mousemusings...multimedia, music, progressive politics, video, web design and general rants
Human beings will be happier - not when they cure cancer or get to Mars or eliminate racial prejudice or flush Lake Erie but when they find ways to inhabit primitive communities again. That's my utopia.
~Kurt Vonnegut
Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Year Of the Dog(s)






From the Albuquerque Journal, HT: Fresh Chaos.
posted by : Joseph j7uy5 | link |   | |

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Sunday, January 29, 2006

Do You Remember These?





I wasn't much of a doll person, and now, looking back, I guess this must be why I'm not very focused on fashion. How weird it is to think of the things you played with as a kid. (and no, I don't remember most of these, because I'm really not a boomer by most definitions, yet close enough to pretend)
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |

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Friday, January 27, 2006

How to Get Your Own Sign


Click on sign for info
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |

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Thursday, January 26, 2006

I do not like that Abramoff!

Only slightly irreverent, this was found on a New Mexico blog, Fresh Chaos.

That Abramoff! That Abramoff!
I do not like that Abramoff!
"Would you like to play some golf?"
I do not want to play some golf.
I do not want to, Abramoff.
"We could fly you there for free.
Off to Scotland, by the sea."
I do not want to fly for free.
I don't like Scotland by the sea.
I do not want to play some golf.
I do not want to, Abramoff.
"Would you, could you, take this bribe?
Could you, would you, for the tribe?"
I would not, could not, take this bribe.
I could not, would not, for the tribe.
"If we strong-armed corporations
Into giving you donations?
They'd be funneled to your PAC.
Would you then cut us some slack?"
I would not, could not, cut you slack.
I do not care about my PAC.
I do not want to play some golf.
I do not want to, Abramoff.
"A plane! A plane! A plane! A plane!
Would you, could you, for a plane?"
I could not, would not, for a plane.
Not for a bribe, not for the tribe.
Not for donations from corporations.
Not for my PAC, not for some slack.
Not from any schmoe named Jack.
"Would you help us buy some ships
Perfect for quick gambling trips?
Talk to people in the know
For a little quid pro quo?
Oh come now, don't be a snob.
Let us give your wife a job."
I will not help you buy some ships.
I do not wish for gambling trips.
My wife does not need a job
Even if she is a snob.
We do not like bribes, can't you see?
Why won't you just let me be?
"You do not like bribes, so you say.
Try them, try them, and you may.
Try them and you may, I say."
Jack. If you will let me be
I will try them, then you'll see.
Say.... I do like playing golf!
I like it, I do, Abramoff!
I do like Scotland by the sea.
It's such a thrilling place to be!
And I will take this bribe.
And I will help the tribe.
And I will take donations
From big corporations.
And I will help you buy some ships.
And I will take quick gambling trips.
Say, I'll give anyone the shaft
As long as it involves some graft!
I do so like playing golf!
Thank you! Thank you,
Abramoff!


Unfortunately, the blog doesn't have permalinks, but the post is dated 1/25/06. Also, it doesn't say who wrote the poem; they attribute it to "a reader from Texas."
posted by : Joseph j7uy5 | link |   | |


Independent Gore

After reading this article, I continue to think that the idea of Gore running for President as an Independent is, in fact, a very good idea. I wrote a little line of thought regarding this the other day.
George Bush and his minions are not an aberration. They are the natural and expected fruit of capitalism run amok. Capitalists believe in plutocratic and corporate rule, the concentration of wealth and power. They are the product of a system of economic inequality and privilege that exploits the huge majority of the population and subjugates them into wage slavery as ‘at will’ employees. It preys upon the just—those who play by the rules. The quagmire in Iraq, and the one to come in Iran, and in hundreds of other places, is the result of the social and economic injustice fostered by capitalism. Treating the symptoms will not effect a cure. Only addressing root causes can do that.

By engaging in party politics, the practice of pitting conservative against liberal, liberal against conservative, we are playing into the hands of the status quo. I have been all too guilty of this practice myself. It is an easy trap to fall into. By so doing we are unwittingly creating a diversion, a smoke screen, for the empire builders and power brokers to continue to play the game safely out of public view, assuring the same results, regardless of which party is in power.

...) We must stop working against ourselves. We have enough to do to overcome the real enemy.

As incredible as it may seem, the average liberal and the average conservative have more in common with one another, than they have in common with their respective political parties and their champions. The great majority of conservatives and liberals are victims of a system that not only does not serve them—it exploits them.

