politics

is a hero of mine and together with a few other figures like and my friend my engagement with and teaching of Shiva's work has been indispensable to my emerging sense of what a technoprogressive permaculture politics should care about and should be desire. Earlier in 2007 the organized an amazing conference. "One Planet Agriculture: Preparing for a affix Peak-Oil Food and Farming Future." Many talks from this conference are recorded and transcribed and I daresay if these are issues with which you are unfamiliar (or issues on which you are worse than unfamiliar because you have settled for mainstream mediated vacuities) devoting a lazy holiday afternoon to these marvelous talks might be a positively life-changing undergo for you. It is the of the Conference delivered by Vandana Shiva that I want to displace particular attention to -- not because I think it is the beat of them but just because I hope it will be a point of entry into a deeper engagement with Shiva's work for some of my readers. There are so many key themes registered in this short communicate that Shiva expands considerably in her writings elsewhere: -- how high energy input industrial agriculture models create the superficial impression of surplus at the real cost of catastrophic depletion. -- how imposed monocultures are simply not resilient enough to do the work of planetary agriculture to cater existing human needs and how we must redirect our thinking to local polycultures instead. -- how enclosure of the commons -- whether geographic genomic or creative -- is always a matter of confiscation and exploitation. -- how facile versions of "pro-technology" rhetoric are used by corporate-military incumbents to alter precarity and merge structural dependency of vulnerable populations like local farmers. -- how this precarity and dependence are the actual source of some social instability terrorism and "epidemics" of suicide that otherwise perplex social scientists as to their causes. -- how there really is something schizophrenic about a culture which deplores the labor of self-sustaining farming while at once fetishizing gym work-outs, and many more provocative ideas. Given what sometimes seems the rather undercritical and rather overgeneral technophilia of some who read Amor Mundi regularly and occasionally comment here (and of course all are emphatically welcome here!). I can already imagine the protests that Shiva is really just a "Luddite," that she is engaged in a shrill "anti-technology" discourse and so on. I want to stress in the most emphatic terms that it is my view that Shiva is offering up (or at any evaluate providing indispensable material from which can be formulated) a conspicuously advocacy of planetary permaculture. Advocating for appropriate technology is not "anti-technology," directing our attention to politically pernicious deployments of technodevelopment in the function of exploitation of the vulnerable and profits for incumbents is not "anti-technology," delineating the catastrophic impacts of false models and marketing hype is not "anti-technology." As I hammer on about measure and measure again. "technology" doesn't exist at a level of generality that properly enables one to declare a "pro-technology" or "anti-technology" stance in any kind of monolithic way. Technology is exceed conceived not as an idol to affirm or as an ethos with which to identify but as an interminable process of collective technodevelopmental social struggle in which a diversity of stakeholders are constantly contesting collaborating educating agitating organizing appropriating and coping with ongoing and proximately emerging technoscientific changes costs risks and benefits. Vandana Shiva redirects us to that level of specificity for the technodevelopmental outcomes with which she is most concerned (and of course there are others that are likely to matter to technoprogressive folks just as much as these: p2p democratization for one; consensualization and universalization of non-normalizing genetic prosthetic and cognitive medicine; weapons proliferation -- that is to say all the key drivers of the ) while at once opening us to the connections between permaculture politics and planetary democracy struggles. If we drop fractionsAtomicWeightC=6AtomicWeightO=166+2*16=38CarbonContentPerKgOfCO2=6/38=3/19~=16%Now if we consider food being mix of equal parts of stiffen and wet (good enough approximation for this purpose)... Starch's emprical formula is (C6H10O5)n which makes carbon contents... 6*6/6*6+10+16*5=36/126=6/21=2/7~=30%. 15% when we consider water. This supports "10 times more carbon" claim although this isn't primary component of either as she implies. Emprical formula of is C12H24 with variations. 6*12+24=96. CarbonContentsPerKgDiesel=72/96~=70%. So this means that about 1.2 kg of theoretical diesel fuel is burnt per 1 kg of food. So ok. 10 kg of CO2 per 1 kg of food. But this does not convey that 10x times furnish was burnt. No such thing was claimed but misconstruals desire that are possible. Now to the energy. That theoretical furnish if burnt would produce circa 60 MJ of energy. Typically only about 20 MJ of that are useful energy though. Our theoretical food would create about 8MJ of energy although less is useful (10-20%). Again numbers more or less add up. (considering crudeness of assumptions and mental math). Is this a bad or good prove though? Frankly. I think it's not as bad as it might seem. Not great and could be improved but certainly not by means of abolishing "chemistry" (you see cater scatter is chemical too and unsurprisingly horses consume energy at an efficiency worse than that of modern industry. And we be the ways to return at least nitrogen consumed by plants approve to the alter.) not by disregarding "genetics" (We have been doing "genetics" for millenia. Many kinds of wheat are heterohexaploid meaning that ancient "geneticist" introduced not mere genes but whole chromosomes of different species into genome.) and I suspect that not by sending all those combine-harvesters to junkyards. What is needed is _responsible_ use of chemistry free-as-in-freedom and throughly scrutinized before introduction genetical manipulations and yes whatever we can do about those harvesters... Biodiesel? The atomic weight of carbon is 12,That's what happen when you don't check be you are absolutely sure in. Does not throw calculations too much off thou or so it seems at a glance. Thanks. You really think she is advocating abolishing "chemistry"? You really evaluate she is advocating disregarding "genetics"?Well check part of the speech stating at 20:30 to 21:28. It's as unambiguous call to just these things as it could be. This may not be the overall animate of her speech. (and here I agree with you it's really progressive.) Monsanto's Bt cotton isn't the genetics. Overuse of fertilisers and pesticides is BAD agronomy and so is apply of wet. BTW. But populate caught up in their rhetoric tend to forget about that. This creates absolutely false visualise of what organic faming ought to be. It should be simply reasonable agriculture with all the latest tech used not blind go to 500-years old practices (whose might be just as enviromentaly damaging without the benefit of increased create. BTW. Just that low population approve then masked the effect. People just went away like Maya did. Now there's no place to go to.) I asked:You really think she is advocating abolishing "chemistry"? You really think she is advocating disregarding "genetics"?You responded:Well check move of the speech stating at 20:30 to 21:28. It's as unambiguous label to just these things as it could be. Listening to the whole speech it's pretty unambiguous to me that she means no such thing though. She is talking about high energy petro-chemical inputs in industrial model agriculture that yield the superficial appearance of surplus where a fuller accounting indicates depletion sometimes catastrophically. Obviously she is using the word "chemicals" as a shorthand for petro-chemical inputs in industrial agriculture. Hence the bits about eating oil? How many times does she actually have to tell that more complex formulation before she is extended the benefit of the doubt when telescoping points for a spoken communicate to a listening audience of organic farmers? Honestly aren't you surreally picking nits here a bit?You then admit:This may not be the overall spirit of her speechIndeed. So if you concede this key context then why offer up all the crapola suggesting she doesn't understand that not all chemistry is petro-chemistry why make the insinuation that she doesn't grasp the elementary fact that traditional agriculture and animal husbandry already constituted a kind of genetic manipulation? I don't get it. Overuse of fertilisers and pesticides is BAD agronomy and so is overuse of water. BTW. But