chuck kottke

:smug:Good for Emanuel! They should get a stimulus package going, and I'm glad they stopped Bush's attempt to tie a so-called "free trade" agreement to it. It's time someone put their foot down with Bush and his cronies, lest he do any more damage. But in a broader sense, using more signing statements is not a good thing, but a hard habit to break. And today the price of high-profile appointees is the baggage they arrive with - and they all have baggage. Getting campaign finance reform of a lasting and tough form looks more essential than ever, if we are to clear up much of the corruption here - maybe something can take shape in the Obama administration, if it isn't tanked by the influence peddlers. ;)

Spying for Teachers.. 7:41 and calling all your teachers to tell them that you're goofing off on the internet, and not doing your homework!:P

Hello to Philadelphia!! Hello Amber, and a warm welcome to you in Philadelphia!!! You have a beautiful story about appreciation and overcoming obstacles in life - congratulations on your ability to pick up the tune through concentration! I find that their lyrics are well written, and perhaps more the result of subconscious streams of thought - spontaneous I am sure in many ways. We all need a little lift, sympathy, drive, and inspiration at time - it's the spirit that travels through their music, and reverberates well throughout the globe - through lyric and moods of music. It's good to know another kindred spirit!! YAY!:jester:

Hello Grids! Yes, so that makes him directly connected to Indonesia, and therefore we can expect the best.;)! He's got a huge mess to try and unsnarl, and his advisers will be critical in providing guidance, and opening up some sane dialog with all the globe's nations & citizens. I really feel he is sincere, and he has a sort of idealism which one rarely sees in the leadership of any nation, so if the money hounds can be held at bay, and if he can correct some of the mistakes we here in the US have made, things could be looking up. Recalling the past 3 presidents we've had, it seems none of them held the same firm stance on principals that he holds, and he has articulated those core beliefs in liberty very eloquently in his speeches. Since he was educated at Harvard as a Constitutional Law expert and has taught Constitutional Law, I have quite a bit of respect for him, and the possibility that he could bring us back to the principals that bind us to the higher ideals underlying this American democracy. He seems reluctant to return the power of the office of the President back to it's original, even though the expanded powers are clearly not intended in the U.S. Constitution, but Barack did state that he wanted to issue very few signing statements, which is a start in the right direction. On the global economic situation, it's clear that intelligent oversight from more honest government is necessary to stem the excessively risky and often shady market behaviors that led to the global financial crisis, and he does have a clear mandate to do just that; plus no incumbent wants to see the economy falter further, as they would be cutting their careers short by doing so. For that reason I believe our congress, as well as the financial backers have an interest in fixing the problems that led to this latest crash/panic, even though many of them are major political donors to his campaigns. He did make it clear in his acceptance speech that he was principally beholden to the numerous smaller contributions from ordinary citizens, and so he would do what was in our best interest. I think it's going to be a good next 8 years - sunlight after the dark storm that overtook us since 2000.:)

If Diesels are so much more efficient (45 -55%), why haven't they been adopted for everything? I think they can burn almost any liquid fuel, and one would think any NOx emissions could be easily catalytically decomposed? 15 - 20 as a compression ratio vs. 9...

Obama is a Harvard Graduate, not a Yale legacy student like Bush. Obama has way more contributions under $200 than McCain. Obama isn't related to one of the old Eastern elites; And Obama cares about the people in Hawaii:P

:cheesy::p:wideeyed:Did someone say C-Ch-Che-Cheese?:P Absolutely! Cheese - I must go get some!! I have a block of award-winning cheddar in the fridge..;) TNP believes the Restaurant at the End of the Universe will serve chicken soup.

:sunny:The sun will come out tomorrow!:sunny::P And Obama will win, and there will be world peace. (well, one can hope at least!):)

What?? Bananas! TNP believes the Universe has 11 dimensions.

