One Flu East, One Flu West

The Flu Wiki has announced Pandemic Flu Awareness Week for October 3-9.

A major question on my mind, which I will attempt to answer and pass the answer along to you, dear reader, is how many doses of Tamiflu per week could we purchase and provide to save the lives of potentially millions of Americans if we immediately ended the illegal and immoral war against Iraq.

Avian Flew

Let's hope that the H5N1 virus is not ready to explode into the human population killing many millions including healthy young adults.

The Avian Flu blog joins the many concerned about recent information out of Jakarta:

The number of infected people has gone up steadily and, according to Henry Niman, people got the infection following a pattern that may suggest human to human transmission. Stay tuned.

If this is true, it could be an early sign of the worst pandemic that the world has seen since 1918. Stay informed, wash your hands, stay healthy.

Technorati tags: h5n1, avian flu, pandemic

One Senator at a Time

Neohippie has posted an excellent resource for contacting Senators about the urgent need to Impeach Bush. He has a sample email and web forms and addresses to contact every Senator. Go and use it!

Technorati tag: Impeach Bush

The Message is the Medium

Zander at Jack Myers Media Village discusses Dan Rather's Monday comments about the rightward, cowardly changes in the corporate media:

it's all about the conglomerates and their stranglehold on news divisions. Right now, there just isn't any support for investigative, hard-hitting journalism -- it's a change in basic philosophy. [T]he media... isn't working for the public... [N]ews divisions can't serve two masters, no matter how cheerfully they spin corporate synergy.

This issue is getting far too little attention.

When Clinton lied, nobody died; impeachment frenzy was whipped up by a corporate media who would benefit from exemption from all taxation under an extremist right-wing successor to Clinton. Now they have that man in office who watches their profits ahead of taking care of the people of this country. This news media is loathe to report the High Crimes and Misdemeanors of their Bush who has lied to the American people and Congress to take us into an illegal war.

While it may be possible to influence the corporate media by "voting with our wallets," the blogosphere provides an excellent alternative to disseminate truth and information.

Please take some time to visit some of the wonderful blogs listed at the Impeach Bush Coalition. They are all working hard to bring you the facts that you will not be likely to obtain from your TV, radio, or newspapers.

Bare Feet, Freedom, and Peace

There is not much of an awareness in our society right now to address the serious infringement on freedom created by our culture that dictates that going barefoot in many places borders on scandelous.

A Technorati search on "barefooters.org" leads me to find a pronouncent by Dan at Click:

There's a place for everyone online -- even for this friendly group of shoe-shunners.

His Technorati tags for this post are "weird sites," "funny sites," "weird," "funny."

Well, there were times and cultures that felt it necessary for proper people to wear gloves in most public places; I wonder if those who view the shoes-rules as a trivial or correct matter would be comfortable bringing back other traditions of parts of the body we ought to cover for no good reason.

The Society for Barefoot Living explains the significant health benefits and improved comfort that go along with a barefoot lifestyle.

I would add that what makes that an issue that should be treated especially seriously right now is that those who go barefoot will most often connect with the Earth and free their minds in ways that would likely increase support for Peace, Justice, and Equality, and just plain help us with our currently quite difficult task of making the world better.

Technorati tags: barefoot, barefooters, peace

This is the Dawning of the...

Ok, I can't not blog about this...

For some reason, no one told me about a profoundly groundbreaking movie that seems to present ideas which are similar to what some of us have identified as the basis for the growth into the new Age of Aquarius, and they use good science, logic, and spiritual ideas that make excellent sense, and are quite inspiring.

The movie is What the Bleep Do We Know?

Basically what they are saying is (and forgive me that I cannot be ultra-concise) that similar to how we once discarded ideas that the Earth was the center of the Universe, we now have enough scientific and experiential/spiritual ideas to rediscover the role of self or consciousness in the world in a way that can bring each of us and our whole civilization to a great new freedom and happiness. It is clear that reality is not a simple, solid external thing that we must suffer or enjoy as the case may be, but rather reality is something that we create both through our perception and our actions. Ironically, it is a movie which powerfully delivers the message that we need to stop living life like we are watching a movie, but instead use our ability to actively create our world for the better from moment to moment. Ultimately, they make a powerful case that the vast majority of people in our civilization are stuck in a mostly sub-conscious state of servitude to a mythical idea of an external world separate from ourselves, but that we all have the power to free ourselves to a more rewarding and true reality where we are in control of much that we thought we weren't.

These things may sound either obvious or useless, or you may reject them for fear that optimism is dangerous. But the movie itself makes the case so effectively that you absolutely have to see it before you could possibly reject these critical thoughts as wrong or of little consequence.

