EarthForceGreen

2012-02-06T05:30:00.001-08:00

The Secret of American Health Care - http://pulse.me/s/5wpho

Jobs in America

2012-01-23T08:28:00.000-08:00

A recent article in the Economist quoted a survey of CEO’s and company leaders about what is needed in America to improve the econmoic and competetive outlook. The top two issues were simplify the tax code and loosen immigration to allow more foreigners in to fill jobs.

Now, we all know about OWS and the 99% and the historical high unemployment rates in this country. We have more people looking for jobs than supposedly there are jobs to have. The jobs we have are not paying enough to sustain existing standards of living for the middleclass and those wages have been flat or declining for a long time now. ‘

We have the Republican party and probably most of the Democratic party thinking that free enterprise with fewer rules is the way to solve these problems. The REpublican candidates all talk about getting people to work....bla bla bla.

Do you see the problem with this? The business leaders of this country don’t want to solve the unemployment and low wage problem with increased pay for the jobs they have, that would be the free enterprise way it should work. Labor costs rise when there is a shortage of certain skills so that people move to that type of job by retraining or getting college degrees in that field.

No, they want to solve the problem by importing foreign low cost labor to fill those jobs or else outsource them. Thus keeping wages low, profits high and unemployement the same.

We will never improve the life of the 99 by allowing companies to solve skill shortages by taping a global labor market. They must be directed to use US labor to fill these jobs through higher wages and retraining and the US workers will respond to those free market incentives.

2012-01-18T07:23:00.001-08:00

Newt Gingrich Knows His Audience and Plays Right Into Their Fears - http://pulse.me/s/56az8

The 1%

2012-01-15T08:56:00.000-08:00

This is a really cool analysis of income by profession or job category.

In the end though, it just confirms the common sense knowledge that doctors and lawyers make the most money. People employed on Wall Street make more than any other industry. And, the top executives of any company make a ton of money so if you can rise to the top of your company, you’re golden. Not sure if this includes stock options which makes such a huge difference now that companies stopped extending them down the ladder when the stupid accounting rules changed.

Everybody knows this.

2012-01-13T06:37:00.001-08:00

GOP War on the IRS Costs U.S. Billions - http://pulse.me/s/4WqwU

2012-01-13T06:29:00.001-08:00

Why Mitt Romney's Gaffe Was Wrong, With or Without Context - http://pulse.me/s/4WcOw

2011-12-15T09:35:00.000-08:00

The Future is Here.

Seriously, global warming is real « Science & Defiance:

'via Blog this'

2011-12-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

Why you can't always trust Corporations.

Compare:

'via Blog this'

In this so-called comparison, Dodge compares the price of a trim level Ram with those of Chevy, GMC and Ford. But, they add in options like a diesel to the others to inflate their prices but go on to show the comparison of equipment based on no options. It is beyond misleading, it is a blatant lie.

2011-11-28T07:22:00.000-08:00

Here's an green idea for the holidays: don't spend money on gifts except for young children. Our family decided a few years ago to stop trading gifts except for the younger children.

And you know what? It makes the holidays much calmer and focused on being with family and enjoying what we do have.

Kind of flies in the face of those Lexus commercials doesn't it. That one with the dork who looks unkept and a little thick who gets the white whatever lexus? It's like we are watching some show of dysfunctional royalty celebrating their christmas. WTF! There is only a tiny group that could consider buying a luxury car just for a christmas gift. So why advertise during a NFL game that has an audience of average joes. To make us miserable and unhappy in our lives so we go out and get into more debt. I say fuck you Lexus. You may make good cars but not one of them is on my wish list.

But I degres. I know the temptations are great. So many emails and commercials with sales on cool gagets, clothes, etc. But think about not being in debt with those credit card bills after christmas. Hey, I'm not pretending we didn't overdue Christmas in the past with the kids. But consider making donations to the poor, homeless, hungry that don't have the basic needs met.

