CRYSTAL BLUE PERSUASION AND ONE HANGING

Saddam Hussein is dead and gone.
His fate was sealed soon after he climbed out of his spider hole.
Fallout from wars of the Bush regime continue, and Saddam Hussein can now hang out with virgins in paradise.
How much better do we feel that a brutal dictator was put to death?
The United States of America is itself still hanging in the balance of truth and justice.
Will the Bush administration ever be prosecuted for any Crimes or Misdemeanors?
Will President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney escape investigation for war that was dictated and prosecuted with fabrication and obfuscation?
We may feel good about the hanging of Saddam Hussein, but we should not feel satisfied until our own leaders are brought to justice for an unjust and unnecessary war.


INVESTIGATE AND PROSECUTE!



***


Robert Fisk (Middle East journalist): “His execution will go down - correctly - as an American affair and time will add its false but lasting gloss to all this - that the West destroyed an Arab leader who no longer obeyed his orders from Washington, that, for all his wrongdoing Saddam died a "martyr" to the will of the new "Crusaders". (The Independent, 30 December)


The International Action Center ( US ): “This punishment has nothing to do with the alleged crimes of the Iraqi leader nor is it part of an historical judgment of his role. It is the act of a conquering power against a nation that is occupied against the will of the vast majority of its people.”


Professor Jose Maria Sison (the Philippines ): “Bush depicts the hanging of Saddam as a part of building democracy in Iraq and even in the entire Middle East . But he is clearly lying in view of the so many authoritarian regimes (including monarchic and theocratic ones) in the region with which the US has good relations. The brutal US occupation of Iraq has nothing to do with democracy. What is important to the US is servility to the rule and profit-making of US monopoly interests.”


Cebrapaz ( Brazilian Center of Solidarity with the Peoples and Struggle for Peace): "The president of the USA , who ordered this act, enters in history as the greatest enemy of the peace and the greatest terrorist of all time. The world will only know better days, of peace and justice, when imperialism and its war politics are defeated."

Doppelganger

I woke up feeling stranger than usual.
I knew who I was.
Of course, I was myself---I mean I was me--- but I also felt I was someone else just like me.
I took a quick peek in the bathroom mirror.
It was still just me in the mirror.
What in the heck was going on?
What was causing these sensations of disambiguation?
I checked my horoscope for that day.
I don't believe in astrology, nor do I ever read horoscopes, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to check today's horoscope.
Nothing about Doppelganger in my horoscope.
Next, I checked my biorhythm.
Again, nothing here.
Then it dawned on me what the problem was:
I had been eating cloned beef and drinking cloned milk.
It was causing me to think I was a copy of myself.
It was making me feel twice as good about myself as well.
Let me know if I am not the only one (or two) experiencing this phenomenon.



IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

ODD JOBS

Some jobs are born odd.
Some jobs achieve oddness.
Other jobs have oddness thrust upon them.
I may have already written about the different odd jobs that I’ve had.
When I was going to college I worked as a cashier and stocker for a major retail food chain.
This job paid for my college education.
This was before any lasers scanned IPCs.
I punched the stiff keys of a large cash register.
I checked items quickly, and this is what management liked.
After graduating from college, and after leaving my job as a store stocker and cashier, I was a teacher for a short time in a small Colorado town.
The racial violence in the school and community made me resign after a semester.
I thought that I would never teach again, but this didn’t happen…thankfully.
I worked in three different restaurants.
I was a dishwasher at two restaurants, and a short-order cook in the other one.
But so far, these are not the oddest jobs that I’ve had.
The oddest jobs were the day labor jobs.
One time I went to clean a business that had burned down. Smelly, sooty and dirty!
Another time I spent the day picking up odd pieces of paper at a city dump. The wind was flying and so were those pieces of paper. But at $4 per hour I was all for the wind doing its job. It took more time for me to chase all those pieces of paper.
One morning I went to a house to find out where a sewer line was blocked.
It was the house of the writer and historian Forest Crossen.
He pointed out where to dig.
I found the blockage quickly. I forget what I did after I found it.
Mr. Crossen made me breakfast. I remember the very ripe red tomatoes that were sitting on his kitchen window sill.
One morning I went to K-Mart to work. The job was unloading bags of manure. I had on my nice coat and so I didn’t accept this job.
I worked in two factories for about three months each.
At one factory I sorted magazine subscriptions by city and state.
At another factory I dipped tips of wires into hot solder.
Menial jobs are good for thinking about your life. The repetitive actions give you time to think about all sorts of things. But sometimes you don’t do any thinking at all. It’s kind of liberating.
When I was in New Mexico I dug a hole in the desert for a girl named Mary. She needed an outhouse. For this job I wasn’t paid any money, but Mary made me breakfast every morning. I dug through what seemed like mostly rocks, but I finally had the hole dug. It was shaped like an upside-down T. I felt proud after I finished excavating this pit.
Another job that satisfied the vagabond side of my soul was being a garbage collector. Except for having to inhale diesel fumes, this was a satisfying job. The oddest part was seeing what people eat and throw away. I remember the boxes of empty wine bottles I would pick up at this nunnery. I guess the wine compensated for an otherwise strict and sedate way of life.



IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

THE SOFT DOWN OF MANHOOD

I'm growing my beard again.
Or as my Shakespeare professor said to me many years ago (when I was working as a humble dishwasher):
"Oh. I didn't recognize you with your facial hair."
My philosophy professor had one of those almost pure white beards.
Such beards make me think that the life and soul of the beard-bearer has been a pure one.
Not too many persons have said to me, "Ah. You're growing a beard!"
And so I haven't given my usual retort: "No. It grows all by itself!"
There's nothing worse than a man with a beard who's trying to be funny.
Here are some beard quotes that I like:

"Chins without beards deserve no honour." (Spanish proverb)
"A beard signifies lice, not brains." (Greek proverb)
"He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man." (Shakespeare)

People have been calling me Santa Claus lately.
I guess that's a compliment.
I don't know how long I'll keep my beard this time around.
But it's getting long enough now to be more than just facial hair.
I guess my beard is growing on me after all!



IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

GIRLY-MAN AND GREENHOUSE GASES

Global Warming is not a fraud.
It is a big threat.
The country might pull together on the issue of Global Warming because of one former bodybuilder who became an actor, and now is the governor of California.
Arnold Schwarzenneger is the compassionate conservative that George W. Bush wasn't.
Arnold, unlike George, doesn't have oil wells and cronies sprouting out of his shorts and shoes.
Mr. Schwarzenegger can never be president (unless Congress changes Article 2, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution.) since he was born outside of the U.S.
But he could get elected as a senator.
Arnold has gone green.
He supports strict regulations and enforcement of greenhouse gas levels.

Mr. Schwarzenegger said:

"The war has dragged us down. There's no reason to get political, that's just the way it is. But you can balance it by being a great leader in the environment. The more America shows leadership in that area, the more we will be loved for that as much as they love us for our hamburgers and for our jeans and for our movies and for our music."



IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

EATING OUTSIDE OF THE BUN

The worst case of indigestion and gas that I’ve ever had came after I dined at a popular restaurant that encourages its customers to think
OUTSIDE OF THE BUN.
I think that it was the taco sauce.
That delicious, hot taco sauce.
My girlfriend walked on my stomach to "push" the gas out of me.
Don't get me wrong.
I like this restaurant's food.
(I will not write the actual name of the restaurant. I don't want to hurt their business any more than has already been done by their E. coli problem.)
Tonight I heard a fellow (some company spokesman I suppose...I didn't see him because I was cleaning my eyeglasses), and he was telling the world that their food was now safe to eat where the E. coli outbreaks had occurred.
Well, I don't suppose every vegetable consumed in their restaurants can be checked for E. coli.
And let's face it; it was probably just a statistical occurrence that could happen in any restaurant.
Still, when I eat south of the border, I know that I may experience more gastronomic difficulties.
So far so good.


IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

YOUR WAY FORWARD IS GOING BACKWARDS

"There's no question the military has been used a lot."
George W. Bush
December 19, 2006


***

You're so right Mr. Long War President.

The soldiers that you put in Iraq for your deceitful and deranged war HAVE BEEN USED.

And the American people HAVE BEEN USED.

