The Unpopular history of Feminism, and the Danger of Porn

I feel so inspired to assert myself in my civil duty. It is because of an inspiring article on the history of feminism- an unpopular history. My eyes have been opened to what is truly influential in affecting change in our society, and since there are many things I could wish were different in our society, I want to start trying to influence some change! Here is a link to the article, a well written report calling women to be more active in changing our world. So, here we go.

I would like to bring people around me, especially women, to a higher awareness of the dangers of pornography. Pornography is not innocent entertainment, and I hardly think anyone considers it so, however, there are many who don't see it for what it is: a bomb, a tidal wave of immeasurable proportions, a tsunami, a force of ill-nature so broad it threatens our whole world, especially the women, for we are the ones who feel the brunt of the force of this ill-nature.

There are many who view it as unwise, distasteful, unpleasant, but not dangerous. To any who think that pornography is somehow acceptable, you are seriously deceived. Carefully deceived. Even deliberately deceived.

Please open your eyes to the addictive qualities of pornography. Please open your eyes to the heartbreak it creates in families. Please open your eyes to all the news articles printed every day about violence and abuse afflicted on women and children - and the perpetrators blame their pornography addictions for their actions.
Viewing pornography alters anyone who watches it - eventually people start to act out the sickness of what they see, and, disappointed, the next step is violation of others either in or out of their own family. For pornography is a lie - a trick that changes a natural loving relationship into insatiable and uncontrolled lust - lust that is impossible to satisfy - because it is a lie. Just like a drug addiction, someone hooked on pornography seeks out larger doses of their drug because their senses become dulled over time. The person seeks larger and larger doses until there is nothing left but an animal, worse, a predator of the vilest kind.
Pornography consumption is so rampant that I believe if it goes unchecked, the illness, the mental derangement of addicts will become a danger to us all.

Just do it, and get out of the way.

I am really excited about the Pickens plan. Can you tell? I think his plan can actually work. Here is a funny quote from an interview this week.
"If only we had a Congress and president who, instead of chasing crazy schemes like offshore drilling and releasing oil from our strategic reserve, just sat down with Boone and Shai and asked one question: “What laws do we need to enact to foster 1,000 more like you?” Then just do it, and get out of the way. "
Shai is an Israeli electric car maker who was also interviewed. I like him! He has a unique company that has, (or will have,) electric cars available like cell phones - except you buy miles a month rather than minutes. I don't exactly get it. But it sounds promising. If you would like to read the whole article click: here.

My take on the Pickens Plan

The previous two posts are about a plan to lower our use of foreign oil. I am so excited about it. It could really work!! T Boone Pickens has a great idea to develop wind to replace natural gas used to make electricity, and in turn use the natural gas to fuel more cars. This would save us $700 billion spent on foreign oil in ONE YEAR! That is amazing. He is also pushing for the real development of all alternative energy sources. This is exciting to me, though I am absolutely repulsed by the development of nuclear energy. That is the one thing I disagree with in his plan. But, since this is the first effort anyone is making to actually move forward rationally at all in our energy policies, I am enthusiastic. I couldn't be more delighted, actually.
I hope anyone who reads about this will look into the matter for themselves. I think the rationale is self-evident. Please, lets do our part to have righteous dominion over our earth, our home.

