Open Thread
We are approaching the end of our virtual fly-over of the beautiful region just across Cook Inlet from Anchorage. We’re headed back across the silty grey water, passing over the mudflats and soon we’ll be landing at Merrill Field in Anchorage.
I’ll soon have a story up about my trip to the area where PacRim Coal is pushing for the development of the Chuitna Coal Mine. I urge everyone to watch Moore Up North tomorrow on KYES Channel 5 at 4pm Alaska time, when Shannyn Moore will have a panel discussion and an update on the current situation. For those of you who are out of state, I’ll post the videos of the show when they become available.
Ouch, that’s gotta hurt!
Not that it really means anything, but the presidential straw poll taken at the Values Voter Summit has Palin coming in at FIFTH, well behind the winner, Mike Pence (an apparent surprise). Even the Lizard beat her. The numbers:
Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind. (24%)
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (22%)
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (13%)
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (10%)
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (7%)
The beauty, majesty and wonder of the natural world is truly astounding. We are reminded of it on a daily basis and yet we are inured enough to neglect to respect it. Worse still we gradually acquire a hubris that nature is ours to dispose of as we please. I do not say so meaning all of us, but I mean almost all of us because very few enjoy the capacity to spend time doing anything but surviving.
Thinking in terms of the audience here, I could draw a comparison between AK and WY. They are siimilar in that they are dependent on resource extraction for their economies. They both have small, scattered and isolated populations except for a few concentrations. They both have a harsh climate. There are also many differences. There is one striking similarity that is not very well explained but at least elucidated somewhat in a little book by the title of “Pushed Off the Moutain, Sold Down the River”.
Alaskans might benefit somewhat from seeing a parallel of their future in the history of Wyoming.
Our earth is finite. Now, still, even after years of effort to awaken people to the fact that it is finite, we can still easily look at all those empty spaces and think, a few million more houses won’t matter.
But they will.
I am one of ‘those people’ who work in the resource extraction industry. I use my knowledge and expertise to explore for new sources of materials. I like my job and I think it is important, but I also realize that in certain respects I am working on the wrong thing.
35 years of effort towards a hopeless goal, a goal with all sorts of nasty consequences and ramifications is kind of dispiriting. But that somehow does not quench the insatiable urge to try to understand how things work. I like to think that I can use my knowledge to good effect, so that is why I offer up critical analysis of such things as Pebble. But in the end, who would ever have thought that a fascination for the chemsitry of rocks would lead one into political miasma?
As a friend of mine once said, life is perverse.
sure is KB. sure is.
Life is perverse.
I think it is cool that you want to know how things work and that you have fascination with the chemistry of rocks. The “mineral extraction industry” as you call it, may feel inherently wrong (as in poking holes in mother nature’s skin), but the industry is here (just like drilling for oil) and so it requires ethical, intelligent people to protect us from greed and danger.
I’m not sure that I am making sense. Let me try it this way. I eat meat. So do my dogs. That means that, somewhere along the line, an animal is being raised and killed to feed me. That is a fact. It is my fervent hope that slaughterhouses can be humane if people who work in this industry are ethical and intelligent (think Temple Grandon here). I fish. I am careful not to overfish the resource and only take what I am going to use.
I think, that being at the top of the food chain, with large enough brains to comprehend what we are doing, some of us understand that the world needs balance. My problem is that I understand that the world is overpopulated (one of the many reasons I chose not to have children) and that there are not enough resources to support the population that we have. Somehow the human race needs to address this or we will go extinct.
I feel the same way about mining and drilling. We are going to run out, eventually, unless we manage our resources intelligently and always strive towards balance. A reason that I am particularly passionate about sustainable energy. Even though my husband works in the oil patch.
If your business is extracting gold or diamonds, the ethical goal is for those things to be used to the betterment of mankind (making medical devices, for scientific research, etc) not as something to decorate our bodies with and fight wars over.
Just my random thoughts.
