Beachblogger.net

not to be confused with Janet, who's from another planet, but I think they made her leave.

Conservation Pledge

I give my pledge as
an American to save and
faithfully defend from
waste the natural resources
of my country - it's soil
and minerals, it's forest,
waters and wildlife.

Remember this old movie? Bruce Dern goes nuts as only Bruce Dern can do it.

Yeah, I took this pledge and others like it. Stuff like this is what I leaned as a kid.

Bush came out asking people to waste gas: "Now, how many, how many extra miles can you pledge? Can you drive five extra miles a day? Can you take the long way home, the long way to work?"

ps: fun with papercraft.

Up with life. Stamp out all small and large indignities.
Leave everyone alone to make it without pressure.
Down with hurting. Lower the standard of living.
Do without plastic. Smash the servomechanisms.
Stop grabbing. Snuff the breeze and hug the kids.
Love all love. Hate all hate.

Meyer's Law: When faced with a personal decision, the hardest thing to do is usually the right choice.

How hard was it for Bush to start the war? How hard was it for Pelosi to take impeachment off the table? They chose the easy way. They chose wrong.

more? Red Shoes

Osama bin Laden and his terrorist attackers had three goals:

1) They wanted to get US troops out of their homeland, Saudi Arabia. Bush immediately pulled US troops out of Saudi Arabia and abandoned the US bases there.

2) The terrorists wanted to start a global war. Bush invaded Afghanistan and Iraq and opened a Global War on Terror. He did just what the terrorists wanted.

3) The attack on the World Trade Center was intended to hurt our economy. Bush regime incompetence has resulted in a bad economy. The Iraq war is being fought on credit.

Bush has done everything the terrorists hoped for.

And another thing: One million Iraqis have been killed in the war, five million are refuges. That's one in every five Iraqis. Their country has been destroyed. US corporations have made billions in profits from the Iraq war. The price of gasoline doubled. Oil company profits have soared. The size of the US government has bloated to record levels.

Yeah, the surge really worked good.

It's all about money. A run for congress takes about a million: times 2 candidates per 435 seats = $870,000,000.00. Cindy Sheehan qualified to run as an independent for the seat held by Nancy Pelosi. Sheehan will be at a distinct financial disadvantage as she takes on one of the most powerful politicians in the country. She said her campaign has collected more than $300,000, compared with nearly $2.4 million collected by Pelosi through the end of June.

Obama and McCain were questioned by Pastor Rick Warren of Orange County's Saddleback Church. When asked to "define rich" Obama set the income level at $250,000.00 per year; McCain set it at $5 million.

Military personnel are contributing more to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois than to his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, according to a nonpartisan group tracking donations to candidates.

The Center for Responsible Politics says that in terms of total contributions during the 2008 election cycle, 859 service members have contributed a combined $335,536 to Obama as of June 30, an average of about $391 a person.

In comparison, 558 service members have contributed a combined $280,513 to Sen. John McCain, an average of $503 a person.

$391 or $503 is way more than I would ever contribute to any politician. It's a con game; there is no agreement about what you get for your money.

Pelosi was heckled and interrupted later Thursday at an event at the Cowell Theater, where she was being interviewed by KQED talk show host Michael Krasny. About 100 protesters advocating impeachment of President Bush interrupted the speaker, who remained calmer than many angry listeners who shouted down the hecklers. Several people were removed, but there were no arrests.

In 2006, in San Fransisco, there was Measure J, which called on elected officials to remove Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney from office. It got nearly 60 percent of the vote. So what are the voters getting from Pelosi for that $2.4 million?

Back to Saddleback: Obama and McCain made it clear that they only represent Christians. Asked what it meant to be a Christian, McCain said: "It means I'm saved and forgiven." In other words "We got a kinder, gentler, Machine gun hand. Got a man of the people, says keep hope alive. Got fuel to burn, got roads to drive."

The 2008 presidential race will be a $1 billion election. $20 million is a "modest" Senate race. Times 33 equals $666 million, plus the $870M for the House is a total of $2.5 billion. That's just the base estimate. Excuse me but What the frack is going on???

They say this train don't give out rides,
it don't worry me.
And all the world is taking sides,
it don't worry me.
Economy's depressed, not me,
My spirit's high, as it can be,
and life might be a one-way street,
but it don't worry me.

chorus:
It don't worry me,
It don't worry me,
You may say, I ain't free,
but it don't worry me.

The price of bread may worry some,
but it don't worry me,
and tax relief may never come,
it don't worry me.
'Cause in my empire, life is sweet,
just ask any bum you meet,
and life might be a one-way street,
it don't worry me.

the great Robert Altman

wow! Buddy Holly

early August is full of meaningful anniversaries:

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were attacked in 1945 with nuclear bombs. On August 15, Japan announced its surrender, ending World War II.

On August 6 President George W Bush recieved a presidential daily briefing entitled Bin Laden determined to strike in US.

What is he like going to throw out the first pitch?

The way I remember it the first thing that 41 did when he left office is go to China with a couple of empty briefcases. They tried to get Gore over contributions from China but found that the Republicans were the worst.

And what's wrong with checking the air in your tires? “It’s like they take pride in being ignorant.”

We’ve cast ourselves away on a raft in the Pacific Ocean to the mercy of wind and waves to talk about the stuff that floats our boat – disposable plastic waste. Our Synthetic States are awash with plastic trash. Recycling programs are largely inefficient, comparing manufacture to post-consumer recovery. Plastic production and packaging industries are reluctant to curb the making of disposable plastics, considering the 100% growth in plastic production over the past 20 years, largely due to single-use disposables. By 1980 we were making more plastic than steel. But unlike the stone, iron, bronze and steel, the Age of Plastic is forever. Plastic was designed to be non-biodegradable and resistant to degradation, and so it is here to stay.
Earlier this year, Joel, Anna and I were half the crew on the 6th expedition of the ORV Alguita, with Captain Charles Moore, to study the accumulation of plastic trash in the North Pacific Gyre (NPG). The NPG is a clockwise rotating mass of the ocean surface, roughly twice the size of the United States, extending from 500 miles off the California coast to 200 miles east of Japan. It’s like a toilet bowl that never flushes. We’ve found exponential growth in fragmented plastic particles, from .002g/m2 in 1999, .004g/m2 in 2005 and conceivably doubling again three years later in 2008. We have yet to quantify that data, but it’s visually more dense than ever, leaving us with a sense of urgency to address this problem.
Anna and I had talked about building JUNK months earlier. Getting to know Joel during the 2008 expedition sealed the deal. Quickly our project began to take a life of it’s own as the sweat and support of dozens of people and companies poured in. Joel and I are the lucky sailors that get to live on board. JUNK floats on the same kinds of plastic trash we found in the gyre, including 15,000 plastic bottles, and over 5,000 plastic bags woven into rope. Used masts, airplane parts, and netting were harder to find. In 2 ½ months JUNK became seaworthy.

Just beginning our journey, we already see floating plastic out here.....

http://junkraft.blogspot.com/