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Vol. 9 No. 32…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…August
11,
2006
Bit of History
World leaders at the 1st Earth Summit held in
In 1988, the UN created the International Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC). World scientists focused on climate change to ascertain whether
the world was warming or cooling. The Toronto Conference on the Changing
Atmosphere (1988) called the effect of climate change "second only to
global nuclear war" and called on nations to cut 1988 greenhouse gas
emissions 20% by 2005. The IPCC issued its first report in 1990. It pointed to
human activity as a factor in the planet's warming, but needed more time and
better technology to study it.
The Second Earth Summit held in
The 1995 Conference of Parties held in
On July 25, 1997, the US Senate unanimously passed the
Byrd-Hagel Resolution forbidding the nation to sign any protocol that
"would result in serious harm to the economy of the
Countries were assigned different emission reduction targets
to meet this global goal. On November 12, 1998, Vice President Al Gore signed
On July 29 2001 at COP VII held in Bonn, Germany, the world,
except for the US and Australia, agreed to the rules for implementing Kyoto.
George W. Bush made it clear
On November 18, 2004,
The
Comments from the
With the start of school mere days away, I tried to get the Dark
Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro to say something witty, insightful or just
plain nutty about it. He occupied his customary post - sitting on the edge of
the bed with a joystick, when I approached. From his rapidly changing
expression, I could tell he viewed conversation as an intrusion. Before any
request could be posed, he confirmed my suspicion by saying, "This is not
a good time grandma."
Tetraktys VII
By Jan Haag
Empire
never died.
Continuity, tradition, heritage, things are as they
ever were throughout history.
History,
itself may mean,
"things
as they are now."
For
today, the rich get richer
and
the poor get poorer.
To
those who have is given,
to
those who have not,
all
is taken away.
Biblical
lore, Republican doctrine,
the
core of the capitalistic exploitation
of indigenous peoples.
Kill
the buggers if they interfere with
the making of profits.
Steal their land, steal their water, knowledge,
livelihood,
shoot the nameless, screaming.
Distort
our news to make
the homeland cheer all native deaths
--
and our own enslavement.
I
search and search
and
hear eclectic reports on radio
not
on the main media,
but
on KEXP, KBCS mixed
as
on NPR with the hideous screeching,
drumming,
sentimental strumming now called music
--
as if enough noise could emphasis
or
obscure man's sizzling, ubiquitous,
incomprehensible,
hatred of, inhumanity
of
man against man and woman.
Rape, murder, shock and awe bombings
–
do they really need the tradition
of movie music to emphasize
or
override the two second assaults
we
feel like bullets penetrating our chests
with
sound bytes, continuous, serious,
ratta
tat tat, made unabsorbable by speed,
and
endlessness -- compassion forbidden,
time for thought lost in the din of the music
and the much vaunted "objective voice."
Even
the stock market, bull or bear,
crash
(thousands of people made destitute)
or
gain made moot by the non-stop
nervous
stressful, jangling noise
of
on the spot voices: a little
singing,
a
little dancing, a few shouts,
a
volley or two followed by
a certain-to-be-forgotten-barely
restrained-from-tears-voice
in agony mourning
wives',
children's, mothers', fathers' deaths
as
the byte moves on,
back
to the reporter's name, station ID,
rat-ta-tat-tat, next byte.
Lies are exposed, conspiracies are revealed,
cupidity
beyond belief is mentioned,
and
the byte moves along.
Not
a pause, not a thought about the carnage
of
our civilization, just a little mood music
helping
us rejoice in our pit of amoral corruption
so
wide and so deep
you
can actually see
where
we used to be threatened
by
the sight of starving children.
Now
they starve, sometimes on TV,
but
media, with music, concerns itself
only
with gross national product,
corporate
profits, the Dow.
Things are as they were for The East India Company,
because
we, O Democratic America,
want
them that way.
A
colony ourselves, we didn't get to share
in
the (opium and other) profits from the last Empire,
but
now we can imitate, emulate,
surpass
the Colonial Empire of the British,
with
a far more demonic (and
friendless) Empire of our own. God
bless
we've
become the Evil Empire incarnate.
