http://news.yahoo.com/s/oneworld/20050928/wl_oneworld/45361195801127935317
On Big Easy:http://pesn.com/2005/09/23/9600175_Rebuild_Energy_Systems_Not_NewOrleans/
Friday, September 30
Etan Thomas, dribbles O my
“Giving all honor, thanks and praises to God for courage and wisdom, this is a very important rally. I'd like to thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts, feelings and concerns regarding a tremendous problem that we are currently facing. This problem is universal, transcending race, economic background, religion, and culture, and this problem is none other than the current administration which has set up shop in the White House.
In fact, I'd like to take some of these cats on a field trip. I want to get big yellow buses with no air conditioner and no seatbelts and round up Bill O'Reilly, Pat Buchanan, Trent Lott, Sean Hannity, Dick Cheney, Jeb Bush, Bush Jr. and Bush Sr., John Ashcroft, Giuliani, Ed Gillespie, Katherine Harris, that little bow-tied Tucker Carlson and any other right-wing conservative Republicans I can think of, and take them all on a trip to the ‘hood. Not to do no 30-minute documentary. I mean, I want to drop them off and leave them there, let them become one with the other side of the tracks, get them four mouths to feed and no welfare, have scare tactics run through them like a laxative, criticizing them for needing assistance.
I’d show them working families that make too much to receive welfare but not enough to make ends meet. I’d employ them with jobs with little security, let them know how it feels to be an employee at will, able to be fired at the drop of a hat. I’d take away their opportunities, then try their children as adults, sending their 13-year-old babies to life in prison. I’d sell them dreams of hopelessness while spoon-feeding their young with a daily dose of inferior education. I’d tell them no child shall be left behind, then take more money out of their schools, tell them to show and prove themselves on standardized exams testing their knowledge on things that they haven’t been taught, and then I’d call them inferior.
I’d soak into their interior notions of endless possibilities. I’d paint pictures of assisted productivity if they only agreed to be all they can be, dress them up with fatigues and boots with promises of pots of gold at the end of rainbows, free education to waste terrain on those who finish their bid. Then I’d close the lid on that barrel of fool’s gold by starting a war, sending their children into the midst of a hostile situation, and while they're worried about their babies being murdered and slain in foreign lands, I’d grace them with the pain of being sick and unable to get medicine.
Give them health benefits that barely cover the common cold. John Q. would become their reality as HMOs introduce them to the world of inferior care, filling their lungs with inadequate air, penny pinching at the expense of patients, doctors practicing medicine in an intricate web of rationing and regulations. Patients wander the maze of managed bureaucracy, costs rise and quality quickly deteriorates, but they say that managed care is cheaper. They’ll say that free choice in medicine will defeat the overall productivity, and as co-payments are steadily rising, I'll make their grandparents have to choose between buying their medicine and paying their rent.
Then I'd feed them hypocritical lines of being pro-life as the only Christian way to be. Then very contradictingly, I’d fight for the spread of the death penalty, as if thou shall not kill applies to babies but not to criminals.
Then I’d introduce them to those sworn to protect and serve, creating a curb in their trust in the law. I’d show them the nightsticks and plungers, the pepper spray and stun guns, the mace and magnums that they’d soon become acquainted with, the shakedowns and illegal search and seizures, the planted evidence, being stopped for no reason. Harassment ain’t even the half of it. Forty-one shots to two raised hands, cell phones and wallets that are confused with illegal contrabands. I’d introduce them to pigs who love making their guns click like wine glasses. Everlasting targets surrounded by bullets, making them a walking bull's eye, a living piñata, held at the mercy of police brutality, and then we’ll see if they finally weren’t aware of the truth, if their eyes weren’t finally open like a box of Pandora.
I’d show them how the other side of the tracks carries the weight of the world on our shoulders and how society seems to be holding us down with the force of a boulder. The bird of democracy flew the coop back in Florida. See, for some, and justice comes in packs like wolves in sheep's clothing. T.K.O.'d by the right hooks of life, many are left staggering under the weight of the day, leaning against the ropes of hope. When your dreams have fallen on barren ground, it becomes difficult to keep pushing yourself forward like a train, administering pain like a doctor with a needle, their sequels continue more lethal than injections.
They keep telling us all is equal. I’d tell them that instead of giving tax breaks to the rich, financing corporate mergers and leading us into unnecessary wars and under-table dealings with Enron and Halliburton, maybe they can work on making society more peaceful. Instead, they take more and more money out of inner city schools, give up on the idea of rehabilitation and build more prisons for poor people. With unemployment continuing to rise like a deficit, it's no wonder why so many think that crime pays.
