This will be the only post for Lunacanus today.  Things have grown terribly hectic and  we needed some time to get a few personal things taken care of before we delve back into politics and environmental discussion.

First, I will be out of town until Friday.  This is a good thing.  I have gotten a temporary job and must go to Las Vegas for orientation.  Second, I received word that my Pell Grant was approved, so I will begin taking college courses on the 9th of the month.  I am going for a Bachelors Degree in Environmental Studies.  This is more good news.

While I am gone, my mom will be filling in for me.  You can trust her.  She is an old sixties hippie liberal and she keeps an eagle eye on politics.  So she will be kicking the butts of Republicans and conservatives all over the map.  She also will not be easy on Democratic lawmakers who are too far out there.

I really hope all of my readers had good news like I received this last week.  I encourage any of you who are unemployed and think you are getting too old to learn new things to think again.  There are a lot of retraining programs out there that you will probably qualify for.  You owe it to yourself and your loved ones to at least check it out.

I certainly would not have believed two weeks ago that I would be a forty plus student.  But it really feels good now that I am.

I will leave you with a picture I have been saving for quite some time.  We all need a laugh and I think this is pretty funny.  I will be posting again after I return from Vegas.

Isn't this appropriate. After all, it is where he drove the country. He needs a library that honestly reflects his presidency.

Post by BobbiV

Conservative Senator Jim Bunning from Kentucky is single handedly blocking a 30 day extension of unemployment benefits to people whose benefits run out this week end.  Nice guy, huh?  He is concerned about balancing the budget.  Too bad he wasn’t concerned about this during the administration of Bush and Cheney.  I don’t think he ever saw a proposal of theirs he didn’t salivate over and vote for.

Bunning’s state is suffering with high unemployment and a while back he voiced his concern.  Last Friday the whole nation saw how deep this concern really runs.  This member of the Senate had the gall to hold up this extension all by his lonesome.  It is too bad that the Rules of the Senate provide for this type of churlish action.  The man waited until it was late enough that many Senators had already left for their home states for the weekend before he pulled this rabbit out of his empty hat.  That way, he was assured he could not be blocked and had he tried it with more members there he would have been stopped, maybe even by his own party.

Jim Bunning is a former baseball pitcher and he is in the Baseball Hall of Fame.  I wonder how all those working folks who paid for tickets to see him play and thereby made him rich, feel about what he did.  At least one group is expressing their feelings toward this man by asking that he be kicked out of Cooperstown.

From NBC Philadelphia;

“One United StatesSenator, Jim Bunning, is adding a ton of pain to America’s jobless,” said Rick Sloan, acting executive director of the grassroots organization for unemployed Americans. “His heartless actions mean millions will not receive their unemployment checks. For his stance, he should be ejected from the Hall of Fame and installed in the Hall of Shame.”

But don’t fret Philly fans, we doubt there will be any asterisks on Bunning’s stat lines at the Hall of Fame over what he’s now doing in the Senate.

That doesn’t mean the outraged group won’t try.

“His legacy as a great ball player is about to be surpassed by his reputation as an obstinate and uncaring ideologue,” Sloan said.

For now, Bunning’s place at the Hall is safe. His place on Capitol Hill, well, that’s another story.

Read the rest here.

Then there is this late news from The Associated Press;

FRANKFORT, KY (AP) – Two of U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning’s Kentucky offices have been checked after bomb threats were received, but nothing was found.

Bunning’s office in Louisville was checked after the threat. In Hazard, a threat was made on he William D. Gorman Educational Center, which includes the offices of Bunning and U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers.

Louisville FBI spokesman David Beyer says nothing was found in either case but the matter is under investigation. 

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

I don’t approve of bombs or bomb threats, but maybe this will let this old dried up Senator know how it feels to have your life threatened.  After all, he is threatening the lives of a lot of Americans by his actions.  I wouldn’t count on his learning a lesson from this, though.

Bunning is retiring from the Senate at the end of his term.  Good riddance.

Watch he video as this crazy old man blocks unemployment benefit extensions, rural cable TV extensions (so we get local channels on Dish and Direct TV), Cobra health insurance extensions and a lot of other needed extensions.  This Republican said about his actions and their consequences “Tough S**t”.  He is a great example of what his party stands for.

As is normal for conservative Republicans, they are continuing to try to spin straw into gold in the health care reform debate.  It is not working.   They know it.  We know it.  They know we know and…well you get the idea.

