THE LARGEST SOURCE OF THE METHANE GAS THAT IS CAUSING GLOBAL WARMING COMES FROM .... ??? THAT'S RIGHT ... COWS .. VIA THEIR GAS RELEASING BURPS/FARTS ....WHICH IS WHY IT IS BEST TO BECOME A VEGAN ... SO WHY DOES THIS ARTICLE NOT MENTION ONCE ANYWHERE THAT AS AN OPTION ?



WASHINGTON – One contributor to global warming — bigger than coal mines, landfills and sewage treatment plants — is being left out of efforts by the Obama administration and House Democrats to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Cow burps.
Belching from the nation's 170 million cattle, sheep and pigs produces about one-quarter of the methane released in the U.S. each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. That makes the hoofed critters the largest source of the heat-trapping gas.
In part because of an adept farm lobby campaign that equates government regulation with a cow tax, the gas that farm animals pass is exempt from legislation being considered by Congress to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
The EPA under President Barack Obama has said it has no plans to regulate the gas, even though the agency recently included methane among six greenhouse gases it believes are endangering human health and welfare.
The message circulating in Internet chat rooms, the halls of Congress and farm co-ops had America's farms facing financial ruin if the EPA required them to purchase air-pollution permits like power plants and factories do. The cost of those permits amounted to a cow tax, farm groups argued.
"It really has taken on a life of its own," said Rick Krause, a lobbyist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, which coined the term cow tax and spread it to farmers across the country. "This is something that people understand. All that we have to say is that (cows) are the next step with these proposed permit fees. And people are still talking about it."
Administration officials and House Democratic leaders have tried to assure farm groups that they have no intention of regulating cows. That effort, however, has done little to ease the concern of farmers and their advocates in Congress about the toll that regulating greenhouse gases will have on agriculture.
Lawmakers and farm groups are now pressing for the climate legislation to guarantee that farmers will be compensated for taking steps to reduce greenhouse gases. That could lead to farmers getting paid if their cows pass less gas.
Research has shown that changing cattle diet and boosting efficiency — such as producing the same amount of milk and beef from a smaller herd — can result in less gas, according Frank M. Mitloehner, an associate professor at the University of California at Davis, who has studied livestock gas for 15 years.
"I don't think livestock should be ignored. Every industry has to play their role," Mitloehner said. But laws designed to reduce emissions from smokestacks and tailpipes won't work with cattle, which can't be fitted with pollution control devices, Mitloehner said.
"The belching is very hard to collect," he said. "You cannot capture these gases."
The climate bill specifically excludes enteric fermentation — the fancy term for the gas created by digestion and expelled largely by burping — from the limit it would place on greenhouse gas emissions. The legislation directs the EPA not to include it among the various sources that could be subject to new performance standards.
EPA administrator Lisa Jackson has called rumors of the cow tax "ridiculous notions" and a "distraction."
On Thursday, Rep. Todd Tihart, R-Kan., successfully added an amendment to the spending bill that covers the EPA to block the agency from including biological processes of livestock — including the release of methane — as part of regulating greenhouse gases.
House aides and EPA officials say that controlling such emissions is unworkable. Cow burps make up about 2 percent of all the climate-altering pollution in the U.S.
But allies of farmers in Congress say the reluctance to step in the cow tax debate has a lot to do with the outcry from the agriculture industry and moderate Democrats from rural states whose votes are needed to pass the bill.
"I think they realized that if you are a Democrat in an agricultural state, a red state, that this is radioactive and I think that is why they have tried scrupulously to reaffirm that they don't have any intention of doing this," said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. He is sponsoring a bill that would bar the EPA from requiring farmers to get permits for cattle burps.
Thune, whose state is home to a half-million cattle, first heard about the cow tax at a South Dakota Cattlemen Association's conference in early December. Within weeks he introduced his bill and recruited support from New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, whose state boasts three times more cows.
The origins of the cow tax can be traced to last July, when President George W. Bush's EPA released documents outlining how the Clean Air Act could regulate greenhouse gases.
Even though the Bush administration had no intention of using the law, farm groups seized on a single paragraph deep in the comments from various federal agencies. The Agriculture Department warned that if EPA decided to regulate agricultural sources of greenhouse gases, numerous farms would face costly and time-consuming process to acquire permits for barnyard burping.
The Farm Bureau quickly did the math and figured farms would have to pay about $175 for each dairy cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and $20 for each hog to purchase permits for emissions.
The cow tax was born.

