Blogging....

I've stopped blogging here since I started a blog at blogspot which usually gets updated on Tribe too but not always so if interested - it's here: amondala.blogspot.com/

AND thought this was cute - burning man stuff/s = PLAYA NAME STAND at 4:00 and Esplanade started at 4 pm everyday (except Monday).

Ahhhh - the ART!!! Burning Man *again*

Here is a preview of the art of 2008
blog.burningman.com/

And here is the building of the temple!! It looks AMAZING!!
flickr.com/photos/danie...4829884/show/

And here is a cool animation of what to expect from this year's temple:
www.youtube.com/watch

The temple (and my peeps) are what keeps me coming back home...

Building Black Rock City

They're working and we can watch and read all about it !!!
blog.burningman.com/

The dust will set you free

A few weeks before Burning Man and already my nightmares have begun. This is par for the course for me. I start having Bman nightmares about a month before and they usually get more intense as the date draws closer. And then, the week before I change my mind and want to sell my ticket, out of fear, but I push through and am always glad I did. This first nightmare – beginning last week – wasn’t as horrible as ones have been in the past but there were uncomfortable moments. Usually I can’t breathe, dust chokes me and I lay gasping on the desert floor. But this dream was of green fields and a lake yet still the playa. The part that was icky were the amount of people. So many that I felt like a sardine, it was like being in NYC in Times Square during rush hour, or even worse – New Year’s Eve. And thinking back to last year, the playa was almost that crowded on Friday night – much to my dismay. So what are the fears and where do they come from? I have had and conquered my fear of the heat, my fear of the dust, my fear of the sheer amount of people, of the noise, of the alcohol and drugs, of the shirt-cockers and of my desire for the sparklies used as bait by those who are playa fishing. I wanted, prayed last year for a dust storm as I had not yet encountered one and I was blessed with 2. While some people had trouble, my amazing camp rejoiced. We banned together and held down the kitchen and chill space – we rebuilt the main tent together when it collapsed and the most amazing part of all was the way we all danced and danced together for hours in the dust. I don’t know how I came across this story – written by someone else – just now – but I did and although it was written 5 years ago it is beautiful and I want to share it with everyone now ☺ Because the title is the truth - the dust will make you free….

And the Dust Will Make You Free

By Michael Dees
04.11.03

Sitting in an open sided tent with several newfound friends, we hear the dreaded words from across the 275 Plaza, "Dust storm coming!" We all look up and see that the mountains to the west have disappeared. Almost as if by magic, faces all around me have been transformed into a sea of dust masks and goggles. Even people seemingly with no visible means of concealing such devices on their persons are suddenly equipped for whatever the desert has to throw at them

It's nearing sundown, so Bill heads directly across the playa at top speed to start our dinner. I'm pulling Tessa C. Horse, so have to ride much slower to keep from breaking her flapping wings off - one wing has already suffered from my exuberant pedaling and amateur welding skills.

I don my protective gear and strike out toward The Man. The city is in the shape of a giant "C", with the statue in dead center, and my camp is exactly opposite from my present location. Within a minute that landmark is no longer visible, nor is anything else more then five feet in front of me. The blindness and disorientation is worse than in any snowstorm whiteout I've ever encountered. My eyes and lungs are well protected, so I perceive no real danger, and decide to extract the most from this encounter with nature.

I continue pedaling in what seems like a straight course to The Man. After a few minutes I hear sounds dead ahead, and people start appearing in my small bubble of visibility. I ask one of these apparitions where we are. "Two-fifty and Esplanade," he calls back. I have made nearly a complete U-turn and am only 25 degrees further around the inner circle than where I started. I again head out toward what my internal compass tells me is the center of the playa. Three more times I discover the wind has turned me back, advancing me only 15 or 20 degrees around the city. Visibility is now up to 15 feet, and I can sense more shadows around me. A bikini clad woman trudges by with only her hands to protect her from the choking cloud. I offer her a spare dust mask I carry for just such an occasion, and am rewarded with the upper half of a grateful chalky smile and a heart felt, though muffled, "Thank you."

