Barack Obama has said that he will address the nation once a week via YouTube. Very reminiscent of FDR’s fireside chats. His first address was this week and he not only promises to create over 2 millions jobs by 2011, he also discusses building solar panels, wind farms, and fuel efficient cars. How refreshing to have a President with a brain!
No Comments » | 
Environment, Global Warming, Going Green, Renewable Energy, There's hope, Uncategorized | Tagged: green energy, Renewable Energy, Barack Obama, solar panels, wind energy, news, wind farms, job creation, president-elect Obama, economic woes, YouTube | 
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Posted by Ari
Got this email forwarded me today. We obviously can’t risk having the lunatics who invented bovine growth hormone (rBGH) and genetically modified crapola as the head of our Agriculture Department. Tell Obama this idea is bullshit…
Although most of the transition news has been very positive, there are a few potentially scary cabinet posts being considered, and this is one of them. Vilsack has strong ties to Monsanto, and that simply can NOT be good for the way the ag industry affects the health of our nation. There are two quickie actions you can take below… calling or email the Obama transition team office and signing the petition constructed by the Organic Consumers Assoc.
”Tom Vilsack is being considered for the Secretary of Agriculture position in the Obama Administration. Vilsack is a notorious cheerleader for genetically engineered crops and chemical and energy-intensive industrial agriculture–certainly no friend of organic food and farming.”
1) Call office of President-Elect Obama at 202-540-3000 or email the transition team at http://change.gov/page/s/contact and make sure your concerns about Vilsack be heard. Urge him to appoint a Secretary of Agriculture that reflects your organic values… or at the very least values that do NOT support genetically engineered food.
2) Sign the OCA’s petition below to President-Elect Obama and urge him to appoint a Secretary of Agriculture that is supportive of organic food and farming.
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/642/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1751
No Comments » | 
You eat WHAT?, animal abuse, food | Tagged: bovine growth hormone, Barack Obama, news, GMO, Monsanto, genetically modified foods, Tom Vislack, rBGH, Secretary of Agriculture, Obama's cabinet | 
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Posted by Ari
With GAY IS THE NEW BLACK, there seemed for a moment to be hope for The Advocate, the self-declared premiere gay news magazine. Alas, no. The editors, known for devoting half the magazine’s cover stories to fawning and oohing over straight actors who’ve (gasp!) dared to played gay, have really disgraced themselves with their latest stunt, allowing a juvenile reporter to harass actor Adrien Brody about, well, everything, including his penis size. I kid you not. Perhaps it’s time for this self-important rag to fold up and go away. The Advocate and it’s even more irrelevant, utterly void-of-any-meaning glossy Out, have long been largely vapid embarrassments to our community. The Daily proudly nominates Amy Balliett, the organizer of the nationwide Join the Impact protest, to take over as editor of both, because we would like to have a magazine to read with actual substance. But the current editors should be fired so they can stick to surfing celebrity porn, or whatever they are doing pretending to be our community’s voice and news editors.
1 Comment | 
Disgrace, GLBT | Tagged: Adrien Brody, Adrien Brody's penis, Amy Balliett, Out, Out Magazine, The Advocate, The Advocate magazine, vapid behavior | 
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Posted by Mikko
This is really disturbing. Sarah Palin gave an interview for MSNBC and in the background turkeys are being slaughtered. Literally their necks are being slit in plain view. What’s even worse is that the reporter announcing the clip says you might want to take your kids out of the room because the video is really graphic and upsetting. Ummm, wake up bitches… this is where your Thanksgiving dinner comes from. If it’s too painful for you to watch then you shouldn’t be eating it. Sick ass shit.
1 Comment | Glad I Don't Eat That, animal abuse | Tagged: animal cruelty, news, Sarah Palin, Thanksgiving, turkey slaughter, Sarah Palin interviews while turkey are slaughtered, Thanksgiving slaughter, MSN, turkey mutilation | Permalink
Posted by Ari
The Creationist camp is working harder and harder to fight the ever-increasing evidence of the theory (read: fact) of evolution, and an article in the science journal Nature today provides new ammunition. Fossil tracks from the Pre-Cambrian era indicate Protozoan life about 1.8 billion years ago (a slightly older account than, say, the Creationist view that the Earth is 6,000 years old). Scientists say this could offer greater detail on the age old question: Where did life start? Good luck on this one, Discovery Institute.
