Muslims are not terrorists

40% of the people voting in the republican primary in Georgia last week believe Obama is a Muslim. No doubt this is due in large part to right wing media propaganda.
Even if it were true - and it's not - so what?
There are about 1.5 billion Muslims in the world - about 20% of the worlds population.
Are people really going to hate and fear 20% of the worlds population simply because they follow Islamic teaching?
Put another way:

I am shocked and dismayed to find out that President Obama is a Christian.
Christians are terrorists.
Timothy McVeigh was a Christian.

I am shocked and dismayed to find out that President Obama is a Muslim.
Muslims are terrorists.
The 911 terrorists were Muslims.

FCC should clear Limbaugh from airwaves By Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan and Gloria Steinem, Special to CNN updated 1:45 PM EST, Sat March 10, 2012

Editor's note: Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem are the Co-Founders of the Women's Media Center.

(CNN) -- Ironically, the misogyny Rush Limbaugh spewed for three days over Sandra Fluke was not much worse than his regular broadcast of sexist, racist and homophobic hate speech:

--Women cabinet members are "Sex-retaries."

--"The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies."

--The National Organization for Women is "a bunch of whores to liberalism."

--[Said to an African American female caller]: "Take that bone out of your nose and call me back."

These are just a few samples from the arsenal of degrading language Limbaugh deploys on women, people of color, lesbians and gays, immigrants, the disabled, the elderly, Muslims, Jews, veterans, environmentalists and so forth.

Jane Fonda

Limbaugh doesn't just call people names. He promotes language that deliberately dehumanizes his targets. Like the sophisticated propagandist Josef Goebbels, he creates rhetorical frames -- and the bigger the lie the more effective -- inciting listeners to view people they disagree with as sub-humans. His longtime favorite term for women, "femi-nazi," doesn't even raise eyebrows anymore, an example of how rhetoric spreads when unchallenged by coarsened cultural norms.

Robin Morgan

At least this most recent incident has turned a spotlight back on the vile, damaging statements Limbaugh has been promulgating for years. His sponsors are dropping him; his stations have begun to follow suit. VoteVets, a coalition of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, released a statement by female vets, including Katherine Scheirman, former chief of medical operations in the U.S. Air Forces, demanding that the American Forces Network drop Limbaugh from its programming.

Gloria Steinem

They state, "Our entire military depends on troops respecting each other -- women and men. There simply can be no place on military airwaves for sentiments that would undermine that respect."

That makes this a fitting time to inquire of his syndicator, Clear Channel Communications, whether it intends to continue supporting someone who addicts his audience to regular doses of hate speech. Clear Channel's Premiere Radio Networks Inc., which hosts Limbaugh's program, has defended his recent comments.

If Clear Channel won't clean up its airways, then surely it's time for the public to ask the FCC a basic question: Are the stations carrying Limbaugh's show in fact using their licenses "in the public interest?"

Spectrum is a scarce government resource. Radio broadcasters are obligated to act in the public interest and serve their respective communities of license. In keeping with this obligation, individual radio listeners may complain to the FCC that Limbaugh's radio station (and those syndicating his show) are not acting in the public interest or serving their respective communities of license by permitting such dehumanizing speech.

The FCC takes such complaints into consideration when stations file for license renewal. For local listeners near a station that carries Limbaugh's show, there is plenty of evidence to bring to the FCC that their station isn't carrying out its public interest obligation. Complaints can be registered under the broadcast category of the FCC website: http://www.fcc.gov/complaints

This isn't political. While we disagree with Limbaugh's politics, what's at stake is the fallout of a society tolerating toxic, hate-inciting speech. For 20 years, Limbaugh has hidden behind the First Amendment, or else claimed he's really "doing humor" or "entertainment." He is indeed constitutionally entitled to his opinions, but he is not constitutionally entitled to the people's airways.

It's time for the public to take back our broadcast resources. Limbaugh has had decades to fix his show. Now it's up to us.

Get Real

Thank goodness some men in Virginia feel the need to 'protect' women and women's rights by mandating an ultrasound prior to a planned abortion. After-all isn't it part of a woman's "right to know", and doesn't someone have to protect women from themselves and potentially dangerous procedures? - god forbid we leave that up to doctors and the women themselves.
So why not  take it one step further? Lets 'protect' men as well. Lets require men to have cardiac stress tests and to document erectile dysfunction prior to being prescribed Viagra. And let's not pay for its purchase with government funds and insurance coverage - after-all isn't erectile dysfunction God's plan to protect men from themselves and limit the need for abortions?

