It’s A Beautiful Day
The human animal is a strange beast. We may be the only creature on the planet that regularly denies its animal nature. But summer days like today overwhelm all that denial and crush it under the full force of nature in bloom.
The world is finally alive and full of sun. Our instincts simply cant ignore these fine sunny morning. The air is fresh, causing the plants to grow at a full clip. On days like today, we are as helpless as a robin signing in the trees. We simply must enjoy the day.
On a splendid summer morning, the far back part of our brain, the part that hungers for food sources after a long winter famine, causes the large front part of our brain to get confused. Our complicated frontal lobes want to force us to get up and go to work, to toil away all day boxed in from the fine weather. But our simple hind brains continually urge us to go out and enjoy the fine weather, to walk the beaches and woods. If you have ever found yourself staring longingly out of the window and your job, or school you know exactly what I am talking about. It wants us out there collecting new shoots, and soon berries and other summer food sources. It wants us out there collecting shellfish, and other sea side goodies.
So go outside, go for a walk. We may no longer need to hunt and gather, but when you relent to that persistent back brain your whole day will bloom like the flowers. It wants you outside, experiencing nature. It wants you to find new plants, observe new animals, find new places.
Stop denying your animal nature. Listen to your back brain, go outside. Go visit a pond, or the ocean. Take your shoes off and walk through the grass, go for a walk in the woods. Submit to your animal nature, go outside!
What Would Have Happened?
What would have happened if Nixon would have had the same technology to use warrantless wire tapping and data mining that Bush has today? He could have found out who deep throat was, could have stifled that “leak” with his “plumbers crew” and we the general public would have never found out about Watergate.
Now it seems this chilling scenario is happening right before our eyes.
A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we (Brian Ross and Richard Esposito) call in an effort to root out confidential sources.
“It’s time for you to get some new cell phones, quick,” the source told us in an in-person conversation.
more here with commentary here.
In a nut shell the Bush administration while not technically “listening to phone calls” (although they might be) is reportedly using warrantless data mining to suppress whistle-blowers.
By warrentlessly tracking all phone calls made to and from a certain reporter the NSA or CIA or Dick Cheney , or god knows who else, can root out “pesky leaks”. Reporters are saying that their sources are drying up because people in the CIA and FBI are being issued random polygraph tests, and are terrified there phones are being tapped. The fear of getting caught in a warrantless wire tap is drying up a process that exposes corruption in our government.
Think of all the “pesky leaks” that have lead to indictments. Watergate, Iran contra, Lewinsky gate. Perhaps this history of leaks leading to criminal proceedings have the Bush administration worrying about the recent leaks about secret eastern European prisons, torture, suspicious energy meetings, and warrantless domestic spying. None of which would have come to light had someone not “leaked.”
Our government while arguably one of the better on the planet, has enormous power, and we have little idea what goes on behind that veil of power. As such we the citizens are dependent on honorable “whistle-blowers” to let us know when a crime is being committed.
Big brother? Panopticon? Maybe, but if history can be any sort of guide I predict impeachment, and imprisonment. The American public is not stupid, there will be a backlash, if the House or Senate goes Democrat in November (get out the vote!) we are going to see some very partisan politics. Specifically I predict we will see investigation after investigation.
Monday Confessional
Things are going well. If everything goes as planned I might be able to catch up a little, and make more progress on paying off my debts. I owe some student loans that I have been aggressively paying off, and it seems that I am finally starting to win. Lets hope the interest rates cool down a little so that the interest doesn’t kill me. I am going to be moving soon, but its not the same mad dash it was last time I moved. I might go check an apartment out tomorrow, if all goes well i might move out at the end of this month, It would sort of screw my roommates over, but i might leave them some cash to help cover the last months rent, they have not been the best roommate but they are not bad people. So you know in the interest of good relations I should figure something out on that scene. Other than that its been raining for about 10 days now, the whole world is flooding, blah. Lets hope we get a little sun soon, my garden wants to grow grow grow.
Big Brother, Shit This Is Bigger Brother
It has begun, this is but a small taste of what we have to look forward too, well this grand experiment was nice while it lasted.
A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we (Brian Ross and Richard Esposito) call in an effort to root out confidential sources.
“It’s time for you to get some new cell phones, quick,” the source told us in an in-person conversation.
ABC News does not know how the government determined who we are calling, or whether our phone records were provided to the government as part of the recently-disclosed NSA collection of domestic phone calls.
Other sources have told us that phone calls and contacts by reporters for ABC News, along with the New York Times and the Washington Post, are being examined as part of a widespread CIA leak investigation.
One former official was asked to sign a document stating he was not a confidential source for New York Times reporter James Risen.
