big on love, tolerance, and the human potential
Michael Moore may come and go in popularity. No shareholders are funding the light of day.
While Voters Sway on Punditry,
“Americans Pay 19% taxes, while the French pay 22% taxes; yet the French get free healthcare, free college tuition, 30 days mandatory vacation with pay, no limit on sick days…I’ll pay that extra 3%!” says Michael Moore on youtube.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcR59F9w6xA&hl=en&fs=1]
Breaking today!
The Church of England apologizes to Charles Darwin.
Via the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, Reverend Dr Malcolm Brown, the director of mission and public affairs of the Archbishops’ Council, and the Church’s managing body:
“People, and institutions, make mistakes and Christian people and Churches are no exception.“When a big new idea emerges that changes the way people look at the world, it’s easy to feel that every old idea, every certainty, is under attack and then to do battle against the new insights.
“The Church made that mistake with Galileo’s astronomy and has since realized its error.
“Some Church people did it again in the 1860s with Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection.
“So it is important to think again about Darwin’s impact on religious thinking, then and now.
“There is nothing incompatible between the scientific theories adopted by Darwin and Christian teaching.”
The statement will read:
“Charles Darwin: 200 years from your birth, the Church of England owes you an apology for misunderstanding you and, by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand you still. We try to practise the old virtues of ‘faith seeking understanding’ and hope that makes some amends.” [Google News]
Further from the Church of England, “Good religion needs good science.”
Two quotes from McCain’s campaign.
A TV ad, for the general population, promotes stem cell research:
“They’re the original mavericks. Leaders. Reformers. Fighting for real change. … John McCain will lead his Congressional allies to improve America’s health. … Stem cell research to help free families from the fear and devastation of illness. … Change is coming.”
On his website, for click-to Republicans, he’s against it:
“As president, John McCain will strongly support funding for promising research programs, including amniotic fluid and adult stem cell research and other types of scientific study that do not involve the use of human embryos.“
McCain Runs Pro-Stem Cell Ad, Plans The Opposite
McCain doesn’t mind breaking his word to get a vote.
SPENDING: The McCain campaign has said that it will balance the budget by the end of McCain’s first time.
But McCain chief economic adviser, who was President Bush’s chief economist, Douglas Holtz-Eakin said McCain would balance the budget by the end of his second term.
CLIMATE CHANGE: In 1999, McCain opposed lifting the ban on offshore drilling, saying that it was just the “special interests in Washington” that advocated it.
In 2008, McCain announced that “there are areas off our coasts that should be open to exploration and exploitation.”
IRAQ CONDUCT: He said in 2004 that Donald Rumsfeld was doing “a fine job” and was “an honorable man.”
But in 2008, McCain was arguing that he was “the only one that said Rumsfeld had to go.”
TORTURE: In 2005, McCain pushed President Bush to sign a bill that would prohibit “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” of anyone in U.S. government custody.
But in 2008, McCain voted against the Intelligence Authorization Bill, which bans waterboarding.
See “The Flip-Flop Document” – not in major media.
Change is coming
John McCain is getting caught with a very bent morality and a worrisome scorn for our democracy. Now that’s change we need.
[MCCAIN] “Energy. She knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America. She’s a governor of a state where 20% of America’s energy supply comes from there. And we all know that energy is a critical and vital national security issue. We’ve got to stop sending $700 billion of American money to countries that don’t like us very much. She’s very well versed on that issue.”And, uh, she also happens to represent, be governor of a state that’s right next to Russia. She understands Russia.”
[PALIN] Let me speak specifically about a credential that I do bring to this table, Charlie, and that’s with the energy independence [see Cheerleading Lies] that I’ve been working on for these years as the governor of this state that produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy…
And another lie!
Alaskan production accounts for only 4.8 percent of all the crude oil and petroleum products supplied to the U.S. in 2007, counting both domestic production and imports from other nations.
According to US Energy Information Administration, the total supply was just over 5.5 billion barrels in 2007, and only 3.5% of US energy.
Man, what’s Palin been inhalin’? – comment at FactCheck.org.
Both nuts and cruel:
Senate conservatives voted down bipartisan legislation that would have “provided an additional $2.5 billion in funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP),” a federal program “that helps low- income families pay their cooling and heating bills.”
