Hi Ho, Hi Ho,
I fear and in lockstep we go.

from www.rawstory.com

"Dobson went on to enumerate a series of meetings convened by Christian right leaders in Washington to discuss the supposedly existential threat to the United States from a nuclear Iran.

“I heard about this danger [from Iran] not only at the White House but from other pro-family leaders that I met during that week in Washington," he said. “Many people in a position to know are talking about the possibility of losing a city to nuclear or biological or chemical attack. And if we can lose one we can lose ten.

"If we can lose ten we can lose a hundred," he added, “especially if North Korea and Russia and China pile on.” "

Hold on a minute there, bucko. I feel like I am listening to the bastardized lyrics of Junko Partner.

Am I to believe a group of crazed fear-mongers in a room together talking about the implicit dangers of Iran nuking the crap out of us. and then being piled on by Russia, China and North Korea. How afraid are these people in their lives? They believe in their God and his Son has already saved them.


1) There are loose nukes out there.
2) One will go off in the U.S. because people hate us. The reasons,and many are false, are too numerous to mention. We are targets!
3) I refuse to live my life afraid of this, and believe covert intelligence and enforcement are better than trying to be the biggest swinging dick in town via military force. I believe Britain tried that here once.
4) Maybe Fishbone is right.

I hope that if this is true that more than the Christian Right is informed. After all, they will end up ascending in the rapture and we get their Volvos.

Or is this another delusion that the world is ending and all is going on according to the Divine Plan of Revelation? These folks are seriously twisted. Sadly, they run our government and really believe that they are doing God's will bringing the end times.

rojo

In case you missed this little tidbit...

rojo

On Tuesday, without note in the U.S. media, more than half of the members of Iraq's parliament rejected the continuing occupation of their country. 144 lawmakers signed onto a legislative petition calling on the United States to set a timetable for withdrawal, according to Nassar Al-Rubaie, a spokesman for the Al Sadr movement, the nationalist Shia group that sponsored the petition.

It's a hugely significant development. Lawmakers demanding an end to the occupation now have the upper hand in the Iraqi legislature for the first time; previous attempts at a similar resolution fell just short of the 138 votes needed to pass (there are 275 members of the Iraqi parliament, but many have fled the country's civil conflict, and at times it's been difficult to arrive at a quorum)....

What is clear is that while the U.S. Congress dickers over timelines and benchmarks, Baghdad faces a major political showdown of its own. The major schism in Iraqi politics is not between Sunni and Shia or supporters of the Iraqi government and "anti-government forces," nor is it a clash of "moderates" against "radicals"; the defining battle for Iraq at the political level today is between nationalists trying to hold the Iraqi state together and separatists backed, so far, by the United States and Britain.

from Think Progress

Okay, Iraq wants us to leave. The majority of Americans want out. How bull-headed is this administration.

rojo

Take the time to read this and see that there is much on the table this week and until the end of May in Iraq. Yes, we are in the middle of a civil war we helped start. What happens if the Kurds secede over oil revenues? What role would Turkey play? The Sunni countries? the Shiites?
Just thinking aloud and I really don't know any answers.

rojo

After a week off and a clear head--okay, my head cannot hold all the stupidity and scandals it can see anymore--I have a few comments.

First is Obama's comments on Detroit automobile industry. Gas prices are at almost all time highs adjusted for inflation. I think 1983 was actually higher. I drive through Colorado and see all the damn big diesel pickups. Or Excursions. Or the Bellaraphons. Or whatever. Who the hell needs to play urban cowboy that much?? Or are our kids so fat we need that big of an SUV to carry them all. I was listening to my favorite local talk radio host yesterday (give him a web listen, he is good) and he had a caller say he had a pickup that got him 18 mpg and he was happy with that. I had a '63 VW that got 42 mpg. Granted it had few extras, but it worked. Now we brag over 18 mpg. D'oh! Is it any wonder we voted for Bush? It will take decades for the American auto industry to get up to speed. There is the need for long-lasting, well-built cars that get good mileage. The ONLY reason they sell big vehicles is because they can load them with extras and options, raising the profit margins. and the public is so stupid, they demand them.

Chevy even touted the new electric car they were going to market, but then said "oh, we may not be able to find batteries. Sorry" What!!!! This hasn't stopped the Prius and Insight. And I wonder how honest they are after watching "Who killed the electric car." They just keep diggin deeper.

And maybe Congress can grow testicles (no, I really do want to see Nancy Pelosi with testicles, just a euphemism. I am hoping to see her as President after the impeachments. She would make a good President and would be my first choice for the first female President over Hillary, but I digress) and get the energy policy meeting records for this administration. I do fear that even if they did press oil companies (remember they are not Standard Oil of Ohio, but BP; or Texaco, but Shell), they will take their product to China or elsewhere.

rojo

I incorrectly made mention of Altnet in my last post. I apologize. It really should be alternet. Link to the relevant story is attached. rojoo

I have taken time of off writing anything to actually gain a sense of perspective and sanity. Between work, kids and everything (still can't get my checkbook to balance) I needed a little space.

But here are two issues worth looking at. The first is the television show that showed the run-up to the Iraq war. The war that shows we have no moral high ground and can be fat and happy as occupiers, not just as consumers. It is Bill Moyers Journal and the link will show you the reporting that was not done, except by Knight-Ridder (now McLatchey) news service. God, it is good to have Bill Moyers back again. He is what a Texas Christian should be. Watch the show and be amazed. Digby, as usual, had a marvelous comment.

One other item is tracking the vote in Ohio in 2004. Altnet had a very wonderful article that took a couple of days to sink into my feeble brain. During the 2004 election, the Secretary of State Blackwell, he who certified the election before the recount was even started, let alone completed--he who threw out tens of thousands of voter registrations because they were on the incorrect bond paper, he who provided so few voting machines in black neighborhoods (predominantly democratic voters) so that hundreds of thousands inner city voters could not vote even though they waited in line over 8 hours, he who lost over 50,000 thousand provisional votes, and he who certified election results in counties with 587 voters as giving over 1300 votes to Bush!, yes that man who is now facing possible felony charges for voter fraud. Well, it has been traced that the computer address that ran the election count after 10 pm election night (Kerry had a fine lead then) was not the Secretary of State's computer. He ceded control of the count from his computer to the same IP address as the IP address as the Republican National Committee computer. The same server that has lost 5,000,000 Karl Rove emails. Avedon Carol has condensed two links on her excellent website, showing this story.

How hard is it to win (or fix) an election when you control the count from party headquarters? We need paper trails on all votes! Otherwise businesses like Diebold can fix elections. By the way, does it seem strange to you that one week after the Democrats won the House and the Senate and the oversight was going to begin--JUST ONE WEEK--Diebold put their election machine division up for sale. All of a sudden after 6 years it is no longer profitable.

rojo

1) I am not a fear monger or a conspiracy theory nut job, except when it comes to Kennedy's assassination (one guy and a magic bullet that changes direction. even I am not that gullible).

But today I happened across an entry in dailykos regarding who knew that the French warned of imminent air attack. The time lines presented were somewhat surprising in that Ashcroft refused to fly after that time. Tells me somebody said something. But I am still open to the fact that warnings were general in nature and NBD. Mr. "Don't Show Me Boobs" is kind of weird after all.

But, in the comments section--someone posted that there were war games (probably headed by Cheney) that day were being run and that there were 22 "hijacked airplanes" on the FAA's screens that day. (google war games + 9/11 + Cheney and see what you get) And East Coast fighter planes were in Canada tracking a phantom long-range nuclear bomber (this in the era of ICBMs and subs???) so there was confusion as to if and what may be the real hijacked planes and that there were no interceptors available. It makes sense that the media could not actually tell us for a while how many hijacked planes there really were. No one knew because of the bogeys.

So we warned of an imminent attack that week. War games happened to fall on the day of the attack, confusing the issue. These are facts. So either this administration are the unluckiest SOBs on the planet, except for the FEMA command sight was set up the night before as part of the war games. Or someone was complicit in the plan. Or there were tremendous security leaks letting terrorists know when there would be radar confusion.

