Burning Man

I'm not sure I really get this... looks like a guy burns a bunch of gas burners and then gets people to contribute to offset the about of CO2 he has created. It's an "art exhibit."

There are three ways to participate in CoolingMan 2006:

Option 1: Plant a Tree (or take other direct action to reduce GHG)
Option 2: Purchase GHG Offsets to Support Renewable Energy Projects
Option 3: Donate to Fund CoolingMan GHG Offsets

I guess it draws attention to our CO2 waste, but it's a little weird too.

Congress has failed the American People

Congress has failed the American People!

Congress has failed the American People!

Congress has failed the American People!

Congress has failed the American People!
Congress has failed the American People!
Congress has failed the American People!

Congress has failed the American People!

C o n g r e s s h a s f a i l ed t h e A m e r i c a n P e o p le !
Congress has failed the American People!
Congress has failed the American People!

Congress has failed the American People

We went to see the movie, "Why We Fight" last night. It was very well done and points out the close ties of the military-industrial-complex with Congress. The bottom line was the wars are manufactured because it is good for business. It was striking when they showed the halls of Congress just before the Iraqi war. This is where there is supposed to be debate, which is the foundation of democracy. Congress was silent. Only the Senator from West Virgina, Senator Byrd, had to courage to speak out and decry this war. What was absent was the debate, the questions, the search for the truth. There was no debate... we went to war. Congress failed the American people. They did not do their job.

Some Senators want to shine a spot light on the money/contractor issue. It has been blocked by a "secret" member of Congress. No, they don't want the American people to know who Congress really works for....

Katherine Harris, the new American Taliban

Photo Credits: ursi's blog

I read this interview with Katherine Harris. (see link) I acutally met her last week at a political hob-nob. After reading this interview, I wonder how in the world she is able to get up in the morning and get dressed without someone telling her what to do. She has NO ORIGINAL THOUGHTS WHAT SO EVER! She is one of those spoon-fed Christian/politicians who has checked her brain at the door. She is like a baby bird who has been fed so much religious-political propoganda that she has nothing to offer but her notoriety to the offfice.

Bush says DEMOCRATS make the world less safe?

If you google the headline in the Orlando Sentinel, you will see other headlines but our paper, has on the cover of today's paper: Bush says DEMOCRATS make the world less safe. But then when you go to their website, you can't find it. I think this shows the partisan nature of this newspaper. Drop a bomb like this on the front page- an accusation like this and then make it difficult to follow up on it.

No Orlando Sentinel and Mr. Bush, I would have to disagree, Democrats do not make the world less safe, YOU, Mr. President, have made the world less safe. And your "FEARMONGERING" is growing old!

This is TRUE ROVIAN politics. Take what is negative about you and blame it on the other party!

The Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire

Info about companies and organizations

trying to do good things...

Kilowatt Ours

Great Video! I saw this a couple of weeks ago and it definately had an impact on my behavior. I'm now turning off the lights when I leave the room. Well done and not too discouraging.

Florida Lags behind in Green Building

According to an article in the Orlando Sentinel/August 14, 2006 is behind in adopting more sustainable growth practices, known as "Green Buildings."

Some new groups are starting to emerge:

Florida Home Builders Association and Florida Green Building Coalition are on beginning to agree on standards for Green building.

Muslims in London

Photo Credits: Andrew Testa for The New York Times

A Hizb ut-Tahrir rally in London Saturday expressed anger over the war in Lebanon and the investigation of a terrorist plot by Islamic radicals.

Doesn't this photo say it all? How in the world do you get Hizbullah out of the hearts of the Muslims. So much for Bush's "War on Terror."

Now that's talent!

Thomas Friedman-War on Daddy's Dime

Friedman hits the nail on the head again today in his op-ed piece.

"Yes, thanks to $70-a-barrel oil you can have Katyusha rockets and butter at the same time. When oil money is so prevalent, why not? Hezbollah and Iran are like a couple of rich college students who rented Lebanon for the summer, as if it were a beach house. “C’mon, let’s smash up the place,” they said to themselves. “Who cares? Dad will pay!” The only thing Nasrallah didn’t say to Lebanese was, “Hey, keep the change.”"

He argues that cutting oil prices will hurt Iran's ability to pay for wars. We are funding their wars with our driving habits.

War leaves Israelis bitter...

