Category Archives: Opinion
Best part of the Olympics Opening Ceremony: James Bond Escorts The Queen…
It was a pre-recorded skit — directed, of course, by Danny Boyle (the celebrated filmmaker helming the entire ceremony) — Daniel Craig in character as James Bond arrives Buckingham Palace, where he is taken to the Queen… the actual Queen Elizabeth… and her corgis. Private rooms within the residence were shown, a testament to the nation’s commitment to making the evening a special one (Boyle pulled off aan awful lot of amazing things in the overall event.)
Take a look at the video and see how Bond gets the Queen to the Olympic stadium:
Great, no?
Related articles
- Olympic opener will be spectacular but not secret (miamiherald.com)
- London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony start time in New Zealand (3news.co.nz)
- Get the Party Started… (thesun.co.uk)
- Just what will Danny Boyle do for Olympics opening ceremony? (standard.co.uk)
A research visit to an Earthship…
English: A picture of the workings of natural ventilation in a earthship. Schematic was based on a picture found in the book “Earthship Vol 2:Systems and Components by Michael Reynolds (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Elly and I are in the planning stages of our earth bermed house project which we hope to be living in in a year or so. About a mile or so from our current house is an “Earthship“, a particular style of earth bermed house, originally designed and promoted by New mexico architect Mike Reynolds. It is built with walls made out of earth-filled automobile tires that are then covered with clay and cement.
It uses south-facing solar windows and a number of other things (like greywater cisterns) which we are planning on.
While this is not the method of building we are looking at, it has enough of the same features that we felt it would be a source of information for us. Owners Larry and Karen spent four years doing much of the building themselves and they were a fountain of information answering all of our questions and giving us advice. We have a number of leads to look up that they have directed us to.
I’ll be getting into more stuff about our new house plan as we go along.
Side view of the Earthship near us.
Related articles
- Earthship Houses: Michael Reynolds (universalwordsofinspiration.wordpress.com)
- Earthship Codes, Permits, Regulations and Laws (taketochange.com)
- Earthships: Off-grid, zero-emission, recycled-content homes (mnn.com)
- Earthships Could Transform Philadelphia (sierraclub.typepad.com)
- Garbage Warrior (Full Version) (undergrounddocumentaries.com)
- Earthrise: Earthships + North Aral Sea Revival (dandelionsalad.wordpress.com)
War on Health
I’m happy to present Gary Null‘s documentary: War on Health, The FDA‘s Cult of Tyranny.
If you are worried about organic foods, raw dairy products or other things being available, or if you are afraid of GMOs in your food, this will startle you:
Related articles
- PREMIERE: THE WAR ON HEALTH: THE FDA’s CULT OF TYRANNY by Gary Null (prn.fm)
- War on Health – Gary Null’s documentary exposing the FDA – *video* (chasvoice.blogspot.com)
- Watch War on Health: The FDA’s Cult of Tyranny (foodfreedomgroup.com)
- Organically Farmed vs. Locally Produced (theepochtimes.com)
- War on Health: FDAs Cult of Tyranny (Trailer) (therealfoodchannel.com)
So how is the British press reacting to Mitt?
Take your pick… some in London prefer Palin
Romney is certainly giving the English Press a lot to talk about on center spreads, while Olympic coverage takes the front pages. Their reaction to Mitt has gone from openness, to skepticism, to mocking, to concluding that Mitt Romney is worse than Sarah Palin.
Take Daily Mail Political Editor James Chapman, whose cen6ter spread was topped with a two page headline: Romney is a Party Pooper. He has been providing the world a play by play of Romney’s British implosion via his Twitter account, starting off by criticizing London’s preparedness for the Olympics, then forgotname of British Labour Leader Ed Miliband, and then he admitted that he had been given a secret briefing by MI6. This led the British to ask aloud if they have another George W. Bush on their hands:
“Romney blunders again by revealing he’s had (supposedly) top secret briefing by John Sawers, MI6 boss. Do we have a new Dubya on our hands?”
