California emission regulations

Since 2002 California has wished to reduce auto emission of carbon dioxide by 25% but are waiting on EPA approval before the state can implement the new regulations. California's application for a waiver was turned in 16 months ago but the EPA did not begin the evaluation of the application until Tuesday, April 25th.
You would think being the environmental protection agency they would understand the necessity of reducing greenhouse gas emmissions BUT apparently it is not high on the agenda. The EPA claimed that they wished to move cautiously and further excused the delay by stating that the Bush administration has already done a lot to regultate greenhouse gas emissions. You can read the full article here.

You Tube

Candidates have taken over You Choose '08 republicans and democrats alike, each equiped with their own profiles and video feed. Ploys to appeal to the youth of America have worked in the past, ie Bill Clinton's memorable appearence on MTV in 1993, and youtube is the perfect medium for these potential candidates. Candidates are given a chance to present themselves to the masses in a way they see fit (without the filter of the cable news outlets).

Mind your own beeswax

Oh, how I love when decisions are made for me by my governement. From the New York Times Yesterday, the Supreme Court backed the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. We are inching closer and closer to completely banning abortion (which I am suprised has not happened yet under the current administration). The real kicker to this story was Justice Kennedy vocalizing, "It is self-evident that a mother who comes to regret her choice to abort must struggle with grief more anguished and sorrow more profound when she learns, only after the event, what she once did not know: that she allowed a doctor to pierce the skull and vacuum the fast-developing brain of her unborn child, a child assuming the human form.” Justice Kennedy apparently knows me better than I know myself. I think my stance on abortion is blatantly obvious. I am 100% pro-choice though that does not mean that I would make that choice.

Another interesting tidbit is that Giuliani has decided to support the supreme courts decsision (despite his 1997 stance against legislation that would outlaw partial birth abortions) perhaps in a desperate appeal to potential voters? You can read the story here. I will comend Giuliani not for his usually unwaiving support of abortion rights and funding but for commenting that the Republican Party "has to get beyond issues like that." That is a statement that I can agree with 100%! Domestic technicalities such as gay marriage and whether or not pre teen girls should be forced to recieve a vaccine that may help prevent cervical cancer (when long term affects of the vaccincation are still unknown). Issues such as these are too personal the government should not make it their business. But I am sure some politicians see the issues as a nice distraction from what is going on with the War on Terror, gas prices, the trade deficit and that little thing called global warming...

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The shootings at Virginia Tech...I really have nothing that could describe how apauleed I am by such a massacre. Why take so many people with you? My naive and innocent mind just cant comprehend the motivation to committ such a horrendus act. Virginia and Colorado are such seemingly pleasent and peaceful states. I hate to profile a city but it seems that such an act would be more likely in Los Angeles or Oakland. I lived 20 minutes from Littleton when the Columbine shootings occured. The highschool was close to the bowling alley we frequented. That town is so welcoming and peaceful such violent acts are not a regular occurence. What prompts such agression and dismisal of respect for human lives?

I understand this isn't very political but I needed to vent.

Global Warming

Why is it that the United States continually chooses to act unilaterally when dealing with prevention and preperedness for the feasibly looming climate crisis? "Act" was really the wrong term for the federal governments dealings with global warming I should say inaction because the current administration has yet to allow any regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.


I'm starving...more to come on this later.

Shield Law?

After a 226 day serve Josh Wolf was released from prison on April 3rd. In 2006 he was put away for refusing to testify and release footage from a 2005 street demonstration in San Francisco at which a police officer and vehicle were injured. Many states, including California, have laws protecting journalists from having to reveal such information but in this case the federal government became involved, apparently overriding in protections provided by the state. Luckily there is proposed legislation out there to provide such protection at a federal level but the question that arises is who should be protected? Blogging gives anyone and everyone the capacity to be a journalist in their own eyes. My questions are: what constitutes a true journalist opposed to a casual blogger? and Who should be protected by shield legislation?

Day two

Hope every one is having a wonderfull weekend, My brain shuts down on the weekend, so check back during the work week for some actual political talk!!!

Iraq? Iran? Where to next?

"Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said Iran had stepped up uranium enrichment in defiance of a second UN Security Counci resolution ordering it to stop." From the Economist April 14th.

Interesting that the U.S. chose to invade Iraq on a purposely misguided premise that Iraq was developing nuclear weapons when in actuality Iran should be the real concern (though before the war in Iraq I doubt many people knew the difference between the two anyway).

Kurt Vonnegut died the other day at the age of 84. The infamous author of Slaugherhouse-five (and many other classics) will be missed. Outside of being a great author he was an amazing personality, a humanitarian, a soldier (former POV) and a lifelong member of the American Civil Liverties Union. Below is a great clip with him on the Daily Show in 2005.



Vonnegut was very outspoken against the war and the Bush administration and I think he articulated this better than anyone:

"By saying that our leaders are power-drunk chimpanzees, am I in danger of wrecking the morale of our soldiers fighting and dying in the Middle East? Their morale, like so many bodies, is already shot to pieces. They are being treated, as I never was, like toys a rich kid got for Christmas."[

EU's oil dependency

I pillaged this picture from the economist website. The article discussed Russia's new "tool of influence" as the supplier of half the EU's gas imports. Europeans were reminded of this dependence on Russian gas and the Russian owned pipelines, which run through Europe, when Russia turned off the gas supply to the Ukraine last year (and the Ukraine syphoned gas from pipes headed to the EU). Despite this fiasco Europeans should not fear another shut off because Russia is as dependent on the EU market as the EU is dependent on their Gas.

UN Human Rights Council reemed

This clip is from March 23. The UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer gave a speech at the Human Rights Council criticizing its record of ignoring human rights violations worldwide unless they can be blamed on Israel. The speech was banned and stricken from the record at the UN.



UN Watch is an NGO based in Geneva whose aims are to monitor the United Nations and promote human rights throughout the world and not suprisingly has an affiliation with the American Jewish Communitee.

My First Posting

Day one of many postings! I will keep this one short and sweet.... Welcome to my politcal Blog page!! Guess I should say something Political.........ummmmm...... Something Political!!.... Stay tuned for more indepth Blogs in the Future!