World No Tobacco Day

Today is World No Tobacco Day, with 147 nations signing on to Global Voices For A Smokefree World Principles document. The U.S. which has both a White House and Congress that receives huge tobacco lobby political donations have so far refused to sign this important international agreement.

Tobacco smoke is one of most dangerous forms of unnecessary air pollution, where one cigarette smoked on a public street or other public place spoils thousands of gallons of air with illegal toxins such as cadmuim, nickel and other dangerous substances that are violate Federal Clean Rules, yet the U.S. government has failed to enforce these laws against cigarette companies or individual smokers. Secondhand cigarette smoke also comprises a form of criminal assault on nonsmokers, causing fatal asthma attacks, nervous system effects on both adults and children because tobacco smoke contains a drug, nicotine, that destroys REM sleep, causes inner ear infection known as Otis Media, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in small infants, bloody sinus infections, burning ear, mouth, throat and lug pain due to it's irritant qualities, and other physical injuries. Yet assault laws are almost never enforced against tobacco companies or individual smokers.

Cigarettes are also the most common form of litter and cost society huge amounts to clean up the environmental damage done by careless smoker caused fires in grasslands and forests. Smokers also cause at least 30,000 residential or business fires each year, taking over 800 lives a year.

One of the largest markets for cigarettes is among the mentally ill. An estimated 80% of persons diagnosed with severe mental illness such as schizophrenia are believed to be smokers, compared with only about 19% of the general population. Mentally ill persons tend to smoke to self medicate because of anxiety or other mental or emotional disturbances.

For years tobacco companies falsely portrayed smoking with attractive models, when it really turns out that very poor persons with mental illness or drug or alcohol problems are often those most likely to be the persons who smoke. Smoking is often a pretty good indicator of mental illness, poverty, drug or alcohol abuse for many persons, as more mainstream persons have quit smoking many years ago when new evidence came out about it's health consequences or the injury iy causes others with secondhand smoke.

Society also needs to recognize how smoking and drinking related illness may be boosting health care costs by as much as 40%. American society loses productivity as well as much higher insurance premiums. Smoking has cost American society far more than terrorism ever has.

With innocent persons daily targeted with secondhand smoke and American society robbed of billions of dollars in needless costs due to smoking, tobacco executives need to be viewed as the worst terrorist threat to America. Like anmy drug peddler, these vermin thrive by hurting their own community in order to profit themselves and live in big homes and drive fancy cars.

The U.S. needs to join the other 147 nations of the world who are members of the agreement to curb tobacco, and get tough with all public place smoking of all types and enforce a zero emissions curb on all tobacco products. Any tobacco product that emits fumes that can impact a nonuser of the product needs to be banned.

Smoking not only pours unregulated and illegal pollution into the air, but is another cause of greenhouse gases and other global pollution problems. A big crackdown on the illegal pollution industry that the cigareete companies have been allowed for too many years needs to change. These death merchants need to be brought to justice for their crimes against innocent victims such as manslaughter convictions for wrongful death of nonusers killed by secondhand smoke, and the illegal pollution they continue to create with no regulation. Some tobacco companies recognize serious or fatal injuries to nonsmokers caused by their products on their company websites, but do not post this information on their product. This makes them legally liable for any injuries or damages to nonsmokers.

Russia Selling AntiCruise Missile Shield Defense Systems To Iran

Russia has signed the biggest arms deal since 2000, by an agreement with Iran to supply 29 TOR M-1 Antimissile defense systems designed to shoot down U.S. or Israeli cruise missiles and aircraft for $700 million dollars to the Tehran government.

These mobile anticruise missile defense systems also contain some protection against nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. These weapons feature an advanced computer system that makes these very similiar to the U.S. Patriot Missile systems in some ways. Only recently has Russian defense equipment been able to make use of such advanced integration of computers with their weapons systems. And a mobile use of such high tech technology will certainly present a great danger in the hands of Iran, which will no doubt study and reverse engineer some of the technology into their weapons systems.

Russia has been following a sort of dual track with Iran. On one hand they have displayed some public concern and also UN support for Iran to suspend any nuclear arms program, but have also been moving to build a new reactor in Iran and supply Iran with new weapons to protect against any U.S. or Israeli attack in the future. Russia continues to play both sides of this issue, and profiting from both sides.

Interestingly, only some slow payments to Russia from Iran have helped to slow the Iranian nuclear program somewhat. Iran failed to make payments for months on a new Russian reactor for example. By Iran being so unreliable in their payments has created their own self-imposed limitations on their nuclear efforts and so far held back their program more than UN or U.S. efforts have been able to so far.

3:01

In Portland, Oregon, Willamette National Cemetery offers a diginfied burial to all war veterans who pass away. But unknown to most persons, each day at 3:01 an honor guard holds a lonely ceremony to honor deceased war veterans buried there. Most often this honor guard is the only persons in attendance with empty chairs for the public or for families of deceased most often left empty.

129,813 veterans are buried in this cemetery. There are usually around 200 or more veterans a month who are buried there as WWII, Korean War and Vietnam Veterans continue to age. Often more than 60 veterans a month are buried that only have the honor guard in attendance. Even if a veteran dies alone, broke, and without a friend in the world, still this honor guard honors their service to this country and they are buried with the utmost of respect.

Our veterans deserve no less than this respect for their selfless service to our nation. God bless them all.

TV Shows That Won't Be Back Next Year

Some pretty good TV shows have been officially cancelled and won't be returning next year. Some of the shows like CROSSING JORDAN is a huge loss. It was a great show that deserves to live on with cable TV. CLOSE TO HOME is another acceptably good drama, with no real reason to cancel this show either. GEORGE LOPEZ provided many great laughs since his March 2002 midseason debut. This show will be missed as well. THE WAR AT HOME was an acceptable comedy as well, with at least a few laughs.

But the loss of a great comedy like THE KING OF QUEENS is indeed a big loss. This comedy drew really great ratings recently compared to the new also departing comedy, THE CLASS, which was inferior in nearly every regard. GILMORE GIRLS and REBA were two more decent programs that will not return.

Some TV shows like JUSTICE just never seemed to click with viewers. although it was a very good drama. Andy Richter's good detective comedy, ANDY BARKER:PI was a quick failure, although it managed to put a lot of quality comedy into a 30 minute slot. STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP seemed pretty unfulfilling, and more empty than full.

JERICHO held great promise. It also had some loyal fans as well. But just not enough of them to save it from cancellation. RAINES, staring quirky actor, Jeff Goldblum, was a fairly good midseason replacement drama. But the viewers just didn't come along in great enough numbers. SMITH sure looked like a great drama, but was a quick rare drama failure for CBS. STARGATE:SG-1 was a great cable series, and will certainly be missed by it's many loyal fans. IDENTITY was a great game show, and certainly deserves a regular TV slot, and not cancellation. THE O.C. might be missed by a few. The comedy, 20 GOOD YEARS was just plain bad.

Some great TV shows are caught in limbo land somewhere, and could be back or could be cancelled including, ACCORDING TO JIM, a great comedy, and the ratings challenged, but critically acclaimed, VERONICA MARS. Whether these shows will return at some point is questionable. Another show, LAS VEGAS has undergone some devastating cast changes, and this could spell a ratings disaster this season, although it will be back on the fall lineup. Donald Trump's THE APPRENTICE probably won't be back. TRUMP found out it wasn't on the fall lineup, although could be brought in at midseason, and in order to appear to be in charge and save face claimed he planned to quit the show. This might just be a mutual way of ending this series.

A few new shows like CAVEMEN over at ABC sure looks like a bad show, and might be a quick cancellation if ABC would like to bring ACCORDING TO JIM back. Some other dramas like the new version of BIONIC WOMAN could be another rare Sci Fi hit for NBC next to HEROES.

September will prove interesting. Some new shows hold promise, while some classics like CROSSING JORDAN and THE KING OF QUEENS will be sorely missed.

Minimum Wage Increase Falls Short

After a whole decade of working persons voting for Democratic politicians to increase their minimum working wage, a limited wage increase will finally become law. The bill was tacked on to the Iraq War funding bill that Bush will sign. But the full increase to $7.25 an hour will only take place in steps and stages until 2009. And little in the bill will help to lift many of the poor from poverty or an increased ability to pay their rent as the wage increase does not even keep pace with the huge inflation of energy prices including electricity and gasoline.

