showrecentposts({"version":"1.0","encoding":"UTF-8","feed":{"xmlns":"http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom","xmlns$openSearch":"http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/","xmlns$georss":"http://www.georss.org/georss","id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-12-11T09:42:31.215-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Kirby Mountain"},"subtitle":{"type":"html","$t":""},"link":[{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default?alt\u003djson-in-script\u0026orderby\u003dpublished"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/"},{"rel":"hub","href":"http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/"},{"rel":"next","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default?alt\u003djson-in-script\u0026start-index\u003d26\u0026max-results\u003d25\u0026orderby\u003dpublished"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"}}],"generator":{"version":"7.00","uri":"http://www.blogger.com","$t":"Blogger"},"openSearch$totalResults":{"$t":"1121"},"openSearch$startIndex":{"$t":"1"},"openSearch$itemsPerPage":{"$t":"25"},"entry":[{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-8410938497508596702"},"published":{"$t":"2009-12-11T09:36:00.002-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-12-11T09:42:31.224-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Recent must-reads re: Obama"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\"\u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/31234647/obamas_big_sellout/print\" target\u003d_blank\u003eObama's Big Sellout\u003c/a\u003e\" by Matt Taibbi\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\"\u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2009/12/the-devil.html\" target\u003d_blank\u003eThe Devil and Mr. Obama\u003c/a\u003e\" by Joe Bageant\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\"\u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-vlahos/are-we-not-romans_b_379580.html?view\u003dprint\" target\u003d_blank\u003eAre We Not Romans?\u003c/a\u003e\" by Michael Vlahos\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-8410938497508596702?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/8410938497508596702"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/8410938497508596702"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/12/recent-must-reads-re-obama.html","title":"Recent must-reads re: Obama"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-7376511604661362601"},"published":{"$t":"2009-12-08T12:09:00.001-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-12-08T12:11:04.642-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Muhammad Ali on war"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\"Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No, I'm not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. ... If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people, they wouldn't have to draft me, I'd join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I'll go to jail, so what? We've been in jail for 400 years.\"\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-7376511604661362601?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"related","href":"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-zirin/message-to-obama-you-cant_3_b_378429.html","title":"Muhammad Ali on war"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7376511604661362601"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7376511604661362601"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/12/muhammad-ali-on-war.html","title":"Muhammad Ali on war"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-7833201175231588771"},"published":{"$t":"2009-12-06T17:29:00.003-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-12-07T09:41:41.509-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Trim costs of wind power: Don't build 'em"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Kate Galbraith writes in today's \"Green, Inc.\" column for the New York \u003ci\u003eTimes\u003c/i\u003e that offshore wind is moving along: first example, Denmark's starting the operation of Horns Rev 2, the world’s largest offshore wind farm, in September. That project represents the first addition of wind capacity in Denmark since 2003. In November, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.cphpost.dk/business/119-business/47547-still-wind-farm-costing-energy-company-millions.html\"\u003eit had already \u003ci\u003eceased\u003c/i\u003e operation\u003c/a\u003e due to problems with the transmission connections -- which Galbraith forgot to mention.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHorns Rev I, a.k.a Nysted, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.newenergy.info/index.php?id\u003d859\"\u003ehad expensive problems, too\u003c/a\u003e. Every single nacelle (with blade assembly) had to be brought back ashore to replace all of the transformers and generators. Less than 3 years later, it was \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/06/10/major-transformer-failure-at-nysted-denmark/\" title\u003d\"Major Transformer Failure at Nysted, Denmark\"\u003eshut down again\u003c/a\u003e because of transformer problems.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eClearly, offshore wind is even more of a boondoggle than onshore wind.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIt is also clear that the imperative to build it up is stronger still -- witness the growing number of ads (and \u003ca href\u003d\"http://thatgamecompany.com/games/flower/\"\u003eeven video games\u003c/a\u003e) featuring wind turbines featuring wind turbines. This goes hand in hand with corporate support for a cap-and-trade \"solution\" to carbon emissions: Wind is the absolver. As long as those blades are spinning, someone gets to continue emitting carbon. Build enough of them, and nobody has to change anything about their energy use. With wind on board, coal and oil are clean and green! Even though the reality is that wind is just more of the same making things worse -- for people, for nature, for the economy.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cfont size\u003d-2\u003e\u003ci\u003etags:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/i\u003e \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+power\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind power\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+energy\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind energy\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+turbines\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind turbines\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+farms\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind farms\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/font\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cfont size\u003d-2\u003e\u003ci\u003etags:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/i\u003e \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/environment\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eenvironment\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/environmentalism\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eenvironmentalism\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/human+rights\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ehuman rights\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/animal+rights\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eanimal rights\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/anarchism\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eanarchism\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/ecoanarchism\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eecoanarchism\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/anarchosyndicalism\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eanarchosyndicalism\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/font\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-7833201175231588771?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7833201175231588771"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7833201175231588771"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/12/trim-costs-of-wind-power-dont-build-em.html","title":"Trim costs of wind power: Don't build 'em"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-5661210595466173034"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-23T16:02:00.001-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-23T18:29:50.100-05:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Single-payer"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Health care"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Healthcare is a Human Right: VT postcard campaign"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.workerscenter.org/Jan6postcard\"\u003eHealthcare is a Human Right\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eClick the above link to sign a postcard to be delivered to legislative leaders in Vermont on Jan. 6, the first day of the next session.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cfont size\u003d-2\u003e\u003ci\u003etags:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/i\u003e \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/human+rights\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ehuman rights\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/vermont\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eVermont\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/font\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-5661210595466173034?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"related","href":"http://www.workerscenter.org/Jan6postcard","title":"Healthcare is a Human Right: VT postcard campaign"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/5661210595466173034"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/5661210595466173034"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/11/healthcare-is-human-right-vt-postcard.html","title":"Healthcare is a Human Right: VT postcard campaign"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-7280535339697391439"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-22T16:07:00.002-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-22T16:18:53.873-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"We're better than other animals. That's why we get to kill them."},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ci\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/gsteiner/\"\u003eGary Steiner\u003c/a\u003e writes in \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/opinion/22steiner.html?pagewanted\u003dall\"\u003etoday's New York Times\u003c/a\u003e:\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eLately more people have begun to express an interest in where the meat they eat comes from and how it was raised. Were the animals humanely treated? Did they have a good quality of life before the death that turned them into someone’s dinner?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSome of these questions, which reach a fever pitch in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, pertain to the ways in which animals are treated. (Did your turkey get to live outdoors?) Others focus on the question of how eating the animals in question will affect the consumer’s health and well-being. (Was it given hormones and antibiotics?)