Doing Homework

My wife is the one who typically does the homework with Boo Jr. They do it right after he gets home from school and before dinner. But every once in a while, I'll do homework with him or help him study for his tests. One thing that I'm enjoying is that he's starting to learn more complex subject matter in school. Earlier this year, his class learned about the continents and oceans. They also studied American geography such as knowing where the Rocky Mountains, Appalachian Mountains, Mississippi River, James River, and Virginia are on a map. More recently, they've been studying the water cycle, The need to know all about evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and run off. It's neat that they also talk about how it's important to conserve water and protect our water sources from pollution. They've also gotten into learning about the states of matter - solid, liquid, and gas. It's been cool remembering the old days when I learned this material in school.

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Our Throwaway Society's Effect on Wildlife

These photographs of albatross chicks were made just a few weeks ago on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking. To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, not a single piece of plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the actual stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world's most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent.


Click HERE to see even more photos.

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One way to stop global warming...

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Protect Insurance Companies Now!

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Toxic Water: Coal in the Water

Would you drink this water? This is a water sample from a house in Prenter, WV.

I think that the media gives too much attention to the "evils" of foreign oil and nuclear power. The horrible effects of coal is the real story. About half of this country's electricity is generated by a coal-fired power plant. It makes me sick when I hear commercials talking about "clean coal". I get pissed off when I hear President Obama talk about "clean coal" too. I hope that when the whole health care legislation is over and done with and he moves on to climate change that he emphasizes clean and renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind. Heck, I'm even in favor nuclear power. It's a lot less detrimental to the environment that coal is. It looks like the EPA is starting to crack down on mountain top removal (a travesty in its own right) and .

Here's a video from the NY Times about the effects coal is having on one West Virginia family.

Seven-year-old Ryan Massey, of Prenter, West Virginia, smiled back with capped teeth, the enamel devoured by toxic tap water. His brother sported scabs and rashes, courtesy of the heavy metals—including lead, nickel—in their bath water. Tests show that their tap water contains arsenic, barium, lead, manganese and other chemicals at concentrations federal regulators say could contribute to cancer and damage the kidneys and nervous system.”

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Reusable Grocery Bags, Obama, and More

Last night was my first night volunteering at my son's school selling reusable grocery bags. Our green club is selling them as a fundraiser. The school has several Back to School Nights where parents come to school, listen to the principal talk, and also meet their child's teacher for the year. The PTA is there hawking their goods and the school was selling the agendas that each student is required to purchase.

We had our table set up adjacent to the school's table with the agendas. That was a good idea because everyone attending had to stop at the school's table to purchase an agenda. I may seem kind of outspoken/outgoing on my blog, but it real life, I'm kind of on the quiet side. I'm not really much of a salesbunny either. I ended up selling about 20 bags last night (which for the amount of traffic we had isn't all that bad). One thing that worked against us is people started showing up about 15 minutes before the principal spoke. So for the parents, they seemed preoccupied with getting their agenda and getting to their seat in the cafeteria. I think we would sell more bags if we sent out an order form. Maybe we'll do that once we get into the school year a little bit. A number of people complimented the looks of the bag, which made me happy since I designed them. It would be cool if in the next few weeks I see my bags out an about at the grocery store.

During the time while the principal was speaking, things were quiet in the front lobby. The school office staff (who was selling the agendas) were chatting. They mentioned how the phones were ringing off the hooks the past couple days. I asked if it was parents asking what time the Back to School Nights started. Nope. It was people freaking out about Obama's upcoming speach to school kids.

Well, this is what they think is going to happen:

He's going to turn your children into activist haranguers for his policies.

He's turning your precious children into "kiddie human shields."

He's recruiting his own "Hitler youth brigade."

He's turning our children into Community Organizers!

He's trying to subvert the traditions and values that parents hold dear.

He's brainwashing your children into the Cult of Obama.

He's forcing children into compulsory volunteerism.

He's become our Dear Leader, and his presence in school classrooms is unprecedented.

You can disgree with Obama's politics but this is taking things too far. Here's what Obama was planning on talking about. I certainly don't see anything wrong with it. Why didn't these people protest when Reagan and Bush made similar speeches to school kids? I don't remember Democrats freaking out about a Republican president talking to our kids either. This country is fucked in the head!