Yes, it's rough - I sympathize with you! The manufacturing sector's been hit pretty hard, and that's us in the upper Midwest. It was picking up a bit, but then this latests drop has affected sales of everything. I see it in the commodities end for the raw materials, but that translates into less products being sold from the other end of the line... Multi-level manufacturing is here to stay, but then if our labor looks a bit more expensive, it's hard to convince a company to stay and not ship all the jobs overseas. I hold out hope for Fair Trade to help both ways, as it seems reasonable to reverse the disparity between the rich and the workers, and at the same time ensuring that workers and honest business owners get a fair shake overseas as well. But a good start-point is to end much of the corruption in getting officials elected, as square-one on the path to progress. I have to say the Right to Vote is being tampered with severely in the US, and the simple act of demanding paper ballots, ensuring all citizens' right to vote, and better counting machines will plug one leak in our ship, and have a good net effect on everything - including less corrupt officials, which means less kick-backs from certain wall-street firms, which in turn means fair regulation and enforcement of fair market rules, which will save us from the sea-saw of market crashes, bubbles, and the scams that hurt us all. In the end, a stronger economy will mean better paying, more stable employment - and better global stability as well, since all the global economies are intertwined.;) It all starts with fair elections, and the Right to Vote.

Mountainloafers, I wholeheartedly agree! Here, all we need to do is go to the polling place, show the poll workers our Driver's license or photo ID, and state our address when asked. And anyone without a license needs to be issued a state ID if they are a citizen. It would be nice if there were machines to vote everywhere, but insuring honesty - it's probably best to have clear polling places or voting at the courthouse early, etc. just to keep things on the up-and-up.. Interestingly, I had watched a program on the voting machines, many of which were easily hacked in 2000 and 2004 - they used an old prototype Tandy memory card - nothing really proprietary about it, and quite easy to hack and infiltrate with a virus that miscounts the vote - plus that virus could be spread from machine to machine. Can't recall if those same machines are still being used, but it's a possibility.. I'm leaning back in favor of well-designed hand ballots and manual re-counts in close contests or recounts. Machines are fine, if there's some guarantee of a verified solid checked copy on record, and a way to undo a mistake while voting.

More people will vote if we take the big money out of politics as best as we damn well can. More will vote if it's made clear and easy to register - even registering at the polling place election day - that should be uniform throughout, so everyone finds it less of a hassle - and make early voting easy everywhere.

Don't look at one or two events, and think that's proof for or against climate change. Some predictions suggest that if the North Atlantic Conveyor Belt stops, then Europe will get much colder, and some parts of North America and Asia as well. But this weather event is a blip on the radar screen, just like the record hot days in summer a few years back. To see the truth, we have to take the average, and look longer-term.

:PJay, sloths are honorable wild creatures! They may be slow, but they're stealthy. Comparing Sloths to the General Public is just unfair!:laugh3: Yes, the power of incumbency is part of the problem without a doubt. But maybe even more basic than that is just getting people to vote. It helps if there's someone who actually stands for a broad base of support with real ideas and policies that count for something other than what the big money backers want, but even so - it needs to be easier for people to register - standardized registration, and every adult citizen should have the right to vote, regardless of their skin tone, record, community. Plus, no more disenfranchisement schemes - what's gone on with Rove and Gonzales with their manipulations is disgusting and smacks of earlier times when Johnson stole the election in Texas, or when Daley rigged the machine in Chicago. Those two should spend time in the slammer!