I don't know what to think. I would never want to believe that someone could be complicit in planning the attacks to further a political agenda. My heart would break that people could be that unscrupulous. Unlucky--can't be that unlucky. Security leak, probable. or maybe a combination of all of the above. God help us all (if you believe in that) if this was a plan involving officials of the U.S. government.

rojomojo

This from an article in www.salon.com today:

Blackwell, for his part, said liberals are trying to use the Fairness Doctrine to accomplish what they could not in a free market, and asserted that liberals are "terrible" at making talk radio. "If liberals think it is just too hard to compete with the Sean Hannitys of the world," Blackwell said, "then they should focus on what they do best -- make ice cream."

Blackwell was the wonderful head of the Committee to ReElect GW. Some of his shenanigans included voter disenfranchisement (sending people to the incorrect districts in Hamilton County), voting rights issues (all voter registartion had to be on paper of X bond material, surprised he did not say with a Cartier watermark, which cancelled the voing rights of thousands in predominantly balck and poor counties), was so soundly beaten in his race as Governor that teh RNC pulled all his funds and may yet receive a jail sentence if the new Ohio Attorney General continues investigating voter fraud.

So let's see--what does he do best. Oh yes, that is lie, cheat and steal and sleep at night becasue his "tricks" to keep Republicans in power have cost over 100,000 lives and have further sunk our country "SURGE ON, dudes!" into a quagmire where we are not wanted (rose petals, my ass.) Free market--how about free voting place? When you really look at the economy in the U.S., it has never really been a free market economy. There have been tariffs to keep imports down, keeping jobs in America. There has been little Outsourcing to other countries until the past 15 years. The amount of money given to farmers and agribusiness is more than to welfare queens. The Savings and Loan (rememebr Neil Bush) bailout cost business nothing, just the taxpayers.

Face it. If you want free market, you had better be one of the top 1% in America. Business Weekly, I think, showed that that 6% of America controls and profits from over 50% of the economy. The middle class and the upper middle class were consciously made by trade unions and the New deal. It has been slowly dismantled by the far right in teh name free trade and free market. Correct me if I am wrong, but if I made all the incorrect projections that Bill "Fish Lips" Cristol has made in my workplace, I would be pushing a broom. "It's good to be the King."

Keep that in mund as we listen to people speak about how liberals don't know how to do anything. Create the middle class. Make higher education affordable. Give voter rights and expand the decision making base in the U.S. so it not just rich white guys who can perform militia justice.

Make ice cream my ass. Without a liberal agenda, Blackwell would not even have voting rights.


rojo

I mentioned Ohio voter fraud in my last post and here is an update. It will be interesting to see if 2008 results differ much.

rojo

From Josh Marshall's talkingpointsmemo.com

"I feel really bad about the server problems the White House/RNC seems (no, not a typo -- they appear to be a single entity) to be having on the email front. Believe me, I run a small business that is heavily dependent on cranky servers and other gizmos. So I know how hard this can be. But I think this might be a case where that NSA 'terrorist surveillance program' may really come in handy. I'm told the NSA has some very capable data recovery tools they've developed. And even if those guys are too busy hunting al Qaida, doesn't the FBI have some pretty good forensic computer geeks? What happens when, say, a company like Enron (okay, perhaps not a great example) says some emails were 'mishandled' and now are gone forever. I guess that's just the end of it, right? Normally, it's not kosher for a government agency to offer direct assitance to a private entity or political organization. But, hey, we're pretty far down that road I guess. So let's have the FBI go down and take a look at these servers and see if these emails have really disappeared forever."

-- Josh Marshall

I work at a business and when the email gets lost we have IT guys come in and fix it. Now, they can't always find every email. But, what are the chances that a whole batch of emails on a specific topic from a certain time period gets lost? I am always amazed that in the electronic age, even without going to the NSA extent that Josh Marshall jokes about, that people feel that lost emails is an excuse. Get real.

I believe that there are charges such as failure to cooperate with an investigation, obstructing justice and so on that can be brought to bear as a cudgel. How many low level flunkies will allow themselves to be sacrificed in order to get to the head of Hydra (ooops, sorry, this is not Marvel comics). How much fear is instilled by the ruling minions that no one has yet rolled?

The worst part about this is that MSM is not really covering this in depth. Only geeks are reading this sort of thing and the average worker bee does not know how deep or how high this corruption and borderline legality may go. But what this does is reshape any idea the average citizen has about routine rights to privacy and voter rights. The arguments have been pushed so far to the right, favoring a ruling class of honchos that can place you under surveillance, and limit voting that no one knows how much they are being manipulated. Specific rights won in the 60s by minorities are disappearing so fast that "separate but equal" rules could be favored by some and then placed on talk radio and covered in MSM as a serious discussion and then would become part of the general lexicon of the American speech. If you think I am joking, just remember that Ted "Tubes" Stephens kept a job after his gaff and that Tom "Let's Bomb Tehran" Tancredo was not only not laughed out of office, but was reelected! I am sure that Tancredo is a native American name and he does not look anything like the dark-skinned immigrants he is always beating up in speeches. I mean, did not the Italians emigrate from somewhere, Tom? Wittgenstein was right in the sense that redefining words will redefine the thought paradigms of a culture. And dictate the limits of the debate.

The past two U.S. elections have been decided by voter rights manipulation. Ohio election officials have been charged and convicted with rigging the recount which cost Kerry the election. How many lives (Iraq death toll is now over 650,000) have been lost over someone's LUST FOR POWER AND CONTROL?! How many people know that felonies were committed in Ohio? Where is the media outrage? Civic outrage?

And these people have the balls to call themselves Christians? Nice ethics.

rojo

I have always thought this woman was one of the hottest women (Joni Mitchell and Annie Lennox, too) in the music business. I have often scoffed when people talk about Brittany or Beyonce. and am amazed at Christine Aguilera's talent, but this from one of my favorite woman pop stars--

A better Democratic strategist - Tori Amos: ""The way to really combat the right wing is to not be subservient to them on any level, particularly when it comes to ideology," she continued. "Therefore, you better offer up another ideology that can combat theirs, and as a preacher's daughter, I understand their ideology inside and out. Frankly, they've all hijacked Jesus and his message. I'm sorry, but 'Love thy neighbor as yourself' is nowhere to be found, especially in our current regime, who, in the name of God, is sending our young men and women to die over there [in the Middle East]."

rojo

About two weeks ago, i went on a rant about Circuit City and workers wages. I did not have a handy-dandy visual showing the differences in worker's hourly wage vs. CEO salary pay. Well, here it is. Hourly wages up 4.3% since 1995 and CEO wages up 298%. Yeah, trickle down sure as fu works. rojo

I am very depressed. I have taken the time to watch a very good video entitled Unprecedented. It shows how the election in 2000 was thrown in Florida. Thrown, stolen, whatever. Let's not mince words. It was brother sucking off brother.

I really do not want to hear how it was all fair. Governor Crist deserves kudos for his current action.

What depresses me is that we have, because of the action in Florida in 2000, have cost over 500,000 lives, lost any moral primacy that America has ever had world-wide (to the point we are viewed internationally as an occupying force), placed America in deeper debt, and has ruined our reputation world-wide.

All for brotherly payback. may they rot in hell, regardless of their self-religious beliefs. At the very least, they should be fined and family fortunes lost. I have often wondered if a class action suit by the survivors of the Iraqi debacle action the personal fortunes of GW would be worth anything.

rojo

Welcome to your generation's Vietnam. I hope fervently that Iran does not become the new Cambodia. There is a little more at stake here other than the Domino Theory. Like the world's oil supply. I hope I do not sound callous or indifferent to the loss of lives in either conflict.