LoveMydogs, I’m glad that you mentioned diamonds. Their only value is because of clever 20th-century marketing (like “Coke” and “Santa Claus”). I’ve lived a fairly long life refusing to “do” diamonds because they’re basically a symbol of the absolute worst human corruption. For the same reason, I’ve always refused to “do” drugs.
I doubt I’ve missed anything.
VJ –
What you say is only partly true. So-called gem diamonds are basically what you describe. There are immensely more industrial diamonds which do have a purpose well beyond the decoration of someone’s finger for symbolic purposes. And while it is true that industrial diamonds can be sythesized in bulk, the market for naturally occurring mineral of equivalent properties is still robust because it is still cheaper to mine them than manufacture them. I will give one simple example, without industrial diamond, it would be more or less impossible to drill for oil.
I agree generally that the gem diamond marketing is disingenuous, and in fact is controlled by a cartel. But how does that differ from the cartel that controls oil? And more to the point, if people are willing to invest in a fairytale regarding diamonds how does that differ exactly from the many other fairytales in which they indulge? Until the civil wars in West Africa and Angola that made diamond a commodity of exchange for criminals, the trade was generally just pure capitalism. I do know something about this because I was deeply involved in it for about 20 years. But I do not want to belabor the economic aspects of the subject, there is something else involved which you miss entirely and quite understandably.
The prime justification for mining diamonds is the incredible science that we can do as a result that reveals details and complexities about the composition and structure of the solid earth, to which we would have no access were it otherwise.
With current technology we can drill into the solid earth to a depth of perhaps 5 kilometers. The crust of the earth is on average about 6 times that thick and in many places, such as continents 15-20 times as thick. Diamonds are crystalline carbon that formed under conditions of high temperature and pressure. The pressures required to form diamonds are generally greater than 35,000 atmospheres, which corresponds to a depth of about 150 kilometers. They happen to be brought to the surface by unique and rare volcanic events which in and of themselves have unique and exotic compositions. In simple terms they are exotic rocks, the are called kimberlites after the type locality where they were first described in detail, Kimberley, S,. Africa. The diamonds are brought to the surface by the volcanic activity of the kimberlites. They also bring to the surface a lot of rocks from the same kind of depths as those at which the diamonds were formed, that is to say 150 kilometers deep or more. In actual fact we have found fragments of deep rocks entrained in certain kimberlites that have come from depths as great as 450 kilometers. That is the scientifically interesting thing, not to say that diamonds themselves are not scientifically interesting, but that what comes up with them, and which for the most part they are contained within, is the composition of the deep earth that we would have no knowledge of were it not for these bizarre volcanos.
You might well ask, what is the purpose of this research, what do we hope to learn from it? My only possible answer is I have no idea. I can no more predict the future than can your newspaper astrologer. However, I can point out that consequent to the general theory of relativity published in 1919, you might have a device in your car or hand that can tell you where you are on planet earth within a few meters accuracy. Or to draw the parallel more closely, that the integrated circuit that serves as the central processing unit in your computer which you are using to respond to me and this thread, probably has layers of depositional diamond films that serve to insulate different functional components. All such technology is derivative of understanding basic stuff.
So on that basis I would disagree with you. But I would go a bit further because I have a personal history in the diamond fields of Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ghana, the CAR, Congo, Angola, Botswana, Lesthutho, S. Africa, Venezuela, Guyanna and Brazil.
To put it into context, the diamond trade is no more corrupt than is wall street. In fact, in some respects it is generally less so because at least we deal in something tangible.
If you want to bring up the whole theatrical issue of of conflict diamonds I am comfortable with that. I was actually there when it all was happening.
I hesitate to post this because it seems like a rant, but it is not. I am just trying to allay your lack of information about what diamonds actually mean in the real world.
Man, would I love to sit down and have a beer with you KN. Your life sounds absolutely fascinating.
Since the reply function appears to terminate a short way down the tree I will reply to myself to reply to LMD.
That would be a Cervesa in my present territory. (Beer). Nice of you to say so. It is interesting that I could relate a lot of similar events with all kinds of characters who might easily have been plucked wholesale from any of many novels.
