I was listening to "Forbidden Colours" by David Sylvian the other day, when a friend notified my via Facebook to tell me that he was listening to "Snow Borne Sorrow" from his new band, Nine Horses, at the same time...Spooky, he says...
"Forbidden Colours" was a collaborative effort with Ryuichi Sakamoto, for the 1983 Nagisa Oshima film "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence". My friend's message got me to want to listen a bit more to Sylvian.
A bit about this creative source, from England, is that he was the front man for the band Japan from 1974 - 1982. His work with, the King Crimson member, Robert Fripp is also always great to listen to. He became a largely integrated musical favorite of mine upon his launch of his solo career with his recording called "Brilliant Trees". I have included the video of that song to exemplify his new jazz influences at that time. The stunning and amazing visual display show some of the creative influences of Yuka Fujii. His hypnotic voice bed, I feel, is his trademark.
That was back when there were two sides to a recording. His first side held more of the accessible tracks, while side B was used for a more experimental style of music. One could see the nuance of jazz that had begun to permeate his life at that time. He was introduced to the influential style that changed his musical life from that point forward by Yuka Fujii, a photographer, artist and designer. She was the former girlfriend of the bassist from the band Japan. She has been an integral creative part of Sylvian's life since.
His musical life is quite varied, hugely cutting edge and creatively powerful. His most recent recordings with his new group called Nine Horses show his philosophical growth and musical depth of his entire career.
He is now a resident of the Napa Valley in northern California with his wife Ingrid Chavez, an artist signed to Prince's Paisley Park Records. She had sent Sylvian a copy of her first album. He liked what he heard and thought her voice would fit well with some material that both Ryuichi Sakamoto and he were working on for a new Sakamoto release. Chavez and Sylvian quickly developed a bond and decided to travel together throughout the UK and the USA, where they eventually settled after marrying in 1992.
This following recording shows some of the depth that Sylvian has come through over the years. This is a more recent live recording of the song "Atom and Cell". His lyrics follow showing his powerful philosophical creativity for poetry.
Atom And Cell
Her skin was darker than ashes
And she had something to say
Bout being naked to the elements
At the end of yet another day
And the rain on her back that continued to fall
From the bruise of her lips
Swollen, fragile, and small
And the bills that you paid with were worth nothing at all
A lost foreign currency
Multi-coloured, barely reputable
Like the grasses that blew in the warm summer breeze
Well she offered you this to do as you pleased
And where is the poetry?
Didn’t she promise us poetry?
The redwoods, the deserts, the tropical ease
The swamps and the prairie dogs, the Joshua trees
The long straight highways from dirt road to tar
Hitching your wheels to truck, bus, or car
And the lives that you hold in the palm of your hand
You toss them aside small and damn near unbreakable
You drank all the water and you pissed yourself dry
Then you fell to your knees and proceeded to cry
And who could feel sorry for a drunkard like this
In a democracy of dunces with a parasites kiss?
And where are the stars?
Didn’t she promise us stars?
Nothing will ever be as it was
The price has been paid with a thousand loose shoes
Pictures are pasted on shop windows and walls
Like a poor mans Boltanski
Lost one and all.
Sell, sell
Bid your farewell
Come, come
Save yourself
Give yourself over
Pushing your consciousness
Deep into every atom and cell,
Sell,
Bid your farewell
Come, come
Save yourself
Give yourself over
Pushing your consciousness
Deep into every atom and cell,
Sell,
Bid your farewell
Come, come
Save yourself
Give yourself over
Pushing your consciousness
Deep into every atom and cell
This, the 227th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
The Truth is Better than Fiction, but Continue to Read Books!
The old adage that "the truth is better than fiction"...I must agree.
It seems our world is filled with truths and story's that are so outrageous, it makes creative writers pause and think that their own stories, no matter how morose or sensational one can be, it cannot even begin to compare to what truths lie out there. My continued mantra as of late has been, "You can't make this shit up...!"
I am one of the first to say that the imagination is one of the best attributes to possess. I live a lot of my life in that state...(sometimes perhaps to the detriment of my reality, but I digress)
Over the past eight years we have had the awe and wonderment of having Bush Jr. running the most powerful country on this planet. His own idiocy, or perhaps disguised brilliance, has astounded me from day one. (For those that voted for him, perhaps now is their time to take pause...but that is not the point...) With his capacity to spend the entire presidency lying, deceiving, murdering, and smiling the entire time I find him to possess a simply astounding capacity to be that of a living Satan. Recently, through the renowned TARP program, we have seen his cunning ability to pilfer away over $500 Billion tax dollars of the citizen precious future earnings while the world economy collapses, the people lose their jobs and homes, and without as much as a blink or regard or need to explain where the funds are going to? How amazing is that? I suggest looking for his offshore accounts...
The truth comes from a burning 'Bush'...
This past year we have seen the Austrian man, Josef Fritzl, who had his own child imprisoned in his own basement underneath the rest of his own family without their knowledge for nearly 25 years. During which he fathered 7 children from his own imprisoned daughter. One of which had died while a few days old. He then burned it in the oven to get rid of it...
Now, as of late, we have a 40 year ponzi scheme to the tune of $50 Billion conspired by Bernie Madoff. (By the by, his name is pronounced Made Off - as in Madoff made off with a lot of coin) It seems, despite the time line of 40 years of deception that this ponzi scheme took before the house of cards fell, he is going to claim as his defense, get this, insanity!
You can't make this shit up!!
Let's see, Madoff has been noted as one of the most respected investors on Wall Street for 40 odd years. His returns have been consistent and scrutinized by the SEC a few times over the duration and found to be sound, or at least they found no evidence of wrong doing. That is insane if anything. Maybe they were looking at the other set of books... He has been able to acquire billions of dollars of investment money from some of the richest people in the world...but, he is insane?! His statements to his clients recorded investments that never took place. Most of his clients are very rich, respectable investors. He also recently told his son, and a few people at the firm, that upon the breakdown of the investment scheme that it was just that, a scheme. There was no investment fund and it was broke. A house of cards that was going to collapse. But, then he's insane. But, it's the truth. And he had very intelligent investors fork over billions. Are they also so insane as to not recognize this man's own insanity for 40 years?
Now, he is on house arrest. (First of all, I find it funny how a black man in Amerika, who might steal a few bucks from the corner store, would have to do time in county prior to his trial while a rich, white man who conspires for forty years and embezzles billions from his clients gets house arrest.) It seems there is concern that he is not saying much. Probably due to his lawyers advising him to do so, in order to create the illusion of a mental breakdown. Or it could be the anti-depressants he is taking so as not to end up like his billionaire investment fund manager friend, Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, who committed suicide due to the loss of his clients money through this mayhem.
I must say, that there is nothing out of bounds, as based on our current reality, that one could come up with to write a fictional story. Although, if someone were to write these stories, prior to them being in the news, it would probably be labeled as sensationalistic, or outrageous, by the critics and the press.
The irony to the date of 9-11 to incredibly correspond with an emergency call, the irony of our first African-American decent President's name of Obama while we are in the midst of a global war on terror involving a man named Osama. (You notice the difference in the two names in B-S) The name of Madoff who conspired the greatest global Ponzi scheme ever to sound like Made Off... The gods are laughing their asses off while we endure this insane irony we call life on earth...
Life...truth is better than fiction.
Despite the truth, I still tell everyone to continue to read books!!
This, the 226th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
It seems our world is filled with truths and story's that are so outrageous, it makes creative writers pause and think that their own stories, no matter how morose or sensational one can be, it cannot even begin to compare to what truths lie out there. My continued mantra as of late has been, "You can't make this shit up...!"
I am one of the first to say that the imagination is one of the best attributes to possess. I live a lot of my life in that state...(sometimes perhaps to the detriment of my reality, but I digress)
Over the past eight years we have had the awe and wonderment of having Bush Jr. running the most powerful country on this planet. His own idiocy, or perhaps disguised brilliance, has astounded me from day one. (For those that voted for him, perhaps now is their time to take pause...but that is not the point...) With his capacity to spend the entire presidency lying, deceiving, murdering, and smiling the entire time I find him to possess a simply astounding capacity to be that of a living Satan. Recently, through the renowned TARP program, we have seen his cunning ability to pilfer away over $500 Billion tax dollars of the citizen precious future earnings while the world economy collapses, the people lose their jobs and homes, and without as much as a blink or regard or need to explain where the funds are going to? How amazing is that? I suggest looking for his offshore accounts...
The truth comes from a burning 'Bush'...
This past year we have seen the Austrian man, Josef Fritzl, who had his own child imprisoned in his own basement underneath the rest of his own family without their knowledge for nearly 25 years. During which he fathered 7 children from his own imprisoned daughter. One of which had died while a few days old. He then burned it in the oven to get rid of it...
Now, as of late, we have a 40 year ponzi scheme to the tune of $50 Billion conspired by Bernie Madoff. (By the by, his name is pronounced Made Off - as in Madoff made off with a lot of coin) It seems, despite the time line of 40 years of deception that this ponzi scheme took before the house of cards fell, he is going to claim as his defense, get this, insanity!
You can't make this shit up!!
Let's see, Madoff has been noted as one of the most respected investors on Wall Street for 40 odd years. His returns have been consistent and scrutinized by the SEC a few times over the duration and found to be sound, or at least they found no evidence of wrong doing. That is insane if anything. Maybe they were looking at the other set of books... He has been able to acquire billions of dollars of investment money from some of the richest people in the world...but, he is insane?! His statements to his clients recorded investments that never took place. Most of his clients are very rich, respectable investors. He also recently told his son, and a few people at the firm, that upon the breakdown of the investment scheme that it was just that, a scheme. There was no investment fund and it was broke. A house of cards that was going to collapse. But, then he's insane. But, it's the truth. And he had very intelligent investors fork over billions. Are they also so insane as to not recognize this man's own insanity for 40 years?
Now, he is on house arrest. (First of all, I find it funny how a black man in Amerika, who might steal a few bucks from the corner store, would have to do time in county prior to his trial while a rich, white man who conspires for forty years and embezzles billions from his clients gets house arrest.) It seems there is concern that he is not saying much. Probably due to his lawyers advising him to do so, in order to create the illusion of a mental breakdown. Or it could be the anti-depressants he is taking so as not to end up like his billionaire investment fund manager friend, Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, who committed suicide due to the loss of his clients money through this mayhem.
I must say, that there is nothing out of bounds, as based on our current reality, that one could come up with to write a fictional story. Although, if someone were to write these stories, prior to them being in the news, it would probably be labeled as sensationalistic, or outrageous, by the critics and the press.
The irony to the date of 9-11 to incredibly correspond with an emergency call, the irony of our first African-American decent President's name of Obama while we are in the midst of a global war on terror involving a man named Osama. (You notice the difference in the two names in B-S) The name of Madoff who conspired the greatest global Ponzi scheme ever to sound like Made Off... The gods are laughing their asses off while we endure this insane irony we call life on earth...
Life...truth is better than fiction.
Despite the truth, I still tell everyone to continue to read books!!
This, the 226th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Thursday, December 25, 2008
An Existential Christmas!
There is something to an existentialistic Christmas.
There is a beautiful, ornate, antiquity filled cathedral, originally built in the mid 1800's, on the top of Nob Hill in San Francisco named, Grace Cathedral. This grand structure holds Episcopal services daily, weekly, and holiday services that have over a thousand attend to a standing room only congregation. Their inlaid marble floor of the narthex section (seen above, from above) of the church has a labyrinth for all to do meditative walks throughout the year.
Last night, there was a Christmas eve service at midnight to which I attended. The congregation was packed more than I had seen in the varied years to which I attended past. Perhaps everyone is searching for something during this changing time as we meander through the labyrinth in our own lives.
The Very Rev. Alan Jones, Dean, attended to preach his last Christmas service, as he is retiring next month. To this news he received a long standing ovation for his service to the church and community over the years. I like to go to this specific service as I thoroughly enjoy the music at these and last night they pulled out all the stops with the Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys performing, along with a full orchestra. Beautiful...
They put on a good show there. With such ornate and wonderful, peaceful surroundings and artistic art and tapestries, the incredible music, the incense and so much more...
Mr. Jones began his sermon last night by saying, "For those of you who have stopped going to church, maybe go this night every year, or every other year, or perhaps haven't been in thirty years, this is a night for you."
(I will go on with this paraphrasing, but be close to his point throughout.)
"This whole Christmas thing with the baby, and the virgin, and the middle eastern politics of that day...it's not real."
Okay, now you have my attention.
"What's real is the story. We need stories in our life. Stories to give us hope and insight. But, this guy Jesus, who came to save the world and was the son of God who came to save the world...it's not real.
"How many of you believe in fairies?" There was medium applause. "How many of you here believe in miracles?" There was larger applause. "That's pathetic!" A round of laughter through the nave from the humbled congregation.
This guy still has my attention.
"We are all going through things right now. Serious things that we have never experienced and never thought the world would again. The world, at nearly every turn looks as though it is falling to pieces. Foreclosures, joblessness, global poverty, a global slavery crisis, Darfur, Congo, wars, global warming, battle of sexual rights and freedoms, political transitions, and so much more. That is what is real!
"But, is that your life?
"What you continue to dwell and perceive as your life, will be your life. Are you doing what you want? Have you created the life you want for yourself. Are you playing the victim due to all of this global mayhem? Do you feel paralyzed to the circumstances that the world has laid upon you?
"For you, tonight, I say that the Christmas story is not real, but it is a story to show you that there is a power out there, much larger than yourselves, that has made a day that can be recognized for us all to be reborn. To save 'our world' we make on a daily basis. To save 'the life' we create on a daily basis to live and interact in this world around us.
"What the Christmas story shows us is that anyone can overcome whatever life throws at them. When there is no place to sleep, to lay your head, to get out of the cold,; whether you are poor or rich, a societal outcast, an executive or a laborer, we can overcome the perceived reigns of the rulers of the world to create the world we want for ourselves despite what is happening everywhere.
"We have a chance to be reborn again. To make ourselves new, with new ideas and new visions of what it is we want to create for ourselves in 'our lives'.
"This is what Christmas is about. The fact that whether you perceive the story as truth or not you have already agreed here that you believe in miracles. You are a miracle. Through this vast universe you were created like none other. You were created to make your claim upon this universe. You were given a shot to make whatever you wish for your life. You were born and can be reborn, through this Christmas spirit, to begin anew.
"Christmas is a celebration of life. The miracle of you. The chance to make the life you are wishing for in this world of chaos. The life you make will be based upon how you perceive your world.
"Our world needs these new lives to breathe new vision into it. That is what Christmas is. To take this time and breathe new life into your life and bore from that breathe a new vision for you life to create that vision for yourself. To make your world, that part of the larger world, the world and life that you want and yearn for.
"Merry Christmas to you all. Congratulations on your new birth. Take your new life and make your world the kind of world you want to live. Make your universe your own individualist universe that was given on this day just for you."
Nice...
"Merry Christmas to all!"
This, the 225th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
There is a beautiful, ornate, antiquity filled cathedral, originally built in the mid 1800's, on the top of Nob Hill in San Francisco named, Grace Cathedral. This grand structure holds Episcopal services daily, weekly, and holiday services that have over a thousand attend to a standing room only congregation. Their inlaid marble floor of the narthex section (seen above, from above) of the church has a labyrinth for all to do meditative walks throughout the year.
Last night, there was a Christmas eve service at midnight to which I attended. The congregation was packed more than I had seen in the varied years to which I attended past. Perhaps everyone is searching for something during this changing time as we meander through the labyrinth in our own lives.
The Very Rev. Alan Jones, Dean, attended to preach his last Christmas service, as he is retiring next month. To this news he received a long standing ovation for his service to the church and community over the years. I like to go to this specific service as I thoroughly enjoy the music at these and last night they pulled out all the stops with the Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys performing, along with a full orchestra. Beautiful...
They put on a good show there. With such ornate and wonderful, peaceful surroundings and artistic art and tapestries, the incredible music, the incense and so much more...