Impeach Bush Updates

Visit the new blog for the Impeach Bush Coalition:

President [sic] Bush has totally and utterly failed the American people. Almost every day we are presented with further proof why he should not be our president. From 9/11, to WMDs, to Iraq, to Katrina-- the reasons are many and obvious. We need to impeach him NOW.

Search term "Impeach Bush" ( <-- click there to keep up) is still #2 on Technorati.

Bring It On has a good perspective:

If a former president can be impeached for a blowjob this should be a walk in the park!

Zaphod's Heads says:

It doesn't matter whether the House of Representatives consists of a Republican majority, we cannot wait around until 2006 for that to change. We can no longer afford to wait. Impeachment begins NOW, with all of us!

Also, click on the comments for my post, "High Crimes and Misdemeanors" to view some very disturbing information from kappasappa:

There are some very troubling developments regarding the collecting of bodies in NOLA. The company hired to do the collection is Kenyon International. Kenyon International is owned by SCI, a major Bush contributor... thousands of bodies were improperly and fraudulently disposed of in mass graves of in violation of numerous State and Federal laws on numreous occasions.

Technorati tag: Impeach Bush

High Crimes and Misdemeanors

The blog search term "Impeach Bush" - and if you click that, it will help keep the link high - is now the top search term at Technorati!

It is time to make this case; I am formally and publicly adding my voice to the spreading call to impeach and remove from office George W. Bush. High crimes include deliberate lying to the American people to justify an immoral and illegal war, huge electoral fraud in both 2000 and 2004, and criminal negligence in slow and poor Federal response to the hurricane Katrina disaster.

I will follow up with more specific information on the charges we will use to remove George W. Bush from the office of President of the United States under the legal powers granted to Congress by the Constitution.

In the meanwhile, please also review what these insightful bloggers and sites have to say:

The Martian Anthropologist notes:

Wow. 42% of Americans. More than 4 in 10! But here's the really interesting part:

"By comparison, in October 1998, as the House moved to impeach President Bill Clinton over the Monica S. Lewinsky scandal, a Zogby poll found that 39 percent of voters supported the House action, while 56 percent opposed it."

So more Americans now support impeaching President Bush than ever supported impeaching President Clinton. Interesting, eh?

And the Bulldog Manifesto says:

President Bush has totally and utterly failed the American people. Almost every day we are presented with further proof why he should not be our president. From 9/11, to WMDs, to Iraq, to Katrina-- the reasons are many and obvious. We need to impeach him NOW.

Technorati tag: Impeach Bush

Equal Marriage Urgent Action Alert

The sponsors of the California Marriage Equality bill have delayed delivery to the governator to give us all a chance to help him change his mind about the veto. Let's all take this chance! Remember that opponents of equality across the country are raising money, phoning, faxing, and emailing, so we must also:

Equality California
http://www.eqca.org/
TAKE ACTION! HOW YOU CAN CONTACT THE GOVERNOR!
9-9-2005

We need your help! Please take two minutes to call, fax and email the Governor's office and urge that he sign the marriage equality bill. Also, don't forget to sign our petition to the governor.

It doesn't MATTER if you're in California or not; the whole country is watching and waiting to see what happens. To find out how, go to:

http://www.eqca.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=9oINKWMCF&b=40337&ct=1389749

Here are some of the things Equality California is asking you to do.

1) By going to the link above, sign an online petition to the governor.

2) Call the governor's office at 916-445-2841, at any hour. Go through the automated messages to express your view on legislation, then choose the option to express support for the "Gender-Neutral Marriage Bill." The number was busy when I called -- be prepared to redial. (Numbers for regional offices are also listed on the site if you have trouble getting through to the main number.)

3) Fax a message to the governor: 916-445-4633

4) E-mail the governor at http://www.govmail.ca.gov

Love and Marriage

While (dirty swine) Schwarzenegger has now promised to veto the breakthough equal marriage legislation in California, two Massachusetts activists have a great idea:

Two gay activists are promising to post on the Internet the names and addresses of anyone who signs a petition that could lead to a statewide ban on gay marriage.

The move by Thomas Lang and Alexander Westerhoff, one of the first gay couples married in the state, came after state Attorney General Thomas Reilly on Wednesday certified a ballot question that bans gay marriage and civil unions.

The site is at http://knowthyneighbor.org/ .

People who are deliberately trying to take away other people's civil rights should have no entitlement to hide in anonymity.

I will post this link permanently, as I think all bloggers should, and I think it is a fine idea for us to contact people on this list and, with civility, educate them as to the harm and pain they are inflicting on the lives of their neighbors.

