Michael Stringer

The Coolest Fueling Station Ever

2007-06-27T17:37:00.000-05:00

These are pictures I took of the Sequential Biofuels Station in Eugene, OR. Isn't it the nicest place to fuel up you've ever seen? Here are a few key features:
* Two grades of Ethanol fuel: E20 and E85 (the latter can only be used in so-called flex-fuel vehicles);
* Two grades of Biodiesel fuel: B5, B 20, and B99.9 (At least o.o1% petro diesel is required for a federal tax credit!);
* A green roof (or should I say green garden!);
* Bioswales to collect rainwater and allow it to seep back into local streams, naturally cleansed by on-site vegetation; and
* It is a brownfield site, so there is active remediation of contaminated groundwater underneath - they are cleaning up someone else's mess!

NPR Climate Coverage

2007-05-03T15:50:00.000-05:00

We can never be sure where policy changes come from. In the 1970's, the general public, authors, the media, and politicians, notably Senator Gaylord Nelson, became interested in protecting the environment. From these organic, raw feelings came notable environmental policies like the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Endangered Species Act. These laws, despite all of their flaws, are the basis of the environmental protection in this country.

This month, NPR begins their series on climate change. They are reporting on all aspects of this issue and I believe it will continue throughout the year. Now, I don't want to give NPR more credit than they are due. One can never say whether they are responding to market research and simply providing their relatively liberal, educated audience with what they want. On the other hand, maybe they are truly showing leadership in the climate change arena.

Personally, I don't care.

The important thing is that, finally, we are starting to talk about climate change on almost a daily basis. There is no doubt in my mind that this will be a major policy issue in the upcoming presidential election. The one who shows true leadership in this area will benefit and gain votes as a result.

For your part, NPR, way to go. This is the reason I love you.

The Amazing "Planet Earth"

2007-04-28T09:21:00.000-05:00

What do you normally do at 8pm on Sunday night?
I would seriously consider planting yourself down in front of the tube to watch Planet Earth on the Discovery Channel. It is an amazing mini-series. I think this show has an amazing ability to share some of the world's most unique places and events - all of them natural.
I think that we sometimes forget about how special we are to have such an amazing rock to live on. The scenes and events captured by these cinematographers are so real, so right-before-your-eyes, that protecting them seems the only 'natural' thing to do.
Sometimes we get so lost in the events that shape our own lives that it helps to see things from another perspective. I think that the folks who created this series legitimately wanted to share the 'natural' world with the 'developed' world. After you watch a show like this, the ideas that Al Gore or other environmentalists discuss have a richer, more concrete context.
This whole concept of 'Global Warming' comes from a line of thinking that many people just don't get - and that is understandable. Our society seems to be somewhat polarized on the issue of the environment, but it doesn't have to be that way.
We are an amazingly powerful animal, we humans. We have the power to flatten, deforest, develop, and homogenize the landscape. But we also have an amazing power to understand, explore, photograph, and protect places. Especially those places we see on "Planet Earth."

Planet Green Game

2007-04-24T09:11:00.000-05:00

Hey - got a few minutes to kill? There's a great game to play online that's sort of hip, fun, and educational - all at once! OK, so it has an environmental message, but isn't being Green the cool thing to be these days? Take your new knowledge with you to share at your next elbow-rubbing session with local glitterati!

Check it out at:

http://www.planetgreengame.com/

And - have fun being Green!!

Greening the House?

2007-04-20T04:24:00.000-05:00

U.S. House of Representatives Chief Administrative Officer Daniel Beard issued a report yesterday telling members of that body that they should go carbon-neutral. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.). Pelosi and Hoyer requested the analysis.

In the report, Beard offers several ways to accomplish this task, including:

Obtaining 100% of its energy needs from renewable sources.
Converting 12,000 office desk lamps to compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) during the next several months.
Directing the Capitol architect to no longer buy inefficient incandescent light bulbs.
Making CFLs available at cost to the 7,000 House staff members for their own use.
Purchasing Energy Star products and giving priority purchase to climate-neutral products that offset the lifecycle contribution of greenhouse gas emissions.
Directing the Capitol architect to install an Ethanol-85 tank, pump and related infrastructure for the use of official vehicles.