A little further into this wonderland of dust I hear the faint beating of a drum. Is this some lone minstrel lost in the storm and calling to his mates? Is he using his instrument like a foghorn in the mist to keep from being run over by blinded bicyclists like myself? Drawing closer I realize it's a lively tune he's playing for the pure joy of it. Evidently I'm not the only one attracted by his music - a half dozen people are happily dancing around him, and others are joining in as they are drawn to this circle of life in the middle of utter desolation. No one seems to care that they can barely see those opposite them in the ring - they're just happy to celebrate life anywhere and in any way that they can.

I'm again reminded that there are no islands in this Floating World, but a continuous network of bridges connecting all of us in ever changing patterns and groupings. The bridges here demand no emotional or monetary toll of those wishing to use them, but the travelers gladly contribute their talents to enhance the enjoyment of those around them.

I continue my trek, wondering what other amazements this storm has to offer. I don't have to travel far to find out. Here in front of me, in the middle of a desert are two young ladies casually sitting on an overstuffed sofa - one dressed as a belly dancer, the other as a mermaid, compete with shells covering strategic parts of her body. Both are wearing elaborately decorated and bejeweled dust masks and ski goggles as if these are a normal part of their daily wardrobe. A detached wheel leans against the front of the couch, conjuring up the image of two ladies waiting in their disabled car for the auto club to come and rescue them. After talking with them and inspecting their living room furniture, this image turns out to be very close to the truth. This is a motorized love seat that threw a wheel and was abandoned by its owner while he retrieved some supplies from his camp. The ladies had chanced upon this meager haven from the wind and decided to wait out the storm in relative comfort rather than fighting their way through it. When the owner returned with his tools, old crumpled straw hat, and dust caked face, the image of a back country shade tree mechanic assisting stranded motorists came sharply to view.

Even the ladies' sedentary resolve didn't deprive them of the wonders to be found in a Burning Man dust storm. As we talked, a large white figure emerged from the murk - a man well over six feet tall wearing a long, flowing wedding gown, a half-face respirator, and ski goggles. He stood with his train billowing in front of a huge fabric art display mimicking the dress' action, looking like an ad for Bride's Magazine on the planet Dune.

Visibility is variable now as the wind depletes one source of buff colored ammunition, and then quickly finds another supply to throw at us. In a brief moment of clarity I can see Pod Village in the distance, and am able to regain my bearings toward home. To my left is a man dressed only in a respirator, ski goggles, tennis shoes, and the suit he was wearing at birth. Pedaling a little further, I can feel the storm waning a bit and am almost sorry to see it go.

I ask myself, "What other unique experiences could I enjoy from this unbridled burst of nature, so unavailable anywhere else in my world?" Three minutes later a sight never before seen on this planet makes its dramatic appearance - a naked man riding a bicycle pulling a seahorse with one flapping wing across a wind whipped prehistoric lake bed. Funny how I had never before noticed that spring wire protruding from the seat of my bike.

When I arrive back at camp Bill can't (or doesn't want to) believe his eyes, and stands there laughing his head off. "Why?" he asks between snorts. "For the hell of it!" I reply. Covered with a uniform layer of fine dust, he says I look like I've been in a talcum powder fight and came out the loser.

I can confidently say I have extracted all I could from this heaven sent dust storm. I started this journey across the playa as a spectator on a bicycle inconvenienced and blinded by the weather. Through my brief glimpses of improbable reality in the belly of the storm I saw joy where there should have been desperation. I saw beauty where one would expect only sun-cracked earth. I experienced the inner warmth of helping someone in need. I saw people reveling in the harshness rather than cursing the skies. And I learned once again that happiness in living comes from enjoying and learning from the journey no matter where it takes you. Attitude is everything!

Emerging from this baptism by dust, I felt like a full-fledged citizen of Black Rock City, and open to anything my stay here might teach me. I'm reminded of the words of the great philosopher and songwriter Roger Miller - "You can't roller skate in a buffalo heard, but you can be happy if you've a mind to."