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNone of these questions, however, make any consideration of whether it is wrong to kill animals for human consumption. And even when people ask this question, they almost always find a variety of resourceful answers that purport to justify the killing and consumption of animals in the name of human welfare. Strict ethical vegans, of which I am one, are customarily excoriated for equating our society’s treatment of animals with mass murder. Can anyone seriously consider animal suffering even remotely comparable to human suffering? Those who answer with a resounding no typically argue in one of two ways.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSome suggest that human beings but not animals are made in God’s image and hence stand in much closer proximity to the divine than any non-human animal; according to this line of thought, animals were made expressly for the sake of humans and may be used without scruple to satisfy their needs and desires. There is ample support in the Bible and in the writings of Christian thinkers like Augustine and Thomas Aquinas for this pointedly anthropocentric way of devaluing animals.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOthers argue that the human capacity for abstract thought makes us capable of suffering that both qualitatively and quantitatively exceeds the suffering of any non-human animal. Philosophers like Jeremy Bentham, who is famous for having based moral status not on linguistic or rational capacities but rather on the capacity to suffer, argue that because animals are incapable of abstract thought, they are imprisoned in an eternal present, have no sense of the extended future and hence cannot be said to have an interest in continued existence.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe most penetrating and iconoclastic response to this sort of reasoning came from the writer Isaac Bashevis Singer in his story “The Letter Writer,” in which he called the slaughter of animals the “eternal Treblinka.”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe story depicts an encounter between a man and a mouse. The man, Herman Gombiner, contemplates his place in the cosmic scheme of things and concludes that there is an essential connection between his own existence as “a child of God” and the “holy creature” scuffling about on the floor in front of him.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSurely, he reflects, the mouse has some capacity for thought; Gombiner even thinks that the mouse has the capacity to share love and gratitude with him. Not merely a means for the satisfaction of human desires, nor a mere nuisance to be exterminated, this tiny creature possesses the same dignity that any conscious being possesses. In the face of that inherent dignity, Gombiner concludes, the human practice of delivering animals to the table in the form of food is abhorrent and inexcusable.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMany of the people who denounce the ways in which we treat animals in the course of raising them for human consumption never stop to think about this profound contradiction. Instead, they make impassioned calls for more “humanely” raised meat. Many people soothe their consciences by purchasing only free-range fowl and eggs, blissfully ignorant that “free range” has very little if any practical significance. Chickens may be labeled free-range even if they’ve never been outside or seen a speck of daylight in their entire lives. And that Thanksgiving turkey? Even if it is raised “free range,” it still lives a life of pain and confinement that ends with the butcher’s knife.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHow can intelligent people who purport to be deeply concerned with animal welfare and respectful of life turn a blind eye to such practices? And how can people continue to eat meat when they become aware that nearly 53 billion land animals are slaughtered every year for human consumption? The simple answer is that most people just don’t care about the lives or fortunes of animals. If they did care, they would learn as much as possible about the ways in which our society systematically abuses animals, and they would make what is at once a very simple and a very difficult choice: to forswear the consumption of animal products of all kinds.\u0026nbsp;...\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe challenges faced by a vegan don’t end with the nuts and bolts of material existence. You face quite a few social difficulties as well, perhaps the chief one being how one should feel about spending time with people who are not vegans.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIs it O.K. to eat dinner with people who are eating meat? What do you say when a dining companion says, “I’m really a vegetarian — I don’t eat red meat at home.” (I’ve heard it lots of times, always without any prompting from me.) What do you do when someone starts to grill you (so to speak) about your vegan ethics during dinner? (Wise vegans always defer until food isn’t around.) Or when someone starts to lodge accusations to the effect that you consider yourself morally superior to others, or that it is ridiculous to worry so much about animals when there is so much human suffering in the world? (Smile politely and ask them to pass the seitan.)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eLet me be candid: By and large, meat-eaters are a self-righteous bunch. The number of vegans I know personally is ... five. And I have been a vegan for almost 15 years, having been a vegetarian for almost 15 before that.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eFive. I have lost more friends than this over arguments about animal ethics. One lapidary conclusion to be drawn here is that people take deadly seriously the prerogative to use animals as sources of satisfaction. Not only for food, but as beasts of burden, as raw materials and as sources of captive entertainment — which is the way animals are used in zoos, circuses and the like.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThese uses of animals are so institutionalized, so normalized, in our society that it is difficult to find the critical distance needed to see them as the horrors that they are: so many forms of subjection, servitude and — in the case of killing animals for human consumption and other purposes — outright murder.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003ePeople who are ethical vegans believe that differences in intelligence between human and non-human animals have no moral significance whatsoever. The fact that my cat can’t appreciate Schubert’s late symphonies and can’t perform syllogistic logic does not mean that I am entitled to use him as an organic toy, as if I were somehow not only morally superior to him but virtually entitled to treat him as a commodity with minuscule market value.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWe have been trained by a history of thinking of which we are scarcely aware to view non-human animals as resources we are entitled to employ in whatever ways we see fit in order to satisfy our needs and desires. Yes, there are animal welfare laws. But these laws have been formulated by, and are enforced by, people who proceed from the proposition that animals are fundamentally inferior to human beings. At best, these laws make living conditions for animals marginally better than they would be otherwise — right up to the point when we send them to the slaughterhouse.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThink about that when you’re picking out your free-range turkey, which has absolutely nothing to be thankful for on Thanksgiving. All it ever had was a short and miserable life, thanks to us intelligent, compassionate humans.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-7280535339697391439?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7280535339697391439"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7280535339697391439"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/11/were-better-than-other-animals-thats.html","title":"We're better than other animals. That's why we get to kill them."}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-7761570942165474039"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-16T14:38:00.003-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-16T14:45:42.602-05:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Single-payer"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Medicare for all"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The enemy of the good"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"There is an excellent essay at Counterpunch today by Alan Nasser: \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.counterpunch.org/nasser11162009.html\"\u003e\"Obama's Flawed Case Against Single Payer\"\u003c/a\u003e.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSimilar to what he notes about Obama, it seems to be a motto for the sometimes slightly progressive neoliberal politicians in Vermont that \"We can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good [so let's not even consider it, or for that matter whether what I'm going along with actually is any good].\" It's one big antidemocratic thumbing of their collective nose and most people just nod at this signature wisdom.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnd so by dismissing actual good as too \"perfect\", as irresponsible madness, all that is usually left is quite a bit less than good.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnd so we have health insurance reform from our Congress and President: the same lousy system, only more punitive.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cfont size\u003d-2\u003e\u003ci\u003etags:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/i\u003e \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/human+rights\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ehuman rights\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/vermont\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eVermont\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/anarchism\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eanarchism\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/anarchosyndicalism\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eanarchosyndicalism\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/font\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-7761570942165474039?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7761570942165474039"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7761570942165474039"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/11/enemy-of-good.html","title":"The enemy of the good"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-7705637580148511192"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-06T17:16:00.002-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-06T17:25:28.444-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Local Organic Meat"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ccenter\u003e\u003cembed id\u003d\"player\" width\u003d\"402\" height\u003d\"254\" flashvars\u003d\"SkinName\u003dcustom7\u0026SiteID\u003dhsus\u0026SiteName\u003dHumane Society\u0026ChannelID\u003d90b8416730090124a35ad51ab7f1ca78829a9957\u0026StoryID\u003dc00984d2a4d4b029246af4bfc9b4873baa013fa6\u0026Volume\u003d.5\" menu\u003d\"false\" allowscriptaccess\u003d\"always\" allowfullscreen\u003d\"true\" quality\u003d\"high\" bgcolor\u003d\"#FFFFFF\" name\u003d\"player\" src\u003d\"http://hsus.pb.feedroom.com/pb-comp/hsus/custom7/player.swf\" type\u003d\"application/x-shockwave-flash\"\u003e\u003c/embed\u003e\u003c/center\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBushway Packing in Grand Isle, Vermont, was certified organic. As this video shows, being local and organic doesn't change the facts about killing and eating animals. This also illustrates the dark side of the dairy industry, which should also be called the veal industry.