I was never what you would call a real classical music buff.  I listened to what I liked and ignored what I didn't.  I liked Pavarotti.  His great voice and his joie de vivre moved me.  

I don't know if it is my age wearing on me, the changes I have seen in my lifetime, the chaos that has become our political discourse, or what.

"I beg you,
Leave me restless.
I live with the impossible ocean
And silence bleeds me dry!"

Pablo Naruda

I work nights so watch the news and blog in the morning.  This morning just before I went to bed, I was watching American Morning on CNN and Jomentum was being interviewed by John Roberts.  

I am not an expert in tracking down information like many Kossaks here.  What I am wondering about tonight is given the way the media manipulated information in the leadup to the war in Iraq, how reliable is the information that we are recieving about the Iranians supplying weapons and technology to Iraq?

I don't usually have much good to say about mainstream media or the journalists who work there, so you can imagine my surprise when I tuned into CNN before going to bed after work this AM and heard Anderson Cooper say Global warming is putting the planet in peril and we are the cause.

I watched CNN yesterday morning and a representative of the oil industry said that they would not likely build any new refineries here because we have passed peak oil.  OK, that makes sense to me.  Then I watch CNN again this morning and guess what?  Supposedly they are going to build new refineries but no one knows when and the industry folk aren't telling.   I'm not sure if it is the industry or CNN who can't get the story straight.  Meet me over the fold!

Well it's Mothers Day today and I spoke with the woman who was my surrogate mother after my own mom died. The conversation turned to women in the sciences. You see, Dody had wanted to be an engineer. In high school she took all the necessary math and physics classes (and aced them!) Then she sat for the entrance exam for the Mechanical Engineering program at Michigan Tech, in Houghton Michigan. She aced that exam too. They still wouldn't let her in the program. Why? Because she was a woman.
One of the reasons that we currently face shortages of qualified people in the sciences is because of the ( hopefully outdated ) bias against supporting female students who excel in math and science to pursue degrees in engineering and technology.  I know that things have changed since Dody was a girl. They have changed since I was a girl. ( I was also told I could not be an engineer because of my gender.) Have things changed? If so how much? Has it been enough?

I was watching CNN a day or so after the IPCC summary report on climate change came out.  Rob Marciano had gotten a professor to comment on the results of the report and the implications for species extinction.  I'm sorry I don't recall the name of the professor or his school.  I hope he keeps his job.  The professor repeated that the report indicates that 20 to 30 percent of species on the planet face extinction due to climate change.  Marciano said something to the effect that there were things we could still do to prevent that from happening and the professor, after a pause said that it was too late.  Marciano was beside himself!  He couldn't believe what he was hearing.  He acted for all the world like a kid who has been told he can't have a "do over" in a game.  Unfortunately folks climate change isn't a game and we don't get a "do over".

I am currently taking an ARC GIS class that requires I do a project of my choice.  GIS is a computer generated mapping software that is incredibly powerful, and allows you to create interactive maps that you can actually query!  I wanted to do a project that would allow spatial analysis of climate change, hunger, and conflict.  Guess what!!  Almost every government site that used to offer climate change data as a free download is no longer available.  Conflict data is also hard to come by.  The first couple of sites were just an irritation. Then I started getting creeped out.  Just last week Bu$hco put a new muzzle on climate scientists, and now I can't get climate data?  Oy!  Then I told myself, "I'm new at this right?  I must just not be looking in the right places."

cross posted at Musings

I recently returned to volunteering for a local organization after a hiatus of several months. While I was gone many volunteers had left for a variety of reasons.

When I was younger, local elections didn't interest me at all. That changed for me when I enrolled in my local community college, and became aware that although many of my instructors were liberal or independent, almost the entire administration of the college were very right wing.

cross posted at Musings

I am tired tonight. Perhaps it is the flu. It feels akin to the bone numbing exhaustion that I feel when I consider the endless litaney of abuse of power that we as a nation have experienced over the past six years.

Cross posted at Musings

I just posted my first blog and am sharing it here so folks might come over, take a look and offer suggestions and constructive criticism.

I have read with interest the diaries about folks dealing with conservative friends and relatives, but I never thought I would be in a position to have to write one.  I recently moved to a little town in Oregon, and my landlord is a diehard conservative who idolizes Bush, and listens to Rush nonstop.  I am so grateful that I have an internet connection and can check in on Daily Kos for a reality check.  so far he has told me that they have found the WMDs, that Bush is the greatest president ever, and that he thinks that history is going to look kindly on Bush.  I could puke!  I am not in a position to try to change his mind... I'm not firmly convinced at this point that he has one.  What are these people thinking???  Please excuse my rant,

I wondered what the Rovian purpose behind the Dubai Ports Deal actually was.  It seems that the US entity at the top of the list for assuming control of the ports is Kellog, Brown and Root.  Yes that is the subsidiary of Halliburton that is alleged by some to be quite corrupt.

I would like to suggest to those who say that Democrats don't have a united position on Iraq, that perhaps we are engaging in conversation and debate over possible scenarios for actually solving some of the problems we face over there.  It is all well and good that the Republicans know where they stand on this issue.  Unfortunatly their solution has not thus far born fruit.

The twentieth century saw both increased appreciation for and exploitation of nature.  Why hasn't "nature loving" led to treating the non-human environment in a more sustainable and respectful fashion?