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December 29, 2005
Monday, August 29, 2005
Monday's Links
Activism
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Charity's not the only thing that begins at home! It's important to keep up pressure on the corporations that treat nature like their own personal dumping grounds, but don't forget the little things that you can do in your own corner of the world. This page at the Global Stewards site gives you lots of tips on reducing the amount of waste you generate, reusing or passing on the good stuff that might otherwise get trashed, and recycling things that have reached the ends of their useful lives. The page also contains tips on conserving water and energy, and other tips for being green around the home. It may not seem like one person's efforts can have much impact, but when enough of us act together it can make a world of difference.
News
Rove's Role. If we had to pick one word to describe Karl Rove, it certainly wouldn't be "statesman." Since the age of 19, Rove has immersed himself in the game of politics, and he plays to win. His trail of dirty tricks and smear campaigns leads us right to the center of the Plame Leak case, in which a CIA operative was unmasked in what looks exactly like a case of partisan payback. The case hasn't been getting much attention in the press lately, but the special prosecutor is still working away and the investigation is expected to wrap up sometime this fall. Supporters of the GOP agenda portray Karl Rove as an innocent bystander, a blameless cog in Bush's well-oiled political machine. You'll forgive us if we have a little trouble picturing Rove with anything but dirty hands.
Scientists Speak Up on Mix of God and Science. Is it possible to be a good scientist and still believe in God? Panelists at a recent scientific conference in New York answered this question with a resounding "No!" Not all scientists feel that religion and science are mutually exclusive, and although the subject of God and religion is often taboo in scientific circles there are those who believe it's not necessary to reject one in order to embrace the other.
In Iraq, Carnage, Anger and Grief. The Bush administration pushes its rosy picture of the Iraq War as a success story, even as we hear daily reports of insurgent attacks and car bombings. The attacks are indiscriminate, killing Iraqi troops and civilians in addition to US soldiers. Iraqis are placing the blame squarely on occupation forces, for allowing detained insurgents to go free and for failing to turn over to Iraqi forces the intelligence resources they need to do the job. War supporters push their stories of success in Iraq just as fervently as war detractors point out the stark difference between Bush's rosy rhetoric and the realities of war, but our disagreements pale in comparison to the price that innocent Iraqis are paying every day for BushCo's massive, multi-billion-dollar blunder.
Editorials
Chickenhawk: The Other Right Meat. One of the problems with BushCo's whole War in Iraq extravaganza is that almost nobody making decisions about how things should be run has ever actually served in the military. The same holds true for many of the GOP supporters of Bush's folly, who are more than happy to endlessly spout war-time rhetoric and plaster their car in magnetic ribbons to show their support but somehow never end up down at the recruiting office to make the ultimate commitment to the war effort. The fact that the military's having trouble making its recruiting goals is obviously the fault of the liberal media, who have only bad things to say about what's going on over there, and anyone who doesn't like what Bush is doing should just sit down and shut up and let him get on with it. Don't call them chickenhawks, though; oh, no! They're more red-blooded than you or me because, unlike us "traitorous" lefties who actually dare to question Dear Leader's oddball approach to spreading democracy, they are behind him one hundred percent. Just don't ask them to sign up, because they're all busy getting on with their lives.
A Clean Patriot Act. The Patriot Act has caused a lot of controversy and debate since its inception in late 2001, and with key provisions of the Act set to expire at the end of the year there is an opportunity to redefine its scope and effectiveness. Both the House and Senate have passed bills that have big-picture similarities but differ in many of the fine details. There are things to like about both versions, which reign in some of the Patriot Act's more controversial provisions and require reporting on how its powers are being used, but the Senate's version imposes harsher restrictions on the reach of those powers and stronger protections for civil liberties. The Senate bill also lacks dozens of unnecessary line items that are included in the House version; reconciling these two versions into a single bill for Bush's signature won't be easy, but we hope the final version focuses more on effective counter-terrorism measures and less on pet political projects.
