Wednesday, February 21, 2007
The real cost of a gallon of gas
The war in Iraq has cost the people of Thurston County nearly $300,000,000 (three hundred million dollars) and the costs go up every second. That's not just a number, each of us owes our share of that amount.
Given that many people believe the war in the Middle East is over oil. How much does that REALLY make a gallon of gas?
In Thurston County, we could have paid for 39,584 children to go to Head Start, or we could have insured 178,960 children's health, or give 14,488 students four-year scholarships to public universities.
Pierce County is bigger, so it's costing nearly $980,000,000.
Given that many people believe the war in the Middle East is over oil. How much does that REALLY make a gallon of gas?
In Thurston County, we could have paid for 39,584 children to go to Head Start, or we could have insured 178,960 children's health, or give 14,488 students four-year scholarships to public universities.
Pierce County is bigger, so it's costing nearly $980,000,000.
Looking forward to Wal-Mart coming?
It will be nice not to have to drive to Lacey to shop, but take care not to get caught up buying more than you really need and spending more on products made in China than you can afford. Most of us have debt. As a nation we seem to have followed our administration right off the debt cliff and for the first time in our history we are at a minus individual savings level.
We are all inundated with subtly tempting credit card offers. Our students who have no income and no training on how to manage money are offered cards and although building credit is important, having a $500 line of credit seems to make more sense than a $5000 line of credit. Who is going to explain to our students that they are not getting FREE FAKE money. Even Warren Buffet, the multi-billionaire says don't use credit cards!
We are no longer a manufacturing economy, we have become a consumer economy. In fact 2/3rds of our economy is built on consumerism. Consumer debt in America is over $18,700 a household. The business world doesn't see us as citizens, we are called consumers. Until recently the word consumption was an illness, maybe it still is!
If you have a $5000 credit card debt and pay it off at the minimum, at 25% interest it will take you 20 years to pay off and will cost you over $12,000. The credit card industry is making $30 billion in profits in excess fees. The credit card industry and it's supporters spent $154 miilion to pass the bankruptcy bill. It's our lives against the corporations and their mighty buck.
As consumers, we are being bombarded with advertisements on TV, in print media, on billboards etc. The ads are aimed at our unconscious mind. They are also aimed at our children. In fact they are stealing our childrens minds. There are many Christian groups, consumer groups, Republicans and Democrats who are working to help people get out from under. To learn more, read Lynne Twist's book the Soul of Money www.soulofmoney.org and watch the Myth of Money on LinkTV on DirecTV channel 375 or Dish Network 9410. www.linktv.org
I just invested in buying all of LinkTV's DVD's and books and would be happy to share them with any group who is interested. Please contact me to show these to your group. 360-894-5683.
We are all inundated with subtly tempting credit card offers. Our students who have no income and no training on how to manage money are offered cards and although building credit is important, having a $500 line of credit seems to make more sense than a $5000 line of credit. Who is going to explain to our students that they are not getting FREE FAKE money. Even Warren Buffet, the multi-billionaire says don't use credit cards!
We are no longer a manufacturing economy, we have become a consumer economy. In fact 2/3rds of our economy is built on consumerism. Consumer debt in America is over $18,700 a household. The business world doesn't see us as citizens, we are called consumers. Until recently the word consumption was an illness, maybe it still is!
If you have a $5000 credit card debt and pay it off at the minimum, at 25% interest it will take you 20 years to pay off and will cost you over $12,000. The credit card industry is making $30 billion in profits in excess fees. The credit card industry and it's supporters spent $154 miilion to pass the bankruptcy bill. It's our lives against the corporations and their mighty buck.
As consumers, we are being bombarded with advertisements on TV, in print media, on billboards etc. The ads are aimed at our unconscious mind. They are also aimed at our children. In fact they are stealing our childrens minds. There are many Christian groups, consumer groups, Republicans and Democrats who are working to help people get out from under. To learn more, read Lynne Twist's book the Soul of Money www.soulofmoney.org and watch the Myth of Money on LinkTV on DirecTV channel 375 or Dish Network 9410. www.linktv.org
I just invested in buying all of LinkTV's DVD's and books and would be happy to share them with any group who is interested. Please contact me to show these to your group. 360-894-5683.
Iran - Fooled you twice?
Fooled you twice?
Michael Gordon, the same New York Times reporter that along with Judith Miller, got Saddam's WMD wrong, has a front page story that Iran is supplying arms to the Shiites in Iraq. As with the run up to the war in Iraq, there are inconsistencies.
