SLICK DOGS AND PONIES: OUT 1/29/2008
yeahhhhhhhh!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Monday, November 05, 2007
I Am REALLY Proud
Anyone who knows me knows that for the most part I feel like I am living on the footsteps of hell here in Georgia. Stereotypes, traffic, weird accents, you name it, I complain about it. We moved here because of a job transfer and are always looking for the right opportunity to move back out.
But today things are little different. Today I can forget about the smog, the bad traffic, the poor planning and leadership that has led us to a record breaking water crisis and I can sit back and I smile at my fellow Georgians.
See, there is this radio station called Q100 and their morning show, The Bert Show, had this crazy idea about 3 weeks ago that we should get together and write thank you notes for all of the military who are overseas and will be away from their families and friends at Thanksgiving. The premise was simple: the holidays suck when you aren't at home. So let's try to bring a little bit of home to our troops.
They figured out that there are currently 375,000 people deployed all over the world. They put the word out and local restuarant chain, Taco Mac, volunteered their restuarants as a drop-off point for the letters and a wharehouse and their employees to sort and ship the letters off. Pitney Bowes stepped in and offered to cover the complete cost of mailing the letters.
Originally the deadline for the letters was Friday, October 26th. On Tuesday, the 30th, they announced that they had received 300,000 letters. Incredible. But not incredible enough. We needed one letter for EVERY service member. So the call went out again: keep writing, keep bringing your letters to Taco Mac until Friday, November 2nd.
This morning they announced that not only did they get the 75,000 letters that they needed, they had more. Now we had extras in case some don't make it, or to send letters to our service men and women who are stateside, but still far from their homes.
The residents of the state of Georgia got together and wrote more than 375,000 letters with no political agenda, no say over where their letters went and no expectation of a response. Georgians wrote more than 375,000 letters for our service men and women just to say thanks.
Wow doesn't even begin to cover it.
Thanks Georgia. I won't be so hard on you now. Today, I am proud to be a resident.
And for the record, yes. I wrote letters and dropped them off at Taco Mac.
Thank you to every member of the military. Because of you I have the freedom to write this post. Stay safe, have a happy Thanksgiving and I hope you get to come home soon. Oh, when you get back home, come on down to Georgia. It's actually pretty nice here.
--E
But today things are little different. Today I can forget about the smog, the bad traffic, the poor planning and leadership that has led us to a record breaking water crisis and I can sit back and I smile at my fellow Georgians.
See, there is this radio station called Q100 and their morning show, The Bert Show, had this crazy idea about 3 weeks ago that we should get together and write thank you notes for all of the military who are overseas and will be away from their families and friends at Thanksgiving. The premise was simple: the holidays suck when you aren't at home. So let's try to bring a little bit of home to our troops.
They figured out that there are currently 375,000 people deployed all over the world. They put the word out and local restuarant chain, Taco Mac, volunteered their restuarants as a drop-off point for the letters and a wharehouse and their employees to sort and ship the letters off. Pitney Bowes stepped in and offered to cover the complete cost of mailing the letters.
Originally the deadline for the letters was Friday, October 26th. On Tuesday, the 30th, they announced that they had received 300,000 letters. Incredible. But not incredible enough. We needed one letter for EVERY service member. So the call went out again: keep writing, keep bringing your letters to Taco Mac until Friday, November 2nd.
This morning they announced that not only did they get the 75,000 letters that they needed, they had more. Now we had extras in case some don't make it, or to send letters to our service men and women who are stateside, but still far from their homes.
The residents of the state of Georgia got together and wrote more than 375,000 letters with no political agenda, no say over where their letters went and no expectation of a response. Georgians wrote more than 375,000 letters for our service men and women just to say thanks.
Wow doesn't even begin to cover it.
Thanks Georgia. I won't be so hard on you now. Today, I am proud to be a resident.
And for the record, yes. I wrote letters and dropped them off at Taco Mac.
Thank you to every member of the military. Because of you I have the freedom to write this post. Stay safe, have a happy Thanksgiving and I hope you get to come home soon. Oh, when you get back home, come on down to Georgia. It's actually pretty nice here.