Blogger Commentary
The War Against Fundamentalism. Bush's War on Terror is folly for more than just the shoddy way it's being handled: terror is not the enemy, but rather the tool used by our enemies. Fighting the enemy's tactics is like waging war on the symptoms of a disease while ignoring any possibility of eradicating the disease itself. The disease in this case is the radical fundamentalist elements of Islam, which employs a strict and literal reading of selected bits of the Koran to justify an endless jihad against the West. We have our own fundamentalists here at home, and they use their own strict and literal reading of selected bits from the Bible to justify an endless war against anything that doesn't line up with their narrow and rigid worldview. Bush tells us we're fighting against the oppression of the many by the powerful, religious few, but the groundswell of religious conservatism that has boosted the Republican Party to dominance also threatens to undermine many of the freedoms on which our way of life is based.
Privatizing the Truth: Bush's War on Information. From the very beginning, the Bush administration has counted on deception. Outright lies are part of it, but there are also misdirections, obfuscations, and flat refusals to share information. If Bush doesn't want you to know something, there is an army of staff and volunteers and media ready to stand between you and whatever it is. Conservative shows on both radio and television spout GOP-approved talking points that lead the viewer away from those painful truths that would tip the Bush crime family's apple cart. It has famously been said that knowing is half the battle, but with this group of folks in charge of Washington, knowing has become the battle.
|
December 29, 2005
Monday, August 29, 2005
Monday's Links
Activism
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Charity's not the only thing that begins at home! It's important to keep up pressure on the corporations that treat nature like their own personal dumping grounds, but don't forget the little things that you can do in your own corner of the world. This page at the Global Stewards site gives you lots of tips on reducing the amount of waste you generate, reusing or passing on the good stuff that might otherwise get trashed, and recycling things that have reached the ends of their useful lives. The page also contains tips on conserving water and energy, and other tips for being green around the home. It may not seem like one person's efforts can have much impact, but when enough of us act together it can make a world of difference.
News
Rove's Role. If we had to pick one word to describe Karl Rove, it certainly wouldn't be "statesman." Since the age of 19, Rove has immersed himself in the game of politics, and he plays to win. His trail of dirty tricks and smear campaigns leads us right to the center of the Plame Leak case, in which a CIA operative was unmasked in what looks exactly like a case of partisan payback. The case hasn't been getting much attention in the press lately, but the special prosecutor is still working away and the investigation is expected to wrap up sometime this fall. Supporters of the GOP agenda portray Karl Rove as an innocent bystander, a blameless cog in Bush's well-oiled political machine. You'll forgive us if we have a little trouble picturing Rove with anything but dirty hands.
Scientists Speak Up on Mix of God and Science. Is it possible to be a good scientist and still believe in God? Panelists at a recent scientific conference in New York answered this question with a resounding "No!" Not all scientists feel that religion and science are mutually exclusive, and although the subject of God and religion is often taboo in scientific circles there are those who believe it's not necessary to reject one in order to embrace the other.
In Iraq, Carnage, Anger and Grief. The Bush administration pushes its rosy picture of the Iraq War as a success story, even as we hear daily reports of insurgent attacks and car bombings. The attacks are indiscriminate, killing Iraqi troops and civilians in addition to US soldiers. Iraqis are placing the blame squarely on occupation forces, for allowing detained insurgents to go free and for failing to turn over to Iraqi forces the intelligence resources they need to do the job. War supporters push their stories of success in Iraq just as fervently as war detractors point out the stark difference between Bush's rosy rhetoric and the realities of war, but our disagreements pale in comparison to the price that innocent Iraqis are paying every day for BushCo's massive, multi-billion-dollar blunder.