After his visit to Whitehall, Chapman offered two of the kinder reviews of Mitt Romney:
“Serious dismay in Whitehall at Romney debut. ‘Worse than Sarah Palin.’ ‘Total car crash’. Two of the kinder verdicts. Another verdict from one Romney meeting: ‘Apparently devoid of charm, warmth, humour or sincerity’”
The Telegraph is reporting that London Mayor Boris Johnson mocked Romney’s readiness comment:
“Quite a moment from the Mayor of London Boris Johnson. Shortly after Rix had lit the flame he really went for it in Hyde Park. He referenced Mitt Romney’s ‘London isn’t ready’ quip and shot back in style. “Are we ready?” he called and the crowd went wild. There may even have been a hint of the Obama-friendly “Yes we can!” in there – he may have jumped into a winning scenario but I’ve not heard a politician get that reaction before.”
… and this in front of a crowd of over 200,000 Londoners.
Related articles
- Romney in Shambles as Britain Proclaims Him Worse than Sarah Palin (tribuneofthepeople.com)
- Mitt Romney’s London Trip: Successful In Terms of Image Deconstructing (themoderatevoice.com)
- Romney’s very bad London trip (dailykos.com)
- Mitt Romney’s very, very bad day (dailykos.com)
- Mitt Romney is the new Sarah Palin! (polizeros.com)
- London Mayor Mocks Mitt Romney For Olympics Remarks (thinkprogress.org)
- British media revel in Romney’s day of gaffes (cbsnews.com)
- Blimey! London Mayor Mocks ‘This Guy Called Mitt Romney’ (theatlanticwire.com)
Is Romney Ready for Foreign Policy?
If you’ve been watching the news concerning Willard’s visit to London, you may have heard that he has made a number of gaffes – enough so that the Mayor of London has compared him to Sarah Palin, and thought Palin was the more accomplished candidate.
You can review all the gaffes so far HERE, including videos and statements. It makes you a little ashamed to be an American since the Brits are now looking at Romney as an example of us all.
Here’s one of the gaffes that hit on Mitt’s preparedness for the whole thing:
BBC News quoted Romney:
“To look out of the back side of 10 Downing Street and see a venue having been constructed, knowing that athletes will be carrying out their activities almost in the back yard of the prime minister is really quite an accomplishment.”
So what’s wrong with that, you say. Well… The Guardian responds:
Firstly, in Britain, “backside” means “ass”. As in the part of the body. Secondly, “10 Downing Street” is often used in political reporting as a synonym for a press spokesman for the prime minister, in the same way as “the White House” can say things or have opinions.
Imagine what he’s going to do (or say) in Poland and Israel.
Related articles
- Mitt Romney Makes ‘Disconcerting’ Olympic Gaffe In London (ibtimes.com)
- Ten Reasons Romney is Dangerous On Foreign Policy (davidmixner.com)
- Romney under fire for comments about London Olympics (news.yahoo.com)
- David Cameron Praises Marriage Equality Right Before Romney Visit (towleroad.com)
- After ‘Anglo-Saxon’ gaffe, Mitt Romney and British PM trade barbs over Olympics (news.nationalpost.com)
- Romney Campaign Shames America By Criticizing POTUS on Foreign Soil (politicususa.com)
- Romney tells public of secret meeting with MI6 spy chief (rawstory.com)
- Romney Questions London’s Readiness for Olympics – Media Has a Conniption (thegatewaypundit.com)
- Romney Plays Loud American Tourist in London (theatlanticwire.com)
Morgan Paull, Cult-Favorite ‘Blade Runner’ Actor, Dies at 67
I missed this last week, for which I apologize. When a great character actor dies it is a loss that should be recognized by those of us in Theatre, film and other areas of entertainment.
On July 17th, Morgan Paull died of stomach cancer in Ashland, Oregon.
From his website:
Even by Hollywood standards, the breadth of Morgan Paull’s career is striking.
In a span of four decades, he’s starred in scores of movies, TV shows and plays; owned and run a talent agency for actors and writers; appeared in numerous commercials; been a leader in major industry organizations; and had good enough pipes to convince Old Blue Eyes to re-record his demo into another Sinatra chart-topper.
Morgan started early, and started fast, jumping right from Culver Academy to the famed Barter Theatre of Virginia. True to its reputation, Barter burnished his skills and nourished his desires. As his talent ripened, it became clear that Morgan was ready for the bigger challenges of the Big Apple, challenges he met and mastered in countless productions with New Dramatists and the Cherry Lane Theater. What had begun as a dream had become destiny.
