So, this is amazing,
Senator McCain evidently now believes in global climate change, according to a
canned reply to a letter i sent recently.   "Human activities, including
the burning of fossil fuels, are the primary source of carbon dioxide
and other greenhouse gas emissions in our atmosphere....As Americans, we
can no longer ignore our significant contribution...The United States
must act responsibly ... It is also essential that we maintain our
leadership role as the world moves toward an international market for
greenhouse gas reductions."

of course, we MUST have a MARKET. of course. At all costs.

sigh.

Happy birthday United States of America. Happy blow-shit-up and barbecue some meat and get drunk day.

While I acknowledge there are some nice things about this nation that I've been lucky enough to be born a citizen of, today I want to think and write about the common belief held by lots of Unitedstatesians that their country is "the best".  "We're number 1!" we hear them shout. Rah Rah.

Let's get right to it. Where are we, exactly, in the rankings? Are we Numero Uno?  How do we compare? Read more>>>

author: Chip Smith

name: Steev

average rating: 4.12

book published: 2007

rating: 5

read at: 2010/06/19

date added: 2010/06/20

shelves: politics

I've long been making this same criticism but this is so well done and so forceful and eloquent that I just have to slap it up here on this blog. enjoy.

Related commentary here: http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2010/06/09/border-cities-are-safest-in-na...

The message U.S. Border Enforcement seems to be sending is that Read more>>>

• steev's blog

detritus posted a photo:

in Silver City

author: Margaret Killjoy

name: Steev

average rating: 4.00

book published: 2009

rating: 4

read at: 2010/01/21

date added: 2010/01/23

shelves: politics

author: Eric Hoffer
name: Steev
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1951
rating: 4
read at: 2009/10/17
date added: 2009/10/24
shelves: politics

author: Ellen Ullman

name: Steev

average rating: 3.41

book published: 1997

rating: 5

read at:

date added: 2009/09/07

shelves: politics

review:

author: Iain A. Boal

name: Steev

average rating: 4.67

book published: 1995

rating: 5

read at: 1997/01/01

date added: 2009/09/07

shelves: politics

review:

In less than 24 hours I've read 2 articles, one in the Times and one a book review by Elizabeth Kolbert in the New Yorker, about people who do "stunts" in order to raise awareness or disseminate knowledge about climate change. It's a trend where various writers and activists and others do some symbolic act, like a Thoreau-esque thing such as living for a year without electricity, or an attention-getting feat like walking across the country, and hence get people to think about this stuff and pay attention in a different way.

Kolbert rightly points out that a lot of the motivation for this is that few people want to be clobbered with yet another doom-and-gloom scenario that makes them feel like they're bad people for driving or buying plastic bottles. As the New York Times article concludes of the folks Greta Browne meets on her cross-country climate walk,

In the end, Ms. Browne said, she thinks that most people are sympathetic and want to do something

• steev's blog