Third Party Platform

2011-10-21T06:50:00.000-07:00

Environment
- Reduce Carbon output
- Protect more land
- Stop drilling
- Build a sustainable long-term strategy
- Stop expansion of coal

Justice System
- Stop war on drugs
- Reduce prison population
- decriminalize drug use
- Prohibit private run prisons

Economics
- Global Competition
  - recognize american workers are competing with India, China, Phiippine workers
  - Develop strategy to combat that competition.
  - Reduce ability to outsource work to other countries.
- Income Inequality
  - Raise taxes for the wealthy back to pre Regan days.
  - Move to increase locally made goods and food.
  - Tax oil company profits and redirect money to alternative energy research and development
- Banking system
  - Reinstate the rigorous regulations on banks
- Government Spending’
  - Balance the annual budget
- Immigration
  - Grant some level of amnesty for illegal aliens with family and certain length of time in country
  - Enforce immigration laws

Health Care
- Create a national health care program like Germany or France or Sweden or Belgium or Netherlands or Spain or Switzerland or .....

Politics
- Stop private financing of elections period.
- Stop all private contributions to elected officials
- Provide public funding for elections including air time.

2011-10-04T07:17:00.000-07:00

Shifting the Suburban Paradigm - NYTimes.com:

'via Blog this'

Economy

2011-10-01T07:31:00.000-07:00

I figure the US economy cannot rebound until housing prices start to go up and stay up for at least 12 months. The reason is wages and employment are not getting better. With government trying to cut spending there is not going to be an increase in demand. If the stock market were to increase significantly that would give people some spending money but not like if house values went up. Most people don’t have the money to spend. Banks are still tight with lending.

Is all of this bad? It is for employment. Without government offsetting the decline in the private sector, things aren’t going to get better soon.

America , land of the poor.

2011-09-14T06:38:00.001-07:00

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44507675/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/

AMERICA IS 31 OUT OF 34 DEVELOPED COUNTIES WHEN IT COMES TO PERCENT OF POPULATION IN POVERTY. ONLY MEXICO, CHILE AND ISRAEL ARE WORSE!!

What kind of country is America with such a terrible imbalance. We lead the world in people in prison per capita. We create more waste, pollution and use more energy than any other country.

One can only conclude that capitalism, when left to itself, will concentrate wealth and power in a very, very, very small group of people at the top and leave all the rest to scrape the bottom of the can. Is it different than feudalism in the middle ages?

Republicans and now Democrats, continue to insist that government is the problem and free enterprise is the solution. But there is no evidence supporting this and in fact, all of it points to the opposite. A democracy requires and relatively equal distribution of wealth and power to function properly. There are certainly people that understand this but they have effectively been neutered and left out of power.

America , land of the poor.

2011-09-14T06:38:00.000-07:00

My Review of Columbia Key Three Soft-Shell Jacket - Men's

2011-09-09T12:39:00.001-07:00

Originally submitted at REI

The men's Columbia Key Three soft-shell jacket is armed with 3 pinnacles of performance—it's windproof, water resistant and loaded with stretch to offer a comfortable shield against weather.

Not quite what I expected

By Davetheland from Chicago, IL on 9/9/2011

Fit: Feels too small

Sleeve Length: Feels too long

Chest Size: Feels too small

Pros: Warm, Breathable, Windproof

Cons: Poor Fit

Best Uses: Hiking and Camping

Describe Yourself: Environmentalist

Was this a gift?: No

Just received this jacket and was disappointed in the fit. I wear a large and have many other jackets, some from columbia that fit me fine. This jacket though seems to be sized for someone taller and much thinner through the chest. It is very tight across the chest and back. Pinches tight under the arms in the back. Probably have to return it, even though it stretches. It just doesn't feel good. Sleeves are also too long.

Fit does not allow layering a sweater under it.

(legalese)

Fundementalists

2011-08-30T07:18:00.000-07:00

Thinking about how all these republicans can be so stupid and ignore facts. They are fundementalists that believe that whatever they believe is the truth. Starts with thinking the Bible is the ultimate truth rather than a creation of religious Men. Belief is not fact. It is an act of faith. While it is good to have some belief in something bigger than oneself, it doesn’t change mother nature and the physical rules of the universe. These people are living in a make-believe world and truly are worshiping a false God.

The other type behind this all is the outlaw and ruthless business men of the wild west. They hate any law that keeps them from making money and doing what they want. They are bribing politicians to give them the freedom to take everything they can for themselves. This power of money overcomes the power of the people in elections. Ulimately I guess people are the ones that vote but assuming people are pretty stupid and lazy, they believe what they see on TV which means they are misinformed at best.

One of world’s great mysteries.

Like where do socks go, why do people support and elect politicians that opening support policies that harm those same people?