This administration would have been happy in the Red Scare days of the 50s. Now we have the terrorist scare of the 00s. What the hell are people thinking? Civil Liberties have been rolled back. Good paying jobs are leaving in droves as free market global economic theory is king (at least it isn't called trickle down theory anymore). The middle class is dissolving (this was a political and union creation). The Conservative Supreme Court finally had to step in and say "Wake up, what the hell are you doing?" when it comes to the EPA and air pollution.

Where is the moral and emotional outrage?????? I am getting up off my fat senior ass and starting to join planned demonstrations. I actually hoped that I would not have to as there are many other young people who should be more pissed off. Think ahead -- what will life be like without health insurance when you are 50 +? Or will you be a member of the ruling class? Civil Liberties won in the 60s are disappearing. Environmental rules are being rolled back.

And for a President who does not want pork in his budgets--Why is this war not in the budget? Did he forget it was going on? He reminds me of Pee Wee Hermann when he falls of his superbike during his adventure -- "I meant to do that." How in the hell can you say there should be no pork and unfunded mandates (no, not Jeff Gannon and Karl Rove) and forget to fund the war!!!!!!

Why aren't people incensed?

rojo

Livin' the dream in the U.K.

Yes, record profits on investments and workers wages are stagnant. Gotta love any attempts at explanation of trickle down economics. Sure, it makes it to the working class.

It is troubling that people still believe that shit. But maybe because they are of the investor class and it all looks good there. And who cares about sub-prime mortgages because those who lose their houses aren't me---and the government will bail out business. Again

rojo

Gakked from rocketboom.com --

"Austrian Hans Steininger was famous for having the world’s longest beard (it was 4.5 feet or nearly 1.4 m long) and for dying because of it.

One day in 1567, there was a fire in town and in his haste Hans forgot to roll up his beard. He accidentally stepped on his beard, lost balance, stumbled, broke his neck and died!"

rojo

From Atrios 9and the local newspaper)--

"Money Makes The World Go Round

Circuit City's variation on this is to fire its more highly-paid and more experienced workers and then to let them apply for the same jobs at lower wages:

The electronics retailer, facing larger competitors and falling sales, said Wednesday that it would lay off about 3,400 store workers. The laid-off workers, about 8 percent of the company's total work force, would get a severance package and a chance to reapply for their former jobs, at lower pay, after a 10-week delay, the company said.

Neat, isn't it? Of course Circuit City could have made similar savings by first firing its CEO, Philip J. Schooner, who earned around 2.17 million dollars last year and then letting him reapply at the "market" rate for CEOs.

Now why would a firm openly admit to doing something like this? Could it be a way around possible age discrimination suits? Many better paid workers are not only more experienced but also older."

I know I will never shop at Circuit City again.

That said, you have to give them points for honesty. "We need to raise our margins...blah..blah...blah. So we are hiring kids from MickeyDees as teens know more high tech shit then you..."

And they are losing 3,000 workers at $4.00 change for 2080 hours per year plus benefits plus overtime or roughly $33,000,000. What this tells me is that if they cannot make margin at $12/hour to the employees, then something is wrong. In Colorado (probably California too) you cannot raise a family on that. It highlights that perhaps wages may be too high on the management end. Without doing the research for this comment, I know that executives never made what they are making now, particularly if it is in proportion to what hourly workers are making. That skews margins ridiculously. But even if you trim management salaries a little (or a lot) all the way down the line, where do you make up $33 mill? One other non-populist part of the equation is Americans want more toys and at cheap prices. Screwing other Americans so we can get our fix is a part of the equation. Makes you feel all warm and cuddly inside to know you are (I am) part of a complex problem that is based in greed.

Living wages would be nice, less money to executives would be nicer and do we really need a 60" TV? or a home theater system? or a house that is thousands of square feet for a family of 4.5 people? I see over 3000 square feet for a family of 4 and wonder who they are hiring to clean.

rojo

After having an extremely long work week with two more days to go, I have come across a frightening article. While there are some very funny lines in it:

"Then, much the way some companies go green, DOJ under Ashcroft went Pentecostal. In correspondence, use of the word "pride" was forbidden because the Bible calls pride a sin; employees were also asked to never use the phrase "no higher calling than public service." Ashcroft instituted prayer meetings, leading a Bible study at 8 a.m. sharp each day, some days even in his office, on others in a conference room at Main Justice. All department employees, regardless of their religious affiliation, were invited to attend, but in reality few did."

and

"After 9/11, the DOJ staff also received copies of the lyrics to a jingoistic song that Ashcroft had penned himself, "Let the Eagle Soar." He asked staff to sing it at the beginning of the work day at his prayer meetings."

Okay, I know I feel prayer should be separate from work. Kind of like an old boss of mine should not say in management meetings to hire women because they work at 25% less, thus increasing our profit margin. Or management staff using the C word to describe women in the office when the accountant leaves the room. These are unnecessary and discriminatory. Prayer is cool, but if you need to do it, do it quietly and to yourself. It is not a group activity, and should not be a cheerleading activity that does count when raises and advancement are concerned. Just like institutionalized prejudice and degradation of women may cause high employee turnover in traditional female clerical staff roles. (Can't understand why we can't keep women on our office staff?, duh! Yet six of my last hires have been women and there have been no "continual cat-fighting" among women.)

Set up a culture that cares little about justice and works from an agenda -- to lower the boundaries between religion and government and you have a very unappealing monoculture that doesn't see the irony of claiming that anyone can swear on the Koran to serve in public and be a citizen in a Christian country.

rojo

It's Friday!!!!

Turn it Up.

Ojos de Brujo, Ventil8tor Rumba

rojo

Mid-week musings before the shite hits the fan from the DOJ document dump—

March 18, 2003, courtesy of Frank Rich:

Barbara Bush tells Diane Sawyer on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that she will not watch televised coverage of the war: “Why should we hear about body bags and deaths, and how many, what day it’s going to happen, and how many this or what do you suppose? Or, I mean, it’s, it’s not relevant. So, why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?”

Waste your beautiful mind worrying about things like death and suffering. Is it any wonder her son has little conscience for the suffering of others? I am reminded of numerous period pieces and character studies where the idly rich don’t worry about the poor folk, but are caught up in their little worlds of what is neat (Paris “dumber than snot” Hilton comes to mind as a 20^th century equivalent). And fun. And fashionable. And beautiful. And why do people want to emulate them? Oh, that’s right, they have money, people to handle it for them, look good and have fun and don’t have to get dirty. You won’t see them sharing a camera with Mike Rowe. The one thing that self-absorbed people forget is their lives are trivial, but they have good toys. I just don’t understand the lack of compassion.

I came across a link to German green roofs, but lost it. Information on these can be found on the following Canadian report. http://www.urbanag.org.au/Green%20Roof%20Policies.pdf It is quite interesting and I have heard of little or none of this in the United States. Regionally, I live in the Southwest and I have a hard time imagining green roofs in the desert. Here in Denver, there is so little water that wastewater reuse is THE technology of the future. That’s right, drinking reclaimed poo will be the only way there will be enough water. Currently Aurora is going to be taking river water through the gravel aquifer of the Platte River downstream from the Denver Metro Wastewater Plant (and at times because of irrigation canal diversions, the effluent of the plant is THE ONLY FLOW in the river. Yes, that is right, the river flows through downtown Denver and then gets diverted to farmland around Brighton and if you are a regular bike rider on the bike trail you know the river goes dry two or three times per year until the wastewater plant effluent.) But in Chicago or NYC or Philly where there is water, this would help cool things and work. If you ever have seen John Todd’s work with aquatic farming and living machines, you can see where he has proposed this for years, along with storm drainage ponds and solar aquatic treatment of the same. It does work. His solar aquatic Wastewater Plants work to where there is no need for phosphorus removal. This could work well in the Southwest as WWTP, but would require investors.

But ehis is a digression of what to do with your roof in the Southwest. Here is an alternative. I have contacted the firm the see if it may work for our house.
http://renu.citizenre.com/index.php?c=1168291804 If my wife and I do not move for a year, I would like to sign a lease for photovoltaics on my roof. I would feel better about life.