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cfont size\u003d-2\u003e\u003ci\u003etags:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/i\u003e \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/animal+rights\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eanimal rights\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/vegetarianism\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003evegetarianism\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/vermont\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eVermont\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/ecoanarchism\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eecoanarchism\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/font\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-7705637580148511192?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7705637580148511192"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7705637580148511192"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/11/local-organic-meat.html","title":"Local Organic Meat"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-7911187715144122049"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-04T16:45:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-04T16:46:14.887-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Single-payer, not-for-profit health care system"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-style:italic;\"\u003eDennis Kucinich, Ohio, July 31, 2009:\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMr. Speaker, I've listened to the health care debate, as all Members have, for the last few months. And what's very interesting about it is that in this debate, we've essentially talked past the single most effective way to reduce costs and to provide health care for all Americans, and that is to create a single-payer, universal not-for-profit health care system.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSuch a system is envisioned in and provided for in H.R. 676, Medicare for All, a bill that I had the privilege of writing with John Conyers of Michigan, a bill that is supported by 85 Members of Congress, by hundreds of community organizations and labor unions, by over 14,000 physicians, and a bill which represents an idea whose time has come.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSome basic facts require discussion when we're speaking about our health care system. And that is that we spend about $2.4 trillion on health care in America, all spending. That amounts to about 16 to 17 percent of our gross domestic product. Clearly health care is a huge item in the American economy.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIf all of that money, all of that $2.4 trillion went to care for people, every American would be covered. But today, not every American is covered. As a matter of fact, there are 50 million Americans without health insurance and another 50 million underinsured. Why is it in this country which has so much wealth in this country, which has given so much of its wealth to people at the top, we can have 50 million Americans without insurance? By and large, it's because people cannot afford private insurance.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhy not? Well, it's very simple. When you look at the fact that an individual can pay $300 to $600 a month or more for a premium, when you look at the fact that a family can pay $1,000, $2,000 a month or more for a health care premium, when you consider that a family budget cannot in any way countenance the kind of health care expenses that most families can run into, when you understand that any family can lose its middle class status with a single illness in that family, you come to understand the dilemma that we have in America.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhy isn't health care a basic right in a democratic society? Why do we have a for-profit health care system? I will tell you why. Because out of that $2.4 trillion that is spent every year in health spending, $1 out of $3, or $800 billion a year, goes to the activities of the for-profit system for corporate profits, stock options, executive salaries, advertising, marketing, the cost of paperwork; 15 to 30 percent in the private sector as compared to Medicare's 3 percent.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThis is what this fight is about in Washington. This is why the insurance industry is hovering around Washington like a flock of vultures. $800 billion a year is at stake. And so they will do anything that they can to be part of this game so that the government can continue to subsidize insurance companies one way or another.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOne out of every $3 goes for the activities of the for-profit system. If we took that $800 billion a year and put it into care for everyone, we'd have enough money to cover every American. Not just basic health care, with doctor of choice, but dental care, mental health care, vision care, prescription drugs, long-term care, all would be covered. Everything.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003ePeople say how is that possible? It's because we're already paying for the universal standard of care. We're just not getting it.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-7911187715144122049?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7911187715144122049"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7911187715144122049"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/11/single-payer-not-for-profit-health-care.html","title":"Single-payer, not-for-profit health care system"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-5745463302916462344"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-04T10:09:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-04T10:10:22.826-05:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Gaza"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Goldstone report"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Peter Welch"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Israeli violations of international law must not be acknowledged"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"House resolution \"opposing any endorsement or further consideration of report of the United Nations fact finding mission on the Gaza conflict\" (the \"Goldstone report\") -- Nov. 3 -- Peter Welch of Vermont boldly votes \"present\".\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cfont size\u003d-2\u003e\u003ci\u003etags:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/i\u003e \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/human+rights\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ehuman rights\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/vermont\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eVermont\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/font\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-5745463302916462344?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/5745463302916462344"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/5745463302916462344"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/11/israeli-violations-of-international-law.html","title":"Israeli violations of international law must not be acknowledged"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-3957609516663916280"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-01T15:18:00.004-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-01T15:31:16.909-05:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Wind Turbine Syndrome"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Canadian wind industry's cynical dismissal of health concerns"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Deconstructing CanWEA Health “Research”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOn October 6, 2008, the industry trade group Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) posted a press release titled \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.canwea.ca/media/release/release_e.php?newsId\u003d37\"\u003e“Scientists conclude that there is no evidence that wind turbines have an adverse impact on human health”\u003c/a\u003e in response to news coverage of Dr. Nina Pierpont's work describing and explaining \"wind turbine syndrome\", stating:\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cblockquote\u003e[T]he Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) has compiled a list of articles and publications on the subject from reputable sources in Europe and North America.\u0026nbsp;...\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThese findings clearly show that there is no peer-reviewed scientific evidence indicating that wind turbines have an adverse impact on human health.\u003c/blockquote\u003eIn May, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://windconcernsontario.wordpress.com/2009/05/22/deconstructing-canwea-health-claims/\"\u003eWind Concerns Ontario reviewed the seven articles\u003c/a\u003e cited by CanWEA, asking the following questions:\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cul type\u003dsquare\u003e\u003cli\u003eDo they support the claim in the title of CanWEA’s press release?\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003eDo they support the conclusion of CanWEA’s press release?\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003eDo they refute Dr. Pierpont’s research?\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ul\u003eNone of the articles “conclude that there is no evidence that wind turbines have an adverse impact on human health”.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNone of the articles state that “there is no peer-reviewed scientific evidence indicating that wind turbines have an adverse impact on human health.”.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNone of the articles review Pierpont’s research.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOnly one article mentions Pierpont’s case studies, stating that “One cannot discount the information”.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSix of the articles identify wind turbine noise as a health concern which must be considered.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOnly one of the articles discusses noise in the assessment of adverse health effects related to various forms of electricity generation.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNone of the articles study patients or reports of patients describing adverse health effects when exposed to wind turbines.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNone of the articles consider recent research in addition to Pierpont's regarding health effects related to wind turbines.