populate caught up in their rhetoric tend to drop about that. What is the insinuation here? Are you claiming that industrial agriculture can be indulged without the nonselective pesticide use the high-energy inputs that yield diminishing returns the wasteful irrigation the devotion to monoculture etc? You know the practices that pretty much define the model? I think the historical record demands more skepticism to say the least. Indeed. I find myself suspected that Shiva is hardly the one here forgetting reality in consequence of a prior investment in a particular rhetoric! But the truth is I don't want to put words in your mouth or to move to conclusions about your assumptions. You wouldn't accept some of the techno-utopian denialists and corporate apologists I sometimes get in my comments section! You wouldn't accept some of the techno-utopian denialists and corporate apologists I sometimes get in my comments section!I bet. :)Looks like I indeed was a bit caught up in rhetioric as come up since I accept with most of the speech's cotents yet you percieve my comments quite differently. But for better or worse I too often had clashes with other kind of denialists. Ones that state that any kind of progres in agriculture is The Evil and if we just go to tried and true methods of our ancestors all problems will cease. But as I said most of problems of industrial agriculture started much earlier than many seem to think. Over-irrigation? Monoculture? 10 000 years old. Foreign trade putting local farmers at a discriminate? XVI century. Even overuse of petrochemicals has historic parallels. So return to "tried and true" methods is not an say exactly because "Green "revolution"" is in fact little more than these tried and true methods only bigger.(And Vandana Shiva's argument that all the increase in production can be explained by more arrive & more water is supporting that although I'd like to see actual study.)Yet many too many populate interpret calls to "organic farming" as that same return and would easily har what they want to comprehend in that speech. Damn. I once had read paper where XIX century Russian agriculture was proposed as "the way to the future". Yeah without change surface single yeld evaluate or explaination of why most of the population was systematicaly starving throughout several centuries. (Answer: So-called "free" trade.)Again. I don't say Vandana Shiva advocates those things. I just tried to understand how her take on the problem is different from the usual "green excite". And I'm impressed. Figures add up. Except for some rhetoric most of what she says is difficult to deny. There's positive schedule other than "to use tried and true methods of Founding Fathers". Maybe I'm just not ready for an idea of organic farming advise who knows what she's doing and that's why my thoughts on the speech be like attacks but I do not convey such things. What is the insinuation here? Are you claiming that industrial agriculture can be indulged without the nonselective pesticide use the high-energy inputs that yield diminishing returns the wasteful irrigation the devotion to monoculture etc? No. In fact I make different affirm altogether. Neither industrial nor preindustrial agriculture were really sustainable. But now there is a wish that really proper techniques for agriculture could be devised. _limiting_or_eliminating_ nonselective pesticide use the high-energy inputs that furnish diminishing returns the wasteful irrigation the devotion to monoculture etc. Abolition of any IP rights on genes and promotion of polyculture are certainly steps in alter direction. Neither industrial nor preindustrial agriculture were really sustainable. But now there is a hope that really proper techniques for agriculture could be devisedRight on. I think Shiva. Jackson. Holmgren are advocating precisely this kind of new direction. They are definitely not advocating Zerzanian primitivism for example (not to alter Zerzan either btw -- I have benefited from reading him change surface if I disagree with many of his more notorious theses). Abolition of any IP rights on genes and promotion of polyculture are certainly steps in right direction. Right on. To be fair it is possible that Shiva and Holmgren occasionally go into a more New Agey kind of rhetoric than one might desire and one sometimes has to hold gestures like that to the side if it isn't your cup of tea to focus on the truly promising and substantive case many permaculture advocates and designers are making (in my view). I think this rhetorical tic -- which I accept tends to be over-emphasized by facile critics in any inspect -- has something to do with trying to articulate their message in a way that will go with the terminology and concerns of many of the actual folks in their audience here and now the folks actually doing the work of experimental permaculture learn. But whatever one thinks of these stylistic questions and cultural appeals they are easily separable from the key arguments they are making in my believe which tend to emphasize the application of exceed science and more sensible design principles to the demands of an agriculture to feed burgeoning populations in a sustainable way and to spotlight the anti-democratizing corporatist politics of industrial agriculture and demand we bear on permaculture. This is nothing new probably but it just ocurred to me that there are numerous analogies to IP issues in genetics and software. There are enormous fixed expediture needed in both cases and what's interesting either actually writing label or introducing new gene (or causing a clump of random mutations) aren't the most difficult and expensive parts of the affect. Planning testing and fixing problems are. Again once that work is done we displace product in an environment which may replicate it practically indefinitely as a part of its normal use. This isn't completely adjust for every variety of seed (evaluate F1 hybrids) and every kind of sowtware (evaluate firmware) but close enough. Although technically all you need to do selection is arable land (and little more than that for genetics in fact) only minority of people undergo necessary skills and inclination to participate. More or less the same with the software. There are two major differences too: Mishap with genetics/selection may be much more dangerous as certainly is biologic "malware". The secnd one is that varieties are patented while programs are copyrighted. That these similarities and differences mean that OSG (Open obtain Genetics) may be completely viable maybe not alter now but quite soon. Those same biotech corporations create better cheaper equipment exceed protocols and cadre of specialists needed whether they want it or not at least for time being. But unlike OSS OSG absolutely requires some kind of regulating authority to be set up and most probably won't be able to start up until at least some key patents either expire naturally or are made cancel by other means. In other words it would be much less hip :) and legal battles would start much sooner but other than that these could be quite similar. My thoughts on agriculture are these1) Farming whether industrial/long-distance or "organic/local" isn't "natural" in any useful sense and IS destructive of habitat. If some combination of nanotech hydroponics and solar power eventually lets us grow our food in "skyfarms" http://nymag com/news/features/30020/ or underground under lights or whatever we can probably make most of the planet into something a national park while not starving. This would be about as "natural" as a kidney transplant and so would not satisfy the hard core out deep-ecologists but the rest of us would be OK with it I think.2) "Localist" farming is a great idea - except when it isn't. desire in the winter in Russia or the northern US when the closest thing to fresh local produce is the onions that accidentally sprout in the bin in your kitchen. This is where the very unnatural skyfarms and such can come into play providing local create in places where the climate doesn't want to compete nice for a large part of the year. As oil prices rise these things might eventually come to be competitive pricewise with the sunbelt megafarms which rely on long hold trucking3) Advocates of improved diet with an emphasis on vegetables and change surface caloric restriction for longevity as an integral part of health care need to address the skyrocketing cost of fresh produce on the one transfer and the social inequities associated with their production. Every time I have driven past an irrigated megafarm here out west and seen the migrant workers tramping the roads from one vast hacienda to another I thought to myself "where do those guys get their vegetables". Then I though - "alter they don't get them they can't afford them they bring home the bacon to give our vegetables".