Conservatives trumpet the battle cry “drill drill drill” saying more gas and oil would do more to help struggling families pay for heating oil. These claims are a “shill shill shill’. [see Green Isn’t Crude]
“The choice is between a “pollution-based suicidal economy” and a green economy that lifts everyone up.” – Van Jones, founder of Green For All and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.
Occasionally you will hear McCain-Palin insert ‘tax reform’ into their stump. Be careful.
McCain’s economic advisor was President Bush’s chief economist!
“In an ideal world I would like to see the corporate tax system repealed,” says Douglas Holtz-Eakin, senior economic advisor, “But then of course you have the question of how to replace the revenue loss.”
“I think everyone recognises [a tax reform] is coming,” said Holtz-Eakin.…”a single tax system which a PhD economist could understand.” [?]
“Step one would be to move the code toward something that is ultimately more simple, said Holtz-Eakin.
“Senator McCain has proposed to repeal in its entirety the alternative minimum tax so we have only a single tax system. That would by no means exhaust the list of things that one would do in a real tax reform.”
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, senior policy adviser to McCain, said they looked carefully at possible corporate tax reforms, beginning outreach meetings last January. “We met with industry groups, read academic literature, talked to tax experts and then briefed the Senator.”
“Senator McCain has proposed three things,” he continues.
- lower the [corporate] rate from 35% to 25%
- first year expensing to replace depreciation
- make permanent the R&D tax credit
Critics of Obama say he’ll cut taxes by $2.9 trillion from 2009-2018 and McCain would reduce taxes by nearly $4.2 trillion.
Yes, McCain will reduce taxes. Corporate and Crony taxes.
Obama cuts taxes for nearly all families, ends the war in Iraq, and breaks America’s dependence on Mideast oil within a decade.
We must purge manipulative fraud and habituated misuse from our government.
Guess which resume belongs to which candidate.
Here’s Obama’s new one-stop voter registration website.
A full head of hair provides surprisingly low protection from the sun, Australian researchers warn.
Color made no difference.
Short hair provides slightly more protection than long hair; the weight of long hair exposes more of the scalp.
Scalp melanomas are 13% of melanomas.
Hair Protection Factor? 5 to 17
“No one should ever sit in this office over 70 years old, and that I know” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
EcoGeek points out, “Lots of people are getting excited about all the various technologies for using biofuels of one sort or another as a replacement for fossil fuels, and they may present a short-term option.”
But look!
Biofuels fail the Miles Per Acre test.
Without displacing one food producing acre, solar systems are hands down the winner. Yes, biofuels are needed, for alternative chemical feedstock and geo-favored fleets or power, but it’s clear that solar technology “produces 1000x more energy per acre than soybeans”.
Mainstream media publishes flurry of investigative reports revealing John McCain is lying, Sarah Palin is lying, mistakes, cynicism, foolishness abounds.
McCain-Palin
“They lean to their corporate masters,” notes DailyKoss.
And lie to us.
Roger Ebert stated in the Chicago Sun Times:
I think I might be able to explain some of Sarah Palin’s appeal. She’s the “American Idol” candidate.
There’s a reason “American Idol” gets such high ratings. People identify with the contestants. They think, Hey, that could be me up there on that show!
My problem is, I don’t want to be up there. I don’t want a vice president who is darned near good enough. I want a vice president who is better, wiser, well-traveled, has met world leaders, who three months ago had an opinion on Iraq. Someone who doesn’t repeat bald- faced lies about earmarks and the Bridge to Nowhere.
Five different schools in six years. What was that about?
And how can a politician her age have never have gone to Europe?
But some people like that. She’s never traveled to Europe, Asia, Africa, South America or Down Under? That makes her like them. She didn’t go to Harvard? Good for her!
I trust the American people will see through Palin, and save the Republic in November.
Obama’s Campaign is asking us to think about 170 lobbyists moving into the White House.
A 65-page .pdf report from the Democratic National Committee, “No Reformer” finds that McCain’s employees are lobbyists and his Campaign Chairman is a bank lobbyist.
“McCain has his own herd of more than 170 lobbyists that are managing his campaign, speaking for him, directing his policy or fundraising.
McCain’s crew of lobbyists, now campaign surrogates, would be familiar to all of us if McCain were elected. [story]
If raped, you have to pay to get your rapist convicted. And if he impregnated you, you would have to have his child. Screwed three times!
The only town in Alaska
Under Sarah Palin’s administration, Wasilla cut funds paid for rape kits and medical exams and began charging victims $500 to $1200 fees.