I more or less made my life interesting by choosing to pursue something that was both extraordinarily difficult and complex. It wasn’t a hard choice. Once one has seen the exquiste nature of rocks from deep within the planet, the seduction in entire and you accept that the thrall will never be lifted.
One day I will go back home. I have been wanting to now for a very long time but it is necessary to stay here for the present to assure that when I do go back home, I will be able to survive.
I wish I would get a response from vj because I earnestly desire to give reliable information to refute some propaganda.
I am patient.
Slapdown on Fox:
This proved to be the last straw for D’Amato, who cut in and unloaded:
“You are a nasty racist..that’s a bunch of bullsh*t and you should be ashamed of yourself and have your mouth washed out.”
When Burkman tried to cut in, D’Amato shot him down: “Wait a minute…shut up. I listened to your raci
st bullsh*t.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/17/al-damato-unloads-on-fell_n_721104.html
I really enjoy Eugene Robinson, both for his opinion pieces and for his appearances on MSNBC and other political shows.
However, a piece of his appeared in my local paper today and it contains what just might become my favorite Robinson comment of all time. He was writing about the stoopidity of Gingrich’s claim that Obama’s actions can be explained by “Kenyan anti-colonial behavior”, whatever the hell that means. Robinson reminded the reader that the President’s father left the family when he was only two years old.
“Well, we knew Obama was precocious. But if he was so absorbed with the study of colonialism, neocolonialism, imperialism and all the other isms, when did he have time to learn to go potty?”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/13/AR2010091305307.html?nav=emailpage
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the Khmer Rouge ain’t got Nothin’ on Palin, O’Donnell, Miller, et.al. (and the Tea Baggers in general). Substitute “Christianist”/”Evangelical”/”Dominionist” and/or similar for “Communist”, and there you have it.
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“The Khmer Rouge (“Khmer Krahom” in Khmer) was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, who were the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan. The regime led by the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979 was known as the Democratic Kampuchea.
This organization is remembered primarily for its policy of social engineering, which resulted in genocide.Its attempts at agricultural reform led to widespread famine, while its insistence on absolute self-sufficiency, even in the supply of medicine, led to the deaths of thousands from treatable diseases (such as malaria). Brutal and arbitrary executions and torture carried out by its cadres against perceived subversive elements, or during purges of its own ranks between 1976 and 1978, are considered to have constituted a genocide.” [/snip]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge
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No, they (The Bagger ‘leadership’) have not led any executions [or even called for any] BUT they’ve certainly and consistently been Mighty free with character assassinations and with whipping up ‘support’ for their cause by throughly trashing Any hint of intellectualism, logic, introspection, and/or task-specific competency. They dismiss out of hand and silence –and shun!– Any who would question their methods and/or *how* they propose to carry out their agenda(s)…and, in the process, totally trash the reputation of the one questioning {no ‘rill Amurican Patriot’ would dare question!}
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“The Khmer Rouge created a government founded on doctrinaire delusions. They did not adapt their ideas to fit with the realities of their nation; instead, with the religious fervor of True Believers, they blinded themselves and silenced those who dared to speak out. The Khmer Rouge constantly stressed that “Angka” (“The Organization”) was infallible. Consequently, suggestions for improving policies or work methods were seen as nothing more than veiled criticisms of the regime. Their constant search for “enemies” became a self-fulfilling prophecy: those who were not opposed to the regime in the beginning, were by the end.” [/snip]
http://www.mekong.net/cambodia/uniq_rev.htm
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The Taliban, for as oppressive, onerous, and disgusting as it is –and for as Completely unacceptable as it’s policies are– at least has provisions, however inadequate and/or demeaning, to take care of the most vulnerable amongst them. The Tea Baggers, as did the Khmer Rouge before them, have NO such thoughts of charity; “compassion” is NOT in their realm of possibilites for our society…or even in their vocabulary.