--E
Monday, October 22, 2007
Save the Planet: Vote Smart
October 21, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist New York Times
Save the Planet: Vote Smart
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
People often ask: I want to get greener, what should I do? New light bulbs? A hybrid? A solar roof? Well, all of those things are helpful. But actually, the greenest thing you can do is this: Choose the right leaders. It is so much more important to change your leaders than change your light bulbs.
Why? Because leaders write the rules, set the standards and offer the tax incentives that drive market behavior across a whole city, state or country. Whatever any of us does individually matters a tiny bit. But when leaders change the rules, you get scale change across the whole marketplace. And the energy-climate challenge we face today is a huge scale problem. Without scale, all you have is a green hobby.
Have no illusions, everything George Bush wouldn’t do on energy after 9/11 — his resisting improved mileage for cars and actually trying to weaken air-conditioner standards — swamped any good works you did. Fortunately, the vacuum in the White House is being filled by leaders from below.
Take the New York City taxi story. Two years ago, David Yassky, a City Council member, sat down with one of his backers, Jack Hidary, a technology entrepreneur, to brainstorm about how to make New York City greener — at scale. For starters, they checked with the Taxi and Limousine Commission to see what it would take to replace the old gas-guzzling Crown Victoria yellow cabs, which get around 10 miles a gallon, with better-mileage, low-emission hybrids. Great idea, only it turned out to be illegal, thanks to some old size regulations designed to favor Crown Vics.
Recalled Mr. Hidary: “When they first told me, I said, ‘Are you serious? Illegal?’” So he formed a nonprofit called SmartTransportation.org to help Mr. Yassky lobby the City Council to change the laws to permit hybrid taxis. They also reframed it as a health issue, with the help of Louise Vetter, president of the American Lung Association of the City of New York.
“New York City has among the dirtiest air in the U.S.,” Ms. Vetter said. “When it comes to ozone and particulate matter, New Yorkers are breathing very unhealthy air. Most of it is tailpipe emissions. And in New York City, where asthma rates are among the highest in the nation, the high ozone levels create very serious threats, especially for kids who spend a lot of time outdoors. Converting cabs from yellow to green would be a great gift to the city’s children.”
Matt Daus, who heads the taxi commission, which is independent of the mayor, was initially reluctant, but once he learned of the health and other benefits, he joined forces with Messrs. Yassky and Hidary, and the measure passed the City Council by 50 to 0 on June 30, 2005. Since then, more than 500 taxi drivers have converted to hybrids — mostly Ford Escapes, but also Toyota Highlanders and Priuses, and others.
On May 22, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of the greenest mayors in America, decided to push even further, insisting on a new rule, which the taxi commission has to approve, that will not just permit but require all cabs — 13,000 in all — to be hybrids or other low-emission vehicles that get at least 30 miles a gallon, within five years.
“When it comes to health and safety and environmental issues, government should be setting standards,” the mayor said. “What you need are leaders who are willing to push for standards that are in society’s long-term interest.” When the citizens see the progress, Mr. Bloomberg added, “then they start to lead.” And this encourages leaders to seek even higher standards.
I asked Evgeny Freidman, a top New York City fleet operator, how he liked the hybrids: “Absolutely fabulous! We started out with 18, and now we have over 200, mostly Ford Escapes. Now we only put hybrids out there. The drivers are demanding them and the public is demanding them. It has been great economically. With gas prices as they are, the drivers are saving $30 dollars a shift.” He said drivers who were getting 7 to 10 miles a gallon from their Crown Vics were getting 25 to 30 from their hybrids. The cost of shifting to these hybrids, he added, has not been onerous.
Now Mr. Hidary is trying to get law firms and investment banks, which use gas-guzzling Town Cars — 12,000 in the city — to demand hybrid sedans only.
This is how scale change happens. When the Big Apple becomes the Green Apple, and 40 million tourists come through every year and take at least one hybrid cab ride, they’ll go back home and ask their leaders, “Why don’t we have hybrid cabs?”
So if you want to be a green college kid or a green adult, don’t fool yourself: You can change lights. You can change cars. But if you don’t change leaders, your actions are nothing more than an expression of, as Dick Cheney would say, “personal virtue.
Op-Ed Columnist New York Times
Save the Planet: Vote Smart
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
People often ask: I want to get greener, what should I do? New light bulbs? A hybrid? A solar roof? Well, all of those things are helpful. But actually, the greenest thing you can do is this: Choose the right leaders. It is so much more important to change your leaders than change your light bulbs.
