Bend Over - and Vote Republican (or Centrist Democrat)
NEVER!
Never before in the history of this country and others have so many corporate executives been in the position to raid company pension plans, sell off company assets and drive companies to ruin - all the while voting themselves and those who support them huge obscene salaries, stock options and severance packages - enough to enrich themselves and their families for decades and decades to come. They have become a force almost too powerful and too entrenched to bring down. They own our government - bought and paid for with stolen money and money that drips with the blood and tears of people around the globe. They own our military and the horrendous weapons and technology required to enslave the world's people. They own the puppet governments of too many other nations and they are absolutely drunk with power.
In this country, these craven vultures exist only with the approval of a large segment of foolish working class Americans and elected representatives who are inexplicably aiding and abetting the destruction of the American way of life. For some unexplainable reason, average Americans are standing by dazed and limp as their futures and those of their children are sold and pocketed by a greedy bunch of pirates that are driving this nation to ruin.
Too many people of this nation are being mesmerized by morally corrupt politicians who live and prosper along with the corrupt corporate profiteers who are raiding and looting just as the armies and regimes of imperialist madmen did in ages past. Our nation has been hi-jacked by these crazed pirates and too many of my friends and neighbors are going along out of fear and abject ignorance.
A large segment of Americans are grinning and dancing to the puppetmasters who have learned how to pull people's strings in such a way that those who march and dance at the puppetmaters whim are no longer aware they are being controlled. Blind religion and patriotism are the fuels that they use to feed these fires of fear, hatred and divisiveness that put us at odds not only with each other but with other nations and their peoples.
WHEN ?
When will the average person in this country wake from this hypnotic stupor and realize they are being scammed and robbed by corrupt profiteers - criminals obsessed with acquiring money and power at any cost who have grabbed the reins of power and are bankrupting this nation and setting the world on fire? It's bi-partisan. Both Republicans and Democrats are guilty of crimes against our nation and other nations around the globe.
It's not enough to quote the warnings of our forefathers and past presidents and patriots. Those warnings and the protestations of scholars, scientists and elder statesmen have no effect. The words of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, and John Kennedy are ignored or dismissed as no longer relative in this world we now live in. Neither those in power nor those who continue to vote for them are listening. We are too far down the slope to expect this runaway decadence and corruption to respond to the wisdom and warnings of the great leaders of our past.
Our Constitution, our Bill of Rights and even our laws are considered the same - no longer applicable in this new world order.The corrupt leaders are too caught up in their insatiable quest for money and power and the citizens who vote to continue this cycle of madness are too caught up in a blind patriotic and religious frenzy to see where this madness is leading.
I long and pray with all my might for this blindness and fog of reason to be lifted - that people here and around the globe wake up and rise up against the evil that is tearing this nation and the world apart and destroying the earth's environment in the process.
TERRORISM!
Terrorism is not a great threat to America as those in power would have you believe.
Throughout history most nations have fought off attempts by imperialistic powers to subdue and annihilate them. Many of the people of the oil-rich nations of the mid-east feel threatened in this manner at this time. Most of the people of these nations have been oppressed and denied the right to share in their nation's and the world's wealth. They have suffered greatly under the force of a corrupt ruling class that strips the nation of it's wealth and does not share it with the people. Most see the United States, Great Brittan, Europe and Israel as the evil powers that support the corrupt rulers of their nations and the reason for their oppression. The people of these nations are ready to die rather than allow a continuance of suffering and oppression continue. Only a sharing of the wealth and freedom from tyranny will bring peace to the mid-east and an end to Muslim terrorism. .
The world and this nation has faced real threats in the past. We and other nations have fought off those who assembled powerful armies and would conquer the world if not confronted and defeated. We have faced nuclear annihilation from an opposing super power with thousands of rocket-deliverable nuclear weapons and we have prevailed. The terrorists we now face are in no position of power to obliterate us or take over our country - or to rule the world. There is no army on earth powerful enough to invade and conquer America at this time. They can kill a few of us like they did on 9/11. They might even detonate a nuclear device that would kill and injure many thousands in one of our large cities - but they cannot conquer us.
However there is a powerful force - a malevolent group of people - who can conquer us if we allow them to. The terrorist threat by a few groups of angry Muslim zealots or those who are crying out for freedom and reform is not the greatest threat this nation or any other nation faces.
It's not terrorism - terrorism is just somthing to strike fear and hold your attention as your pocket is being picked.
It is corruption and capitalistic greed gone mad that is the greatest threat to this nation and to world peace.
It is this same threat that has created global warming which is a by-product of this cancerous insanity that we have allowed to grow and thrive.
Keeping us divided and at war with one another only plays into the hands of those who profit from it. People at our level must not allow those in power to use religion and fear to keep us divided and powerless. We must join hands and come together to defeat this cabal of evil profitmongers - who are the real terrorists in disguise - before it's too late.
