Little Country Lost

The Freedom to Mine Act

2011-07-13T17:07:00.000-07:00

House of Representatives
HR 2018: Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act of 2011

The House of Representatives spent today debating and voting on a bill which would take enforcement authority and the power to sanction water polluters away from the Environmental Protection Agency. Instead of the EPA, HR 2018 will put individual states back in charge of enforcing clean water laws.

If the goal of HR 2018 to make sure our water is as clean as possible, this bill fails on it's face. As described by Tim Bishop (D-NY), the bill's most passionate opponent, "upstream states can pollute and down stream states would have no recourse."
On the other hand, if the goal is to make business easier for mining companies, this bill is brilliant! The EPA would no longer be able to regulate maximum amounts of chemicals dumped into water. The EPA would no longer be able to impose fines on polluters. Most importantly, the EPA would no longer be able to hold up mining contracts due to water pollution concerns.

The National Mining Association is HR 2018's endorsing organization. Need I say more?

The bill passed with 94% of the Republicans voting for it and 91% of Democrats voting against.

Dishonorable Mentions

It should come as no surprise to learn that the lead sponsor of HR 2018 is a Republican, Floridiot John Mica. However, a dishonorable mention needs to go out to its co-sponsor Rep. Nick Rahall (D) of West Virginia, because Democrats are supposed to be our environmental protectors. Rahall's sponsorship was not on behalf of his constituents; he represented the mountaintop mining industry of Appalachia. His motivations are clear; he didn't try to hide them. During a recent interview with West Virginia's MetroNews, Rahall explained his endorsement:

"Under the current practices of the EPA the permits for surface mines throughout the Appalachian states have been bottled up for months. That is not the proper roll, in my opinion, of a government agency."

Republican after Republican echoed his concerns. They don't want mining permits slowed or retracted. Companies over constituents every time.

What's Next?

The bill passed, but there is decent hope that it won't become law. It still needs to pass the Senate and President Obama has promised a veto.

* For more information and to easily share your thoughts on HR 2018 with your representatives, please click here.

Health Care in America

2010-12-03T14:39:00.000-08:00

I just want to document this for future reference. We've gone round the bend.

Individual Insurance

People also have the choice of buying individual health insurance, although it costs more. When buying individual insurance, the policy is written solely for that person, based on his/her personal medical conditions. If there is a pre-existing condition, it can make buying individual insurance difficult. Whether a person is accepted for insurance is very unpredictable at times. It may help to know that a person may be accepted for comprehensive insurance, excluding the pre-existing condition. One thing which affects the cost of individual health insurance is smoking—smokers always pay more.

In order to target the best insurance at the best price for yourself, consider the following guidelines:

•Individuals usually buy group health insurance because it is less costly.
•It will help you to learn about the various networks associated with the different types of group insurance (HMOs, PPOs, POSs, and Health Savings Accounts).
•Raising your deductible will always lower your premium.
•When you have narrowed your choice to two group insurance policies, compare the following of both: premiums, co-payments, deductibles, speculated out-of-pocket expenses, percentages of fees paid, maximum limits on each claim and on lifetime claims. It will help to make a chart.
•If you have less than perfect health, you may not be accepted for individual coverage.

Will President Obama Please Step Up?

2010-07-02T14:09:00.000-07:00

Dear President Obama,

I'm afraid your refusal to lead is going to literally destroy the the human species. We cannot survive without oxygen and the oil/dispersant combo at the 100,000 + barrels per day spillage rate (which we both know is the more likely number) is killing every plant or animal in its path and is removing precious oxygen from the Earth.

I have been watching hearings in Congress and reading about the oil gusher. I think you also know that there is ample evidence to indicate that the relief wells are not going to work because the well itself is destroyed and oil is probably leaking from the sea floor. This is a much bigger catastrophe than BP or your government is letting on. Why are you allowing the public to be lied to?

Last night on Anderson Cooper 360 I learned that the Coast Guard is not allowing people within 60ft of any oil to take pictures. Cover up should not be the priority of our human resources! This should be an 'all hands on deck' situation. No one should be turned away from either documentation or clean up efforts.

I want the cameras to be allowed anywhere and everywhere. I want the underwater cameras turned to show us the sea floor. I want to see a massive influx of military and civilains deployed to the gulf to contain and pick up the oil. I don't want to see anymore super tankers sitting on the shore. We need to stop using dispersants, allow the oil to float, and then we can surround it and pick it up. With enough people and vessels we can surround this thing and hopefully save the Atlantic coast and Europe. If we can't stop the flow, containment needs to be the priority.

We need to start now!

Let BP continue the capping operation but the containment and clean up is clearly going to be up to us. This is not a time for prayer. This is a time for action.

Like it or not, Barack Obama, you won the Presidency of the United States. You are the most powerful person on this planet. You need to step up and help us save it!

Right now, I don't care about health care, or Wall Street, or Afghanistan, or the 2010 elections. I care about this oil gusher. This is a catastrophe with the potential to literally kill us all. Everything else is a distraction.

Please help us.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Clark

Gulf Oil Gusher Update

2010-06-15T16:33:00.000-07:00

Today's Congressional hearing featured the American face of BP, Lamar McKay, sitting next to the other Masters of the Universe: Oil Division. We found out that the response plans of the other companies, such as ExxonMobil, ConoccoPhillips, and Chevron are almost identical to BP's. What is stunning (and extremely obvious based on BPs actions) is that the oil companies' responses are focused on media manipulation, not containment and clean up of oil.

The other hearing today addressed the health problems being reported by responders in the Gulf of Mexico. Most injuries being treated are being caused due to heat stress. "Hydrocarbon" issues are the second biggest problem.

The one suggestion made to what can be done to help this is to start holding clean up operations at night. Bad news: they aren't cleaning around the clock already. Get some lights and some people and get rolling.
The unianamous concern was for the dispersants. Due to their toxicity level and the unprecedented amounts being used by BP, no one is able to predict what kind of damage the dispersants are doing to the plants, animals, and people who are just now starting to be effected.

Last but not least, the official amount of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico being reported by the government has been increased to an upper limit of 60,000 barrels per day. This official number is not only important scientifically but also financially. Apparently, it's on paper (in the Clean Water Act) that BP needs to pay $4,300 per barrel of oil spilled. If the number is kept down, BP pays less and we pay more. The closer it gets to accurate, the more we, the suckered citizens of the United States, are reimbursed. Although it runs opposite to logic, people in the goverment are actually helping BP pay the government as little as possible.

The number I've been using as the real number of barrels released per day is the one provided by Steven Wereley, an engineering professor at Purdue University. After Ed Markey, Congressman of Massachusetts, got BP to put the live feed of the oil spill online, Mr. Wereley estimated over 100,000 barrels of oil were spewing from just 2 of the 3 "leaks" that existed before BP chopped off the top of the pipe creating one giant gusher into the Gulf of Mexico. I have trusted Mr. Wereley over others because he was not contracted by BP or the government, he was considered credible enough to have been asked to testify in front of Congress, and because the television media is staying away from him. I will not believe we are being told the truth until the official number is over 100,000 barrels per day. We're a little over halfway there.
My emails and calls to my representatives tomorrow morning will be requesting night time operations in the Gulf of Mexico, a massive mobilization of volunteers, and BP/government provided respirators for anyone who is helping clean up the ocean, wildlife, and beaches.

Oil Geyser Facebook Rant (with links)

2010-05-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

BP controls the oil measurements.

BP controls the oil videos.

BP gives orders to the Coast Guard.

BP gives orders to local sheriffs.

