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Hi Quark,
Can you interpret the data for me? I live in Portland, Oregon. If I create a raised bed from musty hay can I grow basil and chard all year? :-)
DRichards,
'Looks like we have dueling websites. Locally, I've heard MN forecasters predicting an above-normal temp. average.
Here's what seems to be the confirmation:
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/seasonal.ph...
I think that many economists and weather forecasters would claim that prediction is an art, though.
Richard,
The point you made about events may be true but perhaps, like spiritual practices, even if the practice or event doesn't do much but inspire the practitioner, (or the event-goer) isn't it still worthwhile? Joining together is important for staying motivated and reminding us of our supportive community.
Thom Hartmann's favorite APARTHEID fascist genocidal cabal is now stoking more aggression.
Hamas: 2 men killed in Gaza
exactly what happened last time......unable to defend themselves the Palestinians have two choices....die a slow death of assassinations by the Israeli fascists or lash out and be portrayed as the aggressors.
...and Thom Hartmann can't wait to get home and stroke himself over the mere thought of death, bloodletting and body parts . all part of Hartmann's mental deficiency and KKKristian cult armageddon complex which spurs on this deviant bloodthirsty psychopathy
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20090901/ml-israel-palestinians/
@Connie Bell:
The Independent Women’s Forum is committed to forcing all women to be independent by ostracizing and abandoning them . . . While no man is an island . . . Every woman needs to be alone and desperate and wholly without support systems and community.
Terrific article by Michael Lind @salon.com, "Can Obama give em hell before it's too late." The second page lists ways we can name our enemy and frame the debate to help the skeptical, already-insured middle class support reform.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/09/01/demagogy/?source=newsletter
$1000 Per Day Fine & 30 Days In Jail For Refusing the Swine Flu Vaccine In Massachusetts
A new law just passed in Massachusetts imposes fines of up to $1,000 per day and up to 30 days in jail for disobeying authorities during a public health emergency. Analysts fear this is the start of a disturbing new trend as health authorities in the US gear up for the biggest vaccination campaign in the nation's history.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14899
My reference to QC Holdings concern Thom's query about Rep Jenkins (R-Kansas) seen here mocking a working American http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPrYviZtVrs&feature=player_embedded who seems to have gotten a lotta money from QC Holdings, the payday loan vultures.
QC Holdings may be a payday lender:
http://www.qcholdings.com/
Ana Marie Cox had an interesting discussion on her Air America Web/Pod-cast on or about 08/07/09 (Examining Tea-baggers at Health Town Meetings). She posited the issue with protests/street theater is it no longer has impact. Vigils (yada, yada) are nice for the participants but are large relegated to O.P.S. (Other People Stuff) by the public at large. Whether due lack of corporate media coverage or public fatigue with grassroots protests, the causes are more likely to be hurt, if they are noted at all.
I tend to believe that the event must be focused to impact a specific audience to have any effect. Mass events not on a specific someone’s doorstep, are a waste of energy that could be . . NEEDS to be . . . more effectively directed.
Men not choosy about one night stands?
Yep it's true we don't objectify them the way they do us. Because we're less shallow, and we're equal opportunity lovers we'll treat ugly girls just as nicely as the lookers. Women on the other hand won't look twice at the less buff of us. It's all about looks with them. On a night out the ugly guy hasn't got a hope of scoring, but the ugly woman still gets to have fun.
Which gender really objectifies the other? Well we require flesh and blood to get our kicks but women seem quite happy to use battery powered objects.
It's about time this male bashing stopped. Men and women are very different creatures. We accept you for the way you are but you always try to change us. Just accept that we are all products of evolution and as men we faced different pressures than women during our long journey from the grasslands to the caves, to civilisation.
Let the flaming commence.
ASPARTAME
thx I lived in Britain for a year at an early age and was fortunate to be mentored by some savvy European women and activists in general. Consequently, I am sitting down to some Amy's MAC and Cheese as we speak lol not from Whole Foods either, our local coop.