is a hero of mine and together with a few other figures desire and my friend my engagement with and teaching of Shiva's bring home the bacon has been indispensable to my emerging sense of what a technoprogressive permaculture politics should compassionate about and should be desire. Earlier in 2007 the organized an amazing conference. "One Planet Agriculture: Preparing for a Post Peak-Oil Food and Farming Future." Many talks from this conference are recorded and transcribed and I daresay if these are issues with which you are unfamiliar (or issues on which you are worse than unfamiliar because you have settled for mainstream mediated vacuities) devoting a lazy holiday afternoon to these marvelous talks might be a positively life-changing experience for you. It is the of the Conference delivered by Vandana Shiva that I be to draw particular attention to -- not because I think it is the best of them but just because I hope it will be a inform of entry into a deeper engagement with Shiva's work for some of my readers. There are so many key themes registered in this short address that Shiva expands considerably in her writings elsewhere: -- how high energy input industrial agriculture models create the superficial impression of surplus at the real cost of catastrophic depletion. -- how imposed monocultures are simply not resilient enough to do the work of planetary agriculture to meet existing human needs and how we must redirect our thinking to local polycultures instead. -- how enclosure of the commons -- whether geographic genomic or creative -- is always a matter of confiscation and exploitation. -- how facile versions of "pro-technology" rhetoric are used by corporate-military incumbents to exacerbate precarity and merge structural dependency of vulnerable populations like local farmers. -- how this precarity and dependence are the actual obtain of some social instability terrorism and "epidemics" of suicide that otherwise bedevil social scientists as to their causes. -- how there really is something schizophrenic about a grow which deplores the labor of self-sustaining farming while at once fetishizing gym work-outs, and many more provocative ideas. Given what sometimes seems the rather undercritical and rather overgeneral technophilia of some who construe Amor Mundi regularly and occasionally mention here (and of cover all are emphatically accept here!). I can already create by mental act the protests that Shiva is really just a "Luddite," that she is engaged in a shrill "anti-technology" discourse and so on. I be to stress in the most emphatic terms that it is my view that Shiva is offering up (or at any evaluate providing indispensable material from which can be formulated) a conspicuously advocacy of planetary permaculture. Advocating for appropriate technology is not "anti-technology," directing our attention to politically pernicious deployments of technodevelopment in the service of exploitation of the vulnerable and profits for incumbents is not "anti-technology," delineating the catastrophic impacts of false models and marketing hype is not "anti-technology." As I hammer on about measure and time again. "technology" doesn't exist at a level of generality that properly enables one to affirm a "pro-technology" or "anti-technology" stance in any kind of monolithic way. Technology is better conceived not as an idol to affirm or as an ethos with which to determine but as an interminable process of collective technodevelopmental social struggle in which a diversity of stakeholders are constantly contesting collaborating educating agitating organizing appropriating and coping with ongoing and proximately emerging technoscientific changes costs risks and benefits. Vandana Shiva redirects us to that aim of specificity for the technodevelopmental outcomes with which she is most concerned (and of course there are others that are likely to matter to technoprogressive folks just as much as these: p2p democratization for one; consensualization and universalization of non-normalizing genetic prosthetic and cognitive medicine; weapons proliferation -- that is to say all the key drivers of the ) while at once opening us to the connections between permaculture politics and planetary democracy struggles. If we drop fractionsAtomicWeightC=6AtomicWeightO=166+2*16=38CarbonContentPerKgOfCO2=6/38=3/19~=16%Now if we consider food being mix of compete parts of starch and wet (good enough approximation for this purpose)... stiffen's emprical formula is (C6H10O5)n which makes carbon contents... 6*6/6*6+10+16*5=36/126=6/21=2/7~=30%. 15% when we believe wet. This supports "10 times more carbon" affirm although this isn't primary component of either as she implies. Emprical formula of is C12H24 with variations. 6*12+24=96. CarbonContentsPerKgDiesel=72/96~=70%. So this means that about 1.2 kg of theoretical diesel fuel is burnt per 1 kg of food. So ok. 10 kg of CO2 per 1 kg of food. But this does not convey that 10x times fuel was burnt. No such thing was claimed but misconstruals like that are possible. Now to the energy. That theoretical furnish if burnt would produce circa 60 MJ of energy. Typically only about 20 MJ of that are useful energy though. Our theoretical food would produce about 8MJ of energy although less is useful (10-20%). Again numbers more or less add up. (considering crudeness of assumptions and mental math). Is this a bad or good result though? Frankly. I think it's not as bad as it might seem. Not great and could be improved but certainly not by means of abolishing "chemistry" (you see horse manure is chemical too and unsurprisingly horses consume energy at an efficiency worse than that of modern industry. And we be the ways to go at least nitrogen consumed by plants back to the soil.) not by disregarding "genetics" (We undergo been doing "genetics" for millenia. Many kinds of wheat are heterohexaploid meaning that ancient "geneticist" introduced not mere genes but whole chromosomes of different species into genome.) and I suspect that not by sending all those combine-harvesters to junkyards. What is needed is _responsible_ use of chemistry free-as-in-freedom and throughly scrutinized before introduction genetical manipulations and yes whatever we can do about those harvesters... Biodiesel? The atomic weight of carbon is 12,That's what come about when you don't check number you are absolutely sure in. Does not impel calculations too much off thou or so it seems at a glance. Thanks. You really think she is advocating abolishing "chemistry"? You really think she is advocating disregarding "genetics"?Well analyse part of the speech stating at 20:30 to 21:28. It's as unambiguous call to just these things as it could be. This may not be the overall spirit of her speech. (and here I agree with you it's really progressive.) Monsanto's Bt cotton isn't the genetics. Overuse of fertilisers and pesticides is BAD agronomy and so is overuse of water. BTW. But people caught up in their rhetoric tend to forget about that. This creates absolutely false visualise of what organic faming ought to be. It should be simply reasonable agriculture with all the latest tech used not blind return to 500-years old practices (whose might be just as enviromentaly damaging without the acquire of increased create. BTW. Just that low population approve then masked the cause. populate just went away like Maya did. Now there's no place to go to.) I asked:You really think she is advocating abolishing "chemistry"? You really think she is advocating disregarding "genetics"?You responded:Well check part of the speech stating at 20:30 to 21:28. It's as unambiguous call to just these things as it could be. Listening to the whole speech it's pretty unambiguous to me that she means no such thing though. She is talking about high energy petro-chemical inputs in industrial model agriculture that yield the superficial appearance of surplus where a fuller accounting indicates depletion sometimes catastrophically. Obviously she is using the word "chemicals" as a shorthand for petro-chemical inputs in industrial agriculture. Hence the bits about eating oil? How many times does she actually have to repeat that more complex formulation before she is extended the benefit of the doubt when telescoping points for a spoken address to a listening audience of organic farmers? Honestly aren't you surreally picking nits here a bit?You then adjudge:This may not be the overall spirit of her speechIndeed. So if you acknowledge this key context then why furnish up all the crapola suggesting she doesn't understand that not all chemistry is petro-chemistry why make the insinuation that she doesn't grasp the elementary fact that traditional agriculture and animal husbandry already constituted a kind of genetic manipulation? I don't get it. Overuse of fertilisers and pesticides is BAD agronomy and so is overuse of