Taking the streets in Argentina
A toxic, energy- and water-gobbling mine in the Argentine province of Catamarca drew protesters to the streets of the provincial capital on August 28 in a good old-fashioned escrache:
September 01, 2008
July 18, 2008
Al Gore, I love you!
Watch this, and in half an hour, I guarantee you'll be in love too:
Al Gore makes the case for a no-carbon energy economy. And in so doing, he kills a lot of crapitalist birds with one stone. It's a brilliantly simple, totally viable solution. All that's lacking is the collective will to make it happen. And if his speech doesn't motivate you to do your part, you must be dead from the neck up.
May 30, 2008
Quotable: Amy Katz on the falsities of the "free" market
"The problem is not the issue of personal choice--it's the doctrine of personal choice. We are constantly being told that change begins with us, that only we can solve our own problems, that we are the authors of our destinies. I believe that these are, in fact, ideological statements, rooted in a free market aversion to collective action. To get ourselves through the next century, we will need to shake off the phantasm of an exclusively personal destiny and couple our individual choices with real, penalty-laden national and international environmental regulations. To get ourselves through the next century, we will need a collective privileging of human lives and futures over corporate profits.
"In other words, we need to make political change, something we can't do as individuals. And something we can't do without challenging, in a serious and uncomfortable way, the existing order. So yes, let's change our lifestyles and reduce our personal impacts on the environment. It will help to nudge us closer to the world we want. But, at some point (and I would argue that point would be now), to prevent a global environmental breakdown, we are going to have to embark on a course of action that questions some of the fundamental tenets of our economic system.
"The logic of the market is destroying the planet. We will not save the planet by turning the free market on itself and buying hybrid cars. We will save the planet by forcing our governments to mandate real environmental regulations. We will save the planet by refusing to allow the requirements of the market to dictate our health, our preferences, our sense of reality and the course of our lives."
--Amy Katz, editor of The Greenpeace Green Living Guide
Bzzzzzzzzzzzz--STING!!!
Remember all those stories about mysteriously dying honeybee populations? Looks like we've got the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder all figured out, kiddies. Or at least, one very unsurprising chief suspect:
Germany has banned a family of pesticides that are blamed for the deaths of millions of honeybees. The German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has suspended the registration for eight pesticide seed treatment products used in rapeseed oil and sweetcorn.The move follows reports from German beekeepers in the Baden-Württemberg region that two thirds of their bees died earlier this month following the application of a pesticide called clothianidin.
"It's a real bee emergency," said Manfred Hederer, president of the German Professional Beekeepers' Association. "50-60% of the bees have died on average and some beekeepers have lost all their hives."
Tests on dead bees showed that 99% of those examined had a build-up of clothianidin. The chemical, produced by Bayer CropScience, a subsidiary of the German chemical giant Bayer, is sold in Europe under the trade name Poncho. It was applied to the seeds of sweetcorn planted along the Rhine this spring. The seeds are treated in advance of being planted or are sprayed while in the field.
May 26, 2008
Harper, Harris--what's the diff?
Not a dime's worth, apparently, beyond the fact that the one is federal and the other provincial. The one's from out west, the other's from up north. Our "new Conservative" PM is well known for his penchant for recycling right-wing failures from other hardline Conservative governments-that-failed. Apparently, in Harpoland, the fecal matter falls up--just as in BushCo's Amurrica. And my, how the sewage flows uphill here in Ontario lately--more specifically, all the way from Walkerton to Parliament Hill. Meet the New Tory, same as the Old Tory (not to be confused with the respected Red Tory, now alas a Dead Tory).
