Jackson Williams: Republicans Identify Their Problem: It’s The Packaging!
Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota weighed in last Sunday on fellow Republican Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina:
“Any time you have leading figures who are engaged in behavior that is sad and troubling and hypocritical…It certainly hurts the brand.”
The brand? Interesting word choice, and Republicans have been using it quite a bit lately.
We all know that political parties are sold like shampoo or a new car. Yet politics is a somewhat different commodity. The coin of its realm is ideas and good government, not extra conditioning and leather seats.
That’s why the ministers of the trade — politicians — do themselves a disservice when they speak in the language of advertisers and media consultants.
Talking inside baseball (“My latest internal poll has me up 5% and I’ve outraised my opponent by $400,000″), instead of, say, jobs and health care, is akin to Toto pulling back the curtain and revealing the mechanics. Such glibness turns public service into a mere game instead of the higher calling it should be, at least on a good day.
Let’s be clear: people understand that running for high office is a business that requires professional merchandising. After 200 years, we know the drill. At the end of the day, however, we usually vote on the ideas and vision of the candidates. This is why Barack Obama is president.
Republicans need to focus on substance, if they can, rather than worry about re-branding. There is evidence this might be difficult.
In September 2002, six months before the Iraq invasion, Bush Chief of Staff Andy Card explained why the war blueprint wasn’t rolled out for consumption until after Labor Day: “From a marketing point of view,” he said matter-of-factly, “you don’t introduce new products in August.”
No wonder the GOP sees its current state of affairs as a perception problem, something that can be fixed with make-up and better lighting.
Good luck with that.
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John Farr: For Independence Day, Ten Movies That Scream America
As we head into Independence Day weekend, for those who’d like to move beyond the evergreen “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, I want to suggest some classic titles scattered over the decades that each in their way evoke our country’s unique character- to paraphrase a favorite movie title, encompassing the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly…
If you haven’t seen any of these for a while, well now’s the time.
Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (1936)- Simple country boy Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) inherits an immense fortune from a distant relative he doesn’t even know, and must then navigate a sea of handlers and hand-out requests to make sense of his new life as multi-millionaire. But those who think they can manipulate this tuba-playing rube are soon in for a rude awakening. This charming slice of Americana from director Frank Capra is one of Cooper’s most appealing comic forays, as his plain-talking homespun reflection of rural America-foxes all those smug and greedy city-slickers. Thus the movie reinforces the recurring Capra theme of solid individual integrity over the mob of established, monied interests. The husky voiced Jean Arthur delivers a note-perfect turn as Babe Bennett, a hard-nosed lady journalist who first ridicules, then falls for Longfellow, much to her surprise. One of the screen’s authentic classics, this is pixilated comedy at its very best.
Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)- Charting the early life experiences of Abraham Lincoln (Henry Fonda) in Springfield, Illinois, this fictionalized biopic follows the future Civil War president from his first political speech in 1832 and the tragic death of girlfriend Ann Rutledge (Pauline Moore) to his first trial case as a lawyer. Throughout, we glimpse moments of anguish and triumph in the making of a moral leader, as well as his courtship of society belle Mary Todd (Marjorie Weaver). The film culminates with Lincoln summoning uncommon ingenuity in defending two young men accused of murder. Fonda, who originally declined the role because of his awed reverence for Lincoln’s legacy, embodies Abe with plainspoken assurance and gutsy idealism. Weaver, as the future Mrs. Lincoln, and Alice Brady, as the mother of two sons presumed guilty of murder, round out a luminous studio cast. Don’t miss this stunning, mythic portrait of American greatness personified, by the legendary director of “Stagecoach.”
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)- The great Sam Goldwyn produced this first, most ambitious movie about the plight of returning servicemen at the end of the Second World War. The film follows the unique readjustments to civilian life faced by three veterans: Fred Derry (Dana Andrews), a young officer coming back to a dead-end job, Al Stephenson (Fredric March), an older soldier returning to a loving family and stable career, and Homer Parrish (Harold Russell), a sailor who has lost both his hands in combat. Each character is subtly drawn under William Wyler’s expert direction, evoking the complex challenges that confront veterans of all ranks – making sense of their own war experiences while readjusting to a changed America. Even with the requisite dose of sentimentality and romance, the film never strays far from its central premise that no matter what you return to in a time of peace, war changes you forever. Oscar-winner for Best Picture, Best Actor (March) and Best Supporting Actor (Russell, an amputee veteran, and non-actor!).