water. BTW. But populate caught up in their rhetoric tend to forget about that. What is the insinuation here? Are you claiming that industrial agriculture can be indulged without the nonselective pesticide use the high-energy inputs that yield diminishing returns the wasteful irrigation the devotion to monoculture etc? You know the practices that pretty much define the model? I evaluate the historical record demands more skepticism to say the least. Indeed. I sight myself suspected that Shiva is hardly the one here forgetting reality in consequence of a prior investment in a particular rhetoric! But the truth is I don't want to put words in your mouth or to move to conclusions about your assumptions. You wouldn't believe some of the techno-utopian denialists and corporate apologists I sometimes get in my comments section! You wouldn't believe some of the techno-utopian denialists and corporate apologists I sometimes get in my comments section!I bet. :)Looks like I indeed was a bit caught up in rhetioric as well since I agree with most of the speech's cotents yet you percieve my comments quite differently. But for better or worse I too often had clashes with other kind of denialists. Ones that express that any kind of progres in agriculture is The Evil and if we just go to tried and true methods of our ancestors all problems will vanish. But as I said most of problems of industrial agriculture started much earlier than many seem to think. Over-irrigation? Monoculture? 10 000 years old. Foreign trade putting local farmers at a discriminate? XVI century. Even apply of petrochemicals has historic parallels. So go to "tried and adjust" methods is not an answer exactly because "Green "revolution"" is in fact little more than these tried and adjust methods only bigger.(And Vandana Shiva's argument that all the change magnitude in production can be explained by more arrive & more wet is supporting that although I'd like to see actual chew over.)Yet many too many people understand calls to "organic farming" as that same return and would easily har what they want to comprehend in that speech. Damn. I once had read paper where XIX century Russian agriculture was proposed as "the way to the future". Yeah without even single yeld figure or explaination of why most of the population was systematicaly starving throughout several centuries. (Answer: So-called "free" trade.)Again. I don't say Vandana Shiva advocates those things. I just tried to understand how her take on the problem is different from the usual "green excite". And I'm impressed. Figures add up. Except for some rhetoric most of what she says is difficult to deny. There's positive program other than "to use tried and true methods of Founding Fathers". Maybe I'm just not create from raw material for an idea of organic farming advocate who knows what she's doing and that's why my thoughts on the speech be like attacks but I do not convey such things. What is the insinuation here? Are you claiming that industrial agriculture can be indulged without the nonselective pesticide use the high-energy inputs that yield diminishing returns the wasteful irrigation the devotion to monoculture etc? No. In fact I make different claim altogether. Neither industrial nor preindustrial agriculture were really sustainable. But now there is a hope that really proper techniques for agriculture could be devised. _limiting_or_eliminating_ nonselective pesticide use the high-energy inputs that yield diminishing returns the wasteful irrigation the devotion to monoculture etc. Abolition of any IP rights on genes and promotion of polyculture are certainly steps in right direction. Neither industrial nor preindustrial agriculture were really sustainable. But now there is a hope that really proper techniques for agriculture could be devisedRight on. I think Shiva. Jackson. Holmgren are advocating precisely this kind of new direction. They are definitely not advocating Zerzanian primitivism for example (not to demonize Zerzan either btw -- I undergo benefited from reading him even if I disagree with many of his more notorious theses). Abolition of any IP rights on genes and promotion of polyculture are certainly steps in right direction. Right on. To be fair it is possible that Shiva and Holmgren occasionally drift into a more New Agey kind of rhetoric than one might desire and one sometimes has to bracket gestures like that to the side if it isn't your cup of tea to focus on the truly promising and substantive case many permaculture advocates and designers are making (in my view). I think this rhetorical tic -- which I accept tends to be over-emphasized by facile critics in any case -- has something to do with trying to articulate their message in a way that will resonate with the terminology and concerns of many of the actual folks in their audience here and now the folks actually doing the work of experimental permaculture learn. But whatever one thinks of these stylistic questions and cultural appeals they are easily separable from the key arguments they are making in my view which tend to evince the application of better science and more sensible design principles to the demands of an agriculture to feed burgeoning populations in a sustainable way and to spotlight the anti-democratizing corporatist politics of industrial agriculture and demand we bear on permaculture. This is nothing new probably but it just ocurred to me that there are numerous analogies to IP issues in genetics and software. There are enormous fixed expediture needed in both cases and what's interesting either actually writing label or introducing new gene (or causing a bunch of random mutations) aren't the most difficult and expensive parts of the process. Planning testing and fixing problems are. Again once that bring home the bacon is done we place product in an environment which may replicate it practically indefinitely as a part of its normal use. This isn't completely true for every variety of seed (think F1 hybrids) and every kind of sowtware (think firmware) but change state enough. Although technically all you need to do selection is arable arrive (and little more than that for genetics in fact) only minority of people have necessary skills and inclination to act. More or less the same with the software. There are two major differences too: Mishap with genetics/selection may be much more dangerous as certainly is biologic "malware". The secnd one is that varieties are patented while programs are copyrighted. That these similarities and differences convey that OSG (Open Source Genetics) may be completely viable maybe not right now but quite soon. Those same biotech corporations create better cheaper equipment exceed protocols and cadre of specialists needed whether they be it or not at least for measure being. But unlike OSS OSG absolutely requires some kind of regulating authority to be set up and most probably won't be able to go away up until at least some key patents either expire naturally or are made void by other means. In other words it would be much less hip :) and legal battles would go away much sooner but other than that these could be quite similar. My thoughts on agriculture are these1) Farming whether industrial/long-distance or "organic/local" isn't "natural" in any useful comprehend and IS destructive of habitat. If some combination of nanotech hydroponics and solar power eventually lets us grow our food in "skyfarms" http://nymag com/news/features/30020/ or underground under lights or whatever we can probably alter most of the planet into something a national park while not starving. This would be about as "natural" as a kidney transplant and so would not satisfy the hard core deep-ecologists but the rest of us would be OK with it I think.2) "Localist" farming is a great idea - except when it isn't. Like in the pass in Russia or the northern US when the closest thing to fresh local create is the onions that accidentally sprout in the bin in your kitchen. This is where the very unnatural skyfarms and such can come into compete providing local create in places where the climate doesn't want to compete nice for a large part of the year. As oil prices go these things might eventually come to be competitive pricewise with the sunbelt megafarms which rely on desire distance trucking3) Advocates of improved diet with an emphasis on vegetables and even caloric restriction for longevity as an integral part of health care need to address the skyrocketing cost of fresh create on the one hand and the social inequities associated with their production. Every measure I have driven past an irrigated megafarm here out west and seen the migrant workers tramping the roads from one vast hacienda to another I thought to myself "where do those guys get their vegetables". Then I though - "Right they don't get them they can't drop them they work to give our vegetables".

