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DECEMBER 14 , 2009 - DECEMBER 27, 2009 NATIONAL IS HAPPINESS A LOUISIANA STATE OF MIND?
Top10: Louisiana, Hawaii, Florida,Tennessee, Arizona, Mississippi, Montana, South Carolina, Alabama, Maine Bottom 10: Rhode Island,
Ohio,
Massachusetts,
When I first saw Oswald and Wu's study I figured they didn't take into account that being cranky in NY is a right of passage and many people here are happier that way than if they were walking around all chipper and gleeful. And when I saw Louisiana got the top spot, I figured it had to be a little bit of an "ignorance is bliss" mentality Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/New York ranks in last place in happiness rating <> When you are living in NY you are New York-centric and don't realize how much stuff you put up with that if you lived somewhere else you would not have to. Having moved from NY to DC (yes the non-state that even made the list) I have to say, my quality of life and accordingly my happiness definitely improved. What's more interesting than the states on the Top 10 being "poor" is that they are underpopulated. Montana? Maine? Does that mean human beings are a bunch of misanthropes who prefer to be alone than surrounded by a bunch of people? Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/New York ranks in last place in happiness rating <> This survey demonstrates ignorance is bliss. Read the article USA TODAY/CDC;People in sunniest states happiest, New York least <> I was waiting to see how long before the "correlation doesn't equal causation" and "just shows ignorance is bliss" commentary to start. Looking at the list, it appears that non- urbanization is also highly correlated and that higher per capita income(and taxation) is correlated with unhappiness. Maybe money and government don't buy you happiness? Read the article HOUSTON CHRONICLE/BELIEVE OUT LOUD/The happiest states for the holidays <> Two reasons why New Yorkers ranked lower. First, we're driven to succeed, so we're not going to feel satisfied until we do. Secondly, our retirees leave the state because they can't afford to live here anymore (thank-you lawmakers) and a large percentage of them, reflecting upon their whole lives, could have voted yes. Or it just could be the lousy weather, high taxes, dirty streets, higher crime rate, self-serving politicians, commuting difficulties, and the fact that the Jets haven't gone to the Superbowl in 39 years. Read the article NEW YORK DAILY NEWS/New York has a grumpy state of mind <> During the Great Depression the gov't sent artists and photographers around the country. When they came to Louisiana they found the people poor but happy. The same holds true today. Louisiana has always been oppressed and yet its people persevere. The boom of the 1990s never really came here so when the bottom dropped out we didn't really feel that either. What this state has been experiencing is small continual growth. perhaps this is one of the factors lending us our happiness. Read the article TIMES-PICAYUNE/Louisiana ranks as happiest state <> If ignorance is bliss this state must be some type of Disney theme park. But if you think about it, most of us have really good friends who would give you the shirt off their back, family that generally lives nearby and we truely are a sportsman paradise. I believe deer season keeps a family together more than you will ever know. And the Saints are finally after 40 years making our dream come true. Can't ask for much more; except some quality education for the kids and some good jobs. Half my family is from the North and the culture there is not the same as it is here. Friendly is not in their vocabulary when it comes to others on the street. Read the article TIMES-PICAYUNE/Louisiana ranks as happiest state FINAL PUSH FOR HEALTH CARE REFORM
Many readers waited a lifetime for this event and are now too old to benefit directly: It is worth looking at controversies in 1965 that could easily have doomed Medicare, which serves us now. Read the article BOSTON GLOBE/ Democrats gab final vote for health bill <> All this talk of increase in taxes to fund a single payer system is smoke and mirrors. It is not to whom you pay your insurance premium that matters, it is the cost you have to bear. Medicare for example operates on a 3% overhead compared with the 30% overhead of insurance companies. With Medicare you can choose your doctor and hospital, whereas with private plans they are restricted as the insurer chooses. There is also no denial of service for pre-existing conditions. Ask anyone on Medicare if they want Medicare to be privatized and they will scream blue murder. Read the article U.K. GUARDIAN/U.S. health care bill: Half a loaf is better than none <> What part of no do our alleged representatives don't get? Their votes should reflect the needs of the people & every poll shows the citizens do NOT want the govt meddling in our health care. It will cost LOTs more & LOTS more money will be wasted on bureaucratic red tape. The health insurance system needs improving but this will be more costly with care harder to obtain. What a calamity. Recall those who stick it to us! Read the article SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE/GOP vows fight as White House defends bill OPEN IN 2014: 22,000,000 RECOVERED WHITE HOUSE E-MAILS
Not 22 emails, Read the article CNN POLITICS/ Millions of White House emails recovered <> So, let's see; the Bush administration switched from an old system to a better system, and in the process, millions of emails got "lost" in un-named files. The Bush administration spent two years and millions of dollars on IT professionals to restore 22 million emails over 61 days. CREW and the NSA want to recover 33 more days, for a total of 94 days and $11 million dollars. The Obama administration is still using the same system that the Bush administration was using last year, but it's the Bush administration that is being made to look like they deliberately allowed emails to be "lost" and did nothing to remedy the situation. I got it. Read the article POLITICO/Deal struck to restore millions of Bush WH emails <> Nothing in the article was even remotely political; yes, there was the correct identification of which administration was involved with the missing emails, but no editorial comment about it. I find the article is unbiased and discusses the issues. Yet at the same time we have become so polarized that the first reactions to a technical failing in a technical article is to turn it into an anti-issue. That level of polarization has got to be unhealthy to our democracy. We are not at war with our fellow Americans and our diversity always makes us stronger. Now let's get back to learning from our fellow professionals and how they managed to get themselves into a position where they lost data that was required to be archived. Read the article COMPUTERWORLD/Lost Bush email settlement requires that White House reveal IT practices
YOUNG LATINOS AND THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME
PEW HISPANIC RESEARCH CENTER - REPORT
We live in a part of a city in Texas that has lots of Hispanics, and where many signs are in Spanish only. This can be alienating to some degree, but the Hispanic people themselves, and their kids, are friendly, cooperative, and hard-working, doing the hardest jobs in the Texas heat without complaint. Even though many do not speak English, we can generally make ourselves understood to one another, and I don't get the sense that they desire any kind of "revolution"--in turning the U.S. into Mexico--at all. They came here to get away from Mexico and Latin America. Just like the Irish, the Poles, the Greeks, etc. they are attached to their language, churches, music, food, festivals, etc., but they let others take part. I am opposed to illegal immigration, but not because most of it is from the Latino world. It seems to me they have assimilated and will assimilate as well as and perhaps better than other ethnic groups. Read the article BELIEFNET/ Latino, si, American, not so much
Although I don't tend to be an alarmist about things like immigration and assimilation (and find those who are annoying), these findings seem potentially problematic to me. I'm from Chicago where tracking one's heritage is normal in a way that it doesn't seem to be in other parts of the country. It's not uncommon at all to be asked, "what nationality are you?" with the expectation that you'll answer "Italian" or "Polish and German" or whatever. When my parents got married in the early 70s, it was considered a "mixed marriage" because dad is Polish and mom is Irish. So, I do understand the nationality thing. If this is the sort of dynamic at work here, then I don't suppose it's too troubling. I'd be interested in seeing the actual polling question. However, if what people are saying is that, say, they see themselves as a Mexican or a Bolivian living in the United States, then that's not cool. Read the article BELIEFNET/ Latino, si, American, not so much <> I am a third-generation Italian-American. When my family came here, they emphasized learning the English language. They spoke of pride of their homeland, but did not ever forget for one minute that America provided them opportunities that would have never existed in Italy. Because of this, I am really dismayed by some of these poll numbers such as only 29% of hispanic parents speaking highly of America, only 22% stressing the importance of learning English. I understand for many of these immigrants it can be hard to see the good of America, especially because many of them come from poor backgrounds. But, when my family came here from Italy, they had nothing. My grandfather dropped out of high school in 10th grade. He would be proud to see that his children and grandchildren were all able to attend college because of his hard work. It's that kind of "roll up your sleeves and pay your dues" attitude that has completely dissipated in the United States. Read the article WASHINGTON POST/Study finds young Latinos have strong ties to parents' homeland $3.4 BILLION FOR 100-PLUS YEARS OF MISMANAGING AMERICAN INDIAN TRUST FUNDS
Well, 5% is better than nothing I guess. Over 100 years of mismanagement, and just out and out theft of Trust money. Read the article USA TODAY/U.S. offers Indians $3.48 for mismanaging land trusts.. <> The treatment of the Indians by the European invaders was absolutely beyond belief. Their land was stolen, they were lied to and they were murdered in wholesale lots. Their culture was taken from them in an effort to integrate them into the white man's ways and this was not successful as many of the Indians preferred death. The Bureau of Indian Affairs was responsible for keeping track of the monies owed to the Indians but at some point lost count and the Indians did not receive a fraction of what they were owed. It's about time that these people receive some of what is owed to them. And think about this...it was not uncommon for a troop of calvary soldiers to ride into an Indian encampment at daybreak and slaughter every man, woman and child along with their livestock. Do they deserve some kind of compensation? I think so. It's time to step up and do what is right. Read the article CBS NEWS/American Indian land trust lawsuit settled. <> You don't have to live through an atrocity to be a victim of it. The inheritance of wealth is generational. The inheritance of POVERTY IS GENERATIONAL! If the Native Americans had been given their just share from 1887 to present day, the tribes of the nations may not be in such poverty today. You better know that the "sins of our ancestors" don't always come home to roost during their lifetime, but in the lifetimes of those who live generations long after they've died. Read the article NPR/U.S moves to settle American Indian suit for $3.4 billion DECEMBER 7 , 2009 - DECEMBER 13, 2009 NATIONAL ICE-STORM: PALIN PENS OP-ED IN WAPO, WHIPS UP BLIZZARD
She will never quit trying to insert herself into the day's news, even when it's clear she has no background, no knowledge of what she is talking about. Her "op eds" are meant to inflame, divide, draw even more attention to herself.