And will the people who say they hate taxes please stop using

the public roads,
libraries
schools,
waterways,
police
fire
all state licensed vehicles
sidewalks
subsidized food, insurance
land in flood zones protected by leveies
beaches
water other than from your wells
emergency services
banks
money
local,state and national parks
forests

oh, and that beach front property you own? Pay for your own insurance and beach restoration after the hurricane.

And stop using Medicare and return your Social Security checks please.

And since you don’t like paying to help anybody else, go move to an island with the other selfish pricks and see how that works.

And the geniuses that say corporations don’t pay taxes, people do in higher prices? We also pay for those political contributions(bribes) and those unearned bonuses and salaries............ but they don’t benefit the rest of us.

End is Near.

2011-07-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

The rapid and terrifying acceleration of global warming, which is disfiguring the ecosystem at a swifter pace than even the gloomiest scientific studies predicted a few years ago, has been confronted by the power elite with two kinds of self-delusion. There are those, many of whom hold elected office, who dismiss the science and empirical evidence as false. There are others who accept the science surrounding global warming but insist that the human species can adapt. Our only salvation—the rapid dismantling of the fossil fuel industry—is ignored by both groups. And we will be led, unless we build popular resistance movements and carry out sustained acts of civil disobedience, toward collective self-annihilation by dimwitted pied pipers and fools.

End of Democracy

2011-07-01T08:29:00.001-07:00

A democracy survives when its citizens have access to trustworthy and impartial sources of information, when it can discern lies from truth, when civic discourse is grounded in verifiable fact. And with the decimation of reporting these sources of information are disappearing. The increasing fusion of news and entertainment, the rise of a class of celebrity journalists on television who define reporting by their access to the famous and the powerful, the retreat by many readers into the ideological ghettos of the Internet and the ruthless drive by corporations to destroy the traditional news business are leaving us deaf, dumb and blind. The relentless assault on the “liberal press” by right-wing propaganda outlets such as Fox News or by the Christian right is in fact an assault on a system of information grounded in verifiable fact. And once this bedrock of civil discourse is eradicated, people will be free, as many already are, to believe whatever they want to believe, to pick and choose what facts or opinions suit their world and what do not. In this new world lies will become true.

The End of March Madness

2011-03-28T10:40:00.000-07:00

Final Four are VCU?? Butler again, Kentucky and Uconn. VCU which only made it in by playing the pre tournament match for the expansion teams was only ranked third in their Horizon division with a average record. Yet they have gone on to beat Georgetown, Purdue and FSU and Kansas. Butler has mowed down Gonzaga, Wisconsin, Pitsburg and Florida.

While this has been explained by the fact that these midmajors keep their players longer (more juniors and seniors), I don’t see how it makes for better entertainment. As a Fan that is what I want. These smaller teams are not going to be on TV during the regular season so there is no way to become a Fan and learn about them. It is easier to rute for Kentucky or UCONN or UCLA or Louisville and enjoy watching them play in the tournament. The last thing I want to see is some team I have never heard of beat one of my favorite teams. I have personal favorites because I went to that school or my sons go to that school but I also have favorites because of the way they play. The whole ritual of filling out a bracket has been ruined for me this year. If this is the future, there will be no reason to fill out a bracket just to have it destroyed after the first round by unknown schools.

So for these Butlers and VCUs and George Masons, good for you but I don’t really care. If Northern Arizona or Wright State can do the same in the future, I’ll be excited but until then, no brackets for me.

Obama and Bush Era tax cuts

2010-12-07T07:57:00.000-08:00

Obama’s willingness to give in to the Republican blackmail because he thinks it will position himself better for reelection in 2012 is a very bad sign for the country. Forget about the illogical position everyone seems to have taken on this tax cuts. The rich didn’t need the cuts. The public didn’t support giving them the cuts. The cuts increase the debt which was the most important thing last week. The cuts will not stimulate the economy nor would letting them lapse hurt the economy.

What is scary is that Obama and his advisors think that he needs to move further to the right to get reelected. As he moves to the right, republicans will be forced to become even more radically right; thus moving the country further into the decline started with reaganomics.

