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.

This is phenomenal. Put a price on carbon!

Gore is passionate, convincing and inspiring. Now I understand what he’s going to do with his new ad campaign. I’m going carbon neutral. I want a footprint so light you can’t make it out in the sand. I want to be a part of the hero generation. Let’s save this planet people!

By the way, you should definitely check out more of the TED talks. They have amazing speakers that give really interesting presentations, performances, etc.

We’re being nickeled and dimed. It’s the oldest trick in the book.

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.

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.

After writing my previous post about Burma I decided I really wanted to do something. The next day while I was cutting my hair(yes, I cut my own hair), I was looking at my head and thinking about the monks shaved heads. It dawned on me that shaving my heads in solidarity with the Buddhist monks would be a good way to do something. It turned out I was right, I probably had several dozen conversations about my head and Burma. I think I raised a lot of awareness.

When I got the e-mail from the U.S. Campaign for Burma people about the rally in Washington, D.C. I decided to go for it. I spent the few days before the protest thinking about what I wanted to put on my sign and I finally got the idea after seeing an illustration of the Olympic rings with a bullet hole for the last ring…

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…