What In The World

Finally, A Rich American Destroys The Fiction That Rich People Create The Jobs

2011-12-16T00:38:00.000-08:00

"In the war of rhetoric that has developed in Washington as both sides blame each other for our economic mess, one argument has been repeated so often that many people now regard it as fact:

Rich people create the jobs.

But now a super-rich and super-successful American has explained the most important reason the theory is absurd, while calling for higher taxes on himself and people like him."

Read this article by Henry Blodget from the Daily Ticker to see how he so logically debunks this theory.

Hydraulic Fracturing is just plain bad!

2011-12-08T23:30:00.000-08:00

If you have any questions about the effects of hydraulic fracturing, fracking, on the environment then watch the documentary Gasland. This documentary takes you on a journey from Pennsylvania to Colorado to see the effects of fracking and hear interviews from residents experiencing polluted wells caused by all of the chemicals used in fracking. After watching it then read the following article which was recently published in the New York Times by Ian Urbina and Jo Craven McGinty (Dec 1, 2011):

New York Times Article: Learning to Late of the Perils in Gas Well Leases

Next, read/listen to the interview from 'All Things Considered' on NPR about the EPA study that connects fracking to water contamination in Wyoming:

"The Environmental Protection Agency released a draft study Thursday tying the technique, formally called hydraulic fracturing, to high levels of chemicals found in ground water in the small town of Pavillion, Wyo. EPA scientists found high levels of benzene, a known carcinogen, and synthetic glycol and alcohol, commonly found in hydraulic fracturing fluid."

NPR Interview: EPA Connects 'Fracking' To Water Contamination

The American People are Angry

2011-07-29T01:10:00.000-07:00

"The rich are getting richer. Their effective tax rate, in recent years, has been reduced to the lowest in modern history. Nurses, teachers and firemen actually pay a higher tax rate than some billionaires. It's no wonder the American people are angry."

"In the midst of this, Republicans in Congress have been fanatically determined to protect the interests of the wealthy and large multinational corporations so that they do not contribute a single penny toward deficit reduction."

"If the Republicans have their way, the entire burden of deficit reduction will be placed on the elderly, the sick, children and working families. In the midst of a horrendous recession that is already causing severe pain for average Americans, this approach is morally grotesque. It's also bad economic policy."

Read the entire article by Bernie Sanders in the Wall Street Journal

Bernie Sanders in the Senate

Health Care Industry Abuses

2011-07-05T16:55:00.000-07:00

Medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States. Wendell Potter wrote an article about some of the abuses by the health care industry. It is pretty outrageous. It makes you wonder how the health care industry got to where it is today where the insurance companies call all of the shots. They set the prices, how much they will pay doctors and hospitals, and how much companies and individuals will pay for a policy. Costs have sky rocketed. When the health care bill was being crafted insurance companies played a huge role in the final outcome. They were responsible for removing the government option. Watch the Frontline about the push to reform health care to learn more about this.

Wendell Potter is a former Vice President of corporate communications at CIGNA, one of the United States' largest health insurance companies. In June 2009, he testified against the HMO industry in the U.S. Senate as a whistleblower. He is now the Senior Fellow on Health Care for the Center for Media and Democracy in Madison, Wisconsin.

Read the article

Bernie Sanders Takes to Senate Floor, Demands 'Shared Sacrifice'

2011-06-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

Bernie Sanders, US Senator from Vermont, delivered a great speech where he demanded 'shared sacrifice' to address the deficit. This means raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans and on large corporations as well as a number of other measures that he lists. He makes a great case.

Read or view the speech and then sign the letter to Obama

The Economy Explained in 2 Minutes and 15 Seconds...

2011-06-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

This is a great video where former Labor Secretary Robert Reich explains the economy is just over 2 minutes.

The Global Energy Crisis Deepens

2011-06-06T15:50:00.000-07:00

"Here’s the good news about energy: thanks to rising oil prices and deteriorating economic conditions worldwide, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that global oil demand will not grow this year as much as once assumed, which may provide some temporary price relief at the gas pump. In its May Oil Market Report, the IEA reduced its 2011 estimate for global oil consumption by 190,000 barrels per day, pegging it at 89.2 million barrels daily. As a result, retail prices may not reach the stratospheric levels predicted earlier this year, though they will undoubtedly remain higher than at any time since the peak months of 2008, just before the global economic meltdown. Keep in mind that this is the good news."

"As for the bad news: the world faces an array of intractable energy problems that, if anything, have only worsened in recent weeks. These problems are multiplying on either side of energy’s key geological divide: below ground, once-abundant reserves of easy-to-get “conventional” oil, natural gas, and coal are drying up; above ground, human miscalculation and geopolitics are limiting the production and availability of specific energy supplies. With troubles mounting in both arenas, our energy prospects are only growing dimmer."

