January 2, 2011 archive

GOP to fight New EPA Regs, despite the EPA Science Evidence

GOP Vows to Fight White House Global Warming Policy

Jon E. Dougherty — Dec 29, 2010

Republicans have vowed to oppose Obama administration plans to pursue the White House’s global warming agenda through new rules and regulations issued by existing federal agencies.

On Jan. 2 new stricter carbon emissions standards will be introduced as the Environmental Protection Agency prepares new rules that would require companies to get permits to release so-called greenhouse gasses under the Clean Air Act.

The EPA, in an announcement last week, said it would move forward to adopt new standards for fossil fuel power plants and petroleum refineries, two of the largest industrial sources that the agency claims represent nearly 40% of the greenhouse gas pollution in the United States.

Critics of the new rules also say they will drive up the operating costs for those same industries, choking off any new job creation and doing more harm an economy that is still in recovery mode.

They are job killers,” environmental scientist Ken Green of the American Enterprise Institute said, in comments reported by Fox News.

GOP to fight New EPA Regs, despite the EPA Science Evidence

GOP Vows to Fight White House Global Warming Policy

Jon E. Dougherty — Dec 29, 2010

Republicans have vowed to oppose Obama administration plans to pursue the White House’s global warming agenda through new rules and regulations issued by existing federal agencies.

On Jan. 2 new stricter carbon emissions standards will be introduced as the Environmental Protection Agency prepares new rules that would require companies to get permits to release so-called greenhouse gasses under the Clean Air Act.

The EPA, in an announcement last week, said it would move forward to adopt new standards for fossil fuel power plants and petroleum refineries, two of the largest industrial sources that the agency claims represent nearly 40% of the greenhouse gas pollution in the United States.

Critics of the new rules also say they will drive up the operating costs for those same industries, choking off any new job creation and doing more harm an economy that is still in recovery mode.

They are job killers,” environmental scientist Ken Green of the American Enterprise Institute said, in comments reported by Fox News.

The Skin Horse speaks

“What is a LEADER?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”

“A LEADER isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. It’s realizing that every experience develops some latent force within you.1 You begin to understand that vision is the art of seeing the invisible2 so that when you want to build a wagon, you don’t gather the other toys to collect wood or assign them tasks, but rather you teach them to long for ways to traverse the endless immensity of the backyard.3 Then you become a LEADER.”

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

A Poem by Yehuda Amichai

I Have Become Very Hairy

I have become very hairy all over my body.

I’m afraid they’ll start hunting me because of my fur.

My multicolored shirt has no meaning of love –

it looks like an air photo of a railway station.

At night my body is open and awake under the blanket,

like eyes under the blindfold of someone to be shot.

Restless I shall wander about;

hungry for life I’ll die.

Yet I wanted to be calm, like a mountain with all its cities destroyed,

and tranquil, like a full cemetery.

-Yehuda Amichai

Six In The Morning

Don’t Bother Hiding  



With Air Force’s new drone, ‘we can see everything’

In ancient times, Gorgon was a mythical Greek creature whose unblinking eyes turned to stone those who beheld them. In modern times, Gorgon may be one of the military’s most valuable new tools.

This winter, the Air Force is set to deploy to Afghanistan what it says is a revolutionary airborne surveillance system called Gorgon Stare, which will be able to transmit live video images of physical movement across an entire town.

The system, made up of nine video cameras mounted on a remotely piloted aircraft, can transmit live images to soldiers on the ground or to analysts tracking enemy movements.

Late Night Karaoke

Fascinating 1860 Map of the U.S. Slave Population

2011 marks the sesquicentennial of the start of the American Civil War. On New Year’s Day 150 years ago, South Carolina had already seceded from the United States and the next months would see ten more states secede from the Union, the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, the formation of the Confederate States of America, and the start of the war.

Historian Susan Schulten wrote about the 1860 Census and map showing American slavery in The New York Times last month. The United States Coast Survey used the 1860 Census data, the last time the federal government counted the slave population, to produce two maps illustrating slave population – one of Virginia and the other of the entire South.

The map depicts each county’s slave population, with “the darker the shading, the higher the number of slaves”, which is a “visually arresting way to see the range of slavery across the South without having to read a single data point,” she writes. It was popular with President Lincoln and the American public after its publication. It was sold throughout the war “for the benefit of the sick and wounded soldiers.”

Profundity of Peace on Earth



MrryChrstmsHppyNwYr

copyright © 2011 Betsy L. Angert.  Empathy And Education; BeThink or  BeThink.org

This year, Christmas and New Years Days were days of intense reflection.  Perchance, that is true every year and for every individual.  I cannot know what is true for others.  I am only certain that on each of these dates I was immersed in a rigorous course of study.   My gifts or the curriculum came wrapped in a routine event.

The lessons covered were Empathy and Education, although perhaps these were presented in reverse order.  Possibly, the truer program was entropy  and encouragement.  Each edifies.  I wonder; on each of the two days these topics were intertwined.  In my attempt to analyze and understand what I needed to learn or did, I invite your assessments.  Please indulge me as I share the story.

The Twelve Days of Christmas!

December 14, 1972

My dearest darling John:

Who ever in the whole world would dream of getting a real

Partridge in a Pear Tree? How can I ever express my pleasure.

Thank you a hundred times for thinking of me this way.

My love always,

Agnes

================================================== ======

December 15, 1972

Dearest John:

Today the postman brought your very sweet gift. Just imagine

two turtle doves. I’m just delighted at your very thoughtful gift.

They are just adorable.

