Mankind Gets Audited for Earth Management

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Growing populations and expanding economic activity have strained the planet's ecosystems over the past half century, a trend that threatens international efforts to combat poverty and disease, a U.N.-sponsored study of the Earth's health warned on Wednesday.

The four-year, $24 million study — the largest-ever to show how people are changing their environment — found that humans had depleted 60 percent of the world's grasslands, forests, farmlands, rivers and lakes.

Unless nations adopt more eco-friendly policies, increased human demands for food, clean water and fuels could speed the disappearance of forests, fish and fresh water reserves and lead to more frequent disease outbreaks over the next 50 years, it said.

Happy Birthday, TestPattern

It's the second anniversary of TestPattern.org, and also the second anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq.

The good news is that although this site didn't exist two years ago, it now gets about 8,000 visitors a month, or about 20,000 hits. I can only hope that this trend continues as more people become aware of what is happening in the world today.

The bad news is that two years ago, not a single American soldier had been killed in Iraq, and now 1,700 US servicemen and women have been killed in combat, as many or more have been 'non-hostile' casualties, thousands have lost arms or legs, and more than 100,000 Iraqis have perished.

And for what? So that we would bring to justice those responsible for the attacks of 9/11? So that we would defend against possible attacks with weapons of mass destruction? So that we would spread freedom and democracy in the Middle East?

To paraphrase John Kerry, who will be the last American to die for Bush's mistake?

Free Speech Alive and Well in San Francisco

"I though about being annoyed for a second, then I thought I can't be annoyed. This is great. I wish it would go on for hours.

This city can be looked down on for being so left-wing, and that's unfortunate. People here just aren't as afraid as they are in the rest of the country."

-- Erin Thomas, firefighter, commenting on yesterday's anti-war march in San Francisco commemorating the two year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq

* * *
"I'm here to support the war. I think we need to show there's another viewpoint in San Francisco other than the liberal ideology that has a stranglehold on the area."

-- Lucia Vandenhof, San Francisco State student, who carried a sign that read "Liberals need to stop bitching! Get a life!!"

Hey Lucia, what is your major? I hope it's not political science or journalism. You see, that "bitching" you refer to is people exercising their constitutional right to free speech.

"Condoleezza Rice's Commanding Clothes"

from The Washington Post:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived at the Wiesbaden Army Airfield on Wednesday dressed all in black. She was wearing a black skirt that hit just above the knee, and it was topped with a black coat that fell to mid-calf. The coat, with its seven gold buttons running down the front and its band collar, called to mind a Marine's dress uniform or the "save humanity" ensemble worn by Keanu Reeves in "The Matrix."

As Rice walked out to greet the troops, the coat blew open in a rather swashbuckling way to reveal the top of a pair of knee-high boots. The boots had a high, slender heel that is not particularly practical. But it is a popular silhouette because it tends to elongate and flatter the leg. In short, the boots are sexy.

Someone ought to do a psychological study of Dr. Rice. What with her Freudian slip about George W being her husband and dressing more like a dominatrix than a diplomat, there should be enough material here for a good dissertation.

US Troops Fire on Freed Italian Journalist

"We weren't going very fast, given the circumstances. It was not a checkpoint, but a patrol that started firing right after lighting up a spotlight. The firing was not justified by the movement of our automobile."

"We thought that the danger was finished after my handover. Instead, suddenly, this shooting. A rain of fire came. Nicola folded himself on me probably to defend me and then he collapsed. I saw that he was dead. The shooting continued and the driver did not even have the opportunity to explain that we were Italian."

-- Giuliana Sgrena, Italian journalist who was abducted and held by Iraqi captors for one month

Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-NV) on Liberals and Liberty

"How would [Abraham Lincoln] feel, what would he be thinking about, all of the dissension, all of the division, that the liberals and a few others, including some of our movie stars and song makers, are trying to divide this country over its efforts to establish freedom and liberty in countries around the world?"

"We are all here tonight because men and women of the United States military have given their lives for our freedom. We are here tonight not because of Rosie O'Donnell, Martin Sheen, George Clooney, Jane Fonda or Phil Donahue - they never sacrificed their lives for us or for liberty."

"I say we tell those liberal, tree-hugging, Birkenstock-wearing, hippie, tie-dyed liberals to go make their movies and their music and whine somewhere else," Gibbons said to another burst of applause.

He said if they lived in Iraq or Afghanistan, "Ironically they would be put to death at the hands of Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden."

Gibbons brought the crowd to near feverish pitch when he hit the hot button issue of abortion.

"I want to know how these very people who are against war because of loss of life can possibly be the same people who are for abortion?" Gibbons said. "They are the same people who are for animal rights, but they are not for the rights of the unborn."

He said that they are the same people who wanted to go to Iraq and become human shields for the enemy.

"I say it's just too damn bad we didn't buy them a ticket," Gibbons said.

Laughter rippled through the room, mingled with more applause.

"If they want to be human shields, I say let them serve the men and women of honest integrity that epitomize courage and embody the spirit of freedom by wearing the proud uniform of the United States military," Gibbons said.

14 Year Jail Sentence for Iranian Blogger

I would like to welcome Jerry Brown, Mayor of Oakland, to the blogosphere. He wrote about imprisoned Iranian blogger Arash Sigarichi in a recent post.

Bloggers are a force. The established order of politics (EOP) and the MSM face a big challenge from this fearless army.  Tragically, in some countries, the challenge is met by enforced silence.

Arash Sigarchi, a 28-year-old journalist in Iran, has been sentenced to fourteen years in prison for criticizing the regime in his blog. Yesterday, the Committee to Protect Bloggers declared a day of action to support imprisoned bloggers everywhere.

I join in. We really need a powerful effort to make sure everyone knows and no one forgets Arash Sigarchi.

Regardless of political difference, we know that officials love to silence critics—even kill or imprison them. Journalists, bloggers, whoever raises the questions, must be defended. Everywhere.

As the Committee to Protect Bloggers notes, there are others besides Sigarichi, including Bahraini bloggers at Bahrain Online.