Hey, that's not to bad of an idea, clay kitty litter absorbs oil. Maybe they should put sandbags full of kitty litter along the shore line. At least it wouldn't be as toxic.

N

Before the show started today, Thom seemed to have a chat with David Frum scheduled, regarding the divide between Red and Blue America. I found this link on Frum's website -

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/st_20100501_5904.php

Excerpt -

Six of the seven states with the lowest divorce rates in 2007, and all seven with the lowest teen birthrates in 2006, voted blue in both elections. Six of the seven states with the highest divorce rates in 2007, and five of the seven with the highest teen birthrates, voted red. It's as if family strictures undermine family structures.

How the oceans were

The recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has people wondering what the effect on the ocean and sea life will be. It reminded me about an interview I heard last Decemember with Callum Roberts author of The Unatural History of the Sea. Roberts researched descriptions of what the oceans were like "back in the day". I took notes and thought I'd share them with you to give you an idea of what the oceans were like a few hundred years ago.

(I'm posting my unedited notes here.I took my notes from an archived program and replayed segments to make sure my notes were accurate. There's even a paragraph that will be of particular interest to Thom.)

The Unnatural History of the Sea by Callum Roberts – York University in England

Descriptions of the sea by mariners of the past:

400 years ago, there were so many whales in Monterrey Bay (California) that sailors were stifled by the stench of whale breath. Whales were unbelievably abundant before we started to hunt them intensely back around the 18th century in the waters of New England and in the 17th century in the arctic. The first (western) sailors that went into Monterrey Bay found hundreds, if not thousands, of whales crowded into this rich place where whales came to feed. The whales came so close to the boats that people complained they were throwing water onto the decks as they blew and they were stifled by the cadaverous stench of their breath (as they put it).

There were sailors who first sailed into the arctic in the 1600s who said that the whales were as common as if they were porpoises. To put that in context, the waters they were sailing from in Europe had really abundant porpoises. An account from 1776 says that the porpoises were so common in the waters around this country that they were noxious to seamen who sailed in small boats and that they darkened the waters as they rose to take breath.

Cod and haddock were so plentiful that if you dropped a weight into the water, it would rest on the backs of these fish until it slowly sank to the bottom. Reports like this, strange as they seem, are repeated in accounts by people from different walks of life, for different purposes and for different audiences, but that have a great deal of consistency.

One such account was from one of the early governors of Newfoundland who said that the cod were often so thick in the water that you could hardly row a boat through them. When you look at the early catch rates of cod, they say that three men could catch a thousand cod in a day. That’s one cod every three minutes for a very long day of fishing. All they had to do was bait the hook, drop the line into the water and they’d immediately have another cod on the line.

Early accounts from explorers in North America state that carrier pigeons, which is now extinct, flew in swarms so large that it would take hours, a whole afternoon, for the swarm to fly overhead (democratically I’m sure).

@mstaggerlee: no, I think they hire someone to be ashamed for them.

I think that the George Rekers Rent-A-Boy situation has finally clarified the NeoCon view of sexuality in my mind, and it's actually far less complicated than I thought. I can state it VERY simply -

ANYTHING GOES - as long as you have the "decency" to be ashamed of it.

I'd always thought of Chuck Shumer as at least a little bit Progressive, but how can he be so short-sighted as to support such a measure? Doesn't he understand that under a Sarah Palin State Department, Greenpeace and the ACLU would VERY LIKELY be named as terrorist organizations? They'd start small, of course - naming any random fringe group as terrorist - ACORN would probably be named pretty early. They'd get around to trhe Green Party before too long.

The goal, I'm sure, would be to declare the Democratic Party a Terrorist organization by the end of her first term. That'll show them troublemakers - RIGHT?

Joe Lieberman again,I ain't shock folks.

This point may be off topic but I haven't see a post on it on the blog yet,so forgive me please.

The senators who voted for the OPA(offshore pollution Act) in 1990 to fine polluters no more than 75 million $s.Can we have a list of whom these culprits are and how many are still in the senate today.

They are bankrupting America in the name of Corporations.And I haven't seen anyone on the CorporateTV,Olberman ,Maddow & Shultz speak about this but then again I hardly watch TV.