A surge of more soldiers will produce more insurgency.

You must be receiving your thoughts from some pinball machine:

Pull the lever and let the balls go where they want to go and that’s where the answers lie.

Barney and Laura may indeed end up being the only two who ultimately support your Great Debacle in Iraq.

Getting the job done is not necessarily victory.

Victory isn't winning when thousands and thousands more die.

A surge will not produce a purge.

It will create more death.

It will incite more violence.

If the Long War President is neither winning nor losing in Iraq (as he now claims), then he is stuck in neutral---and there is no way forward since there is no movement.

It is an impasse that will deteriorate and become more grave (and graves).

The dictatorial rhetoric is devoid of reality and rationality.

It is full of rationalizations and self-delusion.

Sean Penn is right.

You must be investigated and impeached for your crimes.

It is no game.


It is no joke.
It is not a smirking matter.

Your script now says a new way forward.

But when you're going in reverse (or neutral) you can't go forward.

So put on the brakes...now...before more body bags return to the U.S.

Before more war breaks out in the Middle East!

Only when US troops are withdrawn will Iraq move to the next stage in its development. That stage is unlikely to be pretty. It will involve jockeying for position by different religious and ethnic groupings, and the likelihood is that the violence that we now see will continue. Only one thing will change: The Iraqis will be in charge of their destiny. And that change is, of course, the essential one.
That's why the vast majority of Iraqis tell pollsters that the US occupying forces should leave.
It is time to put aside fantasies, and fantastical strategies, and recognize that the next chapter in Iraq's history will only begin when foreign military forces leave.
Strategists in Washington should be developing a plan for US troops to surge homeward, not pushing a scheme to send more young men and women into a hopeless--and deadly--quagmire.

[From “Surging” in the Wrong Direction
By John Nichols/The Nation/Posted
12/19/06]



IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

ON BOREDOM

BEING BORED IS A DISEASE
WITHIN NOT WITHOUT.

"I AM BORED" MEANS "I DO NOT WANT TO FIND ANYTHING INTERESTING IN WHAT I AM DOING; I AM NOT GOING TO FIND ANYTHING INTERESTING IN ANYTHING."

THIS IS A VERY NEGATIVE ATTITUDE.

THE BORED PERSON IS MORE BORING THAN THE THINGS HE OR SHE SAYS BORES HIM OR HER.

THIS TYPE OF PERSON IS BORING. HE OR SHE IS THE BORE! IT IS NOT THE THINGS HE OR SHE MUST READ OR EXPERIENCE THAT ARE BORING SO MUCH AS HIMSELF AND HERSELF.

THE BORED SAY THAT THEY ARE BORED BECAUSE THEY THEMSELVES ARE BORING.

AN INTERESTED PERSON WILL NEVER GET BORED, AND THEY WILL BE INTERESTING BECAUSE THEY REMAIN INTERESTED.




IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

STRANGE WORDS

I woke up this morning with a strange phrase running through my head.
PENIS IN A SANDBOX.
It is stange and mystifying how some words will form in our brains.
From whence do they come?
And why?
I have never read or heard the above enigmatic phrase.
Maybe it's because of the Iraq War.
Maybe I was subconsciously thinking about U.S. leadership (or unleadership) that has life and treasury deadlocked and dying in Iraq.
If I learn how and why PENIS IN A SANDBOX began running through my head, I will let you know.


IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

MY NEW WAY FORWARD REQUIRES MORE MONEY AND SOLDIERS

"Mr. Bush did announce his plan for 20,000 more troops, and the White House trumpeted a $1 billion contribution to reconstruction efforts. Congress will debate these as if they are the real issues. But they are not. Talk of a “surge” ignores the other 140,000 American troops trapped by a failed strategy."
"We have argued that the United States has a moral obligation to stay in Iraq as long as there is a chance to mitigate the damage that a quick withdrawal might cause. We have called for an effort to secure Baghdad, but as part of the sort of comprehensive political solution utterly lacking in Mr. Bush’s speech. This war has reached the point that merely prolonging it could make a bad ending even worse. Without a real plan to bring it to a close, there is no point in talking about jobs programs and military offensives. There is nothing ahead but even greater disaster in Iraq."