African Americans will continue to suffer from high unemployment as little new incentives to provide new jobs or offer more small business loans to the African American community seem to be coming from Washington either. Important social goals for American society can be realized if some serious goals of reducing African American unemployment could be coming from Washington. But instead only this very limited wage increase is offered to those lucky enough to have a job already, and offer nothing to those without work.

More pressure needs to be put on the African American members of Congress to offer bills to cut down on African American unemployment and create more loans to small businesses in this community. In addition, goals to protect American jobs from export to labor cheap nations need to be much stronger.

The new minimum wage bill is only a few baby steps in the right direction when much bigger steps are really needed. But a minimum wage increase after a decade long wait is at least something, although very little to expect from Washington.

Japanese Versions Of Sony Playstation 3 Now Available In The U.S.

They're scarce as hen's teeth in the U.S., but a small number of the Japanese only market 60GB Sony Playstation 3 game systems are now appearing in the U.S. These game systems feature some interesting differences from the normal U.S. game systems including the ability to play Blu Ray discs. Techies will love these systems and more can be learned about them over at RADIOTVPARTZ ELECTRONICS, although they don't come too cheap at $599.99. But with a normal retail price of $999.99, these game systems are priced real low.

Bad, Worse and Much Worse

They say that bad things seem come in three's. Bob Beckel, Democratic strategist recently had a scuffle in a parking lot resulting over an antiwar bumper sticker that finally resulted in a punch to the face, reportedly leaving Beckell with a black eye.

A female staffer for Senator Barack Obama was recently socked in the face by a reported professional football player in a Washington bar, reportedly leaving her with a black eye.

A Portland, Oregon woman who is seven months pregnant was recently punched in stomach by a mentally ill man for no reason at all while eating at a local Burger King.

Under the grand scheme of things, it could be said that the black eye for Bob Beckel was bad, the football player punching a woman in the face was even worse, and the black eye for the unborn baby was much worse. Bad things do indeed come in three's.

North Korea Test Firing Missiles Again Today

Anytime that North Korea wants a little world attention, they fire off a few missiles. Today, North Korea is at it again, with test launches of some shorter range missiles. The more limited range of these missiles isn't likely to gain too much world concern. But it is just another wakeup from this erratic little nation to take notice that they are still around and still relevant. But little erratic acts like this only continue to make the world community wary of this little militarist state.

Bush Job Approval At Just 35% In New Poll

A brand new poll just out today from Rasmussen Reports puts the job approval rating for George Bush at a lowly 35% with 63% who disapprove of his job performance.

Unlike other major world democracies which allow a loss of confidence vote or new parliamentary elections, the American system allows a President to retain power long after the public has lost faith in the leader. Whether this is the best system is certainly up to major debate when a leader like Bush remains in office long after the faith in his policies has long left.

Bush's Wacky Gunboat Diplomacy With Iran

Only days before a scheduled meeting with Iran, the U.S. is engaging in a pattern of autodestructive conduct that may prevent the meeting from ever taking place. A large scale, and unscheduled military fleet has been holding war games in the Persian Gulf region. And renewed calls for Iran to suspend their nuclear program have been loudly stated by Washington as well as the UN.

If the U.S. wants talks with Iran, then talk. But why sign on to such talks, and then provoke just enough tensions to hope to derail the talks? If the Bush administration felt pressure to talk to Iran, and is looking for a way out, then why play such games?

This is just the type of juvenile foreign policy the U.S. has had since the Bush White House took power. This White House will only bend to public pressure when a huge outcry takes place, but then will look for ways to derail the process or create false reasons to justify doing just the wrong things.

Certainly the Iranian nuclear program represents dangers for the Mideast and perhaps even the U.S. in the long run. But the U.S. avoided an all-out war with the Soviets by maintaining some sort of open dialogue and treaties with each other. Since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, there has been no real dialogue with Iran, just mutual frictions between the two nations. Nothing can be resolved with no dialogue at all. Talks are an important link even among adversary nations.

Avoiding a shooting war with Iran is very important as well as ending their nuclear weapons program. But the current Bush policy is not getting there.

Retro Turntables Celebrate The Lost Art Of Great Woodwork

Retro style turntables are returning, but with the modern technology such as compact disc players, FM stereo radios, stereo cassette decks and other modern features hidden away in styling of yesteryear. Above is an example of these great new retrostyled turntables that allow you to play your classic vinyl collection with some real class and lost woodworking art.

This model is available over at RADIOTVPARTZ ELECTRONICS for $89.99 plus shipping. a real steal for such a beautiful item for your living room that has the antique look of yesteryear.

Poland And China Pledge More Cooperation

A strange but interesting relationship between formerly Communist Poland and China remains to this day. China still considers Poland a long term friend, and respects their own political path, yet China apppreciates the support of Poland on issues sensitive to them including Taiwan and Tibet.

Despite all of the interesting changes since the end of the Cold war that forever changed Eastern Europe, Poland and China reaffirmed their friendship and mutual support this week.

International relations are indeed a complex thing.

Portland Arsonists Arrested...But Not EcoTerrorists As First Thought

It turns out that the Portland, Oregon SUV arsonists were not ecoterrorists as first thought, but a strange group of a 27 year old male with a long criminal history whose own father claimed has serious mental health problems, a 19 year old Asian female, who runs a MySpace page posing with a handgun and a 14 year old for some reason. This group of three pyromaniac screwballs claimed that they were setting these very dangerous fires for "fun". But the real 'fun" for these three mental defectives will begin when they start serving their mandatory 90 month prison sentences under Oregon's mandatory sentencing law known as Measure 11 for serious crimes.

The amount of property damage caused by these arsons probably runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars and endangered the lives of at least one family when their home also caught fire as well.

The father of the 27 year old male hopes that the case will be treated as a federal crime because his mentally ill son might finally get the help he needs.

In two unrelated cases of ecoterrorism, two defendants were sentenced to 13 years each for causing about $40 million in damage with political extremist arson and property damage.

EcoTerrorists Setting Car, Truck & SUV Fires In Portland, Oregon

All terrorism is a disgusting example of political facists who choose to use violence to impose their own personal extremist political views on others. Whether it's in Iraq or here at home, it's all immoral, wrong and completely criminal.

Some Ecoterrorists have been setting car fires the last couple nights in Portland, Oregon, burning three to four vehicles each night, creating a serious safety danger for neighborhoods and firefighters. In Oregon, tough mandatory sentences mean at least 7 years for arson. However, a house with persons inside caught fire on Monday morning, meaning attempted murder charges are now very likely. If any person would die as a result of this ecoterrorism, then murder charges are nearly certain for these wacky extremists.

Setting fires creating a massive amount of air pollution and public danger is certainly a mentally ill way for some self-righteous screwball to support environmentalism. High gas prices and new technology will certainly result in clean burning vehicles such as emissions free hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by the next decade as technology can be made more affordable and less prone to damage from cold weather. Right now the membranes for the fuel cell experimental vehicles are highly prone to cold weather damage. Current fuel cell vehicles would have to sell for about $70,000 right now. Costs need to be reduced.

With gas prices rising so fast, environmentalists should trust in the wisdom of the marketplace to respond to both high gas prices with vehicles with sharply reduced gas consumption as well as eventual replacement with vehicles that little impact on the environment and on greenhouse gases.

Ecoterrorists are too stupid to offer scientific answers to challenging environmental problems. Serious scientists labor long hours on research that will dramaticly lower fuel consumption as well as protect the environment in the very near future. The market demand creates this need. Ecoterrorists are nothing but dumb criminals by comparison. Their serious crimes don't even have a profit motive, but certainly impact working persons who need a car to go to work or to take their kids to school. Hopefully FBI, ATF agents and others will tighten the law enforcement noose around these ecoterrorist screwballs very soon, and throw them in jail along with prisoners who are really tough and give them a wakeup call on what problems that they made for themselves.

Arson endangers lives. It is a serious financial crime that the good men and women in law enforcement need to prevent. Arson endangers the lives of the public and firemen both. The public will not be safe until these screwball ecoterrorism radicals are behind bars where they belong.

