As is often the case in the USA, the truth is ignored. Necessary change/reform is feared. Obstructed. (This time by "The Party of No".):
Link to 10/18/10, Associated Press news article by Jim Abrams: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PROLIFIC_CONGRESS?SITE=TNMEM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
"Those who cannot remember the past are ..." -- you know the rest.
Typical "world view" (for some in the U.S.)??
Image source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjRVebQCSLxLQrf4EUKGPua2UKIFg2WGoESf9fP4BBtgcMJwGyXu90z1Yq0SUJJNmFrzncNzYvcVqEERiaeqlDAsaHVJ7cWX2GOTxJXf8xUxMTchxnAKtetrt6laUKHvm5f6UfanIJH16/s1600-h/redneckmapsimplified.jpg
Monday, October 18, 2010
A productive outgoing U.S. Congress: True story
Labels:point of view, Cheney, Cleveland Browns
Associated Press,
Party of No
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Re: Additional states permit concealed handguns in bars
Per the following link, "Tricia Marlowe" has the best take:
Link to The Onion article (pls. right-click for a new window) : http://www.theonion.com/articles/more-states-allow-guns-in-bars,18248/
De-volving (backward, of course).....to "the wild, wild West".
This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1923. See this page for further explanation.
Mr./Ms.Gun-Nut (if you kin read): Prepare to be (suitably) addressed as a coward (and similar) if you should go out of your way to encounter/threaten me in your bar.
-- Even "just" intimidation/harassment using a gun is illegal....(aggravated assault, etc.)
So "whatcha gonna do"....shoot me? In the back....?
Like many others, I'm not armed....and not afraid either -- unlike you.
For additional (simplistic-world) consideration:
Link (below), via YouTube....
Kenny Rogers - 'Coward Of The County'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK543f0_UKc&feature=related
Labels:point of view, Cheney, Cleveland Browns
gun cowards,
gun violence,
guns,
Kenny Rogers,
The Onion
Friday, August 13, 2010
Climate change: It's here
Global climate change deniers (& another link) and misdirect-ers/misinform-ers: Your stance is almost certainly wrong.
More areas of the world are now experiencing likely effects -- i.e., more frequent extreme weather events (EPA link) -- already. Peruse the following link to a recent news article by CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent – Fri Aug 13, 3:09 am ET:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100813/ap_on_sc/us_sci_climate_breakdown
Update: An 8/14/10 article by Justin Gillis of The New York Times also discusses climate change and recent, extreme weather events around the world. Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/science/earth/15climate.html
More: Some climate change facts. Not Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh distorted or manufactured "facts", but scientific ones (instead). Think of your kids as you read them:
Extreme Weather and Climate Change:
"Extreme weather is putting hundreds of thousands of lives and livelihoods at risk all around the world. In order to avoid the worst and most devastating impacts of the severe weather events that are consistent with climate change, we must begin to significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.
Learn more about climate change and extreme weather and make sure your friends and family get the facts.
Get the Facts: Extreme Weather and Global Climate Change:
* Pollution from human activities is warming our climate. The 10 warmest years on record all occurred since 1990, and the last decade was the hottest recorded since worldwide record keeping began more than 100 years ago. The period between January and June of 2010 was the warmest six months on record.
* A warming climate increases the chance that we will experience extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and intense storms, and ramps up the risk that severe weather events will cause catastrophic damage.
* The floods, fires and droughts we're seeing in places like Pakistan and Russia are consistent with the
effects of global warming, including temperature increases, increased precipitation in some parts of the world,
and droughts in others.
* In early August, a 97-square mile chunk of ice--the largest since 1962--broke away from the northwest coast of Greenland. Canadian officials fear the massive "ice island" could pose a risk to ships and oil platforms.
* Unless we significantly reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, we are likely to see even more extreme weather events and the consequences they bring.
References:
1. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Earth Observatory, "Ice Island Calves off Petermann Glacier," August 13, 2010.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=45112
2. Randy Boswell, "Giant iceberg drifting toward Canada could threaten ships, oil platforms," Montreal Gazette, August 10, 2010.http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Giant+iceberg+drifting+toward+Canada+could+threaten+ships+platforms/3382103/story.html"
Source link: http://acp.repoweramerica.org/page/invite/extremeweather?s
Now it's not "just" your kids and grandchildren who will be "paying the price". It's (more and more of) us, also....