From Atrios—

“Privatizing profits in good times while socializing losses in bad times is another form of reckless corporate welfare that generates moral hazard while fostering new bubbles.”

These comments ring really true when it comes to corporate welfare. His comments were directed at what happens if the real estate bubble for sub-prime lending does require corporate bail out. It probably will and predictions are that it will be larger than the Bush family saving and loan scandals. There the government bailed out the beleaguered Savings and Loan industry at the cost of well over $30,000,000. And why did I mention the Bush family? Neil’s business acumen was worse than GW’s. Oh, excuse me, Neil received a $50,000 fine for Silverado—while he took home $200,000,000. How does that work? If I am late on a credit card payment, I get a late fee and higher interest rate. He gets a 0.25% fine for $200,000,000 and gets to keep the money.

The sub-prime interest scandal will cost more than the Savings and Loan scandal. It will cause a recession. Merrill Lynch is already predicting a 30% drop in the market this year. 401k kids be ready to eat it yet again. My 401k still has not recovered from 9/11, but I do not spend enough time moving money around. Some of that is my fault. I could be more aggressive and when the market drops like it did three weeks ago, I could buy stocks that drop. And wait. But I don’t. My personal life aside, what I am saying is that we pay for the bail out of the investor class. I know I the big picture, if the banks fail, we are screwed. If industry fails, we are screwed. No middle class, no big screen TVs, no college for your kids, no going to see the Eagles or the Police for $150 a pop (or more—like I can afford that). BUT NEVER LIE TO ME ABOUT FREE MARKET ECONOMY AGAIN!!! Corporate welfare costs us, taxpayers more every year than the mythical welfare queens ever have and that does not include the military industrial complex. Tell me you want to fuck me in the ass so you can have my money. Don’t talk to me about the glories of free market economy. It never works and never has worked unless you are rich to start and can pay off the right people. And have no conscience about living on the life blood of others.

Enough for now—a glorious spring day awaits. Creation is on the move and the flowers are starting to bloom. That is no bullshit. Just remember Barbara Bush’s statement when someone talks to you about compassionate conservatives and laugh in their faces. Hell, send them a link to my blog.

rojo

Here we go, step right up and place your bets--

What are the odds there will be a new butt boy in Washington? Who is going to take it in the ass for the boys in power? Get those leather chaps on...

The question only remains, will it be Torquemada Gonzalez? will it be Piggie Rove? How about "Dis is the Bog One" Cheney? Someone will go to protect Bush's ass. The question is who?

Gonzalez' top aide will not satisfy the blood lust of the righteous public outcry. In order to quell investigations, there will need to be a sacrificial lamb. But who?

The winner is----Harriet Miers. 3-1 odds. They don't call it the good ole boy network for nothin' and she ain't a boy. Gonzalez 7-1. If you want to take the over -- 5 mid-to-upper level administrators go.

Be almost as much fun as March Madness.

rojo

This just a quick post early in the morning--

I have heard many people on talk radio ask why the Dems aren't doing enough. Why no impeachment? Why no confrontation with the White House?

Let's take a strategery look at this. 1) Go into open conflict with the mainstream media still mostly in the back pocket of conservatives. Who looks bad then. Remember just recently Andrea Mitchell on Hardball discussed how the majority (CNN poll says 18%--what a whopping mandate) of Americans wants Libby pardoned. They can can still get away with that type of overstatement in order to curry favor with the rulers. Any open conflict makes the administration more cuddly as the Progressives attack them. I know it is unrealistic spin, but that is what would happen. or 2) go through committees and oversight--pull pieces of the machine out one by one until people like Cheney and Rove end up with their head on a pole and being done so by much of the media, not just Keith Olbermanm. I am seeing where Gonzalez may get his soon. Same with Rove. A bit at a time without confrontation works for me. and in the long run completely discrediting the whole machine would be most effective.

That being said I am so grateful the blogs such as Americablog, juancole.com, dailykos are part of the infrastructure nowadays so it is not just the hard right that is organized with their Christian soldiers getting the word out. I hear a change blowing in the wind, but remem

It has been a very, very busy week and a weekend, but there are some stories that I must comment on.

The leader of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, a Dr. Mohler stated:

One of the nation's leading Southern Baptists has called for a policy that would support medical treatment,” if it were to become available, to change the sexual orientation of a fetus inside its mother's womb from homosexual to heterosexual.” This latest assault on our dignity and existence comes from no less a personage than Rev. R. Albert Mohler, the president of the prominent and influential Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest seminaries in the world. (synopsis from Dailykos)

This leads me to ask many questions. But it also makes me want to congratulate Dr. Mohler. Southern Baptists are admitting that some people are hard-wired to be gay in utero. This means that unlike other conservative Christian groups, they admit that this may actually be physiological rather than being something that you can be cured of by counseling. (Does anyone believe Ted Haggard is cured after one month of counseling when part of his payoff was to move from the State of Colorado. You know, far far away where no one knows you. Thanks James Dobson.)

But he goes further and adds that being gay is a blot on humanity and is a vestige of Original Sin; a sign that man fell from grace. So let me see if I can understand this specious reasoning. 1) Being gay is (or at least can be) a physiological trait you are hard-wired with in utero. 2) This is a sign of falling from grace during the fall from Eden. Let me look at this more closely. One thing he has not blatantly done (but tacitly) is to blame women for the fall. After all, you all descending from Eve and we have fallen from grace because you ate an apple 6,000 years ago. (I wish I could hear his diatribe about Lilith in Genesis—she must be the bitch that did not allow God’s plan of the necessity of humanity to fall from perfect creation so we could brutally murder his Son so we could have salvation if we only believed, not on how we act.) But we must live with the blot of the Fall, as he sees it. So what better way to change the world than to change DNA structure of gays in their mother’s womb.

I have to comment on an omnipotent Creator setting things up for a fall so everyone can suffer more. God as Pee Wee Herman—“I meant to do that.” as he crashes his ultimate bike trying to do tricks. Yeah, sure. And now we want to mess with genetic structure in order to eliminate sodomites.

What’s next? Genetic engineering a white NBA player that can shoot like Larry Bird but jump higher than paper? Or perhaps constructing a slave race. “I meant to do that.” And, of course, I am the conduit of God’s expression as I am the big teacher at the Southern Baptist Seminary. Oy!

Other items worthy of comment:

The almighty and omniscient Bill Kristol states:

“He (Bush) needs to pardon Libby now. I think that would actually reinvigorate his supporters and show that he’s willing to fight to defend his people and defend the war that he led us into.”

Uh, okay. Has this man ever been right about anything? When will the media quit interviewing him? And others quit caring what he says? I believe he was the one who stated that Sunnis and Shiites never have had a history of discord in Iraq. Yeah, there was strong man in power and those two factions could unite in their dislike of the Kurds. He never learned from Tito and Yugoslavia what happens when a strong man dictator dies or is ousted from power. Obvious answer—democracy. Yeah, right. Ethnic differences disappear in blissful acceptance of freedom. How fucking stoopid are you? So, we continue to give “fish-lips man” a venue in the media.

Speaking of Yugoslavia, particularly Serbia. Slobodan Milosevic’s grave was dug up and a stake was placed through his heart. I guess no one believed he was dead already.

And in Florida, Governor Crist is going to reinstate voting rights to convicted felons that have paid their debt to society. And electronic voting machines will have a paper trace. Six years too late. I can still remember GW stating his brother will deliver him Florida. Yup, no paper trail and abrogating voter rights. Good stuff. Worthy of a third world country. This administration has done more to destroy our country than Nixon did in his terms.

And amazingly enough Diebold is trying to divest itself of the electronic voting machine section of the firm. Could it be that they want to get rid of any trace of records now that there may be some oversight? Democrats come in, start having hearings and all of a sudden they must sell the voting machine division and its records.