I learned that the Chesterfield County School District will NOT be showing Obama's speech. For our school district, the speech will take place on the first day of school. The school claims that things are just too crazy on the first day of school to try and organize an event like this. I can certainly appreciate that fact and respect that decision. I also think that their decision was also influenced by all the phone calls the school received.

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Why We Need Government-Run, Universal, Socialized, Call It Whatever You Want Health Insurance

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Don't Be a Litterbug!

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. - Mohandas Gandhi

Every night, after I put Boo Jr to bed, I take my dog, Sofie, for a walk. We usually walk the same route every time. We live in a pretty big housing development that has a network of walking trails. We do our walk along a path that parallels one of the main thru-fares. It always disgusted me to see all of the litter on the side of the road and thrown into the woods. In the back of my mind I would think to myself, "This looks like shit. Someone should pick this crap up." Maybe a month or so ago, I came across this quote above, and it inspired me to be that change. So for the past month, I've been picking up garbage from the road that can be recycled (soda bottles, beer cans, etc) and putting them in my recycling bins at home. Maybe I'll eventually get one of those garbage-picker-upper-thing-a-ma-bobbies and pick up the trash as well.

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Organic Food Study

A recently published medical study asserts that organic food is no healthier than conventional food. I think that the media is doing a disservice in the way it's presenting this story. Who buys organic because they think it's more nutritious? The study the article cited was completely irrelevant and the headline was misleading. Just because organic food isn't more nutritious doesn't mean it's not "healthier." I know I'm not going to get extra potasium eating an organic banana versus a regular one. I know I'm not going to get extra vitamins from eating organic strawberries versus eating regular ones. I know I'll be conusming less pesticides though. Even if there are studies that say it's "OK" to consume a certain level of pesticides, I'd rather keep my consumption to an absolute minimum.

The study also doesn't consider the other positive effects of organic farming. Less pesticides and such means less crap pollutes our land, water, and air. I've heard reviews for the movie Food, Inc. and they talk about people wearing hazmat suits while they're spraying produce with pesticides. Do you want to be eating this food? I'd rather not.

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Thank You For Shopping!

Over the past several months, since the time there's been no doubt that we're in a deep recession, I've noticed that sales clerks and store personnel seem to be a lot friendlier and helpful. My wife has especially noticed that at JCPenney and Target. Even the normally friendly and helpful people at Ukrops seem to be friendlier and more helpful.

Businesses also seem to be doing more to try and drum up more business. I normally take my car to Midas for my car's oil change. Midas has never called me before to remind me I'm do for an oil change. But I got a call from them a couple days ago, three months to the day of my last oil change, to remind me that I'm due for an oil change and if I'd like to set up an appointment. Just yesterday, I got an offer from Verizon in the mail if I want to extend my current bundle package (tv, internet, and phone) for another year for $99/month (1 year committment). My current package deal doesn't even run out for another year. And when I first signed up, I was worried I'd have to threaten to cancel my service in order to get a good deal again. Guess I was wrong.

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My Thoughts on the Inauguration

I'll be doing my best to catch bits and pieces of the Inauguration at work. We have flat screen tvs in the conference rooms at our new office. I'd like to watch the swearing in and listen to Obama's speech. I bet (because of no tv, internet, etc) at the time that even FDR didn't have as much pressure to fix some big mess that the country is in. Although I think that Obama is doing a good job so far assembling his cabinet and such that at least part of his high poll numbers are due to that fact that "he's not George Bush". Bush has got to be the absolute worst president in history.

I think the first 100 days will be quite exciting. I hope that Obama will role out ambitious programs to get this country back on track. I think it would be more dangerous to not "go big enough" than to go "too big". I feel excited because we will be living history. I'm sure Obama will do a lot of symbolic (and important) things during his first few days like closing Gitmo, proving funding for stem cell research, and many other things that he can accomplish by presidential proclamation.

Even though the Democrats made some big gain in Congress this past election, I'm more worries about *them* than I am about Obama. I fear there's going to be too much bickering and things won't get done quickly. I'm sure the Republicans will try and throw wrenches in the works. And I'm sure the Democrats will continue to suffer from lack of organization, leadership, and backbone. Sometimes they just need to grow a pair.