Read the article CNN Political Ticker/Palin calls for Obama to boycott climate conference <> I caution against believing that Palin's supporters are dumb or moronic or bigoted. That's a bit of a broad brush, and doesn't keep much of a civil tone. I've not been terribly pleased with being labeled as a traitor or hand-wringing pansy-handout-loving-idiot by the right. I'd like to see progressives and moderates take the high road, and insulting people on the right for opinions they take seriously doesn't keep us there. They may be misguided, and there's some evidence that shows paranoia, but she's capturing a lot of interest on the part of disaffected conservatives. I was similarly disaffected with the Clinton administration and made a protest vote for Nader and the Greens back in 2000. I remember what staunch democrats called green voters at the time, and want none of the same for the similarly disaffected conservatives we see around us today, as I'm willing to let them have their piece just as I had mine. (In 2000, my state went solidly for Bush, so there was no chance for Gore either way.) I'm not suggesting that Palin should escape critique, and I believe that with each of these missives she leads serious, educated conservatives and moderates away from her and the rest of the Tea Party crowd. Read the article HUFFINGTON POST/Why the Washington Post was right to publish Sarah Palin <> The scientific facts: 1. The world did get warmer over a number of years and now seems to be cooling off, and nobody knows why Read the article DAILY BEAST/WAPO slammed for Palin Op-Ed <> So why is that the press accepts everything Al Gore says about the environment as gospel truth but ridicules everything Sarah Palin says as nonsense? Why is Gore an expert on the environment but Palin is unqualified? I'm not particularly a fan of either one, but it seems fairly obvious there's an agenda being pushed here. Why else would everyone go so ballistic at the merest suggestion that maybe the environmental fearmongering isn't what it's cracked up to be? How about fairly examining the claims instead of attacking the messenger? Seriously, ask Bjorn Lomborg how much blind fanatical fervor lies in store for anyone who dares to question environmental orthodoxy. The modern enviro movement reminds me of a bunch of religious nuts, for whom every finding of doom is the gospel truth and shall not be questioned, under any circumstances. And the press is a willing accomplice. None of this is to say we can ignore the environment. But when there's such firebreathing outrage directed at anyone who questions anything the modern enviro movement claims as truth, it makes me suspicious of the movement. The Lady Doth Protest Too Much. Read the article WASHINGTON POST/Sarah Palin: Too much ice anyway AMERICAN ISOLATIONIST SENTIMENT SOARS TO FORTY-FIVE-YEAR HIGH
PEW: AMERICA'S PLACE IN THE WORLD 2009 "It's impossible to pinpoint why isolationist sentiment has increased in recent years but it's hard not to see America's muddled involvement in Iraq as the prime driver of those feelings among the public." There is a difference from being an isolationist, and a non-interventionist. "Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none." – Thomas Jefferson An isolationist wouldn't want even commerce with other nations, a non-interventionist just doesn't want us to police the world. The media perpetuates this sentiment that those who are oppose to war are isolationist and act hypocritically by pretending to be against the wars at times. Read the article WASHINGTON POST/The most important number in politics today <> I don't understand what is wrong with limited isolation. We should keep jobs here, close the borders, stop giving billions of dollars to foreign countries that don't reciprocate anything. Obviously we need to work with others for security and economic reasons, but I think we have gone too far. America is not the world's police force nor the world's rich uncle. Have some respect for Americas working people. Lift us up first, then we can look at the rest of the world. Read the article POLITICS DAILY/As U.S. expands role overseas, survey finds isolationism on the rise
One man's ISOLATIONISM is another man's PATRIOTISM. Last time I checked, many of these other countries don't guarantee the same basic rights and freedoms as our Constitution. It is not isolationism to defend ones freedoms and rights, jobs, homes, natural resources, against those who would unlawfully and treacherously give away that which we and our forefathers have worked, fought, and died for. Is it fair to allow american companies to ship jobs overseas or out of country for cheap labor when those countries don't have the same care and interest in their own citizens, or even regulations? America has always been a generous country, but we are ignorant to believe that we can open up our borders to free trade and our economies without safety guards and not destroy many of the liberties and our jobs which we hold dear or should hold dear. What right do our politicians have to allow millions or even billions to be spent overseas when we must borrow to pay our own debts? No longer can we even criticize China on its human rights violations less we upset our banker. Yes, the borrower is becoming slave to the lender and we are surely headed that way. Let us borrow from China, then pay them interest for their loan while we then send money overseas for the benefit of other countries. How many of us would allow our children to live this way? How long would this type of living last for you and I? It is not isolationism to say this country needs to get its own house in order before we worry about our neighbors. Read the article MSNBC/NEWSVINE/Isolationism soars among Americans, study finds THE ENORMOUS COST OF FEEDING OUR NATIONAL DEBT MONSTER
Here's my two cents. And oh yeah -- I BORROWED it: Read the article WALL STREET JOURNAL/The coming deficit disaster <> I agree with Douglas Holtz-Eakin about the urgency of the deficit; however, I disagree that President Obama doesn't get it. I think President Obama, and many in Congress--not all, but many in both parties get it. However, the reason it doesn't come up often is because of what bringing down the defict actually entails: substiantial cuts to entitlements couple with reductions in defense spending. On top of that, there will have to be increases in revenues (taxes). If a majority of people stood up and demanded the deficit be brought down, and successfully convinced their representatives that they wouldn't be penalized for doing so, it would have happened already. Read the article WALL STREET JOURNAL/The coming deficit disaster
We need to charge the people who use society the most, the most taxes. If 95% of the wealth in this nation is owned by the top 1% then they should be paying 95% of the taxes as well. Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Payback time: Wave of Debt Payments facing U.S. government NOVEMBER 30 , 2009 - DECEMBER 6, 2009 NATIONAL THE SALAHIS FACE THE AFTER-DINNER MUSIC
I'd be a lot more worried if some impostor gained access to a nuclear power plant control center, both for the damage that could be inflicted and the systemic problems it would suggest in that security regime. The Salahis are just publicity seekers whose motivation reflects a nation with a preoccupation for make-believe, so shame on them - but no surprise. Actually shame on us for being their eager audience, mesmerized by this spectacle. Seems narcissism has reached an all-time high, and we're along for the ride. The "Secret Circus", as one poster called them, is just like NASA was not too long ago - smug, self-assured and blind to their faults - shame on them, too. When it comes to waking up bureaucratic organizations, a little (thankfully harmless) embarrassment is good once in a while. Read the article WASHINGTON POST/White House security already under review <> Is it in our nation's best interests to publicize such things? Allowing an invasion of an international function hosted by the United States President is disgraceful in itself, but rewarding the culprits with media coverage is almost as bad. Publicity will simply encourage other uncivil acts. Both secret service and media should reevaluate their responsibilities. The couple are merely criminals and should be prosecuted as other terrorists have been. Read the article WASHINGTON POST/White House security already under review
HOME TO THANKSGIVING: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE BOUNTIFUL
My mother and father always produced a feast and a convivial atmosphere. Fireplace burning bright, Frank, Ella, Mel, Sarah, Billie and Louis on the stereo; family and friends gathered to converse and indulge. My father passed away 19 years ago. To my sister’s my mother goes (sister and moi = oil and H2O}. My wife leaves to join her parents (politically right of the Mongolian Empire). I stay home, cook as I wish and with my affectionate cat declare NO-HARM-NO-FOUL. I savor the past, but I am not a slave to it. XMAS the same. I know how to find peace, reflect and embrace my present. Should it be too much, please opt out. It is not worth it to be comprised and shuttled off to grim holiday time. Bye the bye, my main course is lobster and roasted oysters. Peace Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Turkey, with family drama on the side <> Mom's pies were worth fighting over. She could roll out her crusts so thin you could see shadows through them (almost details they were that close to transparent), and they were the 'just right' flaky consistency. I never did learn to make pie crusts like Mom, although I have her Pumpkin Pie recipe (which must be made in a huge bowl because it makes two eleven-inch pies) and by following her instructions to the letter I could manage to make pumpkin pie that tasted like hers. She was more talented when it came to apple pies (sweet and cinnamony), lemon meringue pie (something I never made), cherry pie, blueberry pie (after we picked the blueberries ourselves while watching out for bears), and every holiday the family got together, her brother requested a pecan pie (she made two and left one at their house for him). CHEERS to great pie makers and great cooks! Mom and most of the others I knew are long gone now, but we had great holidays when I was a kid (without noisy televisions, thankyouverymuch) where our parents sat around the dinner table and told stories on each other about when they were kids and we had sore stomachs and facial muscles for a week afterward from laughing so hard. That's the essence of the kind of thing Norman Rockwell painted, but we lived it.... I choose not to "celebrate" holidays now because of blaring televisions that ruin the ambiance of whichever holidays there are because of that stupid football; it's a serious detriment to family time. Read the article DAILY KOS/Pre-Thanksgiving Thoughts
Turkey with a side of scorn?” I love this! What a great way to cut to the heart of that tense time we all dread, the Big Family Holiday Meal. In long-gone years, my sister was a determined vegetarian who refused to eat anything the rest of us were eating, sometimes refused even to sit down with us. We’d espy her snacking alone on almonds and pineapple chunks in a dark kitchen hours later. In more recent years, we just don’t get together at all: we either dine with friends or hibernate alone. But a greater source of discomfort, in my opinion, is the tendency of some guests to talk-talk-talk without listening or asking questions of others. I often long to become a reclusive monastic at this time of the year… Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Turkey, with family drama on the side
NOVEMBER 23 , 2009 - NOVEMBER 29, 2009 NATIONAL "IT'S THE ECONOMY..." — TEMPERS FLARE ON BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE
Maybe people are realizing that there is not much of a difference between either party. The GOP will try and spin this, like they have started some big movement. They haven't. People need to learn some patience. You cannot fix everything overnight, in a year, or even 4 years. Everybody is so conditioned to want everything right now. Real life does not work like a microwave dinner or movies on demand. More importantly, to fix this is going to require (gasp) effort on the part of the public. It's time to start being part of the solution or shut up. As much as I disagree with the Tea Party movement, I at least respect the fact that they are trying to get thier voices heard. Now if we can get the intellectuals of our country to step up and do something. If the only voices out there are from morons, we will get a moronic result. Read the article CNN POLITICAL TICKER/Blame for recession shifting from GOP to Democrats <> Now while I am a Republican and voted for McCain, I can't stand to see turncoats. How is everything with the economy Obama's fault? Didn't they vote for the stimulus. Now their butts are on the line and they want to throw the president under the bus. Look at what Palin is doing to McCain. The Repubs did the samething to Bush. Is there a such thing as loyalty anymore? These lifelong politicians need to be held accountable because many have been in office throughout several presidents and are more of the problem than the person sitting in the White House, they are the ones who cause things not to get done. They are the ones that the lobbyists and special interests have paid for. A lot of these are the same ones that passed bills that contributed to the waythings are now. Anybody with a brain will tell you that jobs will be the last thing that gets right. In order for a company to hire anyone they have to be on good economic standing right!! Things are improving but it will take time. Presidents come and go but you always have the same senators/congressman in DC. Read the article POLITICO/Obama takes friendly fire <> The Legislative branch is functioning exactly the way it was intended, a "checks and balances" form of government means just that. No matter what party is in the majority, the Executive should never be given carte blanche to hastily usher through an agenda without the legislative branch 1st dissecting, debating, deliberating and even adding a double "d" to a diphthong if necessary prior to voting on a Bill. Read the article DAILY BEAST/Congress vs Obama
"FULL MEASURE OF THE LAW" -- MANHATTAN TRANSFER FOR TRIAL OF TERROR SUSPECTS
I am reminded what FDR famously said after the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. "The only thing we have to fear is...fear itself."
