This Violence Must End

Israel is calling the bombings in Qana a "mistake". In death there are no mistakes. There are 56 dead, including 34 children. Condoleeza Rice has cancelled her trip to the middle east, and i hope she knows that she, like all Americans who have not spoken out against these atrocities is complicit in the continuation of this violence. The Bush Administration's policies have sown up this destiny. Now, we must witness what we have reaped.

I am not anti-Israel, but they have gone way too far. The violence must end, and the whole world knows that the U.S. has the power to stop it, and we must. If we continue to do nothing then the whole world could fall into the abyss of Jerusalem.

Update: The BBC has reactions from many foreign leaders and representatives. It should be read because all the statements are very genuine and strong. All but one. Rice's statement is strung together by platitudes and bizarre, almost superficial wordplay.
Have we come to expect anything else?
Disgusting.

Drought in 60% of U.S.

According to the Associated Press:

Fields of wheat, durum and barley in the Dakotas this dry summer will never end up as pasta, bread or beer. What is left of the stifled crops has been salvaged to feed livestock struggling on pastures where hot winds blow clouds of dirt from dried-out ponds.

Some ranchers have been forced to sell their entire herds, and others are either moving their cattle to greener pastures or buying more already-costly feed. Hundreds of acres of grasslands have been blackened by fires sparked by lightning or farm equipment.

"These 100-degree days for weeks steady have been burning everything up," said Steele Mayor Walter Johnson, who added that he'd prefer 2 feet of snow over this weather.

Farm ponds and other small bodies of water have dried out from the heat, leaving the residual alkali dust to be whipped up by the wind. The blowing, dirt-and-salt mixture is a phenomenon that hasn't been seen in south central North Dakota since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, Johnson said.

Did the article once mention global warming?
What do you think?

Bribing Science

The Wahington Post is reporting that one of the very last climatologists that is skeptical about global warming is being paid off by utility companies to perpetuate further fiction.

Here's a clip:

"We cannot allow the discussion to be monopolized by the alarmists," Lewandowski wrote in a July 17 letter to 50 other utilities. He also called on other electric cooperatives to launch a counterattack on "alarmist" scientists and specifically Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth."

Michaels and Lewandowski are open about the money and see no problem with it. Some top scientists and environmental advocates call it a clear conflict of interest. Others view it as the type of lobbying that goes along with many divisive issues.

"These people are just spitting into the wind," said John Holdren, president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. "The fact is that the drumbeat of science and people's perspectives are in line that the climate is changing."

Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch, a Washington advocacy group, said: "This is a classic case of industry buying science to back up its anti-environmental agenda."

Conservatives Misrepresent Science, Again

In an op-ed in today's NYTimes, scientist Peter Doran says that he is not a global warming skeptic. However, it turns out many right-wingers use his research to claim that he is:

Our results have been misused as "evidence" against global warming by Michael Crichton in his novel "State of Fear" and by Ann Coulter in her latest book, "Godless: The Church of Liberalism." Search my name on the Web, and you will find pages of links to everything from climate discussion groups to Senate policy committee documents - all citing my 2002 study as reason to doubt that the earth is warming.

He refutes all of these skeptics in one, concise sentence:

In the meantime, I would like to remove my name from the list of scientists who dispute global warming.

Death to Lawn Mowers

Some astonishing news from Ron Dembo over at Huffington Post:

I recently discovered, to my horror, that a typical gas powered lawnmower produces as much pollution in 7 hours of operation as a modern car does in a 100,000 miles of driving! Another way of looking at this is that the two-stroke gasoline lawnmower that is ubiquitous in the suburbs of North America, pollutes as much in one hour as 40 late model cars running for the same amount of time!

Why? Because the off-road engines found on lawnmowers, leaf blowers, tillers, as well as snow blowers, snowmobiles and dirt bikes don't have to have catalytic converters. These handy devices reduce gasoline emissions by about 90%, and are mandatory on cars and trucks.

There is no love lost between me and my lawn. Lawn Mowing is the most tedious and torturous household chore that I encounter on a routine basis. So, even though this is rotten news, I will at least be able to have an excuse for letting my grass grow a week longer before I cut it.

Or I guess I could just get one of these.

Even though I really want one of these.

Bush's Signing Statements

Signing Statements issued in all of United States history: around 600
Signing Statements issued by Bush since 2001: over 800
Having a president that thinks he's king: priceless

American Bar Association says its unconstituional. When will congress finally do something about Bush's obvious assertions that they have no power?

via Raw Story

iBooks?

Engadget appears to have some inside information on the next generation of iPod's. The word is that they will have an ebook function.

From EcoGeek:

There's already been dicussion about the magnificently increased screen real estate, but so far, we just thought it was for watching movies.

Well, just in case you'd rather read the Homer's Iliad than watch Pitt's Troy, it is very likely that this fancy new iPod will come with eBook functionality, allowing the device to drop into a monochrome, high-contrast, low-power mode. But, must important, Apple's iTunes store will very likely be carrying eBooks with basically the same DRM as the iTunes MP3s.

It sounds like at least one publishing company has already been asked to deliver their entire manuscript collection to Apple for archiving. If this is true, Apple could do to the publishing industry what it did to the music industry, which is to say, reinvigorate it.

Where do I sign?

I Heart Bombs

You know how much Israeli school girls love bombs, and if they didn't before,well, then we'll teach them how to love the bombs.
I wonder what they're writing, "Rachael Heart's Joshua--We Shall Rain Blood on Hezbollah."

Thom Yorke on Global Warming

Update: More on this song, "The Clock", at Grist.

"Catatrophic Loss of Species"

It seems that there is a new reason for climate change advocates to panic everyday as more and more research piles on to support our position that the climate crisis is both real and man-made. You might want to gloat if it weren't so damn terrifying.

This from The Independent:

Scientists estimate that 12 per cent of all birds, 23 per cent of mammals, a quarter of conifers, a third of amphibians and more than half of all palm trees are threatened with imminent extinction. Climate change alone could lead to the further extinction of between 15 and 37 per cent of all species by the end of the century, the scientists say: "Because biodiversity loss is essentially irreversible, it poses serious threats to sustainable development and the quality of life of future generations."

Plug-In Hybrids

Good news for those of us that have been waiting for a plug-in hybrid to come to the US. Jim Press, President of Toyota Motors North America had a press conference yesterday and AP reports:

With energy concerns at the forefront, Press said Toyota plans to pursue a plug-in hybrid vehicle and is "strongly considering" a program to develop flexible fuel vehicles in the United States capable of running on E85, an alternative fuel made of 85 percent ethanol. He declined to elaborate on a timeline for development.

For now, if you want to have your hybrid car modified as a plug-in you have to have it done outside the auto industry and at a pretty hefty cost. CalCars offers the proper modifications that will give you around 100mpg.

(via Hugg)