Old image from Google/LIFE archives. Photographer: Loomis Dean
P.S.: Meanwhile, what's "in the sights" of Tea-bagger (link) heroine Sarah (photo below), instead of the planet's/your children's future?? Do you actually want to know? ...Recall the tale of Nero and the Great Fire of Rome...??
This image is a work of a U.S. Army soldier or employee, taken or made during the course of the person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain. Author: Pfc. Christopher Grammer, 50th Public Affairs Detachment.
Labels:point of view, Cheney, Cleveland Browns
climate change,
climate change deniers,
Glenn Beck
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
But Omar Thornton owned six guns
According to the following 8/4/10 news article from The Hartford Courant, Hartford Distributors alleged masscrer/murderer Omar Thornton owned a total of six guns:
Link to 'courant.com' story: http://www.courant.com/community/manchester/hc-omar-s-thornton-connecticut-shooti20100804,0,6244219.story
Yet, we are also already seeing sympathetic, shoulder-shrugging stories such as the following (by The Courant's Hilda Munoz and Jon Lender), at times depicting Omar as "...so soft-spoken and laid-back that no one knew how much of an impact the problems were having on him". Plus, (no attribution, same story/writers): "The only clue that the family has about Thornton's motive for the shootings was his complaint that he was racially harassed at work."
Link to 8/4/10 courant.com article: http://www.courant.com/community/east-hartford/hc-omar-thornton-story-0804-20100803,0,5894638.story
'Only clue'?? More information will likely come out in the days ahead, but why does anyone 'need' six guns (of various kinds)? How were these guns kept (e.g., locked up in a safe somewhere, or not)? With all of those guns available, what might happen when "Mr. Soft-spoken" has a "bad" day, or gets angry? (Rhetorical questions. We now know the terrible 'answer' (to at least one), plus Omar (apparently) took the coward's way out and shot himself. Update: 'Mr. Soft-spoken' apparently declared that he wished he "...could have got more of the people." I.e., in his (alleged) shooting/murdering rampage. In the same '911' call he called himself "the shooter". C'mon Omar, should have told it like it was: Ambushin' mass-murderer of unarmed people.)
Who will be the next innocent American co-workers, bystanders, etc. to die at the hand of a heavily-armed, but "real quiet", "nice guy" mass murderer? Will it be me....or you? A loved one?? Who's "number" will be up the next time?
Easy guns. (Link to undercover video.) Poor control. In a gun-happy country of 300 million-plus people, this kind of horrible outcome - repeated over and over - is inevitable. (Probability and statistics-wise that is (if you will). And ultimately, no one can easily predict exactly who will do something like this. Only that it will happen, with some frequency. (I.e., so many people; so many guns.) Also pls. see an earlier post here, same subject. Such carnage occurs over and over in America...)
Here's even a grim (partly-related) "tally" for you, from just one U.S. state (link). We're keeping TRACK of various deadly events, kind of like a (lethal game) score...
Keep turning a blind eye to rampant gun ownership and horrifying gun massacres in this country....and: Pray that you're not the next in the line of fire. Plus keep "trotting out" those much-practiced, finely-honed mourning skills...
When is it ever going to be ENOUGH? What does it take?
Link to 'courant.com' story: http://www.courant.com/community/manchester/hc-omar-s-thornton-connecticut-shooti20100804,0,6244219.story
Yet, we are also already seeing sympathetic, shoulder-shrugging stories such as the following (by The Courant's Hilda Munoz and Jon Lender), at times depicting Omar as "...so soft-spoken and laid-back that no one knew how much of an impact the problems were having on him". Plus, (no attribution, same story/writers): "The only clue that the family has about Thornton's motive for the shootings was his complaint that he was racially harassed at work."
Link to 8/4/10 courant.com article: http://www.courant.com/community/east-hartford/hc-omar-thornton-story-0804-20100803,0,5894638.story
'Only clue'?? More information will likely come out in the days ahead, but why does anyone 'need' six guns (of various kinds)? How were these guns kept (e.g., locked up in a safe somewhere, or not)? With all of those guns available, what might happen when "Mr. Soft-spoken" has a "bad" day, or gets angry? (Rhetorical questions. We now know the terrible 'answer' (to at least one), plus Omar (apparently) took the coward's way out and shot himself. Update: 'Mr. Soft-spoken' apparently declared that he wished he "...could have got more of the people." I.e., in his (alleged) shooting/murdering rampage. In the same '911' call he called himself "the shooter". C'mon Omar, should have told it like it was: Ambushin' mass-murderer of unarmed people.)