Read the article by Michael T. Klare:

"How to Wreck a Planet 101: Three Energy Developments That Are Changing Your Life"

Soot Layer Accelerating Arctic Warming?

2011-04-22T01:53:00.000-07:00

"An international research team is in the land of snow and ice, in search of soot. Though the Arctic is often pictured as a vast white wasteland, scientists believe a thin layer of soot — mostly invisible — is causing it to absorb more heat. They want to find out if that's the main reason for the recent rapid warming of the Arctic, which could have a long-term impact on the world's climate."

Read the article by Randolph Schmid.

Frontline Report on the Health Care Reform Bill

2011-03-27T23:18:00.000-07:00

On March 23, 2010, after a bruising year of debate, negotiation and backlash, President Barack Obama finally signed the health reform bill that he had promised more than a year before. But at what cost to his popularity and to the ideals of bipartisanship and open government that he'd campaigned on?

In Obama's Deal, veteran FRONTLINE producer Michael Kirk (Bush's War, Dreams of Obama) takes viewers behind the headlines to reveal the political maneuvering behind Barack Obama's effort to remake the American health system and transform the way Washington works. Through interviews with administration officials, senators and Washington lobbyists, Obama's Deal reveals the dramatic details of how an idealistic president pursued the health care fight -- despite the warnings of many of his closest advisers -- and how he ended up making deals with many of the powerful special interests he had campaigned against.

View the Frontline Report.

Free Energy: The Race to Zero Point

2011-02-21T23:22:00.000-08:00

The award-winning documentary, Free Energy—The Race to Zero Point, provides a thorough, professional examination of the leading theories and practical inventions that tap into zero point energy—now acknowledged by quantum physicists to exist in all space as a potential source of infinite and accessible electromagnetic energy. Respected engineers and scientists explain in understandable terms how amazing new energy technologies and inventions can go beyond alternative energy to solve the energy crisis on our planet.

View the video - you won't be disappointed!

‘The End of Growth’ excerpt by Richard Heinberg

2011-01-11T15:40:00.000-08:00

This article is an excerpt from Richard’s new book (working title ‘The End of Growth’), which is set for publication in July 2011. Given the urgency and fragility of the global economic crisis, it is being serialized as Richard writes it. This chapter gives the history of events that have lead us to where we are today.

Richard Heinberg is the author of nine books, including The Party’s Over, Peak Everything, and the newly released Blackout, and is widely regarded as one of the world’s most effective communicators of the urgent need to transition away from fossil fuels. With a wry, unflinching approach based on facts and realism, Richard exposes the tenuousness of our current way of life and offers a vision for a truly sustainable future.

Read the chapter on 'The Sound of Air Escaping' and make sure to visit his Facebook page.

Rural Areas in Developing Nations use Small Roof-top Solar Panels for their Power

2010-12-25T01:27:00.000-08:00

The New York Times published an article about how rural areas in developing nations are using small solar panels to generate electricity to power their cell phones and LED lighting since they do not have access to the power grid that the larger cities have. The problem is that there is no effective distribution network.

"With the advent of cheap solar panels and high-efficiency LED lights, which can light a room with just 4 watts of power instead of 60, these small solar systems now deliver useful electricity at a price that even the poor can afford, he noted. “You’re seeing herders in Inner Mongolia with solar cells on top of their yurts,” Mr. Younger said."

Read the article: African Huts Far From the Grid Glow With Renewable Power

300 Years of Fossil Fueled Addiction Video

2010-11-19T19:11:00.000-08:00

Watch the video about 300 years of fossil fueled addiction in 5 minutes. It is great!

Macrowikinomics: The Choice Between Atrophy or Renaissance

2010-09-28T15:22:00.000-07:00

Don Tapscott has written a new book that is being released today! It is called Macrowikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World. If you read Wikinomics then you will really enjoy this book. I haven't read it yet but plan to after reading this blurb about it. This book talks about the state the world is in right now and how we can fix it. The social web and open data is crucial and things are being done now.

Read the blurb.

Inside the BP Oil Spill

2010-05-30T22:44:00.000-07:00

ABC news went underwater with Phillippe Cousteau Jr. to see how bad the BP oil leak is. He described what he saw as "one of the most horrible things I’ve ever seen underwater."

View the video.

Read the New York Times article by Susan D. Shaw who is a marine toxicologist and the director of the Marine Environmental Research Institute, a nonprofit scientific research and educational organization. She describes her dive in the oil and the toxic effects of the oil dispersant, Corexit, BP has been using.

