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Bush Quote

I came across this quote and thought it was pretty... interesting.

Free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack each other. Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction.
President George W. Bush

Interesting... he says this... yet.. we have WMD weapons. Hmm... So he is saying we are not free? Well now... who's fault is that Mr. Bush?

Congress Passes Budget

Of course the day after I praise Bush for his statements last night Republicans turn around and cut several billion dollars from education and add $50 billion to military operations and again cut medicaid.

So for 2006 we will again lose more schools, teachers, have more health problems... but we sure as hell scare other countries. Woopity doo dah.

Bush's Evening Press Conference

Today Bush had a rare evening press conference. It was quite interesting to say the least and very surprising, at least to me. He spoke of the Iraq war, energy crisis and Social Security.

To some surprise he finally stated that he wished to push forward his Energy Bill through the Senate as quick as possible. It will help the United States become less dependant on foreign oil and later, definately no time soon, lower gas prices.

The only beef I have about this is the drilling in Alaska. If it weren't for that the bill would seem promising. I am all for nuclear power, biodiesel and advancing technology for hydrogen power, but as for drilling for more oil? No way. Expecially not in a wildlife area.

I do have to hand this one to Bush though, it's more than what I expected.

Freedom of Expression Censored

Christopher Savido, a twenty-three year old painter from Pittsburgh, had his art work removed from a New York City art show for displaying a painting made of monkeys.

The 60-piece show was closed by management after the reveal of Savido's 'Bush Monkeys' which was originally scheduled to last over a month. The show had more than 2,000 visitors during the first day.

The painting shows a picture of George W. Bush from afar, but the closer you get you can see it is made of little monkeys.

Savido stated the closing of the show was "a blatant act of censorship."

"This is much deeper than art. This is fundamental American rights, freedom of speech," Savido said. "To see that something like this can happen, especially in a place like New York City is mind boggling and scary."

Post Kyoto Talks Underway - But with trouble

Talks are underway in Argentina to help include the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, USA, who emits nearly 21% of the world's greenhouse gases, agree on a commitment beyond 2012 to cut greenhouse emissions.

The Kyoto Protocol reached an agreement in 1997 to use a "top down approach" in which the committee would set mandatory targets on dozens of nations to cut down on the amount of greenhouse gases by 2012. Over 200 countries are now engaging in talks for a post Kyoto agreement which will reduce gases way beyond 2012.

The Kyoto pact, which comes into affect this coming January, seeks to control emissions of six gases which harm the Earth's atmosphere. The most produced harmful gas is Carbon dioxide which is a product of automobile exhaust, coal and oil burning power plants and other fossil fuel burning sources.

President Bush, who denounced the Kyoto pact in 2001, stated the agreement would damage the US economy and complained of exemptions. He believes that a "bottom up approach" would work better for the United States.

A Greenpeace climate expert, Bill Hare, was saddened by the US approach stating "Bottom-up is a euphemism for not doing much at all beyond what would normally happen."

No-Count Ohio Rolls On

With the Electoral College meeting Monday to certify the vote, it is very unlikely that the re-election of President Bush will not take place.

Mr. Bush won Ohio by 136,000 votes. Or did he? Voting problems around the state has left many in doubt of the actual number. Even Blackwell himself certified just 119,000 vote win for Bush.

The margin shrunk greatly after the Franklin County 'glitch' which gave Bush 3,893 extra votes where only 638 voters cast their ballot and then again when the overseas and provisional ballots came in, however only four out of five of those were counted.

Democrats, Greens and Libertarians are now working together around the country to insure that there is a recount. Other groups, even some Republicans as well have acknowledged the problems in the US voting system.

Many agree that national laws need to be put in place to insure that all votes are counted no matter what race or religion a person comes from. Rev. Jesse Jackson and other activists have asked congress for a wholesale change in the voting process before mid-term elections in 2006.

Another case has risen for discussion as well. In North Carolina a voting machine did not count 4,438 votes that were made before November 2nd. The incumbent lost by only 2,287 votes out of over 3 million.

Over 1,000,000,000 Children at Risk

A new report by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has showed remarkable statistics about how the world’s children are now at great risk.

The report shows that more than 640 million children don't have sufficient shelter, while 140 million have never been to school. It also shows 400 million children do not have safe water to drink and 500 million live without basic sanitation. Another 90 million children starve.

The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child asked countries to help give children a healthy and protected up bringing however violence, aids and poverty are still at their worst. Nearly one in six children suffers from severe hunger and one in seven has no healthcare.

Carol Bellamy, executive director of Unicef, indicated that the main cause of the great risk is wars. Over 20 million children are forced from their homes due to fighting and 3.6 million, half of which are children, have died in such conflicts although a much higher number of children have died from indirect causes of the wars.

However, even though wars are a great cause it is not the only one. Over 30,000 children died last year which would have been prevented if they had adequate healthcare. Another half a million children under the age of 15 died last year and some 2.1 million children across the world are living with HIV. Fifteen million children have lost a parent to Aids, while 80 percent of who live in sub-Saharan Africa.

Carol Bellamy and the Unicef agree that the answer is simple. Over the last year the world’s nations have spent 712,000,000eu on weapons, whereas only 52 billion eu is needed to reach status quo.

Currently the United States spends over $400 billion a year on military equipment and $200 billion is currently going towards the war in Iraq.