Editorials
Chickenhawk: The Other Right Meat. One of the problems with BushCo's whole War in Iraq extravaganza is that almost nobody making decisions about how things should be run has ever actually served in the military. The same holds true for many of the GOP supporters of Bush's folly, who are more than happy to endlessly spout war-time rhetoric and plaster their car in magnetic ribbons to show their support but somehow never end up down at the recruiting office to make the ultimate commitment to the war effort. The fact that the military's having trouble making its recruiting goals is obviously the fault of the liberal media, who have only bad things to say about what's going on over there, and anyone who doesn't like what Bush is doing should just sit down and shut up and let him get on with it. Don't call them chickenhawks, though; oh, no! They're more red-blooded than you or me because, unlike us "traitorous" lefties who actually dare to question Dear Leader's oddball approach to spreading democracy, they are behind him one hundred percent. Just don't ask them to sign up, because they're all busy getting on with their lives.
A Clean Patriot Act. The Patriot Act has caused a lot of controversy and debate since its inception in late 2001, and with key provisions of the Act set to expire at the end of the year there is an opportunity to redefine its scope and effectiveness. Both the House and Senate have passed bills that have big-picture similarities but differ in many of the fine details. There are things to like about both versions, which reign in some of the Patriot Act's more controversial provisions and require reporting on how its powers are being used, but the Senate's version imposes harsher restrictions on the reach of those powers and stronger protections for civil liberties. The Senate bill also lacks dozens of unnecessary line items that are included in the House version; reconciling these two versions into a single bill for Bush's signature won't be easy, but we hope the final version focuses more on effective counter-terrorism measures and less on pet political projects.
Blogger Commentary
The War Against Fundamentalism. Bush's War on Terror is folly for more than just the shoddy way it's being handled: terror is not the enemy, but rather the tool used by our enemies. Fighting the enemy's tactics is like waging war on the symptoms of a disease while ignoring any possibility of eradicating the disease itself. The disease in this case is the radical fundamentalist elements of Islam, which employs a strict and literal reading of selected bits of the Koran to justify an endless jihad against the West. We have our own fundamentalists here at home, and they use their own strict and literal reading of selected bits from the Bible to justify an endless war against anything that doesn't line up with their narrow and rigid worldview. Bush tells us we're fighting against the oppression of the many by the powerful, religious few, but the groundswell of religious conservatism that has boosted the Republican Party to dominance also threatens to undermine many of the freedoms on which our way of life is based.
Privatizing the Truth: Bush's War on Information. From the very beginning, the Bush administration has counted on deception. Outright lies are part of it, but there are also misdirections, obfuscations, and flat refusals to share information. If Bush doesn't want you to know something, there is an army of staff and volunteers and media ready to stand between you and whatever it is. Conservative shows on both radio and television spout GOP-approved talking points that lead the viewer away from those painful truths that would tip the Bush crime family's apple cart. It has famously been said that knowing is half the battle, but with this group of folks in charge of Washington, knowing has become the battle.
|
December 29, 2005
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Charity's not the only thing that begins at home! It's important to keep up pressure on the corporations that treat nature like their own personal dumping grounds, but don't forget the little things that you can do in your own corner of the world. This page at the Global Stewards site gives you lots of tips on reducing the amount of waste you generate, reusing or passing on the good stuff that might otherwise get trashed, and recycling things that have reached the ends of their useful lives. The page also contains tips on conserving water and energy, and other tips for being green around the home. It may not seem like one person's efforts can have much impact, but when enough of us act together it can make a world of difference.
News
Rove's Role. If we had to pick one word to describe Karl Rove, it certainly wouldn't be "statesman." Since the age of 19, Rove has immersed himself in the game of politics, and he plays to win. His trail of dirty tricks and smear campaigns leads us right to the center of the Plame Leak case, in which a CIA operative was unmasked in what looks exactly like a case of partisan payback. The case hasn't been getting much attention in the press lately, but the special prosecutor is still working away and the investigation is expected to wrap up sometime this fall. Supporters of the GOP agenda portray Karl Rove as an innocent bystander, a blameless cog in Bush's well-oiled political machine. You'll forgive us if we have a little trouble picturing Rove with anything but dirty hands.
