May 24th, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 9:03 am
How does a website that has a separate page for every species on earth sound?
An ambitious project to do just this had recently been started. Freely available to the public, the Encyclopedia of Life is scheduled to have its initial species pages working by the middle of next year. With a little bit of work, they hope to have 1.8 million species listed within ten years (this is a popular estimate of the number of species on earth).
So far they have several demonstration pages available at their website www.eol.org. Knowledge may not be the only answer to our problems, but projects like this can make a great start and are exactly what the internet is for. Good luck!
Posted in General news, Our causes | 
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May 20th, 2007
Posted by Drew at 9:55 pm
Former President Jimmy Carter has been speaking his mind on President Bush lately:
Britain’s support for the war in Iraq was a “major tragedy” for the world, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said Saturday, as he criticized Tony Blair’s unwavering support for President Bush.
Asked how he would judge Blair’s support of Bush, Carter said: “Abominable. Loyal. Blind. Apparently subservient.”
“And I think the almost undeviating support by Great Britain for the ill-advised policies of President Bush in Iraq have been a major tragedy for the world,” Carter told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Carter also told an American newspaper that Bush’s administration is “the worst in history” in international relations, taking aim at the White House’s policy of pre-emptive war and its Middle East diplomacy.
The article continues:Â
“I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history,” Carter told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in a story that appeared in the newspaper’s Saturday editions. “The overt reversal of America’s basic values as expressed by previous administrations, including those of George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and others, has been the most disturbing to me.”
Read the entire article here.
The White House fired back:
White House spokesman Tony Fratto shot back Sunday from Crawford, Texas, where Bush spent the weekend.
“I think it’s sad that President Carter’s reckless personal criticism is out there,” said Fratto. “I think it’s unfortunate. And I think he is proving to be increasingly irrelevant with these kinds of comments.”
Read this article here.
We agree with you 100%, Mr. Carter.
Posted in General news, News round-up | No Comments »
May 18th, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 10:44 am
Thank god for fermentation.
It gives us beer, bread, wine, cheese, yogurt, beer, chocolate, vinegar, and beer. In fact, if you took stock of my fridge and pantry you might be inclined to diagnose me with fermenta-philia.
For any of you who feel similarly to me, or are curious about the wonders of fermentation check out this interview with Sandor Katz from Grist. There is even a book called Wild Fermentation if you really get into it!
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May 13th, 2007
Posted by Drew at 10:03 am
RealClearPolitics.com keeps track of all major polls on the Democratic Presidential nomination. The six most recent of these polls show Clinton leading among registered voters by as little as 8% and by as much as 18%, for an average of 12%.
Also, according to one of these polls, 41% of voters say that they would not consider voting for Clinton. This statistic is often cited by supporters of other candidates to prove that Clinton is “unelectable.” However, this percent is down from 46% at the end of last year. The same poll shows that 35% of voters would not consider voting for Edwards or Obama. Clinton’s “unelectability” rating is dropping, and is not so different that Edwards’ or Obama’s.
The real polling that undermines Clinton’s campaign is her “head-to-head” results against Giuliani, who is polling well ahead of McCain and Romney, his main opponents for the Republican nomination. Clinton is virtually tied with Giuliani, whereas both Obama and Edwards beat him in the most recent polls by several percentage points.
Which candidate do you support, and why? Is Clinton “unelectable”?
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Posted in Blue State Coffee news, Elections, General news, Politics | No Comments »
May 5th, 2007
Posted by Drew at 11:43 am
In an excellent NYT op-ed called “Grim Old Party,” David Brooks criticizes the Republicans in Congress for “just following sullenly along”:
The Republicans suffered one unpleasant event in November 2006, and they are headed toward an even nastier one in 2008. The Democrats have opened up a wide advantage in party identification and are crushing the G.O.P. among voters under 30.
Moreover, there has been a clear shift, in poll after poll, away from Republican positions on social issues and on attitudes toward government. Democratic approaches are favored on almost all domestic, tax and fiscal issues, and even on foreign affairs.
The public, in short, wants change.
And yet the Republicans refuse to offer that. On Capitol Hill, there is a strange passivity in Republican ranks. Republicans are privately disgusted with how President Bush has led their party and the nation, but they don’t publicly offer any alternatives. They just follow sullenly along. They privately believe the country needs new approaches to the war against Islamic extremism, but they don’t offer them. They try to block Democratic initiatives, but they don’t offer the country any new ways to think about the G.O.P.
They are like people quietly marching to their doom.
The big question is, Why are the Republicans so immobile?
Brooks answers his own question:Â
There are several reasons. First, there are structural barriers to change. As it has aged, the conservative movement has grown a collection of special interest groups that restrict its mobility. Anybody who offers unorthodox tax policies gets whacked by the Club for Growth and Americans for Tax Reform. Anybody who offers unorthodox social policies gets whacked by James Dobson.
Second, there is the corrupting influence of teamism. Being a good conservative now means sticking together with other conservatives, not thinking new and adventurous thoughts. Those who stray from the reservation are accused of selling out to the mainstream media by the guardians of conservative correctness.
Third, there is the oppressive power of the past. Conservatives have allowed a simplistic view of Ronald Reagan to define the sacred parameters of thought. Reagan himself was flexible, unorthodox and creative. But conservatives have created a mythical, rigid Reagan, and any deviation from that is considered unholy.
Fourth, there is the bunker mentality. Republican morale has been brutalized by the Iraq war and the party’s decline. This state of emotional pain is not conducive to risk-taking and free and open debate.
In sum, Republicans know they need to change, but they have closed off all the avenues for change.
Read the entire op-ed here.
Brooks is correct in his description of the Republican Congress. In the past few weeks, Republican lawmakers voted against expanding the definition of “hate crime” to include attacks based on gender or sexual orientation and against setting a timetable to end the war in Iraq.
The Democrats, meanwhile, are pushing for positive legislation to bring our troops home. Responsibility for political gridlock in Washington lies with the Republicans, not the Democrats.
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May 2nd, 2007
Posted by Alex Payson at 10:34 am
From Wired online-
The U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages, without first clearing the content with a superior officer, Wired News has learned. The directive, issued April 19, is the sharpest restriction on troops’ online activities since the start of the Iraq war. And it could mean the end of military blogs, observers say.
It continues-
with the regulations drawn so tightly, “many commanders will feel like they have no choice but to forbid their soldiers from blogging — or even using e-mail,” said Jeff Nuding, who won the bronze star for his service in Iraq. “If I’m a commander, and think that any slip-up gets me screwed, I’m making it easy: No blogs,” added Nuding, writer of the “pro-victory” Dadmanly site. “I think this means the end of my blogging.”
Active-duty troops aren’t the only ones affected by the new guidelines. Civilians working for the military, Army contractors — even soldiers’ families — are all subject to the directive as well.
Protecting our military secrets and intel is certainly extremely important. However these new regulations seem more like an attempt to prevent the spread of unsavory news, than to protect our soldiers.
You can read the entire article here.
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