Maybe this trip will make them see the error of their ways. Or maybe next time, we'll just all get out and vote. And as far as their stay in the White House, tell them that numbered are their days.”
In fact, I'd like to take some of these cats on a field trip. I want to get big yellow buses with no air conditioner and no seatbelts and round up Bill O'Reilly, Pat Buchanan, Trent Lott, Sean Hannity, Dick Cheney, Jeb Bush, Bush Jr. and Bush Sr., John Ashcroft, Giuliani, Ed Gillespie, Katherine Harris, that little bow-tied Tucker Carlson and any other right-wing conservative Republicans I can think of, and take them all on a trip to the ‘hood. Not to do no 30-minute documentary. I mean, I want to drop them off and leave them there, let them become one with the other side of the tracks, get them four mouths to feed and no welfare, have scare tactics run through them like a laxative, criticizing them for needing assistance.
I’d show them working families that make too much to receive welfare but not enough to make ends meet. I’d employ them with jobs with little security, let them know how it feels to be an employee at will, able to be fired at the drop of a hat. I’d take away their opportunities, then try their children as adults, sending their 13-year-old babies to life in prison. I’d sell them dreams of hopelessness while spoon-feeding their young with a daily dose of inferior education. I’d tell them no child shall be left behind, then take more money out of their schools, tell them to show and prove themselves on standardized exams testing their knowledge on things that they haven’t been taught, and then I’d call them inferior.
I’d soak into their interior notions of endless possibilities. I’d paint pictures of assisted productivity if they only agreed to be all they can be, dress them up with fatigues and boots with promises of pots of gold at the end of rainbows, free education to waste terrain on those who finish their bid. Then I’d close the lid on that barrel of fool’s gold by starting a war, sending their children into the midst of a hostile situation, and while they're worried about their babies being murdered and slain in foreign lands, I’d grace them with the pain of being sick and unable to get medicine.
Give them health benefits that barely cover the common cold. John Q. would become their reality as HMOs introduce them to the world of inferior care, filling their lungs with inadequate air, penny pinching at the expense of patients, doctors practicing medicine in an intricate web of rationing and regulations. Patients wander the maze of managed bureaucracy, costs rise and quality quickly deteriorates, but they say that managed care is cheaper. They’ll say that free choice in medicine will defeat the overall productivity, and as co-payments are steadily rising, I'll make their grandparents have to choose between buying their medicine and paying their rent.
Then I'd feed them hypocritical lines of being pro-life as the only Christian way to be. Then very contradictingly, I’d fight for the spread of the death penalty, as if thou shall not kill applies to babies but not to criminals.
Then I’d introduce them to those sworn to protect and serve, creating a curb in their trust in the law. I’d show them the nightsticks and plungers, the pepper spray and stun guns, the mace and magnums that they’d soon become acquainted with, the shakedowns and illegal search and seizures, the planted evidence, being stopped for no reason. Harassment ain’t even the half of it. Forty-one shots to two raised hands, cell phones and wallets that are confused with illegal contrabands. I’d introduce them to pigs who love making their guns click like wine glasses. Everlasting targets surrounded by bullets, making them a walking bull's eye, a living piñata, held at the mercy of police brutality, and then we’ll see if they finally weren’t aware of the truth, if their eyes weren’t finally open like a box of Pandora.
I’d show them how the other side of the tracks carries the weight of the world on our shoulders and how society seems to be holding us down with the force of a boulder. The bird of democracy flew the coop back in Florida. See, for some, and justice comes in packs like wolves in sheep's clothing. T.K.O.'d by the right hooks of life, many are left staggering under the weight of the day, leaning against the ropes of hope. When your dreams have fallen on barren ground, it becomes difficult to keep pushing yourself forward like a train, administering pain like a doctor with a needle, their sequels continue more lethal than injections.
They keep telling us all is equal. I’d tell them that instead of giving tax breaks to the rich, financing corporate mergers and leading us into unnecessary wars and under-table dealings with Enron and Halliburton, maybe they can work on making society more peaceful. Instead, they take more and more money out of inner city schools, give up on the idea of rehabilitation and build more prisons for poor people. With unemployment continuing to rise like a deficit, it's no wonder why so many think that crime pays.
Maybe this trip will make them see the error of their ways. Or maybe next time, we'll just all get out and vote. And as far as their stay in the White House, tell them that numbered are their days.”
