A record loss of sea ice in the Arctic this summer has convinced scientists that the northern hemisphere may have crossed a critical threshold beyond which the climate may never recover. Scientists fear that the Arctic has now entered an irreversible phase of warming which will accelerate the loss of the polar sea ice that has helped to keep the climate stable for thousands of years.

The Bush Administration responded by saying that reduced ice means less space for terrorists to hide, and that anyone who wants more ice hates freedom.

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Riot police clash with thousands of protestors as youths set fire to cars and unions refuse to call off strike.

Check the Libcom blog for breaking news.

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I just spoke with with Maria, a recently naturalized citizen from Central America. One of her sisters who is not yet a citizen just crossed the border. They walked for three days and nights nonstop without food or water. Maria was in tears describing what her sister looked like. Major weight loss. Vomiting blood. Sick and feverish.

If the racist Sensenbrenner bill passes, it would be a crime for me to give Maria money to help her sister. It would be a crime for Maria to help her sister. This is insane, vicious, and deliberately nasty. Among other things, it ’s a sickening neocon ploy to get out the racist vote in November.

The employers of undocumented workers somehow never seem to get penalized, now do they? It’s these workers, among the most defenseless in society, who get scapegoated instead, exploited by the employers, and attacked by right wing racists.

Maria is marching Saturday. So am I.

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The Immigrant Rights march in L.A. this Saturday now looks to be enormous. Organizers are predicting 300,000-500,000 people. Seasoned activists tell me this is a realistic estimate. The sleeping giant of Immigration Rights has awakened. The primary demand is No on the racist, vicious Sensenbrenner bill.

Like the Immigrant Rights march in Chicago on March 10 when organizers expected 20,000-30,000 and ten times that came, this march has grown beyond its original roots and is now supported by dozens of organizations including major unions and politicians.

The buzz is enormous. Spanish language media, especially radio, is pushing it hard, telling people to go. Hundreds of buses are coming, some from as far away as Dallas, New Mexico, Oregon, and Arizona. Dodger Stadium may be used as place to park them. The City of L.A., in order to expedite things, may make subway rides free on Saturday. Downtown L.A. will effectively be shut down.

The Chicago March, enormous as it was, was ignored by mainstream media. If the L.A. March is equally massive, then they will no longer be able to ignore it.

ANSWER LA is one of ten ‘community organizations’ chosen to speak. On Friday we’re putting togther 2,000 placards. Come by and help if you can.

If you’re in L.A. on Saturday, come, and come early. Take the subway if possible. ‘Assemble at Olympic and Broadway at 10 am’ is the official start, but earlier is better.

This will be a march of historic proportions.

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It occurs to me, we’ve heard all this before. Currently there’s much hype and brouhaha about how netroots and blogging will change the face of D.C. and politics forever and ever. Feingold is running Blogads asking the netroots to choose worthwhile candidates to give money to. Meanwhile, Kos and allies plan on Crashing the Party via the Net. Certainly the tired old non-Net dinosaurs can not stand up to this onslaught much longer, can they?

Um, sounds a lot like the dot com days doesn’t it? There were lots of crazed predictions about how old business models were dead and the Net would usher in a wondrous new world. It didn’t happen. Instead, the bubble exploded with many dot coms instead becoming roadkill.

Blogs will not change politics. Instead, once the shakeout is over, they will become another player, another tool for doing outreach. There won’t be a blog bubble explosion ala the dot coms, but reality will be setting in soon enough.

Politics and organizing is done face-to-face, in meetings, forums, in public. That will never change. Blogs and the Net are a tool to further that, but can never substitute for it.

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