Watch the Olbermann vid if you haven’t done so already.

I gotta hand it to our Commander in Chief, or at least his handlers, 10 reasons to be afraid + 7 reassuring words of governmental comfort in only 2 minutes of talking. Who says Americans aren’t efficient?

10:54 A.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT: The recent arrests that our fellow citizens are now learning about are a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation.

I want to thank the government of Tony Blair and officials in the United Kingdom for their good work in busting this plot. I thank the officials in Washington, D.C. and around our country who gather intelligence and who work to protect the American people. The cooperation on this venture was excellent — cooperation between U.K. and U.S. authorities and officials was solid. And the cooperation amongst agencies within our government was excellent.

This country is safer than it was prior to 9/11. We’ve taken a lot of measures to protect the American people. But obviously, we’re still not completely safe, because there are people that still plot and people who want to harm us for what we believe in. It is a mistake to believe there is no threat to the United States of America. And that is why we have given our officials the tools they need to protect our people.

Travelers are going to be inconvenienced as a result of the steps we’ve taken. I urge their patience and ask them to be vigilant. The inconvenience is — occurs because we will take the steps necessary to protect the American people.

Again, I appreciate the close cooperation between our government and the government of the United Kingdom. The American people need to know we live in a dangerous world, but our government will do everything we can to protect our people from those dangers.

Thank you.

END 10:56 A.M. CDT

Yes there are people in the world who want to kill other people in the world.
If you, Joe Internet Reader, are afraid that some of these people, the ambiguously defined Terrorists, may kill you, specifically, check out the odds and adjust your fear accordingly. Me? I’m a little more concerned about heart disease.

Awhile back, I mentioned my mom’s trip to Nigeria with the Seattle-based organization Global Citizen Journey. Well, she’s headed back there, this time volunteering to help wrap up a documentary about the oil-rich, yet poverty-stricken region.

Sweet Crude, a documentary currently in production, will tell the story of Nigeria’s Niger Delta—a story that has never been captured on film. Here, in the most populous country in Africa, at the mouth of the Niger River, billions of dollars of crude reside under the feet of a desperate people. This is a region where vast oil revenues and abject poverty stand in stark contrast. Where families face enormous challenges amidst environmental devastation. Where the issues are vastly complicated, the answers slow in coming.

This is the story of people struggling to eat in a land with no more fish. To live with the constant threat of war. To navigate the complexities of meaningful solutions to the most serious of circumstances. To simply survive, perhaps even thrive, if non-violent political solutions can emerge in a hurry. Whether they can succeed is our concern—the stories unfolding in the Niger Delta affect us all.

Watch the trailer here.
Read more about what’s going on the Niger Delta here.
Donate to help the crew & volunteers get there here.

One of the things I love about Google News is the ability it gives you to see one story through the eyes of several outlets. For example, when a man suffers a ten-year erection from a faulty penile implant and sues the corporation who produced it, clever headlines are bound to follow.

Hard Times Made Easier
Stiff Penalty for Implant Firm
220K for a Hard Life
$400GS Will Help Him Through Hard Times

And my personal favorite:
Implant Fails: What is he Complaining About?

As I am still stuck in dialup land, maybe some of you with an hour to spare can watch Noam Chomsky’s West Point talk and give the group a synopsis.

From the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Noam Chomsky talks to West Point cadets about just war theory and the invasion of Iraq. During the talk, Professor Chomsky criticizes the work of Michael Walzer, an influential proponent of just war theory and the author of the popular “Just and Unjust Wars.” Following his remarks, Professor Chomsky takes questions from the cadets about international law and the Bush administration’s foreign policy.

From other comments on the web, it seems to have been worthwhile.

This may be old news, but in checking out Slingshot’s story from last night, it turns out that the great Mosquito Ringtone story is actually true.

In that old battle of the wills between young people and their keepers, the young have found a new weapon that could change the balance of power on the cellphone front: a ring tone that many adults cannot hear.

The technology, which relies on the fact that most adults gradually lose the ability to hear high-pitched sounds, was developed in Britain but has only recently spread to America — by Internet, of course.

[snip]

The cellphone ring tone was the offshoot of an invention called the Mosquito, developed last year by a Welsh security company to annoy teenagers and gratify adults, not the other way around.

It was marketed as an ultrasonic teenager repellent, an ear-splitting 17-kilohertz buzzer designed to help shopkeepers disperse young people loitering in front of their stores while leaving adults unaffected.

So I can hear it, but I would be very interested to perform my own study with different people on different computers or cell phones. At any rate, this brings up a couple questions for me:

1) Is the technology gap between generations widening at such a pace that could threaten the status quo and bolster Teen Revolt?