New Evidence:
Palin Had Direct Role.
Palin fired police chief Irl Stambaugh and replaced him with Charlie Fannon, who with Palin’s knowledge slashed the budget for the exams and began charging the city’s victims of sexual assault. Palin read and signed the new police budget.
A year later, alarmed Alaska lawmakers passed legislation outlawing the practice.
For victims of rape and incest and all women, Palin’s policy only allows abortion if the life of the mother is in danger. “This is my personal opinion,” she told ABC.
Palin said she “owes it to Americans” to explain her personal opinion which “may end up different than what the policy in an administration might be.”
Personal opinion over facts? And very, very different after she replaces McCain!
Barriers must come down.
Superstitious policies must stop.
65% to 80% of femicide victims were abused.
Getting in the way of reporting abuse increases the number of murdered women.
Could We Have Known?
Barack Obama’s Platform:
PREVENTING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Reducing Domestic Violence:
One in four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime. Family violence accounted for 11 percent of all violence between 1998 and 2002. Barack Obama introduced legislation to combat domestic violence by providing $25 million a year for partnerships between domestic violence prevention organizations and Fatherhood or Marriage programs to train staff in domestic violence services, provide services to families affected by domestic violence, and to develop best practices in domestic violence prevention.Strengthening Domestic Violence Laws:
Approximately 1,400 women a year – four every day – die in the United States as a result of domestic violence. And 132,000 women report that they have been victims of a rape or attempted rape, and it is estimated that an even greater number have been raped, but do not report it. Senator Obama co-sponsored and helped reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. Signed into law in January 2006, the bill funds and helps communities, nonprofit organizations, and police combat domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The legislation establishes a sexual assault services program and provides education grants to prevent domestic violence.Fighting Gender Violence Abroad:
The genocide in Darfur has had particularly devastating consequences for women. Tens of thousands of women have been killed, raped, and displaced since the conflict began in 2003. Barack Obama has been a leading voice in Washington urging the end of genocide in Sudan. He worked with Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) on the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, a version of which was signed into law. Obama has traveled to the United Nations to meet with Sudanese officials and visited refugee camps on the Chad-Sudan border to raise international awareness of the ongoing humanitarian disaster there. He also worked with Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) to secure $20 million for the African Union peacekeeping mission.
Global Facts:
Who said this?
“We have drastically, drastically reduced our earmark request since I came into office.”
But your state is highest by far.
We sure are — and this is what — you go out and you ask any Alaskan this. This is what I’ve been telling Alaskans for these years that I’ve been in office, is no more.
But, genetics of harbor seals, money to study the mating habits of crabs?
Those requests, through our research divisions and fish and game and our wildlife departments and our universities, those research requests did come through that system, but wanting it to be in the light of day, not behind closed doors, with lobbyists making deals with Congress to stick things in there under the public radar.
And then what did she say?
That’s the abuse that we’re going to stop. That’s what John McCain has promised over and over for these years and that’s what I’m joining him, also, saying, you’re right, the abuse of earmarks, it’s un-American, it’s undemocratic, and it’s not going to be accepted in a McCain-Palin administration. Earmark abuse will stop.
Oh.
McSame Administration
“She can see Russia from Alaska” is dopey and embarrassing and this is dopey and embarrassing too.
Somebody figure it out:
Man changes name to dodge airport security.A Quebec businessman whose name is one of the many that have erroneously landed on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s flight passenger watch list has decided to change his name to avoid lengthy security hassles at the airport.
Mario Labbe, an executive with a Montreal-based record company, says his Canadian passport triggers a red alert on the computers of U.S. customs agents every time he tries to board a flight to the U.S. – which is about once a month for the past seven years.
“I was pulled aside in a room … and you have to wait your turn to finally be released,” Labbe said. “An hour, an hour and a half, two hours, whatever it is after. Once I was caught in Miami like that for six hours.
He wasted lots of time trying get off the list. No luck.
“So now, my official name is Franois Mario Labbe,” he said. “Then you have to change everything: driver’s license, social insurance, medicare, credit card – everything.” Although it’s not a big change from Mario Labbe, he said it’s been enough to foil the U.S. customs computers.
It’s a good thing the terrorists aren’t allowed to change their names.
It’s a good thing we can change governments.
Is Russia building a new aggressive empire?
We should know before we vote.
