My brother-in-law was talking Canadian politics last night and he told
me about the Liberal Party's "Green Shift" plan. He said it appears to
be the defining issue so far for the next election, with the
Conservatives frothing at the mouth in outrage at (and perhaps fear of)
the plan, and the Liberals casting the revenue-neutral plan (“For every
dollar raised in taxes there will be a dollar returned to Canadians in
tax cuts") as the solution to the economy, environment, and everything.
I haven't read the details of the plan yet, but it does sound like a
good direction to start thinking in, and the boiled-down soundbite is
pretty compelling: Tax things you want to discourage (pollution, waste)
and reduce taxes on things you want to encourage (income, innovation).
James Dobson doesn't speak for me.
He doesn't speak for me when he uses religion as a wedge to divide;
He doesn't speak for me when he speaks as the final arbiter on the meaning of the Bible...
Firefox 3 is available and most of my favorite extensions work with it. I love the new address bar "smart search" feature, and the new speed and memory improvements. Download it here.
The newest version of our favorite open source web browser, Mozilla Firefox 3,
offers dozens of new features and fixes, but only a handful will make
the most dramatic difference in your everyday browsing...Nearly everything in the
open-source app has gotten a second look from the minds at Mozilla,
from back buttons to bookmarks, address bars to add-ons, passwords to
performance, and the changes will make Firefox 3 worth the upgrade...Let's take a
look at the 10 best upgrades in Firefox 3, and how they'll bolster your
browsing...
Not long after I moved to the DC area, Janel and I joined a protest against the IMF and World Bank with some friends. (Our protest signs included classic phrases* such as "IMF'ing mad" and "There's no IMF in TEAM", and Dave played into stereotype by fashioning an off-topic sign that said "War is dumb") In explaining what we were protesting, it came down to the fact that we didn't think the neo-liberal economic agenda was going to benefit developing countries for a variety of reasons, but we aren't economists and didn't pretend that we could stand our own in a debate against anyone. (In fact, if any of the media that covered the event had happened to pull us aside for an interview, it's an open question as to whether we'd be able to produce a soundbite any better than the people Dave was stereotyping with his sign). Ha Joon Chang's latest book, Bad Samaritans, would have been a great help to us.
To piggyback on my earlier post about new politics, I just came across something that relates and which is a great step forward. I've worked with Tom Perriello briefly a few times in relation to some of the faith-based groups he has been instrumental in forming, and now he is running for Congress. He's working something very cool into his campaign: "The campaign will tithe 10% of
all its volunteer hours to community service projects around the
district." I love how this model begins to move politics from promises about what we will do after the election to also include examples of positive change and leadership here and now.
"I was raised to believe that a strong faith is a lived faith that must be made clear by our deeds. I want my campaign for Congress to reflect those same values," said Tom Perriello. "That is why we are asking our campaign team to commit 10% of their volunteer hours to local charities to reflect the value of service to community and to country."
A group of us have been leading a "Green Sunday School" class at church
for a number of weeks and last Sunday was the day for a friend and I. I
did a short introduction and Brian selected a few passages (from the
many choices available) to discuss in relation to consumption. Here's
the intro and the passages, although I didn't transcribe the discussion
itself, which was good.
I am sitting here watching the Democratic debate and recalled a thought
I have had a few times in regard to this political season, especially
in regard to the massive amounts of money raised and spent. It's
staggering to think of all the money that has been dumped into the
campaigns and then dumped into television ad buys and lawn signs (and
all the rest). I am an Obama supporter, and with all this talk of
change and a new kind of politics, I was kind of hoping for something
new, something changed in regard to the money situation -- something
beyond being able to raise a ton of it and spend it more or less in the
usual manner. (Granted, Obama gets points for not accepting money
from PACs and federal lobbyists).
My brother-in-law was talking Canadian politics last night and he told
me about the Liberal Party's "Green Shift" plan. He said it appears to
be the defining issue so far for the next election, with the
Conservatives frothing at the mouth in outrage at (and perhaps fear of)
the plan, and the Liberals casting the revenue-neutral plan (“For every
dollar raised in taxes there will be a dollar returned to Canadians in
tax cuts") as the solution to the economy, environment, and everything.
I haven't read the details of the plan yet, but it does sound like a
good direction to start thinking in, and the boiled-down soundbite is
pretty compelling: Tax things you want to discourage (pollution, waste)
and reduce taxes on things you want to encourage (income, innovation).
For whatever reason, 
Firefox 3 is available and most of my favorite extensions work with it. I love the new address bar "smart search" feature, and the new speed and memory improvements. 
Not long after I moved to the DC area, Janel and I joined a protest against the IMF and World Bank with some friends. (Our protest signs included classic phrases* such as "IMF'ing mad" and "There's no IMF in TEAM", and Dave played into stereotype by fashioning an off-topic sign that said "War is dumb") In explaining what we were protesting, it came down to the fact that we didn't think the neo-liberal economic agenda was going to benefit developing countries for a variety of reasons, but we aren't economists and didn't pretend that we could stand our own in a debate against anyone. (In fact, if any of the media that covered the event had happened to pull us aside for an interview, it's an open question as to whether we'd be able to produce a soundbite any better than the people Dave was stereotyping with his sign). Ha Joon Chang's latest book, Bad Samaritans, would have been a great help to us.
To piggyback on my 
A group of us have been leading a "Green Sunday School" class at church
for a number of weeks and last Sunday was the day for a friend and I. I
did a short introduction and Brian selected a few passages (from the
many choices available) to discuss in relation to consumption. Here's
the intro and the passages, although I didn't transcribe the discussion
itself, which was good.
I am sitting here watching the Democratic debate and recalled a thought
I have had a few times in regard to this political season, especially
in regard to the massive amounts of money raised and spent. It's
staggering to think of all the money that has been dumped into the
campaigns and then dumped into television ad buys and lawn signs (and
all the rest). I am an Obama supporter, and with all this talk of
change and a new kind of politics, I was kind of hoping for something
new, something changed in regard to the money situation -- something
beyond being able to raise a ton of it and spend it more or less in the
usual manner. (Granted, Obama gets points for not accepting money
from PACs and federal lobbyists).