Or we could just stop hiding real intent behind false concern and get real.

Next

The only thing Brietbart's Obama video reveals is Obama's charm, obvious intelligence and easy speaking style.
The fan fare and drama surrounding its release by the republican right is frankly embarrassing and reveals only their desperation, racism, and lack of imagination.They choke on their own hatred, act the fool, and prove their own insignificance - apparently even in death.

Next.

Still waiting

Residential solar power. Energy directly from the sun made and used off grid in your home - pretty cool. The average residential solar panel installation costs about $15,000 - $20,000 after government rebates and subsidies. A lot of money to invest upfront. But financing is available with repayment periods of 15-20 years allowing for monthly payments that are less than the average current electric bills. So why don't we see solar panels on every roof? Simple - technological growth is exponential, the systems are becoming obsolete every 3-5 years, long before they are paid off. Each generation of systems significantly cheaper and much more efficient than the preceding ones, producing more power for less money. So much so that hanging on to solar panels for the 15-20 years it takes to pay them off would be like hanging on to your PC that long.

What is needed is to be able to pay off the systems before they become obsolete while making payments no greater than current electric bills. Since the average household electric bill is about $150/month this translates into systems costing about $5000 - $6000 installed. Pay them off in 3-4 years, keep them 5 years, make a little money over what you would normally have to pay, and then upgrade.

An alternative may be to offer installations larger than needed for free. Companies would make money on a monthly fee that is less than current electric bills and on the sale of the excess electricity to the utility companies, the customer would never own anything.

One thing is for sure - as long as prices stay where they are the grid as we know it is safe and greenhouse gases, king.

The Best We Can Do?

Mitt Romney -  "The trees are just the right size in Michigan".

Rick Santorum - "The 2012 election is similar to the time between 1940 and 1941 when Americans didn’t act against Adolf Hitler".

Newt Gingrich - “The idea that a Congressman would be tainted by accepting money from private industry or private sources is essentially a socialist argument”. “You can’t trust anybody with power".

Ron Paul - "[It is the] destruction of civilization", on the end of apartheid in South Africa. "If you have ever been robbed by a black teen-aged male, you know how unbelievably fleet - footed they can be". "Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks".

"One Useless Man is Called a Disgrace; Two are Called a Law Firm; Three or More Become a Congress", John Adams.

Where Medical Technology and Greed Meet

The Republican Party and some of the extremely wealthy in this country have declared full out war on the poor and middle class. They have attempted to gut the social net while protecting the wealthy - their tax breaks, the oil companies- their subsidies, the banks and Wall Street - their unbridled, unregulated greed.  With no end to their lust for ever more, they have been ever willing to destroy the lives of millions here in the US. Outside of this country they have been willing to take it even all the way to murder - hundreds of thousands have died and millions have had their lives ripped apart in their pursuit of wealth and power through war - these 'wars' serving at least in part to transfer wealth on a massive scale from the average American to them, while distracting and consolidating power along the way. They have been ever willing to destroy lives, even take life in their never-ending quest for more.

Now realize there is coming a day when scientists will unlock the secrets of aging and then think of their greed. The next great leap in medical care will center on learning to manipulate genetic machinery in each and every cell in our bodies. The cure for cancer, disease, deformity, and even aging, to soon follow. Yes, this will occur. But it will be expensive and if history teaches us anything those in power, those with the greatest greed will pull out all stops to keep it so and to control it. They will attempt to monopolize medical technology - guaranteeing extended life free of disease for themselves, while denying the masses, in their never ending pursuit of more - more money, more power, more control, better health and even more life. After-all not everyone can be given extended life will go their arguments. The wealthy being superior - deserve it - the poor do not.

They will no doubt think they will get away with parents having to watch their children die of disease for lack of money. They will no doubt believe at first that people will settle for watching the suffering and death of their loved ones while they, the wealthy, live on.  They will no doubt think it - and they will no doubt be amazed at the rage and wrath they will awaken in doing so.

It is in fact the only scenario where I can see the masses of this country rising up to violent revolt. Barring an entirely new paradigm in government and financial structure worldwide, this is likely to occur - twenty to thirty years from now. Greed, unbridled lethal greed, will stand in the way of the potential for immortality and in doing so will finally; finally have seen its day.