Another thing that is scary is how so many “regular” people support this concept that rich people create jobs and help the economy. This again started with Reagan and supply-side economics which has proven to be false. All one has to do is look at the last 30 years. Our national debt has continued to rise(lower tax revenue and rising or steady spending). The rich have taken more and more of the wealth of the nation. The middleclass middle income has been flat or declined. The nation’s infrastructure has deteriorated(parks, roads, bridges, dams, water treatment, education).

This message does not get out because the mainstream media is now completely controlled by the rich/corporate interests. The only way for people to learn this is to do the homework themselves (ha ha, humans are too lazy for that) or go to so-called far left publications like Truthdig, The Nation or Mother Jones.

One would think with the Internet and social media, these messages could get out more but what happens is people migrate towards sources that reinforce their beliefs so there is no way having access to other opinions will result in the use of those options. Have to change the mainstream media. Good luck. Need a liberal Murdoch.

Fear, Superstition and public Discorse

2010-03-04T09:37:00.000-08:00

Somehow, this seems eerily familiar.. It seems our public discourse has reverted back to fear and superstition. The recent article in the NYTimes seems to indicate that it is building momentum instead of dying on the vine.

Galileo's championing of Copernicanism was controversial within his lifetime, when a large majority of philosophers and astronomers still subscribed (at least outwardly) to the geocentric view that the Earth is at the centre of the universe. After 1610, when he began publicly supporting the heliocentric view, which placed the Sun at the centre of the universe, he met with bitter opposition from some philosophers and clerics, and two of the latter eventually denounced him to the Roman Inquisition early in 1615. Although he was cleared of any offence at that time, the Catholic Church nevertheless condemned heliocentrism as "false and contrary to Scripture" in February 1616,[10] and Galileo was warned to abandon his support for it—which he promised to do. When he later defended his views in his most famous work, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, published in 1632, he was tried by the Inquisition, found "vehemently suspect of heresy," forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.

Private Police taking over

2010-01-10T10:51:00.000-08:00

The latest in the scandal over private prisons and police is regarding the ICE immigration department which is the largest department in the Homeland Security or DHS. It was set up after 9/11 and it has that mentality today. Illegal immigrants are being taken and hidden in secret prisons and no one can find out about them. No due process, visibility or anything. And there are deaths related to the incarcerations.

What is even more disturbing is the lack of attention to this story. Judging by the comments on these articles, one would assume that this would be the main subject of the Sunday news programs but it is not. The number one story is a congressman calling Obama light skinned. Whoa! Now that is really serious business.

We have a secret police and prisons in America and no one is saying boo. It is no wonder kids are talking about how bad this country has become and thinking about living in another country. Mexico is starting to look more democratic than the US! Certainly Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand would be.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/us/10detain.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/nyregion/10detainside.html
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100104/stevens

They still don't get it.

2008-11-14T06:58:00.001-08:00

This is why we are doomed to repeat our mistakes over and over and over again. The junk bond debacle, the Enron and energy trading debacle, the savings and load debacle and now the credit debt swaps and credit debacle are a consequence of misguided beliefs like Bush and most of the republicans that unfettered free markets are inherently good.

Joe the Plumber is Middle Class???

2008-10-16T08:40:00.000-07:00

If someone who can NET, $250,000 a year is middle class then I am now officially lower class with my MBA, international work experience, graduate study at a top IT University and years of experience.

25% of Mammals and 33% of amphibians are threatened with EXTINCTION!

2008-10-16T07:19:00.001-07:00

They have no chance against man. Man is destined to destroy the earth and everything God put on it and replace it with things he created himself.

Food Prices

2008-09-07T12:03:00.000-07:00

Wow! I just went shopping to see that ICE CREAM prices have gone up and the size has gone down! We use to get a half gallon of Edys for around $5. Without telling anyone, they reduced the size of their containers to 1.5 quarts AND raised the prices to over $6. That is a 25% decrease in size and a 20% increase in price! HEY PEOPLE WAKE UP!!!

My pay raises aren’t in those percentage ranges.

2008 Election

2008-09-02T07:31:00.000-07:00

Certainly, the Republicans have cemented their position as the anti-environment party for this November election. Selecting an Alaskan, Gov Palin was a dead giveaway even if you didn’t know her. Alaskan poloticians are all in big oil pockets and have always taken their beautiful state for granted. It comes down to profit or nature and nature always loses.

To be fair though, I am not convinced that the Democrats will be much better for the Earth and the environment. They are likely to trade our natural resources for oil independence or cheap jobs or public housing as well.