I think the American people have a good case to sue each and every Republican lawmaker for whiplash for the way they have gone one way and then turned so quickly to reverse themselves.  If you watch politics you can be injured from the sudden stop and reversal.  That is whiplash so we should sue.

The thing that is hard for me to understand is that these so called upstanding members of our society aren’t  embarrassed by their actions.  In fact, they seem almost proud of their obstructionism, their lies and their lack of moral values.  They are doing things that harm everyday Americans and they not only don’t care, they are unashamed.

Watch as the best of the press, Rachel Maddow calls out Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa on his lies and the number of  his faces.  He is the perfect example of unabashed Republican lies and misdirection.

Iowa, please get rid of this old codger and get some new Senatorial blood for your state.  Maybe you could find someone who really represents the best interests of the citizens in your state instead of the best interests of the corporations and insurance providers.

I think everyone these days is aware that animal poo produces methane gas.  From animal rights groups that use high methane production from farm animals as an argument to reduce meat consumption to conservative right-wing Republican wing-nuts that say animal poo is more responsible for global warming than cars and coal plants we all agree that large amounts of animal poo is bad.

Over the centuries the human race has found many uses for animal poo the most common of which is the making of fertilizer for our crops and gardens.  We have seen laws passed in major cities regarding picking up after, or ‘curbing’ your pet and there are even companies across the nation today that will pay a weekly visit to your home to clean your dogs poo out of your yard for you.  Animal poo has become regulated and a business in our nation.

We have also known for years that animal poo could be a source of energy, but the big question has been how to safely use the methane gas it produces.  On a small scale however, it seems that the question has been answered.  Cambridge Massachusetts will soon be the first city in witch the “Park Sparks Project” will be implemented.

This project uses animal poo to power individual street and park lamps.  You collect your pets poo, as you do already, and place it in the base of the street light instead of a garbage can.  You give a couple of cranks on a built in handle and the methane gas from the animal poo powers that street lamp.  This keeps the animal waste out of the local landfill and provides a natural power source for the light.

I happen to think this is a brilliant idea.  If you have dogs at your home one day this could mean that your patio lights will be powered by your dogs waste.  If you have a farm the animal waste could power barn and yard lights.  Animal shelters and kennels could save on electrical cost and you could see lower taxes by having a certain number of streetlights in your city run off of ‘poo power’.

We have to pick it up anyway, we have to light these areas anyway, we have to pay for the electricity anyway.  This seems like a win all the way around and though it may not sound like much when you consider one or two lights but times this by a million or a hundred million across our nation and it will make a difference.

To read more on this ingenious energy source click here.

In the near future this could be a park lamp instead of just a dog poo dumpster.

As you all know from reading my posts, the environment and the future of our planet and how we care for it are of major importance to me.  As a matter of fact, I will be starting classes next month to earn a degree in Environmental Studies and am looking forward to learning more about the world we live in and the steps we can take to protect it.  I firmly believe that our land, wildlife, air and water are a trust that we hold for future generations and that they will not be able to exist if we make the wrong and greedy choice today.

I have spoken out recently against President Obama on his support of new nuclear power plants being built in our nation.  I will continue to oppose nuclear power, the supposed ‘clean coal nuggets’ technology and oil drilling in any place where endangered species are present.  I know some of you may disagree with me, but I just do not feel that a power bill that is one or two dollars less a month or a extension of high gas prices for one more year is worth trashing the world we live in.  Especially when we have other means of producing power that do not include mountain top mining, nuclear lakes, wild land oil drilling, meltdowns and evacuations of entire cities.

As a twenty-plus year resident of Los Angeles I saw the results of our modern world every day.  There is a saying in Los Angeles that goes: “I do not trust air I cannot see”.  The sad fact is that this is true with many people that live in major metropolitan areas today.  They are actually accustomed to looking into the sky and seeing the air!

In the late 90′s I worked on a film crew.  It was for some low budget piece of celluloid flotsam that the guy I worked for wanted to make, and no, it was not porn!  But there was no surprise that in the end it sucked rather big time.  The reason I tell you this is because we filmed outside of Los Angeles in an area called Yucca Valley, just outside Joshua Tree National Park.  Many of the crew were barely more than children that had spent their entire lives in Los Angeles and they were just amazed at the night sky!  They were shocked that there were so many stars to be seen and I explained to more than one city child what that bright band of stars across the night sky is, the Milky Way.

