Billions of tons of water rushing toward Sri Lanka at 500 mph.

My mind can�t even wrap around what that must have been like.

And the long-term repercussions won�t be known for quite some time.

There is something we can do, though. We can help.

Forgo the coffee this week and instead send that money to relief organizations. Coffee isn�t good for you, anyway, so you�ll be doing yourself a favor, as well as helping those in desperate need.

*

Good News of the Day:

It is home to 850,000 King Peguins. So when Antarctica was hit with an 8.1 earthquake -- strongest quake in four years, at the time -- many feared of the havoc on the penguin habitat. Much to everyone's surprise, all the Penguins had moved to safety the day before!

~~~

�Man has always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much -- the wheel, New York, wars and so on -- while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins have always believed that they were far more intelligent than man ... for precisely the same reason.�
--Douglas Adams

~~~

Media Matters for America is a media watch-dog group, intent on shining light on the myriad of misinformation we are subjected to in today�s news media. While the information they supply is indeed depressing, frustrating and irritating, it is much-needed and I urge you all to check out the page and/or sign up for email notifications of the lies we are being fed through the media.

Media Matters is a non-partisan page, by the way�but it should be no surprise no anyone that most of the misinformation being shoved our way comes by way of The Right.

Here are the Top Ten Most Outrageous Statements of 2004, according to Media Matters for America:

Here are the Top Ten most outrageous statements we have heard this year from members of the media. From anti-Semitic comments and attacks on women, gays, and lesbians to reprehensible acceptance of the Abu Ghraib prisoner torture, these statements are acutely representative of the conservative hate speech we found in the news media:

� Rush Limbaugh on the Abu Ghraib photos: "I'm talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You ever heard of need to blow some steam off?"
� Ann Coulter: "[Senator John] Kerry will improve the economy in the emergency services and body bag industry."
� Tony Blankley called philanthropist George Soros "a Jew who figured out a way to survive the Holocaust."
� Michael Savage: "When you hear 'human rights,' think gays. ... [T]hink only one thing: someone who wants to rape your son."
� Oliver North: "Every terrorist out there is hoping John Kerry is the next president of the United States."
� Pat Robertson on gays and lesbians: "[S]elf-absorbed hedonists ... that want to impose their particular sexuality on the rest of America."
� Pat Buchanan: "[H]omosexuality is an affliction, like alcoholism."
� Bill O'Reilly to Jewish caller: "[I]f you are really offended, you gotta go to Israel."
� Bill Cunningham (Clear Channel radio host who appeared as a guest on The Sean Hannity Show): The election is over because "Elizabeth Edwards has now sung."
� Jerry Falwell: "And we're going to invite PETA [to "wild game night"] as our special guest, P-E-T-A -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. We want you to come, we're going to give you a top seat there, so you can sit there and suffer. This is one of my special groups, another one's the ACLU, another is the NOW -- the National Order of Witches [sic]. We've got -- I've got a lot of special groups."

Posted to the web on Thursday December 23, 2004 at 12:12 PM EST

~~~

Check out the 2004 National Environmental Scorecard from the League of Conservation Voters and get the truth. How did your Representative and Senators score?

� Download the Scorecard and read about the issues, like energy policy, forest protection, and national parks and check the scores of your Senators and member of Congress.
� Take Action to let your representatives know how you feel about their votes.

What you�ll find in this year�s Scorecard (among other things):

� Powerful House Chairmen Joe Barton of Texas and Richard Pombo of California try to shortcut the permitting process for refineries and skirt environmental reviews.
� House Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri attempts to use high gas prices as an excuse to suspend the requirement for cleaner burning fuels.
� Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin asks Congress to reduce the tax cut for people who make over $1 million a year and restore $825 million in cuts to natural resource and environment programs.

*

Also, rather than berate you all with the numerous, various, nefarious ways in which Bush and his flunkies have further fucked our planet over since he won re-election, I point you to the NRDC, which takes a look at the major environmental battles and outcomes as of the adjournment of the 108th Congress and takes a look ahead to the 109th.

*

And I found this bit from Grist Magazine to be�amusing? Odd? Wacko?

AT LAST, AN EVIL WORLDWIDE CABAL OF OUR OWN
Crichton thriller denies climate change; world fails to laugh at him

Popular author Michael Crichton's new novel "State of Fear" features an evil cadre of environmentalists that uses secret technology to cause catastrophic natural disasters in order to convince the public of the dangers of global warming. They are aided by gullible Hollywood types and the liberal media. A particularly nefarious group of greens sends agents driving Priuses to dispatch enemies with bites from blue-ringed octopuses. But it's not a joke. Not even a satire. It's a serious thriller, and in the bizarro world that is climate-change debate in the U.S., it's being taken seriously. Scientists whose work is cited in the book claim it cherry-picks facts and distorts conclusions; reviewers say it is didactic and plodding. It is, however, No. 2 on Amazon.com's bestseller list. We give up.

straight to the source: The New York Times, Andrew C. Revkin, 14 Dec 2004

straight to the source: The New York Times, Michiko Kakutani, 13 Dec 2004

~~~

Word of the Day for Tuesday December 28, 2004

raillery RAY-luh-ree, noun:
1. Good-humored banter or teasing.
2. An instance of good-humored teasing; a jest.

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~~~~~~~~~~~peace, love and smooches~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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