An awesome workout machine I like: Ultimate Body Press.
Real Estate in North Carolina: The Peaks at Wolf Ridge.
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Here's a great CD by RudePundit:
Tucker Carlson finally came out! ....
... well out of the closet of Homophobia that is. He admitted on August 28, 2007 how he took matters "in his own hand" on national TV.
"Methinks he dost protest too much".
One issue to be aware of, Mr. Carlson, is that we have learned over the years that those who are most outspoken about despising gay, bisexual, trans-gendered or lesbian people are usually fighting their own demons.
I am encouraging everyone to go and sign the petition to MSNBC letting them know we do not tolerate this kind of hate speech.
Read counter point: here
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I sat on the Steering Committee Election Tabulation Committee (SCETC) for the 2007 National Green Party Convention - and I'd like to share the process by which we secure and count votes for internal positions.
Eight candidates ran for the Steering Committee, which had four seats open, and people ran for Secretary. (There were also several write-ins.)
After the Ballots where cast, they were escorted by five committee members, and four observers, to the tabulation room.
The committee split into two groups of two, with one floater who was called in occasionally to help decide questionable votes. Each team had up to 4 observers.
The votes were divided into two piles, and each team took turns tallying them and recorded the results.
Both master lists were compared to ensure they were identical; if discrepancies occurred the SCETC would retrieve the ballot which had been numbered and check the correct answer.
Finally, the votes were uploaded into a specially designed software for tabulations. (We Greens use a Single transferable vote system for these kinds of elections. It's complicated math and would take too long to be done by hand.)
The original ballots and master list where copied and the original and the copy each respectively sealed.
One ballot was so badly marked that it was near impossible to decide the intent, so two observers were sent to the plenary session to track down the voter. (The election was open, so each ballot had the name of the delegate on it.)
The ballot belonged to a delegate that had cast it as a proxy, so the delegate could not be found. But since the name of the delegate for whom it was cast was also on the ballot the SCETC ask the two observers to find a person that had the phone number of the delegate whose proxy it was. A delegate was found and the person was called and clearly identified the intent so even this ballot was counted.
It would be nice if in a much more important election like President of the USA the responsible parties would undertake the same effort to ensure that every vote counts
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I am at the convention and I gotta say - it's impressive how many well organized workshopes are offered. I can't attend them all, but will cover as many as possible. As video become awailable myself or Paul will will post it here.
Here is a 5 minute video of the highlights of past convention.
One of the purposes for this convention is to provide an opportunity for those who seek the Green Party presidential nomination, to meet the national deligates.
So – let's meet the Candidates: (Keep in mind these people are not necessarily Greens. Not all of them have platforms that perfectly match the 10 Key Values. However, unlike the main-stream parties, the Green Party is open to hearing from the entire community.)
Jared Ball: DC based activist and hip-hop DJ. No campaign website yet.
Email: freemixradio@voxunion.com
Sheila Bilyeu: 2004 Presidential Candidate (Not nominated) No campaign; website yet. Email: sheilabilyeu@yahoo.com
Elaine Brown: 2006 Green candidate for mayor of Brunswick, GA (was kicked off the ballot on a technicality). Formerly the chair of the Black Panther Party.
Dan Imperato: Florida based activist with a campaign so far focused on wasteful military spending. Website lists him as a Libertarian. Email:Danielnmdg@aol.com
Michael Jingozian: Internet-based entrpernor attempting to run a united
3rd party campaign. Filed with the FEC as a Libertarian, but is
seeking the GPUS nomination. Email: patriot@resetamerica.com
Jesse Johnson: Based in West Virginia. No campaign website yet.
Paul Kangas: California Green running an entirely internet-based campaign
in order to lower his carbon footprint.
Jerry Kann: 3-time Green candidate for city counsel in Queens, NY. Email: JerryKann99@yahoo.com
Kent Mesplay: 2004 Presidential Candidate (Not Nominated) Based in California. Email: info@mesplay.org
Gail Parker: Virginia based activist and veteran. Previously a candidate for “Green-Independent” party, not the GPUS-affiliated party in VA.
Email: mail@gailparker.us
Joe Schriner: Former journalist and independent presidential candidate in
both 2000 and 2004. Email: joeschriner@hotmail.com
Kat Swift: Young, TX based Green Party activist. Email: prezkat@bexargreens.org
We also have confirmation that Ralph Nader ( Friday evening) and Cynthia McKinney (Sunday afternoon) will address the delegates.
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The newest strategy in Iraq is to arm and train the Sunni insurgents.
I'm sure you've heard of these guys - they're the Saudi-financed rebels killing American soldiers in Iraq.
No, I'm not making this up.
Why? They promised to fight Al Queda for us. According to the philosophy of “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Jon Stewart has said it best:
If you can not figure it out, we now have officially entered the twilight zone.
And before Democrats reading this get all smug: Democrats are equally responsible for this nonsense since they passed HR2206 to keep funding the insanity.
