La de da

Hello fair readers!

Not a whole lot of time to write this morning. Running from one place to another. You know how it goes. I’ll let this speak for me:

Just wanted to share and again, encourage everyone to get out and vote. And hopefully vote for change. Because isn’t it time?

Have a wonderful Sunday.

Hello fair reader!

Every morning when I wake up, make my coffee, and then open my lovely Osaka to read the news, I read articles about the validity of endorsements. From most of what I have read, they just don’t really matter. Despite the fact that people are claiming that Oprah helped out Barack and that Chuck Norris is…well….just being Chuck Norris I guess…

for the campaign of Mike Huckabee….wow that ad is just so strange.

So while everyone is running out to attach their name to a candidate of choice, most people agree….endorsements mean nothing.

And still….I am going to endorse someone. You may be thinking, why? I am not famous in any capacity and most research shows this whole endorsement thing is frivolous anyways. And no, I’m not a secret superdelegate, at least not yet.

But few things make me feel patriotic these days. In fact I can only think of a handful of things that evoke that emotion in me, like the night game scene in the movie The Sandlot and when Fozzy the bear sings America the Beautiful in The Muppet Movie.

No I’m not kidding. (and I can’t believe I could not find either of these moments online?!)

But as long as I have been able to vote, I have had to deal with this guy

a man who could care less about me, my best interests…or really the best interests of any American. It is hard to get excited about politicians when you have had one drag you through the lying mud for the past 8 years, befouling not only you but your entire countries reputation.

So when someone comes along who is honest

and not just about this….it’s just kind of funny.

But even that…omg a politician is funny. I didn’t even realize that was possible! A genuinely amusing and honest Presidential candidate who supports my and, more importantly, the country’s best interests.

Barack Obama can unite this country. Not just Democrats, but Independents and Republicans as well. And no, I don’t care and could care less about what he said in regards to President Reagan. That is just ridiculous.

He has a world view that I respect and understand. His experience which gets called into question time and time again is fantastic, in my point of view. His experience shows me that he is dedicated to people, not corporations. He believes in freedoms, like that of the press, when many (ehem, The Clintons!, ehem) would rather hold them at an arms length and even go to great lengths to control what can and cannot be said about them.

And I will address this issue, only because some people feel the need to write accusatory op eds on the topic, you can still be a feminist and vote for Barack Obama! I think a core belief of third wave feminism is the idea that men can also be feminists. Barack Obama is a candidate who will protect and enhance the equality of women. I refuse to vote for a candidate based on their sex. That goes against everything I believe in. And that is that.

I am not afraid to say that Barack Obama makes me feel proud to be American.

I have not been able to say that about a Presidential candidate…well….ever.

Register to vote, educate yourself, and then get yourself to a Poll on your election day! And have a lovely Friday fair readers.

Hello fair readers!

Fall is upon us. You can feel it in the air and see it in the trees. A beautiful thing. Truly. And I find as Winter creeps towards us, I tend to become more introspective. Try to find what will help me get through the next six months hopefully still happy and healthy and entertained. Here is what I’m finding out so far:

1. I am determined to get the whole knitting thing down.

I have tried to knit several times. The first was during my first year of college…a time when knitting was really not at the forefront of my worries and in it’s place was mainly beer and homework. Probably not the best time to decide to learn about knitting. But now I am a bit older. A bit wiser. (hopefully) And mostly a bit less into partying and then coming home drunk and attempting to knit an orange scarf that just ended up looking like a place mat. This site: yes this one has been totally awesome. She has video tutorials. Very nice.

2. As much as I hate to admit it, I am on the fence about Hillary.

And here is what it boils down to. I have been supporting her in every way for awhile now. She has some amazing views. But what it truly boils down to with me right now is change. I want change. And although she says she is for change….I just don’t see this in her words or even truly her actions. It is not that I don’t find her “electable” because I’m pretty sure she is. And it certainly isn’t some of her viewpoints. Some of the things she originally said she stood for are admirable. But she has become so….I guess vague is the word. This article: oh yes right here and also this one: strike two really made me stop and think. Check out that wording towards the end of the first Op Ed piece. Ugh. That makes me cringe. All politicians can be this way….it is true. But this borders on downright deceptive. Blanketing comments this way….as in not really taking a stand on any issue…is certainly not what I’m interested in. My opinion may change. Several people have told me this and it is true. A lot can change in 5 months. But this is where I stand now. On the fence.