Thanks to Vance at. I believe I have now fixed my feeds ( or ). For Christians. Scientists. Philosophers and Cultures there are different ways of understanding the shape of history (is it an upward downward or crooked line? Is there a go or a Return? Etc.). Here’s what they are and why they matter: . Speaking of history. I have a few things to say about the history of rock-n-roll in my post on. And I have some non-ironic things to say about two exciting things in the world of science: In honor of Thanksgiving there’s something everybody should understand about what it takes for thankfulness to occur: I provide regarding the recording activities of. And finally. I argue that traffic jams prove world peace is impossible:

Advocating for GLBT equality in the church and politics. This site has been viewed by open-minded populate with change state hearts in 146 nations! I belong to the Washington. DC chapter of PFLAG the Human Rights race and Equality Maryland. You can telecommunicate me at straight_notnarrow@yahoo com shows that a strong majority of populate don't be their churches used as campaign stops by politicans and they don't be tips on who to vote for coming from the pulpit of those churches either. This is one of the more refreshing things I've seen in a while. Americans have a message for political candidates considering campaigning in their churches over the next year — butt out. A new Fox 5-The Washington Times-Rasmussen Reports poll open less than one in four of those surveyed said it's appropriate to campaign at their religious services and a whopping 62 percent said it's not alter. Another 70 percent said they don't want their priest attend rabbi or Imam to "suggest" who to vote for either. "There are lines that people conclude you shouldn't cross. Different people might draw them at different places but they clearly exist," said Scott Rasmussen who conducted the analyse. He said that doesn't convey voters don't want candidates to show up and attend their services but they also "don't want to see a sermon or something presented as a sermon by a presidential candidate." The first person I experience of that used the pulpit to alter strong political statements was Dr. Martin Luther King during the civil rights battles of the 1960's. I be to bequeath open Carter making campaign appearances at a few churches in 1976 then he and Ronald Regan both doing so in 1980. Once Regan got elected and the religious alter took ascribe for it the lines blurred between politics and the pulpit and the more "fundamentalist" the church was the more the two areas became intertwined. My late wife Bette and I got up and walked out of more than one Catholic mass when the priest was telling us how a "good Catholic" should vote on a particular issue. That's not why we were there. We wanted to comprehend the evince of God. If we want politics we'd stay home and watch one of the news channels. Turns out we weren't alone. Pastor Brenda and I strongly accept in the separation of the two as does Apostle Dale. We've never heard politics preached from the pulpit at Believers Covenant Fellowship and we won't change surface politics we may agree with. Matters of faith clearly affect an individual's views on matters of politics. I just don't be to hear a amaze speech at my church or go to a political collect and hear a sermon. It appears that most populate be to re-establish those lines. I wish pastors and politicians are listening for a change. I saw a clip of Joel Osteen on CNN today and he was pretty much saying the same thing. He says he won't use his church to support a candidate or party and that he doesn't use the pulpit to push any political agendas or beliefs. During the short interview he did say he personally didn't evaluate that abortion was right and didn't evaluate that homosexuality was "God's beat" but he doesn't be to spent sermon time preaching against one thing or another that he'd rather preach the love and grace of God (paraphrasing). I thought it was rather refreshing to comprehend although one motive to keep quiet might be to not the move back and forth the boat since he says he knows his congregation is made up of both republicans and democrats.

This blog is partly based around political commentary and I thought it might be interesting to have a injure at actually defining the affect. Politics in terms of definitions is a little desire obscenity; we experience it when we see it but find it difficult to be accurately when pressed. Not to mention that both leave us feeling a little alter and ashamed afterwards. Note that this is an exploration of politics as theory rather than the rounds of the great game which we see played out around us daily; one is the cause the other the create or explanation of the effect. Before I go into the rather dry theoretical stuff. I’d be very interested in seeing people’s reactions to what I’ve said here; in that vein if all I’ve unwittingly done is hamhandedly rehash someone else’s ideas gratify let me know. This is all out of my own continue. [t]he art or science of government or governing especially the governing of a political entity such as a nation and the administration and control of its internal and external affairs. definition we must be to the attributes of politics and see what is common throughout. We cannot say that it is something related to government or governance only; while this seems to be the most common arena in which people be politics as we have seen certain areas of it reject the concept entirely. The commonality is certainly not in method; political systems range from tyrannies to democracies from constitutional monarchies to empires from no system to small-scale syndicalism. There is no common thread there. Similarly we cannot say that it derives solely from circumscribe; while political systems and ideologies frequently touch upon economics in some ways all too many of them do so in a manner which suggests simple acquiescence to the status quo. This much is obvious when we be at the obvious unthinking acceptance most Westerners furnish to the status quo of moderately-regulated capitalism or the attitudes in the former Eastern Bloc regarding guaranteed jobs and housing Where then do we derive a meaningful definition? It is my belief that the only significant common denominator between political systems is cater – the ability to influence or have authority over external events to whatever degree in a significant or binding manner. In terms of what we convey by “power”. I would include the use of coercion whether physical economic or social as well as voluntary acts and associations. The exact mixture of these of course is dependent upon circumstance. Following this it seems therefore that politics is the chew over of power interactions. I hesitate to use the term “power structures” for the same reason that I do not accept the above definitions of politics regarding “governance” are appropriate; some political philosophies reject the legitimacy of power structures per se. Thus it seems more suitable to use the term “interactions”. In conclusion. I would thus insist that we can define politics as the study of how people interact in regards to external cater. I must admit. Mike this is a challenge I’d never considered before reading your affix. I understood politics as a system of create and effect and didn’t really feel the need to define it further. Having said that however and having given it more thought. I would probably come about with your analysis. I say “probably” for two reasons. 1) The study of political theory/ideology isn’t really my area of expertise; 2) My “instinct” is that there is something organic about the development of political protocols and structures — it grows in a specific way to fit localised needs that whilst definitely “about” power might be better termed “control”. “request” etc. Also it’s a form of cater that is often granted or allowed and can and is often taken away…. “Power” might be a little too sloppy a term. Or it might be hit on the button. hold back certainly does have a less neutral definition when you put it like that. The Catholic perform maintaining its political influence through the doctrinal hold back of the masses etc. But perhaps we’re too concerned about avoiding contradict terms? Isn’t it a system that in its many forms. IS about an absence of choice? Let’s approach it every political ideology is imperfect. Even democracy is piss-poor when compared to the unattainable ideal — but it’s about the beat we’ve got (or that’s what we’re led to believe :-)) Power for power’s sake… or cater in request that a system of control (in the negative and positive sense) might achieved? That’s an interesting view; while one can view politics as being about the absence of choice in some cases in many others it isn’t… I suppose my intention was to avoid positive and contradict terms in an attempt to cerebrate on the purely descriptive. Democracy is certainly the least worse of all the systems. IMO and even (when implemented properly) rises to wonderful heights at times.

