YOUNG DEAD MUST FOLLOW THE RULES OF THE CHICKENHAWKS

YOUNG DEAD

A FEW HEADLINES ON THE 5TH MEMORIAL DAY SINCE BUSH'S IRAQ WAR

President George W. Bush made a Memorial Day visit to the Arlington National
Cemetery to honor fallen soldiers. He placed a wreath at the Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier and briefly spoke. He then met privately at the White House with
the families of "a new generation of fallen leaders". Bush says that he
believes that this war is the destiny of our nation. "This is our country's
calling," Bush said. "It's our country's destiny."

As we remember today all the sacrifices made and the lives given so we could be
free, the war in Iraq still rages on and lives are still being sacrificed.
"The greatest memorial to our fallen troops cannot be found in the words we say
or the places we gather," Bush said today. "The more lasting tribute is all
around us."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ALL AROUND US HE SAYS! Small words from a small man. The question
is... HOW CAN HE SAY THESE WORDS AND STILL NOT HANG HIS HEAD IN SHAME? HE SENT OUR YOUNG TROOPS TO DIE FOR HIS EXPERIMENT. A PLAN THAT ONLY REQUIRED THE CHILDREN OF OTHERS, THE BLOOD OF OTHERS AND THE EXTREME SORROWS OF OTHERS, WHILE HE AND HIS COHORTS KNEW ALL ALONG THAT THIS WAS A CHOSEN WAR, AN UNNECESSARY WAR AND AN ILLEGAL WAR! That very moment, as he stood in front of
the graves of our fallen heroes and spoke the shallow dialect of his superficial
mind, troops were dying! thinkingblue

8 U.S. Troops Die In Iraq On Memorial Day

CBS News Interactive: Iraq – 4 Years Later

(CBS News) BAGHDAD The U.S. military has announced that eight troops died
in Iraq on Monday - Memorial Day in the United States - and Iraqi police say two
vehicle bombs tore through Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 38 people and
leaving scores wounded.

All of the American deaths came Monday in the volatile Diyala Province, north of
Baghdad. All the dead were Task Force Lightning soldiers. The military said six
soldiers died in explosions near their vehicles, and two more were killed when
their helicopter went down. They gave no further information.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

YOUNG DEAD MUST FOLLOW THE RULES OF THE CHICKENHAWKS

The young, fight a war for an ideology of the rich and lazy, who are perched safely on IVORY TOWERS to oversee their experiment. They tout in unison that their war is good and call those who fight, brave soldiers. Yet, they treat them like children when their illusionary "WAR IS GOOD" image is jeopardized.

HEY GUYS, NO MORE COMPUTER TIME FOR YOU BECAUSE SOMEONE MAY SEE YOUR CREATIONS, AFTER YOU'RE DEAD AND THINK YOUR DEATH IS TRAGIC! THAT IS NOT THE MESSAGE WE WISH TO SEND!" thinkingblue

clipped from http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,137200,00.html YOUNG DEAD The phenomenon is growing because the war dead are young - as of March 24, more than three-fourths of those killed in Iraq were 30 years old or younger - and comfortable putting personal information online. "A lot of the younger Soldiers, especially young enlisted Soldiers, have a MySpace page," says Army Sgt. Tom Day, one of the living who has served three tours in Iraq and is currently deployed to Kuwait. MySpace has more than 100 million registered users. The result has been pictures of war that are "much more personal and much more public," said the History Project's Patrick. "That's a function of technology." The number of Soldiers who leave behind online profiles could drop after the Pentagon's recent announcement that servicemembers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan won't be able to access MySpace and other social Web sites from Defense Department computers. But the new rules don't affect commercial or private computers ... READ MORE, CLICK LINK BELOW. http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,137200,00.html

BRING THEM HOME NOW

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use it! thinkingBlue
blogspot

YOU CAN BEAM ME UP NOW, SCOTTIE. Thinkingblue

Ron Paul will bring sanity back to Republicans and Democrats

Ron Paul is making waves and we are all desirous of waves of truth. Both parties have been failing us, we need some new blood in our leadership roles. Please read the following blog article and watch the Bill Maher youtube video, to hear some truth from a politician for a change. thinkingblue

clipped from libertyed.org The importance of Ron Paul Americans may well be confused by the candidacy of Ron Paul, 10-term Congressman from Texas. Although he is a Republican, his responses during the Republican candidates debates clearly shocked the Republican Party "leaders". Even more shocking was the fact that Paul, in Fox News' own poll, won the debate. Add in the "alarming" fact that Paul ran for President once before, as the nominee of the Libertarian Party. Paul has upset the political applecart. Leading Republicans are shaken. Apologists for American foreign policy, regardless of party, are shaken. It's one thing to understand what the truth is, and quite another to hear a Presidential candidate speak it so clearly. That is the tremor Ron Paul has caused. A reasonable question arises in the minds of loyal Republicans... why is Ron Paul running as a Republican when his views are so contrary to the actions of that party?

READ MORE CLICK HERE


BRING THEM HOME NOW

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use it!

thinkingBlue blogspot

YOU CAN BEAM ME UP NOW, SCOTTIE. Thinkingblue

Congressman Ron Paul and Michael Scheuer educate Rudy Giuliani on American foreign policy (May 24, 2007)

Ron Paul, speaks about our failed foreign policies since NEOCONS and Bush became the Imperial word of the United States. He even goes further back than that, in fact some 50 years back. The conservatives laugh and the liberals are taking a second look. He may be what we are looking for to speak for us. Here he is in his own words. thinkingblue

clipped from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAt6Pf7jZjA&mode=user&search

BRING THEM HOME NOW
CAROLYNCONNETION - I've
got a mind and I'm going to use it! thinkingBlue blogspot

YOU CAN BEAM ME UP NOW, SCOTTIE. Thinkingblue

DEMS CAVE & PUT ON BUSH'S WAR ROSE COLORED GLASSES

DEMS CAVE ON TIMETABLE AND PUT ON BUSH'S ROSE COLORED GLASSES!