The wind that brought us this dust storm has one more surprise in store. Its higher strata have nudged some welcome clouds between the sun and Black Rock City. While enjoying the coolness, the first thunderclap takes everyone by surprise, likely thinking someone has fired off one of the many propane canons usually reserved for roistering on the open playa. But it's real this time. As the leading edge of the rain makes its way across the city I can hear a continuous roar of thankful screams, like waders in the shallow waters of a gently sloping beach rejoicing when a wave lifts them in turn on its way to the shore. I see people standing outside with their arms wide and faces to the sky, hoping for a shower long and hard enough to wash at least the top layer of playa from their dust covered bodies. What we get instead is just enough to coagulate the uniform coating into a semi-regular pattern of splotches, which would later become the universal identifier of burners' cars as they made their trek back home. But even this short cloudburst is just enough to cleanse the air in preparation for the brilliant golds, oranges and reds that fill the western sky as the sun offers up its last gifts of the day. Eating our dinner of half-pound hamburgers and baked beans while sitting in the van, the open double doors frame the sunset like a canvas done by an artist who has squeezed too much paint onto his pallet and feels obligated to use it all up. I feel this whole sequence of weather must have been choreographed just for me, and I am truly grateful to the director.
www.burningman.com/blackroc...ees2.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Photo Credits:

CAPTION:
dust storm on the playa

YEAR:
2000

PHOTOGRAPHER:
Gabe Kirchheimer

URL:
www.gabekphoto.com

3 Facts That Could Change This Election (If We Share Them With Enough People)

www.democraticunderground.com/dis....php

3 Facts That Could Change This Election (If We Share Them With Enough People)

Here are 3 Stunning facts that could not only change the outcome of this election, but with regard to the first two points, they could change the results of every election for years to come *if* we make enough people aware of them.

I want to keep this as simple and short as possible, so that the people who need to read this actually do. And again, I encourage you to share this information with as many people as you can, either by recommending and commenting on this thread, by emailing these points out and or by posting a link to this thread on the appropriate websites.

1)-Over 70% of our National Debt was created by just 3 Republican presidents.

Go ahead, get out your calculator and add up debt by president/party. Apparently the party that claims fiscally responsibility thinks it's ok to borrow massive amounts of money from foreign countries like China. Consider that we spend hundreds of billions of dollars in interest payments on this debt each year. That means more and more of your hard earned money is going to make interest only payments on what is basically a Giant National Credit Card. Not to mention the fact our debt/deficits are largely behind the weakness of our dollar, which in turns makes gas more expensive and creates other serious problems.

If you want to learn more about the National Debt, check out these links:
www.brillig.com/debt_clock /
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...e/20...
zfacts.com/p/447.html (A running clock with the cost of the war)
abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story

2)-According to new research from Larry Bartels out of Princeton, real middle class wage growth is double when a Democrat is president compared to when a Republican is president.

"...Even more remarkable, the real incomes of working-poor families...grew six times as fast when Democrats held the White House. Only the incomes of affluent families were relatively impervious to partisan politics, growing robustly under Democrats and Republicans alike...": www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27...ln-ideal...

Here is a short summary of this research: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2008...

And here is a good, short audio interview with Larry Bartels: youngturks.wmod.llnwd.net/a591/...els...

3)-90% of Americans would pay less taxes under Obama's proposed tax plan compared to McCain's.

This is according to the non-partisan Tax Policy Institute as reported by CNN: money.cnn.com/2008/06/11/...andidates...

People making under $112,000 a year in individual (not household) income would pay less taxes under Obama's plan.

By contrast, John McCain's tax cuts mostly benefit the top 10% of Americans. Under McCain's plan, people making over 2.9 million dollars in individual annual income would get almost a million dollar tax break.

Conclusion: Countless millions of Americans vote Republican because they believe they'll pay less taxes and that they'll have their money spent more responsibly. As you can see, those beliefs are directly contradicted by the facts. Of course we can choose to ignore the facts and instead focus on which candidate is wearing a flag pin (you ever notice that Hillary and McCain don't wear them? www.youtube.com/watch ) but I think we're a smarter country than that.

PS---If you're not sure how to respond to those laughably bad, factually inaccurate anti-Obama smear emails and or you want more information on John McCain, here is a nice resource guide of articles, videos and commentary: www.democraticunderground.com/dis...h...

To Clarify - THIS IS A JOKE!!!! I AM NOT Voting Republican!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To Clarify - THIS IS A JOKE!!!! I AM NOT Voting Republican!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Read text below about why NO ONE SHOULD EVER VOTE REPUBLICAN - AND WATCH THE SHORT FILM - LINK BELOW OR ON MY FRONT PAGE....