BP keeps journalists & volunteers off beaches.

BP ignores the EPA on toxic dispersants.

BP decides the next steps behind closed doors.

BP is a criminal being allowed to control the crime scene and collect/hide the evidence.

British Petroleum isn't even American!

No company, especially not a foreign one, should have this kind of power over our government.

Email to President Obama

2010-05-20T19:46:00.000-07:00

Dear Mr. President,

The Deepwater Horizon blew up a month ago today. BP has lied to us every step of the way. How is it even possible BP is being allowed to control the flow of information to the public?

Wake up, Federal government! You needed to take control away from BP two weeks ago.

This is starting to look worse than your Katrina. The catastrophe is starting in New Orleans, but at over 100,000 barrels per day, your Katrina might devastate the world.

Step up.

Mahalo,

Jennifer Clark
Honolulu, HI

Least Favorite Super Bowl Commercial

2010-02-09T12:12:00.000-08:00

If you had told me last week that the commercial that would bother me the most would be the one starring The Simpsons, I would have probably called that impossible; after all, there was a commercial approved by CBS telling me what to do with my uterus. But it is true. Coca Cola made a commercial titled "Hard Times" in which the poor and middle class residents of Springfield give Mr. Burns a coke to cheer him up. Here; watch it for yourself.

You know what? Fuck Mr. Burns.

This economic disaster is making all of us significantly poorer in one way or another. The commercial is designed to play on our sympathies for each other in these tough times. But I don't feel a bit of sympathy for Mr. Burns, and I don't think I should. This is the man that takes candy from babies, turns the dogs on his workers, and literally blocked out the sun. In the metaphor of The Simpsons is America, Mr. Burns represents the super rich who bought the country, ripped up the rules, and legally stole all our money.

Do not give this man a coke. And only lift him up on your shoulders if you are preparing to throw him off a cliff.

The scene takes place in a fake reality where the super rich are the victims; it's a scene that has nothing to do with real life in this country right now. Billionaires are not the ones losing their homes; at least not the homes they actually live in. That reality is reserved for the poor and middle class families who borrowed money from the billionaire owned banks; it was the billionaire who gave them loan sharky terms, gambled with their money, and then took $700 billion tax dollars in the biggest bank heist in US history. There have also been absolutely no runs on billionaire garage sales; however, my neighbor on the corner has sold almost everything he owns. Had it been Homer or Apu or even Mayor Quimby that was down on his luck and given a coke, I probably would have related and maybe liked the commercial. Instead, I got a message telling me that I should feel pity for the rich.

Even Spider Pig is too good for this filth.

I had 12 people in the room with me when this commercial aired during the Super Bowl and with the exception of my "Hated it" and a snicker from Ryan, the rest of the room was dead quiet. No comments. Nothing. Unlike the famous Coca Cola commerical in the 1970's where the cute kid gives the football player a coke, there was no sentimental satisfaction in this one. It also sucks that The Simpsons sold out to Coke. Maybe these are the reasons the commercial silenced my friends. However, I'm hoping at least a few of them disliked it for the same reason I did; because it was trying to sell me a steaming load of corporate crap.

And I'm not gonna take it anymore! I'll take a tap water, please.

Letter to HI Senators: Filibuster

2010-02-06T12:13:00.000-08:00

Dear Senator Inouye/Senator Akaka,

I'm writing today to ask you to please put pressure on Senator Harry Reid to restore the traditional filibuster rules.

I'm 27 years old and unfortunately I have many friends in this state that have really embraced the spirit of ainokea. I've tried to explain to them that the Republican party's main priority is to make sure that President Obama and this Congress accomplish absolutely nothing with the goal of regaining control of the White House in 2012. The obstructionism of the Republicans is transparent to me, but many people just don't see it.

I truly believe that if the Republicans had to keep talking without taking a bathroom or food break in order to sustain a filibuster, that would finally wake up the American people. Who could resist watching old people reciting recipes while doing the pee pee dance? It's "Must See TV".

Let us literally see them do that over 100 times in one year. No one will be able to deny the obstruction.

Thank you for considering this idea.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Clark
Honolulu, HI

A Rant: The Bank Bailout/AIG/Economy

2009-03-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

At this point, I'm just waiting for hyper-inflation.

The way I understand this, it seems like the Masters of the Universe took over our government and tore the laws to pieces. President Obama went on Leno and told us the "dirty little secret" that "most of the stuff that got us into trouble was perfectly legal". How is that possible? Because the uber-rich paid to put their guys in office, their moles changed all the rules for their friends, the enriched made huge fortunes but eventually took so much that the rest of us noticed, and since they paid themselves with our government, we now have have to pay back their debts. They keep their huge houses and salaries, of course. It's the rest of us who will suffer.

We seem to be in a civil war in this country that most of us can't yet put our finger on, but the headline Firms Giving out Bailout Money to Politicians as Campaign Donations seems to explain it all.

We know we're pissed that our 401K's are disappearing. We know it sucks that our tips don't go as far. We know it sucks that we can't afford vacations. We know it sucks that everything is getting more expensive.

But are we mad at Bernie Madoff? Are we mad at AIG? Are we mad at Tim Geithner? Are we mad at Hank Paulson? Are we mad at Goldman Sachs?

What about Citibank? What about Bank of America? What about Wells Fargo?

What about George W. Bush? Or Ronald Reagan? Or Bill Clinton? or Alan Greenspan?

Are we mad at those people? A little, but each individual person or company is just part of a bigger problem. It's the thing that connects these people and companies that we really need to focus on. In my mind, they are connected by being super-rich, upper-level management, and committed to the redistribution of wealth towards themselves. The rest of us are not in their circle of friends.

George W. Bush warned us that he was going to run the country like a business. It was the truth. That's exactly what he did. Our government is now a big company that works for other companies. Profit, not people, is its purpose. Now the people who own the banks, who own the Wall Street firms, who own the oil industry, who own the military-industrial corporations... those guys effectively control our Congress and Executive. Now they own us. That's why all we can do is watch while our bank accounts are getting raped. They've got us tied to a chair.

We need to take our government back.

It's not going to happen though. Not fast enough to prevent whatever kind of economic collapse is on its way. We don't get new people in Congress for almost 2 years and only Jon Stewart has come close to articulating the existance of the new Civil War on the almighty television. It's really tough to fight a war if most of your side doesn't understand that they're in it. After all, it's American Idol season! And Twilight is out on dvd! Life's still good.

The rich bastards in charge are using their power to print up money at a crazy fast rate and using it to refill their own accounts. I'm no economist but I do understand basic supply and demand. If you create a lot of pieces of paper, each of those papers becomes worth a little less. Those papers, unfortuantely, are dollars. Eventually, we're going to need more of them to buy us our bread.

My next step is to invest in euros, Aussie dollars, and yuan. The dollar is going down. That's as far into the future as I can see.

Infrastructure Bill

2009-02-07T01:18:00.000-08:00

Well, Bush's reign is over, but precedent is set. Congress is out of control.

I can't get behind the "Stimulus Bill". It's just not good enough and its so full of bribes.

But I want the infrastructure money it promises. I want it bad.

I live in Honolulu. We need levees, and storm walls, and roads without sinkholes. We need bike paths that don't compete with TheBus. We need buses that aren't always full. We need cars that don't choke walkers with exhaust.

We want better health care access but having jobs would at least put us back in the crappy employer paid system. Planning, supplying, constructing, designing, operating, managing, cleaning, feeding, housing, transporting... jobs and health... the Infrastructure Bill is two birds with one stone. From there we can improve.