Morgan Paull on TV’s Ironside with Pat Hingle and Raymond Burr, 1971
As surely as Barter groomed Morgan for New York, New York prepared him for Hollywood. After the obligatory struggle, he rocketed from obscurity to a coveted role in the blockbuster “Patton.” His film resume includes both critical and commercial successes, including the acclaimed “Norma Rae,” the futuristic cult classic “Blade Runner,” and “Cahill, U.S. Marshall,” which paired him with childhood hero John Wayne.
While making enduring movies, he made enduring friendships – not only with some of screen’s biggest stars, but talented directors and powerful producers who taught Morgan how to make things happen on the other side of the camera, knowledge that would prepare him for the next leg of his career – representation.
By now a savvy and connected insider, Morgan was a natural as an agent and manager. A shrewd investor in both human and financial capital, he was a tough and able negotiator for the people and projects he took on. In a way, he was born to the role, being a direct descendant of 18th century naval hero John Paul Jones (“I have not yet begun to fight.”).
Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose…
WATERFORD, Conn. —Say you are a 17 pound lobster named Larry living in a tank in a Connecticut restaurant, just waiting to be bought, boiled, buttered and eaten. Not a pleasant thought, is it.
A lobster that big could be anywhere between 70 to 100 years old… he’s lived through the great social and political events of the last couple of generations. Should he be in this situation?
Carrying Larry out to sea…
Fortunately for Larry, a Connecticut man, Don MacKenzie, purchased him at the restaurant, then released him back into Long Island Sound. MacKenzie says the local kids were calling the huge crustacean “Lucky Larry”.
“It takes seven years for him to even become a lobster big enough to keep,” saidMacKenzie. “For a lobster to live this long and avoid lobster traps, nets, lobster pots … he doesn’t deserve a bib and butter.”
MacKenzie won’t say how much he paid The Dock restaurant to take Larry off the menu Tuesday.
“Let’s just say that it’s the most expensive lobster I never ate.”
Turning Larry Loose…
Here at Under The LobsterScope we have great admiration for McKenzie who saw a creature in a deadly situation and saved his life. Larry thanks him and we do, too. It makes me feel proud to come from Connecticut.
The next time your pals say there is no such thing as Global Warming, show them this:
If this doesn’t convince them, suggest they go live in the grain producing areas of the midwest. That should back up their belief (but don’t laugh too hard.)
Related articles
- Local weather patterns affect beliefs about global warming (environmentalgeeksunited.com)
- Global Warming At The London Olympics (stevengoddard.wordpress.com)
Obama calls for legislation to limit sales of guns, especially AK-47s…
In a speech before the National Urban League convention in New Orleans yesterday, the president tied Aurora shooting and other high-profile mass shootings in recent years to continuing urban gun violence. He said it was time to take greater legislative steps to curb the problem:
“I, like most Americans, believe that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual the right to bear arms. But I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals — that they belong on the battlefields of war and not on the streets of our cities.
“I believe the majority of gun owners would agree that we should do everything possible to prevent criminals and fugitives from purchasing weapons. We should check someone’s criminal record before they can check out a gun seller. Many mentally unbalanced individuals should not be able to get their hands on a gun so easily. These steps shouldn’t be controversial they should be common sense.”
You can read Obama’s full remarks here.
Related articles
- Video: President Obama Says “AK-47s Belong in the Hands of Soldiers, not Criminals” (opposingviews.com)
- Obama: AK-47s belong on battlefield, not streets (politico.com)
- Automatic weapons assault ban here we go: Obama: AK-47s belong on battlefield, not streets (investmentwatchblog.com)
- Aurora shootings: Obama calls for ‘common sense’ over guns – BBC News (bbc.co.uk)
- Obama calls for gun control deal in wake of Aurora theatre shootings (guardian.co.uk)
Fluent Magazine is NOW AVAILABLE!
Take a look at Fluent Magazine, the on-line Arts, Culture and Events magazine for the Eastern Panhandle area.
Yours truly is one of the Associate Editors on it, having written reviews of the CATF season and an article on CATF Director Ed Herendeen.
What’s more there are articles on art, poetry, fiction and much more. And you can subscribe for free!
I hope you’ll take a look at it.
TV, film actor Chad Everett dies after cancer battle…
We seem to be having a lot of celebrity deaths this week and this one caught me by surprise.