Enough for now.

rojo

From the you can't make this shit up department:

Tom Brady, the handsome strapping quarterback for the New England Patriots, had been the steady squeeze of Bridget Moynihan. They split up and guess who is a little preggers now. His new squeeze of about three months, Victoria's Secret heartthrob Gisele, announced today she is about two months preggers.

You would think a nice Irish Catholic boy would know the rhythm method, at least.

I am reminded of an old Steeley Dan song:

"Ain't never gonna do it without my fez on."

rojo

I should be elated on Fitzmas day.

Guilty, Guilty, Acquitted, Guilty and Guilty!!!!

Yet, I agree with Fitzman. To paraphrase "It is sad that this type of behavior happens at the highest levels of power in the government."

Libby is Cheney's butt-boy and unless he cracks, there is little that can be done. That evil bastard may walk yet. We know where the evil lies. At least at the level of Cheney, if not higher.

A blow job is admissible for impeachment and being a traitor by releasing a spy's identity is not.

Christ, what a country.

rojo

Here it is a glorious sunshining Sunday. I have time to actually write something. Here is what I have found in the news today:

1) James Dobson, he of Colorado Springs "I can cure any man of being gay fame", now claims that the furor over global warming is going to be the death of the evangelical movement. Too many evangelical ministers are actually taking seriously the call in the New Testament to be Stewards of the Earth. By golly, those ministers are having to interact with lefties and progressives and conservative values may be tainted. Also, there is a schism forming in the conservative evangelicals where the environment is taking an important level of importance. The stranglehold of the paradigm that the world is there for man's use may be challenged by the paradigm that the world may actually exist for its own use and we are citizens and stewards of it. That could change everything.

2) Here is an interview from http://sideshow.me.uk --

The Talking Dog: Too many Americans are willing to just assume that a European Moslem in Afghanistan in 2001 was up to some kind of mischief. Please describe what you were actually doing there. Also, please correct me if I am wrong, but did not a fair number of men doing what amounts to humanitarian work get swept up in the so-called war on terror and ended up at Bagram, Kandahar and/or Guantanamo Bay, where many are still held to this day?

Moazzam Begg: I went to Afghanistan in the summer of 2001. We had planned, funded and supported a school in Kabul- a girl's school. The program was to go to help, teach, expand and advance and to get some social value. I was also involved in digging some wells and a water project in a drought stricken region in NorthWestern Afghanistan.

It is hard to believe that the U.S. imprisoned this man and then moved him and kept him in jail for almost three years. It is a national embarrassment that we have been such bullies. On an international scale, we have broken rules and will not own up to it. We are an international embarrassment and yet refuse to admit it to ourselves. I am reminded of the Milgram experiment where actors were hired to act as if they were being shocked and "scientists" said they would take responsibility for the pain caused to the subject/actors as average, ordinary people administered supposedly increasing electroshocks. Every participant "shocked" the actors. And this is what we have now. Bullies doing everything and taking responsibility and telling us it will be all okay. When will we ever respond with a resounding "NO! "?

rojo

Long time, no post.

About three weeks ago, I was in the middle of a work emergency where I had to put in over 100 hours of work at a wastewater plant with failing infrastructure in one week. It was rated at 1 million gallons per day (1 MGD). The influent flows because of rapid snow melt, leaking pipes (bad joints where ground water leaks in) , and possibly storm sewers connected to the wastewater system took the flows to over 2.6 MGD, or over twice what the plant was rated at.

Blogger updated to Google blogger and for some reason the screens needed to complete the sign up never all appeared on my computer. And, you know, I was too tired to care. I finally slept for the night last week for the first time. Being over 50 and sleeping only maybe 18 hours in one week, I was exhausted. I slept, slept, took vitamins and slept as I could.

So this morning I finally looked up google accounts and received the missing sign up pages.

and here I am.

weird stories I have seen I would like to comment on--

Binge eating is the largest (no pun intended) food disorder in the U.S. according the February issue of Biological Psychiatry. Much more common the anorexia and bulimia. Am I surprised? Not in the least. Remember this is the country that had to reinvent hypodermic needles because our collective asses are too fat. And I may not be the only one, but I would rather eat nachos than throw the damn things up. and eat them even if I am not hungry, just because they taste good. Eating when not hungry is an American past time. Maybe consumerism and constantly being bombarded by ads feed the fire. And maybe because sex is considered this side of Satan's pleasure so people find other pleasures. I don't know. I am not that smart, but I know the pleasure centers opened when I eat something tasty are second to orgasm, followed closely by the pleasure centers activated by nicotine and then caffeine. Maybe more study into bioelectrical responses in the brain need to be carried out to see what makes us tick. Then we may have a scientific basis for practical behavior modification. and the fun can begin to understand how spirituality actually fits into the mix. Yes, I know there is a major spiritual component to our being human and it so often confused with blind belief and didactic catechisms that the gulf between spiritual fulfillment and life as it is lived on earth, that the world is often mean, bullying and etc.

Second rant--The GAO is stating that the budget deficits may be insurmountable without new taxes. D'oh! And this is news? I want to have the same money system our country has in my personal life. No money, no matter, buy my debt. Then print more money. You don't have to back up your currency with any substance. And this makes sense how? If I am in debt or gain too much weight, I have to work my way out of it. Whatever happened to good old-fashioned personal responsibility? I had to quit buying CDs, going to rock shows and drinking to pay down my charge card, as my income potential was static. This country will have to tighten the belt, maybe cut down on social services, cut the military budget, figure out ways to grow new income (becoming a worldwide leader in renewable energy could, just COULD be a growth market!), and probably tax those that have money. How hard is this to figure? It then becomes how do we do that and what programs get cut. That's where it gets really hard. If we cut the donor cord and make elections public-funded, we will be less beholden to making sure special interests are served. Quit appointing cabinet heads from industry would be nice too. could public service really be a bad idea

Final rant--
Lehman Financial Services or Lehman Brothers have stated that over 30% of subprime loans granted in the past three years will default in the next year. That will glut the market. If you have money and can buy and wait for ten years, you win. If you need a house and are barely scraping by, you are screwed. And if you are like most middle Americans, you will lose your real estate investment. Ow! That will do wonders for the economy. But if you have the money, you will win. Just like this week's stock market "correction" will help those who can buy good stocks at the reduced prices. 401k and mutual funds investors get screwed though. WHAT A SURPRISE! If you can afford a financial adviser, you win if he is on the ball. If you are barely making ends meet, buy the Gravy Train with a Twist or Emeril's Bam! How to Stretch Your Pet Food as You Become Senior cookbook.

Ow!

rojo

rojosramblings

Great, just great! Nothing anyone would do now surprises me and this may be believable. The same administration that shows shell pictures of munitions with English (not Farsee) script on them now is trying to foment a war. And the level of morals this government has shown really makes me believe this is possible.

rojosramblings

A world wide sausage shortage. All because of rock and roll.

rojo

rojosramblings

18 Years on, Exxon Valdez Oil Still Pours into Alaskan Waters
Study concludes threat to ecology could last decades.
Tanker's owner dismisses report as insignificant
by Ewen MacAskill


Crude oil is still polluting Alaskan waters almost 18 years after the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground, according to a study by US government scientists to be published in two weeks.

The study, an advance of which was released on Wednesday, found more than 26,600 gallons of oil remaining at Prince William Sound. Researchers say it is declining at a rate of only 4% a year and even slower in the Gulf of Alaska.

The disclosure came as Exxon Mobil posted the largest annual profit by a US company, $39.5bn (£20bn) yesterday.

Predictions that the pollution would have disappeared by now have proved to be inaccurate, and the damaged ecosystem is struggling to recover. The lingering oil, lying below the surface, affects wildlife and the general environment, and "degrades the wilderness character" of protected lands, the report says.

The scientists conclude: "Such persistence can pose a contact hazard to inter-tidally foraging sea otters, sea ducks, and shore birds, create a chronic source of low-level contamination, discourage subsistence in a region where use is heavy, and degrade the wilderness character of protected lands."