Editorial
The Real Disaster
Published: January 11, 2007
The New York Times


***


The war in Iraq will determine the kind of world your children and grandchildren will live in.
At this moment that world is going to be a dark and bleak one unless we complete the mission and get the job done in Iraq.
Our mission in Iraq will not be complete until the mission is completed.
The job will not be finished until Victory is achieved.
We will not cut and run.
We will not walk and hum.
We did not remove a dangerous dictator and murder his sons just so that we could leave Iraq without achieving victory.
We came, we saw, we bombed…and we will conquer the radicals and extremists.
Many battles have been won; many civilians have been killed; but our mission still isn't complete.
Halliburton and Bechtel must also complete their mission.
We cannot allow extremists and radicals to have our...I mean Iraq’s oil.
The stability of the Middle East depends on defeating the enemies of peace in Iraq.
Iraq is now the center of the Global War on Terrorism.
Iraq is the new breeding ground for the killers who want to kill you, me and our children.
But we are cornering and corralling the radicals and extremists in Baghdad
It is there that we will defeat the enemies of peace and bring them to justice.
There can be no retreat.
There will be no retreat.
We shall prevail.
I created this mess.
Let me destroy what I have created.
I will work on a new way forward…
And it’s my way or the highway!
We still have God on our side!
I know.
I talked with Him the other night.
Barney was there.


***

"You see, we do not have a democracy, with the Bush administration in power. We have an elective dictatorship."

"Bush is the Napoleon of our age, trampling on whole peoples, a Jacobin Emperor mouthing the slogans of liberty and popular sovereignty while crushing and looting those he "liberated." And Kagan and Kristol (playing Talleyrand 1798) and Emperor Bush are readying a further slaughter of our US troops, 24,000 of whom have been killed or wounded, and of innocent Iraqis, 600,000 of whom have been killed by criminal and political violence since spring of 2003."

"The problem is that Iraq is a 500,000 troop problem. Another 40,000 are just going to anger locals."

From Informed Comment
www.juancole.com
December 15, 2006



IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

LETTUCE COFFEE AND THE FDA (Fraudulent Drug Agency)

Recent studies have reported how drinking 3 cups of coffee each day can help maintain the brain.
Coffee also contains more anti-oxidants than green tea.
Recent E. coli outbreaks have put the blame on spinach, onions, lettuce, beef and cheese.
No more deluxe hamburgers.
Forget those delicious tacos.
No more salads.
But...drink all of the coffee that you want!
Then there's the FDA that seems to give rapid approval to hundreds of drugs with all of those exotic names.
Such as Brovara, Tyzeka, Januvia, Pylera, Fentora, Veredeso, Daytrana.
Daytrana is for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children 6-12 years of age.
And the good news: It's a transdermal patch!
Each issue of my Reader's Digest contains its share of drug advertisements.
(I have the TV on and just heard this maxim:
"Knowledge is the best medicine of all."
You said it brother!
Getting back to Reader's Digest.
I have one issue with 10 ads for various drugs.
Then just before drug ad #11 there is an advertisement for Taster's Choice coffee.
At least RD is fair and (somewhat) balanced.
I get a big kick out of the warnings for these drugs.
Lunesta (or eszopiclone) is a sleep aid.
Part of its ad states:
"Lunesta not only helps most people fall asleep fast, it helps you sleep all through the night...Until you know how you'll react to Lunesta, you should not drive or operate machinery. Side effects may include unpleasant taste, headache, drowsiness and dizziness."
Maybe just stop drinking the coffee that keeps us awake.



IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

GUADALUPE

 