That was a turning point in my life.  That was when I realized that there were generations of Americans growing up that could be my children and they had never seen a clear and unpolluted night sky.  That was when I realized that the fish I caught and ate as a child were now toxic in some areas, in L.A. harbor you cannot eat “local fish” only “tourist fish”!  My mom always said you could tell the tourist fish by their floral shirts and lack of tans!  Though funny in some ways the state of our environment is by no means a laughing matter.  The sooner more of us look into the eyes of amazed children seeing a clear night sky or water that is not brown for the first time the better our world will be.

This last week we have seen two very positive steps in helping our environment and our future happen in the Northeast United States.

The first is the announcement of the closing of the “Yankee Nuclear Power Plant” in Vermont.  This plant, one of the oldest in the nation, is reported to have a radioactive lake under it that extends 27 km in all directions.  Shutting down this plant will stop the leakage of radioactive water into the ground and halt the production of spent fuel rods that we cannot safely store in our world.  I applaud the people and the representatives of Vermont for their decision.  To read more about the closure of the “Yankee Nuclear Power Plant”  visit Philly.com by clicking here.

When one door closes they say another one opens.  That seems to hold true for our forward looking Americans in the Northeast.  As a toxic nuclear power plant shuts down in one state a totally green and non-harmful tidal power plant is being deployed in another.

A tidal power generator is being deployed in Eastport, Maine.  For those of you who are not familiar with tidal power it basically works like wind power.  Unlike wind power who some have criticized with “the wind does not always blow” argument a tidal power generator runs off the waves lapping on the shore.  If we ever get to a point where the waves are not coming in out on the beach as they have forever, then we are doomed and where we get the power for the short life we have left is not an issue. To read more about the tidal generator being placed in Eastport Maine, visit the Bangor Daily News here.

Vermont and Maine have been part of this nation from the time before this was a nation.  Now they are taking steps as they have in the past to lead our country into a brighter future.  I for one, think we should follow their lead.

I look forward to a time when a fish is just a trophy to be battered and fried and the night sky shines in all its glory for every child.

Starry night - NOT by Van Gogh

Post by BobbiV

I will start by assuming that many of you either watched the health care summit President Obama hosted yesterday or watched news about it yesterday evening.

I admit that I was unable to watch the entire meeting at one time.  But I did have my television tuned to it and followed it as i went about the other business of the day.  It went pretty much as I expected it to.  Here is what happened.

The Republicans refused to play unless they got everything they wanted, no questions asked.  According to them it is minority rule.  They threatened to take the ball and go home unless the game was scrapped and everything was started over.  They all looked like a bunch of jerks throughout the entire summit constantly calling for their do-over.

The Democratic attendees tried to call on any remaining shred of humanity in the Republicans by giving arguments as to why health care is important for the economy of the nation as well as for the people who need it.  They inserted large doses of truth into the conversation to try and move the other side.  It didn’t work because the other side was busy tallying up how many times they got their talking points in and were not listening to a thing that was said.

The press said over and over who they thought was ‘winning’ while giving their very stilted and paid for views of the problem.  Essentially they added nothing to the conversation.  However, they did break in for comment and commercials at all the wrong times.  

People who are waiting for health care of some sort to be passed got more  irritated by the Republican recalcitrance and selfishness and the Democratic niceness.  More than one television screen today needs repair because they were damaged by hurled objects yesterday.

President Obama was his usual cool self.  Completely in command of the facts and using the velvet glove to perfection to smack down Republicans who have been blocking his signature bill.  He came across as one of the people in the room who seemed to really get the problem and understand it.

The way forward?  I personally think we will have a health care bill sooner rather than later.  I don’t know about the public option in the initial bill.  But I think we will have either a robust public option or Medicare for all before this is all over and done.  Perhaps by a separate piece of legislation, but we will get it eventually.  The public will keep up the pressure on the lawmakers.  Because this time it is personal.  This time they are messing with our very lives.  Not only ours but those of the people we love.  You can’t get much more personal than that.

Below is a video of the highlights from the health summit yesterday.  It is entertaining to say the least.  It is also educational if you want to know where the two sides stand.

Lets start over.  That is the Republican answer for the health care plan and it looks like every other issue except for getting money from big business for their campaigns.  On the issue of getting money and protecting their corporate friends they want to keep going forward.

I would just like to take a moment and walk down the history of our nation using the current conservative Republican view of the way we should do things.

Lets start at the beginning with General George Washington.  He had this plan while the war for independence was not going so well.   His plan was to take his half frozen and starved army over the Delaware river and attack the enemy.  Of course, he would have been stopped by Eric Cantor(R-VA) who would have wanted the entire war to start over on a “clean sheet”.