I want the bill that's 100% infrastructure. Give money to everybody for physical, buildable things that they need. President Obama needs to give up on "The Stimulus". That lemon has failed. The squabbling will never stop. But if Obama gives us the infrastructure, he could actually win this politcal war.

Logisitically, he could use that $350 billion leftover from the "Bailout" to fund the Infrastructure Bill. The current plan seems to be to give that money to the gamblers and the banks. Wall Street and the Big Bankers are crazy. For once... screw them.

Although, if more of of us had money, we might pay more of our mortages, loans, credit cards, and bills. Infrastructure could actually be a win-win.

Those bastards always win.

Infrastructure. Non-gas/dirty/coal/oil based energy. Jobs. Paychecks. Congressmen and Senators would have a hard time being against those things.

And at least we'd get half of our stolen "Bailout" money back.

Infrastructure. Show us Yes We Can.

Impeachment On the Table... or Under the Tree

2008-12-11T13:57:00.000-08:00

Did you guys see the "give us the bike!" clip from the Daily Show this week? If not, here's the clip titled, "Clusterf#@ the Poor House: President Goofus and President Gallant"

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=212889&title=clusterf#@k-to-the-poor-house

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Crazy part is how easily we could have our bike/new president. President-elect Barack Obama could start working right now if it weren't for the blindness of Congress.

For me, the story of the Bush administration will not have a happy ending unless George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are removed from office early. In the end, do they really get to finish their term? Do they really get away with it? If that happens, doesn’t the Constitution lose? Don’t we lose?

Is that the ending we want? We elect the good guy in the election and that’s it? Really?

Barack Obama has done his part. He won the election. It took two full years. He beat the Clintons. He beat the Republicans. Come on. He has done his fair share.

This last step is on Congress. There is no other way. But they don’t seem to get it.

Frank, who has been dealing with both the bailout of the financial industry
and a proposed rescue of Detroit automakers, said Obama needs to play a more
significant role on economic issues.

“At a time of great crisis with mortgage foreclosures and autos, he
says we only have one president at a time,” Frank said. “I’m afraid that
overstates the number of presidents we have. He’s got to remedy that
situation.”

Oh, and how should he do that? Military coup? Ignore the Constitution? How should the President-elect best overthrow the sitting president? Do tell.

Reality is that no one can blame Barack Obama for what is happening now because he is not the President. But he could be in practice if Congress would remove Bush and Cheney from office. Only the House of Representatives can file articles of impeachment (or use the ones that Dennis Kucinich already filed). Only the United States Senate can remove the president and vice-president from office.

Good news. They could do it in just a few hours if the votes were there. The hard work (the presenting of evidence and proof) is already done. Lets pick an easy one.

Torture = Proven and well known = war crime = impeachment.

In reality, it's not hard anymore. It's a matter of changing Congressional minds.

If Congress were to do the happy ending thing, Nancy Pelosi - the Speaker of the House -would become President, and she could work with President-elect Barack Obama to get started on fixing this mess now. Before we lose everything.

George W. Bush and Dick Cheney? Well, at least they wouldn't be in power any more. Although it lost a lot of battles, at least the Constitution would win the war.

I like that ending. And I love the added bonus that the race for the first woman president and the first African-American president would end up a beautiful tie in 2009. A happy ending for the primary race story too.

To get this happy ending though, we need the people in the media, the people with the biggest microphones, to step up and remind the country that impeachment is an option. They need to help the word "impeachment" get into the heads of our Congress. They must do it quickly.

Rachel Maddow. You're the best we've got. I’m calling on you.

Meteor Crash Caught on Tape

2008-11-25T18:07:00.000-08:00

This video was taken from a police car camera in Edmonton, Canada.

Pretty sweet.

An Example of "Sunshine and Rainbows"

2008-11-21T14:31:00.000-08:00

gloriousnoise,com

Derek Shearer, our former ambassador to Finland and overall Clinton guy, wrote a blog post today at HuffintonPost. I didn't read it. I only needed to see these two lines:

"Obama was not elected by the world's citizens. He is the American President after all"

"George Bush was worse."

These statements are fundamentally wrong. Barack Obama is not the American President. This is something that might happen in the future (I say "might" because it's in the future). George W. Bush is the present-tense President. George W. Bush was nothing. He is the President with nothing to lose who is rapidly speeding up his process of destruction.

This guy, Derek Shearer, and many people like him who are high rankers in the Democratic Party, are thinking and writing in a reality that exists only in their heads. The problem is that while they are waxing poetic, George W. Bush is planting moles in our government, raping our land, and hording our Treasury.

If we allow this to continue for 60 more days, Barack Obama might end up President of a hollow shell.

Nothing Has Changed

2008-11-18T00:52:00.000-08:00

November 4th has come and gone but the Bush administration and the Republicans are still in power. It's cool that Barack Obama won the election. I'm happy about it too. But we need to stop pretending that everything is fixed and it's all sunshine and rainbows. The truth is that on November 4th, we received a better chance of future change. Nothing has changed yet.

Here are two new examples of how painfully true this is.

Utah Land Grab

The Bush administration used the fact that we were distracted on Election Day to hide their plans to hurt our country for their own gain...again. On the afternoon of November 4th, while we silly citizens were all voting and waiting for the results of the election, the Bush administration's Bureau of Land Management announced a December 19 land auction that will put oil drilling platforms around a National Park so beloved that it is pictured on Utah's license plates.

Here's how AP described it:

SALT LAKE CITY – The view of Delicate Arch natural bridge — an unspoiled landmark so iconic it's on Utah's license plates — could one day include a drilling platform under a proposal that environmentalists call a Bush administration "fire sale" for the oil and gas industry.
Late on Election Day, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced a Dec. 19 auction of more than 50,000 acres of oil and gas parcels alongside or within view of Arches National Park and two other redrock national parks in Utah: Dinosaur and Canyonlands...
In all, the BLM is moving to open 359,000 more acres in Utah to drilling.

They’ve been using the Department of Defense to steal oil profits from the Middle East. They’ve been using the Environmental Protection Agency to stall any progress towards alternative methods of energy. They’ve been using the Justice Department to cover up their crimes. They’ve been using Congress to allow the purchase of legislation by companies. Now they are using the Bureau of Land Management to steal land.

Missing: 2 Trillion Dollars

They are also using the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve to steal every last dollar that they can from our government. We thought the “bailout” was the first time that they had handed out massive amounts of cash. That was a $700 billion shock (to compare, those “stimulus checks” we little people were bribed with back in May only cost $150 billion). Now we find out that an additional $2 trillion has been handed out without our knowledge or permission.

To whom? Who the hell knows? The Federal Reserve’s Ben Bernanke and the Treasury Department’s Henry Paulson refuse to tell us what they did with the money. We only know that it's gone.

This was never approved by Congress. It also appears to have started well before “the bailout” was passed on October 3rd.

These people got balls.

From Bloomberg (who filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for this information):

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return...
Total Fed lending topped $2 trillion for the first time last week and has risen by 140 percent, or $1.172 trillion, in the seven weeks since Fed governors relaxed the collateral standards on Sept. 14. The difference includes a $788 billion increase in loans to banks through the Fed and $474 billion in other lending, mostly through the central bank's purchase of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonds.

How much more damage has to be done before we stop these guys?

It’s like our house is on fire, but we tell the firemen, “Hey, just wait it out. It'll rain in January.”

The lame duck Congress needs to come back and impeach these guys now. Unfortunately, especially with the money grab, a scary number of Democrats might be in on it too.

(Photo taken by AFP/Getty Images on October 3rd, 2008 - the day the "bailout" passed)

Stay awake, my friends. We're still in big trouble.