All my love,

Agnes

================================================== =======

December 16, 1972

Dear John:

Oh! Aren’t you the extravagant one. Now I must protest. I

don’t deserve such generosity, three French hens. They are just

darling but I must insist, you’ve been too kind.

All my love,

Agnes

================================================== =======

December 17, 1972

Dear John:

Today the postman delivered four calling birds. Now really,

they are beautiful, but don’t you think enough is enough. You are

being too romantic.

Affectionately,

Agnes

================================================== ========

December 18, 1972

Dearest John:

What a surprise. Today the postman delivered five golden

rings, one for every finger. You’re just impossible, but I love it.

Frankly, all those birds squawking were beginning to get on my nerves.

All my love,

Agnes

================================================== ======

December 19, 1972

Dear John:

When I opened the door today there were actually six geese

laying on my front steps. So you’re back to the birds again huh?

These geese are huge. Where will I ever keep them? The neighbors

are complaining and I can’t sleep through the racket. Please stop.

Cordially,

Agnes

================================================== ======

December 20, 1972

John:

What’s with you and those freaking birds?? Seven swans a

swimming. What kind of damn joke is this? There’s bird poop all

over the house and they never stop the racket. I can’t sleep at night

and I’m a nervous wreck. It’s not funny. So stop those freaking birds.

Sincerely,

Agnes

================================================== =======

December 21, 1972

O.K. Buster:

I think I prefer the birds. What the hell am I going to do

with 8 maids a milking? It’s not enough with all those birds and 8

maids a milking, but they had to bring their damn cows. There is manure

all over the lawn and I can’t move in my own house. Just lay off me, smartass.

Agnes

================================================== =======

December 22, 1972

Hey Shithead:

What are you? Some kind of sadist? Now there’s nine pipers

playing. And Christ do they play. They’ve never stopped chasing

those maids since they got here yesterday morning. The cows are

getting upset and they’re stepping all over those screeching birds.

What am I going to do? The neighbors have started a petition to evict me.

You’ll get yours !

Agnes

================================================== ========

December 23, 1972

You rotten prick:

Now there’s ten ladies dancing. I don’t know why I call

those sluts ladies. They’ve been balling those pipers all night long.

Now the cows can’t sleep and they’ve got diarrhea. My living room is

a river of shit. The Commissioner of Buildings has subpoenaed me to

give cause why the building shouldn’t be condemned.

I’m calling the police on you !

Agnes

================================================== =======

December 24, 1972

Listen F*ckhead:

What’s with those eleven lords a leaping on those maids and

ladies? Some of those broads will never walk again. Those pipers

ran through the maids and have been committing sodomy with the cows.

All twenty-three of the birds are dead. They’ve been trampled to

death in the orgy. I hope you’re satisfied, you rotten vicious swine.

Your sworn enemy,

Agnes

================================================== =======

December 25, 1972

Dear Sir:

This is to acknowledge your latest gift of twelve fiddlers fiddling

which you have seen fit to inflict on our client, Miss Agnes McHolstein.

The destruction, of course, was total. All correspondence should

come to our attention. If you should attempt to reach Miss

McHolstein at Happy Dale Sanitarium, the attendants have been

instructed to shoot you on sight.

With this letter please find attached a warrant for your arrest.

Cordially,

Law Offices of

Badger, Bender and Chole

H A P P Y  NEW  YEAR !

“The World Hates Us” says Government Website

‘Anonymous’ topples, defaces Zimbabwe government websites

RawStory, December 31, 2010

The Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu-PF) website, Zimbabwean government website and Zimbabwean Finance Ministry website were the target of cyber attacks on Thursday by a loose-knit group of online hacktivists known as “Anonymous.”

The websites were hit with distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks after Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s wife, Grace Mugabe, sued a newspaper for publishing a WikiLeaks cable that alleged she was connected with illicit diamond trade.

All three websites targeted by “Anonymous” were knocked offline and the Finance Ministry website was also defaced with messages saying “We are Anonymous” and “The world hates us, we kill our own people, we have no control of the economy, we repress free speech, we kill and rape for fun, we are Zanu-PF.”

The website AnonNews announced that the group was “targeting Mugabe and his regime in the ZanuPF who have outlawed the free press and threaten to sue anyone publishing Wikileaks.”

more….

Chomsky, me and you…(UPDATED!!!)

THE TIME SLOT HAS BEEN CHANGED TO 4:30 PM EST DUE TO A SCHEDULING PROBLEM FROM PROFESSOR CHOMSKY’S DEPARTMENT… SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE! (the alternative was waiting until February 4th, and I did not want to put you all off that long)

(the ad will reflect changes shortly)

Photobucket

As promised, this week I am opening this thread for your input…

The show is only an hour, so I cannot possibly ask every question nor take every caller.

So what my intent is here, is to ask you what you would like to ask him, and hopefully take your various answers and combine them into a streamlined format that will satisfy everyone’s needs.

I intend on asking about the epic fail of our institutions of higher learning as chronicled last week in my Walmart University for Social Work essay.

I intend on asking him about the humanitarian efforts in Israel/Palestine, and his positions about what is happening there.

I am just swarming with questions about how the movement failed in the 60’s and how we can possibly revive it.

This is a political show, so I won’t be getting into Linguistics – totally not my field. My command of the English language wouldn’t be too gawd~awful were it my second language and I was a fifth grader, so I won’t even attempt to go there as neither. Seriously.

So, I will check this thread until Friday, and all serious inquiries will be considered.

You count to me, this is about letting we “little” (ughh, I despise using that term – but there it is) people who rarely have the chance to tap a brilliant mind, and have a conversation as equals.