Selfishly speaking, I hope that the government designates a lot of funds towards making our schools and public office building more modern and energy efficient. A lot of our clients have projects on hold. Some are designed and are waiting to be built. Others have a definite need and are waiting to be designed but lack the necessary funding. I hope that Obama uses his head and puts more of the money towards projects that have a long lasting and POSITIVE impact instead of building more roads and bridges that only encourage people to drive more. I'm all for fixing up the potholes and repairing the bridges too, but no more new roads please.

I wish President Obama the best of luck. I hope that Congress, state, and local governments work together with Obama to craft solutions to our nation's problems - protecting our environment, providing quality health care, restoring our rights as citizens, and most importantly getting our nation out of this financial crisis and back on the road to recovery. May President Obama have the guidance he needs to right our ship and steer it in a new and better direction (someplace besides the bottom of the sea where we're currently heading).

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More Talk About the Layoffs

I had a little sense of relief coming to work today. The bad news is done and over now (for a while at least). The first thing that struck me when I got to work was the empty name plates on the people's cubes. There's something very personal about a person's name. So to see their name missing made the layoffs all that more real. The work spaces were clear of their personal items, and their computers were taken back to the IT department so they could be "reformatted" for the next person.

I have to remind myself that this was a business decision that had to be made. There rarely is ever a person who "deserves" to be laid off. It seems that each person that was cut has some sort of personal story. Some were kids fresh out of school. Others were older people that have been around the block many times. It's especially hard thinking about those with small kids and families. But we all fit in that boat, and it wouldn't be possible to lay anyone off if you look at their personal situation.

But life must go on, and work has to get done. The projects that those people were working on were reassigned to other people. We lost one of our MEP/CA guys so I'll have to pick up the slack answering more RFIs and going out in the field more often to review the Contractor's work. It feels weird having to rummage through someone else's files. You can tell people are feeling guilty about having a job while some of our coworkers (and many other people) have lost their jobs.

Our president said that he's hoping that things will start improving in late 2009, and the cuts made reflected that belief. We'll be keeping a closer eye out for RFPs that we might not have gone after in the past. Firms are coming from out of state into the region that we serve looking for work. There was a firm from Nebraska competing for a North Carolina school job that we were also competing for.

Another interesting thing I noticed was how much more personable people were in the weeks leading up to the big announcement and during the days after. People (myself included) were more apt to say "good morning" or "how's it going" while passing in the hallway (not that we were a bunch of trolls prior to this by any stretch of the imagination).

Our studio engineering leader reaffirmed that those that were let go were let go due to performance reasons. They weren't necessarily poor workers, but were in the unfortunate position of being lower performing than the rest of their coworkers. For those people that I worked with on a project, I was only surprised about only one person that was let go. Otherwise, I was in agreement with the tough choices that were made.

So I think the rest of December will be kind of a downer in the office. The studio that I'm in is fortunate to still be pretty busy. The main project in 2009 for us will be a new $100 million prison and sounds like it will be one of the biggest projects that I'll be involved in to date. I hope that the local and state governments get much needed funding from the federal government. We've got a tremendous backlog of work. As I stated before, the problem is that they are not having us start the designs for those projects due to lack of funding resulting from the drastic cutbacks that the local and state governments have made. January 20, 2009 can't come soon enough.

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The Failing Economy

Yesterday was a sad day at Forest Animals A/E. We said goodbye to 40 or so workers who became the latest victims of this failing economy. These workers represented about 15% of our total employee base. The layoffs were strategically made to try and position the company better for what's to come in 2009.

The layoffs weren't totally unexpected. Several weeks ago, our president announced that cuts were going to be made. I guess, during this time period, they were figuring out how many people needed to be laid off and which employees would be let go. Everyone knew that something would happen at this meeting because yesterday's meeting had been announced last week.

You could feel the tension in the air during the weeks leading up to this meeting. I'm sure people were looking at each other thinking, "John might not be working here next week." Or even, "I might be out of a job soon." No one was really lacking work, but everyone realized the state of the economy and the anticipated slow down in work for us in 2009. Our firm has a large backlog of work and we continue to win new projects. The problem is that out clients (schools, prisons, local and state government) do not have the funding available for us to work on them. They've delayed the starts of those projects until they have their funding in order. Most of these entities are required to keep a balanced budget, so they delay projects like the design and construction of a new elementary school.