President Obama Homework Assignment: #1

2008-11-10T03:00:00.000-08:00

Share your stories about the work that you're doing:

Here's my first story.

I worked the at the Kaimuki High School polling place on Election Day, November 4th.

I woke up at 4:15am. I sometimes don't get out of work until 4am so it was not my normal schedule. I was originally supposed to work at the Ala Wai Community Center but I got switched at the last minute to Kaimuki High School because they were understaffed. Kaimuki is closer to me distance wise, but the Ala Wai Canal, a dirty river with a billion toxic fish, is between me and the school, so even though I can see the high school from my window, it was a 2 mile route. I don't have a car but I just got a bike.

The bike paths here are horrible. They are in spotty places and never seem to connect. They are not lit at night, or when it's still dark in the ridiculously early morning. There are tree stumps popping out of the ground. There are tree branches that hit you in the head. The paths (and sidewalks) themselves literally disappear underneath your tires.

Perfect Hawaiian weather and riding a bike sucks. That's gotta change.

But they are constantly fixing the 6 lane roads.

What's cheaper to fix? A six lane road or a bike path?

Just saying.

Anyway, I got to the high school at 5:30 am and met my new co-workers. I took a quick tally: 2 people under 18, 2 20-somethings, 5 boomers, 2 "experienced" workers.

For most part, I'd say that everything went smoothly. We had 10 paper ballot booths and one voting machine. Over the course of the day, people overwhelmingly wanted the paper ballots and I didn't see anyone use the evil machine. The paper ballots were put in a scanner and collected. Everything seemed legit and nothing was sketchy (unlike in my last hometown of Los Angeles County, where the entire system is a mess).

The most common problem was registration, but they had a great communication system between the Chairmen and the Office of Elections (Chairmen were all issued pre-paid cell phones). People were being added to the ballot all day, instead of being turned away.

As it should be.

My favorite part of the day was handing a ballot to the couple who were voting for the first time. They wanted to be sure that they were filling the ballot out correctly. The man beamed when he told us they were just approved for citizenship. They were so excited. It was the first of a lot of unforgettable moments from Election Day.

I didn't know that Barack Obama won until after I got home at 7pm, but I had heard enough to be really hopeful. In Hawaii, we are 2 hours behind the West Coast and 5 hours behind the East Coast. The sun was still up when I heard Obama took Ohio. By the time we got our next update, the polls were closed and I no longer wanted to know. I wanted to find out at home.

I raced back and got a call from my boyfriend. He couldn't hide the excitement in his voice. But I still told him, "Don't tell me!" because I was just locking up the bike downstairs. I walked in and the guys had paused the tv on the beginning of John McCain's concession speech and tried pull the "It went badly. Oh, just kidding!" gag, but it was too obvious. Obama had won. In a landslide. Took Colorado, 37,000 registrations purged and all. We overwhelmed the fraud and took our elections back. I didn't realize it until now, but I really wasn't expecting logic to win. I was expecting another 2004.

All I felt in that moment was relief. I didn't jump or cheer or celebrate. I grabbed some food and collapsed, exhausted from a long day and a long two years. A long eight years.

I no sooner hit the couch than Barack Obama began his acceptance speech. The first time I cried was when Barack said, "I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree". I'm so glad he said that.

What a difference 2 terms makes.

Since the election, it's been hitting me in waves. Little waves of happiness come over me when I think of the now possible opportunities. My boyfriend is a mechanical engineer with a passion for energy efficiency. This meant pushing paper during the Bush years, but his opportunities will grow exponentially in a time when the government isn't holding us back. Waiting tables might not be our best option for long.

Maybe I can work somehow towards getting a bike path system in Honolulu. Oahu voted "Yes" to installing a rail transit line from Pearl Harbor to Waikiki. They advertise an integrated system of rail, buses, boats, biking and walking paths on the buses. It's definitely possible in my community.

It's been a few days since the election and I'm still feeling my happy waves, yet still the anxiousness I felt before the election has not completely gone away. There will be a President Obama and the list of opportunities is growing by the minute but the start line is not until January 20, 2009. The Dark Side still has the ring of power. I won't be comfortable until they are completely sidelined.

I want this new Congress, with the support we've given them despite their failures, to use the momentum they now have to get Bush out of office. Don't let him finish his term. For the wars, and the economy, and the bad reputation, and the Constitution destruction laws, and the overall Dickishness. Let's fire these guys once and for all, and turn the historical page a little early.

As a bonus, the removal of Bush and Cheney would give us our first woman President in 2008. The primary battle of "First Woman" vs. "First African-American" would end up in a tie. How beautiful would that be?

Gold is to Ari as Lyman is to Rahm

2008-11-06T17:59:00.000-08:00

Interesting fact from the 2005 Rolling Stone article about Rahm Emanual, the person Barack Obama has picked to be his Chief of Staff.

Many of us already know that Ari Emanuel, Rahm's brother, is the inspiration for Ari Gold, my favorite character on Entourage.

Apparently, soon to be Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has a Hollywood connection of his own. He was the inspiration for Josh Lyman on The West Wing.

Interesting.

We Won

2008-11-04T21:22:00.001-08:00

I just got home from working the polls in Hawaii. I walked in 5 minutes before Barack Obama's acceptance speech. I didn't know he won before that moment.

First thought: Thank God.

And thank you. Thank you for thinking. Thank you for reading. Thank you for questioning. Thank you, thank you, thank you for voting.

By the looks on everyone's faces during that speech, I don't think I'm the only one feeling a huge sense of relief.

I'm so excited for the future, but I'm not really feeling it. I'm still in shock.

For the rest of the night, I will be partying. I'll be starting at home and then going out to a bar where there are a bunch televisions because I will be watching Al Franken's race in Minnesota all night long.

I read a few of Al Franken's books and one chapter has stuck with me. The book was written years ago, not long after Barack Obama's keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. The book was one of those that served to open eyes. It was chapter after chapter of outrages. However, the last chapter was different. It was a vision of the future that included Barack Obama winning the presidency and then the country impeaching the Bush administration between the election and January 20, 2009.

Al Franken, the author, has the chance to become one of our Senators. This guy will cut through the bullshit better than anyone I could possibly think of. He will also make C-SPAN watching much more entertaining.

He will go after the Bush administration. I want him to win so badly.

With that, thank you again, my friends. Have fun tonight. We made history... and for the first time in a long time, we made history in a good way.

The American way.

Booyah.

Evidence of Voter Suppression

2008-11-03T15:38:00.000-08:00

I have worked on this week's Monday morning post for approximately 15 hours now and I am on information overload. I have been reading through the articles I have saved about the Republican effort to stop lots of us from voting and sorting the articles' contents by state. Unfortunately, as Election Day draws nearer and early voting has already taken place, 27 states are already on my list. I'm finding article after article, video after video, and blog post after blog post, creating a mountain of evidence of our votes being eliminated in one way or another. I have too much information to comprehend, let alone categorize.

And then I found this.

The Election Protection Coalition (1-866-OUR-VOTE) in a non-partisan organization that is documenting problems people are having with voting and helping voters with their questions. They have taken over 40,000 calls so far from people having problems voting. They are posting the contents of those calls online for all of us to read.

I'm going to keep working on the original post because if McCain wins tomorrow, state by state voter turnout suppression will be the reason why. If Obama wins tomorrow, voter turnout suppression needs to be one of the first problems we solve in 2009. Identifying the problems will be key. For now, I'm posting some of the call entries that caught my attention from a few key states.

