TresSugar

Fighting the New American Revolution - Energy Independence

CitizenSugar — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:00:26 -0700

The US is gearing up to celebrate Independence Day, the day when citizens vowed to fight against crushing taxes, inflation, and a rising price of necessities - Americans took a stand then against tyranny, and fought. Now as the country picnics and watches fireworks to commemorate that fight, is the situation any different?

Taxes, inflation, cost of necessities - what was once tea, is now Texas Tea - oil, all factors point to another fight. Is energy the new American Revolution? In this new battle for independence, are citizens willing to sacrifice to win freedom from the tyrannous and costly addiction we have to standard forms of energy?

John McCain's plan for a modern energy revolution takes that parallel seriously - he's dubbed his energy revolution the "Lexington Project," named for the town where, according to his speech last week, "Americans asserted their independence once before." To see the battle plan for energy independence, read more.

McCain's Lexington Project includes:

Expanding Domestic Oil And Natural Gas Exploration And Production: "John McCain believes it is time for the federal government to lift these restrictions and to put our own reserves to use. There is no easier or more direct way to prove to the world that we will no longer be subject to the whims of others than to expand our production capabilities."
Taking Action Now To Break Our Dependency On Foreign Oil By Reforming Our Transportation Sector: Which includes innovation incentives like his Clean Car Challenge.

Investing In Clean, Alternative Sources Of Energy: The plan commits $2 billion annually to clean coal technologies and 45 new nuclear power plants by 2030.
Protecting Our Environment By Addressing Climate Change: Basically this: "A climate cap-and-trade mechanism would set a limit on greenhouse gas emissions and allow entities to buy and sell rights to emit, similar to the successful acid rain trading program of the early 1990s."
Promoting Energy Efficiency: By making the federal government conserve too - since they are the largest electricity consumer on the planet.
Addressing Speculative Pricing Of Oil: No Carter-inspired windfall profits tax and strict policing on energy market-wagering abuses.

Will this do it? Is the US headed into a new revolution? Is the US ready to wage a war for energy independence? Is it time for a Boston SUV party?

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Oh Snap! China Goes All Out For Its Birthday

TresSugar — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:30:00 -0700

Bringing back memories of last Summer's epic Olympic opening ceremony, China went all out to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the communist state. While thousands celebrated the red revolution today, those who did not take part faced tight crackdowns. In fact, gatherings in cities other than Beijing and Hong Kong were banned, as were divorces! There were some anti-government protests in Hong Kong, however.

An American icon also took part in the celebrations, despite the US's historical issues with communist China and its human rights abuses. The Empire State building was lit up in red last night in honor of the anniversary. Protesters called the lighting inappropriate for a symbol of freedom and a "blatant approval" of totalitarianism.

To see more photos, read more.

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Tea Parties Prove Conservatives Are Growing (Grass) Roots?

CitizenSugar — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:00:38 -0700

A revolution might be coming this Wednesday, April 15. Antitax protests, known as tea parties, have been brewing around the country, and they could boil over on tax day. T.E.A. stands for "taxed enough already."

On Wednesday, conservatives around the country will evoke the spirit of the American Revolution. Some of the transgressions of congress and the president to be protested include: voting for a $500 billion tax bill without even reading it; spending trillions of borrowed dollars; wanting government-controlled health care; trying to take wealth and redistribute it to others; and appointing a defender of child pornography to the number-two position in the Justice Department.

Basically there's a lot going on. Some sample slogans offered by TeaPartyDay.com? Party Like it's 1773. Obamanomics: Chains You Can Believe In. Commander and Thief. Your Mortgage Is Not My Problem. Liberty Is All the Stimulus We Need.

Economist Paul Krugman thinks the Tea Parties, which he calls AstroTurf - aka fake grass(roots) - should be mocked. To see why, read more.

He writes that the movement, organized by the usual suspects, makes inaccurate accusations:

President Obama is being called a “socialist” who seeks to destroy capitalism. Why? Because he wants to raise the tax rate on the highest-income Americans back to, um, about 10 percentage points less than it was for most of the Reagan administration. Bizarre.

What do you make of the tea parties?

Michelle Visits Homeland Security, Which Has Its Eye on Right-Wing Radicals

CitizenSugar — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:00:33 -0700

First Lady Michelle Obama made a stop at the Department of Homeland Security today to thank federal workers there for all the hard work.

So what have Secretary Janet Napolitano and DHS been up to these days? Well, the Department just warned law enforcement officials about a rise in "right-wing extremist activity." The recession, the election of a black president, and the return of disgruntled war veterans could cause a rise in influence for white-power militias.

