Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Y2Y, Yellowstone to Yukon & Animal Reintroduction Ranges

Just when many misanthropes were ready to throw in the towel with me up jumps the Y2Y project. That is short for Yellowstone to Yukon Project. World Wildlife Fund and several Canadian Universities want to configure a 2500 mile long and 500 mile wide animal friendly migration corridor. It will have animal crossing areas above and below freeways, grids on train crossing areas that will inhibit train caused animal deaths, motorists advisaries about times to avoid use of rodes, etc. These simple steps have shown positive results in field tests already. The y2Y project was inspired by a radio- collared she-wolf who roamed both a wild and a relatively heavily populated human area for over 5 years before she, her 5 pups and mate were shot. The extent of the range she traveled was over 44,000 square miles. Her story was a Homeric -like epic. Her name was Pluie ( ploo-wee, that's French for rain).

Other examples of progress in animal and land conservation include the joint project of the Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund and Ted Turner. Their collaboration is about reintroducing bison onto what remains of the Great Plains that exist in private and public hands.

A more exotic project include reintroducing species in America that were wiped out by our ancestors app. 13,000 years ago. The species that once roamed included lions and elephants. Anyone out there that know someone with a 100,000-200,000 acre ranch that would like to make it a destination resort/refuge for exotic animals and humans? If so, please contact Josh Donlan of Cornell University.

How about it folks. We need more of the other creatures and less humans.

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Israel and Apartheid Wall

The Israelis call their wall a security barrier. The Nazis walled-off Warsaw Ghetto was called genocidal segregation by the Jews.

A Chineses proverb goes, " The beginning of wisdom starts by calling things by their proper name." Considering the hardship that was caused on oneside of the wall in both cases then the walls should be called genocidal in effect in both cases. Parsing words in any other discriptions of both walls is changing the subject.

P.S.

No matter what one thinks of Iran's President Ahmadinejad postions he is refreshingly politically incorrect. We should have him address our Congress. We need more debate on the Israeli/AIPAC influence in our government. With a little polishing he could run and win political office in many U.S. states!

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Polar Bears, Sharks and The Knuckleheads That Kill Them

Why are any animals left on the planet? Because man's weapon technology is relatively new. If our ancestors 50,000 years ago had guns, I doubt anything would be left-man or beast.

Yesterday in Florida, knucklehead * 1 named Bucky Dennis landed a 40 year-old,pregnant 1280 pound hammerhead shark. But wait there's more. He used a sting ray for bait. Why did he do it? Bucklehead said," I was just trying to find a record that was feasible to break." Gee. What about releasing the poor fish after weighing her by the tension on the line?

Knucklehead * 2 is Bob Hudson of Oxford, Miss. He recently killed a nine-foot polar bear. The bears are being considered for protection because of their melting habitat. Global warming is taking its toll on their terrain. It is common in bear hunting for dogs to surround, confuse and terrify the animal while the hunter gets in close and shoots it from point-blank range. Gee, what a challenge.

In England last year, a study was presented to the Royal Society that showed the optimum carrying capacity of humans for this planet should be 600,000,000. That's 10% of the actual total. I like that optimum number.

Al Gore Should Run For President

The democrats best chance of winning the presidency in 2008 is to run Al Gore. For starters he already won the popular vote in 2000. Plus he has got the issue, care for the environment. Administrations come and go, but the environment is the one issue worth getting right. This is an issue that most people strongly care about.

He does have negative baggage. He is too liberal on social issues and has a lopsided support for Israel. But Bush's conservative Supreme Court will reign him and Congress in on liberal social legislation. At this point in time the environment must come first.