Who will be the next innocent American co-workers, bystanders, etc. to die at the hand of a heavily-armed, but "real quiet", "nice guy" mass murderer? Will it be me....or you? A loved one?? Who's "number" will be up the next time?
Easy guns. (Link to undercover video.) Poor control. In a gun-happy country of 300 million-plus people, this kind of horrible outcome - repeated over and over - is inevitable. (Probability and statistics-wise that is (if you will). And ultimately, no one can easily predict exactly who will do something like this. Only that it will happen, with some frequency. (I.e., so many people; so many guns.) Also pls. see an earlier post here, same subject. Such carnage occurs over and over in America...)
Here's even a grim (partly-related) "tally" for you, from just one U.S. state (link). We're keeping TRACK of various deadly events, kind of like a (lethal game) score...
Keep turning a blind eye to rampant gun ownership and horrifying gun massacres in this country....and: Pray that you're not the next in the line of fire. Plus keep "trotting out" those much-practiced, finely-honed mourning skills...
When is it ever going to be ENOUGH? What does it take?
Labels:point of view, Cheney, Cleveland Browns
gun cowards,
gun violence,
NRA
Monday, July 26, 2010
Your grand-children will want to know someday....
Who the cowards of our time are (were)....
Denying/filibustering/rationalizing away any meaningful action to address climate change.... (This time) during a record-setting U.S. east coast heat wave . (Plus the hottest first half of a year ever, worldwide.)
Oh, yeah: And a catastrophic oil well blowout in the Gulf.
Usual suspects: Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winning columnist for the New York Times provides some guidance - re the "who" (above). Link to 7/26/10 article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/opinion/26krugman.html?
(Some of the top comments to the article are worth reading as well:) http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/opinion/26krugman.html
From NASA, some likely future effects of climate change:
Global Climate Change: Future Trends
(Phenomena/Likelihood of trend)
-- Contraction of snow cover areas, increased thaw in permafrost regions, decrease in sea ice extent Virtually certain
-- Increased frequency of hot extremes, heat waves and heavy precipitation Very likely to occur
-- Increase in tropical cyclone intensity Likely to occur
-- Precipitation increases in high latitudes Very likely to occur
-- Precipitation decreases in subtropical land regions Very likely to occur
-- Decreased water resources in many semi-arid areas, including western U.S. and Mediterranean basin High confidence
(Definitions of likelihood ranges used to express the assessed probability of occurrence: virtually certain >99%, very likely >90%, likely >66%.
Source: Summary for Policymakers, IPCC Synthesis report, November 2007
http://www.ipcc.ch/)
Among other irresponsible acts, justify this (sample photo, below; just one example), as your grand-kids' world starts to look and feel more like Venus every year. (Not to mention other likely (mostly adverse) effects.)
Your kids and grand-kids will be looking back upon your legacy, and that of others...They will not be able to ignore global climate change.
Author : IFCAR ,"I the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. This applies worldwide."
Denying/filibustering/rationalizing away any meaningful action to address climate change.... (This time) during a record-setting U.S. east coast heat wave . (Plus the hottest first half of a year ever, worldwide.)
Oh, yeah: And a catastrophic oil well blowout in the Gulf.
Usual suspects: Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winning columnist for the New York Times provides some guidance - re the "who" (above). Link to 7/26/10 article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/opinion/26krugman.html?
(Some of the top comments to the article are worth reading as well:) http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/opinion/26krugman.html
From NASA, some likely future effects of climate change:
Global Climate Change: Future Trends
(Phenomena/Likelihood of trend)
-- Contraction of snow cover areas, increased thaw in permafrost regions, decrease in sea ice extent Virtually certain
-- Increased frequency of hot extremes, heat waves and heavy precipitation Very likely to occur
-- Increase in tropical cyclone intensity Likely to occur
-- Precipitation increases in high latitudes Very likely to occur
-- Precipitation decreases in subtropical land regions Very likely to occur
-- Decreased water resources in many semi-arid areas, including western U.S. and Mediterranean basin High confidence
(Definitions of likelihood ranges used to express the assessed probability of occurrence: virtually certain >99%, very likely >90%, likely >66%.
Source: Summary for Policymakers, IPCC Synthesis report, November 2007
http://www.ipcc.ch/)
Among other irresponsible acts, justify this (sample photo, below; just one example), as your grand-kids' world starts to look and feel more like Venus every year. (Not to mention other likely (mostly adverse) effects.)
Your kids and grand-kids will be looking back upon your legacy, and that of others...They will not be able to ignore global climate change.