I am truly frightened that Good men and women in our country, men and women who are Genuinely kind and caring people, are so bedazzled by the smooth-talking rhetoric coming from Palin, O’Donnell, Bachmann, Miller, et.al, that they DON’T hear the *entire* message being spewed. In wanting to have no more tax hikes, the good men and women *only* hear *that* portion of P, O’, B, M et.al’s (misrepresentative/misrepresenting and skewed) spiel…they *don’t* hear the ALSO bits about State’s ‘rights’, eliminating the Dept of Ed, eliminating Medicare, support of Israel at all costs, drum-beats-for-war against Iran, antagonizing and inflaming sentiments against Citizens of the Islamic Faith, etc., etc., etc.
How in the *world* do we derail the Crazy Train before any *more* citizens are taken for a ride? beth.
Join a get-out-to-vote effort and inform like minded individuals that this is one of the most important elections that they will ever take part in. We must beat back the crazies before their strength is in numbers. They are dominating the airwaves and now the elections. By voting against Palin’s pawns, we will begin to see her lose her power; by voting out the Tea nutters, we will soon see a tide of sanity return.
While reading about the most recent Tea Party primary victories, it suddenly occured to me that the Tea Party movement has a lot in common with the invasion of Iraq. I know, it sounds like a pretty ‘out there’ kind of statement, but go with me on this for just a minute.
With both, people were/are so riled up and angry that they want to attack and eliminate all of the established ruling powers. Their favorite lines have been essentially the same…wipe the slate clean, throw the bums out, bring in fresh blood, start all over again.
However, in neither case, did anyone think about what would happen AFTER the desired coup. The Bush administration was completely unprepared when Saddam’s regime fell more quickly than anticipated. They ended up with a country and its infrastructure in complete chaos, and no strategy, materials or expertise in place to restore order. Because of their poor planning, many places in Iraq still have no dependable electricity, running water, sewers or garbage collection. Many roads, buildings and bridges are still unusable and the people are angry because, years after their country was invaded, their daily lives are still in turmoil. We certainly had the ability to restore things quickly and efficiently in Iraq, but it has become a constant state of catch-up because a detailed plan was not in place BEFORE the invasion. To make things worse, the responsibility to put things back together was left to private companies, closely aligned with prominent members of the administration, whose only skill was charging the US government obscene amounts or money for shoddy and incomplete work. “Mission Accomplished” was, in reality, more like “We’ll figure it all out later, after the photo ops.”
The Tea Party movement is much the same as the Bush administration was before the invasion. They are angry and want to take over our government and throw all the incumbents out. However, they have no clear plan for what to do AFTER that should happen. They have no policies and no plans for actually running a national government. It’s all fine and good to claim that what the current administration is doing isn’t working, but you also have to provide viable alternatives, and that is just not happening. The Tea Party and ultra-conservative candidates have shown tremendous skill in only two things: riling up the uniformed, angry mobs with their oft-repeated talking points, and avoiding any discussions about the policy they would put in place if they should actually win.
We simply can’t allow them to gain any real power and plunge us into the same kind of chaos that Iraq is in.
Your so correct, the Party of No is good at generating outrage but have no ideas for addressing the problems we currently face that they are willing to talk about. They are working for chaos to happen by their destruction of our secular social institutions. Sometimes when pushed they will admit that they want to see their “faith based” initiatives take over.
leenie…fabulous post!
Right you are! That’s why it is so important for Miller to lose, for O’Donnell to lose, for Paul to lose and for Angle to lose. A loud and clear message must be sent to the all powerful tea party and this is that they’re not so powerful after all and neither is their Queen.