There was no detail given how the layoffs would happen. On Monday morning, the department heads were walking around and asking certain people to come with them. From experience, I could tell that these were the people getting laid off. Even though I was nervous, having been laid off twice before in my life, I felt cautiously optimisitc about my own job security. A few weeks ago, my boss had mentioned to me that he was planning to nominate me for Senior Associate. I figured that was a pretty good indicator that my job was safe.

So at about 9:00 the people being laid off were gathered together in our large conference room. At about 9:30, all the remaining people were asked to assemble in the gymnasium. Our President announced that the layoffs had just been made and explained what was going to happen to them, the rest of us, and the company as a whole. No one wants anyone to lose their job, but I was glad to hear that those being laid off were given a severance package based on seniority. Our president tried to calm everyone else's fear that these layoffs would be the first of many by stating that these are the only layoffs that they have planned. The company felt that the recession would affect us until late 2009, and these layoffs needed to be made as a result. Obviously, if the economy gets far worse then other layoffs might be necessary. Our president stated his optimism that our company will weather the rest of this storm and will come out well positioned and stronger once the economy rebounds. We're a leader in green design. Hopefully, Obama's plan to modernize schools and government office buildings and provide a rescue package for state and local governments will help those projects that are currently on the back burner move back to the front burner.

All the rest of the day, I watched the results of what happened this morning. Those that got laid off were sadly packing up their things. Fellow employeed (including myself) tried to comfort those that were leaving and to give them our support. There were a few layoffs that surprised me and/or were people that I worked really closely with. Even though many of these people were "only work friends", I felt immensely sad inside. I felt sad for those workers and their families that rely on them. I felt sad remembering how I felt the two times I had been laid off. The second time I was laid off was when my wife was 8-months pregnant with Boo Jr. It was that layoff that forced us to move away from New York and to move down south where I could find a job.

Probably the next week or so will be kind of a mourning period at work. We're a really tight family at Forest Animals A/E. It's a really good company. But even good companies like ours are being hurt hard by the economy right now. The company had to make this tough decision to lay these good folks off in order to keep treading water. January 20, 2009 can't come soon enough.

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McCain Wins Election

Please register to vote!

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Who Let the Dogs Out? (Drama at the Bus Stop)

UPDATE: Here's some additional information and added developments.

• The dog is leashed and well behaved. It isn't running around, barking, or otherwise bothering the kid.
• Yesterday, the dog mother's visiting mother came to the bus stop as well and brought her dog. The little kid freaked out so much that he tried to run into the street. He tripped, fell, and skinned his knee.
• My wife has called the transportation office and the school. Both of them listened to her concern but said that they could not do anything in this situation. It's a public place and the dog is on a leash.
• The kid's father thanked my wife for "sticking up for them".
• Dog mother used to walk to the other bus stop (last year) as it is equidistant from their house.

Some drama has developed at my son's bus stop during this first week of school. There are a few new kids at the bus stop this year. One little boy is just starting Kindergarten this year. My wife has spoken a little bit with the kid's mother during this time. My wife learned that the kid is really excited about school and especially about riding the bus. She also got the impression that the mother is a real nervous nelly about her kid attending school.

So the problem is with one of the other mothers. She frequently brings their dog to the bus stop. The dog is very well behaved and friendly. However, the little Kindergartener is deathly afraid of dogs. That fact was obvious to my wife even without the mother saying so. The kid is visably afraid of the dog.

After a couple days (when I wife picked up on this), she recommeded to the mother that she tell the dog mother not to bring their dog to the bus stop. It seems that the new mother is too timid and doesn't want to cause any trouble. Meanwhile, the kid is hiding behind his mother and trying to hold back his tears. Later in the week, the dog mother tried to introduce her dog to the kid, and the kid was really afraid. The dog mother joked that "the kid needs to get used to dogs".

Whether you think that's true or not, I believe it's not dog mother's place to force her dog on someone's kid. What's going to end up happening is the mother will end up driving the kid to school and take away that fun experience of riding the bus from her kid.

Question to the panel: Do you think my wife should say something to the dog mother?

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I Have A Dream

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Starting a New Job

No, I'm not starting a new job - but we've hired a couple college graduates recently, and that has gotten me thinking about life was like for me after I graduated from Clarkson University way back in 1995.