Why? Because leaders write the rules, set the standards and offer the tax incentives that drive market behavior across a whole city, state or country. Whatever any of us does individually matters a tiny bit. But when leaders change the rules, you get scale change across the whole marketplace. And the energy-climate challenge we face today is a huge scale problem. Without scale, all you have is a green hobby.
Have no illusions, everything George Bush wouldn’t do on energy after 9/11 — his resisting improved mileage for cars and actually trying to weaken air-conditioner standards — swamped any good works you did. Fortunately, the vacuum in the White House is being filled by leaders from below.
Take the New York City taxi story. Two years ago, David Yassky, a City Council member, sat down with one of his backers, Jack Hidary, a technology entrepreneur, to brainstorm about how to make New York City greener — at scale. For starters, they checked with the Taxi and Limousine Commission to see what it would take to replace the old gas-guzzling Crown Victoria yellow cabs, which get around 10 miles a gallon, with better-mileage, low-emission hybrids. Great idea, only it turned out to be illegal, thanks to some old size regulations designed to favor Crown Vics.
Recalled Mr. Hidary: “When they first told me, I said, ‘Are you serious? Illegal?’” So he formed a nonprofit called SmartTransportation.org to help Mr. Yassky lobby the City Council to change the laws to permit hybrid taxis. They also reframed it as a health issue, with the help of Louise Vetter, president of the American Lung Association of the City of New York.
“New York City has among the dirtiest air in the U.S.,” Ms. Vetter said. “When it comes to ozone and particulate matter, New Yorkers are breathing very unhealthy air. Most of it is tailpipe emissions. And in New York City, where asthma rates are among the highest in the nation, the high ozone levels create very serious threats, especially for kids who spend a lot of time outdoors. Converting cabs from yellow to green would be a great gift to the city’s children.”
Matt Daus, who heads the taxi commission, which is independent of the mayor, was initially reluctant, but once he learned of the health and other benefits, he joined forces with Messrs. Yassky and Hidary, and the measure passed the City Council by 50 to 0 on June 30, 2005. Since then, more than 500 taxi drivers have converted to hybrids — mostly Ford Escapes, but also Toyota Highlanders and Priuses, and others.
On May 22, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of the greenest mayors in America, decided to push even further, insisting on a new rule, which the taxi commission has to approve, that will not just permit but require all cabs — 13,000 in all — to be hybrids or other low-emission vehicles that get at least 30 miles a gallon, within five years.
“When it comes to health and safety and environmental issues, government should be setting standards,” the mayor said. “What you need are leaders who are willing to push for standards that are in society’s long-term interest.” When the citizens see the progress, Mr. Bloomberg added, “then they start to lead.” And this encourages leaders to seek even higher standards.
I asked Evgeny Freidman, a top New York City fleet operator, how he liked the hybrids: “Absolutely fabulous! We started out with 18, and now we have over 200, mostly Ford Escapes. Now we only put hybrids out there. The drivers are demanding them and the public is demanding them. It has been great economically. With gas prices as they are, the drivers are saving $30 dollars a shift.” He said drivers who were getting 7 to 10 miles a gallon from their Crown Vics were getting 25 to 30 from their hybrids. The cost of shifting to these hybrids, he added, has not been onerous.
Now Mr. Hidary is trying to get law firms and investment banks, which use gas-guzzling Town Cars — 12,000 in the city — to demand hybrid sedans only.
This is how scale change happens. When the Big Apple becomes the Green Apple, and 40 million tourists come through every year and take at least one hybrid cab ride, they’ll go back home and ask their leaders, “Why don’t we have hybrid cabs?”
So if you want to be a green college kid or a green adult, don’t fool yourself: You can change lights. You can change cars. But if you don’t change leaders, your actions are nothing more than an expression of, as Dick Cheney would say, “personal virtue.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Results of Faith Based Legislation
From today's New York Times
October 18, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
Abstinence 1, S-Chip 0
By AMANDA ROBB
DEMOCRATIC leaders are right to contest President Bush’s veto of their bill to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance program. But sadly, their “bipartisan compromise” will leave millions of young Americans vulnerable to sickness and suffering of the most preventable kind.