The New York Observer has an article titled Gore is Bigger Than Ever. He is portrayed as a man playing his own game, and feeling quite comfortable doing so. His indebtedness is to the earth he lives on. His fire is one we all share. If he could run as Independent and win, which I think is highly possible, it would break things that need desperately to be broken, and would open a wide door to third parties.
Gore is intelligent enough to wander through these concepts in a day and understand the implications, whereas, for me to grasp it all, I will have to immerse myself for much longer. I pass on the link for those readers who have the time and inclination.
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |

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Sunday, January 22, 2006

All it takes is courage

William Rivers Pitt has a wild and crazy idea.
His idea, if implemented, would speak volumes. The press couldn't ignore it and the citizens watching would finally get a real glimpse of an opposition party. It would go very far in demonstrating that we have reached the tipping point and will no longer allow this country or the people in it to be pawns in the book of lies. It's brilliant.
What I am talking about is political theater on a grand scale. No opposition party in American history has ever turned their backs on a President and walked out of a State of the Union address. No opposition party has faced the degree of potential extermination the Democrats face today. The stakes have never been higher. You are dealing with a President who wants to make his Executive powers absolute, and with a Republican party that has been usurped from soup to nuts by extremists that would be cartoonish if they were not so very real.

Abramoff won't help you. The fear factor will subsume you. You can sit there and take it, clapping politely as the ram rolls towards you, or you can stand up and make yourselves relevant again. To walk out of the speech would be a huge statement, bold and potentially dangerous. But if you don't do something bold, something grand and unprecedented, something to take back the initiative, you will join the Whigs in the dustbin of history.

Stand up. Walk out. You have a week to get this organized.
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |

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Saturday, January 21, 2006

Molly Ivins Will Not Support Hillary Clinton As President

as, I'm willing to bet, neither will the MAJORITY of Americans.
What kind of courage does it take, for mercy's sake? The majority of the American people (55 percent) think the war in Iraq is a mistake and that we should get out. The majority (65 percent) of the American people want single-payer health care and are willing to pay more taxes to get it. The majority (86 percent) of the American people favor raising the minimum wage. The majority of the American people (60 percent) favor repealing Bush's tax cuts, or at least those that go only to the rich. The majority (66 percent) wants to reduce the deficit not by cutting domestic spending, but by reducing Pentagon spending or raising taxes.

The majority (77 percent) thinks we should do "whatever it takes" to protect the environment. The majority (87 percent) thinks big oil companies are gouging consumers and would support a windfall profits tax. That is the center, you fools. WHO ARE YOU AFRAID OF?

Oh come on, people -- get a grip on the concept of leadership. Look at this war -- from the lies that led us into it, to the lies they continue to dump on us daily.
[ read it all ]
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |

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Friday, January 20, 2006

Meme

Add This To Your Email Signature
NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this email without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse nor protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.
via: Impeach Bush Coalition
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


Tyranny

tyr·an·ny
1. A government in which a single ruler is vested with absolute power.
2. The office, authority, or jurisdiction of an absolute ruler.
3. Absolute power, especially when exercised unjustly or cruelly: “I have sworn... eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man” (Thomas Jefferson).
4.
1. Use of absolute power.
2. A tyrannical act.
5. Extreme harshness or severity; rigor.

Audio link to Gore's speech.
All I could think of throughout was 'tyranny'.
I never thought I would see it in this country. We, the US citizens, who so proudly base our very existence on those who came before us and fought for our freedoms so that we would never live under tyrannical rule. We, the US citizens, allowed this to happen.
Americans have forgotten the prerequisites for freedom, and those pursuing power have forgotten what it means when it falls into other hands. Americans are very close to losing their constitutional system and civil liberties. It is paradoxical that American democracy is the likely casualty of a "war on terror" that is being justified in the name of the expansion of democracy.
~Paul Craig Roberts: Bush Crosses the Rubicon

Two more by Roberts well worth the read:
Gore Stands Up for the Constitution
A Challenge that Cannot be Ignored
One would have thought the entire Democratic congressional delegation would have turned out in support of Gore's challenge to Bush's extraordinary claims of power.

The lack of an opposition party makes the media vulnerable to intimidation by a dictatorial-minded administration.

and
Was the 2004 Election Fixed?
It seems contrary to American common sense for voters to have reelected a president who had failed in such a dramatic way.
...) If electronic voting machines programmed by private Republican firms remain in our future, dissent will become pointless unless it boils over into revolution.

