Thursday, June 22, 2006
My new wife A- net is away in L.A.
for a 3 week vacation. I really miss
her , I know she doesn't miss the
Texas heat and the mosquitos.
For the first time since we have been
together in Texas, we are apart.
She keeps telling me about the
great 85 degree LA temps.
I am very mindfull of global warming
here in this Goddamn Texas heat.
The earths temps are at a 400 year high
read:
It's Official: We Live in Hot Times
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0623-03.htm
http://www.airamericaradio.com/node/2233
Go see Al Gore's film
| See the Truth: Pledge to see An Inconvenient Truth |
read reviews : http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/inconvenient_truth/?critic=columns
Google search "Inconvenient truth" for local showtimes
posted by txpoollover, June 22, 2006 19:02 | link | comments (1)
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
What about this occupation in Iraq?
It is not a war and it is not a war on "terra"
(terror) . I get a large amount of email from
friends and family that have bought into
the BULLSHIT. Stop sending the
talking points and the propaganda
from the religious right. Not only are they
not religious they are dead wrong.
Stop forwarding email in support
of Bush's "war on terrra"
I am not interested. You have been
brainwashed my right winged friends.
Turn off the T.V.!
It is all lies and war profiteering
bullshit from the corporate media.
The only news I recommend is
Democracy Now! and also
| FIGHT IGNORANCE: READ BUZZFLASH. |
Read this article about Bush's
so called war.
What we have in Iraq is a mess,
a failed occupation,
READ THIS:
Thom Hartmann: Reclaim the Issues - "Occupation, Not War"
posted by txpoollover, June 20, 2006 21:30 | link | comments
Monday, June 19, 2006
This is my version of the U.S. flag.
I am an American, I support what's right,
I don't support the war or the reason for the
fight. I support Peace...
back by popular demand ~ MK
And For Which It Stands
The U.S. Congress is closer than ever to passing a constitutional amendment that would criminalize desecration of the U.S. flag. If successful, it will mark the first time in 214 years that the Bill of Rights has been restricted by a constitutional amendment, and will place the United States among a select group of nations that have banned flag desecration, including Cuba, China, Iran, and Iraq under Saddam Hussein. The amendment has already been approved by the necessary two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives, and last week it passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on a near-party line 11-7 vote. Now, aided by a handful of Democrats, the amendment has gathered 66 votes in favor, just one shy of passage. "Whether advocates can find the 67th vote to send the flag amendment to the states for ratification remains unclear." The Senate vote is expected next week. Take a stand now by signing up with Veterans Defending the Bill of Rights.
DEFENDING THE FLAG, AND FOR WHICH IT STANDS: Defacing a flag is an act that most Americans find offensive and outrageous. It is also "an act of protected speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution," as established by the Supreme Court in Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989), and reaffirmed in U.S. v. Eichman, 496 U.S. 310 (1990). It takes no courage to stand for freedom of speech for the views with which we agree. Rather, favoring freedom of speech means favoring freedom of speech precisely for those views one finds offensive and outrageous. As Colin Powell has said of the First Amendment, affirming his opposition to a flag-burning amendment, "I would not amend that great shield of democracy to hammer a few miscreants. The flag will be flying proudly long after they have slunk away."
SOLVING A NON-PROBLEM: Amendment supporters seek to restrict the Bill of Rights despite the fact that they "cannot point to a single instance of anti-American flag burning in the last 30 years," the New York Times notes. "The video images that the American Legion finds so offensive to veterans and other Americans are either of Vietnam-era vintage or from other countries." Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT), who opposes the amendment, has argued, "I don't want to amend the Constitution to solve a non-problem. People are not burning the flag."
BAD PRINCIPLES LEAD TO BAD POLICY: The proposed amendment is also bad public policy. If ratified, it "would be the first in our history to cut back on the First Amendment's guarantee of that freedom of _expression that is so necessary to ensure the vigorous debate and dissent that is imperative to prevent the abuse of power in our democracy." The amendment will not, as some of its supporters claim, be a means of "establishing and preserving community" or "national unity." As World War II-era Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Jackson observed, such unity "can only be achieved through persuasion, not coercion." Jackson wrote in a 1943 decision that "those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard." He added pointedly that the First Amendment "was designed to avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings."
WEAKENING THE BILL OF RIGHTS DOESN'T PROTECT OUR SOLDIERS: "Our fighting men and women are serving America under a proud flag, and that flag should be cherished and protected," President Bush told a crowd of veterans in the run-up to the 2004 election. But as 23-year Navy veteran and American Progress fellow Lawrence Korb has written, Congress could help our veterans much more "by resisting the draconian measures advocated by the Bush administration that adversely impact our current and future veterans." Instead, many of the same conservatives in favor of the flag amendment have tried or succeeded in increasing veterans' health care costs, reducing hostile fire pay and family separation pay, closing commissaries and schools on military bases throughout our country, refusing to allow National Guard and reserve members to participate fully in the military’s Tricare Health System, and resisting an expansion of the army to reduce the significant strain on forces serving today.
POORLY DRAFTED: The flag-burning amendment under consideration is "phrased in such broad and vague language" that scholars and legal analysts expect unintended consequences, including "censorship of images of the flag in works of art, advertising, or commerce." The term "desecration" is itself interpreted broadly in the Uniform Flag Statute, which forbids producing "any word, figure, mark picture, design, drawing or advertisement of any nature on any flag," and any "article of merchandise" upon which a flag is produced. Also, the amendment could "permit indictments and prosecutions not only of protestors, but individuals who purchase these works of art, or who use advertisements that desecrate the flag."
