Nancy Grace to take over for Rosie on The View? - TV Squad

Nancy Grace to take over for Rosie on The View? - TV Squad:

"Sources inside Court TV are saying that one of the reasons why Nancy Grace has
decided to leave Court TV (besides the fact that they are changing their name
and what they cover) is that she really wants to host the ABC morning show, and
couldn't seriously discuss terms with ABC while she was still under contract."

I so hope this rumor turns out to be true. Nancy Grace is one of my favorite people, it would be so fun to see her on the show with the girls.

Bill Moyers Commentary - 'I'm Harry'

Crooks and Liars » 30 Years Of War Profiteering Ahead For Western Oil Companies

Crooks and Liars » 30 Years Of War Profiteering Ahead For Western Oil Companies:

"The 'IoS' today reveals a draft for a new law that would give Western oil
companies a massive share in the third largest reserves in the world. To the
victors, the oil? That is how some experts view this unprecedented arrangement
with a major Middle East oil producer that guarantees investors huge profits for
the next 30 years"

Here is a radical idea. Follow me on this one, oil companies moving into Iraq stand to make a good deal of money - what allows them to move into Iraq. One of those dominant things that is allowing these companies to operate in Iraq is the lives of our soldiers. American soldiers have fought and died for Iraq to be a place where business can be done, without them the country would still be under Saddam and any business that was done would be illegal and operated under a dictator.

Ayn Rand was insistent that no one be used as a means to someone else's ends. What that means for me in Iraq is that the oil money that is set to return to companies moving into Iraq should be shared with the soldiers of the American armed forces. It was the effort of these brave men and womyn who put their lives on the line that enables the business to take place, and they deserve payment for their services.

I know that the armed forces pays them, but that is for their service in protecting us as a nation. The oil companies who have gained more than the rest of us on their lives should pay back more than the rest of us. I am not suggesting a huge tax that would make business and investment profitless. A small percentage of the total profits split between those who served and the close family of those who died would provide a fair amount of funds for those families.It would also just be a great way to thank them for their courage.

Support the troops. End the war. Take action May 26th, 27th, 28th.

Support the troops. End the war. Take action May 26th, 27th, 28th.:

"As Americans, we are blessed by that sacrifice and support, which keeps us safe
and keeps us strong.
As patriots, we call on our government to support our
troops in the most important way it can - by ending this war and bringing them
home.
This Memorial Day weekend, we will all take responsibility for the
country we love and the men and women who protect it. We will volunteer, we will
pray, and we will speak out. Each of us has a responsibility to act, a duty to
our troops and to each other. Support the troops. End the war.As Americans, we
are blessed by that sacrifice and support, which keeps us safe and keeps us
strong.
As patriots, we call on our government to support our troops in the
most important way it can - by ending this war and bringing them home.
This
Memorial Day weekend, we will all take responsibility for the country we love
and the men and women who protect it. We will volunteer, we will pray, and we
will speak out. Each of us has a responsibility to act, a duty to our troops and
to each other. Support the troops. End the war.As Americans, we are blessed by
that sacrifice and support, which keeps us safe and keeps us strong.
As
patriots, we call on our government to support our troops in the most important
way it can - by ending this war and bringing them home.
This Memorial Day
weekend, we will all take responsibility for the country we love and the men and
women who protect it. We will volunteer, we will pray, and we will speak out.
Each of us has a responsibility to act, a duty to our troops and to each other.
Support the troops. End the war."

I am unhappy about the way this war is often framed as those on the one side that want the war to end, and those on the other side that want to fight it forever. President Bush and the republicans have more to gain than anyone else is seeing this war come to an end. It was a major factor in driving the republicans from power, so they too want the war to be something behind them.

The question is how do we end this war, and how do we leave the country when we leave. There are those who want us to become involved in Darfur, while also wanting us to pull out of Iraq. Would they be happy if we took all our Iraq troops and put them in Darfur? I think that instead they would complain about the mess we left Iraq in and that we should have done more to fix it - while talking about an illegal occupation of Sudan.