The oil spill in 1989, the worst single incident of pollution in US history, covered 1,200 miles of pristine shoreline.

The slow rate of dispersal means the oil could persist for decades more below the surface near some beaches.

Mark Boudreaux, a spokesman for Exxon Mobil said yesterday the company would review the findings. "Based on our initial review of the report, there is nothing newsworthy or significant in the report that has not already been addressed," he said. "The existence of some small amounts of residual oil in Prince William Sound on about two-tenths of 1% of the shore of the sound is not a surprise, is not disputed and was fully anticipated."

Mr Boudreaux said Exxon has supported more than 350 independent studies whose scientists have found no evidence of significant long-term impact.

This is right on the heels of the fact that fat bastard himself -- Lee Raymond -- had payed scientists X amount of money to dispute global warming.

Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasize the shortcomings of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Travel expenses and additional payments were also offered.

The UN report was written by international experts and is widely regarded as the most comprehensive review yet of climate change science. It will underpin international negotiations on new emissions targets to succeed the Kyoto agreement, the first phase of which expires in 2012. World governments were given a draft last year and invited to comment.

The AEI has received more than $1.6m from ExxonMobil and more than 20 of its staff have worked as consultants to the Bush administration. Lee Raymond, a former head of ExxonMobil, is the vice-chairman of AEI's board of trustees.

This story is also from the Guardian.

So here we have the American Leader in alternative energy development, the Bush appointee paying people off to lie about the reality of global warming. Have I gone nuts, or is this an egregious offense to the American public. This should be a major American WTF moment. Yes, letter writing to our congressmen and Senators would be a great. Maybe Wayne Allard will listen here in Colorado. (Ha!)

So let's see - America for all practical purposes, is paying scientists to lie. The government is forcing climatologists to lie if they work for the government, as has been revealed in the past two weeks. This is in direct contradiction to the release of the U.N. report on global warming where it states that it will take centuries for the climate to normalize.

How long will it take the American public to realize we have been snowed by Business and business interests and puppet governments--and Bush wants to appoint people like Lee Raymond as government officials to keep out ideas pure. (oh, excuse me, it is to cut down administrative overhead.)

What an asshole!

rojomojo

rojosramblings

I normally just link top articles but this one is too much:

18 Years on, Exxon Valdez Oil Still Pours into Alaskan Waters Study concludes threat to ecology could last decades Tanker's owner dismisses report as insignificant

by Ewen MacAskill

Crude oil is still polluting Alaskan waters almost 18 years after the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground, according to a study by US government scientists to be published in two weeks. The study, an advance of which was released on Wednesday, found more than 26,600 gallons of oil remaining at Prince William Sound. Researchers say it is declining at a rate of only 4% a year and even slower in the Gulf of Alaska. The disclosure came as Exxon Mobil posted the largest annual profit by a US company, $39.5bn (£20bn) yesterday. Predictions that the pollution would have disappeared by now have proved to be inaccurate, and the damaged ecosystem is struggling to recover. The lingering oil, lying below the surface, affects wildlife and the general environment, and "degrades the wilderness character" of protected lands, the report says. The study, by experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is to be published in the Environmental Science and Technology journal. The scientists conclude: "Such persistence can pose a contact hazard to inter-tidally foraging sea otters, sea ducks, and shore birds, create a chronic source of low-level contamination, discourage subsistence in a region where use is heavy, and degrade the wilderness character of protected lands." The oil spill in 1989, the worst single incident of pollution in US history, covered 1,200 miles of pristine shoreline. The slow rate of dispersal means the oil could persist for decades more below the surface near some beaches. Mark Boudreaux, a spokesman for Exxon Mobil said yesterday the company would review the findings. "Based on our initial review of the report, there is nothing newsworthy or significant in the report that has not already been addressed," he said. "The existence of some small amounts of residual oil in Prince William Sound on about two-tenths of 1% of the shore of the sound is not a surprise, is not disputed and was fully anticipated." Mr Boudreaux said Exxon has supported more than 350 independent studies whose scientists have found no evidence of significant long-term impact.

This is right on the heels of the fact that fat bastard himself -- Lee Raymond -- had apyed scientists X amount of money to dispute global warming.

Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasise the shortcomings of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Travel expenses and additional payments were also offered.

The UN report was written by international experts and is widely regarded as the most comprehensive review yet of climate change science. It will underpin international negotiations on new emissions targets to succeed the Kyoto agreement, the first phase of which expires in 2012. World governments were given a draft last year and invited to comment.

The AEI has received more than $1.6m from ExxonMobil and more than 20 of its staff have worked as consultants to the Bush administration. Lee Raymond, a former head of ExxonMobil, is the vice-chairman of AEI's board of trustees.

This story is also from the Guardian.

So here we have the American Leader in alternative energy development, the Bush appointee paying people off to lie about the reality of global warming. Have I gone nuts, or is this an egregious offense to the American public. This should be a major American WTF moment. Yes, letter writing to our congressmen and Senators would be a great. Maybe Wayne Allard will listen here in Colorado. (Ha!)

So let's see - America for all practical purposes, is paying scientists to lie. The government is forcing climatologists to lie if they work for the government, as has been revealed in the past two weeks. This is in direct contradiction to the release of the U.N. report on global warming where it states that it will take centuries for the climate to normalize.

How long will it take the American public to realize we have been snowed by Business and business interests and puppet governments--and Bush wants to appoint people like Lee Raymond as government officials to keep out ideas pure. (oh, excuse me, it is to cut down administrative overhead.)

What an asshole!

rojomojo

rojosramblings

I normally just link top articles but this one is too much:

18 Years on, Exxon Valdez Oil Still Pours into Alaskan Waters Study concludes threat to ecology could last decades Tanker's owner dismisses report as insignificant

by Ewen MacAskill

Crude oil is still polluting Alaskan waters almost 18 years after the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground, according to a study by US government scientists to be published in two weeks. The study, an advance of which was released on Wednesday, found more than 26,600 gallons of oil remaining at Prince William Sound. Researchers say it is declining at a rate of only 4% a year and even slower in the Gulf of Alaska. The disclosure came as Exxon Mobil posted the largest annual profit by a US company, $39.5bn (£20bn) yesterday. Predictions that the pollution would have disappeared by now have proved to be inaccurate, and the damaged ecosystem is struggling to recover. The lingering oil, lying below the surface, affects wildlife and the general environment, and "degrades the wilderness character" of protected lands, the report says. The study, by experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is to be published in the Environmental Science and Technology journal. The scientists conclude: "Such persistence can pose a contact hazard to inter-tidally foraging sea otters, sea ducks, and shore birds, create a chronic source of low-level contamination, discourage subsistence in a region where use is heavy, and degrade the wilderness character of protected lands." The oil spill in 1989, the worst single incident of pollution in US history, covered 1,200 miles of pristine shoreline. The slow rate of dispersal means the oil could persist for decades more below the surface near some beaches. Mark Boudreaux, a spokesman for Exxon Mobil said yesterday the company would review the findings. "Based on our initial review of the report, there is nothing newsworthy or significant in the report that has not already been addressed," he said. "The existence of some small amounts of residual oil in Prince William Sound on about two-tenths of 1% of the shore of the sound is not a surprise, is not disputed and was fully anticipated." Mr Boudreaux said Exxon has supported more than 350 independent studies whose scientists have found no evidence of significant long-term impact.

This is right on the heels of the fact that fat bastard himself -- Lee Raymond -- had apyed scientists X amount of money to dispute global warming.

Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasise the shortcomings of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Travel expenses and additional payments were also offered.

The UN report was written by international experts and is widely regarded as the most comprehensive review yet of climate change science. It will underpin international negotiations on new emissions targets to succeed the Kyoto agreement, the first phase of which expires in 2012. World governments were given a draft last year and invited to comment.

