Lame Duck Demon

Remember back in the last few days of Bill Clinton's term when he pardoned a handful of people? Remember what a fuss the Republicans made about it? They tried so hard to make it look like Clinton was so corrupt.

I'm not about to say what Clinton did was the right thing, but the corruption of the Bush lame duck administration makes Clinton look like a boy scout.

The Bush administration has been up to speed for months now, doing unpopular and immoral things for big business profits:

1. Let's start with the rush to open up the Grand Canyon to uranium mining. In spite of a Congressional ban, the Bush controlled BLM has published a proposed rule which OK's mining within 5 miles of the Park. This would effect the drinking water for over 25 million people – in addition to the wildlife of one of America's premier Parks.

2. They've removed what little protection the Appalachians had from mountain top removal coal mining. Not that there was much protection in the first place. But now there is hardly any.

3. There's the gutting the Endangered Species Act. Department of Interior officials are attempting to review 200,000 comments from the public concerning this back door bypass of democracy – in just 32 hours. That's not a review. They don't care what we think. Their response to our comments about endangered species is obvious. “Kill'em all, let God sort'em out!”

4. And of course, they continue to do worse than absolutely nothing about global warming. If the polar bear is no longer protected by the Endangered Species Act, there will be even less pressure to do something about global warming. If the EPA won't do anything about carbon emissions, and won't allow states to with deal with them either, what we have here is a step backwards.

This all might not seem so sinister, if it were not for all the scientific evidence that the environment is going from bad to worse at a frighteningly accelerating rate.

Climate change is accelerating far beyond the IPCC forecast.

Arctic air temperatures reached record highs this year (5 degrees above normal).

(for more info on this graph - click here)

To put this in perspective; the wealth loss from the disappearance of the planet's forests dwarfs the bank crisis... And Bush Jr. has made both problems even worse.

Rolling Stone magazine once published an article arguing that George W. Bush is the worst president in history. The article reported that an organization of historians had agreed that this presidency has been the most poorly run in all of America's history. But, I guess Bush Jr. revels in that title.

The economy is collapsing.

The environment is collapsing.

And the regulatory system to keep it all together is still being dismantled.

These acts are worse than corruption. This is the deconstruction of the protections to our world that have taken decades to enact. We will never be able to repair the consequences of many of these acts.

Could things get any worse? Yes...

Bush Jr. still has two more months to screw things up beyond recognition.

We could even end up with a “December Surprise.” You know, like back when Bush Sr. was president – when he sent US troops to Somalia (just before the end of his term).

Don't be surprised if Bush Jr. follows in his daddy's footsteps for a change, and gets us in another “war” – this time with Iran. Why? Because he's the only one who wants war. Moreover, this a great way to say F.U. to the incoming Democratic president – and also the American people (who no longer see him as God's chosen one).

To misquote George Bush Sr.; “What we are looking at is good and evil - right and wrong.”

George W. Bush is a lame duck DEMON.

What Happened To The Republican Party?

Even Colin Powell can't take it any more.

Has the Republican Party been taken over by crooks, haters, and proto-fascists?

Let's examine each of these accusations.

1. Remember the Bush administration bailout that was supposed to rescue the economy? Well, now we know who really got bailed out. $70,000,000,000 of that bailout money will be going to pay and bonus packages for the Wall Street bank executives who got us into this mess (by gambling with other people's money). Did any of them get fired? No. Has the Bush administration backed down on deregulation, or considered re-instating the laws that have protected us from this kind of corruption since the Great Depression? No. Does Treasury Secretary Paulson have a rational plan to help out main street? No.

In China, an ex-Beijing official received the death sentence for corruption. And although I don't support it, you can bet they will have far less corruption in China.

2. One of the uglier tactics the Republican Party has been using during the presidential election is the totally unfounded claim that Obama is a Muslim. This is obviously a veiled claim that all Muslims are terrorists. This is just another form of racism. There is no way, without all this hate, that the US would have been willing to be responsible for the deaths of close to a million Iraqis – when it was primarily Saudis who were responsible for 9/11.

3. Our Constitutional Bill of Rights has been reduced to barely more than a piece of paper. Executive power has marginalized the balance of power of the legislative and judicial branches. And every law meant to protect our citizens from pollution, oppression, product irresponsibility, and corruption oversight has been under years of attack.

In an unprecedented (and previously illegal) move, the Bush administration has brought in Army troops to keep the peace in the US (crush civil disturbances). They have also set up internment camps. They have taken given themselves the power to take over command of the (formerly State controlled) National Guard. And Moreover, they have given themselves the right to declare martial law whenever they fell like. Yes, the Bush administration now has a "Pinochet option."

Most Republicans are good people with the best of intentions. So, what happened? The same thing that has happened to the Democrats, though to a lesser extent. Our system has rotted from within. Our electoral system is at the root of the problem. And both McCain and Obama are products of that electoral system. Until we get the big money out of elections and change the two party system to proportional representation, things will never really get completely fixed.

Deal With The Water Crisis Now

Two things; one funny, one very serious:

First, Las Vegas made The Colbert Report



Second, Las Vegas made WIRED magazine

Their cover story, THE SMART LIST, 15 people the next president should listen to; included Peter Gleick, from the Pacific Institute. The title of his article was:

DEAL WITH THE WATER CRISIS NOW


If Las Vegas could reduce their waste and renegotiate the Colorado River Compact, there wouldn't be a need for a water grab.