Everyone can find a coop near them here http://www.localharvest.org
The number of jobs isn't finite? Thanks, John Lott. I'll go right out today and get one of those infinite jobs out there.
Every American should read this article
"Five Myths About Health Care in the Rest of the World."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/21/AR200908...
It's all good, but here's two snippets:
The key difference is that foreign health insurance plans exist only to pay people's medical bills, not to make a profit. The United States is the only developed country that lets insurance companies profit from basic health coverage.
Also:
Which, in turn, punctures the most persistent myth of all: that America has "the finest health care" in the world. We don't. In terms of results, almost all advanced countries have better national health statistics than the United States does. In terms of finance, we force 700,000 Americans into bankruptcy each year because of medical bills. In France, the number of medical bankruptcies is zero. Britain: zero. Japan: zero. Germany: zero.
But really, let's just leave things the way they are....
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/
ASPARTAME! - received email requesting support to push Kraft to redo Mac & Cheese to the healthier EUROPEAN formula for the USA! Yeah! The push is starting against Aspartame, high fructose corn syrup, etc.!
"Did you know that Kraft Macaroni and Cheese is formulated differently for countries in Europe than for the U.S.?
Crazy, but true! The fact is, that in 2008, Kraft removed artificial colorings, like yellow #5, and chemical sweeteners, like aspartame, from the products that they distribute in Europe, Australia, and other developed countries due to consumer concern over scientific studies that link these synthetic ingredients to hyperactivity and asthma in children. But, they haven’t done the same thing here in the U.S., our voices are needed to make that change here too!"
http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY...
Are we ever going to elect someone who will try to fulfill the peoples' dreams and aspirations rather than just triangulate for re-election? We had high hopes for Bill C. and he cozied up to Wall St. and the free traders. Then Barack said the right things, got elected, and right away hired the same crew that Bill listened to, saw to it that the Banks and Wall St. were bailed out and not held liable for their mistakes,then made a deal with Pharma & the Insurance Industry, (AARP), and gave up hoops for the golf course. Is there some room into which they take the new President and show him and tell him something which accounts for this transformation and compels his obedience to the machine? Or is the answer simpler?....were we just fooled again? I have not given up hope for the kind of changes Thom advocates for so eloquently , nor have I abandoned Obama but I am sure he will not step forward without a hell of a strong shove from progressives. He'll be content just being Prez. otherwise. He likes the trappings and position. It remains to see if he really likes the work and is willing to stick out his neck for the people who elected him.
Your nice economist missed a MAJOR point about "Cash for Geezers".
Of Geezers who retire, many or most will continue to enrich our nation through volunteerism. You can sit on your butt watching TV only so long ...
... nearly ALL of the volunteers at my favorite store (Mercer Island Youth and Family Services Thrift Store) are retired (some in their 90s!) but we could use a new cohort of young 55 years olds so we can better serve families.
Other geezers would contribute in their own ways: babysitting the grandkids, teaching local kids how to fish, helping out at church, growing veggies, whatever. Your "Cash for Geezers" program, by shifting jobs in the economy to a younger cohort, will INCREASE overall economic activity because most Geezers will continue to produce ... just in different ways than before.
Frigid 2010 Forecast: How Cold will the Winter Weather Be?
Old Man Winter doesn’t want to give up his frigid hold just yet, but his hold will mostly be in the middle of the country.
According to the 2010 Farmers’ Almanac, this winter will see more days of shivery conditions: a winter during which temperatures will average below normal for about three-quarters of the nation.
A large area of numbingly cold temperatures will predominate from roughly east of the Continental Divide to west of the Appalachians (see map). The coldest temperatures will be over the northern Great Lakes and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. But acting almost like the bread of a sandwich, to this swath of unseasonable cold will be two regions with temperatures that will average closer to normal—theWest Coast and the East Coast.
http://www.farmersalmanac.com/weather/a/frigid-2010-forecast-how-cold-wi...
Heather Higgins' statements are ridiculous, but expected given that she represents the "Independent Women's Forum" (IWF). The "Independent Women's Forum" could hardly be any more anti-woman! Founded in 1992, the IWF grew out of the ad hoc group, "Women for Judge Thomas!"