3. I need to minimize my tendency for intense worrying.

Reading the news and listening to NPR can occasionally freak me out to the point of not accomplishing things. I need to find a middle ground. Where I can be conscious and concerned for the goings on of the world without feeling anxious and depressed for a good 48 hours about it. I mean really, who is this helping? Certainly not these people or these ones. So I am determined to start curbing this. My first step towards this is as always educating myself, reading several points of view. I am exercising more which always helps me to center myself. And also I really liked this: 7 ways to calm down I think I should try some of these things out. And remember that sometimes there are good things…not just the bad.

which leads me to this:

4. I am so happy that I am involved in libraries.

This may be unnecessary for me to actually write down. But the more I read, the more things I see the libraries all over the world doing, the more pride I feel. The more I remember why I initially saw interest in the profession. Librarians and library patrons alike can and are achieving truly amazing things. Just makes me feel proud. Good. And happy.

Well there are certainly more things coming up recently but I really should be getting some homework done. I hope everyone has a lovely Autumn. And get ready people because this

is much sooner than you think.

Have a lovely weekend.

There is an editorial in the Chicago Tribune today that really shouldn’t surprise me. The Tribune is wildly conservative. They supported Bush for the past two elections and that pretty much means that I will ignore most of what they write about. However, this editorial was emailed to me and thus, it will not be ignored.

Dennis Byrne? You are an idiot.

He happened to write this today. Let’s have a read shall we?

Filtering the facts from the fallacies of BP controversy

By Dennis Byrne | a Chicago-area writer and consultant

August 20, 2007

U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) is correct to call for congressional hearings into government approval given to BP for a $3.8 billion upgrade to its northwest Indiana gasoline refinery.

Just as long as the hearings help to clarify and correct the barrels of misinformation and distortions swamping the debate over the massive project that will bring cheaper and more abundant gasoline to the Midwest. The distortions have been sloshing around now for more than a month after approval of the project by federal and state regulators came under fire. A public summit of the major players in the controversy last week seemed to do little to clear them up.

Take the issue of “backsliding”: Can any additional “pollutants,” no matter how infinitesimal or harmless, be discharged into to the nation’s lakes, rivers and streams, even if they are legal and within federal and state limits, as BP’s are?

Some critics, such as Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) would go so far as to inaccurately suggest that any additional discharges are illegal. As he said in a letter to Benjamin Grumbles, the Environmental Protection Agency’s assistant administrator for the Office of Water, “A specific provision in the federal Clean Water Act prohibits any downgrade in water quality near a pollution source even if discharge limits are met.”

Well, yes, but there’s a legal exception, according to the EPA, that he fails to mention, either from ignorance or mendacity: “Anti-backsliding provisions of the [Clean Water Act] contain an exception where material and substantial alterations to the permitted facility justify the application of less stringent effluent limitations…to accommodate important economic or social development.” Regulators correctly determined that the economic and social benefits of the refinery expansion meet that requirement.

Other critics don’t go as far. They regard the exemption as a “loophole” that BP will use to “foul” Lake Michigan. Such claims usually are made without precise evidence about how the discharges will “foul” the lake, endanger the water supply or lead to horrific events that might justify the critics’ hysteria.

For example, in ranting about the relatively small amount of ammonia allowed into the lake, the critics ignore the fact that ammonia is not a bioaccumulative chemical. It breaks down in the water. If it didn’t, all the fish in the Great Lakes might have disappeared eons ago from swimming in their own urine.

Also conveniently missing from the debate is the context that could be provided by comparing BP with other industrial and city “dischargers.” According to the EPA, BP’s 4,925 pounds of suspended solids allowed a day compares with 16,630 at International Steel Group’s East Chicago plant and 121,861 at its Burns Harbor facility. Ispat Industries’ East Chicago plant is allowed 130,453 pounds, about 27 times BP’s limit. Chicago, of course, is on another planet, permitted 243,000 pounds, almost 50 times BP’s. Maybe Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, who is threatening to sue BP, ought to sue himself. Except, I suppose that Chicago’s discharges don’t count because they aren’t into the lake; they’re just gifted to the Illinois river system.