Awesome short film!!! Also on my front page -
www.imvotingrepublican.com/

You can read about the facts including in the movie on their website: www.imvotingrepublican.com/more.php - OR below:

MORE ABOUT THE MOVIE
The movie was written and directed by Charlie Steak and produced by SyntheticHuman Pictures. Everyone worked on the film for free. Contributions from individuals paid for most of the expenses.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE SEGMENTS OF THE MOVIE:
"We just love cheap plastic crap from China"

Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the United States. It is the largest retailer in the world.

Its revenue in 2007 was $351.1 billion dollars. That exceeds the GDP (gross domestic product) of at least 155 of the world’s countries. 70% of Wal-Mart’s sales are of items manufactured in China.

Wal-Mart has resisted providing adequate and meaningful health care coverage for its workers and has prevented its U.S. employees from forming unions. Wal-Mart pays most of its workers less than the amount needed to live on. (Starting pay for a cashier is less than $8 per hour. That’s less than $16,000.00 a year. The federal poverty level for a family of four in 2006 was $20,444.)
From the Democratic Party Agenda

Democrats believe that the most effective way to increase opportunity for our families is a high quality, good paying job. The Democratic Party supports fair trade agreements that raise standards for all workers here and abroad, while making American businesses more competitive, and we don’t believe in tax giveaways that reward companies for moving American jobs overseas.

We will create jobs that stay in America and restore opportunity for all Americans, starting with raising the minimum wage, expanding Pell grants and making college tuition tax deductible.

"I don't want a cure for AIDS or breast cancer"


There is no known cure for breast cancer or AIDS.
The Bush administration has been more interested in promoting AIDS treatment in Africa (for the benefit of American pharmaceutical companies) than in assisting American citizens who have AIDS. The administration has also withheld money from organizations in Africa that distribute condoms in attempts to control the spread of HIV/AIDS.
From the Democratic Party Agenda
"Today we renew our call for the development of a comprehensive, science-based strategy for combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic that includes expanding access to treatment, fully funding research and education programs, expanding HIV prevention efforts, and reducing HIV-related racial disparities. If we do these things, we can save lives and ensure the quality of life for all Americans."

Thoughts: Developing a cure for breast cancer is less important to some white males than creating medical solutions for male impotence. (With a revitalized penis they can always find a new wife.)
Most medical research is financed by private corporations who have no interest in finding a cure for disease. That would be to their disadvantage. They are very interested in finding expensive patentable treatments.
American criminal law makes it difficult to prosecute pharmaceutical executives who either intentionally or negligently gamble with the lives of patients when introducing new drugs.

"A classroom with thirty other children"


The average size of an elementary school class is more than 20 students. Speaking from experience, there is no way anyone can do an adequate job of teaching that many students at the same time. Insanity rules. The ideal ratio for the best results is eight students per instructor. Teachers are not well-paid. 25% of elementary school teachers make less than $35,000 a year. (Did you know that in some states, California for one, teachers often cannot afford to live in the district where they teach?) The federal government could do a lot more to help. Some of that 12 billion (yeah, $12,000,000,000.00) per month spent on the Iraq war could help.
From the 2004 Democratic Party Agenda

…we will offer high quality early learning opportunities, smaller classes, more after school activities, and more individualized attention for our students, particularly students with special needs, gifts, and talents.
We need to do more to attract and retain teachers, more to encourage their excellence, and more to ensure that all teachers are offering high-quality teaching. We must raise pay for teachers, especially in the schools and subjects where great teachers are in the shortest supply.

"Women just can't be trusted to make decisions about their own bodies..."


A woman’s right to choose whether to terminate her pregnancy is controlled by state law as limited by the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade. If and when Roe v. Wade is overturned by the current Republican-appointed majority of Supreme Court Justices, abortion will be outlawed in some states. The pregnant daughters of the well-to-do lawmakers in those states will be flown by their mothers to states where abortion is still legal; the poor in those states will return to using coat hangers.
From the Democratic Party Agenda

Democrats stand solidly in support of women and their right to make important life decisions about their health care.
It's critical that abortion remain a personal decision. If Roe was overturned, women and their doctors would be treated like criminals, jeopardizing women's health and safety. We can all agree that reducing the number of abortions in our country is an important goal, and in fact abortions have decreased. We will continue to work towards common-ground solutions to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, while allowing women to make the best decisions for themselves and their families.

"Continuing our use of fossil fuels..."