Gary
"I think we're at a moment in American history that is unique. I think we are in danger of losing our democracy because of the domination, the monopoly of power being exercised by huge economic interest, both directly and indirectly." ~ Bill Moyers
For more reading on this issue:
Executives' Pensions Are the Deal of a Lifetime
By Kathy M. Kristof
Major corporations throughout the country are abandoning their pensions, saying the benefits are too costly and less important, with the widespread adoption of individual retirement accounts such as 401(k) plans. But many of these same companies are retaining special pension plans for top executives, saying they would lose the top brass to rivals without them.
Corporate Wealth Share Rises for Top-Income Americans
By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON
New government data indicate that the concentration of corporate wealth among the highest-income Americans grew significantly in 2003.
President Jonah (MUST READ)
Gore Vidal, Truthdig
Novelist Gore Vidal argues that America under Bush is evincing characteristics of the post-fall-of-Rome Dark Ages.
Terrorism: not who but why?
The roots of bombings in Madrid and London, Istanbul and Baghdad lie in a complex mixture of political, cultural and religious influences. Turi Munthe clears the path to a better understanding.
Books:
Dark Ages America - The Final Phase Of Empire
By Morris Berman, Catholic University of America
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Friday, January 20, 2006
Welcome To Neo-Con World
The White House wants to see what you've been doing on the internet. They've already been monitoring your emails, phone calls and library records and they've already reportedly strong armed Yahoo in to turning over search strings for millions of randomly selected individuals. Now they want Google to hand over your personal searches on the internet.
Google and its rivals have been criticized for their business practices in China, where Google and MSN have filtered keywords like "human rights" and "democracy" out of their search-engine results. Last fall, it was revealed that Yahoo had cooperated with authorities seeking the identity of a Chinese e-mail subscriber who had distributed a government warning about protests; he is now serving a 10-year prison term.
Googled any porn sites lately - even just out of curiosity or for research? Stumbled onto any sites critical of the Bush administration and the war? Have you used any words or terms in your emails that might be red-flagged for investigation like: loss of freedoms, democracy, bill of rights, fascism, stolen election, exit polls, lied about WMD, global warming, Hitler, kill, bomb, impeach, war crimes, tar and feather or bitch slap? You likely have been especially targeted if you used those words in conjunction with any of the words like Iraq, Bush, Chaney, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity, Diebold, Alito, Florida, Ohio, Supreme Court, King George, Chimp, f**kin idiot, etc.
Various names like Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Hillary, Fitzgerald, Howard Dean, Valarie Plame, Joe Wilson, Hugo Chavez and a host of others have been red flagged for some time. Several names on that list are considered a high security threat and were given added emphasis a few days ago. They include Osama bin Laden and Al Gore.
Have any of your neighbors suspiciously disappeared lately?
We must spy on you to protect our freedom, say the neo-cons. We are only looking for Child Pornographers and don't know how your name got on the list. Get over it! You only spent four years in prison and we apologize that you were not allowed to contact your family and they had no idea what had happened to you. So you were waterboarded or bagged. It was all done in the interest of national security. The president by virtue of his position as Commander In Chief has the powers to do whatever he deems necessary to protect our freedom. We are in a state of war and depending on the outcome of the 2006 congressional races we might have to put the 2008 presidential election on hold - until we are no longer in a state of war. It will be best for national security.
Trust us they say.
Gary
________________________________________________________________________
This is not really about pornography. The law Inquisitor General Gonzales used to subpoena Google was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court over two years ago. I am writing mainly to put everyone on notice due to the fact that Yahoo, which unfortunately owns the former eGroups, is probably already cooperating with the Bush regime, especially if you consider how far they bent over and how wide they spread, not to mention how quickly they did both, for the Chinese.
Google Resists U.S. Subpoena of Search Data
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/20/technology/20google.html?th&emc=th
Document: Google subpoenaed over pornography
http://news.zdnet.com/2300-9595_22-6028780-1.html?tag=nl.e589
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
How Smart Is Your Vote?
How smart are you? When you vote (You do vote don't you?) how much do you know about the candidate you are voting for? Do they represent your views regardless of their party affiliation? Just how smart is your vote?
I wanted you to make sure you know about Project Vote Smart, a non-partisan research operation in Montana that collects information on our elected representatives, judges, candidates, etc. so that you have a resource for making informed decisions about the government of our country. This project is an historic undertaking. Citizens come together, not in selfish interest or to support one candidate over another, but to defend democracy. You can find out how the US Congressional representative for your district is voting by going to this website and viewing the voting records for each bill before congress and the senate.
Just because you vote for a Republican or a Democrat don't make the mistake of assuming they are voting the way you would expect them to vote. Find out the truth. You may be shocked at the hypocrisy and find that your representative is voting against your interests and instead is serving their own interests and those of a corporate cabal instead of the citizens of your district. This information will allow you to ask them about their votes and hold them accountable. If they are getting your vote to represent you, then you should make sure they deserve it. Find out if your representative is truly representing the voters of your district or state and not simply those special interests they expect to profit from both now and in private life after they leave office.
Go to the website http://www.vote-smart.org/ or review the information in the links below for more details and to begin educating yourself about how your representative is responding (or not) to the voters who put them in office.