Author : IFCAR ,"I the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. This applies worldwide."
Labels:point of view, Cheney, Cleveland Browns
climate change,
Deepwater Horizon,
NASA
Monday, July 19, 2010
Gulf oil disaster: Visualizing it
CNBC.com provides us with various depictions of what (approximately) 184 million gallons of blown-out (well) oil looks like/equates to:
(Link to article/slideshow) http://www.cnbc.com/id/38294088
Oil Spill - San Francisco
Date taken: 1971
Photographer: George Silk
Plus:
OMG: China oil pipelines explode; 70 sq. mile slick. (Link to early news story (msnbc.com)): http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38307431/ns/world_news-asiapacific/
(Link to article/slideshow) http://www.cnbc.com/id/38294088
Oil Spill - San Francisco
Date taken: 1971
Photographer: George Silk
Plus:
OMG: China oil pipelines explode; 70 sq. mile slick. (Link to early news story (msnbc.com)): http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38307431/ns/world_news-asiapacific/
Labels:point of view, Cheney, Cleveland Browns
Deepwater Horizon,
U.S. oil addiction
Thursday, July 15, 2010
The 85-day underwater oil gusher
BP has no credibility. (Another link with additional info. here.)
Maintain your skepticism about the (latest) temporary "fix" for the 85-day long Deepwater Horizon well blowout. (Story link here.)
(Note: The 85-day number (above) is an estimate, and assumes that oil began gushing about two days after the intial (4/20/10) rig explosion...Considering the huge volume of oil spilled, the exact number of days matters little.)
We shall see. Relief wells (a few weeks away) are the most likely "permanent" solution.
The largest-ever oil spill disaster in U.S. waters. The damage is done: Many of us will (make it a point to) never "forget"....
Google/LIFE image archive
Oil Spill - San Francisco
Date taken: 1971
Photographer: George Silk
Maintain your skepticism about the (latest) temporary "fix" for the 85-day long Deepwater Horizon well blowout. (Story link here.)
(Note: The 85-day number (above) is an estimate, and assumes that oil began gushing about two days after the intial (4/20/10) rig explosion...Considering the huge volume of oil spilled, the exact number of days matters little.)
We shall see. Relief wells (a few weeks away) are the most likely "permanent" solution.
The largest-ever oil spill disaster in U.S. waters. The damage is done: Many of us will (make it a point to) never "forget"....
Google/LIFE image archive
Oil Spill - San Francisco
Date taken: 1971
Photographer: George Silk
Labels:point of view, Cheney, Cleveland Browns
Deepwater Horizon,
U.S. oil addiction
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Land of tricked-out mowers and blown-out oil wells
I always enjoy Wendy Bounds' well-written articles in The Wall Street Journal.
Here is a link to her balanced, 6/14/10 article describing proliferation of "super" (lawn) mowers in parts of the U.S. (example: Ridiculousburg, Ohio, (zip) EIEIO):
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704575304575296833523847028.html
(Old photo: Google/LIFE archives)
-- Dave Fisher (WSJ commenter)
"Small minds on big machines. How appropriate."
Here is a link to her balanced, 6/14/10 article describing proliferation of "super" (lawn) mowers in parts of the U.S. (example: Ridiculousburg, Ohio, (zip) EIEIO):
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704575304575296833523847028.html
(Old photo: Google/LIFE archives)
"Pres. of Wesleyan Univ. taking his family for a ride on the mower.
| Location: | Middletown, CT, US |
|---|---|
| Date taken: | December 1968 |
| Photographer: | Bob Gomel" |
For me, this on-line comment (as appended to the article, emphasis added) sums up the ongoing, general disconnect nicely. I.e., between the Gulf ("corner-cutting", mile-deep, exploratory oil well) disaster and many Americans' "environmental" behavior:
"I guess (individual named in article) and all the other folks purchasing these ridiculous machines haven't yet grasped the link between their lawn obsession and the Gulf oil spill. This disaster in the Gulf is our collective responsibility and we should all be ashamed of the way we have allowed ourselves to get "addicted to oil", (as W said).
Go ahead, buy a super mower, buy a pickup truck that is twice as much truck as you need, mow your 12 acres of grass, then relax with a frosty beer and turn on a video of the oil spill."
-- Dave Fisher (WSJ commenter)
Bonus: Another applicable one? (Different commenter re same article:)
"Small minds on big machines. How appropriate."
Labels:point of view, Cheney, Cleveland Browns
Deepwater Horizon,
U.S. oil addiction
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)