We don’t have cars that are as fuel efficient as they could be because the Republicans have kept the government from encouraging car manufacturers to make such cars. Our continuing disproportionate use of oil benefits the president’s friends and supporters.
As America’s corporations continue to have the ear of the Republican administrative branch, protection of America’s national wildlands has decreased. Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park have been under attack. Whether it’s oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or uranium at the edge of the Grand Canyon, if there’s money to be made for a corporation, no loss is too great.
From the Democratic Party Agenda

We will create a cleaner, greener and stronger America by reducing our dependence on foreign oil, eliminating billions in subsidies for oil and gas companies and use the savings to provide consumer relief and develop energy alternatives, and investing in energy independent technology.
Energy independence puts America in the driver's seat to pursue affordable and efficient energy solutions that will benefit all Americans, improve America's security, reduce the burden on American families, and help clean our environment.
American families should not have to pay the price for a failed national energy policy. They deserve an energy policy that creates a cleaner and stronger America that reduces our dependence on foreign oil and also creates new jobs for American workers. By clearing the pathways to innovation, investing in our workers and infrastructure, and providing American consumers with broader, more responsible choices, the Democratic plan will provide the tools to help move America forward, toward real energy security for the 21st century.

"Even if we're separate we'll still be called equal"


Despite advances in social equality in the last 50 years, whites and blacks are all too often separated in this country, and the government’s unwillingness to recognize the spirit of inequality causing this separation prevents progress.
In many ways America is a segregated nation. Most whites and blacks live in separate neighborhoods, go to separate schools, and seldom make friends. The Supreme Court, rarely a leader and never courageous, has eviscerated any ongoing attempts to achieve diversity in institutions of higher education and has undone the efforts to desegregate public schools following the 1954 decision in Brown v. The Board of Education, that held that “separate but equal” schools were inherently unequal.
From the Democratic Party Agenda

Democrats are unwavering in our support of equal opportunity for all Americans. That's why we’ve worked to pass every one of our nation’s Civil Rights laws, and every law that protects workers. Most recently, Democrats stood together to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act.
On every civil rights issue, Democrats have led the fight. We support vigorous enforcement of existing laws, and remain committed to protecting fundamental civil rights in America.

From the Democratic Party Agenda regarding the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (holding that it is impermissible to consider race to maintain racial diversity in school districts):

Across the country, people expressed dismay at yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling that turned back the clock on 53 years of work by schools around the country to provide all children with a quality education. Editorial boards echoed the sentiment saying that the Court “repudiated the last half-century of race-conscious efforts to overcome that tortured racial legacy,” “will accelerate the trend toward school resegregation in many parts of the country,” and that in the “name of abiding by the letter of Brown, the court has dishonored its spirit.”

“Saving the worst for last for last, the Supreme Court ended its 2006-07 term Thursday by rebuking two school districts that had made good-faith efforts to realize the vision of the court's landmark 1954 decision in Brown vs. Board of Education — an America in which children of different races share the same classroom…In the name of abiding by the letter of Brown, the court has dishonored its spirit.” L.A. Times 6/29/0

"I need the government to tell me (who I can love)"


It just kills some straight people that two men or two women might love each other enough to want to join themselves together as one, and ask that the world recognize that union. As Republicans in Arizona, which already has a law excluding same-sex unions from marriage, try to put a similar provision in their constitution, the message reverberates: “we don’t just hate you, we really, really, really hate you.” Denial of equal recognition and status by the government encourages hatred and persecution. An Oklahoma State Representative, Sally Kern, recently said homosexuality is the biggest threat our nation has, more so than terrorism. As recently as February, 2008, in California, a 15 year-old boy was killed at school for being gay.
From the Democratic Party Agenda

Governor Dean and Rick Stafford, chair of the DNC's GLBT Caucus, issued the following statement for National Coming Out Day:
"Today, in celebrating National Coming Out Day, we honor the courage and dignity of the millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans who have made the decision to live openly in our society. Coming out is an act of personal courage that truly empowers people to stand up for their values. As Democrats, one of those values is our commitment to equal rights and protections under the law for every single American.”

"The EPA is an outmoded idea..."