If Mark Morford's REJOICE, (article below) doesn't sum up the ROSE COLORED GLASSES phenomena of...THE AMERICA (mostly republican) WAY OF LIFE, NOTHING WILL! Mark
Morford, in his scandalously funny, farcical style, epitomizes what we have all witnessed in the last 60 years, give or take a year or two. Thank you Mark, for making me realize once again... I AM NOT TOTALLY NUTS, I just am made to believe I am because I THINK! A real handicap in this greedy, glutinous corporate world! Also, a sad day for all of us who believe in sanity, THE DEMS HAVE CAVED ONCE AGAIN AND PUT ON BUSH'S WAR ROSE COLORED GLASSES, is there no voice for us? thinkingblue

Rejoice, The Hummer Is Dead It might be the end of the world's most phallically sad SUV. But has the damage been done? By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist Wednesday, May 23, 2007

The late Rev. Jerry Falwell? He was exactly like a Hummer H2. Oh yes he was. Bloated, arrogant, offensive to millions and deeply wrong in a thousand ways and yet blindly worshipped by a shockingly large and happily uninformed throng of devout minions for no other reason than he was, well, bloated, arrogant and wrong.

Is that too harsh? Lacking in prudent subtlety? I'm completely OK with that.

See, it is time for much rejoicing. It is time for an upraising of hands and a hallelujah and a praise be to the heavens despite how, of course, the heavens don't really exist. No, not for the death of Falwell, for that would be pointless and in poor taste and besides, the ever-acerbic Christopher Hitchens did it much better over at Slate. And as I pointed out last week, Falwell's own collection of (in)famous quotes do a far better job of revealing the man's true nature and worth to humanity than any sort of carefully articulated, cheerful celebration of his demise ever could. No, this minor offering of joy is for the imminent and forthcoming death of the Hummer H2 itself. Oh my yes. READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE HERE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dems cave on troop deadline bill
Wed, 23 May 2007 06:38:11

Democrats unsuccessful in withdrawing
US troops out of Iraq have decided to
withdraw the troop deadline bill instead of the forces.

Senator Harry Reid of
Nevada talked to reporters
today about the Iraq
spending bill

BRING THEM HOME NOW

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use it! thinkingBlue
blogspot

YOU CAN BEAM ME UP NOW, SCOTTIE. Thinkingblue

PUTTING UP WITH DICK CHENEY'S CRIMINAL INTENT!

HOW MUCH LONGER DO WE HAVE TO PUT UP WITH DICK CHENEY'S
CRIMINAL INTENT?

Never in all my adult years have I seen such a corrupt person in one of the highest offices in our land, as Dick Cheney. This man has no integrity, not an ounce. I know this to be true because as a human being, he could never have committed the acts against the constitution of The United States of America and WE THE PEOPLE, if he possessed a minuscule amount of moral soundness. Let's reiterate the exploitation of the frighten US citizen after 911 by one DICK CHENEY.

Cheney Led the Campaign to Attack Joe Wilson, which led to the Outing of Covert CIA Operative Valerie Plame.

Scooter Libby's trial also exposed the lead role of Vice President Cheney's office in manipulatingpre-war intelligence to defraud Congress into authorizing the invasion of Iraq.

Dick Cheney also directed massive no-bid contracts to his company, Halliburton, and profitted from the same illegal war he defrauded the American public to launch.

Mr. Cheney's dangerous world
By GIL SMART, Associate Editor

Cheney's thirst for war may still play well amongst paranoiacs, there is no reason sensible Americans should continue to heed his hysteria. For when was the last time he was right about anything?

It was Cheney who seemed to believe, long after even Our Leader had given up the
ghost, that Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11. It was Cheney who announced that
"There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction." He
insisted Iraqis would greet us as liberators, and then declared the insurgency
to be in its "last throes." That was two years ago.

Yet now we are to trust him on Iran?

Cheney and his merry band of neoconservative warriors have not only failed to
learn from the mistakes in Iraq, they seemed determined to repeat them; his
apocalyptic rantings are designed to prep us for Quagmire, Round 2. And once our
bombs start dropping and Iran retaliates, with all that may entail, Cheney and
his acolytes will jump up and down, insisting that they've been proven right.

There's a first time for everything. Especially when you're powerful enough to
turn your paranoid fantasies into self-fulfilling prophecy. READ MORE HERE

There are so many more facts out there that can easily be placed on a list of high crimes and misdemeanors. Below are 3 major points that are crucial to proving Cheney's guilt. from CROSSING THE RUBICON

Means - Dick Cheney and the Secret Service: Dick Cheney was running a
completely separate chain of Command & Control via the Secret Service, assuring
the paralysis of Air Force response on 9/11. The Secret Service has the
technology to see the same radar screens the FAA sees in real time. They also
have the legal authority and technological capability to take supreme command in
cases of national emergency. Dick Cheney was the acting Commander in Chief on
9/11.

Motive - Peak Oil: At some point between 2000 and 2007, world oil
production reaches its peak; from that point on, every barrel of oil is going to
be harder to find, more expensive to recover, and more valuable to those who
recover and control it. Dick Cheney was well aware of the coming Peak Oil crisis
at least as early as 1999, and 9/11 provided the pretext for the series of
energy wars that Cheney stated, "will not end in our lifetime."

Opportunity - 9/11 War Games: The Air Force was running multiple war
games on the morning of 9/11 simulating hijackings over the continental United
States that included (at least) one "live-fly" exercise as well as simulations
that placed "false blips" on FAA radar screens. These war games eerily mirrored
the real events of 9/11 to the point of the Air Force running drills involving
hijacked aircraft as the 9/11 plot actually unfolded. The war games & terror
drills played a critical role in ensuring no Air Force fighter jocks - who had
trained their entire lives for this moment - would be able to prevent the
attacks from succeeding. These exercises were under Dick Cheney's management.

WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?
This man must not be allowed to continue on his quest to promote his neoconservative foreign policy. A dangerous undertaking to advocate his neocon values around the world and cultivate a US empire through preemptive military action. Please vote YES to impeach Cheney! Click this link Here or cut and paste this URL into your browser http://www.usalone.com/cheney_impeachment.php

Sign the form that will send your personal message to all your members of Congress, with your vote on the question "Should Vice President Cheney be impeached?" At the same time it will send your personal comments only as a letter to the editor of your nearest local daily newspaper, if that option is selected below. thinkingblue

PS: A case for George W Bush's IMPEACHMENT:

Today, we have a president, George W. Bush,
who has lied to the American people, caused an unnecessary war and in so doing
has disrupted, ruined, and killed many American service men and women. He has
single-handedly destroyed our reputation around the world, grown our national
debt to an astonishing figure that none of us will see repaid in our lifetimes,
and he has, by his actions, killed, maimed, and destroyed tens of thousands of
innocent Iraqi men, women, and children. He has, by his negligence and disdain
for the clear and evident science, altered our ability to save our planet from
the ravages of global warming. He has undermined and destroyed our natural
resources by his wanton neglect and insistence that he alone is the “decider”.
He has allowed his oil rich cronies hold us hostage to obscene fuel increases
while they fill their coffers with even more obscene financial gains. Perhaps
even more awful is his following in his father’s footsteps in allowing and
standing silent as we continue to build, sell, and drop munitions with depleted
uranium, which will forever alter all who eat, breathe, or drink in its remains.
He has destroyed our Constitution and Bill Rights; ignored the Geneva Convention
perpetrating and blessing torture and unlawful imprisonment. He’s allowed spying
on American citizens with illegal wiretaps. READ MORE HERE

One brave soul in the crowd tells Cheney exactly what we all feel. Click Below

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bombings kill 7 U.S. soldiers in Iraq
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer
MAY 20, 2007

BAGHDAD - Bombings killed seven U.S. soldiers in Baghdad and a southern city,
the U.S. military said Sunday, and the country's Sunni vice president spoke out
against a proposed oil law, clouding the future of a key benchmark for assuring
continued U.S. support for the government.

Six of the soldiers were killed Saturday in a bombing in western Baghdad, the
military said in a statement. Their interpreter was also killed.

The other soldier died in a blast Saturday in Diwaniyah, a mostly Shiite city 80
miles south of the capital where radical Shiite militias operate. Two soldiers
were wounded in that attack, the military said.

Those deaths brought the number of American troops killed in Iraq since Friday
to at least 15 — eight of them in Baghdad. So far, at least 71 U.S. forces have
died in Iraq this month most of them from bombs. READ MORE HERE

WHILE BUSH AND CHENEY SIT AROUND VETOING ANY MILITARY FUNDS WITH A TIMETABLE FOR REDEPLOYMENT, OUR SOLDIERS DIE. NEXT TIME THEY SHOUT "WE SUPPORT THE TROOPS" WE SHOULD ALL TELL THEM BOTH, WHAT THE BRAVE SOUL IN THE CROWD TOLD THEM!!! thinkingblue

Click The Video Below to hear one patriotic, brave soul tell Cheney what he can do.


Bush Vows Not to Negotiate on Iraq Timetable

Cheney Is Wrong About Me, Wrong About War by George S. McGovern

BRING THEM HOME NOW

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use it!thinkingBlue
blogspot

YOU CAN BEAM ME UP NOW, SCOTTIE. Thinkingblue

NO GOD WOULD ALLOW THIS NONSENSE, ID A SCIENCE?

NO SELF RESPECTING SUPREME BEING WOULD ALLOW
THIS NONSENSE: INTELLIGENT DESIGN MASQUERADING AS A SCIENCE

I don't usually watch UCTV but today I happen to tune in and saw a very interesting speaker, discussing the topic, I.D. vs. science. The program was half over, so I went on-line to find the website to get the video. Please watch Robert T. Pennock, the scientist, philosopher and author of "Tower of Babel, The Evidence Against the New Creationism" speak on the controversial movement to include intelligent design creationism in the curricula of public schools.

But first, WATCH AND LISTEN to the PBS Bill Moyer show about Pat Robertson's College and how he and his flock (with the help of many hypocrites on the political far right like MITT ROMNEY) blatantly intend to do away with the SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE ALTOGETHER!

We, who love the pure essence of democracy, must be vigilant! thinkingblue

NOW CLICK THE EMBEDDED FILE BELOW FOR UCTV CLIP:




FreeVideoCoding.com
WHAT IS CREATIONISM
Introduction to Evolution

LOOK WHAT I RECEIVED IN MY EMAIL TODAY:
CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW THE FLIMFLAM ARTIST USE GOD TO STEAL YOUR MONEY
LIKE I SAID, BE VIGILANT!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

View another great show from UCTV

Conversations with History: Capturing Our Times through History and Journalism,
with
Chalmers Johnson

Video not yet available on UCTV but youtube had an interview with Johnson and
his book Nemesis

World - 5 more U.S. troops die in Iraq attacks
Their deaths raised to at least 3408 the number of US military members
who have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003.

BRING THEM HOME NOW

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use it!thinkingBlue
blogspot

YOU CAN BEAM ME UP NOW, SCOTTIE. Thinkingblue,

LOOK WHAT POT IS CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK!

Pot Calling The Kettle Black.

Look What Pot Has Called The Kettle Black This Time In The Mighty Bush Republican Cabal! ( pot to kettle is to say something about someone else which is actually true of you yourself ... ) Madam Debby Jeane Palfrey is bringing the names forward. The biggest fish caught in her net thus far is USAID chief Randall Tobias, he makes the word hypocrisy seem like too mild an utterance for his Pecksniffery. What the ultimate question should be to all those "DO AS I SAY NOT AS I DO-ERS"... How can you go to sleep at night and wake without an ignominious taste in your mouth? It sure as hell Beats Me!

Please read the article below and get MAD, GET VERY, VERY ENRAGED at what this George W. Bush Republican Administration has done to create more, not less suffering in this world. Their dirty little fingers have touched almost everything we use to hold dear... LIKE COMMON SENSE! thinkingblue

Morality Gets a Massage
[from the May 28, 2007 issue]

So far, the most significant player to show up on Washington madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey's
much-discussed client list is USAID chief Randall Tobias, the former
pharmaceutical company CEO who ran Bush's global AIDS initiative for its first
three years. His ignominious tenure as AIDS ambassador was marked by a
preference for pricey brand-name HIV drugs over cheap generics, which sharply
reduced the number of people who could be treated. Ironically, given his regular
"massages" from call girls, when we can surmise he ignored the abstinence-only
instruction to "keep all of your clothes all the way on all of the time," Tobias
was also an avid defender of the President's puritanical approach to HIV prevention.

Tobias was the hatchet man who forced every US grant recipient to publicly
condemn prostitution--even struggling outfits doing the sensitive work of
persuading destitute sex workers to use condoms. A forthcoming study from the
Center for Health and Gender Equity of five Asian countries where commercial sex
is driving the AIDS epidemic found that the policy has resulted in the closure
of drop-in centers for street prostitutes and a scaling back of other successful
prevention efforts.

It was Tom DeLay's ethically challenged Congress that slapped the global AIDS
initiative with a one-third abstinence earmark on prevention. Tobias promoted
this approach so zealously that in some countries, like Nigeria, nearly 70
percent of all US dollars granted to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV were
channeled toward abstinence.