Over 60% of U.S. bankruptcies caused by medical bills

Ok, can we get some comprehensive healthcare reform now ??

This horror story is about those who have health insurance & also had good jobs & were mostly educated. They still had to file for bankruptcy protection at alarming rates. This does not even include the 15% or 45 million people (like myself) who cannot afford insurance.



WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Medical bills are involved in more than 60 percent of U.S. personal bankruptcies, an increase of 50 percent in just six years, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.
More than 75 percent of these bankrupt families had health insurance but still were overwhelmed by their medical debts, the team at Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School and Ohio University reported in the American Journal of Medicine.
"Using a conservative definition, 62.1 percent of all bankruptcies in 2007 were medical; 92 percent of these medical debtors had medical debts over $5,000, or 10 percent of pretax family income," the researchers wrote.
"Most medical debtors were well-educated, owned homes and had middle-class occupations."
The researchers, whose work was paid for by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said the share of bankruptcies that could be blamed on medical problems rose by 50 percent from 2001 to 2007.
"Unless you're Warren Buffett, your family is just one serious illness away from bankruptcy," Harvard's Dr. David Himmelstein, an advocate for a single-payer health insurance program for the United States, said in a statement.
"For middle-class Americans, health insurance offers little protection," he added.
The United States is embarking on an overhaul of its healthcare system, which is now a patchwork of public programs such as Medicare and employer-sponsored health insurance that leaves 15 percent of the population -- 46 million people -- with no coverage.
About 170 million people get health insurance through an employer but President Barack Obama says soaring healthcare costs are hurting the economy and forcing businesses to drop medical insurance for their workers.

CANCELED COVERAGE

"Nationally, a quarter of firms cancel coverage immediately when an employee suffers a disabling illness; another quarter do so within a year," the report reads.
Obama told Congress on Wednesday he was open to making mandatory health insurance part of the overhaul but only with exemptions for the poor and for small businesses.
Neither Congress nor Obama are considering the kind of single-payer plan advocated by Himmelstein and his colleague Dr. Steffie Woolhandler.
"We need to rethink health reform," Woolhandler said. "Covering the uninsured isn't enough.
"Only single-payer national health insurance can make universal, comprehensive coverage affordable by saving the hundreds of billions we now waste on insurance overhead and bureaucracy."
"Among common diagnoses, nonstroke neurologic illnesses such as multiple sclerosis were associated with the highest out-of-pocket expenditures (mean $34,167), followed by diabetes ($26,971), injuries ($25,096), stroke ($23,380), mental illnesses ($23,178), and heart disease ($21,955)," the researchers wrote

Study: Arctic sea ice melting faster than expected

Hello 2070 !!

"Due to the recent loss of sea ice, the 2005-2008 autumn central Arctic surface air temperatures were greater than 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) above" what would be expected, the new study reports.

Scientists didn't expect that amount of temperature increase until the year 2070

So now that we're fucked .... who wants to go rip that funny hat off the Pope's head ?



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090403/ap_on_sc/sci_sea_ice

Iowa court says gay marriage ban unconstitutional

So Gay marriage is legal in Iowa. Good for them. They legalized it there before it became legal in the most liberal State in the Union, my home state of California. Shame on them.

Now with 3 states including Massachusettes & Connecticut saying Gays are equal it seems it's only a matter of time before I can marry my pet hamster Chuy. (If my wifey doesn't mind a harem.)

Equal rights for everyone !!



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090403/ap_on_re_us/iowa_gay_marriage

Rocket Fuel found in baby formula

Most of it was found to be in the formula derived from cow's milk cuz cow's milk sucks. Go to Milk Sucks.org

The Rocket Fuel was also found to be in our drinking water.

Thank God all those Jesus freaks are supporting the Republican Party who are looking out for the environment & for our best interests.