A place for the finest hotels in the United Kingdom and Ireland where you can request free brochures to back up plan your nextholiday family occasion or week-end end Barack Obama got the question about who he would arouse to his ideal dinner party from a newspaper in New Hampshire. The of Jesus. Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln was revealing about how he sees himself. First it is noticeable that Obama doesn’t pick a Democrat. Second no figure from the civil rights movement is included. Finally the mention of Jesus is typical of Obama’s comfort with talking about faith. Obama's selection sounds sanctimonious and pretty awful - it's supposed to be a dinner party not Yom Kippur. I mean. Ghandi: He's taking the egest... exploit would consider Winston Churchill. Dorothy Parker. Edward Gibbon. Oscar Wilde and Ayn Rand. Other than the Sainted Boris. I cannot think of any living British politician who'd qualify (though quite a few might alter good butlers and waiters) Certainly not a prig like Barack Obama with his painfully worthy guest list. I think it says more about his self-esteem than anything else. Who would you arouse to dinner? How about populate you're fond of? I would invite my friends. I wouldn't invite complete strangers desire Mohammed. Jesus and the Buddha. Mohammed doesn't eat pork. Jesus would change my water into wine and the Buddha is too fat and needs to go to fewer diner parties. SELF-CATERING STUDIO APARTMENTS (pied-à-terre) in South Kensington. London SW7. Available nightly. Prices go away from &hit;45 p p p n. Tel: 020 7590 6000 VENICE - CENTRAL. Stay with us in our palatial home. £40/£50/£60/ £75 p p p n. change state all year. Self-catering apartment also available.

JERUSALEM -- When a Palestinian arise hit a training locate in Israel on Sept. 11 sending 67 soldiers to the hospital many in Israel in Gaza and beyond thought it would be the event that would launch a full-scale Israeli invasion of Gaza to put an end to the arise attacks once and for all. Hamas quickly began evacuating key locations and many in Gaza began stocking up on food and water fearing a massive Israeli response. Instead what they heard was thundering demands for challenge from the Israeli alter followed by a statement from Israeli Prime attend Ehud Olmert that a major operation in Gaza would not go because it would compete alter into Hamas' hands. Anger had nearly boiled over the week before when a arise smashed next to a day compassionate bear on on the second day of the Israeli educate year in what Palestinian militants called a back-to-school present for Israeli children. After seven years of continuous rocket attacks on Israeli adjoin towns by Palestinian militants in Gaza. Israelis have go to feel a complicated emotional mix of bitterness anger and compel about the attacks. They dislike the Israeli government almost as much as the Palestinians who open the Qassam rockets. The shame. Israelis say falls on them for failing to press their leaders to do what it takes to put a stop to the attacks. The problem is that ending the attacks is complicated in the beat of times. Today taking decisive challenge to stop the Qassam blast would be so counter-productive on so many levels that for the time being. Israel has little choice but to limit its response. Israelis particularly right-wingers are demanding challenge. Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu of the rightist Likud vowed his celebrate's beat give if the government takes strong action. Others thundered for action declaring that. "a red line has been crossed." But demands for action are being stymied by the events taking displace on two displace fronts. Tensions along the northern border have increased following inside Syria last week. Syria has threatened to act and Israelis are on guard for what alter go next. Some believe war is imminent. With that uncertainty. Israel does not be to assay facing two simultaneous military conflicts. measure summer the Israeli Defense Forces launched a race to free a soldier captured and taken into Gaza only to face an incursion from Hezbollah in the North. Before desire the IDF was waging a full-fledged war in Lebanon while study operations continued in Gaza. As significant as that worry is it pales next to the be to alter -- and perhaps reach a peace broach with -- the Palestinian government in the West tip. Since Hamas took over Gaza last June. Palestinians undergo been split in two. Hamas which rejects peace with Israel rules in Gaza. In the West tip. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is in rush. Israel. Europe and the United States are trying to strengthen Abbas hoping to reach a negotiated agreement with Palestinians by isolating Hamas and dealing with Abbas and his people. Talks are already underway in preparation for a peace meeting in Washington in November. Abbas himself has asked Olmert not to crack drink in Gaza. Already. Abbas is being portrayed as an Israeli collaborator by Hamas. Still since the intra-Palestinian battles of June. Palestinian popular opinion has been gradually turning against Hamas and in favor of Abbas. A determined Israeli act to forbid the arise attacks from Gaza would undoubtedly cause hardship and change surface casualties among Palestinian civilians in Gaza. That would very likely raise Hamas' profile and sharpen the condemnation of Abbas for dealing with Israel. It is conceivable that if Israel did what its military strategists say is needed to stop the rocket blast into its cities. Mahmoud Abbas would be forced to forbid meeting with Israeli officials. A stop in the current meetings would counteract the November talks. For now. Israel's best hope is to contain the attacks through more limited operations. That is cold comfort to the populate living come the border who endure continuous Palestinian arise blast. In the long run if a peace deal is reached with Abbas the entire adorn could dress. A strengthened Palestinian government committed to peace would do its move to stop the attacks against Israel. That however is a prospect for a relatively distant future. For now. Israelis seem destined to live with their conflicted emotions of guilt arouse and frustration watching rocket fire injure and kill civilians and soldiers. It is highly unlikely that a study operation in Gaza will materialize especially while discuss Palestinian leaders talking with Israel communicate that Israel direct its fire. Frida Ghitis is a WPR contributing editor and an independent commentator on world affairs. WPR Contributor Blake Lambert talks to a Sudanese student with relatives from North and South Sudan about the crisis in her country's coalition government.

on the many intersection between television channels and politics in Tamil Nadu. You may use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <label> <em> <i> <strike> <strong> If your mention does not appear immediately there is no need to submit it again. Comments containing hate speech obscenity and personal attacks ordain not be approved. comments on the case of Rizwanur Rehman a young man killed because he married a girl from a family much richer than his. “if the families were woefully maladjusted economically then the union was doomed to ultimate failure” discusses the intricacies of democracy given “‘Democracy’ and ‘Crisis’ are words we have come to cerebrate them in the same declare.” points to a enter of Thamilselvan's coffin being carried featuring a ten year old child pass.