This is only a start, of course. Much more could be done in the way of setback thermostats and habit changes. However, I think that this report shows how lawmakers are starting to realize that the leadership in the Climate Change arena needs to come from somewhere - why not from our elected leaders?

source: Greenwire -- April 19, 2007

Green is the New Red, White and Blue

2007-04-20T04:09:00.000-05:00

Once again, New York Times Columnist Tom Friedman has called for Americans to stand behind a powerful initiative to change America's energy infrastructure in last Sunday's NYT Magazine. I have to say that I agree with his words and I hope you have a chance to read this article before the Times makes you pay to read it. If you miss it, feel free to email me and I can send it to you as a PDF. It's worth a read.

Marsh Fork Elementary School

2007-04-08T06:28:00.000-05:00

Marsh Fork Elementary School is located adjacent to a coal facility operated by a facility of Massey Coal. Check out this video which discusses the history of this struggle:

Bees experiencing "Colony Collapse"

2007-03-17T08:34:00.000-05:00

Honey bees are amazing. Being a daily consumer of honey, I cannot imagine living without them. It's funny, I never thought I would be worried about the honey bee population. I guess that's the essential problem with natural events: you never know what's coming.

Honey bees have made headlines recently because many Western Honey Bee populations have experienced significant declines. The reasons behind the collapse of so many populations is unknown, but this phenomenon is often called Colony Collapse Disorder.

Scientists are studying the bee decline carefully. There are a number of potential sources of the problem. It may be caused mostly by one factor or, more likely, a combination of a number of different factors, including the fact that fewer people keep bees in the U.S. than in previous generations.

Here's an interesting tidbit: nectar collected from a few plants in common landscape usage are toxic to both bees and humans: rhododendrons, azaleas, and golden rain trees. It seems plausible that these plants are one of the problems. Now, with the suburban fringe working ever farther into farming country, could we be experiencing some negative interactions between suburban landscaping trends and agricultural production?

In California, where the recent set of headlines about honey bee declines seemed to have originated, there is incredible development pressure on the agricultural lands surrounding the big (and even the small) cities. I have no doubt that these newly-arrived suburbanites are bringing in novel species to grow on the rich, formerly productive agricultural land. Could this be one of the factors contributing there? No one knows yet. We will have to just wait and see.

I, for one, am becoming somewhat alarmed, but don't take it from me. Here's what Albert Einstein said: "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left."

Bees are obviously important for honey, but their main importance is cross-pollination. In a recent news story from Ohio, I learned that over 75% of our food supply comes directly or indirectly from plants pollinated by bees. Farmers in Southern Appalachia are also worried about low bee populations. It turns out that lots of people are worried about this problem too.

Let's hope this whole thing dies down and nothing more gets made of it. Bees are just one of those animals we can't live without.

Well, I'm going downstairs to have some tea with honey and say a little prayer for my little friends. You should do the same.

Paper or Plastic? Neither!

2007-03-14T10:02:00.000-05:00

The City of San Francisco is considering banning plastic bags from local grocery stores.

So, which one is better: Paper or Plastic? That is a tough one for me. I think I am sitting with Umbra on this one: neither.

I'm sorry if I sound "way out there" on this one. So be it. I'm also a stay-at-home dad who uses cloth diapers. Call me crazy- it just feels right to me.

Anyway, we always try and remember our cloth grocery bags when we go to the store. We have a nice assortment of bags from cool places we have visited and things we have done. They are fun and sporty, I think.

The only problem we have encountered with using cloth bags is educating the bagger. Usually, I just send him away to bag someone else's groceries. Let's face it: baggers are trained to do it the way the store wants it done. Cloth bags can carry more than three tin cans of beans, but there is no time for such lessons in the world of grocery baggers.