Gary
About Project Vote Smart
Become a Member
Visit the Project Through our Video
About Project Vote Smart
What They Are Saying - Media Reviews
Three Ways You Can Help
The Voter's Self-Defense System
Project Vote Smart's History
Project Vote Smart's Programs
I wanted you to make sure you know about Project Vote Smart, a non-partisan research operation in Montana that collects information on our elected representatives, judges, candidates, etc. so that you have a resource for making informed decisions about the government of our country. This project is an historic undertaking. Citizens come together, not in selfish interest or to support one candidate over another, but to defend democracy. You can find out how the US Congressional representative for your district is voting by going to this website and viewing the voting records for each bill before congress and the senate.
Just because you vote for a Republican or a Democrat don't make the mistake of assuming they are voting the way you would expect them to vote. Find out the truth. You may be shocked at the hypocrisy and find that your representative is voting against your interests and instead is serving their own interests and those of a corporate cabal instead of the citizens of your district. This information will allow you to ask them about their votes and hold them accountable. If they are getting your vote to represent you, then you should make sure they deserve it. Find out if your representative is truly representing the voters of your district or state and not simply those special interests they expect to profit from both now and in private life after they leave office.
Go to the website http://www.vote-smart.org/ or review the information in the links below for more details and to begin educating yourself about how your representative is responding (or not) to the voters who put them in office.
Gary
About Project Vote Smart
Become a Member
Visit the Project Through our Video
About Project Vote Smart
What They Are Saying - Media Reviews
Three Ways You Can Help
The Voter's Self-Defense System
Project Vote Smart's History
Project Vote Smart's Programs
Monday, January 16, 2006
Al Gore Indicts Bush - Pleads For Americans to Stand Up
Today, just over two hours ago Al Gore gave one of the best speeches of his life. Every American should be required to hear Gore's presentation. Every American who truly loves their country and understands the current threat to our democracy should want to.
If you missed it, watch C-Span schedule for possible repeat broadcast tonight or tomorrow or go to Cspan at the link above to see and hear an internet videocast. http://www.cspan.org/
For a written text of the speech go here: http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Text_of_Gore_speech_0116.html
For media reports on the event go here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/16/AR2006011600526.html
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1510886
If you missed it, watch C-Span schedule for possible repeat broadcast tonight or tomorrow or go to Cspan at the link above to see and hear an internet videocast. http://www.cspan.org/
For a written text of the speech go here: http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Text_of_Gore_speech_0116.html
For media reports on the event go here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/16/AR2006011600526.html
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1510886
Saturday, January 14, 2006
America the Incorporated
Americans and those in other nations around the globe can look to China to see what the future has in store for them. A pattern is emerging that bodes sorrow and suffering for a large segment of the low income and rural populations of both developing nations and those once considered the most developed.
Nation’s that once had leaders and elected representatives who were compassionate and caring for all of their citizens have been taken over by corrupt corporatists who live for personal power and wealth alone. These wealthy, elitist corporatists who, like the robber barons and overlords of past times, are driven by obscene greed and lust for power. Even the elected members and career employees of democratic governments like the United States have become severely corrupted and serve only a personal and corporate agenda – not the people they hypocritically claim to serve.
The cause is simple to determine – a moral and ethical breakdown and worship of power and wealth equal to any of the dark times in world history. The checks and balances once in place have been severely eroded by legislation and restructuring of government bought and paid for by wealthy corporatists to further their quest for more money and more power.
Extreme corruption of the world’s corporate leaders and of the governments they control is out of control and threatens both world peace and the world’s delicate, overstressed environment. Globalization of the economy and free trade practices that favor corporations and wealthy investors, and not the workers, are concentrating wealth and power in the hands of fewer and fewer people creating a huge disparity between the haves and have-nots.
In decades past a corporate president or CEO traditionally never earned (in any combination of benefits) more that 20 times the lowest paid member of the organization. Now that number is out the window with chief executives and board members being awarded salaries and stock options 1000 to several thousand times more than the lowest paid employee.
Pension plans are being raided and bankrupted as employees who joined companies based upon those assurances that these plans were part of their salaries are being left holding an empty bag after giving their life to these companies. The expense of health plans which were another incentive to cast your lot with a company has been shifted to the employee or no longer offered at all. Employers are outsourcing American jobs to third world countries where workers can be paid slave labor wages and no benefits while American employees of these same companies are asked to work for lower wages in addition to the reduction or complete loss of benefits.
These companies that insist they can’t survive in the competitive world markets are the same companies that bribe legislators to pass legislation that open up these markets they claim are the problem. Free trade agreements are sold by those few who stand to profit as good for each nation that participates although the average citizen of those countries see wages fall, jobs outsourced, social services reduced, healthcare costs become unaffordable and opportunities to rise out of poverty diminished or eliminated.
Anyone who has worked for a large corporation over the last 50 years can recognize the change in corporate philosophy that has taken place. This greed driven, wealth and power worshipping, cut-throat, laws-only-inhibit-success philosophy has now been installed in the White House, the halls of Congress and the US Supreme Court. Corporatism, which our founding fathers warned us about, has replaced our constitutional government and our democracy.