In regards to the oil spill in the Gulf, can we get everyone to start calling that mess the Palin Puddle? It drives me crazy how Corporate America drives the Tea Baggers to the edge, and then over the edge. I can't believe there are some who are trying to blame Obama for this mess; that he isn't moving fast enough to clean it up. What happened to the "Free Market" and "Government Take Over" of the "private sector"? Are the Tea Baggers now demanding "Big Government" to interviene?

Corporations hurt Americans. It's no secret that a major challenge Progressives face is going up against the money in Corporate America, Chamber of Commerce and the Right Wing Talking Heads. I think a long range goal, that may chip away at the influence of Corporate monies are campaigns like Move your Money, Buy American, Go Green and Buy Fresh, Buy Local. Progressives alone would not be able to affect the needed change, but bringing the Tea Party people onboard might. They would need to be reminded, or educated that such efforts support Americans, American Small Businesses and America (wave the flag at them). We can also tell the Tea Partiers that we can hate each other later, but let's fix America first. On the surface this may sound naive, but with the right strategy and collaborations with progressive media sources (talk radio, MSNBC, web sites, unions), and knowing from the start that this will be a marathon and not a sprint, consumers may make a difference. The biggest problem with this approach, no national leader with the political will to take on the "Robber Barons" controling this country. It seems that no one is willing to try.

@gerald, sure I know its difficult to sugar coat and dip in honey emotions of anger. All I'm saying is remember where you're expressing your anger, sometimes it seems you're yelling at the choir for showing up at rehearsal... does that metaphor work for you?

Also, yes Jesus spoke truth, undoubtedly, but so have many other religious leaders. When you express yourself Jesus-centric-ly, you're no longer speaking to everyone, your just speaking to Christians, which is fine if you're in Church. However, if you want to reach more people, you need to expand your resource for truth. Besides, as Jesus said give onto God what is Gods' and onto Caesar what is Caesars'. I'm guessing that he was taking into account in that statement, that politics and religion should be separate... don't you? Having the teachings of Jesus as the basis as your principles is fine and I find nothing wrong about it, but saying do it because Jesus said so, isn't a reasonable argument for most, even Jesus taught that the stringent religious laws of his time were impeding people from doing the moral thing a situation called for. A moral being can't have all the answers in a book, a book can't cover every situation, thinking and adaptation has to be employed.

N

@Gerald #65: try high-fructose corn syrup.

Thom's listeners, this article by Rabbi Michael Lerner is a must read article.

http://www.spiritualprogressives.org/article.php/covenant

Silence Speaks

The former sheriff of Wayne County, Michigan, William Lucas gave a talk that my wife and I attended. He said that when we do nothing, we are doing something. He also said that to say nothing we are talking loud and clear. What he was saying, that inaction, silence, or both conveys a message that we are condoning the behavior of people that may very well be hurting other people. Social injustice and immorality hurts other people and we cannot remain silent or sit idly by and do nothing.

What we must do is to keep in mind the words of Jesus in Matthew 25: 31-46. The central theme of this biblical verse says, “When you do it for the least of My brethren, you do it for Me”.

Martin Luther King Jr. from his jail in 1963 said, “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of bad people, but for the appalling silence of good people.

Cindy Sheehan regrets that she did not scream out at Congress and say, Congress, don’t you dare abrogate your constitutional rights and responsibilities! Do not under any circumstances give the keys to our country to power-drunk, irresponsible, and reckless maniacs.

When George said, “If you’re not for us, you’re against us”, Cindy Sheehan will forever regret that she did not phone and scream, “I am so against you and your repulsive policies, you self-important man. I am against killing innocent people and I am against you telling me it’s unpatriotic to be against you and your murderous philosophy!”

@Thom listeners, I know that sugar and honey attracts but I must show outrage at policies and practices that kill God's children. Jeremy Scahill talked about Blackwaters Mercenary Group's commander-in-chief being able to have drones programmed from Las Vegas to destroy certain targets. We are able to kill human beings who are 8 to 10 thousand miles away. People, I believe that this practice is mass murder of human beings. How do I speak of such matters with sugar and honey?