The Environmental Protection Agency is supposed to help investigate and enforce regulations keeping America’s environment clean and healthy. Republicans have seen to it that the EPA doesn’t. It was too expensive for corporations. Under the Republicans, the federal law that deals with investigating and cleaning up toxic waste sites (The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act - known as Superfund) has been gutted and efforts have been made to shift costs from the responsible parties (corporations) to consumers. Our groundwater supplies are in danger of contamination from toxic waste sites. Now pharmaceutical waste is everywhere in our surface water. Why does our government fail to protect us? Because we’ve let the government come under the control of corporations.
From the Democratic Party Agenda

The Democratic Party believes that it is our responsibility to protect America's extraordinary natural resources. The health of our families and the strength of our economy depend on our stewardship of the environment.
We reject the false choice between a healthy economy and a healthy environment. Farming, fishing, tourism, and other industries require a healthy environment. New technologies that protect the environment will create new high-paying jobs. A cleaner environment means a stronger economy.
Far too many Americans live with unhealthy air or water quality. Democrats will fight to strengthen the laws that ensure we have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink. And Democrats will make sure these laws are enforced.

"So long as the label says it's food..."


Corporations aren’t interested in letting you know what goes into your food. If they did, you wouldn’t eat it. The government isn’t interested in keeping you safe; that would be bad for business. So you eat meat that is full of hormones, dairy products that are full of hormones, grain products that have been genetically-modified, and produce covered with pesticide residue. The Food and Drug Administration fails to regularly inspect the food industry, and when it finds violations, does little or nothing to enforce regulations. Many facilities get inspected less than once a year. Truth in labeling is constantly resisted.
About 70 percent of grocery store food in the U.S. and Canada contain genetically engineered ingredients, and there is no mention of this on the labels.

"Getting screwed by the utility company..."


The Republicans have worked hard to deregulate many industries, claiming that it would result in more competition and said competition would be good for the consumer. The opposite has been true. Deregulation has led to less competition and consumers having to pay rates that the government allows to rise and rise and rise.
Five years ago, the average American family spent $3,300 on gasoline, home heating, and electricity. This year, the average American family will spend over $5,100 on gasoline, home heating, and electricity. This is an increase of nearly $2,000 per family. The indirect costs of higher energy prices in the form of higher prices for consumer goods and services are likely to cost families another $1,400 per year.


From the Democratic Party Agenda

Democrats know that a sensible energy policy is key to a strong economy, our national security, and a clean environment. Democrats are committed to the next generation of affordable and renewable energy for the 21st century and to conservation measures that will immediately reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

From the 2004 Democratic Platform:
We will work to create new technology for producing electricity in a better, more efficient manner. Coal accounts for more than one-half of America's electric power generation capacity today. We believe coal must continue its important role in a new energy economy, while achieving high environmental standards. Working with the coal industry, we will invest billions to develop and implement new, cleaner coal technology and to produce electric and hydrogen power. We will also work to make sure that our people have access to an affordable, secure, and reliable supply of electricity at all times. We support mandatory, enforceable reliability standards. We also support public-private partnerships to make our power systems more flexible, resilient, and self-healing—and more environmentally friendly than ever before.

"We need more minorities in prison"


While black men make up less than 12% of the general population, they account for almost 50% of the prison population. One third of all black males are on some sort of criminal justice supervision. One third of all black males are not dangerous and evil.
Until this year possession of crack cocaine and powder cocaine were punished differently. Crack cocaine (commonly possessed by black defendants) was punished 100 times more severely than powder cocaine (the preferred form used by whites.) Improved education, housing, and health care and meaningful job opportunities would do more to stop crime than increasing incarceration. It would also be much less expensive in the long run.

"Hybrid cars really suck"


Not really. Actually, they suck less of our natural resources from us. And with increased innovation they will allow people not just to get around, but to transport their stuff, and express their persona.
From the 2004 Democratic Party Platform

Creating the energy-efficient vehicles of tomorrow. We support creating more energy-efficient vehicles, from today's hybrid cars to tomorrow's hydrogen cars. We support the American people's freedom to choose whatever cars, SUVs, minivans, and trucks they choose, but we also believe American ingenuity is equal to the task of improving efficiency. We support improving fuel standards, and because of the challenges this poses, we will offer needed incentives for consumers to buy efficient vehicles, and for manufacturers to build them. We are also committed to developing hydrogen as a clean, reliable domestic source of energy. Our economy cannot convert to hydrogen overnight, so we will fund research to overcome the obstacles to hydrogen fuel and continue our other efforts to achieve energy independence.