I had a number of on-campus interviews and was even flown to Boston for a follow up interview, but I did not have a job lined up when I graduated in May. So I still lived at my parents' house in Oneida while continuing to work as a cashier at Price Chopper. I continued to look for a "real" job but wasn't having much luck. The economy was kind of slow at that time (especially in CNY where I had focused my job search). Out of the blue, I received a phone call from Schonbek Worldwide Lighting. They had gotten my resume from Clarkson and wanted me to come up to Plattsburgh for an interview. It's about a 4 hour drive if I remember correctly. They had everybody (including Andrew Schonbek - the company's president) but the janitor interview me. I was nervous but thought I did really well. It wasn't the type of job (manufacturing) I had invisioned myself working at but wanted to keep an open mind. A day or two later, I received a phone call with a job offer. Here are some random observations about that time in my life just entering the "real world".

1. I was really nervous at work for the first week or so. Most of it was just being afraid of the unknown, not knowing what my job duties really entail. They can describe your duties all they want during the interview, but you don't really understand it until after you start (especially for someone fresh out of school).
2. They used a different drafting program than I learned at school, so I had the frustration of having to learn that.
3. I made arrangements to be roommates with a fellow employee who started at Schonbek a couple years earlier. I stayed with him at his current apartment for the first week while we looked for a larger apartment to move into. The apartment was right next to the train tracks, and it scared the piss out of me when the train would pass through in the middle of the night.
4. I've always been good at saving my money. While others were still living their college days and going out drinking constantly, I used my money to buy things for the house. It was fun going to Sears and buying all sorts of hand tools and shoppnig around elsewhere for all those things to get your house set up. I even bought a Maytag washer and dryer after working several months because I hated going to the laundromat. I still have that washer and dryer today and they're still running great.
5. It was actually "neat" to have my own bills for a short period of time. But that got old really quick.
6. NO HOMEWORK!!! It was a weird feeling not having any more homework. I'd get home from work and think, "Well, what do I do now?" I would actually feel panicked at times thinking that I forgot to work on something or that I had a term paper due. I would usually go for an hour bike ride after work, explore the area, and eat dinner late.
7. My starting salary coming out of school was $27,000. That amounts to $37,000 in today's dollars. It's amazing how much my salary has increased since then.
8. Even though I was four hours away from home, I didn't feel very homesick. Clarkson is about 4 hours from Oneida too, so maybe that's why. I imagine it would be difficult for some college graduates to adjust to living further from home in a different state or even cross-country. If you live in the same state you grew up in, you're use to the culture and stuff. That can be quite different if you move to a different part of the country.
9. Even though the people at Schonbek were great to work with and I had a roommate (for a while), I never really made any real friends during my 1 1/2 years in Plattsburgh. All of the people at work that were my age had different interests than me so we didn't hang out much outside of work. Going out drinking just wasn't my thing. I was too responsible and mature for my own good. So after the novelty of the new job and moving to and living in a new area wore off, I got kind of depressed. Good thing I was into riding my bike because it gave me something to focus on. But I felt pretty lonely, especially during the winter months, because of not being able to ride my bike.
10. I remember my parents coming up to visit and showing them my apartment and where I worked. You could see the pride in their eyes and that made me feel real proud inside too.

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Duty Calls

I've been a mechanical engineer for 13 years now and have been a professional engineer for the past 8 years. I was made an Associate by my company last August which afforded me the duty and responsibility of signing drawings. Today, I'll be signing about 100 drawings for a $100,000,000 prison. It got me thinking lately about "duty" and "responsibility" in my job. It also made me think about how these terms apply to other jobs and people I know, especially those in Yada land.

I think most everybody tries to do a good job whether they're designing prisons or flipping hamburgers. Looking back, one thing I've noticed in my attitude about my job is a growing sense of duty and responsibility. I always strive to provide the best design I can for the Owner and to meet his requirements. I give lots of thought to what will be the most cost effective system, a system that can easily be maintained, and (given the fact that I primarily design prisons and courthouses) a system that keeps people safe and helps protect lives. I find it amazing how instilled this desire is in good engineers. For example, reviewing product submittals from Contractors is something I enjoy doing. With all due respect to Contractors, they are trying to build things as inexpensive as possible. Sometimes (willfully or not) they submit products for review that are inferior to what I have designed. Would a chrome-plated ball valve be sufficient even though I specified a stainless steel one? Probably yes. But that's not what I designed, and I want the best for the Owner. That's why it's in the specifications. The Owner paid for it. He better damn will be getting it.