The alternative for democrats is Hillbilly (Team Clinton). They are a couple of scumbags that would say or do anything to get elected. Consequently they can't be trusted. Q.E.D.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Israel Prime Minister Olmert : Foreign Agent Speaks To Congress

Israel's PM Ehud Olmert adressed our or is it really Israel's Congress yesterday. He received 16 standing ovations from the Congressional claques. Israel's underworld web of lobbying spends app. $ 250,000,000 per election cycle ( over 11% of total lobbying funds). That total makes each of those ovations average app. $ 15,625,000 each. But of course the U.S. gives Israel $ 3 billion per year with no strings. So they only have to launder the money in the Jewish state and feed it back into our Congressional reps. campaign accounts. Israel uses AIPAC and the other 126 pro-Israel PACs throughout America to accomplish the bad deed. The PACs use misleading, decpetive names to hide Israel's sponsership. Plus they have change left over.

What can be done to stop this disasterous influence? Tell your Congressman that Israel and other countries who lobby our representatives should be registered in a proposed Foreign Lobby Registration Act. Then there will be transparency of who the players are, what they want and where the money comes from.

Douglas Feith : Professor at Georgetown University

Douglas Feith who was the former # 3 man at the Department of Defense and suspected while there of lying about Iraq's WMD has landed a job at Georgetown University. It was a controversial hiring by Dean Robert Gallucci because it bypassed the usual faculty vote. Feith has an aversion to doing anything straight especially when he is hiding something. He will teach a class on the Bush administration antiterrorism policy. I think the class would be more accurately described as a creative writing symposium. Feith and other Pentagon Zionists have made a mess of things along with christian evangelicals and the military-industrial complex. Georgetown will not be the same. The general faculty is upset with his arrival. Wasn't there a Japanese proverb about the dangers of bringing a frozen snake indoors?

Poor Barry Bonds : There is Always Africa

Poor Barry Bonds. His salary is $ 22,ooo,ooo per year. He acheived this high pay partly through fraud. He used outlawed drugs to tranform himself into a homerun hitting machine. He just tied Babe Ruth's 714 career homerun tally. Yet Barry is upset and playing the race card. Poor child. Bonds is quoted in todays San Francisco Chronicle. He said, " Babe Ruth is one of the greatest baseball players ever. And Babe Ruth aint black. I'm black. Blacks, we go through a little more and that's the truth. Unfortunately, I said it. And I'm not a racist, but I live in the real world."

He's mad that organized baseball may penalize him for breaking their rules. He's mad that fans are upset because Bonds broke the faith with them. Without the rules of baseball and the fans that go to the game, there would be no Barry Bonds . What he would be qualified to do if there were no baseball is anyones guess.

No African-American is more fortunate than Barry Bonds. He's lucky that his ancestors were brought to America as slaves from Africa. The slaves were eventually set free by the desendants of the slave owners. Blacks have thrived in playing a white mans game to the extent that it is now fully integrated. But if Bonds thinks he's still getting a bad deal here in the U.S. , he can return to Africa and be among his equals.

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Oprahy Winfrey, Bill Clinton, Alan Greenspan: Civil Rights Movement Winners

Oprah Winfrey signed a deal for a new fitness book with Simon & Schuster. It is rumored to be worth an advance of app. $ 15 million. This deal changes the top part of the richest non-fiction contract list. This knocks Bill Clinton ( $ 12 million ) into 2nd placc and Alan Greenspan ( $ 8.5 million) into 3rd place.

So America wants to read about an overweight black's idea on fitness. America wants to read about an impeached, convicted perjurer carpetbagger's version of his past life. America wants to read about a Jew who worked for Wall Street and was instrumental in revoking the Glass-Steagall Act for people like Sandy Weill at Citigroup.

How did America get to this sad state? It's because critical thinking was outlawed by the Civil Rights movement. Hopefully we are on the bottom now and things will improve. But it wont improve unless each of us make it happen.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

AIPAC , Jewish Lobby : Guilt, Hate & Fear Mongers

" When you have lemons, you sell lemonade." When you have a history of being slaves and victims of genocide, you market fear and hate to your own and market guilt to everyone else. That in a nutshell is AIPAC ( American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and the Jewish Lobby business model. They collect contributions from their predominantly Jewish members so they can lobby mostly non-Jewish Congressional members for their special interests mainly centered on Israel. Their greatest coup was having bought and/or politically influenced the creation of Israel by the rigged 1947 U.N. vote of the partition of historic Palestine. Since that time, the Jewish lobby has only gotten more strong and arrogant.i.e. promoted the Iraq War.