If you’re in need of a warm fuzzy moment after all Teh Crazy that’s been sweeping the nation the last few weeks, check out this video.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator and star of Broadway’s ‘In The Heights’, choreographed a full production number for the toast at his recent wedding. He arranged secret rehearsals with the entire wedding party, who sang and danced to “To Life” from ‘Fiddler on the Roof’. While there were occasionally several keys being sung in simultaneously (if enthusiastically), you cannot help but be swept up in the spirit. It is clear from her expression that the bride was caught completely by surprise and was delighted. Very sweet…
http://www.aisledash.com/2010/09/14/video-groom-father-of-the-bride-to-life-lin-manuel-miranda/?icid=main%7Cmain%7Cdl3%7Csec1_lnk1%7C171375
Thank you so much for sharing that! I had read about their wedding in the NY Times, but hadn’t seen the video, I was especially interested in seeing it because I loved “In the Heights” so much. Thanks again!
Campaign button in Delaware:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/09/campaign-button-of-the-day.html
This guy is way too conservative for me but I did enjoy the interview, especially when he dissed said that “Palin has become a punch line”:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/18/adkins-palin-has-become-a-punch-line/
I wonder Palin will tweet something snarky about him.
my typing is all wonky today!
Ha !!
http://i.imgur.com/pPhlN.jpg
Classic!
CREW has a petition going around about asking the FEC to investigate O’Donnells ‘ finances ‘.
After you click on ” Sign the petition “……
They also posted the Clip of CNN’s Gary Tuckman going over some of the ‘ details ‘ of what she was paying or using her Campaign money for. ( in case you hadn’t seen it on A. Cooper )
It only had 1,169 after mine. I’m sure we can get the number up if you share it with friends.
http://www.citizensforethics.org/
The same group that went after Rangel is going after O’Donnell:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/09/18/odonnell.ethics/index.html
Thanks for the link, I signed.
Wow…when Jon Stewart remarked “The Palin is strong with this one”, he knew what he was talking about:
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/scarce/christine-odonnell-con-artist
For someone who is supposedly sooo religious, she certainly is comfortable with lying, cheating and stealing. In what religion is THAT okay????
With Miller, Paul and Angle against unemployment benefits, what do you think they would say to 3.3 million Americans being kept out of poverty because of those payments:
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/09/17/unemployment-americans-poverty/
“Let them eat cake?”
Hope you are right martha because if too many of the tea party get in we will have worse grirdlock them we have now AND WE SURE DO NOT NEED THAT.
Lovely.
Here’s an article that seems fair and balanced (really!) and without histrionics about Lisa.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Election-2010/Senate/2010/0918/Lisa-Murkowski-s-lonely-Alaska-fight-against-the-tea-party
Yep, but wrong as usual. The national press does not have a clue. They think votes for Miller were indeed votes for Miller when they were actually votes against Miller, or Murkowski. They have done zero research into the registered party affiliations in Alaska, and as always, are just picking up stuff said by other national groups. It gets pretty tiring to read all this crap in Alaska which is so uninformed. I do like the CS Monitor, but do they have someone in Alaska talking to voters? Of course not!
I read the article and think the writer puts too much emphasis on the grudge match with whatzername thingy.
It IS deeper than that… whatzername be danged.
I’m still trying to sort out my impressions and some of the information regarding Ms Murkowski’s announcement.
I do think we will now have a circus and that Mr McAdams will lose support in the process… as things stand now.
Ms Murkowski has always ticked off the far right but her party-of-no behavior in the last 2 years has really ticked off moderate and left-leaning voters – where she has had support in the past. That is where her primary loss really lies- ticking off way too many people.
Now, people across a very broad spectrum are scared to death Mr Miller will win so they have shown support for her write-in thingy. A write-in victory is theoretically possible here , even with the problems associated with it.
The carrot of seniority and experience has kept Alaskan voters in line for most of 40 years- underneath all the yap about independant thinking, frontier spirit, blah, blah,blah is a deep insecurity regarding our place in the larger US. Ms Murkowski will tap into that- already has.
It is important to remember that it is in living memory that Alaska was a virtual colony for resource extraction interests from the lower 48 prior to statehood and the mixed anger, resentment, and upset from that fuels a lot of arguments here- though it rarely surfaces directly ( and gets all balled up in emotional claptrap ). Both Murkowski and Miller tap into that…
Not spoken but very much in play is the almost complete ignoring if not outright antagonistic relationship the state has with rural Alaska which is primarily Native. Alaska Natives comprise almost 20% of the population – including those who identify themselves as mixed race as I do.