Picnic (1955)- Hal Carter (William Holden), a down-and-out former college football jock, hops a freight to Kansas to ask his wealthy former roommate Alan Benson (Cliff Robertson) for a job. Alan’s thrilled to see him (at first), but others distrust the rugged stranger, including Flo Owens (Betty Field), the socially ambitious mother of the girl Alan’s been dating, town beauty Madge (Kim Novak, in her film debut). She senses the potential chemistry between Hal and Madge, an attraction that might hurt Hal’s job search, and ruin Flo’s carefully laid plans for her daughter’s future. Matters come to a head at the town picnic. Joshua Logan’s adaptation of the hit William Inge play captures the feeling of mid-twentieth century small town America as few other pictures have. Location shooting (in Technicolor) helps, with the crowd shots of real Kansans enjoying themselves during the picnic sequence particularly evocative. The two romantic leads do indeed heat up the screen, particularly during their memorable dance to the fifties standard, “Moonglow”. Robertson, Field, Rosalind Russell and Arthur O’Connell round out a first-rate cast. Attend this “Picnic”.
Medium Cool (1969)- TV cameraman John Cassellis ( an unrecognizable, pre- “Jackie Brown” Robert Forster) meets and falls for struggling single mom, Eileen (Verna Bloom), against the least opportune of back-drops: the turbulent 1968 Democratic Convention, when brutal police reaction to student demonstrations put the city of Chicago in chaos. John and sound-man Gus (Peter Bonerz) must capture the unfolding crisis for posterity, and in this volatile situation, it appears nothing is safe, including any future for John and Eileen. Haskell Wexler’s one-of-a-kind film seamlessly blends narrative and documentary forms, as the actors actually played their scenes as the Chicago riots were exploding all around them. The heightened sense of immediacy and danger is palpable. Extremely well-played by Forster and Bloom, this is a fascinating, irreplaceable American time-capsule for the ages. Look for Peter Boyle as an impassioned right-winger.
Breaking Away (1979)- This strikingly buoyant coming-of-age picture set in Indiana tells of four local boys (and recent high-school grads) who must face their futures, but not before enjoying one last carefree summer. Protagonist Dave (Dennis Christopher) is obsessed with cycling, and on learning how many cycling champions come from Italy, cultivates an appreciation for all things Italian, much to the consternation of his conventional parents (Paul Dooley and Barbara Barrie). Dave’s cycling skills will eventually be tested against the snobby college guys in Bloomington’s annual bike race. Director Peter Yates’s heartfelt, life-affirming movie will prove a winner for older kids and adults. Christopher is appealingly quirky in the central role and the film also showcases the budding talents of future stars Dennis Quaid and Daniel Stern as two of Dave’s buddies. Dooley is outstanding as Dave’s bewildered father, a solid Middle American you might actually buy a used car from.
Tender Mercies (1983)- Mac Sledge (Robert Duvall), once a successful country music balladeer, has a severe drinking problem and has finally hit bottom. It’s no surprise that when alcoholics reach this sad crossroads in life, they either wither away entirely or climb back up into the world. With the help of patient widow Rosa Lee (Tess Harper) and her young son, Mac gradually finds the strength to reclaim his life. This quiet, unadorned gem, beautifully realized by Australian director Bruce Beresford from a brilliant Horton Foote screenplay, is an actor’s showcase, and Duvall makes the most of it, turning in a bravura performance that won him a well-deserved Oscar. (Trivia note: screenwriter Foote had also done the script for Duvall’s first film twenty years earlier: “To Kill A Mockingbird”, where the actor played the mysterious Boo Radley).