When a corporation tells its employees it is enacting change and it will be good for the employee you can bet your reduced benefits it’s just the opposite. And, by the same token, when a corporate controlled government makes any change and sells it to the citizenry as good for the people you can bet your ass the only good that comes from it is for corporations and wealthy investors.
Reducing taxes are an example. While taxes may be reduced for some workers they lose much more in social services including public education and cost for maintaining essential services and infrastructure. Sharing the wealth is not a part of the corporatist’s philosophy. How much of the federal tax burden do you think is shouldered by corporations?
Over the past 50 years corporate tax revenues have averaged about 17 percent of all tax revenues collected by the government of the total tax take. But currently, corporate tax revenues account for only 7 percent -- the second lowest level since the Great Depression. Who do you think pays the rest of the taxes that are wasted, stolen and divvied up among corporate crooks and lobbyists? Additionally, the avoidance of taxes by use of corporate tax shelters, most illegal but unchallenged by our government, represents somewhere in the range of $250 to $300 billion per year.
This new corporate world order is enveloping almost every nation. Take China as an example. China is emerging as the next huge economy. Consider what has happened to the state of healthcare in China and project those conditions upon our own future if we allow the new world order to prevail. The walled cities and serfdoms of medieval times may not be too far off.
Gary
The following was excerpted from an article in today’s New York Times.
Until the beginning of the reform period in the early 1980's, China's socialized medical system, with "barefoot doctors" at its core, worked public health wonders. From 1952 to 1982 infant mortality fell from 200 per 1,000 live births to 34, and life expectancy increased from about 35 years to 68, according to a recent study published by The New England Journal of Medicine.
Since then, in one of the great policy reversals of modern times, China has dissolved its rural communes, privatized vast swaths of the economy and shifted public health resources away from rural areas and toward the cities. Public hospitals were urged to charge commercial rates for new drugs and most procedures, and today the salaries of health care workers are typically linked to the amount of income they generate for their hospitals.
More than half of urban residents, by comparison, enjoy some kind of coverage, which is supplied by their employers.
The recent emphasis on profit, meanwhile, has led doctors and other well-trained health care workers to abandon the countryside, with a result that peasants are left at the mercy of unqualified caregivers and outright charlatans who peddle expensive, improperly prescribed drugs and counterfeit medicines.
"From the liberation to the Cultural Revolution, conditions in the rural areas were fairly good," Dr. Wang Weizhong, a physician and member of the National People's Congress from Jilin Province in the northeast, said of the period from 1949 to the 1970's. "There were township clinics in every area, and there was no problem getting at least small illnesses treated everywhere."
Dr. Wang insisted that the government was working hard with its recent health care reforms to address the problems, but agreed that the old public health system that once protected peasants "had dissolved."
Unable to afford proper care, the first recourse of most peasants when they fall ill is to take whatever drugs they can find on the market to relieve their symptoms and hope that their ailment goes away. Often, of course, they merely get worse or, if their illness is communicable, spread it to others. Once a peasant's illness becomes debilitating, his relatives can face a double catastrophe: the serious decline of a breadwinner, and medical bills steep enough to bankrupt the family.
To read the complete report go here:
Wealth Grows, but Health Care Withers in China
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/14/international/asia/14health.html?th&emc=th
Nation’s that once had leaders and elected representatives who were compassionate and caring for all of their citizens have been taken over by corrupt corporatists who live for personal power and wealth alone. These wealthy, elitist corporatists who, like the robber barons and overlords of past times, are driven by obscene greed and lust for power. Even the elected members and career employees of democratic governments like the United States have become severely corrupted and serve only a personal and corporate agenda – not the people they hypocritically claim to serve.
The cause is simple to determine – a moral and ethical breakdown and worship of power and wealth equal to any of the dark times in world history. The checks and balances once in place have been severely eroded by legislation and restructuring of government bought and paid for by wealthy corporatists to further their quest for more money and more power.
Extreme corruption of the world’s corporate leaders and of the governments they control is out of control and threatens both world peace and the world’s delicate, overstressed environment. Globalization of the economy and free trade practices that favor corporations and wealthy investors, and not the workers, are concentrating wealth and power in the hands of fewer and fewer people creating a huge disparity between the haves and have-nots.
In decades past a corporate president or CEO traditionally never earned (in any combination of benefits) more that 20 times the lowest paid member of the organization. Now that number is out the window with chief executives and board members being awarded salaries and stock options 1000 to several thousand times more than the lowest paid employee.
Pension plans are being raided and bankrupted as employees who joined companies based upon those assurances that these plans were part of their salaries are being left holding an empty bag after giving their life to these companies. The expense of health plans which were another incentive to cast your lot with a company has been shifted to the employee or no longer offered at all. Employers are outsourcing American jobs to third world countries where workers can be paid slave labor wages and no benefits while American employees of these same companies are asked to work for lower wages in addition to the reduction or complete loss of benefits.