Here is a quote from the paper today. ( Baltimore Sun/Orlando Sentinel-John Murphy)

Polls released this week reflect Israeli frustration. Fifty-three percent of the people surveyed in the poll commissioned by Maariv newspaper said they think Israel should have refused the cease-fire terms and continued to battle Hezbollah.

I don't live there but it would seem to me that ending a war is better than fighting a war.

Donna Brazile please go away!

Thanks to Mrs. Brazile the Democrats have adopted a new proposal that aims to create an "inclusion program" for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgenders and disabled. Why do we keep listening to losers like Brazile? Gore ran one of the worst presidential campaigns ever. Brazile was his campaign manager. Now she is going to screw up our chances to appeal to any disgruntled moderate Republicans with this. Do us a favor Ms. Brazile and just go away!

I'm not against these people, I just think that Clinton has the right idea, "don't ask and don't tell." I don't think it is necessary for people to go around and wear a button that says, "I'm gay." Who cares. That's your business not mine. Mainstream America is not ready to openly embrace this lifestyle. Most people do not want to persecute someone that lives an alternative lifestyle, but they don't want it shoved in their face. Anyone who remotely considered voting for the Democrats but strongly feels an aversion to the gay, lesbian issue will hold their nose and vote for the Republicans.

What a moron Brazile is! Please Democrats, stop listening to this out of touch, out of sync strategist! Dump her!

Green Council

Business Week has a Special Advertising Section titled: Green Buildings: Comes the Revolution. Green construction use to be the frindge. Now it is becoming mainstream. According to this section, 40% of the energy we consume comes from construction.

Sanford, Florida needs bike lanes

I recently took a new job in Sanford, Florida so I'm getting to see lots of places in Sanford that were previously unknown to me. Sanford is not one of the the "high income" parts of Orlando. There are lots of nice streets in the city but also lots of poverty too, all mixed together. That can hurt economic growth.

One thing they could do to make the area more attractive would be to make bike lanes. There are some really quaint places that would be quite "hip" if they had bike lanes. That would be one simple thing they could do for urban revitalization.

Colbert Report-- word of the day

I love Colbert's word of the day to describe the current state of affairs in the electorate here in America: dumb-ocracy....

David Gergen was his guest today. I have never seen this man laugh before. His comments were quite enlightening. Too bad comedy is covering the news better than the news covers the news. What do you expect in a dumb-ocracy....

What is a clean environment worth?

Our footprint on Earth:

Watch this clip of powerful imagery

Tara's Blog

If you've never read Tara Hunt's blog, it is inspiring and compelling. I found this wonderful example of how Blogs and Vlogs are reaching out to a multi-generational audience. There is so much wisdom out there that our seniors have to share. YouTube might be one way they could connect. Recently I read about and organization that had seniors read letters by troubled teens and develop a pen pal relationship. It was called, "Elder Wisdom Circle." The elders helped the teens with their struggles in life and offered them hope. Maybe the next step is a video pen pal opportunity for youngsters who need a guiding hand to connect with the seniors who need to share their wisdom.

Reflections about Cheney and his unusual remarks about the Lamont vs. Leiberman race

I received via e-mail an article about Dick Cheney losing his grip on reality and being a threat to Democracy because he is quoted to have said that those who voted for "Democrat Ned Lamont in the Connecticut Senate primary, claiming that these votes would encourage "al Qaeda types" to think that "they can break the will of the American people." I also watched the movie Flightplan staring Jodie Foster last night. The movie made me wonder about Cheney and I wondered if we were like the passengers on the plane who thought that Jodie Foster had lost her mind and needed to be locked up.

What I see are two possible scenarios: either Cheney is either wrong and is grasping for power, or he knows something we don't know and is like the mother who refuses to give up when everyone else has written her off. That is the dilemma that we face as citizens. We don't know who's right. What if he's right and there are worse thing brewing that we need to defeat at all costs? What if he is wrong and the anti-war folks are right, that Cheney and the neo-cons are war-mongers that want to dominate the world and are ready to throw Democracy overboard if necessary to retain power. What if, what if, what if... that that is our quandary.