In order to keep busy and not go crazy, I will be working at the polls tomorrow so I will be not be able to obsessively read these while waiting for the election results. While watching television tomorrow, I would love it if some of you could highlight some of the most interesting calls you've found on the Our Vote Live website for me. With over 40,000 calls registered before Election Day even begins, I know I'm going to miss some fascinating reports between 5:30am and 7:00pm in Hawaii.

Tomorrow night, by the time I'm released from the polls, the election will be over. Two years of societal obsession with a small group of candidates have been leading up to that moment. No matter which way tomorrow goes, whether the news is good or bad, we will finally know the outcome. I'll be drinking either in celebration or in fury, but by God, there will be drinking.

On Wednesday, I'll get back to work. Good luck voting tomorrow. Many of us are going to need it.

Colorado (702 reports)

Nov 3, 3:54pm: Voter intimidation problem

"Caller received a call at aboaut 3:20 PM on 11/2/08 urging him to vote for Obama and saying that the election will be held on Nov. 11. The call came from a Los Angeles number, 213-251-7800."

Nov 1, 9:19pm:

"Concerned because recieved something in the mail indicating that she was not registered and may not be able to vote"

Oct 31, 3:19pm: Registration problem

"Had checkbox issue - mailed in solution last week still not listed."

Oct 31, 2:41pm: Registration problem

"Tried to reg (via ACORN) 2 months ago - but does not show up on rolls - has stub"

Florida (3,569 reports)

Nov 3, 12:29pm: Registration problem

"Caller's niece was sent a notice that she failed to selct a political party and was notified that she could not vote in the 2008 election."

Nov 3, 12:08pm: Polling place inquiry

"Caller received flyer indicating there was a new polling location, which differed from the the address on her voter registration card."

Nov 3, 11:53am: Voting equipment problem

"Elderly voter filed initial ballot having made X marks in circles instead of filling in, and machine rejected ballot. Poll worker gave him a second ballot, which he filled in correctly, but the machine rejected again with an "over voted" error message. Voter did not approach poll worker again."

Nov 3, 11:38am: ID problem

"Voter stated that she has gone to DMV twice in St. Petersburg to get a photo id (on Friday and today) to have an id that matches her present address and that she was told that she cannot get a drivers license because the system is down state wide."

Nov 3, 9:57am: Registration problem

Letter from the state that registration not valid because of issue with SSN.

Nov 2, 11:56pm: Polling place problem

"long lines - people are leaving. Caller went at 3pm today to early vote and caller just came home - at midnight."

Nov 2, 4:41pm: Polling place problem

"The precinct used manual ballots that required the use of either a No. 2 pencil or a blue/black ink pen. However, the precinct ONLY provided felt tip markers for the voters. When the voters asked where they could obtain either a No. 2 pencil or a blue or black ink pen, the workers informed the voters that the markers were all that were available."

Georgia (1,644 reports)

Nov 3, 4:15pm: ID problem, Registration problem

"Received letter from Secy of State stating that the records don't match. Need to prove citizenship; has voted has passport feels this is voter suppression"

Nov 3, 3:46pm: Poll worker problem, Registration inquiry, Registration problem

"Voter was told that she had been deleted from the lists because she hadn't voted in the last 2 elections. Voter claims that she has voted. The poll worker refused to give her a provisional ballot during early voting."

Nov 2, 4:27pm: Polling place problem

"Caller's parents went to the polling place twice. Each time were told that they couldn't vote because their names were purged from the list b/c they didn't vote in the past two years. Refused to give them provisional ballots."

Nov 2, 1:18pm: Polling place problem

"The caller reported ballot problem in Henry County, GA, polling location #30228. The presidential candidates' names were on the ballot, but at the local level, lots of democratic candidates' names are NOT on the ballot and that she had to TYPE them in."

Nov 1, 11:18pm: Registration inquiry

"Registered to vote. Voted on 10/27. Received letter from GA Secretary of State dated 10/28, saying she is not a US citizen. Voter was born in the US and has always lived in the US. No questions she is a US citizen (with all necessary ID, and has been voting since she was 18). Voter VERY concerned her vote will not be counted."

Oct 31, 2:18pm: Voter intimidation problem

"Caller's home was contacted by a McCain campaign worker, who asked for her (but spoke to her mother). The campaign worker asked her to confirm that she had voted in 3 primaries recently. The mother, answering for herself, rather than the daughter, replied that the information was incorrect. The McCain rep then informed the mother that she was going to take her "off the list" and "report her for voter fraud." The caller used *69 to obtain the campaign rep's contact information. It is not clear whether "remove from the list" referred to the call list, or to the voter registration list. Caller was under the impression that it was a reference to the voter registration list."

Oct 31, 1:39pm: Polling place problem

"Lee Headquarters Library on Bellcreek, in Jonesborugh in Clayton County, GA - there is a 6 hour wait for voting - they said that machines are down, and that they are short on machines. They are sending voters to different locations to vote. The line and wait keeps getting longer and longger."

Oct 31, 12:45pm: Polling place problem, Voter intimidation problem

"Lack of availability of parking (cones blocked off parking) and cars are being towed (lack of information telling people where overflow parking is) at advance polling station (4700 Austell Road, Austell, GA). Officers were blocking off parking lots and directing people to places without parking. Officers were also waiving people past the precinct. It took close to 5 hours to vote."

Nevada (212 reports)

Sep 12, 5:23pm:

"Caller is member of Washoe Tribe which he says is 100% democratic. Everyone around the Reservation is Republican. The Douglas County Clerk has removed the polling place from the Reservation making it a mail in only district. Before removal of pollilng place, 100% of elilgible voters (160) voted. In May, only 12 voted."

Ohio (2,234 reports)

Nov 3, 4:04pm

"There's a radio station in Cincinati 700WLW - Bill Cunningham is the host - who is telling people on his program that Democrats are voting on Wednesday November 5th instead of tomorrow."

Nov 3, 3:58pm: Polling place inquiry

"Got phone call telling her polling place was different than what was listed on voter registration notification."

Oct 31, 12:24pm: Other Inquiry
"Deceased husband. Wants to ensure he is not registered due to fear of voter fraud."
Oct 30, 7:58pm: Voter intimidation problem

"is nurse, patient sais patient's brother was arrested wwhen tried to vote today for unpaid traffic tickets. she called her pastor who went down to voting place. people being arrested."

Oct 30, 3:10pm: Registration problem, Voter intimidation problem
"republican prosecutor in columbus ohio telling obama campaign workers they must decline their registration"
Oct 29, 6:52pm: Other Inquiry, Registration problem

"Mother called because she received confirmation saying 2 year old daughter is registered to vote. She had received several forms asking daughter to vote and finally received confirmation saying daughter is registered to vote."

Virginia (1,837 reports)

Nov 3, 5:04pm: Polling place inquiry

"Received flier with a different polling location than her registration card. Hasn't moved since she registered."

Nov 3, 3:45pm: Registration problem
Voted in 2004 and 2008; not on rolls.
Nov 3, 2:13pm: Absentee voting problem, Student voting problem

"Only allowed to vote for Pres and vice pres because was student. She tried to vote in annandale. lives in falls church. Both in Fairfax co. Submitted provis. ballot. Would still like to vote for senator and other positions"

Nov 3, 2:01pm: Voter intimidation problem

"Virginia Commonwealth University -- certain professors are telling students that they will drop their grade a full grade if the student misses class to vote."

Nov 1, 4:34pm: Polling place problem

Richmond City Hall - experiencing significant delays for early voting. Caller was in line at 8:45 and didn't vote until 3 pm. Elderly and handicapped voters not given any priority in voting. Many voters left polls without voting. Only 4 machines.