I'm thinking that Gore should split from the Democrats, become an Independent, and run with it. He might get more press coverage that way. Disgruntled Republicans and disenchanted Democrats are looking for a leader. After the past 5 years I don't know many people who are happy with the system the way it is and/or who have an affinity to any party. The balance is off and there is no opposition party to speak of. It could be the only way to restructure the system and to have a viable democracy.
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |

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Wednesday, January 18, 2006

The Proposed Iranian Oil Bourse

and how it could accelerate the fall of the American Empire
In 1971, as it became clearer and clearer that the U.S Government would not be able to buy back its dollars in gold, it made in 1972-73 an iron-clad arrangement with Saudi Arabia to support the power of the House of Saud in exchange for accepting only U.S. dollars for its oil. The rest of OPEC was to follow suit and also accept only dollars. Because the world had to buy oil from the Arab oil countries, it had the reason to hold dollars as payment for oil. Because the world needed ever increasing quantities of oil at ever increasing oil prices, the world's demand for dollars could only increase. Even though dollars could no longer be exchanged for gold, they were now exchangeable for oil.

...) The Iranian government has finally developed the ultimate "nuclear" weapon that can swiftly destroy the financial system underpinning the American Empire. That weapon is the Iranian Oil Bourse slated to open in March 2006. It will be based on a euro-oil-trading mechanism that naturally implies payment for oil in Euro. In economic terms, this represents a much greater threat to the hegemony of the dollar than Saddam's, because it will allow anyone willing either to buy or to sell oil for Euro to transact on the exchange, thus circumventing the U.S. dollar altogether. If so, then it is likely that almost everyone will eagerly adopt this euro oil system: [ read on for the specifics ]

...) The Austrian theory of money, credit, and business cycles teaches us that there is no in-between Scylla and Charybdis. Sooner or later, the monetary system must swing one way or the other, forcing the Fed to make its choice. No doubt, Commander-in-Chief Ben Bernanke, a renowned scholar of the Great Depression and an adept Black Hawk pilot, will choose inflation.

That, in a nutshell, is the Iranian nuclear weapon that Bush is worried about. The goodwill we've squandered in our reckless display of American 'shock and awe' isn't something we can get back. If not Iran, then someone else. We have to learn to play nicely with the rest of the world like all bullies eventually have to do. I guess we begin learning soon.
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |

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Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Creativity can't be taught, but it can be killed

...centralized curriculum, standardized testing, accountability, required courses of study -- could burden or kill outright the creativity of American schoolchildren. Worse, the reforms neglect the real problems in U.S. education, namely, how to work with our neighbors in the global village and how to really help the poor schools and poor children.
See also Students may have tough choices ahead.

The United States will continue to be an innovation center, provided school reforms don't quash creativity in our children. In this "flat" world, the premium is on individuals who can market the innovations to other countries without being perceived as arrogant and imperialistic.

...) Even as American schools are encouraged, even forced, to chase after test scores, America's major Asian economic competitors -- China, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan -- have started reforms aimed at fostering creativity and innovative thinking in their schools.

China, for example, has reformed its curriculum through such drastic measures as minimizing the consequences of poor performance on tests; abandoning its one-nation, one-syllabus tradition; offering more electives and choices for students; and reducing students' homework burden.

I was listening to Jack Lessenberry's show Do This, Or We Fail (scroll to Tuesday Jan 17 for a short essay and the audio) as he spoke with (MI) State Superintendent Mike Flanagan about his proposal for higher standards. While I can see the attraction to 'higher standards', I can't help but think that it will absolutely stifle, suffocate, smother and ultimately kill the spirit of innovation. Not at all unlike a workplace filled with robots and rigidity, misplaced or misinterpreted concepts of 'higher standards' are simply going to be a form of squelching creativity, instilling a rigid hierarchy that, in my opinion, is already rigid beyond functionality and by encouraging rote, rather than critical learning. I do think it could be implemented if done creatively and very carefully, but I'm afraid the end they are hoping to achieve isn't very desirable. I'm also afraid there would be many many minds left in the dust or perhaps more pointedly, left on the street, unprepared.