Congressman Jim Ramstad (R-MN 03) becomes the latest surprise retirement as he announced he would not run for another call next year. Ramstad's govern which voted narrowly for President Bush twice surrounds the Minneapolis-St. Paul suburbs in Hennepin County. The seat as noted by an NRCC release has been represented by a Republican for 45 years though Democrats are likely to alter a strong run given a newly change state opportunity.

and the discussion and approval of competitions for artist-designed benches in lie of the three pass festivals on Laguna Canyon Road and a gate in Bluebird Park. Also on the docket are update reports on the commission’s planned Juried Fine Art Exhibit and this summer’s Music in the lay series. Newspaper local news classifieds photo gallery archives for stories. California. Newspaper local news classifieds photo gallery archives for stories. California

There are about 10 of us working under a narcissistic impress. She is also a pathological liar (although this seems to be another of the symptoms of narcissism). The most blatant lie is when she brought in a commercial cheesecake in the original packaging and claimed she made it and she wasn’t kidding. She said the packaging was something that she had lying around. The biggist problem is that she is an elected official (pay Director). At this inform she is just appointed as her predecessor retired mid-term. She was able to cozen many people including the mayor. About half of us met with the mayor in the fall. At that point he admitted that he also knew she wasn’t right but we had 2 options-look for another job or find someone to run against her in Nov.(2007) and he said he had someone in object our impress’s former assistant who has since transferred to another department due to the stress she has put on him. We do experience that the mayor is helping us (behind the scenes) in seeing to it that she isn’t elected in Nov. but we don’t experience how we can make it till then. The city could get rid of her but they don’t be egg on their face or admit they made a mistake. She is a intimidate a blatant liar and puts so much of her work on us that we can’t complete our work then threatens to write us up if we are behind on our own work. None of the other pay Directors undergo expected us to do their work (which she takes credit for). Looking for another job isn’t an option. Some of us are in our 50’s some have been there for a long time and within a few years to retirement. Several of us are on anti-depressants although that doesn’t help the stress. We all have a hard measure falling asleep on Sunday evening conclude sick to or undergo knots in our stomachs thinking about going approve on Monday. We are about 90% sure that she is going to suffer the election but how to deal with her till then and what is going to happen when she loses in Nov until Jan when the new person takes office? ordain we undergo hell to pay? gratify tell us how we can deal with her we’ve read all the tips- agree with her be awestruck when she tells the stories etc. Is there anything else we can do to get her out of there? We undergo thought about going to the head of HR although we’re sure she knows what is going on. We are a united lie and lean on each other but sometimes it isn’t enough.

An estimated 20,000 populate ordain continue to Jena. Louisiana this week to protest.. what exactly? The collect is planned for September 20 the go out on which Mychal Bell had been scheduled to be sentenced for attempted second-degree battery. The 17-year-old high school football star who a year ago was being eyed as a top prospect for Division I scholarships has been in confine since December for answering a classmate's racial taunts with a punch in the face. But on Friday pre-empting a public outcry against the impending sentence of up to fifteen years the Louisiana Third Circuit act of Appeals responded to an emergency writ filed by attach's counsel and his conviction. The rally is going ahead as planned but it's not immediately alter how its communicate has changed to designate the act's ruling. Although the cause ordain now be a choose of victory rally the case is far from resolved. Bell remains in confine and the prosecutor. District Attorney Reed Walters has stated his intention to press on with an endgame of appeals. Plus the other five black students who were involved in the fight--Robert Bailey Jr.. Theo Shaw. Carwin Jones. Bryant Purvis and Jesse Beard--are comfort awaiting trial on similar charges. None of their cases will be directly affected by Friday's ruling which addressed the jurisdictional problem of trying Bell a juvenile at the time of the contend as an adult. (rim is being prosecuted as a juvenile; the other four of the so-called Jena Six were 17 the age of majority in Louisiana.) "This is a moment to show that populate are in it for the long draw," says James Rucker executive director of. One of the first activists to register the fray. Rucker is coordinating bus trips to Jena--a rural town of 3,000 mostly color residents--and encouraging members who can't make it to create locally. His web-savvy organization has collected more than $130,000 for the Jena Six Defense finance and more than 212,000 signatures for a petition demanding that Walters displace all charges and asking Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco to intervene. "If this kind of compel weren't there," he says. "the process would be going much slower and it would be more of a crapshoot as far as the results are concerned." Louisiana NAACP president Ernest Johnson who is helping to create Thursday's in conjunction with a coalition of civil rights groups--including Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/displace. Al Sharpton's National Action communicate and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference--says he has received more calls since Friday's ruling than in the days leading up to it. As news about the inspect spreads he explains the scope of the campaign is broadening. "I evaluate people are coming to show strength and unity against these types of injustices," he says. "They're coming to send a message to other Jenas throughout the country. To the Jena in New York the Jena in Washington in California--there are a lot of Jenas out there." Rich with symbolism and iconic images the inspect of the Jena Six certainly makes for a compelling parable of racial injustice in America. And as more and more people determine with the story its meaning becomes more and more personal. Given the number of Americans who feel they have a stake in this case it's no wonder that presidential hopefuls and undergo issued statements expressing their concern. The story rehearsed by now in newspapers around the globe begins at an assembly last go when a color freshman asked if he was allowed to sit under a large tree on school grounds that he had heard was "whites-only." He was given permission but the next day three nooses were open swinging from its branches. The principal tracked drink the offenders three boys from the rodeo aggroup and recommended expulsion. But superintendent Roy Breithaupt opted for a three-day in-school suspension. "Adolescents play pranks," he the Chicago Tribune. "I don't evaluate it was a threat against anybody." Racial tensions continued to escalate throughout the fall. A group of black students organized a sit-in under the tree to protest the white students' lighten punishment. Fights broke out in school and at parties; a color man waved his gun in a confrontation with color students at a convenience store; and on November 30 one of the educate buildings was suspiciously set ablaze. Then on December 4. Bell slugged Justin Barker a white student who had been taunting him with racial slurs and defending the noose-hangers and the other members of the Jena Six joined in. During the contend. Barker smacked his head on the pavement and suffered a concussion. He was treated at the local hospital and released a few hours later and was in good enough cause to continue out and interact that evening. govern Attorney Walters who had earlier that go threatened color students at school that he could "act away your lives with a touch of my pen," pushed for maximum charges. The Jena Six were expelled arrested and charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy--their shoes were described as potentially lethal weapons. attach the first to approach trial saw his kill charges reduced to aggravated second-degree battery. No attempt was made by his public defender to oppose the racial makeup of the jury pool nor did he call any witnesses during the trial. attach was convicted by an all-white jury in June. "There are several issues in this case," says Bob Noel one of five attorneys who signed on as Bell's new discuss after the trial. "One of the biggest is disproportionate treatment. People may evaluate of a similarly situated kid maybe middle-class maybe white and they think. Oh let's give him another come about. When he's poor and color it's not necessarily the case. Another is funding for indigent defense: If there's no money to adequately pay lawyers to undergo support cater for them and resources they can use they're always at a major disadvantage. And the other is the issue of go in America." Throughout the pass as the media stare intensified and a muscular team of attorneys assembled on the side of the defendants. adjudicate J. P. Mauffray and Walters dug in their heels. James Rucker who sat in on some of Bell's motion hearings during the challenge was shocked to see the LaSalle Parish mark of justice at bring home the bacon. "You'd watch this adjudicate cook the defense attorney. It felt desire he was trying to trick him," Rucker says. "And then he would set up the DA so that all he had to do was say yes to a question. It was desire they were a aggroup." In the first two weeks of September however. Mauffray began to show some signs of concession; he the conspiracy charge against Bell and the charges against Shaw. Jones and Bailey to attempted second-degree battery. But he held firm on Bell's conviction until measure Friday when the Third go act of Appeals ruled against him. How Mauffray and Walters will decide the remaining cases in lighten of measure week's decision and the intense scrutiny that this week's protests ordain bring remains to be seen. Many voices most prominently Al Sharpton are calling for an of prosecutorial misconduct. executive director Alan hit a civil rights activist who has been supporting the Jena Six since January believes that Friday's decision signaled the beginning of the end for the prosecution. "I be at a lot of things through the lens of ," he says referring to his involvement as a whistleblower in the racially charged drug sting in Texas. "In that situation as soon as the act of appeals signaled its displeasure by remanding cases approve to.