Mr. Jones began his sermon last night by saying, "For those of you who have stopped going to church, maybe go this night every year, or every other year, or perhaps haven't been in thirty years, this is a night for you."
(I will go on with this paraphrasing, but be close to his point throughout.)
"This whole Christmas thing with the baby, and the virgin, and the middle eastern politics of that day...it's not real."
Okay, now you have my attention.
"What's real is the story. We need stories in our life. Stories to give us hope and insight. But, this guy Jesus, who came to save the world and was the son of God who came to save the world...it's not real.
"How many of you believe in fairies?" There was medium applause. "How many of you here believe in miracles?" There was larger applause. "That's pathetic!" A round of laughter through the nave from the humbled congregation.
This guy still has my attention.
"We are all going through things right now. Serious things that we have never experienced and never thought the world would again. The world, at nearly every turn looks as though it is falling to pieces. Foreclosures, joblessness, global poverty, a global slavery crisis, Darfur, Congo, wars, global warming, battle of sexual rights and freedoms, political transitions, and so much more. That is what is real!
"But, is that your life?
"What you continue to dwell and perceive as your life, will be your life. Are you doing what you want? Have you created the life you want for yourself. Are you playing the victim due to all of this global mayhem? Do you feel paralyzed to the circumstances that the world has laid upon you?
"For you, tonight, I say that the Christmas story is not real, but it is a story to show you that there is a power out there, much larger than yourselves, that has made a day that can be recognized for us all to be reborn. To save 'our world' we make on a daily basis. To save 'the life' we create on a daily basis to live and interact in this world around us.
"What the Christmas story shows us is that anyone can overcome whatever life throws at them. When there is no place to sleep, to lay your head, to get out of the cold,; whether you are poor or rich, a societal outcast, an executive or a laborer, we can overcome the perceived reigns of the rulers of the world to create the world we want for ourselves despite what is happening everywhere.
"We have a chance to be reborn again. To make ourselves new, with new ideas and new visions of what it is we want to create for ourselves in 'our lives'.
"This is what Christmas is about. The fact that whether you perceive the story as truth or not you have already agreed here that you believe in miracles. You are a miracle. Through this vast universe you were created like none other. You were created to make your claim upon this universe. You were given a shot to make whatever you wish for your life. You were born and can be reborn, through this Christmas spirit, to begin anew.
"Christmas is a celebration of life. The miracle of you. The chance to make the life you are wishing for in this world of chaos. The life you make will be based upon how you perceive your world.
"Our world needs these new lives to breathe new vision into it. That is what Christmas is. To take this time and breathe new life into your life and bore from that breathe a new vision for you life to create that vision for yourself. To make your world, that part of the larger world, the world and life that you want and yearn for.
"Merry Christmas to you all. Congratulations on your new birth. Take your new life and make your world the kind of world you want to live. Make your universe your own individualist universe that was given on this day just for you."
Nice...
"Merry Christmas to all!"
This, the 225th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Opening Pandora's Box...
I cannot give enough Kudos to the website PANDORA. I've talked about this site before...
This is a music website that will play the music you want to listen to within minutes of your signing in. It will remember the kinds of music and artists you like to listen to. You can choose to create your own kinds of playing styles and listening stations in order to have the music you want at the click of a button.
And so much more...
Open your own Pandora's box!
This, the 224th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
This is a music website that will play the music you want to listen to within minutes of your signing in. It will remember the kinds of music and artists you like to listen to. You can choose to create your own kinds of playing styles and listening stations in order to have the music you want at the click of a button.
And so much more...
Open your own Pandora's box!
This, the 224th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Saturday, December 20, 2008
The Times are they a changin' ?
There are so many days, these past eight years or so, that I wake up and wonder if we are reverting back to the old days. But, I don't mean the days of Ozzie and Harriet, I mean the Crusades.
You know, that 800 year campaign of terror against any peoples that had opposing ideas to the Papacy and early Christianity. The power of the Pope had his day...and his knights and Knights Templar, etc. The last crusading order of knights to hold territory were the Knights Hospitaller. After the final fall of Acre, they took control of the Greek island of Rhodes(been there...), and in the sixteenth century, were driven to Malta, before being finally unseated by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798.
Bush began his crusade, he called his Reign on Terror, from a dream he had where god told him to invade Iraq. All in the name of god he wants to bring freedom and democracy to people around the world and rid the world of terrorists.
Rick Warren began his crusade in 1980 in a small church in Riverside, CA. He has gone on to sell over 20 Million copies of his non fiction book, The Purpose Driven Life, and preaches his ideas of the love of god to all who will listen.
The original Crusades killed hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people over hundreds of years and many campaigns. These more modern Bush crusades have killed millions of people over a handful of years.
The Crusades were to spread the idea that the remission of sin was a driving factor and provided any god-fearing man who had committed sins with an irresistible way out of eternal damnation in Hell.
Rick Warren outwardly opposes gay marriage, does not believe in evolution, has compared abortion to the Holocaust and backed the assassination of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Of course, all in the name of love for god. Although, like the earlier Papal Crusades, Rick Warren will allow gays and lesbians into his church if they repent and announce the remission of their "sins" and stop being gay...
Jerry Brown is the Attorney General of the state of California. He is going to take to trial the case of Prop 8 as unconstitutional. The proposition states that marriage is for only men and women, not men and men or women and women. Ken Starr is his opposing counsel. You can't think this shit up! So appropriate, though.
It's funny to look up marriage in the various dictionary's. You can begin to see the conservative dictionary's and the more modern ones. That is part of the dilemma.
Marriage is a legal relationship between spouses: a legally recognized relationship, established by a civil or religious ceremony, between two people who intend to live together as sexual and domestic partners. Seems simple enough for me...I'll stick with this dictionary for a while...
There are those that say it is only for man and women, all in the name of god. There are those that say a woman should NOT have a right to choose, all in the name of god. It's all god's plan as long as it doesn't have anything to do with their life. Of course, it's all good when they can go and repent every Sunday for their transgressions and therefore have an out in their god's eyes.
Good god...
One must remember that the Crusades were more about power, money, obedience, control than they were about their supposed cause of god.
and Bob Dylan wrote
"The Times They are a Changin'"
Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.
Copyright ©1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music
are the times a changin' ?
This, the 223th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
You know, that 800 year campaign of terror against any peoples that had opposing ideas to the Papacy and early Christianity. The power of the Pope had his day...and his knights and Knights Templar, etc. The last crusading order of knights to hold territory were the Knights Hospitaller. After the final fall of Acre, they took control of the Greek island of Rhodes(been there...), and in the sixteenth century, were driven to Malta, before being finally unseated by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798.
Bush began his crusade, he called his Reign on Terror, from a dream he had where god told him to invade Iraq. All in the name of god he wants to bring freedom and democracy to people around the world and rid the world of terrorists.
Rick Warren began his crusade in 1980 in a small church in Riverside, CA. He has gone on to sell over 20 Million copies of his non fiction book, The Purpose Driven Life, and preaches his ideas of the love of god to all who will listen.
The original Crusades killed hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people over hundreds of years and many campaigns. These more modern Bush crusades have killed millions of people over a handful of years.
The Crusades were to spread the idea that the remission of sin was a driving factor and provided any god-fearing man who had committed sins with an irresistible way out of eternal damnation in Hell.
Rick Warren outwardly opposes gay marriage, does not believe in evolution, has compared abortion to the Holocaust and backed the assassination of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Of course, all in the name of love for god. Although, like the earlier Papal Crusades, Rick Warren will allow gays and lesbians into his church if they repent and announce the remission of their "sins" and stop being gay...
Jerry Brown is the Attorney General of the state of California. He is going to take to trial the case of Prop 8 as unconstitutional. The proposition states that marriage is for only men and women, not men and men or women and women. Ken Starr is his opposing counsel. You can't think this shit up! So appropriate, though.
It's funny to look up marriage in the various dictionary's. You can begin to see the conservative dictionary's and the more modern ones. That is part of the dilemma.
Marriage is a legal relationship between spouses: a legally recognized relationship, established by a civil or religious ceremony, between two people who intend to live together as sexual and domestic partners. Seems simple enough for me...I'll stick with this dictionary for a while...
There are those that say it is only for man and women, all in the name of god. There are those that say a woman should NOT have a right to choose, all in the name of god. It's all god's plan as long as it doesn't have anything to do with their life. Of course, it's all good when they can go and repent every Sunday for their transgressions and therefore have an out in their god's eyes.
Good god...
One must remember that the Crusades were more about power, money, obedience, control than they were about their supposed cause of god.
and Bob Dylan wrote
"The Times They are a Changin'"
Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.
Copyright ©1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music
are the times a changin' ?
This, the 223th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Friday, December 19, 2008
Cartoonist Mark Fiore has a must see animation!
I couldn't resist this one once I came across it!
A must see for the holiday season.
Funny, Funny, Funny!!
This, the 222th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
A must see for the holiday season.
Funny, Funny, Funny!!
This, the 222th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
350
In my dream last night, all I saw was 350...350...350...
In the book of Genesis, it states that on the 7th day god rested and said, "Damn, I did good!" At that point, scientists say, through the science of carbon dioxode emission measurements through ice samples, that the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere hovered around 275ppm (parts per million).
Then, for those that watch the TV Show "Survivor", understand that there actually was a place god created called Eden. It was somewhere in Africa near an area we call, Gabon. Then, god made man... and 350ppm...
In the broad scheme of our planet's time line, if relating things to our clock, the time of humans on this planet is near 11:59:59. We are a small blip in the timeline.
350ppm...
About 4 Billion years have past in the age of the planet. It was only a few hundred years ago, in the late 18th century, that man began using fossil fuels to any measurable extent. The first time we began measuring the carbon dioxide emissions was in the 1950's. At that time, the results were around 315ppm. To date, it hovers around 385ppm and growing approximately 2ppm each year.
This year, sea ice the size of the state of Maine or 32,700 square miles melts every day, in the month of August. It has gone up from 24,400 square miles a day lost in August 2007. It just breaks away from the Arctic and falls into the ocean and begins melting. It is estimate that by the year 2070, all of the arctic ice will be gone.
The ice reflects the sun so that the heat doesn't stay in our atmosphere. The blue water absorbs the sun so that more heat remains. We call it global warming.
There was a report released in April of 2007 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It showed a dramatic increase in methane gas into our atmosphere. I discussed this issue a bit in the article entitled What Does a Lame Duck President, Bullshit, and Poultry Have in Common?
The world understands that we must cut global CO2 emissions. President Bush doesn't. ExxonMobile CEO Rex Tillerson stated, in the annual meeting for the company in the spring of this year, that he envisioned a world that still used fossil fuels for 2/3'rds of its power into the year 2030. The stock holders applauded. ExxonMobile had a profit of nearly $11 Billion, in the first quarter of this year.
During the company's annual meeting, a chunk of ice the size of Colorado fell into the ocean.
350ppm...
Just so you can put things into perspective, take a look at this video of the arctic sea ice melting. In August—the fastest recorded melting ever undid the gains of the winter. Here's what it looked like:
A warming Arctic causes the surface water to get warmer, which delays the onset of freeze up in the winter and leads to a shorter period of ice growth. Without the chance to thicken, sea ice becomes thinner and more vulnerable to continued melt.
350ppm...
This, the 221th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
In the book of Genesis, it states that on the 7th day god rested and said, "Damn, I did good!" At that point, scientists say, through the science of carbon dioxode emission measurements through ice samples, that the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere hovered around 275ppm (parts per million).
Then, for those that watch the TV Show "Survivor", understand that there actually was a place god created called Eden. It was somewhere in Africa near an area we call, Gabon. Then, god made man... and 350ppm...
In the broad scheme of our planet's time line, if relating things to our clock, the time of humans on this planet is near 11:59:59. We are a small blip in the timeline.
350ppm...
About 4 Billion years have past in the age of the planet. It was only a few hundred years ago, in the late 18th century, that man began using fossil fuels to any measurable extent. The first time we began measuring the carbon dioxide emissions was in the 1950's. At that time, the results were around 315ppm. To date, it hovers around 385ppm and growing approximately 2ppm each year.
This year, sea ice the size of the state of Maine or 32,700 square miles melts every day, in the month of August. It has gone up from 24,400 square miles a day lost in August 2007. It just breaks away from the Arctic and falls into the ocean and begins melting. It is estimate that by the year 2070, all of the arctic ice will be gone.
The ice reflects the sun so that the heat doesn't stay in our atmosphere. The blue water absorbs the sun so that more heat remains. We call it global warming.
There was a report released in April of 2007 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It showed a dramatic increase in methane gas into our atmosphere. I discussed this issue a bit in the article entitled What Does a Lame Duck President, Bullshit, and Poultry Have in Common?
The world understands that we must cut global CO2 emissions. President Bush doesn't. ExxonMobile CEO Rex Tillerson stated, in the annual meeting for the company in the spring of this year, that he envisioned a world that still used fossil fuels for 2/3'rds of its power into the year 2030. The stock holders applauded. ExxonMobile had a profit of nearly $11 Billion, in the first quarter of this year.
During the company's annual meeting, a chunk of ice the size of Colorado fell into the ocean.
350ppm...
Just so you can put things into perspective, take a look at this video of the arctic sea ice melting. In August—the fastest recorded melting ever undid the gains of the winter. Here's what it looked like:
A warming Arctic causes the surface water to get warmer, which delays the onset of freeze up in the winter and leads to a shorter period of ice growth. Without the chance to thicken, sea ice becomes thinner and more vulnerable to continued melt.
350ppm...
This, the 221th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Monday, December 15, 2008
Robin Williams gives us all a political attitude adjustment!
If anyone can make an attitude adjustment for us all over this political climate, is Robin Williams.
This is a must see!
This, the 220th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
This is a must see!
This, the 220th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Sunday, December 14, 2008
This letter says it all, Bush is leaving real soon!!
Friends,
They could have given the loan on the condition that the automakers start building only cars and mass transit that reduce our dependency on oil.
They could have given the loan on the condition that the automakers build cars that reduce global warming.
They could have given the loan on the condition that the automakers withdraw their many lawsuits against state governments in their attempts to not comply with our environmental laws.
They could have given the loan on the condition that the management team which drove these once-great manufacturers into the ground resign and be replaced with a team who understands the transportation needs of the 21st century.
Yes, they could have given the loan for any of these reasons because, in the end, to lose our manufacturing infrastructure and throw 3 million people out of work would be a catastrophe.
But instead, the Senate said, we'll give you the loan only if the factory workers take a $20 an hour cut in wages, pension and health care. That's right. After giving billions to Wall Street hucksters and criminal investment bankers -- billions with no strings attached and, as we have since learned, no oversight whatsoever -- the Senate decided it is more important to break a union, more important to throw middle class wage earners into the ranks of the working poor than to prevent the total collapse of industrial America.
We have a little more than a month to go of this madness. As I sit here in Michigan today, tens of thousands of hard working, honest, decent Americans do not believe they can make it to January 20th. The malaise here is astounding. Why must they suffer because of the mistakes of every CEO from Roger Smith to Rick Wagoner? Make management and the boards of directors and the shareholders pay for this.
Of course that is heresy to the 31 Republicans who decided to blame the poor, miserable autoworkers for this mess. And our wonderful media complied with their spin on the morning news shows: "UAW Refuses to Give Concessions Killing Auto Bailout Bill." In fact the UAW has given concession after concession, reduced their benefits, agreed to get rid of the Jobs Bank and agreed to make it harder for their retirees to live from week to week. Yes! That's what we need to do! It's the Jobs Bank and the old people who have led the nation to economic ruin!
But even doing all that wasn't enough to satisfy the bastard Republicans. These Senate vampires wanted blood. Blue collar blood. You see, they weren't opposed to the bailout because they believed in the free market or capitalism. No, they were opposed to the bailout because they're opposed to workers making a decent wage. In their rage, they were driven to destroy the backbone of this country, not because the UAW hadn't given back enough, but because the UAW hadn't given up.
It appears that the sitting President has been looking for a way to end his reign by one magnanimous act, just like a warlord on his feast day. He will put his finger in the dyke, and the fragile mess of an auto industry will eke through the next few months.