Guadalupe's Light
Shines Through A Forest's Tall Trees
Awakening Love

By M.L. Squier



The origin of the name Guadalupe has always been a matter of controversy. It is nevertheless believed that the name came about because of the translation from Nahuatl to Spanish of the words used by the Virgin during the apparition to Juan Bernardino, the ailing uncle of Juan Diego.
Some believe that Our Lady used the Aztec Nahuatl word of coatlaxopeuh which is pronounced "quatlasupe" and sounds remarkably like the Spanish word Guadalupe. Coa meaning serpent, tla being the noun ending which can be interpreted as "the", while xopeuh means to crush or stamp out. So Our Lady must have called herself the one "who crushes the serpent."
Quetzalcoatl
Serpent-god
We must sadly remember that the Aztec priest class executed annually at least 50,000 inhabitans of the land, men, women and children, in human sacrifice to their gods. In 1487, just in a single 4 days long ceremony for the dedication of a new temple in Tenochtitlan, some 80,000 captives were killed in human sacrifice.
An almost universal symbol of that religion was the serpent. Human sacrifices were heralded by the prolonged beating of huge drums made of the skins of huge snakes, which could be heard two miles away. Nowhere else in human history had Satan so formalized his worship with so many of his own actual symbols.
Certainly, in this case She crushed the serpent, and few years later millions of the natives converted to Christianity. [http://www.sancta.org/nameguad.html0

BONES HAIR & SCHOOL DISCIPLINE

It was my science class.
I was in the seventh grade.
My teacher (for that time) had very short hair.
Miss Anderson also seemed to have only two pairs of clothing.
She wore the same dress and blouse day after day.
It was a shock when she wore her other outfit.
This is all that I remember about my science class…this…
And the day that Miss Anderson pulled Greg Feazell and me out of class by our hair.
Miss Anderson had warned us.
She mostly warned me.
I was the main joker.
Miss Anderson was talking about the bones of the human body.
I made one “joke” too many.
She immediately grabbed my hair and Greg’s, and dragged us out like an angry cave woman.
We didn’t resist.
It hurt like hell.
Our bodies went limp.
Outside the room she said something like, “Are you two going to stop it and shut up?”
Underneath our clutched hair follicles were two red faces moving up and down.Yes, we understood.
And we were embarrassed.
It didn’t matter too much to Greg, since the girl who he liked wasn’t in this class to see the humiliation.
It didn’t matter to me because Miss Anderson didn’t call my mom.
Her philosophy was that if the teacher had to call her I WOULD GET DOUBLE WHAT THE TEACHER HAD GIVEN ME.
Nowadays teachers need to document and document bad behavior before they submit their discipline referrals.
Not Miss Anderson.

WATER AND OIL (DON'T MIX) ON MARS

If Mars only had petroleum.
Then the Bush-Oil-War-Cabal might quickly skip and hop to Mars and leave Iraq.
Go to Mars...Get out of Iraq.
That would be the new mantric soundbite.
Martian oil would produce the impetus to develop faster and more efficient spaceships.
Maybe Mars does have oil.
Let's find out...
And then a graceful exit from Iraq can occur...
Now...
Not later!


IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

The anti-war demonstrations on the eve of the Iraq war, in New York, Los Angeles, London, Rome…were the biggest anti-war demonstrations in world history, but Bush invaded Iraq the next month anyway, and as of Dec. 8, 3,000 Americans have been killed there, and perhaps 650,000 Iraqis, according to the Johns Hopkins study published in The Lancet.
From John Lennon's Legacy/By Jon Wiener/The Nation/12-7-06

“It’s bad in Iraq. Does that help?”
George W. Bush


***


The Iraq Study group has paved a way for the Iraq War to continue.

In Orwellian fashion the ISG defines the war as a failure, but

then lists the things that need to happen for the failure to

become a success.

The caldron of lies is only being agitated.

The wool is over our eyes, so just die the wool a different

color.

Who's to notice?

The Long War President still roosts on the sunny-side of his

self-delusion.

The barn is burning but Bush believes it isn't.

The strategic and corporate interests of the Bush Cabal will

not permit the abandonment of Iraq's oil fields.

If the welfare of the Iraqi people (and the world) had been

the real reason for the Pre-Emptive War, then Iraqis would

have water, electricity and freedom.

Honor would be to leave the Iraqi people now.

Dishonor already occurred when America invaded Iraq.

The Decider may not condone abortion, but his war has

become a large, grotesque, bloody one.



IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

DOUBLESPEAK AND SURRENDER MONKEYS

The policy is, always was, and in the minds of the Bush cabal will always will be, to occupy Iraq indefinitely while we install 14 permanent military bases, where they have absolutely no business of the Iraqi people to be there. And until they are absolutely forced to do otherwise that is where they will stay, which is what is precisely meant by Bush's recent rejection of any kind of "graceful exit."