These companies that insist they can’t survive in the competitive world markets are the same companies that bribe legislators to pass legislation that open up these markets they claim are the problem. Free trade agreements are sold by those few who stand to profit as good for each nation that participates although the average citizen of those countries see wages fall, jobs outsourced, social services reduced, healthcare costs become unaffordable and opportunities to rise out of poverty diminished or eliminated.
Anyone who has worked for a large corporation over the last 50 years can recognize the change in corporate philosophy that has taken place. This greed driven, wealth and power worshipping, cut-throat, laws-only-inhibit-success philosophy has now been installed in the White House, the halls of Congress and the US Supreme Court. Corporatism, which our founding fathers warned us about, has replaced our constitutional government and our democracy.
When a corporation tells its employees it is enacting change and it will be good for the employee you can bet your reduced benefits it’s just the opposite. And, by the same token, when a corporate controlled government makes any change and sells it to the citizenry as good for the people you can bet your ass the only good that comes from it is for corporations and wealthy investors.
Reducing taxes are an example. While taxes may be reduced for some workers they lose much more in social services including public education and cost for maintaining essential services and infrastructure. Sharing the wealth is not a part of the corporatist’s philosophy. How much of the federal tax burden do you think is shouldered by corporations?
Over the past 50 years corporate tax revenues have averaged about 17 percent of all tax revenues collected by the government of the total tax take. But currently, corporate tax revenues account for only 7 percent -- the second lowest level since the Great Depression. Who do you think pays the rest of the taxes that are wasted, stolen and divvied up among corporate crooks and lobbyists? Additionally, the avoidance of taxes by use of corporate tax shelters, most illegal but unchallenged by our government, represents somewhere in the range of $250 to $300 billion per year.
This new corporate world order is enveloping almost every nation. Take China as an example. China is emerging as the next huge economy. Consider what has happened to the state of healthcare in China and project those conditions upon our own future if we allow the new world order to prevail. The walled cities and serfdoms of medieval times may not be too far off.
Gary
The following was excerpted from an article in today’s New York Times.
Until the beginning of the reform period in the early 1980's, China's socialized medical system, with "barefoot doctors" at its core, worked public health wonders. From 1952 to 1982 infant mortality fell from 200 per 1,000 live births to 34, and life expectancy increased from about 35 years to 68, according to a recent study published by The New England Journal of Medicine.
Since then, in one of the great policy reversals of modern times, China has dissolved its rural communes, privatized vast swaths of the economy and shifted public health resources away from rural areas and toward the cities. Public hospitals were urged to charge commercial rates for new drugs and most procedures, and today the salaries of health care workers are typically linked to the amount of income they generate for their hospitals.
More than half of urban residents, by comparison, enjoy some kind of coverage, which is supplied by their employers.
The recent emphasis on profit, meanwhile, has led doctors and other well-trained health care workers to abandon the countryside, with a result that peasants are left at the mercy of unqualified caregivers and outright charlatans who peddle expensive, improperly prescribed drugs and counterfeit medicines.
"From the liberation to the Cultural Revolution, conditions in the rural areas were fairly good," Dr. Wang Weizhong, a physician and member of the National People's Congress from Jilin Province in the northeast, said of the period from 1949 to the 1970's. "There were township clinics in every area, and there was no problem getting at least small illnesses treated everywhere."
Dr. Wang insisted that the government was working hard with its recent health care reforms to address the problems, but agreed that the old public health system that once protected peasants "had dissolved."
Unable to afford proper care, the first recourse of most peasants when they fall ill is to take whatever drugs they can find on the market to relieve their symptoms and hope that their ailment goes away. Often, of course, they merely get worse or, if their illness is communicable, spread it to others. Once a peasant's illness becomes debilitating, his relatives can face a double catastrophe: the serious decline of a breadwinner, and medical bills steep enough to bankrupt the family.
To read the complete report go here:
Wealth Grows, but Health Care Withers in China
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/14/international/asia/14health.html?th&emc=th
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Al Gore's Global Warming Crusade
Last night I attended a presentation on global warming by Al Gore, the 45th Vice President of the United States. The presentation was held in Vanderbilt’s Student Life Center, a much too small facility for someone of Gore’s stature and a subject of such a critical nature. The overflow crowd stood against the wall and filled the reception area outside the auditorium where speakers were installed for the benefit of those who could not get seats. I got there very early knowing this would be the case.
I had a little preview of this presentation which was likely the very same Gore had just given to a crowd reported of over 1000 at Stanford University a few weeks ago. Gore has a few proven lines he is known to use in all his presentations that put the audience at ease and provides a hearty laugh now and then. He almost without fail introduces himself as the person “that used to be known as the next president of the United States”.
In this presentation he also has a great little story that gets a good laugh. At one point he displays a photograph taken from space of the southern hemisphere showing the relationship of South America to Africa. He joked that when he was in a grade school geography class the teacher displayed a world map of the same and that one of his classmates noted that the shapes of South America and Africa looked like they may have once fit together and asked the teacher it that were true. According to Gore, the teacher laughed at the idea, now a widely held scientific view of continent drift. “The student went on to become a dropout and a drug addict," Gore joked sadly, “ And the teacher went on to become the science advisor in the current White House”. At that point Gore uses his high-tech visuals to bring the African and South American continents together in a perfect fit.