Tourist Events Mean An Uprooting Of Homelessness & Poverty

One very unfortunate side effect of cities that host large scale tourist events is the local governments are using policing powers to uproot those living in poverty or who are homeless simply to impress the tourists. In China, ahead of the upcoming Olympics, those living in poverty are already being uprooted in order to give the parts of the nation where tourists are likely to travel an impression of the relative wealth of many of the people while prosperity has certainly not touched all citizens in this developing world nation seeking to grow beyond an agrarian based economy into a full blown industrial power.

In Portland, Oregon, normally a tolerant and liberal city, police are being used to give the homeless a deadline of today to move on from parts of the city where tourists may attend annual Rose Festival events. No new prograsms are being established to assist those living in poverty or any new shelters scheduled to open, only a policing policy to give tourists a false impression that poverty does not exist in parts of the city where they are most likely to sightsee.

World cities like the tourist dollars that are generated by high profile public events. Yet the problems of poverty remain all year long for the poor. World cities need to develop sound policies to provide shelter, low cost housing, food assitance, or other basic essentials to the very poor instead of developing policies that simply move the problem around from one area to the other.

Former New York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani will run for president partially on a platform that he "cleaned up" New York. Yet he simply forced many of the very poor and homeless from out of the city to other cities. In other words, he didn't solve New York problems, but simply moved the problem to other cities to do the hard work.

New Poll Finds Obama Most Likely To Elected President

Although his support is subject to weekly up or down movements, Senator Barack Obama is now viewed as the most likely to be elected by 49% of the public according to a new Rasmussen Reports poll, which is a very significant sign of the strength of the senator among the public.

Rudolph Guiliani continues to lose some ground to a slightly recharged John McCain as well. Political junkies will find plenty of great statistics to ponder in this week's new Rasmussen polling data. Rasmussen appears to be one of the most accurate snapshots of the public mood, compared to some other polls with inbuilt bias or other shortcomings.

PEOPLE AGAINST CENSORSHIP Battles Broken Promise Of Uncensored XM Radio

In the wake of XM Radio breaking it's agreement to listeners of uncensored satellite radio, People Against Censorship, headed by President Debbie Wolf has claimed to have soared it's membership to 8,000 members and 20,000 listeners of XM Radio to cancel their subscriptions.

Last week, a homeless man made an absurd, tasteless and incoherent rambling about Condoleezza Rice and Laura Bush on THE OPIE AND ANTHONY SHOW, which moved, CBS, the parent company of XM Radio to suspend the shock jock pair. Immediately a groundswell of angry listeners began to build that felt that CBS and XM were involved in false advertising and breach of contract by censoring XM Radio which they claimed in advertising was not supposed to be subject to censorship.

Now CBS could find itself in yet another breach of contract lawsuit. First CBS unfairly fires Don Imus for a joke that went wrong without a proper warning according to the terms of his contract. Imus is suing for $80 million. Now CBS is breaking another contract with the estimated 5.5 million paid subscribers.

A public who supports free speech on radio, totally uncensored feels betrayed by this broken promise by the management of CBS. But it also raises a question is anything at all said on this type of subscription radio service acceptable? Can a legal line ever be crossed, such as a threat or similar illegal line despite the promise of freedeom? A new radio medium based on freedom is a good premise. But can a legal blurry line ever be crossed?

Carter Passes On The "Scepter And Crown" Of The Worst Administration On To The New Worst Administration

This weekend, former President Jimmy Carter seemed to pass on the both the scepter and crown of the worst presidential administration to the new worst administration ever. Although no actual crown and scepter exist, still this is somewhat symbolic in that it salvages the historic reputation of the Carter Administration as simply largely inept and unsuccessful, although well intentioned, while the Bush Administration has been a disaster on nearly every level with few redeeming high points.

While Jimmy Carter has managed to launch more than a few controversial foreign policy points in recent years, his career since retirement from the presidency has been mostly positive with much good work for his pet charity, Habitat For Humanity. While other former presidents have managed to puff a cigar or two or improve their golf score, Carter did redeem his reputation to at least the status of a great expresident by his good humanitarian works.

Naturally, the supporters of Bush will kick and scream about this new "honor" that Carter bestowed on them. But few serious historians can find much to approve of in this latest White House management failure. From day one, this administration was committed to restarting the old Gulf War with Iraq that Bush 1 poorly concluded by allowing Saddam Hussein to stay in power unlike most normal "unconditional surrender" treaties following a war. But this failure was only a build-on from the Reagan Administration that built the Saddam Hussein war machine in the first place, with a covert and illegal plan to use Department Of Agriculture CCC Funds to be diverted to Iraq for Saddam to buy billions in arms from the U.S.. France and Brazil to counter Iran during the 1980's Iran-Iraq War. It seems like successive Republican administrations have been building up the Iraq mess for quite some time.

With a sneaky plan for a new war in Iraq that was not honestly publicly debated during the 2000 presidential election cycle, the Bush team was preparing themselves to be set up for a failure of this cornerstone policy of their administration. They say that the self-inflicted wounds are often the worst. Indeed.

U.S. Arming Fatah In West Bank Fighting

After the U.S. plan miserably failed to bring democracy to the Palestinian Authority region, and Hamas won the election, the U.S. has spent at least $59 million to arm Fatah and promote open warfare between the two rival Palestinian groups. On May 14, it was reported that a shipment of 3,000 assault rifles meant for Fatah fighters was hijacked by Hamas militants.

Besides the war in Iraq, the war between the rival Palestinian factions is a second war front that the U.S. is heavily behind as well as covert efforts to use groups like the MEK for warfare and terrorism to undermine the radical and erratic government of Iran.

The Bush doctrine that once promotted democracy for the Mideast now seems to have given way to a doctrine of supporting proxy wars in the Mideast to advance the foreign policy interests of the Bush Administration.

Gloria Allred May Be Right About This

Firebrand feminist attorney, Gloria Allred, often takes on very controversial cases and clients. But her opinion on a new policy of some luxury hotel chains may be right. Some luxury hotels are featuring women guests only floors, and Gloria Allred thinks that this is wrong.

Gloria Allred considers this a form of illegal sex discrimination that stereotypes all men as predators and women as fragile beings who deserve special protections under the law. Allred is highly critical of this practice by some luxury hotels who claim that this practice is intended for the safety and security of the women guests.

Allred is also concerned that this could lead to hotels enacting floors for one race only as well, bringing the nation back to a form of segregation based on stereotypes of safety and crime, just as the women only reserved floors are based on some premise of safety and crime.

So far, no lawsuit has been filed to prevent this new business practice on behalf of a few luxury hotels. But very likely this practice may violate federal antidiscrimination laws, especially if a male guest is turned away from renting a room if empty rooms remain solely due to his sex. If anything this new sales practice of renting rooms solely on the basis of the sex of the prospective renter may be a very short lived practice. It might be just one lawsuit away from going back to the intent of state and federal antidiscrimination laws meant to outlaw such an illegal practice that is unfortunately way too similar to the horrid segregation laws of the past.

10 Month Old Baby Granted Gun Permit

In Chicago, the police department granted a gun permit to a 10 month old baby for an assault rifle. The father of the baby submitted all the required paperwork on behalf of the baby including a photo of the baby for the gun permit card. After a background check, in which Chicage police found no criminal or mental illness history on the part of the baby, a gun permit and ID card was issued.

When a baby only a few months old can be granted a gun permit to own an assault rifle, and the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech took place because a seriously mentally ill man was able to acquire handguns, then there should be good questions whether the gun laws are so lax that some unfit persons or those that lack good judgement are finding it just too easy to acquire dangerous weapons.

Senator Edward Kennedy's Senate Committee Works Out A Compromise Bill On Immigration

Few details are yet known in the huge new immigration compromise bill that Senator Edward Kennedy's Senate Committee was able to hammer out today with the more moderate Republicans such as Senators Arlen Specter and John McCain. But the bill appears to allow the estimated 13 million illegal aliens in this country to earn a path to eventual citizenship, and does give some higher priority to those illegal aliens with a higher education as skilled workers. But the bill reportedly still includes an unfair provision that provides for a $5,000 dollar fine and fees. This huge fine seems unfair as many of the illegal immigrants earn very little money, and many may simply prefer to remain as illegal aliens, defeating any intent of the bill to make the immigration system more orderly.

More details on this bill as the information becomes available.

Boy, Oh Boy, Does ABC's New "CAVEMEN" Look Like A Bad Show!