Walmart is fun because they don't even have a good place to stand and bag your groceries. You have to do it atop the revolving plastic bag carousel. Now THAT is a challenge!

I think sometimes I use my cloth bags just to see the confused look on the teller's face when I insist that the bagger use the cloth ones. They really do look at you like you just stepped off of a space ship from some other galaxy. ("Please insert the specimens into these containers for inspection upon our return to Zezendorf!") Maybe this only happens around here, I don't know...

Hey, just think about it this way: Does it really look attractive to be hauling these ugly plastic or brown paper bags around? Come on people, get with it! Shopping bags must match one's persona and whit. Look around for about a dozen nice-looking shopping bags and keep them in the trunk of your car. Then, the next time you hear "paper of plastic," you can smile and say "What - me? Wear those out? Try these on for size!" And hey, you might end up saving a tree or two along the way while you're at it...

Y2K7 - OU812?

2007-03-08T14:16:00.000-05:00

For my second posting on Daylight Savings Time(DST), I will focus on the technical glitches that may result from implementation of new DST time-setback dates. This problem has been named Y2K7.

Just like with Y2K, many program software developers did not anticipate the event of DST dates being adjusted. Many software applications will need to be updated to make sure that schedules do not get messed up. No one really knows the extent to which this problem will be. I guess we'll know next week!

For example, if you own a computer running Windows XP, you will have not problems - but only if you regularly update the operating system. Windows Vista will not have a problem. The same holds tru for the Apple OS's.

Now here is an interesting angle - Palm Handheld devices MUST download and install an update, located Here. My guess is that this is where most of the problems will occur, as most people who use Palm devices also use them for scheduling and syncing with Outlook and other calendar software.

So, I'm hoping that the result is not bad press for this new DST setting. I remain hopelessly optimistic that minor adjustments like these will be at least part of our answer to global climate change in the U.S. All it takes is a little bad press, and back we go to the old days. That is, if I know my country's bureaucracy like I think I do!

By the way, don't forget to move up your 'old fashioned' clocks this weekend too!

Spring Back?

2007-03-07T16:47:00.000-05:00

Are you wondering why Daylight Savings Time (DST) seems to be happening a little early this year? DST is really an interesting phenomenon with a colorful history.

DST is being increased this year by one month. We get three extra weeks in the Spring and one extra week in the Fall. This change is occurring with the hope that we can realize a 1% energy savings from this minor change.

Now, there are some who would suggest that the energy savings will not happen, based on a recent Study out of Berkely. The researchers concluded that a DST extension that was mandated in Australia in preparation for the 2000 Olympics resulted in more net energy consumption, rather than savings.

I, for one, am willing to give this a shot. It is hard to extrapolate information gleamed from one study about another continent to the U.S. Besides, a 1975 U.S. Department of Transportation Study concluded that DST could save Americans 1% of energy consumption (ref). The same study also estimated a 0.7% reduction in automobile fatalities. That's enough for me!

Hey, maybe it won't work. Fine. We can go back, right? We are looking now for that low hanging fruit that we need to get done now to reduce our global carbon emissions. This one seems like a no-brainer to me. Plus, I get to stay outside longer in the evening!

Bunk Mail

2007-03-05T16:07:00.000-05:00

I am getting tired of opening my mailbox every day and finding it full of unsolicited material. I don't want to call it "junk" because there is often a lot of good stuff in there: catalogs full of cool toys and kids clothes, unique gadgets and knives, housewares, you name it - it's in my mailbox every day, inside the hundreds of catalogs we receive every year.

Now, I am a loyal American consumer - don't get me wrong - I love to buy stuff! I just wonder if this really meets the old sustainability test.

I have a friend who works in direct marketing. He says that this mail is directly targeted to our household and that we would not receive it unless there were a very good chance that we would buy something from these companies.

One day's haul - All 6.2 pounds of it.

Then there is the idea that I need to see something at least seven times before I begin to recognize it. These companies are obviously already gearing up for Christmas '07.