A recent example of Jewish Lobby arrogance was the maligning of Rep. Betty McCollum, D-MN. as "..supports terrorists." An AIPAC representative called Ms. McCollum's office last month and said, "On behalf of herself [AIPAC rep ], the Jewish community, AIPAC and the voters of the 4th District, Congresswoman's McCollum support for terrorists will not be tolerated" Ms. McCollum sits on the House International Relations Committee. In April she voted against H.R. 4681, " Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006". Ms. McCollum thought the bill went too far. It effectively tied the hands of the State Dept. to deal effectively with the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.

" Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned." Rep. McCollum wrote a letter on April 10, 2006 to AIPAC's Executive Director Howard Kohr. She said," Until I receive a formal , written apology from your organization [AIPAC], I must inform you that AIPAC representatives are not welcome in my office or for meetings with my staff."

Bravo, Ms. McCollum.

Israel is not a quasi-51st state. America's security is more important than Israel's security.Whatever the historic problems the Jews have had from the Babylonians through the Holocaust , there is a certainity that the Jews were a part of the problem. The blame game had gotten old a long time ago. Time for a new shtick.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Lawyers Are Predators.How Do We Stop Them ?

The problem with our legal system is its high cost. Attorneys fees range between $300-1000 per hour. The average U.S worker makes app. $ 17.00 per hour. Like water, clean air or soil , laws are necessary for human life and interaction. Therefore the legal system should not be priced to effectively deny access and justice to the society. We have all heard of the ridiculous law suits awards and the high percentage of those awards that go into the lawyers pockets.

Today in the papers ,Milberg, Weiss, Bershad & Schulman are close to being indicted by the Justice Department. Their alledged crime is having payed clients to sue target companies. And then Milberg et al shared fees and judgements with the clients for this illegal cooperation. Justice Dept. has documented over 50 such illegal cases this past 25 years. Milberg judgements against targeted companies have run into the billions of dollars.This example shows the extent our legal system has become a hypertrophy of legal abuse.

Our GDP is app.$ 11 trillion. Studies have estimated the cost of our legal system in actual costs and defensive business practices by corporations and individuals to run up to 5-25% of GDP. We are all effectively taxed by these lawyer/predators in our midst. The cost of our legal system elevates even law-abiding lawyers to the level of predator. What can be done?

The cost of the pursuit of justice has to be reduced. That means there has to be an incentive for quicker justice and legal fees that reward shorter legal procedures. Some examples include: no jury selection-lawyers take what they get, no unanimous verdicts by juries required- majority verdicts will suffice, limits on court cases to 1 or 2 weeks, limit of appeals, loser pay system, Small Claims court limit raised to $ 1,000,000 and unlimited amount cases being tried by individuals, non-attorney court cases ( that's the way the Greeks did it ), stop class-action abuse cases, etc.

In days gone by justice was an individual's obligation. Somebody wronged you. You got even. Today the cost of ammunition for a weapon has never been cheaper. In contrast, the cost for legal remedies has never been higher. The gap is too wide .

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Clinton's Portrait

It has become tougher to criticize Bill Clinton. George W. Bush's bad performance in office has drained the pool of past president's negatives. But all the talk about Clinton's portrait being hung in the National Portrait Gallery gives an opportunity to revisit Clinton's performance in metaphor.

Bill's portrait is eight feet high. It is appropriate for an exhibitionist, ask Paula Jones , to have that large a painting. There has been speculation about the pose he has assumed. Specifically , the open coat with the spread fingers resting on his hip. People have remarked that there wasn't any wedding ring. Was he dating again? Maybe the spread two-fingers represent the "Peace Sign". If that's his message then that is not appropriate. He was the guy who started a preemptive war with NATO in the Balkans in 1996. He was probably trying to get his name off the front page in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. So he started a war with a country that didn't threaten America. Amazingly, Americans didn't object. But certain war-mongering opportunists in the military-industrial complex noticed U.S. voter apathy. So within a year The Project for the New American Century was launched. Founding members included, Cheney ( Dick lobbied Bill from Halliburton about bases in the Balkans), Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Kristol, Jeb Bush, Elliott Abrahams and other Neocons. The rest is history. Preemptive wars and the reconstruction that follow are a perpetual money-making enterprise as long as you can get people to die for it in the armed services.