Romney uses the National Guard for his political agenda

So let's see if we can connect the dots.
The news story brakes that terrorist were planning to simultaneously blow up 10 aircraft heading to the U.S. Romney, who wants to be president, calls out the National Guard. Of course this makes the prime time news. Chris Matthews interviews him on prime time TV. Romney uses the bad news and his repsonse as a opportunity to introduce himself to the American people. He get's free air time because he called out the guard; he showcases his ability to lead the fight against terror for free. He gets good footage to use in later political ads. And we are supposed to feel safer because he called out the National Guard to protect us after the fact? The only thing missing in this "staged event" was the voice over that said, "Vote for me."

...He reminds me of Bill Frist who tried to hog the spot light during the Terry Schiavo debacle.

It hurt my stomach to watch him.

God of War or God of Peace?

All of these right wing Christians that are so PRO WAR need to ask themselves this question: Is the Christian God the God of War or the God of Peace? A God of Death and Destruction or a God of Reconciliation? How did the church let the party of war become their shepard?

Can Democrats get their MoJo back? Lieberman vs. Lamont will tell the story!

I have this love/hate thing going with Lieberman. He has done some really good things for the environmental issues that I care about, but he has done some really bad things that I totally disagree on the consumer protection side. He seems to side with big business more than he does with the worker. But he has also stood up for environmental things I care a lot about.

That being said, I still thing I would like to see him defeated. It would send a strong signal that it is time for a change in this country and the Democrats were getting their MoJo again.

The Problem with Deep Ecology

I read this wonderful article in an ecology magazine about this man, Doug Tompkins, who sold is Multinational Corporation and purchased land in Chile, and started this wonderful park, Pumalin Park. He spent a huge amount of money trying to preserve this area. It is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in South American and worthy of preservation. Tompkins and his wife are to be commended for what they have been able to do with their wealth in terms of trying to preserve the environment.

Much to my dismay, I read in the New York Times on Sunday that they are now having fight big electric companies who want to build a dam for electricy and bury much of the land he has fought to preserve. Now, instead of investing in his goal of land preservation, he's going to have to invest a fortune in fighting off the electric multinational companies. If he is successful, it will only hold them at bay for a while, until he dies, or until the money runs out. It's a never ending battle and it seems like we always lose in the end. People want electricity and are willing to sacrifice what ever it takes to get it.

I'm not going to condemn these people, because I prefer not to do without electricity myself. But it would seem to make sense to invest in alternative sources of energy so that we would not have to bury in water, some of the most beautiful natural places in the world. In my humble opinion, it is the government's responsibility to get the ball rolling. Once it is "profitable" then the markets will jump in and take it from there. But there needs to be leadership in order to make that happen.

I hope Tompkins can win, for now....

Mike Thomas-Sentinel Columnist- owes Orlando an apology

(Photo by RICK LOOMIS, LOS ANGELES TIMES)

Manatee photo featured on the front-page of the Sentinel August 1st, 2006

So here's what I don't get:
Mike Thomas writes a moving sarcastic commentary about the Manatee death and the 'whodunit' mentality that plagues our nation. Red Tide, which is fatal to all marine life, is becoming more prevalent up and down the coasts of Florida. It is the result of nature but escalated by man's short-sighted use of the ocean and rivers as a sewer and garbage can for every chemical known to man. He sarcastically ridicules the our tendency to tip toe around the issues by saying that it's natural and we "aren't certain" what is causing the problem even though everyone knows that we are feeding the algae with our industrial waste that ends up in the oceans and waterways.

I applaud him for his piece in the paper Sunday, but here's the disconnect that I don't get. This man voted for Bush, promoted Bush and encouraged others to vote for Bush and all things Republican. Has he looked at the voting record of some of these politicians? The Leauge of Conservation Voters has. Bush is the first president that has ever earned an "F" on his report card from them. I'll bet a ton of politicans who are currently in Tallahassee and Washington that Mike supports are right there with Bush and have supported is destructive policies. He criticizes but he supports the very same people who are trashing the environment. H-E-L-L-O! Whether we like it or not, our vote does count in some ways because we elect or reject the people who will decide whether or not protecting the environment is a priority.

Billions of dollars are now being pumped into the Green Movement on Wall Street. The argument that it's “ jobs or the environment” is no longer valid nor ever was valid. Like it or not, Mike, you helped make this situation worse by promoting the amoral Republicans that are currently in office. Everyone is saying: "The Democrats should apologize and say they were wrong about supporting the war." Maybe the people who supported Bush should do likewise and say they were wrong about supporting this President.

An Energy Analyzer