Pickens plan encapsulated

Texas oil tycoon sees answer blowin' in the wind
BY T. BOONE PICKENS SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
Saturday, July 19th 2008, 12:25 PM
Most New Yorkers remember the old national debt clock in Times Square. It ticked upward every second to show how deep in debt our country was growing - to awaken Americans to a crisis.
We've got an even greater problem now, with consequences far more significant: Our dangerous and growing dependence on foreign oil, an issue that will require us to spend $700 billion this year, which is more than four times the cost of the Iraqi war.
Like many of you, I ignored the telltale signs as our imports of foreign oil grew from 24% in 1970 to 42% in 1990 to 70% today.
With only 4% of the population and 3% of the world's oil reserves, we now consume 24% of the world's oil.
We have had three years of record oil price increases. And while oil supply is decreasing, demand will only increase as developing nations consume more oil. Which will drive prices even higher.
We have drifted for decades without an energy plan. We cannot afford to wait any longer.
Here's my plan to reduce America's foreign oil imports by more than one-third in the next decade.
It starts with wind. Wind is 100% domestic, 100% renewable and 100% clean. In the middle part of our country from Texas to the Canadian border, we have some of the world's largest wind reserves. Using private investment in wind farms, we can tap that power and create 22% of the nation's electricity.
Wind energy can replace the natural gas we currently use to fuel our power plants to create electricity. We can then use that freed-up natural gas for transportation. Natural gas is cleaner, cheaper and better than gasoline, and it's found in abundance in the U.S.
At the same time, I also want to see us explore all avenues, from more R&D into batteries and fuel cells to development of solar, ethanol and more conservation. We should also consider drilling in the outer continental shelf.
It may seem simple, but these three steps would displace more than one-third of our foreign oil imports and get us to our goal. My plan can be accomplished through private investment with no new consumer or corporate taxes or government regulation.
We have a golden opportunity in this election year to build support for this plan. We can solve this one - if we come together and take on the responsibility of change.
Pickens, a life-long Texas oilman, is chief executive officer of BP Capital. Learn more about his ideas at www.pickensplan.com

The global food crisis and its causes

Another article from AEI about the global food crisis. I share in the frustration of biofuel. But I was surprised to see that Biofuel production is only incraesing food costs by 20 percent. The other causes are trade restrictions, and the inflation of the dollar(he hem, please refer to my entry on Jan 08 08 about the hegemony of the dollar). There are more, but I can't remember exactly what they were. I hope you will take the time to read this article, I found it very eye opening.

Ahh, I found another article on the same subject that is much shorter and to the point. And explains the causes much better.

Forget Economic Stimulus, Fix the U.S. Tax Code

The President, and Congress have presented an emergency economic stimulus package consisting of temporary tax cuts. Will it be helpful? Will I be greatful for an extra $2000? Yes, but at what cost?
I was interested to find out what the authorities had to say (authorities as in American Enterprise Institute - the governments own thinktank.) about the proposed stimulus package in congress. We all know it is going to pass. Ken said, "this is an election year, of course it will pass!" So I looked at AEI, a very reliable information source - unlike the news. I read an artical by Kevin Hassett (Kevin A. Hassett is a senior fellow and director of economic policy studies at AEI). According to Hassett, "The end result (of the stimulus package) will be that we have a slightly smaller chance of having a recession."
He basically says that, if the goal is to avert a recession, this package may help a little, if the goal is to increase spending, it will, to a point.
Wealthy people will spend on average an extra 5 percent.
Poor people will spend 100 percent.
Businesses will spend an extra 5 percent as well.
Those numbers do not sound that great. Well, except for the lower class spending. If what you are looking for is spending, that is. Where does wisdom enter in?
I was pleased to see that Congress is looking into an education program to teach people about finances. Too bad government can't really teach.

Hassett said, "A broken tax code is an asset in bad times, because there are so many things to fix. Any number of reforms could help turn the economy around. By focusing only on temporary measures, the administration and Congress are overlooking our greatest asset, our lousy tax code.

So, I guess I wish congress would listen and focus on changing the tax code, because that would be a much longer term fix, according to Hassett. And I am a long term, big picture, person right?! Right.
I hope you find the article as educational as I did.
Tax cuts, hurrah!

Snow ball man

Grace thinks the snowball man is pretty amazing!

Who wants to go out and get wet to make a snow man? Everyone? Well, today I just brought the snow inside to make one!

This is a short, but cute video showing all the snow at our house. We have even more today.

Better gas mileage in your current car is possible!

How to get good gas mileage in your car: From Consumer Reports
and another from off the net: Hypermilers. I was looking for information on all wheel drive. I was wondering if I would get better gas mileage if I turn mine of. Does anyone know?

Dance lessons

Chris is living in our basement along with his friend Chance. Chris was teaching Eliza a few baisic swing dance steps. How fun is that!