For those unaware of the proposal, Michigan apparently currently only requires one semester of civics to earn a high school diploma which does in fact seem ludicrious, however, Mike Flanagan wants the state legislature to change that to include four years of math including Algebra and Algebra 2; four years of English, three of social studies and two of world languages. As well as a year of physical education and arts.

I see no provision for those who are struggling. Do It or You Fail. (or drop out)
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |

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Monday, January 16, 2006

Gary Rhine Has Gone Home

I just found out that Gary Rhine passed away a week ago, a victim of a small plane crash. Rhino's Blog had been a source of inspiration to me. His activism focused on issues that deeply concern me and I often found unique viewpoints when I visited his weblog; viewpoints that gave me fuel for thought and a renewed sense of the urgency requiring our action. His last post was written in late December. I will miss him.
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


James Lovelock: 'We are past the point of no return'

Two years ago he sparked a major controversy with an article in The Independent calling on environmentalists to drop their long-standing opposition to nuclear power, which does not produce the greenhouses gases of conventional power stations.

Global warming was proceeding so fast that only a major expansion of nuclear power could bring it under control, he said. Most of the Green movement roundly rejected his call, and does so still.

Now his concerns have reached a peak - and have a new emphasis. Rather than calling for further ways of countering climate change, he is calling on governments in Britain and elsewhere to begin large-scale preparations for surviving what he now sees as inevitable - in his own phrase today, "a hell of a climate", likely to be in Europe up to 8C hotter than it is today.

...) One of the most striking ideas in his book is that of "a guidebook for global warming survivors" aimed at the humans who would still be struggling to exist after a total societal collapse.

Written, not in electronic form, but "on durable paper with long-lasting print", it would contain the basic accumulated scientific knowledge of humanity, much of it utterly taken for granted by us now, but originally won only after a hard struggle - such as our place in the solar system, or the fact that bacteria and viruses cause infectious diseases. [ read more ]
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


Impeachment Update

Cyndy showed me some links today, but she is at work, so I will write this up for her.

The regular media continue to miss the ongoing story of the rising tide of calls for censure, investigation, and ultimate impeachment of the President. There is a site called Afterdowningstreet.org, which is now subtitled Censurebush.org, and which has a companion site, Impeachpac.org. They are carrying a post by David Swanson that outlines the current status of the efforts for investigation, censure, and impeachment.
By a margin of 52% to 43%, Americans want Congress to consider impeaching President Bush if he wiretapped American citizens without a judge's approval, according to a new poll commissioned by AfterDowningStreet.org, a grassroots coalition that supports a Congressional investigation of President Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003. [...]

The strong support for impeachment found in this poll is especially surprising because the views of impeachment supporters are entirely absent from the broadcast and print media, and can only be found on the Internet and in street protests. The lack of coverage of impeachment support is due in part to the fact that not a single Democrat in Congress has called for impeachment, despite considerable grassroots activism by groups like Democrats.com (http://democrats.com/impeach). [...]
To be fair, there has been some activity in Congress. To mention this is fair to Congress, not the media, who are really missing the boat here (although some articles have been trickling out, such as this one and this one). We've been to quite a few political rallies and meetings in the past several months, and impeachment has been mentioned at all of them. In fact, back at the Town Hall meeting that Conyers had last summer, the crowd (several hundred people, standing-room only) erupted with applause. And that was only in the context of the Valerie Plame story. It was well before the more recent -- and more damaging -- news items.

The following graph shows the blogbuzz about impeachment. The August-September spike was in response to Katrina; the October-November hump was generated by the Libby indictment, and the December spike followed the revelation of the NSA domestic spying program. Of course, there is a constant background hum because of Iraq, and now the DeLay and Ambramoff scandals. It seems likely that more indictments will follow. Also, the Republican congressional efforts to clean up the lobbying mess will be seen as halfhearted and ineffective. All of these factors increase the drumbeat for investigation, censure, and impeachment; several of them simultaneously diminish the ability of the House Republicans to offer a deus ex machina (??? ??????? ????) rescue.


Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) has introduced bills calling for investigation into offenses that could provide grounds for impeachment, and has introduced bills calling for censure of Cheney and Bush. Conyers has not introduced articles of impeachment, simply because of his belief that there should be a formal investigation first. His views can be heard in an interview he did on the Jack Lessenberry Show. (Listen to the mp3 or Real Audio and/or read Lessenberry's essay on the subject). Conyer's own posts on the subject can be found at Conyersblog.us. He's written several, and undoubtedly will write more, so I am not going to link to the individual posts.