Thursday, September 29
Wednesday, September 28
Big oil reaps windfall
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_3067873
http://www.newyorker.com/printables/shouts/050926sh_shouts
Thirty-five is when you finally get your head together and your body starts falling apart.
- Caryn Leschen
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1798944,00.html
http://villagevoice.com/news/0539,mondo1,68217,6.html
http://www.newyorker.com/printables/shouts/050926sh_shouts
Thirty-five is when you finally get your head together and your body starts falling apart.
- Caryn Leschen
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1798944,00.html
http://villagevoice.com/news/0539,mondo1,68217,6.html
Saturday, September 24
American "Climate Loonies"
I have a quick thing I want to say to the Almighty: What part of God Bless America don't you get? - Jon Stewart
http://www.alternet.org/katrina/25877/
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article314510.ece
http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/25878/
http://www.alternet.org/katrina/25877/
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article314510.ece
http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/25878/
Thursday, September 22
Tuesday, September 20
Friday, September 16
SUV Exodus
Poll: 8 in 10 Want Drivers to Drop SUVs
By WILL LESTER Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Eight in 10 people say it's important for Americans now driving sport utility vehicles to switch to more fuel-efficient vehicles to reduce the nation's dependence on oil, a poll found.
With gas prices hovering around $3 a gallon nationally and the price of natural gas rising sharply, six in 10 said they are not confident President Bush is taking the right approach to solving the nation's energy problems, according to the survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
Given several choices for dealing with energy problems, the public has some clear preferences:
-Almost seven in 10 want the government to establish price controls on gasoline and want more spending on subway, rail and bus systems.
-Just over seven in 10 want to give tax cuts to companies to develop wind, solar and hydrogen energy.
-Just over eight in 10 want higher fuel efficiency required for cars, trucks and SUVs.
-Slightly more than half, 52 percent, favor giving tax cuts to energy companies to explore for more oil.
The rising anxiety over high gas prices has caused a shift in public priorities about the importance of exploring for new energy.
Latest News
Poll: 8 in 10 Want Drivers to Drop SUVs
Almost six in 10 now say exploring for new sources of energy is more important than protecting the environment. People were evenly split on that question in 2002. Half now support drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska - up from 42 percent who felt that way in March.
Only four in 10 wanted to promote the increased use of nuclear power, while slightly more than half opposed that step.
The Pew poll of 1,523 adults was taken Sept. 8-11 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
---
On the Net:
Pew Research Center - http://www.people-press.org
By WILL LESTER Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Eight in 10 people say it's important for Americans now driving sport utility vehicles to switch to more fuel-efficient vehicles to reduce the nation's dependence on oil, a poll found.
With gas prices hovering around $3 a gallon nationally and the price of natural gas rising sharply, six in 10 said they are not confident President Bush is taking the right approach to solving the nation's energy problems, according to the survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
Given several choices for dealing with energy problems, the public has some clear preferences:
-Almost seven in 10 want the government to establish price controls on gasoline and want more spending on subway, rail and bus systems.
-Just over seven in 10 want to give tax cuts to companies to develop wind, solar and hydrogen energy.
-Just over eight in 10 want higher fuel efficiency required for cars, trucks and SUVs.
-Slightly more than half, 52 percent, favor giving tax cuts to energy companies to explore for more oil.
The rising anxiety over high gas prices has caused a shift in public priorities about the importance of exploring for new energy.
Latest News
Poll: 8 in 10 Want Drivers to Drop SUVs
Almost six in 10 now say exploring for new sources of energy is more important than protecting the environment. People were evenly split on that question in 2002. Half now support drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska - up from 42 percent who felt that way in March.
Only four in 10 wanted to promote the increased use of nuclear power, while slightly more than half opposed that step.
The Pew poll of 1,523 adults was taken Sept. 8-11 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
---
On the Net:
Pew Research Center - http://www.people-press.org
Bootstrap Time
http://www.bushgreenwatch.org/mt_archives/000293.php
Does this look like the coast of Louisiana to you?
That's because an area the size of Delaware has sunk to the bottom the Gulf in the last 75 years.
Gotsa get it together
http://www.ren21.net/
Monday, September 12
Playing God?! No Shit?!
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050906/65371.html?.v=1
Government Intervention in Stock Market.
The new report ("Move Over, Adam Smith: The Visible Hand of Uncle Sam") concludes that the U.S. government has intervened to support the stock market so many times that "what apparently started as a stopgap measure may have morphed into a serious moral hazard situation, with market manipulation an endemic feature of the U.S. stock market."
