Sometimes it's Hard to Keep Track.

So the reds are mad at bushco. for their diplomacy with North Korea, because they may have helped Syria with a nuclear program, the way they did Pakistan. Israel recently bombed what "appeared to be" a future nuclear reactor facility in Syria with little fanfare and even littler news coverage. I guess bombing a nation without being provoked still may be considered bad, and our 51st state can do no wrong. There's been much a do about Iran's nuclear ambitions. Bushco. recently, not to mention unilaterally, sanctioned Iran for "threatening behavior" (sounds like they must have overwhelming evidence to me). The sanctions are no surprise. What was surprising to me was that Iran, as well as China, were awarded large power plant construction contracts in Iraq. They will try and do what the US's $5 Billion effort has thus far failed to, provide adequate power to an electricity grid that still only provides power for a few hours a day for many "liberated" Iraqis. I wonder if this means we'll start sanctioning Iraq again. Knowing bushco. they'll use the Iran/Iraq deal to justify bombing the Kurds so as not to piss off Turkey, who has already begun shelling Northern Iraq. Turkey's airbase, more specifically Our use of it, is the reason President Flip Flop now says the Turks slaughtering 1,500,000 Armenians based on their ethnicity should not be officially considered genocide. It's a good thing ahmadinejad** isn't part of bush's "coalition of the willing" or Our president would be backing holocaust deniers the same way he's backing these genocide deniers today. At least bush wasn't praising their country's most famous rebel while they were holding our debt and are responsible for the bulk of the goods sold at our biggest stores. By the way george, I'm a huge dalai lama fan too.

In "we're a Nation at War" news, the Iraqi government has revoked bremer's provisional authority decree that security contractors are "immune from prosecution". It's hard to believe that those killing, I mean securing Iraq for democracy, on Our behalf have to obey the law. Oh yeah, the US is clearly on the forefront of human rights since these "folks" took over the executive branch. The non-partisan Congressional Budget office estimates that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq could cost $2.4 TRILLION by 2017. The failure-in-chief's mouth piece blew the number off as speculation. If only they had blown off Paul Wolfowitz's "the war will pay for itself"estimate, not to mention the White House's $50 Billion estimate, as speculation instead of treating them as accurate. There were a lot of things that bushco. had "no doubt" about that turned out to be nothing more then speculation, and that's being nice. At least we have cheaper oil now. Wait, is it really at $92 a barrel?

In the war on science news, the "lie by omission" administration edited five pages out of the director of the Center of Disease Control's Congressional testimony on global warming. No surprise there. Here is another non-surprise. 388 more liberal, leftist, pinko, tree hugging scientists from around the world have come out with yet another "wake up call" report on how we, as humans, live in direct contrast with and have an adverse effect on Our home planet and the way it sustains Us. You know, with things like air and water.

And of course, I would be remiss in not mentioning the tragic 500,000 acre fire in southern California which has seen 500,000 residents evacuated (about half the amount evacuated from New Orleans Before Katrina hit). Hopefully bushco. will do and has done a better job on this disaster despite the fact that half of the California National Guard equipment is in Iraq. I also hope the improved response has nothing to do with the fact that the governor is republican, or that some, if not most, of the home destroyed were owned by the rich as opposed to the ninth ward of New Orleans, which hasn’t been reconstructed in the two plus years since the storm. It was nice to see that the mood was festive (complete with bands, buffets, and massages) at the Qualcomm Center in California, as opposed to what life was like in the Superdome.

Oh and a quick word of CAUTION:
Be careful "sleepytime" cheney is going hunting this weekend.

Have a Happy Halloween!

**the first spell check suggestion at blogger.com for ahmadinejad is "hitler". I'm not kidding.

Gore (Green is the New Black)

Not since former President Jimmy Carter's Nobel Peace Prize have I been so interested in the esteemed award's recipient, but when word started to come out last week that former Vice President Al Gore was a front runner, a smile ran to my face. Then today it was announced that Al Gore and the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were the winners of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Al Gore's recent work on the unique and gathering threat of a worldwide climate crisis and what we, as humans, can do to slow or maybe reverse it's current trajectory reinforces what I firmly believe. Al Gore is more focused, and powerful, outside of elected office than in it. Gore has been a passionate environmentalist longer than he has been in the national spotlight. His book "Earth in Balance" (1992) remains one of my favorite environmental texts. It's right up there with "The Lorax". Though they did manage to defend the air we breath, the water we drink, and the land on which we live from industrial and downright Anti-environmental attacks, the Clinton Administration didn't do much on the Offense when it came to environmental or energy policy. I don't blame Al Gore completely for this, but it was very disappointing at the time. Now that his attention is focused back on his passion and not in all the directions the Number 2 man in the free world is pulled, he is much more effective.