Read the article.

Learn how to have a Smaller Impact on the Environment

2010-03-23T01:19:00.000-07:00

Collectively, small lifestyle changes can make a huge impact on the environment–and your life. Looking for happiness and health? What’s good for the environment is also, it turns out, great for you. Visit this website to learn about the No Impact experiment and to get tips on how you can have less impact on the environment.

Visit noimpactproject.org.

8 Reasons Wall Street Loses Another 20% in This Decade

2010-03-02T14:29:00.000-08:00

You cannot win at Wall Street's "Loser's Game." The past decade proves it. The house always wins in Vegas and on Wall Street. So why bet on the house? Why bet with the Wall Street casino for another decade? Why? You're betting in a rigged casino. Worse, they keep adding powerful new tools, scams and algorithms to their "financial weapons of mass destruction" arsenal, as Warren Buffett calls this mysterious $670 trillion global shadow banking world of derivatives. You cannot win.

Statistically, the odds now predict Wall Street losing another 20% of your money in the next decade. The momentum's headed down. So, what should you do? Sell all your stocks, ETFs, bonds and funds. Get out of commodities and gold. Sell.

Read the article by Paul B. Farrell.

From Ocean to Ozone: Earth's Nine Life-Support Systems

2010-02-25T21:36:00.000-08:00

Last year, Johan Rockström, director of the Stockholm Environment Institute in Sweden, sat down with a team of 28 luminaries from environmental and earth-systems science and came up with nine "planetary life-support systems" that are vital for human survival. They then quantified how far we have pushed them already, and estimated how much further we can go without threatening our own survival. Beyond certain boundaries, they warned, we risk causing "irreversible and abrupt environmental change" that could make the Earth a much less hospitable place (Ecology and Society, vol 14, p 32).

Read the article.

Long-term Ocean Oxygen Depletion in Response to Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Fossil Fuels

2010-02-19T00:31:00.000-08:00

A panel of 155 scientists from 26 countries is warning that rising levels of CO2 in the world’s oceans are quickly making waters more acidic and threatening the health of shellfish and coral reefs. “Severe damages are imminent,” said the panel of oceanographers, chemists, and biologists. The problem of ocean acidification has recently drawn scientific attention. But the latest report takes the most comprehensive look at the problem and warns that rising CO2 emissions are fundamentally altering the chemistry of the sea, posing a direct threat to organisms that need calcium to build their shells. The panel said that the acidity of the ocean has increased 30 percent since the 17th century and that scientists already have discovered
decreases in shellfish, shellfish weights, and the ability of corals to grow skeletons. The oceans absorb about 25 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, and in the sea the gas dissolves to form carbonic acid. “Any increase in dead zones from global warming will last for thousands of years. They will be a permanent fixture” of our oceans, said lead researcher Gary Shaffer of
the University of Copenhagen. [Yale Environment 360]

Nature (February 2009, v2 n2, p105 – 109 ) / by Gary Shaffer, Steffen Malskær Olsen and Jens Olaf Pepke Pedersen

Read the article (pdf)

H1N1 Vaccine Information

2009-12-14T19:34:00.001-08:00

Click on the widget to find out where you can get an H1N1 vaccine and other information.

Status of Global Warming

2009-11-24T12:58:00.000-08:00

Since the 1997 international accord to fight global warming, climate change has worsened and accelerated — beyond some of the grimmest of warnings made back then.

Read the article to see what has been happening since then.

Biomimicry Pioneer, Janine Benyus, PopTech Talk 2004

2009-11-12T19:34:00.000-08:00

Champion of the Earth honoree and biomimicry pioneer Janine Benyus has transformed the way we think about innovation and design. Benyus challenges us to study nature’s best ideas, then imitate its designs and processes to solve some of our greatest human challenges.

View the video of her PopTech talk.

Architect William McDonough at TED 2005

2009-11-11T22:58:00.000-08:00

This is a great talk by William McDonough at TED in 2005. He believes that green design can prevent environmental disaster -- while also driving economic growth. He champions “cradle to cradle” design that considers the full life cycle of a product, from its creation with sustainable materials to a recycled afterlife. In 2002 he co-wrote Cradle to Cradle. (The book itself is printed on recyclable plastic.)

View the talk he gave at TED

Biomimicry For Green Design (A How-To)

2009-11-09T00:22:00.000-08:00

This is a great article by Jeremy Faludi explaining how to use biomimicry for design. He describes the biomimetic approach and gives a comprehensive list of priciples. He lists reference material that are must-reads.

Read the article.

When Nouriel Speaks People had better Listen...

