Sunday, February 27, 2005
OSCARS
There's only one film I can think about -- MILLION DOLLAR BABY -- never been that hit with a movie since One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. I expect it to get all seven of it's nominations, Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director, Best Adapted Screen Play, Best Film Editing.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Is Iran Next?
Ex-marine turned UNSCOM weapons inspector said that President George W. Bush has received and signed of on orders for an aerial attack on Iran planned for June 2005.The implied goal is the destruction of Iran's alleged program to develop nuclear weapons, but Ritter said neoconservatives in the administration also expected that the attack would set in motion a chain of events leading to regime change in the oil-rich nation of 70 million -- a possibility Ritter regards with great skepticism.
Ritter also claims that the January 30 elections, which Bush calls a turning point in the history of Iraq, a milestone in the advance of freedom, were not so after all. Ritter said that U.S. authorities in Iraq had manipulated the results in order to reduce the percentage of the vote received by the United Iraqi Alliance from 56% to 48%. Ritter claims an official involved in the manipulation was the source of the information. It appears this will soon be reported in the New Yorker by Seymour Hersh.
Scott Ritter's talk was a culmination of a long evening devoted to discussion of Iraq and U.S. foreign policy. Before Ritter spoke, Dahr Jamail narrated a slide show on Iraq focusing on Fallujah. He showed more than 100 vivid photographs taken in Iraq, mostly by himself. Many of them showed the horrific slaughter of civilians. Jamail argued that U.S. mainstream media sources are complicit in the and helped sustain support for it by deliberately downplaying the truth about the devastation and death it is causing.
The Friday Feb. 18 event in Olympia was sponsored by South Puget Sound Community College Student Activities Board, Veteran's for Peace, 100 Thousand and Counting, Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace and the United for Peace of Pierce County.
Ritter also claims that the January 30 elections, which Bush calls a turning point in the history of Iraq, a milestone in the advance of freedom, were not so after all. Ritter said that U.S. authorities in Iraq had manipulated the results in order to reduce the percentage of the vote received by the United Iraqi Alliance from 56% to 48%. Ritter claims an official involved in the manipulation was the source of the information. It appears this will soon be reported in the New Yorker by Seymour Hersh.
Scott Ritter's talk was a culmination of a long evening devoted to discussion of Iraq and U.S. foreign policy. Before Ritter spoke, Dahr Jamail narrated a slide show on Iraq focusing on Fallujah. He showed more than 100 vivid photographs taken in Iraq, mostly by himself. Many of them showed the horrific slaughter of civilians. Jamail argued that U.S. mainstream media sources are complicit in the and helped sustain support for it by deliberately downplaying the truth about the devastation and death it is causing.
The Friday Feb. 18 event in Olympia was sponsored by South Puget Sound Community College Student Activities Board, Veteran's for Peace, 100 Thousand and Counting, Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace and the United for Peace of Pierce County.
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Time to Start Thinking About Next Year's Flu Season
I posted a story titled the White House Rodeo by Mike Davis last November 11, 2004. In it were the four 'horsemen of the apocalypse' which he used as a format for his story. One of the four was the avian flu and the warning of a world wide pandemi that we are not prepared to deal with.
Today a story in the Chicago Sun Times says that Earth may be on the brink of a worldwide epidemic from a bird flu virus. Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said scientists expect that a flu virus that has swept through chickens and other poultry in Asia will genetically change into a flu that can be transmitted from person to person.
The avian flu now spreading in Asia is part of what is called the H1 family of flu viruses. "Each time we see a new H1 antigen emerge, we experience a pandemic of influenza," said Gerberding. In 1918 H1 appeared and millions died worldwide. In 1957 the Asian flu was an H2, and the Hong Kong flu in 1968 was an H3.
"The science here is all alerting us that we have a great deal to be concerned about," she said.
We might not be able to afford the flu shot screwup next year.
Today a story in the Chicago Sun Times says that Earth may be on the brink of a worldwide epidemic from a bird flu virus. Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said scientists expect that a flu virus that has swept through chickens and other poultry in Asia will genetically change into a flu that can be transmitted from person to person.
The avian flu now spreading in Asia is part of what is called the H1 family of flu viruses. "Each time we see a new H1 antigen emerge, we experience a pandemic of influenza," said Gerberding. In 1918 H1 appeared and millions died worldwide. In 1957 the Asian flu was an H2, and the Hong Kong flu in 1968 was an H3.
"The science here is all alerting us that we have a great deal to be concerned about," she said.
We might not be able to afford the flu shot screwup next year.
Misplaced Priorities
The Army said yesterday, against the advice of its own auditors, that it would not hold back tens of millions of dollars each month from the Halliburton Company until the company justifies bills for past work in Iraq, while hundreds of Army Reserve and National Guard troops returning home after being wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan have gone months without pay or medical benefits they were entitled to receive.
Are the politicians who voted to increase by 15 times the maximum fine for broadcast indecency the same ones who want to severely limit awards to families of patients who are maimed or killed by incompetent doctors and hospitals?
Are the politicians who voted to increase by 15 times the maximum fine for broadcast indecency the same ones who want to severely limit awards to families of patients who are maimed or killed by incompetent doctors and hospitals?
Monday, February 21, 2005
What's Goin' On?
The administration now says that Iraq is about to become the breeding ground for terrorists, surpassing Afghanistan. Wasn't that the reason most critics said the Iraq war would be a bad idea. So, we're spending billions of dollars to create a new breeding ground for the enemy in the 'war on terror'. Brilliant.
Participation in the Kyoto Protocol took place within the past few days. The United States would not participate -- not economically sound -- participation would, through pollution restrictions, harm the economy. Weather, recently, has been extreme. Worst hurricane season in recent memory in Florida, and predicted to be worse. Southern California, as we speak is getting weather it does not customarily get -- tornadoes, extreme amounts of rain. In the midwest, Chicago had its first ever bad air quality warning during the winter.
Israel says Iran will know how to build a nuclear bomb in six months.
We are being warned of a possible al-qaida attack in the U.S. with nuclear weapons.