To be fearful of them is akin to them winning, and us losing, after all. We are not afraid of them and we should show the rest of the world how our democracy works and not cop out to these terrorist thugs. Read the article WASHINGTON POST/Holder's decision on Mohammed trial defended <> The ACLU wasn't the only organization urging Holder to bring the prisoners into a civilian court. Indeed, most state bars have written amicae-type briefs, and a number of members of the Obama Administration, including Obama and some of his conservative military proctors agree that the military tribunals were a failure and are no longer an option. Keep in mind, while we are certain some, possibly most, of these prisoners are justly incarcerated, we do not know that every single one of the remaining prisoners is actually guilty of anything -- or a threat to the U.S. if released. Read the article DAILY BEAST/Holder: "No need to fear 'coward' KSM" <> This has to be one of the stupidest and most insensitive decisions yet by the Obama administration. The security necessary to hold this trial in New York will turn Lower Manhattan into an armed camp. That will be yet another setback to the already fragile local economy. And since it is naive to think that this trial will proceed without a terrorist incident despite the security, the trial puts the general public at greater risk than is necessary or reasonable. I don't believe that any verdict reached justifies the cost of putting all of us who live and work in New York at greater risk. Remember, we already took the brunt of the attack; there is no reason to invite another. And if for some inexplicable reason it has to be held on US soil, there should be a change of venue in order to insure that they get the fairest trial possible. In that case, I recommend a change of venue to either Texas or Wyoming, where Bush or Cheney live. After all, it was their failure that created this mess in the first place. Read the article WALL STREET JOURNAL/Holder defends trying alleged 9/11 plotters in civilian court
Khalid Sheik Mohammed has already been indicted by a grand jury in New York, back in 1996. I'm not certain as to the additional charges that will be lodged against him, but I imagine that conspiracy to commit 2,700 premeditated murders might be among them. Read the article WALL STREET JOURNAL/Holder defends trying alleged 9/11 plotters in civilian court NOVEMBER 16 , 2009 - NOVEMBER 22, 2009 NATIONAL GONE ROGUE: SARAH PALIN TAKES AIM AT HER CRITICS ... AND THE BESTSELLER LISTS
There is plenty of blame to spread around here, but let us squarely place the blame on both the principals: 1) Senator John Sidney McCain III for picking such a poor (and unvetted) veep mate in the first place; he should have stuck to his principles, such as they are, and picked Senator Lieberman and said to hell with the neocons. 2) Governor Sarah Palin, for not having the decency or the sense to realize that she was in the big leagues and not the bush leagues (i.e., Wasilla); Palin was in way over her head and she could not tread the political riptides of a presidential campaign. Read the article WASHINGTON POST/With early leak, Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue" is off and running <> I am not a fan of Palin, nor am I a Repub, or Dem, but I find it amusing how vehemently the liberals like to attack this woman. I notice the attacks tend to take three main themes: her gender, her education, and her lack of sophistication. I find it interesting that the liberals, who tout themselves as open-minded and all-inclusive and accepting of everyone attack a woman on her gender. I think that this shows that the veneer of appearance is just that among those attackers. The attackers on her gender like to point out that she is not a lawyer, like most of the democrat politicians. That aspect of her is one that we should encourage: we have too many lawyers running this country. I would also like to point out that Biden got an F and was also charged with plagiarism. I don't hear anyone pointing that out. As for her lack of sophistication, this seems to be the favorite angle of the urban elite. Those types of people look down their collective noses at anyone who lives in the woods as an imbecile. As for the post with all of the "errors" or "lies" on her book, did you also fact check Obama's books? Or is the search for truth not your quest. The most fascinating thing about Palin is how much she riles up you liberals. Such good entertainment. Read the article WALL STREET JOURNAL/Palin's Book tour builds on effective web strategy
PT Barnum understood the mentality of people who were fascinated by oddities. He toured and found those oddities and put them in his Circus. People paid to see them. Today, the media portrays the oddities who then become 'popular' in a peculiar way and if they write a book, people will pay for the book mainly to find out what juicy stuff has come out of the author's head. Generally nothing different than the usual garbage that two people talk about over the backyard fence except it has the air of celebrity about it. PT Barnum would have made a fortune off of Sarah Palin and her ego would have played right into his manipulative hands. Read the article ABC NEWS/Track Palin to Mom: "Don't let the jerks get you down." <> Let me tell everyone a quick story about Sarah Palin. I have a VA Nurse Practitioner named Kelly who has been a complete guardian angel to me and my family. I have had 3 heart attacks in the last two years and never would have made it without Kelly's stellar care. I can't explain in this brief post all that she did for me, but suffice it to say that she was (and is) wonderful. In the course of our many conversations I found out that she shared my conservative views and was a BIG Sarah Palin fan. I wanted to show Kelly how much she meant to me, so I wrote Sarah Palin a brief note asking if she could send Kelly a quick note thanking her for taking such good care of our veterans. Now keep in mind that I was in Michigan and Sarah was running the State of Alaska and there was NOTHING in this for her. Two days after writing Sarah I was watching the news when she resigned from the Governor's office, I was extremely sad and somewhere in the back of my mind I thought - well, no letter for Kelly then. Imagine my surprise when Sarah Palin with all that she had going on at the time took time out to write Kelly a very nice handwritten personal thank you which Kelly treasures. So say what you want about the woman, I think she is a class act. Read the article NEWSBUSTERS/Another Palin hit job: Newsweek cover claims former Alaska governor "bad news" for everybody PEW REPORT: 10 STATES ON FISCALLY ENDANGERED LIST
From my observation in Oregon, we moved here in 2006, eager to live where there were so many industries. Since then it's been a continual exodus off-shore: onion processing, pickle processing (did you know most Northwest-grown pickles are grown in Northwest India now?), electronics plants, even the local Weyerhauser mill. Lumber, paper, onions, cherries, pickles, blackberries, dairy products, the list goes on and on. All processors moved offshore in 36 months. What hurts is, the items are still in the stores, with same brands, just coming from elsewhere. Read the article HUFFINGTON POST/10 states face looming budget disasters <> Utter nonsense. Not only will Michigan come back in a year it will come back with the help of the auto industry and other industries. The auto makers will not be the dominant players but they will be significant players.Why will be bounce back? Because we are Michiganders and we have the best engineering talent in the whole world. I know because I am one. Read the article DETROIT FREE PRESS/Michigan will be among the poorest states for years, study says <> Finally. I've been saying this for three years now. The auto industry isn't coming back to Michigan. And before you UAW cronies come to bash me, remember this: It doesn't matter how badly you really, really, really want it. Those days are gone, and until a few someones in Lansing acknowledge this, nothing will change. The state is faced with a situation analogous with Pittsburgh in the early eighties, with the "death" of the steel trade. That city found new avenues, encouraged MULTIPLE industries of business, and while they suffered short term, came out stronger in the end. Michigan's leadership has shown very little creativity in attracting new business (and I'm not just piling on Granholm; this goes for all our elected "leaders"). Until they pull their heads out of the sand (which I hope is soon), Michigan is in a world of hurt... Read the article DETROIT FREE PRESS/Michigan will be among the poorest states for years, study says
In addition to the 10 states mentioned in the article there are at least another 5 to 10 states that do not have the budget shortfalls as the "Terrible Ten" but could very well fall into that list if any number of unfavorable economic conditions impact their budgets. Let's face it, many if not all of our states in this country - like the Federal government - have never practiced financial prudence. They never budgeted having any kind of meaningful rainy day fund to cover what this country is going through today. They constantly overspent year after year after year. They passed some of it along to the taxpayer but mostly they used Wall Street as a source to lend to cover the shortfalls. Read the article AOL DAILY FINANCE/These 10 states may be closest to financial collapse <> Let's face it folks, our jobs are gone. They went overseas. Most of our politicians accepted bribes from those in corporate America. Sixty percent of the jobs lost in this on going recession, will never come back. Read the article AOL DAILY FINANCE/These 10 states may be closest to financial collapse PEW: Beyond California: States in Fiscal Peril
NOVEMBER 9 , 2009 - NOVEMBER 15, 2009 NATIONAL IN HONOR OF VETERANS DAY, A SALUTE TO ALL WHO SERVED
When I was very little I was at the beach with my parents and grandparents, and my mother got to talking to a lady from New Zealand on the beach, who was there with her elderly father. It came up that my grandfather had been a naval captain during WWII, and when she heard this she insisted that her father needed to meet my grandfather, who had gone for a walk down the beach. When he came back, this old man shook my grandfather's hand and said, "You're one of those boys who saved New Zealand!" and then he cried. This was back when it was really unusual to see a man cry, and it left an impression. Our military defended a lot of terrified people then. Read the article WASHINGTON POST/Understanding Veterans Day, belatedly <> We were sitting next to an elderly gentleman who fought with the 29th infantry during WWII at IHOP a couple years ago. He was chatting with another gentleman at another table that was a Vietnam Vet and we were "in the middle" - so we could hear the conversation. It came up that the WWII vet had not visited the WWII memorial in DC, said he was not ready. Before he paid his bill he went to the restroom and 3 tables tried to pay for him meal (us included), the Vietnam Vet won out. When the elderly gentleman came back to his table and was told by the waitress (who had a son in Iraq) that the bill had been paid, he smoothed his jacket down, wiped his face, whispered thank you and walked out to his car. Read the article WASHINGTON POST/Understanding Veterans Day, belatedly <> Look back into history. All Countries treat used up warriors the same, from one legged sailors begging on the streets of London in the 1700's and 1800's to protesting veterans of the First World War being burned out of their tents by troops led by Douglas Mac Arthur during the depression of the 1930's to the very recent deplorable conditions found in the VA hospitals. The high point, however temporary it was, has to be the GI Bill for Education from the end of WWII into the late 1950's. A nation loves them during war and cares less than a fig for them when the war is over and prosperity returns. I was able to utilize the GI Bill for Education, post Korea, for which I will be eternally grateful, and I extend my condolences to most all of the rest of those who have been so neglected. Happy Veterans Day. Read the article HUFFINGTON POST/5 Things you didn't know about veterans (and how you can support them)