The jokes are already starting to build on the absurd new comedy, CAVEMEN, set to debut this September on ABC that replaces such comedy classics as GEORGE LOPEZ and ACCORDING TO JIM based off the absurd and wholly ineffective Geico insurance ads. Wise monet would bet that that this grand turkey of a premise will likely be one of the first cancelled shows of the next season, with maybe a two or three episode run.

What in the world were ABC executives thinking? This looks to be one of the very worst show ideas since COP ROCK, the wholly silly police musical that was short lived for ABC some years ago.

ABC has a strange mix of shows this year. There are few shows that appeal to male viewers as ABC seems to be going all-out as a women's network, but with a few bizarre entries such as CAVEMEN to perplex the viewer.

The Geico ads certainly seem bad enough for about 30 seconds. Can a whole 30 minutes or this garbage even be tolerable or will the viewers at home revert back to cavemen themselves, throwing rocks at their TV screens when this stinker comes on? Thank goodness there's plenty of other channels to choose from.

Jerry Falwell Down, James Dobson And Tony Perkins Yet To Go

In the world of those who abuse and market off the name of God, few were bigger than Jerry Falwell. This son of a drunken bootlegger and an atheist grandfather, seemed to spend his adult life trying hard to rebel from his family background by overcompensating with a "holier than thou" philosophy condemning the least of sins in others, but completely overlooking his own huge shortcomings. In almost every regard he was little more than just a latter day pharisee.

Falwell may have been genial in personality, but was largely a cartoonish joke. He often referred to himself as Dr. Jerry Falwell, although he personally held no such formal degree, but did have some honorary ones given to him, two of which are from unaccredited institutions including one from South Korea. This was ironic because he charged students a hefty sum to attend his mail order religious university, Liberty University, when he never bothered to secure such an education himself. But such was just one part of the absurd and outrageous hypocrisy of Jerry Falwell. Falwell rakes in about $16,000 per student in tuition costs from his college, which is one of his most profitable enterprises. Not bad for someone with no formal advanced degree themself.

Falwell was a tireless critic of abortion, homosexuality, pornography, or any other nanny state issue in which he believed that the role of government was in the bedroom's of the citizens. He constantly advocated for Christians to act politically rather than follow the Biblical example of Jesus and the early church followers who believed in the coming kingdom of God, not of some man. But Falwell only followed portions of the Bible he agreed with anyway. It was the ultimate in cafeteria-style Christianity.

Falwell was absolutely no stranger to controversy, expressing support for the evil of apartheid during the 1980's. But during the 1960's used his OLD TIME GOSPEL HOUR program to promote segregationist politicians such as George Wallace and Lester Maddox. Falwell often ended up in lawuits over various issues, on one side or the other. His church was found innocent of a"fraud and deceit" case involving the sale of $6.5 million in unsecured bonds brought by the SEC in 1973.

Fawell used $200,000 to help fund an 80 minute attack ad film on President Bill Clinton entitled, THE CLINTON CHRONICLES, in 1994, however one of two Arkansas policemen that Falwell paid to claim Clinton guilt in the Paula Jones affair was later disgraced when he lied to the FBI about an unrelated matter. Falwell later admitted that he was not sure of the accuracy of the allegations against Clinton in the film.

When Jim and Tammy Bakker fell into a huge scandal involving their televangelist empire, Tammy Faye Bakker at first acccusedFalwell of atempting to "steal" their ministry and take their property. But some later evidence suggests that the Bakkers eventually had little choice but to allow Falwell to get involved as a Christian theme park and other holdings fell into huge debt and Falwell raised $20 million to bail out the Bakker organization's holdings.

While Falwell often impressed one as slightly likable, he still had such huge faults and self righteousness that you could drive a truck through the holes in his own values which were about as holey as Swiss cheese.

No one wants to see bad happen to anyone. And certainly you cannot help but feel sorry for the family of Jerry Falwell. But just because he is gone from the scene of profiting off God and abusing the name of God to promote his political agenda does not mean that this is the end of this type of political preacher for profit. James Dobson and Tony Perkins are only too happy to have a bigger cut of this pie for themselves, and are only likely to step up their activity in 2007 and 2008.

Internal Workings In The McCain Campaign Show Plan To Use Blogs To Inflate Strength

Internal workings from within the John McCain campaign are proving that a campaign for McCain supporters to use other blog postings is being planned to artificially create the image of more strength for his campaign. After the upcoming Republican debate, McCain supporters are being encouraged to post positive propaganda messages of support for McCain, hoping to make him more acceptable among this group of Republicans who tend to dislike him as a sort of RINO(REpublican in name only) sort of Republican.

Whether this campaign to use propaganda to make McCain more acceptable to other Republicans will work remains to be seen. But it still appears that many conservative Republicans are still looking to somwone like LAW & ORDER actor, Fred Thompson or even Newt Gingrich, to enter the race.

But the Republicans seem to be plagued by an unusually high level of disunity this year. Party disuntity is often a good predictor of an upcoming defeat for a political party. Few candidates tend to be able to survive this sort of internal disunity problem within a political party and win an election.

NBC Announces New Fall Lineup

NBC announced their new fall lineup earlier this morning. More on that in the days to come. But most interestingly is that the great veteran drama, CROSSING JORDAN, is ending. Cable TV would be wise to pick this up with fresh new episodes. A&E currently runs reruns of this great drama. LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT is also off the NBC schedule as well, but not cancelled. This great drama will live on with fresh new episodes airing on NBC's sister cable channel, the USA NETWORK, joining MONK and PSYCH.

The simply awful STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP did get the ax though. Who couldn't see this coming from a mile away?

More on the new programs set to air on NBC this fall as details become available.

Newly Elected French President Already Talking About A Withdrawal Of Forces From Afghanistan

Almost as soon as the political right in the U.S. began rejoicing at the victory of right wing French politician, Nicolas Sarzoky, Sarkozy decided to dampen their parade a little with a discussion of a withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan. This is hardly good news to the thin forces in Afghanistan in which far fewer NATO troops are now serving than are really needed or good news for any foreign policy goals of the Bush Administration for Afghanistan.

Sarkozy is behaving about as should have been expected. He'll certainly act as an independent minded politician who will do what is good for Sarkozy. Unlike the retiring Tony Blair of Britain, there really is no good ally of the U.S. that is completely onboard with the Bush Administrarion's line on foreign policy, although Australia and NATO, due to treaty ties, are about the strongest allies outside the U.K.

With the exit of Blair, as well as the independence of Sarkozy, the Bush Administration cannot hold high hopes for any meaningful relations with another nation in the last couple of years. No doubt most nations will look to the next American administration to renew any foreign policy ties with the U.S. Not only is the Bush Administration largely a lame duck administration, but the American foreign policy is also largely a lame duck one as well.

As Gas Prices Soar, Mopeds Become The Alternative Transportation For Many

Although very popular in Europe, especially in Britain and Italy, mopeds have made only a small impact into the American motoring scene up until very recently. Now high gas prices are driving up the sale of the little two-wheeler 80-100 mile per gallon moped gas scooters.

Vespa has always been one of the biggest sellers in the moped market, but at about $2,500 for classic restored or used mopeds they don't come too cheaply. But the Chinese have been able to take advantage of this hot new market with models that retail for about $1,300, but can be found at discounts of hundreds of dollars below this price online by some dealers or direct importers. Some brands like Geely, NST and Roketa, Strada and Tank offer very good products for a very reasonable price. The styling of these small scooters or bikes is also far better than old-school styled Vespa products, although Vespas remain a popular cultist classic. In Portland, Oregon for example, the local Vespa dealer sells more scooters than any other dealership in the U.S.

Although Vespa has had a very long run as a major scooter producer, the newer Chinese designs look far better in the styling area, and have some interesting features such as locking trunks on some models. Geely, which is also a major Chinese automobile brand, produces some scooters with turbo charged engines, with a top speed of 45 mph compared to the 30mph top speed of the nonturbo models 49cc models. One model by Baron even features a sort of removable raintop design, as well as a higher level trunk.

Licensing varies from state to state, but some states allow persons to drive a 30mph, 37-50cc with only a driver's license, with no motorcycle endorsement required. But other states may allow a larger engine before a motorcycle license and insurance is required.