The SECRET Plan
To Stay In Iraq
PeaceTeam.net
12-7-6

Since the US army has no control, provides no security, and does not know who it is fighting, US troops simply provide targets for insurgents. They are accomplishing nothing positive and should be withdrawn. US troops in Iraq serve one purpose: They are a provocation that foments Islamic extremism and creates dangerous instability throughout the Middle East.

PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

"I listen to all voices, but mine is the final decision."
George W. Bush
April 18, 2006


“We will act in a timely fashion”.
December 6, 2006
George W. Bush

A September opinion poll by WorldPublicOpinion.org showed that 71 per cent of Iraqis want the U.S. out of Iraq within a year.

“As part of an aggressive prewar covert action program--codenamed Anabasis (after an ancient text about a botched invasion of Babylon)--the CIA was authorized by the White House in the winter of 2002 to blow up targets in Iraq and engage in "direct action" (an agency euphemism for assassination) to weaken Saddam's regime and to prepare for his ouster by the U.S. military. For Anabasis, the agency smuggled Iraqi exiles to a top-secret site in the Nevada desert and trained them in sabotage and explosives. The Iraqi force, known as the Scorpions, was being trained to seize an isolated Iraqi military post-in order to create a provocation that could trigger a war with Iraq.”

[From The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War by Michael Isikoff and David Corn]


***

They are addicted to obfuscation.
They are drunk on power.
They are hooked on a war for peace and their nationalinterests.
They will try to change their behavior.
(But it’s tough)
They’re not winning, and they’re not losing.
But the situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating.
(All options have to stay on the table).
The ship of state has hit rough waters.
It must now chart a new way forward.
(They will stand down when they can stand up)
But they do not recommend a stay-the-course solution.
(They used to be there to spread democracy; now they’re in a new phase)
They are starting a new way forward.
(They will not leave until they win...they will not go until the job is done)
If they don’t complete the mission there will be regional cataclysm and chaos.
There will be, for quite some time, a robust American force presence, both in Iraq and in the region, because of our interest in preventing just such a result and also because of our national security interests in the region.
You cannot solve this problem by dealing with the military problem.
You cannot solve this problem by dealing with the economic reconstruction problem.
You cannot solve this problem by dealing with the political problems in Iraq.
It's too far along the way for that.

THEN WHAT IN HELL will the Long War President do next?

The room is spinning.
The sky is falling.
Where are we?
Who are we?
Who’s our daddy?
They won't be here when they’re dead.
The war will still be going on long after they’re dead and gone.

Let others worry about my war when I'm dead and gone.
Victory!
Victory!
Victory!



IT'S THE OIL STUPID!


***


"People in South Carolina come up to me in increasing numbers and suggest that no matter what we do in Iraq, the Iraqis are incapable of solving their own problems through the political process and will resort to violence, and we need to get the hell out of there."
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.)

"We should put the responsibility for Iraq's future squarely where it belongs ---on the Iraqis. We cannot save the Iraqis from themselves."
Senator Carl M. Levin

"If the Iraqis are determined and decide to destroy themselves and their country, I don't know how in the world we're going to stop them."
Rep. Robin Hayes (R-N.C.)

"No more coddling of Iraqis.”
Sen. Barak Obama

IN DENIAL ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING

They said that cigarettes were not (that) dangerous.
They said not to worry about them.
Then down the road, years later, was the living (or dying) proof that cigarettes DID KILL.
Global Warming.
Stop your worrying.
It won't kill you.
Then down the road, years later, our cities were under water.
Stop your worrying about Global Warming.
It won't kill you.
Yet.


IT'S THE OIL STUPID!