So I would rank the Republicans as a D and Democrats a C for the environment.

Poor Mother Earth.

US Supreme Court in Big Oils Pocket

2008-06-25T08:46:00.001-07:00

Ever since the 2000 Presidential Election great robbery, it has been clear that the once revered Justices are no better than the politicians that take big corporate money to benefit themselves.

$2.5 billion is less than a quarter's PROFIT! Not income or revenue, profit for Exxon. They should be forced to pay even more.

US Media clueless about Global Warming Impacts?

2008-06-17T07:56:00.000-07:00

Still, waters run deep
Mainstream media misses connection between global warming and Midwest floods
Posted by Joseph Romm (Guest Contributor) at 2:37 PM on 12 Jun 2008

flooding.jpgThe British and the Chinese understand global warming has driven their record flooding. The United States? Not so much.

Although you wouldn't know it from most U.S. media coverage, the record "once-in-a-hundred-year flooding" the Midwest now seems to be getting every decade or so is precisely what scientists have been expecting from the warming.

A 2004 analysis [PDF] by NOAA's National Climatic Data Center found an increase during the 20th century of "precipitation, temperature, streamflow, heavy and very heavy precipitation and high streamflow in the East." They found a 14 percent increase in "heavy rain events" of greater than 2 inches in one day, and a 20 percent increase in "very heavy rain events" -- best described as deluges -- greater than 4 inches in one day. These extreme downpours are precisely what is predicted by global warming scientists and models [PDF].

In fact, 2007 saw the second most extreme precipitation over the United States in the historical record, according to NCDC's Climate Extremes Index. Here is a plot of the percentage of this country (times two) with much greater than normal proportion of precipitation derived from extreme 1-day precipitation events (where extreme equals the highest tenth percentile of deluges):
Climate Extremes Index

Didn't know that our government kept a Climate Extremes Index? Why would you? The media never writes about it.

The U.S. Climate Extremes Index was explicitly created to take a complicated subject ("multivariate and multidimensional climate changes in the United States") and make it more easily understood by American citizens and policy makers. As far back as 1995, analysis by the National Climatic Data Center showed that over the course of the 20th century, the United States had suffered a statistically significant increase in a variety of extreme weather events, the very ones you would expect from global warming, such as more -- and more intense -- precipitation. That analysis concluded the chances were only "5 to 10 percent" that this increase was due to factors other than global warming, such as "natural climate variability." And since 1995, the climate has gotten much more extreme.

I follow this subject of the connection between climate change and extreme weather very closely -- and yet, until 2006, I had not seen a single mention of the Index in the media or even in a scientific paper since its original introduction more than a decade ago. Global warming may be a hot subject, and 2006 was the second most extreme year ever, but just try a Google News search of "Climate Extremes Index" (in quotation marks) -- I get no matches at all.

Story after story after story appear in the mainstream media with no link whatsoever between extreme weather and global warming, uncoupled from the man-made trend that will ultimately transform all our lives. The media must do a better job.

This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

2008-06-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

The following is a good article from Grist on the US Media and their lack of understanding of Global Warming.

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/6/12/102024/948?source=most_popular

Still, waters run deep
Mainstream media misses connection between global warming and Midwest floods
Posted by Joseph Romm (Guest Contributor) at 2:37 PM on 12 Jun 2008

The British and the Chinese understand global warming has driven their record flooding. The United States? Not so much.

Although you wouldn't know it from most U.S. media coverage, the record "once-in-a-hundred-year flooding" the Midwest now seems to be getting every decade or so is precisely what scientists have been expecting from the warming.

A 2004 analysis [PDF] by NOAA's National Climatic Data Center found an increase during the 20th century of "precipitation, temperature, streamflow, heavy and very heavy precipitation and high streamflow in the East." They found a 14 percent increase in "heavy rain events" of greater than 2 inches in one day, and a 20 percent increase in "very heavy rain events" -- best described as deluges -- greater than 4 inches in one day. These extreme downpours are precisely what is predicted by global warming scientists and models [PDF].

In fact, 2007 saw the second most extreme precipitation over the United States in the historical record, according to NCDC's Climate Extremes Index. Here is a plot of the percentage of this country (times two) with much greater than normal proportion of precipitation derived from extreme 1-day precipitation events (where extreme equals the highest tenth percentile of deluges):
Climate Extremes Index

Didn't know that our government kept a Climate Extremes Index? Why would you? The media never writes about it.