There is also a great selection of small engined motorcycles from China, including some models with fully sutomatic transmissions. prices for these often beat their Japanese and German badged competition by hundreds if not by thousands of dollars.

There are even a few good quality electric mopeds that feature fully functional foot pedals, allowing them to be considered a street legal vehicle that do not even require a driver's license. However security for these mopeds might be a challenge for an owner. They are too big for bicycle racks, yet sometimes only weigh a little over 100 pounds and are an average of 48 inches long, and could be easily stolen if not properly secured. But with a claimed top speed of 20mph under electric power on a 3-6 hour charge with a claimed 37 mile driving range, they don't seem like a bad pollution-free vehicle alternative at all. And if the charge is lost, they can still be driven with the pedals like a bicycle.

As gas prices continue to rise with no real end in sight, and as the weather warms up, the roads should be seeing more mopeds, gas and electric scooters, and small motorcycles on the streets than ever.

Bush Quickly Moves To Shore Up Worsening Relations Between The U.S. And Russia

In a desperate attempt to improve worsening relations with the Russian government, Bush has phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday to discuss a wide range of bilateral and international issues and will send Secretary Of State Condoleezza Rice to visit Moscow next month to discuss the two nations frictions over the proposed deployment of a missile defense system in Eastern Europe and other issues.

This past week, President Putin used language that compared the U.S. foreign policy to Nazi Germany, which was perhaps the tougest language he has used yet. And the proposed Eastern European missile defense system has only encouraged the Russians to develop a new hypersonic cruise missile as well work on new generation of nuclear bombers. With the enhanced oil wealth of the nation under Putin, Russia now has the financial assets available to undertake new arms projects.

The U.S. hopes to stop the steady slide of relations between the two nations, and instead inspire a better understanding. The upcoming G-8 Conference to be held next month in Germany could well provide a new icy friction point if relations are not improved very soon.

It will be extremely easy for a new Cold War to develop between the two nations unless the steady slide in relations is not halted and reversed. And Russian cooperation on situations such as Iran are desperately needed by the U.S. as well.

China Embarks On New 5 Year Mission To Explore Space And Moon

This week the government of China has committed itself to a new five year plan for manned space travel and a lunar landing. While the Chinese program so far is roughly comparable to that of the early 1960's Mercury program of NASA, and certainly has a long way to go with technology to achieve at least a three man vehicle for a lunar landing, the program is still an ambitious one.

While NASA seems stalled with the Space Shuttle program, and a planned return to the Moon is planned for the future, it is still many years away. China's program is so far just not as well developed with only a one man space vehicle so far, when a three man vehicle similiar to the late 1960's Apollo project is required with a Command Module and a Lunar Lander vehicle.

Some myths claim that Russia once atempted a failed Lunar landing that resulted in failure. But no evidence suggests that this really took place. However, China has had a long history of development of technology such as gunpowder, fireworks, rockets and other devices that gives important clues that they have both the knowledge and willpower to eventually make a space vehicle work that can land on the Moon and return safely. Their pride as a nation seems to be at stake, and they may well become the second nation to achieve a successful lunar landing.

Al Sharpton Makes Bigoted Attack On Mitt Romney's Mormon Faith

Only last month, professional troublemaker and loudmouth, Al Sharpton made a major issue out of a bad joke on THE DON IMUS SHOW to ruin the career of this longtime radio host and cost him his $40 million dollar contract with CBS Radio. Now, the shoe is on the other foot with Sharpton who made an ignorant and bigoted remark about the Mormon faith of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, suggesting that he is the one candidate running for president who does not believe in God.

Sharpton rudely referred to Mitt Romney as "the Mormon" in the race for president. And Sharpton further referred that others who believe in God would defeat Romney. For anyone who claims to be a minister of God, it is simply outrageous to suggest that Mormons do not believe in God.

Instead of offering an apology for his bigoted outburst, Sharpton tried to futher blame the victim of his remarks, Mitt Romney. Sharpton even lied and claimed that he his remarks were somehow "taken out of context"by others.

McDonald's Corporation is the main sponsor of Al Sharpton's radio show. It is a safe bet more than few persons will be contacting McDonald's for supporting Sharpton and speaking their mind on his bigoted remarks.

Latest Deadly Chinese Import: Cough Syrup

Although no bottles have surfaced yet of some toxic cough syrup imports from China in the U.S., some nations like Brazil have been experiencing deaths from some brands of Chinese cough syrup that contain an additive normally found in antifreeze that causes the blood to crystalize among other horrible effects.

Normal cough syrup will contain harmless glycerine derived products, but this toxic cheap Chinese produced cough syrup contains diethylene glycol, a product normally used in antifreeze that causes kidney failure, breathing problems, paraysis and central nervous system death.

Quality control is very lax in China, where harmful chemicals often end in food products due to careless manufacturing standards. Just like the plastics production chemical, melamine, that ended up in Chinese produced wheat gluten products meant for pet food, Chinese products are the goods most often removed from public sale due to safety dangers by the American FDA and other product safety bureaus. Each month, an average of 229 Chinese made food or other products are banned from import or sale into the U.S. due to safety concerns. This total is nearly more than nearly all imports from all countries combined.

In the case of the melamine substances put into the wheat gluten, it may have been an intentional attempt to raise the protein levels to make the wheat gluten more valuable. In the case of the diethylene glycol in the cough syrup, it could have been careless chemistry that mistook the highly toxin compound for the normally harmless glycerine. Whether the U.S. will soon face another product scare from this toxic Chinese product remains to be seen, But major American producers are turning to China, more and more for chemicals, components or even completed products in order to boost their profits. With labor ranging from 25 to 40 cents an hour in many Chinese companies, American business finds these cheap wages very attractive, even if serious product safety or quality concerns often follow some products.

Sometimes profits before people is simply downright deadly.

Northern Ireland's Governent Begins A Power Sharing Arrangement

Unlike Iraq, where centuries of sectarian conflict between the Shiite and Sunni communities started soon after the death of Mohammed and continue to this day, the Christian Catholic and Protestant groups within Northern Ireland have worked out a power sharing agreement that allows a coalition government of the two major parties to rule this region.

Both Sein Finn and the Democratic Unionist Party will share power under this agreement. However, in Iraq the situation is far more bleak as a Sunni Vice President is threatening to withdrawal his Sunni bloc of power from the Iraqi Parliament, which may signal the last stop before a full collapse of the government into merely a Shiite instrument of rule, and only further throw this nation into the depth's of civil war.

Iraq needs to follow the example of Northern Ireland, but unfortunately may be decades or even centuries from such a political compromise. For the U.S. military with only 150,000 troops in a nation in the middle of a civil war of 26.7 million, or the population of Australia and Switzerland combined, is only an impossible task. Iraqis need to step up with both political and their own security solutions very soon.

Israeli Prime Minister Survives No-Confidence Vote By Flexing Military Muscle

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert seemed headed towards a quick exit as the leader of Israel. His government is being condemned not only at home with a 0% public support when the margin of error is figured in according to a recent poll, but is also a target of World Bank attacks as one of the most corrupt governments in the world. The President of the country is also under criminal investigation for sex crimes which include rape and forced sex from female employees. And government contracts are routinely awarded due to corruption influences from the Olmert government.

About the only thing that could help Olmert survive a no-confidence vote by his nation's Knesset(parliament) was to flex Israel's military muscle. Like clockwork, Olmert launched a tough crackdown on West Bank Hamas militants, arresting at least 26, and this use of military muscle and creation of a new security crisis, has managed to help him survive a no-confidence vote for at least this time.

If anything, Olmert has pulled the oldest political gimmick out of his bag of tricks. The use of military power during a political crisis. Hamas radicals have been smuggling in arms from Egypt into the West Bank for months now. As many as 20,000 arms including antitank weapons and rockets have been smuggled in according to Israeli military intelligence officials. But Olmert waits until he is about to be tossed out of office, and removed from the corrupt government he runs, then decides creating an 11th hour military security crisis is just about the right time to use the Israeli military in a high profile event sure to get plenty of press coverage in Israel.

Just like a condemned man on death row, Olmert found a way to get a last minute stay of execution for his corrupt government. But these last minute appeals usually don't last too long. Olmert may have to create an even bigger military use of power to keep his job for very many more days. However, if this use of military power is indeed a geniune response to Israeli security concerns, then that is one thing. But on the other hand, if going to extremes to start a new war or some similiar action is merely meant to keep his job, then that is indeed a very dangerous scenario.

