RIP Senator Byrd

...You will be sorely missed.

Quote of the Day

"Women make better loan recipients than men if your aim is to increase family well-being. Compared to men's loans, women's loans double family income and increase child survival twentyfold."

~Muhammad Yunus, who founded Grameen

This article is about the invisible elephant in our crisis planning room: nothing will save the human race if we don't lower our population STAT.

The paradox embedded in our future is that the fastest way to slow our population growth is to reduce poverty, yet the fastest way to run out of resources is to increase wealth.

I've been wondering for years why no one is talking about reducing our numbers, when the core of all of our looming problems is our tendency to make like rabbits when we have no birth control.

My mother had no birth control other than the rhythm method, and I grew up with 5 siblings. I asked her once how many children would she have had if she could have stopped when she wanted - she said TWO.

I had birth control, and was able to limit my family to 3 children. And everywhere they find the same thing: the surest way to slow population growth is to educate and empower women.

So, WTF is happening right here in the US - birth control is coming more and more under fire, abortion is less and less available, and women's rights are being thrown away - and all while the only conversation on these issues is all about how a very small and vocal minority is morally opposed to limiting human procreation.

They suck the air out of the debate, leaving only death, starvation and decline in their wake.

flowers today

I just love me some peonies.



Volunteers.

A HA HAH HAH HAHAHAHA

Last month, House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio and his lieutenants launched "America Speaking Out," a public outreach campaign involving an interactive website and town hall meetings with GOP lawmakers. Its stated purpose is to provide people with "a new platform to share their priorities and ideas for a national policy agenda."

Thousands of people posted ideas or voted on their favorite suggestions. But the project's usefulness in shaping a Republican agenda is questionable.

Last week, the top five entries in the "Liberty and Freedom" category were:
1. ban handguns,
2. "drop the idea that we're a 'Christian' country,"
3. declare abortion "none of the government's business,"
4. allow gays to serve openly in the military and
5. legalize marijuana.

(my bullets)

STORY HERE

The War Is Making You Poor

Take the $159 billion dollars that Obama is asking for yet another "supplemental" to fund the wars in the middle east... and make income tax go away for the first $35,000 for every American taxpayer. Then, take the $16,000,000,000 that's left and pay down the deficit.

I think that 550 BILLION dollars is more than enough to run the pentagon and run the wars too, and I don't want another red cent of my tax money going to kill poor people on the other side of the world.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH ALREADY!

Let's Play What's On My Screen Saver?

From the President's Speech:

Last year, the House of Representatives [passed] a strong and comprehensive energy and climate bill — a bill that finally makes clean energy the profitable kind of energy for America’s businesses. Now, there are costs associated with this transition. And some believe we can’t afford those costs right now. I say we can’t afford not to change how we produce and use energy — because the long-term costs to our economy, our national security, and our environment are far greater.

So I am happy to look at other ideas and approaches from either party — as long they seriously tackle our addiction to fossil fuels. Some have suggested raising efficiency standards in our buildings like we did in our cars and trucks. Some believe we should set standards to ensure that more of our electricity comes from wind and solar power. Others wonder why the energy industry only spends a fraction of what the high-tech industry does on research and development — and want to rapidly boost our investments in such research and development.

[at this point I was yelling at the TV: "SHOW ME THE MONEY" I firmly expected that he would follow that by saying he would take the billions in taxes we give to big oil every year and give it to solar and wind development.

Instead we get this:

All of these approaches have merit, and deserve a fair hearing in the months ahead. But the one approach I will not accept is inaction....What has defined us as a nation since our founding is our capacity to shape our destiny — our determination to fight for the America we want for our children. Even if we’re unsure exactly what that looks like. Even if we don’t yet know precisely how to get there. We know we’ll get there.

...and then a buncha mushy hooey about prayer.


The $20 billion is a good start, but will not be sufficient to put it all right.

Common Sense

Quote of the Day

Opponents of the immigration law may be frustrated, but "boycotts are absolutely the wrong way to go," said Garrick Taylor, a spokesman for the state chamber of commerce. Boycotts hurt Arizonans, "particularly in the tourist industry, who had nothing to do with the law."

Uh, excuse me, but if you cannot rouse yourself to be against a racist and unconstitutional new law, than you are ipso facto FOR said racist and unconstitutional new law. Particularly if you are in an industry as sensitive to those sorts of things as the tourist industry is.