Our reports on the CIA’s secret prisons in Romania and Poland were known to have upset CIA officials. The CIA asked for an FBI investigation of leaks of classified information following those reports.
People questioned by the FBI about leaks of intelligence information say the CIA was also disturbed by ABC News reports that revealed the use of CIA predator missiles inside Pakistan.
Under Bush Administration guidelines, it is not considered illegal for the government to keep track of numbers dialed by phone customers.
The official who warned ABC News said there was no indication our phones were being tapped so the content of the conversation could be recorded.
A pattern of phone calls from a reporter, however, could provide valuable clues for leak investigators.
from here.
If even half of this is true we are so fucked its not even funny. This is every ACLU nightmare I have ever had wrapped into one. The government is using its power to not only stifle free speech, but to find “dissidents” who are “against the party line.” Well “comrades” it was only a matter of time. Lets hope this pathetic excuse for a media will get up off its ass and do something for once. They have the power, why not use it. Lets start some undercover expose shit up in this piece. How about a little muck raking for gods sake. I guess if no one in the administration is getting blow jobs it just isn’t news. FUCK!!! I am so angry, all I wanted was a little freedom, and maybe some civil rights, but NOOOO that seems just a little too hard.
Instead I am presented with this stupid fuck-wit of a president whom I voted against (TWICE!). He has an approval rating below 30% and STILL nothing seems to be getting done about the constant law breaking and fuck-wittery. All because the Republicans are more loyal to there jobs than the people they are supposed to be representing, and the Democrats are a bunch of placated numb skulls.
Please please please! For the love of all that is good and decent vote this party, and this president out of office in the mid-term elections. Vote for anyone that claims to have even the slightest interest in freedom, civil rights, impeaching the president, the environment. Please!
What Can You Do
So you want to make a difference? You want to start “saving the earth?” But you might be confused, or intimidated by the scale of the problem. Well there are a lot of very simple things you can start doing to make a large difference. Not everyone will be able to do everything, but if you pick a few that you are able to do you will still be making a positive change.
Eat local: when you eat food that has been produced within 100 miles of where you live you dramatically cut down on the amount of oil that is used to get that food to your plate.
Eat organic: food made without oil based chemical fertilizer use less oil, if you can eat local and organic you will be doing the most good.
Drive slower: for every 5 miles per hour above 65 that you drive your car adds about 10 cents per gallon for gas. Avoid aggressive driving and quick starts and stops, by making a constant speed and driving sensibly, you could save as much as 50 cents a gallon.
Live close to where you work: less travel time = less oil used, if you live close enough you can also walk/ride your bike. Less travel time also equals less time spent sitting in traffic during the commute.
Walk/run/ride: many trips taken in a car are less than 5 miles, if its a nice day go take a walk, or a run, or ride your bike.
Carpool: meet some new friends, travel in the HOV lane, use less oil.
Take public transport: if you can ride that bus, take that train.
Buy a more fuel efficient car: trade in that huge SUV, for a sleek new hybrid, or a smaller car.
Vote: let our leaders know what you think about there plans for protecting our environment, vote against people that do not take global warming, and environmental issues seriously.
Change your lights: switching the light bulbs in your house from the old fashion incandescent, to the high tech CFL (compact fluorescent light bulb) can save you money and oil. CFL’s use 66% less energy and last 10 times longer. Replacing a 100-watt incandescent with a 32-watt CFL can save you at least 30$ in energy costs over the life of the bulb. They are also safer, burning at a tenth of the heat of an old fashion light.
Buy energy efficient products: when that old fridge gives up the ghost buy the most energy efficient one you can, even if it costs more, it will save you money in the long run and use less oil/coal/gas used to create that energy.
Install renewable energy systems: power your home with solar panels, wind turbines, solar thermal systems, or any other renewable energy system. A power source that does not use a fossil fuel, will be cheaper in the long run, and will not add to the problem of global warming. Support large scale renewable energy projects.
Turn your lights off: make sure you turn all the lights in your home off at night, save energy, and money.
Turn your thermostat down: a one or two degree downward turn in the winter will save you a lot of money, and a lot of energy.
Build green: create homes that use the natural power of the sun, and are best suited to include renewable energy systems. Use as much recycled materials in your home. Build a well insulated home to save money and energy on heating and cooling.
Volunteer: give some of your time back to the community. They will appreciate it, and you will feel great about doing it.
Reduce, and reuse, then if you have too, recycle: reducing is the best way to prevent waste, then reuse what you can not reduce, then as a final resort recycle anything you can not reduce or reuse. Save space, save energy, and save money.
Compost: most of the organic waste you throw away can be composted and used to help your lawn or garden grow green without using a lot of chemical fertilizer.
Fix that leak: leaky pipes cost money, and waste energy. Save both by fixing that leak. In the same way old leaky windows cost you a lot of money and energy on heating and cooling costs.