I wish there were some way to still get catalogs - without having to get so many. I am starting to follow the advice of these and these folks, but I will want to see a few of these, come actual Christmas buying season. Does it have to be an all-or-nothing thing?

Hmm...I'd bet we'll still have a full mailbox again come Christmas time, even if I do take action and stop these catalogs. There really is nothing like a wish book, after all...

Unity '08

2007-03-04T06:31:00.000-05:00

Tired of our presidential candidates being chosen by only 300,ooo people in idiosyncratic states like Iowa and New Hampshire? I am. If you are too, then you should check out Unity08 .com.

You now can reserve your seat to be a Founding Delegate at the national presidential primary that Unity08 will host over the Internet in the summer of 2008.

Unity08's vision is to "reclaim our government from pointless partisan bickering and the paralysis it causes."

"Unity08 presents an opportunity for everyday Americans to once again have more say than rich lobbyists, the media, and a handful of voters in early primary states in who shows up on the ballot in November 2008. The bipartisan Unity Ticket will represent us -- the vast majority of Americans who are in the political middle and who've had enough with inferior choices among candidates whose first priority is fundraising and advancing their own careers."

Fight Da (Green) Power

2007-03-02T15:11:00.000-05:00

What's up with the Al Gore-consumes-too-much-power-to-be-an-environmentalist controversy? I'll tell you what: a bunch of fear, that's what. People are scared to think that someone with the clout and popularity of Al Gore might be turning the tide on environmentalism, or maybe just global climate change.

I'm not saying that I condone rich peoples' overuse of electricity or the use of a 'Green Power Switch' to placate one's guilt for overconsumption. No way - not me. I just think that there are those who would use those old politics-of-personal-destruction to take the focus away from the real problem, which is finger-pointing.

I think that this is the case with so many environmental problems. People would rather bicker over whose fault the problems are instead of looking for answers to our problems.

Because we know we can fix this global warming thing. We can. And it won't be that difficult. We just need to let go of a few of our most nasty habits. I'll let you fill in the blanks here. I don't want to point any fingers, because, Lord knows I am not blameless.

Figure out for yourself what your worst, most polluting habits are and do something about it. Don't just sit on your butt and lay the blame squarely in the lap of the man who brought this issue to national attention. He's not The Man, you are! (or should I say, "You Da MAN!")

TXU deal kills 8 of 12 dirty coal plants?

2007-03-01T05:49:00.000-05:00

I have been extremely happy to hear of the TXU deal this week. It points to the potential to work with rather than against environmental groups to achieve positive results.

The question I have is, "Where will the power come from?" NPR's Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep interviewed Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense about the deal:

SI: I assume that TXU was planning 11 new power plants because they made a decision that the demand was there and that people needed more power generation. How are they going to get the power?

FK: They are going to double the amount that they spend to purchase wind power. And they're also going to double the amount they spend on energy efficiency.

This is becoming a new model, where utilities are understanding that they can make money by helping customers save energy.

SI: Are those steps enough to roll back the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, just more efficiency and more wind power?

FK: I think they're going to go a long way. There will be other steps as well the company needs to take. And we'll be working with them on an advisory board."

But there's probably no one silver bullet. There's probably a whole lot of silver buckshot that needs to be deployed by this utility, and others as well.

I think Fred is on the right track. The 'new business model' will not be to build a new plant at the whim of the power company. For one, the regulatory climate is going nowhere but in the direction of emissions reduction. Second, it simply looks bad on a company's P/L sheet to have all of the environmental liability of these dirty coal plants. Last, don't forget that Al Gore has started getting good press recently. That should tell us something about how fashionable environmentalism has become!

2006-11-09T15:55:00.000-05:00

Goodness, its been a while! I guess now is as good a time as any to start re-posting on G&T.