That will give the Senate enough time to demand that the bankers and investment sharks who've already swiped nearly half of the $700 billion gift a chance to make the offer of cutting their pay.
Fat chance.
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
I know, and so appreciate, the left slant that this writer, director, producer, and cause fighter can create in his movies and documentaries, but I also know of the corruption, lies, deceit, and failures to nearly anything that this current administration has done for eight years to the hard working American, this great country and the repercussions now around the world.
I must side with Michael Moore fully on this issue. It is a travesty to what has transpired in this country with the Bush/Cheney team. It is now time that the courts have their day with this administration and show the world that this country will not stand for these kind of murderous, corrupt, thieves in the White House and on Wall Street. It is time we fill the prisons with white collar criminals for a change.
This, the 219th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
They could have given the loan on the condition that the automakers start building only cars and mass transit that reduce our dependency on oil.
They could have given the loan on the condition that the automakers build cars that reduce global warming.
They could have given the loan on the condition that the automakers withdraw their many lawsuits against state governments in their attempts to not comply with our environmental laws.
They could have given the loan on the condition that the management team which drove these once-great manufacturers into the ground resign and be replaced with a team who understands the transportation needs of the 21st century.
Yes, they could have given the loan for any of these reasons because, in the end, to lose our manufacturing infrastructure and throw 3 million people out of work would be a catastrophe.
But instead, the Senate said, we'll give you the loan only if the factory workers take a $20 an hour cut in wages, pension and health care. That's right. After giving billions to Wall Street hucksters and criminal investment bankers -- billions with no strings attached and, as we have since learned, no oversight whatsoever -- the Senate decided it is more important to break a union, more important to throw middle class wage earners into the ranks of the working poor than to prevent the total collapse of industrial America.
We have a little more than a month to go of this madness. As I sit here in Michigan today, tens of thousands of hard working, honest, decent Americans do not believe they can make it to January 20th. The malaise here is astounding. Why must they suffer because of the mistakes of every CEO from Roger Smith to Rick Wagoner? Make management and the boards of directors and the shareholders pay for this.
Of course that is heresy to the 31 Republicans who decided to blame the poor, miserable autoworkers for this mess. And our wonderful media complied with their spin on the morning news shows: "UAW Refuses to Give Concessions Killing Auto Bailout Bill." In fact the UAW has given concession after concession, reduced their benefits, agreed to get rid of the Jobs Bank and agreed to make it harder for their retirees to live from week to week. Yes! That's what we need to do! It's the Jobs Bank and the old people who have led the nation to economic ruin!
But even doing all that wasn't enough to satisfy the bastard Republicans. These Senate vampires wanted blood. Blue collar blood. You see, they weren't opposed to the bailout because they believed in the free market or capitalism. No, they were opposed to the bailout because they're opposed to workers making a decent wage. In their rage, they were driven to destroy the backbone of this country, not because the UAW hadn't given back enough, but because the UAW hadn't given up.
It appears that the sitting President has been looking for a way to end his reign by one magnanimous act, just like a warlord on his feast day. He will put his finger in the dyke, and the fragile mess of an auto industry will eke through the next few months.
That will give the Senate enough time to demand that the bankers and investment sharks who've already swiped nearly half of the $700 billion gift a chance to make the offer of cutting their pay.
Fat chance.
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
I know, and so appreciate, the left slant that this writer, director, producer, and cause fighter can create in his movies and documentaries, but I also know of the corruption, lies, deceit, and failures to nearly anything that this current administration has done for eight years to the hard working American, this great country and the repercussions now around the world.
I must side with Michael Moore fully on this issue. It is a travesty to what has transpired in this country with the Bush/Cheney team. It is now time that the courts have their day with this administration and show the world that this country will not stand for these kind of murderous, corrupt, thieves in the White House and on Wall Street. It is time we fill the prisons with white collar criminals for a change.
This, the 219th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Saturday, December 13, 2008
What does a lame duck President, Bullshit and Poultry have in common?
In the words of Reagan to our lame...I mean lame duck President, "There you go again."
It seems that Bush doesn't think that animals have any correlation to CO2 levels of the country's output of CO2 emissions. With a President who has totally failed the country's school systems and a man who has no respect for science and facts, it seems instead he is again making up his own rules to truth in his eleventh hour of his administration.
As it is widely known that Bush is no friend to environmental protections, this should really come as no surprise. The nation's farms no longer must report to authorities of toxic, or smelly fumes released from manure. So, what does this have anything to do with the price of eggs in China? Good question...
The Bush administration issued a regulation Friday exempting farms from reporting releases of hazardous air pollution from animal waste to federal, state and local authorities.
According to the Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy, agriculture is the largest producer of Nitrous Oxide emissions.
See the chart:
Although, the Nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural activities fell by 2.8 percent between 1990 and 2002. Agricultural activities were responsible for 70.3 percent of U.S. nitrous oxide emissions in 2002, roughly the same percentage that agricultural practices contribute to nitrous oxide emissions globally. Nearly all the remaining agricultural emissions can be traced to the management of the solid waste of domesticated animals. The burning of crop residues also produces nitrous oxide that is released into the atmosphere; however, the amount is relatively minor, at 2 thousand metric tons or 0.2 percent of total U.S. emissions of nitrous oxide from agricultural sources in 2002. But, combining many of these actions begins to create a larger picture.
There are mathematical equivalents of the release of nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide. The EIA estimates that a total of 583 thousand metric tons of nitrous oxide (or 172.5 million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent) was released into the atmosphere as a result of direct and indirect emissions associated with fertilization practices in 2002. Despite that the estimated emissions decreased by 2.5 percent compared with 2001 levels and were 3.4 percent lower than in 1990, the levels of agricultural emissions in America remain dangerous, and now unregulated, and high. Nitrous oxide emissions from the application of nitrogen-based fertilizers and biological fixation in crops accounted for 57.3 percent of total nitrous oxide emissions from this source during 2002.
Let's look at the agricultural background on the benefits and managed uses of nitrogen. Nitrogen uptake and nitrous oxide emissions occur naturally as a result of nitrification and denitrification processes in soil and crops, generally through bacterial action. When nitrogen compounds are added to the soil, bacterial action is stimulated, and emissions generally increase, unless the application precisely matches plant uptake and soil capture. Nitrogen may be added to the soil by synthetic or organic fertilizers, nitrogen-fixing crops, and crop residues. Nitrogen-rich soils, called “histosols,” may also stimulate emissions. Adding excess nitrogen to the soil also enriches ground and surface waters, such as rivers and streams, which generate indirect emissions of nitrous oxide. Additional indirect emissions occur from “atmospheric deposition,” in which soils emit other nitrogen compounds that react to form nitrous oxide in the atmosphere.
Crop burning is widely used in agriculture. In 2002, estimated emissions of nitrous oxide from crop residue burning were 2 thousand metric tons (or 0.5 million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent). There was a small decrease in these numbers from 2000 which is mainly attributable to decreased corn and soybean production. Emissions from this source remain very small, at 0.2 percent of all U.S. nitrous oxide emissions. When crop residues are burned, the incomplete combustion of agricultural waste results in the production of nitrous oxide, as well as methane.
Numerous studies show of the damages of what animal farm methane is creating to the global economy. With the depletion of Amazonian forests by McDonald's, KFC and other fast food industries to create more grazing ranges for their cattle and poultry farming, it is becoming a very delicate global problem. Estimated 2002 nitrous oxide emissions from animal waste management were 207 thousand metric tons (or 61.2 million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent), down by 0.5 percent from 2001 levels and 1.3 percent lower than 1990 levels, making animal waste the second-largest U.S. agricultural source of nitrous oxide emissions, after nitrogen fertilization of soils.
Nitrous oxide emissions from animal waste are dominated by emissions from cattle waste, which account for 92.6 percent of emissions from the solid waste of domesticated animals.
Nitrous oxide is released as part of the microbial denitrification of animal manure. The total volume of nitrous oxide emissions is a function of animal size and manure production, the amount of nitrogen in the animal waste, and the method of managing the animal waste. Waste managed by a solid storage or pasture range method may emit 20 times more nitrous oxide per unit of nitrogen content than does waste managed in anaerobic lagoon and liquid systems. Generally, solid waste from feedlot beef cattle is managed with the solid storage or pasture range method, accounting for the majority of nitrous oxide emissions. Solid waste from swine is generally managed in anaerobic lagoons and other liquid systems. Anaerobic digestion yields methane emissions but only negligible amounts of nitrous oxide. So, changes in estimated emissions result primarily from changes in cattle populations. For example, beef cattle populations grew during the first half of the 1990s, leading to higher emissions. Now, as the middle class of the emerging nations of China and India are requesting more beef we are seeing even more of a global rise in these numbers.
Barry Breen, director of the agency's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response said, "When there is a train wreck, we need to know about it because we need to go out and look at chemical spills. When there is a lagoon full of manure, there is nothing our folks can do when they show up." And a spokesperson for the Environmental Protection Agency stated that the changes will allow responders to focus on spills and releases from factories, natural disasters and other emergencies that require urgent attention. They said it would also reduce reporting burdens on America's farmers, saying it is difficult to estimate the pollution coming from "a herd of cows."
I guess they don't get the same information that everyone else is privy to. There are direct and calculable results that can come from "a herd of cows" and are known worldwide that agriculture is one of the largest single producers of CO2 and nitrous oxide, which converts to CO2 by pound comparisons.
Again, Bush denies science and delivers their own truths to deceive the general public for their own failed policy decision making. These irresponsible decisions at the eleventh hour of the exiting administration show the lack of concern for any issues at hand. Also, The Interior Department issued revised rules on Thursday loosening protections for endangered species. And the EPA issued regulations Friday exempting industrial solvents and other chemicals that can be burned for fuel from the strict regulations governing hazardous waste.
A statement issues by the National Chicken Council, National Turkey Federation and U.S. Poultry & Egg Association said, "We have always felt that reporting requirements were never meant to address the release of naturally occurring substances".
As we have seen and are experiencing the damages that result in the deregulation and no oversight of Hedge Funds and Wall Street, which naturally produces greed, the statement from the Poultry Assoc. that simply because it is "naturally occurring substance" and should have no oversight or reporting requirements is short sighted and irresponsible.
I guess it is par for the course of this lame duck to side with the poultry industry.
If you enjoy this blog and follow it regularly, I urge you to become a member by clicking on the ICON in the right column called FOLLOWERS OF THIS BLOG. We will be having special offerings in the future for the members of this blog. JOIN NOW and tell your friends to join!!
(If you have any difficulty or problems with this please comment or email so that we can address the issue immediately.)
This, the 218th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
It seems that Bush doesn't think that animals have any correlation to CO2 levels of the country's output of CO2 emissions. With a President who has totally failed the country's school systems and a man who has no respect for science and facts, it seems instead he is again making up his own rules to truth in his eleventh hour of his administration.
As it is widely known that Bush is no friend to environmental protections, this should really come as no surprise. The nation's farms no longer must report to authorities of toxic, or smelly fumes released from manure. So, what does this have anything to do with the price of eggs in China? Good question...
The Bush administration issued a regulation Friday exempting farms from reporting releases of hazardous air pollution from animal waste to federal, state and local authorities.
According to the Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy, agriculture is the largest producer of Nitrous Oxide emissions.
See the chart:
Although, the Nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural activities fell by 2.8 percent between 1990 and 2002. Agricultural activities were responsible for 70.3 percent of U.S. nitrous oxide emissions in 2002, roughly the same percentage that agricultural practices contribute to nitrous oxide emissions globally. Nearly all the remaining agricultural emissions can be traced to the management of the solid waste of domesticated animals. The burning of crop residues also produces nitrous oxide that is released into the atmosphere; however, the amount is relatively minor, at 2 thousand metric tons or 0.2 percent of total U.S. emissions of nitrous oxide from agricultural sources in 2002. But, combining many of these actions begins to create a larger picture.
There are mathematical equivalents of the release of nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide. The EIA estimates that a total of 583 thousand metric tons of nitrous oxide (or 172.5 million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent) was released into the atmosphere as a result of direct and indirect emissions associated with fertilization practices in 2002. Despite that the estimated emissions decreased by 2.5 percent compared with 2001 levels and were 3.4 percent lower than in 1990, the levels of agricultural emissions in America remain dangerous, and now unregulated, and high. Nitrous oxide emissions from the application of nitrogen-based fertilizers and biological fixation in crops accounted for 57.3 percent of total nitrous oxide emissions from this source during 2002.
Let's look at the agricultural background on the benefits and managed uses of nitrogen. Nitrogen uptake and nitrous oxide emissions occur naturally as a result of nitrification and denitrification processes in soil and crops, generally through bacterial action. When nitrogen compounds are added to the soil, bacterial action is stimulated, and emissions generally increase, unless the application precisely matches plant uptake and soil capture. Nitrogen may be added to the soil by synthetic or organic fertilizers, nitrogen-fixing crops, and crop residues. Nitrogen-rich soils, called “histosols,” may also stimulate emissions. Adding excess nitrogen to the soil also enriches ground and surface waters, such as rivers and streams, which generate indirect emissions of nitrous oxide. Additional indirect emissions occur from “atmospheric deposition,” in which soils emit other nitrogen compounds that react to form nitrous oxide in the atmosphere.
Crop burning is widely used in agriculture. In 2002, estimated emissions of nitrous oxide from crop residue burning were 2 thousand metric tons (or 0.5 million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent). There was a small decrease in these numbers from 2000 which is mainly attributable to decreased corn and soybean production. Emissions from this source remain very small, at 0.2 percent of all U.S. nitrous oxide emissions. When crop residues are burned, the incomplete combustion of agricultural waste results in the production of nitrous oxide, as well as methane.
Numerous studies show of the damages of what animal farm methane is creating to the global economy. With the depletion of Amazonian forests by McDonald's, KFC and other fast food industries to create more grazing ranges for their cattle and poultry farming, it is becoming a very delicate global problem. Estimated 2002 nitrous oxide emissions from animal waste management were 207 thousand metric tons (or 61.2 million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent), down by 0.5 percent from 2001 levels and 1.3 percent lower than 1990 levels, making animal waste the second-largest U.S. agricultural source of nitrous oxide emissions, after nitrogen fertilization of soils.
Nitrous oxide emissions from animal waste are dominated by emissions from cattle waste, which account for 92.6 percent of emissions from the solid waste of domesticated animals.
Nitrous oxide is released as part of the microbial denitrification of animal manure. The total volume of nitrous oxide emissions is a function of animal size and manure production, the amount of nitrogen in the animal waste, and the method of managing the animal waste. Waste managed by a solid storage or pasture range method may emit 20 times more nitrous oxide per unit of nitrogen content than does waste managed in anaerobic lagoon and liquid systems. Generally, solid waste from feedlot beef cattle is managed with the solid storage or pasture range method, accounting for the majority of nitrous oxide emissions. Solid waste from swine is generally managed in anaerobic lagoons and other liquid systems. Anaerobic digestion yields methane emissions but only negligible amounts of nitrous oxide. So, changes in estimated emissions result primarily from changes in cattle populations. For example, beef cattle populations grew during the first half of the 1990s, leading to higher emissions. Now, as the middle class of the emerging nations of China and India are requesting more beef we are seeing even more of a global rise in these numbers.
Barry Breen, director of the agency's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response said, "When there is a train wreck, we need to know about it because we need to go out and look at chemical spills. When there is a lagoon full of manure, there is nothing our folks can do when they show up." And a spokesperson for the Environmental Protection Agency stated that the changes will allow responders to focus on spills and releases from factories, natural disasters and other emergencies that require urgent attention. They said it would also reduce reporting burdens on America's farmers, saying it is difficult to estimate the pollution coming from "a herd of cows."
I guess they don't get the same information that everyone else is privy to. There are direct and calculable results that can come from "a herd of cows" and are known worldwide that agriculture is one of the largest single producers of CO2 and nitrous oxide, which converts to CO2 by pound comparisons.