A certain failed premier of Ontario is obviously the template for the "new Conservative" Harpo. His latest environmentally dubious recycle? None other than a goober from the late and unlamented Mike Harris regime:
April 07, 2008
Cuba: Canary in the global coalmine
Cuban permaculturist Roberto Perez tells how his country adapted to economic and ecologic necessity thanks to the big US embargo aimed at starving the revolution out:
To outsiders, the Cuban system is frequently presented in the media as a failure; its successes (not to mention its fifty-plus years of sheer survival, which is its biggest success!) don't rate a mention. Just look at all the recent hoopla over cellphones and DVD players; only capitalistic "successes" make the news, and the fact that they don't remedy more pressing human needs is conveniently swept under the rug. Too bad that capitalism itself is still busy denying the obvious: that its own "grow or die" model has been an unmitigated disaster, responsible for everything from a rise in poverty and diseases, to global warming itself. In light of that, the Cuban model doesn't look so dumb.
April 01, 2008
Halliburton is poisoning the troops
Sadly, this is NO April Fool's joke:
If you know a returned Iraq vet who has been in contact with any facilities "serviced" by Halliburton, KBR, etc.--please, urge them to see their doctor to be tested for waterborne pathogens. You could save a lot of lives.
March 18, 2008
ExxtortionMobil fails!
(Translation: "Gimme everything you got under your belt." The belt in question is the Orinoco Belt, a region rich with extra-heavy crude oil.)
Pardon me for the Schadenfreude, but this is just too sweet...
February 10, 2008
Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies
Hard home(boy) truth about FUX Snooze:
...and a shout-out to Barack Obama at the end. Let's hope that if nominated and elected, he'll be able to make REAL change to all this.
January 08, 2008
Third World invades First World! Film at 11...
Well, actually, no film. Why? Because this isn't sexy enough for TV, compared to Britney's latest camera-friendly freak-out:
The United States ranks last among 19 industrialized nations when it comes to deaths that could have been prevented.The report by The Commonwealth Fund, published in the journal Health Affairs, said 101,000 deaths per year could have been prevented by access to timely and effective healthcare. The top performers were France, Japan and Australia.
Ellen Nolte and Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine looked at deaths "amenable to healthcare before age 75 between 1997-98 and 2002-03."
The researchers found that while other countries saw these types of deaths decline by an average of 16 percent, the United States experienced only a 4 percent decline. "It is notable that all countries have improved substantially except the U.S.," said Nolte, lead author of the study.
Commonwealth Fund Senior Vice President Cathy Schoen said the finding that other countries are reducing preventable deaths more rapidly with less money "indicates that policy, goals and efforts to improve health systems make a difference."
Translation from Wonkish to plain English: Knock off with all the free-market shit, America, you are starting to eat your young! Get single-payer public healthcare already, and take some lessons from your neighbors to the north!
Of course, to say something like that would make one a socialist, and everyone knows socialism is evil. Milton Friedman said so. (So do some "Christian" wackos with obviously zero knowledge of the subject.)
Soon as I find out where they buried Friedman, I swear I will make a pilgrimage to piss on his grave. I think it's quite right to hold him responsible for the current mess, and I hate what he's done to my American friends.
What a pity we Canadians don't have another John Kenneth Galbraith on hand to lend our buddies to help them get themselves sorted out properly.
December 27, 2007
More proof that Dubya doesn't read
...and neither does he, nor any of his lackeys, have the slightest concept of a little thing known as reading comprehension.
Think Progress has ferreted out the real source of Dubya's antipathy to embryonic stem cell research--a total misinterpretation of an improbable scenario from Aldous Huxley (read aloud to him, of course, by one of his loyal flunkies, since Dubya can't be bothered to bestir himself):
December 13, 2007
Richard Pombo's ba-ack...
...and for some strange reason, the above image was the first thing that came to my mind after reading this:
November 26, 2007
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!
Oi, oi, oi.
In honor of their having elected a new PM who's really got his shit together, I feel a song coming on.
November 25, 2007
Loud and clear, but saying the wrong thing
Somebody please tell Harpo that the incumbent Australian PM got voted out because he refused to sign on to the Kyoto Protocol. Harpo opened his piehole wide at the Commonwealth Summit in Kampala, Uganda...and the wrong sounds came out. And right on the heels of that came a major, MAJOR fuckery:
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper insisted any reference to binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions be deleted because the call for committing to such targets would not apply to all major polluters."What we were dealing with here was an initial proposal that would suggest binding and absolute targets on some countries and not others. And Canada has been insistent now at three consecutive international forums that we need one effective international protocol that ultimately involves action by all major emitters," he said.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who met earlier Saturday with Harper, was one of the strongest advocates of a binding commitment to reduce greenhouse gases.