I have always been an environmentalist since my youth and was first attracted to Al Gore as a potential presidential candidate in1988 when he first declared his candidacy. Al Gore has always been a champion of the earth’s environment and I have always championed Al Gore, one of the more intelligent, more compassionate, sincere and good men on this planet. I worked in the 1988 Al Gore campaign and in every Gore campaign since. I have never lost faith in this man’s ability to lead the world towards a more sane stewardship of the earth, of civilization, of peace and democracy. I was shattered by the turn of events in 2000 that allowed the US Supreme Court to infamously appoint the eminently incapable, intellectually challenged and poorly qualified, George W. Bush in a blatant political coup by corporate special interests.
I was astounded by the evidence of Global warming presented by Gore last night. Attendance at this presentation could leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that global warming is not only true but that it is outside the pattern of any previous warming cycle known to man and is accelerating at an alarming rate. He offered essentially irrefutable proof – and I’m not talking a hint of global warming or a reasonably expected change in warming trends - but stark and alarming evidence of environmental mayhem that has already begun and cataclysmic events that will take form in a decade or so. And not just minor and slowly creeping change by evolutionary standards, but quick and deadly change by real time standards.
Gore presented a stunning visual image display of receding glaciers, pollution shrouded cityscapes and satellite images of change over the last ten years that defies denial. He led the audience through the domino effect of how one change triggers another, the delicate balance of our fragile ecosystem and how it is perhaps being irreparably destroyed by man's irresponsible savaging of the earth’s resources including our air and water.
He also cited scientific evidence, including core drillings in arctic ice that track CO2 levels through thousands of years of history enveloping several ice ages, that confirm the drastic changes that man - not natural climatic change - has wrought on this earth. Chilling!
He showed picture after picture of glaciers and snow clad peaks taken at the turn of the last century and pictures of the same spots today showing mountains denuded of snow, glaciers that have disappeared, rivers and lakes that no longer exist, satellite images of shrinking ice masses and those of greenhouse effects, and more, all simply shocking.
He cited alarming evidence of declining moisture retention of soil over huge swaths of crop lands worldwide, the effects of deforestation in the southern hemisphere which has significantly less land mass than the northern hemisphere, and the effect causing alternate spikes in Co2 levels as a result of the earths seasonal tilting and elliptical orbit around the sun. He spoke of population density and its effect. He related how all of these changes affected other aspects of our environment and especially changes in weather patterns, ocean temperatures and currents, all producing violent reactions. He used computer overlays to depict the land masses that will be lost by the rising ocean levels and stated that all the world maps will have to be redrawn to reflect this loss. In one example he showed how almost fifty percent of Florida’s present land mass will be reclaimed by the ocean. He gave stunning estimates of the millions of lives that will be lost as more violent and increased recurring cataclysmic events such as tsunamis and hurricanes take place.
Regarding global warming Gore stated, "It is deeply immoral. This is not a political issue, it is a moral issue.''
He pointed out that of publication and discussion of global warming evidence in all scientific journals to date there are zero opinions that argue the evidence for global warming is wrong or suspect, but that in all of the public media published reports, 53% of those reports argued that global warming is not factually supported. He also suggested these public media reports refuting any evidence of man-induced global warming were supported by scientist prostitutes commissioned by corporate special interests.
In conclusion Gore cited how the United States is the leading polluter among industrialized nations responsible for the major portion of environmental pollution and how we might reverse this deadly trend here and worldwide. He cited the technology that exists today that if brought into play could reverse this trend and within a decade or so bring our nation (and the world) back to pollution levels of the mid-seventies, a reasonably tolerable pollution level that would allow the earth to tolerate man’s existence and routinely cleanse itself of man’s destructive presence.
Gore was greeted by two, full participation, standing ovations as well as spontaneous bursts of applause during his presentation and a final standing ovation. At the end of the presentation Gore was swarmed by students and other attendees eager to make comments and ask questions. Gore’s flawless presentation, which overflowed with data from scientific studies, lasted nearly two hours and was amazingly accomplished without any notes except for visuals projected on two large overhead screens. His performance was an intellectual tour de force and a bittersweet reminder of what this nation and the world has lost at the hands of George W. Bush and those who helped Bush steal the presidency.
Gary
P.S. - I just learned a new documentary film "An Inconvienient Truth" produced and directed by Davis Guggenheim will be premiered this month at the Sundance Film Festival. The film both captures Gore's presentation and explores Gore's journey as a worldwide environmental champion. This could become one of the most important and influential films in world history.
For addition reports regarding Gore’s previous presentation on global warming go here: http://daily.stanford.edu/tempo?page=content&id=18826&repository=0001_article
And here http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/living/education/13347621.htm
I had a little preview of this presentation which was likely the very same Gore had just given to a crowd reported of over 1000 at Stanford University a few weeks ago. Gore has a few proven lines he is known to use in all his presentations that put the audience at ease and provides a hearty laugh now and then. He almost without fail introduces himself as the person “that used to be known as the next president of the United States”.