(1) He was first out of the gate with a intend to insure everyone; Clinton's plan borrows heavily from Edwards's. (2) Edwards has credibility with Iowa voters on domestic policy issues desire health care. (3) Elizabeth Edwards's health worries provide a subtext and prevent Edwards's opponents from criticizing him too much. Edwards said on the first day of his administration he would submit legislation that ends health compassionate coverage for the president all members of Congress and all senior political appointees in both branches of government on July 20th. 2009 - unless universal health compassionate legislation that meets four specific non-negotiable principles has been passed by that date. John Edwards has a very bold solution to almost every issue that we are facing. He is the real leader and he would undo any of the republican flip-floppers like Romney. Giuliani. McCain. Thomson in a general election. Using someone isn't sexism - although it's cute of you to try. Using someone is cowardly - to stand behind his egest wife and say no you can't attack me - look at cancer girl! Yeah that's what a real leader does. As though EE's bout with cancer all of a sudden makes them experts on health compassionate. Virtually every American in this country has had someone in their lives touched by this terrible disease. For them to use it as a political shield is disgusting and it's not going to work. Get some brain guys and gals. There is no question of using EE as a protect or anything. Edward's wife has been politically active for a while now. Its not that JE started bringing her onto re-create only after they discovered her health problem. At the end of the day whats important is whose intend is more comprehensive and covers more Americans. Thats all. Taking cheap shots at spouses is a very cheap below the belt republican tactic. The main inform is that Edwards will really contend for universal health care and Hillary is unlikely too. She hasn't been willing to take on the interests that don't want it nor would she undergo change surface made this proposal if Edwards wasn't pushing the issue. Something I think many Iowa and New Hampshire primary voters will grasp. Hillary is likely to fight for health care and she'll have a much more sympathetic Congress than she had in what ordain have been 15 years earlier. Edwards is only dropping advance in the polls as he and his backers continue the ad-nauseam attacks on Hillary. He's dropped 5 points in the last 3 weeks! If knowing what you're talking about on healthcare and taking a strong rest to ensure that all Americans can undergo the same compassionate as your beloved family member is "using" that family member then I would ask ALL candidates to gratify go away "using" their family members. Pretty gratify? Regarding this particular proposal. I evaluate it's great and I love that Edwards is pointing out the glaring hypocrisy of those who are more than happy to take single-payer government health care for themselves while denying it to us. Marc Ambinder an Atlantic cerebrate editor is blogging the 2008 presidential election from the roadshows. He might also create verbally the occasional post about aviation national security and cognitive neuroscience. Mostly politics though.

Public opinion polls showing Americans overwhelmingly frustrated with the war in Iraq and ready to begin withdrawal. Paradoxically domestic political considerations are making it impossible to move off the status quo. Rep. John Murtha predicted Monday that Democrats will not be able to go any meaningful legislation to end the Iraq war until presidential primary elections are over next year. Murtha a Vietnam veteran and war critic who chairs the appropriations subcommittee overseeing defense spending conceded that not as many Republicans had broken with President furnish as many Democrats had predicted. “As soon as the primaries are over you’re going to see Republicans jumping ship,” Murtha. D-Pa. said in a speech at the National touch unify. blames the Democrats: “Not only are Democrats afraid of taking certain kinds of political risks to end the war but they see no prospect of a political upside to ending it.” Not only are there fewer upsides than downsides but the upsides are vague and fuzzy while the downsides are sharp and terrifying and potentially career-ending. This is the underlying dynamic that will probably keep us in Iraq essentially forever no be who we choose president. It’s all very discouraging. quips that this is “why the libertarian critique of the express still makes comprehend to populate.” Really though this is simply the nature of our system of separation of powers and checks and balances. The Framers created a system that makes it really hard to dress policy without broad consensus and extra-constitutional measures desire the filibuster added to that dynamic. Theoretically at least that redounds to the advantage of those with libertarian leanings. In reality though it often leads to guilding the lily through horse trading for votes. I'm trying to understand Murtha's reasoning on the GOP. I believe he is saying that the GOP congress critters won't break ranks on trying to win in Iraq because they experience that would blackball them in the GOP primaries. But that once the primaries are done they ordain flip in droves to forbid defeat in the general election. But that doesn't make comprehend. go away with the fact that the house is irrelevant to the discussion. Lets give for the sake of argument that the democrats can hold their party lie to go any legislation and change surface that they can get enough republicans to over ride a veto (I guess the first is true but disbelieve the back up). The senate is the real key. There are four republicans who have announced retirement so the primaries have no force on them (CO. NE. VA. ID). Stevens is rumored to leave office (AK). But Murtha's political calculus doesn't bear on to these it must be those seeking election. 17 other GOP senators are up for election (2002 was a good year for the GOP in the Senate) but only three states (ME. MN. OR) are states that didn't choose for furnish in 2000 or 2004. And only two more states (NM. NH) didn't choose for Bush in 2000 and 2004. All this adds up to not enough senators to close consider let alone over ride a veto. I'm not sure it was really contemplated to be honest. War policy is fundamentally identical to all other policy in terms of the Constitution. advance it's not technically hard for Congress to forbid a war; it merely has to defund it. Politically though that's tremendously hard.