Oct 30, 6:34pm: Absentee voting problem, Polling place problem

Doesn't think she got the right ballot form b/c there were only options to vote for president and senate.

Oct 30, 5:13pm: Registration problem

Although she is registered, when she called the local board of elections at 703-792-6470, they told her that voter registration was cancelled, and that she could not vote.

How I'm Voting in Honolulu, HI

2008-10-27T00:52:00.000-07:00

Since the election is only 8 days away, this week I'm going to tell you how I'm voting and why I'm voting that way. Feel free to disagree with me, but please tell me why. If I'm wrong, I want to figure it out before I vote.

I voted for George W. Bush in 2000. What has happened is partially my fault. I don't want to screw up like that again.

So here goes.

I live in Honolulu, Hawaii. I am a first time registrant in this state. I do not have a Hawaii driver's license yet, but I have received my "You are registered and you vote here" card in the mail (after spending 30 minutes on the phone with the City & County of Honolulu Elections Office). When I go to vote early on Thursday, I plan to bring every form of identification that has both my name and my Hawaii address on it along with my CA drivers' license and my passport. I will not accept a provisional ballot.

So far, I have good reason to believe my vote will be counted.

Since I think I'm covered as far as registration is concerned, I have turned my attention to how I'm going to vote. Let's start with The Big Show.

President of the United States: Barack Obama (D) or John McCain (R)

Barack Obama.

Duh. This choice is obvious in every way I can think of.

Con Con (Constitutional Convention)

The Bush administration changed the rules. That is the biggest crime they have committed against the United States. They got to start their wars by changing the rules with the Patriot Act. They got the Justice Department to ignore their crimes by making sure all the protectors of the rules were their guys. They made sure no one could ruin the war-profiteering bonanza in Iraq by granting blanket immunity and investigating themselves. They stole elections with an army of lawyers and a pocketed Supreme Court. They jacked even more of our money by legislating The Bailout (what they are planning to do with the money, we don’t yet know).

Con Con is the ballot measure that will let us decide whether or not to allow a constitutional convention to take place in the state of Hawaii. They want us to open the door for the state rules to be changed.

The supporters are the key to this one for me. Willie Lees, the chair of the Hawaii Republican Party, has written in favor of Con Con. Our Republican Governor Linda Lingle, who jumped at the chance to welcome George W. Bush and Dick Cheney into our state in 2004, is hopeful to have her "desires to be heard and lead to their possible incorporation into our constitution." James Aiona is the Lieutenant Governor and is in charge of our elections under Bush's new laws (we have no Secretary of State position which is the new election boss in most of the other states). He was appointed by George W. Bush in 2002 and he is excited about Con Con.

Giving any Bush partners the power to change the rules is a stupid thing to do.

I'm voting no.

Age Qualification for Governor
The proposal is to change the age requirement for who want to run for Governor of Hawaii. You currently have to be 30 years old. If we vote 'yes', we can change that to 25.

I'm all for it. I am 26. I'm educated with a bachelor's degree. My boyfriend has his masters. My classmates now have kids. Some of those kids are in school now. I pay more attention to the news than most older people I know.

I'm not qualified to run for Governor because I have very little understanding of what the position entails. But if that were my goal and had I been working towards it for the last 26 years, I think I'm old enough to have the knowledge to do the job well.

Plus, it's our futures that are withering away right now. We younger people need to grow up and start getting our country back on track. For every 25-29 year old voted in, that is one more baby boomer/serious geezer that steps aside. It's about time to tell the old folks who have been driving under the influence of Milton Friedman that their vision and reflexes are fading and they need to get used to the passenger seat. It's for everyone's safety.

The Rail

I don't have a car and I live in the middle of Waikiki. I really don't need a car because everything I need is within walking distance and there is a decent bus system. But the buses are often full, especially in the rush hours. They are also rarely on time because they get stuck in traffic just like the rest of the cars.

The proposal being frantically squawked about is an elevated light rail system that will run from basically the far side of Pearl Harbor to Diamondhead (when all phases are complete) if it is approved. It will reduce the number of cars on the road, create 11,000 construction jobs, reduce greenhouse gases, reduce our need for oil, and make getting around the biggest city in Hawaii a whole hell of a lot easier.

Of course I'm voting yes.

Honolulu Mayor: Ann Kobayashi or Mayor Mufi Hannemann

This one is still up in the air, but I'm leaning toward incumbent Mayor Mufi Hannemann. The candidates will debate tomorrow night and that is when I will make up my mind.

Mufi Hannemann has served in the Bush administration. That is always a bad thing to have on a resume when you are applying for a job with me. However, the rail is his pet project. He wants to make this city bike friendly. He has already gotten TheBus to start using hybrid buses. These moves are deal makers.

Ann Kobayashi, on the other hand, is against the rail, and I do not believe that she will move forward with it even if we voters overwhelming vote in favor.

Investing in green lifestyles and technology is our clearest path back towards greatness. It's important enough that I might be able to forgive Mufi Hannemann's Bush administration connection. I'll decide tomorrow, but unless Ann Kobayashi blows me a way, I think the current Mayor will have my vote.

House of Representatives: Neil Abercrombie (D) or Steven Tataii (R)

Neil Abercrombie is not a person I'm proud to call my Congressman. He voted for giving the Bush administration a stay out of jail free card with the FISA bill earlier this year. He voted recently for "the bailout". He refused to answer simple questions for Project Vote Smart. I'd like to have a better Congressman.

But Steven Tataii is a Republican. He wants to keep us in Iraq. He's into nuclear. He supports intervening in other countries' affairs all over the world. He supports the Bush doctrine of preemptive strikes. He wants more domestic spying. He wants to allow workplace discrimination of gays.

I got all of that from the survey he filled out for Project Vote Smart. Thank you, Steven Tataii for your candor and honesty, but I just can't vote for you.

Neil Abercrombie. You suck. But you are the least horrible option.

Congratulations.

And The Rest...

If there are any more items that will appear on the ballot here in Honolulu, I don't know about them. This is because we are not provided with sample ballots and I couldn't find one on the internet. That is stupid.

If, when I am in the polling booth, there are items on the ballot that I didn't research, I will be leaving those sections blank. I just won't know enough to be able to make a decision.

So that's how I'm voting.

8 more days.

Voter Registrations: Confirm Yours Now

2008-10-21T23:23:00.000-07:00

This is a must watch clip from today's Rachel Maddow Show. This is the most important story of the year... and quite possibly the decade.

I just checked on my registration status. I mailed the registration forms to the Honolulu Office of Elections for myself and for my boyfriend three days before the deadline. I am not listed as registered. Neither is he.

Coffee Shortage

2008-10-20T19:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry. No Monday Morning Coffee this week.

One of my dad's sayings was "if you have nothing to say, say nothing." That's kind of what went on this week.

This week I'm researching how I'm going to vote. I'll let you know next Monday.

Taxes: Obama's Plan vs. McCain's Plan

2008-10-15T19:46:00.001-07:00

Here are the numbers. For the record, the election of Barack Obama would allow me to keep $774 in my pocket. What's your number?

	Obama	McCain
If you make...	you'd save...	you'd save...
less than $19,000	$567	$21
$19,000-$37,600	$892	$118
$37,600-$66,400	$1118	$325
$66,400-$111,600	$1264	$994
$111,600-$161,000	$2135	$2584
$161,000-$227,000	$2796	$4437
If you're in the top 5% of earners...	you'd pay an extra...	you'd save...
$227,000-$603,400	$121	$8159
$603,400-$2.87 million	$93,709	$48,862
more than $2.87 million	$542,882	$290,708

*These numbers were found on Parade's website and were put together by the Tax Policy Center, which is run by the non-partisan Urban Institute.