I also feel a sense of duty to the integrity of the design. Sometimes the Architect wants me to modify my design because it results in something not aesthetically pleasing. Having a large duct or a large pipe passing under a beam and causing the need for a lower ceiling height is a common example. I might be able to go with a smaller duct and maintain the ceiling height, but then the system will be louder and not perform as well. Getting enough space in mechanical rooms is another constant battle. I have gained a lot of respect for the "maintenace guy" who has to maintain my system after the building gets built. I really strive to design a well functioning and easily maintainable system to make these guys' lives easier. They certainly complain about "the last guy" if the engineer that designed the previous building did a shitty job.

Safety and security is very important when designing prisons and courthouses. I have great respect for the Architects and the countless unseen measures they go through and the Public never sees to keep the occupants of these building safe. One area that I put lots of thought into is when designing mechanical equipment intended for inmate areas. Can an inmate abuse this item, break off a piece of metal, and use it as a weapon? Can someone thread a shoelace through this air register and hang themselves? Will the maintenance guy still be able to maintain this equipment properly if I locate it above the ceiling in the prison library?

I've been thinking about how my friend in Yada must feel similar senses of duty and responsibility. My friend, Z, is a therapist at a clinic. I'm sure that she feels a great sense of duty and responsibility to her clients. I'm sure that the respect of a patient's privacy is very important to her. Another Yada buddy, Doboy, is a union representative. He represents many people that rely on him to protect their livelihood, benefits, and working conditions. I'm certain that he feels a great sense of duty and responsibility as well.

It makes me feel good that there are a lot of people out there that still take pride in their work and are doing so not to simply get a paycheck but because of their sense of duty and responsibility.

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The Environment and Politics

I don't understand why Republicans (in general) don't seem to give a shit about the environment. Ignore Al Gore and global warming, and at the end of the day, protecting our environment is still very important. Who doesn't want clean air and clean water? Many areas of the country are experiencing major water restrictions. A lot of the focus these days are about conserving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. You don't hear a lot about water in the news and how it's important to reduce our water consumption. Energy and water go hand in hand. It takes a lot of water to produce energy. Nuclear power plants use a TON of water. If we conserve energy, then that's less energy the power plant needs to produce and less water they need to consume.

I think that many Republicans aren't really anti-environment. I think that they're pro-business, and Republicans (and many businesses) think that it would put them at a disadvantage to go green. To a certain extent, they're right. But like any major issue, it's complicated and can't be so easily disected. For example, I've been reading in the paper lately about manufacturers striving to have zero landfill impact. Waste from manufacturing is recycled and/or is reused for other purposes. Walmart (for all the grief that many people give them) does a really good job using energy efficient equipment, day lighting, and other green practices. They are a company realizes that investing in these technologies saves money in the long run. All that said, I'm sure there are some sectors of the economy that would be hindered by tighter environmental regulations. We're already at a competitive disadvantage when competing in the global workplace. It would be even harder to compete if other developing countries do not also comply with these same regulations. I see that arguement a lot. "Why bother? The rest of the world isn't doing it. They polute a lot more than we do." I think that protecting the environment is something this country needs to lead on. This country needs to be the driving force behind protecting our environment. More pressure needs to be put on countries that are the biggest polluters (China and India for example) to significantly improve their environmental regulations.

Here's a LINK so you can check out how green your senators and representatives are. If your representative is doing a good job, contact them and tell them to keep up the good work and that you support them. If they are not doing a good job, tell them to get their ass in gear and that you'll kick his sorry ass out of office in November if he doesn't start voting the right way.

If you'd checked out some of these, you would have learned that John McBush ... er ... McCain, scored a zero on the 2007 scorecard. That's right. The presidential candidate that some tout as being a green Republican got a goose egg for his votes on environmental matters last year. That's in part because he missed all 15 votes on which LCV measured his greenworthiness. But, then, his lifetime LCV rating is a pitiful 24%. Both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama missed four votes. Nonetheless, Clinton clocked in at 73% (87% lifetime), Obama at 67% (86% lifetime).

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