1 Comment | Environment, wildlife | Tagged: science, creationism, biology, origin of life, protozoa | Permalink
Posted by carrieeatstofu
From our new contributor Katie McCabe:
Michael Moore is usually right, you know. Not about everything maybe, but he’s usually got the gist, doesn’t he? He was interviewed recently on Larry King and the conversation turned to our wheezing and sputtering to death of American automobile industry and the actions that would be necessary to save it. Moore rightfully points out that the big American auto-manufacturers have ignored consumer trends by continually building behemouth 4×4s and nonsensical suburban tanks. To add insult to injury, they don’t even build these roadhogs on American soil but in foreign plants–so they can make massive profits whilst obliterating the ozone. Insult to injury….
I haven’t owned a car in about four years and I rely heavily on public transporation to get to any destination that my two legs can’t carry me to, But, I’ve owned cars in the past and I will inevitably own another at some point in my life. My prime concern in motoring was always an affordable tank of gas–not only so I could feel a bit self-righteous in my ecology but so that I wouldn’t have to empty my bank account at the pump. I know I’m not alone in this logic. People like me have had no choice but to buy European and Asian automobiles which have, for many years, proven to be more fuel-efficient.
There is the possibility that this crisis will shake GM, Ford, and Chrysler out of their complacenty. There’s also the notion that Obama could grab the reigns from these corporations and force these changes upon them. I’m for it. It’s just a shame that progress would have to come from duress and not American intelligence and ingenuity–or God forbid, concern for our planet, our resources, and our own citizens.
2 Comments | Corporate welfare | Tagged: GM, Ford, news, Larry King, Chrysler, Michael Moore, auto bailout, gas guzzlers, American car companies, corporate welfare queens | Permalink
Posted by Ari
Residents of Rancho Cucamonga got an eye-full this week when a billboard went up in the center of town, bearing John Lennon’s immortal words, “Imagine No Religion.” The relatively benign billboard came courtesy of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, which has been touring the country with its non-theist ad campaign. The billboard hasn’t been making many friends; in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, protest signs immediately went up, claiming that atheists “hate America.” Wait, which America? The one with a Constitution? The one with a separation between Church and State? Or the one you read about on the back of a Made in China $10 plastic flag?
No Comments » | Separation of church and state | Tagged: agnostic, atheist, Freedom from Religion Foundation, news, Rancho Cucamonga, religion, Separation of church and state | Permalink
Posted by carrieeatstofu
The California Supreme Court announced it will hear the legal challenges to the constitutionality of Prop 8. In an order issued today, the Court set an expedited schedule with final briefs due from everyone January 21. The case will likely be heard in March 2009. Since the ballot initiative process began in California, the Court has heard nine cases challenging voter-passed Propositions, striking down three of them.
No Comments » | GLBT, Marriage Equality, There's hope | Tagged: Marriage Equality, Prop 8, California Supreme Court, Proposition 8, equality warriors | Permalink
Posted by Mikko
Mike Huckabee’s statements on The View show complete ignorance or apathy towards the violence gays and lesbians endure on a daily basis. He says that gays and lesbians haven’t been the victims violence the way that African Americans have. While the two civil rights movements are different, does this man not know of Matthew Shepherd, Lawrence King, and the thousands of other gays and lesbians who have been murdered and beaten because of the rampant homophobia in our society. Not to mention the thousands who have committed suicide. Just this past Friday an 18 year old was shot to death in Syracuse, NY because he was the victim of a homophobic hate crime. Mike Huckabee should be ashamed. Feel free to tell him yourself on his website, I know I will.
1 Comment | Disgrace, GLBT | Tagged: homophobia, gay rights, news, civil rights, GLBT, gay bashing, gay suicide, Matthew Shepherd, Lawrence King, Larry King, 18 yo shot to death in Syracuse, Mike Huckabee, The View, victims of violence | Permalink
Posted by Ari
The New York Times has a harrowing story on PETA’s latest expose from the world of factory farming turkeys, this time in West Virginia’s Aviegen, a hell for animals created by the world’s leading poultry-breeding company. Anyone who plans to eat turkey for Thanksgiving needs to read this story and to watch the footage. That is what you’re supporting and being a part of if you eat turkeys. Thankfully, there are great cruelty-free alternatives.
1 Comment | Glad I Don't Eat That, animal abuse, food | Tagged: animal abuse, factory farming, Thanksgiving, turkeys, cruelty, Aviegen, Thanksgiving hell, Stomping on turkey's heads, turkey abuse, turkey torture | Permalink
Posted by Mikko