2) What else are humans doing with sound frequency that may be less innocent than discouraging loitering teens or sneaking text messages by aged teachers?

Also, I have to say that I’d much rather kids set their ringer to mosquito than have to hear Super Mario Brothers one more time. Not to mention more inappropriate choices.

Ah, for the days of good old-fashioned wholesome ringtones like these:

Licking an Envelope Ringtone—Again, playing on nostalgia, a real tear-tugger for the baby boomers. The lick-lick sound, then the kweek sound of folding the paper over. I can clearly imagine a cell phone ringing and a stranger nearby saying, “God, is someone actually performing that ancient domestic art of licking an envelope?”

Last month, you may have been surprised to read of this little known fact from the National Institutes of Health.

“…[C]offee is the single most important source of antioxidants in the diets of Norwegians and of middle aged women in Iowa.”

If you’re like me, and are neither Norwegian nor a middle aged Iowan woman, then you’ll be glad to know that coffee may hold some benefit for the rest of us. The Archives of Internal Medicine just released a study suggesting that everyone’s favorite pie-accompanying beverage may actually prevent some of the damage caused by alcohol abuse.

Those who drank less than one cup per day were 30 per cent less likely to develop alcoholic cirrhosis, although this result was not statistically significant. But those who drank one to three cups were 40 per cent less likely - a significant result - and four or more cups per day cut the risk by 80 per cent. (link)

Being a man of eternal compromise, I believe I’ll start going a little heavier on the ol’ Irish Coffee. As long as it’s made with the good stuff, that is.

While his approval ratings continue to drop, President Bush has sought again to grasp at political straws, this time at an old favorite: same-sex marriage.

President George W. Bush will on Monday meet conservative activists at the White House to underline his support for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, re-inforcing the message of a weekend speech in which he urged Congress to pass the amendment.

Although Mr Bush successfully exploited gay marriage to win re-election, the twin speeches mark the first time since 2004 he has openly promoted the issue. The amendment was not mentioned in his state of the union speech earlier this year. link

Why will this most likely backfire? 1) The vote is expected to fall short in the Senate, and 2) throwing some anti-gay rhetoric on the [brim]fire at this point in his term is even apparently “too-little-too-late” for the choir.

Of more concern: almost half of U.S. State Constitutions do or may soon ban same-sex marriage after November elections.

Also, gay rights worldwide.

With a replacement computer waiting for me back home, I’m briefly stopping in to OaD from a Vermont internet cafe, of all places. A little-known fact about the Green Mountain State: In 1832, Vermont became the only U.S. state to vote for a presidential candidate running on the Anti-Masonic ticket, a feat yet to be repeated. Theories on why the state is an apparent bastion of liberal politics in contrast to its rural (i.e. conservative) geography range from its proximity to Canada to the ecomic influence vacationing Bostonians & New Yorkers wield in local communities.

Two things I like about Vermont:

Vermont abolished the death penalty in 1964. The last state execution was carried out in 1954.

Vermont is one of four states (along with Alaska, Hawaii, and Maine) to have prohibited all billboards from view of highway rights-of-way by law, except for signs on the contiguous property of the business location.

And one more from CNN:

Test scores are in: Northeast still has dumbest drivers
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The tiny state of Rhode Island still ranks rock bottom in terms of driving knowledge, according to a national test conducted by GMAC Insurance. Oregon drivers answered the most questions correctly.

The test revealed that about one in 11 licensed drivers in the United States would fail a state drivers test, according to GMAC Insurance.

Rhode Island ranked last year, also, with an average score of 77. Last year, Oregon’s average score was 89, which still placed at the top of the rankings that year.

Based on average scores, northwestern states generally ranked highest while the bottom-ranking states were mostly in the northeast. One exception was Vermont, which ranked third. Washington state drivers ranked second. Drivers in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia ranked at the bottom, with D.C. finishing just ahead of Rhode Island.

Also, I’ve got to say that people are damn friendly here, and not just because they’re obliged to be by social graces, as we’re often accustomed to in the south. Not to mention the kind pints of tasty ice cream. Arepamonger, you spent some time up here, what do you think?

Back next week from home, thanks to Judas for the computer hookup.

Some random Google News search results for “good news”
AIDS cases on the wane?

ALMOST exactly 25 years after it was recognised, there is some solid good news about the Aids virus: the rate of new infections has passed its global peak and an epidemic which has claimed 25m lives so far is finally on the wane. As world attention belatedly focuses on the Africans living with the virus, another part of the story has been missed: a series of recent studies shows the prevalence of Aids was overstated – and that its incidence is now falling.