Of equal importance, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), has stated publicly that impeachment is not out of the question:
STEPHANOPOULOS: You know, if the president did break the law or circumvent the law, what’s the remedy?

SPECTER: Well, the remedy could be a variety of things. A president — and I’m not suggesting remotely that there’s any basis, but you’re asking, really, theory, what’s the remedy? Impeachment is a remedy. After impeachment, you could have a criminal prosecution, but the principal remedy, George, under our society is to pay a political price.
I would not try to cast that as a call for the President's head on a pike, but it does seem to imply that the President cannot sanguinely assume that all of the Republicans in Congress will stand by him no matter what. Not only that, but it is possible that the Republicans will lose control of the House later this year.

Bush is quite merrily digging himself into a deep hole, and if he continues to dig, there might not be anyone left to come around and pull him out of it.
posted by : Joseph j7uy5 | link |   | |

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Sunday, January 15, 2006

Just in Case

you haven't seen this...

Gore to Address "Constitutional Crisis"
"It sounds as if Al Gore is about to deliver what could be not just one of the more significant speeches of his political career but an essential challenge to the embattled presidency of George W. Bush."

Bob Barr plans to introduce Gore.
I've seen some fire from him before. I'm not sure what I expect, but I'm still a tad hopeful.
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


A Divided Generation

I have to wonder if a standardized test might have been a good idea back in the boomer college days. I suppose the problem would have been the same as it remains today. There is a quiz linked here that demonstrates the differences in thought between boomers and non-boomers, however, the article also discusses ideological differences between boomers.
When I took the quiz, there had only been 17 responses but I expect the results will be interesting after more participation.
And now, the leading edge of the baby boom is trying to figure out the politics of the remainder of their lives. "We're facing a kind of final exam," says Nancy Bekavac, a Yale Law School classmate of Clinton's and, since 1990, the president of Scripps College in California. "I'm not sure we really want to take it."

...if the boomers were watching their history closely, they weren't always learning its lessons. Look at the grade transcript. Steeped in the failures of the Vietnam War, the boomers nevertheless produced a president who has led the country into what many regard as another Vietnam-like quagmire. The first generation to make the environment a political cause, the boomers also hoarded every SUV and electronic gadget they could get their hands on.
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |

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Friday, January 13, 2006

DSM Update

Traditional media have all but forgotten about the , but the thing still is important and it has not been forgotten by antiwar activists and proponents of impeachment. However, some people have been reluctant to accept the implications of the document, that the US administration lied in the run up to the war. The reason for doubt is that it has not been possible to know the source of the information behind the statement, that:
Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and the facts were being fixed around the policy.
The statement itself is attributed to the chief of British intelligence, Richard Dearlove. Now, Ray McGovern, writing on the Tom Paine website claims to know who informed Mr. Dearlove that the intelligence was being "fixed" (broken, actually). This claim is based upon the content of James Risen's book, State of War: the Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration. Mr. McGovern states that the original source was George Tenet.

I notice, though, that Mr. McGovern does not provide a direct quote to validate this, so I don't want to portay it as an established fact. Even so, I would say that it adds to the list of reasons to call for an investigation, with the likely outcome being the impeachment of the President of the United States of America.
posted by : Joseph j7uy5 | link |   | |


Our 'Way of Life' Preserved

Two to read:

Bush's Con Jobs
Will the US Need an IMF Bail Out?
by Paul Craig Roberts

The Washington Post and the Coming Crash
by Gracchus Jones
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |

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Thursday, January 12, 2006

Lessen the Toxins in your System

Which Organic Foods are Best and Worth the Extra Money
~ According to Consumer Reports

In addition to listing foods that are usually high in pesticides, they state, "To get the best deals on organic food, buy in bulk or buy generics or shop at farmers markets."

.pdf of NIH study titled Organic Diets Significantly Lower Children’s Dietary Exposure to Pesticides (Sept 2005 report)
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


Could it Be that China is Learning From our Mistakes?

China, India Seen Setting Stage for Environment-Friendly World
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


Where is He Now?

What happened to John Ashcroft?
He's a lobbyist now, of course.
"In addition to his lobbying work, Ashcroft is a law professor at Regent University, with campuses in Virginia Beach, Va., and Washington, D.C., run by televangelist Pat Robertson."
The Chicago Tribune has the details in the article titled, Lobbyist Ashcroft pulls in $269,000
He sure didn't waste time.