A fairer report from the Washington Post says, "Yesterday, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said serial numbers and markings on some explosives used in Iraq indicate that the material came from Iran, but he offered no evidence." The media were shown the weapons, but weren't allowed to take cameras or cell phones and weren't allowed to name the military briefers.
Did you see the pictures? Did you think it odd that the letters and numbers on the weapons were in English, not Arabic and that the dates are in American, (month, day, year), while every where else in the world the day comes first. Newsweek reports that the weapons parts can be found cheaply in Iranian markets, giving lie to the fact that they are expensive, special and come directly from the Iranian government.
Why would the Iranian government need to supply the Shiites with arms, when the Shiites are already in control of the Iraqi government.
How come we don't hear the media saying that Saudi Arabia has been fundraising to give money to the Sunnis who are responsible for 99% of American deaths?
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) still hasn't found final evidence that Iran is tying to build nuclear weapons, while the CIA says that Iran has 10 more years before it will have the capability to make nuclear weapons.
Both the Vice President and Condoleezza Rice have argued that Iran has enough oil and doesn't need nuclear energy. It turns out that when Cheney was chief of staff to President Gerald Ford, he and then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld persuaded Ford to give the Shah a nuclear program to meet its future energy requirements. Energy experts now note that Iran is already near peak and that the country will need alternatives to oil in the coming decades.
Michael Gordon, the same New York Times reporter that along with Judith Miller, got Saddam's WMD wrong, has a front page story that Iran is supplying arms to the Shiites in Iraq. As with the run up to the war in Iraq, there are inconsistencies.
A fairer report from the Washington Post says, "Yesterday, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said serial numbers and markings on some explosives used in Iraq indicate that the material came from Iran, but he offered no evidence." The media were shown the weapons, but weren't allowed to take cameras or cell phones and weren't allowed to name the military briefers.
Did you see the pictures? Did you think it odd that the letters and numbers on the weapons were in English, not Arabic and that the dates are in American, (month, day, year), while every where else in the world the day comes first. Newsweek reports that the weapons parts can be found cheaply in Iranian markets, giving lie to the fact that they are expensive, special and come directly from the Iranian government.
Why would the Iranian government need to supply the Shiites with arms, when the Shiites are already in control of the Iraqi government.
How come we don't hear the media saying that Saudi Arabia has been fundraising to give money to the Sunnis who are responsible for 99% of American deaths?
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) still hasn't found final evidence that Iran is tying to build nuclear weapons, while the CIA says that Iran has 10 more years before it will have the capability to make nuclear weapons.
Both the Vice President and Condoleezza Rice have argued that Iran has enough oil and doesn't need nuclear energy. It turns out that when Cheney was chief of staff to President Gerald Ford, he and then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld persuaded Ford to give the Shah a nuclear program to meet its future energy requirements. Energy experts now note that Iran is already near peak and that the country will need alternatives to oil in the coming decades.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Update on Global Warming
The IPCC, a 154 government global scientific research panel report states that there is 90% agreement that global warming is created by humans and their activity. It was 99% before China put pressure on the panel. The report underwent 4 days of intense secret word-by-word editing, lobbying and bargaining.
Now it appears that ExxonMobil is offering $10,000 to anyone who can write an article to debunk the panel's research. Of course they aren't paying it directly, they are offering it through the American Enterprise Institute, one of the think tanks they have funded for years. This comes on the heals of Exxon's latest profit report. Their 2006 profits surpassed their 2005 profits, both years being the largest profits ever recorded in the history of the world!
The weather will become more changeable, more volitile. The report says sea levels will rise anywhere from 6 inches to 2 ft without taking into account such ice melting as Antarctica's 1,255 square mile Larsen B ice shelf that broke off and disappeared in just 35 days in 2002. Many scientists feel the levels will rise between 2 ft and 6 ft. These levels would wipe out many island nations and badly damage U.S. coastal areas and cities.
All over Greenland and the Artic, rising temperatures are not only melting ice, they are changing the coastlines by exposing new chains of islands. While this might seem exciting to some, it isn't the natural order of things.
Now it appears that ExxonMobil is offering $10,000 to anyone who can write an article to debunk the panel's research. Of course they aren't paying it directly, they are offering it through the American Enterprise Institute, one of the think tanks they have funded for years. This comes on the heals of Exxon's latest profit report. Their 2006 profits surpassed their 2005 profits, both years being the largest profits ever recorded in the history of the world!
