Vote, don’t float

It’s political season in a political town, so be not surprised if the leaves don’t fall from the trees. Or if the skies part and gravity fails, and we all float up to the sun, leaning back and waving our arms in small circles, saying, “Whoa, whoa, whoa!”

In other words, it’s weird out there. The future of the entire state of California is hinging on the passage of Gov. Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30, and the Republican candidate for president gave more to the Mormon church than the IRS in 2010.

But, to quote a Burt Bacharach song, “I’m not going to stop the rain by complaining, because I’m free.”

Britney Spears was spotted in an eco-car; Nikki Reed composts using worms; Anne Hathaway was given a rescued calf as a wedding present from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals; and Danny DeVito, Dave Matthews, Emily Deschanel, Bill Maher, John Cho, Kaitlin Olson and Kristin Bauer van Straten all came out in support of labeling genetically modified organisms (Proposition 37). As has the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op and Auntie Ruth. And you should, too.

And give it up for Jerry Brown, the California Climate and Agriculture Network, and even Assemblywoman Lois Wolk: With the passage of Assembly Bill 1532, an addendum to the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, some of the money from oil refineries, power plants and manufacturers will, via the complexities of cap and trade, go to support “the development and implementation of sustainable agriculture.” There will likely be a tussle over what “sustainable” means, but just the inclusion of the phrase might mean real support for “the kind of farming that needs all the help it can get in our otherwise overly industrialized system” (according to Grist).

U.S. Rep. Dan Lungren—in the race of his career for re-election to Congress—who is a member of the Flat Earth Five and the Tea Party Ten, is opposed by Women Against Lungren, Veterans Against Lungren, Students Against Lungren, Environmentalists Against Lungren, Seniors Against Lungren and now, as of this moment, Eco-columnists Against Lungren. May he float up to the sun before any of the rest of us, may a song be on his lips, “I’m not going to stop the rain by complaining, because I’m free.”

Float strong, Styrofoam Danny. Float strong.

Because we’ve had enough of your I-was-tea-party-before-there-was-a-tea-party ’tude, and see ya later. Thanks so very much.

Vote November 6.

No matter what.