Syria and Iran seem to forming a united front.
North Korea has developed new longer range missiles.
Our military is stretched to its limits.
Thank God we put all our efforts in getting rid of Saddam, now the world is safer and cleaner.
And with this guy in office for another 4 years we'll have to create a new number to name the deficit . . . maybe abominabillion.
Participation in the Kyoto Protocol took place within the past few days. The United States would not participate -- not economically sound -- participation would, through pollution restrictions, harm the economy. Weather, recently, has been extreme. Worst hurricane season in recent memory in Florida, and predicted to be worse. Southern California, as we speak is getting weather it does not customarily get -- tornadoes, extreme amounts of rain. In the midwest, Chicago had its first ever bad air quality warning during the winter.
Israel says Iran will know how to build a nuclear bomb in six months.
We are being warned of a possible al-qaida attack in the U.S. with nuclear weapons.
Syria and Iran seem to forming a united front.
North Korea has developed new longer range missiles.
Our military is stretched to its limits.
Thank God we put all our efforts in getting rid of Saddam, now the world is safer and cleaner.
And with this guy in office for another 4 years we'll have to create a new number to name the deficit . . . maybe abominabillion.
Friday, February 11, 2005
Declassifying the 9/11 Report Little by Little
So now we're learning of newly released facts contained in the 9/11 report. On top of the press briefing "bin Laden intent on attacking inside the U.S.", now the report tells of dozens of intelligence reports that warned about Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. They specifically discussed airline hijackings and suicide operations.
The FAA warned airports in the spring of 2001 that if "the intent of the hijacker is not to exchange hostages for prisoners, but to commit suicide in a spectacular explosion, a domestic hijacking would probably be preferable." The Bush administration has blocked the public release of the full, classified version of the report for more than five months much to the frustration of former commission members who say it provides a critical understanding of the failures of the civil aviation system.
Among other things, the report says that leaders of the FAA received 52 intelligence reports from their security branch that mentioned bin Laden or Al Qaeda from April to Sept. 10, 2001. That represented half of all intelligence summaries in that time.
The FAA warned airports in the spring of 2001 that if "the intent of the hijacker is not to exchange hostages for prisoners, but to commit suicide in a spectacular explosion, a domestic hijacking would probably be preferable." The Bush administration has blocked the public release of the full, classified version of the report for more than five months much to the frustration of former commission members who say it provides a critical understanding of the failures of the civil aviation system.
Among other things, the report says that leaders of the FAA received 52 intelligence reports from their security branch that mentioned bin Laden or Al Qaeda from April to Sept. 10, 2001. That represented half of all intelligence summaries in that time.
Fish and Wildlife are doing just fine?
According to an article in the Los Angeles Times yesterday, a survey finds that more than 200 Fish and Wildlife researchers cite cases where conclusions were reversed to weaken protection and favor business. Lexi Shultz of the Union of Concerned Scientists said"The pressure to alter scientific reports for political reasons has become pervasiveat Fish and Wildlife offices around the country." Biologist Sally Stefferud said she had been ordered to change a finding on a biological opinion. "Political pressures influence the outcome of almost all cases. As a scientist, I would probably say you really can't trust the science coming out of the agency," she said.
Further survey comments --
A biologist in Alaska wrote in response to the survey: "It is one thing for the department to dismiss our recommendations, it is another to be forced (under veiled threat of removal) to say something that is counter to our best professional judgment."
"For biologists who do endangered species analysis, my experience is that the majority of them are ordered to reverse their conclusions[if they favor listing]. There are other biologists who will do it if you won't," said the biologist, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Further survey comments --
A biologist in Alaska wrote in response to the survey: "It is one thing for the department to dismiss our recommendations, it is another to be forced (under veiled threat of removal) to say something that is counter to our best professional judgment."
"For biologists who do endangered species analysis, my experience is that the majority of them are ordered to reverse their conclusions[if they favor listing]. There are other biologists who will do it if you won't," said the biologist, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
JUSTICE?
Army Spc. Charles Graner, convicted for abuse of prisonersat Abu Ghraib, is sentenced to ten years, while Alberto Gonzales, White House counsel who signed off on possible abuse of war prisoners, starts first week as attorney general. HUH?
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Reaching a Point of No Return
Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have discovered that a massive Antarctic ice sheet previously assumed to be stable may be starting to disintigrate. Its collapse would raise sea levels around the earth by more than 16 feet.
BAS staff are carrying out urgent measurements of the remote points in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) where they have found ice to be flowing into the sea at the enormous rate of 250 cubic kilometers a year. Only four years ago, in the last report of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), worries that the ice sheet was disintegrating were firmly dismissed. That's quite a change in thinking in just four years. Professor Chris Rapley, the BAS director, said "The previous view was that WAIS would not collapse before the year 2100. We now have to revise that judgment." Collapse of the WAIS would be a disaster, putting chunks of low lying, desperately poor countries such as Bangladesh under water - not to mention much of southern England.
England's Prime Minister Tony Blair has called a conference to increase the pace of international action on climate change. One topic to be covered, at Tony Blair's request, is to explore the question of how much climate change the world can take before the consequences are catastrophic for human society and ecosystems. This conference takes place in about a year when the UK is heading the G8 group of industrialized nations and the European Union.
Margaret Beckett, the Environment Secretary, had an ominous prediction when she said that major global warming impacts on the world in the next 20 to 30 years could not be avoided. Her forecast that we are powerless to prevent major damagefrom climate change is accepted by scientists but rarely accepted by a politician. Greenhouse gases that have already been put into the atmosphere, will be enough to threaten the survival of many ecosystems and wildlife such as polar bears and penguins. "I believe that most of the warming that we are expecting over the next few decades is now virtually inevitable, and even in this time frame we may expect a significant impact," Mrs. Beckett said.
The conservation organization WWF believes the polar bear, lacking the melting summer sea ice they normally hunt on, could be extinct within 20 years due to the effects of global warming. And yet these facts are not mentioned in the mainstream press.
