Black helicopter alert
Bob Morris @ 23:41 Category: Unfiled;
November 17, 2008
Wave power pumps water uphill to create hydro power
Bob Morris @ 21:42 Category: Renewable energy Tags: hydro power, wave power;
A UK engineer has invented a device that harnesses wave power to pump sea water uphill, from where it can flow downhill to create hydroelectricity, raising hopes of a cheap, abundant source of renewable energy.
A test version pumped water 160 ft above sea level using wave motion. A full-sized version could pump to 650 ft. and generate electricity for 470 homes.
The Mormon war on gay people
Bob Morris @ 17:15 Category: LGBT rights Tags: prop 8;
Rev. Dr. Dorsey Blake. No on Prop 8 rally. 11/17/08 SF
Andrew Sullivan in one of his most eloquent moments.
I respect [Mormon's] right to freedom of conscience and religion. In fact, it is one of my strongest convictions. But when they use their money and power to target my family, to break it up, to demean it and marginalize it, to strip me and my husband of our civil rights, then they have started a war. And I am not a pacifist.
I do not intend in any way to remove a single right from Mormons. I do intend to protest their imposition of their own religious dogma - that marriage is always between a man and a woman and it is eternal and will be replicated in heaven by the couple physically present - on civil rights protections vested in a civil constitution.
I should add that I dated a Mormon man for a few months a while back. What he told me about the LDS church’s psychological warfare on their gay members, the brutality and viciousness and intolerance with which they attack and hound and police the gay children of Mormon families, would make anyone shudder.
That African-Americans would seek common cause with a church that only recently still believed they were the product of Satan shows how profound homophobia can be. But this shared hatred can be exploited by the Hewitts and Romneys of this world. And what we have just witnessed is a trial run for much larger ambitions.
If we don’t resist this now, we will not be able to resist it later.
Some African-Americans. Not all. Not hardly. One of the most powerful speakers at the No on 8 rally in San Francisco on Saturday was an African-American minister and compatriot of Martin Luther King, the Rev. Dr. Dorsey Blake. He said he was heterosexual, that his church did not have same sex marriage at this time, but equal protection and rights are guaranteed by the Constitution and that religions should not interfere with this. He was a preacher at the top of his form and received thunderous applause.
But Sullivan is right. Religious zealots, those who want to impose theocracy with their rules and screw the Constitution, must be opposed and stopped.
Obama. No torture. I will close Gitmo
Bob Morris @ 14:45 Category: Unfiled;
There’s no qualifiers here. No evasions or hesitation. Obama says he will close Gitmo and ‘America doesn’t torture”
Well, America has tortured. repeatedly. But what he means of course is, it won’t happen while he’s president.
From 60 Minutes. Tip. Intoxination
No on 8. What comes next?
Bob Morris @ 11:05 Category: LGBT rights Tags: prop 8;
Matt in SFist, says what needs to be said.
Saturday protests had great energy, but by the end, lack of leadership was painfully obvious
In 2006 there were historically large marches for immigration rights nationwide, notably in Los Angeles where somewhere between 500,000 and one million marched in the largest protest ever in L.A.
But that huge and inspiring power didn’t really translate into political effectiveness. Sure, everyone noticed, and some gains were made. But an opportunity was lost for real change.
On Saturday there were inspiring No on 8 rallies nationwide, organized virally in just one week. It was amazing and inspiring. But what comes next? It’ll probably (and should) be lots of things, with groups mobilizing in their own ways. Lawsuits, boycotts, community outreach, lobbying politicians, advocacy websites, people in the streets. There are all sorts of things that can be done. But they need to start now, before the energy is spent.
But everyone wants to help. Everyone feels strongly about this issue, even people in bars. They just need someone to tell them how they can make an impact … someone to answer the question, “where are we going?”
SFist Matt “is the creator of Stop8.org, a post-Prop-8 news and events portal.”
Truevert. Green search engine
Bob Morris @ 08:35 Category: Unfiled;
Truevert is focused on green, environmental awareness. All searches are done from the point of view of environmental and social concern. The results are obtained from YAHOO BOSS. They are then organized and clustered by Truevert. If you search for the word “carbon” for example, it knows that you want information about carbon’s impact on climate change, not its physical chemistry.
It also arranges the results by related themes in a sidebar, so you can explore tangents. Nice.
Court challenges to Prop 8
Bob Morris @ 05:51 Category: LGBT rights Tags: prop 8;
From the WSJ law blog, detailing the three similar court challenges to Prop 8. They hinge on whether Prop 8 is an amendment or a revision to the state constitution. The difference is crucial.
The three lawsuits challenge the procedure by which the referendum was passed. Under California law, there are two categories of changes that can be made to the state constitution: amendments and revisions. Amendments are more minor changes; revisions are larger in effect. This is important because each has its own process for taking effect — essentially different ways they go before the voters. An amendment can go in the form of a ballot initiative, which requires a certain number of signatures to make its way on. Constitutional revisions, however, have to have a two-thirds blessing from each house of the state legislature to make the ballot.
But there was no such vote. Perhaps because Yes on 8 knew they would lose.
Now, the problem, at least from the point of view of Prop. 8 supporters, is that the legislature had previously indicated a willingness to support same-sex marriage. So the proposition’s supporters were unwilling to treat this [change] as a revision and send it to the legislature, opting instead to treat it as an amendment. The Prop. 8 opponents are arguing that this change actually constitutes a revision, not an amendment, and therefore needed to go through the legislature.
I’m not a lawyer but it seems this challenge has a reasonable chance of succeeding. San Francisco, the County of Los Angeles, the City of Los Angeles, and Santa Clara County among others have joined forces on one of the lawsuits. This turns the tables a bit. LDS may have been able to raise millions of dollars, but now they face battalions of lawyers on the opposing side.