In Flanders fields the poppies blow Read the article USA TODAY/American Legion,Veterans of Foreign Wars posts struggle <> My father was a WWII combat veteran. He served in the European Theatre from 1942 to the end of the war. He was a lifelong member of Kingston, Pa. Post 283. From the time I was a young till he passed away in 1987, I would go with him to the club. Most never spoke of their war experiences and I can understand why. Read the article USA TODAY/American Legion,Veterans of Foreign Wars posts struggle <> Shouting out to all my fellow Veterans on "our Day"! It was a great privilege to have served with you during 23 years of active service. I am proud of my small part in the USAF defending the U.S. during the Cold War and after I voluntarily went back on active duty after 9-11. I wish my dad a veteran of Iwo Jima had lived long enough to see my son don his Marine Corps uniform and just returned from Afghanistan. Thanks to all who have served and are still serving today. Check six Read the article SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER/ Veterans Day has a special meaning this year .
<> Thank you for remembering the Korean War. My father was missing in action. One of his last letters home said... "Freedom is not free. We may go over the hill and most of us will not return. We cannot win the war alone. It will take you all back home showing support for your troops and the United States. Please tell them back home to keep us in there prayers..." Read the article POLITICS DAILY/ Overheard at the Korean War Memorial:Thank You, Anyway!
NIDAL MALIK HASAN AND THE TIES THAT BLIND
Political correctness is literally killing us. Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/U.S. knew of suspect's ties to radical cleric <> If the author or any of you ever served a day in the military you would know that political correctness has nothing to do with Gen. Casey's comments. I served in the military for 22 years so I know a little about what I'm talking about. The military engine is fueled by order and discipline. Our armed forces would become ineffective if order, discipline and the chain of command came undone. Undoubtedly, there are members of Muslim faith who still occupy all levels of the military hierarchy. For any commander (in this case Gen. Casey) to in any way foment the rising tide of anti-Muslim sentiment in the wake of this tragedy would undermine the authority of his Muslim officers, senior NCOs and NCOs who have never done anything but serve their country with honor. That simply can not happen, especially in time of war. Our troops must always have faith in their leaders. Were warning signs ignored? Maybe. Will the military investigate and make corrections? Definitely. All the while maintaining good order and discipline. Read the article WALL STREET JOURNAL/Dr. Phil and the Fort Hood killer
Why was Hasan not further investigated? The purported "fear of appearing anti-Islam" doesn't sound rational if Hasan was speaking about suicide bombers equaling kamikaze flyers. He had requested more than once to be discharged, even offering to pay for his Army schooling costs. If fellow workers had concerns about him, if he indeed had a bad review in the past year, why was he tapped for deployment? It makes me think that the Army decided they had put their money into his training, and he was going to pay them back with his work product. Did the fact that the Army was in such desperate need for mental health providers blind them to all the warning signs in evidence? I think there was a dangerous conflict of interest at play, and Hasan's superiors rolled the dice. And yes, the absolute rejection of any identified gay soldier looks pretty stupid right now. Read the article SALON/FBI reassess past look at Hasan NOVEMBER 2 , 2009 - NOVEMBER 8, 2009 NATIONAL "H0RRIFIC VIOLENCE" — THE RAMPAGE AT FORT HOOD
There is way too much speculation, rhetoric and conjecture being displayed. We do not know why the shooter did what he did and right now and over the coming weeks we will only then begin to come to understand why this action was taken and its far reaching repercussions. And I do believe that it will be far reaching. Until then we all need to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger. Cooler heads prevail. Snap judgments and a quick tongue usually end up making some look stupid or making a bad situation worse. Soldiers are "not supposed" to have weapons on post. However, as a former soldier who was stationed at Fort Hood in the 1st Cav division, I can tell you that Fort Hood is one of the largest military installations in the world. It is the equivalent to and bigger than some small cities in this country. It would be quite easy for someone to get a weapon on post due to its immensity/land mass. Read the article HUFFINGTON POST/fort Hood Shootings: 12 dead, 31 injured on Texas military base
When we go to war, I'm not sure we fully contemplate everyone who will be hurt. Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Mass shooting at fort Hood
This horrific event must not focus on or diminish the relationship we have as American Citizens to our fellow Islamic Americans. This terrible attack will cause personal suffering for countless family members, friends, and brothers and sisters in arms. Many can remember the backlash towards all Muslims after 9/11, and this only added full to our enemies’ propaganda fire. As a veteran of two deployments to the Middle East, and a member of the Armed Forces, I feel pain for the lost and will pray for their families and friends. This is a time to stand together. The radical factions of Islam will stand out, but the actions of one, must not faction our unity. ...... It has been less than 24 hours since this horrific attack. It took years for this individual to get to this point of extreme violence. Whether it was by ideology, a psychological disorder, a mandate, or a senseless act, Americans instant call for answered questions will be inaccurate. Our lives of constant media saturation have led us to demand immediate answers/response Now is the time to carefully peel the situation back, not jump to conclusions. If we act in haste, we may miss something that will save lives in the future. Read the article NPR/Motives for military post shooting remain unclear ELECTION 2009 WAKE-UP CALL FOR INCUMBENTS
A lot of information was revealed about the election in Virginia through a Focus Group monitored by Frank Luntz after 25 or so subjects had voted for the candidate of their choice. The group was made up of Democrats, Independents and Republicans, about half of whom voted for Obama. They said they were sending a message to Washington about the out-of-control spending, and Obama's apathy about jobs and the economy. The most important things on their agenda was smaller government and jobs, jobs, jobs! Health Care was NOT on their radar at this time. This should be a wake-up call for the Obama administration. They could be in for some real trouble in the big election next year. Stop the expansion of Government. Stop the spending. Stop increasing the deficit. Stop wasting money on useless programs and start governing from the center instead of the far left! Or, be a "one term wonder!" Read the article POLITICO/Democrats, incumbents get wake-up call <> I can barely read anything about politics these days and the comments from the general public that follows. People are seriously idiots and it's no wonder politico after politico is able to get elected while lying right out the gate. Anyone promising to create jobs is a liar because that is generally beyond the control of elected officials. Anyone promising to substantially lower your taxes while providing better services is also a liar (see: California). After years of academic study of political science, development and public policy, I can't even bring myself to believe half of what these people proclaim. Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/GOP wins two key governors' races; Bloomberg prevails in close contest <> Americans apparently have the patience of infants and an even shorter attention span. Has anyone ever heard of the phrase "long term policy"? Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/GOP wins two key governors' races; Bloomberg prevails in close contest
I grew up in the 23rd district. I think it would be wrong to attribute the Dems victory on any grandiose theory. It’s definitely a local thing. Read the article WASHINGTON POST/Democrat wins hard-fought New York House special election
HALF OF U.S. KIDS ON FOOD STAMPS AT SOME POINT
What people don't realize is that the majority of welfare recipients are either working part-time or full-time, but their earnings are so low that they qualify for government assistance. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the average food stamps benefits is $101 per month but a recipient sometimes gets far less. The amount can be $20, $30, or sometimes $1. In Los Angeles, the cost of renting a 1-bedroom apartment is $1,000-2500. Government assistance barely makes a dent in household expenses. Do you really think that people are ripping off the system? Some whine about children getting a few dollars a month to buy milk and eggs at the time the big corporations are getting billions in bailouts and we are spending billions Iraq and Afghanistan. <> Which should we be proud of: the extent of food stamp usage (apparently?), who we make the program available to or the abuse of the program by its users? CBS NEWS/Study: Half of U.S. kids on food stamps. <> Many of our people in uniform have incomes low enough to qualify for food stamps. You going to bad-mouth them, too? The bottom line is that none of us are privy to the circumstances of most others, so all this hogwash about lazy welfare people is just that - hogwash. All your hear in the news is about the bad apples, the ones to perpetrate fraud. You don't hear about the hard-working, minimum-wage people who struggle just to get by. Even if you did hear about it, you'd blow it off because it doesn't fit your agenda. Read the article USA TODAY/Half of U.S. kids will receive food stamps. <> As someone who works at a grocery store, and see's first hand how the food stamp system is abused, I must say a lot of the comments on here are ignorant. Do you think that having very little information on the issue and throwing around racist comments is going to get your point across? You just sound ignorant.