Tobias is not the first abstinence czar to leave his job after running afoul of
the moral agenda he promoted. Claude Allen, once the leading White House
abstinence advocate, stepped down as domestic policy adviser last year after he
was caught stealing. Ted Haggard, once head of the National Association of
Evangelicals--powerful boosters of abstinence-only spending--resigned last fall
after a gay hustler named him as a client. But Tobias's fall comes as momentum
is finally building against the $2.5 billion-and-counting abstinence boondoggle.

Though the Institute of Medicine called for the elimination of abstinence-only
programs in 2000, Bush set about doubling their budget instead. Last month the
Administration's own study--mandated by Congress a decade ago but delayed while
ideological spinmeisters handicapped the criteria to help produce favorable
results--was finally released. Posted quietly on the web without even a press
release, it affirmed what every academic study had found before: Preaching
abstinence doesn't produce it. Numerous studies show that contraceptive access
cuts teen pregnancy rates and condom education dramatically reduces HIV
transmission.

As with opposition to the war, the American people are ahead of Congress on this
issue. A recent study found that 82 percent of Americans want comprehensive sex
education for their kids. Nine states have now turned down the tempting pot of
abstinence money, including "red state" Montana. Abstinence funding should go
the way of Randall Tobias. Legislation like the Pathway Act, which would revoke
the abstinence earmark on global AIDS spending, and the Real Act, which would
allocate funds for comprehensive sex ed, both introduced by Barbara Lee, need
muscle from Democratic leaders. When the President's AIDS initiative comes up
for reauthorization in two years, Congress should strike the prostitution pledge
and the ban on needle exchange.

The moral contradictions of the abstinence-mongers speak eloquently to the folly of basing public health decisions on religious injunctions and fantasies of social control. It's time for Congress to stop this dangerous crusade, both here and abroad.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

April 17, 2007:
Congressman Paul on the Ongoing Justifications for Staying in Iraq
Windows Media Required

We Just Marched In (So We Can Just March Out)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STUDS TERKLE

Terkel won't go gentle into that good night By Amy Goodman

CLICK THE AUDIO BAR BELOW TO HEAR STUDS ON DEMOCRACY NOW

BRING THEM HOME NOW

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've
got a mind and I'm going to use it! thinkingBlue blogspot

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STUDS TERKLE,

YOU ARE CERTAINLY A FRIEND TO OUR WORLD.

CLICK HERE FOR A BEAUTIFUL WATER FALL FLASH

YOU CAN BEAM ME UP NOW, SCOTTIE.Thinkingblue

BUSH A SAINT? FAREWELL FALWELL!

BUSH A SAINT? FAREWELL FALWELL!

The best JOKE I've seen for quite sometime!
It is sadly FUNNY because it is oh, so TRUE. thinkingblue

BUSH IS MADE A SAINT

President George W. Bush was scheduled to visit the Episcopal Church outside Washington as part of his campaign to restore his poll standings.
Bush's campaign manager made a visit to the Bishop, and said to him, "We've been getting a lot of bad publicity because of the president's position on stem cell research, the Iraq war, Katrina, and the like. We'd gladly make a contribution to the church of $100,000 if during your sermon you'd say the President is a saint."

The Bishop thought it over for a few moments and finally said, "The Church is in desperate need of funds and I will agree to do it."

Bush showed up for the sermon and the Bishop began:

"I'd like to speak to you all this morning about our President. George Bush is a liar, a cheat, and a low-intelligence weasel.

He took the tragedy of September 11 and used it to frighten and manipulate the American people. He lied about weapons of mass destruction and invaded Iraq for oil and money, causing the deaths of tens of thousands and making the United States the most hated country on Earth.

He appointed cronies to positions of power and influence, leading to widespread death and destruction during Hurricane Katrina. He awarded contracts and tax cuts to his rich friends so that we now have more poverty in this country, and a greater gap between rich and poor, than we've had since the Depression. He instituted illegal wiretaps when getting a warrant from a secret court would have been a mere administrative detail, had his henchmen lie to Congress about it, then claimed he is above the law.

He has headed the most corrupt, bribe-inducing political party since Teapot Dome. The national surplus has turned into a staggering national debt of 7.6 trillion dollars, gas prices are up 85%, and vital research into global warming and stem cells is stopped cold because he's afraid to lose votes from some religious kooks."

"He is the worst example of a true Christian I've ever known.

But compared to Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, George Bush is a saint!"

CLICK HERE FOR ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THIS JOKE...

IN MEMORY OF JERRY FALWELL
HIS QUOTES OF INTOLERANCE AND BIGOTRY!

If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being. -- Rev Jerry Falwell (attributed: source unknown)

This is probably as bad a day as the court has had on social issues since "Roe v Wade." -- Rev Jerry Falwell, reacting to the Supreme Court's ruling in the Texas sodomy case, "Lawrence v. Texas," wherein the high court upheld an individual's (or a couple's) right to privacy; "It is a promise of the Constitution that there is a realm of personal liberty which the government may not enter," said Justice Anthony M Kennedy, for the majority in an opinion "as broad in its constitutional vision as any ever issued by the court," wrote Charles Lane for The Washington Post; in his dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia, an extremist Evangelical Christian, complained that the justices voting to uphold the right to privacy were creating a new constitutional right, that they were not upholding the Constitution, quoted from "Planned Parenthood Federal Action Report" (July, 2003) ††

I had a student ask me, "Could the savior you believe in save Osama bin Laden?" Of course, we know the blood of Jesus Christ can save him, and then he must be executed. -- Rev Jerry Falwell, cited in Cary McMullen, "Falwell: Now Is the Time for Gospel," in the Lakeland (Florida) Ledger (November 12, 2001), quoted
from Randy Cassingham, This is True (18 November 2001). Falwell added: "We visit prisoners on death row, and some of them are saved, but we believe their sentences should be carried out because they have a debt to society."