2009-10-23T16:31:00.000-07:00

Here is an interesting with Nouriel Roubini about the current state of the global economy. He thinks a big crash is coming and that there is another bubble that has formed in commodities.

Index Universe (IU.com) interview with Nouriel Roubini.

Michael Moore's Letter to President Obama Congratulating him on Winning the Nobel Peace Prize

2009-10-10T21:43:00.000-07:00

Dear President Obama,

How outstanding that you've been recognized today as a man of peace. Your swift, early pronouncements -- you will close Guantanamo, you will bring the troops home from Iraq, you want a nuclear weapon-free world, you admitted to the Iranians that we overthrew their democratically-elected president in 1953, you made that great speech to the Islamic world in Cairo, you've eliminated that useless term "The War on Terror," you've put an end to torture -- these have all made us and the rest of the world feel a bit more safe considering the disaster of the past eight years. In eight months you have done an about face and taken this country in a much more sane direction.

But...

The irony that you have been awarded this prize on the 2nd day of the ninth year of our War in Afghanistan is not lost on anyone. You are truly at a crossroads now. You can listen to the generals and expand the war (only to result in a far-too-predictable defeat) or you can declare Bush's Wars over, and bring all the troops home. Now. That's what a true man of peace would do.

There is nothing wrong with you doing what the last guy failed to do -- capture the man or men responsible for the mass murder of 3,000 people on 9/11. BUT YOU CANNOT DO THAT WITH TANKS AND TROOPS. You are pursuing a criminal, not an army. You do not use a stick of dynamite to get rid of a mouse.

The Taliban is another matter. That is a problem for the people of Afghanistan to resolve -- just as we did in 1776, the French did in 1789, the Cubans did in 1959, the Nicaraguans did in 1979 and the people of East Berlin did in 1989. One thing is certain through all revolutions by people who wish to be free -- they ultimately have to bring about that freedom themselves. Others can be supportive, but freedom can not be delivered from the front seat of someone else's Humvee.

You have to end our involvement in Afghanistan now. If you don't, you'll have no choice but to return the prize to Oslo.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. Your opposition has spent the morning attacking you for bringing such good will to this country. Why do they hate America so much? I get the feeling that if you found the cure for cancer this afternoon they'd be denouncing you for destroying free enterprise because cancer centers would have to close. There are those who say you've done nothing yet to deserve this award. As far as I'm concerned, the very fact that you've offered to walk into the minefield of hate and try to undo the irreparable damage the last president did is not only appreciated by me and millions of others, it is also an act of true bravery. That's why you got the prize. The whole world is depending on the U.S. -- and you -- to literally save this planet. Let's not let them down.

Climate Change Speeding Toward Irreversible Tipping Points

2009-10-10T01:26:00.000-07:00

The speed and scope of global warming is now overtaking even the most sobering predictions of the last report of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, finds a new report issued by the United Nations Environment Programme, entitled "Climate Change Science Compendium 2009."

Read this article to see what is happening and what can be done!

Two Meter Sea Level Rise Unstoppable

2009-09-30T21:44:00.000-07:00

A rise of at least two meters in the world's sea levels is now almost unstoppable, experts told a climate conference at Oxford University.

"The crux of the sea level issue is that it starts very slowly but once it gets going it is practically unstoppable," said Stefan Rahmstorf, a scientist at Germany's Potsdam Institute and a widely recognized sea level expert.

This is a very sobering article and is a must read!

Read the article

Democracy Now! Interview of David Korten on the New Economy

2009-08-04T15:43:00.000-07:00

Democracy Now! interviews David Korten about his new book "Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth".

"In his new book, Korten argues that the nation faces a monumental economic challenge that goes far beyond anything being discussed in Congress. He writes that now is an opportune moment to move forward an agenda to replace the failed money-serving institutions of our present economy with the institutions of a new economy dedicated to serving life."

Read/Listen to the interview. It is about 14 minutes in.

Great Pacific Garbage Patch to be Studied

2009-08-04T15:30:00.000-07:00

The garbage patch, located 1000 miles west of California, is now estimated to be almost twice the size of Texas. It consists of discarded fishing lines, plastic bottles, and other garbage that has been collecting for decades. Now a group of scientists are setting sail to study it.

Read the article to find out more about it.

Capturing Carbon with Synthetic Trees

2009-07-21T22:33:00.000-07:00

Watch the segment on Nova Science NOW that interviews Geophysicist Klaus Lackner about his synthetic tree made to take carbon out of the atmosphere which was inspired by his daughter's science project.