In this presentation he also has a great little story that gets a good laugh. At one point he displays a photograph taken from space of the southern hemisphere showing the relationship of South America to Africa. He joked that when he was in a grade school geography class the teacher displayed a world map of the same and that one of his classmates noted that the shapes of South America and Africa looked like they may have once fit together and asked the teacher it that were true. According to Gore, the teacher laughed at the idea, now a widely held scientific view of continent drift. “The student went on to become a dropout and a drug addict," Gore joked sadly, “ And the teacher went on to become the science advisor in the current White House”. At that point Gore uses his high-tech visuals to bring the African and South American continents together in a perfect fit.
I have always been an environmentalist since my youth and was first attracted to Al Gore as a potential presidential candidate in1988 when he first declared his candidacy. Al Gore has always been a champion of the earth’s environment and I have always championed Al Gore, one of the more intelligent, more compassionate, sincere and good men on this planet. I worked in the 1988 Al Gore campaign and in every Gore campaign since. I have never lost faith in this man’s ability to lead the world towards a more sane stewardship of the earth, of civilization, of peace and democracy. I was shattered by the turn of events in 2000 that allowed the US Supreme Court to infamously appoint the eminently incapable, intellectually challenged and poorly qualified, George W. Bush in a blatant political coup by corporate special interests.
I was astounded by the evidence of Global warming presented by Gore last night. Attendance at this presentation could leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that global warming is not only true but that it is outside the pattern of any previous warming cycle known to man and is accelerating at an alarming rate. He offered essentially irrefutable proof – and I’m not talking a hint of global warming or a reasonably expected change in warming trends - but stark and alarming evidence of environmental mayhem that has already begun and cataclysmic events that will take form in a decade or so. And not just minor and slowly creeping change by evolutionary standards, but quick and deadly change by real time standards.
Gore presented a stunning visual image display of receding glaciers, pollution shrouded cityscapes and satellite images of change over the last ten years that defies denial. He led the audience through the domino effect of how one change triggers another, the delicate balance of our fragile ecosystem and how it is perhaps being irreparably destroyed by man's irresponsible savaging of the earth’s resources including our air and water.
He also cited scientific evidence, including core drillings in arctic ice that track CO2 levels through thousands of years of history enveloping several ice ages, that confirm the drastic changes that man - not natural climatic change - has wrought on this earth. Chilling!
He showed picture after picture of glaciers and snow clad peaks taken at the turn of the last century and pictures of the same spots today showing mountains denuded of snow, glaciers that have disappeared, rivers and lakes that no longer exist, satellite images of shrinking ice masses and those of greenhouse effects, and more, all simply shocking.
He cited alarming evidence of declining moisture retention of soil over huge swaths of crop lands worldwide, the effects of deforestation in the southern hemisphere which has significantly less land mass than the northern hemisphere, and the effect causing alternate spikes in Co2 levels as a result of the earths seasonal tilting and elliptical orbit around the sun. He spoke of population density and its effect. He related how all of these changes affected other aspects of our environment and especially changes in weather patterns, ocean temperatures and currents, all producing violent reactions. He used computer overlays to depict the land masses that will be lost by the rising ocean levels and stated that all the world maps will have to be redrawn to reflect this loss. In one example he showed how almost fifty percent of Florida’s present land mass will be reclaimed by the ocean. He gave stunning estimates of the millions of lives that will be lost as more violent and increased recurring cataclysmic events such as tsunamis and hurricanes take place.
Regarding global warming Gore stated, "It is deeply immoral. This is not a political issue, it is a moral issue.''
He pointed out that of publication and discussion of global warming evidence in all scientific journals to date there are zero opinions that argue the evidence for global warming is wrong or suspect, but that in all of the public media published reports, 53% of those reports argued that global warming is not factually supported. He also suggested these public media reports refuting any evidence of man-induced global warming were supported by scientist prostitutes commissioned by corporate special interests.
In conclusion Gore cited how the United States is the leading polluter among industrialized nations responsible for the major portion of environmental pollution and how we might reverse this deadly trend here and worldwide. He cited the technology that exists today that if brought into play could reverse this trend and within a decade or so bring our nation (and the world) back to pollution levels of the mid-seventies, a reasonably tolerable pollution level that would allow the earth to tolerate man’s existence and routinely cleanse itself of man’s destructive presence.
Gore was greeted by two, full participation, standing ovations as well as spontaneous bursts of applause during his presentation and a final standing ovation. At the end of the presentation Gore was swarmed by students and other attendees eager to make comments and ask questions. Gore’s flawless presentation, which overflowed with data from scientific studies, lasted nearly two hours and was amazingly accomplished without any notes except for visuals projected on two large overhead screens. His performance was an intellectual tour de force and a bittersweet reminder of what this nation and the world has lost at the hands of George W. Bush and those who helped Bush steal the presidency.
Gary
P.S. - I just learned a new documentary film "An Inconvienient Truth" produced and directed by Davis Guggenheim will be premiered this month at the Sundance Film Festival. The film both captures Gore's presentation and explores Gore's journey as a worldwide environmental champion. This could become one of the most important and influential films in world history.