Chinese boobs waxing

The chest circumference of Chinese women increased by nearly 1cm in the past 10 years, the Beijing College of Clothing Technology said in a recent report that studied changes in figure for Chinese women in the past decade, China News Service reported.

South African Large Telescope unveiled (5 months ago)

The SALT is the “largest optical telescope in the southern hemisphere” and – as the Post reported – will allow us to see 13 billion years back in time. It was built by an international consortium of universities and government agencies lead by the National Research Foundation of South Africa. And, its intergalactic window to the night skies of this hemisphere should inspire pilgrimages to South Africa by star gazers and star trekkers from all over the world to experience unprecedented forays back and forth throughout space and time.

Yucaipa, California is in good fiscal shape

The city is in very good shape financially and the prospect in the foreseeable future is encouraging. City Manager John Tooker noted that Yucaipa continues to operate in the black, with an “undesignated funds” balance of over $7 million, even after taking more than $6 million from this fund to finance the Live Oak/Oak Glen interchange project.

Steven Tyler’s voice will be OK for fall concerts

Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler has come clean about his health. The band had to cancel about three weeks’ worth of dates this spring because Tyler was ill, and in an e-mail exchange with rollingstone.com, he admitted that his doctors “zapped a broken blood vessel in my voice box and it’s healed.”

…and a million more stories about sports figures being able to play in the big game, celebrities having babies, and various and sundry business deals closing. Not impressed? Try some of these for your good news fix:

Happy News
Global Good News
Good News Network
Good News Agency
Positive News
UpBeat

Thank you, thank you. Though I hope that I don’t meet the same curious fate as our boy Bill, dying on his birthday and all. Johnny P. may also care to know that I was born on the very same day as Andruw Jones, the Atlanta Braves star who incidentally hails from the Netherlands. Your Cliff Clavin fact of the day.

Here’s what the Birthday Calculator had to say about me yesterday.

There are 364 days till your next birthday
on which your cake will have 30 candles.

Those 30 candles produce 30 BTUs,
or 7,560 calories of heat (that’s only 7.5600 food Calories!) .
You can boil 3.43 US ounces of water with that many candles.

Maybe I’ll make some instant oatmeal or something.
Try it, it’s fun.

I actually had a very nice Easter this year. Did the traditionally blasphemous Pagan stuff, hunted for eggs, sacrificed a chocolate hen to my niece, and enjoyed a very nice meal outside in the beautiful Spring sushine.
But these would have definitely kicked it up a notch.

Ah, maybe next year.

Via Tom Tomorrow, we get confirmation that BushCo & the Pentagon are warming up the ol’ strategery machine again, pointing it this time at Iran.

According to current and former officials, Pentagon and CIA planners have been exploring possible targets, such as the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz and the uranium conversion facility at Isfahan. Although a land invasion is not contemplated, military officers are weighing alternatives ranging from a limited airstrike aimed at key nuclear sites, to a more extensive bombing campaign designed to destroy an array of military and political targets.

Preparations for confrontation with Iran underscore how the issue has vaulted to the front of President Bush’s agenda even as he struggles with a relentless war in next-door Iraq. Bush views Tehran as a serious menace that must be dealt with before his presidency ends, aides said, and the White House, in its new National Security Strategy, last month labeled Iran the most serious challenge to the United States posed by any country.

The challenge, of course, revolves around Iran’s potential to produce and use nuclear weapons. The same kind of nuclear weapons that Israel and the United States are “contemplating” using to get to key targets.

Pentagon planners are studying how to penetrate eight-foot-deep targets and are contemplating tactical nuclear devices. The Natanz facility consists of more than two dozen buildings, including two huge underground halls built with six-foot walls and supposedly protected by two concrete roofs with sand and rocks in between, according to Edward N. Luttwak, a specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“The targeteers honestly keep coming back and saying it will require nuclear penetrator munitions to take out those tunnels,” said Kenneth M. Pollack, a former CIA analyst. “Could we do it with conventional munitions? Possibly. But it’s going to be very difficult to do.”

What’s that saying about teaching people that killing people is wrong?

Congress, at long last, is turning its reactionary eye onto the vast amount of junk food widely available in American public schools. Bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the Senate to push the USDA into upping the standards it sets for what ends up on lunch trays and in vending machines.

Dangerous weight is on the rise in kids. This week, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the rate of obese and overweight kids has climbed to 18 percent of boys and 16 percent of girls. Four years ago, the number was 14 percent.

Lawmakers blame high-fat, high-sugar snacks that compete with nutritious meals in schools.