In a blunt three-hour interview over lunch, Vladimir Putin turned the air blue and denied claims he is building a new Soviet empire as he defended his ’embattled and encircled’ country.
Should we taunt Russia with might, er, media?
We should know before we vote.
ABC news – Sarah Palin wants Georgia and Ukraine in NATO noting that if attacked again the United States would go to war with Russia.
Can we live in peace?
We should know before we vote.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia has a 9/11 too, “like the attacks on New York and Washington in 2001”.
8-8-08?
Russia had not sought a war, Mr Medvedev said.He said the world had learned lessons from the attacks in the US on 11 September 2001 and hoped the same would happen for Russia’s situation.
“The world has changed and it occurred to me that 8 August 2008 has become for Russia as 11 September 2001 for the United States. This is an accurate comparison corresponding to Russian realities.”
He said the balance of power in the world is out of date.
I’m not saying Russia is meek or clear or capable of cooperation because of a speech or two. I’m saying a speech or two reveals Sarah Palin isn’t federal material and I wouldn’t imagine her shtick on the global scene.
But don’t worry too much.
John McCain can take over in a pinch.
“I am prepared. I am prepared. I need no on-the-job training. I wasn’t a mayor for a short period of time. I wasn’t a governor for a short period of time.”
Yes. Yes. Yes. Read that twice!
McCain doesn’t think mayors or governors can handle it. And that’s no lie.
Master and the Maverick?
Republican Weevils?
A sexist thing?
No, curtail.
Weevil not tolerate horrible puns.
Progress is man’s ability to complicate simplicity. – Thor Heyerdahl
You can see Russia from Alaska, duh, so what does the world think about this election?
Barack Obama to John McCain by an average of 4 to 1.
The BBC World Service poll shows NATO allies the most hopeful for Obama.
Which nations would like to vote for Barrack Obama?
Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Mexico, Australia, India, China, Panama, Brazil, Poland, Turkey, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, and yes, Russia.
I’ve noticed this since I was young.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology neuroscience studies show we never see the same thing twice.
One of the central questions of how the brain recognizes objects and faces is that you never essentially see the same image twice,” says James DiCarlo.
They want to sell robots but I’m interested in understanding. MIT says we are “gathering a host of different snapshots of the same object” none the same. “We don’t see the same image twice“.
And never twice.
It’s not easy for me.
I do not shrill the morning
and I lay calm at night.
Effort of a lifetime.
Then why sour my blog citing corrupt mafia and scorn politics?
Because America is worth our effort.
How can we not dump our priorities for awhile,
come away for awhile
from the great task of civility,
and just kick some butt!?
America is worth our effort.
Alarming, I say to myself,
feeling nude in the mall,
to argue instead of walk gently, yes,
outright telling ’em off,
to revel against foe,
to discover proof to a lie,
a blemished flaw,
a tryst in the penthouse.
I do not like the taste of politics.
Ashamed,
I say to myself, why am I here,
hallways of cheap,
corrupt pathology,
gilt lies?
I do not like politics.
Well, America is worth it.
I’ll recover.
I’ll celebrate Hope and Change.
Would you like to see just one journalist unafraid of asking questions?
There’s two great things here. A reminder of what we really like and what we really like.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q6LMsc7iic&hl=en&fs=1]
Downhill every day.
Gallup:
“No president has ever had a higher disapproval rating.”
America’s Decline
“Can you name another administration as poor?”, asks j-walk blog. “”Who is the worst president if not George. W. Bush?”
Premature Evacuation
Party loyalists blame the man not the Republican Party:.
The numbers may say that, but people hated Nixon whereas Bush seems more like the national shoe stepped in dog dirt.
Pictures Speak Loud, Louder, Change.
[Press Release – White House – FDA – Neighborhood Grandpa Watch Program]
Phillip Carmichael, 58, pleaded guilty for thousands of indecent images of children on his computer, but walked free from court yesterday, after a judge ruled that dopamine-stimulating drugs he had been taking to treat Parkinson’s disease was responsible for his crime. “It was clear that Mr Carmichael had not acted under his own volition.”
I’m posting this with compassion, to alert us to side-effects in a complex and murky drug market.
Not in USA major media:
Prime Minister Gordon Brown … welcomed Senator Obama’s “progressive” new ideas for helping people weather the economic storm … provoked a protest to the British embassy in Washington by the McCain team.