Chad Everett, the blue-eyed star of the 1970s TV series “Medical Center” who went on to appear in such films and TV shows as “Mulholland Drive” and “Melrose Place,” has died after a year and a half battle with lung cancer. He was 75.
Everett played sensitive doctor Joe Gannon for seven years on “Medical Center,” a role that earned him two Golden Globes and an Emmy nomination. With a career spanning more than 40 years, Everett guest starred on such TV series as “The Love Boat,” “Murder, She Wrote” and “Without a Trace.” Everett most recently appeared in the TV series “Castle.”
Everett was born in South Bend, Ind., and graduated from Wayne State University before moving to Los Angeles and becoming a contract player with MGM.
Related articles
- “Medical Center” actor Chad Everett dies at 75 (cbsnews.com)
- Medical Center’ star Chad Everett dies at 75 (tv.yahoo.com)
- Chad Everett, Star Of “Medical Center” Dies At 75 (detroit.cbslocal.com)
- Chad Everett – Actor Chad Everett Dies (contactmusic.com)
A nod to Fashion:
Photo by Mark Turner:
Boob scarves?
With optional tattoos?
What is it they’re actually intended to keep warm, necks or …?
A message received from Michael Moore:
I don’t know if you are on Michael Moore’s mailing list. If not, I’d like to pass on a couple of things I received from Michael this morning re: the Aurora shootings and guns in general. It’s quite long, so I have condensed it as best I could:
In modern times, nearly every nation has had a psychopath or two commit a mass murder, regardless of how strict their gun laws are – the crazed white supremacist in Norway one year ago Sunday, the schoolyard butcher in Dunblane, Scotland, the École Polytechnique killer in Montreal, the mass murderer in Erfurt, Germany … the list seems endless.
And now the Aurora shooter last Friday. There have always been insane people, and there always will be.
But here’s the difference between the rest of the world and us: We have TWO Auroras that take place every single day of every single year! At least 24 Americans every day (8-9,000 a year) are killed by people with guns – and that doesn’t count the ones accidentally killed by guns or who commit suicide with a gun. Count them and you can triple that number to over 25,000.
That means the United States is responsible for over 80% of all the gun deaths in the 23 richest countries combined.
——–
People like me will say this is all the result of the U.S. having a history and a culture of men with guns, “cowboys and Indians,” “shoot first and ask questions later.” And while it is true that the mass genocide of the Native Americans set a pretty ugly model to found a country on, I think it’s safe to say we’re not the only ones with a violent past or a penchant for genocide. Hello, Germany! That’s right I’m talking about you and your history, from the Huns to the Nazis, just loving a good slaughter (as did the Japanese, and the British who ruled the world for hundreds of years – and they didn’t achieve that through planting daisies). And yet in Germany, a nation of 80 million people, there are only around 200 gun murders a year.
So those countries (and many others) are just like us – except for the fact that more people here believe in God and go to church than any other Western nation.
———
So – why us?
I posed this question a decade ago in my film ‘Bowling for Columbine,’ and this week, I have had little to say because I feel I said what I had to say ten years ago – and it doesn’t seem to have done a whole lot of good other than to now look like it was actually a crystal ball posing as a movie.
This is what I said then, and it is what I will say again today:
1. We Americans are incredibly good killers. We believe in killing as a way of accomplishing our goals. Three-quarters of our states execute criminals, even though the states with the lower murder rates are generally the states with no death penalty.
Our killing is not just historical (the slaughter of Indians and slaves and each other in a “civil” war). It is our current way of resolving whatever it is we’re afraid of. It’s invasion as foreign policy. Sure there’s Iraq and Afghanistan – but we’ve been invaders since we “conquered the wild west” and now we’re hooked so bad we don’t even know where to invade (bin Laden wasn’t hiding in Afghanistan, he was in Pakistan) or what to invade for (Saddam had zero weapons of mass destruction and nothing to do with 9/11). We send our lower classes off to do the killing, and the rest of us who don’t have a loved one over there don’t spend a single minute of any given day thinking about the carnage. And now we send in remote pilotless planes to kill, planes that are being controlled by faceless men in a lush, air conditioned studio in suburban Las Vegas. It is madness.