"I don't feel that I deserve health insurance"


Most health insurance used to be provided by employers as a benefit for the employee and the employer (healthy workers are more productive). Now health insurance is provided by private insurance companies with employees covering some or all of the cost. Health insurance companies also increase their profits by denying claims. In 2007 health insurance companies made profits measured in hundreds of millions of dollars. People who can’t afford health insurance live in fear of getting ill or losing their job. A national health insurance program would allow part of the money currently counted as profit to help cover everyone else.
From the Democratic Party Agenda

In the wealthiest, most powerful nation on earth, no one should have to choose between taking their child to a doctor and paying the rent. Democrats are committed to making sure every single American has access to affordable, effective health care coverage.

"Texas needs more billionaires"


Not! Many of them have profited from good old boy deals with the Republicans – from oil and mineral rights to non-competitive sub-contracting for the Iraq war.

Today, ExxonMobil announced that “its third-quarter earnings rose to $10.49 billion, the second-largest quarterly profit ever recorded by a publicly traded U.S. company.” Royal Dutch Shell also “beat all forecasts with a 21 percent rise in underlying third-quarter profit.” These earnings reports come “as high crude prices this year have fueled record profits in the oil industry” which has triggered “an outcry from consumers who were being asked to pay about $3 a gallon for gasoline in early August.” [AP, 10/26/06; Reuters, 10/26/06]
“These record profits for oil companies while Americans still face sky-high gas prices, is one more example of the consequences of President Bush’s decision to let his friends in big oil write our nation’s energy policy,” said Democratic National Committee Communications Director Karen Finney. “While oil companies have received tax breaks, the pocketbooks of America's working families have been squeezed by a combination of rising energy costs and declining incomes. Americans are ready for a new direction. Democrats remain committed to reducing our dependency on foreign oil, and creating a robust domestic industry for alternative energy sources that will create jobs."

"Sometimes the Constitution is one big inconvenient headache"


Our Constitution is, in the end, what America is. It is through adherence to and respect for our unique governing document, with its wise checks and balances, that we maintain liberty and the rule of law. America is not a certain race, or religion, or even a geographical area – (the America that was comprised of the original 13 states in 1789, or of 48 states in 1940, was no less America than the 50 United States of today). America is, rather, a system of governance that vouchsafes, through the constitution, our individual and collective freedoms. If we stray from it, America ceases to have meaning.
The Constitution encourages color-blindness and equality. But judges (and Supreme Court justices) don’t really “interpret” the constitution. Judges decide the result of the case, based on their political beliefs, and then write their opinion, claiming to have “found” the answer in the Constitution. As long as we have judges who aren’t black, Hispanic, gay, female, or poor, we’re going to go on getting law that is unfriendly to blacks, Hispanics, gays, women, and the poor.
From the 2004 Democratic Party Agenda

Our commitment to civil rights is ironclad. We will restore vigorous federal enforcement of our civil rights laws for all our people, from fair housing to equal employment opportunity, from Title IX to the Americans with Disabilities Act. We support affirmative action to redress discrimination and to achieve the diversity from which all Americans benefit. We believe a day's work is worth a day's pay, and at a time when women still earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, we need stronger equal pay laws and stronger enforcement of them. We will enact the bipartisan legislation barring workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. We are committed to equal treatment of all service members and believe all patriotic Americans should be allowed to serve our country without discrimination, persecution, or violence. We support the appointment of judges who will uphold our laws and constitutional rights, not their own narrow agendas.

"The world should be run by one big corporation"


When that happens, we will all be slaves. America’s strength comes from the ability of its citizens to engage in free enterprise, to compete, to innovate, and to create jobs for themselves and other Americans.

"We should start as many wars as we need...Iraq...Iran"


The United States has a history of interfering in other countries when politics in those countries are adverse to American corporations’ business interests. We also like to sell weapons, so wars are good for business, and therefore are encouraged by weapons manufacturers.
To date more than 4,000 Americans and countless Iraqis have lost their lives because President Bush and his advisors decided to go to war based on faulty information.
Death is final, mysterious, and a terrible unknown. I can see nothing about the present war that justifies the ongoing loss of life and waste of resources. As mentioned earlier, we are also spending 12 billion dollars a month on the war. $12,000,000,000.00. Each month. Do the math.