The U.S. Climate Extremes Index was explicitly created to take a complicated subject ("multivariate and multidimensional climate changes in the United States") and make it more easily understood by American citizens and policy makers. As far back as 1995, analysis by the National Climatic Data Center showed that over the course of the 20th century, the United States had suffered a statistically significant increase in a variety of extreme weather events, the very ones you would expect from global warming, such as more -- and more intense -- precipitation. That analysis concluded the chances were only "5 to 10 percent" that this increase was due to factors other than global warming, such as "natural climate variability." And since 1995, the climate has gotten much more extreme.

I follow this subject of the connection between climate change and extreme weather very closely -- and yet, until 2006, I had not seen a single mention of the Index in the media or even in a scientific paper since its original introduction more than a decade ago. Global warming may be a hot subject, and 2006 was the second most extreme year ever, but just try a Google News search of "Climate Extremes Index" (in quotation marks) -- I get no matches at all.

Story after story after story appear in the mainstream media with no link whatsoever between extreme weather and global warming, uncoupled from the man-made trend that will ultimately transform all our lives. The media must do a better job.

This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Oil Profiteers

2008-02-23T14:53:00.000-08:00

People might want to go to Global 500 and see how much the oil companies are actually earning. It is almost incomprehensible. Exxon Mobil had revenue of $340 BILLION dollars and PROFITS after taxes of $36 BILLION! Shell had $306, $25, BP $268, $22 and Chevron that sincere, concerned company that advertises had $189 and $14 BILLION and finally $167, $13 BILLION for conocophillips respectively. That’s over $1.3 TRILLION DOLLARS of revenue in ONE year. And profits, after taxes of $110 BILLION.

Here is an idea, why doesn’t our government impose a tax on at leas the US companies in this list to cover the cost of the Iraq war which is being fought for the benefit of these companies? Or what about a tax that is used to fund a real energy policy that doesn’t destroy the planet and further the profits of the oil companies. A 20% surcharge would be a reasonable thing to do. There is no reason for any company to have the control over that much money. It is inherently corrupting and against public policy and the good of mankind.

Junk Mail

2008-02-21T14:32:00.000-08:00

Why don’t we pass a law that adds a tax to junk mail pieces that would cover the cost of disposing of the junk. I have bags of junk mail I throw out every week. If the creators of this junk were to be held responsible for the disposal of it, which they should, then it might not be as economically sound to send out so much unsolicited mail in the first place.

We don’t account for the full cost of junk mail which is one reason it appears to be effective. So the recycling, land fills, transportation to, etc needs to be applied to it. We, the people end of picking up this cost for them along with putting up with the headache, disorganization, delays in getting regular mail, etc.

Write your congress person and ask them to sponsor and back such a bill.

Congress wasting tax payers money with Baseball Hearings

2008-02-11T20:32:00.000-08:00

Steroids use has been with Sports as long as I can remember. It was used by my football and other colleges in High School back in the 60’s! You think these guys get arms like they have by just lifting? With so much money tied to wining and a winner take all culture, why do we need our elected officials of Congress investigating this? It is typical American silliness. We have young men and women getting killed everyday, homeless, economic problems, global warming, energy problems, the oil companies making obscene profits off of oil and what are they spending their time on?

Everyone of them should be fired, voted out. We are a culture of spoiled, childish, insincere leaders and media. Leave Clemens alone. Let sports implement their own policies like cycling and then kick out those that get caught.

We live in a society that while we are watching the news about this, the Drug companies are advertising new drugs for every problem or perceived problem. It is really insane and dysfunctional. Our public policies don’t make any sense and are illogical. It shows how little people actually think about what they say. If we the people are so concerned about steroids, then lets stop spending so much on sports and on winning. Let’s stop finding out who is the best. Let’s stop drug advertisement. Let’s stop athletic scholarships and endorsements.

Yea right.

Idiots.

