Amy Tan has written an article for National Geographic on a distant Chinese provence, and the resilience of the people. Resilience is a necessary survival trait in these time - be inspired. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/05/china/guizhou/amy-tan-text

China is sucking up lots of oil - but this is what they are doing with it: poisoning the environment in ways that we in the US haven’t seen in decades - it is very shocking. Stop buying Chinese stuff. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/05/china/yellow-river/larmer-text

I’ve been thinking about buying a scooter. However, it wouldn’t be practical, as I couldn’t carry all my gardening tools to my jobs, unless I put them in a basket on my head. So now I take the bus, walk, ride my bike and only drive when necessary. I hate blowing money on gas. Wish this problem would get solved yesterday. Quebec has so many crater-like potholes where if you don’t see them coming, you could disappear forever like J. Hoffa. This June I will get my senior bus pass! Then I will ride it like a bobsled all over town.

Hmmm. I will ride the bus, and the pass will be my ticket to ride.

It’s all about supply and demand, they demand the price and we supply the money to pay for it. I live in a small town and we’ve noticed the price of gas goes up every Thursday.

It is the reflection of irresponsible rhetoric comments like that of Hillary’s who, to appease Israelis, threatened to “oblitrate” Iran; one of the most peaceful nations on the face of the earth. On going into a shop to buy an item that the shop carries, does it make sense to insult, threaten, and threat the shop-owner/manager with a condescending attitude? He or she, even if is in bad need of selling the item, would be reluctant to sell the item to such a savage blly. On the other hand, you [who treats him/her with respect and as equal, and on your entrance into the shop, say “Hi, how are you …”, would be considered as the favorite customer whom to the shop-owner/manager counts the secounds to do busness with; over and over again. You do not need to hold a gun to the head of the shop-owner/manager. Let us get all our bully-ing naval forces out of the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. Press TV: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=53119&sectionid=3510203 Hillary and Condi—any difference? Sat, 26 Apr 2008 01:18:20 Hillary and Condi—any difference? Several noted feminists have been using their mailing lists to get out the vote for Hillary Clinton—this is my response to them. Does it not matter to you that Clinton voted for the war against Iraq, that she did not have the judgment that millions upon millions of people throughout the world had to stand against Bush’s obvious deception. Does it not matter to you that she is now blaming the Iraqis for not stepping up to the plate - meaning not signing over their oil rights to us, does it not matter that in her war-provoking alliance with men in Congress, especially the right wing she voted to have the Iranian Army listed as a terrorist group, a step toward a US attack on Iran? or that she refused to support a ban on cluster bombs after a million of them, made and sent by the US, were dropped by Israel on villages and neighborhoods of Lebanon in 2006? Does it not matter to you that having turned over 4 million Iraqis - yes mostly women and children into refugees in a war she supported, she stands ready to do that to Iranian women and children? Does sisterhood have such a thin veneer that all of those Iraqi lives are forgetten in order to have a woman in the White House? Then why not Condoleezza Rice? Is there that much difference between them? (Courtesy Professor Kathleen Barry Kathy.barry@comcast.net and www.Counterpunch.com,) (Editor’s note: And what about Senator Clinton’s recent remarks about obliterating Iran should it launch a nuclear attack on Israel? Of course for her the fact that Iran does not have nuclear weapons is besides the point which is really to help set the stage for an eventual attack on the Islamic Republic. Not a small thing to threaten with murder 70m people—the warning itself sounds an awful lot like a war crime. Let the reader bear in mind that the Clinton White House years to which Hillary so tenaciously defends in her presidential campaign, also oversaw the killing of 1m Iraqis—not by military means primarily but through starvation and denial of medical supplies. The figure of 1m dead having been the number Pope John Paul II referred to, as have many other sources.)

If we continue on our current path of ignorance with regard to the “oil issue,” I suggest reading, The Long Emergency, by James Howard Kunstler, it should scare you silly!!

Because we have not found an alternate fuel. First country to pocket the moon, and we are unable to solve this problem. Why not? The result is sending boatloads of money to people who are not our friends.

Tinka remember Europe has a transit system for going to work and for travel—something our country didn’t use tax dollars for. Thus, they have an option. China and India will do this also I suspect, —all nice and modern. Japan already has. As someone said, we’re the richest 3rd world nation in the World. We were so busy partying with ‘wants’ economy we didn’t observe long enough to see if the cupboards were getting bare of needs and insist the right political action. Politics were for the ‘boring’. Our whole social and economic structures run within the system of govt. and the politics —and we’re too bored to use it as a tool? It is not a matter of driving less miles per hr, altho important. It is not a matter of new fancy light bulbs that were outlawed in the 60’s because of the mercury, to now help out G.E.—it is a matter of using less no matter what it costs. It’s a committment. Shopping should never be a recreation, but a need. Look at all those lights and heat and cooling open 24/7/365 and all the autos hurryin’ to get to them. We are spoiled and we’ve spoiled our children. Ain’t it amazin’ we’d do such a thing to ourselves and those we love and not think about it but we’d not dream of buying spoiled meat? I’m confused as to what an ‘intelligent’ species means anymore and I wonder if it’s a trick and we are actually the least intelligent? We seem to be great receivers of information that is secondary information and great receivers of propaganda as truths, but by golly we seem pretty stupid at figurin’ out primary intelligence on our own. Other countries are gettin’ it and workin’ wonders. They’ve developed strong social foundations for their economics to run over and now they are beginning to reap the benefits of the little pig’s brick house. We’ve been like little children hurrying and scurrying to get to the next new toy, with absolutely no thought to our personal, social, or economic health. It all began in the 70’s basically big time after that beat poet said don’t listen to anyone over 30 and the generations became severed and the wisdom. Corps and Govt. and advertisers hopped right on it! And the worse isn’t over. The middle of the middleclass and the lower of the upper class think it won’t touch them. They can still go to Starbuck’s with no less than a bitty bit of guilt. They don’t look down. Fear of falling. So by the time they notice their footing slipping and they look down to see , whhaatt? They’ll see the foundation they paid no attention to in their false sence of elitism -gone. Too late. And here we were.