The Sprott report does not maintain that the government should never intervene in the stock market; it recognizes that certain emergencies may argue strongly for temporary intervention, such as the 1987 stock market crash and the terrorist attacks of September 2001. But, the Sprott report notes, frequent surreptitious intervention, conducted through intermediaries, the government's favored financial houses in New York, gives those intermediaries enormous advantages over ordinary investors. Frequent intervention, the Sprott report adds also makes it impossible to distinguish between national emergencies and political expediency.
"But a policy enacted in secret and knowingly withheld from the body politic has created a huge disconnect between those knowledgeable about such activities and the majority of the public, who have no clue whatsoever.
"In addition to creating a privileged class, the manipulation also has little democratic legitimacy in the sense that the citizenry has not given its consent. This has tangible ramifications. By not informing the public, successive U.S. administrations have employed a dangerous policy response that is subject to the worst possible abuse. In this regard, the line between national necessity and political expediency has no doubt been perilously blurred.
"We can only urge people to see what the evidence indicates and debate what is and ought to be a very contentious matter. The time for such a public discussion is long overdue."
The Sprott report can be found in Adobe Acrobat format at the Sprott Internet site here: http://www.sprott.com/pdf/pressrelease/TheVisibleHand.pdf
It also can be found at the GATA Internet site here: http://www.gata.org/SprottReportTheVisibleHand.pdf
Contact: Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee
Chris Powell, 860-646-0500
Government Intervention in Stock Market.
The new report ("Move Over, Adam Smith: The Visible Hand of Uncle Sam") concludes that the U.S. government has intervened to support the stock market so many times that "what apparently started as a stopgap measure may have morphed into a serious moral hazard situation, with market manipulation an endemic feature of the U.S. stock market."
The Sprott report does not maintain that the government should never intervene in the stock market; it recognizes that certain emergencies may argue strongly for temporary intervention, such as the 1987 stock market crash and the terrorist attacks of September 2001. But, the Sprott report notes, frequent surreptitious intervention, conducted through intermediaries, the government's favored financial houses in New York, gives those intermediaries enormous advantages over ordinary investors. Frequent intervention, the Sprott report adds also makes it impossible to distinguish between national emergencies and political expediency.
"But a policy enacted in secret and knowingly withheld from the body politic has created a huge disconnect between those knowledgeable about such activities and the majority of the public, who have no clue whatsoever.
"In addition to creating a privileged class, the manipulation also has little democratic legitimacy in the sense that the citizenry has not given its consent. This has tangible ramifications. By not informing the public, successive U.S. administrations have employed a dangerous policy response that is subject to the worst possible abuse. In this regard, the line between national necessity and political expediency has no doubt been perilously blurred.
"We can only urge people to see what the evidence indicates and debate what is and ought to be a very contentious matter. The time for such a public discussion is long overdue."
The Sprott report can be found in Adobe Acrobat format at the Sprott Internet site here: http://www.sprott.com/pdf/pressrelease/TheVisibleHand.pdf
It also can be found at the GATA Internet site here: http://www.gata.org/SprottReportTheVisibleHand.pdf
Contact: Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee
Chris Powell, 860-646-0500
"How Bush Blew It"
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9287434/site/newsweek
"The radio was reporting water nine feet deep at the corner of Napoleon and St. Charles streets."
That used to be home for J 'n B, 2 cats and a dog...
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article311818.ece
Chimpy:38% and falling
"The radio was reporting water nine feet deep at the corner of Napoleon and St. Charles streets."
That used to be home for J 'n B, 2 cats and a dog...
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article311818.ece
Chimpy:38% and falling
Sunday, September 11
From the great prophet Bill
When my son asks me who the great prophets of my time were, this man will be a leader among them.
http://alternet.org/story/25274/
http://alternet.org/story/25274/
What's that Peak?
Lieberman's law: Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter since nobody listens.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/10/business/10nocera.html?th&emc=th
http://www.calcars.org/globalwarming.html
http://www.alternet.org/story/25175/
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/10/business/10nocera.html?th&emc=th
http://www.calcars.org/globalwarming.html
http://www.alternet.org/story/25175/
Saturday, September 10
Saturday, September 3
Oops, I said it!