There are those people in the world that will always hate whatever America does. There are those people in the world that have no historical memory and think that the past is forgotten. I have not forgotten the protests and the conspiracy theories surrounding our involvement in Kosovo, a war that America gained nothing from.

Green Wombat: Citi to Invest $50 billion to Fight Global Warming

Green Wombat: Citi to Invest $50 billion to Fight Global Warming:

"Citi, the financial services multinational formerly called Citigroup, has
pledged to spend up to $50 billion over the next decade to invest in renewable
energy and other green technologies. Citi, the financial services multinational
formerly called Citigroup, has pledged to spend up to $50 billion over the next
decade to invest in renewable energy and other green technologies. "

I think we can always get more done when we work with those we disagree with than against them. There is so much truth, and so many ways to view it - how could we assume we know it all.

Media Blog on National Review Online

Media Blog on National Review Online:

"May 10, 2007 — EDITOR'S NOTE: News Corp., The Post's corporate parent, employs
some 47,000 people on five continents. Yesterday, Chairman and CEO Rupert
Murdoch announced the company's dramatic plans to become fully carbon-neutral by
2010. Below are some of his remarks to News Corp. employees explaining why, and
how, we'll do it - and that this is only the start. "

I had an interesting conversation about this today. I mentioned I had read about this on the internet and this guy said he doubted it. I went on that there is reason to believe it is true because Murdoch is not an idiot- which he right away said that he thought he was (I think anyone who thinks an idiot could run News Corp. is an idiot and a willful idiot at that). I mentioned that it could save the company money, and that Murdoch would never turn his back on something that could save money. The man replied that money wasn't everything, got impatient and walked off.

I wonder sometimes why that the left hates so strongly. Why hate Starbucks with such venom, it does good things for its workers, it does good things for education and it is working to do better on the environmental and free trade areas. It used to be said that the left was based on a politics of hatred and envy, and I find that hard not to believe sometimes. Talk to people about McDonalds working to make their food healthier and some of them will tell your right out that they will still hate McDonalds.

Does it make sense to hate a business just because it is big, and how big does it have to be before you should start hating it.

A major problem with the approach that many take towards corporations is that it undermines their causes. Suppose there is a restaurant that sells chickens, it is a fast foot chain and it is fighting for its small part of the market. To do that it has to cut corners on cost to under sell its competitors. It does this by buying chickens from farms that treat their chickens poorly. Now suppose a new president takes over the company, he has heard the complaints and wants to make a change. He makes the commitment to get the best healthiest chickens he can - and has to raise the price to make up for that. If the left continues to treat him with disgust and hatred, the business will go down because the change will not generate new customers and the old ones will leave seeking lower prices. No business can or will take a loss for long, corners will get cut again to lower that price and be competitive. On the other hand if the parties on the left work with the company president and support the company and the change results in a continued profit - the change will remain. Not only that but one business making money doing the right thing can leverage the industry to higher standards.

Today Giuliani is for civil unions, two weeks ago he opposed them, but three weeks ago he was for them - AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth

Today Giuliani is for civil unions, two weeks ago he opposed them, but three weeks ago he was for them - AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth:

"It's all so confusing. Just two weeks ago, Rudy came out opposed to civil
unions, even though he was previously for civil unions. Now today Rudy is again
for civil unions. While it's nice that Rudy is finally telling the truth about
his being a liberal, it's still disturbing that he's flip-flopped twice in the
past two weeks on this issue. He did the same thing on abortion (the media has
been paying attention to the abortion flip-flop, but missed the gay one). So
which Rudy is which, why did he flip flop (twice), and how do we know he won't
flip flop again when it's next convenient? I mean, the man lied to the American
people during the presidential debate, got caught, and now is changing his
position again as a result. Lying is kind of a big deal."