The United States Dictator

2008-10-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

I think often about the societal signs that point towards fascism, but there is something about the comparison doesn't make sense. When looking at historical instances of democracies melting into fascism, some examples are Italy and Germany's fall leading up to WWII, Russia's post-war decline, and recently the destruction of democracy in Pakistan. In each of those examples, I can easily name the dictator - Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, and Musharraf.

So if we are currently being hurled towards a US style fascist police state, who is our dictator?

Is it George W. Bush?

Yes, the administration of George W. Bush devastated the Constitution, started an illegal imperialist war, and transferred our economy's wealth to the private hands of the super rich. But do any of us think that he was the architect of the overall plan?

Do we think George W. Bush personally crafted the Patriot Act? Do we think that he personally picked out the US Attorney's to fire? Do we think he personally worked out the details of the "bailout" heist?

I don't think so. George W. Bush brilliantly sold the bad products, but I don't think he's the store's owner.

I personally think Dick Cheney is the person in charge at the Bush administration. I don't think I'm alone.

So, is Dick Cheney the dictator?

I don't know. Is he planning on sticking around?

Let's assume the election is going to go forward and on January 20th a new President will be sworn in (because if this doesn't happen, we know the answer). After January 20th, Dick Cheney will no longer have influence in the White House if Barack Obama wins. But what about if John McCain wins? Will Dick Cheney be the head of the McCain administration?

John McCain and Dick Cheney have not consistently seen eye to eye. However, John McCain doesn't look healthy and he's already had cancer 4 times. There is a good chance that he will get sick and not finish his term. Sarah Palin is a likely President.

Sarah Palin and George W. Bush have a lot in common. They are both dead certain. They are both incredible liars. They both fit the casting call for "Most Popular" in high school. They both believe they are being guided by Jesus towards the rapture. They both have limited understanding of the world outside their states. Both don't care.

Seems to me that she fits the mold for the new front guy to take Georgie's place.

But front guy for who? Dick Cheney? Dick Cheney and John McCain have not exactly been partners (although McCain's recent Rove style behavior makes you raise an eyebrow). Would he really go through with a plan designed to keep Dick Cheney in power?

I don't know. John McCain seems pretty hungry to get the power of the President for himself.

So who is the dictator? John McCain? How do you explain the 2000 Republican primaries? Did he allow himself to be smeared by the Bush administration to get George W. Bush the presidency? Do we think his anger towards the Bush administration's lie that John McCain fathered an illegitimate black baby was all fake and he was actually guiding the Bush administration the whole time?

Highly unlikely.

So, who is it? Who is the person calling the shots?

We just don't know. The real leader is hiding behind the scenes.

It's a big piece of the fascism puzzle. Right now, it is still missing.

Monday Morning Coffee: Extreme Earth Makeover

2008-10-13T04:31:00.000-07:00

I'm sick of the economy, and Sarah Palin, and the election, and the Bush administration, and the wars.

This week, I gave some thought to Earth.

Australian Solar Tower

That is a picture of the Solar Tower, a 200 MW power station, developed by EnviroMission for $35 million, which will provide power to approximately 200,000 Australian families and prevent over 900,000 tons of pollution from entering the air every year.

The Solar Tower was tested in a smaller scale project in Spain during the 1980's and was proved reliable and effective. The smaller model consistently provided 50kW of emission free power for seven years.

The Australian project is still in development, but they want to build the first one in Victoria, Australia.

Developing the technology for the Solar Tower, I want to repeat, cost $35 million. The construction and maintenance of the Solar Tower will create jobs for residents of Victoria, provide them cheap power, provide them cleaner air and less medical expenses, and will increase tourism to the area (because I, for one, want to see this thing).

Imagine what we could have done with $700 billion.

The Black Ocean of Indonesia

Negligence while drill, baby, drilling caused this:

Regulations at Work

The European Union has fined 10 oil corporations for screwing over the public, labeling the corporations a 'cartel'. They were fined a total of 676 millions Euros, which equals 946 million dollars.

The companies involved in the cartel, dubbed the 'paraffin mafia', exchanged sensitive commercial information and essentially manipulated European markets for paraffin wax between 1992 and 2005, according to the Commission. Meetings were regularly held in top hotels across Europe.

There is probably not a household or company in Europe that has not bought products affected by this 'paraffin mafia' cartel," said EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, referring to a market valued at nearly €500 million per year...

The companies involved and their respective fines are as follows (in millions of euros):

Sasol (Germany) - €318
Total (France) - €128
Shell – fine set at €96 but reduced to €0 for cooperation
ExxonMobil - €83
RWE (Germany) - €37
ENI (Italy) - €29
Hansen & Rosenthal (Germany) - €24
MOL (Hungary) - €23
Repsol (Spain) - €19
Tudapetrol (Germany) - €12

Check out the Wikipedia for 'paraffin' and look at the list of items paraffin is used for. I can think of at least a dozen things in my apartment that likely contain that product.

If European citizens have been swindled by these companies on such a scale, is it possible we have too?

On second thought, is it possible we haven't?

Ocean Oil Rigs ("Offshore Drilling")

A report by the US Energy Information Administration concluded that drilling for oil in the ocean off our shores, if allowed, wouldn't begin until 2017 and wouldn't impact the amount of oil available until 2030. Even then, this is a graphic illustration of that impact:

Nevada/California Water Supply

In May 2007, I went on a camping trip with four friends to Lake Mead, a popular vacationing spot about 45 minutes from Las Vegas, NV. We went to a campground that we read was located on the edge of the lake. In May, even though it is not the peak of summer, we knew the temperature at Lake Mead would be over 100 degrees every day. We weren't concerned though because we were looking forward to drinking beers all day while hanging out in the water. We even found some awesome inner tubes that had a cup holder on one side and a cooler for a six-pack on the other. A very exciting find at Longs.

But we never got to use those floaties. It turned out that the campground was no longer on the lake shore, but the the campground had not moved. The shore had. The lake's edge was now a brisk 15 minute walk away from the campsite because the lake was evaporating.

I assumed this was something that was happening over the course of decades. Turns out the lake was almost full while we were partying because it was 1999.

Now, finally, this has gotten the attention of someone with a video camera and an expense account.

The following is from one of my favorite channels/websites, Current TV:

Thank God we picked out a campsite with shade.

Rooftop Icebergs

If I understand this correctly, and I think I do, one of the big reasons climatologists are so afraid of the polar icecaps melting is because the polar icecaps reflect a lot of sunlight back into space. Without the icecaps, the theory is that more of the sun's heat would stay on Earth because it would be absorbed into the open oceans and it would make the planet heat up much faster than it already is.

That is why I think this bit of information is so fantastic.

Apparently, Spain has so many greenhouses with reflexive roofs that reflexive materials cover over 100 square miles of Spanish land. The area around these shiny greenhouses has seen the average local temperature decrease by 0.54 degrees Fahrenheit per decade since 1983, even though the rest of the country has seen its' temperatures rise.

And that makes sense, right?

If the rooftops are reflecting some of the heat back into the heavens (like the polar icecaps do), less heat is being absorbed into the land around the greenhouses. Less heat = less temperature.

I don't know, but that seems to make sense to me.