As much as our mainstream television new and press love to stand out in a storm to report it, you can search almost in vain for anyone even willing to speculate that the increase in 'extreme weather events' -- multiple massive hurricanes in Florida, prolonged drought in the southwest, Europe's burning summers, Brazil's first south Atlantic hurricane ever, the storm of the century on Canada's east coast, Japan's worst season of typhoons in memory or Chicago's first ever air pollution warning during winter -- might have anything to do with global warming.
A new report by the International Climate Change Task Force said:
"The countdown to climate change catastrophe is spelled out by a task force of senior politicians, business leaders and academics from around the world -- and it is remarkably brief. In as little as ten years, or maybe less, their report indicates, the point of no return with global warming may have been reached. And it breaks new ground by putting a figure -- for the first time in such a high level document -- on the danger point of global warming, that is, the temperature rise beyond which the world would be irretrievably committed to disastrous changes, such as agriculture failure, water shortages, major droughts, increased disease, sea level rise and the death of forests. -- with the added possibility of abrupt catastrophic events such as runaway global warming, the melting of the Greenland ice sheetor the switching-off of the Gulf Stream.
The 'bottom line' is that we are less than 1.2 degrees of temperature latitude before the crucial point of no return is reached.
BAS staff are carrying out urgent measurements of the remote points in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) where they have found ice to be flowing into the sea at the enormous rate of 250 cubic kilometers a year. Only four years ago, in the last report of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), worries that the ice sheet was disintegrating were firmly dismissed. That's quite a change in thinking in just four years. Professor Chris Rapley, the BAS director, said "The previous view was that WAIS would not collapse before the year 2100. We now have to revise that judgment." Collapse of the WAIS would be a disaster, putting chunks of low lying, desperately poor countries such as Bangladesh under water - not to mention much of southern England.
England's Prime Minister Tony Blair has called a conference to increase the pace of international action on climate change. One topic to be covered, at Tony Blair's request, is to explore the question of how much climate change the world can take before the consequences are catastrophic for human society and ecosystems. This conference takes place in about a year when the UK is heading the G8 group of industrialized nations and the European Union.
Margaret Beckett, the Environment Secretary, had an ominous prediction when she said that major global warming impacts on the world in the next 20 to 30 years could not be avoided. Her forecast that we are powerless to prevent major damagefrom climate change is accepted by scientists but rarely accepted by a politician. Greenhouse gases that have already been put into the atmosphere, will be enough to threaten the survival of many ecosystems and wildlife such as polar bears and penguins. "I believe that most of the warming that we are expecting over the next few decades is now virtually inevitable, and even in this time frame we may expect a significant impact," Mrs. Beckett said.
The conservation organization WWF believes the polar bear, lacking the melting summer sea ice they normally hunt on, could be extinct within 20 years due to the effects of global warming. And yet these facts are not mentioned in the mainstream press.
As much as our mainstream television new and press love to stand out in a storm to report it, you can search almost in vain for anyone even willing to speculate that the increase in 'extreme weather events' -- multiple massive hurricanes in Florida, prolonged drought in the southwest, Europe's burning summers, Brazil's first south Atlantic hurricane ever, the storm of the century on Canada's east coast, Japan's worst season of typhoons in memory or Chicago's first ever air pollution warning during winter -- might have anything to do with global warming.
A new report by the International Climate Change Task Force said:
"The countdown to climate change catastrophe is spelled out by a task force of senior politicians, business leaders and academics from around the world -- and it is remarkably brief. In as little as ten years, or maybe less, their report indicates, the point of no return with global warming may have been reached. And it breaks new ground by putting a figure -- for the first time in such a high level document -- on the danger point of global warming, that is, the temperature rise beyond which the world would be irretrievably committed to disastrous changes, such as agriculture failure, water shortages, major droughts, increased disease, sea level rise and the death of forests. -- with the added possibility of abrupt catastrophic events such as runaway global warming, the melting of the Greenland ice sheetor the switching-off of the Gulf Stream.
The 'bottom line' is that we are less than 1.2 degrees of temperature latitude before the crucial point of no return is reached.
Monday, February 07, 2005
RECENT OBSERVATIONS
Environment
Chicago, over the past week had three ozone alert (bad air quality) days. Chicago has never had bad air days during the winter. This is the first time ever. The temperature was in the lower to mid fifties and the threat was mainly to people with risk to unhealthy air.
Our military leaders
Marine General James Mattis in an interview regarding Iraq made statements to the effect -- It's fun shootin' the bad guys -- you got guys that are beating their wives for not wearing their burkas -- it's fun shootin' these guys. He doesn't get a reprimand or even a slap on the wrist. Feeble minds think alike.
Social Security
Wasn't social security born out of the collapse of the stock market in '29 that caused the great depression. It's kinda like trying to solve the drug problem by going to Al Capone for advice. Social security is the sure thing that you'll make it through your senior years. Or do you want to buy a lottery ticket?
Iraq
For all the hoopla over the elections -- the tally isn't in yet. You can hold an election, but until you have legitimate resuts that's all it is. Let's have a horse race. All is well and good, but until there is a winner and everyone agrees that the winner is the winner it's only a horse race. I agree that hte people of Iraq want a better life and they feel it's coming -- but it's up to us to deliver 'democracy' -- 'theocracy'? It is their call.
Chicago, over the past week had three ozone alert (bad air quality) days. Chicago has never had bad air days during the winter. This is the first time ever. The temperature was in the lower to mid fifties and the threat was mainly to people with risk to unhealthy air.
Our military leaders
Marine General James Mattis in an interview regarding Iraq made statements to the effect -- It's fun shootin' the bad guys -- you got guys that are beating their wives for not wearing their burkas -- it's fun shootin' these guys. He doesn't get a reprimand or even a slap on the wrist. Feeble minds think alike.
Social Security
Wasn't social security born out of the collapse of the stock market in '29 that caused the great depression. It's kinda like trying to solve the drug problem by going to Al Capone for advice. Social security is the sure thing that you'll make it through your senior years. Or do you want to buy a lottery ticket?
