October 2008 archive

Saturday October 4, 2008.  

Solar homes, active and passive, all across the country are open to the public for viewing and learning about solar energy through the ASES National Solar Tour Day

To find a location near you, go to the ASES website.

Every year, the first Saturday in October is National Solar Tour Day, as part of National Solar Awareness month.

We’re participating for the second time.  Over the last two years we had more than 120 people from all over the state visit our partially earth sheltered, passive solar designed home, to which we added 4kw of photovoltaic panels in July,’06.

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An article on CASMII’s website reported that:

U.S. establishes permanent radar site in Israel to watch Iran by Matthew Fisher (source: Canwest News)

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

JERUSALEM – The Yanks have landed in Israel.

For the first time in the Jewish state’s 60-year history, the U.S. has established a permanent military presence here, according to Defense News.

About 120 American troops have arrived in the Negev Desert to set up an early warning radar that will track missiles launched in Iran, the authoritative U.S.-based weekly says in its current issue. [/blockquote]

Dennis Kucinich is running for re-election to his House seat in Ohio’s 10th District.  Please donate to his campaign.

http://www.kucinich.us

Cindy Sheehan is running to unseat Nancy Pelosi in California’s 8th District.  She needs your help to remove the failed speaker.

http://www.cindyforcongress.org

Anthony Pollina is running for governor of Vermont on the Progressive Party ticket.

http://www.anthonypollina.com

Also on the Progressive Party ticket in Vermont is state attorney general candidate Charlotte Dennett, who vows to prosecute the shrub for murder.

http://www.charlottedennettfor…

Thomas Hermann, an Iraq war veteran running on an anti-war platform, is another Progressive – he’s running for the U.S. House of Representatives.

http://www.votepeacevt.com/hom…

Ralph Nader is running for president again.  I’m not voting for him, for reasons I’ll explain later, but I do support his message.

http://www.votenader.org

Cynthia McKinney is running for president on the Green Party ticket.  She, more than Nader, perhaps has the organizational power to make some kind of impact in November.  She isn’t going to win, obviously, in this rigged system – but enough votes may begin to help build the Green Party further.

http://votetruth08.com

Please donate whatever you can to these progressive candidates.

1. In the proving ground for Internet spying, the NY Times reports Surveillance of Skype messages has been found in China. “Canadian human-rights activists and computer security researchers has discovered a huge surveillance system in China that monitors and archives certain Internet text conversations that include politically charged words.”

   Researchers in China have estimated that 30,000 or more “Internet police” monitor online traffic, Web sites and blogs for political and other offending content in what is called the Golden Shield Project or the Great Firewall of China…

   The list includes words related to the religious group Falun Gong, Taiwan independence and the Chinese Communist Party, according to the researchers. It includes not only words like democracy, but also earthquake and milk powder. (Chinese officials are facing criticism over the handling of earthquake relief and chemicals tainting milk powder.)

   The list also serves as a filter to restrict text conversations.

   And make no mistake, if the Chinese government can snoop text messages, then the U.S. government will not be far away.

   In 2005, … the National Security Agency was monitoring large volumes of telephone and Internet communications flowing into and out of the United States as part of the eavesdropping program, intended to hunt for evidence of terrorist activity, that President Bush approved after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Four at Four continues with another deadly day in Iraq, bailout grows by $110 billion in tax cuts, and the HIV virus found to be 100 years old.

A couple days ago, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy — the body that decides who will be the laureate for the Nobel Prize in Literature — stated Europe was the center of the literary world and America was “too isolated, too insular”.

This is what Horace Engdahl said in an interview he gave exclusively to the AP:

“Of course there is powerful literature in all big cultures, but you can’t get away from the fact that Europe still is the center of the literary world … not the United States.”

Rarely does my blogging divert from energy and environmental issues, as we so desperately need to Get Energy Smart! NOW!!! on the path to Energize America toward a prosperous, climate-friendly society.  Rarely …

Amid the flood of revelations of biblical proportions about Sarah Palin, which seems destined to last for at least 40 days and 40 nights, here is an item that might not be receiving the focus that it merits.

I’ve been hearing about his Senate speeches since I was in, like, the second grade.

Obviously, this is the attempt by the running mate of a 72-year old ill man to try to make an issue of Joe Biden’s 65 years and over 30 years of public service.

But, importantly, this is clearly a lie, an untruth, not even rating into the category of truthiness.