But Canada refused to agree to the plan, and without consensus, the Commonwealth was blocked.
Continue reading "Loud and clear, but saying the wrong thing" »
November 19, 2007
The Warning
Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails fame) has created a powerful video that rings all the right alarm bells. Crank your speakers.
October 22, 2007
Paying the Price: Killing the Children of Iraq
John Pilger's documentary, broadcast on British channel ITV in 2000, explores just how old the "Saddam had WMDs" fallacy was, and how destructive. And also how hypocritical was all the tut-tutting on the part of the US and Great Britain. Both countries were responsible for the ascension of Saddam as well as for the WMD stockpiles he did possess--the same ones which were destroyed later on under the UN's eyes.
Judging by the sudden jumps in cancer rates and birth defects, related by the doctors you see here, it's a no-brainer that Iraq was nuked with the ultimate dirty bomb--the "depleted" uranium shell. Yet another layer of Anglo-American hypocrisy reveals itself. Just who were these people to try to starve out Iraq in the name of eliminating a dictator they created and armed? And what right had they to use WMD on Iraq--in the name of eliminating Saddam and his WMD, which they themselves supplied?
Bear in mind that this is the country PNAC urged Bill Clinton to bomb in 1998, feeling that what was going on, though devastating to ordinary Iraqis, was just not devastating enough. Clinton declined to bomb--but over half a million sanctions-related child deaths were, apparently, quite acceptable to Madeleine Albright's State Department. Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein and his cronies were demonstrably NOT affected in the slightest by the sanctions. Gee, maybe PNAC was right about bombing and full-scale war (i.e. more death, more destruction, and even less humanitarian aid getting through) being needed to dislodge him.
Oh wait, there was bombing, too. It was still not enough to appease PNAC. Maybe because the targets were a few shepherds, their children...and sheep.
And don't forget, this all happened BEFORE Gulf War II and the current occupation.
October 09, 2007
They could learn a thing or two from Venezuela
From Straight Goods, two interesting articles on Alberta and its oil.
Numero Uno notes that Ontario's oil addiction is fueling Alberta's polluting ways, and reviews a bomb-throwerish book whose basic thesis is that Albertans are stupid for polluting so much and not giving a shit. Of course, it's not as if our entire country isn't car-dependent to a fault, and it's not as if that isn't feeding into the nasty state of affairs in Alberta. And it's not as if there aren't conservative politicians all over it doing their damnedest to keep it that way--because, they say, jobs depend on it. (Someone kindly clue them in to the radical notion that protecting the ecology is also good for the economy--environmentally-friendlier technology CREATES jobs. Someone also inform them that green politics are taking hold in Alberta even as the pollution problem goes from bad to worse--precisely because there IS a pollution problem, and the ranchers aren't so happy with the oilpatch. Remember, farmers feed cities!)
Numero Dos is even more interesting. Finally, word is getting out that the way Alberta's oilpatch does business...is not sound business. Alberta's public sector is suffering because oil is treated as a private-sector purview, which it shouldn't be. And the fact that the oil industry is still crying poor, has Ricardo Acuña of the Parkland Institute calling foul:
Continue reading "They could learn a thing or two from Venezuela" »
October 08, 2007
Floaters in space
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield explains how space toilets work. Stick around till the end and you might learn something about, er, meteor showers.
August 13, 2007
Eat this and weep
Organic foods protect children from the toxins in pesticides, while foods grown using modern, intensive agricultural techniques contain fewer nutrients and minerals than they did 60 years ago, according to two new scientific studies.A US research team from Emory University in Atlanta analysed urine samples from children ages three to 11 who ate only organic foods and found that they contained virtually no metabolites of two common pesticides, malathion and chlorpyrifos.