Iraq
For all the hoopla over the elections -- the tally isn't in yet. You can hold an election, but until you have legitimate resuts that's all it is. Let's have a horse race. All is well and good, but until there is a winner and everyone agrees that the winner is the winner it's only a horse race. I agree that hte people of Iraq want a better life and they feel it's coming -- but it's up to us to deliver 'democracy' -- 'theocracy'? It is their call.
Monday, January 31, 2005
Around World, glaciers soon will be history
That was the headline for a story in the Chicago Sun Times 1-30-05 with the sub heading --
Scientists see proof of global warming, warn of future peril
Here's a summary of the story --
Up and down the icy spine of South America, the glaciers are melting, the white mantle of the Andes Mountains washing away at an ever faster rate.
In east Africa, the storied snows of Mt. Kilimanjaro are vanishing. In the icebound Alps and Himalayas of Europe and Asia, the change has been stunning. From South America to south Asia, new glacial lakes threaten to overflow and drown villages below. Orbiting satellites have helped measure this global trend, though scientists like Rajendra Pachauri have long seen what is happening on the ground.
"Ample" evidence indicates that global warming is causing glaciers to retreat worldwide, reports the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.N.-sponsored network of climate scientists led by Pachauri. Global temperatures rose about 1 degree Fahrenheit in the 20th century. The Bolivian Andes are warming at a half degree Fahrenheit per decade.
The Kyoto Protocol mandate cutbacks in emissions, but the reductions are small and the U.S., the biggest emitter, is not a party, arguing that the mandates will set back the U.S. economy.
In Peru, endowed with vast Andean ice caps and glaciers, 70 percent of the power comes from hydroelectric damscatching runoff, but officials fear much of it could be gone within a decade.
Ohio State University scientist , Lonnie Thompson one of the world's foremost glaciologists said, "What we see in the Andes is happening in Kilimanjaro and in the Himalayas. We've just been in southeast Alaska, and 1,987 out of 2,000 glaciers are retreating."
"It's a very compelling story." The glaciers -- "water towers of the world" -- are the most visible indicators that we are now in the first phase of global warming.
Scientists see proof of global warming, warn of future peril
Here's a summary of the story --
Up and down the icy spine of South America, the glaciers are melting, the white mantle of the Andes Mountains washing away at an ever faster rate.
In east Africa, the storied snows of Mt. Kilimanjaro are vanishing. In the icebound Alps and Himalayas of Europe and Asia, the change has been stunning. From South America to south Asia, new glacial lakes threaten to overflow and drown villages below. Orbiting satellites have helped measure this global trend, though scientists like Rajendra Pachauri have long seen what is happening on the ground.
"Ample" evidence indicates that global warming is causing glaciers to retreat worldwide, reports the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.N.-sponsored network of climate scientists led by Pachauri. Global temperatures rose about 1 degree Fahrenheit in the 20th century. The Bolivian Andes are warming at a half degree Fahrenheit per decade.
The Kyoto Protocol mandate cutbacks in emissions, but the reductions are small and the U.S., the biggest emitter, is not a party, arguing that the mandates will set back the U.S. economy.
In Peru, endowed with vast Andean ice caps and glaciers, 70 percent of the power comes from hydroelectric damscatching runoff, but officials fear much of it could be gone within a decade.
Ohio State University scientist , Lonnie Thompson one of the world's foremost glaciologists said, "What we see in the Andes is happening in Kilimanjaro and in the Himalayas. We've just been in southeast Alaska, and 1,987 out of 2,000 glaciers are retreating."
"It's a very compelling story." The glaciers -- "water towers of the world" -- are the most visible indicators that we are now in the first phase of global warming.
Saturday, January 29, 2005
IRAQI ELECTIONS
The elections start at about 10:00 PM Chicago time and believe they'll go on until 7:00 AM. I don't know which way this is going to go. I really think there's going to be a lot of violence but I'm not sure where the heart of the Iraqi people is. If they react the same way their police and soldiers did this is going to fall apart. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Spending Political Capital on Liars and Torturers
Condoleezza Rice won confirmation as secretary of state Wednesday despite blistering criticism from Senate Democrats who accused her of making misleading statements and said she must share the blame for mistakes and war deaths in Iraq.
The tally, though one-sided at 85-13, was still the largest "no" vote against a secretary of state nominee since 1825.
White House counsel Alberto Gonzales won Senate committee approval Wednesday to be the next attorney general even though all of the panel's Democrats voted against him, complaining that he is too close to President Bush and has countenanced torture of prisoners in the war on terror.
It won't be four more years of the same. It's going to be four more years of HELL !
The tally, though one-sided at 85-13, was still the largest "no" vote against a secretary of state nominee since 1825.
White House counsel Alberto Gonzales won Senate committee approval Wednesday to be the next attorney general even though all of the panel's Democrats voted against him, complaining that he is too close to President Bush and has countenanced torture of prisoners in the war on terror.
It won't be four more years of the same. It's going to be four more years of HELL !
THE ENVIRONMENT
On Wednesday the Bush administration embarked on a renewed effort to replace large sections of the Clean Air Act with the President's more flexible and industry-friendly Clear Skies policies.
The plan would relax controls on power plants and other pollution sources. White House attempts to get a Clear Skies package through Congress in 2002 and 2003 failed. So, with the November elections expanding Republican majorities in the Senate and House, the administration was emboldened to renew its attempt to pass the legislation.
According to Emily Figdor a policy analyst for Clear the Air --
"When it comes to power plant pollution, many of the nation's dirtiest power plants just keep getting dirtier. We know how to solve the problem, but the Bush administration's air pollution bill will set us back decades."
I don't think we have decades!!!!!!!!!
The plan would relax controls on power plants and other pollution sources. White House attempts to get a Clear Skies package through Congress in 2002 and 2003 failed. So, with the November elections expanding Republican majorities in the Senate and House, the administration was emboldened to renew its attempt to pass the legislation.