I do see some people who really need help. Some of these people lose a lot of their pride by admitting they need help, but they do so for their families, should these people be punished because the government does a poor job of regulating the program...? Read the article CHICAGO SUN-TIMES/ Half of all kids on food stamps at some point BURNING ISSUE: BACKYARD SMOKE STOKES NEIGHBORS' LAWSUIT
My sympathies go out to these folks. For 2 years we had renters who spent most of their time puffing on cigarettes outside on their patio (the landlord did not want smoke in the house). We could not enjoy our patio let alone open our windows because of the smoke. When we politely asked the landlord if there was some way to compromise on this situation, we were called a racist. What? From someone who has had two cancer surgeries, I am sensitive to second hand smoke. It's unfortunate there is no law to protect the non-smoker homeowner. Read the article SACRAMENTO BEE/El Dorado Hills couple sues neighbor over cigarette smoke <> My neighbor smokes and it bothers me sometimes as well. Would I ever go ask them not to smoke? If a guest of mine was extremely sensitive, I might. On a daily basis, it is not my concern. If they are smoking at the fence line, I might have a different view point. What they are doing is perfectly legal and within their rights. I have friends and family who smoke and they are not allowed to smoke in my house. They smoke either in the backyard or the front yard. Sometimes they take a walk. This lawsuit is ridiculous and I hope it gets thrown out of court. Read the article SACRAMENTO BEE/El Dorado Hills couple sues neighbor over cigarette smoke <> I wish my parents never smoked from my infancy until I moved out at 18. I wish I never had to work in a smoke-filled environment for 7 years. I wish I never got breast cancer. I wish I never got a second breast cancer. All due to smokers and their rights. I read most of the 354 comments (wow!) and the majority seem to be from smokers and their rights. So, do you know if your children have cancer due to your rights? Or will you be dead and who cares? Well, I do. And your right to smoke does kill. Read the article SACRAMENTO BEE/El Dorado Hills couple sues neighbor over cigarette smoke O, THE HORRORS OF A "P.C." HALLOWEEN!
This is ridiculous. If you aren't going to let kids dress up as what they want then why let them dress up at all? The problem I have when schools or any authority starts to make regulations like this is where is the line? When your standards are subjective you are bound to upset people on both sides of the issue. If the costume is fairly innocuous but the kid uses fake blood is that not allowed? What are they protecting anyway? If any of these kids puts on the TV during prime time or the news for that matter they are bound to be more scared than any costume someone wears. I am only 25 so I guess I can't speak as someone who knows what its like to have a child. Having been a child once however I remember that Halloween was so much fun because it was a day you could let your imagination go wild axe murderer or not. Though if these kids really want to dress as something scary.... I recommend going as a meddling bureaucrat. Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Drop the Halloween mask. It might scare someone. <> Enough with the political correctness. On both sides of the political spectrum! Anybody read Grimm's fairy tales anymore? Kids have always been fascinated with terrifying things. Halloween is *one* time a year they can play pretend with it. This attempt to sanitize everything is self-defeating. These impulses will just come out some other, more insidious way. Let's lighten up. Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Drop the Halloween mask. It might scare someone. <> Well thank goodness my kids go to a traditional school and not a politically correct one.... My youngest had her Halloween party yesterday because her teacher would be out today and she didn't want to miss the goodies.... The entire school is having their "parade of costumes" this morning, and all the kids got to forgo their uniforms and bring in a change of clothes, jeans too!! Most all the other classrooms are having their parties today. Read the article HERALD-TRIBUNE, SARASOTA/Schools shy away from traditional Halloween festivities <> You're absolutely correct in pointing out that it's one of those areas where people on opposite ends of the spectrum (religious zealots on the right, do-gooder PC types on the left) can come together to ruin something for the rest of us. Ugh! My daughter was saying earlier today that she feels sorry (at the age of 20) for young kids now, who don't get to celebrate Halloween the way she and her sister did. Read the article CHICAGO NOW/Banish Halloween?
HATE CRIMES LEGISLATION -- THE LEGACY OF MATTHEW SHEPARD
To paraphrase Dan Savage, it is true that hate crimes legislation will not create a force field around gay people and instantly provide them with new levels of protection from anti-gay violence. Hate crime legislation does, however, allow the federal government to provide resources to local governments as they investigate and prosecute hate crimes. In the Shepard case, prosecuting Matthew's two killers cost the county $150,000, forcing the county to furlough five employees (according to the Matthew Shepard Foundation's website). While hates crimes legislation would not have protected Matthew from the rage of his killers -- nor would it have added more time to their prison sentences -- it could have provided much-needed resources as Laramie struggled to deliver justice. I think this last point should not be dismissed so out of hand. Read the article THE DAILY DISH-ANDREW SULLLIVAN/"No more Matthew Shepards" <> This is a bad day for homophobes. The whole point of this bill is to get people to think about their prejudice. No, it won't stop heat of the moment killings nor pre-meditated domestic violence cases. But it will hopefully deter those who think they have the go ahead to kill someone who has been labeled as a degenerate because of their race, color, religion, and sexual orientation. For decades, blacks in the South were hung from trees and the perpetrators got away with it. Once Civil Rights took effect, the hatemongers focused their attention on gays and as of late Muslims. USA TODAY/Obama signs hate crime law rooted in crimes of 1998 <> As a queer woman I live everyday knowing that because of my "life style" for lack of a better expression, I am at higher risk for harassment, violence, hate crimes etc. You may think that all crimes are motivated by hate, and that it's not specific to gays, trans people, the disabled, but your ignorant if you think people are being murdered simply because they are straight and white and able bodied. It's not that these people are not victim of crimes, and equally deserving of appropriate protection under the law but by adding gays, lesbians, trans people, the disabled, this bill protects those that the law had initially forgotten with sensitivity to the specifics of their lives. It was only a little over a decade ago that a husband could legally rape his wife. Making marital rape illegal did not necessarily prevent the crime from happening instantly but it provided a woman's right to prosecute which I believe, over time, DOES contribute to the decrease in such crimes. This bill will not necessarily prevent hate crimes right away but at least work towards making the statistics more accurate, and provide more resources when they do happen. With this bill, people will be more willing to come forward with their experiences. Read the article NPR/Obama set to sign bill widening hate crime laws OCTOBER 26, 2009 - NOVEMBER 1, 2009 NATIONAL SWINE FLU DECLARED A NATIONAL EMERGENCY
It's just plain crazy to suppose or even speculate there is some underlying nefarious subterfuge going on from the White House. This specific virus left to run its course without any attempt to dampen its spread could cause huge harm to our economy, a lot of people could die who otherwise would not etc. If you look at the rate at which this thing has spread and how hard its hit the health care system, taking the steps the White House has, is completely rational and appropriate. Read the article NPR NEWS/Obama declares swine flu a national emergency <> Why is this being declared a national emergency? How much more dangerous is swine flu than the normal flu? If every year 36,000 people die of the normal flu and swine flu and swine flu kills 36,001 then all this media and hype was totally blown out of proportion. So far, 1000 have died of swine flu. I have great sympathy for the families of these people who have died. However, how does 1000 relate to the number of people who would have died from the flu and is it worth executive attention? Read the article WALL STREET JOURNAL/Obama declares swine-flu emergency <> This whole H1N1 panic is looking odder and odder. The CDC continues to say that the flu strain is spreading rapidly across the country, and yet they have stonewalled news organizations asking for state-by-state data. Then, when CBS finally got a hold of some of that data, none of it confirmed what the CDC had been saying. In California, for example, of 13,000 suspected swine flu cases, only 296 ended up being the H1N1 virus. 86% of the people in those suspected cases didn't even have any strain of the flu. In Alaska, only 1% of suspected cases ended up being confirmed as swine flu. Read the article WASHINGTON POST/Obama declares H1N1 national emergency, easing rules for hospitals H1N1 SWINE FLU -- WILL YOU TAKE THE VACCINE OR NOT?