View the segment

Satellite survey reveals dramatic Arctic sea-ice thinning

2009-07-11T00:22:00.000-07:00

Scientists have evaluated for the first time how much the thickness and volume of Arctic sea ice, not just the ice's surface area, have shrunk since 2004 across the Arctic Ocean basin.

Read the article.

Green Living and Green Technology Podcaster

2009-07-03T14:34:00.000-07:00

While reading the San Jose Mercury News I came across an article written by Mike Cassidy about a local podcaster. Her name is Alison van Diggelen and she has interviewed a variety of people on the subject of green living and green technology. Her guests have included Silicon Valley tech execs, Maureen Dowd, Charlie Rose, Jack Welsh, and Martin Sheen.

Visit her website to hear these podcasts at www.freshdialogues.com.

America’s Sea of Red Ink Was Years in the Making

2009-06-11T01:36:00.000-07:00

Read this article by New York Times columnist David Leonhardt about America's deficit and what went in to making it so big. Charlie Rose interviewed him about it on June 10th.

Read the article

Charlie Rose Interview

Buddhist Climate Project

2009-05-25T15:51:00.000-07:00

Read the article about Tibet and China: Climate Crisis at the Earth's Third Pole. It talks about the glaciers melting and the impending water crisis that will hit Asian countries to produce a food shortage. The impact is enormous and is being caused by coal fired plants. It is imperative that we stop adding CO2 to the atmosphere if we are to survive.

Visit the Ecological Buddhism a Buddhist Response to Global Warming site.

Sign the Buddhist Declaration before the U.N. Climate Treaty Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Paul Ehrlich - Evolution of the Dominant Animal

2009-05-03T22:04:00.000-07:00

Paul Ehrlich appeared at the Common Wealth Club in San Francisco to talk about climate change and the destruction of biodiversity. Great talk!

The audio file is a .ram so you will need Real Player or a player that knows how to play that format.

Listen to the talk.

Paul Ehrlich on the Fate of Biodiversity

2009-05-02T23:43:00.000-07:00

This is a talk that Paul Erhlich, author of 'The Population Bomb', gave in September, 2008, at the University of British Columbia, where he covers climate change and biodiversity degradation. He and his wife, Anne, have recently put out a new book 'The Dominant Animal and the Fate of Biodiversity'.

This talk was aired by Radio Echoshock.

Listen to his talk.

New York City-sized Ice Collapses off Antarctica

2009-04-30T00:43:00.000-07:00

Read this article that talks about the shattering into icebergs of an ice sheet the size of New York City that broke off the Wilkins Ice Shelf earlier this month. This is a sign that climate change is having a very dramatic effect on the world.

Read the article.

Poisoned Waters - Frontline Report

2009-04-23T00:28:00.000-07:00

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hedrick Smith examines the growing hazards to human health and the ecosystems of the Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound due to polluted runoff from industry, agriculture and massive suburban development.

View the 2 hour Frontline special

No Return to Normal - Economic Crisis

2009-04-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

Here is a great article by James K. Galbraith about the global economic crisis. Not only does he explain how current banking policy will not work but he provides solutions that will end up rebuilding this country and preserving it's assets of being a place of science and technology innovation.

Read the article: "Why the economic crisis, and its solution, are bigger than you think"

Charlie Rose Interview with Amory Lovins

2009-04-21T01:11:00.000-07:00

This interview is from 2006 but is still very relevant with regard to energy alternatives and getting off oil completely.

View the interview

Nova Special: Extreme Ice

2009-04-12T12:04:00.000-07:00

Photographer, James Balog, chronicles the melting arctic and Greenland glaciers. The rate of melting is much faster than expected. Large lakes disappearing in a matter of hours is captured on video as well as large ice sheets breaking off and floating out to sea.

There are a series of 6 videos totaling an hour of viewing time. Incredible footage!

Visit the site to watch the videos.

Thomas Friedman Article about Sustainable Growth in Costa Rica

2009-04-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

Read Thomas Friedman's article about Costa Rica's model for sustainable growth. He visited on an eco tour and gives his insights.

Read the article

Annie Leonard guest spoke and showed "The Story of Stuff" at Foothill College

2009-03-11T18:52:00.000-07:00

Annie Leonard is an expert in international sustainability and environmental health issues, with more than 20 years of experience investigating factories and dumps around the world. She spoke at Foothill College and showed her movie, the Story of Stuff, which shows how stuff is created and at what cost to the environment.

She also recommended some books and web sites:

"Exposed": Deregulating Chemicals by Mark Shapiro. Here is a link that talks about the book

Our Stolen Future written by three authors, Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski, and John Peterson Myers which chronicles the development of the endocrine disruptor hypothesis by Theo Colborn. Go here to visit their web site which continues to monitor and report on research related to endocrine disruptor.

