Grateful Dead

Obama has really opened up a presidency by committee and the Clintons are a pretty integral part of that committee. Bill & Hillary are everywhere on Earth these days, doing the empire's bidding. Not that I'm complaining. If there was ever a time when our country needed smart, seasoned people it's right now. I give Chairman Obama high marks for his stewardship thus far. There are a lot of open question marks for the future like Afghanistan, the economy, the national debt and such but I would be very sorry to see this commission go out of business in four years. I never thought I'd say that about Democrats but looking at Bush's legacy I am truly horriified that we almost lost our country to a bunch of neo-cons. Barak is an acceptable alternative to that. (now waiting for appearance by scathing dewlover)

...about books being more friendly and familiar. I never even thought about jobs at printing companies being lost because of Kindles. I've heard that some authors have been hoodwinked into losing royalties on e-books (mostly books that were published before the advent of this technology). Good point about recycling, never thought of that. Now I'm wondering about eye strain with a Kindle.

whether electronic devices for reading books are really more environmental than books. First of all we can recycle paper, and electronic things we cannot. If we no longer buy real books-we put printers out of business, and take food off people's tables, and the printing industry is already heavily damaged by online media. There are really plusses and minuses for both, but is hard to conceive (for me anyhow) that a hand-held device would be as emotionally satisfying as turning the pages of a book. A book that we can pass along to a good friend, or if it sucks-do what my father does and tape photos into them in lieu of other forms of photo albums. Or recycle them. ********************************** By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity -- another man's I mean. Mark Twain

Love him or hate him, you had to respect him. "That path is for, your steps alone."

I was in the store today to buy Stephen King's new novel. It's 1074 pages long. I was really feeling guilty about buying this book. The planet can't afford to lose even one more tree. Should I use a kindle? I don't even know what the energy footprint of a kindle is. How long it lasts, what is made of etc.. Does anybody out there reading this use a kindle? Do you like it? Can you really bring one to the beach without ruining it (by getting sand in it or something)? Is it more environmentally responsible to use a kindle rather than a scarce resource like wood? I'd love to hear what other people think. I'm never the first to jump on new technologies but I really want to do the responsible thing... Maybe this was my last book purchase.

Let's cross our collective fingers that the vents will be closed and the leak stopped.********************************** By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity -- another man's I mean. Mark Twain

It is possible that within 36 hours all the vents will be closed and the leak will be stopped. Although BP sucks for what it did in the name of profit and the whole industry is culpable for doing this kind of drilling without having adequate emergency response, they do deserve some credit for working as quickly as possible and maybe getting this thing capped in 90 days. If this were Nigeria they would have done next to nothing. An elite makes all the oil money over there and they don't rock that boat. Different story here though. Maybe some good will come out of this -- namely a greater awareness of of our codependent relationship with Big Oil and and the realization that the status-quo is not sustainable. Or maybe the understanding that it's really too late and you might as well buy a used Hummer, Denali or Yukon and go out in an orgy of fossil fuel gluttony. Make sure to top off the freon yourself and kill the ozone layer. As well, top off the tank to the last drop and let a gallon or two evaporate into the atmosphere... Ye Gods! We are so screwed on this planet!

Apparently they were targeting the Ugandan government's decision to send those peacekeepers. Somalia and Yemen and almost the entire land of Arabia is a hotbed of Wahhabi ideology. One American died in the bombing.

74 soccer fans dead in Uganda, after a rugby club was hit by bombs, where these poor people were watching the World Cup final. An organization, Al Shabaab that is opposed to the Uganda government and claiming ties to al Quaeda took responsibility for having carried out the attack, and threatens to continue with other such bombings in Uganda and Burundi; until US-friendly peacekeeping troops are withdrawn from Somalia.********************************** By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity -- another man's I mean. Mark Twain

500,000 gallons a day between the time the old containment cap came off Saturday and the time the new one is put on some time this week. Frightening, isn't it? Y'know, it strikes me that it was rather hard to buy an American car that got more than 30 mpg combined until last year. How could the car industry have been that screwed up for that long? The simple answer is that they wern't screwed up. They were the alternative to every other manufacturer in foreign countries where gas costs more money. Finally Detroit got it that people want well made cars with great gas mileage that could go 300,000 miles if you took care of them. I hope they new containment cap captures 95% of the oil until the relief wells are dug. I hope they are making contingency plans for when a hurricane whips the spill into a hell froth.