Cute Christmas day photos

Eliza is dancing here. Swirling in circles to some ballet music

An influential article (at least for me).

The End of Dollar Hegemony

I read this article a few years ago, and it has influenced my thinking about the dollar ever since. I wanted to share it with any who might read on my blog.
Anji

global non-warming

I haven't taken much interest in global warming. I don't have strong political or emotional responses to it either way. That may be very surprising considering my "green" leanings.

I am, however, strongly concerned about taking care of our planet because that is our responsibility, not because I am afraid of global warming. This is our home!! Who, in their right mind, would trash their home? I believe in acting responsibly, which means trying my hardest to take care of my own house, my neighborhood, and on and on, to my world.
That said, here is an article regarding the subject from the Cato Institute.
Have a jolly read!

A fun day of sledding

Isn't she darling?!

I was surprised to read an interesting article about Geothermal energy from the American Enterprise Institute. It is very informative. I hadn't even thought of geothermal before. I was glad to read it, I hope you enjoy it too!Fascinating article on geothermal energy.

Joshua's birthday

Here are some darling pictures from Joshua's birthday. We had such a great time together!

Pictures of our Fall

From Halloween to raking leaves; this has been a great season! I didn't know raking leaves could be so much fun, and neither did our kids!

Alternate wind generators

There is a new wind technology that harvests wind energy through a simple piece of plastic stretched between two poles with magnets and copper wire. I heard about this technology Sat and got the link today. I was up thinking about how great it sounded last night. I was a little dissappointed that these generators don't produce more energy, but am fascinated anyway. I commented to Ken that it seemed like a wind generator on a car seemed like a good idea. I hope I get to see one on a car someday!
Flutter wind generator
This link sends you to a conference with some inventor interviews.

hydrogen induced sleeplessness

The other night I found myself awake most of the night, upset over Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles. I think it is great that they don't produce any pollution - fantastic point in their favor actually. But I was thinking of the hundreds of millions of dollars the US government has spent on developing hydrogen fuel cells . My simple point I want to make is that if our government had spent as much money developing Solar Electric Vehicles, which are also non-pollutive, I am convinced we would be much closer to a viable form of transportation. We might even have had the cars available for purchase - since they actually are already available. President George W. Bush, in the State of the Union address on January 28, 2003 said "Join me in this important innovation to make our air significantly cleaner, and our country much less dependent on foreign sources of energy."

It is true that hydrogen powered cars is an answer, but it isn't the anwer that has made any difference in our environment or in our goal of being less dependent on foreign energy since then .

If you are like me, pro-solar, you might question his motives on moving towards such a difficult to procure source of energy. The answer is painfully obvious - $$$. Sure he has our economy in mind - we can't just get energy for free, how would all the fuel companies get paid? What would happen to all the gas station owners, builders, fixers, cleaner-upper-afters? What would people spend their money on that they would otherwise be spending on fuel?

Now I say that sarcastically, but it is also true - what would happen to our economy if we weren't dependent on foreign oil?

That is the subject for a future discussion!

I just want to point out something interesting. Look at the picture above very carefully. Do you see the Shell label and symbols? I don't know much about Shell. But I do know that buying hydrogen fuel from Shell seems a little removed from the effort to distance ourselves from foreign energy, not just oil.

But to get back to my sleepless night, I want to relate something funny. I was all unhinged about hydrogen, but when I traced back what had caused me to get upset, it was a notice from my dairy telling me that, "due to the rising cost of corn and feed," they were raising the cost of my milk. I had confused ethanol and hydrogen in my sleepy mind. I could go off on government subsidies and ethanol too. But that will have to wait.

Enjoy!

Trip to the Treehouse museum

The Treehouse Museum is so fun for our children, each one finds so much to do and enjoy - you can see that Joshua loves trains. It takes a tremendous effort to get him to look at anything else, and even then he is only diverted from the trains for a little while.

Eliza loves the flowers and the grocers best, then the computers. Grace loves the floor. :)