The times they aren't a changin'

Today, America can regain the sense of pride that existed before Vietnam. These events, tragic as they are, portend neither the end of the world nor of America's leadership in the world.
Gerald Ford, April 1975-

1975, the end of an unpopular war, the exposure of corruption in our government, unimaginable amounts of money disappearing via collusion between the government and business, the CIA being exposed for brutal and illegal activities in the name of patriotism, the end of the road for the remnants of a disgraced Presidency, oil price hikes brought about by false claims, environmental responsibility being called naive and impractical and a nation of citizens who no longer trust their goverment, but still love their country.

2008, such a similar story you'd think the writers strike was eight years ago.

Time to break out the gold chains and sequins folks. We're playing twister after the disco on Saturday.

It is necessary for me to establish a winner image. Therefore, I have to beat somebody.
Richard M. Nixon

The exploding head of Lou Dobbs

A few months ago I turned on the TV to find Lou Dobbs expressing his now familiar outrage at something having to do with Mexican Immigrants. He was asked (I'm paraphrasing) by one of the guests he was hoping to skewer, if his problem was with illegal Mexican immigrants or Mexican immigrants in general. Well, of course he chose the former. Since then I have tuned in a few times and seen him again "outraged" by his perceived damages caused by the existence of Mexicans who blatantly try to feed and clothe their families while working to ensure that their children's lives are filled with the opportunity that fate (and Lou) conspire to deny them.

Well, one of the arguments they made about the enormous threat of Mexicans to the US was the shocking statement that the percentage of voters who were illegal aliens was in many cases more than the margin of victory in some electoral races!!! I must admit, I was shocked too. Until they explained the math that helped them come to this conclusion was based on jury duty excuses of people drawn from the voter registration lists. Hmmmm. I have a built in excuse for jury duty, El Greengo is "out of town". A lot.

When you go into court you are putting your fate into the hands of twelve people who weren’t smart enough to get out of jury duty.
—Norm Crosby

There argument was based on people responding to a jury summons with the excuse of "I am not a US citizen, and therefore am ineligible." The argument was based on a correlation between voter registration and jury duty lists. I know this guy is blinded by his ambition. Fueled by the ire of the bigots and racists who make up the core of his viewership, he has created a niche hate and fear machine that is making him millions and millions of dollars. I don't think he believes almost anything he himself says, but to base his argument on jury duty excuses is just too much. He may as well say that there is an out of control rabid dog problem in the country based on the overwhelming accounts of children’s book reports being eaten by dogs.

The Daily show clip below ends with Lou Dobbs opinions of the two presidential candidates immigration policies. Check it out.

The greatest inventor you've never heard of

Can you name a great inventor living today? A modern Edison, Washington Carver, Wright etc.? I think the answer unfortunately for most people is no. I can name one, Dean Kamen. Most of you have probably never heard of him but I bet you know one of his inventions. Dick Cheney might know who he is as one of Mr. Kamen's devices is keeping his heart beating today. What do you know? Actual proof that Dick has a heart!

Dean Kamen was born in 1951 in New York. This is just a profile and not a bio so I'll skip to the point after I tell you about a few of his inventions. The portable kidney dialysis machine he invented freed people from the need to be anchored to a hospital for the rest of their lives and he followed up on that with the first insulin pump. He created an all terrain wheelchair that could go on sand, up stairs and even to cocktail parties
This invention spawned the segway which kind of resembled a hand truck but had some of the most advanced technology in the world inside its body. The Segway is what most people know Dean Kamen for today. It and all of the other inventions I mentioned above were designed to make lives easier for people and to make the world a better place.

One of his latest projects is the vapor compression distiller. Doesn't sound all that exciting does it? Well, the guys an engineer, not a poet, but this invention could very well change the very nature of mankinds future. How? Well to start with it has been predicted that this invention could eliminate 50% of the world's diseases by providing safe drinking water that can be made from anything wet. Mud, urine, poisoned water, contaminated ground water, if its liquid, this machine can make safe drinking water from it and do it inexpensively. This thing is so important to our future, Stephen Colbert interviewed Kamen about the project and his goals and barely cracked a single joke. See the interview here.

If my entry made you wonder about the feasibility of mass producing Kamen's invention, check this link out. http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/16/technology/business2_futureboy0216/index.htm


And pictured with this article is El Greengo's dog Kamen, named after Dean Kamen a few years ago when I found him on the streets of Puerto Penasco (the dog, not Dean). He's a very, very good dog.

Welcome to the blog of El Greengo!

With the Bush administration's disgraceful performance on ecological issues, Mexico has a unique opportunity today. Mexico's leaders can move forward in areas such as sustainable development, renewable energy, waste management, water preservation, the list goes on and on. With the US being ranked as the least responsible of the G8 nations in the world when it comes to climate change, and the country's environmental protection agencies being gutted by the same people who are tasked with heading these agencies and enforcing our environmental laws, Mexico can be a leader and role model for its carbon guzzling neighbors to the North. Yes, I said neighbors plural, Canada ranked 2nd worst in the climate change game.

I'm not saying that Mexico can be greener and cleaner than the US, but since the powers that be have traded the health of the US and global ecosystem for their share of thirty pieces of silver, all Mexico needs is one leader in their government to champion this cause. Lets say that Mexico recruited to run their version of the EPA, a houseplant for example. Nothing too intimidating, say ...... a fern. And they put that fern at a desk where it sits until its term is up and its replaced by a person. if they did that one thing they would already be in a leadership position as compared to the US and their retrograde "First, do harm" policy.

Now lets suppose that Mexico actually put one of its most capable and passionate environmentalists in that chair and gave them a budget and El Presidente's ear. Before this horrific administration oozed from public service to their payout, Mexico could have already demonstrated more environmental leadership between now and then than the Bush administration has in 8 years.

Here's an idea for anyone currently working in the Bush administration or one of the formerly relevant agencies under their control. Follow this guys lead... http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0207.schaeffer.html

And to you Mr. Schaeffer, please accept my thanks for taking a stand while so many others watched or collaborated.