investments.

Your presence will help convince the EPA to sit up and take notice that combating climate change is important to you! Help us fill the room with more than 200 people, to send a clear message. Please bring your friends and neighbors too!

Join us for this EPA public listening session and roundtable discussion.

• Find out what the new standards for climate-change pollution would mean for Maine, directly from the head of the New England EPA office.
• Hear perspectives on climate and energy issues from Maine forestry and tourism business leaders, physicians, energy experts, local elected officials, scientists, and a college president.
• Let the EPA know what YOU think and ask your questions too.

Former League Steering Committee member and all around awesome Alex Steed wants to share this rad blog, check it out!!!!

When Showmanship is the Bottom Line, Preserving Civility Remains a Chore

When the time to comment on civility and modern political discourse presents itself, it can become particularly tempting for one to focus attention on those the commentator most disagrees with and to use said opportunity to make round-about, over-generalized statements about ideological opponents. Christine Rousselle succumbed to this unfortunate temptation when she focused the attention of her last post exclusively on a Facebook account that serves as a parody of Governor LePage.

Rousselle’s post was originally published elsewhere online, where it was originally entitled “Leftist ‘Civility’ Empowers Morons” (a title I imagine to have been changed to fit the civility-oriented theme of this blog). In it, she suggests that after Rep. Gabby Giffords was shot, notorious Leftist Sen. John Kerry advocated for a return of civility in political discourse. However, since there exists a Facebook profile that parodies Maine’s notoriously bombastic Republican governor, and because this prank was clearly perpetrated by a Leftist, the hypocritical Left need to try being civil for a change before they are allowed to call on others to do so. Follow?

She claims to be ‘horrified’ that someone would do such a thing to poorGovernor Paul “Civility” LePage (I hope for the sake of Rousselle’s psychological well being, she has never read The Onion), and since she can’t find a parody profile for Gov. Baldacci, it can be deduced that conservatives have more constructive things to do than to “waste time on Facebook with petty attacks on those they disagree with.”

Rousselle researched this phenomenon by way of searching for a profile for Gov. Baldacci on Facebook, but unfortunately the breadth of this study did not bring to her attention the time that conservative activist James O’Keefe rose to fame by way of lying to ACORN about who he was in a failed attempt to ensnare them, and then distorting his findings to tell a lie so monumental and twisted, it brought the organization to its knees. How do we know this? O’Keefe avoided prosecution for his actions by granting the California Attorney General’s Office access to the full, unedited video tapes. The AG’s report found what other states and municipalities had already concluded, and what the Government Accountability Office has concluded since: O’Keefe is a liar.

Speaking of liars, O’Keefe’s videos were leaked on one of Andrew Breitbart’s websites. In fact, they were released on the same website on which Breitbart himself released a video edited in a way to make Georgia State Director of Rural Development for the US Department of Agriculture Shirley Sharrod, someone whose life has been devoted to civil rights work, appear to be a racist. When confronted with this, after she lost her job over the incident, Breitbart told a series of lies in order to make himself right. When taking this into consideration, what Christopher Hitchens said of Jerry Falwell when the reverend died applies to the way now feel about Breitbart’s passing: “If he had been given an enema, he could have been buried in a matchbox.”

At this point, is it even necessary to mention that the toppling of Rep. Anthony Weiner, who no doubt did something that is very stupid for an elected official to do, relied on the fabrication of fake Twitter accounts designed to ensnare him?

In the past, Rousselle has said that she would like to be the next Ann Coulter, a celebrity who is more ardently devoted to political performance art than she is critical analysis. Rousselle presents herself in a way that leads the reader to believe she enjoys the attention that comes with demagoguery more than she does navigating reality. Yesterday her Twitter feed included a Tweet from someone who suggested “If liberals don’t hate you, you’re not doing it right!” to which another person replied,  “Exactly. If you haven’t irked leftists, you haven’t done your job.” This sentiment would explain the aforementioned oversights regarding her conclusions. If “irking leftists” is a fundamental component of your job, why let worrying about things like “very recent history” and “doing research” get in the way of making an ill-conceived, sensational political points?

The Portland City School Board passed their budget! 

Check out details below!

Read the rest of this entry »

President Obama doesn’t want those of us saddled with student loans to pay more in interest, yay!

Thanks Dirigo Blue for posting this!

Watch in its entirety here, thanks to CTN!

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Over the past year, ridership on the local City Link bus system has increased over 20%! More and more people are using the bus to get to work, school, the grocery store, or to see family and friends.

The next steps in the plan are to have FULL SATURDAY SERVICE (all bus routes operating Saturday) and EVENING SERVICE (as late as 9pm on some routes).

Please call your city councilor today and tell them that you support continuing improvements to the bus system, including FULL SATURDAY SERVICE and EVENING SERVICE.

Auburn City Council:
Jon LaBonte (Mayor) 782-1174
Belinda Gerry (At-Large) 784-8458
Josh Shea (At-Large) 689-5981
Tizz Crowley (Ward 1) 783-1468
Robert Hayes (Ward 2) 782-1386
Mary LaFontaine (Ward 3) 513-2364
David Young (Ward 4) 786-2129
Leroy Walker (Ward 5) 312-5863

Lewiston City Council:
Bob Macdonald (Mayor) 784-3045
John Butler (Ward 1) 784-2076
Don D’Auteil (Ward 2) 576-3627
Nathan Libby (Ward 3) 399-7993
Doreen Christ (Ward 4) 576-7409
Mark Cayer (Ward 6) 795-5043
Richard Desjardins (Ward 7) 577-6315

To determine your municipal ward, click here!

To learn more about the current bus routes, visit www.purplebus.org

Today, we’re proud to be part of the Maine Freedom to Marry Coalition as the campaign announces three exciting things that will help win marriage for all Mainers:

Mainers United for Marriage starts with a solid foundation: support among Mainers is at 54% and counting, 105,000 people signed our petition, and the marriage coalition that The League of Young Voters belongs to is now 21 members strong.

Here’s what you can do to support the campaign: visit MainersUnited.org today, and sign up to volunteer, contribute to the campaign, or stay updated on what comes next. Check it out now, and then share with your friends on Facebook and twitter.