Years of stonewalling, bribes, 'early retirements', taxpayer dollars, and thousands of lives later; http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/08/31/bush_gives_new_reason_for_iraq_war/
the reality trump
(A Reprieve for Reality in New Crop of Films By STEPHEN HOLDEN)
Whether taken with milk and cookies or swallowed as a gulp of bitter medicine, reality is something many would like a lot more of than the infotainment juggernaut is willing to supply. These movies challenge audiences to examine reality at a moment when the very term has been warped beyond recognition by reality television. This has been the summer in which mass culture, in its search for new commercial distractions, reached a dangerous tipping point. There is a sense of exhaustion in the air, as though the accumulation of cultural debris, celebrity worship and meaningless competitions had reached a critical mass.
How much longer can we continue to live inside a bubble where Jennifer Aniston's broken heart and Tom Cruise's public meltdown compete with the war in Iraq, famine in Sudan and the catastrophe in New Orleans as headline news stories?
Are the fame-seeking narcissists who swarm through reality television shows an accurate mirror of who we have become as a people? Or are they an illusion marketed by hucksters who cleverly play on a creeping self-disgust, then devise fresh new camouflage to mask that deepening sense of revulsion?
The relationship of reality television to the rise of the documentary is another question to ponder. Did reality television prepare the way for the new popularity of the documentary? Or is the increasing popularity of documentaries a response to the Orwellian political climate.
Seventy years ago T. S. Eliot observed in his poem "Burnt Norton," "Humankind cannot bear very much reality." "March of the Penguins," "Grizzly Man" and the 16 other summer movies discussed below (and listed alphabetically) may not solve the riddles of existence, but they offer glimpses into the real world beyond the matrix.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/movies/02note.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print
Can't Miss Blog:
http://www.alternet.org/story/24936/ "Hell no, I'm not glad to see them. They should have been here days ago. I ain't glad to see 'em, I'll be glad when 100 buses show up," said 46-year-old Michael Levy, whose words were echoed by those around him yelling, "Hell, yeah! Hell yeah!"
"We've been sleeping on the ... ground like rats," Levy said. "I say burn this whole ... city down."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/business/02norris.html?th&emc=th
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/opinion/02fischetti.html?th&emc=th
Couldwoulda:http://smh.com.au/news/world/china-evacuates-790000-as-typhoon-slams-into-coast/2005/09/01/1125302689224.html
China evacuates 790,000 as typhoon slams into coast. 3 Dead
http://smh.com.au/news/world/china-evacuates-790000-as-typhoon-slams-into-coast/2005/09/01/1125302689224.html
Whether taken with milk and cookies or swallowed as a gulp of bitter medicine, reality is something many would like a lot more of than the infotainment juggernaut is willing to supply. These movies challenge audiences to examine reality at a moment when the very term has been warped beyond recognition by reality television. This has been the summer in which mass culture, in its search for new commercial distractions, reached a dangerous tipping point. There is a sense of exhaustion in the air, as though the accumulation of cultural debris, celebrity worship and meaningless competitions had reached a critical mass.
How much longer can we continue to live inside a bubble where Jennifer Aniston's broken heart and Tom Cruise's public meltdown compete with the war in Iraq, famine in Sudan and the catastrophe in New Orleans as headline news stories?
Are the fame-seeking narcissists who swarm through reality television shows an accurate mirror of who we have become as a people? Or are they an illusion marketed by hucksters who cleverly play on a creeping self-disgust, then devise fresh new camouflage to mask that deepening sense of revulsion?
The relationship of reality television to the rise of the documentary is another question to ponder. Did reality television prepare the way for the new popularity of the documentary? Or is the increasing popularity of documentaries a response to the Orwellian political climate.
Seventy years ago T. S. Eliot observed in his poem "Burnt Norton," "Humankind cannot bear very much reality." "March of the Penguins," "Grizzly Man" and the 16 other summer movies discussed below (and listed alphabetically) may not solve the riddles of existence, but they offer glimpses into the real world beyond the matrix.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/movies/02note.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print
Can't Miss Blog:
http://www.alternet.org/story/24936/ "Hell no, I'm not glad to see them. They should have been here days ago. I ain't glad to see 'em, I'll be glad when 100 buses show up," said 46-year-old Michael Levy, whose words were echoed by those around him yelling, "Hell, yeah! Hell yeah!"
"We've been sleeping on the ... ground like rats," Levy said. "I say burn this whole ... city down."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/business/02norris.html?th&emc=th
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/opinion/02fischetti.html?th&emc=th
Couldwoulda:http://smh.com.au/news/world/china-evacuates-790000-as-typhoon-slams-into-coast/2005/09/01/1125302689224.html
China evacuates 790,000 as typhoon slams into coast. 3 Dead
http://smh.com.au/news/world/china-evacuates-790000-as-typhoon-slams-into-coast/2005/09/01/1125302689224.html
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