US behind in broadband

2008-02-01T08:16:00.000-08:00

Fixing US broadband: $100 billion for fiber to every home

By Nate Anderson | Published: January 31, 2008 - 12:58PM CT

The US is in desperate need of 100Mbps "big broadband." That's the conclusion of a new report from EDUCAUSE (PDF), a group that represents IT managers at over 2,200 colleges and universities. But these 100Mbps connections are coming slowly; in the meantime, countries like Japan already have them. To avoid falling further behind, the report calls for a national broadband policy to be passed this year, one that includes $100 billion for a fiber-to-the-home infrastructure that will connect every household and business in the country.

The report opens by citing the familiar, dreary facts: US broadband might now be widely available, but it's slow and relatively expensive. Between 1999 and 2006, the US fell from third place to 20th in the International Telecommunications Union's broadband usage measurements. When it comes to average connection speeds, the US isn't beaten just by Japan but also by France, Korea, Sweden, New Zealand, Italy, Finland, Portugal, Australia, Norway, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, and Germany. And it's not about population size or density, either; Finland, Sweden, and Canada beat us on most broadband metrics despite having lower population density. Finally, we're getting beat on price, coming in 18th worldwide when it comes to cost per megabyte.

more ....http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080131-fixing-us-broadband-100-billion-for-fiber-to-every-home.html

Crazy Weather

2008-01-29T12:40:00.000-08:00

Today, January 29, it is now 50 degrees at 2:40 pm in Palatine IL. It about 30 minutes is it going to drop 15 degrees and then continue dropping. Just west of rockford it is 22 degrees. You can see the cold front dramatically moving towards us using weatherbonk.

It is like being in the movie Day after Tomorrow.

economics 2.0

2008-01-23T13:47:00.000-08:00

mass media is vanilla low fat yogurt
economics is no longer understood
the DJIA equals the economy
America is afraid
stupid, bad behavior is applauded
easy money is good
poor lending decisions by banks is excused
it is ok to do the wrong thing as long as everyone else is doing it
greed is good
fed fixes problem caused by easy money by more easy money
and a rebate to spend on stuff

mass media News Corp is Murdoch
Fox TV, WSJ, New York Post, Hapercolins books publishing, London Times

Newyork times, boston globe, about.com internation herald trib plus a bunch of local newspapers

washington post, newsweek, kaplan which is some fucking educational brainwashing company

They allow columnists that are irresponsible, bias and plain bad to contribute towards the fascism in this country. Right-wing insanity has become mainstream and supported by these, once admirable papers.

2007-08-26T07:50:00.000-07:00

Global Warming - grim future indeed.

I just picked up the new book by Fred Pearce- With Speed and Violence. It is a very good book on this whole topic of global warming but after reading about 2/3d's the way through I started getting that feeling of there is just too much going on with our global climate system and environment for anyone to figure out so I am just going to ignore it. You know, the attitude of the majority of Americans and I suppose the rest of the world. I very quickly lost the forest for the trees. No pun intended.

But fortunately for me, I have this "feeling", that we have and will ruin all the things I love and consequently, can't ignore the problem. Blue skies, clean water, green forests are all disapearing and our refusal to care about it really pisses me off. Anyway, this book goes into examples of natual systems that have "tipping points" which if reached, cause the system to break down. Basically the principle of non-linear systems, chaos theory, butterfly effect, that kind of idea. Examples include the ice sheets in Greenland and Antartica that Gore covers in his book and movie. But he also includes these giant peat bogs in Siberia and SE Asia that are big carbon sinks that could reverse roles and start throwing CO2 into the air.

Then there is the stuff about aerosols or what I also thought of as air pollution. How bad it is in India and China. And he confirms that our blue skies are getting hazier. It is not my imagination. When you have 6 billion humans doing the same thing, it is going to have an effect. Every winter there is a cloud of smog a mile thick covering 4 million square miles over India and neigboring countries. No wonder they want to leave the country. How does it make you feel that our software systems are being developed there? 40% of this comes from the simple wood stoves used by people to cook their meals!

It is easy to understand after reading about all these components of our climate, why so many people believe that we don't know what we are doing to the planet. The common theme that the earth is warming gets lost in the details. But it is clear that we have left a mess for our children to deal with.

2007-08-09T06:29:00.000-07:00

Hey, here is a great site to visit if you care about animials! http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com.