Disgruntled wants to
know: Former Federal
Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is generally credited with creating the easy
credit that financed the housing bubble, a bubble his successor Ben Bernanke is
bursting with rising interest rates. Even without Bernanke's assistance, the
irrational exuberance in housing, just as in the case of Greenspan's tech bubble,
was bound to end. With a decline in mortgage applications, stagnant home prices
and rising existing and new home inventories, the deflation has begun. Question
is, what impact will bursting the housing bubble have on consumer spending and
the
Disgruntled says: With all the global attention focused
on rising oil and gas prices, little has been said about what environmental
activists see as a huge problem facing the world's drinkable water supply. For
a number a years, there has been a push, particularly in developing countries,
to privatize the water supply. Companies, such as Coca-Cola, have convinced
these governments to allow their water sources to be privately managed as
profit-making enterprises, rather than public goods. Since water is essential
for life, these decisions have inevitably led to clashes between governments
and the people. If the Earth is indeed warming, the demand for fresh water will
grow exponentially, creating greater pressures. Privatizing water is unlikely
to lead to an equitable distribution of this limited resource, rather it will
engender greater violence.
Disgruntled feels: Broken! The
An Inconvenient Truth
An
Inconvenient Truth, a Paramount Classics and Participant Productions
film, is directed by Davis Guggenheim. A hit at the Sundance Film Festival, the
film features former Vice President and 2000 presidential candidate Al Gore.
Gore skillfully presents an array of facts and information and exposes
misconceptions and myths about global warming. The data suggest humanity faces
a ticking time bomb. Computer projections made by scientists at the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in
After the 2005 storm season and the current deadly heat wave gripping parts of
On the “R” Word
By Dot
George W. Bush recently deigned to speak at the NAACP Annual
Convention. It was his first appearance as US President before the nation's
oldest civil rights organization. Why the NAACP wanted him to speak remains a
mystery. Even without Hurricane Katrina, his tenure has been marked by a string
of bad news for the black community. Since Bush came to power, the black
community has endured conditions, if suffered by the entire nation, would be
called recession or depression.
In his NAACP speech, Bush candidly acknowledged much work
needed to be done to improve the black economic situation, but he declared
progress had been made, given the programs enacted by his administration He
specifically mentioned "No Child Left Behind, the faith-based initiative
and increase in black home ownership.
Bush ignored the double digit black unemployment rate, rising cost of
living, high foreclosure rates and declines in real black median family income
that have occurred on his watch.
In July, the national unemployment rate rose for the first
time in months to 4.8%. Many observers have long suspected the federal
government's numbers did not truly reflect employment conditions on the ground
with outsourcing, H1-B visas, illegal immigration, downsizing and offshoring
reducing the number of jobs available. Coupled with anemic job growth for
middle and low income families, historically high budget and trade deficits, a deflating
housing bubble, etc., informed economists dare use the "R" word with
respect to the
Historically,
when the
Deficit Deceit
Like any successful criminal enterprise, the
In the August 3, 2006 edition of USA Today, Dennis Cauchon's "What's the
real deficit?" (www.usatoday.com/money/2006-08-02-deficit-usat_x.htm)
brought home the magnitude of the deception and raised questions about the
health of the economy. The two sets of books- one produced by the Bush
administration and Congress and the other by the US Treasury Department- are
separated by billions of dollars. According to Citizens for Tax Justice,
"The real budget deficit for fiscal 2006 won't be $296 billion but more
like $470 billion; the $174 billion borrowed from the Social Security Trust
Fund to fund government programs was not included in the administration and
congressional budget numbers."
As Cauchon points out, the budget numbers reported in the US Treasury
Department's audited statement are based on standard accounting practices. And,
according to those numbers, "the government has run a deficit of $2.9
trillion since 1997," but the deficit shared with the public showed only
$729 billion. These numbers raise serious questions for the future, because bills
come due.
If the
Check out Cauchon's article on line at USA Today and visit www.CTJ.org
for more about the looming dangers of deficit deceit.
Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and Telephone
Calls
Email www.dailykos.com The Beaver Creek
Conference and the Road to Armageddon by BooMan23...In my opinion, Dick Cheney
is the most dishonest politician in America...he has less regard for the
factual basis of what he says than anyone I've ever observed. ..sometimes he
says what he means (which is a form of truth) and everyone kind of misses it.
In a speech on Inauguration Day 2005, Vice President Cheney warned bluntly that
Iran was "right at the top" of the administration's list of
"trouble spots"--and that Israel "might well decide to act
first" by attacking Iran. The Israelis, he added in an obvious swipe at
moderates in the State Department, would "let the rest of the world worry
about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterward."
Email www.uruknet.info/?p=25368 Did
you know that non-Jewish Israelis cannot buy or lease land in
Email www.nytimes.com Left Behind Economics…By
Paul Krugman... I'd like to say that there's a real dialogue taking place about
the state of the
Email craven_j@hotmail.com we are
programmed to believe George W. Bush is a Christian instead of Aristotle's
tyrant--"A
tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects
are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider
god-fearing and pious." Pretending to take the moral high
ground, he resists calls for a
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