The New West

Residents of western U.S. states are not happy about the resource grab being attempted in the final months of the Bush-Cheney administration. This should be a signal to everyone that the color of national politics is changing.

MSNBC - Colorado, Wyoming battle Bush over oil shale

Do You Have No Decency Sir?

Via FactCheck.org - McCain Links Castro With Obama

Presidential Or Petty?

Can McCain be any less Presidential? You stay classy John McCain - keep doing things like this:

Saying Obama wants to lose and/or surrender the war (See: McCain says Obama has long wanted to "surrender" in Iraq and McCain abandons decency, sense of propriety)

Complain about the press coverage of Obama when you didn't invite the media on your Iraq trip (See: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/mccain-complain.html)
[or just search for "McCain complains"]

Making fun of reporters covering his campaign (See: McCain Talks Domestic Issues On 'JV' Press Tour)

Call Obama 'The One' (as in Neo from The Matrix) (See: McCain's blind spot on Iraq, Vietnam)

Joke about killing Iranian civilians (See: McCain jokes about killing Iranians with cigarettes)

Joke about a woman getting raped (See: McCain Ape Rape Joke Recalled By Sources)

Recession? Yes. Depression? Possibly.

Bad news for the optimists today. Links from SeekingAlpha:

Does Anyone Still Believe There Is No Recession?
Some excerpts:

• Not just GM (GM) and Ford (F), but mighty Toyota (TM) warns of lower 2008 vehicle sales

• JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon: (JPM) “Our expectation is for the economic environment to continue to be weak – and to likely get weaker – and for the capital markets to remain under stress…

• What about Apple (AAPL) -- they continue to do well? They have been -- but even the iPod/iPhone maker is expecting a consumer slowdown: Thinner profit margins, more discounting, diminished profitability through the rest of 2008 and into the following year.

• American Express (AXP): The credit card company said that even its most creditworthy, long-standing customers felt the effects of the economic slowdown that's currently sweeping the U.S. "With bad debt occurring even in the superprime card segment, AmEx's earnings clearly show that the credit crisis is going upscale, which does not bode well for the U.S. economy."

• We have Oil Prices falling -- the knee jerk response was optimism -- but that misses the big picture. Its not difficult to explain, it's merely cooling global demand courtesy of a US-induced global slowdown.

• UPS: Earnings fell 18.3% per share -- and that was after UPS issued a profit warning (June 23) -- its second in two quarters.

• Costco Warns on Profit As Inflation Clouds Outlook: COST was supposed to be one of the firms that was going to thrive on a recession.

• Caterpillar: Despite good overseas earnings, Caterpillar (CAT) CEO Jim Owens cited "softening'' in Japan and Western Europe. The U.S. may find it hard "to avoid a recession." CAT sees further employment declines, no sign of housing recovery, and expects non-residential building to soften further. North America will be its weakest region.

• Beige Book: Describes the economy as having 'slowed.'

• Pawn shops are booming

Home declined in June, number of available houses increased.

Apple: Economy Is Depressed

The Company’s operations and performance depend significantly on worldwide economic conditions and their impact on levels of consumer spending, which have recently deteriorated significantly in many countries and regions, including without limitation the United States, and may remain depressed for the foreseeable future.

Him?

Rough times for John McCain:

- he refers to Czechoslovakia; again.
- he said Iraq and Pakistan share a border.
- he supports Obama's plan for Afghanistan
- his ad blaming Obama directly for gas prices is being widely ridiculed and made fun of
- President Bush and PM al-Maliki are supporting Obama's idea of a timeline for troop withdrawals from Iraq

Evolutionary Explanation For Pregnancy Related Nausea

PhysOrg - Pregnant women get morning sickness to protect fetus

"...nausea and vomiting in pregnancy is beneficial by expelling such foods as meat and strong-tasting vegetables that historically and still may contain harmful toxins and microorganisms that could potentially sicken the woman and damage her fetus just when its organs are developing and are most vulnerable to chemicals,"

The Seiche Presents A Seiche

Chicago had a seiche warning July 2nd. See: Seiche Warning for Chicago

There's also a time lapse video of the seiche.

The Other Side Of Peak Oil

SeekingAlpha - Why Are Oil Prices So High? Gold Solves the Riddle

...the price of crude oil is high and rising primarily due to the 'goldless' USD losing its purchasing power, and secondarily due to the strong global demand for oil. That is why the same single barrel of oil that cost only $23 in January 1991 costs over $140 in July 2008...

Perhaps the riddle that the average American should be trying to solve has less to do with the price of oil going up and more to do with the purchasing power of the USD going down. The real questions that Americans should be asking are:

-Why is the USD losing so much purchasing power?

-Why are our elected representatives in Washington, D.C. failing so badly in their constitutional mandate (Article 1, Section 8, “The Congress shall have power…to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures…”) to provide We the People with a stable currency -- a currency 'as good as gold', or at least a currency the supply of which is actively managed by the Fed to maintain the currency’s value within a narrow range of gold ounce prices?

-Why do We the People continue to elect representatives who think nothing of devaluing our currency through profligate printing and spending, rendering us all poorer and poorer as time goes by?

-When will "We the People" say 'enough is enough' and finally elect representatives who will honor their constitutional mandate to provide all Americans with a stable U.S. dollar?

If Loving You Is Wrong Then I Don't Want To Be Right

IHT - Prefer dogs to humans? You're not alone (or unbalanced)

"There are whole segments of the population that prefer being in the company of dogs than people, and I'm not sure that's such a negative thing," said Joel Gavriele-Gold, a psychoanalyst in private practice in Manhattan and the author of "When Pets Come Between Partners."

"We Can Ignore Reality, We Cannot Ignore The Consequences Of Ignoring Reality"

(to paraphrase Ms. Rand)

If you drain wetlands you get more severe flooding.

See these CS Monitor stories:
Why flooding worsens

Better buffer than levees

Wilderness

WaPo - Congress Pushes to Keep Land Untamed

With little fanfare, Congress has embarked on a push to protect as many as a dozen pristine areas this year in places ranging from the glacier-fed streams of the Wild Sky Wilderness here to West Virginia's Monongahela National Forest. By the end of the year, conservation experts predict, this drive could place as much as 2 million acres of unspoiled land under federal control, a total that rivals the wilderness acreage set aside by Congress over the previous five years.

Meanwhile, fatties in Michigan want less wilderness at Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore so they can drive to more places in the park.

Find Experts At Miami U

Via the News and Public Information Office - Miami Experts.

Maps Of Tree Species Range Maps

Amazing resource from the USGS. PDF maps of the native ranges of all North American tree species.

Digital Representations of Tree Species Range Maps from "Atlas of United States Trees" by Elbert L. Little, Jr. (and other publications)

Convert Your Car

Sure, you could convert your car to a hybrid for less than $8000 (see: New kits can turn your car into a hybrid), but why?

But for that price (based on when I contacted them a few years ago about my Volvo 740) you could swap to a diesel via the Green Car Company.

You Didn't Know Bush Was A 'Man Of Peace'?

See TimesOnlineUK - President Bush regrets his legacy as man who wanted war

This Is Why I Associated The Word "Payback" With Clinton

It would've been a payback presidency.

IHT - Those loyal to the Clintons take note of those who were not

I Knew It

BBC - Big breakfast 'aids weight loss'