God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve. -- Rev Jerry Falwell, blaming civil libertarians, feminists, homosexuals, and abortion rights supporters for the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, to which Rev Pat Robertson agreed, quoted from John F Harris, "God Gave US 'What We Deserve,' Falwell Says,"
The Washington Post (September 14, 2001)

The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this.-- Rev Jerry Falwell, blaming civil libertarians for the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, to which Rev Pat Robertson again agreed, quoted from AANEWS #958 by American Atheists (September 14, 2001)

And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say, "You helped this happen." -- Rev Jerry Falwell, blaming civil libertarians, feminists,
homosexuals, and abortion rights supporters for the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, quoted from John F Harris, "God Gave US 'What We Deserve,' Falwell Says," The Washington Post (September 14, 2001)

I sincerely believe that the collective efforts of many secularists during the past generation, resulting in the expulsion from our schools and from the public square, has left us vulnerable. -- Rev Jerry Falwell, after the 700 Club broadcast wherein he had blamed civil libertarians, feminists, homosexuals, and abortion rights supporters for the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, speaking to The New York Times, quoted from Dick Meyer, "Holy Smoke," CBS News (September 15, 2001)

I put all the blame legally and morally on the actions of the terrorist, [but America's] secular and anti-Christian environment left us open to our Lord's [decision] not to protect. When a nation deserts God and expels God from the culture ... the result is not good. -- Rev Jerry Falwell, backpedaling amidst criticism of his statement blaming civil libertarians, feminists, homosexuals, and abortion rights supporters for the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, quoted from John F Harris, "God Gave US 'What We Deserve,' Falwell Says," The Washington Post (September 14, 2001)

Pat, did you notice yesterday the ACLU, and all the Christ-haters, People For the American Way, NOW, etc. were totally disregarded by the Democrats and the Republicans in both houses of Congress as they went out on the steps and called out on to God in prayer and sang "God Bless America" and said "let the ACLU be hanged"? In other words, when the nation is on its knees, the only normal and natural and spiritual thing to do is what we ought to be doing all the time -- calling upon God.-- Rev Jerry Falwell, justifying the breech of Constitutional Separation of Religion from Government while blaming civil libertarians for the terrorist attacks of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, to which Rev Pat Robertson again agreed, quoted from AANEWS #958 by American Atheists (September 14, 2001)

I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be! -- Rev Jerry Falwell, America Can Be Saved, 1979 pp. 52-53, from
Albert J Menendez and Edd Doerr, The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom

AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals. -- Jerry Falwell (attributed: source unknown)

The idea that religion and politics don't mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country. -- Rev Jerry Falwell, Sermon, July 4, 1976

If we are going to save America and evangelize the world, we cannot accommodate secular philosophies that are diametrically opposed to Christian truth ... We need to pull out all the stops to recruit and train 25 million Americans to become informed pro-moral activists whose voices can be heard in the halls of Congress. I am convinced that America can be turned around if we will all get serious about the Master's business. It may be late, but it is never too late to do what is right. We need an old-fashioned, God-honoring, Christ-exalting revival to turn American back to God. America can be saved! -- Jerry Falwell, "Moral Majority Report" for September, 1984

It appears that America's anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men's movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening. -- Jerry Falwell (attributed: source unknown)

There is no separation of church and state. Modern US Supreme Courts have raped the Constitution and raped the Christian faith and raped the churches by misinterpreting what the Founders had in mind in the First Amendment to the Constitution. -- Jerry Falwell (attributed: source unknown)

The Bible is the inerrant ... word of the living God. It is absolutely infallible, without error in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as well as in areas such as geography, science, history, etc. -- Jerry Falwell, Finding Inner Peace and Strength

But these things speak evil of those things, verse 10 [reading from Jude] which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Look at the Metropolitan Community Church today, the gay church, almost accepted into the World Council of Churches. Almost, the vote was against them. But they will try again and again until they get in, and the tragedy is that they would get one vote. Because they are spoken of here in Jude as being brute beasts, that is going to the baser lust of the flesh to live immorally, and so Jude describes this as apostasy. But thank God this vile and satanic system will one day be utterly annihilated and there'll be a celebration in heaven. -- Rev Jerry Falwell, "Old Time Gospel Hour" broadcast, March 11, 1984, quoted by Rev Jerry Sloan, "Is Jerry Falwell a liar?" Freedom Writer, September, 1994

The Jews are returning to their land of unbelief. They are spiritually blind and desperately in need of their Messiah and Savior. -- Jerry Falwell, Listen, America!

Grown men should not be having sex with prostitutes unless they are married to them. -- Jerry Falwell, on CNN's Crossfire, May 17, 1997

I do not believe the homosexual community deserves minority status. One's misbehavior does not qualify him or her for minority status. Blacks, Hispanics, women, etc., are God-ordained minorities who do indeed deserve minority status. -- Rev Jerry Falwell, USA Today Chat, quoted from The Religious Freedom Coalition, "The Two faces of Jerry Falwell"

Dan Moldea, the lead investigator for Larry Flynt's ongoing quest to uncover sexual indiscretions of Republican congressional members, has now admitted he was hired by the law firm defending President Clinton.
-- Rev Jerry Falwell, from "The Bizarre Flynt-Clinton Connection," in
the January 15, 1999, "Falwell Confidential" fax report to 162,000 members,
referring to the firm Williams & Connolly. Dan Moldea responded, "This entire
statement is false and misleading, reckless and malicious. It is a complete
fabrication." However, the San Diego Union-Tribune picked up the fabrication and
ran it as fact. Quoted from The Religious Freedom Coalition, "The Two faces of
Jerry Falwell."

We're fighting against humanism, we're fighting against liberalism ... we are fighting against all the systems of Satan that are destroying our nation today ... our battle is with Satan himself. -- Rev Jerry Falwell (attributed: source unknown)

Billy Graham is the chief servant of Satan. -- Rev Jerry Falwell (attributed: source unknown)

The ACLU is to Christians what the American Nazi party is to Jews. -- Rev Jerry Falwell (attributed: source unknown)

AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals. To oppose it would be like an Israelite jumping in the Red Sea to save one of Pharoah's chariotters. -- Rev Jerry Falwell (attributed: source unknown)

You'll be riding along in an automobile. You'll be the driver perhaps. You're a Christian. There'll be several people in the automobile with you, maybe someone who is not a Christian. When the trumpet sounds you and the other born-again believers in that automobile will be instantly caught away -- you will disappear, leaving behind only your clothes and physical things that cannot inherit eternal life. That unsaved person or persons in the automobile will suddenly be startled to find the car suddenly somewhere crashes.... Other cars on the highway driven by believers will suddenly be out of control and stark pandemonium will occur on ... every highway in the world where Christians are caught away from the drivers wheel.
-- Rev Jerry Falwell,

May 15, 2007 at 14:52:47
God To Dead Jerry Falwell; Go to Hell... Now!!
by Rob Kall Page 1 of 1 page(s)
http://www.opednews.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
God To Falwell; Go to Hell... NOw!!

