Tao’s 2 Cents

agree with Barack that getting rid of the gas tax isn’t going to do crap for us. All the oil companies will do is say, hey, now we can charge 6 cents more. I don’t necessarily agree that we need to develop alternative fuels, we need rearrange our lifestyles and change the fact that we need so many cars. Just the idea of a fuel to burn is wrong, even hydrogen is stupid. We’d be wasting energy converting electricity into a liquid form when we could just NOT turn it into hydrogen and save all of that energy. We don’t need alternative fuels, we need alternative energy and to be more efficient energy in general. We need to be smart. (sigh)

It’s not that great of an ad except for that last line. “And you thought no one could be worse than George Bush”, that kills me.

As of today I am officially in the black. I paid off the last of my school loans and have exactly $0 credit card debt. It’s a nice feeling let me tell you. I imagine it will especially nice when my next pay check rolls in and I know that I get to keep it all.

I feel lucky to have been able to do get rid of everything so quickly. I know that I didn’t have an excessive amount of debt, but that’s because I’ve always been wary about accruing it in the first place. Part of it is just my personality. I don’t like owing anyone anything.

That same eagerness to pay people back sometimes comes back to annoy me though. I guess when I pay people back quickly it makes them think that I don’t mind doing them favors. So those same people begin asking me for more favors, not necessarily money mind you, but favors nonetheless. I don’t mind doing them at first, but a lot of times it becomes habit for them and I start to feel used.

Inevitably I resist and they say, “but I’d do it for you” to which I think, “yes, but I wouldn’t ask you to do that for me in the first place”. I hardly ever ask anyone for favors except maybe my parents (I love you guys) because I don’t like owing anyone and I just like doing things for myself. I guess I just don’t like people owing me anything either, especially since most people don’t feel the same way about indebtedness as I do.

I believe that this guy, Richard Heinberg, is absolutely 100% right on the money. I haven’t seen someone sum up everything I’ve read this well yet and I’m so glad I found it. This is why I’d like to start an organic permaculture farm and live a sustainable lifestyle. After I get myself taken care of I want to start working on a local level around the farm to teach others and help the community work on larger community projects that can’t be done by individuals.

Anyway, watch these videos. They’re important. You may not want to hear it, but it may be the most important thing you’ve ever watched.

Click to continue reading this entry and view the other 5 parts to this talk.

Now I’m sure Obama has some skeletons in the closet, but Hillary has a cemetery.

Continue reading this post to watch Part 2.

Three main things happened that made my decision to support Obama and it’s not because he won Iowa, it’s HOW he won Iowa. I like him before, but wasn’t sure.

The first thing that happened chronologically was Dennis Kucinich, the smart man’s candidate, told the caucuses that if he wasn’t viable, i.e. he didn’t get the 15% necessary, to support Obama instead. That made me take a better look at his stand on the issues and I liked what I saw.

The second thing that made me believe was the turnout. Something like twice as many people showed up to vote in democratic primaries in Iowa than did last year. Those are people who are inspired.

The third thing which occurred to me last night was why the polls were so wrong about Obama in Iowa. It was supposed to be a 3 way tie with 30% all around, so where did Obama’s extra 7% come from?

I’ll tell you where. It came from the people that aren’t being included in polls. People with cell phones. So, who are people with cell phones? Young people. If he’s getting that kind of turnout among young people I think he has a real chance.

I don’t like Hillary because I think she’s sold out too much. I think she thought she had to do it to make it this far, and maybe she did. The other reason I don’t like her is that I think she wants to be president for the wrong reasons. I have no doubt she would be far better than any Republican, but is that really saying very much? She seems like she just wants the history of being the first woman president. Not to mention I just plain don’t believe her when she talks.

I believe Edwards more than Clinton, but he still just doesn’t have as much passion or believability as Obama does to me. There’s also the fact that I feel like he’s already has his shot and he blew it. Granted it wasn’t entirely his fault, but I want something completely different.

Obama does seem like he steals some plays from Martin Luther King’s play book. The way he talks in the souther preacher way, but I have to say, that’s a good play. It’s inspiring and the things he says seem timeless. I don’t get the feeling that most politicians speeches will be remembered through history, but I get that feeling with Obama’s speeches.

Anyway, I’m supporting him. I donated $50 last night and I’ll probably give more. Next week a group from Baltimore is driving down to South Carolina next week to canvassing and just helping out and I think I’m going to join them. I’m excited to finely know where I stand and have a direction to push.

I don’t actually read USA Today, but I found this just browsing around on ThinkProgress today. It’s a full-page ad that Amnesty International placed in the paper. I think the picture is phenomenal.

The purpose of the ad is to commemorate the one year anniversary of the Military Comissions Act, which essentially removed the right of habeas corpus. The bill was passed under the guise of “protecting us from terrorism”. In reality they’re just eroding the protections that many people have fought and died for…

As you may well be aware, the military regime of Burma(officially called “Union of Myanmar”) is in the process of crushing a popular democratic uprising led by the country’s Buddhist monks which was initially sparked by an increase in fuel prices and subsequent attack on monks protesting the drastic price increase. The military regime is Orwellianly known as the “State Peace and Development Council”.

In 1960, U(Mr.) Nu, was democratically elected for his third, non-consecutive term, as Prime Minister in a landslide victory. Two years later the head of the military, General Ne Win, led a coup d’etat and seized power. U Nu had been elected several times previously in the few elections the country had held since 1948, when Britain released them from colonial rule. U Nu had given up power before and was continually re-elected as a popular leader. His popularity stemmed from being head of the AFPFL which led the movement for independence from England…

I was watching a clip from Politically Incorrect the other night. Bill Maher was interviewing Robert Draper, the guy who wrote the biography about George Bush called “Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush”. The guy seemed to buy a lot of what Bush says and does but was critical of his stubborness. He said that Bush seemed to be waiting on things as if a miracle were going to occur.

Normally I would just chock that up to the idea that Bush thinks he’s literally God’s gift to the U.S. of A, but I suddenly had a minor epiphany. I started thinking about Bush’s life pre-presidency…

Tomorrow morning, September 15th, around 10 a.m. I’m heading down to meet up with thousands of anti-war protesters on the lawn in front of the White House. At around noon we’re marching to congress, supposedly in the hopes that this will influence them into some form of action.

I’m not convinced of the power of mass demonstrations, but I know that it certainly can’t be hurting. Agressive resource wars against foreign nations will never solve the problem that there simply isn’t enough cheap energy/oil in the world. We could and should be spending our money to find some other type of energy source…