Again, Bush denies science and delivers their own truths to deceive the general public for their own failed policy decision making. These irresponsible decisions at the eleventh hour of the exiting administration show the lack of concern for any issues at hand. Also, The Interior Department issued revised rules on Thursday loosening protections for endangered species. And the EPA issued regulations Friday exempting industrial solvents and other chemicals that can be burned for fuel from the strict regulations governing hazardous waste.
A statement issues by the National Chicken Council, National Turkey Federation and U.S. Poultry & Egg Association said, "We have always felt that reporting requirements were never meant to address the release of naturally occurring substances".
As we have seen and are experiencing the damages that result in the deregulation and no oversight of Hedge Funds and Wall Street, which naturally produces greed, the statement from the Poultry Assoc. that simply because it is "naturally occurring substance" and should have no oversight or reporting requirements is short sighted and irresponsible.
I guess it is par for the course of this lame duck to side with the poultry industry.
If you enjoy this blog and follow it regularly, I urge you to become a member by clicking on the ICON in the right column called FOLLOWERS OF THIS BLOG. We will be having special offerings in the future for the members of this blog. JOIN NOW and tell your friends to join!!
(If you have any difficulty or problems with this please comment or email so that we can address the issue immediately.)
This, the 218th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Thursday, December 11, 2008
When would Adam Smith shower?
If you enjoy this blog and follow it regularly, I urge you to become a member by clicking on the ICON in the right column called FOLLOWERS OF THIS BLOG. We will be having special offerings in the future for the members of this blog. JOIN NOW and tell your friends to join!!
(If you have any difficulty or problems with this please comment or email so that we can address the issue immediately.)
I wanted to go back to the Oct. 16th entry and re-introduce the discussion of Adam Smith and his famed "Wealth of Nations" book.
We have seen, these past few days, the level of respect and recognition that the Bush administration has of where the money flow from the TARP bailout should go. It is quite obvious that they care more for the suits on Wall Street who decide to shower in the morning before they get to the office, than the do for the hard working Americans who must shower after they get home from work.
Again, we revisit the "Wealth of Nations", Book V, Ch.2, Of the Sources of the General or Public Revenue of the Society...
V.2.8
No two characters seem more inconsistent than those of trader and sovereign. If the trading spirit of the English East India Company renders them very bad sovereigns, the spirit of sovereignty seems to have rendered them equally bad traders. While they were traders only they managed their trade successfully, and were able to pay from their profits a moderate dividend to the proprietors of their stock. Since they became sovereigns, with a revenue which, it is said, was originally more than three millions sterling, they have been obliged to beg extraordinary assistance of government in order to avoid immediate bankruptcy. In their former situation, their servants in India considered themselves as the clerks of merchants: in their present situation, those servants consider themselves as the ministers of sovereigns.
V.2.9
A state may sometimes derive some part of its public revenue from the interest of money, as well as from the profits of stock. If it has amassed a treasure, it may lend a part of that treasure either to foreign states, or to its own subjects.
As we look at our current state of affairs that have plagued the American taxpayer in order to bailout the corporations, we are not seeing any of this "amassed treasure" that we have handed to Washington reach any of its "subjects".
Let's look again at the relevance to Smith's writings and today's economic crisis.
Treasury Secretary Paulson previously publicly professed that we should make sure these businesses (the financial institutions, AIG, and Fannie and Freddie) do not fail. However, as the people who shower in the morning in Washington try to find where to place the next $350 Billion, they continue to raise the issue of the private jets that the Big 3 used to get to Congress to ask for money. I agree that it wasn't a good move, however, the Washington suits neglect to mention all of the private jets that the financial institutions, AIG, and others use on a daily basis. They also forget to remind people of the ways that these bailed out firms of Wall Street have manipulated their books in order to still hand out year end bonuses to their people. They are calling them incentives for the new year...
The Republican welfare state for the rich shows us that the trickle down theory of economics does not work. It is like Washington has received a little slight of hand parlor trick from Vegas magicians to use with the tax payers money. Your and my future earnings. The funds from the hard working people who mostly shower after work, is being slighted from our wallets while we sit in the audience and smile unknowingly in amazement.
The interesting thing about this democratic capitalistic management philosophy that has transpired through the Bush administration is that we are riding a fine line to communism and or dictatorship. Now, through the Bush bailout, we are riding a fine line between capitalism and socialism.
As I have stated previously, there is NOT ONE WAY to do things as we have come to find that a totally free market capitalism does not work. When you put the suits of Wall Street in an arena without regulation it is the same as a kid in a candy store, or Joe the Plumber in Home Depot.
Our system is built on a capitalistic system with socialistic tendencies. What we have recently experienced is a huge redistribution of wealth to the rich with no parameters to the receivers of the tax payers funds. Or, rather a socialistic system for capitalistic tendencies. Congress failed us big time for giving out the nearly $500 Billion without strings attached or rules to the game. The suits of Wall Street are now unwilling to part with our money that we gave them. This is leaving the economy in a worse position than it was two months ago.
Paulson failed. Well, actually he begs to differ. But then, he showers in the morning. I would venture that he should also shower at night to remove all of the filth he creates during the day.
There is a slight irony to capitalism and Karl Marx. I use the first volume of Marx's major work, "Capital", which was published in German in 1867, as an example. In it, Marx focused on the labour(sic) theory of value and what he considered to be the exploitation of labour by capital. The labour(sic) theory of value held that the value of a thing was determined by the labor that went into its production. This contrasts with the modern understanding of mainstream economics, that the value of a thing is determined by what one is willing to give up to obtain the thing. Ironically, Smith is often cited for being the conceptual builder of free markets in Capitalism, and also cited as a main contributor to Communist theory, via Marx.
Smith believed that while human motives were often driven by selfishness and greed, the competition in the free market would tend to benefit society as a whole by keeping prices low, while still building in an incentive for a wide variety of goods and services. Nevertheless, he was wary of businessmen and argued against the formation of monopolies.
Due to the globalization of nearly everything, including currency, in order to keep prices low of products it is the hard working second and third world countries that do much of the labor. As the world becomes more competitive and smaller it is becoming harder to find ways to stretch the production dollar.
Smith discussed at length of the sovereign social state. In today's Republican party they continue to claim that the welfare state as being dis functional. That is until it is time to meet the needs of the sovereign. Our modern TARP program is case in point.
As quoted from The Wealth of Nations:
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages."
I hope that Obama comes out on Jan. 21, 2008, after his first nights sleep as President, addresses the nation by informing us that his first actions will be that the recipients of our hard earned funds MUST begin the distribute those funds back to the people and small businesses to get this economy moving again. That Detroit MUST make new cars that are electric, Hybrid, battery and more. That the government will begin to put money back into the infrastructure of the country and they need people to work...TODAY!
Bush knew about infrastructure and rebuilding. He just spent eight years and trillions of dollars in the WRONG country. Good riddence sir, and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!
Man, I must be making money since it is still morning, but after this I need a shower.
This, the 217th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
(If you have any difficulty or problems with this please comment or email so that we can address the issue immediately.)
I wanted to go back to the Oct. 16th entry and re-introduce the discussion of Adam Smith and his famed "Wealth of Nations" book.
We have seen, these past few days, the level of respect and recognition that the Bush administration has of where the money flow from the TARP bailout should go. It is quite obvious that they care more for the suits on Wall Street who decide to shower in the morning before they get to the office, than the do for the hard working Americans who must shower after they get home from work.
Again, we revisit the "Wealth of Nations", Book V, Ch.2, Of the Sources of the General or Public Revenue of the Society...
V.2.8
No two characters seem more inconsistent than those of trader and sovereign. If the trading spirit of the English East India Company renders them very bad sovereigns, the spirit of sovereignty seems to have rendered them equally bad traders. While they were traders only they managed their trade successfully, and were able to pay from their profits a moderate dividend to the proprietors of their stock. Since they became sovereigns, with a revenue which, it is said, was originally more than three millions sterling, they have been obliged to beg extraordinary assistance of government in order to avoid immediate bankruptcy. In their former situation, their servants in India considered themselves as the clerks of merchants: in their present situation, those servants consider themselves as the ministers of sovereigns.
V.2.9
A state may sometimes derive some part of its public revenue from the interest of money, as well as from the profits of stock. If it has amassed a treasure, it may lend a part of that treasure either to foreign states, or to its own subjects.
As we look at our current state of affairs that have plagued the American taxpayer in order to bailout the corporations, we are not seeing any of this "amassed treasure" that we have handed to Washington reach any of its "subjects".
Let's look again at the relevance to Smith's writings and today's economic crisis.
Treasury Secretary Paulson previously publicly professed that we should make sure these businesses (the financial institutions, AIG, and Fannie and Freddie) do not fail. However, as the people who shower in the morning in Washington try to find where to place the next $350 Billion, they continue to raise the issue of the private jets that the Big 3 used to get to Congress to ask for money. I agree that it wasn't a good move, however, the Washington suits neglect to mention all of the private jets that the financial institutions, AIG, and others use on a daily basis. They also forget to remind people of the ways that these bailed out firms of Wall Street have manipulated their books in order to still hand out year end bonuses to their people. They are calling them incentives for the new year...
The Republican welfare state for the rich shows us that the trickle down theory of economics does not work. It is like Washington has received a little slight of hand parlor trick from Vegas magicians to use with the tax payers money. Your and my future earnings. The funds from the hard working people who mostly shower after work, is being slighted from our wallets while we sit in the audience and smile unknowingly in amazement.
The interesting thing about this democratic capitalistic management philosophy that has transpired through the Bush administration is that we are riding a fine line to communism and or dictatorship. Now, through the Bush bailout, we are riding a fine line between capitalism and socialism.
As I have stated previously, there is NOT ONE WAY to do things as we have come to find that a totally free market capitalism does not work. When you put the suits of Wall Street in an arena without regulation it is the same as a kid in a candy store, or Joe the Plumber in Home Depot.
Our system is built on a capitalistic system with socialistic tendencies. What we have recently experienced is a huge redistribution of wealth to the rich with no parameters to the receivers of the tax payers funds. Or, rather a socialistic system for capitalistic tendencies. Congress failed us big time for giving out the nearly $500 Billion without strings attached or rules to the game. The suits of Wall Street are now unwilling to part with our money that we gave them. This is leaving the economy in a worse position than it was two months ago.
Paulson failed. Well, actually he begs to differ. But then, he showers in the morning. I would venture that he should also shower at night to remove all of the filth he creates during the day.
There is a slight irony to capitalism and Karl Marx. I use the first volume of Marx's major work, "Capital", which was published in German in 1867, as an example. In it, Marx focused on the labour(sic) theory of value and what he considered to be the exploitation of labour by capital. The labour(sic) theory of value held that the value of a thing was determined by the labor that went into its production. This contrasts with the modern understanding of mainstream economics, that the value of a thing is determined by what one is willing to give up to obtain the thing. Ironically, Smith is often cited for being the conceptual builder of free markets in Capitalism, and also cited as a main contributor to Communist theory, via Marx.
Smith believed that while human motives were often driven by selfishness and greed, the competition in the free market would tend to benefit society as a whole by keeping prices low, while still building in an incentive for a wide variety of goods and services. Nevertheless, he was wary of businessmen and argued against the formation of monopolies.
Due to the globalization of nearly everything, including currency, in order to keep prices low of products it is the hard working second and third world countries that do much of the labor. As the world becomes more competitive and smaller it is becoming harder to find ways to stretch the production dollar.
Smith discussed at length of the sovereign social state. In today's Republican party they continue to claim that the welfare state as being dis functional. That is until it is time to meet the needs of the sovereign. Our modern TARP program is case in point.
As quoted from The Wealth of Nations:
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages."
I hope that Obama comes out on Jan. 21, 2008, after his first nights sleep as President, addresses the nation by informing us that his first actions will be that the recipients of our hard earned funds MUST begin the distribute those funds back to the people and small businesses to get this economy moving again. That Detroit MUST make new cars that are electric, Hybrid, battery and more. That the government will begin to put money back into the infrastructure of the country and they need people to work...TODAY!
Bush knew about infrastructure and rebuilding. He just spent eight years and trillions of dollars in the WRONG country. Good riddence sir, and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!
Man, I must be making money since it is still morning, but after this I need a shower.
This, the 217th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Grateful for...
I have been getting caught up in all of the happenings of the country, the economy, and the job market and such, and found that, especially during this holiday period, it has made it very difficult to find the room to be grateful. I've decided to change that and turn the page as we enter this new year.
Living in America, I am very grateful for being here. We have made moves forward as a country by the recent elections that show me that we have decided to make things different. To make things better. To learn from the past.
I am grateful that I live in an area of the country that allows me to think and act freely as to my conscience. And to let my voice be heard within a community that is progressive and accepts it and listens.
I am grateful for the various projects that I do so that I am able to do to provide for my family.
I am grateful for my beautiful home that protects me and my family.
I am grateful for my wife. She keeps me going. We listen, we talk, we discover, we learn together.
I am grateful for my dog. She is there with a smile every time I enter the house. She does not care about anything but love. She is a little Buddha.
I am grateful for family. We are there when we need each other. In times like these to help each other get through.
I am grateful for my friends. We all have things going on, but the friends that take time for each other, and help each other during crisis, that are there in the good times and the bad times are so appreciated.
I am grateful for my health.
I am grateful for the healthy, organic food we put on our table.
This, the 216th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Living in America, I am very grateful for being here. We have made moves forward as a country by the recent elections that show me that we have decided to make things different. To make things better. To learn from the past.
I am grateful that I live in an area of the country that allows me to think and act freely as to my conscience. And to let my voice be heard within a community that is progressive and accepts it and listens.
I am grateful for the various projects that I do so that I am able to do to provide for my family.
I am grateful for my beautiful home that protects me and my family.
I am grateful for my wife. She keeps me going. We listen, we talk, we discover, we learn together.
I am grateful for my dog. She is there with a smile every time I enter the house. She does not care about anything but love. She is a little Buddha.
I am grateful for family. We are there when we need each other. In times like these to help each other get through.
I am grateful for my friends. We all have things going on, but the friends that take time for each other, and help each other during crisis, that are there in the good times and the bad times are so appreciated.
I am grateful for my health.
I am grateful for the healthy, organic food we put on our table.
This, the 216th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
it depends on the neighborhood...
George Bush purchased his ranch in Crawford, TX just before he began running for his first term as President. Now, upon his exit of this office he will be moving into a swanky suburban neighborhood of Preston Hollow, in Dallas, TX.
Perhaps he needs a new image in order for his upcoming Library at Southern Methodist University. More of an intellectual city dweller, than that of a cowboy?
A bit of news about this new neighborhood he is moving into. Until 2000, the neighborhood association's covenant said only white people were allowed to live there, though an exception was made for servants. Enacted in 1956, part of the original document reads: "Said property shall be used and occupied by white persons except those shall not prevent occupancy by domestic servants of different race or nationality in the employ of a tenant."
In one of the richest neighborhoods in the United States, he will be residing near T.Boone Pickens-the billionare oilman behind the Swift Boat advertisements that ruined the presidential bid of John Kerry in 2004, Ross Perot-the billionare who once ran for the office Bush stole, and Tom Hicks-the man who gave Bush a $25,000 campaign contribution after his 1994 gubernatorial election and his purchase of the Texas Rangers baseball franchise from the man who was then the Texas Governor in 1998. Mr Bush’s 2,400 per cent return on his initial $600,000 investment in the Rangers is the main source of his personal wealth...Besides what he may be skimming from the top of this $trillion dollar bailout package.
This, the 215th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Perhaps he needs a new image in order for his upcoming Library at Southern Methodist University. More of an intellectual city dweller, than that of a cowboy?
A bit of news about this new neighborhood he is moving into. Until 2000, the neighborhood association's covenant said only white people were allowed to live there, though an exception was made for servants. Enacted in 1956, part of the original document reads: "Said property shall be used and occupied by white persons except those shall not prevent occupancy by domestic servants of different race or nationality in the employ of a tenant."