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe seven articles are:\u003cbr /\u003e\u003col type\u003d1\u003e\u003cli\u003eInfrasound from wind turbines – fact, fiction or deception. Geoff Leventhall (noise and vibration consultant). Canadian Acoustics 2006;24(2):29-36.\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003eWind turbine facilities noise issues. Ramani Ramakrishnan (acoustician); prepared for Ministry of the Environment of Ontario. Aiolos report no. 4071/2180/AR155Rev3 (Dec 2007). \u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003eWind turbine acoustic noise. Anthony Rogers (mechanical engineer), James Manwell (mechanical engineer), Sally Wright (mechanical engineer), Renewable Energy Research Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Massachusetts at Amherst. June 2002, amended Jan. 2006.\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003eResearch into aerodynamic modulation of wind turbine noise. Andy Moorhouse (acoustician), Malcolm Hayes (acoustics student), Sabine von Hünerbein (acoustician), Ben Piper, Mags Adams (social scientist), University of Salford; prepared for Dept. for Business Enterprise \u0026 Regulatory Reform, contract no. NANR233. July 2007.\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003eElectricity generation and health. Anil Markandya (economist), Paul Wilkinson. Lancet 2007 (Sep. 15);370(9591):979-990.\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003eThe health impact of wind turbines: a review of the current white, grey, and published literature. David Colby (MD), Acting Medical Officer of Health, Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit; prepared for Chatham-Kent Municipal Council. June 2008.\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003eEnergy, sustainable development and health (background document, Fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health). Anil Markandya (economist) et al. (no MDs). June 3, 2004.\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ol\u003eAlso posted at Wind Concerns Ontario is an assessment of CanWEA's press release by Wayne Gulden of \u003ca href\u003d\"http://amherstislandwindinfo.com/\"\u003eAmherst Island Wind Information\u003c/a\u003e. (Gulden also \u003ca href\u003d\"http://amherstislandwindinfo.com/c-k_health_report.htm\"\u003eanalyzed the Chatham-Kent review\u003c/a\u003e, as did \u003ca href\u003d\"http://windconcernsontario.wordpress.com/2009/02/03/commentary-on-%E2%80%9Cthe-health-impact-of-wind-turbines-a-review-of-the-current-white-grey-and-published-literature%E2%80%9D-chatham-kent-public-health-unit-june-2008/\"\u003eDr. Robert McMurtry\u003c/a\u003e.)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cblockquote\u003eCanWEA has included a quote from each of these sources that appears to support their contention. As any reader will quickly discover, however, these quotes generally have little to do with the gist of the article. It quickly becomes obvious that CanWEA has “cherry-picked” the articles for the most supportive sentence, completely out of context.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnyone can play this game, and as an example I could take The Doctors’ position and use quotes out of the very same 7 references to support it. Such a statement might look something like:\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cblockquote\u003eThere are numerous reports of health issues caused by wind turbines and we want to have an epidemiological study to determine the facts. We have compiled a list of articles and publications on the subject from reputable sources in Europe and North America.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e1. Leventhall. “Attention should be focused on the audio frequency fluctuating swish, which some people may well find to be very disturbing and stressful, depending on its level.”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e2. Ramakrishnan. “However, additional concerns still need to be addressed in the next round of revisions to their assessment process. These revisions may need to be addressed after the results from future research provide scientifically consistent data for effects such as meteorology, human response and turbine noise source character.”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e3. Rogers. “Community noise standards are important to ensure livable communities. Wind turbines must be held to comply with these regulations.”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e4. Salford. “The results showed that 27 of the 133 windfarm sites operational across the UK at the time of the survey had attracted noise complaints at some point.”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e5. Lancet. “In varying degrees these [renewable] sources share four main drawbacks: ... and environmental effects, aesthetic effects, or both, that might in part off set the broader environmental and health gains derived from lower air pollution and greenhouse-gas emissions.”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e6. Colby. “Despite extensive searching of the current literature, limited information is available on health concerns relating to wind turbines.”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e7. WHO. “[H]ealth effects from wind energy are negligible, however issues such as sleep disturbance, school absenteeism, eventually resulting from noise in vicinity, could not be evaluated.”\u003c/blockquote\u003eWhy don’t they? Aside from the time constraints of not having their livelihoods supplied by the wind energy industry, they have a different set of priorities. CanWEA’s main interest, perhaps their only interest, is making money for their clients and themselves.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWith that goal, the appearance of being truthful is far more important that actually being truthful. The Doctors, on the other hand, deal with real people having real health issues,and the real truth is the basis of how they deal. And the real truth being conveyed by these seven references – most of which are, as CanWEA says, respectable – has very little to do with health issues and epidemiological studies for people living in the shadow of wind turbines.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eTo use these otherwise useful references in this way is fundamentally dishonest, but it creates a “he said, she said” confusion that serves the interests of the industry.\u003c/blockquote\u003e\u003cfont size\u003d-2\u003e\u003ci\u003etags:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/i\u003e \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+power\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind power\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+energy\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind energy\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+turbines\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind turbines\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+farms\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind farms\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/human+rights\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ehuman rights\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/font\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-3957609516663916280?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/3957609516663916280"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/3957609516663916280"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/11/canadian-wind-industrys-cynical.html","title":"Canadian wind industry's cynical dismissal of health concerns"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-2206549783808925702"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-31T12:14:00.002-04:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-31T12:18:40.930-04:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Recipes"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The New Vegetarian series"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"The \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-style:italic;\"\u003eGuardian\u003c/span\u003e (U.K.) has a superb series of weekly vegetarian recipes: \u003ca href\u003d\"http://\"\u003ewww.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/series/thenewvegetarian\u003c/a\u003e.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cfont size\u003d-2\u003e\u003ci\u003etags:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/i\u003e \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/environment\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eenvironment\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/environmentalism\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eenvironmentalism\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/animal+rights\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eanimal rights\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/vegetarianism\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003evegetarianism\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/font\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-2206549783808925702?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"related","href":"http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/series/thenewvegetarian","title":"The New Vegetarian series"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/2206549783808925702"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/2206549783808925702"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-vegetarian-series.html","title":"The New Vegetarian series"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-7884598649762523546"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-16T16:32:00.002-04:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-26T15:53:24.729-04:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Animal agriculture as climate killer"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://www.change.org/photos/wordpress_copies/foodwatch-chart.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px; height: 417px;\" src\u003d\"http://www.change.org/photos/wordpress_copies/foodwatch-chart.jpg\" border\u003d\"0\" alt\u003d\"\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNote that organic animal farming is not much better than chemical-based and factory farming of animals.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-7884598649762523546?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7884598649762523546"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7884598649762523546"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/10/animal-agriculture-as-climate-killer.html","title":"Animal agriculture as climate killer"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-1531831302696386789"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-16T12:27:00.003-04:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-16T12:33:22.479-04:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Solomon and Sheba, by Konrad Witz, 1435"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_rEPgWvzpQiI/Stif2wmBoII/AAAAAAAAAFo/iEeiij2Ww2o/s1600-h/Witz_solomon-sheba.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 533px;\" src\u003d\"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_rEPgWvzpQiI/Stif2wmBoII/AAAAAAAAAFo/iEeiij2Ww2o/s320/Witz_solomon-sheba.jpg\" border\u003d\"0\" alt\u003d\"\"id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393236316882313346\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ci\u003eFor mine qvinne I thee giftake and bind my hosenband I thee halter.