The Ashcroft Group reported payments of $15,000 from ChoicePoint, a data broker that sells credit reports and other personal information to the FBI and other federal agencies, and $20,000 from Israel Aircraft Industries.

ChoicePoint hired the Ashcroft firm to solicit business with the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security, a ChoicePoint spokesman said.
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |

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Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Artichokes and Avocados


Artichokes and avocados
Recalled from childhood, tasted anew
Prickly spines, textured rinds
Not salty, not bitter; nor sour, nor sweet
Complex taste, rewarding beneath

Culture and context
I lived it before; I study it now
Painful lessons, endless confessions
Not false, not true; nor wrong, nor right
Symbols fascinate, cascading inside

Emotions and expressions
While feeling one, I say another
Gloves of cotton, mask not forgotten
Not fancy, not plain; nor loose, nor tight
Honesty valued, clarity receding
posted by : Joseph j7uy5 | link |   | |

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Monday, January 09, 2006

Participate in the January 6-9 Peoples Lobby for Impeachment

Send a Letter to Congress Today!


"The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
--Article II, Section 4 United States Constitution
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


Partisan it is Not

If we want to develop and export the energy technologies of the future, then we need federal policies that create incentives for developing and rapidly deploying that technology.
Union of Concerned Scientists

I guess we don't want to. It must be that rapture mentality.
Or... perhaps it's the defeatist, sissy, wimp mentality that Thomas Friedman scolds us about.
Living green is not for sissies. Sticking with oil, and basically saying that a country that can double the speed of microchips every 18 months is somehow incapable of innovating its way to energy independence - that is for sissies, defeatists and people who are ready to see American values eroded at home and abroad.

Living green is not just a "personal virtue," as Mr. Cheney says. It's a national security imperative.

Another national security imperative is getting the thieves, spies, liars, torturers, criminals and destroyers out of office. There are things we can do. Partisan it is not.
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |

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Sunday, January 08, 2006

Follow recycle lanes to greener life

The green movement is in the throes of a sneaky shift of allegiance. Leaving behind the hair-shirt brigade, it is sidling up to the geeks to benefit from their techno prowess. A funny way to gain kudos? Absolutely not — the technosavvy lead surprisingly green lives. After all, they learnt how to download, upload and subsequently unload while the rest of us were still learning to Google.

There are a lot of worthy, helpful links in this article.
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


Prickly Pear



Originally uploaded by Cyndy.



All the time I spent in New Mexico I never saw a prickly pear the size of this one. We spent the afternoon at the Botanical Gardens. It was like a fantasy land. I don't know why I never visited before except for the lame excuse that I didn't know how to get there.
So many of the plants there looked as if they had been growing for years. They were larger than life. No, I didn't see a gigantic kaneh-bosem plant, but the afternoon was an incredible high. You can find more photos at my flickr page.
Thank you!
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |

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Saturday, January 07, 2006

Jesus 'healed using cannabis'

Jesus w as almost certainly a cannabis user and an early proponent of the medicinal properties of the drug, according to a study of scriptural texts published this month.
Quoting the New Testament, Mr Bennett argues that Jesus anointed his disciples with the oil and encouraged them to do the same with other followers. This could have been responsible for healing eye and skin diseases referred to in the Gospels.

"If cannabis was one of the main ingredients of the ancient anointing oil _ and receiving this oil is what made Jesus the Christ and his followers Christians, then persecuting those who use cannabis could be considered anti-Christ," Mr Bennett concludes.
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


Nearly 100, LSD's Father Ponders His 'Problem Child'

Albert Hofmann
Mr. Hofmann will turn 100 on Wednesday, a milestone to be marked by a symposium in nearby Basel on the chemical compound that he discovered and that famously unlocked the Blakean doors of perception, altering consciousnesses around the world.

As the years accumulate behind him, Mr. Hofmann's conversation turns ever more insistently around one theme: man's oneness with nature and the dangers of an increasing inattention to that fact.

"It's very, very dangerous to lose contact with living nature," he said, listing to the right in a green armchair that looked out over frost-dusted fields and snow-laced trees. A glass pitcher held a bouquet of roses on the coffee table before him. "In the big cities, there are people who have never seen living nature, all things are products of humans," he said. "The bigger the town, the less they see and understand nature." And, yes, he said, LSD, which he calls his "problem child," could help reconnect people to the universe.