2005-01-28T15:06:00.000-05:00

Today, Slate's Fred Kaplan discusses a new CIA report that states that US global dominance could end in 15 years. The stated reason is our obsession with the war on terror. It seems that we are so focused on terrorism that we are missing the bigger picture. The surprise here is that these are not liberals, but CIA wonks.

I also recently read a piece in the Atlantic Monthly by Richard Clarke, the former White House counter-terrorism chief. His is a mock speech given by someone on the ten year anniversary of 9/11. He suggests that the government is missing the focus within the war on teerorism, suggesting that we need to be more practical in our look on homeland security.

Makes me wonder how Bush's second term will really look like. I remember thinking that Clinton's second term would be much more policy-driven than it was. Seems like things are more personality driven these days...

2005-01-28T09:33:00.000-05:00

Check out Wired Magazine's online CD. As they say:

"Rip, mix, burn. Swap till you drop. The music cops can't do a thing - it's 100 percent legal, licensed by the bands. The Wired CD, copyrighted for the 21st century."

The songs are listed for individual download and the CD is pretty cool! Check it out, and Share, share, share!

2004-09-30T22:32:00.000-05:00

On substance, I give them a tie.

On appearing presidential, once again, atie.

Going into issues too deeply? I was not bothered by Kerry's extra comments, but who knows about Nascar Dads...Soccer Moms?

I think that the lack of sound bytes was nice - a real debate over issues.

I thought Bush went on the defensive too much and fumbled too much on the "Greatest threat to our national security." I liked Kerry's response, as it sounded much more thought out.

What can I say, it was nice to see a debate where the guys could not hide behind 527's and other slander attacks!

2004-09-30T10:12:00.000-05:00

Be sure to check out ActforLove's latest feature, "Bloggie Style," which is a blog usually posted by John Hlinko, the web site's founder. Nice title, huh?

Tonight is a big night for those of us wishing for 'regime change.' Let's hope that Kerry can wake America up to the shortcomings of our current president. I love the commentary that I have seen James Fallows doing. I have now read the Atlantic article, heard him on Fresh Air, and seen him on the Newshour.

2004-09-06T23:35:00.000-05:00

Well, I guess I deserve what happened to me this weekend. I loaded windows XP onto my laptop on Friday and Saturday, I spent most of the day removing all of the virus and spyware that I inadvertently downloaded onto the machine. What a mess! For the past few years I have sat and watched others have these type of problems with XP, while I silently chuckled to myself, thinking myself safe with 98se.
Not a completely unproductive weekend, though. I did manage to get some work done and now the machine runs multimedia apps very well and it is a more enjoyable computing experience, for the most part. I'll just have to watch for what is around the next corner...

2004-09-02T12:00:00.000-05:00

I can't believe the nerve of Senator Zell Miller! How hypocritical to call Kerry a Flip-flopper, when he is a Democrat, speaking as a keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention. He called Kerry a good veteran three years ago, now he calls Kerry a bad veteran. First Clinton was good, now he is bad. Is it simply inconvenient for Senator Miller to remain loyal to his party right now? What a TRUE Flip-flopper!
Man, I hope that the Kerry campaign gets some traction from this one! Does anyone else out there see this hypocrisy?

2004-09-01T08:31:00.000-05:00

It seems that some Nashville City Councilmen want to impose a regulation banning panphandling from Nashville city streets. Does that mean that they will just throw these people in jail? What about rehabilitation? A local non-profit organization, the Nashville Downtown Partnership, has drafted the regulation. I think this really stretches the meaning of "non-profit" - if these people stand to gain from the development of the non-profit (ie. getting rid of all homeless people in Nashville!).

2004-08-31T09:02:00.000-05:00

Nashville!
I guess I can call this place home now - I've been here for a week. It is really amazing that this is the most progressive city in Tennessee. Wake up America!
The Democrat party doesn't even want my help here for the election - the whole state has been given over to the Republican Party, at least that's what the spindoctors and political strategists think...HA!