This Is What Freedom Sounds Like

I just heard the debate. But what I heard was so much more than what we have come to expect.

Thanks to the internet and DemocracyNow.org, I got to hear the debate – not just between Barack Obama and John McCain, but also with Ralph Nader and Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinnney participating.

WOW!!! This is the future of political debates. The mass media can no longer shut out third parties.

Mr. Nader and Ms. McKinney brought the debate to a much higher level.
I highly recommend you listen to the debate as it should have been.

Click Here for transcripts, an audio stream, or a video stream to the debates as you would hear them in a truly free country.

Change (for the better) Is NOT Inevitable

“Wired” and "Time" magazines have recently published articles about a company, “Better Place,” that intends to partner with auto manufacturers to develop electric cars that could radically change the industry.

These electric cars are based upon existing technology that could be implemented in such a way as to circumvent existing economic constraints. The costs for electric power (for these reasonably priced cars) would be as little as one third that of gasoline. And if implemented with truly clean power generation, could reduce CO2 emissions by 60% by 2030!

These electric cars would be powered by lithium ion phosphate batteries – which are both energy efficient and safe. (These batteries could also be used to power your home, providing backup for renewable power.)

“Discover” magazine has recently published an article about two companies, “Sumitomo” and “VRB Power Systems,” that build giant batteries that can store renewable energy for those occasional times when the wind isn't blowing anywhere.

And “Technology Review” magazine has recently published an article about an MIT scientist who has discovered a new, more efficient way to concentrate sunlight onto smaller, less expensive solar panels. The scientist, Marc Baldo, claims that this technology will make photovoltaic power generation cheaper than coal.

My point is; that by the time the coal-fired and nuclear power plants are built, it is very likely that the technology to safely generate and store electric power will be available cheaper than the dangerous methods we've used for the past century (even with their subsidies). Which is exactly why the coal and nuclear industry are in such a hurry. They realize that this is their last chance to make a few billion more dollars. And this is also their last chance to marginalize renewable power. They know that when renewable energy becomes cheaper than coal and nuclear, it won't really matter – if their generators are already built.

People don't always make the best decisions. And existing industries dread disruptive technologies. We are resistant to change, even if it may save our civilization. For example, a small start-up company, “Avion,” built a practical car that got over 100 miles per gallon – back in the 1980's – and nobody cared. The price of gas had dropped, and you could buy a dependable gas guzzler from Ford or GM. Even GM scuttled their very successful electric car back in the 1990's. If only...

The decisions we make today can have far reaching consequences tomorrow. We can be bold and take responsible action, or we can hesitate and continue to make the same dangerous mistakes... The old industries are betting millions that we'll be too afraid, or just won't care enough to do the right thing. They will try to convince us that economy is more important. But remember, the economy is just a subset of the environment. Eventually the destruction of our environment will result in the destruction of our economy.

Bush critic wins 2008 Nobel for economics

Here's news of another Bush critic receiving a Nobel prize.

Paul Krugman has just received the 2008 Nobel prize for economics. This is the same Paul Krugman who “argues that President George W. Bush's zeal for deregulation and loose fiscal policies helped spark the current banking meltdown.”

What's it going to take? What's it going to take to convince the radical right wing of just how badly the Bush administration has fouled things up?

In the past, they have tried to trivialize Paul Krugman's commentaries in the New York Times. The radical right has accused the New York Times of being a part of the “liberal press.” But let's face the facts here:

Paul Krugman has received a Nobel prize in economics and George W. Bush has a financial meltdown on his hands.

What's it going to take?

Even now; the radical right wing propaganda pundits are trying to blame the recession on the Democratic Congress. Paul Krugman hasn't been criticizing Congress. And, oh by the way, some Republican Senators have been killing bills in the Senate on a record scale. Why hasn't this filibuster party been addressed by the right? Oh yeah, because they are the ones responsible for the “do nothing” Congress.

What's it going to take?

I especially like the Krugman comment (when asked about a trend of Nobels going to people who are anti-Bush); the Nobel laureate said "A lot of intellectuals are anti-Bush."

But it isn't just intellectuals any more. Most of the American people have finally figured out what has happened (unfortunately too late for much of our 401Ks).

John McCain is dropping in the polls. And his campaign is most likely worse off than the mainstream media wants to report... The mainstream media wants to report a horse race to keep their ratings (and political advertising) up. And obviously, some stations (like FOX) are blatant McCain supporters. You can tell the McCain campaign is in serious trouble though, because their ads are starting to imitate Obama ads.

But don't count McCain/Palin out yet. The Republicans stole the election in 2000, and they stole the election in 2006. It's obvious they'll try to steal the election again. Our elections are still vulnerable. The Army has even stationed a brigade here, in the United States, to quell "civil unrest." (Which is unprecedented, by the way.)

Obama has to win by a landslide to counter the fraud factor. But it looks like he just might win by a landslide.

Clueless

"The Fundamentals of our Economy are strong."
John McCain
Sept, 2008


This one is fundamentally wrong.