Born On The Fourth Of July (1989)- This riveting biopic of Vietnam protester Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise) opens with his all-American upbringing in Massapequa, NY, and entry into the war as a deeply patriotic enlisted man. Later, Kovic returns home disillusioned and psychologically scarred from a bullet wound that’s left him paralyzed from the waist down. Alienated and adrift in Mexico, the hard-drinking vet eventually begins to pull his life together, devoting his energies to anti-war activism. Helmed by Vietnam vet Oliver Stone, “Born” is a profoundly moving portrait of a macho athlete whose horrific battle experience causes him to reassess his politics and reorient his give-’em-hell attitude. Cruise, in an ambitious turn away from heartthrob roles, plays Kovic with precision and conviction, especially at his darkest moments, delivering the finest work of his career. Co-written by Stone and Kovic, “Born” reflects the pain and anger felt by an entire generation of returning US soldiers, and will leave a lasting impression.
American Beauty (1999)- Leading an empty suburban life with his uptight, real-estate-agent wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), and depressed teenage daughter, Jane (Thora Birch), sardonic forty-something Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) decides to overhaul his body–and his life–when he falls madly in lust with gorgeous nubile Angela (Mena Suvari), Jane’s flirtatious best friend. This superlative drama by theater director Sam Mendes peers at the dark side of American middle-class life with ripe, risqué humor and aching poignancy. Both screenwriter Alan Ball and cinematographer Conrad L. Hall were honored along with Mendes at the 1999 Academy Awards for their evocation of suburban alienation, but Kevin Spacey, whose cool, cynical narration constitutes the film’s central nervous system, deserved all the acclaim he received for bringing Lester to life (including a Best Actor Oscar). Working in a subplot involving Lester’s new neighbors, an unhinged Marine (Chris Cooper) and his artsy, drug-dealing son (Wes Bentley), Mendes gives this “Beauty” a gut-wrenching finale that completes Lester’s transformation.
Transamerica (2005)- Just a week before pre-operative transsexual Bree Osbourne (Felicity Huffman), formerly Stanley, is about go under the knife to complete her male-to-female transformation, she learns that she has a 17-year-old son named Toby (Kevin Zegers), who’s in trouble with the law. Encouraged by her therapist, Margaret (Elizabeth Peña), to come to grips with her past, Bree bails Toby out of jail and takes him on a cross-country road trip to Los Angeles. Expertly handled by first-time director Duncan Tucker, this funny, touching film belongs to a tradition of beautifully observed movies about nontraditional American families. Huffman is riveting to watch, especially in the scenes with her disapproving mother, Elizabeth (Fionnula Flanagan). But it is her rapport with Zegers, perfect as the troubled Toby, that gives the film its heart and soul, especially as he believes Bree is a goody-goody church type-not his father. Their trip-so often the arc of growth in great road films-is mutually nourishing and eye-opening. Settle in with “Transamerica” for a frank, heartfelt outing.
For close to 2,000 more outstanding titles, visit www.bestmoviesbyfarr.com.
Also check out John’s video blog profiling great films at www.reel13.org.
More on Tom Cruise
Financial Commission Unmanned: Both Dems, GOP Have Yet To Nominate A Single Person
Democratic and Republican leaders have yet to nominate a single person to the high-profile commission aimed at investigating the financial crisis, even though it was signed into law by President Obama more than a month ago.
House and Senate leaders, responsible for naming all 10 members of the panel, say an announcement could come as early as this week so that the panel, with broad subpoena power, can begin looking into the causes of the crisis.
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Andy Plesser: White House Signs Online Video Distribution Deal with California Start-up
The White House has signed an agreement with TubeMogul, an Emeryville, California-based start-up to distribute and analyze web videos, said David Burch, a TubeMogul executive, in this video interview.
I interviewed David this afternoon at the Personal Democracy Forum. (Please see the transcript below.)
TubeMogul allows video producers to syndicate content to as many as 24 different video sharing sites with one one upload to the TubeMogul site.
It offers two tiers of service, a free product and a paid service, which provides analytics on video usage. The White House has opted to use the paid service. It is using the service to upload to at least two sites, YouTube and Vimeo.
This agreement does not include any services or support for the White House’s in-house video channel, which is managed internally.
David was on a panel about video and political campaigns with Steve Grove of YouTube, Jacob Soboroff of Why Tuesday, and Max Harper, a key video producer in the Obama presidential campaign.
Last week, TubeMogul added video publishing site Castfire to its network of site. Recently I spoke with TubeMogul’s Mark Rotblat about how the company is being used by companies and organizations.
