US Action on Climate Change... No, really!

This, assuming it turns out to be possible given the financial crisis, is potentially very exciting news for the future of the human race:

“Few challenges facing America and the world are more urgent than combating climate change,” Mr. Obama said. “The science is beyond dispute and the facts are clear. Sea levels are rising. Coastlines are shrinking. We’ve seen record drought, spreading famine, and storms that are growing stronger with each passing hurricane season.”

He commended by name governors who had been particularly active on global warming — including those of Kansas, Florida, Illinois, California and Wisconsin — and said that many businesses were also “doing their part by investing in clean energy technologies.”

“But too often,” Mr. Obama said, “Washington has failed to show the same kind of leadership.”

“That will change when I take office,” he continued. “My presidency will mark a new chapter in America’s leadership on climate change that will strengthen our security and create millions of new jobs.”

What a refreshing contrast to the last eight years!

Some Recent Photo Vignettes

Laura's glass ornaments, which adorn our window sill (they're originally from the middle east I believe).


Our geranium (a kind present from Laura's dad, Mike) which is flowering cheerfully despite the recent cold and gloomy weather.


Autumn is abundantly obvious from our living room window!

Thank You Colin Powell

At last, a prominent politician, and a Republican to boot, has said what I've been waiting weeks for someone to say about the repeated accusation that Obama is a Muslim - namely, 'Even if he were a Muslim, so what?'. Thank you Colin Powell for finally recognising and responding to these repeated displays of appalling racism.

The Big Picture on World Animal Day

These are some of the finest photographs I've ever seen, especially 19 and 37. Stunning.

Now Non-US Residents can vote in the US election!

This is a brilliant idea, and the results so far (though on reflection unsurprising) are fairly amazing...

http://www.economist.com/vote2008/

Late addition: a timely piece on just this topic from Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/10/uselections2008.barackobama

"The world's verdict will be harsh if the US rejects the man it yearns for. An America that disdains Obama for his global support risks turning current anti-Bush feeling into something far worse."

Sheer paranoia vs. the end of democracy

I share the sentiments of the author of this piece in the Independent. I really hope we're being paranoid, and that this is all just rumour, hearsay or propaganda (or all three). Nevertheless, one can't help but feel frightened by this sort of thing:

[Republicans'] first vote-stripping tactic is to require elaborate voter identification that black people disproportionately lack. For example, in Indiana – a crucial swing state – Republicans have passed a law requiring voters to bring an official government document bearing their photograph to the polling station. But a study by the University of Wisconsin found that 53 per cent of black adults didn't have a passport or driving licence, compared to 15 per cent of white people. So they can't vote unless they travel for hours (often without a car) to a sparse government registry and queue for half a day to get the correct documentation. The former political director of the Texas Republican Party, Royal Masset, explains: "Requiring photo IDs could cause enough of a drop-off in legitimate Democratic voting to add 3 per cent to the Republican vote." Their second tactic is to strip the electoral rolls of black names. In almost all US states, criminals lose their vote for life. This is shocking in itself – it disenfranchises a quarter of all black men in Kentucky, for one. But many states have a sloppy process where they simply scrub anyone with the same name as a criminal off the list. So if there is a criminal called "Chris Wayne" in a county, every black man called "Chris Wayne" loses their vote. That's a lot of Democrats. In Florida in 2000, black voters made up 13 per cent of the electorate yet they were 26 per cent of the people wrongly disenfranchised.

[Via Richard]

The Republicans Mutilate the English Language

I've just discovered these two excellent pieces in the New York Times about the extraordinary ways in which McCain and Palin are disfiguring the English language. A highlight from the Palin piece:

She dangles gerunds, mangles prepositions, randomly exiles nouns and verbs and also — “also” is her favorite vamping word — uses verbs better left as nouns, as in, “If Americans so bless us and privilege us with the opportunity of serving them,” or how she tried to “progress the agenda.”