it speaks for itself...

Only ten US states have container redemption laws.

just a couple of zeros...

Scientologists claim to have millions of members but A survey of American religious affiliations, compiled in the Statistical Abstract of the United States, estimates that only twenty-five thousand Americans actually call themselves Scientologists. That’s less than half the number who identify themselves as Rastafarians.

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/02/14/110214fa_fact_wright#ixzz1DXXsXntC

you've had your fun now go back to work...

There is a lot of naïveté going around when it comes to the demonstrations in Egypt. There is this notion that if Muhbarak steps down and there are free elections everything will be alright. Ain’t going to happen. That is not to say it isn’t good that he will not run again but the constitution and all institutions of governance and justice are designed to keep Munbarak or his ilk in power. On top of this other than the Muslim Brotherhood, who may not be as big a threat as especially Israel thinks as they have moderated since their radical beginnings, there are no real parties in Egypt. So the best outcome I can see is the election of another strongman who will be benevolent and along with the backing of the army will allow the stability to develop a truly democratic society where basic human rights trump all. I think the mob have made there point and should stop demonstrating otherwise all they will be is a force for anarchy. Turkey is touted as a model for democracy in the Middle East. Egypt stands a chance of following its lead but I wouldn't bet on it. This is grossly unpopular but in the middle east i think stability trumps democracy

don't rock the boat...

Martin Luther King Day was last Monday. King of course was a pivotal figure in racial integration and equality before the law, but he was largely a figure head a rallying point and his assignation made him larger than life as it did with the other politicians killed during the sixties. If King had lived however he may have lost his popularity for he most certainly would have taken up issues that were not as popular such as social equality and justice for all and a levelling of the obscene income inequalities. He most certainly would have opposed the war. A black man fighting for issues that affected all Americans would not have gone over very well and there would be no holiday in his honor.

there are just too many people...

Ecological disaster looms everywhere in China with little impetus for change. The central government does not have the will or the means to reverse the trend. At the grassroots level resistance to dissent prevails and many environmentalists languish in jail. It is at the local government level that the blame must be levelled. There it is a case of naked self-interest.
But before we get to self-righteous and damn the Chinese for doing nothing about approaching environmental Armageddon there are a few things to be considered. First China argues that during the Industrial Revolution there was much degradation and like in modern China dirty coal was the standard fuel. So it can be argued that China is playing catch up. We are also looking at economies of scale here. According to Jonathan Watts “The über-capitalist Communists now have the highest emissions of global-warming gases in the world (although the average Chinese person generates one-seventh the emissions the average American does)” Further America is outsourcing it’s true level of emissions by relying on China to manufacture things that if manufactured in North America would create green-house gases here.
All of these arguments have some validity but China’s environment continues to degrade at blinding speed with little impetus for change.