Category: del.icio.us

you couldn’t make it up

Let Science Be Science:

“All of us have a right to our own opinions as to the seriousness of global warming,” [Congressman Henry] Waxman said. “We don’t have the right to our own science.”

Maybe there already is a dystopian novel about a civilization that literally destroyed its own world: isn’t this what we’re doing? We don’t know what the final outcome will be but it’s appalling to see these “think tanks” (what thinking can really be going on?) doing their utmost to undermine these reports, all for their patrons.

<cue Rod Serling voiceover> “Imagine, if you will, a planet where technology is the new god, where all worship at the altar of the electronic gadget, but the byproducts of the power generated to fuel this lifestyle, free from care, are silently but inexorably wiping out whole nations with floods and super-cyclones. These people, entranced by blinking lights and instant gratification, are about to enter — the Twilight Zone.”

I could be exaggerating, but I really don’t know. My kids might one day know but what will they think of me and those of us who could have stopped it?

Oh, and the definition of dystopia in my computer’s dictionary?

an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. [emphasis added]

trifecta

Will to Power :

It is a trifecta: ruling elites must be willing to slay villages and put entire populations in concentration camps abroad; ensure that those of the lower orders who breach the principles of thrift and good morals find themselves in poverty and misery at home; and accept the probability of their own violent death for no reason other than that they have labeled somebody else an “enemy.”

The burden of empire . . .

an idea whose time has come?

Senate Multimillionares Vote To Block Minimum Wage Hike:

After repeated delays by conservatives, the Senate voted 87-10 today to end debate on legislation that will raise the minimum wage for the first time in a decade, from $5.15 to $7.25. The bill will move to a full vote in the next several days.

Ten right-wing senators stuck together and voted to further delay raising the minimum wage:

Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) wants a raise.:

Backers of raising the minimum wage are blocking the annual congressional pay raise until 13 million working Americans also receive a raise. Blunt is objecting, saying the raise is “crucial for members of Congress who are not independently wealthy and must operate two households.” Members of Congress currently receive an annual salary of $165,200. The minimum wage is stuck at $5.15/hour.

Link Congressional Pay to the Minimum Wage Petition:

To: The President and Congress of the United States

Whereas, the members of the United States Congress already earn more than thirty (30) times the federally mandated minimum wage and are in a position to vote against pay raises that would otherwise be automatic;
Whereas, the opportunity to serve in the United States Congress is a privilege that should be its own reward;
We, the undersigned, propose a Constitutional Amendment linking Congressional Pay to the federal minimum wage, with Congress members to be paid no more than ten (10) times the amount of someone earning the minimum wage for a full year (or 2000 hours).

Only 87 people agree? Come on . . .

links for 2007-01-29