To entice Republicans to support the bill, the House of Representatives agreed to increase money for abstinence-only sex education by $28 million, to a total of about $200 million a year. Abstinence-only courses, the only form of federally financed sex ed, teach that sexual activity outside of marriage is likely to cause psychological and physical harm.
If that were true, our health care system would be not only broken, but besieged. A 2002 survey found that 93 percent of American adults had had premarital sex by the age of 30.
In addition to provoking shame about a nearly universal activity, abstinence-only sex education is ineffective and dangerous. Last April, a 10-year study found that students who took abstinence-only courses were no more likely to abstain from sex than other students. Previous studies revealed that abstinence-only students avoid using contraception.
Programs in public schools teach patently false information like “the chances of getting pregnant with a condom are one out of six” and H.I.V. “may be in your body for a long time (from a few months to as long as 10 years or more) before it can be detected.”
The results are tragic. The United States has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the developed world (about the same as Ukraine’s), and the highest abortion rate in the Western world. Sexually transmitted infections like syphilis and gonorrhea are on the rise for the first time since the 1980s, and chlamydia is being diagnosed twice as often as it was a decade ago.
Among Americans living in poverty — those who might see the $4 price of a three-pack of condoms as the take-home pay for an hour of work at minimum wage — the unintended pregnancy rate has increased 30 percent since 1994.
Our teenage pregnancy and abortion rates have declined during the last decade, but research suggests this is mainly because of increased use of condoms, something young people must learn about outside of school.
By dropping the financing for abstinence-only sex ed, Congress could save enough money to insure 150,000 children a year. And it would also demonstrate much needed resolve to protect all aspects of children’s health.
Amanda Robb is at work on a book about the abstinence movement.
October 18, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
Abstinence 1, S-Chip 0
By AMANDA ROBB
DEMOCRATIC leaders are right to contest President Bush’s veto of their bill to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance program. But sadly, their “bipartisan compromise” will leave millions of young Americans vulnerable to sickness and suffering of the most preventable kind.
To entice Republicans to support the bill, the House of Representatives agreed to increase money for abstinence-only sex education by $28 million, to a total of about $200 million a year. Abstinence-only courses, the only form of federally financed sex ed, teach that sexual activity outside of marriage is likely to cause psychological and physical harm.
If that were true, our health care system would be not only broken, but besieged. A 2002 survey found that 93 percent of American adults had had premarital sex by the age of 30.
In addition to provoking shame about a nearly universal activity, abstinence-only sex education is ineffective and dangerous. Last April, a 10-year study found that students who took abstinence-only courses were no more likely to abstain from sex than other students. Previous studies revealed that abstinence-only students avoid using contraception.
Programs in public schools teach patently false information like “the chances of getting pregnant with a condom are one out of six” and H.I.V. “may be in your body for a long time (from a few months to as long as 10 years or more) before it can be detected.”
The results are tragic. The United States has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the developed world (about the same as Ukraine’s), and the highest abortion rate in the Western world. Sexually transmitted infections like syphilis and gonorrhea are on the rise for the first time since the 1980s, and chlamydia is being diagnosed twice as often as it was a decade ago.
Among Americans living in poverty — those who might see the $4 price of a three-pack of condoms as the take-home pay for an hour of work at minimum wage — the unintended pregnancy rate has increased 30 percent since 1994.
Our teenage pregnancy and abortion rates have declined during the last decade, but research suggests this is mainly because of increased use of condoms, something young people must learn about outside of school.
By dropping the financing for abstinence-only sex ed, Congress could save enough money to insure 150,000 children a year. And it would also demonstrate much needed resolve to protect all aspects of children’s health.
Amanda Robb is at work on a book about the abstinence movement.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
He Puts the DUH in Dubya
"Americans cannot look to the plight of the religiously oppressed and close our eyes or turn away," Bush said.
Mr. Bush, is it not a form of oppression when you enact legislation that enforces right wing Christian views and penalizes those of us who do not share the same religion?
Mr. Bush, is it not a form of oppression when you enact legislation that enforces right wing Christian views and penalizes those of us who do not share the same religion?
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Radiohead
I've never been into them. Until now.
In Rainbows is the best album I've heard since Year Zero.
It's to the point where as soon as the album is over, I immediately pine for it again.
It's that good.
In Rainbows is the best album I've heard since Year Zero.
It's to the point where as soon as the album is over, I immediately pine for it again.
