Saturday, August 29, 2009

MANIFEST POSITIVITY - LAUNCH OF NEW BOOK AND VIDEO BLOG

 Dave Berman is based in Humboldt County, and is a self-described “advocacy journalist.” Last year, I was one of the signers of a campaign Dave started about “un-provable election results.” See “We Do Not Consent.”

If you’re not familiar with Dave, I strongly encourage you to not only read this new book of his, but look back at his web sites and other books that have made a positive difference in the world we live in.

One of these days, Dave and I might collaborate on some articles regarding suspect election results, and or, some community project.

Heres…………….Dave Berman!

“I have posted my new e-book, We Do Not Consent, Volume 2 (free .pdf) and launched my new video blog, Manifest Positivity(http://ManifestPositivity.blogspot.com). WDNCv2 is made up of essays previously published here at the WDNC blog, book-ended and given context by a previously unpublished intro and epilogue (both reprinted below), as well as a glossary that now also appears at Manifest Positivity (please click the book or new blog to read that, a frame of reference for terms cultivated and simply used a lot in my past and future public service work).
This is the same combination of steps I took three years ago when I launched theWDNC blog in conjunction with publishing the first WDNC book (free .pdf) as a collection of essays from my previous blog, GuvWurld. There is a strong sense of continuity through all these projects, as summarized in Manifest Positivity's statement of purpose:” (Click here to continue reading.)

Stimulus checks lure Floridians to their arrest

The “man” got sneaky this time. There’s more than one way to serve a warrant I suppose…

“Police in a Florida City used the promise of economic stimulus checks to lure 76 people to their arrest on a variety of outstanding warrants.

The Fort Lauderdale Police Department set up "Operation Show Me the Money" to round up people wanted on charges ranging from second-degree murder to guns and drug charges to failure to pay child support.

Using the name of the fictitious "South Florida Stimulus Coalition," police mailed letters asking the suspects to call an undercover phone line and make appointments to claim their money. When they showed up at an auditorium and presented their identification, they were led to an area where uniformed police were waiting to arrest them.”

Click here to read the rest at Reuters.

Photo via Google Images

Friday, August 28, 2009

Nitrous oxide is no longer just a laughing matter!

It’s no laughing matter, but scientists are saying that nitrous oxide (N20), commonly called laughing gas, is adding to global warming.

The idea of global warming is a highly controversial theory, and scientists worldwide seem divided over what to call the earth’s warming trend. Now we have something else that is reputed to attack the ozone layer.

Here’s an exerpt from a recent Time magazine:

“But even with that battle all but won, scientists are finding a new man-made threat to the ozone layer: nitrous oxide (N2O), otherwise known as laughing gas. A study published in the Aug. 28 Science found that N2O — a by-product of agricultural fertilizer and a number of other industrial processes — is now the biggest ozone-depleting gas in the air, and could present a real threat to the ozone layer in coming decades. And worse, unlike CFCs, N2O — which also adds to global warming — is not regulated by the Montreal Protocol, meaning there is no global effort to try to reduce emissions.”(Read "Can Steven Chu Win the Fight Over Global Warming?")

Click here to read the whole story at Time.

Photo via Time.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Meet Roger Christie: a man with a ministry that promotes THC

This is the first time I’ve run across someone building a legitimate ministry on Marijuana. There’s probably more out there. I just don’t know where.

I found this site when someone told me my recent column “The government has a monopoly on growing and researching marijuana,” was featured.

Interested in becoming a THC Ministry? Here you go:

“The Minster’s Sanctuary Kit includes powerful legal precedents, successful cases, a history of Roger’s religious credentials and successful court actions and positive critiques from all the major cannabis magazines: High Times,Cannabis Culture, Heads, and Skunk.

  • You will receive the Minister membership I.D. cards with self-laminators for your wallet
  • 2 Sanctuary signs to secure your home and garden
  • THC Ministry affidavit
  • Sacrament/Plant tags for your stash bag and plants, and
  • All the documentation necessary to build the foundation for your own religious freedom.