Giuliani's Straddling Of The Abortion Issue Leaves Few Happy

Rudolph Giuliani may reflect the conflicted views that many Americans have on the abortion issue, balancing the right of women to self determination over pregnancy to the morality of ending a little life to others, but his views seem to have made very few happy, and if anything are a major boat chain and anchor to his Republican Party presidential ambitions.

Some conservative talk show critics such as Laura Ingraham have even brought out fresh information of Giuliani making personal contributions to Planned Parenthood, while at the same time attempting to sound as if the possible overturn of Roe v. Wade might be acceptable to him. Giuliani even claimed to suport the appointment of conservative judges, another bit of "red meat" to throw out to the political right of his party. But his double standard here only raises real issues of hypocrisy as well as being a political phony that tells people what they want to hear when before one audience, and then entirely another story to another audience.

Giuliani is not striking many voters in his party as a winnable moderate-conservative, but simply as a political phony. His views on abortion don't impress many of the voters of his party as representing the balance of many Americans views on the subject, but instead only hurt his standing, especially among religious conservatives.

Giuliani may well have found an issue to paint himself into a corner that he cannot easily paint his way back out of. If the average American holds balanced opinions on abortion, then it is not a major issue. But for a Republican presidential candidate it certainly is. This party has an intense right wing of the party as well as a powerful wing of big business corporate supporters. Giuliani may not be the candidate that can attract either of these two powerful groups, and might be fighting for a shrinking middle ground of moderate voters in his party. Giuliani may be just one more reason why many Republicans are unhappy at their current candidates for president, despite 10 men running so far.

A new CNN poll, out just 56 minutes ago puts Giuliani at just 25% support, his worst showing among Republican voters yet. If anything this is more proof that the abortion issue might just be the deal breaker between Giuliani and his possible voters.

Sarkozy Must Address The Serious Issues Of Poverty In Immigrant Neighborhoods

The White House and American political right are celebrating the victory by right wing candidate, Nicholas Sarkozy in the French election. However, the unpredictable Sarkozy could become a real thorn in the side of the White House if things begin to go badly for Sarkozy since he has been known for cheap demagogery before. Sarkozy once supported the Bush war in Iraq back in 2003, but then started to back off as things weny badly. Sarkozy will do what's good for Sarkozy, and if creating a riff with the U.S. helps to bolster his standing among the French public, then he will do so.

But perhaps the greatest danger with Sarkozy is his tough "law and order" views, while promising little real change to improve the life of the numerous impoverished immigrants living in France, lured largely from the MidEast, who are now living in extreme poverty with very high unemployment. This huge pool of unemployed young men from the MidEast gives a fertile ground to radical fundamentalists to recruit fresh radicals who could even become terrorists, threatening not only France, but Europe and the U.S. as well. Positive political intervention by means of some sort of economic recovery plan for the immigrant neighborhoods of France is absolutely essential to avoiding more problems with radicalism taking roots.

France has long been the hub of many radical Islamic fundamentalists including the Ayatollah Khomeini who helped to engineer the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran from his home in exile in France.

The political right is keen for misjudging serious foreign policy matters. The Bush Admistration is exhibit A of this. And if the newly elected French President fails to improve the life of those living in his nation, then the threat from Islamic fundamentalists could grow.

Without povery and hope, many Muslim Immigrants with a job will follow moderate religious teachers and live a duo existence in France, as both a modern member of French society and as a Muslim. But poverty is the worst element that fuels the frustration at Western society that spurs dangerous radicalism in this community. Sarkozy better provide jobs to the unemployed and France and not destroy the social programs which help with poverty. If he doesn't, then the problems from this nation could have an international impact.

As Expected, Right Winger Sarkozy Wins French Election

As could be expected from the polls, and the simply awful campaign from the opposition French Socialist candidate, Segolene Royal, right wing candidate Nicolas Sarkozy was able to win about a 53-47% edge in the French runoff election on Sunday.

Socialist candidate, Segolene Royal had a perfect opportunity to exploit the serious economic problems under the current conservative President, Jacques Chirac, such as stagnant wages, an economy that failed to benefit those in poverty, especially in the immigrant neighborhoods, and other working class issues, but instead was best known as a marginal candidate who had focused on silly issues such as attacking TV violence or some fringe issues without a base of populist appeal.

Sarkozy was also a bad candidate as well, with a loose cannon style that is sure to be troublesome over a number of issues with the U.S., although Sarkozy was once a an early supporter of the curent war in Iraq, and has a few similiar views as George Bush politically.

It's too bad that the working people of France had no good place to turn. But Royal was such a lightweight Socialist Party candidate with her seriously watered down and lame version of socialism that really failed to address the needs of the working people. Royal made it easy for another bad candidate like Sarkozy to look good by comparison to a slender majority of French voters. Too bad.

Barack Obama Slips Past Hillary Clinton In Reliable New Poll

In the latest highly reliable poll from Rasmussen Reports, Senator Barack Obama now leads Hillary Clinton by two points, 32-30%, marking a slight trend of a slide for Senator Clinton. Former Senator John Edwards contines to lag farther back at 17%.

The trend of Barack Obama making steady inroads into the support of Senator Clinton has been a trend for months. Some political analysts predicted by Labor Day he might even catch up with Clinton, however he is far ahead of that schedule and can probably be assumed to be the co-front runner for the Democratic nomination until he gains more distance from her in his poll standings. With positive reports of cash donations, a fresh surge of public support seems to have followed for Obama.

Last week, Obama become the first major contender for the presidency to gain Secret Service protection, a sure sign that his crowds have become huge with his "rock star" like standing and charisma among many voters. Rather than a troublesome sign, this was a sign that his campaign is appealing to huge crowds and the Secret Service can be sure events are orderly and safe.

Drug Peddlers Hit A New Low

It hardly sems possible, but drug peddlers have just hit a new low according to several U.S. city police departments. In order to market their meth drugs to school children, some drug peddlers are now mixing candy with the drug in order to give it a candy-like flavor and to mask the bitterness of this horrible drug.

Hooking school children on their awful drug is an all-time low for drug peddlers. Meth causes damage to brain, irrational and criminal conduct, and cause teeth to rot out and the skin to become discolored and blotchy. Even after quiting the drug after stubbborn rehab efforts, many former merh users are left with mental illness or other psychiatric problems.

Anyone who seeks to profit by hooking school children truly represents the true face of evil.

Why Paris Hilton May Not Serve A Day In Jail

Paris Hilton and her family may be shocked at her 45 day jail sentence. But the the real truth is that this spoiled little rich girl may not even serve a single day of this sentence.

There is a terrible jail overcrowding situation in Los Angeles and many metro area California jails. It seems highly unlikely that some dangerous drug dealers or gang members will be set free to make room for the hotel heiress. Likely the weekend when she shows up to begin to serve her term in June, she will be turned away because of jail overcrowding. Each wekend she will show up, only once again to be turned away.

The other possibility is that her team lawyers, which her rich folks will front the bill for, will pull out all stops with the prosecutor and the judge to get her into some sort of community service. And just like model Naomi Campbell, this will only turn out to be another Paris Hilton media bonanza with all sorts of entertainment reporters on the scene to photograph Hilton in her reflective orange vest on litter duty in some cozy LA park or along some roadside.

Drunk driving is a serious thing. It can kill innocent people. But in the end, Paris Hilton may just prove that once again she is above the law.

Republican Debate Brings Out Much Tough Talk About Iran When Iraq Hasn't Even Been Resolved

Without a doubt, Iran is a bad country. And their nuclear program only gives the world community the chills. But last night's Republican debate only served to give some voters the "hebbie jebbies" by the dominanace of so much tough talk about Iran. If anything it was merely an exhibition of testosterone rather than using the intellect to understand complex issues.

Playing to the largely Republican audience of viewers, this tough talk might play well. But is a major turnoff to the large pool of independent voters who will play a deciding role in the next election. More warlike talk is so far out of step with much of the public's opinion, that the Republicans certainly risk a serious defeat in the 2008 election if such trash talk continues to dominant their agenda.