Smell that ? That's sarcasm.


http://health.yahoo.com/news/ap/baby_formula_perchlorate.html

Here's the link Bitches ...

http://www.well-beingindex.com/

Happiest States in the Union

They did a survey of the happiest states in our union. The West was the best & the East was the least. Como siempre. This is not a surprise to me. I speak to customers form the south all day long. It's my job. There is a difference.

Fuck political correctness.

These people are part of the problem. They're dumber than shit & apparently that's not enough to make them happy. What is it they say ? Ignorance is bliss ? Well if that were true there'd be some blissed out, country fried, honky tonkin' going on tonight ... but instead they're sad.

I'd have to disagree with Utah being # 1 on this list. Having been there before I can say I have never seen a more repressed people. They were scary to me having grown up in Los Angeles. Whole time I was there never saw one Asian person. What kiind of shit is that ?

West Virginia was last on the list. They're probably unhappy like an illegitmate red headed step child bcuz they're not an actual part of Virginia.


And the bluegrass state of Kentucky was 49th, with Mississippi 48th on the list.

From the article :

"In general, highest well-being scores came from states in the West while the lowest were concentrated in the South."

Corporate B.S.

Eat This Not That

Making a list of America's Healthiest fast food restaurants is like making a list of bullets likely to do the least amount of damage should you happen to put one thru your head ....

"The .22 caliber seem to cause the least amount of brain damage & bleeding compared with a shotgun blast"

It's all one big fucking commercial for evil corporations like Mcdonald's & Taco Bell (which both got a B+ !!!) ... no where are their unjust labor practices or impact on the environment mentioned ..... Americans are sick & obese & these restaurants are a definite part of the problem ...


America's Healthiest Restaurants

By David Zinczenko, with Matt Goulding - Posted on Mon, Mar 02, 2009, 12:37 pm PST
Eat This, Not That by David Zinczenko, with Matt Goulding


Eating out invariably raises a number of tricky questions: sit-down or drive-thru? Burgers or pizza? Thin or stuffed crust? Choosing one over the other could mean saving hundreds of calories in a single meal, and up to 50 pounds of flab in the course of a year and countless health woes over the course of a lifetime. That’s why Eat This, Not That! launched an investigation and put 66 major chain restaurants under the nutritional microscope—so that you and your family can continue to eat out, but do so knowing the types of insider tips and savvy strategies that can help melt fat all year long. And the good news is that many fan favorites scored top marks!

On being a musician

St. Peter at the Pearly GatesSaint Peter is checking ID's at the Pearly Gates, and first comes a Texan. "Tell me, what have you done in life?" says St. Peter.The Texan says, "Well, I struck oil, so I became rich, but I didn't sit on my laurels--I divided all my money among my entire family in my will, so our descendants are all set for about three generations."

St. Peter says, "That's quite something. Come on in. Next!"

The second guy in line has been listening, so he says, "I struck it big in the stock market, but I didn't selfishly just provide for my own like that Texan guy. I donated five million to Save the Children."

"Wonderful!" says Saint Peter. "Come in. Who's next?"

The third guy has been listening, and says timidly with a downcast look, "Well, I only made five thousand dollars in my entire lifetime."

"Heavens!" says St. Peter. "What instrument did you play?"

Maybe God is a girl

Maybe it is true what they say ... that god is a girl ..... & maybe she throws like one ...


PASADENA, Calif. – An asteroid about the size of one that blasted Siberia a century ago just buzzed by Earth.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory reported that the asteroid zoomed past Monday morning.
The asteroid named 2009 DD45 was about 48,800 miles from Earth. That is just twice the height of some telecommunications satellites and about a fifth of the distance to the Moon.
The space ball measured between 69 feet and 154 feet in diameter. The Planetary Society said that made it the same size as an asteroid that exploded over Siberia in 1908 and leveled more than 800 square miles of forest.
Most people probably didn't notice the cosmic close call. The asteroid was only spotted two days ago and at its closest point passed over the Pacific Ocean near Tahiti.

If our economy is in meltdown status & it is so important that we right this ship b4 we turn into Costa Rica .. Then why are we hearing so much from politicians & so little from Economists ?

And why do republicans seem to diametrically oppose their opinions & quote them so little ?

And who votes for these motherfuckers every year ?


America: The blind leading the blind.