It's that good.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Paul Riekhoff
IS AWESOME. What a stand up dude. I wrote to him and the guy wrote me back! AND, He's sending me an autographed copy of his great book, Chasing Ghosts. YAY! And, yeah, alright, I'll admit it. He ain't too hard on the eyes. That's not what I like him, but it's a fringe benefit. He makes our generation look good, and boy, sometimes I think we need that with Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan and Steve-O running around.
p.s. the photo is from Details magazine. Huzzah.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
We're sophisticated...
ok, not really, but now you can get us in your favorite RSS reader. Yeah!
Paste this URL in your reader and you know how the rest works:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/rockchicks
Paste this URL in your reader and you know how the rest works:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/rockchicks
Monday, July 02, 2007
OBAMA! '08! OH YEAH!
Mr. Obama left Hillary in the dust with fundraising. And the best part? It was all grassroots, from NO SIG's, NO PAC's, NO lobbyists. Just normal everyday folks like you and me. 258,000 of them. Clinton got most of her donations from holdovers from Bill. She would sink like a lead balloon without his popularity bouying her up. I sincerely hope Obama wins the nomination. I think his numbers speak to how much people ache for change and are tired of the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton dynasties.
As Elaine says, BARACK THE CASBAH!
Anyone that can bring Juanita and Pequita together on common political ground deserves to be president.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
OBAMA '08 WALK FOR CHANGE
We had so much fun! Rock on Cityplace! We gave out TONS of stickers and talked to people. Fun for all.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
I HEART PAUL
Paul McCartney has a new album out called "Memory Almost Full" and it is AMAZING. McCartney has definitely not lost his ability to create beautiful music, and music that rocks for that matter, even though he's almost 65 years old. Sometimes I feel dirty being so crazy about a man twice my age. Oh well. I love Bruce too and Elaine loves Joe Perry, so I guess we are all guilty of it. On the other spectrum, I also have a thing for Daniel Radcliffe. heh heh.
Anywho, If you get a minute, go to iTunes and sample "Nod Your Head," and visit his REALLY cool flash website.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
YEAR ZERO IS OUT!
There are not enough words in my vocabulary to describe how much I love Year Zero. It is so pissed off and so filled with hooks. It's like Trent went inside my own mind and accessed the part of my brain that files away how I feel about the way things are in the world, and he took those feelings and turned them into music. It's so scathing towards Bush and rampant capitalism and war and on and on. Trent is PISSED. AND HE'S SO FREAKING SEXY. Sheesh. How hot can one man get? I thought he was hot in high school 12 years (yipe) ago, but he looks a million times better now. Sobriety also allowed him to release TWO albums in as many years. TWO! TWOOOOOOO! AND a DVD!!!! sighhhhh... p.s. listen to the CD with headphones. You won't regret it. heh heh.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
YEAR ZERO
My secret husband, Mr. Trent Reznor, just released two singles from the new album, Year Zero (OUT APRIL 17!!). I'm not that crazy about "survivalism," it's OK, but I LOOOOVE "My violent heart." Wow. It's...really...really...good. I'm so happy. It's on his myspace page if you want to take a listen. I suggest it.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
The State of the Union is Melancholy.
There have been 3,309 coalition deaths -- 3,056 Americans, two Australians, 130 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, six Danes, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Fijian, one Hungarian, 32 Italians, one Kazakh, three Latvian, 18 Poles, two Romanians, five Salvadoran, four Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians -- in the war in Iraq as of January 22, 2007, according to a CNN count. (Graphical breakdown of casualties). The list below is the names of the soldiers, Marines, airmen, sailors and Coast Guardsmen whose deaths have been reported by their country's governments. The list also includes seven employees of the U.S. Defense Department. At least 22,951 U.S. troops have been wounded in action, according to the Pentagon.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
It's a WINDFALL!
Trent is putting out a DVD on February 27th AND..
a NEW CD ON APRIL 17th!!!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He had to fight with the record company to get this album put out, because supposedly it's the hardest CD he's ever put out, at least according to a DJ on Sirius. I CAN'T WAIT!
I'm giddy!
a NEW CD ON APRIL 17th!!!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He had to fight with the record company to get this album put out, because supposedly it's the hardest CD he's ever put out, at least according to a DJ on Sirius. I CAN'T WAIT!
I'm giddy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