In one of the richest neighborhoods in the United States, he will be residing near T.Boone Pickens-the billionare oilman behind the Swift Boat advertisements that ruined the presidential bid of John Kerry in 2004, Ross Perot-the billionare who once ran for the office Bush stole, and Tom Hicks-the man who gave Bush a $25,000 campaign contribution after his 1994 gubernatorial election and his purchase of the Texas Rangers baseball franchise from the man who was then the Texas Governor in 1998. Mr Bush’s 2,400 per cent return on his initial $600,000 investment in the Rangers is the main source of his personal wealth...Besides what he may be skimming from the top of this $trillion dollar bailout package.
This, the 215th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Saturday, December 6, 2008
A Modern Missionary...
We all live on this small blue ball floating around the vast emptiness of the universe. We are simply one of millions of integrated other living species that make up the ecological properties of this planet. Although, it is our specie that has been personally responsible for the neglect, control or elimination of more other species combined, we are also the only known entity, to us, that has a conscience. We are also the only known specie to kill simply for sport or business...or religion. I find that a bit interesting.
For a specie that seems to take so much pride in itself as to its personal relation to a god, we seem to neglect and destroy so much. And much of that time it is in the name of that same all loving god to which we take such pride in our relation of for being the prize specie of this god's kingdom. It doesn't make much sense.
Then, in Christian calendar year of 2000, we somehow got a leader in the office of President, who is a 'born again' man of this god. President George Bush has claimed he was told by God to invade Iraq and attack Osama bin Laden's stronghold of Afghanistan as part of a divine mission to bring peace to the Middle East, security for Israel, and a state for the Palestinians.
The former Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath said, as reported in June 2003 after their first meeting with the President that, Mr Bush told him and Mahmoud Abbas, former prime minister and now Palestinian President: "I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, 'George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan.' And I did, and then God would tell me, 'George go and end the tyranny in Iraq,' and I did."
Bush is quoted as telling the two, "I feel God's words coming to me: 'Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East.' And by God, I'm gonna do it."
Sorry, dude, it didn't work.
This is the same god that has told people in his famed ten commandments to his followers, that thou shalt NOT kill. Thou shalt honor thy brother, and thou shalt do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Uh......? God told him to do these things?! Perhaps he was told to do so as a test to see if Bush's respect for the supreme being's words were honorable and just. Or perhaps he was listening to the old testament god and not the new testament god?!
But I think that this statement says it best as to the insane rationalizations that people use in our "modern" society. During his interview with Bob Woodward, for his book "Plan of Attack" Bush stated, "I'm surely not going to justify war based upon God. Understand that. Nevertheless, in my case, I pray that I will be as good a messenger of His will as possible. And then of course, I pray for forgiveness." Which will is that, the will of his famed good book, or the will he told you in a dream?
Of course...That is an amazing side. Uh, I will lie, deceive, murder, kill, destroy, and then pray for forgiveness.
It is said in the Christian bible that for those that believe and are baptized will enter the gates of heaven. (I always did find that one interesting, of an all loving god who will only save those that are baptized and believe. Some religions don't have baptism. But, they have god...) One is able to consciously lie, deceive, murder, kill, destroy and then repent. Wow, how cool is that!?
But, then, who am I to judge. I'm only human...oh, wait, so is Bush!
Psychologists might give him an out to his insanity by saying something like, it stems from his childhood. Perhaps from his grandfather, Prescott, who bankrolled the Nazis before the government stepped in and shut him down.
If all of this is the case, then, where was Bush's righteousness for the Darfur genocide? Or any other living being on this planet that his policies ruined do to his neglect of his failed environmental policies? One would think that god would be having discussions with him about this, too.
Now, Bush and his handlers are mapping out the next phase of his life. That of the president's post-White House years. Plans are well under way for a "Freedom Institute" that will aim to promote democracies abroad. I guess it is good that they map out to promote democracy abroad since he has ripped away at the fabric of democracy in his own country. "This is going to be Bush vision," political historian David Brinkley said of the institute. "Bush has never liked the academics, and this is a nonacademic institute aimed at cutting to the core of things: only pro-democracy foot soldiers who are green-lit by George and Laura Bush are in the mix."
For a president to never like the academics, and to stay as far from science as he could, why even attempt to build a library? Isn't that a contradiction of sorts? Then to place the library on a religious college campus, Southern Methodist University, in Dallas. To follow a religion and believe that the world is only about 10,000 years old, regardless of scientific facts, yet, be the president of some failed 'no child left behind' program to make sure that every child receives an education...
But I'm sure he did it all from discussions he had with god.
I really think that god is laughing his holy ass off. He continually tests us, his followers say. God would say, hey you voted for the guy...
It's all good, though. Now, we can all go and repent.
This, the 214th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
For a specie that seems to take so much pride in itself as to its personal relation to a god, we seem to neglect and destroy so much. And much of that time it is in the name of that same all loving god to which we take such pride in our relation of for being the prize specie of this god's kingdom. It doesn't make much sense.
Then, in Christian calendar year of 2000, we somehow got a leader in the office of President, who is a 'born again' man of this god. President George Bush has claimed he was told by God to invade Iraq and attack Osama bin Laden's stronghold of Afghanistan as part of a divine mission to bring peace to the Middle East, security for Israel, and a state for the Palestinians.
The former Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath said, as reported in June 2003 after their first meeting with the President that, Mr Bush told him and Mahmoud Abbas, former prime minister and now Palestinian President: "I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, 'George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan.' And I did, and then God would tell me, 'George go and end the tyranny in Iraq,' and I did."
Bush is quoted as telling the two, "I feel God's words coming to me: 'Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East.' And by God, I'm gonna do it."
Sorry, dude, it didn't work.
This is the same god that has told people in his famed ten commandments to his followers, that thou shalt NOT kill. Thou shalt honor thy brother, and thou shalt do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Uh......? God told him to do these things?! Perhaps he was told to do so as a test to see if Bush's respect for the supreme being's words were honorable and just. Or perhaps he was listening to the old testament god and not the new testament god?!
But I think that this statement says it best as to the insane rationalizations that people use in our "modern" society. During his interview with Bob Woodward, for his book "Plan of Attack" Bush stated, "I'm surely not going to justify war based upon God. Understand that. Nevertheless, in my case, I pray that I will be as good a messenger of His will as possible. And then of course, I pray for forgiveness." Which will is that, the will of his famed good book, or the will he told you in a dream?
Of course...That is an amazing side. Uh, I will lie, deceive, murder, kill, destroy, and then pray for forgiveness.
It is said in the Christian bible that for those that believe and are baptized will enter the gates of heaven. (I always did find that one interesting, of an all loving god who will only save those that are baptized and believe. Some religions don't have baptism. But, they have god...) One is able to consciously lie, deceive, murder, kill, destroy and then repent. Wow, how cool is that!?
But, then, who am I to judge. I'm only human...oh, wait, so is Bush!
Psychologists might give him an out to his insanity by saying something like, it stems from his childhood. Perhaps from his grandfather, Prescott, who bankrolled the Nazis before the government stepped in and shut him down.
If all of this is the case, then, where was Bush's righteousness for the Darfur genocide? Or any other living being on this planet that his policies ruined do to his neglect of his failed environmental policies? One would think that god would be having discussions with him about this, too.
Now, Bush and his handlers are mapping out the next phase of his life. That of the president's post-White House years. Plans are well under way for a "Freedom Institute" that will aim to promote democracies abroad. I guess it is good that they map out to promote democracy abroad since he has ripped away at the fabric of democracy in his own country. "This is going to be Bush vision," political historian David Brinkley said of the institute. "Bush has never liked the academics, and this is a nonacademic institute aimed at cutting to the core of things: only pro-democracy foot soldiers who are green-lit by George and Laura Bush are in the mix."
For a president to never like the academics, and to stay as far from science as he could, why even attempt to build a library? Isn't that a contradiction of sorts? Then to place the library on a religious college campus, Southern Methodist University, in Dallas. To follow a religion and believe that the world is only about 10,000 years old, regardless of scientific facts, yet, be the president of some failed 'no child left behind' program to make sure that every child receives an education...
But I'm sure he did it all from discussions he had with god.
I really think that god is laughing his holy ass off. He continually tests us, his followers say. God would say, hey you voted for the guy...
It's all good, though. Now, we can all go and repent.
This, the 214th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Friday, December 5, 2008
You Suck, sir!
In an age of the Internet, preserved news bits, and YouTube we still have a mindset in Washington that thinks the world revolves around them.
Bush, Bernanke, Paulson, McCain, and Palin are all in this crowd of leadership. Karl Rove is one as well. But, let's get to some points. Bernanke, as head of the Federal Reserve, he and Treasury Secretary Paulson were the primary architects that reported with Bush on the initial "no strings attached" $700 Billion bailout plan. Well, with Bush attached to that news everyone knew that was going to be a farce. Congress told them to come back with a real idea...
So, their idea was to buy up the toxic mortgages and package them in order to help alleviate the stress on homeowners that are balancing on foreclosure. Well, still with no oversight or strings firmly in place, Congress gave them the money they asked for. Then, immediately, Bernanke and Paulson decided to spend their allowance a bit differently than they had expressed by giving it to all of their white collared friends on Wall Street. Then, something happened on the way to the forum...NOTHING!
The economy got worse, way worse.
The story goes on, but we'll cut to the chase. Bernanke announced an idea yesterday. It seemed as if he thought it was a new idea...It seems to be a similar idea that I espoused to be the program a while ago. He said to bring down the mortgage pricing for those struggling. Bring it down to the 3 percent level for about 5 years or so, with the government helping out on some of the back end.
Wait, hasn't the government already helped out on the back end? I mean, they have given banks hundreds of BILLIONS?!!
Then he came out with a great idea! He thought another option would have the government purchase delinquent or at-risk mortgages in bulk and then refinance them into the "Hope for Homeowners" or another government program that insures home mortgages. Uh, didn't we hear this one before?
Then he called for more action from banks to help in this time of crisis.
Uh, Ya Think?!
How about mandating them to do something. Banks have been taking our future tax dollars and doing NOTHING!
This is insane!?
After his great speech, the Dow dropped over another 200 points. It opened this morning another 150 points lower.
Good job with helping. Let's see, we as a society it seems agree that most of the execs on Wall Street should lose their jobs for failure. Paulson should lose his job for failure, Bernanke isn't doing shit and should go, the heads of the big three could leave and things would be fore the better...oh, and that Bush guy should have been gone a long time ago. In fact, he should go to prison for all that he has done, but that is another story...
Bernanke stressed the importance of curbing the foreclosure mess because it is so inter-linked with the economy's health. "Weakness in the housing market has proved a serious drag on overall economic activity," he said. "Steps that stabilize the housing market will help stabilize the economy as well."
Uh, Ya THink!?
Back to the initial plan that I was touting about a month or so ago. That one plan backed by the now heavily refinanced financial industry, the Treasury would seek to lower the rate on a 30-year mortgages to 4.5 percent by purchasing mortgage-backed securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It's unclear exactly how much the plan would cost. It is possible that Paulson will ask Congress for the second $350 billion installment of the $700 billion financial bailout package to bankroll the effort. Maybe, if the first round of money went into this idea in the first place we wouldn't be needing the second round of money...
But, I said that every loan out there should be able to be refinance into the 4% rate. Some will and some are still in loans that might be fine for them and lower than this, so it would be their choice. It needs to be available for EVERYONE!
Then, Sheila Bair who heads the FDIC chimed in saying, "Getting mortgage rates down is positive, but it doesn't help people that currently have unaffordable mortgages because it doesn't help them refinance. Low interest rates help some consumers, but the ones that really need help and can't refinance are not helped."
Ah, helping everyone! What a great idea!
Paulson has been opposed to tapping the bailout pool to fund a mortgage-relief program championed by the Sheila Bair at the FDIC. The $24 billion FDIC plan would use some of the rescue money to help back refinanced mortgages that would lower monthly payments.
Let's see, Paulson or Bush aren't keen on giving the blue collar folks in Detroit any fund either. Bush...you know that guy. The man with the amazing disappearing act in times of trouble. When the towers were being blow to shit, he kept on reading a book to the children...upside down. I don't think that that specific book was printed upside down either...Now, with the worlds worst economic crisis since 1930's depression, he is working on his library and his public view of his term.
I can give him a hint...You Suck, sir!
This, the 213th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Bush, Bernanke, Paulson, McCain, and Palin are all in this crowd of leadership. Karl Rove is one as well. But, let's get to some points. Bernanke, as head of the Federal Reserve, he and Treasury Secretary Paulson were the primary architects that reported with Bush on the initial "no strings attached" $700 Billion bailout plan. Well, with Bush attached to that news everyone knew that was going to be a farce. Congress told them to come back with a real idea...
So, their idea was to buy up the toxic mortgages and package them in order to help alleviate the stress on homeowners that are balancing on foreclosure. Well, still with no oversight or strings firmly in place, Congress gave them the money they asked for. Then, immediately, Bernanke and Paulson decided to spend their allowance a bit differently than they had expressed by giving it to all of their white collared friends on Wall Street. Then, something happened on the way to the forum...NOTHING!
The economy got worse, way worse.
The story goes on, but we'll cut to the chase. Bernanke announced an idea yesterday. It seemed as if he thought it was a new idea...It seems to be a similar idea that I espoused to be the program a while ago. He said to bring down the mortgage pricing for those struggling. Bring it down to the 3 percent level for about 5 years or so, with the government helping out on some of the back end.
Wait, hasn't the government already helped out on the back end? I mean, they have given banks hundreds of BILLIONS?!!
Then he came out with a great idea! He thought another option would have the government purchase delinquent or at-risk mortgages in bulk and then refinance them into the "Hope for Homeowners" or another government program that insures home mortgages. Uh, didn't we hear this one before?
Then he called for more action from banks to help in this time of crisis.
Uh, Ya Think?!
How about mandating them to do something. Banks have been taking our future tax dollars and doing NOTHING!
This is insane!?
After his great speech, the Dow dropped over another 200 points. It opened this morning another 150 points lower.
Good job with helping. Let's see, we as a society it seems agree that most of the execs on Wall Street should lose their jobs for failure. Paulson should lose his job for failure, Bernanke isn't doing shit and should go, the heads of the big three could leave and things would be fore the better...oh, and that Bush guy should have been gone a long time ago. In fact, he should go to prison for all that he has done, but that is another story...
Bernanke stressed the importance of curbing the foreclosure mess because it is so inter-linked with the economy's health. "Weakness in the housing market has proved a serious drag on overall economic activity," he said. "Steps that stabilize the housing market will help stabilize the economy as well."
Uh, Ya THink!?
Back to the initial plan that I was touting about a month or so ago. That one plan backed by the now heavily refinanced financial industry, the Treasury would seek to lower the rate on a 30-year mortgages to 4.5 percent by purchasing mortgage-backed securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It's unclear exactly how much the plan would cost. It is possible that Paulson will ask Congress for the second $350 billion installment of the $700 billion financial bailout package to bankroll the effort. Maybe, if the first round of money went into this idea in the first place we wouldn't be needing the second round of money...
But, I said that every loan out there should be able to be refinance into the 4% rate. Some will and some are still in loans that might be fine for them and lower than this, so it would be their choice. It needs to be available for EVERYONE!
Then, Sheila Bair who heads the FDIC chimed in saying, "Getting mortgage rates down is positive, but it doesn't help people that currently have unaffordable mortgages because it doesn't help them refinance. Low interest rates help some consumers, but the ones that really need help and can't refinance are not helped."
Ah, helping everyone! What a great idea!
Paulson has been opposed to tapping the bailout pool to fund a mortgage-relief program championed by the Sheila Bair at the FDIC. The $24 billion FDIC plan would use some of the rescue money to help back refinanced mortgages that would lower monthly payments.
Let's see, Paulson or Bush aren't keen on giving the blue collar folks in Detroit any fund either. Bush...you know that guy. The man with the amazing disappearing act in times of trouble. When the towers were being blow to shit, he kept on reading a book to the children...upside down. I don't think that that specific book was printed upside down either...Now, with the worlds worst economic crisis since 1930's depression, he is working on his library and his public view of his term.