According to Emily Figdor a policy analyst for Clear the Air --
"When it comes to power plant pollution, many of the nation's dirtiest power plants just keep getting dirtier. We know how to solve the problem, but the Bush administration's air pollution bill will set us back decades."
I don't think we have decades!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Does he have a vision or is he wearing blinders?
President Bush, in his press conference today, said he has this vision to spread democracy throughout the world. Freedom is every man's dream. To a certain extent I would have to agree with that. I, personally, would prefer freedom to tyranny. I suppose I have a few questions regarding his vision.
Why are we spending unbelievable amounts of money and lives in Iraq when the money and human resources could be better served in Sudan and the Asian area where the tsunami struck? In Iraq we are killing people in a quest for freedom. In Sudan we can help the people who are being killed in what , I suppose, borders between ethnic cleansing and genocide. We sent 350 million dollars for relief efforts after the tsunami. Money spent in this region in the amounts we're spending in Iraq would energize this region out of poverty. I may be wrong but doesn't it make more sense to save lives and rebuild than it does to destroy lives, create a breeding ground for terrorists, line the pockets of companies like Halliburton (I believe Halliburton would be rebuilding the tsunami struck area in Asia if Bush had control of the finances for reconstruction), jam "democracy" down the throats of Iraqis and put everyone in jeopardy that has anything to do with Americans?
While all this money is being spent our economy is in jeopardy. Our deficit is huge and 1/3 of it is owned by China. China, by the way, has been growing it's economy at our expense and the expense of the rest of the tech world. China pirates big time. Their software, dvds, and other computer components are copied from others and sold for pennies on the dollar compared to what we sell it for. Whether they know it or not, they are positioning themselves to be one of the next great superpowers at our expense. President Bush puts the environment and global warming on the backburner with the logic that it would hurt the economy. By his approach it won't be long before we have neither an environment or an economy.
Bush speaks of spreading freedom like he was going fly up in a crop duster and sow the seeds of freedom throughout the land. Seriously, if you listen to his speeches he speaks in very broad terms. Condoleeza Rice is the right person for the job because she is just a good person and the right person for the job. Her confirmation hearings gave specifics from Democrats as to why she should not be confirmed -- she lied to get us into Iraq, remember the smoking gun being a mushroom cloud, faulty intelligence that she took for gospel. Alberto Gonzales -- he's a good man and the man for the job -- how about the guy that wrote the opinion that allowed the torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, defined torture as coming just short of organ failure or death.
I guess I just don't think you can have much of a vision when you have two empty paper towel tubes over your eyes when you see your vision. And that's what I think.
Why are we spending unbelievable amounts of money and lives in Iraq when the money and human resources could be better served in Sudan and the Asian area where the tsunami struck? In Iraq we are killing people in a quest for freedom. In Sudan we can help the people who are being killed in what , I suppose, borders between ethnic cleansing and genocide. We sent 350 million dollars for relief efforts after the tsunami. Money spent in this region in the amounts we're spending in Iraq would energize this region out of poverty. I may be wrong but doesn't it make more sense to save lives and rebuild than it does to destroy lives, create a breeding ground for terrorists, line the pockets of companies like Halliburton (I believe Halliburton would be rebuilding the tsunami struck area in Asia if Bush had control of the finances for reconstruction), jam "democracy" down the throats of Iraqis and put everyone in jeopardy that has anything to do with Americans?
While all this money is being spent our economy is in jeopardy. Our deficit is huge and 1/3 of it is owned by China. China, by the way, has been growing it's economy at our expense and the expense of the rest of the tech world. China pirates big time. Their software, dvds, and other computer components are copied from others and sold for pennies on the dollar compared to what we sell it for. Whether they know it or not, they are positioning themselves to be one of the next great superpowers at our expense. President Bush puts the environment and global warming on the backburner with the logic that it would hurt the economy. By his approach it won't be long before we have neither an environment or an economy.
Bush speaks of spreading freedom like he was going fly up in a crop duster and sow the seeds of freedom throughout the land. Seriously, if you listen to his speeches he speaks in very broad terms. Condoleeza Rice is the right person for the job because she is just a good person and the right person for the job. Her confirmation hearings gave specifics from Democrats as to why she should not be confirmed -- she lied to get us into Iraq, remember the smoking gun being a mushroom cloud, faulty intelligence that she took for gospel. Alberto Gonzales -- he's a good man and the man for the job -- how about the guy that wrote the opinion that allowed the torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, defined torture as coming just short of organ failure or death.
I guess I just don't think you can have much of a vision when you have two empty paper towel tubes over your eyes when you see your vision. And that's what I think.
GLOBAL WARMING
Antarctica
Under the surface of this vast white emptiness are profound and potentially troubling changes taking place, and at a quickened pace. It seems there has always been a certain comfort in the stories that global warming problems won't manifest the themselves for generations to come. It's seeming more and more urgent with temperatures climbing in parts of Antarctica in recent years. Melt water seems to be penetrating deeper and deeper into ice crevices, weakening immense and seemingly impregnable formations that have developed over thousands of years.
As a result huge glaciers are thinning and ice shelves the size of American states are disintegrating. Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey reported in December that in some parts of the Antarctic Peninsula large growths of grass are appearing in places that until recently were hidden under ice.
Free floating ice in the sea does not raise sea level. The ice just melts and displaces no more mass as water or as ice. But a glacier, which rests on land, can raise the global sea level if that vast volume of ice slides into the sea at a high rate. Research and striking changes that are visible to the naked eye, all point to the disturbance of climate patterns thought to be in place for thousands of years.
According to a recent study published in Geophysical Research Letters, the discharge rate of three important glaciers still remaining on the Antarctic Peninsula accelerated eight-fold from 2000 to 2003. Ice is thinning at the rate of tens of meters per year on the peninsula, with glacier elevations in some places having dropped by as much as 124 feet in just six months.
In a story out of London an international climate-change task force warns that global warming is approaching the point of no return, after which widespread draught, crop failure and rising sea levels will be irreversible.
The task force on Monday called on the Group of 8 leading industrial nations to cut carbon admissions, double their research spending on technology and work with India and China to build on the Kyoto Protocol for cutting emissions of "greenhouse gases."