Ms Murkowski has strong allies in the Native community because of her work to fund the federal projects which bring clean water and sewage systems to the bush amongst other very, very important things
Have lost any interest and support for Ms Murkowski in last 2 years myself…the aligning herself with the Republican Party leadership AHEAD of Alaska and the overall health of the US has torched my shorts once and for all but Miller is scaring the bejabbers out of a lot of people who will see her as a better bet…
LOVE the subtle colors in this photo, AKM. It reminds me of one of my favorite Alaska pictures. I took it from the end of the Homer Spit, looking out towards the mountains (Kenai Mts?). It was gray and cloudy and, just as I took the photo, several seagulls flew past. It has the same kind of colors that your photo does.
Nice way to start the day!
@austintx and the kind folks of MudFlats…. thanks a ton for linking to me
one love,
–the rev
So now which is it Ms. Palin? Do you support ex-witch Christine O’Donnell or witch-hunter Thomas Muthee? (reverendmanny.com)
http://reverendmanny.com/2010/09/18/christine-odonnell-would-be-witch-and-senator-where-do-you-stand-sarah/
Well , we had not heard from bats^*t Bachmann in a while.
Je-e-ebus………
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Michele Bachmann Tells a Slanderous Lie about Speaker Pelosi at ‘Values’ Conclave
http://www.pensitoreview.com/2010/09/18/michele-bachmann-tells-a-slanderous-lie-about-speaker-pelosi-at-values-conclave/
I wish there were a way to sue Bachmann for her lies. You’d think, at the very least, the House would reprimand her for denigrating without basis another member of the house. I guess, though, lies are just too common in politics.
Lies that can be verified by documentation. And at the ‘Values Voter Conference’ no less! The woman has no brains, no conscience and no shame.
So Palin advises O’Donnell to get her msg out via Fox and suddenly O’Donnell cancels her interview on Face the Nation.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201009180002
Nothing but cowards. They go around calling themselves patriots and warriors yet they can’t even handle a 15 minute interview with a respected journalist. Absolutely childish.
“She’s the cutest lil’ tea-bagging anti-wanking mouse-with-a-human-brain witch that ever was.”
Commenter at TPM.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/christine-odonnell-flashback-i-dabbled-into-witchcraft-video.php
And I’m just wonderin’……..would it be a stretch to equate “dabble” and “diddle” ??
LOL! Not much of a stretch when you consider she was “on” the “altar.”
I also loved his comment that “she’ll do better than Palin because Palin is mean” and “Christine is not.” Oh, golly gee, and horsefly soup – I bet Sarah will be steaming once she hears that, particularly since it’s true.
I wondered what she was doing “on” the altar as well! We have BAD minds. 🙂
The Devil made her do it!!!
I absolutely love that picture and would love to have a print of it to hang on my wall. It’s beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing the natural beauty of Alaska with those of us in the lower 48. You really help preserve Alaska’s pristine beauty when you show the rest of us what we all stand to lose through ignorance and inaction.
The true danger of the tea party is exposed in their contempt of Karl Rove’s critique of O’Donnell. While Palin and the lot scream “Freedom”, they do not support it. They want to regulate attitudes and morals; they want to propagandize through Fox and not support real freedom of the Press by insisting that any unflattering report or any opinion expressed other than their own is “lame” (yes, Sarah that is in direct reference to you). And they definitely do not support freedom of speech except for their own.
This is an excellent column about how the Tea Party undermines their own message.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/09/the_childish_political_thought.html
Wow – thanks for the link! Loved that final paragraph:
“In Tea Party theory, inexperience is itself seen as a kind of qualification. People like O’Donnell are actually preferable to people like Rove, because they haven’t been tainted by public trust or actual achievement. This is the attitude of the adolescent — the belief that the world began on their thirteenth birthday. It is also a sign of childish political thought.”