After Vietnam, the nation was wary of war. Ronald Reagan seemed to lament that fact, and looked foe ways to flex the military in such a maner that certainly worried some, yet avoided the all-out quagmire of Bush's Iraq. Once again Iraq will cast a long shadow on the 2008 elections as well as leave the public in an antiwar mood for some years to come.

But many of the Republican candidates for President have misread the public if they think that the U.S. should get involved in a new war with Iran any time soon without good cause such a real threat to the U.S. Voters won't like this view at all. The public is currently in a peace mode, and will be for some years to come.

Global warming Rapidly Melting The Last Glacier In Germany

In Zugspitze, Germany, desperate attempts to reflect sunlight to rescue the last remaining glacier in Germany are rapidly failing where within 20 years, this glacier will disappear, ending skiing in Germany, and damaging the local economy with many businesses, hotels and jobs dependent on this tourist location.

This is yeat another sign that global warming is taking a high toll on the environment of many areas already.

Normally slow melting of this glacier would help to feed many rivers in Europe, but now these rivers face a dire future with the possibility of drying up.

Early signs of climate change were first notice in African nations such as Mozambique, where it stopped raining more than 40 years ago, and great river beds completely dried up, and fish and animals died, and the farmers could no longer find conditions to grow any crops without enough water.

Slowly but srely the planet is dying from the effects of global warming, yet mystery conditions such as sudden recent deaths of many bees in the U.S. impact the pollination of many crops including soybeans, brocolli, apples, oranges, and many other food products. As much as 1/3 of the diet of humans depends on some sort of food stuff that has been pollinated by an insect.

Serious conditions are beginning to build that could leave persons even in the U.S. with far less food, at far higher prices, and make eating a luxury might be able to afford.

Three More Names Added To Washington Vietnam Memorial

Three more names have been added to the Vietnam memorial. However the standards by which some names are added is far different than what many may think. One of the names was included of a former soldier who died in 2005, but the family contended that his being wounded in action back during the 1960's to early 70's war helped to contribute to his death.

The sacrifice of any soldier deserves respect on one hand. But standards that include a death of former soldiers, many in their 60's who die more than 34 years after the end of American role in Vietnam probably surprise most Americans who think that only deaths more timely to the actual war period are included on the wall. But regardless, anyone who made a sacrifice in Vietnam, deserves great respect.

At the Pearl Harbor Memorial in Hawaii, some former sailors who survived the terrible attack on the Arizona battleship have had their cremated remains buried on the ship with their fellow sailors in recent years. However, they are not classified as being killed in action on that ship.

Britney Spears Performs A Second $125, 12 Minute, Lip Sync Show

You'd think that sheer nerve of Britney Spears to charge $125 for a 12 minute lip sync show would be enough to turn off any fans, let alone all the other garbage she has already thrown at her fans. But no. Fans actually stood in line for two hours to watch a short program of a few greatest hits, in what has to be one of the biggest concert ripoffs of all time.

However, diehard fans of Ms. Spears did wildly applaud the short ripoff performance at the Anaheim House Of Blues. Despite enduring 2 hours of security including taking away cell phones that could record parts of the performance. Instead of the crowd leaving angry like should have been expected if almost anyone would pull the same nonsense, the crowd actually seemed fulfilled.

Some claim her performance was very good, while others claim she moved a little slower than the past when she did regular concerts about 3 years ago. And another report is that she has actually dared to enter a recording studio recently, reportedly for some new work on a new CD which has set around uncompleted for months now. The release date kept being moved up from last November, now to sometime later this year.

Wacky Surefire Cliches To Look For In Tonight's Republican Debate

As sure as clockwork, you can expect several wacky cliches to pop up over and over again tonight on the Republican debate to be held at the Reagan Library in California.

1. John McCain will compete with the others to claim that he's the legitimate heir of Ronald Reagan. Okay.

2. Antitax rhetoric will spend freely as well. Yet few will mention the current out of control reckless spending by the current Republican Administration, which includes the budget busting Iraq War which has now cost at least $442. 4 billion dollars so far.

3. A wacky loose cannon screwball candidate will emerge in tonight's debate. In the Democratic debate it was former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel, who expertly played the role of the goofy black shhep relative. Tonight it is more than likely to be Rep. Tom Tancredo. Watch him make goofy racist appeals to the antiimmigrant crowd and appeal to the nut wing of the Republican Party by claiming to be the only legitimate "conservative". Extremists routinely underplay their screwball politics by using innocent sounding terms such as "conservative" to add some legitimacy to their wacky far-out views. Just like the Democrat's Mike Gravel, Tancredo will act as a suitable stand-in for a Ross Perot type nut for this debate, and promise endless laughter for the home viewer for his ridiculous opinions.

4. A theme that will pop up over and over is that the Democrats are somehow causing "surrender" in the Iraq War with their troop withdrawal proposals in Congress. Nonsense. The Democrats had nothing to do with the flawed execution of this war done with woefully inadequate forces of underequipped U.S. soldiers including many National Guard members who even lacked basic essentials such as radios or enough bullets. During the WWII American assault on Iwo Jima for example, 110,000 well armed U.S. Marines were used to dislodge a force of 22,000. The first Gulf War had a coalition force of over 880,000 to dislodge a force of 360,000 Iraqi soliers from Kuwait, and that was with using many high tech bombers and other weapons that avoided low tech hand to hand combat. With a force of only 130,000 to 150,000 U.s. forces in Iraq, a nation of 26.7 million persons, with the population more than the size of Australia and Switzerland combined, with some militia organizations with as many as 100,000 armed members, and milions in Iraq openly supporting either Sunni or Shiite insurgents, as well as the far smaller Al Qaeda organization, there was no mathematical way to expect victory in Iraq. This war was lost from the beginning when way too few troops were sent in by the Bush Administration war planners who did not plan for a long term war, equip troops for such a mission. After the fall of Saddam Hussein, most U.S. troops stood around helplessly watching while looters stole anything of value, including robbing ammunition dumps , where shells and other arms eventually became roadside bombs, car bombs and other other weapons. Yet somehow the failure of this war is somehow the fault of the Democrats according to many partisan Republicans. Absurd.

Tonight's debate should prove interesting, but will likely be even more disappointing than last week's Democratic nonevent.

The Washington Revolving Door Continues

As the sales of Toyota increases to the point that they become the world's largest seller of automobiles, their lobby clout in Washington also continues. And a natural place to look for a top lobbyist is to pick a former high ranking member of the government to represent you back in Washington.

David Garmen, not that long ago was the Under Secretary at the U.S. Department Of Energy. He also held the post Assistant Secretary For Energy Efficiency And Renewable Resources. Now he's the head lobbyist for Toyota.

This is the way that Washington works, the regulators and the big business lobbyists become one and same, going through the same revolving door over and over. Instead of truly independent regulators who objectively regulate issues of consumer safety or for the public good, big business often dictates who regulates the products or else hires lobbyists from the government in order to have influence.

It's the same old government nonsense. Nothing changes much in Washington.

Mitt Romney Raises New Questions About Himself

In the Republican Party, undoubtably the more conservative of the two major American political parties, about the worst thing any candidate can do is to raise questions about themself by being seen as being involved in strange unconventional activities or beliefs. In a party of so many social and religious traditionalists, being seen as being favorable to bizarre cultist beliefs is just about the kiss of death.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has had hard enough of a time because of his Mormon faith, thought to be a cult by many Christians, and indeed this has hurt his standing within his party. But now Romney renews questions about himself by an admission in an interview that "BATTLESTAR EARTH", a book written by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is his favorite book. Mitt. Mitt Mitt. About the worst possible thing you can do is make people think that you are somehow favorable to the controversial views of the Scientologists when you haven't completely convinced people to trust your controversial faith yet.

Many voters in the Democratic Party might be willing to vote for someone who has unconventional beliefs, but in the Republican Party it is hard to find a much worst way of appealing to this party with large blocks of social and religious conservatives. My best guess is that conservatives within the republican Party will keep looking for a candidate to fall behind, and Mitt Romney just found a new way to give many voters in his party the "hebbie jebbies". Not smart. Everything you say is under a microscope, and unless every word is well chosen....Well just forget about winning in 2008, Mitt.

Unnamed Intelligence Sources Claim That Syria Has Huge Underground Missile Complex

There are some unnamed military intelligence sources that now claim that Syria may have a complex of as many as 30 hardened bunkers in a deep fortified complex that manufacture missiles for that could be used to destroy Israel.