Video Transcript of Burch Interview
David Burch: So I’m here at Personal Democracy Forum representing TubeMogul. I direct our marketing. I’m just here…we’re on an online video panel and we’re talking about a lot of our research around video viewership and I am happy to announce that we recently signed the White House and they’re going to be using us to distribute their videos to several sites to be able to reach voters and citizens, kind of, where they are online. So, go beyond just YouTube. They’re also going to upload with Vimeo and I believe one other site, and we got in the fax machine came an Executive Order from the President, which I guess is what happens when you sign. So we’re very excited about that and excited to be here and see how technology’s changing politics.
You can find this post up on Beet.TV
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Olbermann: Obama Stonewalling On “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (VIDEO)
Keith Olbermann brought on author and noted gay rights activist Dan Savage to discuss whether President Obama is stonewalling on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT).
Savage makes the important point that, just as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has suspended enforcement of the ‘widower’s penalty,’ which forces the deportation of someone who has been married to a U.S. citizen for less than two years, Obama has the executive authority to end the military discharges of gay and lesbian service members that are the result of DADT while Congress debates repealing the policy.
Considering that we’re in the middle of two wars, there is a compelling national security imperative to do this. Savage sarcastically wondered if Napolitano has executive authorities that Obama lacks.
Watch the interview below.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
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Neil Zevnik: Perilous Journey 2: The Urge to Cheat
So here I am, only one week into this rigorous adventure, and already I’m hearing voices — the container of Haagen-Dazs Dulce de Leche was seductively whispering to me from the freezer last night, and now it’s the vodka bottle beside it preaching sedition and urging insurrection at the cocktail hour.
Let’s face it, we’re humans. We’re a species that you have only to forbid us one thing, and it becomes the one thing we crave most above all others — Adam and Eve, the apple? I rest my case. So when faced with a diet plan that denies me any number of customary delights, my brain short-circuits, my taste buds howl, and my will (which was not all that strong to begin with) begins to crumble. What to do? And on top of that, there’s the little matter of dragging my aging butt off to the gym and the park for seemingly endless workouts and boot camps day after day after day. Just the laundry alone from all those sweat-soaked t-shirts and grass-stained pants is enough to discourage anyone…
I’m sure this is a daily dilemma faced by every person who attempts to transform themselves through altering food habits and committing to serious exercise. How do you encourage — nay, force — yourself to stick with it? How do you balance the competing claims of improved health and allowable vanity against innate laziness and oral gratification? And how do you do it all without driving your friends and family batty with your incessant whining?
Okay, I’m ready to share my strategy, such as it is (understanding, of course, that this is all an ongoing process and unfolding discovery, and as such is subject to alteration at any time). I seem to be developing two reasonably reliable maxims:
First and foremost, There Is No Negotiating. The alarm goes off, the room is murky gray at best, it is not a fit hour for man nor beast to be up and stirring (and my pound pup Jane attests to that with a sleepy, puzzled stare); surely boot camp can be skipped for just one day, if I promise faithfully to do an extra half-hour on the treadmill at a more civilized hour. There Is No Negotiating. Get up, get moving, get coffee. It’s almost dinner-time, if I have one more 8-ounce portion of fish I will grow fins and gills, and a cheese-oozing pepperoni, sausage & mushroom pizza on my doorstep is just a brief phone-call away; really, I’ll cut out half my carbs tomorrow I promise. There Is No Negotiating. Turn on the grill, turn out the fish, and turn off the mental images. Ohmigod, I’ve had the most wack day at work, I’ve put up with more nonsense than any one human should have to bear and did it all with a smile, I deserve a nice restorative cocktail, I’ve earned it; and hey I can swap it for the sweet potato, after all vodka is distilled from potatoes, right? There Is No Negotiating. Pour away the vodka and pour out the green tea.