The DHS report explains it's not just about race: "It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single-issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."

Hmm . . . what about opposition to taxes? One neo-Nazi message board claims that the tea party movement is the "white revolution we've been waiting for," since (according to them) it's the whites who are taxed to support worthless social programs.

Let's hope Homeland Security protects Americans from radical criminals, while peaceful protectors are allowed to exercise their rights!

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Front Page: Blagojevich Announces Pick for Obama Seat

LibertySugar — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 08:10:04 -0800

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's selection of former state Attorney General Roland Burris to Barack Obama's Senate seat brings race into the drama surrounding the embattled governor, who is facing impeachment for trying to sell the Obama seat. With Obama out, Burris would be the only African American in the Senate. - Chicago Sun Times
Israel has rejected the proposal of a 48-hour cease-fire in Gaza after five straight days of air attacks. The country didn't rule out future diplomacy and is open to ways of increasing humanitarian aid. - New York Times
A militant arrested in Pakistan has confessed involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks in November and is giving investigators details of the plot. - AP
On Thursday, Cuba will mark the 50th anniversary of the revolution that turned the country into a communist state and Cold War hot spot. The country is currently facing economic gloom and the poor health of former leader Fidel Castro. - Reuters
President-elect Barack Obama plans to move to Washington this weekend, and begin meetings next week on reviving the economy. Obama's daughters, Sasha and Malia, also start classes Monday at Sidwell Friends School. - Boston Globe

Iran's Ahmadinejad: We Don't Want Confrontation With Anyone

LibertySugar — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:45:36 -0700

Anti-Ahmadinejad rallies outside the UN today turned into anti-Obama rallies critical of the senator's support of talks with Iran. Meanwhile, NPR opened a dialogue of its own with the Iranian president. Here are some highlights from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's interview with the station, during which he says Iran seeks no confrontation.

On Iran's stated plans to enrich uranium for energy, not for a bomb:
The people of the world, the majority actually, support our stand. One hundred eighteen member states of NAM have declared their commitment to our program and supported it. The Non-Aligned Movement. And 57 member states of the OIC, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, too have supported our position. . . . You are speaking of only three or four countries, led by the United States and with a couple of their European friends, and we don't care about them, because they don't represent the whole world.
On whether international confrontation is in Iran's interest:
We do not have any confrontation with anyone. We seek relations based on respect and justice. . . . Why is it that the US administration and two or three groups that follow it allow themselves to speak for the world?
On the American elections:
I ask you, can anyone in fact become a president without the support of either of the two parties here in the United States? . . . Are 300 million people here in America members of either of the two parties? No, not necessarily. People have no other choices here. You only have two choices. In Iran, at least, we have eight. Who is more free? Who has more confidence in its people?

To find out how Iran's president addresses his statements toward Israel, freedoms in Iran, and how he thinks the US and Iran can move forward, read more.

On whether rhetoric about wiping Israel off the map plays into the hands of Bush:
You are aware that 55 years ago, the US government overthrew the national government of Iran. . . . For over 25 years under the dictatorship, hundreds of thousands of our people went to prison . . . whilst our oil was being looted by American companies. Our people were demeaned. Our independence was harmed. Until the Iranian people rose [in] a popular and democratic event to create the Islamic revolution. . . . While America was there, we had no elections in our country. . . . The eight years of war between Saddam [Hussein] and our country were actually supported directly by the United States. From day one, our people were - sanctions were imposed on our people. So who exactly is the provocateur? Who is the one who seeks war?
On whether the US and Iran can move forward:
Well, yes. Of course, we've never entered the US and caused problems for the people here, but the American government has done that to us. So our first proposal is that they have to stop doing that.
On what Iran could do:
I sent a letter to Mr. Bush. That was a very good opening. I even said that I am prepared to talk at the United Nations with them. We responded positively to the request made by US government to extend a hand of cooperation in a joint security commission involved in upholding a security force for Iraq.
On freedoms in Iran:
There's a lot of freedom in Iran. The example is our interview with you. Can you ask your own president these questions? Can you really so freely meet with him so easily? Never.

After reading Ahmadinejad's interview, would you like US leaders sit down with him?
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Race Infiltrates Political Races, KKK Sees Benefits of Obama

LibertySugar — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 13:00:22 -0700

While white supremacists hope a President Obama would inspire white backlash, a black Congressional candidate, who used the image of the KKK in a campaign ad, has lost her Democratic primary in a landslide.