“Junk food sales in schools are out of control,” Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, senior Democrat on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, said Thursday. “It undercuts our investment in school meal programs and steers kids toward a future of obesity and diet-related disease.”

Could this be the beginning of a national Upchuck Rebellion?

“…[A] big change is coming. With little fanfare, a grassroots ‘farm-to-cafeteria’ movement has been spreading from school to school. More than 400 school districts and 200 university cafeterias are now building their menus (and, in many places, their educational curricula) around fresh, local ingredients, much of which is organic. In nearly every case, the change has come because some parent, farmer, nutritionist, or other individual rose up to ask, ‘What the hell is going on here?’”

Check out the Farm to School website to learn more and see if you’re state is on board yet.

Some heartening news from the folks at the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love:

Feelings of altruism and altruistic behaviors have been increasing in recent years, according to the survey, which found that the traditional value of caring for others is something most Americans agree on, despite their political differences.

The survey found that 75 percent of respondents in the recent survey reported having tender, concerned feelings toward the less fortunate, 5 percent more than reported in 2002. The number of respondents who felt people should look out for themselves and not “overly worry about others” fell by 7 percent in the recent survey to 25 percent.

Hey, we’ll take whatever we can get these days.
Also of note in the study, which linked altruistic love to romantic love:

* Women have a greater feeling of empathy than men.
* Children who grow up in a two-parent household are more likely to develop empathetic feelings, while those reared only by mothers, are slightly more likely to develop the feelings.
* Least likely to develop empathy are children, particularly girls, raised only by a father.
* Financial status had very little to do with feelings of altruism or empathy.

How’s that for free speech? What is even more troubling than the above image, is that you can buy it on a T-shirt, from a conservative online shop, which I assume by association endorses the message.

More loveliness from this perfect-example-of-dangerously-blind-ideology here.

Saw V for Vendetta tonight.
Wow.
Read up on this guy before seeing it.

The great City vs. Country debate has been streaming through my mind more and more lately as the Mrs. & I consider the future of the Jórge clan. In our (my) attempt to get further and further away from the ills of civilization and the grid, I have inadvertantly distanced myself further from the kind of community I’d hoped to create and the kind of independence I perceived I’d be gaining. Natural beauty and simplicity aside, I am beginning to recognize that living in a retreat-like setting may be just that, a retreat. And in the event of a failed state scenario or any other sort of major social disruption, I wonder if our isolation would prove a disadvantage despite a natural water source, plenty of firewood, and an ample supply of grilled squirrel.

In a less serious crisis scenario, it appears that New York City would fare best among U.S. cities if oil prices topped $100 a barrel.

We looked at the areas most directly impacted: how people get around, where their food comes from, and how they work.

New York City is the city most prepared to cope with a $100+ tank of gas. With its strong city and regional public transportation system, New York stands out above the rest. From New York City’s subways to the Tri State area’s suburban train lines, New York is truly the only American city where people are committed to riding over driving.

“As the largest city in the country and the business capital of the world New York City must be prepared for what comes our way, and we are,” said Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. “That New York City has been recognized by SustainLane as the best prepared city to face a nation-wide oil crisis is testament to the resiliency and strength of our infrastructure.”

Infrastructure indeed, whose definition is the heart of the “what if” question and the meat of much more in-depth conversations around sustainability, permaculture, and the future of how communities can and will survive. For more on that, I highly recommend following this discussion over at Anthropik. Here’s the article that prompted that discussion and got my wheels turning just a little faster:

We cherished our decade-plus in the country, but eventually the realities began to pile up. There wasn’t a local market for the work we did. Community events left us saddened by the gulf between our way of life and theirs. And we were still tethered to the fossil-fuel beast, just by a much longer lifeline of wire, pipe, and pavement. That the beast looked smaller by being farther away no longer fooled us.

The War in Iraq turns 3 today, an occasion many said with absolute certainty we’d never see.

But now, in light of over 2,000 U.S. soldiers and at least 33,000 civilians dead, and new cost predictions floating in the trillions, perhaps an opportunity to learn from the fallacy of pre-judgment is at hand, even for so-called journalists. At least the folks at Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) seems to think so:

…[S]yndicated columnist Cal Thomas declared (4/16/03): “All of the printed and voiced prophecies should be saved in an archive. When these false prophets again appear, they can be reminded of the error of their previous ways and at least be offered an opportunity to recant and repent. Otherwise, they will return to us in another situation where their expertise will be acknowledged, or taken for granted, but their credibility will be lacking.”

Read the false prophets here. But please, no breath-holding.

The Simpsons:

Synopsis
The producers of “The Simpsons” created this live action version of the show’s opening credits which will soon air on Britain’s Sky One.