UPDATE: Bruce Eisner has more.
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |

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Thursday, January 05, 2006

China's move to switch reserves could raise pressure on dollar

Progressive sometimes are accused of having a "the sky is falling" mentality. Perhaps that is true. Sometimes. The thing is, it is important to evaluate each point on its own merits. It the following story, we hear two different perspectives, then we have to decide for ourselves which perspective is most likely to be valid.


The Times January 06, 2006

China's move to switch reserves could raise pressure on dollar

By Gary Duncan, Economics Editor

JOHN SNOW, the US Treasury Secretary, denied yesterday that China had America in an economic stranglehold as an announcement by Beijing that it will seek to diversify its vast currency reserves fuelled worries that the dollar will come under heavy pressure this year.

The decision by China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe) that it will explore a wider range of ways to invest the country’s $769 billion (£437 billion) of currency reserves — the bulk of which are in dollars — could add to a series of factors exerting downward pressure on the US currency, economists said.

The dollar confounded widespread forecasts last year that it would succumb to a broad-based decline. But with the prospect of an early peak in US interest rates and a slowdown in the American economy already tipped by many to weigh on the currency, analysts said China’s move could only add to risks of a significant sell-off at some point this year.

Jim O’Neill, chief economist at Goldman Sachs, said that he already had a bearish view of the dollar, and Beijing’s decision reinforced that view. He expects a further 9 per cent fall of the dollar against the yuan this year, to 7.34 to the dollar, and a dollar drop of 7 per cent against the euro.

Nick Parsons, of Commerzbank, said that he did not expect the dollar to suffer any immediate impact, but that “over three to six months, we could well look back on this as a very important announcement [by Beijing]”. [...]


John Snow opines that there is not much to worry about. Mr. Snow, as you may recall, is a political appointee who replaced the independently-minded Paul O'Neill as Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. O'Neill was asked to leave in December 2002, and was told he was to announce that he was leaving in order to spend more time with his family. (He did leave, but he refused to whitewash the dismissal.) Mr. Snow's livelihood depends upon him saying what his boss wants to hear.

The other opinion was expressed by Jim O'Neill (no relation to Paul) and Nick Parsons. They are not so optimistic. For both of them, their livelihood depends upon saying what is correct.

So who are we to believe: the guy who gets memos telling him what is politically expedient to say, or the guys who could lose a ton of money if they are wrong?
posted by : Joseph j7uy5 | link |   | |

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Monday, January 02, 2006

When Did Jesus Become a Republican?

Listen to Cindy Lee Berryhill's exclusive new song, When Did Jesus Become a Republican? at her new website.

For San Diego readers:
She will doing a special show at Dizzys
(around 7th and K st. in downtown San Diego)
on SATURDAY January 14th 8PM.

She will be with band and doing all the recent hits like When Did Jesus Become A Republican, Bombing of Baghdad and Forty Cent Raise....

This show is being sponsored and supported by the local Air America talk show , The Stacey Taylor Show, on KLSD AM1360. There will also be a table in support of Francine Busby's campaign for Congress.
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


A Yearly Favorite of Mine

The Edge Annual Question — 2006
WHAT IS YOUR DANGEROUS IDEA?

The history of science is replete with discoveries that were considered socially, morally, or emotionally dangerous in their time; the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions are the most obvious. What is your dangerous idea? An idea you think about (not necessarily one you originated) that is dangerous not because it is assumed to be false, but because it might be true?


I'll pass the link on while I go check out the 117 original essays myself. The first I plan to read is this essay by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi just so I can grasp that 'flow' that he reminds me of. Reading other dangerous ideas may help spark my own. I love the question!

You may also want to read the Index of questions from past years.
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


Stuff

sadly true and something to think about
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |


Torture Telegrams



A message from former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray:

"Can I pass on my thanks to everyone who is posting the documents and making them public. You are striking a real blow for humanity and against the appalling decline in our civil liberties and standards.

We have also proved that, as long as we have good people out there, technology now makes it impossible for Western governments and political establishments to bury the truth, no matter how much they control the mainstream media."From the chatter on the web, it's clear that there are still a few diehard Bush/Blair supporters out there who believe this is about democracy and security.

I hate to disillusion such people, but everyone should be aware of this document
posted by Cyndy | link |   | |

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