Jerry Falwell, one of the most despicable abusers of the teachings of Jesus and the earnest faith of religious Christians, a foul, mean-spirited power hungry neanderthal who sought to set back civilization has been called to meet his maker. I have no doubt, he will join the other racists, bigots, homophobes, war mongers, greedy money-grubbing corporatists and holy rolling religious hypocrites he supported, encouraged and empowered.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Falwell made his infamous, and perhaps signature statement after 9/11 on the 700 club, saying, "the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians," as well as liberal advocacy groups were to blame for the attacks, according to Fox news. He later made a weak, non-specific apology. This statement could well be the quote that he is (and should be) remembered by.

LEWIS BLACK ON 911 AND JERRY FALWALL

In a "Parents Alert" in the February issue of Jerry Falwell's National Liberty Journal, the Falwell newspaper says the "sexual preference of Tinky Winky" is the subject of debate and notes that the character sometimes carries a red purse.

BRING THEM HOME NOW

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use it!

thinkingBlue blogspot

YOU CAN BEAM ME UP NOW, SCOTTIE. Thinkingblue

I DIDN'T RAISE MY BOY TO BE A SOLDIER

5TH MOTHER'S DAY SINCE BUSH BEGAN HIS
PREEMPTIVE WAR ON IRAQ.

I found this song and lyrics on the kos daily blog and thought it fitting for what is going on today. Although, it was written in 1914 before WWI it still rings true today. We humans will probably never learn if we haven't by now. So sad for all the Mothers who have suffered in the past, are suffering today and will continue to suffer while there are opportunistic, power hungry, chicken hawks who seem bent on fighting wars with other people's children. thinkingblue

Click plug-in PLAY, to hear song.

Ten million soldiers to the war have gone,

Who may never return again.

Ten million mothers' hearts must break,

For the ones who died in vain.

Head bowed down in sorrowin her lonely years,

I heard a mother murmur thro' her tears:

Chorus:

I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier,

I brought him up to be my pride and joy,

Who dares to put a musket on his shoulder,

To shoot some other mother’s darling boy?

Let nations arbitrate their future troubles,

It’s time to lay the sword and gun away,

There’d be no war today,

If mothers all would say,

I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier.

(Chorus)

What victory can cheer a mother’s heart,

When she looks at her blighted home?

What victory can bring her back,

All she cared to call her own?

Let each mother answer in the year to be,

Remember that my boy belongs to me!

(Chorus)

Written by Al Piantadosi and Alfred Bryan, performed by Morton Harvey with
studio orchestra, recorded fall, 1916, before America entered the war

A Mother against war!

A Mother's Day Proclamation

In The Motherhood

Cindy Sheehan's Anti-war rally Oct. 28, 2006

(and still Bush insists on our
children's deaths)

Bush demands, WAR MUST GO ON!

EDwards Uses First
Media Buy To Urge Congress To Stand Firm Against President Bush On Iraq

BRING THEM HOME NOW

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use it!

thinkingBlue blogspot

YOU CAN BEAM ME UP NOW, SCOTTIE. Thinkingblue

MORALITY, IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD

MORALITY, ALL IN YOUR HEAD.

Susan Werner performance of "Lost My Religion" from her new album THE GOSPEL TRUTH with band at Old Town School of Folk in Chicago, IL on 3/31/2007.

I came across the below article and thought it was too good to allow it go temporarily into my brain and then disappear except for a remnant here or there residing in my worn out cognition, permitting me to misquote it, from time to time.

In this day of great confusion over terrorism, war, hard working families being labeled illegals and power hungry ideologues (read NEOCON 101)who wish to change the world in order to obtain even more power, it is refreshing to read another angle to the morality debate. I have always felt it wrong to bring harm upon others under the guise of helping them.
The end does not justify the means in my book. Just because one may claim that it does, does not make it so.

Thank you, thinkingblue

PS: It's great having a blog, the many interesting articles you come across are saved in an easy access format, you can go back to and best of all SHARE.
Scientists Draw Link Between Morality And Brain's Wiring May 11, 2007

Most of us feel a rush of righteous certainty in the face of a moral challenge, an intuitive sense of right or wrong hard to ignore yet difficult to articulate.

A provocative medical experiment conducted recently by neuroscientists at Harvard, Caltech and the University of Southern California strongly suggests these impulsive convictions come not from conscious principles but from the brain trying to make its emotional judgment felt.

Using neurology patients to probe moral reasoning, the researchers for the first time drew a direct link between the neuroanatomy of emotion and moral judgment.

Knock out certain brain cells with an aneurysm or a tumor, they discovered, and while everything else may appear normal, the ability to think straight about some issues of right and wrong has been permanently skewed. "It tells us there is some neurobiological basis for morality," said Harvard philosophy student Liane Young, who helped to conceive the experiment.

University of Southern California

Antonio Damasio

In particular, these people had injured an area that links emotion to cognition, located in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex several inches behind the brow. The experiment underscores the pivotal part played by unconscious empathy and emotion in guiding decisions. "When that influence is missing," said USC neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, "pure reason is set free."

Bringing medical tools to bear on moral questions, cognitive scientists are invading the territory of philosophers, theologians and clerics.

Usually, the human brain is of two minds when it comes to morality -- selfish but self-sacrificing, survivalist yet altruistic,
calculating but also compassionate. Many dilemmas force a choice between the lesser of two evils, invoking a clash of competing neural networks, said Harvard neuroscientist Joshua Greene. Intuition tempers rational deliberation, especially when our actions to help some people will harm others.

At this level of inquiry, the mind is a special effect generated by neurons. Trust is a measure of neuropeptide levels, while fairness is an electromagnetic pattern in the right prefrontal cortex. Disrupt it with a strong magnet, as did University of Zurich researchers in 2006, and any sense of fair-dealing fades away like a radio station subsumed by static.

Not everyone reasons through moral conundrums in the same way, of course. Decisions hinge on family values, cultural heritage, legal traditions and religious beliefs -- or on the kind of brain you can bring to bear on the problem.

At the University of Iowa Hospital, the researchers singled out six middle-age men and women who had injured the same neural network in the prefrontal cortex. On neuropsychological tests, they seemed normal. They were healthy, intelligent, talkative, yet also unkempt, not so easily embarrassed or so likely to feel guilty, explained lead study scientist Michael Koenigs at the National Institutes of Health. They had lived with the brain damage for years but seemed unaware that anything about them had changed.

To analyze their moral abilities, Dr. Koenigs and his
colleagues used a diagnostic probe as old as Socrates -- leading questions: To
save yourself and others, would you throw someone out of a lifeboat? Would you
push someone off a bridge, smother a crying baby, or kill a hostage?