Now that my wife is in Nursing school, I am a stay-at-home dad. How's that for progressive ideas? At least we live in the West End area. I still get weird looks from passers-by. If only they knew the freedom that I get! The way I see it:
1) we aren't shelling out big bucks for a half-ass child care system
2) I get to work from home when I find the time (and not work for the MAN)
3) I don't have to scrub toilets, work in a factory, wait tables, or any of that other stuff I have done for cash
4) I spend my days hanging out on playgrounds with the coolest little girl in the world

I guess I don't really fit into any molds, which is comforting to people like me. For some reason, the Walmart, target, Big K, franchised world I find myself surrounded by does not make me feel like I need to be in these places. Consistency of product is one thing - homogenization and cheap stuff is another...

Enough useless rambling - off to the playground!

2004-03-14T02:19:00.000-05:00

OK, I've lived in this neighborhood for what, four years? I really have never gotten to know my closest neighbors. I've gotten to know the Carlsons, the Reifenstul-Thomas', the Lubin-Bush's, but not the Bone family. I have made so many instant judgements of that family, I can't count.
Seth is a sucessful businessman in Sitka. He owns the largest charter fishing business in town. To be honest, I have not always had the highest respect for these business owners. However, Seth owns a respectable establishment and is a nice guy.
Simine is a California girl. She is a beautiful blonde with a *ten* body. She always drives past our house going about twice as fast as we think she should be going. She is usually twirling her hair with her finger, leaning her elbow on the door of her SUV. She usually has a 'bitch' expression. While this is kind of sexy, it is also an awkward signal to receive as a neighbor in our relatively rural setting.
Today, I really hung out with Seth and their two kids, Andrew and Ellie. Andrew and Ellie are really great kids, but they suffer from a rare genetic disorder. I forget the name - '(something) X'
These people deal with so much more shit on a daily level than I could ever comprehend in my carefully crafted hippie world. It really is an eye-opener that I never saw this about Seth and Simine. I mean, forget about their background. These are people, plain and simple, trying just to get to the end of the day like the rest of us.

Why is it that we always need to associate a feeling - be it positive or negative - about a person?

I want to take from this that I should always try to understand a person as fully as possible before I make such fantastic judgements about them.

Hard to do...

2003-12-15T18:46:00.000-05:00

Saddam's capture will do little to change the level of insurgency in the Sunni Triangle. Unfortunately, these people are obsessed with the fact that America has brought its imperialism to their land and will not accept any new government authorized by our contry. What is requred is a multilateral force.
How many nations in the coalition of the willing have provided troops anyway?
I am impressed that the Bush administration has kept the press on their message. Today's incredible car bomb massacres in Iraq were all but completely overshadowed by a press conference with the commander-in-chief.
Can any democrat meet this incredible challenge?

2003-12-02T13:02:00.000-05:00

I read a great article at metropolismag.com. It is an interview with Johnathan Rose, who is a green building designer. Check it out:
http://www.metropolismag.com/html/sustainable/case/economicsofeco.htm
He says that there is little difference in price in designing and building green buildings. I wonder if enhanced productivity can be measured and shown to be worth the extra cost for renting these buildings? Increased efficiency can also offset the increased costs of building green.

2003-11-18T01:59:00.000-05:00

Today the much-touted energy bill made it out of conference committee. Great. No mention of reducing fuel consumption or renewable energy incentives.

I wonder when we, as a nation, will be able to create the political climate that:
*raising fuel taxes, or
*putting pressure on Detroit to raise fuel economy standards;
does not make for political suicide?

It really upsets me that this is the way our nation is being run. The worst part is, we cannot blame it on the Republicans or Democrats. They are all guilty of playing the Game. And aren't we all to blame for letting it happen? The vast majority of Americans must feel totally appathetic to environmental measures such as better fuel economy. Why else would we buy so many SUVs?