However, once the children returned to eating conventionally grown foods, concentrations of these pesticide metabolites quickly climbed as high as 263 parts per billion, says the study published February 21.
July 21, 2007
Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre
A half-hour video exploring the use of napalm (which nobody calls it anymore, but which in fact it is) at Fallujah.
May 13, 2007
Welcome to capitalism! Sorry you got beat up!
From the UK Guardian, a little news item from not-so-red-anymore China:
China unveiled plans yesterday to deploy police in hospital wards and outpatient clinics to protect medical staff from the public, amid growing instances of physical violence meted out by patients furious at charges and dubious treatment.The government is concerned about increased attacks on doctors, nurses and administrative staff as the healthcare system becomes the focus of resentment about the gap between rich and poor.
According to the China Daily, 5,500 medical workers were injured last year in assaults and protests, causing more than 200m yuan (£13m) damage.
Continue reading "Welcome to capitalism! Sorry you got beat up!" »
May 06, 2007
The Future of Food
A scary but utterly important film on the dangers of genetically modified foods and what we can do to stop their deadly encroachment on our tables, our fields and our lives. More information can be found at the filmmaker's website.
April 10, 2007
A most disturbing video
From a link sent to me by my friend Corey.
Who made this video I don't know, but apparently they are Iraqi. The speaker is very eloquent, and a lot of the statements he makes ring true. He decries the false, meaningless "democracy" of the neo-cons, saying it would be better to live in an outright dictatorship. Food for thought? Yes, and some will say it's hard to digest. Others will probably dismiss it as al-Q propaganda, giving aid and comfort to The Enemy, etc. Make of it what you will, but watch it anyway. It gives no aid or comfort to anyone, only validation to what we in the peace movement have long believed: that Gulf War II is not and never has been about freedom, democracy, stopping terrorism or WMDs.
April 03, 2007
Brazilian women say "Nao" to Bush's ethanol scheme
Are you listening, Lula?
(Video originally seen on Aporrea, courtesy of TVColetiva Brazil. Portuguese only, but it's easy to tell what's going on.)
There were about 900 women at this demo, according to Aporrea. This was a serious one. But entirely peaceful, in spite of guards trying to confiscate their banners.
March 24, 2007
Pokin' the Bear
A little musical interlude featuring the inimitable pipes of the imbecilic Pigman, Rush Limbaugh.
BTW, Rush, I know some hungry polar bears who would LOVE you for lunch.
March 08, 2007
Poison DUst: another must-see
If you think what it does to US soldiers is appalling, wait till you see what "depleted" uranium is doing to the people of Iraq. And its half-life is 4.5 BILLION years. "Harmless"? Yeah--just like Agent Orange.
February 18, 2007
Terror-Free Oil Slicks come out and play!
Oh, boy. I just caught a flying one from a big, brave, wannabe terror-free oilman, and I'm sooooooo scared. Take a gander at what landed in my comments section today.
The only thing that overshadows author's stupidity is his poor research skills.Article above: "embrace the economy car, the hybrid car, the fuel-cell car, and most importantly, the carpool."
TFO goals (http://www.terrorfreeoil.org/coalition.php):
- Educate consumers about alternative fuels (Ethanol, BioDiesel, etc.)
- Promote Hybrids & FFVs
- Promote public transportation
It might be worth researching the subject before providing your scholarly opinion. Will make you look less of a moron.
Bravo! You have finally come out from under your rock to insult me, reiterate your empty blurb, and give me an instant, depersonalized, internet sex change to boot. How courageous of you!
There's only one problem with your calling me a moron: it makes you look like an idiot.
Continue reading "Terror-Free Oil Slicks come out and play!" »
February 13, 2007
"Terror-free oil"--what it really means
Well, hey howdy. There's a new face on the gasoline scene:
Oh my, aren't they patriotic. Just look at that logo! Not a bit subtle. What could be more "American" than cashing in wherever you can, even on tragedy?
