H.R. 1385, the Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Act, would give the FDA more authority to keep carcinogens and other dangerous chemicals out of our soaps, shampoos, lotions, deodorants, and perfumes. Currently, the FDA can't compel cosmetics corporations to conduct safety testing of their products, or force a recall of products found to be dangerous, but H.R. 1385 would change all that, and it would force corporations to phase out all their cancer-causing and reproductive-system-disrupting chemicals. H.R. 1385 would also compel corporations to label all of their ingredients in their products, rather than hiding them behind vague terms like "fragrance." A lot of these things are fragrant, all right. What will our right-wing intelligentsia have to say about H.R. 1385? That REGULASHUNZ KILLZ THA JOBZ AND THA INNOVASHUNZ!!!!!!, perhaps? If so, you have to wonder if they really want to "innovate" on the definition of "safety." Green America helps you tell your Congressfolk to support safer personal care products.

Meanwhile, the Sierra Club helps you tell Secretary of State Kerry to get some better intel about how the Keystone XL pipeline would affect climate change. We've gone into some detail about how a pipeline spill (from a pipeline builder with a rotten safety record) would pollute heartland drinking water, but the July 2013 Scientific American reminds us that refining oil from tar sands bitumen requires more energy and creates more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil refining. (Next up on the Glenn Beck show: the liberal bias of Scientific American!) Now, it seems Mr. Kerry didn't get very much of that counsel from the folks who wrote the Keystone XL environmental impact report; that may be because many of the folks who wrote that report came from the oil industry (and some of them worked with the would-be builders of the Keystone XL pipeline). Jesus Mary and Joseph what the hell is wrong with investing more money in renewable energy? That would actually create jobs and wean us off foreign oil. Oh, wait, I think I just answered my own question.