2. We are an easily frightened people and it is easy to manipulate us with fear. What are we so afraid of that we need to have 300 million guns in our homes? Who do we think is going to hurt us? Why are most of these guns in white suburban and rural homes? Maybe we should fix our race problem and our poverty problem (again, #1 in the industrialized world) and then maybe there would be fewer frustrated, frightened, angry people reaching for the gun in the drawer.
——-
Those are my thoughts about Aurora and the violent country I am a citizen of. Like I said, I spelled it all out here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jGtAcDefHg).Those are my thoughts about Aurora and the violent country I am a citizen of. I’m in if you are.
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@MichaelMoore.com
@MMFlint
MichaelMoore.com
Related articles
- Michael Moore: It’s the Guns – But We All Know, It’s Not Really the Guns (huffingtonpost.com)
- Guns don’t kill people – Americans do, says Michael Moore (newstatesman.com)
- Tuesday: Michael Moore returns (piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com)
- Michael Moore speaks out: “I am not going to come on… (geocrises.org)
- Michael Moore gets hot on gun control (politico.com)
Art Collector Herb Vogel has died…
If you were an artist living in New York in the latter part of the twentieth century and early years of the twenty first, you knew the names Herbert and Dorothy Vogel. They were not rich people. They lived in a one bedroom apartment with their cats and turtles… and thousands of works of art by major American artists piled floor to ceiling.
Herb and Dorothy Vogel
Herb was a postal worker who loved art. He met his wife, Dorothy, while visiting the National Gallery in Washington, DC in 1962. They built their art collection by purchasing smaller works, often on a monthly payment plan, from younger artists who had not yet gained fame. Their biggest rule for purchase, beside the work being something they took a liking to, was that it would fit in a taxi cab to take it home.
In the early 1990s. after long negotiations, the Vogels left much of their collection to the National Gallery, where they met.
“We wanted to do something for the nation. The National Gallery doesn’t sell works they acquire. They’ll keep the collection together. And they don’t charge admission.”
They lived simply, eating at neighborhood diners and Chinese restaurants.When they bought art hey usually paid cash or worked out novel arrangements with artists.
“When they came to the studio, they always came with a wad of cash. You’d always wind up selling something for a fraction of what it was worth.”
- artist Chuck Close
The Vogels were featured on “60 Minutes” and in a 2008 documentary film by Megumi Sasaki called “Herb and Dorothy.” Their names have been carved in the wall at the entrance to the National Gallery’s West Building alongside those of other major benefactors.
Herb died Sunday, at age 89, at a nursing home in New York City. His wife survives.
Trailer from the 2009 film “Herb and Dorothy”
Related articles
- Herbert Vogel, Most Lovable Man Ever to Collect Art, Dies (slog.thestranger.com)
- Herbert Vogel, Art Collector, Dies (washingtonian.com)
- Herbert Vogel, Trailblazing Contemporary Art Collector, Dies at 89 (galleristny.com)
- Without Rules of Other People (redheadwriting.com)
- Art collector Herbert Vogel dies at 89 (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- Take a Look at Works From the National Gallery of Art’s Vogel Collection (galleristny.com)
- Collecting Art the Right Way (chronicle.com)
Would Sally Ride have eaten at Chick-fil-A?
The revelation at her death that Sally Ride, an American Hero, was also a Lesbian who had a 27 year relationship with a female partner, brings me back to the anti-gay marriage statements by Dan Cathy, President of that detestable fast food empire.
It is time to re-think ALL our values…EVERYBODY… because this is the 21st Century and we should no longer be tied down by religious or ultra-conservative regulations and ignorance.
Here’s a view of what the radical right thinks and how those thoughts are defined:
Can we now realize that there are great people and ordinary people and all kinds of people who are gay or straight and they all have the right to live equal lives!
Related articles
- Why I will never eat at Chick-fil-A… (underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com)
- Boston Mayor: Anti-Gay Chick-fil-A Not Welcome in This City (newstalkcleveland.com)
- The Jim Henson Company Cuts Ties With Chick-Fil-A Due To Their Flagrant Homophobia (pinkisthenewblog.com)
- Will Chick-fil-A Pay a Price for Its Anti-Gay Marriage Stance? (dailyfinance.com)
- Is Chick-fil-A Anti-Gay? ‘Guilty As Charged’ Says Its President (patheos.com)
- Boston Mayor: Chick-fil-A, Move Along (towleroad.com)
Sally Ride, First Woman Astronaut, dies at age 61…
Sally Kristen Ride, American physicist and a former NASA astronaut died yesterday from pancreatic cancer. Ride joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman, and the first lesbian in space.