\u003cbr /\u003e(\u003c/i\u003eFinnegans Wake,\u003ci\u003e page 62)\u003c/i\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-1531831302696386789?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/1531831302696386789"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/1531831302696386789"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/10/solomon-and-sheba-by-konrad-witz-1435.html","title":"Solomon and Sheba, by Konrad Witz, 1435"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_rEPgWvzpQiI/Stif2wmBoII/AAAAAAAAAFo/iEeiij2Ww2o/s72-c/Witz_solomon-sheba.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-7390450404669536551"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-11T16:49:00.003-04:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-11T17:02:44.804-04:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Folly dressed up as science"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"The Burlington \u003ci\u003eFree Press\u003c/i\u003e \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20091011/NEWS05/91009058/1001\"\u003edescribes\u003c/a\u003e the final presentations of \"The Energy Project Vermont,\" a celebration of wind power by the ECHO museum and Burlington City Arts:\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cblockquote\u003eBringing in the science behind wind power, Thomas Tailer, co-director of UVM's Engineering Institute, ... has worked in alternative energy and education since 1979. Tailer's passion for seeing engineering and environment at work together was clear throughout his presentation. ... Tailer said just as the iconic Quixote jousted windmills to fight the Industrial Revolution, people today are in denial of our changing climate and are fighting alternative energy sources. ... \"The image of an angel is an icon, and to me the windmill is that kind of icon, an icon of a sustainable future for this planet.\"\u003c/blockquote\u003eFirst, Miquel Cervantes published the first volume of his history of Don Quixote 1605 (the same year William Shakespeare produced \u003ci\u003eKing Lear\u003c/i\u003e), long before the industrial revolution. Tailer may be thinking of William Blake's \"dark Satanic Mills\" (preface to \u003ci\u003eMilton\u003c/i\u003e, 1804).\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSecond, if Don Quixote were nonetheless a proto-Luddite, then he has (like the English Luddites of Blake's time) been vindicated by the environmental and social devastation wrought by centralized industry, and his battle was not madness but prescience. To equate that with denial of the devastation thus foreseen therefore doesn't fly. It is Tailer who denies the devastation wrought by industrial windmills, and Don Quixote who is right to tilt against them.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThird, Tailer evokes angels only to denigrate them as mere icons. But so it must be with windmills. Their agency doesn't really exist. They serve only as symbols.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSo let's get real. If large-scale wind actually worked, it wouldn't need all these twisted rationalizations to justify it. Tailer not only mocks Don Quixote and angels, he also makes a mockery of science.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cfont size\u003d-2\u003e\u003ci\u003etags:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/i\u003e \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+power\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind power\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+energy\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind energy\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+turbines\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind turbines\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+farms\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind farms\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/environment\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eenvironment\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/environmentalism\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eenvironmentalism\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/human+rights\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ehuman rights\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/animal+rights\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eanimal rights\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/vermont\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eVermont\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/anarchism\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eanarchism\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/ecoanarchism\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eecoanarchism\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/anarchosyndicalism\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eanarchosyndicalism\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/font\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-7390450404669536551?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7390450404669536551"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7390450404669536551"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/10/folly-dressed-up-as-science.html","title":"Folly dressed up as science"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-7270240895124644088"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-07T15:37:00.001-04:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-07T15:39:57.804-04:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The supplicant lady"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.rosenlake.net/fw/image/Dandini-sheba.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"width: 225px; height: 165px;\" src\u003d\"http://www.rosenlake.net/fw/image/Dandini-sheba-s.jpg\" border\u003d\"0\" alt\u003d\"\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.rosenlake.net/fw/image/quixote-micomicona.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"width: 188px; height: 332px;\" src\u003d\"http://www.rosenlake.net/fw/image/quixote-micomicona-s.jpg\" border\u003d\"0\" alt\u003d\"\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ci\u003eSolomon and Sheba by Dandini, and Don Quixote and Micomicona (Dorothea)\u003c/i\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-7270240895124644088?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7270240895124644088"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7270240895124644088"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/10/supplicant-lady.html","title":"The supplicant lady"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-6184431489775003432"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-07T15:03:00.002-04:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-07T15:27:05.235-04:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"A woman's feet"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.rosenlake.net/fw/image/suleiman-m.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"width: 234px; height: 337px;\" src\u003d\"http://www.rosenlake.net/fw/image/suleiman-s.jpg\" border\u003d\"0\" alt\u003d\"\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.rosenlake.net/fw/image/quixote-dorothea.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"width: 190px; height: 337px;\" src\u003d\"http://www.rosenlake.net/fw/image/quixote-dorothea-s.jpg\" border\u003d\"0\" alt\u003d\"\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ci\u003eSulaiman (Solomon) spying on Bilqis (Queen of Sheba), and the curate and Cardenio spying on Dorothea (in the history of Don Quixote)\u003c/i\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-6184431489775003432?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/6184431489775003432"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/6184431489775003432"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/10/womans-feet.html","title":"A woman's feet"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-7747808616148060141"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-06T13:47:00.004-04:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-06T14:10:58.486-04:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Wind turbines keeping the oil giants in business"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ci\u003eFrom Exxon Mobil's industrial products web site:\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rEPgWvzpQiI/SsuH7HScC6I/AAAAAAAAAFg/3NV0ZlqhfHs/s1600-h/exxonmobil-windturbine.png\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 238px;\" src\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rEPgWvzpQiI/SsuH7HScC6I/AAAAAAAAAFg/3NV0ZlqhfHs/s320/exxonmobil-windturbine.png\" border\u003d\"0\" alt\u003d\"\"id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389550828717345698\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cfont size\u003d-2\u003e\u003ci\u003etags:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/i\u003e \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+power\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind power\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+energy\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind energy\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+turbines\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind turbines\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/environment\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eenvironment\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/environmentalism\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eenvironmentalism\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/font\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-7747808616148060141?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7747808616148060141"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7747808616148060141"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/10/wind-turbines-keeping-oil-giants-in.html","title":"Wind turbines keeping the oil giants in business"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rEPgWvzpQiI/SsuH7HScC6I/AAAAAAAAAFg/3NV0ZlqhfHs/s72-c/exxonmobil-windturbine.png","height":"72","width":"72"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-7025568450632245500"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-06T13:28:00.001-04:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-06T13:47:09.601-04:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Grand Meadow Wind Farm, Dexter, Minnesota"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ci\u003eSome specs of a typical wind \"farm\":\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe wind farm spans a stretch of farm fields six miles long and four miles wide, and is spread out over roughly 10,000 acres southeast of Interstate 90 three miles north and three miles south of Hwy 16, in Grand Meadow, Clayton, and Dexter Townships in Mower County.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eGrand Meadow is a 67-unit wind farm consisting of GE 1.5 SLE turbines.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003ePower Production Capability: 1.5 MW each for a total of 100.5 MW.