Find the vampire loads: a lot of your appliances use energy when they are “off” find out what ones they are and plug them into a plug strip, turning the plug strip off will keep the “energy vampires” from stealing your money and energy while you are not using that appliance.
These are but a few ways to help. You will not need to do them all at once, faze in change. Get in the habit of recycling before you try and start reducing. Carpool before you take the bus. Walk before run. When you have significantly reduced your personal impact on the world you will feel a lot better and the earth will be better off.
Just Because Your Paranoid Doesn’t Mean They Are Not Watching You
With the new stories about the president claiming the inherent constitutional authority to not only listen in on selected phone calls without a warrant, he now believes he has the power to “data mine” our phone records. That is he has allowed the NSA and the CIA and god knows who else collect data about millions of phone calls.
That means that is a very very very good chance that the government has spied on YOU. It may not be listening to your phone calls or reading your emails (but they can, and they might be) but they are adding you to large databases and using your phone habits to “create patterns”, all without a warrant.
I see shadows of the Nixon administration. When the government was spying on Martin Luther King Jr. and others that they did not agree with. In fact Nixon’s actions where why we originally passed the laws that Bush has been breaking.
This is not a partisan issue. Conservative or liberal, you should not want the president to do these things without a warrant. People who fully agree with Bush may not be concerned about the current actions in the white house, but if you are a conservative and a powerful liberal president takes power you might not feel the same way.
I don’t want any president to be able to listen to my phone calls without a warrant, and I don’t want my data being swept up and put in data bases without a warrant. Data bases can be hacked, and the temptation of the power of “knowing what your enemies are saying about you” can be too strong for even the best leaders. Better if no one is able to do these things without oversight, be it from a judge, or the Congress.
Lets be very clear, sometimes we need to use signal intelligence (tapping phones, collecting data) to help prevent terror attacks. That is NOT what I am talking about. What I am talking about is the tapping of phones and the collecting of data WITHOUT A WARRANT! This oversight is here for a reason. When there is no oversight, and no warrant, we get “when the president does it it’s not a crime” Nixon like actions.
As a citizen I am concerned for my rights to privacy, I do not want anyone listening to my phone calls, or collecting my data, unless a warrant has been issued. The reason we have checks and balances is to prevent the abuse of power, without oversight, and limitation of domestic eavesdropping we will create an atmosphere of fear in which the citizens are afraid to protest against the people in power. In effect breaking down the very foundation that our democracy is built upon.
This is not the first time that a president has used the motive of protecting the nation durring war time to overreach constitutional bounds. Lincoln suspended habeas corpus during the Civil War, FDR interned the Japanese during WW2, Truman tried to seize the steel mines during the Korean war. And history has looked back on all of them as horrible mistakes.
I believe that the issue is clear, Bush has broken the law, if the minority party gets control of the house or senate we will see a “season of investigations” and perhaps an impeachment proceeding. Speak up, let your congress person know how you feel about this… while you still can.
How Much Energy Do We Use
From here.
click for full view
London Attacks Not Linked To Al Qaeda
Two new reports put out by the British government show that the attacks in London could not have been prevented and were not linked to Al Qaeda. From here.
LONDON - British authorities were slow to recognize the growing threat of terrorism by angry British Muslims before the deadly bombings in London last July 7, but there is no evidence that the attack could have been prevented, according to a report issued Thursday.
“If more resources had been in place sooner, the chances of preventing the July attacks could have increased,” stated the report by Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee. Acknowledging that its determinations were reached “largely in hindsight,” the committee also concluded that no matter how extensive the government’s anti-terrorism efforts, “it seems highly unlikely that it will be possible to stop all attacks.”
The parliamentary report on the deadliest attack in Britain since World War II, and a separate report issued by the Home Office, concluded that two of the July 7 bombers probably had contact with al Qaeda during visits to Pakistan in 2003 and from late 2004 into early 2005.
But they said there is no solid evidence to suggest that al Qaeda directly planned or directed the London attacks, in which 52 commuters were killed on three subway trains and a bus.
No links have been found between the July 7 bombers and the group that mounted failed bombing attempts against the transport system two weeks later, one of the reports said.
The reports found “no culpable failures” by agencies, including the MI5 and MI6 intelligence services, saying the bombings came without warning. Instead, Britain’s intelligence agencies were hobbled by lack of funds, a too-slow buildup of intelligence staff in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States and spies’ failure to anticipate that British citizens would contemplate suicide attacks on their homeland.
The bombers, all young British Muslims who mixed chemicals for their crude bombs in a bathtub, were probably inspired by al Qaeda but acted on their own, motivated by “fierce antagonism to perceived injustices by the West against Muslims,” the Home Office report stated.