The AEI has received more than $1.6m from ExxonMobil and more than 20 of its staff have worked as consultants to the Bush administration. Lee Raymond, a former head of ExxonMobil, is the vice-chairman of AEI's board of trustees.

This story is also from the Guardian.

So here we have the American Leader in alternative energy development, the Bush appointee paying people off to lie about the reality of global warming. Have I gone nuts, or is this an egregious offense to the American public. This should be a major American WTF moment. Yes, letter writing to our congressmen and Senators would be a great. Maybe Wayne Allard will listen here in Colorado. (Ha!)

So let's see - America for all practical purposes, is paying scientists to lie. The government is forcing climatologists to lie if they work for the government, as has been revealed in the past two weeks. This is in direct contradiction to the release of the U.N. report on global warming where it states that it will take centuries for the climate to normalize.

How long will it take the American public to realize we have been snowed by Business and business interests and puppet governments--and Bush wants to appoint people like Lee Raymond as government officials to keep out ideas pure. (oh, excuse me, it is to cut down administrative overhead.)

What an asshole!

rojomojo

rojosramblings

I normally just link top articles but this one is too much:

18 Years on, Exxon Valdez Oil Still Pours into Alaskan Waters Study concludes threat to ecology could last decades Tanker's owner dismisses report as insignificant

by Ewen MacAskill

Crude oil is still polluting Alaskan waters almost 18 years after the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground, according to a study by US government scientists to be published in two weeks. The study, an advance of which was released on Wednesday, found more than 26,600 gallons of oil remaining at Prince William Sound. Researchers say it is declining at a rate of only 4% a year and even slower in the Gulf of Alaska. The disclosure came as Exxon Mobil posted the largest annual profit by a US company, $39.5bn (£20bn) yesterday. Predictions that the pollution would have disappeared by now have proved to be inaccurate, and the damaged ecosystem is struggling to recover. The lingering oil, lying below the surface, affects wildlife and the general environment, and "degrades the wilderness character" of protected lands, the report says. The study, by experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is to be published in the Environmental Science and Technology journal. The scientists conclude: "Such persistence can pose a contact hazard to inter-tidally foraging sea otters, sea ducks, and shore birds, create a chronic source of low-level contamination, discourage subsistence in a region where use is heavy, and degrade the wilderness character of protected lands." The oil spill in 1989, the worst single incident of pollution in US history, covered 1,200 miles of pristine shoreline. The slow rate of dispersal means the oil could persist for decades more below the surface near some beaches. Mark Boudreaux, a spokesman for Exxon Mobil said yesterday the company would review the findings. "Based on our initial review of the report, there is nothing newsworthy or significant in the report that has not already been addressed," he said. "The existence of some small amounts of residual oil in Prince William Sound on about two-tenths of 1% of the shore of the sound is not a surprise, is not disputed and was fully anticipated." Mr Boudreaux said Exxon has supported more than 350 independent studies whose scientists have found no evidence of significant long-term impact.

This is right on the heels of the fact that fat bastard himself -- Lee Raymond -- had apyed scientists X amount of money to dispute global warming.

Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasise the shortcomings of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Travel expenses and additional payments were also offered.

The UN report was written by international experts and is widely regarded as the most comprehensive review yet of climate change science. It will underpin international negotiations on new emissions targets to succeed the Kyoto agreement, the first phase of which expires in 2012. World governments were given a draft last year and invited to comment.

The AEI has received more than $1.6m from ExxonMobil and more than 20 of its staff have worked as consultants to the Bush administration. Lee Raymond, a former head of ExxonMobil, is the vice-chairman of AEI's board of trustees.

This story is also from the Guardian.

So here we have the American Leader in alternative energy development, the Bush appointee paying people off to lie about the reality of global warming. Have I gone nuts, or is this an egregious offense to the American public. This should be a major American WTF moment. Yes, letter writing to our congressmen and Senators would be a great. Maybe Wayne Allard will listen here in Colorado. (Ha!)

So let's see - America for all practical purposes, is paying scientists to lie. The government is forcing climatologists to lie if they work for the government, as has been revealed in the past two weeks. This is in direct contradiction to the release of the U.N. report on global warming where it states that it will take centuries for the climate to normalize.

How long will it take the American public to realize we have been snowed by Business and business interests and puppet governments--and Bush wants to appoint people like Lee Raymond as government officials to keep out ideas pure. (oh, excuse me, it is to cut down administrative overhead.)

What an asshole!

rojomojo

rojosramblings

I normally just link top articles but this one is too much:

18 Years on, Exxon Valdez Oil Still Pours into Alaskan Waters Study concludes threat to ecology could last decades Tanker's owner dismisses report as insignificant

by Ewen MacAskill

Crude oil is still polluting Alaskan waters almost 18 years after the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground, according to a study by US government scientists to be published in two weeks. The study, an advance of which was released on Wednesday, found more than 26,600 gallons of oil remaining at Prince William Sound. Researchers say it is declining at a rate of only 4% a year and even slower in the Gulf of Alaska. The disclosure came as Exxon Mobil posted the largest annual profit by a US company, $39.5bn (£20bn) yesterday. Predictions that the pollution would have disappeared by now have proved to be inaccurate, and the damaged ecosystem is struggling to recover. The lingering oil, lying below the surface, affects wildlife and the general environment, and "degrades the wilderness character" of protected lands, the report says. The study, by experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is to be published in the Environmental Science and Technology journal. The scientists conclude: "Such persistence can pose a contact hazard to inter-tidally foraging sea otters, sea ducks, and shore birds, create a chronic source of low-level contamination, discourage subsistence in a region where use is heavy, and degrade the wilderness character of protected lands." The oil spill in 1989, the worst single incident of pollution in US history, covered 1,200 miles of pristine shoreline. The slow rate of dispersal means the oil could persist for decades more below the surface near some beaches. Mark Boudreaux, a spokesman for Exxon Mobil said yesterday the company would review the findings. "Based on our initial review of the report, there is nothing newsworthy or significant in the report that has not already been addressed," he said. "The existence of some small amounts of residual oil in Prince William Sound on about two-tenths of 1% of the shore of the sound is not a surprise, is not disputed and was fully anticipated." Mr Boudreaux said Exxon has supported more than 350 independent studies whose scientists have found no evidence of significant long-term impact.

This is right on the heels of the fact that fat bastard himself -- Lee Raymond -- had apyed scientists X amount of money to dispute global warming.

Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasise the shortcomings of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Travel expenses and additional payments were also offered.

The UN report was written by international experts and is widely regarded as the most comprehensive review yet of climate change science. It will underpin international negotiations on new emissions targets to succeed the Kyoto agreement, the first phase of which expires in 2012. World governments were given a draft last year and invited to comment.

The AEI has received more than $1.6m from ExxonMobil and more than 20 of its staff have worked as consultants to the Bush administration. Lee Raymond, a former head of ExxonMobil, is the vice-chairman of AEI's board of trustees.

This story is also from the Guardian.

So here we have the American Leader in alternative energy development, the Bush appointee paying people off to lie about the reality of global warming. Have I gone nuts, or is this an egregious offense to the American public. This should be a major American WTF moment. Yes, letter writing to our congressmen and Senators would be a great. Maybe Wayne Allard will listen here in Colorado. (Ha!)

So let's see - America for all practical purposes, is paying scientists to lie. The government is forcing climatologists to lie if they work for the government, as has been revealed in the past two weeks. This is in direct contradiction to the release of the U.N. report on global warming where it states that it will take centuries for the climate to normalize.

How long will it take the American public to realize we have been snowed by Business and business interests and puppet governments--and Bush wants to appoint people like Lee Raymond as government officials to keep out ideas pure. (oh, excuse me, it is to cut down administrative overhead.)

What an asshole!

rojomojo

rojosramblings

really additions to my previous post.