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWind turns the blades, which spin a shaft through a gearbox that connects to a generator, which produces electricity. The 3 blades rotate (pitch) from 0 to 90 degrees allowing the power output to be controlled if desired. The amount of electricity generated is determined by the wind speed:\u003cul type\u003dsquare\u003e\u003cli\u003eMinimum (0.1 MW): 7.8 mph (3.5 m/s)\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003eDesign (1.5 MW): 31.3 mph (14 m/s)\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003eMaximum (1.5 MW): 55.9 mph (25 m/s)\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ul\u003eThe project was developed by enXco and constructed by Mortenson Construction in 2008. In December 2008 the wind farm became fully operational and was turned over to Xcel Energy.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe height to the tip of the highest blade is 389 ft (slightly longer than a football field).\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eEach blade is a composite fiberglass material weighing 13,900 lbs and is 122 ft long. [The blade assembly sweeps a vertical area of 1.15 acres.]\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eEach turbine base consists of a 52 ft \u0026times; 52 ft octagon that is 7 ft deep. This requires 278 cubic yards (28 trucks) of concrete and 57,000 lbs of reinforcing steel. Each base weighs over 1.1 million pounds.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe base of each turbine uses approximately 1 acre of farmland.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThere are approximately 37 miles of 3-wire underground power collection cables connecting the 67 turbines.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.xcelenergy.com/COMPANY/ABOUT_ENERGY_AND_RATES/POWER%20GENERATION/Pages/Grand_Meadow_Wind_Farm.aspx\"\u003eSource\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cfont size\u003d-2\u003e\u003ci\u003etags:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/i\u003e \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+power\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind power\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+energy\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind energy\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+turbines\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind turbines\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+farms\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind farms\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/font\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-7025568450632245500?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7025568450632245500"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/7025568450632245500"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/10/grand-meadow-wind-farm-dexter-minnesota.html","title":"Grand Meadow Wind Farm, Dexter, Minnesota"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-4014122291715667063"},"published":{"$t":"2009-09-30T12:35:00.001-04:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-09-30T12:43:16.668-04:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Health Care in Other Countries: Germany"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ci\u003eNew York Times \"Prescriptions\":\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eUwe E. Reinhardt is a professor of health economics at Princeton University and a former president of the Association of Health Services Research. He is also a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, a board member of the Journal of the American Medical Association and a contributor to The Times’s Economix blog. His research has compared health care in the United States to that in other countries, including his native Germany. He spoke with freelance writer Anne Underwood.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBY THE NUMBERS\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eGermany\u003c/b\u003e\u003cul type\u003dsquare\u003e\u003cli\u003eLife expectancy: 80 years (USA: 78)\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003eInfant mortality: 4 per 1,000 live births (7)\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003eHealth spending as a percentage of GDP: 10 (15)\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003ePercentage of health spending that is private: 23 (54)\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003eDoctors per 10,000 people: 34 (26)\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ul\u003e\u003ci\u003eSource: World Health Organization.\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eQ.\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eIs it true that the concept of health insurance originated in Germany in the 1880s?\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eA.\u003c/b\u003e During the Industrial Revolution, workers who got sick didn’t earn money, so they formed what they called “friendly societies.” These were cooperatives into which workers paid monthly premiums, pooling their resources so they could continue the cash wages of workers who got sick. Those cooperatives became what are now called “sickness funds” in Germany.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAround the same time, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were stirring up the masses with their tracts, including “The Communist Manifesto.” To Otto von Bismarck, the so-called Iron Chancellor of Germany, it seemed that the only way to stop the growth of communism was to take the wind out of its sails by giving low-income people the things they craved — health care, education and a social safety net in general. So in 1883, he passed the Imperial Insurance Order — in German, the Reichsversicherungsverordnung, or R.V.O. — which made it mandatory that all workers up to a certain income threshold pay premiums to such sickness funds. The R.V.O. still governs German health care, although it’s had a thousand amendments in the meantime.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eDuring World War II, Hitler exported the system to the Netherlands, Belgium and France. It’s now generally called the Bismarck Model, to distinguish it from other forms of social health insurance, such as the British National Health Service. The Bismarck model was so popular that after the war, even though it came from Hitler, these countries kept it.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eQ.\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eSo Bismarck’s system was the world’s first real insurance system?\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eA.\u003c/b\u003e It was the first formal social health insurance system, yes — the first government-regulated system. I believe it is still the best model there is, because it blends a private health-care delivery system with universal coverage and social solidarity. The financing is simple. It’s inexpensive and equitable. Coverage is portable. You’re never uninsured in Germany. No family goes broke over health care bills.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eQ.\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eThis is based in the workplace. Does it amount to an employer mandate?\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eA.\u003c/b\u003e Not exactly. Formally, employers pay half of the premium and workers pay the other half — although economists would argue that the premium is entirely taken out of the workers’ take-home pay. But the mandate to be insured is really on the individual. Each worker chooses a sickness fund.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn the United States, employers have a larger role. Employers pick the menu of health insurers from which employees can choose. German employees would take umbrage at that.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eQ.\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eHow large is the choice of funds?\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eA.\u003c/b\u003e The sickness funds were originally organized by craft or company or locality. Until 1992, you had no choice. If you were a carpenter, you belonged to the carpenters’ fund. But since 1992, people have been able to choose any of some 200 sickness funds.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eQ.\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eWhat if you’re unemployed?\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eA.\u003c/b\u003e Unemployment insurance continues your premiums. If you’re poor, the community pays. If you’re retired, the pension fund pays. Children remain in the sickness fund with their parents, but the premium is paid by the federal government.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eQ.\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eDoes it achieve universal coverage?\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eA.\u003c/b\u003e 100 percent.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eQ.\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eWhat about illegal immigrants, who are the subject of so much debate in this country?\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eA.\u003c/b\u003e Once you’re in the country, you have rights to all social services.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eQ.\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eAre the sickness funds run as for-profit businesses or nonprofit?\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eA.\u003c/b\u003e They’re all nonprofit companies. There is a separate for-profit industry to which you can belong if your income is above 45,000 euros [about $65,000]. If you’re 33 years old and have a high income, your premium in the private plan is much lower. However, premiums increase with age. And if your income declines, you could be in dire straits. Since 1992, individuals with an income above the threshold who choose to buy private insurance cannot get back into the social insurance system unless they fall below the poverty line. This makes people hesitant to leave the social insurance system.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eQ.\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eIs there competition between private and public plans?\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eA.\u003c/b\u003e Yes, there is, but 90 percent of people are in the public plans. There is competition among the sickness funds, too, now that people can choose.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eQ.\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eMany Americans are concerned that if we offer a public option, it will ultimately put private insurers out of business. What does the German experience tell us?\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eA.\u003c/b\u003e About 10 percent of the population is in for-profit plans, but most people who are entitled to choose such a plan don’t. It’s the same in this country with Medicare. Eighty percent stay in the traditional Medicare plan rather than choosing the private Medicare Advantage. Although the American people appear unaware of it, government is the only institution they really trust deep down.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eQ.\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eThat’s not what we heard over the summer in the town halls.\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eA.