My children go to school in a district which had an outbreak of H1N1, and my husband is a public school teacher; his school had an outbreak too. We will all get vaccinated...not only to prevent serious illness, but to stop the spread of the disease. Anti-vaccine campaigners are putting our public health at risk...if you don't vaccinate, that's your choice, but you'd better not think you can bring your child with measles or polio to sit next to my newborn at the doctor's office. Read the article SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE/ Do kids really need the swine flu vaccine?
I work for the Department of Health {New York] but I don't deal with patients. I'm glad that we're given a priority to get the flu vaccine. I am absolutely going to take it. Every doctor I know takes the seasonal flu vaccine, that tells me a whole lot more than the dozens of people with associate's degrees refusing to take it because of liberal propaganda they heard from somewhere. Also, in reading the comments below it seems like many of these people don't quite understand what “civil liberties” are. Every one of you has the right to refuse the vaccine, nobody is telling you not to. You just can't work in a health care setting if you don't. That's a right you people have, just like we're “forced” to buy automobile insurance while we drive an automobile. You have the right to not have an automobile, just like you have the right to go work somewhere else where you won't infect immuno-compromised patients. I don't want someone treating family members of mine who are immuno-compromised if they haven't been vaccinated. Read the article TIMES HERALD-RECORD/ Mandatory swine flu vaccinations <> I am not against giving the flu shots to high risk individuals with low immune systems or other risk factors. I am against giving the flu shots to any person who is not immuno-compromised or low risk. Just because I work in an ER does necessarily make me high risk, if I am sick, I should not go to work (that is why we get "sick days"). If I received the shot, it does not mean I am going to get any form of the flu, I just took a shot that would serve a better purpose to someone who may have needed it and couldn't get it because of a shortage. NO ONE should be forced to get immunizations that are low risk individuals, especially when you are a healthy individual with the only risk factor of WHERE you work. I already have my natural immunity. The H1N1 has only been tested on a small number of individuals and is still in the trial and error stages and again will not stop me from getting the "swine flu". Read the article TIMES HERALD-RECORD/ Mandatory swine flu vaccinations <> I have been asking for months what the heck was going on. This flu seems to be pretty mild and not very many have died. They are making a big whoopty-do out of it. Clearly some deal was struck with the drug companies for something. The government may well be on it's way to making it mandatory for everyone to get the vaccine. I worked as an RN in ICUs for over twenty years, I have seen some bad flu types and this is not one of them. Let's see, mandatory health insurance for the insurance industry and mandatory vaccines for the drug companies, and without any liability. Sounds about right. Read the article HUFFINGTON POST/The questionable efficacy of flu vaccines and the pandemic that wasn't. <> Pregnant woman here… I’m getting both vaccines as soon as I can. On one side, we have documented, well-known risks, proven deaths and the overbearing weight of scientific evidence. On the other side, we have the sum of people’s fears, non-expert commentary and a lot of what-ifs. For me, it’s a no-brainer to vaccinate, not just for me, but for my entire household. Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Why are we afraid of the new flu vaccine? <> I am a physician and will gratefully get the H1N1 vaccine as will my wife and my toddler. And I would recommend others to receive the vaccine as well. I am amazed by the suspicion and fear regarding vaccines when the scientific evidence greatly indicates its benefits. Likewise, though there have been multiple very large studies showing no association with vaccines and autism, still people believe this false association. If you are suspicious or fearful of this vaccine or the government’s intent in promoting it or the industry that manufactures it or the biomedical science that discovered and formulated it, I think that suspicion and fear asks a greater question: What do you trust? Do you take any medicine? Why do you think that medicine is safe? Do you take alternative medicine? How do you know that it is unadulterated and will not harm you? Do you eat at restaurants? Why do you trust the person who prepared the food you eat? Do you fly on planes? Why do you trust the pilot and the plane? Do you see a doctor? Why do you continue to see doctors? Why do you trust them? If you mistrust something as basic as a vaccine, then should you not doubt all of the above? I’m not advocating for ignorance or blind trust, but seek out the truth of the mass of evidence that shows how vaccines benefit and do not harm. If you do not believe in the conclusion of scientific reasoning for this medical issue, what do you believe in? At the very least vaccinate your children who are more vulnerable to H1N1 so they do not pay the price of your mistrust. Further information is available at this website: Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Why are we afraid of the new flu vaccine? OCTOBER 19, 2009 - OCTOBER 25, 2009 NATIONAL BALLOON BOY'S MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR
A string of coincidences here: 1. After spending ages constructing a balloon, which ought not have that much lifting force, it "breaks free" the first time it is filled. 2. The balloon itself is designed more like a publicity stunt than a real, practical balloon that is really gong to fly. 3. The kid just "happens" to be in the balloon, on its first flight. 4. The "mistake," however, cannot be discovered for several hours, because the boy happens to be hiding in the attic. 5. When his father asks him about on live camera to explain his hiding, the boy says that his father had told him it was "for a show." 6. When the interviewer innocuously asks the dad to ask the kid to explain that comment, thereby giving any well-meaning person the chance to clarify an honest situation once and for all, the father instead goes into an accusative tirade, playing the victim, rather than simply wishing to clarify it with the boy. Too many coincidences = HOAX. Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Interview sets off skeptics of balloon drama <> I turned on CNN at 5:45PM EST knowing a six-year-old boy may be drifting in a balloon. A colleague from work informed me. People were abuzz.
I saw the video of the balloon. I hoped a child was not in there. I projected a child could not be in there. But in all honesty I didn't know and no one was saying how big the balloon was. I couldn't tell from the video. Maybe it had a plywood floor and the sides were reinforced. Anything was possible. At 6 PM I turned to the News Hour with Jim Laher as is my custom. In his introduction he did not mention the balloon. The first news story did not interest me so I turned back to CNN.
Read the article HUFFINGTON POST/Media's balloon coverage filled with more hot air than actual balloon <> It would seem the media continues to look for sensational answers once the story didn't end in tragedy. Enough already. Let the authorities determine if there was any law broken, etc. We really don't need to make everything in America a national story for days on end. The mystery of the missing boy captured our attention, he is no longer missing, the rest devolves into gossip, conjecture and opinion. Read the article NPR/No evidence balloon saga was a hoax <> Ah, my decision to discard my television set is paying dividends already. I'm happy to say, this is the first I've heard about this incident. Instead of being riveted to the TV, I was practicing the piano and then studying a second language. Read the article U.K.TIMES/Boy in the Balloon, Falcon Heene, hints it was a publicity stunt. <> The best reality show ever produced, and it was live, unfiltered and broadcast (at no cost) to the entire world. Read the article DENVER POST/Balloon boy, family, appear on national TV <> Why are you all being so easy on these people??!?! Come on, bring the hammer down! Exercise your seldom-used right to judge as quickly and from as far away as the tv/radio/computer. Shoot, you all know the situation far better than anyone on scene might. Base everything on the comments of a squirming six-year-old. Use your detachment, folks! No empathy allowed. Snort and wrinkle your nose, frown upon anything that does not fit into your version of reality. Certainly someone can't be tolerated who might think and act differently than yourself. Inexcusable! Let your voices rise in a chorus of unabated, cutting criticism. Let fly with words of condemnation and denouncement. These are the time-honored, traditional values that our free country is based upon. Free speech, by God! Oh, and don't forget to blame the "foolish" media. They should have turned a blind eye and ignored this spectacle from the beginning... DENVER POST/Balloon boy, family, appear on national TV <> After watching for about half an hour I could tell there was nobody in the aircraft. I figured it really was a publicity stunt, but I assumed the idea was to send the aircraft up by itself, but that it had launched prematurely and he -thought- the kid was in there. Frankly I’m glad the sheriff gave them the benefit of the doubt and checked it all out before filing charges. I’m from a slightly eccentric family (aviation on one side, psychic research on the other) so I get edgy when people make assumptions. Let’s hope it all works out for the best. Read the article EW/Sheriff holds news conference calling incident a hoax
FORECLOSURE NOTICES, "WORST THREE MONTHS OF ALL TIME"
What's sad is how long this has been happening. My grandmother died in December 2005 with no will. My mother became the executor and tried to work with the banks on the houses that were in my grandmother's name. Read the article WASHINGTON POST/Foreclosures rise 5 % despite government effort <> It's true a government mandate to put low income people into houses contributed to our current crisis. Read the article HUFFINGTON POST/Foreclosures: Worst Three Months of All Time. <> There's another camp, not only people with eyes bigger than their wallets, and not only misleading mortgage lenders — don't forget we're still bleeding a quarter million jobs a month out of this economy. Unemployment has been extended from 26 weeks to well over a year to prevent over 300,000 people a month from falling out. Millions upon millions of American jobs have been outsourced, manufacturing down from over 80% of our GDP to around 17% today, jobs which will never come back. There are many people in many regions like the once textile heavy southeast and manufacturing heavy upper midwest that have been devastated by outsourcing. People who were once working, did buy houses they could afford and faithfully made their payments now without work and unable to do so. As we continue with this so called "jobless recovery" the foreclosure situation will only get worse. Read the article CNN-MONEY/Foreclosures hit record high in third quarter 2009 <> I'm kinda beyond caring who caused what...
