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This is a pretty awesome mini micro-musical that many Hollywood actors recently released to protest California’s recent vote on Proposition 8 which banned gay marriage. Aside from the fact that it’s spot on, it’s also hilarious and worthy of a watch. And like most good web videos, it includes Neil Patrick Harris.

So if you care about equality or just want to save the economy, get involved at Join the Impact.

Friday, Nov 28th is the last day to voice your opinion on whether the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should regulate carbon dioxide (CO²) pollution, the primary cause of the climate crisis. This is, how they say, kind of a big deal.

In April 2007, responding to a lawsuit brought by NRDC with states and other environmental groups, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the EPA has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide if it harms public health and welfare. The Court ordered the EPA to decide whether the welfare of the American people was being harmed by CO² emitted by cars and powerplants or to explain why not.

After over a year of delays, the EPA is finally taking public comment before making a ruling. But the window for sending in comments is quickly closing.

Of course, special interests — like the oil and coal lobbies — are working overtime to defeat a positive ruling and have already gotten thousands of comments submitted in opposition.

You can send in your public comment via the Repower America site here. I sent my message in already and I’m looking forward to seeing it on the EPA’s website and being part of the public record.

You can read more about this issue at the following sites:

• Washington Post: EPA Seeks Comment on Emissions Rules, Then Discredits Effort
• Mother Earth News: Comment Before the EPA Rules on Carbon Dioxide
• NRDC: Tell the EPA to act now to help stop global warming
• San Francisco Gate: Go On Record with the EPA
• Houston Chronicle: Texas governor Perry concerned by plans to limit greenhouse gases

Brilliant campaign video:

Not so brilliant campaign video:

While personally I don’t think it makes much sense to holding someone accountable for actions their associate did 40 years ago, I could see how some people would think that significant. So regarding Obama’s association with Weather Underground cofounder Bill Ayers, I assumed the Republicans had jumped on a real issue and were legitimately hammering Obama on it. And that’s what a strong democracy is all about.

Except what the Republicans are saying about Obama and Ayers isn’t true.

My new favorite website, FactCheck.org, has put out a fantastic article on the attacks that McCain and Palin have been lobbing at Obama. Read their story: “He Lied” About Bill Ayers?.

FactCheck says of the ads, “We find McCain’s accusation that Obama “lied” to be groundless” and “Other claims are seriously misleading.” Overall, they say,

McCain-Palin campaign attempts to sway voters – in ads and on the stump – with false and misleading statements about the relationship, which was never very close. Obama never “lied” about this, just as he never bragged about it. The foundation they both worked with was hardly “radical.” And Ayers is more than a former “terrorist,” he’s also a well-known figure in the field of education.

Normally I don’t feel the need to parrot every new story on FactCheck.org, but I thought this one was important since most people probably assume, as I did, that there’s really some meat behind this whole Obama-Ayers thing. But after reading the FactCheck piece, it seems to be much ado about nothing.

Recently, with all the spin and deceptive ads running on television, it’s been hard to figure out whose tax plan is the best for you (and me). Luckily, the Wall Street Journal has published this very handy article called, How Your Taxes Will Fare Under Obama, McCain.

The details of each candidate’s plan are pretty straight forward. McCain wants to extend President Bush’s income-tax cuts and cut the corporate income-tax rate. This benefits everyone but more so the rich (who pay more taxes since they’re, well, rich). Obama wants to increase taxes on high-income earners (families making over $250,000 a year and individuals making over $200,000). But Obama is also proposing tax cuts for lower- and middle-income households.

So what does that all mean for you and me? Read the article or click this handy chart on the right to learn more.

But regardless of whose plan works better for you, chances are it’s all a pipe dream anyway. As the article points out:

Congress “will have its own ideas, and the economic as well as the budget realities of 2009 will shape the new administration’s actions.”

And a word of warning from this CNN article that I mentioned before:

Tax studies have shown that when tax cuts are deficit funded and they’re paid for by raising taxes in the future, “the economy is worse off than if you didn’t cut at all,” Burman said

Really, the economy is the biggest issue in this election. So think hard before deciding.