For addition reports regarding Gore’s previous presentation on global warming go here: http://daily.stanford.edu/tempo?page=content&id=18826&repository=0001_article
And here http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/living/education/13347621.htm
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Internet Lies - Who is Responsible?
How can you be sure that claims, charges and rumors circulated on the internet are true? It's pretty easy in most cases. It takes but a minute to check them out.
There are a host of claims and charges being circulated on the internet by political operatives who lie and deceive the public about the issues in an attempt to damage and discredit the opposing political party or those with differing philosophical beliefs. Unfortunately, those most often responsible for egregious lies and deceit are conservative, right-wingers, and those who are cult-like followers of the Faux News Network, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and others whose main objectives are to create revenues through increased audience share by playing to man's base instincts stirring up hatred and anger between our fellow citizens. This unjust, unethical and divisive tactic is more commonly known as propaganda folks - and an element of Americans have gotten much better at it than the Russians and Communist nations ever were.
Even the most casual research into this will show that rabid, right-wing Republicans are most guilty and are responsible for 80% or more of the lies and character assassinations that are committed. This propaganda war is only one evidence we as a nation have slipped from the ethical and honorable path that our founding fathers set us on over 200 years ago. The USA once swelled with pride that we as a people were the most honest and truthful, most compassionate, most fair, most un-warlike, most forgiving and most generous nation on the planet. This has changed, not only in the eyes of the rest of the world but in the eyes of a growing number of Americans.
Unfortunately, there are strong indications if not absolute proof that some within our own government, using our tax dollars, are responsible for concocting and unleashing many of these deceptive and divisive lies through paid political operatives in an effort to persuade public opinion. In most cases the interests being served by these deceitful attacks on the truth are not the interests of our nation or its people but instead the interests of corrupt politicians and corrupt corporate leadership. Greed for wealth and power has apparently triumphed over truth, justice, national pride and love of country.
A non-partisan clearing house for internet rumors and deception is http://www.snopes.com/. You can check out the truth regarding most claims, rumors and urban legends by simply going to the site and doing a search using a few key words.
An example is a recently circulated claim attacking the Democrats over original intent and gross misuse of Social Security. It's been around for a few years and is a mild example of lies being circulated. If you care to read through this you will see how deceptive the circulated piece is. Keep in mind that the few changes to social security that were enacted benefited low to middle income citizens for the most part - not the wealthy. Guess which class of citizens most wants you to believe these lies that are circulated?
Snopes.com responds to the misleading email being circulated regarding Social Security and almost every other untruth that makes the internet rounds. For information including this and other internet propaganda go to http://www.snopes.com/ and enter key words - in this case Roosevelt Social Security.
Gary
There are a host of claims and charges being circulated on the internet by political operatives who lie and deceive the public about the issues in an attempt to damage and discredit the opposing political party or those with differing philosophical beliefs. Unfortunately, those most often responsible for egregious lies and deceit are conservative, right-wingers, and those who are cult-like followers of the Faux News Network, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and others whose main objectives are to create revenues through increased audience share by playing to man's base instincts stirring up hatred and anger between our fellow citizens. This unjust, unethical and divisive tactic is more commonly known as propaganda folks - and an element of Americans have gotten much better at it than the Russians and Communist nations ever were.
Even the most casual research into this will show that rabid, right-wing Republicans are most guilty and are responsible for 80% or more of the lies and character assassinations that are committed. This propaganda war is only one evidence we as a nation have slipped from the ethical and honorable path that our founding fathers set us on over 200 years ago. The USA once swelled with pride that we as a people were the most honest and truthful, most compassionate, most fair, most un-warlike, most forgiving and most generous nation on the planet. This has changed, not only in the eyes of the rest of the world but in the eyes of a growing number of Americans.
Unfortunately, there are strong indications if not absolute proof that some within our own government, using our tax dollars, are responsible for concocting and unleashing many of these deceptive and divisive lies through paid political operatives in an effort to persuade public opinion. In most cases the interests being served by these deceitful attacks on the truth are not the interests of our nation or its people but instead the interests of corrupt politicians and corrupt corporate leadership. Greed for wealth and power has apparently triumphed over truth, justice, national pride and love of country.
A non-partisan clearing house for internet rumors and deception is http://www.snopes.com/. You can check out the truth regarding most claims, rumors and urban legends by simply going to the site and doing a search using a few key words.
An example is a recently circulated claim attacking the Democrats over original intent and gross misuse of Social Security. It's been around for a few years and is a mild example of lies being circulated. If you care to read through this you will see how deceptive the circulated piece is. Keep in mind that the few changes to social security that were enacted benefited low to middle income citizens for the most part - not the wealthy. Guess which class of citizens most wants you to believe these lies that are circulated?
Snopes.com responds to the misleading email being circulated regarding Social Security and almost every other untruth that makes the internet rounds. For information including this and other internet propaganda go to http://www.snopes.com/ and enter key words - in this case Roosevelt Social Security.
Gary
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