Note also might be taken of the fact that no ammonia limits are imposed on a bunch of papermakers and cities such as Milwaukee and Green Bay. Chicago’s allowable ammonia discharge (from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District) is 61,000 pounds, compared with BP’s 1,584.

Considering these facts, Stephen Elbert, BP America vice chairman, should have said at last week’s summit, “Nuts. You don’t want our jobs and economic development? We’ll take them elsewhere.” Instead, he went well beyond what is required and promised to look at suggested alternatives to cleaning up the plant’s discharges. But, he added, any discharge alternative will have to “fall within the economic boundaries of the project,” a perfectly legitimate position.

Mary Gade, EPA Midwest regional administrator, probably said the smartest thing all day when she asked everyone to get beyond the headlines and emotions and begin a more practical discussion.

The issue is larger than BP. In a way, it’s a test of national importance of whether we can balance legitimate environmental and economic concerns. Of whether we can avoid couching the debate, as did Ann Alexander, a local Natural Resources Defense Council attorney, in such destructive and extreme terms as “sacrificing Lake Michigan in the name of oil addiction.” Of whether politics will run roughshod over the public interest. Of whether demagoguery and emotion will trump facts and reason. Of whether radical environmentalism will prevail over science.

———-

(that is my head exploding by this man’s stupid arguments)

Let’s go over why he thinks BP should be allowed to dump more pollution into Lake Michigan.

1. Everyone else is doing it, so why can’t we?

So…he thinks BP is right, simply because other people are already dumping and dumping more of it. Well! In that case, let’s just let everyone dump in the lake! Everyone else already is. Right Dennis? Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t that make it worse? Maybe, and this is a wild and crazy guess here, this is an effort to curb the corporate dumping into Lake Michigan. A first step, so to speak.

2. Ammonia is supposedly non-toxic…..

OK. This one really makes me irritated. So, according to this author, ammonia will naturally break down and not hurt anyone. Hmm. Well first off, I don’t trust you Dennis. Sorry but that argument about the fish pee thing? Not buying it. And second, Chicago already has days where you can’t swim in the water. How on earth will dumping a chemical into the lake not hurt the quality of water? And what about the mercury, which is probably the issue that most people besides Dennis are worried about?

3. Cheap Oil

I could drive over to this man’s house and give him a swift kick in the ass. Cheap oil? Are you kidding me? Seriously, just because there is a BP chemical plant near us certainly doesn’t mean that we will get cheaper oil and more jobs. Not. At. All. BP is almost at least 10 cents more per gallon….ALWAYS! And the jobs thing? How does dumping more pollutants from an already existing plant, create more jobs? The dudes who will dump the magical non-toxic ammonia? Is that it Dennis?

Here’s my issue, he is trying to bulk up a conservative argument, obviously meant to rally up heated emotions, (hmm reminds me of someone….hmmm), by trying to sound intelligent. Take this sentence:

“it’s a test of national importance of whether we can balance legitimate environmental and economic concerns”

Can someone please, yet again, explain to me how this will economically help the nation? He is twisting emotions about a topic of great concern to people today. It is manipulative. And, quite frankly, I haven’t fallen for it.

If you haven’t already sign this petition: Take Action

And for heaven’s sake, let’s all go read something intelligent today. Maybe rid our brains of the neo-conservative rhetoric and actually learn something of value.

Have a lovely Monday, my fair readers. Spread love and intelligence. Because we all know, that’s the key to a happy life.

I hate Ann Coulter.

Originally uploaded by leah the library student

It’s strange to me. This picture from my flickr account has generated more random hate comments than I could even expect. I go through and every now and again, some devoted Ann Coulter fan will rage out on my picture, calling me names…telling me how I’m biased….it’s a little creepy to be honest. I find it interesting that anyone in their right mind could support Ann Coulter. She is, hands down, awful. And, in this writer’s opinion, evil.

I briefly considered taking down my picture just to avoid the strange little attention it’s getting. But then I thought about it, and I’ve decided. Hell no. I do hate Ann Coulter. She is scary and does embody all the bigotry and hate in this country of ours. She embodies what we need to change.

I am happy she is losing support. I am happy that Elizabeth Edwards tactfully put Coulter in her place. It was beautiful.

And I am happy that I have the sense to realize a hate monger when I see one.

That is all for today. Take care of each other. Love each other. Hate Ann Coulter.

Happy Wednesday fair readers.