Unfortunately, this is just another way of profiting from the gullibility of the "patriotic" sheeple--the same ones who stick made-in-China yellow ribbon magnets on their SUVs and call that "supporting the troops". It's a slick scam, and here's why:
Continue reading ""Terror-free oil"--what it really means" »
February 03, 2007
There goes the neighborhood
And right along with it, all hope that Peruvian president Alan Garcia might have learned from mistakes of the past:
Environmental and human rights group in Peru have denounced the government's campaign to auction off large swathes of the Amazon to oil and gas companies.They say the amount of Peruvian Amazon territory open to exploration has risen from 13% to 70% in two years.
They say this is putting at risk the biodiversity of the Amazon and the lives of indigenous people.
Peruvian President Alan Garcia has said the plans are part of his investment programme to tackle widespread poverty.
January 06, 2007
Quotable: John Stuart Mill on predator capitalism
"I confess that I am not charmed with the ideal of life held out by those who think that the normal state of human beings is that of struggling to get on; that the trampling, crushing, elbowing, and treading on each other's heels, which form the existing type of social life, are the most desirable lot of human beings."
-- John Stuart Mill
November 13, 2006
Did Israel "mini-nuke" Lebanon?
According to Italy's RAI News, it smells suspiciously like it...
The special report was triggered by the radioactivity measurements reported on a crater probably created by an Israeli Bunker Buster bomb in the village of Khiam, in southern Lebanon. The measurements were carried out by two Lebanese professors of physics - Mohammad Ali Kubaissi and Ibrahim Rachidi. The data - 700 nanosieverts per hour — showed remarkably higher radiocativity than the average in the area (Beirut = 35 nSv/hr ).On September 17th, Ali Kubaissi took British researcher Dai Williams, from the environmentalist organization Green Audit, to the same site, to take samples that were then submitted to Chris Busby, technical advisor of the Supervisory Committee on Depleted Uranium, which reports to the British Ministry of Defense. The samples were tested by Harwell's nuclear laboratory, one of the most authoritative research centers in the world. On October 17th, Harwell disclosed the testing results - two samples in 10 did contain radioactivity.
October 05, 2006
A man, a plan, a canal--NICARAGUA?
Hey wait...that's not a palindrome. Damn. Uh, I believe this would fall under the general heading of WTF???
Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries in Latin America, plans to construct a $20bn rival to the Panama canal to enable the largest tankers and container ships in the world to pass between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
September 11, 2006
The obligatory fifth-anniversary 9-11 post, with a difference
Blah, blah blah...
That, Gentle Reader, is the sound of the mainstream media in the US, talking a lot and not actually saying anything. For the last five years, it's been doing nothing but that on one particular day when it owes the public so much more than just some obligatory annual orgy of grief and remembrance with an unholy admixture of misplaced patriotism.
Continue reading "The obligatory fifth-anniversary 9-11 post, with a difference" »
August 29, 2006
One year after Katrina...
...and what have we learned?
Well, for starters, that the BushCo Imperial Preznitcy is rather reminiscent of the royal family of France--heedless of everything, right up to its date with La Guillotine:
July 29, 2006
So much for Agent Orange being "harmless"!
Scientists have long been saying otherwise, and here's one more study to prove it...
New Zealand troops who served in the Vietnam War suffered significant genetic damage from exposure to Agent Orange, a study suggests.The chemical was used by the US military in Vietnam in the 1960s.
It has been blamed for a variety of medical conditions suffered by soldiers and up to four million Vietnamese.
The study by New Zealand's scientists could have a big effect on campaigners' efforts to sue major chemical firms and the US government, correspondents say.
Continue reading "So much for Agent Orange being "harmless"!" »
July 12, 2006
REALLY pissing Jesus off
Can you believe this?
Friends and family lauded as a devout Christian and family leader the man who built Enron into an international energy powerhouse before its collapse in the biggest corporate scandal of its time.Lay's stepson David Herrold told the nearly full First United Methodist Church that Lay was wrongly convicted, and he was angry about the portrayals of his stepfather in the media.
"He did have a strong faith in God and I know he's in heaven, and I'm glad he's not in a position anymore to be whipped by his enemy," Herrold said.