I can give him a hint...You Suck, sir!
This, the 213th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Context over Dogma
I, for one, think that the auto makers should receive money, but we should fire the execs. There are way too many working Americans effected by this industry that are on the edge if we don't help them out where the execs failed. Wall Street has got theirs (to which I do not think they should have-and also in the manner to which that they have). As we move through and listen to the big three auto makers of America beg for money for their failed products and ideas we come to this video that I have below.
I find it interesting as to how GM is asking for $9 Billion, when if liquidated, as an on paper audit of the firm would indicate, that the company's true value is only around $3 Billion. Why the extra funding? Perhaps the extra is for the health and pension funds that Wall Street pissed away and will not return with their own bailout money, since they are using it to payout bonuses (I mean incentives) and spa trips, etc...Right...but I digress...Again, that is millions of Americans that rely on those companies for their retirement and insurance (just what Wall Street pissed away...)
Also, if the bosses couldn't do it right for the past few decades,(and of course we need to give blame to the Bush tax incentives for large car purchases and the fact that people bought them...) why would we give them these funds and still have the same failed managers and executives managing the firms? I agree with Michael Moore, as to, if we as tax payers are going to be owning these companies, we should immediately fire the managers and executives then mandate that with these tax dollar funds they make efficient electric and hybrid cars and trucks, as well as, build high speed rail lines for the country. It is our money and we need modern transportation like in Europe and Japan. All of that will put hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions, to work for these new rail lines and retooling and re...
Just like what happened with Roosevelt and with the New Deal, then the car manufacturers were told NOT to make cars but were ORDERED to make tanks, guns, and items necessary for our society and the war effort. Well, guess what, we have a new war on. The war on fiscal solvency.
When a President declares war, as we have seen exemplified through this finally ending failed administration, lame ducked, shamed faced...sorry, I got carried away.
A President has special executive powers to mandate ideas, projects, processes, and regulations if there is a war on something. That's why they call it a war on something...anything...this way they can use special executive powers to make things happen that they normally would not. I say, let there be a declaration of a war on the economy. For this, Wall Street MUST give money to companies, small businesses and tax payers to help them with their financial messes to which Wall Street orchestrated. Detroit MUST make ecological affordable vehicles and high speed mass transportation to which will help our country move back and forth instead of the necessity to rely on the continually failing airline industry...Oh, yeah, those guys get bailed out too...remember those...
If we are going to go down this socialistic path, we as a society should benefit from OUR money and OUR needs. That's what socialism is, for the society as a whole and not simply for the rich.
Karl Marx posited that socialism would be achieved via class struggle and a proletarian revolution which represents the transitional stage between capitalism and communism. I don't think that is altogether true or necessary. It is not necessarily a transition to communism. We can have socialism with capitalistic tendencies. Or should I say, WE DO HAVE socialism with capitalistic tendencies. Let's call it regulation with a bailout. Right now, what we have recently created in this country is the world's largest socialistic government, with capitalistic tendencies. There was not revolution, but there is class struggle, and even still the rich are currently winning this fight hands down. But, if the tax payers are going to be owning these firms on Wall Street, and in Detroit, we MUST have that accountability and oversight that the Republican party has so carefully forgotten about, as well as how much they deregulated over these past thirty years.
Ironically, (and perhaps it is the gods having fun with us), it was September 11th, when our own government financed a coup that assassinated and overthrew, Salvador Allende, the democratically elected socialist leader of Chile, in 1973. This is our pattern, is to state publicly and adamantly, and to brainwash our society that capitalism is the best system in the world and socialism or communism must be crushed. Make no mistake, I am not against capitalism. I enjoy the fruits of my hard earned dollars just as much as the next person.
What is the dilemma is that we destabilize socialist countries and overthrow democratically elected leaders of other countries after we demonize their leaders for running a system not like our own. We create crippling and stagnate economies after these actions in these countries for the American financial institutions to exercise their might in these "now democratic" societies. We then set up American corporate interests for raw materials and manufacturing to enslave the working class of these countries for the "now democratic" state, that is after we instill the new leader of the country that we want and who sees things the American way. Just like, back in Sept. 11, 1973, when we installed the murdering dictator General Augusto Pinochet. We have done this in Nicaragua, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Cuba, Iran...Iraq...
The irony is hitting us square in the face now and we must come to terms with our own societal two faced rhetoric as we have shown clearly to the world that a free capitalistic system is not the "only" way. There is no one way for anything. It is in our best interest to educate ourselves of our own misgivings and see the socialistic one way mirror to which we now find ourselves on the other side of.
Oh, sorry, I got sidetracked. I wanted to discuss cars...
Watch this! Perhaps Detroit can learn from this!!
This, the 212th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
I find it interesting as to how GM is asking for $9 Billion, when if liquidated, as an on paper audit of the firm would indicate, that the company's true value is only around $3 Billion. Why the extra funding? Perhaps the extra is for the health and pension funds that Wall Street pissed away and will not return with their own bailout money, since they are using it to payout bonuses (I mean incentives) and spa trips, etc...Right...but I digress...Again, that is millions of Americans that rely on those companies for their retirement and insurance (just what Wall Street pissed away...)
Also, if the bosses couldn't do it right for the past few decades,(and of course we need to give blame to the Bush tax incentives for large car purchases and the fact that people bought them...) why would we give them these funds and still have the same failed managers and executives managing the firms? I agree with Michael Moore, as to, if we as tax payers are going to be owning these companies, we should immediately fire the managers and executives then mandate that with these tax dollar funds they make efficient electric and hybrid cars and trucks, as well as, build high speed rail lines for the country. It is our money and we need modern transportation like in Europe and Japan. All of that will put hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions, to work for these new rail lines and retooling and re...
Just like what happened with Roosevelt and with the New Deal, then the car manufacturers were told NOT to make cars but were ORDERED to make tanks, guns, and items necessary for our society and the war effort. Well, guess what, we have a new war on. The war on fiscal solvency.
When a President declares war, as we have seen exemplified through this finally ending failed administration, lame ducked, shamed faced...sorry, I got carried away.
A President has special executive powers to mandate ideas, projects, processes, and regulations if there is a war on something. That's why they call it a war on something...anything...this way they can use special executive powers to make things happen that they normally would not. I say, let there be a declaration of a war on the economy. For this, Wall Street MUST give money to companies, small businesses and tax payers to help them with their financial messes to which Wall Street orchestrated. Detroit MUST make ecological affordable vehicles and high speed mass transportation to which will help our country move back and forth instead of the necessity to rely on the continually failing airline industry...Oh, yeah, those guys get bailed out too...remember those...
If we are going to go down this socialistic path, we as a society should benefit from OUR money and OUR needs. That's what socialism is, for the society as a whole and not simply for the rich.
Karl Marx posited that socialism would be achieved via class struggle and a proletarian revolution which represents the transitional stage between capitalism and communism. I don't think that is altogether true or necessary. It is not necessarily a transition to communism. We can have socialism with capitalistic tendencies. Or should I say, WE DO HAVE socialism with capitalistic tendencies. Let's call it regulation with a bailout. Right now, what we have recently created in this country is the world's largest socialistic government, with capitalistic tendencies. There was not revolution, but there is class struggle, and even still the rich are currently winning this fight hands down. But, if the tax payers are going to be owning these firms on Wall Street, and in Detroit, we MUST have that accountability and oversight that the Republican party has so carefully forgotten about, as well as how much they deregulated over these past thirty years.
Ironically, (and perhaps it is the gods having fun with us), it was September 11th, when our own government financed a coup that assassinated and overthrew, Salvador Allende, the democratically elected socialist leader of Chile, in 1973. This is our pattern, is to state publicly and adamantly, and to brainwash our society that capitalism is the best system in the world and socialism or communism must be crushed. Make no mistake, I am not against capitalism. I enjoy the fruits of my hard earned dollars just as much as the next person.
What is the dilemma is that we destabilize socialist countries and overthrow democratically elected leaders of other countries after we demonize their leaders for running a system not like our own. We create crippling and stagnate economies after these actions in these countries for the American financial institutions to exercise their might in these "now democratic" societies. We then set up American corporate interests for raw materials and manufacturing to enslave the working class of these countries for the "now democratic" state, that is after we instill the new leader of the country that we want and who sees things the American way. Just like, back in Sept. 11, 1973, when we installed the murdering dictator General Augusto Pinochet. We have done this in Nicaragua, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Cuba, Iran...Iraq...
The irony is hitting us square in the face now and we must come to terms with our own societal two faced rhetoric as we have shown clearly to the world that a free capitalistic system is not the "only" way. There is no one way for anything. It is in our best interest to educate ourselves of our own misgivings and see the socialistic one way mirror to which we now find ourselves on the other side of.
Oh, sorry, I got sidetracked. I wanted to discuss cars...
Watch this! Perhaps Detroit can learn from this!!
This, the 212th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Randy Pausch and The Last Lecture
On July 25th, 2008, Randy Pausch, succumbed to Pancreatic Cancer ending his nearly two year battle.
He was a noted Professor of Virtual Reality at Carnegie Mellon University. He was asked to give a "last lecture". During this 74 minute talk he not only changed this honorary and historical process for professors forever, but changed the lives of millions of people throughout the world.
He only wanted to change three lives...
(As taken from the website of "The Last Lecture")
On September 18, 2007, computer science professor Randy Pausch stepped in front of an audience of 400 people at Carnegie Mellon University to deliver a last lecture called “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” With slides of his CT scans beaming out to the audience, Randy told his audience about the cancer that is devouring his pancreas and that will claim his life in a matter of months. On the stage that day, Randy was youthful, energetic, handsome, often cheerfully, darkly funny. He seemed invincible. But this was a brief moment, as he himself acknowledged.
Randy’s lecture has become a phenomenon, as has the book he wrote based on the same principles, celebrating the dreams we all strive to make realities. Sadly, Randy lost his battle to pancreatic cancer on July 25th, 2008, but his legacy will continue to inspire us all, for generations to come.
This is that lecture...
An amazing fellow to say the least.
This, the 211th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
He was a noted Professor of Virtual Reality at Carnegie Mellon University. He was asked to give a "last lecture". During this 74 minute talk he not only changed this honorary and historical process for professors forever, but changed the lives of millions of people throughout the world.
He only wanted to change three lives...
(As taken from the website of "The Last Lecture")
On September 18, 2007, computer science professor Randy Pausch stepped in front of an audience of 400 people at Carnegie Mellon University to deliver a last lecture called “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” With slides of his CT scans beaming out to the audience, Randy told his audience about the cancer that is devouring his pancreas and that will claim his life in a matter of months. On the stage that day, Randy was youthful, energetic, handsome, often cheerfully, darkly funny. He seemed invincible. But this was a brief moment, as he himself acknowledged.
Randy’s lecture has become a phenomenon, as has the book he wrote based on the same principles, celebrating the dreams we all strive to make realities. Sadly, Randy lost his battle to pancreatic cancer on July 25th, 2008, but his legacy will continue to inspire us all, for generations to come.
This is that lecture...
An amazing fellow to say the least.
This, the 211th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Uncovering the Truth, Part II
Now this time there couldn't have been a mistake. There could be no misunderstanding on this one. Our government couldn't have done something wrong on this one. For reference, this is the second part from yesterdays entry entry called Uncovering the Truth.
Please read Uncovering the Truth, Part One first before you read this one.
This is a story of one of the most sought after terrorists on the planet. John Ashcroft had once placed this person to the level of "the deadly seven". Meaning one of the seven most wanted people in the world.
Then on a Thursday evening on July 17, 2008 in a Bazizi Mosque in Ghazni, just south of Kabul, the men were coming out of their evening prayers. They paused when they saw someone cowering on the ground. They formed a circle around the person, who was holding two small bags at their side. Fearing that this person could be carrying a bomb, one man called the police.
Not long after this scene, a telephone rang at the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) in Washington more than 11,000 kilometers away. After the call someone crossed one of "the deadly seven" names off of the suspect list and wrote the word "arrested".
It took two weeks after some interrogation at the US Air Force Base in Bagram, Afghanistan before the prisoner was taken to New York. Now in a tracksuit, the now frail 90lb, 5'4" prisoner was escorted, on August 11, 2008, into US Federal Court in Manhattan in a wheel chair. The accused had two bullet wounds in the abdomen. In October the prisoner was taken to Carswell Psychiatric Center in Fort Worth, TX for psychological review.
Considered a genius and hunted by the CIA and the FBI, the prisoner is believed to be a key player in raising money for al-Qaida by collecting donations and smuggling diamonds. A feather in the cap for the Bush Administration? The prisoner was considered the most important catch in five years, according to John Kiriakou, a CIA terrorist hunter.
This is where things can get a bit odd, though. The prisoner has not been charged with collaborating or as an accomplice in terrorist attackes. The charge was attempted murder of U.S. soldiers and FBI agents, to whom were attacked with a weapon in Afghanistan. If convicted the prisoner could face up to 20 years in prison.
The chief planner of the 9-11 attackes, Khlid Sheikh Mohammed, was arrested on March 1, 2003, in Rawaplindi, Pakistan. He was the biggest catch at that time in the battle against al-Qaida. The CIA interrogated him at an secret location where, it is reported he revealed aspect of the inner world of internal terrorism.
It is also widely known that someone being interrogated will say nearly anything in order for these interrogations to stop. It is also noted that our government used waterboarding.
This interrogation prompted a series of arrests not long after. The CIA felt that any name that Mohammed mentioned was immediately and automatically an important al-Quida terrorist. This one of "the deadly seven" was one of those.
Elaine Whitfield Sharp is an attorney for the prestigious law firm of Sharp and Sharp. On their website it states, "We are trial attorneys who represent people. Our practice is dedicated to securing justice for people in state and federal courts. We do not represent big business, the government, or insurance companies."
She has represented the prisoner of this story since 2003. She is convinced that this person, who was a high-level classification prisoner and who spent five years in what is referred to as a "black site" in Bagram, the most notorious in the legal system, is being detained for political reasons and not for murder of soldiers or agents.
A number of other prisoners held at Bagram Air Base, the site of the most important US detainee camp in Afghanistan, say they heard a woman screaming. The woman was nicknamed the "gray lady of Bagram."
She reports that the allegations brought against the prisoner thus far are “proven wrong and unsubstantiated”. The FBI and the CIA have made no comment as to these claims.
Sharp claimed that “every time that US authorities accused Aafia of something, we showed it was false”.
Sharp states, “They accuse of brokering a diamond ring for giving the proceeds to al-Quida. They said the prisoner was in Liberia when this took place. We showed the prisoner was in Boston, running a play group with a sister of the prisoner. They talked of involved in the production of neuro-chemical to be used by terrorists in the US. We showed that the accused was not."
The U.S. authorities accused the prisoner of other crimes to which when Sharp asked for evidence, they never gave any.
There is also a media report, to which Sharp has rejected, of papers seized in Guantanamo Bay prison that state Aafia Siddiqui is married to Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, who is an alleged al-Quida facilitator who intended to blow up gas stations or poison water reservoirs in the United States. Sharp disputes any report that she is married to this man. There has been no evidence brought forward by the government agencies to substantiate this claim.
Sharp states emphatically that there has been no substantiated evidence and all of this has been concocted to paint her guilty by association.
For your reference, today's story and yesterday's story are of the same person. I specifically wrote them this way so to show how your mind can go to places by simple racial, religious or terrorist phrases. When those phrase are not included, as in yesterday, there might be more of a shadow of doubt due to how things might be worded.
Either way, will her truth ever be uncovered?
This, the 210th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Please read Uncovering the Truth, Part One first before you read this one.
This is a story of one of the most sought after terrorists on the planet. John Ashcroft had once placed this person to the level of "the deadly seven". Meaning one of the seven most wanted people in the world.
Then on a Thursday evening on July 17, 2008 in a Bazizi Mosque in Ghazni, just south of Kabul, the men were coming out of their evening prayers. They paused when they saw someone cowering on the ground. They formed a circle around the person, who was holding two small bags at their side. Fearing that this person could be carrying a bomb, one man called the police.