CA Legislature Votes Equality

The LA Times Reports:

By the slimmest of margins, the California Legislature on Tuesday became the first in the nation to approve gay marriage. Lawmakers will now send the measure legalizing same-sex unions to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has hinted that he will veto it.

It is a wonderful thing that both chambers of the California legislature have voted for equality. It is disturbing that one man could "terminate" this important civil rights progress.

I hope there will be massive activism from equality proponents to let Governor Schwarzenegger know that history will be harshly unforgiving to a vetoing of equality. Perhaps we can also hold some hope that he has some Hollywood friends who will lean on him to sign this important legislation.

Contact Info for Gov. Schwarzenegger here.

How Many Deaths Will it Take?

A friend of mine committed suicide today. I cannot begin to understand it; perhaps I cannot make sense of it, but can only mourn.

I can speak for myself that this is a very difficult time, country, and world to live in.

The dream of Peace, Love, and Happiness for all seems so far away sometimes. But I guess that one of the main things that keeps me going and not ending up like my lost friend J. is the belief that we can work together to fix things, and we need not despair and let our society keep descending into an increasingly worse nightmare.

We must continue to speak out about the evil effects of the uncaring and incompetent actions of the unelected George Bush. And perhaps more importantly, we all must speak more and speak louder about changing things for the better today... and we need change to come faster. How many more need to die in an illegal and immoral war, or neglected in the floodwaters of a great city because our nation has no resources or caring for them, or from suicide from living in these times of lost dreams and lost hope. Let's change it now.

To other bloggers and myself, I quote Bob Dylan:

Come writers and critics who prophesize with your pen,
And keep your eyes wide, the chance won't come again,
And don't speak too soon for the wheel's still in spin,
And there's no telling’ who that it's namin';
For the loser now will be later to win.

Yes, the times, they're STILL a'changin!

We've had a bad detour; let's get back on the road:

PEACE NOW! FREEDOM NOW!

Bush: Let Them Eat Gumbo Cake

I don't think decent people want to politicize a horrific natural disaster, but how can we not observe how inept Bush's Katrina response has been and continues to be, prolonging and exacerbating the death and suffering.

Irish Trojan (from what I can tell, an absolute hard-core political moderate) gives a fair evaluation:

the aftermath of Katrina is quickly becoming an abject political disaster for the Bush Administration ... if the feds don't get this turned around very, very soon -- like, today -- I think the political ramifications may be staggering and far-reaching. The public does not easily forgive a government's perceived failure in a crisis, nor should they (assuming the perception is accurate). Like graffiti carved into the wet concrete of a newly paved sidewalk, the perception that the government failed the victims of Katrina will be almost impossible to alter once it has hardened, and I sense that it is hardening very fast.

And Boing Boing is reporting that:

FEMA points Katrina aid $ to Pat "kill Hugo Chavez!" Robertson

The only way Bush's people do anything "right" is not in the sense of correct, but only a political "right" (wing) which to them is all about anti-poor, anti-gay, anti-freedom, anti-peace...

Horror There, Changes Everywhere

While the unfathomable humanitarian disaster in Louisiana and Mississippi continues to reveal new horror upon new horror, the rest of the nation may need to begin to brace for a devastating impact to our way of life.

I have received a personal report from Asheville, North Carolina that it is mostly impossible to obtain gasoline there: gas stations are not supplied with gas at all, and the word is that it is likely to be at least nine days until they have any at all.

Here's a separate reference to this occurrence from the Ashvegas blog:

anchor Larry Blunt... read some news about the local gas shortage. ... pimping the WLOS web site ... as the place to go to find out what gas stations still have fuel in Buncombe County.

Here in the Northeast, I just paid $3.09 per gallon to fill my gas tank, but I am hearing rumors that gas may no longer be supplied up here soon either.

Our 2005 "Walmart Economy" is vastly different from the 1970's economy that experienced what may end up being a far more minor gas shortage. I believe that we may need to start considering the possibility of near complete economic and social meltdown if gas stops flowing to many parts of the nation for more than a very short time.

American Fascism Advancing Fast

My email to the American Civil Liberties Union:

You are betraying the people by complying with the unconstitutional gag order under the Patriot Act. Who is your library records client in ACLU v Gonzales? Please tell us immediately or change your name to Union to Protect the Fascists (UPF).

http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=18956&c=262

The government is seizing library records of individuals who oppose the unelected president [sic] George Bush or his illegal war. The Department of Homeland Security has pulled own my credit report, and I hear beeps on my telephone line that sounds like tapping.

If the ACLU is no longer protecting our liberties, we citizens had better be getting on the ball; I'm not sure how we can dig, pursue, and find out the truth here, but if we do not, those of us who do not wish to live in a radical fascist country will need to move and find another nation of residence.