All told, they considered 50 hypothetical moral dilemmas.
Their responses were essentially identical to those of neurology patients who
had different brain injuries and to healthy volunteers, except when a situation
demanded they take one life to save others. For most, the thought of killing an
innocent prompts a visceral revulsion, no matter how many other lives weigh in
the balance. But if your prefrontal cortex has been impaired in the same small
way by stroke or surgery, you would feel no such compunction in sacrificing one
life for the good of all. The six patients certainly felt none. Any moral
inhibition, whether learned or hereditary, had lost its influence.
(I think I'm better understanding the neocon mind. thinkinblue)

The effort to understand the biology of morality is far from academic, said Georgetown University law professor John Mikhail. The search for an ethical balance of harm is central to medical debates on vaccine safety, organ transplants and clinical drug trials. It colors political disputes over embryonic stem-cell research, capital punishment and abortion. It is the essence of much military strategy and the underlying logic of terrorism.

For Harvard neuroscientist Marc Hauser, the moral-dilemma
experiment is evidence the brain may be hard-wired for morality. Most moral intuitions, he said, are unconscious, involuntary and universal. To test the idea, he gathered data from thousands of people in hundreds of countries, all of whom display a remarkable unanimity in their basic moral choices. A shared innate capacity for morality may be responsible, he concluded.

Many scientists think his theory needs more proof. Since no two brains are exactly alike, each brain's ability to perceive right and wrong might be unique. The world is a thicket of moral maxims we readily ignore. Even so, it would be curious if, in the neural substrates of morality, we find common ground.

• Email me at ScienceJournal@wsj.com.

CLICK THE ABOVE YOUTUBE CLIP FEATURING ANOTHER SUSAN WERNER
SONG "HELP SOMEBODY"

Edwards Uses First Media Buy To Urge Congress To Stand Firm Against President Bush On Iraq

A GREAT ZBIGNIEW INTERVIEW WITH JOHN STEWART

BRING THEM HOME NOW

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use it! thinkingBlue
blogspot

YOU CAN BEAM ME UP NOW, SCOTTIE. Thinkingblue

5th Mother's Day, since Bush's war in Iraq!

THIS IS THE 5TH MOTHER'S DAY SINCE BUSH BEGAN HIS PREEMPTIVE WAR ON IRAQ.

As we celebrate our Mothers on this Mother's Day 2007. Let us remember all the Mothers who suffer daily over the loss of their children. The unthinkable death of their babies sent to fight in an unjust war. It was only an experiment for those who sat on the sidelines not feeling the burning disgust and anguish a war produces on the psyche of those caught in the crosshairs. A trial run for future wars planned by a few ideologues who believe they can change the world to their liking by force.

It will take many years for us, we the Mothers, who suffer most because we know the feeling of giving life only to have a government snatch this life, our heart and soul, out of our arms and send this, our flesh and blood, to a far away land to die for a naive dream of a few bombastic blowhards with little character. I hope there will be a feeling of deep guilt at the Mother's Day dinner tables of those who are responsible for this being A VERY SAD 5th MOTHER'S DAY since the war in Iraq began. Thank you, thinkingblue

WOMEN, POWER, PEACE

May 11, 2007
Baby steps toward ending the Iraq war
Find out how your Rep voted. From the Win Without War coalition today:

Yesterday, Rep. McGovern brought HR 2237 to the floor calling for troop and
contractor redeployment from Iraq beginning within 90 days. Thanks to the
straight up and down vote, we know who supports ending this war and who will
continue to allow this debacle to continue.

The final passage, 171 ayes to 255 nays, had 169 Democrats voting to support
McGovern’s bill, 59 voting to oppose, and 4 democrats not voting. On the
Republican side, only two voted to support McGovern, Rep. Paul and Rep.
Duncan, while 196 voted against the bill, and two refrained from voting.
Among the Republicans who voted to support war, included the 11 Republicans who
confronted the President on Iraq this week.

In light of this vote, it is important that we continue to encourage all Members
of Congress to vote for ending the war.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

IQ-AF Military Dead Since the Democrats Won and Promised Withdrawal: 521

Updated April 28, 2007. Total 3,571
(3,331 in Iraq, 239 in Afghanistan and 1 at Guantanamo of non-hostile cause):

Year 1 -- 582
Year 2 -- 958
Year 3 -- 904
Year 4 -- 953
Year 5 -- 184

When the above movie ends, Please click below to see the glaring creation, by a youtube member, showing the extreme sadness and suffering of a war.

A Mother against war!

A Mother's Day Proclamation

In The Motherhood

Cindy Sheehan's Anti-war rally Oct. 28, 2006
(and still to this day, Bush insists on our children's deaths)

Bush demands, WAR MUST GO ON!

Edwards Uses First Media Buy To Urge Congress To Stand Firm Against President Bush On Iraq

thinkingblue's pages
on 911

remembering 911

911 we shall never forget

The Birth Of Bush's Preemptive War On Iraq

The real picture of WAR!

GO TO THE NEXT POST ZBIGNIEW INTERVIEW WITH JOHN STEWART

BRING THEM HOME NOW

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use it! thinkingBlue
blogspot

YOU CAN BEAM ME UP NOW, SCOTTIE. Thinkingblue

Richard Dawkins, Evolutionary Biologist

This is an informative and entertaining clip featuring the Evolutionary Biologist Richard Dawkins. A must see for anyone possessing a thinking, cogitating and inquiring mind. thinkingblue

"IDEAS WORTH SPREADING"

Richard Dawkins: Evolutionary biologist.

GO TO THE NEXT POST ZBIGNIEW INTERVIEW WITH JOHN STEWART

BRING THEM HOME NOW

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use it!thinkingBlue
blogspot

YOU CAN BEAM ME UP NOW, SCOTTIE. Thinkingblue

LOOK (GULP!) WHAT THE GREEDY BUNCH ON THE RIGHT IS UP TO NOW!

GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY, LOOK (GULP!) WHAT THE GREEDY BUNCH ON
THE RIGHT IS UP TO NOW!

Glenn Beck even had a blank check from CNN to "expose" scientific facts on Global Warming as distortions from the Left. Why do the people on the Right insist on backing Corporations, greedy claims that we have nothing to fear. LIVE IT UP, GUZZLE THE GAS, POLLUTE THE AIR, and BUY, SPEND AND KEEP US RICH... When money is involved everyone should be MAJORLY SKEPTICAL!!!! Um, A-nough said!!!