Rules for Radicals written by Saul Alinsky. Go here to see a list of the rules.

Steady State Economy is a web site. The President, Brian Czech, of the site wrote an article on this.

Did you know all California state employees are required to sign a loyalty oath?

2009-03-09T19:04:00.000-07:00

This outdated loyalty oath dates back to 1952 which was added at the height of anti-Communist hysteria. It requires that all California state employees sign it before they can be hired. Not signing it means you will not be hired. What does a loyalty oath promising to uphold and defend the Constitution have to do with working for the state in a non-military capacity?

Here is the text of the loyalty oath:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend
the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of
the State of California against all enemies, foreign and
domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the
Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the
State of California; that I take this obligation freely, without
any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will
well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about
to enter.

Visit this web site to see what happened to a teacher who was fired for refusing
to sign it.

Visit this web site to see what a UC Berkeley graduate student did to bring this
issue to light and to encourage resistance to signing it.

Global Financial Crisis Discussed by Paul Keating

2009-02-15T20:20:00.000-08:00

Here is an interview with the Paul Keating, ex-Prime Minister of Australia, talking about the global financial crisis. Well worth the watch!

View the interview

What Happened to the EV1 Battery?

2009-02-07T13:38:00.000-08:00

In this exerpt from 'Who Killed the Electric Car?" they explain what happened to the battery technology that was developed for the EV1.

View the video.

Can the Power Grid Handle the Influx of Renewable Energy Sources?

2009-01-28T14:49:00.000-08:00

With solar and wind turbines coming online the existing power grid is too old and inadequate to manage it. Read the article that discusses the problems that need to be solved that will move us into clean energy production and management.

Read the article: Lifeline for Renewable Power by David Talbot

United Ponzi States of America

2009-01-26T17:16:00.000-08:00

This is a very interesting article by Robert Morley, a columnist for theTrumpet.com, that shows how social security, the housing bubble, medicare, and medical are just Ponzi schemes. Read this and consider what you should do with your money if you are worried that it may end up becoming worthless.

Read the article.

Barack Obama's Inauguration Speech

2009-01-20T22:42:00.000-08:00

Watch Barack Obama take the oath of office and hear his inaugural speech.

View Video

"Hope over fear"

Artist Shepard Fairey

Congratulations and best wishes for a successful presidency. The problems and issues are so great that a bottomless pit can't describe how deep they are. We the people are behind you and are ready to support you. We shall overcome...

I Have a Dream speech by Martin Luther King

2009-01-19T23:08:00.000-08:00

Watch the video of Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech.

View Video

Chinese Savings Helped Inflate American Bubble

2008-12-27T02:02:00.000-08:00

"In the past decade, China has invested upward of $1 trillion, mostly earnings from manufacturing exports, into American government bonds and government-backed mortgage debt. That has lowered interest rates and helped fuel a historic consumption binge and housing bubble in the United States."

Read the New York Times article by David Barboza and Keith Bradsher.

The new job of politicians: Selling fear and nightmares

2008-12-17T18:59:00.000-08:00

Well worth the watch. Each segment is an hour long. Very enlightening.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Two Comedians Saw Financial Meltdown in 2007!

2008-10-25T12:26:00.000-07:00

How did these comedians see it coming when financial reporters did not?

View the Video

The Far Side of Sarah Palin

2008-10-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

Here are some links to the Tina Fey impersonation of Sarah Palin as well as the real interview with Katie Couric.

Tina Fey SNL first skit

The real Katie Couric interview with Palin

Katie Couric interview SNL version

CNN clip showing both the real Couric interview and the SNL version

Biden/Palin debate SNL version

How Does Alan Greenspan Fit into the Credit Crisis?

2008-10-09T19:50:00.000-07:00

Read this article in the New York Times that talks about how Alan Greenspan blocked attempts at regulation which eventually led to the current credit crisis.

Meltdown: A Global Warming Travelogue

2008-10-06T13:53:00.000-07:00

For a long time -- the first 15 years that we knew about global warming and did nothing -- there were no pictures. That was one of the reasons for inaction. But now the pictures have started to come, and they will not cease.

Read the article by Bill McKibben and view the photographs by Gary Braasch.

Pass the Bailout Package - Warren Buffett Tells Why

2008-10-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

Listen to this great interview with Warren Buffett by Charlie Rose to hear why we should all urge our representatives to pass the bailout package. It goes beyond Wall Street to the state of our economy. Without passage millions more jobs will be lost and more businesses will have to close.

Charlie Rose interview with Warren Buffett

What caused the Credit Crisis?