Not long after this scene, a telephone rang at the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) in Washington more than 11,000 kilometers away. After the call someone crossed one of "the deadly seven" names off of the suspect list and wrote the word "arrested".
It took two weeks after some interrogation at the US Air Force Base in Bagram, Afghanistan before the prisoner was taken to New York. Now in a tracksuit, the now frail 90lb, 5'4" prisoner was escorted, on August 11, 2008, into US Federal Court in Manhattan in a wheel chair. The accused had two bullet wounds in the abdomen. In October the prisoner was taken to Carswell Psychiatric Center in Fort Worth, TX for psychological review.
Considered a genius and hunted by the CIA and the FBI, the prisoner is believed to be a key player in raising money for al-Qaida by collecting donations and smuggling diamonds. A feather in the cap for the Bush Administration? The prisoner was considered the most important catch in five years, according to John Kiriakou, a CIA terrorist hunter.
This is where things can get a bit odd, though. The prisoner has not been charged with collaborating or as an accomplice in terrorist attackes. The charge was attempted murder of U.S. soldiers and FBI agents, to whom were attacked with a weapon in Afghanistan. If convicted the prisoner could face up to 20 years in prison.
The chief planner of the 9-11 attackes, Khlid Sheikh Mohammed, was arrested on March 1, 2003, in Rawaplindi, Pakistan. He was the biggest catch at that time in the battle against al-Qaida. The CIA interrogated him at an secret location where, it is reported he revealed aspect of the inner world of internal terrorism.
It is also widely known that someone being interrogated will say nearly anything in order for these interrogations to stop. It is also noted that our government used waterboarding.
This interrogation prompted a series of arrests not long after. The CIA felt that any name that Mohammed mentioned was immediately and automatically an important al-Quida terrorist. This one of "the deadly seven" was one of those.
Elaine Whitfield Sharp is an attorney for the prestigious law firm of Sharp and Sharp. On their website it states, "We are trial attorneys who represent people. Our practice is dedicated to securing justice for people in state and federal courts. We do not represent big business, the government, or insurance companies."
She has represented the prisoner of this story since 2003. She is convinced that this person, who was a high-level classification prisoner and who spent five years in what is referred to as a "black site" in Bagram, the most notorious in the legal system, is being detained for political reasons and not for murder of soldiers or agents.
A number of other prisoners held at Bagram Air Base, the site of the most important US detainee camp in Afghanistan, say they heard a woman screaming. The woman was nicknamed the "gray lady of Bagram."
She reports that the allegations brought against the prisoner thus far are “proven wrong and unsubstantiated”. The FBI and the CIA have made no comment as to these claims.
Sharp claimed that “every time that US authorities accused Aafia of something, we showed it was false”.
Sharp states, “They accuse of brokering a diamond ring for giving the proceeds to al-Quida. They said the prisoner was in Liberia when this took place. We showed the prisoner was in Boston, running a play group with a sister of the prisoner. They talked of involved in the production of neuro-chemical to be used by terrorists in the US. We showed that the accused was not."
The U.S. authorities accused the prisoner of other crimes to which when Sharp asked for evidence, they never gave any.
There is also a media report, to which Sharp has rejected, of papers seized in Guantanamo Bay prison that state Aafia Siddiqui is married to Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, who is an alleged al-Quida facilitator who intended to blow up gas stations or poison water reservoirs in the United States. Sharp disputes any report that she is married to this man. There has been no evidence brought forward by the government agencies to substantiate this claim.
Sharp states emphatically that there has been no substantiated evidence and all of this has been concocted to paint her guilty by association.
For your reference, today's story and yesterday's story are of the same person. I specifically wrote them this way so to show how your mind can go to places by simple racial, religious or terrorist phrases. When those phrase are not included, as in yesterday, there might be more of a shadow of doubt due to how things might be worded.
Either way, will her truth ever be uncovered?
This, the 210th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Monday, December 1, 2008
Uncovering the Truth, Part I
Is it possible that there has been a mistake? Is there a possibility that there has been some misunderstanding? Is there a possibility that our government has done something wrong?
This is the story of a fair skinned woman, a mother of three children, born on March 2, 1972. She comes from an upper middle-class family and spent more than 10 years studying at elite universities in the United States. Her father was a surgeon, the mother is a housewife. At one time the family lived abroad in the British city of Manchester, and in Zambia. Her brother is an architect and lives in Houston. Her sister is a neurologist and has worked at one of the best hospitals in Boston. She studied biology on a scholarship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned a PhD in neuroscience at Brandeis University, where she was considered an outstanding scientist.
In 1992, as a sophomore at MIT, she received a Carroll L. Wilson Award for her research proposal "Islamization in Pakistan and its Effects on Women". As a junior, she received a $1,200 fellowship through MIT's LINKS program to help clean up Cambridge elementary school playgrounds. During her undergraduate career, she lived in McCormick Hall and worked at the MIT libraries. She graduated from MIT in 1995. In 1996, she wrote an article for the MIT Information Systems newsletter about the File Transfer Protocol and the then-emerging World Wide Web.
In 1999, while living in Boston, she and and her husband founded the nonprofit Institute of Research and Teaching. She went on to graduate study in Neuroscience at Brandeis University, receiving a Ph.D. degree in 2001 for her dissertation, entitled "Separating the Components of Imitation".
She was active with charities and a refugee center to which she raised money for Bosnian orphans.
On March 1, 2003, she sent an an email to her professor, Robert Sekuler, at Brandeis University outside Boston. She was looking for a job. "I would prefer to work in the United States," she wrote, noting that she was having difficulty finding work despite her educational background. A few days later, she disappeared. Early in the morning on the day of her disappearance, she left her parents' house, together with her three children. She took a taxi to the airport to catch a morning flight. She was planning to visit her uncle. Two of her children are reported missing.
The last thing she remembers, she says, was receiving an injection in her arm. She says that when she regained consciousness she was in a prison cell, which she believes was on a military base in Afghanistan, because she heard aircraft taking off and landing. She claims that she was held in solitary confinement for more than five years, and that it was always the same Americans who interrogated her, without masks or uniforms. For days, she says, they would play tape recordings of her children's terrified screams, and she claims that she was forced to write hundreds of pages about the construction of dirty bombs and attacks using viruses.
Her baby was taken away immediately, she says. They showed her a photograph of her seven-year-old, lying in a pool of blood. The only one of her children they occasionally showed her, she says, was Mariam, shown as a vague outline behind a pane of frosted glass.
On April 21, 2003, the NBC ran a story about her arrest on the evening news.
According to Human Rights Commissions, there are at least 52 secret prisons, just in the country of Pakistan, in which thousands of people are believed to have disappeared since the beginning of the war on terrorism.
The CIA denies that its agents had anything to do with her disappearance. Michael Scheuer, a member of a unit that pursued al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden (to which is still at large) from 1996 to 1999, says curtly: "We never arrested or imprisoned a woman. She is a liar."
There were never any weapons on mass destruction. That was a lie. The Bush Administration has stated that they never tortured or wrongfully imprisoned people, to which we have found numerous untruths to this as well.
But if it is true that a woman was tortured and disappeared into a secret dungeon, it would be a first in the post-September 11 world -- and yet another example of the decay of standards in America.
Will the truth ever be uncovered?
Thanks to:
Spiegle International
NY Times
NBC
This, the 209th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
This is the story of a fair skinned woman, a mother of three children, born on March 2, 1972. She comes from an upper middle-class family and spent more than 10 years studying at elite universities in the United States. Her father was a surgeon, the mother is a housewife. At one time the family lived abroad in the British city of Manchester, and in Zambia. Her brother is an architect and lives in Houston. Her sister is a neurologist and has worked at one of the best hospitals in Boston. She studied biology on a scholarship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned a PhD in neuroscience at Brandeis University, where she was considered an outstanding scientist.
In 1992, as a sophomore at MIT, she received a Carroll L. Wilson Award for her research proposal "Islamization in Pakistan and its Effects on Women". As a junior, she received a $1,200 fellowship through MIT's LINKS program to help clean up Cambridge elementary school playgrounds. During her undergraduate career, she lived in McCormick Hall and worked at the MIT libraries. She graduated from MIT in 1995. In 1996, she wrote an article for the MIT Information Systems newsletter about the File Transfer Protocol and the then-emerging World Wide Web.
In 1999, while living in Boston, she and and her husband founded the nonprofit Institute of Research and Teaching. She went on to graduate study in Neuroscience at Brandeis University, receiving a Ph.D. degree in 2001 for her dissertation, entitled "Separating the Components of Imitation".
She was active with charities and a refugee center to which she raised money for Bosnian orphans.
On March 1, 2003, she sent an an email to her professor, Robert Sekuler, at Brandeis University outside Boston. She was looking for a job. "I would prefer to work in the United States," she wrote, noting that she was having difficulty finding work despite her educational background. A few days later, she disappeared. Early in the morning on the day of her disappearance, she left her parents' house, together with her three children. She took a taxi to the airport to catch a morning flight. She was planning to visit her uncle. Two of her children are reported missing.
The last thing she remembers, she says, was receiving an injection in her arm. She says that when she regained consciousness she was in a prison cell, which she believes was on a military base in Afghanistan, because she heard aircraft taking off and landing. She claims that she was held in solitary confinement for more than five years, and that it was always the same Americans who interrogated her, without masks or uniforms. For days, she says, they would play tape recordings of her children's terrified screams, and she claims that she was forced to write hundreds of pages about the construction of dirty bombs and attacks using viruses.
Her baby was taken away immediately, she says. They showed her a photograph of her seven-year-old, lying in a pool of blood. The only one of her children they occasionally showed her, she says, was Mariam, shown as a vague outline behind a pane of frosted glass.
On April 21, 2003, the NBC ran a story about her arrest on the evening news.
According to Human Rights Commissions, there are at least 52 secret prisons, just in the country of Pakistan, in which thousands of people are believed to have disappeared since the beginning of the war on terrorism.
The CIA denies that its agents had anything to do with her disappearance. Michael Scheuer, a member of a unit that pursued al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden (to which is still at large) from 1996 to 1999, says curtly: "We never arrested or imprisoned a woman. She is a liar."
There were never any weapons on mass destruction. That was a lie. The Bush Administration has stated that they never tortured or wrongfully imprisoned people, to which we have found numerous untruths to this as well.
But if it is true that a woman was tortured and disappeared into a secret dungeon, it would be a first in the post-September 11 world -- and yet another example of the decay of standards in America.
Will the truth ever be uncovered?
Thanks to:
Spiegle International
NY Times
NBC
This, the 209th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Sunday, November 30, 2008
The Wal-Mart Doctrine
Wal-Mart is a global institution. With a quick change in it's policies it can create major global impact whether that be good or bad. Wal-Mart has enormous impact by having 1.9 million associates, over 200 million customers, and a astounding 10 percent of all retail spending that takes place in its stores worldwide. All of this is well documented, giving the Wal-Mart world a major stake in its responsibility to all of the global ills. Wal-Mart drastically changed the global business landscape through it ruthless focus on price. This has become their doctrine.
Doctrine (Latin: doctrina) is a codification of beliefs or "a body of teachings" or "instructions", taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system.
For Wal-Mart, price-availability-choice, this is the belief structure of its patrons. They expect a great value and a low price. Quality is not necessarily the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of Wal-Mart. But, people or industry can become brain washed as to what value is based on the mass appeal.
Often doctrine specifically refers to a religious dogma as it is promulgated by a church, but not necessarily: doctrine is also used to refer to a principle of law, in the common law traditions, established through a history of past decisions, such as the doctrine of self-defense, or the principle of fair use, or the more narrowly applicable first-sale doctrine. In some organizations, doctrine is simply defined as 'that which is taught', in other words the basis for institutional teaching of its personnel about its internal ways of doing business.
Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, ideology or any kind of organization, thought to be authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted or diverged from.
It is the 'not to be doubted, or disputed' that can sometimes get us all in trouble. Look at the Catholic Church for example. If it weren't for Martin Luther and his thesis nailed to the doors of the church or Galileo and his discoveries as precidents for doubt and dispute, and the list goes on, we could still be living in the dark ages. And they do still try. But, I digress.
Charles Fishman, author of the bestselling book The Wal-Mart Effect says, "If Wal-Mart is serious about sustainability, it can have an incredible impact on how the economy operates,". How could one store have such an impact? Well here are a few amazing stats that makes this one company a global retail institution:
94 percent: the number of Americans who live within 15 miles of a Wal-Mart.
62 percent: the number of Americans who live within 5 miles of a Wal-Mart store.
57 percent: Percent of American adults who shop at Wal-Mart every week.
127 million: Number of Americans who shop at Wal-Mart each week.
$6,778: Profit per employee at Wal-Mart. (1.9M +/- employees)
$180,000: Profit per employee at Microsoft. (63,564+/- employees)
$480,000: profit per employee at Exxon/Mobil. (106,100+/- employees)
Wal-Mart has been touting their major moves to be a more green and conscious company. While this is a great thing due to their enormous power on such a mass scale, is it real? We have dicussed at length the mob mentality of our society. The following of trends and such. We have also discussed the republican ways of by saying something enough times, whether it is truth or not, people will begin to believe it. With Wal-Mart, if they master this technique it can have major repercussions throughout the world.
Wal-Mart created what is called, the Personal Sustainability Project, or PSP. It began in 2007 to which its employees, primarily in the U.S., were asked to become more green. They were asked to become examples to their community and take steps that will benefit themselves, their community and the earth. Easy tasks include driving the speed limit to save on gas, cleaning up trash, quit smoking, switch to a reusable bottle, or turn off the tap when brushing one's teeth.
Wal-Mart sells a lot of cigarettes and bottled water, again I digress.
It's part of a company wide sustainability effort Wal-Mart launched in 2005. This campaign has seen the company do everything from pledging to double the efficiency of its truck fleet to pushing General Mills to shrink Hamburger Helper boxes by replacing crinkly noodles with straight.
"The program", says Fishman, "is an example of corporate America filling a role akin to churches and community organizations—and that's not a bad thing as long as it doesn't drift in the direction of being some kind of compulsion, it's wonderful."
Critics say that if Wal-Mart cared for making the world a better place, and the quality and sustainability of their employees lives they might think about starting with the paychecks, benefits, and their labor practices. Wait, that would directly cost the company money. Wal-Mart has been involved in numerous lawsuits over sex discrimination, anti-union tactics, mandatory overtime, and more. But some would say with an organization as large as this that goes without saying. What community with over 1.9 million people would NOT have these kinds of claims.
Being the largest retailer in the world, could they not also use their platform to change how their suppliers and manufacturers use slave labor sweatshops, and their dumping of pollutants and toxins in rivers, their massive production of inexpensive non-recyclable plastic products which are barged and shipped halfway around the world? What about the perfectly good products that get thrown out because they are now outdated and past regulatory time lines? What about the hundreds of thousands of employees who earn 7 dollars an hour at Wal-Mart with no health insurance, a car payment, a school loan payment and must support a family of five?
There is a large societal complaint of social justice before environmental justice. This is a company with many ills that must be addressed. Are they beginning their campaign through the fashioned phrases of our society vs the necessary needs of it employees survival? There are many small towns in America today that, due to Wal-Mart the character and small business communities have been closed and disappeared due to the locale of the superstore. Despite these complaints, this is the most shopped store in the country.
Although, Wal-Mart is known to do audits of all of their suppliers factories at least 4 times a year. They are testing both solar power and wind power potential and implementing hundreds of stores to be 0 energy, as well as initiating mandatory subtle changes with their suppliers relating to sustainability. Some would say, that it is changes like this that are putting some these companies out of business or pushing them to manufacture overseas.
Despite all of the good and the bad that this company can create we all must realize that there are three sides to every story. Their side, our perception, and the truth.
Thanks to:
Mother Jones
The Wal-Mart Effect
This, the 209th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Doctrine (Latin: doctrina) is a codification of beliefs or "a body of teachings" or "instructions", taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system.