\u003c/b\u003e It’s utterly ridiculous to say they don’t trust the government. Where do Americans turn for help when they get into trouble? Do they run to the private sector? Even big bankers run to Washington. With a public plan, you would get something like Medicare. Just try taking Medicare away from the elderly. In the decades I have lived here, I have discovered this about America’s legendary rugged individualists: when the going gets rough, the rough run to the government.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eQ.\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eHas competition between public and private plans in Germany made the system more efficient?\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eA.\u003c/b\u003e Competition in health care typically doesn’t make things more efficient. But the German system is more efficient than the U.S. system for other reasons. In Germany, the plans do not individually negotiate prices with individual doctors and hospitals. Instead representatives of each state (or Land) sit across the table from associations of doctors and hospitals and hash out uniform fees that every plan in that state will pay. They don’t waste a huge amount of resources by having each plan negotiate separately with every hospital and doctor.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eQ.\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eAre administrative costs lower?\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eA.\u003c/b\u003e Much lower. I don’t have the exact figure, but it’s about half of what we spend. All billing is done electronically. You have a card, like an American Express card, that you take with you to the doctor. The physician codes in what he did for you, swipes the card, and in two weeks he gets a check. There is no haggling over bills. The patient usually pays a small co-pay. It’s 10 euros or so for the first visit in a quarter. After that, you pay nothing else for the rest of the quarter. It’s trivial.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eQ.\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eHow much government control is there?\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eA.\u003c/b\u003e The R.V.O. regulates the sickness funds to the point that they’re essentially uniform. But German hospitals probably have less regulation on them than U.S. hospitals. In the United States, there are multiple layers of regulators each imposing restrictions. The Medicare payment system alone is forbidding with all of its regulations.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eQ.\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eAre drug prices regulated?\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eA.\u003c/b\u003e No. In principle, drug makers are free to price their products for the market. But the sickness funds group drugs into therapeutic groups. Patients have a choice between taking a low-cost drug for which they are fully reimbursed, or paying the difference between the low-cost drug and a higher-priced one in the same category. The system is called “reference pricing,” and it is much hated by drug manufacturers around the world — even though it’s a market system relying on the decisions of patients themselves. Isn’t that what the so-called “consumer directed health care” now being pushed in the U.S. is all about?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOf course, when patients can’t evaluate the different drugs, they tend to stick with the low-cost drugs. Apparently it happens often, because expenditures on drugs are much lower in Germany than the United States.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eQ.\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eAre there long waits for service in Germany?\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eA.\u003c/b\u003e No, basically none.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eQ.\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eHow does Germany do at controlling costs?\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eA.\u003c/b\u003e They’re half as expensive as we are on a per capita basis, even though a much higher percentage of the German population is over age 65. Still, Germans lament that growth in medical spending is a problem. I say if we had problems like that, we would drink champagne.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eQ.\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eWhat’s your biggest criticism of the system?\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eA.\u003c/b\u003e Every system has its weaknesses. I think, for example, lots of care [is] given in Germany — as it is elsewhere — for which we don’t actually know the effectiveness compared to other treatments. There is overutilization of the system. Also, the German system is a bit rigid in its structure, which makes innovation in organizing health care more difficult than it is here.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eQ.\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eIs there medical bankruptcy in Germany?\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eA.\u003c/b\u003e That’s almost impossible. Germany’s benefit package is very broad and deep. If Germans were to go bankrupt on medical bills, it would be from purchasing drugs or services not in that broad benefit package. But I have not ever read of Germans going bankrupt over health care.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eQ.\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eWhat is the most important lesson Americans should learn from the German system?\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eA.\u003c/b\u003e The K.I.S.S. principle — which stands for “Keep It Simple, Stupid.” If you can do something in a complicated way, trust Americans to discover it — certainly in health care. I was on the phone this morning with a hospital and insurer that were suing each other because the patient had gone to a hospital that was not in the insurer’s network. The hospital was charging the insurer two to three times the negotiated rate the insurer pays for in-network hospitals. Only lawyers can love this system. And it is a safe bet that whatever President Obama and the Congress comes out with this year will be so complicated, no one but a few consultants will understand it — and many of those consultants will be the Hill staffers who wrote the reform law. By comparison, the German system is very simple. Every German knows what health care costs his or her family.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-4014122291715667063?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"related","href":"http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/health-care-abroad-germany/","title":"Health Care in Other Countries: Germany"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/4014122291715667063"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/4014122291715667063"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/09/health-care-in-other-countries-germany.html","title":"Health Care in Other Countries: Germany"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-1947379276256064900"},"published":{"$t":"2009-09-30T11:00:00.004-04:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-09-30T11:10:21.654-04:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The husk of our democracy"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"As reported in the New York \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-style:italic;\"\u003eTimes\u003c/span\u003e \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/health/policy/30health.html\"\u003etoday\u003c/a\u003e,\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cblockquote\u003eSenator John Ensign, Republican of Nevada, said he feared that a government plan would prove so popular it could never be uprooted. “Does anybody believe Congress would let this public plan go away once it has a constituency?” Mr. Ensign asked. “No way. Once it’s started, you will never get rid of it. Congress will subsidize it more and more, allow it to grow and grow.”\u003c/blockquote\u003eYes, the people would like it and benefit from it -- a clear reason to oppose by every means possible.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cblockquote\u003eFirst there is the original seed, ripening vigorously enough. And then comes some insect and lays an egg under the skin, and behold! in a little while the seed is a hollow shape with an active grub inside that has eaten out its substance. And then comes some secondary parasite, some ichneumon fly, and lays an egg within this grub, and behold! that, too, is a hollow shape, and the new living thing is inside its predecessor’s skin which itself is snug within the seed coat. And the seed coat still keeps its shape, most people think it a seed still, and for all one knows it may still think itself a seed, vigorous and alive.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cp style\u003d\"text-align:right;margin-bottom:0;\"\u003e--\u003ci\u003eWhen the Sleeper Wakes,\u003c/i\u003e H. G. Wells, 1899\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/blockquote\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-1947379276256064900?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/1947379276256064900"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/1947379276256064900"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/09/husk-of-our-democracy.html","title":"The husk of our democracy"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-1164918528555993090"},"published":{"$t":"2009-09-24T10:33:00.003-04:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-09-25T16:49:36.305-04:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"When the Sleeper Wakes"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"In H. G. Wells's book \u003ca href\u003d\"http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/w/wells/hg/w45ws/index.html\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhen the Sleeper Wakes\u003c/i\u003e\u003c/a\u003e (1899), a man wakes up from a trance of 203 years to learn that the project of civilization has not turned out well except for a cabal of totalitarian capitalists. Among other things, the countryside is completely turned over to giant windmills. In \u003ca href\u003d\"http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/w/wells/hg/w45da/index.html\"\u003e\"A Story of the Days To Come\"\u003c/a\u003e (1897), Wells describes \"the Wind Vane and Waterfall Trust, the great company that owned every wind wheel and waterfall in the world, and which pumped all the water and supplied all the electric energy that people in these latter days required.\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ci\u003eAnd from point to point tore the countless multitudes along the roaring mechanical ways. A gigantic hive, of which the winds were tireless servants, and the ceaseless wind-vanes an appropriate crown and symbol.\u0026nbsp;... \u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnd out here, under the fresh sunlight, beyond the crater of the fight, as if nothing had happened to the earth, the forest of Wind Vanes that had grown from one or two while the Council had ruled, roared peacefully upon their incessant duty.