On her first mission at age 32 she was the youngest American to enter space. In 1987 she left NASA to work at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Arms Control.
During her career, Ride served as the ground-based Capsule Communicator (CapCom) for the second and third Space Shuttle flights and helped develop the Space Shuttle’s robot arm. She was a member of the presidential commission investigating the accident on the Space Shuttle Challenger. According to Roger Boisjoly, the engineer who warned of the technical problems that led to the Space Shuttle Challenger accident, Ms. Ride was the only public figure to show support for him when he went public with his pre-disaster warnings (after the entire workforce of Morton-Thiokol shunned him).
From 1985 until her death, Ride’s female partner was Dr. Tam E. O’Shaughnessy, a childhood friend who met Ride when both youngsters were aspiring tennis players. O’Shaughnessy became a science teacher and writer and, later, the chief operating officer and executive vice president of Ride’s company, Sally Ride Science. Their same-sex relationship of 27 years was revealed in Ride’s obituary released by Sally Ride Science and confirmed by Ride’s sister, who stated that Ride preferred to keep this information private during her life.
Related articles
- June 18, 1983: Sally Ride, the First American Woman Into Space (wired.com)
- Launching Into History (lightyears.blogs.cnn.com)
- Mustang Sally (robertjhorton.wordpress.com)
- June 18 1983 First American woman in space (craighill.net)
The Bitter End Of Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-CA)
Click on this one:
The Bitter End Of Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-CA).
I’m passing this on to you. I’m tired of all the corrupt politicians that run our lives and this article leaves me wondering what can be done about it.
Related articles
- The Guardians of the Defense Budget (counterpunch.org)
- Southern California Congressman Buck McKeon Deflects Charges From Both Sides (losangeles.cbslocal.com)
- Armed Services chairman won’t support Arsenal cuts (qctimes.com)
- McKeon Wants Taxpayers to Spend Millions on Nuclear Boondoggle and NATO’s Bombs(pogoblog.typepad.com)
Attend a National Demonstration Against Fracking in Washington, D.C. — Saturday, July 28
I am passing this on to all my readers in the Washington DC area and around here in Shepherdstown and Harper’s Ferry who don’t mind a 90 minute drive. This is very important for West Virginia, already subject to the disaster that is Mountain Top Removal in the coal industry, which is about to be subject to widespread fracking.
This is from the Center for Biological Diversity:
A fossil fuel rush is sweeping the United States — with terrible consequences. The oil and gas industry is surging into new areas all over the country as quickly and cheaply as possible, largely as a result of advances in fracking technology.
Fracking is a dangerous oil and gas drilling technique that threatens waterfowl, fish and endangered species like the California condor, not to mention human health. In addition to intense local pollution, fracking also emits methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas, and represents an increased dependency on fossil fuels when a rapid transition to clean, renewable energy should be our first priority.
“Natural gas” has been marketed as the clean alternative to traditional sources of oil, even though fracking routinely employs toxic chemicals like lead, arsenic, chromium 6 and benzene. This extreme drilling technique is set to explode across the United States, run by a largely unregulated industry.
We must demand that decision makers inside the Beltway take action to stop dangerous oil and gas industry practices before the damage is done. Join us on Saturday, July 28, in Washington, D.C., for a rally at the Capitol to demand a stop to dangerous drilling that hurts public health, water and air.
What: Stop the Frack Attack: A National Call to Action
When: Saturday, July 28; rally starts at 2 p.m.
Where: The West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol
We’re joining with groups all over the nation for this day of action. Check out this video invite from Josh Fox, producer of the documentary Gasland, and Mark Ruffalo, star of this summer’s action hit The Avengers.
For more information on this and other Center for Biological Diversity activities, visit our events page.