The kit has approximately 130 pages of well-researched materials with research done on the state, national and international level. Included in the kit are real Motions to Dismiss marijuana charges written by lawyers and used successfully by members of our Ministry.”

Still want to know more? Click here to visit this unique ministry.

Even higher taxes coming for Californians

Things aren’t bad enough for the state bean-counters, so they raise our taxes again!

This just makes the case that California is becoming too expensive to live in. I wonder how many people, and businesses have escaped this cash-strapped state since last year? Maybe, in some ways that’s good. It cuts down on the population!

Here’s the latest news about the public screwing in the works…

While Californians are still feeling the sting of income and sales tax hikes signed into law earlier this year, now comes news that state tax authorities plan to take a little more from their pockets.
For only the second time in 30 years, the tax board is lowering the point where each tax bracket begins, bumping many people into a higher category. At the same time, officials are cutting back some deductions. Everyone will pay more, even people whose bracket or income doesn't change.
The extra sums will total as much as $140 per family, on top of the increases previously enacted.”

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Click here to read the rest of this article from the LA Times

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Help: can you tell me why we pay such outrageous prices for gasoline in Humboldt County?

Cartoon by Bob Conroy via EGPNews

If there’s one drawback to living in Humboldt County it’s the price we pay for gasoline!

Our little county continues to lead the nation in paying the highest prices for fuel. I’ve heard a lot of theories about why this is, and thus far none seem to be on the mark.

Does anyone have the answer out there in blog land? Please…enlighten me. Meanwhile, here’s the latest news on oil prices…

Oil prices fell again Wednesday as traders awaited a government report that could show if Americans are using more gasoline and crude.

Benchmark crude for October delivery slipped $1.05 to $71 a barrel. In London, Brent crude fell 99 cents to $70.83.

Crude prices soared last week after the government reported that U.S. crude stockpiles fell by the largest amount in nearly a year. Even though the report could be explained by a sharp drop U.S. petroleum imports, the benchmark contract surged, touching new highs for three straight days until it hit $75 a barrel on Tuesday.” Click here to read the rest at MSNBC.

Nothing from the article above explains why we get the dubious honor of leading the nation in fuel prices.

It’s not like Humboldt County is the most remote county in the nation. Surely there others more remote than ours that still pay less than we do?

Perhaps it’s just the price of living in paradise.

Sen. Ted Kennedy Dies of Brain Cancer at 77

 

By Tim Molloy

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the liberal icon who carried on his family name and fight for the poor and working class after his brothers' assassinations, has died at 77.

Watch breaking news of Sen. Kennedy's death

The Massachusetts Democrat died Tuesday at his home in Hyannis Port after battling a brain tumor with which he was first diagnosed in May 2008, his family said in a statement. He had served in the Senate since 1962, two years after his brother, John F. Kennedy, was elected president, and was the third longest-serving senator in history. In a statement Wednesday, President Barack Obama called him "the greatest United States senator of our time."

Aftter the deaths of President Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, he became the patriarch of a famous family that included John F. Kennedy Jr.., Caroline Kennedy, Maria Shriver, and Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder of the Special Olympics who died earlier this month.

Click here to read the rest at TV Guide via ABC News

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Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Nadya Suleman, the queen of bad-parent porn

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This is an excellent Op-Ed piece by a very talented writer…

By Meghan Daum

By the time you read this, the world will have peered inside the undoubtedly depressing and quite possibly child-endangering world of the nation's reigning social pariah. I'm referring to Wednesday night's two-hour special on Fox, "Octomom: The Incredible Unseen Footage." At press time, I'd only seen clips, but I think I can guarantee that we're in for another wave of Octo-villification, not to mention some major sanctimony.
Nadya Suleman, in case anyone's lucky enough to need a briefing, is the woman who gave birth to eight premature babies in January, the result of the implantation of six embryos, two of which split. She was later revealed to be not only single and unemployed but also mother to an additional six children, all of whom were also conceived through in vitro fertilization. The TV special, made up of footage collected by the online magazine Radar-Online.com, included scenes of Suleman attempting to soothe several crying babies and, in a moment of self-reflection, saying, "I screwed up my life. I screwed up my kids' lives. ... What was I thinking?"