10 Things you should know about Obama's Plan

10 things you should know about Obama's plan (but probably don't)
The plan:

1. Makes a $634 billion down payment on fixing health care that will go a long way toward paying for a more efficient, more affordable health care system that covers every single American.

2. Reduces taxes for 95% of working Americans. And if your family makes less than $250,000, your taxes won't go up one dime.

3. Invests more than $100 billion in clean energy technology, creating millions of green jobs that can never be outsourced.

4. Brings our troops home from Iraq on a firm timetable, finally bringing the war to a close—and freeing up almost ten billion dollars a month for domestic priorities.

5. Reverses growing income inequality. The plan lets the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire and focuses on strengthening the middle class.

6. Closes multi-billion-dollar tax loopholes for big oil companies.

7. Increases grants to help families pay for college—the largest increase ever.

8. Halves the deficit by 2013. President Obama inherited a legacy of huge deficits and an economy in shambles, but his plan brings the deficit under control as soon as the economy begins to recover.

9. Dramatically increases funding for the SEC and the CFTC—the agencies that police Wall Street.

10. Tells it straight. For years, budgets have used accounting tricks to hide the real costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush tax cuts, and too many other programs. Obama's budget gets rid of the smokescreens and lays out what America's priorities are, what they cost, and how we're going to pay for them.

This is the change we voted for. President Obama has done his part, now we need to do ours.

Can you pass this on to your personal network ?

The $700 billion bailout if divided among all 300 million Americans equally comes out to about $2334 each. What if that money went directly to the people instead having to pass thru the hands of the greediest SOB's on the planet 1st (which almost guarantees it won't do us any good) ? Wouldn't the economy be better served by putting that $$ directly in the hands of the people who would actually spend it on goods which create jobs like clothes & food & transportation ?? Isn't that the shot in the arm the economy needs ? Or is this bailout simply the excuse those in power needed to again steal even more from the Amercian people & get them to foot the bill ?
Even tho millions of Americans are hurting most of us are not. We simply have been scared into not spending any $$. Isn't this mess being created by the media ?

Ani DiFranco on Folk Label

"folk music is not an acoustic guitar — that's not where the heart of it is. I use the word 'folk' in reference to punk music and rap music. It's an attitude, it's an awareness of one's heritage, and it's a community. It's subcorporate music that gives voice to different communities and their struggle against authority."

Obama To Target Tax Havens In Budget

Obama To Target Tax Havens In Budget

Finally !! A president who is capable of standing up to corporations' evil ways ... they have been hiding money away in these tax havens for decades & all of society suffers for it ...

.... A GAO report from December revealed that 83 of the 100 largest publicly traded U.S. corporations had placed subsidiaries in tax haven jurisdictions to, ostensibly, pay less on their tax bills. This included a number of firms that had received billions of dollars in bailout funds from the federal government, such as Morgan Stanley (158 subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands and recipient of $10 billion in TARP money), Citigroup (90 subsidiaries and $45 billion in TARP funds), and Bank of America (59 subsidiaries and $45 billion).

Eleven giant recipients of our bailout tax dollars - American Express, AIG, Bank of America, Citigroup, General Motors, GMAC, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo. Together they've collected more than $227 billion.

Even as they benefit from tax money, they operate hundreds of subsidiaries in places widely known for helping people evade taxes.

Although proponents say most business in tax havens is perfectly legal and legitimate, it's estimated that tax havens cost U.S. taxpayers $100 billion a year in lost revenue.

$100 Billion a year


The stakes are so high that one tax haven insider was put under witness protection after he exposed hundreds of tax dodgers, and testified to Congress about his job. One favorite among the bailout companies is the Cayman Islands. There's no income tax, no corporate tax and no capital gains tax. Goldman Sachs has 15 subsidiaries there. Bank of America: 59. Citigroup: 90. But Morgan Stanley beats them all with at least 158 subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands - seven times the number of hotels. When asked about how hard it is for the U.S. government to "get at" what is going on in some of these tax havens, Dean Zerbe, a former congressional tax investigator, said “it's incredibly hard.”