This is quite an interesting turn of events. Isn't Australia one of the few countries not working with the Kyoto protocol? The Great Barrier Reef will be dead in approximately 25 years if global warming continues. Do you think this may cause a slight local and probably larger problem in the Pacific food-chain. No, I have no evidence and link for that, but having an area the size of Germany die off may be a problem. We know that there will still be aquatic life around the projected-to-be-dead coral. There will be lots of places to hide. But as acidification continues (the process is not explained in the posted link, but here is a Wikipedia version) You will have a die off of autorophs, heterotrophs and zooplanktons which form the bottom end of the aquatic food chain. This will naturally effect the upper end of the already stressed marine food chain which many humans rely on for food. Sounds like a global catastrophe in the making. Many people (think Japan) rely on the marine food chain.

What strikes me is that the thrust of the article is the financial ruin that the tourism industry will face as people don't come to see the Great Barrier reef. Let me get this straight--people fly to Australia to see the reef. Flying causes a boat load (no pun intended) of CO2 emissions per person, Australia refuses to participate in Kyoto treaty, and we worry about the financial implications.

Am I being callous, or maybe we should be concerned about the hit to the global food chain, or maybe be compassionate about the hundreds of species dead (if you were a polytheistic animist you might be concerned about the spiritual impact of hundreds of dead species on the totality of the world spirit) , or if you were practical you might wonder about human consciousness and why it seems acceptable to kill the world so we can have "more stuff" (please don't get me started--the Denver Rocky Mountain News featured trailer park chic in Aspen where mobile homes are being designed with marble, etc and are going for more than $1,000,000.--more money than brains. this from an economy where the Home Depot ex-CEO gets a $140,000,000 "golden parachute" for failure. Please, please, please let me ruin a company. I'll do it for only $2,000,000. I come cheap.)

Another concern might be the rising sea levels. They are already going up 1" per decade and in a few decades will displace 40% of the population of Bengladesh. But, no, we'll talk about the economic impact, or discuss whether global warming is real or not. That debate is over and should have been for years. The U.S. government has already been implicated in making scientists shut up about the problem. And without making all the necessary connections, oil companies are making record profits (by the way, oil prices are being lowered so alternative and renewable energy prices are not furiously being researched and world residents aren't pissed at Arabs and energy conglomerates. They don't want us to be motivated to change or revolt, just keep consuming), instead of a real world leadership looking at renewable energy we just open more oil and gas leases. Wasn't it St. Reagan (he of trickle down economy fame) who symbolically removed the solar panels from the White House? And yet we trust free marketers and Repubilcans? Doh!

It makes me happy to drive through Iowa and see small towns such as Stuart having their own wind turbines. Or Colorado (yes, the same Colorado with $1,000,000 + mobile homes) passing bills requiring renewable energy of X percent within 10 years.

rojoThis is quite an interesting turn of events. Isn't Australia one of the few countries not working with the Kyoto protocol? The Great Barrier Reef will be dead in approximately 25 years if global warming continues. Do you think this may cause a slight local and probably larger problem in the Pacific food-chain. No, I have no evidence and link for that, but having an area the size of Germany die off may be a problem. We know that there will still be aquatic life around the projected-to-be-dead coral. There will be lots of places to hide. But as acidification continues (the process is not explained in the posted link, but here is a Wikipedia version) You will have a die off of autorophs, heterotrophs and zooplanktons which form the bottom end of the aquatic food chain. This will naturally effect the upper end of the already stressed marine food chain which many humans rely on for food. Sounds like a global catastrophe in the making. Many people (think Japan) rely on the marine food chain.

What strikes me is that the thrust of the article is the financial ruin that the tourism industry will face as people don't come to see the Great Barrier reef. Let me get this straight--people fly to Australia to see the reef. Flying causes a boat load (no pun intended) of CO2 emissions per person, Australia refuses to participate in Kyoto treaty, and we worry about the financial implications.

Am I being callous, or maybe we should be concerned about the hit to the global food chain, or maybe be compassionate about the hundreds of species dead (if you were a polytheistic animist you might be concerned about the spiritual impact of hundreds of dead species on the totality of the world spirit) , or if you were practical you might wonder about human consciousness and why it seems acceptable to kill the world so we can have "more stuff" (please don't get me started--the Denver Rocky Mountain News featured trailer park chic in Aspen where mobile homes are being designed with marble, etc and are going for more than $1,000,000.--more money than brains. this from an economy where the Home Depot ex-CEO gets a $140,000,000 "golden parachute" for failure. Please, please, please let me ruin a company. I'll do it for only $2,000,000. I come cheap.)

Another concern might be the rising sea levels. They are already going up 1" per decade and in a few decades will displace 40% of the population of Bengladesh. But, no, we'll talk about the economic impact, or discuss whether global warming is real or not. That debate is over and should have been for years. The U.S. government has already been implicated in making scientists shut up about the problem. And without making all the necessary connections, oil companies are making record profits (by the way, oil prices are being lowered so alternative and renewable energy prices are not furiously being researched and world residents aren't pissed at Arabs and energy conglomerates. They don't want us to be motivated to change or revolt, just keep consuming), instead of a real world leadership looking at renewable energy we just open more oil and gas leases. Wasn't it St. Reagan (he of trickle down economy fame) who symbolically removed the solar panels from the White House? And yet we trust free marketers and Repubilcans? Doh!

It makes me happy to drive through Iowa and see small towns such as Stuart having their own wind turbines. Or Colorado (yes, the same Colorado with $1,000,000 + mobile homes) passing bills requiring renewable energy of X percent within 10 years.

rojo

rojosramblings

This is quite an interesting turn of events. Isn't Australia one of the few countries not working with the Kyoto protocol? The Great Barrier Reef will be dead in approximately 25 years if global warming continues. Do you think this may cause a slight local and probably larger problem in the Pacific food-chain. No, I have no evidence and link for that, but having an area the size of Germany die off may be a problem. We know that there will still be aquatic life around the projected-to-be-dead coral. There will be lots of places to hide. But as acidification continues (the process is not explained in the posted link, but here is a Wikipedia version) You will have a die off of autorophs, heterotrophs and zooplanktons which form the bottom end of the aquatic food chain. This will naturally effect the upper end of the already stressed marine food chain which many humans rely on for food. Sounds like a global catastrophe in the making. Many people (think Japan) rely on the marine food chain.

What strikes me is that the thrust of the article is the financial ruin that the tourism industry will face as people don't come to see the Great Barrier reef. Let me get this straight--people fly to Australia to see the reef. Flying causes a boat load (no pun intended) of CO2 emissions per person, Australia refuses to participate in Kyoto treaty, and we worry about the financial implications.

Am I being callous, or maybe we should be concerned about the hit to the global food chain, or maybe be compassionate about the hundreds of species dead (if you were a polytheistic animist you might be concerned about the spiritual impact of hundreds of dead species on the totality of the world spirit) , or if you were practical you might wonder about human consciousness and why it seems acceptable to kill the world so we can have "more stuff" (please don't get me started--the Denver Rocky Mountain News featured trailer park chic in Aspen where mobile homes are being designed with marble, etc and are going for more than $1,000,000.--more money than brains. this from an economy where the Home Depot ex-CEO gets a $140,000,000 "golden parachute" for failure. Please let me ruin a company. I'll do it for only $2,000,000. I come cheap.)

Another concern might be the rising sea levels. They are already going up 1" per decade and in a few decades will displace 40% of the population of Bengladesh. But, no, we'll talk about the economic impact, or discuss whether global warming is real or not. That debate is over and should have been for years. The U.S. government has already been implicated in making scientists shut up about the problem. And without making all the necessary connections, oil companies are making record profits (by the way, oil prices are being lowered so alternative and renewable energy prices are not furiously being researched and world residents aren't pissed at Arabs. They don't want us to be motivated to change.), instead of a real world leadership looking at renewable energy we just open more oil and gas leases. It makes me happy to drive through Iowa and see small towns such as Stuart having their own wind turbines. Or Colorado (yes, the same Colorado with $1,000,000 + mobile homes) passing bills requiring renewable energy of X percent within 10 years.

rojo