The missiles include Scud-D missiles purchased from North Korea and Chinese type C-802 missiles. These missiles could be disassembled and copied by Syrian military technical crews to create copy versions. It was also disclosed a few months ago by former second in command of the Iraqi Air Force under Saddam Hussein, Gen. Georges Sada, that Iraq sold their cehemical weapons components to Syria in 55-60 gallon drums, in a passenger airliner with the seats removed. Other sources claim that trucks were used to transfer WMD materials to Syria by Iraq.

Deep hardened underground bunkers are similiar to what Iran has done with their nuclar program. By placing these weapons programs under 75 foot deep concrete, no U.S. or Israeli "bunker buster" type bomb can penetrate these bunkers.

Israeli Prime Minister Now Faces A 0% Public Approval Rating

As incredible as it sounds, the latest public opinion poll in Israel has now put Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at 0% public approval when the margin of error is fugured in. This probably represents the very worst public opinion poll rating ever recorded for an elected head of state in a democratic nation ever.

Far beyond a failed effort in Lebanon by the Olmert government last year, other very serious problems are building for the current Israeli government.

Under Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, even the World Bank now considers the government of Israel to be one of the most corrupt in the world. Risk ratings now rate this nation as one of the most risky in the world to do business with. Besides poor enforcememt of criminal laws, Israel also rates as risky because of a widespread problem of government officials accepting bribes or other self-enriching practices.

Also not very helpful to the public support standings of Olmert, is that the nation's President. Moshe Katsav is under investigation for rape, forced sex, sexual harrassment and other awful activities or crimes.

Meanwhile, enemies of Israel which include Hezbollah in Lenanon and Hamas in the West Bank, are stockpiling rockets and other arms at a terrific rate, potentially gearing up for a new war that could break out before the summer is out. And Iran continues work on it's nuclear program as well, presenting the most serious threat to Israel yet in it's history since the country was established in 1948 and recognized by the United Nations.

Crummy Sweeps Journalism Part Two

Yesterday I related how local NBC affiliate, KGW, in Portland threw together some trashy nonstory on nude dancing in strip clubs solely to draw ratings during the critical May sweeps period. It's funny how many facts they seemed to miss when they ran this sensationalistic story last night.

The neighborhood past 82nd street near the airport is a seriously declining neighborhood with many empty buildings formerly filled with distributors to businessses or other nonfoot traffic based businesses. This only invites a few cheap businesses to set up in the area. So it is only natural that some crummy businesses such as a strip club or adult video store would choose a rundown neighborhood like this because the rent is so cheap.

KGW seemed to ignore that what few residents that live in the area are very low income, many on public assistance or other welfare benefits, and even tried to ignore all the tires and junk on the front porch of some woman who absurdly claimed that "drugs and prostitution" are coming back in this neighborhood because of a few adult businesses that have moved in to some cheap empty storefronts.

A screwy right wing Republican legislator, Kevin Cameron, a restaurant chain owner, has introduced what he claims to be an "emergency measure" to get on the Oregon ballot for the fourth time a ballot measure to restrict nude dancing in bars. Yet this sack of lard hypocrite never bothered to mention that he is a restaurant owner who belongs to a trade group made up of restaurant and bar owners called The Oregon Restaurant Association that fought a local city ordinance in Portland intended to take away the liquor license and shut down problem bars that have regular fights, knife or gun incidents. Hypocrite Cameron, wants to protect problem bars in neighborhoods, then pulls a "Holy Joe" act on the subject of a proposed new stip club, even if the business is a perfectly good business that obeys the law. Hypocrite.

There is no way that this seedy area with only a few local income welfare residents out past 82nd street can be seen as any legitimate residential neighborhood. Many of the few persons who live in the area are not homeowners, they're receiving a government check that does that for them. And the rent is low enough in the area that their checks will cover these cheap homes.

If there's any problem in the neighborhood, it's that it's an area in decline. There is nearly no place to buy groceries in the nearby area, except for one small mom and pop store. The problem with the neighborhood is economic. The area is in an economic decline and some really cheap businesses are moving it. It's either that or broken windows, empty storefronts, graffitti and youth gangs or other bad neighborhood problems. Wise lawmakers need to improve the neighborhood by spurring good businesses and residents with some money to move in. But maybe the best way for that is for the neighborhood to get rents so cheap that they will become a real bargain and the neighborhood will improve. Some neighborhoods have to get worse before they get better. But maybe this is all beyond the understanding of some in the newsmedia.

I really don't like bars in general, regardless of the type. I don't drink or smoke and don't ferquent bars. But it's absurd for such a nonstory to be made up by the media about nothing special. A slum neighborhood is a slum neighborhood. But nutty moralizing about it, rather than some efforts to encourage better businesses and residential renters to bring up this neighborhood will do nothing.

As Violence Worsens In Iraq, Parliament Gets Ready For A Two Month Vacation

One of the big perks of being a legislator in Iraq is getting a paycheck, being a bigshot able to gain favor for yourself or family, and being able to take extended vacations. With such a leisurely attitude towards the importance of their role to solve problems in Iraq, many legislators simply don't care.

Violence just worsens in Iraq, while a government riddled with both corruption and ineptness just doesn't care.

With the government in such soft condition, without the presense of U.S. forces, would almost certainly be overthrown by some sort of a coup. The strongest Shiite militia group, or coalition of militia groups would have little problem overwelmiing such a weak government.

If anything, the grossly failed Bush war in Iraq has only strengthened Al Qaeda and Islamic radicalism. It has also strengthened the power of Iran in the region. And failed experiments with democracy have brought the worst elements power in Iraq and the Palestinian Authority region.

When a government so awful can only pack their bags for a two month vacation during a time of severe crisis for their nation, then you know many members of this government don't care about their nation very much.

Mission Not Accomplished 4th Anniversary

Today marks the 4th anniversary of the absurd aircraft carrier speech by George Bush claiming that the mission in Iraq was accomplished. It's certainly not the fault of the military that peace has not been restored in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein; the mission was fatally flawed from the very beginning.

Rumsfeld, Cheney, Bush, Wolfowitz, Bolton, and all the others never really had any concrete plans that would allow for a long term war in Iraq against a stuborn insurgency, the reigniting of centuries of sectarian strife and conflict between the Sunni and Shiite sects of Islam, or for a small, but determined element of international Al Qaeda radicals to make a stand in this state.

A new popular political chant among Bush supporters is that the Democrats plan to withdrawal forces would mean defeat in Iraq. Certainly it would. It offers no real plans to restore public order in Iraq or stop the endless cycle of killing. But the Bush White House has no plans for any victory in Iraq either.

During the Vietnam War, at the peak of U.S. strength, there were well over 600,000 American soldiers in South Vietnam, a nation of 19 million. Yet this number of U.S. forces proved to be inadequate to prevent the continued violence in that nation. In Iraq, a far smaller force of 130,000 to 150,000 has hoped to stem the insurgency and violence there. Yet in a nation of 26.7 million persons, this American force is even more overwelmed by an even larger population to police.

Both Iraqi police and military units have proven themselves to be not as effective as would be hoped by now, and also many police units are corrupt or part of some militia organization. These police units are simply feared by many citizens and not respected, so public cooperation is weak with these largely feared forces.

For all of the complaining about the Democratic nonproposal to simply withdrawal American forces from Iraq, the ultimate White House plan is hardly any better. At best it intends only to merely prop up Iraq forces just enough to hand over power and security duties and eventually for U.S. forces to leave Iraq, and declare some sort of symbolic political"victory". Of course this is no plan to secure peace in Iraq. And just like South Vietnam, this government will likely collapse within a few months, and be overrun by some Shiite militia group, probably most likely the one run by radical cleric Muqtada al Sadr.

Maybe the U.S. needs to admit that Iraq is way out of control, and ask for a UN force to come in, or even a regional Arab peacekeeping force, and American forces should hand the job over to some other group like this.

The American presense in Iraq doesn't appear to be working in this backward nation, not at all ready to join the modern world. Maybe a Muslim peacekeeping force of some type is the only way to get a handle on all the violence.

But the mission is hardly accomplished in Iraq, and won't be either at the present rate. The neoconservative plan to get rid of Saddam Hussein to help Israel, help the American oil industry, and to help American defense contractors certainly went real wrong.