July 08, 2006
D'oh!
The sad part is, all of Dubya's appointments have basically amounted to something just like this.
July 05, 2006
So much for the "miracle" of DDT!
There are some 'tards in this world who want to bring back DDT--to control malarial mosquitoes.
I have just one question for them: Were you breast-fed?
Children exposed to the pesticide DDT while in the womb experience development problems, researchers say.The pesticide was banned in the US and UK in the 1970s, but it is still used in some countries to kill malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
It was already known DDT was linked to premature births and low birthweight.
June 17, 2006
More proof that Frankenfoods suck shit
Yes, those pesky scientists have found some more eye-bugging evidence that Monsanto is lying through its teeth to us.
And some of them are from Venezuela!
Two research teams in England and Venezuela have discovered something alarming about the new genetically modified crops filled with insecticide. The insects not only eat them, they seem to thrive on them.
May 15, 2006
Rona Ambrose: Canada's (inter)national embarrassment
If anyone makes me, as a Canadian, hang my head in shame, it's this woman:
Canada has no chance of meeting its targets under the Kyoto accord and must set more realistic goals for cutting greenhouse gases, the federal environment minister says."My departmental officials and the department officials from natural resources have indicated that it is impossible, impossible for Canada to reach its Kyoto targets," Rona Ambrose said Friday.
Continue reading "Rona Ambrose: Canada's (inter)national embarrassment" »
May 13, 2006
Buh-bye, Big 'n' Ugly...
And good riddance to bad rubbish. From the CBC:
General Motors will drop the gas-guzzling Hummer H1 at the end of the 2006 model year, the automaker said Friday.The final H1 is expected to be built in June. About 12,000 H1s have been produced since 1992. The vehicle is based on the U.S. military's Humvee.
April 22, 2006
Happy Earth Day, dear Repugs!
You say there's no such thing as global warming? Ha! Triumph the Insult Dog poops on you!
And, on a more serious note, so does Seed Magazine.
April 14, 2006
Too true to be truly funny
This would be a good time to start rethinking all that, yes?
March 22, 2006
Another 9-11 first responder has died
And if you guess correctly what she died of, you win a hunk of asbestos-ridden rubble from Ground Zero:
A 41-year-old paramedic who worked at a morgue for months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center was buried Monday after dying of an asbestos-related cancer.
March 07, 2006
Mexico: sneak preview for America's future
Hey, Americans...wanna know where your country's headed under BushCo, NAFTA, the NRA, the whole shebang? Clicky-clicky...but you'll no likey:
In an overwhelmingly Catholic country, abortion is illegal in Mexico unless the woman concerned was raped.However, according to the report, many women are still denied safe abortions even if their pregnancy was a result of this crime.
Pregnant rape victims are intimidated, insulted and threatened.
Continue reading "Mexico: sneak preview for America's future" »
February 27, 2006
The swiftboating of CITGO
Oil Wars and Juan Gonzalez have both got the goods on Joe Barton, the Texas Repug oil profiteer-cum-congresscritter squatting in the House of Representatives, who's coming down hard on CITGO for reasons that can only be described as blatantly political. Wikipedia, likewise, has some interesting poopy on him (pay special attention to his bat-squeeze views on global warming, which it's clear he doesn't understand--but hey, there must be "debate", lest people be distracted by the terrible, irrefutable facts that cause them to spend less money on the oil peddled by Joe's Texas pals. Just like there needs to be "debate" on the mere "theory" of evolution.)
February 16, 2006
So much for Monsanto's claims
...of saving the world with its Frankenfoods. From the Beeb:
Sustainable farming methods can help the poorest farmers in developing nations out of poverty, new research suggests.Scientists found that techniques such as crop rotation and organic farming increased crop yields by an average of 79%, without risking future harvests.
February 09, 2006
A cowflop by any other name
...still smells like bullshit. But hey, don't let that stop you from calling it "journalism". From the NY Times:
Journalists like to think of themselves as presenting as accurate a picture as they can of the real world.The American Association of Petroleum Geologists takes a broader view. It is presenting its annual journalism award this year to Michael Crichton, the science fiction writer whose latest book, "State of Fear," dismisses global warming as a largely imaginary threat embraced by malignant scientists for their own ends.