And Number Two (in direct contradiction to First and Foremost):
Give Yourself a Break. Okay right, it does seem to negate the First rule — but not really. This is the safety valve, if you will. Every once in a while, you need to indulge yourself, in order to keep your motivation (and sanity) intact. It is this rule that allows me to stick with the program when I might otherwise fling it out the proverbial window and surrender totally to my baser instincts; and it keeps me from blowing it big-time (like having a couple of beers with the pizza and following it with a vat of ice cream). So when you reach critical mass, you treat yourself to one slice of pizza (no sausage or pepperoni, please); or you have one cocktail before dinner, not too large, and savor every sip; or you skip your cardio on Thursday, just to give your bod a little breathing space. And suddenly that salmon for dinner seems once again appealing, and boot camp appears to be a sweaty satisfaction instead of an unbearable chore.
Anyway, that’s what’s working for me so far. The demands of my new stepped-up regimen are testing these maxims more than ever, so we’ll see what transpires over the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, there’s Alaskan Copper River salmon robustly calling my name from the kitchen, and my pj’s are briskly suggesting an early bedtime to prepare for boot camp tomorrow… Stay tuned!
Christina Bellantoni: Dems to air sad health care stories to push Obama plan
First published at WashingtonTimes.com
Organizing for America, President Obama’s campaign arm housed at the DNC, is raising money to start television ads starring some of the hundreds of thousands of people who submitted their own personal health care stories.
“These personal messages will make a powerful case for why we need comprehensive health care reform, and need it now,” OFA writes to Web donors who contribute to the effort.
“With help from OFA supporters like you, we should be able to get the first of these messages produced and in front of voters in key areas within a matter days,” OFA says.
The effort doesn’t specify which voters are defined as from “key areas” — perhaps those living in states with senators who don’t support Obama’s call for a public option to be included in the health care reform bill working its way through Congress.
Last week, MoveOn.org announced it would be targeting Sen. Kay Hagan, a freshman red-state Democrat who said she wouldn’t support a public option.
MoveOn said the ads would run in her home state of North Carolina and also in D.C., noting that many of her volunteers and donors from the 2008 campaign want a public option included in the plan.
The OFA solicitation was sent to the 13-million strong Obama campaign list as well as to Democrats on the DNC email list.
“The stories have been read millions of times, and the reaction is an overwhelming, ‘Wow — we’ve got to get to work,’” Mitch Stewart, executive director of OFA, tells supporters in the email, which directs donors to a spiffy new logo.
“Here’s our latest idea: Putting our supporters in coast-to-coast television and online ads, telling their own stories, in their own voice. It could be a breakthrough moment in this debate, when millions of Americans realize how urgent reform really is,” Stewart wrote, adding the air time “won’t be cheap” and asking for donations.
Stewart also points out the Clinton effort failed in part thanks to the fake “real people” named Harry and Louise who ran ads during the debate over the health care bill.
“Phony stories helped defeat health care reform in the past. But this time, real stories could be the reason we win,” he wrote.
Earlier this month I looked at this strategy, noting in a story in our Plugged in Politics section that personal stories didn’t help the Clinton effort.
Their stories of health care heartbreak were so gut-wrenching and compelling, so the theory went, surely policy would change.
The year was 1993, and instead of leading to a sweeping overhaul of the health care system that the young new Democratic president had promised, those stories are now artifacts in an ex-president’s library, a testament to a monumental, failed effort.
As another Democratic president tackles the issue, President Obama’s team is going after those same stories of tears, loss and a health care system gone wrong that President Bill Clinton and his aides once employed.
Read the full story here.
There’s no way of knowing yet if these real stories will make the difference this time around, or if having a 60th Democratic senator could make the Obama health care plan a reality.
But the White House thinks it’s a winning strategy since it is, after all, one Obama used successfully during the election.
Obama holds a health care town hall tomorrow in Northern Virginia, and I’ll bet the president will be telling more of those personal stories.
— Christina Bellantoni, White House correspondent,
The Washington Times
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Obama recognizes CNN Hero from N.J.
A woman saluted as a CNN Hero was among a group of creative philanthropists honored Tuesday by President Obama.
Beau Friedlander: Happy National Sovereignty Day, Iraq. Sorry About The Mess
“They clearly don’t want us there anymore, so why stay?” That’s what someone told Air America intern Leah Wawro today in New York’s City’s Union Square Park when she asked about the US troop withdrawal from Iraqi cities. As I recall, however, they never wanted us there.
There’s no need to go back to the early 90s. Let’s rewind to August 2002. Remember when then White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, speaking about the possibility of a war in Iraq, told a New York Times reporter, “From a marketing point of view, you don’t introduce new products in August.”