2007-07-28T09:11:00.000-07:00

I just read Vice President Al Gore's book behind the movie: An Inconvienient Truth. The most interesting thing in the book for me was the analysis on the media's message on Global Warming. When someone actually took the time to find out what scientists thought about this by papers in scientific journals, there was NO disagreement about how we are screwing up the place where we live. But the popular press created the FALSE impression that Global Warming was still a theory. What has become of our popular press? You can't depend on anything that comes out. It is just propaganda from some particular group. The so-called respectable media is no better than the tabloids when it comes to reliability and objectivity.

What an incredible disservice they have done to the world! The concept of the climate being a nonlinerar system is so significant. The example was the ice shelves in antartica and greenland. While there is this slow, gradual melting on the service, the water goes all the way through to the bottom of the ice pack. Guess what is going to happen all at once? It is going to slide into the ocean! Not slowly. Not over 10 years. In a couple of days!!! That is a non-linear response. Like the movie Day after Tomorrow. Once a certain threshold is reached: and that is usually unknown-- something completly changes all at once. People need to grasp this concept. It means that we are very likely to be totally "suprised" by the consequences of global warming because it will happen suddenly. Not all consequences are sudden but some very significant ones can be. If one of those large ice shelves slip into the sea, it will raise the sea level 20 feet: immediately! Remember New Orleans? How about that all over the world on all the costal cities? What will the neysayers say then? Oh, we didn't know that would happen.

Now my Bush bashing. He is the worst President we have had in my lifetime. He has done more damage and harm to man and the planet. And I have to group all the Republicans in this since they support him. They are irresponsible people that are soley looking after their own welfare. They are actually enemies of over half of the citizens in this country.

We might as well have been taken over by China or Iran for the harm that this group has caused America, and the rest of the world. Personally, I consider their behavior and actions criminal. Secretly meeting with the energy companies, not disclosing what was discussed, hiring an Oil company propagandist to head up your Environmental office, making up crap about global warming and not supporting the Kyoto agreement that every country and many American cities have signed.

2007-07-28T09:01:00.000-07:00

Advertising and Credit Scores.

Just thinking about the ubiquity of these two items in our lives. Listening to radio or watching TV one cannot help but being influenced by this.

When did we give these three credit reporting companies so much power over our lives? It seems that everything involves your credit score. Not just when you borrow. But employers use them: what the hell do they have to know what your credit scope is? There should be a law preventing that. Also, just renting a place to live can be difficult if your credit scores are not good. I can see us moving towards the old idea of debtor's prisons which I am sure corporations would like to see.

Advertising is really screwing up how we see the world. People don't realize how powerful advertisers are and how that influences what we see and hear; especially regarding news. We can't depend on any type of news as being honest and reliable when the media is beholden to advertisors. Think about the pharmasueticals that seem to advertise more than cars do. Do you really think we are going to hear the truth when these companies can threaten to pull millions of dollars from a magazine or tv show?

And what about manipulating children? The leading buyer of advertising intentially tries to get children to nag their parents to increase sales for products. They do not use ethics, morales or anything but profit to make their decisions.

I just cannot think that our socio-economic-political model is in proper balance with these kind injustices going on. Unfettered captialism is not a panacea as the unthinking masses of conservatives believe. Think about what privatization of prisions would mean for justice. A company is leagally required to make money first and formost. That would be maximizing the number of prisioners along with cost-effective management. Since we allow companies to lobby and "bribe" our lawmakers, they would encourage more prison sentences for people. One can only think this is good if you are a facist or despot. Unless of course, they would create prision sentences for all bad drivers and little barbies driving large SUVs.

About Earth Force Green

2006-10-31T07:54:00.000-08:00

Earth Force Green is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to saving land and the earth for our children generations that follow.

The Sir Nicholas Stern from the UK published a serious report calling the world to action on global warming. Guess what countries immediately had articles dismissing its conclusions? The two countries that did not sign the Kyoto Agreement. Australia and the US.

The sad thing about this is that we are being confused by a few, ignorant and selfish people and this is delaying action that WILL have to be taken. The consequences are inevitable. It reminds me of the Dilbert strip when he shows a design of a computer chip and one of the dumb managers says it looks like Egyptian Hieroglyphics and might violate a patent. Crazy of course but if there is any nano-doubt, management cannot act. I am afraid that Democracy and capitalism will not let us take preventive action on anything. They almost dictate a reactionary policy that will wait for the disaster before taking action.

So, an ice shelf that melts and slips into the sea and raises the sea-level 20 feet and creates a thousand New Orleans around the world will have to happen before our government takes action.