"It is fiction," conceded Larry Nation, communications director for the association. "But it has the absolute ring of truth."
February 04, 2006
Uh-oh, Canada...
...My home and native land;
True patriot love
May not protect thy sand!
We need a much bigger army
Since Dubya, ever so smarmy,
Has vile designs on thee!
God keep our land
Out of BushCo's hands!
O Canada, who'll stand on guard for thee?
O Canada, who'll stand on guard for thee?
January 08, 2006
Space tourists = space TERRORISTS?
I'm trying very hard not to laugh over this...honest I am. But get a load of the latest bizarre directive from the FAA:
Space tourists must be screened to ensure they are not terrorists, according to proposed regulations from the US Federal Aviation Administration.The draft report's suggestions aim to prevent a terrorist from destroying a spacecraft or using it as a weapon.
However, the report has no strict proposals on the health of any would-be space tourists.
January 04, 2006
Can't you read the signs?
Honestly, sometimes I'm amazed at what you can do when you put your mind to it...and bend the resources of the state to the task. Here's a nice long piece from Vheadline.com detailing the many successes of Hugo Chavez. It seems that free education and massive state-run literacy programs are not only a hit with the people (that stands to reason; hungry minds are eager for anything that will feed them!); they're also a further proof that socialism works and redounds to the overall good of society.
Most striking of all is how quickly Chavez has managed to virtually wipe out illiteracy in Venezuela. Here's how he did it:
January 03, 2006
This war ain't gonna pay for itself, nosirree...
Forget everything you heard out of Washington in '03.
No, on second thought--remember it. And throw it back in the faces of all the wingnuts who repeated this bullcrap to you. The war in Iraq is going to be a money pit. And trust the media of Old Europe--in this case, Germany--to get the story right where the US media is falling on its ass:
Continue reading "This war ain't gonna pay for itself, nosirree..." »
December 29, 2005
Global warming, nonexistent?
It's time to junk the junk science of the Right, and face facts: GLOBAL WARMING IS REAL.
And not only that: IT KILLS. From the December 18 issue of the UK Sunday Times:
Scientists have for the first time found evidence that polar bears are drowning because climate change is melting the Arctic ice shelf.The researchers were startled to find bears having to swim up to 60 miles across open sea to find food. They are being forced into the long voyages because the ice floes from which they feed are melting, becoming smaller and drifting farther apart.
December 26, 2005
The Strange Case of Mrs. Anthrax and Dr. Germ
Er...does it sound like I'm channeling Robert Louis Stevenson tonight? So sorry. I'm afraid this tale is much too bizarre to be fiction.
In a way, though, this IS a Jekyll-and-Hyde story, involving scientific research, mysterious powders, monsters and strange transformations, as well as no small amount of violence and human two-facedness. But I do think it only fair to warn you that this is a tale of which the last chapter has not yet been written, nor are the heroes and villains of it quite who you would expect, for no one in it is quite as they seem. So, with that said, get comfortable in your chair (or wherever you happen to find yourself), pour yourself a generous tankard of your libation of choice, and read on...
Continue reading "The Strange Case of Mrs. Anthrax and Dr. Germ" »
December 21, 2005
Let's beat on Canada...AGAIN!
Don't these right-wing assholes have anything better to do with their time?
Fox News host Neil Cavuto highlighted Martin's remark at a news conference that the United States is a ''reticent nation'' lacking a ''global conscience'' on climate change.''So have the Canadians gotten a little too big for their britches?'' Cavuto asked.
''Could our neighbours to the north soon be our enemies?''
December 18, 2005
You can shun the climate talks, but...
...it doesn't mean that climate woes will just magically bypass you. No matter how much you try to delude yourself that they will.
Yes, USA, I'm talking to you. You've been comporting yourself with your usual shameful "la la la la, I'm not listening" flair. What have you got to say for yourself about THIS?