OCTOBER12, 2009 - OCTOBER 18, 2009 NATIONAL PENTAGON RECRUITMENT RISES AMID RECESSION
Enough with the stereotypes! As the article states, even during the worst time for recruitment, 83% of recruits had diplomas and 96% weren't in the low test score bracket. Now the numbers are at 95% and 98.5% respectively, numbers that I am almost positive are above the average for people out of uniform. I'm one of the people with choices who chose to serve. I'm doing Army ROTC and when I commission I want to lead an Infantry or MI platoon. Read the article WASHINGTON POST/In downturn, army reports historic recruiting success <> My experience in the Army on the enlisted non-infantry side is that most people join up for the benefits. (In my basic training platoon, something like 46 of 48 soldiers said they joined for the bonuses or the job or whatever. Only two of us raised our hands to say we joined for patriotic reasons.) I do think the post 9/11 GI Bill is a reason for people joining. It's such a good benefit (independent of the larger picture). Sen. Webb was criticized by the Right for creating it, on the premise that soldiers would leave the Army to go use it, but instead we're seeing people join in droves. I will also say I think standards are rising again. Because the Army is meeting its recruitment goals, I believe the maximum enlistment age has gone back down to 35 from 42, and many bonuses have gone away, and I think the felon and education waivers have tightened up... Read the article DAILY KOS/Pentagon enjoys record recruitment <> Look at history. In the Great Depression, the military only took the best and the brightest. It was a competition because there were no jobs. There was an over abundance of men trying to enlist. Today is no different. My daughter is joining the Coast Guard because of the lack of jobs available to her that pay well. Read the article DAILY KOS/Pentagon enjoys record recruitment
Pretty basic stuff - with few jobs, people go where they are available. Read the article WASHINGTON POST/In downturn, army reports historic recruiting success
ZACHARY CHRISTIE, 6 : "I DON'T THINK THE PUNISHMENT SHOULD BE THIS BAD."
As an elementary teacher, I support the policy in place. I'm sure the parent's signed off on the code of conduct for the school. No child or family is above the rule just because the child is cute, young, or a boy scout. While this kid can handle using this tool at lunch, what about the curious kid next to him who asks to see it? He pulls up the blade and injures himself or someone else. What about a troubled kid who knows it's in the lunch kit and decide to take it and harm someone? These things do happen and that's why the policy is in place - to keep the learning environment a safe place. Parents are responsible for checking the lunch kit, backpack, jackets, etc. to make sure inappropriate items stay at home. School is no place for nuisance or dangerous items. Read the article CBS NEWS/THE EARLY SHOW/Cub scout utensil suspension unfair <> Why are people so shocked over this? This isn't nothing new from administrators of government run schools and hysterical mothers of America. Read the article NEW AMERICAN/Six-year-old suspended for bringing cub scout tool to school
This is just another egregious example of people in America overreacting to a perceived menace. The deaths at Columbine and Virginia Tech had nothing whatsoever to do with grade school. We have rules preventing children from showing affection for each other, rules against taking what are purportedly weapons to school, and rules against behaving like children all over the country. NEW YORK TIMES/It's a fork, it's a spoon...it's a weapon? <> I’m a 40 yr old white male from MO ..This story made me think back to the day when I was Zach’s age . It was every young boys dream to own a Swiss army knife with the fork and spoon and almost every cub or boy scout did own one they also carried it everywhere they went including the grocery store,to friends house,to grandma's, to bed, and yes, even to school. Having said this I agree that there should be some guidelines on weapons being brought into school. But as usual Americans have taken things way too fa . Kids can still be kids and be safe there has to be a mature rational adult at the school that could have made a distinction between a first grader wanting to eat his lunch with his Swiss army knife and a first grader that wanted to stab his teacher and kill his class mates. Not every crime should be treated and punished the same This doesn’t happen in very severe murder cases being tried in our court systems and it shouldn’t happen in our elementary schools. Read the article POLIGAZETTE/Zero tolerance policies go bonkers...again <> Two things.
NEW YORK TIMES/It's a fork, it's a spoon...it's a weapon? <> It is sad to see the aggressiveness and arguably 'hate' in many of these posts. Yes, here's a case where a school board - like thousands of others I'm sure, have a policy that needed to be reviewed. To their credit, they did so. But considering the teachers and school board members to be "idiots"? Questioning the integrity and intelligence of teachers because they didn't break the rules of school board (by giving back the device and not reporting the incident)? Well over half of the respondents in this discussion could only expouse hatred and aggression against others (the school board - who by the way were voted IN by the same parents that then asked them to change the policy) that made decisions based on a larger scale issue (weapons in school). To their credit they reviewed the policy - which is, of course, how the process should work. Read the article USA TODAY/Utensil-wielding first-grader to return to class
OCTOBER 5, 2009 - OCTOBER 11, 2009 NATIONAL NAVIGATING THE SHOALS OF HISTORY WITH COLUMBUS, ADMIRAL OF THE OCEAN SEA
All this talk of Columbus is silly. If he hadn't "discovered" America, some other European would have. The facts are that with industry, advanced weaponry, and professional armies and navies, European cultures were naturally going to expand to other continents and societies. That's just a historical fact. Now, we can all wax poetic and wonder what would've happened if all the societies in the past had never been influenced or conquered by other societies, but does that really leave us with anything? Schwarzenegger would be yodeling from an Austrian peak, I would be tilling a field in Italy, Zennie would be running around the Serengeti in a loincloth, and Obama wouldn't even be here since there would've been no mixing of the races. Do any of us want that? No, probably not. Read the article SAN FRANCISCOCHRONICLE/Columbus Day in America -- I'm so confused. <> Columbus didn't discover the Americas (they were already known by the people living here). He wasn't the first European to land here (that credit goes to the Vikings). He was deceptive to his crew (for example, stealing credit for first sighting land) and violent to the natives (directly responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths). There's no reason to celebrate him. My company doesn't, converting Columbus Day and Presidents Day to two flexible personal days for employees. These are often used for Jewish Holy Days, time off on birthdays, or just extra vacation days. Read the article SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER/Can Columbus Day survive?
Brown University is definitely out of sync with Rhode Island, showing absolutely no respect for city of Providence or the state which has a large Italian population that has had it's roots here for many generations. Slavery, good or bad is a part of our history that you can't just wash away because we don't like it. Brown whom the university is named after was into slaves...maybe we should change the name. We can't just rewrite history to eliminate that which we don't like.We need to keep it as a constant reminder to not have history repeat itself. Brown as a non profit university owns most of the east side they get so much funding and then they have the nerve to disrespect and turn its back on RI.All and any accommodations to this university should be stopped. Proud not to be a Brown graduate! Read the article PROVIDENCE JOURNAL/In Providence, worlds apart on Columbus' role. <> Columbus's initial description of the Indians: "They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance… They would make fine servants… With 50 men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want." Read the article PROVIDENCE JOURNAL/In Providence, worlds apart on Columbus' role.
WHICH CITIES ARE THE SMARTEST IN AMERICA?
Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill is a wonderful place to live by almost every measure. Read the article DAIILY BEAST/America's Smartest Cities -- From First to Worst <> Wow, I must be really smart. From 6th grade through college, I grew up in #4, then moved to #2. After 10 years abroad, I moved to #1.