2008-09-28T22:22:00.000-07:00

Listen to this special program on This American Life about the housing crisis that was produced in a special collaboration with NPR News. What does the housing crisis have to do with the turmoil on Wall Street? Why did banks make half-million dollar loans to people without jobs or income? And why is everyone talking so much about the 1930s? It all comes back to the Giant Pool of Money.

Go to This American Life, Chicago Public Radio web site, to listen to the show.

Register to Vote

2008-09-21T16:53:00.000-07:00

Click on this site to register to vote. Pass this link along to your friends just in case they haven't yet registered to vote.

Register to vote now!

The Truth about Sarah Palin

2008-09-14T13:41:00.000-07:00

It is time to look past Sarah Palins' attractiveness and to look at the facts about Sarah Palin and why her beliefs and leadership style do not qualify her to be vice president of the United States.

Her hiring and firing shows a pattern of an abuse of power which we are all too familiar within the Bush administration. "Heck of a job, Brownie" Bush said to the head of FEMA while the Katrina debacle was unfolding. As it turned out Brownie had no experience running anything close to what FEMA required. The parallel with Palin is that she hired a high school classmate to run the State Division of Agriculture. Her only qualifications were that she was a former real estate agent who professed a childhood love of cows. Go to the link to read the entire article about this: Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends, Lashed Foes.

When Palin asked the local librarian what the procedure was to get certain books banned from the library the librarian let her know that she was 'aghast' at the thought and would never do that. After that Palin fired her but had to reinstate her because it caused such an uproar. Anne Kilkenny was a vocal critic of this attempted firing. She has known Sarah Palin since 1992 and had attended many city council meetings during the time when Palin was mayor. Recently, she felt impelled to write a letter describing how the Palin mayoral administration functioned because she believes that "Bad things happen when good people stay silent". Read the letter that has been circulating the internet about Sarah Palin.

Not only is she anti-abortion, pro-creationism, and does not believe people have affected climate change, she is uninformed about the Bush doctrine and she believes that Iraq and Saddam Hussein were connected to the 911 terrorist attacks. She alluded to this in her speech at her sons' deployment to Iraq ceremony. Recently, even Bush, admitted that there was no connection.

Considering the debt, the financial crisis, the "war", and the poor standing that our country now has with the rest of the world, this presidency will be faced with enormous problems that only extraordinary people will be able to solve. Based on this information it is obvious that McCain and Palin will not be up to the job because they just represent more of the same. We have had eight years to get into this mess and four more will only be catastrophic. These times require global experience and diplomacy which is something very different from what has been the status quo.

Read the op-ed article by Bob Herbert where he summarizes why Palin is just not ready to serve in the position of vice president which, by the way, is just a heartbeat away from the presidency. Read the article here.

Below are links to opinions about Sarah Palin:

Gloria Steinem wrote a great article called Palin: Wrong Woman, Wrong Message.

To read blog entries by women who are not sympathetic to Palin go to the blog,
Women Against Sarah Palin. If you are against Palin it is a great place to express your thoughts.

Here is a video made by a woman who is expressing how she feels about Palin:
A View of Palin...

View the SNL skit where Tina Fey is Sarah Palin:

The Debt Trap

2008-07-20T12:23:00.000-07:00

Great article from The New York Times about Americans digging deeper into debt. They are not the only ones at fault. Read how the credit card companies and mortgage lenders reap profits from the fees they charge. It doesn't matter whether people can pay the loans off because the companies bundle up the loans and sell them as securities. NIMBY attitude and we are paying for it now with the credit crisis.

View the Article

Al Gore's Speech to End Carbon-Based Dependence

2008-07-18T16:46:00.000-07:00

Listen to Al Gore's speech about global warming, the oil crisis, and his plan to move from oil to alternative sources of energy.

View the Video

Climate Change has reached the Critical State

2008-07-06T01:13:00.000-07:00

Learn about the effects climate change will have on the world in this blog. Unless something is done to halt it dire changes are certain.

View the Blog

Massive Algae Bloom in China Threatens Olympics Sailing Races

2008-07-01T11:42:00.000-07:00

The country’s official news agency, Xinhua, reported that algae currently cover a third of the coastal waters designated for the Olympic sailing competition.

View New York Times Article

Garbage covering an area bigger than Texas Floating in the Ocean

2008-06-02T01:04:00.000-07:00

Read about the largest landfill in the world that is floating in the ocean.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch.htm

The Materials Economy...The Story of Stuff Movie

2008-05-30T11:50:00.000-07:00

Click the link to view the video about how things are made, the resources that are used, and where they go and the effect they have on the planet, full life-cycle of stuff.

http://www.informaticus.org/Movies/StoryOfStuff.mov

Changing Global Climate Documentary

2008-03-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

Meltdown: Inside Out is an audio documentary, produced by Inside Out, that explores four regions of the world where the effects of climate change are being felt, the Arctic ice cap, Greenland ice sheet, Peru's mountain glaciers, and Antarctica.