:laugh3:Ah, politicians are loved the world over, aren't they?!:P The Global Financial Crisis means scrap metal prices have taken a sever tumble. Aluminum is down to $ 0.10 per pound! :( What, have people stopped buying beverages??:confused: Iron is down to $40.00 per ton locally. Down from $120.00 per ton at the same place a year ago. Looks like I'll just have to stockpile it until the economy takes off again..;)

I'm putting my weight into changing the process, which I have to hope is possible, just as it was possible to throw off the shackles of tyranny so many times in history. I think Barack Obama, and even McCain at one time held to a higher standard of ethical philosophy, but as Jefferson wrote about the institution of slavery as "eventually dragging everyone down all who were involved in the institution" so I feel the same about our politics here in the U.S. Such was the pull of bad ideas surrounding slavery, that it even pulled in Jefferson and debased his views of his fellow man; in essence his own prophesy became his downfall. I was watching a bit of Link TV (haven't a clue who else watches it), and it is just plain wrong how hard it is for 3rd party candidates to get on the ballot. One 3rd party candidate needed some odd 69,000 signatures to get on the ballot (as a candidate under the Green Party ticket), while any other major party candidates needed just 2,000 signatures. That in and of itself is a crime against the citizenry - I may not always vote 3rd party, but I believe the qualifications for getting on the ballot should be the same for everyone. Period. And I think it's mostly because the big money behind the 2 major parties wants to block all opposition before it even gets off the ground - and the big money donors should be put in their place, and be no more influential than the rest of us! There is a campaign finance bill working it's way through congress based on several states that have effectively adopted similar legislation, but it already looks compromised, allowing an end-game around it - an "opt out". We need some sort of mass movement to end the corruption, and open up the process for more honest, broad-based, and new perspective candidates! Viva La Revolution!

message in a bottle I suppose one could be an atheist, but still believe in something spiritual, just not in a single god as it were.. An agnostic believes it is impossible to know if god exists, and an atheist is someone who does not believe in god - but what if one believes in some all-connected essence of our being to be one with the universe? Not a single god or multiple gods, but a spiritually one-ness with all that is?:)

Welcome to the one-and-only flying coldplay circus, complete with pythons!

I keep thinking about the Pet Shop Boys, and Billy Idol.. But then there's Dire Straits! U2 of course, & Devo were funny! God, guys with upside-down flower pots on their heads - that takes the cake!:laugh3: And what about Blondie? Madonna? AC/DC? Springsteen? Billy Joel? So many, it's hard to recall them all!:P

:cool:U2 & Jethro Tull:jester:

:thumbsup:

Nice! I like how people reacted to the motion picture camera - quite interesting! And the market scene really was packed!!

Umm.. Sometimes if everyone is on one transformer, the transformer gets overloaded and overheats - and then a breaker in it cuts the power off. It's then gotta be reset. Maybe you need a larger transformer, or more efficient home appliances?? Our old transformers that would overheat (because everyone started using more electricity) were replaced. The old ones I guess were cleaned up, new breakers installed, and they were shipped down south to South and Central America! Apparently they're smarter about the use of electricity than we are here... :> But hmm.. that's dumb of me - really just pronoun trouble.. - they, we, them, us - we're all the same!:laugh3: I think when you first get something, you use it wisely, and then when it becomes more available, you get wasteful.

Greetings!

fix It has affected me in a personal way, in the sense that I feel the hurt of those less fortunate - from empathy mainly. It's from a cycle of behavior that we wound up spreading this collapse: Major firms (Wall-Street connected) send money $---> Congressional/Presidential Races ----> Deregulation of market/corporate rules ----> Risky investments sold as grade-A nest eggs ----> Market Skyrockets ----> Market Crashes... & Repeat after each crash. The problem is a lot of working class citizens get hurt badly each time. It could be from ENRON, Worldcom, Sub-prime bank scams, AIG Bailouts, etc. but the ones who feel the pain are always the workers. They get snookered into buying homes with variable-rate clauses; they're the ones who worked for ENRON and lost their pensions. And the workers have no buffer to fall back on - their wages adjusted for inflation have not kept up with household costs, health care, etc. True enough, they need more education to resist the pull of the scams (credit card debt, over-inflated housing, sub-prime swindles, auto swindles), but that's like blaming innocents for the Snidley Wiplashes of the world.. We ought to ask why do we allow so many scams to be run by crooks in the first place?? I'm 100% regulation, but it has to be tough, updated regularly, and put there by more honest elected officials.