Bill's face show a kind of tired decadence. This is appropriate . His relentless and greedy climb in politics has cost him personally and has cost him the friendships that he has exploited in those pursuits. Like Oscar Wilde's " The Picture of Dorian Gray", dark deals for power and longevity have the cost of altering one's view and how one is viewed.

Monday, May 15, 2006

Immigration, Citizenship and Bad Constitutional Law

Illegal immigrants can receive free schooling, legal advice, food and medical care. But the grand prize can be a American citizenship for their own child if it is born in the U.S. . Even if the parents are in the country illegally.

This is because of the twisted application of the 14th Amendment that was ratified in 1868. Section 1 of that Amendment provides, " All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside." The original Amendment was an answer and a means to grant full citizenship to the newly freed slaves.

The problem about writing any law is the danger of it being taken out of the context when it was written and being twisted by lawyers. Attorneys get paid the most for breaking and/or twisting laws legally.

The 14th Amendment was not intended for illegals to have legal citizenship for their children. Congress will have to revisit that section of the Amendment and change the wording.

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Multiculturalism On Trial

Race and cultural backgrounds are important. Multiculturalism downplays the importance of race and culture. Therefore multiculturalrism is at odds with the very people it claims to protect.

This classic American legal confrontation played itself out in the theater of the Alameda County Superior Court yesterday. The players were an Anglo- governor ( Pete Wilson)- appointed Jewish judge who listened to a racially charged case concerning exit exams. The plaintiffs were non-English speaking Hispanic school children who were represented by an African-American who was being payed by public funds.

The issue was a California state law requiring an exit exam. The exam tests for student capability in math, english and algebra. One of the plaintiffs was Liliana Valenzuela, an 18 year old Richmond High student. She has lived in America for 4 years but spoke to reporters in Spanish. She said the ruling made her happy and now she could persue a career in nursing.

How do you say ," Pass the scalpel in Spanish ?"

Judge Robert Freedman who himself is currently charged by the California Commision of Judicial Performance for lying and failure to perform his duties in a timely fashion ruled," Students in economically challenged communities have not an equal oppotunity to learn the materials tested."

How come over 90% of students passed the exit exams last year? They all certainly did not come from wealthy families. Maybe Ms. Valenzuela and her parents should go back to Mexico where they can be among equals. Or else Ms. Valenzuela should learn English and only speak on American policies when she has done so. Meanwhile the forward momentum of trying to improve students learning is set back. Improvement in learning has been thrown into the sacrificial fire of the pursuit of the " equal rights" of the few students who refuse or are too lazy to learn the language of the country that they have moved to/invaded.

Civil rights laws have caused America to fracture along the lines of race and culture. In the future, America's states will be voluntarily segregated. Race and culture do matter. Laws and governments that ignore those realities wll not be as successful as those who do.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

One Empire Please and Charge It !

The Defense Dept. budget combined with the supplemental budget of the Iraq/Afghanistan war is running at $ 700 billion per year. Our trade imbalance is running at $ 900 billion per year. Without foreign buyers of our debt, Americans would have long ago stopped funding empire and nation-building. Why ? Because American tax payers would not come up with the $ 700 billion for war/defense. Now foreigners obliquely accommodate our policies of empire by buying our debt.

Our military budget is app. 7% of GDP. In World War II America spent 35 % of GDP to wage the war. Think of it. To mount an all out war effort, the U.S. would have to spend app. $ 3.5 TRILLION in todays dollars. Do you think tax payers would be willing to spend that amount ? I don't think so. Money and material didn't win World War II alone. It took millions of military personnel in the Navy, Air Force and Army. Of those services, the foot soldier in the Army was the margin of victory. It requires the foot soldier to clear each town and wood of the enemy before victory can be declared. Or else there is a constant insurgency like Iraq and Afghanistan.