Rose Braz, Climate Campaign Director
rbraz@biologicaldiversity.org
(415) 436-9682, Ext. 319
Related articles
- Stop the Frack Attack (sfgate.com)
- Michael Brune: Stop the Frack Attack (huffingtonpost.com)
- Stop the Frack Attack (ecowatch.org)
- Josh Fox and Mark Ruffalo Invite You to Stop the Frack Attack (ecowatch.org)
- Stop the Frack Attack (sierraclub.typepad.com)
- Celebrities to protest fracking in D.C. this month (bizjournals.com)
- Stop The Frack Attack -Rally In DC (baltidome.wordpress.com)
- House of Representatives trying to stop new fracking rules (switchboard.nrdc.org)
Republicans, As Usual, Block Bill to Bring Jobs Home
The best piece I’ve read on this subject is over at PoliticusUSA… and while anything I’d write on the Republicans and their ongoing program to outsource jobs overseas, benefit the wealthy and convince the middle class voter that they are really on their side doesn’t come close to this piece by Rmuse, I have condensed it here. You can read the whole article HERE.
Mitch “I won’t let Obama get anything passed” McConnell
Last Thursday, in another attempt to protect corporations and kill American jobs, Republicans blocked a measure to reward companies that brought jobs back to America, and protect their candidate Willard Romney. Republicans in the Senate refused to allow a vote on a bill, The Bring Jobs Home Act, which provided a 20% tax break for costs related to moving jobs back to the United States, at the same time rescinding deductions for companies that moved operations and jobs overseas. The bill was number one on the President’s congressional “to-do list,” but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wanted to amend it with an Affordable Care Act repeal and Bush-era ta x cuts for the wealthy extension.
——-
Willard “The King of Outsourcing” Romney
With the Senate Republicans action on Thursday, they exposed their agenda of corporate profit protection at the expense of Americans’ jobs. In one fell swoop, they obeyed the Chamber of Commerce, guaranteed more companies will outsource Americans’ jobs, subsidized outsourcing with taxpayer dollars, provided millions for Romney, created jobs in foreign countries, prevented economic growth, and most importantly, killed millions of Americans’ jobs. Their claim the bill was a political ploy by the Obama Administration is patently false because this is the second time in two years Republicans blocked an anti-outsourcing bill.
——-
The Republican focus on jobs since January 2009 has been killing them, not creating them. They voted against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (stimulus), opposed the auto industry bailout, payroll tax cut and extension, all of the President’s jobs bills, and have blocked any new revenue sources that would fund rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure. All of the Republican job-killing measures have as their basis protection of the rich and keeping unemployment figures high, and they are not close to being finished if they win control of the White House and both houses of Congress.
——-
It is a mystery why Republicans get any support from Americans when they have spent the past three-and-a-half years deliberately killing jobs and holding up economic recovery. They have, at every step, demonstrated their allegiance to the wealthy and corporations over the American people, and continue claiming a laser-focus on creating jobs while obstructing job creation and giving corporations tax breaks for outsourcing existing ones. Their contempt for Americans looking for work, or barely holding on to their existing jobs, is nothing short of despicable and by blaming President Obama, they reached a new low in hypocrisy.
So, do you believe what these sociopaths are telling you? The only thing I believe is when McConnell says Obama will never get anything passed… whether we need it or not.
Don’t vote for these people. Keep your jobs here. Encourage businesses to make more. You can bet that the upper 1% aren’t going to make any… and they don’t need the tax deduction because their money is invested in tax free havens like the Cayman Islands.
Related articles
- Republicans block Bring Jobs Home Act, protecting companies that outsource jobs (dailykos.com)
- Republican senators block ‘insourcing’ bill championed by Obama (cnn.com)
- White House, OFA fire back at GOP on insourcing bill (politico.com)
- GOP Amnesia and the American Jobs Act (theroot.com)
- Senate GOP kills measure to curb job ‘outsourcing’ (kansascity.com)
- Job Creation: A Means To An End For The GOP (politicususa.com)
- Senate Republicans to Block Bill Giving Tax Breaks to Small Businesses For Hiring (crooksandliars.com)
- Opinion: Romney’s amazing hypocrisy (cnn.com)
- Biden knocks GOP over outsourcing (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com)
- Esquire:Contempt for The Help: Why Romney Won’t Give It Up (esquire.com)
- The Reason Why Bain is important. (jackandjillpolitics.com)
- Romney Invested Millions in Firms That Pioneered High-Tech Outsourcing (motherjones.com)
- Mitch McConnell takes your tax cut hostage, again (dailykos.com)
The sadness of a runaway dog… And his recovery.