That being said, with few detractors, Al Gore has been and remains on the forefront of environmental science and more specifically global warming, or as he likes to call it "the coming climate crisis". The Academy Award winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" (see link to the left) chronicles a touring slide show on the subject that Gore had presented for years before movie cameras showed up. He co-founded Generation Investment Management which invests in sustainability research and sustainable development, proving that environmental policy does not have to be at odds with economic policy. His success has been instrumental in what looks to be somewhat of a ground swell of a new "green" movement. His Live Earth concert was an important part of a recent greening of big ticket concerts. Simple ideas like volunteers manning the "compost, recyclable, and landfill" cans and compostable beer cups made from corn or sugar cane make the foot print of festival concerts that much smaller. His carbon calculator calculates how big your carbon foot print is and gives you options on how you can offset it. With the change of a light bulb or having one vegan day a week he and his instruct us how little changes made by many can make a difference.

Why so many don't want to make simple changes that would reduce our dependency on foreign oil, reduce the pollution we breathe, reduce the cost of their electric bill and the cost they pay at the pump is beyond me. I guess changing or even questioning the current environmental or energy policy is anti-american left wing nutty liberal craziness, even if it does sound a lot like common sense. It is good to see more and more talking and acting "green". Maybe it really is the new black.

Heckuva job Al! Keep doing what you're doing. And don't run for president.

Change in America.

Here in America, we are for human rights, even for the worst of humans. Here in America we are for free speech even, and especially, if that speech is offensive. Here in America we believe in helping those who need help. We are a melting pot of different and diverse cultures. We are at the forefront of science and technology, ingenuity and know how. We are a beacon of hope and opportunity. America leads by example. This is My America. A country created by the People and for the People. Problem is, the existence of My America seems about as real as Abbie Hoffman's "Woodstock Nation".

The new America pounds rationalizations for torture into the hearts and minds of Americans, tugging at Our lowest human impulses. The new America confuses American flag pins with patriotism. The new America privatizes the military without holding contractors accountable for murder, grand theft, or incompetence. The new America supports the troops by lengthening their tours, shortening their rests, and cutting their benefits. The new America spies on its own citizens. The new American scares its citizens into thinking that their rights are privileges. The new America lets the president act like a king. The new America scoffs at science. The new America leads by force and condemns any nation who follows its example. The new America doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks. It would rather insult those with opposing views (freedom fries) than discuss those views. The new America helps those that have and looks further down on the have-nots.

I do not hate America. I love America. I remember what happened on September 11, 2001. I was standing across the Hudson River, watching, while it was happening. That cursed day, that cursed attack is not a reason to throw away everything America stands for. There's is a sticker on my door that reads "Our grief is not a cry for war". What is stronger, standing up and saying "We will not be deterred. Our way of life will not change, because of your brutality" or saying "We will become brutal, we will give up rights and freedoms, we will live in fear of the next attack"?

Our leaders can not be trusted to bring America back. They are either too conniving or too afraid. The change has to come from the People. Until it does, the light at the end of the tunnel is only going to get dimmer. It's not easy to pay attention to the war or poverty instead of the latest reality show results. It's hard to pay attention to what Our leaders are doing when there is new "news" about an amateur porn video star marrying another amateur porn video star. It's easier to keep up on the custody battle of a former child pop star whose career has gone south than it is to think about health care coverage for everyone American.

But it's up to Us. We can sit back, watching the world go by on Our television or we can act. I vote for action.

"Change does not happen from the top down. It happens from the bottom up"
-Senator Barack Obama in NYC 9/27/7.

Gore to come later.

Pro-Death, Anti-Health

$200 Billion more for war THIS YEAR is fine with bush (Especially because it's all borrowed money. Somebody else will pay the debt later.), but $35 Billion over 5 YEARS for expanding health care by 4 Million children is not. He uses his fourth veto on it.

Disgusting!!!!