According to "Independent Women's Forum’s" Mission statement, their mission "is to rebuild civil society by advancing economic liberty, personal responsibility, and political freedom. IWF builds support for a greater respect for limited government, equality under the law, property rights, free markets, strong families, and a powerful and effective national defense and foreign policy." It should also come as no surprise that the IWF is funded largely through donations from CONSERVATIVE foundations, notably three of Richard Mellon Scaife’s four private, nonprofit foundations. Richard Mellon Scaife’s mother, Sarah Mellon and her brother were heirs to the Mellon fortune that included Mellon Bank and major stakes in Gulf Oil and Alcoa Aluminum. Donations from those three foundations totaled $2,075,000 - 27% of the total $7,651,000 received from 19 foundations.
If you skim through their policy briefs (http://www.iwf.org/publications/), you can see their real mission. The "Independent Women's Forum" is AGAINST:
• Universal Health Care
• SCHIP (state health care programs for Children)
• Title IX (funding for women's sports programs)
• Paid Sick Leave and the Family Medical Leave Act (basically ANY government-mandated leave policies)
• Living Wage ordinances/policies
• Anti-obesity programs
• Card check (Unions)
• Death Tax
• Decriminalization of any drugs, including marjuana
• Green Technologies
• Government-funded Preschool and Head Start programs
The "Independent Women's Forum" is FOR:
• Religious schooling, including use of school vouchers and Opportunity Scholarship Program funding for those schools
• "Lower Taxes, Less Government!"
• Traditional Marriage (and ONLY TRADITIONAL Marriage)
• "Creating Social Security and pension systems that provide women with the maximum opportunity to save and invest" - code for PRIVATIZING SOCIAL SECURITY!!!
In short, the “Independent Women’s Forum” is about as ANTI-WOMAN as you can get!
The ability for our US health insurance companies to claim that their record of curing breast cancer (for example) is exemplary is due to the fact that they kick those people off the program that will make their numbers not look good (ie die).
As a British Citizen I find myself in the odd position of needing to defend a government funded institution. Our National Health Service is far from perfect, in fact I have a lot of gripes about it. However, I'd be willing to bet significant funds on the fact that higher than 95% of the population would never want to exchange it for the US system.
It should never be forgotten that this system has been under constant attack by each and every government since Thatcher got in in 1979. Since then, as each year goes by it has grown more and more 'monetized' and more like the US system and that is entirely to blame for its current decline.
At the core of every issue today facing America is our trade policy. Hush Hush...........2-Party-Trap!
This is a better link :
Welcome to the Office of Jeremy Rifkin and the Foundation on Economic Trends.
The Office of Jeremy Rifkin is operated by Jeremy R. Rifkin Enterprises, a sole proprietorship with the purpose of advancing Mr. Rifkin's written work and lecturing. The Foundation on Economic Trends is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization whose mission is to examine emerging trends in science and technology, and their impacts on the environment, the economy, culture, and society.
He likes what he sees in Europe and in many of his readings implies the European model would be a good model to follow:
You must see this link! http://www.foet.org/
Here is a quote from Jeremy Rifkins book - "Jeremy Rifkin believes one day soon you will wake up and find that virtually every activity outside your immediate family has become a paid-for experience. Sound frightening? It should, Rifkin explains in his latest book, "The Age of Access." Here Rifkins talks with writer Tamara Straus about hypercapitalism, the dot-com generation, the Seattle protests and much more."
I think it's time for a good old fashioned day national day of mourning. Shut everything down and just have a silent vigil for the sad little " f" fascist mess that our country has become. Congress is no longer able to serve flesh and blood people; it serves the paper people-corporations. If we can't get nation health care with between 60-70 % of human citizens in agreement there is no issue on which congress can reliably represent us. We need to get honest with ourselves and realize that we have become a country that's okay with torture and hunger and want, so long as it's the next guy.
You want a sound bite? "Serve people, not paper!"