Click the link to go to the web site where the documentary is being presented. It may take a few minutes before starting to play. (Duration 1 hour)
Listen to the documentary

Weekend Nonsense News - Little Known Law

2008-03-25T23:11:00.000-07:00

Weekend Nonsense News on a little known law. (Duration 30 seconds.)

Listen to the Newscast.

http://pschales.googlepages.com/WNNGibberish.mp3

Blogs, Bloggers, and Podcasting

2008-03-20T22:09:00.000-07:00

Blogging and podcasting are great ways of finding out about what is happening in the world, things that one might never even know about. There are blogs and podcasts of all kinds of things, politics, entertainment, and educational, anything you can think of. From your own home you can communicate with others, anywhere in the world, who share these interests.

The blogs that I have been reading are The TED Blog and Long Views blog which have talks by people who are concerned about the future of mankind both physically and spiritually. The podcasts that I have listened to have allowed me to "attend" seminars that would otherwise be impossible to be a part of. I have listened to some Dharma lectures and seminars sponsored by the Long Now Foundation. In my blog I have links to some of these talks.

Blogging has had a profound effect on society. The viral level of communication has given grassroots organizations more power with the ability to raise money and to connect to millions of people with the click of a button. The bi-directionality of this communication has given bloggers a more accurate picture of "what is going on". It's nice to see this revitalization of democracy.

Karen Armstrong Talks About Compassion in Religion

2008-03-20T20:45:00.000-07:00

The TED conference held in the first week of March, 2008, is over and now videos of the talks are available. The topic discussed by people from all walks of life was "What is life?". This is a video of guest speaker, Karen Armstrong, where she talks about bringing compassion back to religion. (Recorded March 2008 in Monterey, California. Duration: 21:27.)

View the video at TED 2008

Weekend Nonsense News - Breaking News

2008-03-18T22:17:00.000-07:00

Weekend Nonsense News has breaking news! (Duration 30 seconds.)

Listen to the Newscast.

http://paulaschales.com/blogFiles/SchalesElvis.mp3

Introducing Weekend Nonsense News Podcast

2008-03-08T00:22:00.000-08:00

This is the introduction to the Weekend Nonsense News broadcast. It will be a series of news podcasts that poke fun at anything under the sun. Subscribe to it to watch it evolve... (Duration 30 seconds.)

Listen to the Introduction

http://paulaschales.com/blogFiles/SchalesNewscast.mp3

Craig Venter talks about synthetic life at TED 2008

2008-03-06T21:12:00.000-08:00

The TED conference held in the first week of March, 2008, is over and now videos of the talks are available. The topic discussed by people from all walks of life was "What is life?". This is a video of guest speaker, Craig Venter, where he talks about creating new life using digital technology to assemble genes and covers the reasons why we would want to do this, and the bioethics of synthetic life. (Recorded March 2008 in Monterey, California. Duration: 32:52.)

View the video at TED 2008

World Wide Telescope introduced at TED 2008

2008-03-04T20:55:00.000-08:00

The World Wide Telescope uses the web to allow people to navigate through the universe pictorially. It is a creation of images from many different telescopes all woven together. It will be available in the spring and is located at www.worldwidetelescop.org. The picture to the left is the "first light" image from the Large Binocular Telescope of the galaxy NGC 891.

View the video introducing it at TED 2008.

Craig Venter talks on DNA, genes, and the sea at TED 2005

2008-03-02T18:47:00.000-08:00

Craig Venter and his team were the first to decode the entire human genome. Since then he has been a pioneer in the new field of genomics. In 2003 he and his team spent a year sampling and mapping the ocean's newly discovered biodiversity. Cataloging and decoding the genes was finished in 2006 and it was during this research that he took a break to give this talk to the TED conference in 2005. He shares his discoveries one of which are the 2,000 photoreceptor genes found in the Sargasso Sea. He talks about the potential of environmental genomics to monitor the safety of air, water and offshore drilling, and then ends with his vision for engineered species that can replace the petrochemical industry by creating clean energy.

Craig Venter: A voyage of DNA, genes and the sea

View the video at TED 2005

First Post

2008-03-01T22:11:00.000-08:00

This is my first post. I will be talking about global warming, synthetic life, sculpture, and anything else that is interesting. I will include articles, pictures and links to videos.