Another major problem with the new Energy Bill (or a problem that it points to) is ANWR. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge contains oil. There you go. A perfect cause for the nation's environmental groups to stand up and fight for. The problem is, we are creating problems much bigger than ANWR everyday with our addiction to oil. I say, let them have ANWR, for heaven's sake. Fighting for ANWR is the bandaid approach. Besides, it's not 'America's Serengetti' anyway. ANWR contains a migratory pathway for an emmense herd of caribou. Oil drilling activity would certainly be a detriment to the herd. However, this is not worth all of the fighting that goes on (and all the wasted paper used to print propaganda for soliciting funds to pay environmental lawyers in DC).

ANWR is small potatoes compared to global warming, terrorism, air quality, water quality, and the general environmental condition of the world as a whole. We as citizens need to send a resounding voice to DC that there are certain characteristics that we need to protect. Sending lawyers in to fight for a piece of arctic tundra only enrages conservatives more!

I remember as a kid hearing people talk about the old cadillacs and such that were so huge, with the fins and all. People would laugh and talk about 'what fuel hogs they were.' Then came the fuel crisis, I guess. Was that the only thing that gave such a pendulum swing toward conservation in the seventies? I think that the Carter admin. had a lot to do with it as well, but there must have been something else. We should find out and use our heads.

Only by developing a unified, national strategy can we gain popularity for environmentalism again. It has been working for the Republicans for the last few years - why not us too?

2003-11-14T13:36:00.000-05:00

I heard a soundbyte of Rick Santorum this morning on NPR. Wow! He sounded so evil! He was mad about the Democrat's fillibuster of the three most conservative nominees to fill appellate judge positions. He suggested that there would be payback and all other sorts of partisan tactics to stall the democrats if they (ever)take back the senate. The times of bipartisanship are long gone. What a waste of everyone's time.

2003-11-11T19:03:00.000-05:00

Howard Dean has really set a precident by turning down federal campaign matching funds. No one is surprised that Bush did it, as he is unchallenged in the primary and seems to have a bottomless war chest to pull from if he opts out of the program.
Dean, on the other hand, has re-written grass-roots politicing. He has been able to raise $25 million over the internet, with an average donation of $77 per donation. How can he be accused of bowing to special interests with this in mind?
Granted, he has little chance of defeating Bush unless he gets the $100 from 2 million people, as he has said he wants to do. However, the internet crowd has been eager to show its support of Dean's campaign so far.
I, for one, am waiting to see what happens in the primary season before I donate to a campaign.

2003-11-09T18:05:00.000-05:00

I saw Boykin on a documentary Friday night on PBS. The documentary was on the US Special Forces. It was well done and I was intrigued by the whole operation. The general has been in the special forces for over 30 years, it seems. He was part of a secret rescue operation in Iran in the seventies. There was a mid-air collision as they were pulling out that created a big stir.
I can see why he has so much admiration amongst washington brass. However, I still believe that he should be reprimanded in some way for speaking the way that he did about Islam. I would think that he would have gained respect for the religion by working closely with various indigenous groups in the middle east.

2003-11-05T19:20:00.000-05:00

What's going on with the General Boykin controversy? I hope it does not just fade away. I really think it is wrong to put this man in charge of working with the very people he made disparaging remarks about. I mean, what ever happened to the honor of the military? If a person wants to make personal comments, he or she should not do so in uniform, else give the appearance that the comments reflect the views of the organization.
Despite the title, Deputy undersecretary of defense carries a lot of weight.
Why do we continue this open hatred for people different from us? Was it Joseph Campbell who said that 'there are many paths to the same mountain'?

2003-09-30T18:17:00.000-05:00

Hello. I am studying the planet earth at my school. My teacher tells me that there are creatures that live there who stare at boxes on their desks all day. It seems they are fascinated with this box. Could you send me some information about these weird boxes and maybe a sample? We don't have these objects or creatures on my planet. Thanks! -alien timmy

2003-09-29T12:33:00.000-05:00

Gee, I sure feel excited about my new life as a blogger. I mean, is there life beyond my computer screen. Hours and hours of web design have made me begin to re-think my life's ambitions.
Gotta go. I think the Simpsons are on...