But the good news is that new opinion polls released this week show mounting discontent within the American population over the war in Iraq and the policies of both political parties.
Newsflash: The only viable choice is the Green Party 
; come on in now and help shape the party before it gets to crowed.
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In my last blog I proposed that cities like Asheville could utilize bicycles as an alternative form of transportation. In that post, some had argued Americans are too attached to their cars, and they would feel it would be an infringement of their freedom to promote the use of bikes in inner cities.
Well how about using cars that are at the fore front of technology? Here is one promising example.:
After fourteen years of research and development, Guy Negre has developed an engine that could become one of the biggest technological advances of this century. Its application to CAT vehicles gives them significant economical and environmental advantages. With the incorporation of bi-energy (compressed air + fuel) the CAT Vehicles have increased their driving range to close to 2000 km with zero pollution in cities and considerably reduced pollution outside urban areas.
OneCAT will be manufactured into two models:
Read counter point: here
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We are living in a time when many seek solutions to everyday problems such as clean air, traffic congestion, how to raise self-reliant adults and so on.
Sometime the solutions are just so simple. I propose that we can solve at least seven problems with one swipe: Bicycles.
1) It makes economic sence. People save money, cities create jobs because of tourism, business flourish.
2) Do I really have to make an argument as to health benefits for everyone?
3) Reducing the carbon foot print of Asheville.
4) City beautification. Inner-citys can be re-disigned so that all streets are used by bicycles and pedestrians only. Imagine downtown Asheville as one large park with bike paths lined with trees.
5) Family/community friendly which increases the quality of life.
6) Children that use bicycles grow up to become self reliant adults as many experts believe.
7) Reduction of traffic congestion and reducing parking problems by creating parking places on outskirts of inner city.
Read counter points here and here.
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Many people argue the Green Party is worse than the Democrats when it comes to taxes and spending.
Never mind in the last 6+ years under the Republicans we taxed low-income people disproportionally more (Health Care, Education, Gasoline etc., all hidden Taxes from a Green Party point of view) and spend more on the military-industrial complex (MIC) than at any time in our history.
Now compare this to the residents of New Paltz village, who will see their property taxes slashed at least fifteen percent under the 2007-2008 budget proposed by Mayor Jason West (Green Party). Services will continue at their current high level and the village infrastructure continue the steady improvement that has marked the last four years.
"I have been able to craft a budget that not only continues delivering high quality of life, but allows village residents to reduce their tax bill," said West.
"This is the result of four years of sound fiscal management and this budget maintains my commitment to a strong financial foundation the village can continue to build upon."
Since elected Mayor West's administration has accomplished:
* Built the first phase of a reed bed system to turn our sewage into compost rather than mix it with toxic chemicals and ship it to
landfills. We plan to expand our program to deal with almost 90%
of our sewage on-site with the reeds, at an estimated cost savings
of $30,000 per year.
(Note: Click the above image to see a larger, and readable, version.)
* Installed a solar panel array on the public works garage which has
generated 15,333 kW of electricity, saved taxpayers $2,299 and has
kept 16,743 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
* Are looking into building a 500,000 gallon per year bio-diesel
fuel facility which could supply every public works truck, fire
truck and school bus with a non-toxic, biodegradable fuel with 80%
fewer emissions, while generating thousands of dollars in revenue
each year.
Counter point: Privatize everything
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According to the Washington Post: Aa newly declassified report of the Defense Department confirmed that Hussein's regime was not directly cooperating with al-Qaeda before the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Well the Germany's Federal Intelligence Service, or BND warned the Bush Administration before the invasion about just that:
"The German intelligence officials responsible for one of the most important informants on Saddam Hussein's suspected weapons of mass destruction say that the Bush administration and the CIA repeatedly exaggerated his claims during the run-up to the war in Iraq.
Five senior officials from Germany's Federal Intelligence Service, or BND, said in interviews with The Times that they warned U.S. intelligence authorities that the source, an Iraqi defector code-named Curveball, never claimed to produce germ weapons and never saw anyone else do so.
According to the Germans, President Bush mis-characterized Curveball's information when he warned before the war that Iraq had at least seven mobile factories brewing biological poisons. Then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell also misstated Curveball's accounts in his prewar presentation to the United Nations on Feb. 5, 2003, the Germans said.
Curveball's German handlers for the last six years said his information was often vague, mostly secondhand and impossible to confirm.
"This was not substantial evidence," said a senior German intelligence official. "We made clear we could not verify the things he said."
The German authorities, speaking about the case for the first time, also said that their informant suffered from emotional and mental problems. "He is not a stable, psychologically stable guy," said a BND official who supervised the case. "He is not a completely normal person," agreed a BND analyst."
I'm posting this because a recurring theme among conservatives is to state that Bush can't be blamed for misleading the American people about the dangers Saddam posed because all the other nations thought he was a threat.
It's clear the exact opposite was true.
Listen to counterpoint here. (Rush Limbaugh Show)
Tags: Curveball - Germany - Powell - WMD
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