***


November 29, 2006
Filed at 12:04 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court stepped gingerly into the national debate over global warming on Wednesday, asking how much harm would occur if the Environmental Protection Agency continues its refusal to regulate greenhouse gases from new vehicles.
In the first case about global warming to reach the high court, a lawyer for 12 states and 13 environmental groups pressed the justices to make the government act, saying the country faces grave environmental harm.
Inaction is like lighting ''a fuse on a bomb,'' said James Milkey, an assistant attorney general for the state of Massachusetts.
Opening up an hour of arguments, Justice Antonin Scalia asked, ''When is the predicted cataclysm?''
It's not cataclysmic, but rather ''ongoing harm,'' Milkey replied.
Deputy Solicitor General Gregory Garre, representing the Bush administration, cautioned justices that EPA regulation could have a significant economic impact on the United States since 85 percent of the U.S. economy is tied to sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
Garre also argued that EPA was right not to act given ''the substantial scientific uncertainty surrounding global climate change.''
Chief Justice John Roberts pointed out that regulating carbon dioxide emissions from new vehicles addresses just one aspect of an issue of global dimensions.
The argument by those pushing for EPA action on vehicle emissions might or might not be valid, but it ''assumes everything else is going to remain constant,'' Roberts observed.
Several justices questioned whether the states and environmental groups have met their legal burden to show they will be harmed by continued EPA inaction. Petitioners to courts must meet that threshold before the merits of a case may be addressed.
''We own property, 200 miles of coastline, that we're losing,'' Milkey said, trying to allay justices' concerns.
But Justice Samuel Alito, who with Roberts seemed most skeptical of the states' position, said that even in the best of circumstances, the reduction in greenhouse gases would be relatively small.
Milkey replied that even small reductions would be meaningful, pointing out that very small rises in the sea level would inundate significant portions of low-lying coastal land.
The Bush administration argued in court papers that the EPA lacks the power to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. Even if it had such authority, the EPA still would not use it at this point because of uncertainty surrounding the issue of global warming, the administration said.
Global climate change is ''a controversial phenomenon that is far from fully understood or defined,'' trade associations for car and truck makers and automobile dealers said in a court filing signed by former Solicitors General Theodore Olson and Kenneth Starr. They backed the administration position.
Twelve states, mainly along the nation's Atlantic and Pacific coasts, three cities, a U.S. territory and 13 environmental groups are arguing that the EPA ignored the clear language of the Clean Air Act. Under the 1970 law, carbon dioxide is an air pollutant that threatens public health and the EPA must regulate it, they said.

The Ross Ice Shelf, a raft of ice the size of France, could collapse quickly, triggering a dramatic rise in sea levels, scientists warn.
A New Zealand-led drilling team in Antarctica has recovered three million years of climate history, but the news is not good for the future.
Initial analysis of sea-floor cores near Scott Base suggest the Ross Ice Shelf had collapsed in the past and had probably done so suddenly.

From Scientists fear results of collapsed ice shelf
By JOHN HENZELL
29 November 2006
www.stuff.co.nz

GAS PRICES

Unleaded Regular Gas was $2.04 per gallon a few days ago.

I sneezed and the price went to $2.17 per gallon!

I knew prices would go up after the November election.

I don't know why I thought that, but I was correct.

Yes, the experts can tell us all about supply and demand, and this and that or the other.

But the experts might just as well say "It's because of a spike in the sun's solar flares---or Madonna is not touring enough---or Wal-Mart is not opening up enough stores in China."

A friend of mine, a former U.S. Seal, said to me in 1981 that he would never buy another car until it was a solar car.

He'll have to wait a few more years.

The Sheiks and the oil companies won't stop feeding our oil/gas addiction until the ice caps are on our doorsteps and theirs...or until Hell freezes over.

I just sneezed.

The price of gasoline hiccupped again.


IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

AUTOMATED TARGETING SYSTEM

Data Miner 1: O.K. We have a file on a male.
Age: 58
He's on a flight to New York from London.
Aisle Seat.
He had lamb and rice for dinner.
No alcohol.

Data Miner 2: O.K. Monitoring has been given a green light by Central Computer at DHS.

Data Miner 1: 10-4.

Data Miner 2: Targeted male citizen has just farted.
The Smell-O-Meter is on.
The reading just went through the roof!

Data Miner 1: 10-4.

Data Miner 2: Whew! Glad we're done with this one.

Data Miner 1: 10-4.
O.K.
New target.
Female.
Age 83.
Window seat.
No need to monitor.
She just had a heart attack.

Data Miner 2: 10-4.
Let's take our break.

Data Miner 1: 10-4.