Secret to Peace

In one of our meetings, someone asked if there ever was a case when diplomacy ever stopped a major conflict. Of course there must have been, but we seldom hear of successful diplomacy. Here is a TED talk about how mediators help to resolve conflicts. The talk starts talking about conflicts in general, and then focuses the conflicts in the Middle East.

WH Petition Makes News

At today's meeting, I mentioned that a gun control petition at the White House site had 130,000 signatures. It now has 158,000 and has become the site's most popular petition ever. The petition is generating it own news buzz, HERE. Of course there are competing and complementary petitions, but none of them have come close in the signature tally.

The WH Petition site has been misused recently with petitions for Texas secession and the Deathstar. But with the Sandy Hook tragedy, the site has become a serious platform for change. Gun control advocates are trying to get as many signatures as possible to send politicians a message.

If you feel need to have you opinion counted, you are encouraged to sign he gun control petition or one of the competing petitions at the site. If you have trouble registering, you can email me for help.

Fracking Explained

We hear about both the promise and dangers of fracking. It could give us energy independance or destroy our water supply, or both. We know that the experts have their own agenda so they cannot be fully trusted, but we have the Internet to find out the facts. Here is a video which explains the fracking process.



The video was from this website which is trying to convince the public that fracking is safe. Here they explain what is in the controversial fracking fluids.

But there are still dangers as explained on this website. The web offers us a way understand the currents issues far better than listening to the screaming heads on TV.

Sandy's Aftermath

Hurricane Sandy has brought home the crisis we are facing due to climate change. There are some law makers who have taken this as a wakeup call, but their efforts are being ignored by main stream media. Well we at least have C-SPAN which will report anything. Here is the hearing conducted by Senator Barbara Boxer about the impact of Sandy.

The hearing is long so here is a spoiler. Boxer received testimony from Senators and Congressmen from the affected states, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Connecticut, mostly Democrats but a few Republicans. They reported how their states were devastated, but that the areas protected by Army Corp of Engineers fared much better. Many Democrats, but no Republicans, linked the super-storm to climate change. Boxer said that she will introduce a new water works bill. The incoming Republican Ranking Member, David Vitter, has pledged cooperation. Oddly enough, the main impediment was the new rule against earmarks which was the main way waterworks were funded. Boxer thinks that she has a way around that problem.

The current Republican Ranking Member, James Inhofe, known for saying that Global Warming was a hoax, was not present at the meeting.