Zerbe believes the Treasury Department should demand that bailed-out banks cough up details of their offshore interests. “Here we are sending taxpayers' monies to you. Tell us, banks, what you're doing to ensure that you are not helping folks avoid taxes coming the other way,” Zerbe said. None of the bailout companies contacted would talk about their subsidiaries in tax havens, except insurance giant AIG which told us their operations do not "exist solely for tax benefit."

So the next time you're reminded the U.S. economy is in shambles, remember - there are places where business is still booming. Places where some bailed out companies are getting your tax dollars, and may be helping others pay less.




Barack Obama: "There is a building in the Cayman Islands that houses supposedly 12,000 US-based corporations. That's either the biggest building in the world or the biggest tax scam in the world, and we know which one it is."[33]

How to Recycle

Wondering what to do with your stash of old batteries or the cans of unneeded paint taking up space in your garage? You know you shouldn't throw them out, but it really is time to get rid of them.
Resist the temptation to toss them in the trash anyway. The reason: They (and everything on the list below) contain toxic chemicals capable of contaminating the environment if not disposed of properly.
Unlike items that are picked up at the curb, you'll have to make a special effort to unload these ones responsibly. But, with a little advance planning and some good info, you'll see that it's really quite simple to dispose of these seemingly mysterious items. Here's how:
Batteries. Recycling rechargeable batteries is fairly easy. Home Depot, Staples, Radio Shack, Best Buy, and other retailers take them back free of charge. There are fewer options for single-use batteries, but look for bins at your local Whole Foods Market, Ikea, or library. Otherwise, your best bet is the local household hazardous waste drop-off site. Where is it and what are your closest drop-off options? Search here for answers.
CFLs. These energy-efficient bulbs are becoming easier to get rid of. Just drop old bulbs off at any Home Depot or Ikea for free recycling. Or ask about CFL recycling at your local Ace Hardware or home improvement store. You can search for other nearby solutions.
Electronics. Every retailer that takes back rechargeable batteries also accepts mobile phones, as do most wireless providers. For computers, cameras, televisions, and others it's worthwhile do a little homework because some stores charge fees depending on item and brand. Check out Best Buy, Staples, and Office Depot to see what's the best fit. Some places, like Radio Shack, have trade-in programs where you can receive store credit for your old gadgets.
Motor Oil. In case you need some motivation, consider this factoid from Earth911: Every gallon of used motor oil that's improperly disposed of can contaminate one million gallons of drinking water. Bring it to Wal-Mart, Autozone, Jiffy Lube, or search online for more convenient choices.
Paint. It's among the harder items in this group to dispose of, but it's worth it and totally doable. If the paint is still in good shape, consider donating it. As of now, there aren't any retailers that accept used paint so you'll need to make a special trip. Search Earth911 for a comprehensive list of options.
Environmental journalist Lori Bongiorno shares green-living tips and product reviews with Yahoo! Green's users. Send Lori a question or suggestion for potential use in a future column. Her book, Green Greener Greenest: A Practical Guide to Making Eco-smart Choices a Part of Your Life is available on Yahoo! Shopping and Amazon.com.

Officials: Army suicides at 3-decade high

Maybe we can get them to be buried at Bush's Crawford Texas Ranch .... next to the daffodils & perennials ... to serve as a reminder .... or plaster their names & faces at the next Republican Convention ....

Wolf Blitzer: Typical American Prejudice ?

After President Obama's Inauguration speech, CNN's Wolf Blitzer was guilty of doing what most Americans are often guilty of doing. Lumping millions of Muslims into one convenient group they like to call terrorists.
Wolfie observed that Obama contradicted himself when in his speech he said he'd go after the bad guys who want to hurt America etc ( I'm paraphrasing here). Then later in his speech he said he'd reach out to the Muslim world. This is not a contradiction.

Muslims & terrorists are not the same thing.

Did Wolfie catch any heat for that ? What if he had implied the same about Blacks or Jews ?

Only in America can someone in a high ranking position go on television & say something so ignorant & no one even notice or care.

A brand new blog for a brand new day in America .... & the 1st day since my birth here 38 years ago that I can honestly say I consider myself an American.

Thanx Mr. Obama & thank you to all who supported him.

Let us begin to fulfill the promise of our Mothers & Fathers, Grandmothers & Grandfathers .... for our children's sake.