This chit just keeps gettin’ better. I just KNOW there is a sex tape out there somewhere…….
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Christine O’Donnell In Oct. 1999: ‘I Dabbled Into Witchcraft’
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/09/18/christine-odonnell-witchcraft/#comments
And maybe witeout.
I am grappling with her comment “my first date with a witch was on a satanic altar.” Hmm – “on” – er, exactly what kind of “date” was she having? Just saying, I can’t ever remember having a date “on” something, anything, let alone “on” a “satanic altar” with “blood on it.” Yikes and yucko!
ks sunflower, you do make me laugh. 😆
NEVER go to the satanic altar on the first date. At least not until you have met his parents.
Yes. And also , too.
http://i.imgur.com/ggMws.jpg
Very true.
I read this in the comments section of an article in the Guardian and it really sums up how I feel about a Palin presidency.
“We have been told we live in globalised interconnected world but obviously, we don’t. In the old days of just newspapers and radio we could go pretty much anywhere in the English speaking world and find people like ourselves. We still can, of course, but its getting harder. Sarah Pallin and her fellow Tea Party members demonstrate that they do not so much live in another English speaking country but another planet.
I won’t go into what’s wrong or crazy about her ratty ideas but the fact there’s nothing about them that one could make policy from or effectively turn into enforcable law without completely alienating the US from the rest of the world and bringing to an end the US Dollar as an international currency and the financial system with it.
Sara Pallin and these Tea Party people fail to recognise that by living in a globalised interconnected world you have tolerate living with people that have views that may seem alien to you but not to many millions of people around the globe. Further, the statements and behaviour of most Tea Party members is hardly like to endear people to love and respect Amercia and Americans or to want them to adopt a democratic form of government. Nothing is proving the American values system is not for export than the emergence of the Tea Party as a political force in American public life.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/sep/18/sarah-palin-republicans-iowa-tea-party
Great comment. I hope more people consider how a Tea Party attitude would devastate us from within and alienate America even more from the rest of the world. Where we are now thanks to Bush-Cheney is just a taste, an inkling of what would happen under a Tea Party-Republican administration. Adding Palin to the mix would just be toxic on all level.
How ironic that the people shouting the loudest about how much they “love, love, love” this country, may be the very ones to bring about its decline and demise.
But, but, but…
Dontcha know that God Has Chosen Her to transform everyone in the entire 6,000-year-old world into soshalist-hating, misogynistic, racist, unedjumacated, wingnut evangelicals just like her who will gather in Wasilla to wait for the giant heavenly Jeebus Greyhound that will whisk them off to an everlasting afterlife in the Land of Milk and Moosemeat.
Have you NOT been paying attention??????
(By the way, didja like the quintabulation? 🙂 )
You left out the part where everybody else (the other 6.2 billion humans) is consumed in fire. Otherwise I liked the Greyhound snark particularly.
I agree wholeheartedly. A Tea Party dominated American is a frightening place.
“In a typically spirited speech that didn’t so much torture the English language as waterboard it beyond the point of submission, Palin’s appearance was carried live on the C-Span cable network, where it clashed in Friday primetime with America’s Funniest Home Videos and a Jim Carrey movie, Liar, Liar.”
Liar, Liar double feature:
http://www.thepoliticalcarnival.net/2010/09/witnesses-during-filming-of-one-of-the-%E2%80%9Csarah-palin%E2%80%99s-alaska%E2%80%9D-episodes-said-the-whole-episode-was-faked/
I sent that to a friend who has lived in the US, UK, Eastern Europe and Asia, plus traveled the world, and he said “Just tell them it’s Murdochs media.”
Now we need to get out there and vote! Get your friends and families out to vote after you make sure they are educated.
so beautiful…..i wish as humans we didn’t have this need to exploit every inch of this planet and leave some of it just alone.
Have this “need,” or have this “greed” 🙂
I agree. We should keep learn to live in harmony with nature, not exploit or dominate it. Sigh.