The weather will become more changeable, more volitile. The report says sea levels will rise anywhere from 6 inches to 2 ft without taking into account such ice melting as Antarctica's 1,255 square mile Larsen B ice shelf that broke off and disappeared in just 35 days in 2002. Many scientists feel the levels will rise between 2 ft and 6 ft. These levels would wipe out many island nations and badly damage U.S. coastal areas and cities.
All over Greenland and the Artic, rising temperatures are not only melting ice, they are changing the coastlines by exposing new chains of islands. While this might seem exciting to some, it isn't the natural order of things.
Stem Cell Research
Stem cell research could benefit millions of Americans currently suffering from Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and diabetes.A 2006 poll indicates that 72% of Americans support embryonic stem cell research and the scientific community agrees that federal funding is critical to this research. The only major interest group in America opposing this research is the religious right and their friend President Bush.
Life is precious, but hundreds of thousands of stem cells are flushed down the toilet every year. Isn't it a little heartless to throw them away instead of using them to help already living Americans live a better life?
The House should support an override of the president's impending veto.
Life is precious, but hundreds of thousands of stem cells are flushed down the toilet every year. Isn't it a little heartless to throw them away instead of using them to help already living Americans live a better life?
The House should support an override of the president's impending veto.
Our Budget
The president says that he plans to balance the budget by 2012. It certainly sounds good, but how will he do it while maintaining the average tax cut of $162,000 to people who earn more than $1 million dollars a year. Apart from cutting funds to Headstart, Hospitals, Housing to Seniors in need, Energy assistance to the elderly, the VA and increasing Medicare premiums, he's going to borrow it from Social Security at a rate of 200 billion a year for a total of 1 trillion dollars.. Of course no one will know about it as Social Security isn't in that part of the budget and the media isn't going to tell.
In the conservative world view, corporations are important and good. It sees the strength of the nation in it's powerful companies and billionaires. It likes big orders going to weapons corporations but has no money set aside to pay for the 92,00 new soldiers and marines the president wants, or to support our brave veterans.
The democratic world view wants a healthy business landscape, but sees that our forebears came here with very little and struggled for years until the New Deal gave them equal opportunity and helped them get a leg up with free education and a retirement safety net. The democratic model believes that investing in infrastructure brings the country prosperity and which has created the clean air we breath, the roads we drive on, the safe drugs we use, the healthy food we eat. Wages were good because we set up collective bargaining that raised wages for everyone. Over the last 26 years all these rights and wages have been under attack.
Doesn't the bible instruct us to care for all? Let's not give handouts, let's give a hand up and let people like Condoleeza Rice, John Edwards, Joe Biden and Colin Powell who all came from poor homes make it on their own.
In the conservative world view, corporations are important and good. It sees the strength of the nation in it's powerful companies and billionaires. It likes big orders going to weapons corporations but has no money set aside to pay for the 92,00 new soldiers and marines the president wants, or to support our brave veterans.
The democratic world view wants a healthy business landscape, but sees that our forebears came here with very little and struggled for years until the New Deal gave them equal opportunity and helped them get a leg up with free education and a retirement safety net. The democratic model believes that investing in infrastructure brings the country prosperity and which has created the clean air we breath, the roads we drive on, the safe drugs we use, the healthy food we eat. Wages were good because we set up collective bargaining that raised wages for everyone. Over the last 26 years all these rights and wages have been under attack.
Doesn't the bible instruct us to care for all? Let's not give handouts, let's give a hand up and let people like Condoleeza Rice, John Edwards, Joe Biden and Colin Powell who all came from poor homes make it on their own.
Real cost of a gallon of gas
The war in Iraq has cost the people of Thurston County nearly $300,000,000 (three hundred million dollars) and the costs go up every second. That's not just a number, each of us owes our share of that amount.
Given that many people believe the war in the Middle East is over oil. How much does that REALLY make a gallon of gas?
In Thurston County, we could have paid for 39,584 children to go to Head Start, or we could have insured 178,960 children's health, or give 14,488 students four-year scholarships to public universities.
Pierce County is bigger, so it's costing nearly $980,000,000.
Given that many people believe the war in the Middle East is over oil. How much does that REALLY make a gallon of gas?
In Thurston County, we could have paid for 39,584 children to go to Head Start, or we could have insured 178,960 children's health, or give 14,488 students four-year scholarships to public universities.
Pierce County is bigger, so it's costing nearly $980,000,000.