If you're with me on this, here's the great news:

According to the LA Times, roofs account for 25 percent of total surface area in most cities, and pavement accounts for around 35 percent. If 100 major cities covered that space with reflective materials, such as those used on the Spanish greenhouses, it could offset as much as 44 metric gigatons of heat-trapping gases. As Joe Biden would say, let me repeat that: 44 metric gigatons. "That is more than all the countries on Earth emit in a single year," the Times explained in a report on new climate change research last month. "And, with global climate negotiators focused on limiting a rapid increase in emissions, installing cool roofs and pavements would offset more than 10 years of emissions growth, even without slashing industrial pollution.

We don't even need to involve the federal government. We can do this ourselves.

Check out CoolRoofs.org. This could actually work.

The Bailout, Martial Law, & the End of Democracy

2008-10-06T03:00:00.000-07:00

I'm going to confess. This week I feel like Chicken Little. This stuff is awkward to write about and even more awkward to talk about. But it happened and continuing to ignore/not know about this is a bad idea.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but lately that is just my role. Unfortunately, a lot of the things I tried to chalk up to my tin-foil hat are happening just as scripted by history. I wish it weren't true.

In late January of this year, I wrote a series of posts about the 10 Steps to Fascism as defined by an article and a book written by Naomi Wolf, a brilliant journalist who has studied the consistent patterns that emerged when democratic societies have been transformed into a police state. Think Italy and Germany in the 1920's and 1930's or Pakistan in the last 10 years. As a quick refresher, the steps she listed are:

1) Invoke a terrifying internal and external threat

2) Create a prison system outside the rule of law

3) Develop a group of thugs to terrorize citizens

4) An internal surveillance system is established.

5) Infiltrate and harass citizens groups

6) Create a list that subjects those listed to arbitrary detention and release

7) Threaten key individuals with their jobs, or worse, if they don't toe the line

8) Control the press

9) Cast dissent as "treason" and criticism as "espionage"

10) Suspend the rule of law

In the last few days, I have been looking into an interview Naomi Wolf gave on Saturday (October 4th). While I'm not surprised, the news she provided appears to be true.

The news is not good. Her timeline (which has been dead-on balls accurate as far as I can tell up until this point) indicates that our time to act ran out on October 1st. If we don't use this overtime period to arrest Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, and other co-conspirators in the next few weeks, in order to get them to squeal on each other and restore the rule of law, we are going to lose our democracy.

The "bailout" has a lot to do with this.

At the end of this post is the interview with Naomi Wolf, but first I'm going to provide you some background on some key recent events that she mentions, because the interview is far more interesting if you know what she is talking about.

Plus, the pieces of evidence she gives are fascinating (and terrifying) all by themselves.

At the end of the interview, Naomi Wolf provides us with a road map to stop this, which is to get a District Attorney to arrest the President and Vice-President, but with the short amount of time we have left (apparently) I don't think there is a snowball's chance in hell this will happen. My goal is just to get some more people to know this is happening.

We can't overcome what we don't understand.

If you are concerned, spread the word.

'Terrorists' Updated

Here is a picture of 23 year old Monica Bicking and her boyfriend Eryn Trimmer. They live in Minnesota and opened up their home to travelers who wanted to go to St. Paul to protest at the Republican National Convention. On August 30, two days before any protests would take place, Monica's home and two others were raided by police and the FBI. After taking a bunch of her stuff, they arrested both Monica and Eryn for "conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism".

Monica is now dealing with a quarter million dollars in legal fees as a result of her preemptive arrest.

Mass Arrests Have Started

200 people were arrested on a river bank while listening to a concert on Labor Day near the RNC convention. There does not seem to be any legal reason for the arrests. We know this because we have video.

Videos like this one were widely destroyed by police during the creepy four days that was the Republican National Convention, but the guy who took this particular video buried it in the ground before being arrested. Once he was released, he dug it up, cleaned it up, and released it to the internet media, which is how we have it now.

While watching this, keep an eye out for the National Guard. You'll figure out why in a minute.

"Immigration" Mass Arrests Were Bigger

From The New York Times on Tuesday, August 26;

LAUREL, Miss. - In another large-scale workplace immigration crackdown, federal officials raided a factory here on Monday, detaining at least 350 workers they said were in the country illegally...

As of late Monday afternoon, no criminal charges had been filed, said Barbara Gonzalez, an agency spokeswoman, but she said that dozens of workers had been "identified, fingerprinted, interviewed, photographed and processed for removal from the U.S."
The raid follows a similar large-scale immigration operation at a meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, in May when nearly 400 workers were detained. That raid was a significant escalation of the Bush administration's enforcement practices because those detained were not simply deported, as in previous raids, but were imprisoned for months on criminal charges of using false documents...
She said no lawyers were present while the workers were being interrogated.

The President Gets $100 Billion from "The Bailout"

After months and years of constantly claiming that our economy was strong, The Club hyped up an economic crisis and rammed through a bill that would give them over $700 billion to spend at will. While we still don't have the text of the economic equivalent of the Patriot Act, known as "The Bailout", we do know that $100 billion of that money has been set aside to be used at the President's discretion, with no oversight at all.

$100 billion dollars.

The Club

Notice that I say "the President"and not "President Bush". It is not necessarily George W. Bush who is looking to permanently rule the United States, although his reign has been devastating in terms of speeding up the fascism process. Despite the extremely effective Bush administration, the momentum towards fascism has been building for a very long time. We honestly have no way to know exactly who is in on it. That's why I (and George Carlin) identify the perpetrators as The Club. It's the best we can do for now.

However, while we obviously can't pin-point everyone who is in The Club, we know that John McCain and George W. Bush are on the same team. If we get to have a real election on November 4th, there is no choice. John McCain must not win or our Constitution and freedoms are toast.

Congress Blackmailed With Threats of Martial Law

One of the ways the Bush administration was able to get cowardly Congressmen to vote for the "Bailout" bill was blackmail. They told our representatives that if they do not vote to give them over $700 billion right this second, then there will be martial law in the United States.

Don't take it from me. Here is Congressman Brad Sherman on the floor of the House of Representatives (it's only 48 seconds of C-SPAN):

October 1st - Army Deployed to the United States

Army Times reported this week that the first brigade of the 3rd Infantry division has been deployed onto the streets of the United States as of October 1st. I don't know if this means anything, but they will be operating out of their home post in Fort Stewart in Georgia (I just wanted to make sure they weren't coming too close to me). They report that while the brigades will rotate, they anticipate that this type of mission will become a permanent type of Army operation.

If you haven't done it yet, look up the Posse Comitatus Act. Be sure to scroll down and check out George W. Bush's signing statement on the related Defense Authorization Act.

If this goes down like I'm afraid it is going to, October 1, 2008 will eventually be considered an important date in United States history. It will be considered the date martial law began.

Americans Are Now Legally Enemy Combatants

A ruling by the fourth circuit appellate court in July has opened the legal door for The President to arrest and indefinitely detain any Americans simply by labeling them an "enemy combatant". Since the beginning of the "war on terror", this has happened only a few times and was illegal. Now, aided by another extreme right-wing court, this affront to the Constitution is law.

Glenn Greenwald, one of the best journalists I know of, explains the details better than I could.

Read his article.

The Warrior's Creed

United States soldiers used to carry a copy of the "Soldier's Creed" with them in their pockets. Donald Rumsfeld, the former head of George W. Bush's Department of Defense and Iraq War starter, changed the oath of office for the Army to the "Warrior Creed".

Robert Fisk, a British journalist, explains one of the ways we went from Glory to Full Metal Jacket:

Naomi Wolf's Warning

Here is the interview that pieces all this information together. If you see cause for concern, pass it on.