The long-awaited reports seemed unlikely to end speculation about the July 7 attack and a failed attack on July 21, in which five men are charged. Although British officials had warned for years of the likelihood of an attack by Islamic extremists, many Britons were shocked to learn that three of the four July 7 bombers were British-born.
Survivor groups were unsatisfied with the inquiries, demanding that the government conduct a public inquiry such as the one in the United States after 9-11.
“It’s a whitewash,” said Rachel North, 35, who survived the subway car bombing close to Russell Square station, which killed 26 people. “Reports written in secret by people hoping to save their own jobs usually find there is no one to blame.”
David Davis, a top Conservative Party leader, questioned the reports’ independence from Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government and security services.
The Solution To High Gas Prices
Today I passed gas station after gas station that said $3.05 A GALLON, and frankly I could not be happier.
That statement is going to make a lot of people angry at me. People are going to say things like “I can’t afford to feed my children because it cost’s too much to fill up my car” or “my business relies on low fuel costs, I am going to go out of business.” and even “hey I hate paying all of my money on gas.”
I feel for you, I really do. I am poor, I hate paying the high prices, I spend more on feeding my car than I do on feeding myself. I understand the hard choices. So you might be asking “well then why are you happy that gas cost’s so much?” Let me tell you.
We, the human race, and Americans specifically, have gotten ourselves into a sticky wicket. We are living a life style that is simply unsustainable. We simply can not keep living the way we are or we are going to reap the whirlwind.
Think of how much oil you use in a day. You wake up, hit the alarm on your plastic clock (that runs on electricity from burning oil), get out of your bed that is covered in plastic fabric, put on your plastic fabric cloths, brush your teeth with your plastic tooth brush, with toothpaste out of a plastic tube, then floss with plastic string. Then you go eat breakfast that is grown using oil based fertilizers and shipped to you using oil, in trucks full of plastic parts, then you walk over your plastic carpet, to your front door, step out, turn to see your plastic coated house, and then walk to your plastic filled car and drive it to work powered by oil. And this is just breakfast (I am sure I missed a few things made of and/or that run on oil in this list).
Oil is more important to our culture than Buffalo was to plains Indians. Yet they had intricate religious ceremonies celebrating Buffalo, we on the other hand, only think about oil when gas prices go up. Unless you get naked and hike deep into the woods, its impossible to get away from an object that has oil in it , or is made of oil (try it now, try and look in a direction that doesn’t have an object made of oil, you mines well close your eyes). Stated simply, oil is as important as air, food, and water, to our lives.
So why be happy about high gas prices? Because high gas prices make people pay attention. They make people sit up and think about how important oil is to our lives. High gas prices are the canary in the coal mine. It is a warning sign to us, letting us know that we will need to be doing something, and doing it quick.
We can solve this problem, and we can do it quickly. We have done large things like this in the past. During world war 2 we ramped up for total war in a matter of months, the world wide scourge of polo was wiped out, the Apollo project brought together the greatest minds of our time to accomplish what no had done before, during the 80’s the Montreal agreement saved us from a world without an ozone layer.
The price at the pump is only going to go up, way up, we need to get used to that. This ever growing cost is going to start making things like electric cars powered by wind and solar a much more attractive option (and cheaper too). The high price of gas is going to cause city planners to start designing cites with more dense urban populations with cheap public transport. High gas prices are going to cause more local farming, because its going to cost too much to ship food from far away. High gas prices are going to cause more sustainable farming practices (currently several hundred calories of oil are used to create every calorie of food we eat). It will change the way we eat (that $1.50 avocado from Chile is going to cost $10.00). Its going to change the way we make things, and who we get things from. Plastic doo-dads from China are going to cost too much to make or ship to us, causing us to start making things here at home again.
There is two ways to deal with this coming problem, we can wait till the price of gas gets so high that we are forced to make all of these changes. This will be painful and chaotic and cost us all a lot of money and probably a lot of lives as well. Or we can plan ahead and tackle this problem while we still have some (relatively) cheap oil laying around. Lets build electric cars, lets put up solar panels and wind turbines, lets integrate bio-fuels. Lets start growing our food locally, and start making our goods locally. Lets do these things while we still can, not wait around until we have to.
As oil becomes more expensive market forces will force most people to change the way they live. They might not like it, in fact it will be incredibly hard on most people, but they will change. First the poor, then the middle class, and finally the rich. We have ignored this problem for so long that our choices at this point are pretty limited. Hard choices about lifestyle now, or if we ignore it for even longer, hard choices about survival in the future.
I look forward with great apprehension to the coming of higher oil prices. A ruff choice, but much like pulling a band-aid off, better to get it over with than do it slowly.
Picture Time
Interesting Pictures.
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