Read the article DAIILY BEAST/America's Smartest Cities -- From First to Worst <> This list was a fun, if galling, read. However, nonfiction book sales, degrees per capita, voter turnout... this list would be much more accurate if titled "America's Most Educated Cities." I think most would agree that "smart" is a highly subjective designation. Of course, then, it wouldn't draw what is sure to be a great amount of ire, the way The Daily Beast likes to do. Read the article DAIILY BEAST/America's Smartest Cities -- From First to Worst
PENTAGON MAGAZINE OPENS NEW FRONT IN "DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL" DEBATE
The policy is a farce because it is based on false premises. I served openly for the last four years of my career, which included flying combat missions with a 12 man crew over the Persian Gulf and other theaters. During that time my crew was selected as the "Most Combat Effective" in the entire Pacific Fleet. Unit cohesion was not a problem. In the squadron I suspect there were some disgruntled by having an openly gay sailor in the ranks, (which if i digress for a moment, meant that my orientation was known by all due to the court case returning me to active duty till I retired, but otherwise the same as everyone else). But there were countless others that either didn't care, thought it was cool to know someone gay, or like a significant number had either a family member or close friend that is gay. It was not a big deal then nor is it now. Read the article BOSTON GLOBE/Pentagon airs criticism of "don't Ask." <> My unit's big morale and cohesion problem was that the guys thought 1 male soldier was gay, and kept asking him about it, and he kept saying no. They were upset because they thought he was lying, not because of who he slept with back in America. Trust is a vital military asset. It makes no sense, and it is insulting to the professionalism of those - straight and otherwise - who serve in the armed forces. Read the article BOSTON GLOBE/Pentagon airs criticism of "don't Ask." <> You can ALWAYS tell those who scream loudest about sharing a fox-hole with a gay person has never been close to a fox-hole themselves. When one is in a situation where bullets, shrapnel and other life threatning elements all about you, can you really believe one would be concerned about someone’s sexuality? Secondly, what is a fox-hole? Read the article ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION/Pentagon study condemns "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" <> Col. Prakash points out "in other countries where bans were lifted on homosexuals in the military — including in Australia, Canada and Great Britain — there was no “mass exodus” of heterosexual service members and there was little impact on military performance.", and quite correctly notes that "forces a compromise in integrity, conflicts with the American creed of ‘equality for all,’ places commanders in difficult moral dilemmas". Not only have we seen 12,500 service members forced out under DADT, many of them have been people in critical positions, including Arabic translators. The U.S. military has survived racial integration and gender integration. I am sure it can survive the demise of DADT. Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Rare source of attack on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
SEPTEMBER 28, 2009 - OCTOBER 4, 2009 NATIONAL
I'm not a cursing woman but now would be a good time to start. I'm so sick of hearing and reading these stories about people dying so senselessly. It has to stop. I don't know where we begin to fix this problem. Personally, I think it starts in the home. We need to put our families back together so our children will know where to go to find the love we're all desparately searching for. We need "big mama" back on the front porch watching over the neighbor's kid. Let's put down the cell phones, MP3/I-Pods, video games, etc and get in touch with each other again. Our children are crying out for help and we're leaving them out in the cold without a hand to hold onto. God bless the family of young man Albert. Heaven's angel is back home. Read the article THE ROOT/16-year-old honor student Derrion Albert beaten to death outside Chicago rec center <> The kid killed was an honors student. The other kids on the block were gang members in a violent mood. Is this where we applaud diversity? Is this where we sing praises for "we are all the same", ghosts in the machine kind of thing or is this where maybe those few bad apples pay dearly for their crimes and in the future the community polices it's own? Where is the outrage from Sharpton, Jackson and the media for this kind of behavior, this murder? Imus repeats something from a gang song and get's canned! The outrage goes on for weeks!!!! An honors student gets killed at a bus stop and there are arrests but where is the national outrage!!!! Read the article DAILY BEAST/ Video of teen beating released
ROMAN POLANSKI — FURORE OVER DIRECTOR'S CUT AND RUN CASE
I feel no pity at all for an adult who violates the innocence of a thirteen-year-old girl. I do not care in the least how famous or creative a movie director the offender is, nor do I a care whether the offender had painful experiences in his youth; if anything, his experiences should have taught him to respect a child's innocence. Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Polanski's arrest could lead to his extradition. <> WaPo columnist Anne Applebaum, in an op/ed piece today, characterized the detention of Polanski on an international warrant as a fugitive from justice as a result of his flight following his guilty plea for drugging and raping a 13 year old girl as "outrageous." Read the article WASHINGTON POST/Polanski's attorney says he will fight extradition to U.S. <> Ms Gailey has chosen to act in a brave and immensely generous way, showing great dignity and compassion - more, one could argue, than was ever shown to her. I note the guidance that has been given on another thread on the use of certain words. So, simply, this, from a letter by Ms Gailey in 2003
She was 13. She's now an adult, married, with kids, and happy in her life. Yes, she deserves to be heard. But should justice depend on the attitude of the victim? No - we should not depend on victims for compassion or use their anger as an excuse for vengeance - it should depend on the nature of the crime. And passage of time may heal the wounds of the victim but does not erase the original act. Read the article U.K. GUARDIAN/Those who arrested Roman Polanski have ignored his victim <> I have no sympathy for him regarding the act (and being punished for it), but if he made a plea deal in good faith and then got jerked (as has been recounted a zillion times in the press), it should come out and he should serve a sentence based on that deal. He fled because he knew he wasn't going to get what he bargained for. Of course, whether or not he had any right to bargain in the first place is a whole different story... I tend to think not, but I'm in favor of letting the law decide, not mob vengeance. Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Polanski's arrest could lead to his extradition.
When our representatives create and pass legislation that they haven’t even read – that impoverishes my daughter’s generation. When Democrat Congressmen say offhandedly that most of what is done in Washington is not authorized by the Constitution and not flinch. When Congressional Republicans gorge themselves on pork in exchange for their votes and yet try to position themselves as somehow different. When public opposition to policies of the administration is belittled, demonized and dismissed by the heads of the House and Senate. When the President refuses to be interviewed on the largest drawing cable news network he is trying to disengage from a sizable segment of the voters in this country. When this and more is happening, it is time to act boldly and challenge politicians of both parties recommit to acting within the bounds of the Constitution and on behalf of the nation as a whole – not partisan slices. Beck is exposing the corruption and hidden agendas of both sides – and using the politicians’ own words as evidence. That is riling a bunch of people used to media being passive and subservient — good! [ROLLING STONE/The Beck doctrine]
Regardless of what actually happened, if you need to pretend or not pretend to throw a frog in boiling water to make your point, you are obviously operating on the fringe of sanity. Beck a few months back poured “gasoline” (water) on a volunteer and held a lit match over him to make a similar point. Beck is not about informing people. He is about appealing to fear and rage in a desperate attempt to advance his, and Fox’s extreme right wing agenda and oppose President Obama and the Democrats with anything they can find or make up. When watching an op/ed on Fox, one needs to ask oneself, “Did I just learn something, or was I just manipulated through emotion?” The fringe right is fond of calling up ghosts of Nazi tactics. Read up on the manipulation of emotion as a tactic of Nazi propaganda after a 10 minute hate session with Beck. [CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR/Glenn Beck boils cute little frog -- or did he?]
There is no secret to Fox news or any other Murdoch owned media he has been very open about his philosophy. Rupert Murdoch is one of the best employers a reporter can have. You have a job for life as long as you put the Murdoch conservative slant on and sensationalize the tidbits. If you don't you are gone in a heartbeat. This is not done for political gain it is done for profit. He has proven this model is a moneymaker with his English and Australian newspapers. Again he has never hidden those facts. Financially he is one of my heroes. [USA TODAY/City council officially declares no tie to "Glenn Beck" Day.] <> I'm sorry, but Glenn Beck is a moron, and I say that as a Republican. You need only look at his recent statement that John McCain would have been worse than Barack Obama as President to see what I mean. The man just doesn't think. The idea that John McCain would have been as fiscally freewheeling as the current administration is absurd. But Beck thrives on absurdity, and that's the main problem -- and the problem for conservatism writ large, since he's now regarded as such as an important voice within the movement. If we were simply an entertainer, it would be one thing, but he isn't. He's enamored far too many people with his illogical, hysterical, post-modernist style of conservatism: Rabid emotionalism is the order of the day, critical thought is a sign of snobbish elitism, and anyone who doesn't toe his line on any issue is brings us ten steps closer to the apocalypse. If the Republican Party wants to understand why they have lost ground among voters who should be squarely in their column (white collar suburbanites, young professionals, suburbs like Northern Virginia, metro Philly, Denver, etc.), they need look no further. If only we could bring William F. Buckley back from the dead, and give popular conservatism a much-needed dose of cerebral legitimacy. [HUMAN EVENTS/Why the Left hates Glenn Beck] <> For those too young to vote before the last election just Wiki or Google Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. Better still look up Gonzo Journalism. Could Rolling Stone today hire someone like HST? Doubt it. RS is too slick, corporate and very establishment now. Irony is there is nobody on the national stage of news/commentary today that is more Gonzo than Beck. So out of a nation of 300 million+ less than two percent tune in to watch Beck. If ya can’t dig it then live with it. If you can’t live with it then drink a tall glass of get over it. [ROLLING STONE/The Beck doctrine] U.S. AND CLIMATE CHANGE -- LOOKING FOR BALANCE AT HOME AND ABROAD
Yesterday I was hiking at Harriman State Park, some 30 minutes north of the Manhattan Washington Bridge. The sky was clear, visibility 100 miles, jet airplanes from Europe to California clearly visible, and drinking water from the many streams better than French imported soda waters. The previous 4 months I spent time in the Middle East, India, West Africa, and Vietnam. The quality of air and surface waters there were poisonous, treated wastewater plants were running out of filters,energy and disposal areas, and cattle in agricultural areas were suffocating from plastic garbage. And the US, right here in Manhattan, is considered by some 100 UN reps as the bad guy?! Give me a break. [NEW YORK TIMES/U.S. and China vow action on climate threat but cite needs ] <> "The journey is hard, and we don't have much time left to make it," Obama said. "Our generation's response to this challenge will be judged by history." [NPR/Obama 'determined to act' on climate change.] <> I'm a meteorologist and I can tell you that the professional community is split on the climate change issue. While we generally agree that the long term warming trend continues and that humans have a hand in this warming, the forecast and impacts of this warming are almost completely beyond our ability to project accurately. Many of the forecasts and speculated impacts are downright laughable to the skeptical scientists. [WALL STREET JOURNAL/U.S. determined to act on climate, despite doubts and difficulties.] <> I don't know for sure whether climate change is happening or not, because I'm no scientist. But I'll tell you what I do know. I've grown fond of breathing clean air as well as drinking clean water and eating uncontaminated food. I remember what our lakes, rivers and streams looked like in the 1960s. And how filthy with smog our city skies were too. So I'm willing to err on the side of caution here. Real or not, climate change is as good as any heading under which to stop polluting the planet. <> The saddest aspect of all of this is that it will probably take some sort of cataclysmic disaster to truly grab our attention to the fact that we need to act. And, by then, it will probably already be too late. I'm not being cynical, just realistic. [DAILY KOS/"Determined to act"] <>
If this country is truly ready to move forward, we should be bombarded with quotes like this from great visionaries from our past. [DAILY KOS/"Determined to act"]
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ARCHIVES — JULY - SEPTEMBER 2009