Scientists Speak Up on Mix of God and Science. Is it possible to be a good scientist and still believe in God? Panelists at a recent scientific conference in New York answered this question with a resounding "No!" Not all scientists feel that religion and science are mutually exclusive, and although the subject of God and religion is often taboo in scientific circles there are those who believe it's not necessary to reject one in order to embrace the other.
In Iraq, Carnage, Anger and Grief. The Bush administration pushes its rosy picture of the Iraq War as a success story, even as we hear daily reports of insurgent attacks and car bombings. The attacks are indiscriminate, killing Iraqi troops and civilians in addition to US soldiers. Iraqis are placing the blame squarely on occupation forces, for allowing detained insurgents to go free and for failing to turn over to Iraqi forces the intelligence resources they need to do the job. War supporters push their stories of success in Iraq just as fervently as war detractors point out the stark difference between Bush's rosy rhetoric and the realities of war, but our disagreements pale in comparison to the price that innocent Iraqis are paying every day for BushCo's massive, multi-billion-dollar blunder.
Editorials
Chickenhawk: The Other Right Meat. One of the problems with BushCo's whole War in Iraq extravaganza is that almost nobody making decisions about how things should be run has ever actually served in the military. The same holds true for many of the GOP supporters of Bush's folly, who are more than happy to endlessly spout war-time rhetoric and plaster their car in magnetic ribbons to show their support but somehow never end up down at the recruiting office to make the ultimate commitment to the war effort. The fact that the military's having trouble making its recruiting goals is obviously the fault of the liberal media, who have only bad things to say about what's going on over there, and anyone who doesn't like what Bush is doing should just sit down and shut up and let him get on with it. Don't call them chickenhawks, though; oh, no! They're more red-blooded than you or me because, unlike us "traitorous" lefties who actually dare to question Dear Leader's oddball approach to spreading democracy, they are behind him one hundred percent. Just don't ask them to sign up, because they're all busy getting on with their lives.
A Clean Patriot Act. The Patriot Act has caused a lot of controversy and debate since its inception in late 2001, and with key provisions of the Act set to expire at the end of the year there is an opportunity to redefine its scope and effectiveness. Both the House and Senate have passed bills that have big-picture similarities but differ in many of the fine details. There are things to like about both versions, which reign in some of the Patriot Act's more controversial provisions and require reporting on how its powers are being used, but the Senate's version imposes harsher restrictions on the reach of those powers and stronger protections for civil liberties. The Senate bill also lacks dozens of unnecessary line items that are included in the House version; reconciling these two versions into a single bill for Bush's signature won't be easy, but we hope the final version focuses more on effective counter-terrorism measures and less on pet political projects.
Blogger Commentary
The War Against Fundamentalism. Bush's War on Terror is folly for more than just the shoddy way it's being handled: terror is not the enemy, but rather the tool used by our enemies. Fighting the enemy's tactics is like waging war on the symptoms of a disease while ignoring any possibility of eradicating the disease itself. The disease in this case is the radical fundamentalist elements of Islam, which employs a strict and literal reading of selected bits of the Koran to justify an endless jihad against the West. We have our own fundamentalists here at home, and they use their own strict and literal reading of selected bits from the Bible to justify an endless war against anything that doesn't line up with their narrow and rigid worldview. Bush tells us we're fighting against the oppression of the many by the powerful, religious few, but the groundswell of religious conservatism that has boosted the Republican Party to dominance also threatens to undermine many of the freedoms on which our way of life is based.
Privatizing the Truth: Bush's War on Information. From the very beginning, the Bush administration has counted on deception. Outright lies are part of it, but there are also misdirections, obfuscations, and flat refusals to share information. If Bush doesn't want you to know something, there is an army of staff and volunteers and media ready to stand between you and whatever it is. Conservative shows on both radio and television spout GOP-approved talking points that lead the viewer away from those painful truths that would tip the Bush crime family's apple cart. It has famously been said that knowing is half the battle, but with this group of folks in charge of Washington, knowing has become the battle.