I think that if Giuliani could talk to the conservatives in a language that liberals didn't understand he would tell them that he was pro-life and anti-gay rights. Suppose the magic mayor then went to the liberals the next night, and he could talk to them in a language that conservatives wouldn't understand, he would be pro-choice and support gay rights. The one thing that I mistrust about Giuliani more than anything is this, that he has no morals about his political goals.

Romney now basing his presidential decision-making on his religion, but don't you dare ask him about his religion - AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth

Romney now basing his presidential decision-making on his religion, but don't you dare ask him about his religion - AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth:

"So which one is it? Is Mitt Romney's Mormon religion off limits for everybody
but Mitt Romney? It's okay for him to give a religious reason for policy
decisions, but not okay for anyone else to inquire more about Romney's religion.
What other policy decisions is Mitt Romney going to make based on the Mormon
religion? Romney, like so many folks on the religious right (even though Romney
isn't really religious right, he's a far-left liberal who's only now pretending
to be a right-winger) firmly believe that their religion should be the basis of
every political decision they make, but when you ask just what their religion is
all about, they get all offended, when they're the ones who made their religion
an issue to start with.

And let's not ignore what's really going on
here. Romney is worried that the religious right, and a lot of Americans, won't
vote for him because he's a Mormon. So he's now quoting the Bible to show that
he's really one of us. The real reason most Americans won't vote for Romney is
because he's a lying hypocrite whose views on everything from guns, to gays, to
the environment, to abortion change every two years based on the political
winds."

I think that there is some subtle language in understanding my point here. It is one thing to look at a religion and say that you disagree with this or that aspect of it. It is clearly another to talk about that religion and those who are followers of it as if they are lower than your religion.

I think that the religion of a candidate has a role in understanding what kind of person they are and in turn what kind of leader they are. I think that if done respectfully, which there is no reason it can't be - there is room to talk about religion and its effects on politics.

The problem comes when you move from a discussion to slander, when you write someone off based on their religion alone. When you demean someone not for who they are, or the ideas that they hold but because of the ideas that you disagree with in their religion. There is a shocking truth that some people can follow a religion and admit that it has and does make mistakes, some may disagree with ideas held by their faith but still have faith.

Poll: Congress, Bush share low approval - Politics - MSNBC.com

Poll: Congress, Bush share low approval - Politics - MSNBC.com:

"WASHINGTON - People think the Democratic-led Congress is doing just as dreary a
job as President Bush, following four months of bitter political standoffs
that
have seen little progress on Iraq and a host of domestic issues."

This backs what I have been saying for weeks now. The American public did not hand over power to the Democrats so that they could play these games with the White House. I believe that the American people wanted to see change in Washington, every election we attempt to make changes in Washington, just to find that while the names have changed, the system is the same as it always was. The same system that was not meeting the peoples needs under the Republican control is not meeting the peoples needs under the Democrats. If someone wants to gain the respect of Americans it isn't that hard, sit down at a table and have an honest discussion about the war in Iraq. There will be a time and place about to talk about how we got into the war and if it was right, lets fix it first.

My suggestion is that a strong democrat and a strong republican should come out, form a third party and run their own candidate - one that will change the system in a way that the other two parties either can't or won't.

Mickey Mouse character back on Hamas TV - Focus on Israel/Palestinians - MSNBC.com

Mickey Mouse character back on Hamas TV - Focus on Israel/Palestinians - MSNBC.com:

"JERUSALEM - A weekly children's show on a Hamas-run TV station featuring a
Mickey Mouse lookalike preaching Islamic domination was broadcast as usual
Friday, two days after the Palestinian information minister said it would be
suspended immediately."

It is sad to see hatred being taught to children so young, all the more so because it is using an image that many of them have grown to trust. As long as this kind of teaching is given to our young we will not have peace, when Jews teach their children to hate Arabs, and Arabs teach their children to hate Jews, seeds for a new generation of hate and violence are sown.