For Wal-Mart, price-availability-choice, this is the belief structure of its patrons. They expect a great value and a low price. Quality is not necessarily the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of Wal-Mart. But, people or industry can become brain washed as to what value is based on the mass appeal.
Often doctrine specifically refers to a religious dogma as it is promulgated by a church, but not necessarily: doctrine is also used to refer to a principle of law, in the common law traditions, established through a history of past decisions, such as the doctrine of self-defense, or the principle of fair use, or the more narrowly applicable first-sale doctrine. In some organizations, doctrine is simply defined as 'that which is taught', in other words the basis for institutional teaching of its personnel about its internal ways of doing business.
Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, ideology or any kind of organization, thought to be authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted or diverged from.
It is the 'not to be doubted, or disputed' that can sometimes get us all in trouble. Look at the Catholic Church for example. If it weren't for Martin Luther and his thesis nailed to the doors of the church or Galileo and his discoveries as precidents for doubt and dispute, and the list goes on, we could still be living in the dark ages. And they do still try. But, I digress.
Charles Fishman, author of the bestselling book The Wal-Mart Effect says, "If Wal-Mart is serious about sustainability, it can have an incredible impact on how the economy operates,". How could one store have such an impact? Well here are a few amazing stats that makes this one company a global retail institution:
94 percent: the number of Americans who live within 15 miles of a Wal-Mart.
62 percent: the number of Americans who live within 5 miles of a Wal-Mart store.
57 percent: Percent of American adults who shop at Wal-Mart every week.
127 million: Number of Americans who shop at Wal-Mart each week.
$6,778: Profit per employee at Wal-Mart. (1.9M +/- employees)
$180,000: Profit per employee at Microsoft. (63,564+/- employees)
$480,000: profit per employee at Exxon/Mobil. (106,100+/- employees)
Wal-Mart has been touting their major moves to be a more green and conscious company. While this is a great thing due to their enormous power on such a mass scale, is it real? We have dicussed at length the mob mentality of our society. The following of trends and such. We have also discussed the republican ways of by saying something enough times, whether it is truth or not, people will begin to believe it. With Wal-Mart, if they master this technique it can have major repercussions throughout the world.
Wal-Mart created what is called, the Personal Sustainability Project, or PSP. It began in 2007 to which its employees, primarily in the U.S., were asked to become more green. They were asked to become examples to their community and take steps that will benefit themselves, their community and the earth. Easy tasks include driving the speed limit to save on gas, cleaning up trash, quit smoking, switch to a reusable bottle, or turn off the tap when brushing one's teeth.
Wal-Mart sells a lot of cigarettes and bottled water, again I digress.
It's part of a company wide sustainability effort Wal-Mart launched in 2005. This campaign has seen the company do everything from pledging to double the efficiency of its truck fleet to pushing General Mills to shrink Hamburger Helper boxes by replacing crinkly noodles with straight.
"The program", says Fishman, "is an example of corporate America filling a role akin to churches and community organizations—and that's not a bad thing as long as it doesn't drift in the direction of being some kind of compulsion, it's wonderful."
Critics say that if Wal-Mart cared for making the world a better place, and the quality and sustainability of their employees lives they might think about starting with the paychecks, benefits, and their labor practices. Wait, that would directly cost the company money. Wal-Mart has been involved in numerous lawsuits over sex discrimination, anti-union tactics, mandatory overtime, and more. But some would say with an organization as large as this that goes without saying. What community with over 1.9 million people would NOT have these kinds of claims.
Being the largest retailer in the world, could they not also use their platform to change how their suppliers and manufacturers use slave labor sweatshops, and their dumping of pollutants and toxins in rivers, their massive production of inexpensive non-recyclable plastic products which are barged and shipped halfway around the world? What about the perfectly good products that get thrown out because they are now outdated and past regulatory time lines? What about the hundreds of thousands of employees who earn 7 dollars an hour at Wal-Mart with no health insurance, a car payment, a school loan payment and must support a family of five?
There is a large societal complaint of social justice before environmental justice. This is a company with many ills that must be addressed. Are they beginning their campaign through the fashioned phrases of our society vs the necessary needs of it employees survival? There are many small towns in America today that, due to Wal-Mart the character and small business communities have been closed and disappeared due to the locale of the superstore. Despite these complaints, this is the most shopped store in the country.
Although, Wal-Mart is known to do audits of all of their suppliers factories at least 4 times a year. They are testing both solar power and wind power potential and implementing hundreds of stores to be 0 energy, as well as initiating mandatory subtle changes with their suppliers relating to sustainability. Some would say, that it is changes like this that are putting some these companies out of business or pushing them to manufacture overseas.
Despite all of the good and the bad that this company can create we all must realize that there are three sides to every story. Their side, our perception, and the truth.
Thanks to:
Mother Jones
The Wal-Mart Effect
This, the 209th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Death of a Salesman?
When you think about it, Henry Paulson is a new kind of Willy Loman. If there has ever been a sales job done it has been Paulson with the ultimate. Arthur Miller would have had a heyday with this one.
In the famed play by Mr. Marilyn Monroe, he had an aging salesman who is no longer able to earn a living, and receives only a small commission. He is losing his mind and has attempted to kill himself by inhaling gas from the water heater, as well as crashing his car. He is obsessed with the post war interpretation of the American Dream.
In the new revised story we have Paulson making everyone else lose their minds, and rather than inhaling gas from the water heater we find ourselves swallowing an unbearable oil pricing as we listen to the news about South Dakota Congressman Bill Janklow getting off for murdering someone with his car. The obsession with the post war interpretation is now obsessed by the ongoing multi manufactured war and the failing interpretation of the American Dream.
Well, Henry Paulson makes a slightly different new Willy Loman than the original character, but he has created many just like Loman due to his sale of the century. Perhaps Paulson is more like Willy's brother, Ben. Ben is the wealthy and recently deceased older brother who only appears during Willy's day dreams and time shifts. Willy looks up to him with the highest regard. Perhaps Congress is more like Willy Loman, but let's move on. But, Miller's Willy worked for a man who only had to wake up in the morning, put his slippers on, and make phone calls, and had made millions of dollars. Willy assumes that one does not need to work or have ambition, but that all these men needed was a "smile and a shoeshine" to be successful. So, as the new kind of Willy, Paulson came from the failed companies that we, as the tax payer pansies (or is it ponzies?), are now bailing out. He had reached a dead end in his career. This new Willy was at the top of his game but the sky was falling in on him. His only recourse to his career and life was the ultimate sale, the ultimate con. The final closeout, pre-holiday sale. And that he did.
In a sense Paulson has just shown the American people that the American dream can still exist. He created a Trillion dollar sale within a few weeks at best to give him, Bush and cronies their job security and offshore padding to last many lifetimes. What a commission! With that said, again, perhaps Paulson is more of brother Ben. By making a few calls and doing a few meetings he has been able to take the retirement away from nearly everyone for two generations at least. He has bested some of the greatest salesman of the world with this one.
Congress sat back and ate up the whole story. Like the old Willy Loman. The new Willy, Henry Paulson, sold everyone on the idea that the world was going to crash if this money isn't put into the bad home loans immediately. Has any of the money that has already been distributed gotten there yet? No, the economy just gets worse. So, the new Willy, in another amazing sale, Paulson comes forward and states that he thought that the industry need stability first. I guess he forgot to mention that in the initial discussions. So, is the industry stable now?
This modern story of the famed play is taking different turns and we get to watch it play out. In the final scene of Miller's play we have fittingly a funeral scene, with everyone standing over Willy's grave. Biff who is Willy's oldest son, Happy who is the younger son, Linda who is Willy's wife, and their neighbors Charley and Bernard. The eldest son, at this point learns to accept himself for what is, Happy, the younger generation still wants to carry on Willy's dream of success in the city, and Linda explains that she can't cry. Despite all of the problems that Miller's Willy Loman had she had made the last payment on the house, ending with the words "We're free, we're free..."
In Paulson's rendition the ending is going to play out a bit differently. The older generation will remain the same and will resign themselves to what is, and the younger generation will also remain similar and try to carry out the American dream in the big city. This is America and always has been. But, for the character of Linda, there will be that day when there will be no more tears left but there will be no more house left to make a final payment on as the foreclosure took that dream away. That dream that Bush so proudly talked early on in his first term of helping American's get into a home and enjoy the American dream of home ownership. The pre-planning was happening and no one noticed.
With Paulson creating the new generation of Willy Loman, we give Paulson the great ironic line that Miller gave to Happy, who says it best. "All right, boy. I’m gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vain. He had a good dream. It’s the only dream you can have-to come out number-one man.”
This, the 208th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
In the famed play by Mr. Marilyn Monroe, he had an aging salesman who is no longer able to earn a living, and receives only a small commission. He is losing his mind and has attempted to kill himself by inhaling gas from the water heater, as well as crashing his car. He is obsessed with the post war interpretation of the American Dream.
In the new revised story we have Paulson making everyone else lose their minds, and rather than inhaling gas from the water heater we find ourselves swallowing an unbearable oil pricing as we listen to the news about South Dakota Congressman Bill Janklow getting off for murdering someone with his car. The obsession with the post war interpretation is now obsessed by the ongoing multi manufactured war and the failing interpretation of the American Dream.
Well, Henry Paulson makes a slightly different new Willy Loman than the original character, but he has created many just like Loman due to his sale of the century. Perhaps Paulson is more like Willy's brother, Ben. Ben is the wealthy and recently deceased older brother who only appears during Willy's day dreams and time shifts. Willy looks up to him with the highest regard. Perhaps Congress is more like Willy Loman, but let's move on. But, Miller's Willy worked for a man who only had to wake up in the morning, put his slippers on, and make phone calls, and had made millions of dollars. Willy assumes that one does not need to work or have ambition, but that all these men needed was a "smile and a shoeshine" to be successful. So, as the new kind of Willy, Paulson came from the failed companies that we, as the tax payer pansies (or is it ponzies?), are now bailing out. He had reached a dead end in his career. This new Willy was at the top of his game but the sky was falling in on him. His only recourse to his career and life was the ultimate sale, the ultimate con. The final closeout, pre-holiday sale. And that he did.
In a sense Paulson has just shown the American people that the American dream can still exist. He created a Trillion dollar sale within a few weeks at best to give him, Bush and cronies their job security and offshore padding to last many lifetimes. What a commission! With that said, again, perhaps Paulson is more of brother Ben. By making a few calls and doing a few meetings he has been able to take the retirement away from nearly everyone for two generations at least. He has bested some of the greatest salesman of the world with this one.
Congress sat back and ate up the whole story. Like the old Willy Loman. The new Willy, Henry Paulson, sold everyone on the idea that the world was going to crash if this money isn't put into the bad home loans immediately. Has any of the money that has already been distributed gotten there yet? No, the economy just gets worse. So, the new Willy, in another amazing sale, Paulson comes forward and states that he thought that the industry need stability first. I guess he forgot to mention that in the initial discussions. So, is the industry stable now?
This modern story of the famed play is taking different turns and we get to watch it play out. In the final scene of Miller's play we have fittingly a funeral scene, with everyone standing over Willy's grave. Biff who is Willy's oldest son, Happy who is the younger son, Linda who is Willy's wife, and their neighbors Charley and Bernard. The eldest son, at this point learns to accept himself for what is, Happy, the younger generation still wants to carry on Willy's dream of success in the city, and Linda explains that she can't cry. Despite all of the problems that Miller's Willy Loman had she had made the last payment on the house, ending with the words "We're free, we're free..."
In Paulson's rendition the ending is going to play out a bit differently. The older generation will remain the same and will resign themselves to what is, and the younger generation will also remain similar and try to carry out the American dream in the big city. This is America and always has been. But, for the character of Linda, there will be that day when there will be no more tears left but there will be no more house left to make a final payment on as the foreclosure took that dream away. That dream that Bush so proudly talked early on in his first term of helping American's get into a home and enjoy the American dream of home ownership. The pre-planning was happening and no one noticed.
With Paulson creating the new generation of Willy Loman, we give Paulson the great ironic line that Miller gave to Happy, who says it best. "All right, boy. I’m gonna show you and everybody else that Willy Loman did not die in vain. He had a good dream. It’s the only dream you can have-to come out number-one man.”
This, the 208th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Friday, November 28, 2008
Money...
Money is high on the consciousness of our global society at this time. What exactly does it mean for you? It holds a different grip on different personalities and societies throughout the world.
Some have it, and some don't. Some can get it, and some won't. Some hoard it, and some use it to help. Some prize it for the ways it buys their desires and some just let it go.
The news has made me think of the song, Money, many times over the past few months.
I find some irony in this as well. The incredible blues rock band named Pink Floyd found huge success and became one of the most notable bands in history. Their live shows became a pinnacle of the industry. Their writing, production, and musicianship was flawless.
They made a lot of money.
Their album "Dark Side of the Moon" is the first recording to which a pressing plant was created to press only this recording. It ran for many years, 24/7, putting out the album day and night, before it was revamped and continued to do the same for the CD. This has became one of the best selling albums of all time selling over 40 Million copies.
Pink Floyd parodied themselves in their famed movie, directed by Alan Parker and recording called "The Wall" to which they included lyrics from the album "Dark Side of the Moon" from this song, "Money". The Wall was hugely successful for the band.
In the movie, the setting is a school classroom, 1944, London. Pinky is siting with his head down writing while the headmaster is teaching. He is roaming the room when he notices Pinky.
"Ah, what have we here, laddy?" The grumpy old headmaster grabs the notepad from Pinky. "Mysterious scribblings? A secret code? Oh, Poems, no less?! Poems, everybody! The laddie recons himself a poet!" The class giggles.
He begins to recite the writings:
Money, get back
I'm alright Jack
keep your hands off of my stack
new car, caviar, four star day dream
I think I'll buy me a football team
"Absolute rubbish, laddie." He whips Pinky's hands with a small stick. "Get on with your work."
This scene and others in the movie exemplify the power struggle of those in the "know" and those "workers". Those with the power and those with none. The attempt of those in power to keep others down and forget about dreams.
...get on with your work.
Below is the video for the great song...Money, from the recording "Dark Side of the Moon".
This, the 207th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Some have it, and some don't. Some can get it, and some won't. Some hoard it, and some use it to help. Some prize it for the ways it buys their desires and some just let it go.
The news has made me think of the song, Money, many times over the past few months.
I find some irony in this as well. The incredible blues rock band named Pink Floyd found huge success and became one of the most notable bands in history. Their live shows became a pinnacle of the industry. Their writing, production, and musicianship was flawless.
They made a lot of money.
Their album "Dark Side of the Moon" is the first recording to which a pressing plant was created to press only this recording. It ran for many years, 24/7, putting out the album day and night, before it was revamped and continued to do the same for the CD. This has became one of the best selling albums of all time selling over 40 Million copies.
Pink Floyd parodied themselves in their famed movie, directed by Alan Parker and recording called "The Wall" to which they included lyrics from the album "Dark Side of the Moon" from this song, "Money". The Wall was hugely successful for the band.
In the movie, the setting is a school classroom, 1944, London. Pinky is siting with his head down writing while the headmaster is teaching. He is roaming the room when he notices Pinky.
"Ah, what have we here, laddy?" The grumpy old headmaster grabs the notepad from Pinky. "Mysterious scribblings? A secret code? Oh, Poems, no less?! Poems, everybody! The laddie recons himself a poet!" The class giggles.
He begins to recite the writings:
Money, get back
I'm alright Jack
keep your hands off of my stack
new car, caviar, four star day dream
I think I'll buy me a football team
"Absolute rubbish, laddie." He whips Pinky's hands with a small stick. "Get on with your work."
This scene and others in the movie exemplify the power struggle of those in the "know" and those "workers". Those with the power and those with none. The attempt of those in power to keep others down and forget about dreams.
...get on with your work.
Below is the video for the great song...Money, from the recording "Dark Side of the Moon".
This, the 207th entry in bloggoland! Thanks for reading and coming back. I always enjoy the comments, emails and the banter!!
(c)Copyright 2008 Doug Boggs
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
