ABC had no problem running an ad from Chevron during the Presidential debates. But guess what? They've turned down an ad supporting clean energy from Gore's Repower America campaign.

Here's the text of the offensive ad.

Anyone interested in a solution to the triple challenges of oil dependence, global warming and the sagging economy has to read this new book by Van Jones on how (and why) we should birth a green-collar economic revolution in America.

It is true that we cannot drill and burn our way out of our present economic and energy problems. We can, however, invent and invest our way out. Choosing to do so on a massive scale would have the practical benefit of cutting energy prices enough—and generating enough work— to pull the U.S. economy out of its present death spiral. But the true benefits would be much greater than that.

A serious shift in our energy strategy would open a new chapter in the story of human civilization.

Flip through the book and you'll see that the "new chapter" in question reads like a wish list for massive change: cleantech revolution, millions of good jobs that can’t be outsourced, the birth of a just and green American economy.

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has just handed out its annual energy efficiency rankings for the US states. Here are the top 10:

10. New Jersey
9. Wisconsin
7. Minnesota (tie)
7. Massachusetts (tie)
6. Washington
5. New York
4. Vermont
3. Connecticut
2. Oregon
1. California

Stats: California earned 40.5 total points, out of 50. Wyoming was dead last with zero. Idaho (number 13) earned "most improved." Wisconsin scored in the top ten (a first). Rhode Island was the most energy-efficient as a percentage of its total electrical sales -- achieving a savings of 1.23 percent.

More to the point: The US states, combined, spent two to three times more than the federal government did on energy efficiency -- the most common-sense and available solution to energy and climate change.

If you want to read a sobering and accessible explanation of the financial crisis, go immediately to John Cassidy's piece in the current issue of the NY Review of Books. It's called He Foresaw the End of an Era. The "he" Cassidy is referring to is George Soros, who has just published a book with a very long title: The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means.

If the author had been Warren Buffet, the book would already be a bestseller, and the pundits would be echoing its words all over the place. But this strange European named Soros doesn't quite command the same kind of trust with his brand, and in any case his pronouncements are too inconvenient to the conduct of business as usual. Too bad.

Here's what he wrote well before the recent financial meltdown:

Eventually the US government will have to use taxpayer's money to arrest the decline in house prices. Until it does, the decline will be self-reinforcing, with people walking away from homes in which they have negative equity, and more and more financial institutions becoming insolvent, thus reinforcing both the recession and the flight from the dollar.

The Bush administration and most economic forecasters do not understand that markets can be self-reinforcing on the downside, as well as on the upside. They are waiting for the housing market to find a bottom on its own, but it is further away than they think.

Apparently, we haven't reached the bottom yet. Might be worth listening to what else Soros has to say.