The independent report was created by the Institute for Public Policy Research in Britain, the Center for AmericanProgress in the United States, and the Australian Institute.
Stephen Byers, co-chairman of the task force, said it is vital that U.S. cooperation in tackling climate change is secured. President Bush has rejected the Kyoto accord, arguing that the carbon emission cuts it demands would damage the U.S. economy. In my opinion this administration is destroying this economy with an ill-planned, unnecessary war in Iraq, tax cuts and enormous deficit, etc.
In a question presented to meteorologist Tom Skilling on Wednesday regarding if it were possible for the entire world to be flooded, he said.
"Let's assume all the water bound up as ice on land were released into the sea. Then snow and glaciers would contribute about 2 feet of ocean rise; the Greenland icecap, 21 feet; the Antarctic icecap, 223 feet. Total potential rise: 246 feet -- a worldwide catastrophe, surely but not annihilation. That's certainly comforting.
Under the surface of this vast white emptiness are profound and potentially troubling changes taking place, and at a quickened pace. It seems there has always been a certain comfort in the stories that global warming problems won't manifest the themselves for generations to come. It's seeming more and more urgent with temperatures climbing in parts of Antarctica in recent years. Melt water seems to be penetrating deeper and deeper into ice crevices, weakening immense and seemingly impregnable formations that have developed over thousands of years.
As a result huge glaciers are thinning and ice shelves the size of American states are disintegrating. Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey reported in December that in some parts of the Antarctic Peninsula large growths of grass are appearing in places that until recently were hidden under ice.
Free floating ice in the sea does not raise sea level. The ice just melts and displaces no more mass as water or as ice. But a glacier, which rests on land, can raise the global sea level if that vast volume of ice slides into the sea at a high rate. Research and striking changes that are visible to the naked eye, all point to the disturbance of climate patterns thought to be in place for thousands of years.
According to a recent study published in Geophysical Research Letters, the discharge rate of three important glaciers still remaining on the Antarctic Peninsula accelerated eight-fold from 2000 to 2003. Ice is thinning at the rate of tens of meters per year on the peninsula, with glacier elevations in some places having dropped by as much as 124 feet in just six months.
In a story out of London an international climate-change task force warns that global warming is approaching the point of no return, after which widespread draught, crop failure and rising sea levels will be irreversible.
The task force on Monday called on the Group of 8 leading industrial nations to cut carbon admissions, double their research spending on technology and work with India and China to build on the Kyoto Protocol for cutting emissions of "greenhouse gases."
The independent report was created by the Institute for Public Policy Research in Britain, the Center for AmericanProgress in the United States, and the Australian Institute.
Stephen Byers, co-chairman of the task force, said it is vital that U.S. cooperation in tackling climate change is secured. President Bush has rejected the Kyoto accord, arguing that the carbon emission cuts it demands would damage the U.S. economy. In my opinion this administration is destroying this economy with an ill-planned, unnecessary war in Iraq, tax cuts and enormous deficit, etc.
In a question presented to meteorologist Tom Skilling on Wednesday regarding if it were possible for the entire world to be flooded, he said.
"Let's assume all the water bound up as ice on land were released into the sea. Then snow and glaciers would contribute about 2 feet of ocean rise; the Greenland icecap, 21 feet; the Antarctic icecap, 223 feet. Total potential rise: 246 feet -- a worldwide catastrophe, surely but not annihilation. That's certainly comforting.
Sunday, January 23, 2005
From Sponge Bob to the Economy
It's the first post of the new year and my points will not necessariily be in chronological order but will cover events of the past few weeks of the new year.
Sponge Bob Square Pants
OK, so Sponge Bob Square Pants(SBSP) holds hands with his friend Patrick, and this is to prom0te homosexuality. Then, when that wascally wabbit Bugs Bunny kissed Elmer Fudd smack on the lips -- that must have promoted bestiality . . .
Freedom Rings
According to Bush's inauguration speech we are looking to spread freedom throughtout the world. But in some ways it seems this administration wants to redefine freedom as we are doling it out. I can't help but think as 'we' talk freedom to other countries we are losing our own. Case in point Juan Padilla, an American Citizen, arrested at O'Hare Airport in Chicago not being allowed due process. If I let that go it means it could also be me.
Bush -- Person of the Year
Bush being made Person of the Year really did make sense to me. When you consider the qualifications it makes perfect sense. You need to have made an extraordinary impact on the world. If this shmuck doesn't qualify I don't know who does.
Sponge Bob Square Pants
OK, so Sponge Bob Square Pants(SBSP) holds hands with his friend Patrick, and this is to prom0te homosexuality. Then, when that wascally wabbit Bugs Bunny kissed Elmer Fudd smack on the lips -- that must have promoted bestiality . . .
Freedom Rings
According to Bush's inauguration speech we are looking to spread freedom throughtout the world. But in some ways it seems this administration wants to redefine freedom as we are doling it out. I can't help but think as 'we' talk freedom to other countries we are losing our own. Case in point Juan Padilla, an American Citizen, arrested at O'Hare Airport in Chicago not being allowed due process. If I let that go it means it could also be me.
Bush -- Person of the Year
Bush being made Person of the Year really did make sense to me. When you consider the qualifications it makes perfect sense. You need to have made an extraordinary impact on the world. If this shmuck doesn't qualify I don't know who does.
- takes huge surplus and transforms it into a huge deficit
- takes world support for the U.S. after 9/11 from a world united behind us to a world looking at us with disdain and disgust.
- rewrote the Geneva Conventions to his administration's needs. How do we denounce their beheadings when we accept torture. It's not that they're doing worse than us. It's that we are better and more humane -- at least that's what we're supposed to be all about, right?
- Mr. "Moral Values" "Compassionate Conservative" 'Leader of the Free World' waits three days to acknowledge the fact that said "Free World" (also known as planet earth), experienced a disaster of "biblical" proportions.