Alaskan GOP Death Match: Lisa Murkowski vs. Joe Miller
http://wonkette.com/422192/alaskan-gop-death-match-murkowski-vs-miller#more-422192
“hairy-cheeked weirdo Joe Miller”
Best description I’ve read so far!
Wonkette has helped me through a lot of arrrgh! moments in the past two years.
Whoa !! Close enough ??
http://i.imgur.com/xTzVC.jpg
If I get on a real roll when I am really tired and POd I might just start e-mailing Lease-a and calling her out on all of her obstructionist crap again. See if she tries to flip-flop out of that to steal my vote (that’ll be a cold day).
🙂 “that’ll be a cold day”…..NOT a good phrase to use, you DO live in Alaska ! hehehe ! ….( ben runs for the hills with LMD’s dogs chasing after him)
City Kid,
I just e-mailed Scott McAdams and asked him about Chuitna and Pebble Mine. I also questioned him on his stance about ANWR (although that seems to be a losing battle when it comes to anyone running to be elected in Alaska). I did ask him where he stood on holding big oil accountable as well as about making alternative energy more affordable to private citizens. I’ll let you know what I get back.
Sometimes being on the true left in Alaska is a drag.
I’ll be watching to see if you get an answer from McAdam. I’ve emailed him twice to see if he would give me a land address where I could send a donation. Maybe I’m using a wrong address? I won’t do paypal or put my visa out (been hacked on both).
He’s never answered so guess he doesn’t want my money.
I also had my VISA number stolen recently (more than $2,500 in charges in Norway, where I’ve never been!) and had to get a new card. It’s a scary and frustrating experience that makes you very gun shy about using your card.
Check out the company that issues your card to see if they offer a virtual number program. You download software onto your computer which generates a new virtual number for any purchases made online. The businesses ONLY get the generated virtual number which is linked to your actual one by the credit card company. You can track all charges to your actual number and all virtual numbers online. In my case, I can also determine an expiration date for the virtual number so even that expires after a certain amount of time, or after a specific purchase. It gives me much greater peace of mind when buying things online.
Gran567,
Here is Scott’s main office address if you would like to send a check, etc. Please note that you need to include your full name, address, occupation and employer as noted by federal law.
I can also get you in touch with the Sitka office organizer if you like. If you are part of the forum, you can send a personal message to me.
Scott McAdams for US Senate • PO Box 200569 • Anchorage, AK 99520
907.297.2575
“Federal law requires political committees to report the name, mailing address, occupation and name of employer for each individual whose contributions aggregate in excess of $200 in an election cycle. Corporate checks cannot be accepted.”
gran567, did you send your email to this address? You didn’t mention which you used. This is the official email address but there is also a CONTACT US form on his web page, link below.
info@scottmcadams.org
http://www.scottmcadams.org/contact
Good for you! I’ve been enjoying the heck out of your posts, your optimism and sassy enthusiasm regarding Scott’s chances, which are EXCELLENT!
Hold his feet, question him, make sure he’s tough. We need somebody tough, but honest.
Honestly, if I had any money I would give it to Russ Feingold.
Thank you CityKid for the thought if nothing else.We have a corporate guy running against him and I for one do not want corporation people running our country any more than they already are
Have ANY of the Alaska US Senate candidates offered their opinions on the Chuitna Coal Project?
http://www.chuitnaseis.com/
http://dnr.alaska.gov/mlw/mining/largemine/chuitna/index.htm
http://www.inletkeeper.org/energy/chuitnacoalproject.htm
This would be a great question for Shannyn’s show tomorrow:
AKM – “I’ll soon have a story up about my trip to the area where PacRim Coal is pushing for the development of the Chuitna Coal Mine. I urge everyone to watch Moore Up North tomorrow on KYES Channel 5 at 4pm Alaska time, when Shannyn Moore will have a panel discussion and an update on the current situation. “
Ahhhhhh. Breathein, breathe out. Another moment of zen. Isn’t our mother earth grand?