DO NOTHING, BY DESIGN: The current conservative-led Congress has been disparaged as a "Do-Nothing Congress," but this is by design. As Roll Call reported, Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) recently "decided to abandon any efforts at bipartisanship in favor of using his chamber to hold a series of highly partisan, mostly symbolic votes on conservative causes, including amendments banning gay marriage and flag burning, and fully repealing the estate tax." Instead of addressing pressing problems like Iraq, health care, energy, or global warming, the "world's greatest deliberative body" last week turned its attention the critical question of whether the flag amendment would permit the prosecution of women "wearing a very skimpy bathing suit" decorated like the flag. Thankfully, a clear answer was offered: "When you get to a bikini or a bathing suit, it's not a flag, it's a bikini."
posted by txpoollover, June 19, 2006 19:08 | link | comments
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Do You Get The News?
The Real News?
| BuzzFlash.com is a pro-democracy, anti-hypocrisy Web site featuring daily headlines, ... FIGHT IGNORANCE: READ BUZZFLASH. |
We have a war now for over 3 years.
An illegal occupation. This is not,
a "war on terror". This is an attempt
at world domination and control of
middle east oil. If Iraq produced olive
oil , we would not have invaded and
attempted to take control.
On my blog hello in there I have been
talking about the stolen election of 2004.
The Democrats are afraid to come out
against the occupation.
We have one party in the U.S.A. and
it stinks to high heaven.
I am against war and have been since
the start. We have to end this madness.
posted by txpoollover, June 10, 2006 09:34 | link | comments
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Today from :
BuyBlue.org | Vote With Your Wallet!
Viewing Al Gore's new movie titled 'An Inconvenient Truth' is quite possibly the most important thing you can do this year aside from voting. If you haven't heard about this excellent movie I'd highly encourage you to check out the web site and watch the trailer for the movie.
You'll find a great starting point for taking action on their web site on their 'Take Action' page. However, I wanted to focus on some things this 'Action' page doesn't really cover, things that BuyBlue supporters are already very in tune with.
All of you already know about the incredible power that you can wield with your wallet and there are many ways that you can put that power to work in support of this important cause. Here are 5 powerful ways to get started.
- View the movie and take friends. One of the more important things you can do is go see the movie and take as many people as you can with you. Send emails to your network of friends; make a date with your friends to go see it. Perhaps you have a conservative friend or two, drag them out to the theater and offer to pay for their ticket if you have to. You can find a list of theaters screening the movie on their site. Over the month of June this movie will open in most major cities, and I expect that more theaters will screen the film as popularity grows. With only 77 theaters the movie is in the top 10 - most blockbuster flicks are shown on 3,000+ screens.
- Get the movie screened in your city. Consult the list of theaters and ask your local theater if they plan to screen the movie. If not ask them why not and work to bring it to your city.
- Patronize companies taking action to solve the problem. Some companies are actively taking steps to help solve this problem by doing things such as creating energy efficient appliances, working on alternative energy solutions or developing high fuel efficiency cars. Vote with your wallets and show your support for these efforts. Shift money away from companies like Exxon that continue to claim there isn't a problem despite overwhelming scientific evidence. Some consider it 'greenwashing' but every other major oil company has changed their public posture on the issue while Exxon’s CEO continues to say things like "We're going to be an active participant in this debate. We're just going to have to disagree."
- Talk to your power company about Green Power. Your electric company may have a program that offers Green Power - use it! The US Department of Energy has a web site where you can look up companies in your state. If your power company doesn't offer Green Power ask them why not, and encourage others in your community to do the same.
- Take on the Media. One of the facts that Gore presents in this movie is the fact that scientists, in fact, do not disagree on the subject of global warming. A survey of scientific publications was conducted and out of something like 938 publications reviewed NONE of them disagreed. However, a survey of the media shows that 53% of articles written state there is disagreement or otherwise cast doubt on the subject. Casting doubt on an issue is a tried and true tactic, heavily used by the Tobacco industry to convince that tobacco really wasn't that bad for you. Make it a habit to check for articles on Global Warming highlighted by Media Matters. Read these articles, and write to the publications responsible for them correcting their facts. You'll want to address letters, faxes and emails to the reporters that covered the story, editors of the publication and the publication's ombudsman if they have one. Most of the time you'll find email addresses within the article or on the main web site of the publication. Write your own letters to editors of your local papers and get your thoughts on the subject published. We must hold the media accountable if they refuse to do it themselves. We are all consumers of media and where choices are available you can vote with your wallet by dropping subscriptions and tuning them out.
Do you have additional ideas or experiences to share? Log in to our web site and post a comment.
posted by txpoollover, June 07, 2006 15:28 | link | comments
Friday, June 02, 2006
Life in Texas summer 2006.
Hottter than hell already and just now it's
June. Leaving for work
at 7 am to avoid the heat.
Today my new wife Anet works with me on
swimming pool repairs.
I had a repair tech who not only seemed
to be illiterate in English but Spanish too.
He had reversed the connections to a
filter sending sand to a pool.
This unskilled technician could not install
a multiport valve for another job .
On top of nearly every job being done wrong,
He tried to steal my customers.
The worst repair tech in history is now fired.
I love being married and the fact that my wife,
will work with me and we work great as a
team. We can keep the money in the family.
Anet loves to repair things and put things
together. She is the best ~MK
posted by txpoollover, June 02, 2006 03:40 | link | comments