Klu Klux Klan leader David Duke predicts that a black president could advance white civil rights, as whites would be inspired to rise up and begin what he calls a long overdue revolution. About 200,000 Americans are thought to be members of white supremacy groups. I think a white uprising is unrealistic, but perhaps a "backlash" could take a more subtle form, like the scaling back of affirmative action programs.

Over in Tennessee, a black Democratic attorney who used race and religion as her main tools against a Jewish opponent, suffered a resounding electoral defeat yesterday. Nikki Tinker ran a TV ad putting photos of her opponent and a hooded Ku Klux Klan member side-by-side. Tinker's supporters also said a black district should be represented by a black candidate. The victorious incumbent, Steve Cohen, is one of two white representatives representing a black-majority district in the House of Representatives. Do you think race will leave American politics any time soon?

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Arizona Lawmakers Want Ethnic Studies Out of Classroom

LibertySugar — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:15:01 -0700

Ethnic studies curriculum may be under siege in Arizona. Some state lawmakers want to pass a bill (SB 1108) preventing public schools, including community colleges and universities, from teaching lessons that "denigrate American values and the teachings of Western civilization." The backers oppose curriculum that "overtly encourages dissent" from democracy, capitalism, pluralism, and religious tolerance. Hm . . . not sure how you have a thriving democracy without dissent.

Tucson Unified District's Raza Studies sits at the center of this controversy. The bill's author, Republican State Representative Russell Pearce, calls the curriculum - which includes text book entries about a 1915 Mexico plan to reclaim the Southwest - "hate speech." Pearce has been known to call babies born in the US to foreigners "anchor babies" or "jackpot babies."

A temperate critique of Tucson's ethnic studies, as espoused by the National Review, maintains that Hispanic students do not benefit from an education predicated on their ethnic identity. Yet I think even this line of thinking does not require that the Hispanic perspective be stricken from Arizona academia. Instead it should be part of an inclusive, diverse, and very American education.

Some Arizonans view the bill and rhetoric as xenophobic. Do you agree, or do think ethnic studies could spawn hate or revolution?

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School Attack Plots in April. Copycats or Coincidence?

CitizenSugar — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:51:30 -0700

Students at Chesterfield High School in South Carolina are arriving at school this morning to metal detectors and police presence following a weekend arrest of a student accused of plotting an attack on the school. The alleged mastermind, Ryan Schallenberger, 18, is due in court this afternoon for a bond hearing. He was arrested this weekend after his parents alerted police to the 10 pounds of ammonium nitrate that was delivered to their home and their discovery of a disturbing journal. Police said that he'd kept a journal for more than a year detailing his plans for a suicide attack and including maps of the school and that "he seemed to hate the world. He hated people different from him-the rich boys with good-looking girlfriends."

Earlier this month, a group of third graders in Georgia were discovered to have conceived of a plan to knock their teacher unconscious with a paperweight, bind her with toy handcuffs and duct tape, and then stab her with a steak knife. It seems as though the nine boys and girls divvied up tasks to carry out the plan, with one plotting to cover up the window while another would be assigned to clean up the mess. The students were discovered and have been suspended. These April plots were foiled but there's a huge list that weren't. To consider why, read more.

April is a scary month. In the past 15 years, the month has seen the Virginia Tech massacre and the Columbine shootings, not to forget the Waco incident and the Oklahoma City bombing. All of these events happened within the same week of the month. Historically, both Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. were assassinated during this month, which also marked the start of both the American Revolution and Civil War.

Do we perceive a cloud of tragedy over the month precisely because news of anniversaries of events like Virginia Tech meets new instances like the weekend arrest in South Carolina and prompts people to pay more attention to the possibility for coincidence? Or have these plots truly become a copycat tribute to atrocities that have come before? Some scientists think that the increased light during the month of April lifts the previously depressed into a manic state. Having had all winter alone with dark thoughts, the mentally disturbed awake with new motivation behind their rage.

Police in South Carolina say that in his journal, Schallenberger said he admired the two attackers who killed 13 people at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999 before committing suicide. The Columbine attack happened nine years ago Sunday. Did the parents and police discover a copycat catastrophe just in time, or was it just a coincidence? Is it seasonal? What do you think is causing the plague of April?

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Who Wants to Watch HBO's John Adams Mini-series With Me?

CitizenSugar — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 10:00:36 -0800

I've been sorely missing a West Wing-style TV event to follow for oh, so long now - but it looks like my wait might be over! HBO (which I'm ordering immediately) is gearing up for a seven-part John Adams mini-series extravaganza. It starts March 25th, starring Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney.

The trailer says it all - "I don't think anyone who sees this film will ever think the same way about the American Revolution again." I'm hooked-capital-H already. What do you say? Who wants to watch and obsess about it with me?