- Once this disaster is acknowleged we offer the lowest financial relief , per capita, of almost any other nation. But, on the up side for some troops, the USS Abraham Lincoln (the same carrier that Bush declared "mission accomplished") was headed to Indonesia to help in the relief effort. Needless to say, they were much more upbeat on that mission.
The U.S. Economy
We are suffering from financial dependency. Our debt-financed growth and growing imbalance in the trade deficit leave us dangerously indebted to rival nations. And this is happening during a real quagmire in Iraq not to mention a crises situation in energy prices. Bottom line -- I don't think we could stand another "IRAQ" otherwise known as "IRAN" "SYRIA" "NORTH KOREA" and on and on . . .
$40,000,000 on inaugural festivities while . .
170,000 + die from tsunami disaster
troops in Iraq are dealing with no armor or "hillbilly armor"
genocide in Sudan
global warming and the environment
the $40,000,000 did not include all the security needed to protect these festivities from the wrath of . . .
Friday, December 31, 2004
W's on Vacation. Don't Bother Him. He' Busy Clearing Brush!!!
Well, George blew another chance to redeem himself and his administration. Three days after what is probably the worst natural disaster in modern times Bush is shamed into acknowledging it. Not only doesn't he interrupt his vacation in the face of this disaster he makes excuses for the minimum of interest and the minor amount of financial aid he offered.
This guy is the leader of the free world from the most powerful country in the world. Wouldn't it be his job to be the first to step up to the plate and take control of the relief effort. I mean, this is not the kind of thing that can wait until he finishes his sabatical in Crawford. Let's put this whole situation in perspective.
When 9/11 happened the world rallied around us. We heard from leaders of other countries immediately. This country grieved. I mean, even the late night shows like Leno and Letterman couldn't bring themselves to joke for about a week. That was a loss of about 3,000 people and two enormous buildings. To put this into context, the tsunami event killed, at this writing, approximately 120,000 people. Thousands are missing, thousands more are injured, tens of thousands more have no food, water or shelter. Most of the heavily devastated areas won't be rebuilt for a generation. So, George stays on his vacation and offers up $15,000,000 in aid -- raised to $35,000,000 after wind of his being stingy blew his way.
When he was accused of being stingy he starts coming up with his lame excuses. We put up the largest amount of money, we spent 2.4 billion in relief last year. There are absolute numbers and there are proportional numbers. Bush, being an MBA, knows you deal with proportional numbers. But he says 2.4 billion dollars like it's some huge amount, when that's what Iraq costs per week.
Consider the cost to be spent on his inaugural festivities -- a little more than 30 million. Consider Wall Street bonuses totalling $15.9 billion. An example of propotionate numbers -- We offer up $35,000,000 and Australia offers up $27,000,000. Absolute numbers show that we gave more. But proportional numbers read as follows: Australia -- $1.35 per person, U.S. -- $.09 per person.
He could have made a diplomatic gesture, that we need to mend our relations with Muslims, by making an emergency exit from Crawford and dealing with this head on. But the way he's dealing with this, it's as if he doesn't care because most affected are Muslims. When he had an election looming he high-tailed it down to Florida during it's hurricane seige to insure the votes he needed in his state. MORAL VALUES -- COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATISM or SELECTIVE VALUES -- SELECTIVE COMPASSION.
There are some people that say Bush could deal with this from Crawford -- with all the high tech services like the internet and other satellite communications. But consider the situation closer to home. You have a parent and a sibling living in a distant state. The sibling is having problems with the parent. Medical, emotional and financial. Which would be the better way of dealing with it. Mail out a couple of hundred bucks and make a few phone calls voicing your sympathy and support or would it be better to rally your family and deal with the situation in person. Seems to me the sacrifice of interrupting a vacation to deal with a disaster at your workplace might work wonders.
That's my opinion.
This guy is the leader of the free world from the most powerful country in the world. Wouldn't it be his job to be the first to step up to the plate and take control of the relief effort. I mean, this is not the kind of thing that can wait until he finishes his sabatical in Crawford. Let's put this whole situation in perspective.
When 9/11 happened the world rallied around us. We heard from leaders of other countries immediately. This country grieved. I mean, even the late night shows like Leno and Letterman couldn't bring themselves to joke for about a week. That was a loss of about 3,000 people and two enormous buildings. To put this into context, the tsunami event killed, at this writing, approximately 120,000 people. Thousands are missing, thousands more are injured, tens of thousands more have no food, water or shelter. Most of the heavily devastated areas won't be rebuilt for a generation. So, George stays on his vacation and offers up $15,000,000 in aid -- raised to $35,000,000 after wind of his being stingy blew his way.
When he was accused of being stingy he starts coming up with his lame excuses. We put up the largest amount of money, we spent 2.4 billion in relief last year. There are absolute numbers and there are proportional numbers. Bush, being an MBA, knows you deal with proportional numbers. But he says 2.4 billion dollars like it's some huge amount, when that's what Iraq costs per week.
Consider the cost to be spent on his inaugural festivities -- a little more than 30 million. Consider Wall Street bonuses totalling $15.9 billion. An example of propotionate numbers -- We offer up $35,000,000 and Australia offers up $27,000,000. Absolute numbers show that we gave more. But proportional numbers read as follows: Australia -- $1.35 per person, U.S. -- $.09 per person.
He could have made a diplomatic gesture, that we need to mend our relations with Muslims, by making an emergency exit from Crawford and dealing with this head on. But the way he's dealing with this, it's as if he doesn't care because most affected are Muslims. When he had an election looming he high-tailed it down to Florida during it's hurricane seige to insure the votes he needed in his state. MORAL VALUES -- COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATISM or SELECTIVE VALUES -- SELECTIVE COMPASSION.
There are some people that say Bush could deal with this from Crawford -- with all the high tech services like the internet and other satellite communications. But consider the situation closer to home. You have a parent and a sibling living in a distant state. The sibling is having problems with the parent. Medical, emotional and financial. Which would be the better way of dealing with it. Mail out a couple of hundred bucks and make a few phone calls voicing your sympathy and support or would it be better to rally your family and deal with the situation in person. Seems to me the sacrifice of interrupting a vacation to deal with a disaster at your workplace might work wonders.