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eFar away, spiked, jagged and indented by the wind vanes, the Surrey Hills rose blue and faint; to the north and nearer, the sharp contours of Highgate and Muswell Hill were similarly jagged. And all over the countryside, he knew, on every crest and hill, where once the hedges had interlaced, and cottages, churches, inns, and farmhouses had nestled among their trees, wind wheels similar to those he saw and bearing like vast advertisements, gaunt and distinctive symbols of the new age, cast their whirling shadows and stored incessantly the energy that flowed away incessantly through all the arteries of the city. And underneath these wandered the countless flocks and herds of the British Food Trust with their lonely guards and keepers.\u003c/i\u003e (ch. 14)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe whole expanse of the Downs escarpment, so far as the grey haze permitted him to see, was set with wind-wheels to which the largest of the city was but a younger brother. ... Then rushing under the stern of the aeropile came the Wealden Heights, the line of Hindhead, Pitch Hill, and Leith Hill, with a second row of wind-wheels that seemed striving to rob the downland whirlers of their share of breeze.\u003c/i\u003e (ch. 16)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ci\u003eTo the east and south the great circular shapes of complaining wind-wheels blotted out the heavens ...\u003c/i\u003e (ch. 20)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e[We thank \u003ca href\u003d\"http://csenergysystem.blogspot.com/2009/09/pissing-onto-wind.html\"\u003eChurch Street Energy System\u003c/a\u003e for bringing this work to our attention.]\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cfont size\u003d-2\u003e\u003ci\u003etags:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/i\u003e \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+power\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind power\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+energy\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind energy\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+turbines\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind turbines\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+farms\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind farms\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/environment\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eenvironment\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/environmentalism\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eenvironmentalism\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/human+rights\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ehuman rights\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/animal+rights\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eanimal rights\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/vegetarianism\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003evegetarianism\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/vermont\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eVermont\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/anarchism\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eanarchism\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/ecoanarchism\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eecoanarchism\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/anarchosyndicalism\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003eanarchosyndicalism\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/font\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-1164918528555993090?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/1164918528555993090"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/1164918528555993090"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/09/when-sleeper-wakes.html","title":"When the Sleeper Wakes"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-3070498747873793294"},"published":{"$t":"2009-09-21T13:25:00.001-04:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-09-21T13:28:24.082-04:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Public option"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Senate Public Option Scoreboard"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ccenter\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://washingtonindependent.com/59440/senate-public-option-scoreboard\"\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://washingtonindependent.com/wp-content/themes/washington indy theme/images/PO Scoreboard.gif\" alt\u003d\"Senate Public Option Scoreboard\" width\u003d270 height\u003d211 border\u003d0 /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/center\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-3070498747873793294?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/3070498747873793294"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/3070498747873793294"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/09/senate-public-option-scoreboard.html","title":"Senate Public Option Scoreboard"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-2723768793418977863"},"published":{"$t":"2009-09-20T11:54:00.003-04:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-09-20T12:00:53.069-04:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Shakespeare on the madness of eating meat"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"SIR ANDREW \u003cbr /\u003e... I am a great eater of beef and I believe that does harm to my wit.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSIR TOBY \u003cbr /\u003eNo question.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e(Twelfth Night, act I, scene iii)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-style:italic;\"\u003eand\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eClown [as Sir Topas the curate]\u003cbr /\u003eWhat is the opinion of Pythagoras concerning wild fowl?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMALVOLIO \u003cbr /\u003eThat the soul of our grandam might haply inhabit a bird.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eClown \u003cbr /\u003eWhat thinkest thou of his opinion?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMALVOLIO \u003cbr /\u003eI think nobly of the soul, and no way approve his opinion.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eClown \u003cbr /\u003eFare thee well. Remain thou still in darkness: thou shalt hold the opinion of Pythagoras ere I will allow of thy wits, and fear to kill a woodcock, lest thou dispossess the soul of thy grandam. Fare thee well.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e(Twelfth Night, act IV, scene ii)\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-2723768793418977863?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/2723768793418977863"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/2723768793418977863"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/09/shakespeare-on-madness-of-eating-meat.html","title":"Shakespeare on the madness of eating meat"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-6292206162264319994"},"published":{"$t":"2009-09-18T17:52:00.001-04:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-09-18T17:54:05.145-04:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"HR676 - Medicare for All"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003cdiv style\u003d\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-size:300%;\"\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.hr676.org/\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003ewww.hr676.org\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-6292206162264319994?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"related","href":"http://www.hr676.org/","title":"HR676 - Medicare for All"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/6292206162264319994"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/6292206162264319994"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/09/hr676-medicare-for-all.html","title":"HR676 - Medicare for All"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7098349.post-6270424112103676398"},"published":{"$t":"2009-09-18T16:19:00.001-04:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-09-18T16:20:49.634-04:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Not so clean energy"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ci\u003eAlthough the information is from an article on yet another site alarmed at the American way of capitalism only since Obama rose to the head of it, facts are facts:\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe Treasury and Energy departments today announced $503 million in stimulus grants for \"clean energy\" projects. And while the energy may be clean, the politics may remind some of the soot belching from an old-fashioned smokestack.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOf the $503 million, $294 million went to a Spanish wind power company, Iberdrola SA, the Wall Street Journal reported. A quick search of the Federal Election Commission database shows the company's executives donated to the Obama campaign, with executives Brent Alderfer contributing $2000, Brent Beerley $1750, Eric Blank $2775, Jennifer Bradford $250, Melissa Erickson $250, Jon Fischer $250, Anders Glader $250, Kevin Helmich $250, Kevin Lynch $2300, Kourtney Nelson $450, Carolyn Plemons $250, Timothy Seck $250, and Peter Toomey $300 — a total of $11,325. An additional $10,250 from Iberdrola executives went to the \"Obama Victory Fund,\" a joint fundraising committee allied with the Obama campaign.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnother about $115 million of the $503 million went to a company called First Wind [formerly UPC Wind], whose owners include the Chicago-based Madison Dearborn Partners and a member of the D.E. Shaw group. [A] Bloomberg article quotes President Obama's White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, a congressman at the time the article was published [2007], as saying of Madison Dearborn, \"They've been not only supporters of mine, they're friends of mine.\" The Bloomberg article says, \"Employees of Madison Dearborn have donated $77,500 to Emanuel's re-election committee since 2001, collectively emerging as the top contributor to his campaigns in his congressional career, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.\" D.E. Shaw is the firm at which Mr. Obama's chief of the National Economic Council, Lawrence Summers, held a $5.2 million a year, one-day-a-week job.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cfont size\u003d-2\u003e\u003ci\u003etags:\u0026nbsp;\u003c/i\u003e \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+power\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind power\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href\u003d\"http://technorati.com/tag/wind+energy\" rel\u003d\"tag\"\u003ewind energy\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/font\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7098349-6270424112103676398?l\u003dkirbymtn.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/6270424112103676398"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7098349/posts/default/6270424112103676398"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2009/09/not-so-clean-energy.html","title":"Not so clean energy"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"KM"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"16236415969907458915"}}]}]}});