Three evenings ago our smaller dog, Byron, pushed his way out of the front door as he regularly tries (and sometimes succeeds) to do. Usually he returns in about an hour wanting water and to get on a couch and go to sleep. This time he didn’t return.
Elly and I drove up and down the nearby streets for two days hoping we would see him or, a miserable thought, find him dead along the side of the street having been hit by a car,
We called the dog warden to see if anyone had turned him in, but there has been no lost dog answering to his description (nor has there been any dog reported hit by car in our area). The Warden keeps us on the list watching out for the next month, but Elly and I think we have seen the last of Byron. If someone has taken him in I hope he has a good new home.
We miss him.
UPDATE!
Wonder of Wonders… Byron is Back!
We got a call this morning from the dog warden’s office saying Byron was found last night by a family several miles away. We, of course, immediately ran over to get him… a tired and roughed up dog that had spent two days on the run… his face looked like he had been fighting and he smelled of cow poop.
The folks who found him had three dogs and Byron was apparently not being all that friendly with the male of the three. But these good folks fed him and gave him a place to sleep and called the dog warden with his description.
We got him home and hosed him down to get the dirt and stench off and wiped off his face and brought him into the house. He immediately curled up near Elly’s feet. It looks like he’s glad to be home.
AFA News Director Says Liberal Churches, Media Share Responsibility for Colorado Shooting
From Right Wing Watch:
Fred Jackson, American Family Association
Fred Jackson, the American Family Association’s news director, while discussing the Colorado movie theater shooting today said that liberal Christian churches and liberal media helped contribute to violent incidents by supposedly deemphasizing the fear of God and the Bible.
During AFA Today, Jackson had on as his guest Jerry Newcombe of Truth in Action Ministries to discuss his column on the AFA’s OneNewsNow blaming the shooting on a waning fear of God and Hell, and blamed the American Civil Liberties Union for destroying the public school system by supposedly forbidding students from reading the Bible. “You wonder why all these terrible things are happening to us when there is no fear of God,” Newcombe said.
Jackson maintained that unlike in the communities of forty years ago, liberals in the media and churches, along with movies and the internet, have “have come together to give us these kinds of incidents.”
Later in the program, Jackson and co-host Teddy James of AFA Journal said the shooting is a sign of God’s judgment for the failings of the public education system and liberal, mainline Protestant churches that affirm gays and lesbians.
Maybe you understand why I have so little respect for right wing Christianity. What mystifies me is that there are people who believe this bullshit.
Related articles
- Evangelical radio host: ‘Tax the atheists who don’t go to church’ (rawstory.com)
- Lawrence O’Donnell Pokes Fun at AFA’s Buster Wilson for Mulling Google Boycott (rightwingwatch.org)
- A prayerful response to the Colorado shootings (prayerfullivingnewsblog.wordpress.com)
- AFA Blames Gays For Penn States’ Coverup Of Sandusky Crimes (lezgetreal.com)
- AFA Wants To Boycott Google. Good Luck With That, Fellas! (queerty.com)
Quote of the Week – What is wrong with us when we respond to a tragedy like Colorado?
For all the dysfunction in our political system, a healthy pattern usually takes hold when a terrible tragedy seizes the nation’s attention.
Normally, we engage in a searching conversation over what rational steps can be taken by individuals, communities and various levels of government to make the recurrence of a comparable tragedy less likely. Sometimes we act, sometimes we don’t, but at least we explore sensible solutions.
Unless the tragedy involves guns. Then our whole public reasoning process goes haywire.
Of course, this shows the evil effect the NRA has had on our society. Take the 1994 regulation that banned the sale of assault weapons. For ten years the NRA lobbied on the need for Americans to buy the guns they wanted and in 2004 they succeeded by not having the law renewed. This also included AUTOMATIC assault weapons… the ability for fast multi-bullet firing, just like what happened in the Colorado movie theatre. And remember, the gunman acquired his guns and 60,000 bullets legally.
I admire Dionne and think we should pay attention to him. The rest of his article is HERE.
Related articles
- Sick at Heart (jordancornblog.wordpress.com)
- NRA Magazine Deletes Offensive Tweet Following Shooting in Colorado [Update] (politicker.com)
- Why gun lovers still fear Obama (politico.com)
- Aurora, Colorado Gun Deaths Happened Because Americans Refuse To Confront The NRA (dekerivers.wordpress.com)