Thank you, thinkingblue

PS: Now read how Europe is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead of the Greedy Corporate Controlled USA... Oh, by the way... HAVE YOU NOTICED HOW GLENN BECK TRIES TO IMITATE OUR KEITH OLBERMANN... Glenn, give it up, you can't come near Keith... Keith has integrity. is upright and honest ... Not deceptive and fraudulent, like yourself!
Building a Better Bike Lane Bike-friendly cities in Europe are launching a new attack on car culture. Can the U.S. catch up? By NANCY KEATES May 4, 2007

COPENHAGEN -- No one wears bike helmets here. They're afraid they'll mess up their hair. "I have a big head and I would look silly," Mayor Klaus Bondam says.

People bike while pregnant, carrying two cups of coffee, smoking, eating bananas. At the airport, there are parking spaces for bikes. In the emergency room at Frederiksberg Hospital on weekends, half the biking accidents are from people riding drunk. Doctors say the drunk riders tend to run into poles.

Click on the image to see different models of Dutch-style bikes and where to buy them.

Flat, compact and temperate, the Netherlands and Denmark have long been havens for bikers. In Amsterdam, 40% of commuters get to work by bike.
In Copenhagen, more than a third of workers pedal to their offices. But as concern about global warming intensifies -- the European Union is already under
emissions caps and tougher restrictions are expected -- the two cities are leading a fresh assault on car culture. A major thrust is a host of aggressive new measures designed to shift bike commuting into higher gear, including increased prison time for bike thieves and the construction of new parking facilities that can hold up to 10,000 bikes.

The rest of Europe is paying close attention. Officials from London, Munich and Zurich (plus a handful from the U.S.) have visited Amsterdam's transportation department for advice on developing bicycle-friendly
infrastructure and policies. Norway aims to raise bicycle traffic to at least 8% of all travel by 2015 -- double its current level -- while Sweden hopes to move from 12% to 16% by 2010. This summer, Paris will put thousands of low-cost rental bikes throughout the city to cut traffic, reduce pollution and improve
parking.

The city of Copenhagen plans to double its spending on biking infrastructure over the next three years, and Denmark is about to unveil a plan to increase spending on bike lanes on 2,000 kilometers, or 1,240 miles, of roads. Amsterdam is undertaking an ambitious capital-improvement program that includes building a 10,000-bike parking garage at the main train station -- construction is expected to start by the end of next year. The city is also
trying to boost public transportation usage, and plans to soon enforce stricter
car-parking fines and increase parking fees to discourage people from driving.

A Dutch "football" mom

Worried that immigrants might push car use up, both cities have started training programs to teach non-natives how to ride bikes and are stepping up bike training of children in schools. There are bike-only bridges under consideration and efforts to make intersections more rider-friendly by
putting in special mirrors.

The policy goal is to have bicycle trips replace many short car trips, which account for 6% of total emissions from cars, according to a document adopted last month by the European Economic and Social Committee, an organization of transportation ministers from EU member countries. Another report published this year by the Dutch Cyclists' Association found that if all trips shorter than 7.5 kilometers in the Netherlands currently made by car were
by bicycle, the country would reduce its carbon-dioxide emissions by 2.4 million tons. That's about one-eighth of the amount of emissions it would need to reduce
to meet the Kyoto Protocol.

Officials from some American cities have made pilgrimages to Amsterdam. But in the U.S., bike commuters face more challenges, including strong opposition from some small businesses, car owners and parking-garage owners to any proposals to remove parking, shrink driving lanes or reduce speed limits. Some argue that limiting car usage would hurt business. "We haven't made the tough decisions yet," says Sam Adams, city commissioner of Portland, Ore., who visited Amsterdam in 2005. There has been some movement. Last month, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a proposal to add a congestion charge on cars and increase the number of bicycle paths in the city. It would also require commercial buildings to have indoor parking facilities for bikes.

Even in Amsterdam, not everyone is pro-biking. Higher-end shops
have already moved out of the city center because of measures to decrease car
traffic, says Geert-Pieter Wagenmakers, an adviser to Amsterdam's Chamber of
Commerce, and now shops in the outer ring of the city are vulnerable. Bikes
parked all over the sidewalk are bad for business, he adds.

Still, the new measures in Amsterdam and Copenhagen add to an
infrastructure that has already made biking an integral part of life. People
haul groceries in saddle bags or on handlebars and tote their children in
multiple bike seats. Companies have indoor bike parking, changing rooms and
on-site bikes for employees to take to meetings. Subways have bike cars and
ramps next to the stairs.

Riding a bike for some has more cachet than driving a Porsche. Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende sometimes rides to work, as do lawyers, CEOs (Lars Rebien Sorensen, chief executive of Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, is famous for his on-bike persona) and members of
parliament, often with empty children's seats in back. Dutch Prince Maurits van
Oranje is often seen riding around town. "It's a good way to keep in touch with
people on the streets," says Tjeerd Herrema, deputy mayor of Amsterdam. Mr.
Herrema's car and driver still make the trip sometimes -- to chauffeur his bag
when he has too much work to carry.

Traffic in Copenhagen

Jolanda Engelhamp let her husband keep her car when they split up a few years ago because it was becoming too expensive to park. Now the 47-year-old takes her second-grade son to school on the back of her bike. (It's
a half-hour ride from home.) Outside the school in Amsterdam, harried moms drop
off children, checking backpacks and coats; men in suits pull up, with children's seats in back, steering while talking on their cellphones. It's a typical drop-off scene, only without cars.

For Khilma van der Klugt, a 38-year-old bookkeeper, biking is more about health and convenience than concern for the environment. Her two older children ride their own bikes on the 25-minute commute to school while she
ferries the four-year-old twins in a big box attached to the front of her bike. Biking gives her children exercise and fresh air in the morning, which helps them concentrate, she says. "It gets all their energy out." She owns a car, but she only uses it when the weather is really bad or she's feeling especially lazy. READ MORE HERE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Moron Alert: Glenn Beck's Idiotic Attack on Al Gore CLICK HERE

Moron Alert: Glenn Beck's Idiotic Attack on Al Gore CLICK HERE

ANOTHER YOUTUBE FILM ABOVE

Glenn Beck, Politico's Allen tag-teamed to mock Gore's appearance
CLICK HERE

Edwards Uses First Media Buy To Urge Congress To Stand Firm Against President Bush On Iraq

GO TO THE NEXT POST ZBIGNIEW INTERVIEW WITH JOHN STEWART

BRING THEM HOME NOW

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use it!

thinkingBlue blogspot

YOU CAN BEAM ME UP NOW, SCOTTIE. Thinkingblue