Independence Day

Things that make me crazy this morning?

First, the Bush administration won't listen to scientists about global warming in favor of the world's No. 1 oil company, Exxon Mobile. Read Exxon Chief Makes A Cold Calculation On Global Warming by Jeffrey Ball.

Oil giants such as BP PLC and Royal Dutch/Shell Group are trumpeting a better-safe-than-sorry approach to global warming. They accept a growing scientific consensus that fossil fuels are a main contributor to the problem and endorse the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which caps emissions from developed nations that have ratified it. BP and Shell also have begun to invest in alternatives to fossil fuels.

Not Exxon. Openly and unapologetically, the world's No. 1 oil company disputes the notion that fossil fuels are the main cause of global warming. Along with the Bush administration, Exxon opposes the Kyoto accord and the very idea of capping global-warming emissions. Congress is debating an energy bill that may be amended to include a cap, but the administration and Exxon say the costs would be huge and the benefits uncertain. Exxon also contributes money to think tanks and other groups that agree with its stance....

Exxon's approach to global warming typifies the bottom-line focus of its entire business. It is slogging away to improve the energy efficiency of its refineries -- primarily to cut costs, although this is also shaving global-warming emissions. But it says the business case for making more sweeping changes is still weak. It's a conservative, hard-nosed approach that has helped make Exxon the most profitable oil company in the world, with 2004 net income of $25 billion.

Another thing that makes me crazy? The retarded House of Representatives that approved an amendment to the Constitution to ban flag burning. Why are we so freakin' stupid? I just don't get it. Is it the faillure of the public school system? Or toxins in the water? Read this article from Information Clearing House: Show your Independence on the 4th; Burn a Flag. I like these quotes that the author included:

"This 4th of July, I ask you to find a way to thank the men and women defending our freedom, by flying the flag" George W. Bush, Fort Bragg address 6-28-05 

"If the flag needs protection at all, it needs protection from members of Congress who value the symbol more than the freedoms that the flag represents." Jerrold Nadler, (D-New York) 

"Some folks are born made to wave the flag, ooh, they're red, white and blue. And when the band plays "Hail To The Chief", oh, they point the cannon at you, Lord" John Fogerty, "Fortunate Son"

And one more thing while I'm at it. The cover-up of the identity of the person/s who outed CIA agent Valerie Plame. Mykeru (yes, Gidget LOVES Mykeru) says that Joseph Wilson "...long ago said he hoped to see Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs" for that crime.

If it turns out to be solid that Rove was the source of the outing, that fact should be harped on like the next Downing Street Memo using the keywords treason, perjury and hypocrisy repeated again and again until the seriousness of this crime sinks in and the media can't pretend that it's a little mistake, a misunderstanding, and no big deal, like the deaths of thousands in a needless war.

Can't you just almost imagine justice happening?

(Photo taken from Mykeru, who got it from this MetaFilter thread)

Robert Redford, because he starred in "All the President's Men" was approached after the identity of Deep Throat was revealed. I was glad to see him deflect attention from himself and direct it toward the media, telling them to investigate the Bush administration.

...the shock revelation has reminded the actor of the power of the media and the similarities between Bush's secret cover-ups and the Watergate affair.

He says, "There are deep similarities going on but where is the press? where is the press?"

"There is stone-walling, not telling the truth, getting people under wiretaps. The US public continues to be told things that are not true and what worries me is that we have these brave young American guys risking their lives everyday.

Will Karl Rove go down? Will the media transform? Can we sustain this standard of living? Will we crush ourselves under the weight of our own lies, greed and corruption while waving our flags and driving our SUV's? Can we save ourselves?

I like to imagine what it would be like to have leaders who respect the earth and make sure that protecting the environment is a top priority. What would it be like if kindness was modeled and promoted by our government?