George Bush and his handlers at the Project for the New American Century who dream of an American empire are delusional. The U.S has neither the will, money nor committed manpower for such a goal. We will have to live in peace with the world.-it's too small for war.

Monday, May 08, 2006

Israel : Slum Landlord

According to the N.Y.Times today, border closings by Israel and witholding (stealing- my definition) of Palestinian tax receipts are creating an humanitarian catatrophe.

The witholding of medical supplies, food and necessities is a collective punishment. Israeli arrogance blows off comparisons to the same collective punishment by Nazis in World War II in the Warsaw Ghetto. Also playing a pivotal role is the " Mercant of Menace" Wolfowitz as president of the World Bank. He cut off funding to the Palestinian Authority even before Hamas came into power.

Israel has become a caricature of it's own stereotype. America should cut off funding that underwrites Israeli arrogance.

Friday, May 05, 2006

Please Insult People Who Can't be Shamed

People like Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld can't be shamed. They understand logical arguments. But their arrogance supercedes logical dictims. Actually they are paid handsomely by the lobbies for that quality of being shameless. Politics has been an ugly scene for many years. Ergo the racheting up of the war of words and relentless verbal insults are a must. MAKE THEM LOSE THEIR TEMPERS.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Life & Games : Real vs Virtual

The premier software games company Electronic Arts reported earnings yesterday. They were below expectations and the company forcast a tough period ahead. The problem is the increasing costs associated with game player demands for more reality and higher definition. This is only accomplished by expensive state of the art electronic components and costly software development. Hmmm, the high cost of virtual reality.

Do the game players ever think about doing something in the real world to fulfill their appetite for a challenging experience? Tool use by humans have brought about the division of labor. Now the progression of tools has divided reality. Now there is also virtual reality. Where will this lead? The ugly reality is while we may be losing our place in engaging the real world we are numerically taking up more space without being value-added..

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

America Should Not Support Israel vs Iran

The increasing sabre rattling by America , Iran and Israel is making me nervous. Let Israel defend herself. Isreal has more nuclear warheads than Britain. It also has F-16s, missles, 6 submarines and Boeing air tankers. America will gain nothing from a war with Iran. Time is now for Israel and America to go their seperate ways.

Israel's Eternal Capitol Is Washington, D.C.

In Jerusalem on April 30, Israel's prime minister designate Ehud Olmert signed up the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party. With the inclusion of the Jewish equivalent of Hamas, Olmert will proceed with a new redrawing of Israel's borders. Israel changes her borders like Barbra Striesand changes her shoes. They always fit but they look different. Israel's feckless border policy is guided only by the unprinciple of what they can get away with.

Israel claims that Jerusalem is it's eternal capitol. But that ignores it's temporal capitol of Washington, D.C. . I wonder. Should there be a time cylinder or monument by the Potomac that details the exact nature of the Israeli/Wasington relationship? Because some future Zionist may claim that Washington was an historic Jewish possesion !

Monday, May 01, 2006

Immigration Reform Pressure Working ?

I have lived in the Presidio Heights District of San Francisco for the past 30 years. Last week I saw for the first time 2 African-American nannies. Prior to that, the nannies or au pairs have been 80% Hispanic and the balance a mix of Europeans. I think that talk of enforcement of immigration law is the reason.

A retrospective of the part black nannies had in American culture includes the most famous Hattie McDaniel. She was Scarlet's ( Vivien Leigh) nanny in " Gone With The Wind"in 1939. Hattie won an Oscar for her performance. This passed Academy Awards presentations saw the Oscar go to black gangsta-rappers Three 6 Mafia for their "Original Music", " It's Hard for a Pimp out Here". America's culture has been going in the wrong direction for many years. We are to blame. But we can fix it.