"News that's not known, or not known enough."
Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion.
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"News that's not known, or not known enough." Helen & Harry Highwater's cranky weblog of news and opinion. |
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A Republic, Madam, if you can keep it by Sharon G. Sunday, July 6, 2008 PERMANENT LINK As a celebration of America, this year's Fourth of July seemed a little phony, like when a drunkard and wife-beater goes to church one Sunday a year, Easter, and gets drunk and beats his wife as soon as he gets home. What is it we're supposed to be celebrating on Independence Day? America? 1776? Patriotism? It ain't about sparklers and big booms in the sky. If patriotism means anything real it's supposed to be about defending the nation from what wounds or weakens or kills it. Well, we all know what's strangling this nation to death, don't we... and other than talking about it and maybe carrying a sign sometimes nobody's defending America at all as these criminals violate every law, every principle... Impeachment is off the table, because Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are as deeply involved as Bush and Cheney in all the Constitution-shredding, the endless war for nothing, the bit-by-bit repeal of civil liberties, the destruction of the dollar, the doublecross of everything America used to stand for. Legend has it that after the Revolution, as America's surviving founding fathers were writing the Constitution, Ben Franklin finished another day of debating the principles they were trying to write into that document, and some lady approached him on t he street to ask how the work was progressing. "Dr. Franklin," she asked, "what have your meetings given us?" And he answered, "A Republic, Madam, if you can keep it." We kept it for a couple of centuries, and made it better along the way, adding freedom for slaves and women, eliminating child labor and even adding a New Deal... but over the past few years the Constitution, the thing that made the Republic real in the first place, the thing that made it work, has been dismantled line by line... Is it still there? Have we kept it or has it been stolen away? Sharon G. Where are the paramedics? by SirJ Sunday, July 6, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Cop shoots and kills un-armed man A police officer killing an unarmed man is hardly newsworthy. It happens all the time <sigh>. There is something in this news item which is newsworthy:
The slow response of the paramedics contributed to the person's death. Gatineau, Canada is a city with a quarter million people. It is hardly the boonies. To take a half hour to get paramedics to the scene is criminal. Either the emergency response system for that city is broken or the police deliberately held off calling for the paramedics. SirJ  Disgusted by MonkeyMan Sunday, July 6, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Re My first experience in voter registration wasn't a good one Awesome! Thanks. I can't think when I am mad. We weren't even harassing anyone. We have signs on our clipboards that say "Register to Vote." As we walked I would hold mine up as people walked by, if they made eye contact I would ask if their voter registration was current. The people who approached us were happy to get theirs updated to a new address, or they were registering for the first time and needed help. Everyone seemed happy to has us there and were giving us free water (it was hot as Hades). It was surreal. All the vendors there hawking crap made in Taiwan or China, and we were singled out as a problem for helping people with their Constitutional rights. I can't yet describe how disgusted I am. MonkeyMan Do let me know, please, whether your complaints get any response. Helen & Harry
Chain of events by Drdania Sunday, July 6, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Re Connecting the dots: The mind-numbing stupidity Management puffs up financials to get bonus... union uses this for leverage... now the house is on fire. Drdania This quasi-socialistic communo-fasci-moron system by Lucy Lindblad Sunday, July 6, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Re America's future up in flames I agree with you about building in the flood plains, and the deserts too, I suppose... BUT, with respect to what individuals do with conscious aforethought: 1) Earthship.org has had the technology for a long time now and New Mexico — esp. Santa Fe — is home to a lot of desert rats. There is something beautiful about building a home from rammed earth, and reusing every drop of water three times, and being off the grid. With the new 4th generation solar (I get 3rd and 4th mixed up sometimes), the "flexible thin film" solar panels which are printed (e.g. nanosolar.com), building alternative energy homes will be far more cost effective (and with the crash in real estate prices in rural locations it gets even better). 2) The flood plains are but one problem: the Southeast has hurricanes, the Midwest has tornadoes, the West has earthquakes and yada yada. Maybe people need to stop building themselves palaces and start building either a) disposable homes, or b) freaking fortresses — or even c) underground bunkers (to preserve the purity of our precious bodily fluids. One thing is for sure, the politicians love paying out gazillions of dollars to buy votes, and they're killing us with their kindness. Would be better to go Libertarian than this quasi-socialistic communo-fasci-moron system we have now Lucy Lindblad Market analysis by ZaaK433 Sunday, July 6, 2008 PERMANENT LINK Re Connecting the dots: The mind-numbing stupidity Hello, these aren't the same old cars with better MPG these are smaller cars that wouldn't have been profitable to sell in this market until recently. ZaaK433 The market for gas-efficient cars has just emerged? There was no profit to be made from selling fuel-efficient cars last year, the year before that, or ten years ago? Doubtful. Helen & Harry
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