That's my opinion.
2004 out HAPPY NEW YEAR ! ! ! 2005 in
Thursday, December 23, 2004
Compassionate Conservatism/Moral Values vs Support Our Troops
Donald Rumsfeld's response to the soldier that questioned the lack of proper equipment for our troops was from the heart. The problem, is it was just more proof of how cold that heart is. How can you tell our troops that when you go to war you work with the equipment you have?
This is a war of choice, not necessity. So, there was time to prepare for what you were about to face. But Rummy the Dummy wanted to do it on the cheap against the advice of his advisers in uniform.
Greg Rund was a freshman at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, in 1999, when two students shot and killeda teacher, a dozen of their fellow students and themselves.Rund survived that, but he was killed in Fallujah on December 11. Because of severe military shortages many of our troops are on more than one tour of duty. Greg Rund was one of them. He served his country and had to be sent back only to be killed.
Imagine the feeling of anticipation as you count down the days until you can go home to your family, not to mention the anticipation of your family counting those days down. So, it's two weeks and you are outta here. Then the bad news comes -- your tour has been extended. That'll take the wind out of your sails. How do you psyche yourself up for that situation? And if you are able to do it, what if it happens again?
The Army National Guard revealed last week that it had missed it's recruiting goals for the past two months by 30 percent. This translates into the back door draft being used as the tool to keep up troop strength. But you're sucking the lifeblood out of these guys by doing this. Mental health problems for our troops is going to be one of the biggest medical stories of this war.
With all the "support our troops" talk that this administration hangs onto, you have to ask if they practice what they preach. The answer is no.
Consider the tax cuts to benefit the rich but the lack of funding for armour, pay, safety and compassion. I don't think these guys know the definition of compassion. If they did Halliburton would not be getting no-bid contracts and fleecing taxpayers who are footing the bill. Weren't the Iraqis going to rebuild their country? Instead they have an extremely high unemployment rate which translates into an angry population. They can only directly or indirectly take it out on our troops. Directly by taking up arms against our troops. Indirectly by aiding and abetting the insurgency.
From the beginning the war in Iraq has been a tragic exercise in this administration's incompetence. The original reason for the war was wrong. The intelligence was wrong. The estimates for troop strength were wrong. The Iraqi response to the 'liberation' was wrong. The cost estimates were wrong. I SUPPORT OUR TROOPS. But I support them in stopping their valiant effort for an administration that administers bad faith and shoddy treatment. These guys put up with an Iraqi army that they can't really trust. We can't compound that with an administration that they can't trust. Compassion? Moral Values? Bulls--t!!!!!!!!!
This is a war of choice, not necessity. So, there was time to prepare for what you were about to face. But Rummy the Dummy wanted to do it on the cheap against the advice of his advisers in uniform.
Greg Rund was a freshman at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, in 1999, when two students shot and killeda teacher, a dozen of their fellow students and themselves.Rund survived that, but he was killed in Fallujah on December 11. Because of severe military shortages many of our troops are on more than one tour of duty. Greg Rund was one of them. He served his country and had to be sent back only to be killed.
Imagine the feeling of anticipation as you count down the days until you can go home to your family, not to mention the anticipation of your family counting those days down. So, it's two weeks and you are outta here. Then the bad news comes -- your tour has been extended. That'll take the wind out of your sails. How do you psyche yourself up for that situation? And if you are able to do it, what if it happens again?
The Army National Guard revealed last week that it had missed it's recruiting goals for the past two months by 30 percent. This translates into the back door draft being used as the tool to keep up troop strength. But you're sucking the lifeblood out of these guys by doing this. Mental health problems for our troops is going to be one of the biggest medical stories of this war.
With all the "support our troops" talk that this administration hangs onto, you have to ask if they practice what they preach. The answer is no.
Consider the tax cuts to benefit the rich but the lack of funding for armour, pay, safety and compassion. I don't think these guys know the definition of compassion. If they did Halliburton would not be getting no-bid contracts and fleecing taxpayers who are footing the bill. Weren't the Iraqis going to rebuild their country? Instead they have an extremely high unemployment rate which translates into an angry population. They can only directly or indirectly take it out on our troops. Directly by taking up arms against our troops. Indirectly by aiding and abetting the insurgency.
From the beginning the war in Iraq has been a tragic exercise in this administration's incompetence. The original reason for the war was wrong. The intelligence was wrong. The estimates for troop strength were wrong. The Iraqi response to the 'liberation' was wrong. The cost estimates were wrong. I SUPPORT OUR TROOPS. But I support them in stopping their valiant effort for an administration that administers bad faith and shoddy treatment. These guys put up with an Iraqi army that they can't really trust. We can't compound that with an administration that they can't trust. Compassion? Moral Values? Bulls--t!!!!!!!!!
Saturday, December 04, 2004
TOP TEN LIST OF CONCERNS
not necessarily in this order -- except for #1
10.) Intelligence -- unless we get this area together we're out there with blinders on.
9.) Homeland Security -- borders are porous, 95% of docks imports not checked. A lot of what
we do in this area seems to be just going through the motions.
8.) Social Security -- casino or financial adviser?
7.) The Draft -- If we keep following the leader it's inevitable. That's why we have to wake up
and see that this is a waste of lives.
6.) Direction of Government - here we have the basic problem of interlocking church and state.
This direction has to change. It's a theocracy not a democracy.
5.) Health Care -- Cut the pork and we have a healthier country. Two meanings for pork.
4.) The Economy - We need to redefine what is a good economy. Corporations are doing great
and that translates to a booming economy. But it's at the expense of the outsource refugees.
3.) Environment -- You can't depend on a great economy to invent miracles to save the planet
from the apparent dangers it faces.
2.) War in Iraq -- We, and I say we because somehow this guy's still president, are war
criminals. I hate to say it but we are. From Abu Grahb to Fallujah we've been brutal, even
discounting the Geneva Convention.
1.) How all this affects me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
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