When our forces were defeated in North Africa in WWII and pushed back, instead of placing General George Patton in command and pushing forward Mitch McConnell (R-KY) would have had us return home and start over over with a “clean sheet” thus letting our troops be defeated.

When it was time for our troops to commit to the D-Day landings in Normandy the “warrior” of the Senate John McCain (R-AZ) would have called a halt to the entire operation.  Why?  Because of secret and behind the scenes deals between the United States, Great Brittan and Russia.  Behind the scenes deals where we gave them weapons and munitions to fight the war until we could commit our troops.  He would seek a “clean sheet”.

When things looked hopeless for United States forces, primarily the 101st Airborne Division, during the defense of Bastogne  in the German counterattack now known as the “Battle of the Bulge” what would our Republicans say?  When the Germans asked for our surrender and the American commander answered “Nut’s”, John Boehner (R-OH) would say he did not like the wording of our response and call for American troops to surrender so that we could start over with a “clean sheet”.

I have a little message I would like to deliver to these self proclaimed leaders of our nation.  We are Americans!!  We do not back up.  We do not start over. We do not surrender.  We do not need your effing clean sheet!  What we want are leaders with a pair of “Nut’s” and the will to use them.  Not a bunch of paid off, pantie waist, spray tanned, fops telling us what we do and do not want as a people.

Gather your money and your bribes and your tanning booths and your contrary, counter productive collective asses and take a walk.  You are not helping the American people.  If you cannot be part of the solution then you are part of the problem.

The big problem we have today is that as Anthony Weiner (D-NY) said: the Republican party is a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry.

You Republicans can pull up your skirts and tiptoe backwards, but that is not the American way.

You are exposing yourselves for the bought and paid for little miss prissy pants you are.  The American people have always, and still do, prefer to push forward.

We will now gladly do so and leave your tender little butts behind us to be ground up in the annuls of history along with all the other weak leaders that came before you.

Watch as Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois challenges the Republicans to give up their socialist health care plan.

Post by BobbiV

You gotta know its that bustling hideout for all the right wingnuts and their Mormon buddies, Utah.  They seriously want to prosecute women for having miscarriages. 

This is in the form of Bill HB 12 that has passed both the state senate and house.  It is awaiting a signature by the Governor of Utah to make it the law of the state.

From Care 2 (emphasis mine);

A disturbing bill is making its way through the Utah legislation. HB 12 has passed both the State Senate and the House and is now awaiting a signature from Governor Gary Herbert. The bill is a response to a case where a young, pregnant Utah woman allegedly paid a man to beat her so she would miscarry.

 HB 12 was supposedly designed to criminalize illegal abortions, treating them as homicide. However, some language in the bill has dangerous implications for pregnant women. The bill states, “A person commits criminal homicide if the person intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, with criminal negligence, or acting with a mental state otherwise specified in the statute defining the offense, causes the death of another human being, including an unborn child at any stage of its development.”

 Read the rest here.

Okay, fellas, just who decides what is reckless?  If I ride a bicycle, is it reckless?  If I fly on a plane, is it reckless?  If I exercise, is it reckless?  Please tell me so I know what is safe.  Is it better for women to isolate themselves and not move from the moment they find out they are pregnant until the child is born?  Won’t that lead to unhealthy babies?  Is that reckless?

Now, I will be the first to admit, the story of the woman hiring a man to beat her so she would lose her baby is very sad for both the child and the mother.  But did the Utah legislature take into consideration how desperate this woman must have been to do this?  Perhaps of the stick up their collective asses wasn’t lodged so tightly, they might realize making abortions early in pregnancy almost unobtainable in their state is going to lead to more situations like this.  They might also realize that it may happen to someone close to them.  Say a young daughter or niece.

However, I am sure the legislators would do what the wealthier in the country have done since before we became a nation.  They would send their daughter or niece out of state or overseas for an abortion, then pretend it never happened.  All the while they would be pontificating to the less wealthy of their state about the sin they would be committing and the severe penalties they would face by receiving the same medical help they facilitated for their loved one.

Conservatives need to realize abortion is legal.  They also should realize it should be legal and safe.  They must stop their wingnut fringe from injecting religion into legislation.  It belongs in the pulpit, not in politics.

One last thing, just what is being done to the fathers of these children?

Let us Pray - not - Let us Prey! Keep these in church and off the reproductive organs of women.