Warning to GOP: Don’t Mess with Medicare
Some Republican Senators were running scared for the July 9th Senate vote reversing cuts to Medicare. On June 26th the Democrats did not the get the 60 votes necessary to stop a filibuster, so Senator Ted Kennedy left his sickbed for the second vote. As it turned out, the heat applied to the Republicans made Kennedy's presence unnecessary. A total of nine GOP senators switched their votes to provide a 69-30 veto-proof majority. On July 15 the House and Senate overrode President Bush's veto by votes of 383-41 and 70-26 respectively. [more]
Tiny Denmark Leads the World in Wind PowerWhen in Denmark for my first sabbatical in 1978-79, I was following the news about a hippie commune in Tvind that was selling excess electricity from its home-made windmill. The Tvind windmillers solved basic problems with rotor composition that had stumped other engineers. The hippies at Tvind were instrumental in making Denmark the world's leading exporting of wind turbines. See full version and pictures at http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/wind.htm. [more]
Wild Bison: BFC Update from the Field 7/10/08Hunters and wildlife enthusiasts BEWARE ... Montana livestock interests are setting their sites on GYE elk now, and they could begin to suffer the same fate as wild bison if we don't stop it before it starts. Help stop this mad cowboy disease - take action for wild bison and elk. Plus, Montana plans exact same buffalo hunt, Bonnie Raitt buffalo benefit tickets available for her Big Sky performance; a new "Buffalo Blend" benefit coffee is out; and Montana has "Let Buffalo Roam" license plates that can be had by folks across the nation. [more]
they don’t do what????someone at the missoula animal shelter recently told me that Animeals does not provide food for them or for the Humane society and they turn poor people away who need food to feed their animals. what is going on here?
if anyone knows anything about what Animeals is or isn't doing please comment. http://problembear.wordpress.com [more]
Let’s Not Forget the Ladies of the RevolutionAs a way to celebrate the Bicentennial in 1976, I researched and published an article on the religious views of the Founding Fathers. (Read it at http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/foundfathers.htm.) Back then I neglected the Ladies of Liberty, and here is my first attempt to make up for the slight. [more]
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Wild Bison: BFC Update from the Field 6/26/08In the face of the worst wild bison slaughter since the 1800s, Montana plans for a bison hunt, and the California-based National Cattleman's Association calls for *more* test-and-slaughter of America's elk and bison in the Greater Yellowstone region, meanwhile Montana media is relatively quiet about the "disaster" of the state's loss of its coveted brucellosis-free status. Plus, a diversity of bison groups put out a collaborative newsletter ~ Buffalo News ~ shedding light on the buffalo's plight from various perspectives; and "Let Buffalo Roam" license plates are officially available in Montana, and sample plates are available nationwide. Check it out! [more]
Detainees are People too: Supreme Court Upholds the Magna CartaThe recent Supreme Court decision essentially upholds the position that all persons, regardless of their origin or circumstances, have basic legal protections that go back to the Magna Carta of 1215. The few detainees who are probably guilty of heinous crimes will escape conviction because evidence obtained by torture is inadmissible in courts the good justices now require. The saddest fact of all is that because Bush chose his own form of cowboy justice, America's moral authority as a nation of decency and laws is ruined for the foreseeable future. Read 900-word version at http://www.home.roadrunner.com/~nickgier/detainees.htm [more]
The U.S. Starts Killing Its Own AgainA recent Supreme Court decision allows states to start executing their death row inmates, but recent polls show that the American people are now much more concerned about killing the wrong people and much more in favor of life sentence without parole. [more]
Our Troops Deserve Better Support When They Come HomeI'm always annoyed when people criticize my stance against the Iraq war by charging that I don't support our military men and women there. With very few exceptions our soldiers and sailors are the best trained and best behaved in the world, but they should be sent into battle only when the nation is truly threatened. We should be glad that Iraq War veterans are receiving much warmer homecomings, but we should be ashamed of what has happened to some after the parades are over. [more]
“Our Defining Moment” on Climate Change: Pay Attention to Soil Healthby Peter Holter, Executive Director, Holistic Management International, http://www.holisticmanagement.org
Two prominent scientists, NASA's Jim Hansen and India's Rajendra Pachauri, are sounding the alarm that we are in a “defining moment” to reduce carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere to combat global warming. I couldn't agree more.
It’s certainly a “defining moment” for people in sub-Saharan Africa, where soil loss and desertification have led to widespread hunger and malnutrition; and the population can no longer be sustained. And many other examples could be cited.
Holistic Management practitioners working on over 30 million acres worldwide have given a lot of thought to desertification, global warming and climate change; and we’ve realized that it’s critical to get people to understand (especially if they live in urban or suburban areas) that it is our soils --- the dirt --- that provide everything it takes for us to survive.
If we want to combat global warming by reducing carbon dioxide emissions, then we need to make some important changes in how we manage land. [more]
Buffalo Allies of Bozeman Calls upon Schweitzer to Withdraw from Interagency Bison Management PlanBrucellosis outbreak where there are no bison shows that IBMP is not working for buffalo or for cows.
(Bozeman, Mont.) – The grassroots citizens group Buffalo Allies of Bozeman responded to the Monday announcement of brucellosis in a cattle herd in the Paradise Valley with a challenge to Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer to withdraw from the Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP). [more]
Two Himalayan Kingdoms Give Up Their KingsBhutan and Nepal have just held significant elections. The Nepalis voted in a Communist-led government and ended a 239-year-old royal dynasty without regret. The Bhutanese, on the other hand, very reluctantly voted to end the rule of their popular absolute monarch. See full essay with pictures at http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/NepalBhutan.htm [more]