Click here to read the rest at The LA Times

Beware of the ‘Snitches’

I found this link on Redheaded Blackbelt and was impressed by the way these bloggers go after people in West Virginia. Check it out…

The SNITCH LIST is a collection of info about persons known to supply information to law enforcement for their own personal gain, or to avoid their own consequences.

We realize that… …sometimes people may not have said what police claim, or are threatened or tricked into giving up that information-it can happen to almost anyone. But there are others who snitch for revenge, just to make a few bucks, or perhaps avoid going to jail or prison…These are the people we wish to showcase. Our goal is not a punitive one, our goal is to take a bite out of one of West Virginia’s  most abused weapons—The “Confidential Reliable” or Paid Informant.

Click here

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to read more about snitchs and prison correction guards gone bad!

Cheney takes swipe at Obama over prosecutor

It looks like “Darth” Cheney is pulling out all the stops to get Obama to not name a special prosecutor. Despite his “factless” story that torture saved the US from terrorists, it looks like it’s time for some people to pay the price for breaking American laws on torture. I would love to see Cheney do some time for his part!

From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

(CNN) — Former Vice President Dick Cheney is again taking aim at President Obama, issuing a statement Monday suggesting the administration's decision to name a prosecutor to investigate CIA interrogations under President Bush fuels "doubts about this administration's ability to be responsible for our nation's security."

"The people involved deserve our gratitude," Cheney said in the statement. "They do not deserve to be the targets of political investigations or prosecutions."

The former vice president also said documents released Monday prove enhanced interrogation techniques yieled valuable information that "provided the bulk of intelligence we gained about al Qaeda"

Click here to read the rest.

Photo via Getty Images

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to read the rest.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Man's love runs deep in search for ring

  • Talk about determined. This guy takes the prize…

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – A New Zealand man has been dubbed the Lord of the Ring after he searched and found his wedding ring more than a year after it slipped off his finger and sank to the sea floor.

The ring was lost for 16 months in the harbor of the country's capital city, Wellington, before Aleki Taumoepeau found it shining on the sea floor, the DominionPost newspaper reported Thursday.

"The whole top surface of the ring was glowing," Taumoepeau, an ecologist, said.

Taumoepeau had been married for just three months when he lost the wedding ring while conducting an environmental sweep of the harbor.

He roughly marked the spot where the ring had flown from his finger, but was unable to find it despite returning to the area many times.

Taumoepeau's wife offered to buy another ring, but he refused, pledging to find the ring.

But, equipped with new global satellite based coordinates and offering up a quick prayer, he found the ring after an hour's search.

"I couldn't believe that I could see the ring so perfectly," Taumoepeau said.

He said those with him on the boat at the time the ring flew off his finger had likened it to a similar, slow motion shot from The Lord of the Rings, much of which was filmed in Wellington by local director Peter Jackson.

(Reporting by Michael Dickison; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

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Odd friends in animal land

These guys are just chillin’…to see more odd parings click here to visit “Let’s Be Friends.”

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Sunday, August 23, 2009

Have you ever made money by selling a beat-up old vehicle?

Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 08/23/2009 01:30:12 AM PDT

I'd like to tell you about my 1989 Ford Aerostar cargo van.

It's the only vehicle, new or old, that ever made me money. I never in my wildest dreams thought the $800 I paid for it three years ago would turn a tidy profit of $3,700!

That old Aerostar was reliable, handy, had back doors and a sliding door on the side. It was white, but if you looked real hard at the sides you saw a discoloration that read Corona Beer. A decal was there until the company peeled it off when I bought the van. I used white spray paint to complete the disguise.

The farthest I ever drove it was in the week I bought it. My wife and I went to Napa Valley for a winery tour. Our friends there got a good laugh at my “Krispy Kreme” van, but I was pleased by the way it ran.

Click here to read the rest of this column at The Times-Standard

Blog Break Until Presidential Election is Over

I finally hit the wall today. I can't think of what to say about all of the madness going on in this country right now. I'm a writer...