I’ll never forget that statement, because I owned a publishing house at the time and I was possessed by the strong desire to use it to fight what seemed inevitable: another massive invasion of Iraq.
Within weeks and with a lot of help from Chelsea Green publisher Margo Baldwin, Derrick Jensen, and my trusty sidekick Trevor Bundy, we put together a book. William Rivers Pitt conducted an interview with former United Nations weapons inspector Scott Ritter, Jensen turned it into his own peculiar brand of Q&A magic. Six weeks later the book was in stores.
War On Iraq was almost instantly a New York Times bestseller. Within months, long before the invasion, the book was an international bestseller.
I sent copies to every member of the Senate via Federal Express to ensure delivery before the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 rubber-stamped Bush’s idiotic dreams of a latter-day crusade in the Middle East. I got one letter back. Former Republican Senator Don Nickles sent a handwritten thank-you note. That’s it.
War On Iraq was a paltry 96 pages. Will Pitt lovingly referred to it as a “beer coaster.” Still, everything in that book turned out to be correct. There were no weapons of mass destruction. There were no centrifuge parts. The bio-weapons were past their expiration date. Saddam Hussein had no connection to al-Qaeda (they hated him). Oh, yeah. There was also that part about how removing the Iraqi president from power would plunge that nation into civil war and ethnic division the likes of which it had never seen. Stay tuned.
It’s all in that little beer coaster of a book (you can still find used copies online) and it was all a matter of public record before we invaded and further destroyed an already largely US-destroyed nation.
You know what else was a matter of public record? George W. Bush’s comment about Saddam Hussein: “This is the guy who tried to kill my dad.” Remember that one? Was that the reason we attacked Iraq? Of course not. But if you’ve read this far, you’re dwelling in the truth of the matter. We attacked Iraq. We were the aggressors. We invaded a weak nation and sent it spiraling out of control.
And yet liberal New Yorkers think it suffices to mention that they want us to leave? Sweetheart, they never wanted us there in the first place. Our presence is an ongoing affront to democracy and human dignity, and yet now that the damage is done, everyone’s stuck between that rock and a hard place, and it’s not going to get better forever and a day.
Thanks, George W. Bush. Thanks, 107th United States Congress. Thanks, Judith Miller. Good work, America. Be proud.
from Air America
Trip Van Noppen: How Many Presidents Does It Take to Change a Light Bulb?
How many Presidents of the United States does it take to change a light bulb?
Just one.
It’s no joke. Millions of Americans have already changed their light bulbs to save energy and fight global warming. New lighting standards announced Monday will help all our homes and businesses make the switch, and as a result, save billions of dollars in utility bills and create thousands of new jobs.
The new lighting standards will save enough energy annually to power all U.S. homes for almost a year, while saving consumers $1 billion to $4 billion a year in utility bills. The long-delayed standards come just a few months after the president directed Energy Secretary Steven Chu to speed up the process of setting efficiency standards for a variety of home and commercial appliances, from refrigerators to soft-drink vending machines.
This is the kind of leadership that will build the clean energy economy of the future. As the President said in making the announcement, a light bulb seems like a small thing. But collectively, billions of more efficient light bulbs will make a big impact.
The Department of Energy calculates that the new lighting standards will save enough energy to eliminate the need for up to 14 large power plants. The standards will also cut carbon dioxide emissions by 593 million metric tons over 30 years, an act equivalent to removing roughly 110 million cars from the road for a year.
Consumers save, too. The new standards will save users up to $71 billion over thirty years. Over the life of a typical bulb meeting the new standards, the average buyer would save over $67 on a new fluorescent lamp and about $8 on a new incandescent reflector lamp. (To learn more about energy efficiency, visit http://www.earthjustice.org/energyefficiency/.)
DOE could have gone further, but this is a significant improvement from where the Bush administration was heading. In coming months and years, the administration will be rolling out new standards for more than two dozen appliances, including water heaters, washers and dryers and room air conditioners. It’s a no-brainer: Some manufacturers argue that with a troubled economy, we can’t afford to make our appliances more efficient. The truth is, we can’t afford not to.
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